As I’ve been watching (ever the innocent bystander) the credit market flail, articles such as this one in Forbes are fascinating. Sadly, the more of these that I read, the more my ignorance on things economic becomes obvious. I’ve been wondering for sometime the mechanics of the markets, and the ways that government can influence. There are quite a few variables, whether considering the Fed, Treasury, IMF (though not a US governmental institution, still profoundly affected by US policy), and on and on, which are directly related to governmental influence. However, the huge array of actors within The Market can make one’s head spin. Besides the US, which has a huge impact on the global market, consider the effects of regional organizations (APEC, OPEC, blah blah) and other governments (Europe, China). And international events and actions ripple through the ever more tightly connected marketplace, affecting the economies of other nations in ways that were unfathomable simply 10 years ago. At some point I’m going to work at wrapping my brain around such.

Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you were freed from your obligations for income? The scenario I picture is winning an uber-jackpot. What would you do? Personally, I’d pay off my credit cards and car, next stop the mortgage, then a new car. I would expect that I would replace my wardrobe, though not my personal style. No fashion magazine styles, no Italian sports car (though I’d be sorely tempted by Porches), and no mad run from here. I’d look for a nice home towards Puget Sound with a view. Nothing more grandiose than that.

These imaginings tell one a great deal. It, if nothing else, shows where one’s mind is right now. However, it also shows one’s priorities and values. Perhaps these images also show one’s pathologies as well. Perhaps…

My apologies to the Bard.

A hole lot of nothing found by astronomers

I heard this song some time ago on KEXP. Damn it’s funny!

The upgrades that Apple has made to the dot Mac service are good, though a long-time coming (however, anyone else notice that Hotmail upped their email allowance, as well as allow email forwarding, right on the heels of Apple’s announcement?). I would like to see some additional features, though. Particularly, I would love to see a greater integration with iTunes. One idea I had was the ability to carryover any customizations from one machine to another. Also, it would be great if we could store all of our music in one place and listen to it on multiple computers. Dot Mac would be a great way to facilitate that.

I wonder, within software development, whether the idea of collapsing silos is accomplishable. Can we liberate data and still keep it within a traditionally structured database?

Arstechnica has a great series looking at the Amiga. A great story and very descriptive of the issues that the tech industry faces regularly. We have conflicts between managers and technical experts, over-hype, enthusiastic over-exuberance, as well as the usual cast of characters.

A history of the Amiga, part 1: Genesis: Page 1

A history of the Amiga, part 2: The birth of Amiga: Page 1