October 12, 2006
Meeting With a Liberal
Sometimes I forget just how different the South is from the Pacific Northwest. I spent the early part of this week in Baltimore for a trade show, and the format of the show meant myself and the sales engineer spent a lot of time with no customers around. We ended up chatting for most of the day with the marketing guy from Oregon in the next booth, and he ended up joining us for dinner that evening, as he was without a car, and the hotel for the show was a long way from any halfway decent restaurants.
I should have known what I was getting into at lunch. We were sitting around talking about gas, alternative fuels, etc, and I heard a typical leftist talking point: “I think we should slap another dollar of taxes onto gasoline, so that we can encourage the use of alternative fuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles.” I held my tongue, because I was in a work setting. All I ended up saying was “Well, that’s certainly not what I’d do.” What I was thinking was that while I have an ideological argument against using tax policy to influence behavior, there is a much stronger argument. The costs of such a policy would far outweigh the benefits, in reduced economic growth, government mismanagement of the tax largesse, and higher costs to consumers to purchase these expensive technologies. That’s to be expected when you’re using a blunt-force government policy, i.e. using a chainsaw to remove an appendix when you really need a scalpel.
So that night, we ended up heading out for dinner. A bit of a boring meal for me, as he and my coworker, both divorced, were discussing strategies for meeting women on match.com. As a married guy, I sat back with my beer and meal during that portion.
But on the way home, we stopped at a gas station, and he followed up his earlier comment, explaining how “glad he was that Oregon didn’t have any self-serve gas pumps.” We got onto the topic, and he trotted out the first idea, that “it’s a safety issue.” I was not so interested in holding my tongue any more (might have been due to beer), and had to point out that we don’t really have much of a “safety” problem pumping gas in the rest of the country. Basically, that’s an argument from pure common sense, and he must not have had an answer, because he moved on.
He followed up with his concerns about how he didn’t want to have to get out of his car, and how if there was a line at a station, people could go to another one. He mentioned that he heard a radio show where a station owner called in and said it only cost him $0.03 per gallon to pay someone to pump the gas, and how great it was that they had it. Well, that was cause for another simple answer. “If it’s so great, and cheap, why do you need the government to enforce it?” Again, no real answer, so he moved on.
He followed that up with two arguments. First, that it’s great to have these jobs for high school and college kids, and how much of a benefit that is. Second, that he’d been to gas stations in California, where they’re dirty, dangerous, and you don’t see that in places where they have more people on staff. Well, we had just arrived back at the hotel, so I couldn’t take the time to refute him. Of course it’s great for the kids who get the job, but how great is it for those of us paying for it? And while he might have been to some stations in California, I can point to quite a few counter-examples. Perhaps he’s seen these sorts of dirty, dangerous stations in Compton, but I didn’t see too many in Irvine.
But as I don’t spend too much time with people of his ideological stripe these days, it was a bit instructive. I learned that a leftist is completely willing to use the power of government to make everyone bow to his wishes. And that if it’s in his interest, he’ll latch onto easily-refutable, feel-good arguments that hold no weight under scrutiny. Of course, he’s more than entitled to his opinion, and it’s possible he thinks my arguments against him hold no merit. But there’s a big difference. He wants to use the force of government to make me pay for and conform to his wishes. I ask for nothing but freedom. But I’ll bet he thinks he’s the one with the moral high ground.
October 11, 2006
Why I Brew Beer (and more)
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m an engineer (electrical). Engineering is the study of how things work, and the science of using that knowledge to make something happen. While most engineers are seen as analytical types, design engineering is an inherently creative process. An artist wants to draw a picture. He has a picture in his mind, and uses paint, charcoal, even computer graphics, to build a final picture that meets what he has in his mind. A design engineer does the same thing. He has a problem to solve, or a product to create. Instead of paint, he uses other materials, but the knowledge and process of adapting those materials to the task is creative.
I’m a creative guy, but I’m not a design engineer. Frankly, I’m okay with that. Design engineering, while it can be very creative, can also be very repetitive. I’m sure if you design one computer motherboard, designing the next isn’t that much different. Not that being a painter is all that different; often, if you’re a “commercial” artist, you rarely get to paint what you want, you’re forced to paint what your employer wants. I’m not sure I’d like a job where I sat in a cubicle all day designing different variations of the same thing over and over and over. What I am is a “Field Applications Engineer”. This is a much different job, where I am the technical contact for customers implementing our products. I don’t do any design, but help customers figure out why certain things in their designs aren’t working. It’s a dynamic environment, where I’m exposed to a wide range of industries, of new people, and am forced to use a lot more than my engineering abilities to be successful.
