blog.roborob.net

Voting With Your Wallet

2011-01-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

The title of this post relates to a method of showing your displeasure or disagreement with a company whose main business is to sell goods of some sort. Don't like the way BP handled it's oil spill? Buy gas at another gas station. Don't like the way the CEO of Company X talks about granola? Buy your goods from Company Y instead.

The fundamental problem with "voting with your wallet" is easy to demonstrate in a few simple steps:

Step 1. Take out your wallet, or gender appropriate equivalent.
Step 2. Take out the money in your wallet.
Step 3. Count the money.
Step 4. Compare the total to the amount of money Company X has available.

At this point you should be able to see the problem.

Granted, this is (obviously?) a simplification. If enough people get fed up with Company X, than their cash reserves will out strip the Company's. At that point you have equality and the large group of people can compete with the Company in terms of regulation, products, and even services. How easy is it to accomplish this feat? Depends on Company X. If they're a locally owned shop down the street, it shouldn't be too hard. If Company X is a mult-billion dollar multinational, well - good luck with that.

Another simplification: The total amount of funds available to you is not the amount you are going to "vote" with by purchasing a competitors product. Company X only loses the net profit from your sale, which may or may not be significant to Company X, whose revenue streams may come from an entirely separate source.

And there are still many, many other issues that I'm glossing over to make a point.

Speaking of making a point... When you vote with your wallet, you're not voting. Instead you're trading your actual voting power in a democratic society (where every one is 'equal') for a no-holds-barred market society where some groups are more 'equal' than others.

Which is stupid.

Black Butte Porter Re-hash

2010-10-23T10:54:00.001-07:00

I was going through some old blog posts, specifically the once awesome and now defunct IBR Series, and noticed that I gave Black Butte Porter a simple 5 out of 10 on the First Beer scale. I'd like to revise that, as is my wont*. In truth, BBP (as we call it these days) has reached a level of enjoyment and basic availability that surpasses a mere 5. Invite some friends over for a beer and watch as their eyes light up when you hand them a frosty BBP. Know that to say "BBP" is to mean tasty beverage. Understand that most fine establishments carry the BBP around these parts, and it all makes for so much more than a 5.

What I am trying to say here is, "fuck the new beer drinker, BBP is awesome." I give it a 10.

Disclaimer: For the curious - I am in absolutely no way affiliated with Deschutes Brewery. I just happen to really like a lot of (but by no means all!) the beers they make.

* the word "wont" means habit. I didn't know that. I figured it had similar meaning to the word "prerogative." You learn something new every day! I have a wont of using words that I am familiar with in context, but not in actual definition, making for some interesting conversation when I'm talking with someone who actually knows what the word means. Or at least, I imagine it makes for interesting conversation because the opposite (that it just makes me look like an ass) isn't something I'd like to think about.

Quote of the Day

2010-08-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

From Charlie Stross, here.

"...if you don't use a web browser with scripting disabled for all untrusted sites, you are some random black hat hacker's bitch."

Paradoxee

2010-07-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

The earlier I have to get up, the harder it is to get to sleep. If I have to wake up at 5 am** to get to a meeting or catch a plane, then I will likely not be able to sleep until somewhere around 1-2 am.

And it's annoying.

** A relatively early-ass time for me to get up. I'm more comfortable with getting up between 8-9 am.

I don't Like it!

2010-03-18T19:45:00.001-07:00

I don't like cranberries. I don't like their juice, I don't like their sauce. I just don't like them.

I also don't like vodka. It tastes like nothing much - and given my predilection for beers and other tasty beverages, you can guess why that's a problem for me.

So imagine my surprise when I tasted my wife's vodka cranberry drink. "this... this... this is... good?" Yes. It was good. So, it seems that I like cranberries when mixed with a relatively tasteless alcohol. WTF.

I guess I'll remember that come next thanksgiving.

Wowee

2010-03-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Found this video via autoblog.com. It shows a in-car perspective of a crash during the latest 24 Hours of Lemons race. This video is neat for a couple of reasons - first, it's surprisingly sudden. Second, it demonstrates in no uncertain terms why roll cages are awesome. Third, I can't believe how calm the driver is afterwards. Uncanny.

Yeah. What he said.

