Been on an Alien tear today...and I ain't talking Mexicans.

So, when exactly are the aliens going to land. Seriously. Have you ever heard of Phil Schneider? Just in case the answer is no, I am going to embed a Youtube video with this post. Phil said some crazy stuff. We are currently at war with the aliens, and up to nine different civilizations of them. They have a base under New Mexico. They have a base on the moon. One of them waved his hand, and lightning came out and hit Phil.

Phil sounds batsh$t crazy, doesn't he? One problem: If Phil is full of it, why were there 13 attempts on his life after he began talking about the government's lies about what he claimed is going on? And why was he eventually found dead in what was supposedly a suicide, with no suicide note. Phil was known to have told people that if he ever committed "suicide", he was murdered. In fact, I'm going to post two videos. The top one is a NASA video, and it sure as hell looks like we are shooting at a ship of some sort. The second is Phil. Watch the NASA video first and consider Phil with that video in mind. If you are too closed minded to consider the possibility that this is the truth, then don't waste your time. In fact, I think there is a fund-raiser for the new Bush library you may want to attend.

There it is. With one whole Digg!

Well done, gentlemen!!

Here we go again. Housing Bubble, Part II

Rumors are flying, although I haven't seen much on the net (yet). Apparently, there is going to be ANOTHER housing crash. I'm really not sure why few have picked up on this one yet - ok, ok, the extent of my looking for info was a Digg search. If it is not on Digg, no one knows about it.

There is another questionable mortgage product, like the ARM's that caused the first bubble crash, that is coming due for adjustment in January. I actually do not even know what this product is because the person who told me didn't want to explain it all, (He works for one of the financial institutions that is to blame for much of this, and he feels a certain sense of shame.) but it sounds like maybe the first round of inadvisable 5/1 ARM's are ready to adjust for the first time. The timing makes sense. It was about 5 years ago that the ridiculous run on real estate started, and I know that the 5/1 - the rate is locked for the first 5 years and adjusts annually after that - always looked more attractive to me then the 2/1 or straight ARM. The idea, of course, is that a 5 year fixed period gives one plenty of time to refinance into a 15 or 30 year fixed mortgage. The problem - hindsight being 20/20 - is when the mortgage market tanks and you can't refinance, or you can't afford the fixed rate because you have no job, or you are upside down on the 5/1 so no one will finance enough to cover the balance, you are screwed.

Well, the first round of people who landed in that crappy boat are now facing the adjustment of their rate. And they are still upside down and unemployed. Here we go again.

What's another trillion between bankers. And republicans. Thanks GOP, we really love getting raped by you guys.

Yeah, I'm lazy. F#@$ Microsoft

So, I fired up the old PC this morning, and attempted to open Google Chrome. Oh, Snap. Adobe Flash crashed. And, Lo and Behold, Vista began another forced Microsoft update. Ok, then. Another Microsoft update that royally screws up other companies software. And it just happens to be Google. The Flash plug-in still works perfectly with Firefox, and I'll bet it works great with IE, too. (Although, I never use IE, so I wouldn't know.) I immediately reinstalled Chrome, but I'll bet some people are still confused about what to do, or just too lazy/busy to do a reinstall right now. I wonder how much browsing traffic MS just drove away from Google? Chrome is supposed to have 1%+ of the total browsing market. In percentage terms, not a lot. In raw volume terms, that is millions or billions of pages per hour.

This of course leads to the next question: When are people going to get totally fed up with MS? I realize that it is only a small percentage of users that understand what is going on. Many people don't know the difference between an OS and a browser. So, they just toil on with Microsoft's crap. I'm using Vista now, because I am being forced to. I use software for work that is not available for Linux or anything but XP or Vista.

And, therein lies the problem. Microsoft has the best API's and "hooks" in the OS for programmers. Sorry open sourcers, but it is true. I use Open Office, and like it, but it looks like it is 10 years old compared to Office 2007. Does that make a difference to me? No. Does that make a difference to a typical user? Sad to say, yes. What is the one major difference between XP and Vista for 90% of users? Aero Glass. And most users (not POWER users) like Vista better then XP. Why? Aero Glass. Makes no difference to productivity, in fact it hurts productivity as the computer slows for programs that don't support it.

