But a company can’t to go jail!

Feds wrestle with ‘too big to jail’
http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/05/investing/too-big-to-jail/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I talk about “too big to jail” here from time to time. The core of the problem remains this idiotic notion of a corporate entity being ‘human’. You can’t put a company in jail, it has no physical form. Besides, since the company doesn’t have a brain, it can’t make decisions that lead to illegal activity. So, in our ‘great’ society, humans (that are rich enough) can break laws willy nilly and the stock holders of the companies get fucked in the wallet while those humans get even fatter bonuses. Ain’t America great?!

Anyway, so now our (in)justice system is considering the idea of formally charging this piece of paper with a crime thinking that somehow that will serve as a deterrent to all these other pieces of paper that are ‘committing’ these various crimes. And yet the sheeple just shrug their shoulders and turn to the sports page…

HFT

A nice explanation for how high frequency trading makes its outsized gains:

Trading in Milliseconds: When Correlations Break Down
http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/trading-in-milliseconds-when-correlations-break-down/

In the comments (most of the comments on his blog are intelligent) is another nice analogy:

http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/trading-in-milliseconds-when-correlations-break-down/#comment-2146150:

It would be like someone standing between you and the cashier. Anytime they see that the price tag on your can of beans is higher than what the cash register expects (the stock boy hadn’t gotten that far with new price tags) they step in the middle and take the difference. They pay the cashier the 95cents the store is now charging and then take your 98cents. Except not just anyone can set themselves up to stand between customers and cashiers. It takes having many billions of dollars of capital to back up those brief moments of holding the product. So only people who are already extremely fat and happy can get into this no-lose skimming position.

This week I am promised feedback on two positions I have interviewed for, one back in Columbia, MD another in Vienna, VA. Both unclassified, I haven’t had the slightest nibble for an IC job. The push-back on the IC pay rates has been very aggressive: I am looking at a $30K per year cut on most of the positions I have looked at, yet on the outside I might only need to take additional $5-10K cut. I suspect I am not the only one deciding now is the perfect time to get out from the ‘golden handcuffs’ and the intelligence community is going to have a very substantial brain drain over the next year or so.

Because of the rather draconian pay cut I am looking at when (increasingly ‘if’) I get a job, we have been forced into some rather depressing calculations. We are increasingly unlikely to be able to continue to afford our two houses (that we never intended to have). About a week ago my beautiful wife came up with a rather astounding idea: rather than sell our house in Virginia, where we have invested so much sweat, tears and blood (mostly mine), not to mention lots and lots of money, lets sell our house in MD and she can make the insane 4 hours a day commute from Shenandoah. If I shift my job search to Virginia, she can drop me off and pick me up on her too-ing and fro-ing, so I don’t have to drive at all (except those odd days when she is sick or whatever). Since I married her because I want to be with her, sitting in a car 4 hours a day, as long as it is with her, is a reasonable alternative to selling the house we have worked so hard on.

Yesterday my beautiful genius came up with an even more intriquing alternative: sell our place here in MD and then rent a basement appt. That eliminates the commute and she insists she has seen places for well under a grand. I figure it costs us around $3,300 a month to keep this place (I estimate at least $50K in pre-tax dollars), so saving 2/3 of that is a substantial amount of money. If I take a pay cut _less_ than that amount, it is as if I got a net pay _increase_, thus making the search for unclass jobs so much easier to contemplate. Of course, I might get lucky now that I have shifted my job search to the NOVA area and find an IC job that pays a nice premium over unclass, but it won’t matter so much.

Of course, if I don’t get an offer from either company this week (one has me very hopful, the other not so much) then I would shift my focus to prepping our MD house for sale (not that it will really eat in to my job search efforts, last week was nearly a total zero based on the job ads) and hope we can have it sold by the end of summer. My wife would start that insane commute, but then I would have each day to work on the greenhouse construction, so there is still a reasonable chance we could be doing aquaponics by this fall. Lots of options by moving to Shen (and making that insane commute, why we haven’t considered it to this point), according to my budget spreadsheet, we could be ‘bleeding’ around $2K a month (as opposed to bleeding by about $6,500 a month at the moment; knocking that extra grand off would be by giving up such things as satellite TV) so it wouldn’t take much for me to make up that shortfall. Indeed, if our house sells for what Zillow thinks it is worth, we could net around $40K out of the deal which would easily pay for me to be out of a regular job for a couple of years, more than enough time to get something going.

