See http://philosborn.joeuser.com/article/412425/Occupy_Earth  for the background for this thread, which is becoming ridiculously long and cumbersome.  In summary, it deals with an attempt to launch a quid pro quo between a small group of listener subscribers to the Pacifica FM station, KPFK, and the local Occupy movement.  In exchange for votes to put them on the Local Station Board, which would require a lot of Occupy people to become subscribers at minimum $25 - and the d...

I tried to start a new blog yesterday on JoeUser, and decided to label it "adult," until I was finished and satisfied that I wouldn't be upsetting any kids.  BAD MISTAKE!!! After saving the first few paragraphs, I discovered that I could not get to my own post, due to the "adult" checkoff. So, I tried going to my profile, where allegedly I could also change my password... Oops...  Not only no option to select age - although I did find out that now I am one year old.&nbs...

Update: 090512  Note that I am starting a NEW BLOG, as I'm sure that I am going to hit the limit pretty soon, which used to be 512K, I think.  Also, who wants to wade thru all this?  Not ME!  So, the new news is no news about the KPFK/Occupy deal - at least any that I'm privy to, and then there's a lot of nonsense and wild speculation on my part, if anyone cares...  Wow, doesn't that just GRAB ya?  I know that you're asking yourselves: ...

My yahoo.com account has crashed.  I can no longer access it and all mail sent to it bounces with a fatal and permanent error message.  The last time this happened was years ago when I posted some material here and elsewhere about a Congressman's checkered past.  Then I lost access to my blogs as well as yahoo.com mail for about a week.  Of course, coincidence is not causality...  Altho it did happen twice in the same year. I have not a clue as to why this time. ...

04/12/15:  Please note that of very recent notice, Dr. Schuller is no longer available at his personal or business phone.  Those who have an urgent need to reach him should perhaps plan on an extended (VERY extended) trip, from which they may not return.  We are awaiting news as to whether the good doctor will be in a really REALLY good place or otherwise.  His return is eagerly anticipated by his creditors, certainly, but if and when this does occur, sad to s...

When we see someone investing huge amounts of energy in pursuit of ephemeral or fantasy goals that have no connection with the real world, we generally conclude that that person is "neurotic."  In fact, that's nearly a definition of neurosis, the stupid expediture of real resources in the pursuit of symbolic values. Economists have, of course, also covered this ground.  Like the person who walks three blocks to save 50 cents on a hamburger on sale, while ignoring the chance to save&...

EastAsia is our friend and ally.  Oceana is our enemy.  Oh, wait... For the past few months, I've been looking around for a replacement for my tiny little wonderful Creative Zen Nano (MP3, voice recorder, FM + recorder, storage, AAA).  I've had two of them now for several years, and they're seen Yeoman service, going with me for regular workouts at Ballys, occasionally getting drenched in the jacuzzi when I forget to remove the device from my keys pouch.  The only weakness...

It sounded so very hopeful, and I heard it on KPFK's "Digital Village," a good source in general for what's hot in the digital memesphere.  Perhaps in response to the Progressive X-Prise for the first production car to excede 100mpg, the feds have launched a whole slew of challenges in all kinds of areas, with prizes and publicity to entice people to think of new solutions. One of these challenges immediately attracted my attention:   the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize ...

One of the problems with net neutrality is that the hogs rule.  Whether it's bandwidth or artificially cheap bread in the Soviet Union, where people would sell their places in line or hire themselves out as line-sitters and then load up wheelbarrows full of bread priced way below cost to feed their hogs or make kitchen vodka, "free lunches" generate lines that ultimately offset the near-zero price with a new access cost, generally about what the "free lunch" would have cost originally up fr...

Alexis de Tocqueville got a lot of things right in 1831, but I don't specifically recall him envisioning how the elected officials would conspire to vote themselves entitlement to the treasure of the nation.  Maybe it was just too obvious to mention. The problem is that this has no easy legal solution.  These retirement funds are based on contracts mutually agreed to by bureaucrats for fellow bureaucrats, to be sure, but the elected officials who appointed the to-be-retirees or okay...

Here's something that I've been noticing:  Preface: Remember how, in the '60's, every major highway crossing or freeway entrance ramp would be home to a cluster of kids with signs "San Francisco or busted," "NY/NY", etc.  Then the killings started, of which the Hillside Strangler was only the best known.  According to a police beat reporter who I used to see at a local bar in Long Beach in the late '70's, every week they were finding kid's bodies up in the hills.&n...

I kept forgetting to write this blog - for years, in fact.  I came up with the basic theory in the early '80's and assumed that some paleontologist or evolutionary theorist would derive it independently, or someone would shoot it down.  So far as I know, neither has happened and more evidence in its favor is accumulating, while I, in turn, have become incrementally more knowledgeable, as well.  So, before I lose it to Alzheimer's or a stroke, etc., I figured I better get this in p...

So, expecting to sleep in and be fully refreshed for the holiday, of course the neighboring plating company had decided to repave their parking/storage lot, and the day began with jackhammers about 8AM. That was the start.  In a sleepless daze, I finally decided to see the new movie, "The Nature of Everything."  Then I discovered that the freeway entrance was closed, forcing a long detour and my getting to the movie five minutes into it, despite assurances from the Regal receptionis...

I just submitted this to the state of California at insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/IndHlthRateFilings, in response to an article about Anthem Blue Cross's application to raise rates by about 20% next year.  Note that previously they had insisted that they needed to raise rates by about 40%, due to increasing costs.  However, the parent company, WellPoint*, was audited and somehow, via such standard accounting practices as double-billing, as they admitted, they had lost track o...