Links and Minifeatures 2009 01 04 Sunday (48!)

When I checked my traffic on New Year's Day, it appears this site got its 3,000,000th visitor sometime early on December 14th.

Thank you all for stopping by.

Microsoft's Zune players freeze on New Year's Eve

Thousands of Microsoft's Zune media players -- the software company's answer to Apple Inc.'s iPod -- unexpectedly conked out Wednesday and showed users an error message, prompting references to "Y2K for Zunes." The problems appeared when people tried to start up their devices.

Good thing Microsoft doesn't make airplanes. Or hospital equipment.

And if Microsoft made my parachute, I'd think very hard about staying with the airplane that's going down in flames.

Offshoring Is One Sure Thing

In the meantime, someone should ask Gov. Richardson exactly what tech jobs can't be outsourced. Moving skilled U.S. jobs offshore may be a trend that's already taken off, but why should Washington provide the airplanes? Perhaps that should be question No. 1.

I don't want often say this, but Michelle Malkin has this one absolutely correct: Jimmy Carter & Habitat for Humanity built shoddy homes

But now that it's striking a media darling charity, the legal environment that has raised the cost of housing for everyone substantially is suddenly something bad.

These defects are survivable. Given the benefit of a Habitat for Humanity home, I would happily deal with a cracked slab or settling or repair issues.

Those who have the same issues who bought their homes from a for-profit developer have some additional justice on their side - but they should still be required to come up with specific reasons why the developer is liable. If I want to sue my neighbor, I have to convince a jury that neighbor did something specific and actionable to me. But in the case of suing developers or the wealthy in general, the case that gets made is essentially, "They're wealthy and I'm not!"

via Instapundit, Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association says we are facing a Pension Tsunami

Actually, he tells only part of the story of malfeasance. When California and municipal coffers were full with property taxes from the real estate bubble, the correct thing to do would have been to pay down debts and invest for the inevitable crash or at least slowdown. Instead, they not only spent all of the extra on new projects, but committed themselves to continuing to do so for the forseeable future, and borrowed even more money on the assumption that the good times would not only continue unabated, but accelerate. They invested less money than they were supposed to setting aside (per their own actuaries), but in highly speculative fashion which might have made up the shortfall if the good times had somehow continued. And when the inevitable collapse finally arrived, they were left in basically the classic Wile E. Coyote position by their own doing.

The financially prudent thing to do was obvious all along, but fiscal prudence doesn't translate well into buying votes for incumbents. Classic Roman bread and circuses. Look into the real - economic - reasons why the Roman Empire fell apart. If you don't understand now, you will have your eyes opened.

The parallels with US Politics of today are eerie. And the largest differences between the situations aren't working in our favor.