State of the Shelanman

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August 31, 2005

Helping Katrina Survivors

So, I've finally heard from my two friends who were in Katrina's path, and they're OK.

Or, rather, they're alive and well enough to find an internet connection, and post mostly-coherent thoughts about the hell their lives have been recently.

Other than feeling great relief at their alive-and-wellness (especailly for the one who lives in New Orleans!), and trying to be a good friend, I'm left not knowing exactly what to do...

I've been thinking over the last three days... you know, I'll wander over to a restaurant to have a delicious meal prepared for me while I sit on a patio out in the beautiful sunlight, lean back in my comfy chair, and read my book, and it'll hit me: people in New Orleans (among many other places 'round the world, but I too am subject to recency bias) can't enjoy such simple things.

So, I thought, I'll help out! So, being the great hero I am, I ran down to... no... wait, I did nothing of the sort. I thought "hmm... other than giving money to someone else who promises it'll be put to good use, what could I do?" I haven't successfully answered that question yet. I thought about getting in my car (filling up the tank), and heading down there to join in the relief effort... but I don't know that I'd be any help. When I envision myself doing such a thing, I see myself being utterly useless... more hinderance than help...

I mean, if I were a carpenter, or otherwise just good at building things, maybe I could go someplace [that isn't under water] and just help people rebuild... you know... rent a truck, fill it with lumber, drive and just start building. But... I have no idea how to build houses. At work, I mostly build software. Occasionally I'm called upon to build a computer for a friend. People who don't have houses really don't need someone to help them re-assemble computers. And while I could build quite a few, I couldn't afford to buy parts to build very many at all. That doesn't feel like the answer.

[EDIT: Or hell, maybe it is, maybe what we should do is get me and a few of my readers together to try and get donations of gear and offer to build new computers for people who lost theirs in the storm. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea... any of you wanna help?]

[EDIT #2: Well... my inner-optimist has gone to sleep, and the inner-pessimist thinks this is all too silly and absurd... it doesn't help as much as just giving money to someone who can rebuild homes to buy lumber with. Because people really do need houses, and really can live without computers... so... maybe I got too excited earlier...]

So I thought I'd post something here and encourage my vast readership to suggest things I could do that would actually help out. If there's something really great I could do by heading out towards that part of the country, I think I'd be willing to spend a few days on such a project. I can't spend forever there, but I could probably manage a couple days, if it would really make a difference. If there's something I can do that would actually help from here, that's great too.

Any ideas?

Posted by andrew at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)

Someone Remembers Their History

Today, I encountered This excellent blog post praying that gasoline price gouging will occur in the coming days and weeks.

I, for one, agree completely. I want to see prices rise to the appropriate level that the market will bear. This is because, despite my non-existance during the last major gasoline shortage, I remember my history, and know that I don't want to have to waste hours every day getting in gas-lines, and filling up twice a day just to make sure I don't get screwed.

I'm so very pleased that someone else out there agrees with me!

Say, anyone want to help me start up a new business? I want to build a CA oil refinery that can produce the California blend of gasoline. I want it to be the most efficient, safest, and environmentally-friendly refinery ever built in California. Since prices keep rising (even relative to oil), I think it is apparent that we have a refinery-capacity problem, and we could effectively undercut the big-oil competition, thus allowing customers to pay less per gallon while also making a healthy profit ourselves. There's market-share to be had that way, and where there's market-share, there should be profit.

And since there was a big fuss when Shell Oil tried to close it's oldest, least-efficient refinery in CA, I think maybe we could get some help dealing with some of the government red-tape that has prevented anyone else from entering the industry... especially if we make a big deal about how our gasoline causes less environmental harm per unit gasoline output than the crappy 30+ year old refineries already here!

"Buy our gas! It's cheaper, it's not from "Big Oil", and it's greener to boot!" Now that's a message that people could get behind. Don't you think?

— The Shelanman

Posted by andrew at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2005

Hawaii Forgot History

Today I received proof that the leaders of Hawaii, at least, have lost the ability to think critically, or even remember it's own recent past.

I am talking about This Houston Chronicle story describing Hawaii's new plan to combat the rise of gasoline prices. That's right, they've instituted price caps! Starting September 1st, gasoline wholesalers will be forbidden to sell gasoline to retail outlets above a set price, which will be adjusted by Ye All Knowing Benevolent Gods [otherwise known as the incompetant Hawaiian government] every few days.

