Prosperity and Risk

On the heels of Missy's report, I ran across an interesting set of articles on a phenomenon that we've probably all seen. Worth reading.

"Los Angeles Times reporter Peter G. Gosselin has spent the last year examining an American paradox: Why so many families report being financially less secure even as the nation has grown more prosperous. The answer lies in a quarter-century-long shift of economic risks from the broad shoulders of business and government to the backs of working families."

Wingnuts Rock!

Well Steve, your sister - captain of industry that she is - was able to recover from the near fatal Littlefield Factory run. While Mike & I & Steve were in FL, I was working on what will be one of the final assignments for my MBA, a factory simulation. Connie & I were "Team Wingnuts." Wingnuts started out strong, but 2 days later I plunged us into near bankrupcy. I made a stupid, unresearched, bone-headed, impuse buy of a machine for our factory that we didn't even need. It depleted all our cash and left us no way to buy our inventory. It was horrible. Bad enough to do something that stupid to myself, but to take someone else down made me feel awful! What was I thinking??? Recognizing my hiddent talents, Mike quickly begged me to come to work for him.

There were many great suggestions: From Mike - Fire all the workers and run the factory ourselves. Fom Mom - Take our $64 Million golden parachutes & head for Tahiti. From Dad - Sell everything and close the factory. From Steve - buy Oracle's latest BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) software - (more graphs). Though the sales pitch was great, we were able to resist the temptation to implement more unneccessary software. Somehow, Connie managed to ignore the brilliant suggestions brought forth by the Harrises. She made the bold move to borrow cash at "Loan Shark Rates." At one point we were $535,000 in the hole and our big goal was to try to break even. (Mike was really proud of having spent all that money on my MBA just to find out my big goal was to be in 2nd to last place.) In the end Wingnuts rose from the ashes like a Phoenix. We finished in 12th place out of 16 teams with a cash balance of $1.34 million. All without the help of Oracle's BAM. WINGNUTS ROCK! Is school over yet?

It all happens here

Remember when you were a kid you had a friend that everyone seemed to congregate at his or her house. I remember helping myself to food and even cooking at walter woods house. Or that bottle rocket fight at Jimmy D's. I guess I never gave a second thought to the parents and what they thought. Now I am the parent and I have that house. I have stood by and watched my living room including my new wide screen tv turned into a video game parlor/hotwheel trading floor. I buy and prepare vast quantities of food only to see it devoured durring a 3 minute commercial break durring a nascar race.I Find myself using familiar cliche's like "turn that crap down" or "you've been drinking muddy water". And no kid who has been here much dares to exibit the slightest sighn of having the hiccups as I have managed to perfect that cure Dad always had. I have really enjoyed the whole thing and I like the Idea of Dan and his buddies hanging out here so I'm not complaining at all,but the party is over when I see the first bottle rocket inside the house.

Thanks for the help

I just went from mildly concerned to scared. Just kidding but your comments were very helpfull and have given me good info on how to conduct myself. I always suspected that Nigerian royal who keeps mailing me about his lost fortune. The link you sent was interesting and quite an eye-opener correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it be easier to get a job than go thru all that to steal. Now go mow the lower 40.

Rookie Mistakes -- Answers

Yes, it's scary out there! Since this is long, I thought I'd post it instead of respond in comments. On your specific questions:

1. Opening files with the warning about security certificates. Generally this is okay, as long as you know the company whose certificate is being used. That's actually the point. Many of these things are "plug-ins" for your browser -- sort of mini-computer-programs that allow your browser to display stuff or play sounds. The purpose of the prompt is to let you decide if you want to install something from the company that signed it. The "certificates" are very closely controlled -- it's effectively impossible for a scammer to represent himself as Microsoft. Let's say you're looking at a web site for new joists to replace the rotting one, and you click on something that is going to show you a movie of someone replacing a rotting joist -- doesn't this just get you excited! To view the movie, you need a plug-in. The web site might be set up to try to install it for you, to make it easier. Before that can happen, you're asked if you trust content from whatever company provided the plug-in. Companies like Microsoft or Macromedia or Yahoo or Google won't screw you, because they depend on your business. However, there are a bunch of scammers out there who are trying to get you to install programs that will do bad things, like scan your hard drive for information and then dial-out and give that information to the scammers. There are only a few plug-ins that are useful, and they all come from respected companies. If you don't recognize the company and you're suspicious, you should not install it. You can always look up the company using Google. If it's a scam, you'll find lots of hits like for people trying to get rid of it, cursing the company, etc. The most common scam approach is to sucker you into installing a tool bar to "enhance" your browser experience. They enhance your experience by popping up annoying ads in your face for every page you visit. This kind of thing comes under the general heading of "spyware". Falling prey to these things is not just a rookie problem. If you find yourself with one of these problems, you can download a free program called (ominously enough) Spybot - Search and Destroy. It will scan your computer for all known forms of this scurge, and get rid of them for you. There are commercial products that do this, too, and some of the anti-virus stuff is starting to do a better job at detecting it and helping you remove it.

