Hunting The Muse

House

I can't believe I'm buying my house at a freaking Starbucks.

House

Well, after much pain and gnashing of teeth, I was able to overturn the decision to decline my mortgage loan. Hooray!

Long long ago, someone made a credit entry for a Kurt Sissert - not even close to my name. But it was enough for one of the credit companies to return two scores for one SSN - a good score (for my real name), and a zero for good old Kurt Sissert. It turns out that the underwriter pulled the wrong number. Really, they're supposed to take a closer look, but they didn't.

The other one still fell afoul of the "low credit activity" thing, because I've only been using debit cards for the last six months. But, after me coming down on my broker and a lot of phone calls, we were able to pull it through.

I sign on Monday, I think, but we went ahead and made a rental agreement, so I spent my first day in the house today. Hooray! Possessions get moved over in a couple of days. Turns out I might be a homeowner by my birthday (Friday) after all!

Geek details: I decided to use Comcast for cable internet, with an Airport for wireless, and Vonage for my phone service. I got that all working today.

Olympic Anthems and Politics

A few posts ago I gave my nomination of posting of the year. Now I find a commentary by a print journalist so fascinating that as far as I'm concerned, it's the article of the year. I haven't had this good a time reading an article in months. Those of you who know me can probably figure out why - it's an exploration of the music theory choices behind the arrangements of the Olympic national anthems, and the political impact they have. There's incredible nuggets of trivia in there about Congress's attempt to legislate the music theory behind our own national anthem, about police threatening to arrest Igor Stravinsky for his arrangement of the anthem, and how Madame Butterfly is technically against the law in the state of Michigan. And don't miss Poland's protests that the Olympic arrangement of their anthem doesn't sound more like a march, when their anthem is in 3/4.

Great writing. I could read a book on this stuff.

SBVT - Bored Now

Yes, a left-wing 527 has the right to free speech and express their views in an ad. Yes, a right-wing 527 does too. The point is that they shouldn't lie. The SBVT ads are full of provably false lies. The left-wing ads aren't. There GOP is trying to make the two sides equivalent, and they aren't. One side lies, the other side doesn't.

I don't know how to solve it. If a group of passionate people unconnected to a campaign wants to put an ad on television, they should be able to do so. Maybe the penalties for lies should have more teeth somehow. Maybe there should be a vetting process. What stops up from putting up an ad up saying Bush ran from his responsibilities on 9/11 and tried to order Air Force One to Mexico, hid under his seat, cried for his Mommy the whole time, and tried to call up Osama to give our unconditional surrender? That's about the best parallel I can find. I really don't believe it happened like that, but any evidence otherwise could easily be spun as his defenders just playing politics and lying for him. It's ridiculous.

It's not the 527's that are the problem. It's the lies.

By the way, some people are saying that Bush ran from his responsibilities on 9/11 and tried to order Air Force One to Mexico, hid under his seat, cried for his Mommy the whole time, and tried to call up Osama to give our unconditional surrender. Why isn't the press asking George Bush about this? It really makes you wonder. Bush needs to address this scandalous charge.

Dole Explains Kerry Smear

MSNBC - Bob Dole on his recent criticism of John Kerry

Wolf Blitzer is a friend of mine on CNN.  He’d asked me three weeks in a row to come on the program.  I ducked him.  I finally said, “OK, I’ll go.”  I knew what he wanted to ask me.

More evidence of Blitzer being biased...

House News

Those of you following along know that I am buying a house. We've just been in dotting i's and crossing t's mode lately. Pre-approved, done with home inspection, done with appraisal, underwriting agreed that the house was worth the loan - we were just getting ready to sign the papers.

Today, my loan got declined.

Three years ago I had a fair amount of debt. I came out of college in '95 with student loans, several thousand in credit card debt, and a car loan. I had a job in California and had moved out of state to telecommute in an effort to have lower living expenses and get ahead with my money. After a few years, I was finally getting over the hump. I remember when I finally paid off the last of my debt, and then I was surprised at how relatively easy everything felt afterward, due to interest working for you instead of against you.

I basically let my credit cards rot because I was so sick of the games they play - charging you finance if you're late by a couple of days, charging you finance even if you pay your credit card in full, because of the interest that builds up while your check is in transit. My cards were paid off, my loans were paid off, and I owned my truck. I liked it that way.

For the last two years I have lived off of my debit card, with the exception of when I bought my laptop - I paid that off the next month.

My credit ratings have consistently been above 800, which is close to maximum. But on the final spot-check for the loan, they ran my credit again, and two of the reports came back blank. They were blank because I hadn't had much recent credit activity. So, my loan got declined.