Why am I saying such nice things about the Hawaiian government, you ask? After all, price caps guarantee the outrageous rise of gasoline prices will stop, right? Well, yes. The prices will stop rising. But what the Hawaiian government failed to realize is that prices rise for a reason. The price of gasoline is $3.00 on Maui because there are enough people willing to buy gasoline at $3.00 so that every single drop is sold. If people weren't willing to pay $3.00, the price would fall.

If the price rose to $300.00 per gallon, there would not be enough people willing to buy, and the price would fall.

But it's more complex than that. The price of gasoline is high because oil is expensive. Oil costs about $67.00/barrel right now. Now, most oil companies sell oil, and they also sell gasoline. If they can get $67.00 for a barrel of oil without going through the expensive process of refining it and trucking it out to little corner gas stations, why would they be bother selling gasoline at all?

The answer is simple: they can charge enough for gasoline that it's worth their effort to make the stuff. If the government comes along and says "you can't charge more than $2.75 per gallon of gasoline," and meanwhile the free market says a barrel of oil is worth $67, and then $68, and eventually $75, all of a sudden it isn't worth the effort to make the gasoline. So they won't. They'll sell the crude oil to China, or to the individual speculators on the market who want to pay those high prices.

And all of a sudden there'll be even less gasoline. But the price won't go up. You know what that means? There will be a shortage... we'll get "cheap" prices for gas... but we won't be able to find any gas to buy.

And that's where the "history" part of the story comes in. I seem to remember hearing stories from the 70s about the awful oil embargo and how there were price controls. And then how shortly after the price controls were put in place, nobody had any gasoline... and there was rationing, and you had to buy gas only on certain days, and if you ran out, that was tough, 'cause you had to wait your turn again.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'd rather pay more for gasoline than have the government tell me I can't buy the gasoline I need at any price. But that's what's coming if Hawaii keeps this up. Why would anyone sell gasoline in Hawaii for $2.74 (wholesale) when they could sell it here in California for more?

People whine about "price gouging" -- but hey... if someone was willing to buy the product at that price, and someone else was willing to sell it at that price, those two people (the only two whose opinion matters) obviously thought it was a fair price. Otherwise, the transaction couldn't have occurred. Think about it. It makes sense.

— The Shelanman

Posted by andrew at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2005

Workers are Wasteful!

Today, the company I work for posted this article on wasted time, which is apparently derived from an AOL / Salary.com survey of time wasted by employees.

I've watched this article work its way through the posting process, and ever since I first read it, I've been dying to comment... well, it's up, and I did...

The article is very interesting, and makes some good points. But it also purportes to know the precise financial cost of "time wasters" to the nation's economy.

I think that part of the study results is wildly inaccurate, and I said so.

In fact, here's what I said:

While it is entirely possible that 45% of workers waste time on the internet.

And it is also very likely waste way more time that managers expect.

But, it is not fair to say that this comes to the tune of $759 billion per year, and here's why:

Many employees work on a salary (rather than hourly) basis. These employees are not hired to work a particular number of hours, but instead are to complete certain tasks.

Generally speaking, we all assume salaried workers work 8 hour days -- and so, if someone wasted 2 hours a day, that would be 25% waste.

But this survey does not take into account how many extra hours are worked by the average salaried employee.

In addition, it presupposes that workers would be just as effective during the time they did work if they never wasted any time -- a supposition that is probably untrue.

Also, if you want to dock employees for time spent surfing the internet at work, you should credit them for time spent working (or even checking work e-mail or voice-mail) at home and on weekends.

I'm not suggesting that time isn't being wasted, or that it's unimportant. Just that I don't buy the $759 billion number.

What say you? Really, I want to know!

— The Shelanman

Posted by andrew at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2005

Magic Street

Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything here... I do seem to get out of the habit easily...

Today I'm going to try to write a review of Orson Scott Card's latest novel Magic Street, without giving away too much... Because, you see, I really liked the book, and I don't want to ruin the fun! So, here goes.

Wow. This is hard. In between the last paragraph and this one went a half-hour's worth of starting paragraphs, in which I tried to tell you just a few simple things about the story without giving away anything.

I give up, I'm going to do like nearly all reviewers end up doing, and give away some of the more basic plot elements. Without further ado...

Magic Street is the story of young Mack Street, a child growing up in present-day Los Angeles. Mack thinks he's a pretty normal kid... or at least, as normal as you can be without having any real parents.

But then one day, he tries to explain his dreams to his friend. But nobody understands when he starts talking about "cold dreams," and he quickly learns not to talk to people about stuff that's not normal... Because, Mack begins to realize that his "cold dreams" aren't normal at all...