2010-02-18T21:16:00.000-08:00

http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/49/2/Religion.htm

Saddest. Comic. Ever.

2010-01-29T08:33:00.000-08:00

http://xkcd.com/695/

You should all be reading XKCD every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday anyway. But just in case you aren't.

I WILL NEVER RETURN.

2009-12-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

Looking for movie theaters, I found this review. It's AWESOME...

I got to the theater early and wanted to find seats because the movie sold out twice that day. When I went in the staff where still cleaning and I seen them sweeping and kicking all the stuff that was on the floor under the seats. It was dirty and Gross and then a mean lady told me to leave while they clean. They where out of popcorn for a while. And it was blazing hot and had to get a refund. and leave. I asked if they could turn the heat down and they said they CAN'T because it's on a system or something and said they could open the doors and let some of the heat out. THEY where out of a lot of things that are on there board. like hot dogs, pretzel bites ect.. there kids meals are a joke. over $7 for a tiny kids bag of popcorn and a small drink. AS LONG AS I AM A LIVE.. I WILL NEVER RETURN.‎

Extremely Awesome

2009-12-22T16:17:00.001-08:00

Follow the link.

2009-11-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

"Science doesn’t work despite scientists being asses. Science works, to at least some extent, because scientists are asses. Bickering and backstabbing are essential elements of the process. Haven’t any of these guys ever heard of 'peer review'?"

Quote, from here.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)

2009-11-25T20:18:00.001-08:00

...is Fantastic.

2009-11-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

purge theory is the blog of one "Ben C" who drew this wonder woman graphic. I love this picture. "Ben C" has a lot of really dynamic beautifully flowing drawings. I would love to draw and color like this.

Snow and Net Positive

2009-11-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

Today we had our first real snow. It has snowed a few times before now, but this is the first time it came down in any quantity really worth mentioning. Probably a few inches.

The snow tires we bought and put on the 3 are doing well. They are a lot beefier than the all-seasons they replaced, and make the car look like it's about to participate in a rally stage. Rally effects on hatch backs are almost always awesome, so I'm pleased with both the snow/ice performance (tested today) and the look. It probably goes without saying that the 3 with snow tires does infinitely better on the snow and ice than the Miata in summer tires.

For the next week, and next week only, I believe I actually have a positive net worth. This hasn't been the case for many, many years. I'm not sure if you include the value of assets such as cars and houses in the calculation of net worth. Anyway - it's there. I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

Everyone I meet.

2009-11-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/area_man_passionate_defender_of

Oldie but goodie

2009-11-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Couldn't have mocked it better

2009-10-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Than this.

I love this song.

2009-10-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

Starfucker, "Medicine"

War, what are we good for?

2009-10-25T13:40:00.001-07:00

America is in a War. Kind of.

I'd say Part of America is in a War. The part that's an all volunteer armed force is in a War. The rest of us are using the national credit card to purchase a War. This is wrong for a number of reasons.

The all volunteer armed forces thing is bullshit. If the Country is at War, the Country should fight the War. We should NOT be sending people to do 3, 4, 5, or even more tours of duty. If you want to support your troops - volunteer yourself or demand the institution of a draft.

Wars are terrible things. There are Consequences. These consequences should be something that is cognizant to the people at large. Wars are also costly. Instead of paying for the War in a way that magically adds to the national debt, there should be an immediate and exact tax on the country to pay for the War, directly tied to the costs of the War from the previous fiscal year.

Ugh.

Dear Publishers: Pull you head out of your ass.

2009-10-25T13:09:00.001-07:00

The new Nook, a eBook reader being put out by Barnes & Noble, looks to be a pretty good device. It's fairly open - by which I mean that it supports relatively open formats like pdf's and epubs. It gives you access to networks and such for free. It's got two fancy screens. It runs Android (although I'm not sure that this is at all significant). It even lets you loan your eBooks out to friends.

Well - it kind of lets you lend out your eBooks.

Here are the restrictions:

You can lend out a book for up to a 14 day period. Ok. Seems reasonable.
You cannot access the book when it is being loaned out. Also reasonable.
You can loan the book to a variety of devices. Awesome!
You can only loan each book out Once. Per person you say? No. Once, ever, per book. WTF?
You cannot loan the book out if the publisher doesn't want you to. What?

