My name is
David Robins:
Christian, lead developer (resume), writer, photographer, runner,
libertarian (voluntaryist),
and student.
This is also my son David Geoffrey Robins' site.
A legislator liability act
Political ·Tuesday April 21, 2009 @ 00:46 EDT (link)
Individuals in government should be liable for their decisions; if sued, the damages should first come from whoever made the decision (not necessarily the person who executed it, if they could show they were in good faith following orders and also good moral principles). It's ridiculous to make the taxpayer pay for government and then again for its mistakes. With power comes responsibility.
They shouldn't be able to hide behind the shield of the state. If they made a decision, they should have to pay for it. What's the downside? Government will be more conservative about its mandates? Legislators might start reading bills? Wouldn't that be just terrible?
(Counter-arguments? For example, if a legislator is representing the people of his district, is he not absolved of liability? No, not if he's supporting unconstitutional laws.)
DVDs finished: Die Hard: The Ultimate Collection.
Console switcher
News, Technical ·Sunday April 19, 2009 @ 19:01 EDT (link)
My Trendnet TK-209K KVM (keyboard/video/mouse) switch arrived yesterday (from Amazon); it came with all the cables and was fairly easy to set up: for each machine, there's one audio cable (speaker/microphone to a small USB connector for the switch) and a VGA/USB cable that handles screen, keyboard, and mouse. My speakers (it switches audio too), USB mouse and keyboard, and monitor plug into the switch; buttons on top switch between machines. The only issue is that my new machine is hooked up to DVI, which works fine switching to it (the monitor notices there's no VGA input and goes to DVI, but it needs to be switched back manually using the monitor controls). It also did something odd that made the laptop lose network, but it went away on reboot (but it wouldn't boot up with the switch connected; kept powering down). Overall I'd recommend it, even with those minor issues.
Books finished: Paradise Lost.DVDs finished: Friends: The Complete Sixth Season, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 1.
De-friendings
News ·Saturday April 18, 2009 @ 05:09 EDT (link)
One political, one unknown, three deleted their accounts (in order). (Links will only work if you're friends; they contain the Facebook user id for reference.)
2009-04-03 Margaret Clarke Frey: Thought I wrote too many notes and cluttered up her wall (but I'm not sure she'd have bothered if our political ideologies were the same).
2009-04-12 Mark Robb: Not sure what's up here, will try re-adding. Update: He accepted.
2009-04-14 Donald Parker: Didn't really know him anyway; easy come, easy go.
2009-04-16 Douglas Hedrick: Honey can't find him either; she sent him an email. He may have deleted his account.
2009-04-17 Phred Galt: Also not someone I know personally, but a fellow libertarian who posted some good links; I also can't find his page "Americanly Yours" any more although his site is still up.
First lawnmowing of the season
News ·Friday April 17, 2009 @ 19:55 EDT (link)
I had to set the mower to the high setting so it wouldn't get gummed up with the tall grass, and then there were the molehills, which I raked as flat as necessary and mowed over. Gum didn't work to kill the moles, although something ate it (birds?) I'm going to try cayenne pepper, since someone recommended it. I'm still debating getting a real (gas) mower to replace my (rather wimpy for the damp Pacific Northwest) electric corded (Black and Decker) mower, which I bought to replace my (even wimpier, in terms of endurance) electric cordless (also Black and Decker) mower. Sigh.
I need to go back and mow at a lower setting, run the edger for the hard to reach spots, mow the front (a pretty tiny patch of grass), spread or spray some crabgrass killer, and cut back some bamboo. Being a homeowner isn't always all it's cracked up to be, and with that (unprintable) Obama in office and the traitor Democrat congress, house prices aren't likely to bounce back any time soon to give us the ability to opt out.
Seattle tax day tea party
News, Political ·Wednesday April 15, 2009 @ 20:28 EDT (link)
Tax day tea party: left work around 1700; parked at Overlake transit center, took the 545 at 1715 into Seattle (5th and Pine) and the crowd was easily audible and visible. "Liberty Belle" was the M.C. and had several speakers, including a doctor who will run against Murray in 2010, and some veterans. It finished up around 1920 and I caught the 545 back right next to Westlake Park, where the event took place, back to Overlake, and drove home.
And with that, I'm actually caught up on all of my OneNote notes. Still have some other material that I want to post, but it's not time-sensitive.
Tom G. commented on your wall post...
News ·Tuesday April 14, 2009 @ 21:26 EDT (link)
I felt worse as the weekend progressed, and stayed home from work sick yesterday and today; I expect to be back in tomorrow.
