Tony K's Blog

I am a big fan of what is sometimes called grid computing. In essence, a master computer doles out work to other computers on the network, which would do some portion of the processing, return results, and fetch a new work unit. Probably the best known effort on these lines is the SETI at Home project. The effort that I am really into though is Stanford's Folding at Home . It is a grid or distributed computing project that is investigating proteins and how they assemble themselves or fold. Through this effort, they are hoping to understand and maybe eventually cure dieases like cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's. The client software can be installed either as a screensaver or as a service (I recommend service). It runs in the background on a low priority and the system software takes care of making sure that the user has good performance with his real work. The program works with Windows PCs, Macintosh, or Linux. I am a member of Team 18 MacAddict4Life . This is...

I'm shocked, shocked that professional athletes are using steroids. The powers in sports and government seem quite comfortable overlooking all the mutants in professional and amateur sports until someone actually tells the truth, then they crucify the whistle blowers. Now you have senators saying they're going to crack down on pro baseball. Hellooooo. Have they watched a pro or college football game lately? If 50% of baseball players use steroids, the number must be 95% in pro football. They did not get that way with protein powder and vitamins. Personally I don't care what these athletes do. They are making a conscious choice to pollute their bodies in exchange for money, girls, fame, etc. We as a society really need to figure out where to be on this. Let's either get serious and stop the abuse or acknowledge that it happens and accept it. Anything less is a disservice to the people they claim to be trying to protect--the kids.

I am a really big fan of well thought out, logical arguments. Two writers whose work I really admire are Andrew Tobias and Bob Lewis. They write on different subjects in general, but I am a big fan of them both. I first learned about Andrew Tobias through his book "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need." That was back in the mid-80s. After a decade of stagflation, shady commodities deals, and my first experience in the job market, Tobias shed a lot of light on my view of the economic and financial world. Much or most of what he wrote in the book was simple common sense, but there's a lot of it, and if nothing else, it will validate your financial astuteness. His insights to markets are still valid 25 years later. The other writer, Bob Lewis , writes for InfoWorld magazine and has his own IT consulting service. His main topics are directly related to IT workers and executives, but the lessons apply equal well to almost any other field. is columns have given me pow...

I saw something on the internet recently that showed a really direct correlation between the average IQ of a state and their voting preference in the 2004 election. I followed up to try to understand where the data came from. I couldn't find any reliable source data in 20 minutes or so of searching, so I thought I would do my own thing. I went to the US Government Census website, pulled off median family income by state from the 2000 Census and compared that to the percent voting for Kerry. It came up with a correlation of 0.53. You can see on the chart that there is quite a bit of scatter in the data. However, when you put that on a table sorted and color coded it is more impressive. Higher income correlates pretty well with Kerry voters. What does that mean though? I'm tempted to say that there is a correlation between education and income, therefore smarter people tend to vote Kerry, but there are probably a lot of holes in that argument. In any case, follow the link a...

A strange scene is unfolding in Richmond, CA on San Francisco Bay tonight. A tribe of Indians (Native Americans), those nature loving stewards of our planet, are trying to open a casino on some vacant wetlands. ChevronTexaco, an integrated oil company, those rapers and pillagers of our planet, are opposing them because they want to build a nature preserve. Go figure.

It was an eventful, and in some ways surprising election. Although I am completely against the actions taken by Bush in Iraq, I do see a silver lining with some other aspects. Economy - The economy seems to be on the road to improving. It is partly because of the world record deficits, which Kerry would not have been able to stem either. I did not consider economy a key issue in this election, although I am pro-trade. Social Issues and Environment - Bush is a throwback to a nasty era of cronyism. Where the rich get richer and help other rich get even richer by extracting benefits from the common weal, while the poor get poorer and work together to make ends meet. Although inherently unfair, it is actually probably good for us from a competitive standpoint. It will reduce costs of production. Longer term, the retirement of the baby boomers and the health care issues are going to be huge. Foreign Relations - I see no silver lining here, except maybe that the whole world now has extremely...

My name is Tony and I am a Macaholic. I own a few shares of Apple stock and have been a Mac User and owner since I bought my Mac Plus in about 1986 or so. I have reviewed software, supported computers, worked with user groups, and am an advanced user of most of the standard programs. There is little doubt in my mind that even since the first days of the Lisa, Macs have represented not only a better product, but also a better value. When Macs first came out they were not cheap, but the beauty of them is that they came in a single package with just about everything you needed. PCs on the other hand were much cheaper, but... If you actually wanted to use them you were stuck with plunking down a whole lot more money to get up to the same capability of a Mac. This holds true today too. I'll write more about Macs later.

In the first two debates, I thought that Kerry blew Bush away purely on better arguments. A lot of people focused on Bush's facial expressions; I didn't even notice them. Tonight I watched though. He generally seemed to have control over himself. As far as the answers that they gave go, I tended to like Kerry's answers better, but didn't see any real knockout punches as in the first two debates. W said he prays a lot. I somehow don't buy it. He said, "I never want to impose my religion on anyone else." I almost vomited. Bush tried a few jokes and they were really lame. I just heard that Bush did in fact say that he wasn't worried about Osama bin Laden. Call this one a draw.

Several really important points: Sanctions:Bush said that the sanctions weren't working because Hussein had still been in power. Kerry made the right point that in fact, the sanctions worked. Hussein had no WMDs and, by the way, the sanctions were not intended to take him out of power. Huge score for Kerry in my book. Environment: Bush talked aout how the air is cleaner today than it was 4 years ago. That may be true, but it is despite his efforts, not because of them. He has relaxed standards on air and water pollution drastically. Abortions: The other really telling part was during their discussion about partial birth abortions. Bush said and repeated, Kerry voted against it There's nothing else you need to know. Kerry explained his vote against it because it did not make necessary allowances in certain cases. I know many people see abortion as black and white, but there are a lot of gray shades there. Bush's inability to see or admit those shades is insane. ...