My DNA efforts are surprisingly going quite well. I have a company that has expressed genuine interest in paying for the test chip fabrication (not a working prototype, but a test for the element most critical to overall success), though they want me to pony up for the testing. I got quotes from my fab guy and testing guy at the end of last week (just as I was suffering from some sort of virus that had me on the toilet 20+ times a day), now I have to put everything together and send it to the interested parties and see if they will indeed cut a check. I would be a lot more excited about this if I had a job, right now it is a bit difficult to get enthusiastic.

Microbiome being hacked away by antibiotics

The antibiotics that could kill you
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/22/opinion/blaser-antibiotic-winter/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

I talk about the dangers associated with antibiotics from time to time, this is an opinion piece that sort of wraps things up, but in a more personal nature. I am now pretty much against taking antibiotics except in serious life threatening situations; first I have read a number of studies that indicates that in some of cases where they are prescribed there is no measureable benefit (e.g., ear or sinus infections). Second, I have personally have had long-term discomfort after taking antibiotics (I had the runs for over 6 months once) and according to my math, another day or so of discomfort with the infection is well worth the sacrafice to avoid all those hours sitting on the toilet.

As the article discusses, we are ripe for a global pandemic that has the potential to wipe out huge chunks of our population (though not enough, I am quite certain, to change, even slightly, our environmental destroying trajectory). Given the abuse we have been putting on antibiotics (and the few antivirals) when we need them they will be of no value. Sadly, I am sure, the coming pandemic will take out people largely equally (though the wealthy will, of course, get preferential treatments, I doubt they will have any better luck buying their way out of antibiotic resistance than the poor), which means the geniuses as well as the morons.

Of course, much like solar flares or impacts from comets, there is no way to predict when it will happen with any usefulness, so it is just sit around and either cower in fear, continue as usual or potentially waste a huge amount of resources (a la ‘preppers’) for something that might not even happen in your lifetime.

Tamiflu is a billion-dollar boondoggle

Updated Review: Tamiflu Is a Bust
After finally getting their hands on full clinical study reports, independent reviewers say the antiviral drug is ineffective.
http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/39686/title/Updated-Review–Tamiflu-is-a-Bust/

I mentioned Tamiflu and its uselessness when I complained about the uselessness of the flu vaccine, it seems like further study has only confirmed this:

An international team found that while Tamiflu might reduce the duration of flu symptoms by half a day, there’s no evidence that it reduces hospital admissions or complications of an infection. On top of that, the antiviral’s side effects include nausea and vomiting. “There is no credible way these drugs could prevent a pandemic,” …

Predictably, Roche (the developer) had this to say:

Roche stands by the utility of Tamiflu. “We fundamentally disagree with the overall conclusions” of the review, the company told MedPage Today. And others have said that the results don’t necessitate an end to stockpiling the drug. Sabrina Spinosa of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which approved the use of Tamiflu in 2002, told Nature that the agency had reviewed the same clinical trial reports. “The review does not raise any new concerns,” she said, adding that the EMA maintains its position on the risks and benefits of Tamiflu.

Move over military industrial complex, the pharmaceutical industrial complex is now the boss!

Rigged

How America is rigged for the rich
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/09/opinion/liu-income-inequality/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

This is kind of a ‘retweet’. I think this is important for the health and welfare of our nation, though I figure the rich have such a lock on things their hold is unbreakable. I would love to be wrong (I would love to be rich also), but I don’t have a lot of faith in my fellow sheeple. A couple of key paragraphs to encourage my regular reader(s) to take a look:

Contrary to myth, most of today’s plutocrats are not the kind of Steve Jobsian visionary risk-taking entrepreneurs or superstar celebrities. The .01%, for instance, tend overwhelmingly to be high-end corporate managers and executives, particularly on Wall Street, operating in interlocking networks that inflate the standard of what an executive is “worth.” Or they are the heirs of the great entrepreneurs (4 of the 10 richest Americans are children of Sam Walton), inheritors of fortunes of which it can truly be said, “someone else built that.”

Today, as it was during the last Gilded Age, the concentration of wealth gives the rich the political clout to further concentrate their wealth. (And now, as then, the Supreme Court greases the skids in the name of “liberty”). This clout is wielded in plain sight now, without any pretense of civic equality. And it calls to mind the warning attributed to Justice Louis Brandeis: “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

This isn’t to suggest that all super-wealthy people are “welfare kings” (they’re not) or to imply that they have a monopoly on selfishness or sociopathic attitudes (they don’t). Yet if it’s unfair to paint everyone in the 1% with the same unflattering brush of “dysfunctional culture,” isn’t it far worse to do the same to the poorest 20%?