TG and I have been discussing libertarianism (and socialism) again, this time on a post he made to my wall (quoting from one of Phred Galt's posts). My mutt inbox looks like this of late:
1143 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1144 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1145 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1147 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1148 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1149 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1150 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1151 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1152 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1153 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1154 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
1155 N Apr 14 Facebook Tom G----- commented on your wall post...
My only consolation is that his does too! Ha! (Unless he disabled email notifications.)
When I'm back in that part of the country we need to find a nice quiet pub someplace and argue in person until we fall off our bar stools. :)
Print 3 million and take 1 million for yourself
Political ·Monday April 13, 2009 @ 01:29 EDT (link)
This is a speech by Ron Paul given in 1979, but oh so apropos (Pillars of Prosperity, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2008):
Congressional Record—U.S. House of Representatives
May 31, 1979
Mr. Speaker, David Ottaway, in writing about Idi Amin's economic atrocities, discussed with a salesman for a British banknote firm who personally negotiated a contract with the former dictator of Uganda for printing up 2 million Ugandan shillings worth of 100 shilling notes. "At the close of our conversation," said Mr. Ottaway, the salesman "gingerly asked how he was to be paid."
"Print 3 million and take 1 million for yourself," Amin angrily retorted.
Inflation, the expansion of the money supply, helped destroy Uganda's economy, along with other forms of government regulation and interference. Amin doubled the money supply in his last two years as dictator, flooding the country with paper money. Prices naturally skyrocketed.
Idi Amin is no longer oppressing the people of Uganda, but his monetary policies live on, in more moderate form, at the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.
We will never have stable prices until we stop flooding our country with paper dollars, and solving—or trying to solve—our problems by printing more money. It will not work for us, any more than it did for Idi Amin.
Books finished: The New Market Wizards.
Database management homework 1
News, School ·Friday April 10, 2009 @ 23:14 EDT (link)
Finished taxes. Actually finished last weekend, printed some forms I needed during the week, and we copied out the results out to the final forms today.
Almost finished CSE P 544 homework 1 (8 of 9 questions). For question 9, I had an extra table which made the query into a cross join (it ran 20 minutes before I stopped it); after fixing that, it was plain sailing to the end. Not too tough an assignment, but probably good coverage of what we did in class. I think some of my answers were a bit awkward with some repetition that I couldn't eliminate; we'll see what the answer key comes out.
A wretched 'flu-like thing
News, Technical ·Friday April 10, 2009 @ 22:22 EDT (link)
Goodreads documented some more of their API for me (e.g. I'd asked for a way to add the date read to a book review; it was possible, but undocumented). I updated all my books from my database, and also added my reviews, forking my book.notes field into a read.review field: some of the notes entries actually had notes (e.g. about the edition) but others were reviews, so they were moved.
I may be coming down with what Honey had: a wretched 'flu-like thing. So far just a stuffy nose and a wee bit of fatigue.
Stay away from the "Flixter" Facebook app (it shows up as "Movies" with a white F on a blue background for a logo, although they have non-movie related quizzes). I took a British road signs quiz (saw on another bloke's wall) (I got 12/20, he got 10/20; he drives there, I don't…). This is what I wrote when I removed it, with a 1 out of 5 star rating (letting you rate and comment on applications you remove is new; I like it):
Very spammy-looking. Lots of ads trying to get you to submit your information to various disreputable sites.
Also they don't quite force you to send it to friends, but they make it tough not to. Stay away.
Q: How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Two: One to screw it almost all the way in and the other to give it a
surprising twist at the end.
(That was one of the great light bulb jokes I found here while looking up British road signs after doing so badly on the quiz.)
Books finished: Galactic Pot-Healer.
A fan of God on Facebook
News, Theology ·Thursday April 9, 2009 @ 20:20 EDT (link)
Bad driver (observed by Honey, around 3pm): WA 341 XEK silver Saturn SUV pulled out in front of her on Novelty Hill Road at Redmond Ridge.
Being a fan of God on Facebook strikes me as a bit sacrilegious.
I set that as my status, and Tim Whitson said he didnÂt understand. I asked, "Which part? Being a fan of God or that it seems sacrilegious (it seems to trivialize God)?"
TS: And people are talking to "him" through posts on his wall… I guess prayer is so web 1.0.
TW: The link explained it all and I agree.
KA: Um, "God joined Facebook" strikes me a little weird. I think I'm with you on this one.
Books finished: Real Education, Starship Troopers.
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