2. Cookies. Only paranoid people disable cookies. I'd recommend enabling cookies. If you "accept" cookies (which I do by default), then any web site you visit can put a little identifier on your computer. Then, when you visit that web site again, your computer sends the thing back to the web site, and they can recognize that you were there before. The way web sites use these things varies. Do you use Amazon to buy anything? When you log in to Amazon, they put some unique identifier for you in a cookie. Then when you come back, they can tell who you are and present you with things like "Click here to see the status of your account". When you buy something, you can enable "one click shopping". Since they know who you are, you previously gave them your credit card number (and chose to allow them to store it for one-click shopping) and previously told them what your address is and your shipping preferences, they can ship everything to you without having to put all that stuff in again. Without cookies, they can't do it so easily. The evil side of cookies is that there is a way for advertisers to track which web sites you looked at. There is also a possibility that one of those spyware programs can grab up just the right cookie from your computer, and then someone can impersonate you and buy their little heart out at Amazon. Scary, eh? Except in the Amazon case, everything would be shipped to your house, so it's not quite the dream scam. Furthermore, since everyone is aware of this issue, companies you do business with, like EBay, will prompt you for username/password before letting you do anything online that should affect your bottom line or personal information. My bottom line on cookies is that disabling them is so annoying that it's not worthwhile.

3. Doing secure stuff from Yahoo. I haven't heard that one. As long as you're on a secure connection (https:// means it's a secure connection, and your browser has a little lock icon usually), then no hacker can intercept the information you supply as it goes between your computer and the site you're connected to. The increasingly problematic scam that goes on is something called phishing. In this scam, you get an official looking EMail from your bank that says something like "To improve the security of our systems, we need you to log in and verify your account information. Please click on this link and do so now to avoid being ripped off by evil scammers." That little link they provide you might even direct you to your bank's web site, or it might send you to one that just looks like it. In the former case, your bank let some hacker get in and exploit their lack of security. EBay and CitiBank seem to be the most popular targets for this phishing scam, and I have seen some incredibly real looking EMails from scammers purporting to be EBay and CitiBank. (I've also seen ones that are so obvious they make you laugh). Now how that warning about opening things from Yahoo came about, I don't know. Maybe people are doing this phishing thing for Yahoo online bill pay or something. If so, the moral of the story isn't to stop using Yahoo online bill paying services. The moral is not to believe some stranger asking you to do anything, any more than you would if they came to your door at home all dressed up in nice clothes.

Google is your friend on a lot of this stuff. If before falling prey to that alluring Citibank mail, you type in "Citibank scam" to Google, or you go to Citibank's web site and look, or you send them mail asking "is this the right thing to do?", you will not be taken in. For example, here is the first Google hit on the words "Citibank scam". Now, it's time to leave my public geeky persona, and go back to my secret life as a gentleman farmer.

Trying to avoid a rookie mistake

This is directed to Steve or Missy or anyone else who could answer a few simple questions regarding computers and internet communications. I have been sort of stumbling thru cyberspace on a trial and error bassis. Missy knows this because she has bailed me out before on a rookie mistake. Anyway I learn a little each time and move on. As time has gone on I now feel like I have created a situation where I need some security guidelines for myself to protect the information and assets I have out there. Missy helped me with reccomending virus protection software I have in place. But that won't protect me from myself making some stupid mistake. 1. Opening files that have a warning about the security certificate of the source seems like a stupid thing to do but I have done it. 2. I don't know what a cookie is but it sounds like a good way to open yourself up to problems so I havn't done it. 3. I recently heard someone say never open your bank act or other secure information sites from yahoo. I do it all the time. I hope I,m not breeching any Blog rules by talking shop to you computer pros but I thought I could get some good advice witout having to work to hard for it. And you can ask me about the best way to remove and replace that rotting floor joist or rafter any time. Missy willhave to come up with something else since she has that base covered. Maybe some surefire methods for beaver relocation

Traffic Accident in Naples

Well, not really. But you really should listen to this voice message. Here is an alternative link. The MP3 file is about 3MB. Supposedly, an operations manager for Jack in the Box was late for a meeting and called his boss to tell him he was running late. As he was leaving the voice mail message, he witnessed an accident and went on to provide play-by-play of the incident. Enjoy.

Calling all birdwatchers

Imbibing Before Taking Wing Not for the Birds (washingtonpost.com)Here is a kind of funny story I thought our bird watching family might enjoy. Sort of trajic but interesting. By the way the ceder waxwing is fairly rare around here but it is on my list. Steve I'll try my new linking technique when I have a bit more time.

