Danger - using your iPhone when you work at Microsoft

Be careful, Microsoft employee. What if you get caught using your iPhone at work?

WSJ

The perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft were on display last September. At an all- company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present. Mr. Ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on Microsoft's mobile phone software.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment and declined to make executives available for this story.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs referred an email asking about iPhone use at Microsoft to a spokeswoman, who declined to comment.

Despite Mr. Ballmer's theatrics, iPhone users are in plain sight at Microsoft. At the sprawling campus here in a Seattle suburb, workers peck away on their iPhone touch-screens in conference rooms, cafeterias and lobbies. Among the top Microsoft executives who use the iPhone is J Allard, who helped create the Xbox game console and is chief experience officer for the entertainment and devices d

Nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say two people who heard the estimates from senior Microsoft executives. That figure equals about 10% of the company's global work force.

Rachel Corrie's parents continue their delusions

Rachel Corrie of Oympia died in 2003, run over by an Israeli bulldozer. The dozer was demolishing a house in Gaza. She was trying to stop it.

The bulldozer driver could not see her. Israel has released footage from a camera that showed what the driver could see. Even Mother Jones magazine found this report credible.

The idf compiled a video about the Corrie incident that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a credible case that the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them.

Why was she trying to stop a huge bulldozer? She was protecting a house that hid a tunnel for smuggling weapons into Israel.

She also fomented anti-American hatred. In February, 2003 she was photographed burning a paper American flag in front of Palestinian children.

Her parents have actively tried to keep the memory of her death "alive." The Palestinians expressed thanks by trying to kidnap them in 2006.( Also covered by Sound Politics in January, 2006.)

Now her parents are suing Israel. I guess Israel is allowing them to. The trial started yesterday. NWCN

Gregoire pits her tax hikes against Idaho

Governor Butch Otter of Idaho welcomes Washington raising taxes, which the Legislature did yesterday. He put out the welcome mat for businesses fleeing tax increases and bad environment for business.

Was he ready for Christine Gregoire putting on the gloves? But, as we see below, her final punch is that's "simply not fair."

Otter's "love letter to our neighbors:"

It’s true that a rising tide lifts all boats. But how those boats are handled makes a big difference when the tide is out and the waters get rough.

State governments across the country are dealing with the continuing national recession in different ways. In Idaho, our focus is on stability. Predictable tax and regulatory policies are what our employers need in order to maintain their operations through this rough patch, and it’s what employers elsewhere are looking for when they consider expanding or relocating.

Other states, however, have chosen some interesting and in my view counterproductive approaches. Last month, for example, Oregon voters approved their legislature’s decision to raise taxes on the wealthy and on many businesses by $727 million. The immediate result was that my phone started ringing – and so did phones over at our Department of Commerce. It seems that word has spread about our Project 60 initiative, and that we are open for business, including theirs!

The businesses that have called are emotional about this subject, and they have every right to be. Rising costs – especially during a recession – could put some employers out of business, or at least prompt layoffs. More than 2,000 Oregonians joined a Facebook group to protest the tax increase and commiserate about the repercussions. No less an Oregon business icon than Nike’s Phil Knight calls it “Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Law II.”

Legislators in the state of Washington are talking about even bigger tax increases to tackle a budget deficit that figures to be as big as Idaho’s entire State budget. Businesses in both states are like those in Idaho; they are facing the most challenging times in decades, and even incremental cost increases can mean the difference between surviving and closing up.

The problem in Oregon is that folks were convinced that state government was what needed to be shored up rather than the jobs- and revenue-producing private sector for which state government is supposed to work. As a result, they’re chasing some of their cash cows to the border. And I welcome those businesses with open arms.

We now are reaching out to hundreds of Oregon businesses, and will do the same with those in Washington if the legislature there follows Oregon’s lead. We aren’t offering many bells and whistles, but what we can offer is a business-friendly State government, a highly qualified and motivated work force, and communities where people understand that while government cannot be the solution to their problems it can and must be a champion for their own solutions. [...]

Christine Gregoire fights back using her favorite tool: Forbes Magazine. Quoted at Seattle Times Politics NW blog:

"I'm not an expert on Idaho," Gregoire said, but then rattled off from notes several observations about Idaho's tax and business climate. "It looks like they have a corporate tax of 7.6 percent, a sales tax of 6 percent, an income tax ranging from 1.6 to 7.8 percent," she said.

"And let's talk about Forbes' ranking," Gregoire said, referring to her favorite magazine's annual rankings of state business climates.

"We're now the second best state in the country and they went from seventh to 11th. They're going down in the rankings. Regulatory environment we're ranked 5th, they're ranked 35th. You get my point?"

Gregoire said she had a call in to Otter's office. "So I intend to say to the governor, you know, I'll go recruit companies that you have in your state. Everything is fair game," she said. "But to suggest that somehow there is this massive tax going on in my state that puts my business to a detrimental level compared to yours is simply not fair."

If she is such a big fan of Forbes Magazine she might read it and learn about what makes the economy grow. One example: lowering taxes so you can compete with your competitors - other states.

Antarctica Cruise Daily Log

The Roys/Hebron family of four traveled to Antarctica on a 10-day cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina starting January 30, 2010 on Corinthian II operated by the luxury cruise line Travel Dynamics. During the trip we bought a nice little log book which I wrote daily entries in. The following is pretty straight from the handwritten with some fragments turned into sentences and a few lectures placed by looking at the daily schedule (which several times changed due to weather or other events.) Each entry gives credit for its photographs.

