Finding the truth - Is it even possible

It is not that I am a supporter of Palin, honestly that couldn't be farther from what I am. In fact she has pretty much scared me from the day she was selected running mate. However, it is probably necessary to say that the recent pictures of her are the results of very skilled Photo Shop artists (i.e. they are false according to most hoax sites on the Internet). It would make things easy the pictures were true, but it is better to hunt for the true facts.

My frustration with all important elections is that finding the truth is as close to impossible as you can get. As long as the media continues to allow hoaxes like these; the truth will continue to elude almost all of us, allowing for the wrong decisions to be made in the voting booth. Here is an interesting article by Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald, regarding this sort of thing.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809200327

Off shore drilling - Who really benefits?

After reading the article in the link at the end of this blog I finally figured out the real purpose of hotly debated off shore drilling.


First, it is important to understand that US off shore drilling already occurs off the shores of California and Louisiana. This drilling occurs in only 8 million acres of the 43 million acres that is leasable for oil drilling.


This made me wonder if there is so many acres still not leased for drilling, why would we need to more leasable acres?


OK, well to answer this you need to understand that drilling has various costs based on how deep the drill needs to go; the deeper the more costly.


The oil companies have drilled in all the shallow areas where the cost of drilling low. Now they are looking for new areas to drill, not because it will change the price of gasoline to you or I (the US Dept. of Energy predicts "insignificant" changes at the pump), but because it will continue to keep their profits high. These companies that are making huge profits and gains refuse to spend some of their ridiculously huge profits on deeper oil drilling. They are the supporters of more offshore drilling disregard the harm to the environment for spillage and eye soar of the drill itself only to benefit these companies.


So, who is really pushing for these new off shore drilling locations? It came from Bush, a formal Oil executive, in 2006 when he requested new exploration for oil. This was blocked, largely by California senators and the California Governor because of the impact to sea life. Now Bush is back pushing even stronger becase, and in my opinion, he is looking for what work he can do after his disastrous 8 years in office. The only place he can go is back to the family business of oil (nobody else will likely even want to hear his opinion). While he is in office he is trying to find ways to make his next job more profitable. Remember, these new drilling areas will not change the price at the pump, do not have more oil available then the already leasable space (in fact have less than what is currently available), and are only cheaper areas to drill to raise more profits for the oil company.


Who benefits? Oil companies and their executives! Does that make sense? To me I would rather focus on the existing areas for drilling at the expense of the wealthy oil companies, and divert even more funds to developing the US infrastructure to handle public alternative fuel stations. Soon, the automotive companies will have huge inventories of alternative fuel vehicles ready for you and I to purchase. However, if there is no place to "fill up the tank" with alternative fuel, than all this will be a waste. That translates to more automotive industry struggles, which means loss of jobs, and a weakening of the economy.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-07-13-offshore-drilling_N.htm

Recently found Mashups

Here are two links to interesting Mashups on the web I recently found.

I like this one that mashes google maps with craigslist.
http://www.housingmaps.com/

Classic mash of maps, traffic, and weather. Also check out the flight delays and 3D weather globe!
http://traffic.poly9.com/

LBS and Navigation Industry News

I am constantly searching the web for anything Geo, and have found a few good blogs listed to the right. I have also listed several other sites on Twitter. Follow me there by going to http://twitter.com/wylieburt

But, during a recent visit to China this year I got hooked on Naviforum. They always have very relevant industry news with well thought out analysis. The news is focused on China, but tends to also report out on events in the US and Europe. Here is the page where the news is listed.
http://www.naviforum.org.cn/en2007/index.html

Cuil!

Check this new Internet search engine out pronounced "cool". I would give it some time to tune the search results, but the features are really cool (or is that cuil). Look out Google there a new kid on the block and he is really cuil :-)

Life Critical

What is a life critical system? I think about this all the time. Some might say that a life critical system is one that is critical to sustaining life. Others have said that a failure to such system may result in death or serious injury. And even others have said that there is no such system. I tend to drift towards the first group of thought, however this uncomfortably opens up debate around some systems and their true value. What I mean by this is to question if there are systems out there that threaten the sustenance of life? And more importantly, if there are such systems, what are we going to do about them. Many smart people have put much thought and careers into this question. The problem is that the other people only see the money required to design and build such systems so that that life is not threatened. My take is that the business case should include the cost to maintain life, if in question. However, on the opposite side many technical evolutions would not have occurred if we did not take these risks. But, what is more important and what would have happened if these risky evolutions did not occur?

Tell me your thoughts?

Blog list

I have added the new blog list to this site showing you recent postings from blogs that I think are pretty darn cool. Everything 2.0 is a must see. Enjoy!

Discover Twitter

Over the last couple of weeks I have been playing around with Twitter. It is a simple tool that only allows short messages to be posted (blog-like). There is a fairly large following and for those of you that are interested in the Social Networks it is a must.