Geeking Again -- Mysteries of Linking

Keith, you mentioned your comments had been lost. As the blogmeister, I can see some of what you typed. You wiped out one of the little angle brackets or something. Here's the brief story behind that weird notation used for links, which is the Hypertext Markup Language or HTML. When you want a link to look like this:

The Harris Online Blog

it looks under the covers like this:

<a href="http://harrisonline.blogspot.com">The Harris Online Blog</a>

When you use the "Blog This!" button (which is what I assume you're using), it takes the web page you're looking at and packages it up with all the proper thingies to make it look like a link like I did above. If you're not careful to leave the angle brackets in place when you type, it gets messed up. If you're adventurous, you can edit the stuff carefully, especially the text part that shows up as the link, and embed it in a sentence. That's all I'm doing in my posts. The other way to link is to highlight the text in your post and then choose the "link" button (the one that has a picture of a link in a chain). You can then type in the http:// type of location of what you want the text to link to, and the editing tool will do all the angle bracket html magic formatting for you. The tool you use on Blogspot to write posts has two tabs, one labeled "Edit HTML" and one labeled "Compose". The "Edit HTML" one shows you all the grimy angle bracket detail, and the "Compose" one (or the "Preview" link) shows you what it's supposed to look like when it gets posted.

More detail than anyone wanted, but there you go. I am sure that knowing this kind of thing will get you some kind of recognition at next year's Grouseland Dinner.

Reporting Washington style

Jeff Gannon Admits Past 'Mistakes,' Berates Critics (washingtonpost.com)

Faye Rae Meets Diane Fossey

More local interest news stories for you East Coasters, although I see AP has picked it up so it might end up in your local "only in California" sections of broadcast and print news. Koko the gorilla is a bit of a local celebrity here in the SF Bay area. Living in Woodside, also the home of Larry Ellison, Koko is famous for her communication abilities. It seems that employees of the Gorilla Foundation claim they were pressured to bare their breasts to Koko, described by the workers as "acts of bestiality". This kind of thing could spread like wildfire through the animal park industry. Visions of Kings Dominion adults-only tours come to mind.

If It's Fake, Is it News?

I'm sure you're all avid blog readers -- I mean beyond the Harris Online blog. Having worked my way a bit through the seven stages of grief following the election, I'm slowly going back to my obsessive blog reading behavior. With the recent revelations about Jeff Gannon aka James Guckert and his White House press pass access (I knew you guys needed another eBay fix, which is why I included this link), bloggers have once again beat the mainstream media to the punch. Reporting on reporting is so boring that only the bloggers would touch it. Anyway, for those of you with a taste for Jon Stewart, please enjoy his take on bloggers and the mainstream media.

Update 2/20: For a more thoughtful comment on the role of blogs in the media (on which the media seems constantly prone to making the usual overblown and usually uninformed comments), I thought this was interesting.

Not Your Grandmother's Origami

Since we've let Kyla rag on Hahvahd, it seemed like we ought to get her view on the Origami-obsessed MIT guys. You may be able to see this article without signing up to the NYTimes online, but I'm not sure.

Dr. Demaine, an assistant professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the leading theoretician in the emerging field of origami mathematics

Ride The Wild Surf

On the off chance that we might be able to goad those Hawaiian Harrises to post something, I thought I'd say that I just watched an hour long documentary called Ride the Wild Surf. Laird Hamilton (I'm sure A.J. knows who he is) and friends on Maui pretty much dedicate their lives to surfing the big waves, especially in a spot called, ominously enough, Jaws. The show was fascinating, actually. Put it on your list of shows to catch if you have Tivo. Better than one of those surfing videos, don't worry Dad! Aside from the insight into what makes someone want to do something so mind bogglingly dangerous, it included footage of hydrofoil surfing. I had never even heard of such a thing. What will those darn kids think of next!?!

A Small Reunion

It was only small in numbers, and it was a big event for Dad and me. Steven was actually our third guest since Christmas. First we enjoyed having Sharon's Jeanne stay with us for a few days. Next big brother Joe was here and we took him shopping for a retirement home. No final decisions on that yet. Steven's visit was best of all and came on short notice, just happening to coincide with the few days Missy and Mike were here. We're not doing big dinners at home any more, so we went out a lot. Some old family jokes were resurrected, and we talked about all of you who weren't here. Now it's all over and we're recovering. Anyone want to be next?

Here they are! 

The Radioactive Boy Scout

This was a book I read on my travels. If you're interested in nuclear energy and whackos, this is the book for you. On the other hand, if you're not interested enough to read the book, it's still a scary story worth hearing about. It seems that a 15 year old kid in the Detroit suburbs managed to scavenge enough nuclear materials to assemble a non-working but nevertheless radiation-producing breeder reactor in his backyard. He got Radium from old clocks, Thorium by pulverizing mantles from gas lanterns, Americium from smoke detectors, Beryllium from a buddy at a lab, and copious advice from the Department of Energy. Along the way, he earned his Atomic Energy merit badge -- well deserved, I might add! He basically reproduced a lot of the experiments that the Curies did. In the end, the EPA had to declare his back yard a Superfund cleanup site. And you thought your neighbors were difficult!

