The Last Third
Those Crazy Google People
Need to blog more!
Holy End Of Days Batman
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, based at the Paris Observatory, tells the world every six months whether to add or subtract a second from atomic clocks, the standard for everyday timekeeping.
A leap second is added to Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep it in step with solar time - based on the Earth's rotation on itself - to within a second. Tidal friction causes the Earth's rotation to slow down, which means that solar time tends to drift out of sync with atomic clocks.
If this disparity was not corrected, the "error" could increase to several seconds within a few decades; and, claim astronomers, eventually make some of their software and possibly hardware obsolete.
There have been 22 leap seconds added - and no subtractions - since the first one on 30 June, 1972.
That led me to ponder what I would do with the extra second that I was given. Wanting not to waste this new found minute, I decided that I would take that moment and open up to the entire world and share my complete love for all things. The second came and went. I loved everything, and now we are back to normal. Imagine if the "powers that be" gave us a full extra day?
(Marnie just informed me that there is such a thing as Leap Year, and that I need to work harder on that day.)
Where the Internet is going. (!) or (?)
Pondering Telephones:
If we look at telephones and how they developed, and what they meant and still mean, it is interesting to look at how we have come to rely on them. My mother recently moved into a new house. While on the face of things, that is not a huge event, but one thing that she did (or did not do, in this case) was to not order a telephone. No "land line" at all. She decided that since she has a cell phone, and most of us who love her know her number, she did not need to add yet another number for us to have to remember. The added benefit is that the cell phone goes with her and has voice mail. Why should she tie herself down with a number that only goes to 1 place? (And the funny part is she does not like the fact that traditional telephones that are installed in the home do not have text messaging. Think about that for a moment...) This whole thing is funny from the stand point that growing up we had a rotary phone. (and we were on a party line. I am getting old.) So using my mother as an example I draw the conclusion that the phone was not the thing she needed, the contact with her family and friends is. Strange to think that in one lifetime she progressed from early adoption (operator based phones) to completely mobile (cell phone).
Pondering Faxes:
We have a fax machine here at Evolve Systems. And we use it all the time. We jot down notes and contracts and send them over the telephone to others who are in our same position. I have been told that we do this in many cases for legal reasons. It is not a "signed contract" if we get an e-mail from a client. But if we get a fax? Take that to the bank! We moved to all IP based phones at our office for many reasons. Silly part is we "had to" keep 1 phone line so that we could use the fax machine. I do not see a way "out" from using faxes right now, but it is interesting to ponder them once in a while.
Pondering where we are going:
Communication. I think that is the root of where we are going. My mom needs her cell phone. My sales staff need the fax. I installed satellite internet at my cabin in northern Minnesota so that I could check e-mail and program websites. Access and communication. Location really does not matter to my job any more. I could be writing this from a plane, a Tibetan monastery or from my basement in Minnesota. The future of the Internet is, in my opinion, all about merged connectivity. My mom moved from being tied to a telephone in her home to taking her phone with her. Once we move away from being tied to a single computer in an office, and the programs on said machine, then what need do we have for the office? If everything I needed was located on the Internet, all my files, programs and "stuff", then I would be free to choose my location to do work. That is where the Internet is going. Everywhere. It will not be about taking the Internet with us, but rather, the Internet will be everywhere we are.
Blogging about Blogs
I will admit it, I am vain. I have googled my own name in the past and discovered an obscure article that talked about me on the Blaine Park Board, on page 26 of google. (Yes, I spent some quality time looking that far for my own name...) Since I stated this blog I have moved up to the number four spot on Google.com. I am not going to claim that I am an SEO guru, there are plenty of people out there who claim that, or are. What I am surprised about is the way that Google.com looks at all the sites that are out there and then really does the ranking. If you look at this blog, there is frankly not a lot here. But, it does have my name, in context, and on point.
So, my point is, if you use the tools correctly there are some great things that you can do with the technology, especially if you stay on point and on message with what you are trying to promote.
To see if other blogs are talking about you, use this tool: blogsearch.google.com.
Have a nice day.
Much ado about almost nothing
There is a crisis, and we are bring warned about it on an everyday basis at this point. News articles, press releases and very earnest looking reporters who fret about the way that the economy is looking. Down turn. Negative shift. Crisis. We have been here before, and we will be here again. The pain points typically come from an over eager public wanting to spend money that they do not have, so they borrow, or build. Looking at the way that the housing market is going is a lesson is patience. I think that there are 2 lessons here to learn from, and they are well illustrated by two examples.
Example 1: The Over Buying Home Debtor.
