Shnugi

“I’m a hard-core conservative Republican guy — I found that appalling (food stamp abuse),” said Dave Young, a member of the county (Warren, Ohio) board of commissioners.
“As soon as people figure out they can vote representatives in to give them benefits, that’s the end of democracy,” Young said. -Columbus Dispatch (November 29, 2009)

No, David Young, I think that’s the beginning of democracy. What do you think the founding fathers were doing when then ceded from Great Britain? They wanted to put in place laws that benefited them instead of benefiting the King.

Written: 11/7/09

I’ve been thinking a lot about my employment outlook lately, so I dug into the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see how others in my age group were fairing. I don’t think that anyone thinks that job market its that great especially towards recent graduates, but these stats highlight the bleak economic landscape that those graduating in 2010 will face.

Shocking Statistics:

• Only 37% of young adults (20-24) have full time employment (35 hours + per week), which is down from 53% in year 2000. Only 60% of adults (20-24) are employed (part time or fulltime), which is in stark contrast to the 53% of full time employment nearly 10 years earlier. This demonstrates the deterioration of the abilities of college graduates and young adults as a whole to support themselves and possibly their new families. You can see the effects of this underemployment in MTV’s Sixteen and Pregnant, where the older boy friends are unable to earn enough to support their newly formed families on blue collar wages.
• 40% of the young adults (20-24) are not working (unemployed or not seeking employment), this is up from 27% in year 2000. Again, this shows that this age group is no longer able to support itself on the economic conditions that exist today. There hasn’t been a huge cultural shift, since 2000, so the lack of employment is due to the scarce opportunities afforded to this age group.
• 36% of people between the ages of (20-24) were in college in 2008, up from 31.5% in 2000. No job? Stay in college.
• 41% more people (20-24) were unemployed in October 2009, than October 2008.

Unemployment rate of 20-24 year olds from 2009-2000 (taken in October of each month)

As you can see from the table, unemployment has basically doubled since 2007.

From October 2007 to October 2008, the total number of unemployed 20-24 year olds increased 26%. The following year (2008-2009) unemployment grew 41% for the same age group. The total population in that age group stayed aout the same each year. This shows the rapid collapse of economic opporunities for young Americans. The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t have any information on how people of different educational backgrounds are faring, but I’d wager a guess people with college degrees aren’t faring that much better than the uneducated.

This is an 100% stacked bar graph to show the changes in the labor participation composition of the total population. The orange represents people that are not working at all, these people could be discouraged workers (people that have been beaten down by the labor market and aren’t bothering to do anything), people that work under the table, people that do unrecorded and uncompensated work (housewives and househusbands), college students who don’t work, and people that don’t do anything (which I would think is a very small faction). The other three cateogries should be pretty self explanatory, unemployed means that they’re seeking work but don’t have any, part time means they work less than 35 hours a week, full time means they work 35 or more hours each week. With the 100% bar graph, it’s important to keep in mind that no person is double counted, since for example you can’t be full time employed and unemployed at the same time.

The drop in labor participation (the orange part) rates represents workers that are no longer trying to find work in this economy and people who have made other lifestyle choices. For people in the ages 20-24, I don’t think there are a lot that have settled down into nuclear families, so I don’t think that the drop can be attributed to an increase of stay at home partners. One glaring number is that percentage of full time employed young adults dropped well below 50% for the first time in 2008 and continued to fall through 2009.

Feel free to run the numbers yourself. I got all my stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census website. It was pretty easy to grab the tables and run them through excel.

*From the Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/cps/

**From the US Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey taken in October http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html

Labor Statistics of Americans 20-24,not seasonally adjusted (in thousands) shows how many people are in the 20-24 age group (in thousands), how many of those people are employed full time, employed part time, unemployed, and in college. Keep in mind that people in college can be employed full time, employed part time or unemployed. It’s important to note that the population of this age cohort hasn’t changed much over the 23 time span, so you can estimate the percent changes just by comparing year to year changes in the total number of people in each category.

Side note: I’d bet that in 1986, fewer people in college worked. But that might just be my perspective coming from a state university where most people don’t have families that can completely support them.

