Who Else is Concerned about all this Data Collection by the Federal Government?

Once all these stories popped up about the Utah data center, the handing over of access to files by Verizon, Microsoft, drones everywhere, et al, I started thinking about it.  Up 'til then, I took solace in the fact that large bureaucracies seemed to have trouble doing much of anything right, let alone spy on any and all Americans.  Then it started to sink in--a lot of what you dream about happening in the future is technologically possible, it's just usually too expensive to implement. But with technology getting cheaper every day, one day it will be feasible to do.  Like connect all your credit card transactions with your captured photos of your license plates and track you with your cell phone, to linking up your emails and your phone calls (did you know digital phone calls allow for easy searching for certain words where the old analog phones didn't?).

So then just recently I read a novel by Brad Thor called Black List.  It tied together a lot of these themes...it didn't have government go corrupt, but it was close. And in the epilogue the President jots down on a notepad three legislative issues he wants addressed ASAP:

"1. A state of national emergency could last for only one year. Any period beyond that would need approval by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

2. All warrantless surveillance of American citizens was to be terminated immediately. Going forward, it would be a capital offense to surveil American citizens [by government] without proper judicial review and written authorization.

3. In order to curb insider trading, all members of Congress, as well as all federal employees who work in the defense, technology, and intelligence sectors of government, were to be prohibited from investing the stock market. "

The third item was created to prevent a section of the government amassing money "off the grid" that could be then be used to assist in the implementation of a takeover.

Given some of the scary stuff FISA allows, I'd like to see #1 happen right away, and then not allow FISA warrants unless it's a state of national emergency.


Pretty good advice. Let's get started.

Why Are Amazon Book Sales Fees So High?

In a nutshell, because they can get away with it.

I sell my used books on Amazon (also tried half.com for awhile).  I started out when my spouse had a bunch of art books no longer needed, and I thought I'd get back a few bucks from her former investment.

Now one must admit it is easy to place a book for sale there, but did you know for most books Amazon takes in excess of 40% of the sales price?  That's right--check out this table:

Yes, until one gets to a sales price over $9 Amazon takes more than the old industry standard of 60% to the publisher, 40% to the retailer. Yet they never physically even touch a book.

For some time I put many of my books on half.com, but to date haven't yet sold one. A little advertising to combat Amazon is in order. Since their take is less, I price my books there to allow for me to pocket 50% of the savings, and the buyer likewise.

And these prices assume you won't make money off of shipping--with media mail running at $2.82 for a 2 lb book, add in a label and an envelope...well, no one's getting rich here (except Amazon, of course). (Update 7/1/15: Media Mail is now $3.22 for a 2 lb. package)

Here, calculate it yourself with this Excel spreadsheet.

OK, on to something productive.

Someone Got the IRS to Back Off

The IRS in 2011 created new regulations that required anyone who takes money for tax-preparation advice to be licensed by the federal government. Their basis--an 1884 statute (that preceded the IRS, by the way) that was intended to assist military pensioners who had monetary claims against the federal government. (I don't know either...)

The real effect of these regulations would be that half of all taxpayers would have their tax preparing costs increase, not including the thousands of small tax preparers who could not afford the new fees associated with the required IRS testing. And hard to believe, one of the IRS arguments was that it would be significantly harmed by the loss of the approximately $100 million in revenue it had already generated. Buffett + Gates probably paid more than that in taxes by themselves.

Enter the Institute for Justice, who represented three independent tax preparers in court and charged that the IRS lacks the legal authority to write such rules. Among their points, IJ pointed out that the IRS itself had in the past confessed that the 1884 statute did not allow them to regulate tax preparers. They further informed the court that Congress on eight previous occasions failed to pass a law that would have given the IRS that power.

Thankfully a D.C. judge agreed with the plaintiffs recently (Jan. 2013), putting a permanent injunction on the rules. A classic example of bullying by big government. Shameful.

Thank you, IJ.

Shout out for the Wall Street Journal, who wrote about it. (2/2013)

Trust Me I'm from the TSA

March 10, 2013

The screener at AUS said to "hold the boarding pass in your hand" as you clear the metal detector. (Mine was in my shirt pocket--bad person).

The TSA has this info below in a PDF on their website. (Is that a boarding pass at the upper left?)

From the TSA website

I must have misunderstood. They don't make mistakes, do they?

Oh, wait, maybe you haven't seen this apology on their home page.

As a result of this incident. Poor girl is only three years old.

Getting Zune to Drop Those Old Podcasts

This post is really about the Zune program on the computer rather than the Zune HD Player itself.

Let's say you subscribe to a podcast, and you really don't want or need to keep those really old sessions. You've already deleted them from the Zune HD, but you have to scroll through them on Zune to get to the current ones.

You thought you'd get it to work by going into the folder and deleting the old MP3's, but lo and behold when you went back to Zune, there they were but now instead of stating, for example this:

It states this instead:

And when you click on "Download", you get a can't find it or similar message. So how do you get rid of these things?

The answer lies in the "Zune Media Reset Collection Tool"!  You download this exe program from the web and run it.  It essentially goes through your Zune files and dumps the ones it can't find, while leaving your other stuff alone. It wasn't the easiest thing to find, but at least it is what you need.  Here's where to find it.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18470

The tool works by erasing the locations for your podcasts and collections, then going back and rereading all the folders you'd designated as having appropriate files. So don't panic when it first states "collection not found" or similar.

Good luck--hope it helps. It works also for Windows 7 (which is how the author uses it).

Update July, 2013
Unreal...it's gone from the link above. Here's some info about the tool...run it with Zune closed. When you finish, open up Zune and you'll see the program go searching for all the current data.

Update March, 2017
This is a link directly to a folder on Box.com with the program and an intro guide.

Old Technology Seems to Work

After traveling with the unworkable FM transmitter, I thought I'd try old school. Vendors make a small cassette with a signal cable that comes out the end allowing an MP3 player (like the Zune HD) to be connected to play in the car. No transmitter, or static. Of course you need a cassette player in your car for this to work--which 2004 VW's do. If you have a noisy cassette player, it could be distracting, but it worked just fine for me.

The cassettes look like the following (courtesy of Google products):

This one is a Belkin and sells for about $15.

Using an FM Transmitter for the Car Radio

So last week we took the "other" car to Portland. VW did not seem to have aux inputs for their radios in 2004--but I suggested we just stop at a close-by Fred Meyer and I would pick up an FM transmitter made to broadcast to a "dead" spot on the radio dial--problem solved!
We like to listen to audio books when on the road. They help to pass the time on long drives. So I purchased a Belkin something or other for $30 that would keep itself powered using the cigarette lighter plug.
We got in the car and I knew immediately there was a problem. I found a REALLY dead spot on the dial, and set the transmitter to that frequency. You could barely hear the Zune HD, and static would cut in and out. Needless to say this did not allow one to keep any attention span on the story for any reasonable time. I tried putting the transmitter all places within the 3 ft. of the lighter (which was the length of cord provided.) Nothing ever worked.
If you buy one of these babies, make sure you can take it back. I think I can--I've just not taken the time yet.
Next trip will be in the car with the MP3 plug.