But I’m still creative, and I don’t get much creative satisfaction from my job. So I look for outlets where I find them. Blogging is one outlet, as writing is an inherently creative activity. But it doesn’t pique some of my other senses, and it’s not very interesting to talk about in the meatspace world. I need something that I can build, craft, and admire.
Enter brewing. It has everything I want in a hobby. First and foremost, I am learning how things work. As an engineer, I have a deep-seated tendency to try to understand anything I look at. Beer is one of those things, to realize how different yeast strains, different fermentation temps, mash temps, boil times, combinations of grains and hops, all result in a much different final product. There’s science, and big words like “flocculation” and “melanoidin”, which are always fun to use at parties!
Even beyond understanding, though, it’s creating. Because I have control over the process, I can choose to make a beer that I want to drink. From the initial recipe, to tweaking the various parts of the process to magnify or reduce the various taste components I want, I am making this beer “my own”. And when you create something, you are proud of your creation. Even more importantly, when it comes to brewing, you can drink it!
Last, though, is sharing. Most creative people have a certain vanity. We like to be told that what we did was good. I love sharing my beer with other folks, and seeing if they like it. Just this past weekend, I took some of the Belgian Strong Dark Ale over to our neighborhood Oktoberfest party, and got some rave reviews. As an engineer, whenever I try to describe to family or friends what I do, their eyes glaze over. When I talk about politics or blogging, the same thing happens. But when I pour them a glass of beer, it’s a universal thing. I have something that I’ve done that I can share with others, which is always fun.
So tonight, I will be drawing my first pint of the Bloody Leprechaun Irish Red Ale, to again experience the rewards of the best hobby I’ve ever had…
October 7, 2006
2006 NCAA Football Predictions — Week 6
So far on the year, following my 5-0 performance last week, I’ve finally crested the 50% mark against the spread, with a 13-12 record. And likewise I was 5-0 straight up, for a total record so far of 20-6. I don’t know how easy it will be to keep my performance up, but it doesn’t look like picking against whoever I pick will be such a good strategy any more!
I’m going out-of-conference more this week than usual, because there aren’t very many good matchups in the Big Ten.
October 6, 2006
Going Camping Next Year!
My wife’s family (and extended family) has been working on a tradition of going camping every couple years, and it sounds like they’re getting next year’s trip well planned.
Take a look at this site, and you’ll see, from their idea of “camping”, exactly what sort of family I married into 
El Capitan Canyon guests experience all of the adventure and beauty that nature has to offer in comfortable surroundings, complete with amenities that pamper.
Camping in the Canyon is not about pitching a tent in the dark, but enjoying the comforts of home among a grove of oak and sycamore trees along El Capitan Creek. Cabins are equipped with full bathrooms, linens, towels, kitchenettes, private picnic tables and fire pits.
We invite you to relax, refresh and get back to nature with a visit to El Capitan Canyon.
Ah… Camping with room service. Sounds like we’ll really be roughing it…
October 5, 2006
Indian Name: CatWhoBarks
We’ve been doing some behavior modification on Spanky. You see, he is really not much more than a cat. He doesn’t like going for walks, he doesn’t like car rides. Hell, if he didn’t bark or lift his leg when he pees, he’d basically be a cat.
But in an effort to get into better shape, the wife and I have been doing nightly walks. And we drag little Spanky, kicking and screaming, off to the local running path to walk. Guinness, of course, is excited as soon as he sees us putting our shoes on, because he’s a real, bona-fide dog. But Spanky, when he sees us getting ready to leave, hides and starts to shake.
Perhaps, one of these days, we’ll figure out how to make him scratch at the door when he needs to go out. If we can’t do that, we might regress a bit and get him a litterbox. But really, we need to get this dog to enjoy walks. Dogs are supposed to be excited to do whatever we suggest, it’s cats that sit there and get pampered. Frankly, I can’t afford a species-change operation for him, so he needs to learn.
PS – Yes, we did give him a haircut after this picture was taken.
October 4, 2006
I Hear China Has Some Good Proxy Servers
As some of you probably noticed, I had a couple of links on the left-hand sidebar that were ads for PartyPoker and two Casinos. I had an affiliate relationship with them, that while it never actually produced money (since I didn’t promote them much), might have been lucrative if people had signed up through my links.
