NHL Southeast Division
December 18, 2009 00:28Tagged with hockey
You know, it is an accepted fact that the NHL Southeast Division is consistently the weakest of the 6 NHL divisions. I'm not really debating that, as it generally feels that way. But I thought how can you quantify that?
A Southeast Division team has won the Prince of Wales Trophy 5 out of the last 15 seasons for being the Eastern Conference Champions. With three divisions in the conference, it seems they win exactly as many times as they should. If the Caps can win it this year, the Southeast Division would actually be ahead of its statistically predicted average.
OK, well that is all well and good, but the Western Conference is better than the Eastern Conference, right? Well, the Western Conference has one 8 of the last 15 Stanley Cup's, but if an Eastern Conference team wins this year, then again we'll be at exactly the statistically predicted average.
OK, but how does the Southeast Division fare in the Stanley Cup Finals? Turns out they've just notched two wins in the past 15 Cups. With 6 divisions, you'd expect them to have won 2.5 times. So wait, if the Caps (or any other Southeast Division team) win the Cup in the next 3 years, then the Southeast will be exactly on target of its statistically prediced average.
I'm just saying....
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Pay Attention to Your Environment
September 28, 2009 01:05Tagged with environment, earth
As I write this, the outside temperature is 63 °F. It isn't terribly cold, but definitely I would think a vast majority would agree that there is no need to air condition a space below this temperature.
As I write this, I hear 3-4 air conditioners humming outside in the alley behind my house.
As I write this, the temperature in my upstairs office (with two computers running) is 73 °F. Perfect for me. If I wanted it cooler, I'd open more windows (I had to close some of them a few hours ago because it was getting a bit too chilly in here).
So why do I hear the constant hum of air conditioners every year starting in March and lasting until November? I suspect it is because newer homes are built pretty efficiently, and that means the energy transfer from inside to out is pretty low. But we run all kinds of things in our home that puts out heat. Computers, refrigerators, TV's, lights, etc. Our own bodies generate heat.
It is great that we've built the technology to so reduce the energy transfer between the interior/exterior of our homes, especially in winter and summer. But in spring and fall, those people with allergies or who just don't pay attention to the fact that it is 15 degrees colder outside than what they are air conditioning their homes to, pour tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
It drives me nuts.
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Intuit MUST Fail
May 01, 2009 10:58Tagged with blog, rant, software, capitalism
Why is capitalism failing the personal finance software market?
I've been using Quicken since 1996. I'm a Mac guy, but Quicken for Mac was notoriously horrible back then, so I used Quicken for PC. I've heard reports of Quicken for Mac being better at times, and I haven't looked at it in years now (I suppose I'm about to). In 1996, Quicken for PC was decent; but not something I'd rave about.
Somewhere along the line, I was forced to upgrade my version of Quicken (I think to Quicken 2000). Quicken 2000 was on par with whatever they were calling Quicken in 1996. That is to say, it ws decent, but nothing to rave about.
Since then, they have sunset Quicken every three years. When this happened in 2003, I was angry that I was being forced again to upgrade, but I didn't bother looking for an alternative (other than looking again at Quicken for Mac, and deciding against it). Then 2006 rolls around, and I'm so angry that I spent a good amount of time looking for an alternative to Quicken. In fact, pretty much the only time I use Windows is when I need to use Quicken, so I was motivated to find something decent for the Mac. After wasting many hours trying various products, I came to the conclusion that I still needed Quicken, so I bought Quicken 2006.
After I purchased Quicken 2006, I discovered that the usability had taken a significant downturn. Who the hell is writing this software? Who decided it was a good idea to make the Security field only 8 characters wide (which contains things like "American Bond Fund of America Class F1")?!?? Despite having lowered my productivity with this version, I stuck with it... I learned how to work around its shortcomings.
Now they just sunset that version, and I bought Quicken 2009 (this time upgrading to the Home & Business edition of the product). What a piece of crap! I do see that I can now adjust the width of the Security column, but the software regularly slows down to a crawl, and I get the busy cursor for as long as 60 seconds while it tries to enter a new transaction. That is unusable. I'm done with them, and I will find an alternative to use on the Mac. I don't care if it has less features anymore... I don't care if it can't import my 13 years of financial history... Intuit has finally made a product so crappy (and FORCED ME to abandon their functioning software), that I will pretty much accept the next best thing.
Now, one can say that this is the way capitalism is suppose to work, but I want to know why it has taken 13 years to come to this? Why is it that Intuit is still top dog of the personal finance software domain? Where is the competition?
I'll post a comment on this entry when I choose my replacement
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Letter to CareFirst
November 24, 2008 19:56Tagged with blog
November 25, 2008
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
840 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20065
Dear CareFirst,
It is my understanding that you are a non-profit organization. You recently sat on a $754 Million surplus on $2 Billion in revenues. Many would call that a 37.7% profit. With that in mind, I'd like an explanation for why I am seeing a 17% rate increase beginning on January 1, 2009 from $xxx/month to $xxx/month.
Sincerely,
Ryan Sandridge
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Dancing Matt
July 26, 2008 11:36Tagged with blog
Watch the video.
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