In other words, this bank is not allowing me to buy a house, because I am too good with my money.

They're setting me up with another loan with higher interest rates that I can't refinance for three years. That's an extra $120/month. I guess I am high-risk because I pay off my debts. What a fucking stupid system.

Bush: Moral Coward

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: August 22, 2004 - August 28, 2004 Archives

Where do you nominate post of the year? Josh Marshall hits the nail on the head here, and it's almost physically relieving to read it. When an author is able to reframe an issue into something that just fits and clicks, and also happens to be correct, it makes things fall into place. Go read the post - he really gets going about halfway through.

One Word Blusters

Curt over at Hunting The Muse writes:

One thing I hate is when one blog quotes a really long entry from another blog, all in their blockquote box, repeating their point, and then simply says "Indeed." at the bottom. It's such puffery. As if by their mere repetition and approval, they bestow even more wisdom onto the quoted material. Every time I read it, it comes across as pretentious self-aggrandizement. Why even say it? Why not just leave the quote as-is? Let it stand, or contribute to the thought, don't place yourself out in front with nothing. What is the possible motivation in saying "Indeed." and nothing else? I think it's a foolproof way to tell the difference between a thinker and a poser.

Indeed.

Creep-Out Of The Day

John Titor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Titor was a supposed time traveler from the year 2036 who came back to the year 2000/2001 and left several internet bulletin board postings about who he was, how time travel was possible, and several vague bits of news about what would happen over the next few years. Among his predictions:

1. John gave technical details about his time machine that involved the use of mini-black holes. He stated that CERN would make an announcement pertaining to this within a year after he discussed it. In the fall of 2001, after John left, CERN issued a press release indicating the possibility of creating mini-black holes was realistic.
2. John stated the IBM 5100 computer had special abilities that were unpublished by IBM. Numerous IBM engineers have come forward to confirm this claim.
3. John made numerous comments about Constitutional and civil rights changing in the United States.
4. John stated that Mad Cow disease would arrive and be downplayed in the United States.
5. John stated that WMDs would not be found in Iraq years before a second war was even a possibility.
6. John stated that the Olympics would be canceled after 2004.

Whoa!

Coors Loves The Rockies

So I'm reading this vacation magazine about New Zealand. It's talking about the South Island, which has this stunning mountain range - the Misty Mountains or something. Evidently it's really popular for film shoots. The guide in the article mentioned that Coors was down there shooting a commercial. The commercial? "Nothing Tastes Like The Rockies".

Post Swift Boat Investigation

MSNBC - Swift boat accounts incomplete and flawed

The Washington Post completed an investigation into the swift boat accounts. Frustratingly, they use an even-handed tone in saying that both parties are withholding information, but the facts in the article disprove several SBVT allegations and don't disprove anything that the Kerry campaign holds to be true.

But here's the other thing that bothers me. What this really comes down to is the SBVT saying that Kerry misrepresented Vietnam veterans after the war - distorted the truth, etc. I just don't get that. What is their theory of his motivation for doing so? Why would he just make up things like that? I think that's where this falls apart; the argument about how many Vietnam veterans and commanders took part in war crimes. These SBVT are protesting against that allegation still because it is such an ugly truth, and so difficult to hear. The problem is that it doesn't mean it's not true, and they haven't offered forward a convincing motivation for Kerry to risk what he risked back then, just to make up stories. I think their problem is more that they believe that it was an abomination that he told the truth.

There's this whole stupid subdynamic about how Kerry's allegations back in 1971 dishonored every veteran; that if he mentioned that some soldiers or commanders were participating in war crimes, that it brought dishonor on every soldier (even though Kerry was clear that he wasn't speaking on behalf of all veterans or making accusations against all veterans). I understand that when you're in the active forces, you need to adopt the attitude that what is true for one is true for all, because it saves lives. But you'd think that they'd take a broader view after going home. Any time these men still make this argument that Kerry somehow dishonored any soldier that has ever put on a uniform, they do nothing except to undermine their own point and expose their own biases.

Polling Project

One of the projects I'll be working on in my spare time now that I've got my two todo projects launched is a poll site. Here's one such site that I just discovered - it is somewhat similar to what I've already implemented, but mine is going to support several different vote-counting systems as well.

What kind of piano should Curt buy?
	Steinway
	Charles Walter
	Yamaha
	Petrof
	Kawai
Free polls from Pollhost.com

A Career Is Launched

Funniest line I've read about Paul Hamm:

The kid will be a guest on Leno or vault over some dead body on "Law & Order" this fall.

