Archive for the ‘General’ Category.
Online Driving Safety Course
Phoey. I can’t get a free discount on my car insurance in California. That said, taking this driving class saved me a lot of money in New Jersey in 2002-2005. Some car insurance companies honor programs like this, some don’t. Read on.
I took an online driving safety course, sent the certificate of completion to my car insurance company and now my car insurance went down by $150 a year for 3 years! That’s $450 free money!
Here’s what to do:
– Call your car insurance company and ask what kind of discount they’ll give if you take an online drivers safety course that’s sponsored by the National Safety Council. My insurance, GE gave me $150 each year for 3 years. Some companies don’t offer any discount… Sorry.
– Take the course at http://www.nscddconline.com/ It’s also offered at
http://www.tutorials.com/catalog/catalog_item_n.asp?pid=2037 but they charge a bit more.
– Send your insurance company the certificate of completion that you’ll receive a week later.
The course costs $42… IE it instantly pays for itself. The course is mind-numbingly easy. It asks questions like: You come to a Stop sign on a busy street and an old lady is crossing, do you:
A) Stop, look and listen
B) Accelerate to clear the intersection quickly
C) Swerve and continue down the road
D) Turn on your hazard lights.
The course took about 3 hours for me to complete. It should take you less given this bit of advice: there is no final test and just about everything they try to teach you is about common sense.. They won’t ask you any nit-picky questions like “How many feet do you have to park away from a fire hydrant? 5, 15, or 20. (No, I don’t remember either)
I took the test in August 2002 and I’ve saved about $300 in insurance since.
Yes, this is legit, go to www.nsc.org. Click on “Driving” then click on “DDC-PC Online” and read up on it.
If it works out for you, I’d love to hear back.
red states, blue states, zero sum games, and escaping the gravity well
(Pointed out to me by TJIC)
Very interesting ideas.
Affordable Family Formation
Continue reading ‘red states, blue states, zero sum games, and escaping the gravity well’ »
My local bar
As we were passing by a bar near where I live in the Mission district, Holly asked me which was (with quotations) “your local bar”. In a flash, I thought back about all the bars I had been in that I liked… bars in NYC, Hackettstown, Boston… all the interesting eateries, brew-pubs and homey coffee shops. I couldn’t think of a single place that was “my” place.
We walked along, looking for something to do on Saturday night in the Mission. Or if we only found some cool night air, we’d be happy too. There was a little artist gallery/nightlife spot I had randomly found a couple weeks ago while coming back from the post office so we were walking in that direction. We found the place.
As we approached, we worried that the place wasn’t open; the lights were out… or at least they were really dim. A sign at the front door directed us around to the side.
As we stepped inside, I had this comfortable feeling… the patrons looked at ease and happy, the ambient sounds were soothing, there was a pitcher of mohito on the bar and the band was gearing up for their second set. I knew immediately that -this- was -my- local bar.
I’m for Hire
I’m for hire. I am. Take a glance over at the Pages sidebar. You’ll find “I’m for Hire“.
While your mouse is over there, click on some of those other pages. Some of them are just consolidated from other parts of my site but it’s nice that they’re all in one neat little list now.
Happy Birthday to Me
Hip, hip, don’t break!
Hide and seek over the internet
I just spent the last hour playing with my niece Julia. That wouldn’t be too remarkable except for the games that we played and the distance over which we play them. Julia still can’t be convinced that I can’t see her when she can see me on my webcam. I had originally purchased two webcams but one has gone missing; we haven’t done too terribly, making due while the new one is being shipped. The first game that Julia wanted to play was Hide and Seek. Being the closed minded person I am, I had a very hard time imagining how we would play… seeing as how I am “stuck in the computer” and I can’t see her.
That didn’t stop her for a single second. She even berated me a little bit for not hiding after she had counted to 15! (why 15? I think that’s as high as she goes)
What a joy she is!
Things that you didn’t know you could do over the internet but you can with a 4 year old:
- paint toenails
- play (real) hide and seek
- dance
- stand on your head
- play Max and Ruby Dress Up
- go skiing with the cast of The Backyardigans
- have a really really fun time
:-)
Two great tastes… M:TG and Politics
I know that the problems surrounding hurricane Katrina were not just on the national level. State, county and local governments are corrupt to the point to manslaughter.
I’m still going to take this beautiful pot-shot.
From Brokentoys.org
And just to confirm…. the weather report was issued by the National Weather Service at 10:11am CST, August 28th. Bush said his piece on the morning of September 1st, on Good Morning America.
When you get a weather report like this, it’s time to leave.