Well, thanks to Congress, that’s over.
From PartyPoker:
PartyGaming will no longer accept wagers from US Customers once the Act becomes Law.
Customers resident in the United States or accessing us from US will no longer be able to access our real money gaming services. Customers will still be able to use the play money and any non-gambling services we may offer. They will also be able to cash out their present balance if they wish to.
From CasinoPartners:
Due to the imminent passing of the Federal Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act by
the United States Senate on September 30, 2006, and in line with the high level
of service that we have always provided to our affiliates, it is important for
us to advise you that our clients have decided not to accept wagers from
residents in the United States. We will therefore stop handling U.S.-based
traffic effective October 4 2006.
Thanks a lot, Congress. You’ve given a new meaning to “The Land of the Free”. It now holds about as much meaning as you’ve let the 10th Amendment have…
I never thought I’d say this, but it might be time that we here in the USA are going to have to start using proxy servers, like the Chinese, to make sure we can go to the places online that the Feds have determined are too dangerous for us to access.
Longhorn Beer
Wow, I just saw this over at the Burnt Orange Nation. A local Austin brewery, in advance of this weeks Texas/Oklahoma matchup, has now made “Oklahoma Suks” beer. Check out this link to take a look at the label, but this is the text:
Brewed south of the Red River, to prevent impurities and single-branch family trees, this Texas beer has something every Oklahoman can only wish for: Distinctively Smooth Taste.
You’ll be HOOKED!
That’s great… I brewed my Victorious Boilermaker IPA and gave it the name as a joke; this is actually a commercial brewery doing it. A beautiful thing. Any of my Texas readers want to send me some of this?
Oh, and I am going to be kegging the Irish Red Ale after I get done with this IPA, and I think I need a good name for it. I’m leaning towards “F***ing Irish Interception Ale”, but if anyone has a better name for me, I’ll mail you a 22 oz bottle either of my Belgian Strong Dark or my Imperial Stout (your choice). Obviously I’m looking for a name denigrating Notre Dame…
The Unrepentant Individual linked with Why I Brew Beer (and more)
The Unrepentant Individual linked with 2006 NCAA Football Predictions — Week 6
Intelligent Design = Socialism
Warren Meyer of Coyote Blog wrote a snarky post exploiting a couple of the problems with the arguments of the people who think oil companies are keeping gas prices down to help Republicans. As an added thought, he said something brilliant:
In fact, the more I think about it, the more economics and evolution are very similar. Both are sciences that are trying to describe the operation of very complex, bottom-up, self-organizing systems. And, in both cases, there exist many people who refuse to believe such complex and beautiful systems can really operate without top-down control.
For example, certain people refuse to accept that homo sapiens could have been created through unguided evolutionary systems, and insist that some controlling authority must guide the process; we call these folks advocates of Intelligent Design. Similarly, there are folks who refuse to believe that unguided bottom-up processes can create something so complex as our industrial economy or even a clearing price for gasoline, and insist that a top-down authority is needed to run the process; we call these folks socialists.
It is interesting, then, given their similarity, that socialists and intelligent design advocates tend to be on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Their rejection of bottom-up order in favor of top-down control is nearly identical.
Oddly, they both have ascribe the same qualities to their god. For the right-wing Christian god, it is an all-knowing supreme being, that will use its power in a good and just way. For the left-wing socialists, it is an all-wise Government, that will use its power in a good and just way.
I’m not one to think either delusion is plausible, but at least the right-wingers are smart enough to believe in something that can never truly be disproven. The left wingers, despite being shown over and over that government is inherently a flawed system, continue to believe that it can work.
October 3, 2006
NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Beer drinkers beware: 4 percent of U.S. hops crop burns
Federal investigators were set Tuesday to begin an investigation into a fire that ruined about 4 percent of America’s yield of hops, used as flavoring in the brewing of beer and ale.
The fire started shortly before noon Monday in a 40,000-square-foot (3,600-square-meter) warehouse operated by S.S. Steiner Inc., one of the four largest hop buyers in the Yakima Valley of central Washington. By mid-afternoon flames engulfed most of the building, sending up plumes of smoke and a pungent aroma.
Municipal fire crews, aided by regional firefighters, ripped away metal siding to shoot water directly onto the hops.
Based on an industry official’s estimate of the quantity of hops in the warehouse, the loss could amount to $3.5 million to $4 million. The impact on brewers and beer prices was unclear early Tuesday.
