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November 26, 2005

Who needs wires?

When the Kafalas.com braintrust and I purchased a piece of land back in 2000, we intended to build a house on it and locate there. For many reasons, the scenario changed (hence the real-estate listing you see on the linked page), but when we were planning on staying in Flagstaff and were busily putting our house plans together, one item we were sure we wanted the house to have was cabling, and lots of it. We were going to have big conduits going through all the walls, floors, ceilings, and other solid parts, so that we'd be able to string fiber optic, CAT-5, Ethernet, and whatever other kinds of spaghetti would be necessary to get our house all wired up and ready for 21st-century networking.

For a variety of reasons, the house never got built -- but as of this past week, the 21st-century networking part has become a reality; in a decidedly 20th-century house we're living in. No voluminous cable conduits through the walls, no CAT-5, no spaghetti -- just a tidy little wireless network sitting on a shelf we put up for the occasion, which you can see here. From my Mac here in my office, I can connect to the DSL line, print stuff, talk to Meg's machine, and do all manner of things, with no need for any stringy pasta products at all!

Funny how things change. 'Way back in 2000, we (or at least I) had no idea the Next Big Thing™ in wiring up the home would be to lose the wires! But then, back in 2000, I thought the Next Big Thing™ was going to be telecommuting -- and we saw what happened to that. So much for my abilities as a technology prognosticator.

Posted by Urbie at 08:50 AM | Comments (2)

November 24, 2005

Nigerian spam -- by snail mail!

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Nigerian spam -- the mass e-mails that come in from people supposedly looking for a place to stash untold millions of dollars currently hidden in a bank, in some jeopardy of being lost or impounded if the holder can't find a suitable hiding place, which (they hope) is your bank account. You're supposed to give them your bank account number, and they'll arrange for an electronic transfer of several million dollars, a healthy chunk of which you get to keep for "providing your assistance" in spiriting the cash out of Nigeria and away from the long arm of the tax man.

Well, I recently got a strange form of this solicitation: a letter, printed on paper and mailed in a handwritten envelope from the Netherlands (judging by the stamps, anyway). I'll quote from it briefly (all of the typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors are reproduced exactly as in the original):

"Dear John Kafalas

"I know this letter will reach you as a surprise, but you need not to worry as we are using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for foreign assistance/partnership in a business transaction, which is of mutual benefit. I work in an auditing department of the African Development Bank Plc, (Cape Town) South Africa which I have served as a staff for the past eighteen years. A foreigner, late Engr. George Kafalas an oil merchant/contractor with the federal republic of South Africa, who have bank with us until his death three years ago; has a closing balance of US$14.5Million (Fourteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) which our bank now unquestionably expects to be claimed by any of his available next of kin or alternatively have the funds donated to the trust fund of the African Union (AU) peace keeping forces...."

You get the picture. This description is followed by the usual request for my bank account number "so as for this funds (US$14.5M) to be transferred into your bank account as the beneficiary's next of kin, with the fact that your last name (Kafalas) is the same with the late contractor."

The paper is rather cheap stationery, but at least it's phony letterhead, with this "African Development Bank Group" logo at the top. At least they tried. There is an e-mail address (ironically enough, smudged badly enough that it's not quite legible, so I couldn't contact them even if I were dumb enough to fall for the scheme) at the end of the letter.

None of this is unusual, except for the fact that it arrived on paper, rather than by e-mail. Anyone else gotten an African spam by snail mail? Actually, a Google search confirms that it does happen -- in fact, it's been going on since before there was e-mail. It just seemed a little odd, when it showed up in my mailbox!

Posted by Urbie at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2005

Bela Fleck & Edgar Meyer, "Music for Two" live!

Just when I start thinking banjo wiz Bela Fleck must finally have reached the apex of technical virtuosity and musical creativity -- to where he can't possibly get any better -- he goes and does it on me. Bassist Edgar Meyer does the same thing. Case in point: Last night's "Music for Two" performance at the Mesa Arts Center.

Bela and Edgar have collaborated on numerous performing and recording projects in the past -- my favorite example is their 1997 "Uncommon Ritual," which also featured "one-man talent pool" Mike Marshall on mandolin. But the more they play, the better it gets. Last night's concert started out with a bluegrass-derived tune, the likes of which have always made up the core of Bela's repertoire -- but after that, they launched into an interesting arrangement of "Solar," a Miles Davis standard, followed by three of Bach's Two-Part Inventions.

