DuckSpeaker Quacks

I Heard a Joke Today

2009-12-09T04:14:29Z

If you don't like Jokes about GOD....don't look behind the curtain

Little boy grows up praying for a new bike.
But learns that's now how God works.
So he steals the bike and prays for forgiveness.

"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matthew 21:22)

Closure of the Nutty Putty Cave is a mistake.

2009-11-30T02:11:46Z

(With respect to John Jones and the family and friends that love him.)

The decision to seal the entire cave was made because officials believe the area is too dangerous. [Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer] Cannon said no other recreation area in the county has a 1-to-5 death ratio.
(Body will remain in sealed Utah County Cave: Deseret News: 11/27/09)

5 to 1?
That’s because there have been 5 rescues in 10 years at the cave, resulting in only this most recent death.
Perspective.
With estimates of 5,000 people exploring the cave each year, that means there have only been 5 rescues for 50,000 explorers resulting in ONLY one death in 10 years.

There were 6,420,000 vehicle accidents in 2005, resulting in the death of 41,259 people *
There were about 200 million drivers
That’s one accident for every 31 people on the road.
That’s one death for every 4847 people on the road.

That (4847) is nearly the number of people that visit this popular recreation destination each year. And yet it’s being closed for having FEWER accidents and fatalities. Stupid.

And one more thing….Take his body out of the cave.
It will be easier to retrieve in a few weeks.

* http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html

"I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become."---Oprah

2009-11-21T16:05:30Z

So I'm listening to this conservative radio guy on my way home the last several nights (I never paid attention to his name--but he's in Hannity's old slot)

Anyway...I noticed he is always inflating numbers.
(Example: If he's talking about about the newly proposed Health Bill (850 billion) his number was over 1 Trillion.)

Last night he was talking about Oprah...He took a couple of light shots at some of the outrageous things, but mostly was very nice and complimentary. He noted her wealth at 3 Billion...seemed high to me. The Tribune reports her worth at 1.5 billion, but Forbes lists it at 2.3.

I don't know why I'm writing this down.
I guess I wonder if his (seemingly) constant inflation is intentional or if he has some sort of unconscious modifier.

And I'm not even look for an answer--I mean, I can't even tell you the guys name.
But I wonder what my conscious and unconscious modifiers might be? Something for me to think about.

Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one.

2009-11-20T03:29:50Z

Pretty cool....I just tested an anonymous email program on the web.
That's not so cool.
What was cool is that the email comes from Winston Smith.

BTW: I choose to use Trillian---Thanks for all the suggestions.

Instant Messanger

2009-11-18T19:34:55Z

I need to start using an IM application to stay in touch with the team I am on.
It needs to work with Google's IM.

I've not really looked into any of this yet...just wondering if anyone might have a suggestion/opinion.

Thanks!

Trigger here, trigger there - everybody's high except 4 me

2009-11-18T04:19:38Z

Monday: First day of new job and I have to tell the guy that hired me that he can't treat people (in this case his programmer) like that. Because he apparently moved up the code-complete date by a week so he could go on vacation. (The reality is that there seems to be some misunderstanding and miscommunication---something I hope to help with in the next iteration.)

Tuesday: Busy and feeling a little overwhelmed. Everyone (ok, just one of the artists) has their (ok her) panties in a bunch, I wish they'd (ok she would) grow up a little.

Wednesday: Gonna try to make it a little better...

...a penny for the guy

2009-11-05T15:54:29Z

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

"The last man to enter Parliament with honorable intentions.”

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of* no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd (or by God's mercy*)
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. (Holla*)
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Middle Age Juggalo

2009-10-31T16:56:12Z

That was going to be the other definition of my costume.

but I forgot... :(

I have to share this....it's horrible

2009-10-28T00:44:12Z

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11

"These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll...The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents...On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. "

H1N1

2009-10-27T16:33:43Z

I know a guy that caught the flu and went to a local InstaCare.
He went because he’s got a child with health problems and needs to be very careful, if she were to get H1N1 she could very likely end up in the hospital.