Year to Year Change in Labor Stats for 20-24 table shows the changes from year to year in terms of percent. So in 2008 there were 25.67% more unemployed people than in 2007.

Economic Activity of 20-24 Year Olds (1986-2009) table shows the percentage of the population in each year at October that was in college, had any kind of employment, wasn’t working, or was full time employed. Look at the Employed vs not Working columns together, since each year’s Employed % + Not Working % should add up to 100%. The in college percent is there just so that you can compare the changes, since people in college can also be employed or not employed. I included a breakdown of the employment column to show the % that is full time employed, because I thought it was interesting that the percent of the population in college might exceed the percent of the population employed fulltime in 2009. The numbers aren’t out, but when the economy’s bad more people go to college, so I think that it’s plausible that the two will equal each other soon. The percent of people in college would only have to grow 4.4% from 2008 to equal the percent of the 20-24 year old population working full time. That’s not to say that people in college aren’t also working full time, but it’s an interesting statistic to look at over time.

Quick Info

Characters:

Humans in V

Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell): “Juliet from Lost” A counter-terrorism agent for the FBI. She is probably a future leader of the human resistance, after surviving the raid in the warehouse. Her work interferes with her relationship with her son Tyler.

Tyler Evans (Logan Huffman): “Juliet’s Son” Erica’s only child. He has an absent father and a mother that is always working. After becoming enamored by Lisa, the V Youth leader, he forges Erica’s signature and joins the Visitor Ambassador Program. Future traitor; may become the baby daddy to a Human-Lizard hybrid.

Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch): “Hot Priest” Doesn’t trust the V’s, but doesn’t seem to want to get into the fray. How long will he continue to be a priest?

Chad Decker (Scott Wolf): “The Reporter” Focused on advancing his career. He doesn’t totally trust the V’s after being coerced into giving Anna a soft interview. Will probably connect with the resistance, may become Anna’s sex slave in the process.

Valerie Holt (Lourdes Benedicto): “Ryan’s Fiancée” Lizard?

Georgie Sutton (David Richmond-Peck): “The Resistance Leader” Crazy and paranoid; this man will have to save humanity.

The Visitors (Lizards)

Anna (Morena Baccarin): “Leader of the Visitors” The charmingly vicious leader of the V fleet. Just wait till she eats your face.

Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut): “The Lizard dressed up as a Black Guy with a Fiancée” A spy sent by the V’s. He has deserted their cause and want to live a mainstream life with his future wife Valerie.

Lisa (Laura Vandervoot): “Youth Leader in Sexy Jumpsuit” Gives Tyler the look. Future V/Human babies on the way?

Dale Maddox (Alan Tudyk): “Alpha from Dollhouse” A Visitor spy working as a counter-terrorism agent in the FBI. Presumably dead, but I don’t know how easy these V’s die. The originals could take a pretty heavy beating before passing on.

Factions:

The Visitors (Lizards): Lisa, Dale, Anna

Visitor Worshipers (Humans): Tyler Evans, Older Priest

Rebels (Lizards + Humans): Erica, Ryan, Jack

Predictions:

• Lots and lots of interspecial hooking up with a couple hybrid babies, like Battlestar Galactica.
• Anna’s face get’s ripped off during an interview with Chad.
• Tyler Evans betrays Erica
• Erica uses Tyler to get to the V’s
• Valerie turns out to be a V spy keeping tabs on Ryan
• One of the motherships gets blown up and the resistance is hunted down
• Erica and Priest hook up, that or the Priest is gay

I am so glad that Logan finally got booted. I swear the only reason that he was kept on the show was because he’s the cute ’straight’ boy. It’s too bad that every time he opened his mouth to say something edgy he sounded like a 4 year old; like when he said his grandmother had better taste than Gordana. I like how he wears shiny pants to every single elimination challenge as if he wants the judges to stare at his shiny silver crotch instead of his work.

Side note: It has been a little annoying that one trick ponies don’t get called out this season (remember Rami?) because the judges rotate so often.