If you have noticed a problem with my blog recently, let me apologize. It seems somehow people (or bots) were using my defunct forum (http://sol-biotech.com/cgi-bin/waxology/YaBB.cgi) to send spam and that was triggering some zombie processes which sucked up the available processes (my web servers are on a shared resource) which lead to defective presentations. I killed the zombies and disabled any ability to mail from the forum (at least I hope so), so ideally this won’t be an issue going forward.

Regarding my job search, it continues… I have some positive leads (I had a good interview yesterday at a company that promises an ACID compliant cloud database) and have another one tomorrow for an IC job. A couple of other things percolating: a wee bit of part-time work that might look good on my resume (one is for helping a guy with his stock trading platform and another to provide some expert opinions regarding computer architecture and performance) and a couple of promising contacts from recruiters. I have been working on my blubber reduction by going for walk/jogs most days (did 7 miles on Tuesday, didn’t even stop the whole time (which just shows how out of shape I have been in)), but still haven’t got my ass programming the game. Though I really have been busy with the job search, it generally is taking me anywhere from 2-6 hours a day (highly variable) and I have a couple of hours dedicated to too-ing and fro-ing the boy to school.

On my walk the other day I actually failed to notice most of the unfolding nature because I was deep in my noggin doing feasibility calculations for some osmotic energy ideas I have been thinking about the last couple of years. I think it might be possible to get a decent (20%+) return on capital building such a system, at least I am sure enough I believe I will start up a spreadsheet and start doing some in-depth economic research to get better information.

We primed the walls/ceiling of the pavilion last weekend, but it was so cool (around 50 F) that it didn’t dry fast enough for us to put the paint on. That is our goal for this Sat, then lay the floor, then things will really start to take shape when we put the cabinets in. It is finally getting exciting to go out each weekend, though sometimes a bit depressing when we only get half the stuff done we were hoping to. At least I can see the end…

Updated construction website

I finally got off my butt and updated our construction web site. Last weekend we were hoping to prime/paint the pavilion, but, once again it took longer than expected to put the finish coats of spackle and sand, so it will be next weekend. Anyway, the main site is here:

http://sol-system.com/koxenrider/property/greenhousepool/

The specific new page is here:

http://sol-system.com/koxenrider/property/greenhousepool/Mar2014Update/index.html

I still have a few leads on the job search, but most positions are awaiting feedback which can sometimes take quite a while. My poor wife is all stressed out, but I am having a great time. I had a small nibble on my DNA work, hopefully I will know in the next week or so if it will lead to something. I am going to try to turn my focus on to the game and take advantage of this time off to get the thing playable. Even though I have been off for three weeks (as of today), I have had an amazing number of things keeping me from working on the game. I believe I have all the distractions (except for job search) behind me now…

On the job hunt once again

A week ago I was told that my services were no longer needed, don’t let the door hit my ass on the way out. The glorious life of a contractor! It wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t so diligent about spending every penny we make and had a pile of cash in savings, but instead we decided to ‘invest’ in real estate. At least we have something to show for all our expense:

Google imagery from fall of 2013

It looks like the image was taken late summer / early fall of ’13. There are still some leaves on the trees but they are falling fast. The inside of the greenhouse/pool is still largely incomplete, but the exterior walls are done (the exterior walls still need siding) as is the roof, as you can see. The damn thing is monstrous! Note that the house has 6 ft overhangs on each long side, so the house proper is actually 12 ft narrower. The pavilion (really, another kitchen) is the part that sticks out toward the North. There we are making much better progress, the interior walls are almost done (we are spackling now and hope to prime and paint in a couple of weeks), then it will be lay the floor and put in the cabinets (the island is 16 ft long, 5 ft wide and has two stoves and a 36 inch griddle, not to mention 3 exhaust fans). A half bath and a full bath when all is said and done. It makes me tired just typing this!

I will be so happy when we finally get done with the construction and can just go out there and relax!

How about this winter snow, eh? I believe the news said yesterday that Dulles Airport got nearly 60 inches (5 feet!) of snow this year. None in huge piles, though, fortunately. The Snowmageddon we got back in ’10 was less overall (I believe), but more at once and the pile of snow next to the driveway was over 6 ft when all was said and done (the boy was sledding down the pile!). I nearly threw out my back heaving the snow over the pile, man I was tired of snow that year! This season the individual snow amounts were quite manageable, I was OK digging out. Hopefully our wet winter won’t be followed by a dry summer, some of my plants are still in need of a few more years of clement weather before they are established enough to handle yet another drought.