Long story short, he was told he has H1N1.
He was told this without any testing…and they told him they tell everyone with flu symptoms they have H1N1.
He demanded a test (because of his child) and he does NOT have H1N1

WTF?

Also…just FYI
We purchased a new printer…ordered it online and got a good deal.
But…
We identified two printers we were interested in, the looked at different local retailers.
Just a note…but Staples was 50% more than either of the two competing local companies we compared with. Just sayin’

Tort Reform....It won't save you any money

2009-10-16T23:36:48Z

Our own Senator Hatch wants tort reform, to reduce the expense of malpractice insurance which he believes will help reduce the cost of health care in America.

Here’s the problem.
Let’s say we do pass some sort of reform.
What is to suggest that money saved with reduce the costs to the end user?
To be more clear…what happened when we gave big banks our money?

I’ll tell you what happened…they got bonuses and took trips to exotic places.

Unless tort reform requires a reduction in charges to the end user, we will simply be putting more money in the hands of the doctor.
(not necessarily bad—that’s another debate—just not what was intended)

BTW

I know someone that works (directly) for one of those big banks. After the outrage over executives and others taking lavish trips on taxpayer money, the company he works for just mailed a check to everyone that would have gone. 5k a person to the sum of a few million dollars.

Nice huh?

And you know what's funny? Utah already has a limit.
The value of your pain and suffering will not amount to more than $480,000.
You could be tortured for years...and that's all you can get....ever.

BTW

According to the SL Tribune, over 44,000 (to as many as 98,000) people die from medical errors every year. That more people than die in Highway accidents, Breast Cancer, or AIDS.

Be on the good side of the big guy....

I’d be thinner if I had Children

2009-10-12T19:02:10Z

(Saturday)

Up early to take child to basketball practice
Then a 3mile (I’m told) hike up the mountains and 3 back
I hadn’t climbed a tree in decades…but I climbed two. (Friday)
Nearly broke my hip climbing the monkey bars at a local park
(When was the last time you ran up a slide or climbed the ropes?)
Licorice ice cream
Bowling…Wii AND actual real bowling. The kids killed me on the Wii, and decided they prefer the Wii to the real thing (largely because it’s easier)
Several games of Tag
One game of Death Ball---never ends well.
And nearly a stroke at McDonalds—seriously, it shouldn’t be that hard.

Not all in that order.

I got nothing...

2009-10-07T13:45:21Z

Star Wars Uncut (Same story...a new vision)
http://vimeo.com/6788001
http://www.starwarsuncut.com/#/

Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Clarence Thomas hasn't asked a question from the bench in 3 years.
Apparently the only time he is heard from is during role-call

Ok...that last bit was snarky, but lets compare his last three years to a single recent case where Justice Scalia asked 30 and new blood Justice Sotomayor asked 36 questions.

(SOTOMAYOR COMES OUT FIRING AS JUSTICE by David G. Savage: Los Angeles Times)

Throwing Up

2009-10-02T21:41:35Z

Governor Gary Herbert continues to disappoint

Herbert opposes campaign limits. He believes that such limits stifle free speech.
I disagree as limits do not prevent someone from expressing their interests, or donating to a candidate. What it does prevent, as expressed in Tribune editorial, is the purchase of a candidate.
Related Story?….lobbyists now have their own 2000+ square foot office space at the State Capitol. That should make things easier for ‘em!
The Governor’s new commission to “streamline government’ will not be open to the public.
“Hunt said it is ironic that the first action taken by the commission created to help government work better is shutting out the public”

Herbert wants to have a “legitimate” debate on climate change…
Because his predecessor already did this…I guess Herbert wants ANOTHER debate.
“Clearly, as we see in the marketplace, the debate is not over.”
Dope…It’s a debate for science…NOT the “marketplace”

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change.
It included (among many others) Climate scientists from the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, the US Deapr6tment of Agriculture and the State Climatologist (Utah State University)
The findings: Global Warming is real, and there is a “very high confidence” that human activities are to blame.