The Eastern Circuit

Six planes in six days should be enough for anyone. No lost luggage, and no missed connections, so not much to complain about in that department. Every time I go to Raleigh I get lost. This time, I figured I had it made, since I only had to go a half mile down a straight road from the office. Then I hit dead halt traffic, flashing police lights at the intersection in the distance, people driving over the median to turn around, and a helicopter circling above. Turns out they closed the highway for GWBush's motorcade. You all know I'm a big fan, so I was a bit disappointed not to be able to salute him properly as he went by in pursuit of giving away baby boomer Social Security benefits. But I digress. Soon I was on my way to -- brrr -- Florida, to rendezvous with the Harris-Kuzma-Callaway clan. Mom and Dad put me up and put up with me. We had a great visit that included culinary and social outings like lunch with Ken and Sharon and the Parkses, dinner at Ridgway Bar and Grill, and breakfast at Skillets. Mom and I saw a flock of black skimmers on the beach. Missy and Mike's place is faaaabulous! That is where I want to be to wait out a hurricane. All in all, a great time, even if it was too short. Now we have to hear about the Valentines Day party, and we have to get Mom to post some pictures.

eBay item 7133663802 (Ends Feb-11-05 16:02:40 PST) - ABE FRY, FRENCH FRY, LINCOLN FRY, FRY GUY, ABE LINCOLN

eBay item 7133663802 (Ends Feb-11-05 16:02:40 PST) - ABE Oh yeah you all thought the grilled cheese/virgin mary and the eagle omen were wacky this little beautyFRY, FRENCH FRY, LINCOLN FRY, FRY GUY, ABE LINCOLNis still a steal at just 10% of its shipping cost. And what a likeness I can't get over the gently sloping lines who could miss the resemblence.

Take That, Sir Francis Chichester

Pretty cool.

Ellen MacArthur has become the fastest person to sail solo round the world, completing her gruelling journey in just over 71 days and 14 hours and smashing the record set last year.

Here's another link by someone with some sailing experience.

My final pick

New England 24 Phila 10 I hate to see the NFL season end every year but this year is a little more dissapointing because we have no hockey to turn to. I guess I'll have to study up on the Washington Nationals for my sports fix. In our pregame Playstation 2 matchup Dan as the Eagles beat me as New England 30 to 8. As a father I always pictured that inevatable day where my son beats me at some sport for the 1st time fair and square. My minds eye sees us standing sweaty and exausted under a makeshift hoop in the yard,me proudly congratulating him and passing the great tradition of winning on. Enter the world of video games,and that warm picture fades to a distant blurr as I get beat almost always since he was about 6. I can very occasionaly come close to respectability by shamefully using the diversion tactic or some other unsportsmanlike ploy. I guess thats the sacrifice I make for bringing that damned thing into the house to begin with.

Here's The Kind Of Dentist You Want

This guy knows the value of a tooth. Dentist, musician, scientist, frozen bozo.

What do your dentist colleagues think of your narwhal research?
They are somewhere between amazed and a little befuddled that someone would actually do this. If I were studying whales in the tropics, that would probably be easier for them to identify with. But the fact that I'm sitting out on an ice floe with an Inuit hunter in 110-kilometre-an-hour winds, and the ice that I'm camped on could break off into the ocean, and I'm doing this with the hope of seeing a whale that might not appear - I think most people would say that's definitely not me.

Journalism Web Site

I was looking at an article suggesting that George H. W. Bush was actually Deep Throat of Watergate fame (hey, it's not as wacky a theory as you might think!), when I came across this web site. It's pretty interesting. I guess Mom might be too far removed from all this stuff to care much, but I thought she would like to take a look. It's the kind of thing that seems to me has changed the way someone might look into or at journalism compared to the good old days. Lord knows we could use some real journalists these days.

Eagles omen

I just want to know if Keith would have thought to auction Danny's Apple Jacks off if a Redskins "omen" appeared to them one morning.

Eagles "omen"

This Is Scary

After reading an article about a certain campus organization at Marquette University (those wacky Jesuits!) doing fundraising for Adopt a Sniper, I had to check out the web site. A few notable products that are available:

* The dog tag that says "1 Shot, 1 Kill, No Remorse, I Decide"
* The button with the motto "Assistance from a Distance"

But don't worry. It says right there in their FAQ in response to "How do I know that the snipers have received the items I sent?" that "The entire organization is based on a certain amount of trust." I don't know how it can get much better than that.