Antarctica Log - Day One - Ushuaia
Red arrow at top of map.

Antarctica Cruise Day Two Drake Passage first day

Antarctica Cruise Day 3 Drake Passege second day and Elephant Island
Purple arrow at middle right
Antarctica Cruise Day 4 Antarctic Peninsula Brown Bluff and Joinville Island Green arros at right and a bit above the blue arrow at right

Antarctica Cruise Day 5 Cuverville Island and Neko Harbor Blue and purple arrows at lower center

* Mother-in-law Ruth went ashore and watched the gentoo penguins march by.

Antarctica Cruise Day 6 Vernadsky Station and Pleneau Berg Tour Blue and purple arrows at lower left

Antarctica Cruise Day 7 Petermann Island and Port Lockroy Yellow and blue arrows at lower left

Antarctica Cruise Day 8 Hannah Point and Deception Island Whalers Bay Green and yellow arrows at upper center

Update 3/8/2010: See the poem fellow traveler Bob Elroy placed in a comment on the Day 8 entry.

Antarctica Cruise Day 9 Drake Passage returning day one

Antarctica Cruise Day 10 Drake Passage past Cape Horn

Antarctica Cruise Ends

Still to come: Two days in Ushuaia, Argentina, and more photos, due to a request by commenter "Anonymous."

If there is demand: the animals of the Antarctic Peninsula.

I am pushing this to the top to make it easier to find. Original post date: Feb. 19, 2010

The graphics are by Corinthian II crew/staff. Roys/Hebron group photo by me. Click to enlarge.

Huge majority oppose Obama's health care takeover

CNN Opinion Research found that 75% - 75 per cent - of adults surveyed don't support Obama's health-care takeover bill.

Pass similar bill- 25%
Start work on new bill - 48%
Stop working on health care - 25%
Other (vol.) - 2%
No opinion - 1%
Feb. 12-15 2010

(Ask CNN why the total is more than 100%.)

President Obama says to let Congress know. Let them know that you oppose his bill. Call Congress today.

And join Liberty Belle's Seattle Sons and Daughters of Liberty.

To remind yourself of the total control they are trying to force on you and your family, look at just one of many onerous features your senators approved last Christmas eve. If you don't pay your health care fees there are penalties. If you don't pay the penalties they aim the big guns at you and fire:

[page 78] ‘‘(D) UNPAID PENALTY FEES.—Any amount of a penalty fee assessed against a health plan under this subsection for which payment has not been made by the due date provided under sub- paragraph (C) shall be—
‘‘(i) increased by the interest accrued on such amount, as determined pursuant to the underpayment rate established under section 6621 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
‘‘(ii) treated as a past-due, legally en- forceable debt owed to a Federal agency for purposes of section 6402(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

BTW: The bill with the changes Obama promised - claiming to use ideas from the Republicans - does not exist.

There is no ObamaCare bill. Pass it quickly

President Obama is talking big about how he has changed ObamaCare to include Republican ideas. He claims to have added Malpractice insurance reform and other ideas. Where is the bill he is talking about?

Now he demands the final vote by March 29.

But there is no bill. It will be massive, like the others. But it doesn't exist.

How can the Congressional Budget Office score the costs of the bill that doesn't exist? How can Congress debate the nonexistent bill?

Will the phantom bill have Cornhusker Kickbacks and Louisiana Purchases? Of course. That's how they operate.

Hurry up and vote on it now. "Trust me," says Obama.

Hugh Hewitt considers this to be suspending self government.

Extending benefits increases unemployment - Krugman

In their textbook Macroeconomics Paul Krugman and coauthor Robin Wells say:

Side Effects of Public Policy. In addition public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker's incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of "Eurosclerosis," the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries. [p. 220]

Yes, extending benefits results in people spending more time without work. The Nobel laureate economists says so. What does Krugman the political columnists say?

Responding to Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona this week: Kyl's words:

... unemployment relief "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work."

Krugman scoffs: "To me, that's a bizarre point of view--but then, I don't live in Mr. Kyl's universe." (Why doesn't he address him as "Senator"?)

I believe Krugman the professor in his textbook, not Krugman the Enron adviser and political pundit.

The Democrats dream of an income tax

The Senate had a hearing about their proposed income tax yesterday afternoon. But of course they don't call it that; they call it a sales tax reduction. Fooled you!

You didn't know about the hearing because they gave less than five hours notice. It was plenty of time for Evergreen College students to turn out in force. They Dems like what the students say. And I hear that the text of the bill wasn't available until less than an hour before the hearing. Why?

They are saying they just "want to give voters their choice." Nice. But they don't want to give us a choice on reducing spending, just raising taxes.

A state income tax would require amending the state constitution due to a Supreme Court ruling in 1933 and that requires a 2/3 vote of the public.

But, ignoring the constitution, the Demos intend to give the voters a referendum that would only require majority vote, not the constitutional amendment that requires 2/3, according the to Andrew Garber of the Seattle Times.

This is for YOU.

The current proposal is to TAX THE RICH. But once they put the structure in place they will redefine "rich" lower and lower and lower. Not that they will want to, but conditions will force them to. And the tax rate will go up and up and up. Because they just can't cut spending. AND they won't have to cut spending.

So the income tax will get you sooner or later. Do you want it? The voters in Oregon voted yes in January and employers are moving out. Do you want the same?

Also KIRO.