Most of us look at the people who live in non-rental properties as Home Owners. This is not the case. Most people living in non-rental homes do not own the home, they own the debt and little else. The home foreclosures of recent months support this theory. With a steady economy the housing market begins to grow and our thoughts turn to buying "up" to that better house, that better neighborhood and that better "better" just for the sake of more. When credit is easy and the loan officers are eager, this is a recipe for liberal loans. The fly in the ointment here, it seems to me, were the Adjustable Rate Mortgages, or ARMs. An ARM is a great tool, when used properly, but is not a good tool for the average person. An ARM should be used for leveraging a non-liquid financial situation to bridge the period between investment maturations. More on that at some other point. An ARM is not typically a wise use of a financial tool for the individual borrower who has no training in financial matters beyond balancing their checkbook and paying down a 30 year mortgage. The lure of the ARM is in More House for My Buck illusion. This specter of getting more for less soon materializes as deferred interest payments that come crashing upon the wallets of those who do not know how to navigate away from a non-liquid cash position. But the banks and the lenders will seldom explain this process. Thus, individuals who think that they are getting more, and becoming owners, are in fact just increasing their long term debt position. This means, in the long run, they will pay more in interest, save less, have less investment potential and eventually sacrifice retirement savings to try and dig out. Not a good way to plan for long term nest egg growth.
I am watching with interest the "new" offering by some institutions the 40 year mortgage.
Example 2: The Broken Mortgage Broker.
In an upside economy with high liquidity and seemingly low risk even the least savvy mortgage broker can look, and earn, like a superstar. The economy is currently exacting a Darwinian price on the careers of the untested and unprepared broker. I know of several firms that are going out of business due to lack of sales and they are blaming it all on the economy. Every economy cycles. That is they way things work. It is the tested broker that has the ability to pilot through the storms of change. It reminds me a great deal of the Dot Com bust of the 90's. Lots of young kids with seemingly great ideas on the way that the Internet would change the world, if only they could secure the venture capitol. And it come, in bushel baskets. The problem with the idea generators was that they were not seasoned by cycles, had not navigated through a down market and most importantly in my mind, were not trained to work with investment boards and the high demands of investors in whose money they were now encumbered. It was easy to have "the idea", but a difficult matter to continue to execute after the first market test. So they, just as the brokers of today, went bang.
To counter this I have see a good example of a well thought out long term strategy would be found in Lynn Rogers and the approach she takes with her business. She warns of the coming dangers, and offers insight into the ways that individuals should look at structuring their debt load and payment structures.
Patience. It is terribly hard thing to delay gratification. As Mr. Morrison of The Doors was once heard say, "We want the world and we want it now." I believe that we are suffering through the adolescence of indulgence in our economy. We will cycle back and then start it all over again. But those who plan for the down turns, who recognize the difference between owning something real, like an estate, and owning debt, will be far better served through patience and careful investing. Or, they will be left to fret and make much ado about nothing.
Congress Passes 7 year extention on Internet Tax Ban
PC World reports:
"The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a seven-year extension to an Internet tax ban, the final step before the legislation heads to President George Bush to be signed into law.
The House on Tuesday approved the Senate version of the Internet tax moratorium, which would ban Internet-only taxes such as access taxes for seven years. The current ban has been in effect since 1998, except for a lapse during most of 2004."
Personally I think that this is very good thing. We are truly engaged in a global economy, and the thought of trying to tax pure Internet transactions just does not make sense, yet... Where you have a brick and morter location, such as we have here in Minnesota, then you have established the fact that your company is doing business in Minnesota and your corporation exists as a corporate body at the pleasure of the State. For this, I fully support the need to pay corporate taxes.
In the case of Internet only transactions that are outside of Minnesota, or your state, then you are not obligated to pay taxes, the recipient of the goods is responsible for reporting this transaction and for paying any taxes, if applicable. We know a little bit about this here at Evolve. In 2007 we were audited by the State of Minnesota for Sales and Use tax. Our auditor did a fine job of going through all our books and did discover 1 transaction where we shipped a taxable item to a particular zip code that did not have our normal 6.5% tax. This location had a 7.45% tax due to some very local entertainment taxes. The fine was $1.74. Yes, that is correct. The State of Minnesota audited us, spent all that time, all that effort, as did Evolve, and for their efforts recovered a total of $1.74. Not bad for a few days work.
The reason that I mention the above is to illustrate that we are very familiar around here with how the Sales and Use tax system works, at least how it works in Minnesota. So, to look at a National Tax, which is what an Internet tax would have to be, would only compound the issues from the standpoint of taxation.
And then think about items from Canada or Mexico or Belize being shipped to Minnesota, or the other way. Who would be responsible and how would the taxes be collected? I assume that the government would figure out some way to totally mess things up. Which is why I think that they decided to wait for another 7 years to figure it out.
I for one am happy that they decided to do so. But that does not mean that for the next 7 years they won't be scheming on how to best implement a "Fair Internet Tax Act" (FITA) Watch for it.
Cheers.
What I am doing here
And then along came the Blogcast. A simple combination of both worlds.
It is my intent to update this site once in a while with information that I think might be useful, or things that I want to make sure I capture and place somewhere I can find them.
Have a wonderful day.