It is DEFINITELY not a right

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property is all you get, sir. I don't remember seeing "healthcare" anywhere in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights.

PS2 Hard Drive Mod

Here is a guide I wrote a long time ago about modding a PS2, archiving it here:

Step 1: Explanation/ Introduction

The whole idea behind this mod is to be able to have games load off the hard drive. Basically what happens is there is boot software stored on the memory card. The disc in the drive is called a trigger disc, which will call the memory card boot loader. When the system starts up the game in the drive, it starts loading off the memory card. Essentially the memory card will crash the system, and then load a program that will allow you to access and load from the hard drive. This is especially useful if your drive no longer reads PS2 discs.

The network adapter is necessary for hard drive and network connection. It will allow you to connect an IDE drive to the PS2 and then connect this to your computer so you can transfer games from your computer. (After you legally purchase them of course!)

Step 2: Materials

You will need the following:

1. A Playstation 2 that can at least read PS1 discs and music CD's

2. A memory card, preferably above 8mb because the software needed takes up save game space.

**Look in the back of the PS2 and remove the cover to hard drive slot.**

3. An IDE hard drive (you might want to have >100gb because each game is approx. 3-4 gb)

4. The PS2 network adapter. It is an accessory that is no longer made, so eBay is probably your best bet to pick up a used one. Prices range from ~$20 - $35. This is where the hard drive will connect to the PS2 and the PS2 will connect to your router/computer.

Notice that the back of the adapter has ports for a molex and IDE connector, and a connector to the back of the PS2.

5. A trigger disc. This is one of many PS1 and PS2 games, depends mostly on the list you put in the software later.

Step 2: Install the hardware.

Simple place the hard drive you purchased into the PS2. Connect the network adapter to it. If your network adapter did not come with a disc, then contact me about getting it because you need that to format the hard drive. You might be able to find one online as well.

Step 3: Install the software.

You will need the HDloader software and the bootELF software. This is no longer available online as far as I know, and cannot be transferred using the PS2 browser. Let me know and I can sell you a memory card preloaded.

Here is what you do if you have the bootElf software:

Notice that the Playstation file browser will show the necessary data as corrupted data.

So, you will need to use the filebrowser in bootELF.

Make sure that you have both directories: BADATA-SYSTEM and SYS-CONF

These will contain the data needed to run the bootloader. Once you have those on your memory card, you can restart the PS2 and it should automatically start the bootloader.

The bootloader should have a startup screen like this:

and should display the list of your games like such:

So now you are wondering, "How do I put games on my Playstation 2?" The answer is simple. Use a free program called HdlDump - download here

Attach your PS2 to a router, then set the static IP on the router to 192.168.0.150 (default for mine, can be changed to your liking)

Then, run HdlDump and put in the IP of the PS2. This should access the hard drive, then allow you to put ISO's of the games on the system. If you have a .mds file or other, just mount the game file, then select the optical drive it is mounted in.

This should have you up and running!

Have fun playing your games off your hard drive, and remember this is for backing up your purchased games.

Legal Disclaimer: Please do not use this method to put pirated games on your system. You know this is illegal, and I cannot be held responsible if you use my method to do something illegal. What I am doing here is simply explaining how to backup games I already own.

Ultra-Low Tax

Was digging through some old files and found this article I had written a while ago. It's interesting to see where I was in terms of thought process and research and where I am now.

The Ultra-Low Tax Rate

A Brief Inquiry into Radical Tax Policy 

Robert Carpenter

2009

Introduction

The topic being explored is the possibility of having the highest tax rate set at 10%, all while allowing the government to function as it is designed to do. I was inspired to investigate this topic because I believe that many of the government programs we have today are not necessary and are not run efficiently. My goal was to find programs that did not justify funding and then work with that spending amount to find out if the 10% tax rate is possible.

I am going to state up front that my sources are simply aggregates of federal tax data and that many of my calculations are on a basic level, to explore the most basic of plausibility in this matter.