Review of SocialSafe: 11/1/09

Version of Social Safe being reviewed: 1.2.395

I was really excited when I read about SocialSafe for Facebook. I thought it would be an amazing way to capture my Facebook and save it for when I’m old and forgetful. Unfortunately, it seems that SocialSafe can’t seem to get it right.  I really hope they aren’t going to try to expand and make versions for Myspace or Twitter until they can get Facebook right.  I’m extremely disapointed in the results of a program that claims to be past beta.  If the people at iBundle and 1minus1 had been more truthful about how Social Safe is a work in progress, I wouldn’t have been this rough on them.

Pros of SocialSafe:

• Swanky user interface
• Documents when people become your facebook friends or defriend you.
• Downloads all the photos that you uploaded to facebook.  If you ever loose the originals (like if your hard drive dies, or someone steals your computer), SocialSafe can get them for you. SocialSafe can only download the images you uploaded, so you won’t be able to download any of your friend’s pictures that you’re tagged in. However, I suggest that you save your money and download FacePAD (Facebook Photo Album Downloader). FacePAD is a free add-on to Firefox that will let you download all the pictures that you’re tagged in, your friends, albums, and your own pictures. Beat that SocialSafe.

Cons of Social Safe:

• It only saved 11 of my status updates (8 from October 2009, and 3 from September 2007), which is ridiculous failure considering that I probably have over 100 status from the past 3 years of having Facebook. I didn’t think that SocialSafe was a beta program, but it seems like they have major issues to work out.
• It saved 0 of my wall posts, even though I gave SocialSafe additional permissions to download them. Uhh… guys, I think that’s something that should work right out of the box.
• It doesn’t save other people’s pictures that you’re tagged in. It will only download pictures that I originally uploaded, which is pretty useless since I have the originals. Why would I want low resolution copies?
• It doesn’t download notes, which should be something pretty basic.
• It doesn’t save any of your friends information. This seems like it should be a given. I’m not going to remember who the heck half these people are in 4 years, so it might be nice to at least see what network they’re in. Calling the programmers at SocialSafe… I don’t actually talk to 75% of my Facebook ‘Friends,’ so I really need to have something remember them by instead of a little tiny thumbnail.
• The user interface needs some works. It looks sweet, but seriously it’s barely usable. I’m sorry, but I thought of Transformers when I saw the column of chevrons on the download screen.

Don’t spend $2.99 on a product that isn’t finished. Social Safe might be worth it someday, but not today. Save your money now that I know I wasted my $3 on this piece of crap.  Don’t be fooled by their British accents!

EDIT: Here’s the email I got in response to my complaint, with my commentary (11/8/09):

Thanks for your e-mail.

Unfortunately the Facebook API only allows the backing up of the last 100 Status Updates. [Shnugi: The sales pitch didn't mention that limitation] That said, it is unclear why the application downloaded only 11 of your Status Updates (8 from October 2009 and 3 from September 2007).  We would like to investigate this further and would be grateful if you could send us your log file [Shnugi: I sent it, but I'm not expecting them to do anything about it.]. Details on where this can be found are below.

In addition to the restriction on the number of Status Updates, the API only
allows the downloading of a limited range of data.  Although SocialSafe does
not currently make use of the full range of data available through the API,
we do intend adding further functionality through a series of application
updates and these updates will be free to existing users.  Product
enhancements will include the backing-up of inbox messages, notes, links and
even Facebook Fan Pages. [Shnugi: Kay thanx for telling me this AFTER I spend my money]

Tagged Photos too will be downloadable in the future but, compliant with
Facebook’s rules, will need the explicit permission of the photo’s owner.
We did launch with that functionality but without explicit permission.
However, communication from Facebook highlighted the risks to our API access
through non-compliance and so we have had to suspend our Tagged Photo
download functionality pending further application development. [Shnugi: Someone got burned by Facebook, maybe you should emphasize your strict limitations.  I saw nothing about it on the FAQ. I sure would've appreciated it]

You can keep a track of our progress via http://socialsafe.uservoic e.com, by
becoming a fan of our Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/ socialsafeapp
or following our blog www.socialsaf e.net/blog. [Shnugi: No links for you!, Like I'm going to be a fan of this crap.]

