First Blog

Problem solving... Decades ago, my garbage disposal stopped working.  Turned the switch - got just a hummm.  Bummer.  I was distressed, because at the time I hadn't the cash to buy a replacement.  This is notwithstanding the simple fact I didn't know how to install one.    Nonetheless, I called my local appliance dealer to come and fix it.  He took one look.  He pulled from his kit a giant screw driver and plunged it down, deep into the disposal and nudged the blades just a bit.  It then worked fine for the time I lived in the home - on Berkeley Street.  But I remembered this trick.  In all the intervening years I had no problems with garbage disposals until today.  Dad-gum thing stopped working!  My solution:  I went to my garage, loaded with unused tools of all sorts, fetched up a giant screw driver, plunged it deep-down, and nudged the blades just a bit.  It now works again, just as it did before.  Thus, t'was a simple application of Archimedes' law of

The world you grew up in is no more.  The world of reasonable honesty and reasonable lies has been replaced by abject dishonesty and blatant lies. Lies.  Yes. People have always told them.  You have told them; so have I.   We need lies; they are a foundational structure of social living.  They both deceive and protect.  Children tell them to their parents to avoid consequences, like punishment.  Adults tell them to their bosses, to enhance their position and/or avoid consequences of poor performance.  Our bosses tell them to their boards to suggest business is good, the project is on target, or the detractors are wrong.  The boards tell them to shareholders to protect their own credibility and most importantly, stock values.   Our politicians tell lies to their constituents, though sometimes innocently with them not actually knowing much more than they've been told.  They enhance their positions to the detraction of their opponents and to the inflation of their personal positi

Encryption  Lately, we've been hearing of peccadillos and possibly serious and illegal uses of email by high level national figures, e.g. General David Petraeus and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. In most cases, the messages have been read by unwanted persons, much to the unhappiness and ruination of the senders. If you really want your messages to be secure, you need to encrypt them, not with a secret code ring, but with secure but simple to use software. It is free and available. Creating encrypted messages . If you must or just want to send encrypted messages, you want something simple to use. There is an easy and secure method. We'll show you how to use it. It is based on what was once considered the "unbreakable" Vigenere cipher. While this cipher is no longer unbreakable, breaking it would require (i) a whole lot of text to work with and (ii) a very powerful computing apparatus, and (iii) the desire of some party to deprypt you messages . Indeed, the decr

This is a small update to a previous piece on the The Two Generals, Petraeus and Allen. (See http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2012/11/presidential-math.html )   It concerns former EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and her communications throught secret emails, though not this time with sexual innuendo. It was strictly political.  Is this better?  We hear "Earlier this year, the Competitive Enterprise Institute sued the EPA for documents involving Jackson’s use of alias e-mail accounts, operating under the name “Richard Windsor,” which drew attention from the GOP and an audit by the EPA inspector general." Basically, she adjusted administration opinion to reflect a strongly environmental slant on activities within her domain, particularly to the detriment of the coal industry.  The CEI reports that "She appears to have illegally evaded deliberative procedures and transparency requirements set in law."  Oh, well.  I guess everyone is doing it. Make your case. Avoid t