Those poor, poor hops. I think of all the joy they could have brought to us IPA drinkers, and I almost get a bit weepy…
I’m just starting to get used to gas prices coming back down, and now my hop and beer costs will rise? It’s just not fair 
NOTE: Bud, Miller and Coors drinkers, don’t worry much about this. There are basically zero hops in your beer anyway, so you have little to worry about.
Hat Tip: Uncle Jack
Protecting You From Evil Gambling Sites That We Can’t Tax
Congress is, once again, doing the Lord’s work, making sure that you don’t have access to immoral offshore gambling web sites.
US President George W. Bush this week is expected to sign a bill making it harder to place bets on the Internet, a practice which already is illegal in the United States.
Bush was expected to act quickly after Congress approved the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act making it illegal for financial institutions and credit card companies to process payments to settle Internet bets. It also created stiff penalties for online wagers.
Billions of dollars are wagered online each year and the United States is considered the biggest market.
…
The bill’s chief Senate sponsor was conservative Republican Jon Kyl, who, like Leach, has said he believed Internet gambling was a moral threat. He has called online betting as the Internet version of crack cocaine.
“Gambling can be highly addictive, especially when its done over an unregulated environment such as the Internet” he said this year.
You see, you are too weak to make your own choices. Especially in an “unregulated” environment. Perhaps we, the esteemed Congress, might allow you gamble from time to time, but only when we’re watching over you.
This, like every other vice law, doesn’t do anything to stop gambling. Especially since the “unregulated internet” moves a lot faster than Congress. Try to shut down one payment method, another will crop up. Just like with every vice law, from gambling, to drugs, to prostitution; if people want it, they will find a way to get it.
When it comes to a vice law, though, this is typical government behavior. They made it illegal. It didn’t stop it. So they’re going to expand their power, in order to try even harder to find the behavior, and punish it more severely. When that doesn’t work, they’ll expand their power again, expanding their reach and control over our lives, because they have to crack down on this “immoral” behavior.
But the true coup de grace? They’re protecting the family and the children…
“It is extraordinary how many American families have been touched by large losses from Internet gambling,” said US Representative Jim Leach, the bill’s main sponsor in the House, in a statement after its passage early Saturday.
…
Leach cited research which showed that young people who tend to spend hours of leisure time on the Internet, are particularly vulnerable.
A 2005 survey by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 26 percent of male college students gamble in online card games at least once a month, while nearly 10 percent of all college students gambled online at some point last year.
“Never has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age. The casino is in effect brought to the home, office and college dorm.
“Children may play without verification, and betting with a credit card can undercut a players perception of the value of cash, which too easily leads to bankruptcy and crime,” Leach said.
Ahh, it’s for the children… How can you argue with that?
The Unrepentant Individual linked with I Hear China Has Some Good Proxy Servers
October 2, 2006
Purdue @ ND Wrap-Up
Well, this past week I went 5-0 against the spread and 5-0 straight up in my picks. The Purdue line was 14 points and they lost by 14, so that was a no-decision. So that makes me 13-12 against the spread for the year, and 20-6 straight up. Obviously there weren’t too many surprises this past week, except, of course, for Michigan State. I knew they’d derailed, but to lose to ILLINOIS?! Yikes!
But time to move on. Purdue showed the world quite a bit on Saturday; some good, some bad. I realize we lost by 14, but after watching the team play, I’m somehow okay with that. I think they could have made it closer, or even won, but the team is young, and made young-team mistakes. There were a few questionable coaching decisions, and a few questionable calls by the officials, but overall, it was just a Purdue team that executed 95% against an experienced Notre Dame team that executed 100%.
Senor Pez says the better team won on Saturday, which I’ll agree with. He went a bit farther to say that Purdue got embarrassed. I don’t agree.
Purdue has one major flaw that I saw, and that was our defensive gameplan. Earlier this year, ND has watched as Brady Quinn was rattled under pressure when Georgia Tech, Michigan, and Michigan State blitzed him mercilessly. All three of those were either close wins for Notre Dame, or getting blown out by Michigan. Penn State didn’t blitz much, and they got blown out by Notre Dame. I really think Brock Spack (our D coordinator) was trying to help out our weak secondary, by dropping LB’s into coverage and only rushing 4 most of the game. Bad move. Quinn, with time to throw, burned us completing greater than 75% of his passes for 300+ yards and 2 TD’s. I think if we had blitzed, we may have gotten burned for similar stats, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see us get an interception as well, and by bottling up and blitzing, might have done better against the run. In fact, the few plays we blitzed, I think we saw results, and yet I don’t know why we didn’t do it more often.