Carly And Bob

I don't know who put in the greater effort: Carly Patterson in winning gold, or Bob Costas in trying to interview her afterward.

Oh well. I guess she went to the Olympics to win, not to make his job easy...

Todo Nest: Todo List With Dependencies

So I have another little web application prototype of a todo system. This one allows you to specify dependencies. One thing I've always hated about todo lists is that when you think of stuff to do, you often aren't enabled to do like three fourths of them. But then you have this massive todo list that looks overwhelming.

But if you can specify dependencies, then you could set it to only show you the todo items that you are enabled to do. Then when you cross one off, it would be replaced by the items that you are then enabled to do.

So I have a system like that now. It's not hierarchical; the todo items can have multiple parents, and multiple children.

And what's cool about it is that it generates clickable bubble graphs. Here's an example of my current list:

In the application, you can click on any of the bubbles to go to the page for that todo item.

So if you'd like to try it out, drop me a note. It uses the same membership database as my Checkin System.

Elsewhere, During The Rally

Here's a photo taken by the Portland Tribune...

Caption:

An unidentified supporter of President Bush tries to silence protester Kendra Lloyd-Knox (right) outside Southridge High School in Beaverton. Elsewhere in Portland, supporters of Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., rallied on the waterfront.

Olympic Gymnastics

I watched the team finals of women's gymnastics tonight. The announcers are bugging me - they talked a lot about the mistakes that the U.S. made as if it was the only explanation for the U.S. not winning, and that basically overshadowed what was a dominating performance by the Romanians. They won by seven tenths of a point, which seemed to be a pretty large margin. If Patterson hadn't have messed up on the uneven bars, and Kupets hadn't missed that combination on the floors, they still would have been behind, and those were the two big mistakes of the night.

"Zone" Music

Sometimes when it's time to sit down and program, especially when it's under a deadline for a client, I need a bit of help getting into the zone. Music helps.

Now, I have a bunch of music, but I have always had a serious bias towards music that wants me to hook into it and truly listen to it and feel it. A lot of modern classical music, a lot of singer-songwriter music that I have a personal connection to, etc. Even the instrumental jazz I have is a bit too interesting to fade into the background. All that means is that I don't have a very huge library of background music or study music.

Complicating that is that normal "background music" suuuucks. Easy listening, no way. New age, nope. I don't really even like techno because it makes me feel a bit too much like a geek.

Right now I only have two albums that are awesome for programming. One is Philip Glass' soundtrack to Kundun. The other is Peter Gabriel's Passion, the soundtrack to "Last Temptation Of Christ". Both of them are high quality music that don't demand attention, but help you get into a zone.

Anyone have other suggestions of good music for studying or programming? Given what it seems like I like and don't like?

Online Dating Article

I've had this weblog entry that has yielded a lot of discussion. For a while this entry was the number one google match for "eharmony sucks", although it's fallen a bit. Anyway, someone has since written an article about eharmony and I got quoted. That's always amusing. :) It's a well-written article by Joel Keller, go check it out.

Kerry In Portland

Some pics from the rally today. I didn't attend because of work. The crowds looked absolutely amazing, though. Wow.

AVP! AVP! AVP!

Alien Versus Predator is out!

Okay, I'm probably not going to see it.

But, check out its rating:

'Alien vs. Predator' is rated PG-13 for Violence, Language, Horror Images, Slime and Gore.

Oh, they fell afoul of the dreaded SLIME provision! If not for that, they might have had the ultimate prize, PG!

Bush Hysterical

From his new ad:

I can't imagine the great agony of a mom or a dad having to make the decision about which child to pick up first on September the 11th. We cannot hesitate, we cannot yield, we must do everything in our power to bring an enemy to justice before they hurt us again.

What is this, Sophie's Choice? This has got to be more and more transparent to swing voters.

Checkin System

One of the subjects I find myself thinking about a lot is how to track projects. It impacts many areas in life, from life management to politics. Regular readers have seen me write about these subjects before.

As a programmer it's my job to take complex requirements and narrow them down to simple concepts. Todo-item software has interested me for a while, and I've always been vaguely dissatisfied with kind of todo software you see in applications like Outlook and Entourage - due dates, percentage-done, etc.

In the background, I've been working on a registration and login system as an excuse to play around with new styles of software architecture. Now that I've finally developed a system that works for me, I'm able to rapidly develop new applications just to try them out.

I've got one of them online now - the app took a day for me to write, although much longer for me to integrate into the registration system and to launch.