If any of my dear reader(s) know of someone looking for a performance oriented C/C++ programmer, here is my resume:

http://sol-biotech.com/resume.htm

Shocking! America falling behind the third world

Why is American internet so slow?
The country that literally invented the internet is now behind Estonia in terms of download speeds
http://theweek.com/article/index/257404/why-is-american-internet-so-slow

I have been complaining about how the US has been rapidly turning into a third-world country, this is just more evidence…

According to a recent study by Ookla Speedtest, the U.S. ranks a shocking 31st in the world in terms of average download speeds. The leaders in the world are Hong Kong at 72.49 Mbps and Singapore on 58.84 Mbps. And America? Averaging speeds of 20.77 Mbps, it falls behind countries like Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Uruguay.

Its upload speeds are even worse. Globally, the U.S. ranks 42nd with an average upload speed of 6.31 Mbps, behind Lesotho, Belarus, Slovenia, and other countries you only hear mentioned on Jeopardy.

Somewhat ironic to me, the best solution presented in the article is _increased_ regulation. It seems the ‘deregulation’ has been done in such a way to guarantee that there will be little to no competition, so much like health care, we pay the most for the worst. While deregulation in the airlines has been successful (at least on a ticket price basis; the price we pay today is a small fraction of the inflation adjusted price we paid prior to deregulation, though I am sure most would not consider us ahead on the experience (though I must say, pre-911 I was for the most part happy with the experience, except for the lack of leg room)), it quite plausible that it has had the opposite effect in telecommunication. How much of that is because our government is owned outright by the billionaires that own the telecoms is another issue…

Giant viruses and virophages

Viruses Reconsidered
The discovery of more and more viruses of record-breaking size calls for a reclassification of life on Earth.
http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/39244/title/Viruses-Reconsidered/

Quite interesting to me as a biochemist. So much has changed since I was in school, I need all new books! I was particularly intrigued by the idea of the virophages or viruses that attack viruses. There probably isn’t anything on earth that is immune from attack, probably a necessity of life. I am also intrigued by the idea of a fourth branch (in addition to eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus), prokaryotes (cells without a nucleus) and archea, the latter a relatively recent addition and used to be included with prokaryotes). It actually makes more sense to me that classification should be so difficult. I expect that millions, likely billions or even trillions of replicating ‘organisms’ arose more or less at the same time in the evolution of life on Earth; it makes sense that the successful ones would borrow successful bits from one another. Indeed, I suspect additional chemistries evolved as well (i.e., not DNA/RNA/protein based), but due to the formation of the moon only a few (or single!) chemistry was able to survive the impact (I believe I have seen models that posit that even though the entire surface of the Earth would have been molten, there exists a few places that would have been cool enough to sustain life). Alternatively, during the late heavy bombardment the competing chemistries may have lost out (models are quite convincing that there were places even on the surface where life might have survived).

Our world is so much more interesting than mundane politics makes out; I wish people would be more interested in this and less about gay marriage, immigration or racism (sometimes life is happier with rose colored glasses on).

This is what happens when you spoil your children

Student’s lawsuit against parents for support loses first round in court
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/04/justice/student-sues-parents-new-jersey/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Though I think the bimbo (am I revealing my bias with that choice of word?) at the center of this is totally wrong and hopefully the court will agree, at the same time I blame her parents for the situation. It seems clear to me that the little darling has never been told ‘no’ in her life and got upset when it finally came (clearly she doesn’t know what abuse is); had her parents introduced her with the word ‘no’ and what it means (not ‘later’ or ‘when-you-ask-enough-times-I-will-agree-just-to-shut-you-up’) when she was younger, no doubt she would understand her current situation and had she decided to run away she wouldn’t be air-headed enough to sue her parents.

Oh, lets take a moment to curse the parents of her friends. What fucked up people are going to encourage / enable this airhead to sue her parents? The article says they are paying for the suit, what the fuck is it their business? The bimbo is 18 years old, it seems clear she left the house under her own terms, yet these assholes want to get involved. Plenty of blame to go around, but the core of it is her parents gave their little darling everything she wanted, until they finally wouldn’t any more, now they get to pay the price: nation-wide exposure and the Internet to remember forever what crappy parents they are.

I will be sending this to my wife, she needs to develop more comfort with ‘no’ and our boy…