It went on from there -- most of the material being from their "Music for Two" CD -- and included arrangements of works by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn as well as their own tunes.

Fleck and Meyer have always displayed blistering technical chops -- but that would get boring after awhile, if it weren't for the fact that their technical brilliance is always in the service of the music they're playing. Bela played an unaccompanied solo on the second half -- it's probably on the CD, but I'm not sure -- that started off as a folk song, then drifted into Bach, then morphed back into the folk song, so seamlessly that you'd think it had been written that way. Edgar played a couple of phenomenal unaccompanied pieces as well. These two are as good by themselves as they are together, on any of the instruments they play (Bela played one tune on dobro and Edgar played a fair amount of piano from time to time).

Definitely an inspiring concert. As Meg observed on the way home, these guys demolish the idea that creative modern music has to be abstruse and unlistenable. You can't ask for more approachable stuff than "Music for Two," but it's material that isn't the least bit dumbed-down or commercialized. It's music that isn't just good, it sounds good.

(Adding to this entry on Friday, 11/18) The "Music for Two" CD comes with a bonus DVD featuring a documentary about Bela and Edgar's tour. It's a great behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in their rehearsals, on the band bus, and at live gigs. A lot of time is devoted to the genesis of Edgar's "Canon," which was premiered on the 2004 tour, is on the CD, and was played at Sunday night's gig in Mesa. The piece is a fiendishly difficult 15/8 canon at one measure, with Edgar starting and Bela imitating him. For two guys as technically adept as Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, it taxes them to about the limit of what they can do -- I can't think of two other musicians who could bring the piece off, although I'm sure there are some.

The tour lasted several weeks, and although they started to get on each other's nerves at times (especially when "Canon" rehearsals weren't going well), the documentary gives us a fascinating look at these two guys and how they work together. It also contains some great close-up performance footage, with cameras that show the banjo and bass techniques right from the fingerboard. Among other things, we're also treated to a humorous duet between Edgar and Victor Wooten, both playing Edgar's bass simultaneously. Don't miss it!

Posted by Urbie at 07:09 AM | Comments (2)

November 10, 2005

Newsflash: Gas costs money!

Yesterday's Senate hearing, with oil company executives on the hot seat because of their companies' recent record profits, is a good illustration of the fact that Congress and most members of the general public need to take an economics course or two. The hearing featured Senators and state attorneys general suggesting that Federal "price-gouging" legislation is necessary, in order to keep the price of gas artificially low in times of short supply.

These people have a remarkable ignorance of history. Anyone old enough to remember the '70s undoubtedly has less-than-fond memories of waiting in long lines to get a tank of gas, being unable to get gas at all on weekends, and the idiotic "Oregon Plan," under which cars with odd-numbered license plates got gas on odd-numbered days and even-numbered cars got gas on even-numbered days. These were symptoms not of any inherent lack of oil, but rather they were illustrations of the effects of government price controls. Any economics major can tell you that price controls always create shortages -- and this is exactly what happened in the '70s.

These days, with no Federal gas price controls in place, we've had some pretty serious gas price hikes lately -- two years ago, you could get unleaded regular for about $1.50/gallon here in Flagstaff, where recently it has sold for more than twice that. But there have been no shortages -- have you ever had to wait in line to buy gas?

And I ask you: which would you prefer -- paying three bucks a gallon for gas, or not being able to get it at all? All this talk about "price-gouging" is nonsense. People need to understand that gasoline is a commodity, like coffee, oats, and pork bellies; and a basic fact of life is that commodity prices fluctuate. It is not "price-gouging" when you voluntarily pull up to a gas pump and pay the market price. Price-gouging would involve someone pointing a gun at your head and demanding money -- I don't see that happening. American consumers who are having a hissy fit about the price of gas want it both ways; they don't accept the fact that the way to avoid paying too much for gas would be to drive smaller cars.

Incidentally, I find it a source of some amusement that it's mostly the same politicians who are arguing, on the one hand, for government measures to keep the price of gas artificially low, and on the other hand, for environmental measures (e.g., a ban on drilling in Alaska) that prevent anything that would increase the supply of oil and reduce the price! They're also the same people who have prevented the industry from building new refineries or otherwise taking steps to increase supply.