Which brings us to the title of this post.

Before I continue, I feel it'd be appropriate to put in a little disclaimer. I am not in the publishing industry. I do not know what the margins are for publishers or authors.

Ok. Now that's out of the way. I imagine the idea of your clientele being able to share the output of your work (and source of your livelihood) is pretty scary. Like, OMFG we're going to lose everything. Or maybe it's more a matter of confusing copying with stealing. These are compelling arguments against an open, unrestricted model of releasing eBooks. While I'm certainly presenting a biased position on the matter through my flippant descriptions of possible reasons for being for DRM, I do understand (and so should you) that there are a number of logical reasons for wanting to control distribution.

But COME ON. Don't be stupid. The overwhelming majority of people do NOT want to steal your shit. They just want to be able to use it in the same way they use what already exists - in this case, books. Granting the ability for a person to cryptographically "loan" out eBooks is awesome. Restricting it such that a "loaned" book is unavailable to the original owner (or should I say licensee - let's be honest) is a GREAT idea. Now you should stop there. Make it easy for people to interact digitally in a way that matches the real world, and you're golden. People would rather work within a system that provides unlimited loans with restrictions that model the real world (one loan at a time of each book, etc) than they would be interested in downgrading their abilities for the convenience of a new toy.

How about instead of being afraid of losing your industry, you start thinking about ways to move into new industries. Have publisher based websites where people can buy their digital books directly from you. Hey! No more middle man! Allow for "resale" of digital copies of books, and set up "used eBook" stores where people can sell back books they've read - and purchase other "used" eBooks at discounts. Look to provide some sort of scarcity of each digital copy.

I don't know. Work with the future, not against it. Get your head out of your ass.

Awesomely Awesome.

2009-10-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Dead fly art. From here.

Because I'm like that.

2009-10-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

http://davario.livejournal.com/30861.html

The above link is to a page (on livejournal!?) that links to a few hundred self-portraits of people when they were in their teens. I've just spent the past few minutes looking at ... perhaps a quarter of them. I don't know why, but they are fascinating.

Safe-T

2009-10-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

I work in a safety conscious (bordering on stupidly obsessive) environment. Myself and my fellow coworkers are constantly bombarded with seemingly ridiculous tips to help you ensure your personal safety. Recently, there was a little note about automotive safety. It included standard gems of the "always wear your seatbelt" variety. When looking at these suggestions, it occurred to me that a lot of driving safety slogans are put in terms of the individual. In some ways I can see why this would make sense, especially in the individual-centric United States. However, I don't think it's really the best thing. I think there should be an increase in driving safety slogans targeted towards the effects ones driving habits can have upon other people. Here's a good one I thought of earlier today:

"Don't drive like an Asshole because you might fucking KILL SOMEONE."

What do you think? Care to suggest any others?

why wait?

2009-09-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

I was watching the local news last night. As part of their finale, they mentioned stories that they were going to be covering during the next episode. They were casting about for viewers with their hook. One of the hooks was a story about some secret scores that banks and creditors use in addition to your FICO score to determine credit actions. The news would be happy to tell you all about it, but only if you would be so kind as to tune in next time (oh, and sit through another 20 minutes of commercial breaks).

The hook goes something like this:

Suddenly have your credit limit increased or decreased? Get phone calls about suspicious behavior? Watch tonight at 9 for the latest details!

There are of course algorithms and resulting scores that the banks use to figure out these things. Why you should wait until 9 to find out about a potentially interesting story is a whole other question.

You could always do what I did, and instead of waiting and watching all sorts of commercials to find out about these secret scores, I pulled out my trusty netbook, and after exactly one search (secret credit scores) I find this story. Hey! That was easy.

I'm posting about this for two reasons - first, it is an interesting (if not obvious when you think about it) story regarding how banks work, and how it affects you. Second, it goes to show you how very good local news reporting is these days. Which is to say that I don't think it's very good. The overwhelming majority of interesting coverage they have is from sources that you already have access to.

I give up.

2009-09-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

After reading this, I have little regard for what's being done in the name of healthcare reform. Seriously, I think the only way I could have a reasonable expectation that it'd be fixed right would be to get elected to office and do it my damn self.