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Have you ever wondered why power plugs have the shape they do? The common American Type A design dates back to the original 1920’s two-pin plug design. Why are we still using 1920’s technology to power electric devices when virtually every other household technology has experienced rapid change and evolution?

It turns out that everything about electric wiring is strictly controlled by the National Electric Code, a national standard that is reissued every three years or so, but has changed so little, that aside from various safety devices, my dad’s 1960’s code book is virtually the same as his new one. Many, perhaps most, electricians are content with the standard 120V/60Hz/15amp 3-prong socket, but I would beg to differ.
Continue reading Rethinking Power Plugs

In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.

Happy 100th birthday, Miss Rand.  More quotes.

Very cool: a pacemaker that sends monitoring signals by SMS and a pill bottle that sends reminders to your phone. Note that both inventions come from overseas – one of the consequences of the HIPAA regulations which have diverted funds formerly used to save lives to complying with government edicts.

I just uploaded my vacation photos from New York City to my website. Check them out!

To my surprise, I received a number of resume requests just as I began my vacaction, so I’ve posted an updated version.

After working nights and weekends for last few weeks, I will be taking a well-deserved break and going to New York City for vacation tomorrow. I’ll post the photos when I get back on the 28th (and maybe while I’m there – I’m taking along a laptop with 3G wireless.) If any New Yorkers want to hang out with the infamous GreedyCapitalist, email me at heroic-at-gmail.com

Dear god(s),
Grant me courage and eloquence to
boldly speak the truth when I know it;
honesty to keep my mouth shut when I don’t,
the wisdom to know the difference,
and the determination and integrity to discover the facts.
-Me

Microsoft has released a free beta of AntiSpyware, a new product designed to keep your computer free of malicious software. Independent reviews have already shown the the software is more effective that its best competitors, Spybot and Ad-Aware. The design of the software is simply amazing, as it represents the next generation of software architecture. (In all fairness, Microsoft didn’t develop this software – it was developed and purchased from another company.)

You can download a free copy from Microsoft.

Fortune: Why There’s No Escaping the Blog: Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product—or destroy it. Either way, they’ve become a force business can’t afford to ignore.

When it comes to finding excuses to pillage the public, you can always count on politicians to find an excuse, no matter how ridiculous:

A 44-year-old Web site designer, Oldham is not now and never plans to be a member of the television-owning public, having given it up in exasperation when “Inspector Morse” went into reruns. But for more than a decade he has been enmeshed in a bizarre pas de deux with the agency that polices television ownership in Britain, and that seems intent on proving him a liar.

No matter how much Oldham protests, he said, stern letters come inexorably in the mail, informing him (in case he has forgotten) that he has not paid the £121, or $233, BBC license fee required annually of every owner of a “telly.” If indeed he is found to be harboring a television illegally, they remind him, he could be fined £1,000 or wind up in jail.

On a related note, a Munich court has ordered a €12 “copyright levy” to be paid on all new Fujitsu Computers PC’s. The tax, which will likely be extended to all new computers is meant to compensate uh, someone for software piracy costs.

I have an idea – how about a “life tax” – for the privilege of being allowed to live in a “democratic society?”