Indeed, Mack's cold dreams have a way of coming true... in terrible and horrifying ways.

What follows is a highly entertaining mix of reality, history, Shakespeare, and yes, Magic. Oh, and don't forget Bag Man — can't leave him out of it... he would wish to be remembered.

(Ha-Ha, I'm so clever, that's so funny... but you'll have to read the book to get it)

Card does his usual expert job of building realistic characters that you truly care about (or genuinely dispise, as the case may be). But, more importantly, he makes complicated people... Books about Good versus Evil are interesting, but it's much more entertaining (and, much more realistic, too), if Good and Evil are complicated. People encounter real moral dillemas with no clear solution in real life, and Card is capable of handling that with his characters as well

Mack wouldn't be half so interesting a person if he always knew what the right thing to do was — or even if he always cared. Instead, Mack, like everyone in Magic Street, is a person, with emotions, desires, and all... and that's what makes Card's writing so entertaining, especially when he's writing about children.

Anyway, I can't really think of another word to say that doesn't completely give away revelations that I found enjoyable, so I'm going to just leave it there... Oh, except for one last comment. If you liked Card's Enchantment then click the link below and Buy. This. Book.

Magic Street by Orson Scott Card
4 out of 5 stars (Highly Recommended)
Get Your Copy Today (and earn me my first-ever Amazon Affiliate money)!

You know, it's really unfair. Fictional characters have it way too easy... something terrible happens to them, but if they're important, the author can, with but a stroke of the pen, make them strong enough to cope...

Then again, it's usually the author's fault the bad thing happened in the first place, so maybe it's not so unfair after all...

Either way, enjoy. I know I did.

— The Shelanman

Posted by andrew at 06:29 PM | Comments (0)

Dreamy Webhosting

Many of you may know this by now, but about two months ago I switched webhosts for ShelanMan.com...

For about 2 years, I was hosted by 1-and-1. I never really liked their service -- or their servers -- but they had a great "introductory special" way back when... 3 years free, just $5.99/year for domain registration... no (meaningful) restrictions...

Well, the servers were slow and unresponsive and the service was piss-poor... but when they stopped letting me transmit e-mail between my ShelanMan.com address and my work e-mail addresses (apparently I did it too often, (especially with attachments) and so they thought it was spam). They wouldn't solve the problem, so I went looking for a new host.

For about two months now, I've been on DreamHost... and so far everything's just Dreamy (they like that word). I get 7680MB of disk space, 192GB/Month of bandwidth, more e-mail addresses and mailboxes than I could ever hope to use, and all the usual perks.

Plus, they have a bunch of software installed already, and a handfull of "one-click installs" in their management console. Oh, and they have MailMan installed already, so you can run discussion lists... which is a nice random bonus

I pay $15.95 per month (because I pre-paid 2 years) for all this... Oh, and my disk space allowance grows by 60MB every week, and my monthly bandwidth limit grows by at lest 1GB/week (and it's already so high that I could never hope to use even 5% of it).

So far I've contacted their support team probably 5 or 6 times, and all but one of the times I got a very quick response -- sometimes in less than a half hour. Remarkably, I got (meaningful) responses within an hour or two even when I contacted them on a Sunday afternoon!

Anyway, I wanted to keep you all informed of my server move (which has gone rather well), and get in an ad for DreamHost too! You see, they've got this deal... They'll give me $97 of free hosting (or they'll pay-pal me about $90) every time I sign someone up! Well... I've now got a cool way to entice you all to sign up... I can give you a discount

You go to DreamHost, pick your plan, and enter promo code "SHELANMAN40" You'll get $40.00 off your first payment, no matter which plan you pick or how much you pre-pay (which comes out of my $97 -- so I'll "only" get $57 worth of hosting, assuming you stick around for at least 3 months).

Fine Print: This discount is subject to whatever terms DreamHost sets up on their site. This offer is valid beginning today, August 7th, 2005, and can be rescinded at any time for any reason, including "because I said so." You agree that I don't have to tell you if I change the discount deal, or stop the discount program, or if DreamHost increases my compensation from the current amount. While I've loved DreamHost so far, I don't promise that you will too -- though they do, and will give you your money back if you cancel within 97 days (and I'd call a few days early if you really don't like it and want out).

</SHAMELESS PLUG>

Well, actually, it's not just an ad. I also told you about the server move that I did... so there's some content here, just not much...

— The Shelanman

Posted by andrew at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)