Supply and demand

Posted on June 30, 2009

I don’t know about this, but it seems strange/odd. Maybe it’s the economy or something.

At work, I ordered an HP LaserJet printer from a vendor a couple of weeks ago. Shipments from this vendor usually arrive in a few days, so yesterday I sent them an email asking where they expected to ship the printer. Two weeks is a long time for this vendor, so sending an inquiry seemed appropriate. Their reply was received a few hours later, saying there were supply problems and HP notified them it would be 6 – 8 weeks before the printer shipped. That’s a lifetime, so I’ll be shopping around at other vendors for something that isn’t HP. The annoyance factor is their website doesn’t mention if something is in stock or not. It just has the “Add to cart” button.

Last week, I ordered a replacement video card for my MacPro. A day or two later, the company sent me an email saying it would be a few extra days because they had it on backorder with the supplier. Yesterday, they sent me an email saying they were having a hard time finding a source for this card.

If each order was late separately, it wouldn’t seem so strange. This makes me wonder if there is a shortage of something going on. Shipping? Silicon? Simple coincidence?

Review Haiku – #amazonfail

Posted on April 12, 2009

What’s Amazon Rank?
Protect people from ‘bad’ books
Can’t read if can’t see

Amazon Rank at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

More info in my previous post here.

How Amazon failed authors and customers

Posted on April 12, 2009

Probably the best place to start is here, with Mark Probst’s description about how Amazon has treated LGBT books – by delisting them from sales ranks. He points out the books were lumped categorized as ‘adult’ even if they had nothing to do with erotica. Meta-writer has been collecting a list of the delisted books, showing that it includes non-fiction books dealing sexuality.

So the Twitterverse has sort of exploded in #amazonfail. Reactions range from regret, anger, and disbelief. Generally, I like Amazon, but this idea is as misguided as it is misapplied. Doing my own research shows the delisting is inconsistent – quite a few books have different editions, so some editions appear to be delisted, while others are not. Still, it’s hard to see how Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Story of O can be delisted, while Tropic of Cancer still has its sales rank. Even some editions of Brokeback Mountain have been delisted. What delisting means is that it doesn’t matter how well a book sells, Amazon will not list it if they think it is ‘adult’ themed. If a book is not listed, it won’t show up in a general search of a topic, or it will appear very low in the search rankings.

I look forward to Amazon correcting, or at least clarifying their position. It’s a PR mess, so I expect they’ll get on it soon.

In the meantime, while I’m not a big believer in boycotts, I’m beginning to think Amazon doesn’t want my money, because they apparently don’t value my taste in books. Twitter hasn’t failed, because the twitterers have offered many alternatives, such as:

• Amazon Bookstore – A feminist bookstore in Minnesota
• Powell’s Books – An independent bookstore in Oregon
• Tattered Cover – One of the biggest things I miss about Colorado *sniff*

Of course, there are many, many more alternatives. Just check your local phone book and see.

Can’t forget to mention Smart Bitches Trashy Books idea about Amazon Rank, and here is a direct link to the definition itself. You can spread the word by passing this URL http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/amazonrank/ to your friends.

Vendée Globe

Posted on January 31, 2009

Over the past few months I’ve been following the Vendée Globe boat race. It’s a solo circumnavigation of the world in a sailboat, and the winner is due to arrive in the port of Les Sables d’Olonne in France. With a lead of a few days (more than 1200 nautical miles) over his nearest competitor, the only way Michel Desjoyeaux could lose now would be to sink. He will have gone around the world in 83 days, which is a solo sailing record.

Pragmatism

Posted on January 18, 2009

In these days prior to the inauguration, it’s not surprising there are tons of articles about him. There are two articles worth noting, however.

Obama dominates ‘King Sunday’ at black churches – Monday the 19th is Martin Luther King Day and Tuesday, January 20th is Inauguration Day. In predominantly black churches, the article states, Sunday the 18th was as much a celebration of Barack Obama as it was of Martin Luther King, Jr. Four decades after MLK’s assassination we will witness a partial fulfillment of his dream. It seems poignant that the United States of America will swear in Pres. Obama a day after we celebrate the Rev. King.

As challenges mount, ardor for Obama cools abroad – The title is a little misleading, since the article isn’t about people disliking him. In the face of number of challenges facing the incoming President, people are becoming more realistic in their expectations. While many things written about Obama over the past year have bordered on hagiography, people are beginning to realize he won’t be able to fix everything. Put another way, the expectations were too many and too large. “The idealism has diminished,” said Samuel Solvit, who heads an Obama support network in France. “Everyone was dreaming a little. Now people are more realistic.”

