The Premier Development and Runtime Environment for Business Application Software
May 29th, 2008 Al Kalter
Today’s forecast includes a 30% chance of rain. But that means a 70% chance of no rain. Temperatures are climbing, and soon the mid-90’s will be daily occurrences. And we’re three days away from the official start of the hurricane season. All of that encouraged yet another bicycle commute this morning. Pete has joined the trend, and even Jeff came in by pedal-power two-wheeler earlier this week. It’s amazing what the impact can be of good weather, good examples, and record high gas prices. And so I wonder what other repercussions might be caused by that last factor …
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | 1 Comment »
May 27th, 2008 Al Kalter
Wildlife encounters and wild life encounters. Which would you be more interested in hearing about? I have a little on each topic floating around my mind. After a 3-day weekend (don’t we need MORE of those?), it can be a little hard to focus, so how about if we touch on both of them?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »
May 22nd, 2008 Al Kalter
The Stanley Cup Finals start Saturday. If you can overcome the objection that it’s on a cable channel that few can find and which fills its programming schedule with other events like bull riding, you might discover a truly great sports event. A strong veteran team in the Detroit Red Wings, which has won several championships in recent years, taking on the young stars of the Pittsburgh Penguins - Evgeni Malkin, Marc Andre Fleury, and the transcendent Sidney Crosby. It should be a great series. So how did I get to be such a hockey fan? Read on …
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | 2 Comments »
May 20th, 2008 Al Kalter
I just saw a news story that a federal appeals court has ruled that the US discriminates against blind people by producing currency that cannot be distinguished by the visually impaired. The US Treasury could be forced to redesign its paper money to differentiate between the different values. This came out of a lawsuit filed by the American Council for the Blind, whose president said, “I don’t think we should have to rely on [other] people to tell us what our money is.” What do you think about this?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »
May 16th, 2008 Al Kalter
Opening bars. Let’s start with that phrase, shall we? Not as it refers to unlocking the doors to local taverns, or to prying open the metallic walls of a prison, but rather to the musical meaning, as in the first several measures of a song. On the radio the other day, I heard a familiar combination of chords and bongo drum, and immediately recognized it as the opening bars of the Yardbirds’ classic, For Your Love. And it got me to thinking about how we are able to instantly recall from memory a song that we might not have heard for many years, and even sing along with it, based just on a few notes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | 1 Comment »
May 13th, 2008 Al Kalter
Sunday was Mother’s Day. If you spent yours with your mother, or if you’re a mother and you spent it with your children, I hope it was very nice. Sue and I, with both of our mothers long deceased and our daughter spending the month in Brazil, decided to visit Epcot Center for the day. It’s one of the luxuries of living in Florida, I guess, but one we don’t often take advantage of. Still, it’s about a 2½ hour drive each way, so it’s not something we’re going to do all the time. But at this time of year, Epcot has its Flower and Garden Show, an area of strong interest for Sue, so off we went at 6:30 AM.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »
May 9th, 2008 Al Kalter
A newspaper ad caught my eye this morning. It was a full-page spread for Chrysler, guaranteeing for three years a gasoline price of $2.99 per gallon, if, of course, you purchase a new Chrysler car or truck. With the skyrocketing price of gas on everyone’s mind, this seems to be an attention-getting approach. Will it help sell some cars? Maybe yes, maybe no. The question that intrigued me, however, was how much this promotion is really worth. Let’s do the math.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »
May 7th, 2008 Al Kalter
It appears that it will be a circuitous route to the point of this post, so hang on if you dare. It’s going to start out sounding political, but it won’t finish that way. At least, that’s the intention at this moment.
Growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, with the news dominated by the Cold War and later, Vietnam, we were taught that democracy was good and its antithesis, communism, was bad. Whether you accept or reject the good and bad labels, it’s still strange that we accepted these concepts as opposites. By definition, a better antonym for democracy would be autocracy (or theocracy, or dictatorship, or monarchy), and the opposing system to communism would be, of course, capitalism. The former terms refer to political systems, the latter to economic ones.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »
May 5th, 2008 Al Kalter
In a conversation this morning, I was asked if I knew what Cinco de Mayo celebrated. I answered that I did not. An hour later, coincidentally, I received the following, which seemed worth sharing with whomever might be reading this (it’s not titled, “Nobody asked me, but …” because, well, someone DID ask me.)
The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »
May 1st, 2008 Al Kalter
Has anyone ever counted the number of idiots and morons on the road? For that matter, is there a difference between them? Is the driver who cuts you off an idiot, and the one who speeds by you a moron? What if he/she does both? Can one mutate from a moron to an idiot, or does that driver become a blend of the two. Perhaps a moriot, or an idion. And what about drivers in other countries? How do we perceive them, and they us? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Al | No Comments »