This is why, although I'm not of a particularly libertarian bent in terms of political philosophy, I tend to vote that way. Congress needs to understand that the market does a much better job of allocating resources than they do.

Posted by Urbie at 07:06 AM | Comments (0)

November 07, 2005

Old guys make good

I have to tip my hat to a couple of guys of a certain age who distinguished themselves on the PGA Tour this weekend. Highest honors go to Bart Bryant, who shot four rounds in the 60s en route to a six-shot win in the Tour Championship. Bryant, who was always a great ball striker but until recently underachieved because of poor putting, picked up his third PGA Tour win in the past 14 months with his victory at the Tour Championship. The part I like is that Bryant is about five months older than I am. Although Vijay Singh (a few weeks older than yours truly) has fallen out of the #1 spot in the world rankings, he and Bryant are proof positive that life does not end at 42!

The other elder-statesman overachiever was Loren Roberts, who didn't quite manage to win the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, but by finishing tied for second, won enough money to move up from 126th place on the money list and secure his tour card for next year. Roberts, having turned 50 this year and debuted successfully on the Champions Tour, now has the ability to write his own ticket next year, with full exemptions on both tours. I was hoping he'd win the Southern Farm Bureau and become the second senior-tour player to win on the regular tour -- but even without a win, his strong showing was a good sign, for those of us with more and more gray hairs becoming visible when we look in the mirror.

Why is it that in recent years, more older guys have been doing well on the PGA Tour? I think it's because of the Champions Tour (known as the senior tour to everyone who doesn't work for the PGA). It used to be that as professional golfers got on into their 40s, they began to realize that the end of the line was coming, so they'd lighten up their playing schedule and probably not practice as much, as they recognized the inevitable. With rare exceptions (e.g., Sam Snead, who still holds the record for oldest player to win a PGA Tour event, which he accomplished at 52), this was the pattern.

The senior tour has followed an interesting pattern. When it first came into being in 1980, it was basically a nostalgia tour -- a bunch of famous has-beens, most of whom still had some game but who were nowhere near competitive with the young guys anymore, having some fun playing tournaments for a nostalgic audience. As the tour matured a bit, players who had retired from active competition in their early to mid-40s would start getting their games in shape as they got to 48 or 49, in anticipation of some big paydays available if they could compete on the senior tour. And finally, in more recent years, it's reached the point where you get guys who didn't have to "come out of retirement" at all, because they never retired in the first place. Which leads to more competitiveness -- and more wins -- by the quadragenarian contingent on the regular tour. That's why guys like Roberts, Craig Stadler, Jay Haas, and Peter Jacobsen have done so well -- they never put the clubs away to begin with, so when they hit 50, they hit the ground running. And why you have more players like Stadler, Roberts, and Tom Kite, playing events on both tours.

We have some disagreement, in the Kafalas.com household, as to whether this is a good thing. I think it is -- and I love to see guys like Bruce Fleisher and Allen Doyle, who never made much noise on the regular tour, enjoying stellar careers after 50. Meg liked it better when the senior tour really was more of a nostalgia tour -- more fun, more joking around with the crowd, the occasional sabre dance after sinking a putt, and that sort of thing. Take your pick.

Posted by Urbie at 08:33 AM | Comments (1)

November 03, 2005

What doesn't kill us...

... makes us stronger. It now appears that last week's exam in 455 was just another installment of Ritual Pain™ as administered by the College of Business Administration. Clearly, I was not alone in my suffering -- the class average was low, and there are a few other good students who are in the same boat I'm in, having to contemplate the possibility of repeating the course next spring. I think I've figured out what the problem was, and what the necessary steps are to fix it. (Plan A: reverse my recent unhealthy dependency on canned lecture notes and handouts from the prof and get back to taking my normal exhaustive, excruciatingly detailed notes on my own reading of the text.) I hope I can salvage a passing grade this semester, but if a repeat performance is going to be needed, I can handle it.

Meanwhile, the mighty NAU Trombone Choir has a concert coming up on Thursday, November 10th -- it's at 8:00pm at Ashurst Hall. We'll be playing works by Gabrieli, Bach, Faure, Hidas, and a few others. Admission is free -- and it doesn't cost five bucks to get out, as at a Funky Winkerbean concert!

Posted by Urbie at 06:59 AM | Comments (0)