In general, I’m optimistic about the future of our country, yet mindful that we have some serious challenges ahead that will take years to solve.

Captains of industry

Posted on December 22, 2008

The true test of a ship’s captain isn’t how well he handles the ship in calm seas. The real test of a captain is how well he handles a ship during a storm.

Thinking about the multimillionaire or billionaire CEO’s whose companies are seeking government handouts, it’s possible many of them aren’t very capable at the helm. They might look good on paper if their companies were prosperous during good times, but that’s because they were able to float on the currents of a buoyant economy. The storm has come and it’s time for the executives to show their value. Will they be able to navigate the perilous straits with their companies intact, or will they wind up on the rocks? Are they the rats who leave a sinking ship, knowing it’s in trouble, or are they the captains who go down with the ship, because they bound their fate to that of the ship?

Even good captains can have bad outcomes, but as leaders they are thoughtful enough to know their decisions can affect thousands of employees, customers, and vendors. They know the consequences of bad decisions, and will keep trying to right the ship, even if it’s a lost cause.

A rat, however, thinks only of itself and can’t be trusted. They keep working as long as the money’s good, and need bonuses as motivation to do their jobs. Maybe they don’t understand bonuses ? entitlements. If a CEO requires bonuses to stay on board, the company is probably better off with someone else at the helm.

If the CEO’s can guide their companies through the turbulent seas of the global economy until they reach calmer market conditions, then those CEO’s should be rewarded for their skill. Bonuses and perks should be given to those who’ve earned them, and merely occupying a chair (CEO, COO, etc) shouldn’t be enough to earn a bonus.

Given the current economy, success will be measured by survival, not by the bottom line.

Open primaries

Posted on May 5, 2008

A few years ago I found about open primaries. I’m an independent, but a friend of mine who worked the polls told me that independents could also vote in primaries in Indiana, but they had to choose one primary to vote in. In other words, an independent could vote in a Democratic primary, but not a Republican, or could vote in a Republican primary, but not a Democratic one. Sounded like an interesting idea, but it didn’t seem to matter too much…until now.

When I found out that the Indiana primaries were in May, I figured they would all be decided and it would be a waste of time to bother voting in the primary. Years ago, I would have supported McCain over Bush. I like the idea of having an armed-forces veteran in the White House. McCain, Kerry, and Gore are all Vietnam veterans, while Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard, which isn’t quite the same thing. However, the economy is going to be a bigger issue in this campaign than the War in Iraq. The war is still an important issue, but the economy will certainly affect more people than the war does. I don’t know anyone in the armed forces at the moment, but I do know the price of groceries seems to be going up a bit. Even though gas prices don’t affect me directly (don’t own a car), I know that the cost of transportation is figured into the prices of things in stores, and as gas prices go up, so do the prices in the stores. The reason I’m not likely to vote for McCain this time around is because he admitted the economy wasn’t his strong point (This was around he time Mitt Romney was still in the race). McCain might be a good War President, he might be a good leader (despite the occasional foot-in-mouth issues), but I think the economy needs more attention at the moment.

Anyway, since McCain has the Republican nomination pretty much sewn up, I can turn my attention to the Democratic candidates. If I vote in the primary tomorrow (today) it will be for Obama. My first thought about him years ago during the Democratic convention was that he is a hell of an orator. However it takes more than speeches to be a good president. I was a little worried about his experience until I found out he served for many years in the Illinois legislature. It also dawned on me that a lot of others (George Bush and Bill Clinton, for example) also lacked experience yet won the White House. I think who he picks for a running mate and for cabinet positions will be important in winning in November. My suggestions woud be Wesley Clark (a retired general) or Bill Richardson ( a former diplomat).

Despite the fact that his campaign has been sending me junk mail, I can relate more to Obama than I can to Clinton. Obama’s parents divorced when he was young. He went to a bunch of different schools and moved around a lot. His family even got Food Stamps when he was younger, which is something I also remember. I have a lot of respect for someone who can go from a childhood like that to eventually become a senator or even president. Even if I don’t vote tomorrow, I wish him luck.

