Pictures of Florida during Depresssion

http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/photo_exhibits/migrant/dining.cfm

Microsoft Security Essentials

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Microsoft has officially released "Security Essentials" which replacing their very effective Windows Defender spyware protection and adds Anti-Virus protection.

It seems to be unobtrusive, and should be effective, with multiple updates per day. Absolutely Free.

We will be switching to this on all of our home machines, which, uhm, currently totals 5 machines running six Windows operating systems.

Is available for XP, Vista and Windows 7

Eric on the field

The Mae West President

The Mae West Presidency at Donald Sensing's blog

I think what we are witnessing is a combination of two factors:

• A Mae West personality coupled with,
• The return of the Peter Principle

We have here a Mae West presidency, which I illustrate with two quotes of the platinum blondeshell:

1. It's better to be looked over than overlooked.

2. There's no such thing as bad publicity.


...
At one's level of incompetence, the manager or leader occupies his time with tasks below the level necessary for the office and hopes that staffs can pull success's rabbit out of the hat. (This helps explains why Obama has so many czars.) Couple that with Obama's inherent inability to measure success by any standard other than getting personal attention from as broad a swath as possible, and you see that the Oval office is occupied by a weak, ineffectual leader unable to perform at the level required.

As others have exhaustively pointed out, there is nothing at all in Obama's resume that shows he ever made highly difficult decisions that depended, at the end, on his own personal reservoir of wisdom and experience. So he does not tackle the inbox because its contents are above his competence. (One is reminded of Obama telling Rick Warren that when an unborn child gets human rights is "above my pay grade.") He tends instead to lesser matters that match his lower level of competence and gratifyingly feed the ego. And so he flies to Copenhagen to deliver a speech of no significance on a matter of no consequence. Why? Because he can do that - simply standing in front of a crowd reading eloquently from a teleprompter he can handle quite well.

And it gets him front and center in the international media. It's a twofer.

Sweet Little Video

YouTube - GoD And DoG by WJ Francisco

I don't know how to post the picture -

Favorite Firefox Add-Ons

http://www.xmarks.com/

Backup and synchronize bookmarks within Firefox and Internet Explorer. I have been using for about a year to keep four different installations of Firefox synchronized. Now when I add or delete a link on any machine I run Firefox on the others are automatically synchronized.

Zappos.Com

I was listening to a Podcast at work that mentioned that Amazon had purchased Zappos.com

I hadn't been there in ages, but have been slipping and sliding on the slippery streets and sidewalks of Winter Park. My very comfortable Croc sandals have not only lost all their tread, but have been discontinued (because they easily lose their tread?)

So I wandered over to Zappos and found a pair of Teva sandals to try (they may be expensive, but they are really hard to wear out the tread!) That was yesterday afternoon around 5:00 PM. Betsy called after lunch today to say I had a box from Zappos at the front door.

Why do we need shopping malls?

Good article on why we are where we are today

Crisis of a House Inflated — The American, A Magazine of Ideas:

". . . the federal government set out to “solve” a national problem which did not exist and in the end created a national and even international financial problem whose existence is as undeniable as it is painful."

Realty Times - Dear Homeowner:

". . . lately I've been hearing about how appraisers caused this mess and how homeowners should be helped to stay in their homes even if they can't afford them. I'm hearing that my tax dollars and those of my children and grandchildren are going to be used to help people like you who lived way above their means and are now crying foul. It hurts to think that after all the fun you had with the bank's money and with no prospect of making good on the legal contract you signed to pay it back, that you can't just take your lumps and rent for awhile. It would be the honorable thing to do."

The Ruins Project

We have started a blogger diary of the purchase and update of our new home that we have dubbed "The Ruins Project."

There is a permanent link off to the right side of this blog.

Apollo XI -- Forty Years Ago Today

http://wechoosethemoon.org/#

Is live-streaming the entire event over the Internet.

Omnivoracious: The Best Books of the Year So Far

Omnivoracious: The Best Books of the Year So Far

Xylophonia!

Eric and Erik and Connor and Amber and Marrissa

Florida Southern College Band Camp, Saturday June 27, 2009

Percussion Tryouts for Wind Ensemble This Thursday

UPDATE: Eric has accomplished his two big band goals. He has successfully auditioned for both the WPHS Wind Ensemble and made the marching band drum line on snare. Good job Eric. Look forward to the duet with the elephant.

Wish Eric well. The competition is huge.

What the Future of American Motoring Will Look Like

Special Bonus Peek at future Diversity Training meets Global Warming

Home Prices in U.S. Drop Most on Record in Quarter

Home Prices in U.S. Drop Most on Record in Quarter (Update3) - Bloomberg.com

Home prices in the U.S. dropped the most on record in the first quarter from a year earlier, led by California and Florida, as banks sold foreclosed properties.

Prices dropped in 134 of 152 metropolitan areas, with the deepest declines in Cape Coral and Ft. Myers, Florida...
“In areas with the biggest price declines, we also see much higher levels of distressed sales which are distorting the data,” he said.
The steepest price decline was in Cape Coral-Fort Myers, down 59 percent from a year ago, followed by Saginaw, Michigan, with a 54 percent drop. The next biggest decreases were Akron, Ohio, with a 48 percent decline; San Francisco, down 43 percent; and San Jose, California, with a 42 percent drop.
The largest sales gain from a year ago was in Nevada, up 117 percent; followed by California which rose 81 percent; Arizona up 50 percent; and Florida with a 25 percent increase.
Those four states accounted for the 26 highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based seller of real estate data.

David's Birthday Present

Amazon.com: Garmin nuvi 265WT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Bluetooth & Integrated Traffic Receiver: Electronics



It features:

> Both speed limit and current speed on the front screen
> BlueTooth so I can answer my phone on the way to work
> Can acquire satellites in less than 20 minutes
> Includes all US maps so I don't have to keep downloading them when I travel.

The Swine Flu Has Us All On Edge

Obama Spending Cuts Demonstrated

Ford Fusion hybrid hypermiles, goes 1,445 miles on a single tank

Ford Fusion hybrid hypermiles, goes 1,445 miles on a single tank

While not nearly as fun as fast high g-force acceleration, here are tips for saving on fuel from the article:

CleanMPG.com founder Wayne Gerdes, an engineer from Illinois who coined the term "hypermiling" to describe the mileage-maximizing techniques, provided the pointers. They include:

* Slowing down and maintaining even throttle pressure;
* Gradually accelerating and smoothly braking;
* Maintaining a safe distance between vehicles and anticipating traffic conditions;
* Coasting up to red lights and stop signs to avoid fuel waste and brake wear;
* Minimize use of heater and air conditioning to reduce the load on the engine;
* Close windows at high speeds to reduce aerodynamic drag;
* Applying the "Pulse and Glide" technique while maintaining the flow of traffic;
* Minimize excessive engine workload by using the vehicle's kinetic forward motion to climb hills, and use downhill momentum to build speed; and
* Avoiding bumps and potholes that can reduce momentum

Source of Swine Flu Identified