That being said, though, I don’t think we played that badly. I don’t think we got dominated in this game (as the offensive totals, us putting up 490 yards, would signify). Although 14 points look pretty bad, I don’t think there was really a point where I thought the game was out of reach. It really comes down to two factors. Offensive explosiveness, and the team quitting. We have enough offensive firepower to score on any team from anywhere on the field on any play (see Selwyn Lymon’s 88-yard TD). And we didn’t quit. I don’t think there was a time I saw this team lay down in the second half, even when we were down by three scores. In fact, down 14 with a few minutes left in the 4th and the ball, I still thought we could mount a comeback. Yeah, it was unlikely, as we’d have to score, get an onside kick, and score again to force OT. But this team showed they could rack up yards on ND, and I knew those players were still fighting for a win, despite being down 14 points with time winding down.
So why did this team lose? Well, before the game, I boiled it down to a couple of factors. This is what I said last week:
I think two metrics are going to define this game. Third down conversions and turnovers. Personally, I don’t even think big plays are going to be a big metric, because both offenses will have them. The key is going to be the crucial stops. If Purdue converts well (> 65%) on third down and wins the turnover battle, I think we can take this game. If we don’t, we will get beat.
We lost a fumble, so we lost the TO battle. I can’t even fault the TE, Dustin Keller, on that fumble, because the defender got his helmet right on the ball, which is nearly impossible to defend against. And we were 4 of 11 on third downs (0 for 3 on fourth down), definitely lower than the 65% I think we really needed to be near. Notre Dame, though, was 8 of 14 on third down, and 2 of 2 on fourth down. Purdue helped them with some crucial penalties to keep Notre Dame drives alive, again some young team mistakes. That, and one special team’s score gave ND four points (7 on a TD instead of 3 on a FG).
When it comes down to it, there was no defining point at which Notre Dame “beat” us. It came down to small mistakes, which all add up. We missed an early field goal. Dustin Keller fumbled. Starting the second half, Greg Orton dropped an easy 3rd down pass. Later, Dorien Bryant had a pass bounce right off his pads. We had a strange third-down trick play that didn’t work. We missed the fourth-down conversions. And that’s not even counting the 2nd late hit penalty (which wasn’t late) and the running-into-the-kicker penalty that was a pathetic call. We died the death of a thousand paper cuts, but that’s how a young team learns.
Above all, Coach Tiller said it best after the game. Above all, we made a few small mistakes, but against a quality opponent, that’s all it takes to turn an equal performance into a 14-point loss.
“The thing I think our team needs to learn about our team is that the better the opponent, the smaller the margin of error,” Purdue coach Joe Tiller said Sunday.
“You can make mistakes against a lesser opponent and recover. When the talent of competition picks up, the smallest of errors can be the difference. I hope they learned how critical focus is, and their ability to stay on task for 60 minutes.”
I was happy, though, to see how the team responded. Curtis Painter was so cool he made absolute zero look balmy. Notre Dame never sacked him, but pressured him quite a bit and laid a few hits on him. Yet Painter remained cool, in the face of 80,000 screaming fans, on the road. That was a very good sign, especially for a sophomore. Anthony Spencer looked like an absolute monster. With almost no help from the linebackers on blitzes, he racked up 15 tackes, 4.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and broke up 1 pass. Selwyn Lymon had a breakout game, and proved to every defensive coordinator in the Big Ten that if you try to beat Purdue by shutting down Dorien Bryant, we’ve got enough other receivers to burn you with.
And, lest I forget about this point, let me say it one more time. The team never quit. Last year, our problem was a team that quit when they were down. No longer. One of the things I remember about the Drew Brees days was that the team (and us fans) always believed we were still in a game. It didn’t matter how far we were down, we knew that we were a play or two away from coming back into it. That’s the team I saw on Saturday. It didn’t happen for us, but I could tell those players believed it could.
That attitude will make the difference all the rest of this year. We have a couple games on our schedule that might come down to shootouts. We’ll undoubtedly lose some of those games. But this team won’t give up, and I think we’ll win a couple as well.
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Brad, it sounds like to me that he is just too lazy to get out of the car and pump his own gas.
Comment by Lucy Stern — October 14, 2006 @ 7:06 am