Summer in the city

Posted on May 5, 2008

Now that classes are over and I don’t begin again until August, I’ve been thinking of some things to do over the summer. As mentioned previously I’m scheduled to take the GRE this week. Once the grades for that arrive, then it’s a matter of making a formal application for grad school. Still, those things won’t occupy much of my time, so it’s a matter of figuring out what else to do.

My office and apartment both need Spring cleaning, so I think that is what I will work on this week, at home and at work. Actually, cleaning the apartment might go into next week. Calling it dirty would be giving it too much credit. I’ll try to work in sections and see how that goes.

I’ve also given myself a reading list for summer. Some have to do with the idea that I’m going to be a grad student (knock on wood) and should bone up while I have the chance:

• Surviving your Thesis by Susan Burton
• Developing Multicultural Educators by Jana Noel
• The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker
• Reflections on Language by Noam Chomsky
• Language and Responsibility by Noam Chomsky
• Formulaic Sequences: Acquisition, Processing and Use by Norbert Schmitt
• Formulaic Language and the Lexicon by Alison Wray

I’ve read the last two already while researching a paper last Fall. Since I keep thinking about that subject, it may be the basis of my thesis. I’ve never read Chomsky before, even though he is supposed to be very influential in Linguistics. What often happens is people will describe what they think Chomsky said or wrote, and they are only mentioning what is needed to support their point. To get my own idea about what his ideas are, I figured I should actually read his books. The other books caught my eye for some reason.

I also plan on reading House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, and maybe Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. When I read novels, they usually only take a day or so to read, so that idea should hold for these books, but not the ones up above. Hopefully, this will take care of all, or most of the summer.

It has begun…

Posted on April 23, 2008

It’s election time, so that means…junk mail. Since I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio, I guess that’s about the only way I will encounter candidate ads. Strangely, the only junk mail I’ve received for elections is from Democratic candidates.

It’s strange for two reasons. First, I’m an independent and not registered with any political party. One of the reasons I became an independent (years ago) was to cut down on the junk mail. Guess it works differently in Indiana. The other reason it’s strange is because I only get junk mail from the Democrats. They’ve got more to spend, but for a party that likes to pride itself on being environmentally friendly, they seem to send a lot of trash (literally and figuratively). Maybe the environment is secondary to getting the word out, but it seems like those spam e-mails that promise anti-spam solutions – the message contradicts the medium.

For what it’s worth, this particular piece of mail came from the Obama campaign. Since the primary (I’m an independent, remember) is in two weeks, I expect a lot more junk mail will be in my mailbox until then.

Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on

Posted on April 18, 2008

Last night/this morning I felt my bed shaking. Since I was groggy, I wasn’t sure if I was still in a dream. I rolled over and saw it was about 5:30 am, and I more-or-less determined the bed really was shaking. I also had some wine last night with some classmates, so I thought that might be playing a part – sort of a delayed bed spinning. “The Exorcist” also came to mind. I sat up in bed and the shaking subsided. Still being tired, and not sure about much of anything, I made my to the lav and relieved myself. I thought about staying up but I was still drowsy, so back to bed it was. The alarm clock is set for 6:02 am, but I usually hit the snooze button two or three times before getting up. Got to work a few minutes early and checked CNN and found out it was an actual earthquake. A 5.2 hit someplace in Illinois and was felt as far north as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, as far south as Georgia, and as far east as Ohio (How often do you hear of Ohio being referred to as Far East?).

About 11:30, I was on the phone with someone at work and my desk started swaying. This is good sized desk that’s a bit top heavy because of some bookshelves, but it’s not prone to excitement, so when it starts moving it’s pretty noticeable. Turns out there was a 4.5 aftershock. Feeling an earthquake when you are asleep is one thing. It woke me up, but it was barely recognizable as an earthquake. Many people I talked to today didn’t even know there was a quake. Some people didn’t even feel the aftershock. I think people who were out walking probably wouldn’t have felt it, because it was pretty minor too. One lady at work mentioned a flower vase in her office moved a few inches during the aftershock.

It’s nothing compared to what they get in California, but it’s big new for the Midwest because we rarely get quakes big enough to be felt over a long distance. Apparently there was a 5.0 quake in 1968 in the area. The New Madrid fault line in Missouri has had an estimated 8.0 earthquake in the 1800s, before we knew much about seismography and such. Legend has it the quake was powerful enough to cause church bells to ring in Boston, although it knocked down a few houses in New Madrid itself. On the other hand, there were only a few homes there to be knocked down at the time.

For the Midwest, it was an eventful day.

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