Cole's Notes - The Sunday Journalist

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years - WSJ.com : "Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism."

Here I was – trying to update the systems, with the new Windows Live soft wares and  the new Windows 7 Beta was announced for public download. So like a ton of other folks, I tried to get the beta for my test mule in the lab.  Tried first thing this morning, and in the after noon and now in the evening – and of course – no luck.  The servers are boned. There’s a message on the site now: Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support (emphasis mine) to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta. We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and I’ll be posting here again soon once the beta goes live. Stay tuned! We are excited that you are excited! Really – when the CEO of your company announces availability of a product at CES and promises 2.5 million copies available – shouldn’t the IT area get the capacity up ...

Back for the new year with a slide show of motivational slides.  These are not quite the ones you're used to.  But it's a good way to start the year.   Much better than the regular political blogging I've seen over the break. And another thought on the new year and politics "Humanity [is on] a personal quest to enlarge the soul, liberate the spirit, and light up the brain. On that quest, politics is simply a roadblock of stentorian baboons"  — Tom Robbins Thanks to Kim Y for the posters.  Happy new year, folks.