Is the President a Nerd, or a Jock?
June 22nd, 2009
My First Real Firefox Extension
April 18th, 2009
(This post may not make any sense to some of you…)
I’ve spent the last few weeks building a Firefox add-on to simplify the process of tagging links with Google Analytics tracking variables before sharing on Twitter. It’s called Snip-n-Tag, because…well…it shortens URLs and tags them. How creative am I, huh? See it at the Mozilla site here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11492
Anyways…in 3 days it’s been installed over 100 times, so I feel pretty good about that. It’s a simple extension, but I think it solves a real problem fairly eloquently. For you folks that use Twitter to drive traffic to your website, check it out and give me your feedback. You can leave comments on the snip-n-tag page of this site at http://www.tysonkirksey.com/snip-n-tag.
As I mentioned in the title, this was my first real firefox extension, starting from scratch and learning XUL and all that. I’ve built a couple of Greasemonkey scripts for Google Analytics which have been converted to extensions, but nothing like this yet.
Thoughts on Obama’s Budget
March 25th, 2009
I’ve maintained a strong interest in the long-term budget proposed by President Obama, and his press conference last night renewed some of my concerns. Frankly, I’m conflicted about it. I understand and appreciate his attempt to fix some of the hard problems that are facing America, but I’m also concerned about the future and what the nation would be like if the budget back-fired.
Energy
We need an energy policy - yes. We need a sustainable way to provide power for future generations. I tend to agree with T. Boone Pickens, in that our reliance on foreign oil is more of a national security problem than a economic problem, but it’s most certainly both. I’m curious why Obama didn’t use some stimulus money to build nuclear power plants or wind farms, instead helping cities like Dallas build fancy government-run hotels.
Health care
No question health care is a burden to many families. Hey, I just had a baby and my family’s healthcare costs are increasing 1,000%. Trust me, when I learned that, you better believe I said “bring on socialism!”. In all seriousness, health care is a real problem we need to confront, particularly medicare and medicaid. Cutting-edge technology and treatment options aren’t getting cheaper, so the bottom line is the government will have to take more money. I don’t see any other way around that.
Education
We’re falling behind - no doubt. I’m not sure that it’s because we don’t invest enough, I think it may be more attributable to a culture that is becoming more lazy. Japanese, Indian, Chinese - they are all more driven than ever, while the American student is less driven and feels more of a sense of entitlement. I’m not sure that spending a ton of money on education will reverse that trend, unfortunately.
The budget and the future
If I’m reading Obama’s budget properly, he makes some pretty presumptuous assumptions and even with those the debt is staggering in 5 and 10 years. I applaud him for including all spending, including military operational spending, in the budgets - definitely should have happened with GWB. But this budget…it’s like he’s going “all-in” with the USA. If something unexpected happens (terrorist attack, natural disaster, pandemic, etc.) in the next ten years, we have no emergency fund. Our emergency fund so far has been the Chinese, and their patience is waning.
The president enjoys lambasting the investors and speculators who took huge risks and helped cripple the economy, but I’m really struggling to see how this kind of government spending is not equally as risky.
Please…chime in with your thoughts below.
Hot Air from Obama’s Budget Director
March 8th, 2009
I think everyone had high hopes for Obama’s economic team, made up of so-called moderates. But some of the recent statements from budget director Peter Orszag just don’t pass the smell test.
Earlier this week Orszag spoke before a congressional panel about the Obama budget, claiming it will save $2 trillion over the next ten years. Wow - sign me up! Luckily somebody asked him to explain those numbers in a little bit more detail, and here’s what he conceded: We will save $1.6 trillion in the next tens years by not sustaining the troop surge for the next decade. Uh…OK, but who was going to do that!? Had anybody even considered keeping surge troop levels in Iraq for ten more years? Uh…no. I just went and told my wife our family was going to save $1.5 million by not buying a private jet - she was equally confused.
A few days later on CNN, Orszag argued that the Obama administration had no power to change the omnibus spending bill which is loading with almost $8 billion in earmarks. Come on…gimme a break. I think it would be easy, try this line:
“Congress, this bill is filled with earmarks and I told you we were going to be different. Take out the earmarks and I will sign it. The America people voted for change, and change is what they are going to get.”
See, that even sounds campaign-ish so I’m sure Obama could pull it off.
My Experience with Craigslist
February 3rd, 2009
Lately I’ve shared with a number of people my experience and satisfaction with buying and selling items on Craigslist. Literally, it’s my favorite place to shop. I’ve learned the value of buying pre-owned items, everything from appliances to gadgets to vehicles and baby gear. I thought it would be fun to make a list of everything I can remember buying and selling on Craigslist. Here goes:
Items I have purchased:
- Ipod Nano
- Ipod Touch
- Children’s dresser / changing table
- Graco stroller & car seat
- Split oak firewood
- Nissan Maxima
- Computer memory
- Exercise equipment
- Golf balls
- Queen mattress
- Kitchen-aide range
Items I have sold:
- Old vintage chandeliers
- 80’s Jenn-aire cooktop
- Honda Accord
- SLR camera
- 20″ television
- Tile cutter
- Exercise equipment (hmm?)
The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid
January 4th, 2009
Yesterday I was driving through East Texas and I saw for the first time a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. Shwanky, I know. But I got to thinking - I wonder what the math on that guy is. So I looked it up…here we go:
The standard 2009 Escalade MSRP pricing starts at $60,985, while the hybrid version starts at $70,685, a difference of $9,700. This is the premium you pay for the hybrid engine. Now, I’ll ignore the slightly less powerful motor on the hybrid version, as I suspect with over 300 horsepower there is still sufficient strength to do whatever you need.
OK, so let’s figure out the break-even analysis on that $9,700 premium. GM claims the hybrid gets 50% better fuel economy in the city, and 20% better on the highway. For city driving, that brings the MPG up from 12 to 18. The average driver covers just over 1,000 miles per month, so I’ll use 1,200. That’s 67 gallons of fuel versus 100 gallons required for the standard gasoline engine, as savings of 33 gallons. At our current bargain-basement petroleum costs, that’s a savings of about $50 a month. If gasoline remains at this price (ha, I know), it’s going to take about 16 years to break even and start saving money with the hybrid.
Now let’s say oil prices begin to rebound as everyone expects they will, and they rise again to a $3 average. Of course that means it will only take 8 years to reach break-even point and start seeing green. Much more reasonable, don’t you think? Now obviously if you drive twice as much as the average driver and put 25,000 miles a year on your hybrid, you can look forward to break-even point just as that odometer rolls over the 100,000 mile mark.
Now let’s not forget the best-case scenario for hyrbrid owners. If gasoline skyrockets to a $5 average, it’s just going to take the average driver a little less than 5 years to reach fruitfulness. But keep in mind, this assumes 100% city driving, and no highway travel. So I consider this the ultimate best case scenario.
Maybe this kind of math is why GM is looking for a bailout about now, what do you think?
Current Favorite Song
December 19th, 2008
I found this song on Lala.com, and I really like it. I never thought Tomin and Crowder’s voices would really go together, but I like the combo in this song. Enjoy, and merry Christmas!