My wife, Kathleen, has recently taken up Mosaics. It has opened my eyes to a very cool art form. It has elements of both art and construction. In Ravenna Italy there are mosaics still standing that were created in the 6th century. You have to love art that lasts

I think the United Stated is a great country, but a great country with a serious problem. I think that problem begins with the way we elect our leaders. Never mind the electoral college. That has some issues, but I don't think that's the worst of the problems. I want to go to the problems with the principle of whoever has the most votes wins. On the surface it's not bad, especially because we have a bill of rights to protect us for the most part from Tyranny of the Majority. However in the case of the United States, I believe that it has led to increasing polarization of the people in this country. Our economy and society is extremely complex. To winnow our choices down to two people at the end of the day doesn't allow for full expression of views to carry forward. I can hear you thinking, "but there are more than two people. What is to stop one from voting for a Green candidate or libertarian?" Well nothing stops us except the system. Even though I may like a...

OK so I wrote a long screed against IRR and said that MIRR is a better metric, I consider that a fact. But does that really give the answer? It is a good start. Given that you have some system to prioritize opportunities, you can end up with the highest value. That is usually not the whole picture though. Within a single project, there are usually distinct alternatives to consider. For example, sometimes a project may be able to trade current capital expenditure for future operational expense. This may have the impact of ultimately reducing margins, but giving the company additional leverage in the short term. So how do you do it? There's really a continuum of methods ranging from simple standalone analysis to a more complete approach incorporating estimates of risk and uncertainty. I believe that most organizations can benefit from a portfolio analysis approach, which tends to the complete side of the spectrum. In a perfect world, here's what that looks like. You need an inv...

A McKinsey article on IRR (Internal Rate of Return) and why it is EVIL. (My words) Project and opportunity evaluation has two main types of indicative metrics: value and efficiency. Value is typically expressed as Net Present Value or NPV. There are to typical ways of expressing efficiency: as a percent return on investment or as a ratio. The most commonly used percent function is Internal Rate of Return. First a little background. Present value methods are based on the idea that most people and companies would rather receive one dollar today, than that same dollar one year from today. The preference is usually expressed as a cost of capital or discount factor (percentage) and should equal an indifference value. For example, if it is the same to you whether you receive $1 today, or $1.10 in a year, your discount factor is said to be 10%. In most cases, it represents either a cost or a lost opportunity. In project or investment analysis, typically an analyst will generate a set...

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay “Self-Reliance” stated “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall.” This has such relevance in this election that I just felt the need to bring it up. His point is that establishing a position and sticking to that position regardless of circumstances is foolish and intellectually lazy. I contend that there are some great principles that are non-foolish consistencies (starting with “Thou shalt not kill”). What should not be consistent is your response to events. There is nothing wrong with giving a leader a strategic negotiating position that allows a diplomatic solution. When that leader then uses that position for reasons outside of the original intent and by the way bungles tactically, it is entirely appropriate to criticize the action. It would be unconscionable o...

One side of all the analysis I have not heard much about is a cost-benefit analysis of the war in Iraq. So first let's think about the goals of the action: 1. Get rid of a very bad man. 2. Make the world safer for America and Americans by a. removing weapons of mass destruction and b. removing Iraq's financing of terrorism. 3. Help secure a source of oil? 4. Send a message to the terrorists. So of those reasons, which of them would have a direct benefit to the US? Make the world safer and help secure a source of oil would certainly have a benefits. Knocking a bad guy out of office is less clear. Sending a message to the terrorists would also be a good thing. So, if those are in fact true, what would be the value of those? If in fact Iraq had had WMDs, what was the danger to the US? Saddam certainly did not have the means to deliver significant WMDs to the US, so that has very limited direct value. Iraq appears to have been a relatively minor player in world terrorism, so that d...

This year's political silly season is giving me heartburn. It seems that so many "analysts" are completely missing the point. I just feel compelled to write some of my thoughts. This argument about military service is such a side issue that it gives me hives. I want to put it to rest now. Everyone agrees that Kerry served in Viet Nam right? Everyone agrees that Bush was registered in the National Guard right. Best Case for Bush: Bush served admirably, attended at all times. The records are lost. Kerry went to Viet Nam served on the Swift Boats, but his medals were awarded erroneously. Result: Tie. Bush served well, but never put himself in harm's way; Kerry put himself in harm's way but didn't serve well. Best Case for Kerry: Kerry served on the Swift Boats, earned all his medals, and was in fact a war hero as the official record indicates. Bush evaded service and didn't even take mandatory drug tests because he knew he would not have ...

I have always been a big fan of Saturday Night Live. for some reason I thought about a few SNL things recently: Decabet and Gillette Trac 3 For some reason I thought of the Decabet today. The idea being that it's kind of a "metric system" alphabet with only 10 letters It's like this: (Dan Aykroyd) of the U.S. Council of Standards and Measurements explains the "Decabet" the new metric alphabet consisting of 10 letters. "A-B-C and D, our most popular letters, will remain the same. E and F, however, will be combined and graphically simplified to one character. The groupings G-H-I and L-M-N-O will be condensed to single letters. (Incidentally, a boon to those who always thought that L-M-N-O was one letter anyway.) And finally, the 'trash letters,' or P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y and Z, will be condense" to one "easily identifiable dark character." So then A B C D EF GHI J K LMNOP QR... I don't know why, but it just strikes me as funny toda...