Herbert doesn’t believe sex education should be taught in schools, and that it’s the parents responsibility.
Yeah great…let’s leave it in the hands of the (often) uneducated and unwilling.

Suicide is painless, And I can take or leave it if I please
32,000 Americans commit suicide each year
8.3 million people (18 and over) think about it each year (3.7 percent of adult population)
...Of those, 2.3 million make a plan.
...Of those, half attempt it.
National Suicide prevention Lifeline: 1 800 273 TALK

Median household income US 2008: $52,029
Median household income US 2009: $50,303 (lowest levels since 1997)
Median household income Utah 2008: $56,633
Nationally, median income diminished 1.2 percent from 2007 to 2008

The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans earn more than $138,000 a year.

Median income male Utah 2008: $45,028 ($500 below US median income for men)
Median income female Utah 2008: $31,1483 ($4,000 below US median income for women)

In Puerto Rico women earn more than men on average.

Ardipithecus Ramidus
http://www.archaeologyinfo.com/ardipithecusramidus.htm

I suggest this title: Mitt Romney Campaign Professional
Spokespersons for Mitt Romney still refer to him as “Governor Mitt Romney”.
Really? As far as I can tell the guy hasn’t had a job since 2007 (held a single term) and all he seems to be doing is polishing his resume for a job he was rejected for once, and won’t be available again until 2012. (isn’t that when the world is supposed to end?)

Legislation has been proposed that would set limits on the volume of TV commercials.
“Advertisers simply do not have a right to scream at consumers in their living rooms”

IPhone + New York = Suck

2009-09-30T15:16:46Z

"The average iPhone [in New York] drops 30 percent of all calls."
http://gizmodo.com/5370493/apple-genius-bar-iphones-30-call-drop-is-normal-in-new-york

But hey...you get
   Cut 'N Paste
   Oh...a camera
   And you can even send pictures with MMS

It's sour grapes of course, cause I still want one!

Hatch is a dick. Playing schoolyard politics.

2009-09-29T16:11:36Z

Senator Orrin (Two-Face) Hatch

Clearly, Hatch has NO intention of acting civilly when it comes to health care reform.
He has proposed 51 Amendments to the latest proposal including one that would “ease a tax on high-end insurance plans for any state with a name that begins with the letter “U”.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13388547
http://utahpolicy.com/featured_article/hatch-takes-heat-over-healthcare-amendment

What state ranks first in cash public assistance?
Sarah Palin’s Alaska with 6.1% of households receiving.
(conservatives smell funny….)

Pit Bulls account for nearly half of all fatal dog attacks (320 such fatal attacks occurred in the last 27 years).

Doctors Support Public Option

2009-09-15T17:33:21Z

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112818960&sc=fb&cc=fp

Newspapers are dying...

2009-09-15T14:41:51Z

But this might work for me....

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

Stupid Free Books....

2009-09-14T20:51:05Z

The Philadelphia Free Library system is broke, and they're shutting it down
Is this for real?

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/13/philadelphia-free-li.html

Oh well...reeks of socialism anyway.

Answer: The Office

2009-09-02T20:06:28Z

The Question:

What does death smell like?
From where does misery originate?
Where do good people go to die (I'm not talking about myself)

Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?

Just interesting...

2009-08-31T14:44:36Z

EA: ’Portable Games Hardware Now Outnumbers Consoles By 2-to-1’
Electronic Arts officer Rich Hilleman has told a conference in the UK that portable gaming hardware now outnumbers consoles by 2 to 1.
Noting the success of the DS, PSP and iPhone, Hilleman slammed the price of producing console games has rocketed, with marketing costing up to three times more than the development of a title.

The EA chief also said although the firm makes $35 on a $60 video game, it needs to sell 1.1 million copes to break even. And with piracy and second sales at a high, new games have just six weeks to sell.

http://www.gamersdailynews.com/story-13183-EA-Portable-Games-Hardware-Now-Outnumbers-Consoles-By-2to1.html

Utah’s governor Gary Herbert is an idiot.

2009-08-28T19:47:17Z

"We don't have to have a rule for everybody to do the right thing. We ought to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do."