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,

George Moore

Customer & Technical Support

Here are some screenshots of SocialSafe:

My friggin account was deleted, so you know I can’t play the files I freaking bought.

usr\lib\openoffice\share\dict\ooo

buy new cmos battery cr2032

go to fter hours at 10

I am appalled at what constitutes a charity these days. A few days ago, I recieved a phone call from the Children’s Charitable Foundation, and I will admit I was taken in by the pleas of the caller, who spoke of sick children getting their last wishes fulfilled; in fact, I thought it was the Make-A-Wish Foundation calling. But no, I was mistaken this was the Children’s Charitable Foundation. Nevertheless, I said I would pledge $25 to their cause, which, at the time, seemed very worthy.
Well, today I got the mail and found their donation form. As soon as I looked at it, I knew something was up. Everything about their pamphlet just screamed “10 minute Frontpage job.” Now, I’m not one to judge based on looks a lone, so I decided to do a little investigating. I had heard stories of many a charity that only spent around a quarter of their revenue on programs, but I never would have expected what I found out next.
A simple web search of “Children’s Charitable Foundation” was enough to yield a link to Give.org, which is the BBB for charities. The page lambasts the CCF being unaccountable. In fact, it failed to meet half of the standards for accountability. Now that’s bad and all, but what really got me riled up was the percentage of donated money that they actually use for the children.
CCF spends… 6% of it’s funds on helping the children. No I didn’t miss a zero, 6% on the dot. Now to put it all in perspective, they raked in $1.1 million in donations and gave out $60 thousand. Umm, that seems a little out of whack. Just a little.
For god’s sake, I know people that tithe at least 10% of their total income, and this charity can’t even match that. Sickening.
So what are they doing with all their money? Fundraising. Apparently cold calls, like the one they sent me, cost money; in fact, they spent 88% of their funds on fundrasing. Pathetic.

If CCF ever calls me up again begging for money, I’ll give them a piece of my mind.

Try disabling “slow keys,” if it's enabled. I don't know how or why it got enabled, but it doesn't help.

Go to K > System Settings > Regional & Accessibility (near the top) > Accessibility > Keyboard Filters > Uncheck “Use slow keys”

In my attempt to upgrade my measly 10gb hard drive in one of our computers. I broke the replacement drive, which is no big deal since it was only a 60 gb 4 year old Maxtor; I think it pooped out either when I erased it or when I was a little rough on it taking it out and putting it back in. Oh well, next time I'll know what I'm doing, and I'll have a spare to practice on.

P4 Northwood 2.4 ghz: 57.8 watts
Geode NX 1750 1.4 ghz: 14 watts

Intergrated Video: 5-10 watts
Radeon 9600xt: 22 watts

2 sticks of RAM: 20 watts

Hard drive 20 watts

Fan 3 watts

CD-rom/rw: 20 watts
DVD-rw/rom: 25 watts

Motherboard: 25 watts

Wireless: 5-10 watts
Wired 5

So 140 watts peak! + 75 watts
VS 240+ watts peak + 70 watts (100 volts x .7 amps)

Yea so apparently my multisession DVDs in ISO 9960 + Joliet are worthless with Ubuntu, since the system will crash, yes crash, if I insert them and automount. So far, I've tested plain old ISO 9960 and Ubuntu seems to support multisession well, except it doesn't support file names longer than 8 characters long.

Install the latest nightly build, and you should be good to go.

http://nightlies.videolan.org/

Still can't get WMV's to play even after installing w32codecs, and you're running Ubuntu, with Gnome? Well, for me, all I needed to do next was install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll .

… in Ubuntu, so I found out that my drivers were all screwy, in the Xorg.conf (/etc/x11/Xorg.conf). All I had to do was change the line:
Driver: “vesa”
To:
Driver: “sis”
Note: “sis” should be whatever drivers your intergrated graphics chip or video card uses, usually you just need to specifiy the brand, but check to make sure.

This also fixed my issues with DVD playback. It used to skip and studder like no other, but now it's actually quite nice, considering it's intergrated graphics.