Windows sucks. Can we fix the problem people.

Sansa! The answer to iTunes.

iTunes sucks. Flat out crappy software. iPods, on the other hand, are great pieces of hardware. But iTunes id so bad, that there is an entire community of people desperate for options. (see anythingbutipod.com)

Sandisk may be here to save the day. The Sansas are great devices with better, if not perfect, software. I have both an e280 - which is being phased out - and a new Fuze.

The good:
Sansas can be loaded with tracks through Windows Explorer. I do most of my music work on a new Toshiba laptop, packing a core2duo proc. iTunes runs about as quickly as Photoshop CS3 would on a 486dx. Then, it hacks my albums up into a total mess on any iPod I've ever had. (For the record: I have had, at one point or another, an iTouch, a Nano, and 2 iPods) I like electronic music. Which means that I have many DJ albums, in which each track has a different artist, but it is meant to be a continuous mix by said DJ. iTunes is not smart enough to figure that out. My mixes all end up labeled as 12 or 13 different albums. There goes listening to a full album as it was meant to be listened to. Sansas work (almost) perfectly in this respect.

Sansas work with WMA tracks. Ever rip a CD into Windows, and try to put it on an iPod? iTunes has to reconvert every track into AAC, since iPods don't play nice with WMA. And don't forget that every track you rip now has to live on your HD twice, unless you want to live with the new organization system imposed by iTunes, and you want to do everything with that music in iTunes.

Sansas easily match the iPod in terms of sound quality. Yup, you read right. Most players have crappy sound compared to an iPod. The sansa players are equivalent, and the earbuds that Sandisk ships with them are BETTER than the factory iPod buds. I have been offered $50 aftermarket Sony earbuds as a trade for my Sansa buds, and turned the trade down. Well done on the buds, Sandisk.

The Bad:
I do have to knock Sandisk for the video features on these players. They will not play MP4 video out of the box. That sucks. (Yeah, I know that was supposed to be added to the Fuze, but I've tried to convert videos using many different settings, and the only successful conversions I've done have been in Sansa Media Converter.) Adding generic MP4 support would be a huge bonus.

All said it is a great option for Windows users who are tired of the crap they have to deal with on the iPod.

So, about old Warren..

Mr. Buffett is now the president's transitional economic advisor, alongside a series of economic superstars. Not sure he needs all the help - just being a democrat is enough to fix the economy, according to history - but it's nice to have all those brains working on the problem. Something needs to happen fast, but that should not lead to the massive handouts some of the business community (read: car manufacturers) want.

Sorry guys, but it is time to let the auto industry in America die a merciful death. These guys have been burning up money, building sub-standard cars for how many years now? It's wonderful that the remaining employees in Detroit are able to make $75 an hour installing seat belts, but at what cost? 50 - 60 billion taxpayer dollars this round? Toyota, Honda, Hyundai all are successfully building affordable, reliable cars in America. And those folks in Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee are happy to take home $20-$25 an hour. It's not like the Japanese and Koreans are running sweatshops over here. They - intelligently - have their factories in places where labor is reasonable and the government isn't appointed by the union leaders. Yes, unionites I've had an assful of you guys too. I live in a right to work state and the wages suck, but people have jobs and the business community is GROWING. Take note union states. If there aren't any jobs, it really doesn't matter how much people are getting paid.

I'm officially excited about Obama

This guy is going to make a good president. I thought he might, but actions do speak louder than words. Look to the people he is appointing. He's made some seriously good choices.

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State:

This one not only brings many of the people who supported her presidential run back on board, but it also makes our meaningful allies back on board quick. I mean some of Eastern Europe liked Bush (lotta good that did Georgia, but that is a different story) but Western Europe has been pining for the days of Bill since like 10 minutes after 9/11. She has pull over there. Only complaint: The Middle Eastern nations that we need so desperately to deal with diplomatically won't take a woman seriously. But Condi had the same problem, so overall it is still a major improvement.

Tomorrow: Warren Buffett as Chief Financial Advisor.