If that were true, we wouldn’t need laws.

Herbert said. "Where do you stop? That's the problem going down that slippery road. Pretty soon we're going to have a special law for blue-eyed blondes."

“Slippery road?”

The same slippery road that tried to equalize the supposedly “free” black man?
The same ones that allow a woman the chance to work and make it on her own?—without a man?
That protects your right to believe…whatever the hell you want?
That gives the disabled a chance….rather than being locked away in some (hell) hole?
That gives your daughter the opportunity to play sports?
The Slippery road that means a capable older worker can find a job?

Fuck you Herbert…you dumb son-of-a-bitch!

District 9 is --- Ok

2009-08-23T21:09:28Z

Can I still be counted among the geeks of the world if I say that I didn’t care for the movie District 9?

To be fair, I probably don’t qualify for that title anyway despite what my family may believe. Yes I love tech industry news and yes I work on a computer nearly every day, but the reality is that I’m a simple blue-collar dude (dud?) whose manufacturing line doesn’t put me behind a mechanical device, but an electronic one. Hey, I just got broadband a week ago---welcome to 1999.

I thought the movie was going to be about race-relations with a strong resemblance to the atrocities of apartheid. The first (teaser) trailer I saw for the movie was brilliant, showing a “prawn” being interrogated by an unknown (clearly government) agency.

Sadly…the movie doesn’t make any headway on that promise and disintegrates into fairly typical summer movie fodder.

Despite having everything they need to go home, the “prawns” survive in miserable conditions aboard the supposedly stranded ship.
Of the tens, if now hundreds of thousands of “prawns” aboard the ship, only three (two adult males and a child) seem to have the wherewithal to rise above simple and primitive living.
Somehow the government can’t find the garage sized spaceship that falls from the mother ship on live TV.
The “prawns” are clearly stronger and faster than the humans, yet fail to capitalize on that fact in a more meaningful way.
The “prawns” have fantastic weapons that would certainly provide advantage in battlefield conditions, and do nothing with ‘em.
I like science fiction…I believe that the writers of science fiction often create our future. But to morph from human to insect?----come on.
I wonder who was the first person to popularize the top-heavy bipedal mech? What a dumb idea.

There was opportunity with this movie to be something great, but in the end it was just more of the same.

In a 5 star rating system, I give the movie a 3 for being perfectly average fair.

If you only bloom once...bloom big baby!

2009-08-20T18:45:59Z

What I got from Obama in Colorado--I paraphrase

2009-08-18T00:07:05Z

Stimulus

1/3 Went to Tax Cuts---to persons and small business
1/3 Emergency Relief---things like unemployment insurance, cobra more.
1/3 Reinvestment—things like transportation projects

Medicare

No rationing of services
Save Money by
- Reducing subsidies to insurance companies
- Fixing problems currently in system.
  - Example: If under Medicare you get bad service and have to return, the government gets billed twice. Incentives for giving good care, and penalties for giving bad care

Medicaid

If you qualify now…you will qualify in the future.
Save costs by improving how individual doctors work, to make it more efficient and cost effective. Made a suggestion about sending tests out to additional specialists, to reduce the overall number of pointless costly tests.
Improve preventive care…that saves big money in the long run.

How to Pay

2/3 by eliminating subsidies to Insurance companies.
1/3 might come from increasing taxes to those earning over $250K
Notes that the previous administration pass a prescription drug bill that ran into 100’s of billions of dollars----but never paid for it, just rolled it over. We can’t get something for nothing…and yes, it will have a cost.

Government Take Over

No. A government option plan would still be paid for by the user, NOT the taxpayers. Most people likely to remain with their current providers.

Doctors and Hospitals will loose money

Incentives for smarter care to reduce costs and maintain profits
The Savings of preventative medicine will help save money across the board, and especially in emergency care.

What about Small Businesses

Many small businesses want to provide care, but cannot get affordable coverage because of their small workforce. They would be able to buy into the public option, which because of the larger numbers covered, would reduce the cost to the employer.

Props—Obama asked for a hard question to end it all up with.