It's an effort to explore one way of dealing with ongoing projects. Basically what you do is create a new subject that is an ongoing project. For me, I have things like "Buy House", and "Launch New Website". These are large projects that might not have a set due date, but require many different steps.

Then, within each of those projects, I identify several subdeliverables, and I make status updates. Any time I have news to report, I make a status update to contribute to the historical record of that project. Any time I complete a subdeliverable, I check it off.

Each time I finish with a session, I might update the "checkin" date. If I say two days from now, then the project disappears for two days.

Then basically what I do is I check in to the system whenever I want - sometimes a few times a day. The system checks to see which projects require my attention, and asks for my status updates. When I'm finished with the overdue projects, then it's considered all up to date, and I know I'm caught up with all my projects.

I've used this system for a couple of months now, and it works a lot better for me than any due-date/calendar system, where I'm always adjusting deadline dates and feeling irresponsible for it.

It's online now. It's just a prototype - poor graphic design and badly documented - but it is usable. If you're interested in trying it out and making suggestions, go ahead and drop me a note.

Will Smith, Politician

MSNBC - Will Smith may dive into politics

Good. Ever since the Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince days, I've always though this man to be one of the most prodigiously talented men in the country. He's been in a bit of a mainstream phase lately, where it's easy to underestimate him, but as an entertainer I've held him in as high estimation as I hold Steve Martin. I think he's really got something intangible in terms of potential. I'd love to see what he could really offer.

Bush Exposes Our Al Q'aida Mole?

Juan Cole summarizes the headlines of the last few days.

Bush announces a terrorist plot on Sunday about financial institutions. People scream about it being politics in response. Bush later says that the plot is corroborated by a third party. Bush names third party. Third party turns out to be a double agent that we had placed inside of Al Q'aida, and Bush just blew his cover.

That's the theory, anyway. If it's true, it is huge. Huge.

August 6th

In honor of August 6th, the anniversary of the infamous "August 6 Presidential Daily Brief", where Bush was told, "Bin Laden Determined To Attack Inside U.S.", I now repost my award-winning (in my own mind) computer game, which you can play right now through your web browser! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

George Bush and the PDB.

Tigger Acquitted

Tigger Is Not A Pervert.

Phew!

Colorado's Electoral Votes

It appears that my home state of Colorado is considering a twist on the Electoral College that could make the election even more exciting.

Colorado has 9 EV's. States are normally winner-take-all, and a candidate needs 270 EV's to win. Colorado has been pretty solidly for Bush lately, so they've been counting on those EV's.

Each state, however, is allowed to determine how to award those EV's. It doesn't have to be winner-take-all. What Colorado is considering doing is awarding them proportionally. So if Bush gets 55% of the vote and Kerry gets 45% of the vote, Bush would get 5 EVs and Kerry would get 4 EVs.

This could have a huge effect on the election given how close the two candidates have been. Bush only won 2000 by three EVs.

But what makes it even more exciting is that if it makes it on the ballot, which seems likely, we won't know if Colorado's EVs will be awarded proportionally until election night itself! The ballot will be voted on that night, and if it passes, the EVs will be awarded proportionally, and if it doesn't, it will be winner-take-all. This means that even if Colorado is firmly for one candidate or another, Colorado's EV picture could still be tight if the ballot measure results themselves are tight.

Now, is this generally a good idea? I think it is. It enfranchises more voters and gives them more of a voice within a state. Now, if California, a solid Democratic state, were considering it, I'd be a lot more worried, because California is a solidly Democratic state. So I can see how Republicans would be alarmed by this!

What would be a better approach is to have all states switch to this proportional method at once. Perhaps states could pass measures that would say that they would switch to the new method, but only as soon as a set number of other states do as well.

What would be even better is if they allowed fractional EVs. Otherwise, battleground states with an even number of EVs would be quite boring, while battleground states with an odd number of EVs would get all the action.

All in all though, this will have a large effect on future elections. If Colorado becomes proportional, and in future elections it is shown that the vote is pretty close, candidates aren't going to want to spend millions of dollars to fight over one puny EV - when otherwise they'd be fighting over nine.

Monitoring Polling Places

Monitor Polling Places

There are a lot of counties that are going to be using voting systems where there is significant opportunity for fraud that can't be proven afterward.

I started idly thinking about launching a website to publicly track communications with various counties and allow people to post status updates. It turns out some other folks are thinking along the same lines. This is one such site.

I Rented Hellboy

Hellboy was better than I thought it would be, but I had to return it really fast due to the by-noon return deadline. Then I read a review and found out there was a tiny bit of extra footage after the credits, that I didn't see. If you know what it is, could you leave a comment describing it?