WWUS74 KLIX 281550NPWLIXURGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED
HURRICANE KATRINAA MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH…RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969. MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. ATLEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED.
CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATEADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS…PETS…
AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…
BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEWCROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED.AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEARHURRICANE FORCE…OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE..
.ARECERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET…DO NOT VENTUREOUTSIDE!LAZ038-040-050-056>070-282100-ASSUMPTION-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
To that, our president responded four days later with:
I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached. And as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will.
added 9-21-05:
From the Wikipedia article on New Orleans
Much of the city is located below sea level between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, so the city is surrounded by levees. Until the early 20th century, construction was largely limited to the slightly higher ground along old natural river levees and bayous, since much of the rest of the land was swampy and subject to frequent flooding. This gave the 19th century city the shape of a crescent along a bend of the Mississippi, the origin of the nickname The Crescent City. In the 1910s engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood enacted his ambitious plan to drain the city, including large pumps of his own design which are still used. All rain water must be pumped up to the canals which drain into Lake Pontchartrain. Wood’s pumps and drainage allowed the city to expand greatly in area. However, pumping of groundwater from underneath the city has resulted in subsidence. The subsidence greatly increased the flood risk, should the levees be breached or precipitation be in excess of pumping capacity (as was the case in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina). There were many warnings in the late 20th century that a major hurricane or a Mississippi flood could create a lake in the central city as much as 9 m (30 ft) deep, which could take months to pump dry….
From the Wikipedia article on Hurricane Katrina
…It later reached a minimum pressure of 26.64 inches (902 mbar), making it the fourth most intense Atlantic Basin hurricane on record…
Katrina was a powerful storm but there have been in recorded history (the last 200 years or so) at least 3 storms that would have done the same thing to New Orleans if they hit their mark. So… there is a levee-breaking storm every 50 years…. and such a storm might hit it’s mark right over New Orleans 1 in … I don’t know … 1 in 10 times.
I’ve heard it said that it was known that the levees were rated to protect against a class 3 hurricane (I googled around a little for a definitive text on this but couldn’t find one [reference found, see below – Lee]). That simply isn’t adequate protection for an area that routinely (every 10-100 years) gets hit by larger storms.
To counter one friend’s ridiculous accusation that this catastrophe happened because of global warming, I must insist that it was just simple probability. Anyone who knew anything about the levees knew that every hurricane coming in from the gulf was a roll of the dice.
update 9-24-05 From a Washington Post article pointed out to me by The Quantum Mechanic
The Army Corps of Engineers has said that Katrina was just too massive for a system that was not intended to protect the city from a storm greater than a Category 3 hurricane… The event exceeded the design…
The article goes on to to talk at length about how the design of the floodwalls may have been faulty but at the same time, they reiterate that it wasn’t designed to handle a storm as large as Katrina.
It’s made from the tastiest part of the animal
Every time I go to the all Spanish speaking grocery store down the street (on 24th and Harrison), I try out a local delicacy. It’s a joy. Most supermarkets that I go to have a tiny little Hispanic food section… well this market -is- a Hispanic food section.
I particularly have liked some of the sausages and cheeses that I gotten there. This time was no exception, though it did startle me a bit. I’ve gotten the longaniza sausage, yum! And it even gave me the same weird burps that I got on my trip to the Philippines.
I’ve had the Spanish sausage, that was very good but it didn’t have enough fat in it to fry well for my quesadillas. I’ve had a couple types of dried peppers, all exquisite.
I just tried El Mexicano brand Pork Chorizo. Oh yeah. At my first bite, I could tell that it was the special secret ingredient that the burrito place down the street uses to flavor their fantastic burritos. I mixed just a little bit of the sausage with a can of refried beans and… Zowie!
Getting to the point of eating this chorizo was a bit of a culinary adventure. First, the package reads, “Remove casing before cooking”. Huh? I soon realized that the sausage casing was made of plastic and that the sausage itself was… less of a sausage and more of a meat paste. Hmm, ok. As I started cooking it up, I kept reading the package label, I found the ingredients. It really is made from the tastiest part of the animal!
I was already committed to cooking this stuff but I have to admit that I was a little put off. And as it cooked, it continued to look less and less like sausage and more like… I don’t know… pork salivary glands, lymph nodes and fat (cheeks). The individual meat parts were separating just a little bit. Hmm. Ok.
As I was having my first bites, my apprehensions began to fade as my taste buds were taking control. I thought about all of the burritos that I have had with this stuff in it. The tastiest part of the animal indeed!