 

Section 1. The Basics of Government

In order to do a decent analysis of any government programs, it is essential to discover the true purpose of the United States government as outlined by the esteemed Founding Fathers.  They believed that each man (and woman, of course) is entitled to “life, liberty, and property”. Also, the “pursuit of happiness” is also mentioned, although this is not nearly as relevant. The Constitution lists the powers of Congress as:

·         Lay and collect taxes, tariffs

·         Borrow money on credit of the U.S.

·         Regulate commerce

·         Uniformly establish naturalization

·         Coin money

·         Establish post offices and postal roads

·         Promote science and the practical arts by protecting ideas- copyright

·         Establish lower courts

·         Punish piracy on the high seas

·         Declare war

·         Raise and support army/navy

·         Establish a national guard

·         Make laws to promote the aforementioned powers

This list is complete (although modernized, the meanings remain intact). Did anyone see that the government is responsible for supporting a citizen’s income or providing health care for all people? If you do, you may require a visit to the eye doctor. None of those things are included, and were not included in the Founding Fathers desires for the purpose of the government.

Section 2. The Current State of Affairs

The following figures are gathered from 2007 tax year data. This is the most accurate and up-to-date information on the current tax state.

In 2007, the total tax revenue was $2,674,007,818,000, or approximately 2.674 trillion dollars. Income taxes accounted for $1.163 trillion, while Medicare and Social Security taxes collected $870 billion.

Further breaking down the revenue situation, we will look at who pays the taxes. The following figures are from an analysis of 2006 tax collections:

Tax Group	Amount of Total Income Tax Revenue From Group
Top 1% of income earners	36.89% of total income tax dollars collected
Top 5% of income earners	57.13% of total income tax dollars collected
Top 10% of income earners	68.19% of total income tax dollars collected
Top 50% of income earners	96.70% of total income tax dollars collected
Bottom 50% of income earners	3.30% of total income tax dollars collected

 

It is obvious that the top 10% of income earners are essentially supporting the federal government. The top 5% of income earners, which consists of 2.23 million tax units (both single, married, and households combines) pay the federal rate of 30% and the mandatory social security and medicare taxes. Adding in state taxes, these citizens are likely paying around 40% of their income to the government. Since the threshold for the top 5% group is around $137,000, they would be paying close to $54,000 a year in taxes and would be left with only $83,000 to spend (and pay sales tax on). These estimates do not include any additional taxes, such as property tax, capital gain tax, or automobile tax.

Not only is the fact that the people who make the most money are responsible for supporting the government depressing, the spending that occurred exceeded the amount of money collected. In 2007, $2.73 trillion was spent by the federal government. We may as well disregard the deficit because the solution to that problem is included in the answer to this study’s findings.

Section 3. What is all this money used for?

Now, you may be asking yourself, “What is all this money being spent on?” Most people would say that the U.S. spends way too much money on defense. In fact, a large sum of money is spent on defense, but two other programs each consume more of the national budget than does the Department of Defense and all branches of the Armed Forces.

Here is a summarized list of what the government spends its money on:

·         Interest on Debt: $237 billion

·         Non-defense: $493 billion

·         Defense: $549 billion

·         Other Mandatory: $308 billion

·         Medicare/Medicaid: $561 billion

·         Social Security: $581 billion

If you remember back to Section 1, you should recall that the two most expensive programs are not required or mentioned by the Constitution! It would seem to make sense that in order to lower taxes, you may want to scale these programs down.

Section 4. Cutting Off the Fat

I do not wish to engage in a discourse regarding the inefficiency, unfairness, and overall nonsensical nature of social welfare programs; this discussion can be saved for another day. The following information may be a reason why these programs should not exist, in any case it proves my point.

Suppose you completely removed Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This would bring spending down to $1.588 trillion. Along with this, you would likely want to balance the budget while cutting programs and prior to decreasing tax rates significantly. Assuming doing so would bring the national debt interest to 75% of the current amount due each year, the total spending would be $1.410 trillion. Currently, income taxes are 43% of all taxes collected, or as stated above, $1.163 trillion.

Basically halving the national spending budget you may be thinking right now, “Does that mean we can cut taxes in half, since we only need half the money?” At this point, only an in-depth analysis could come close to finding the answer. From this point forward, the answer is somewhat speculative, but grounded in economic logic.

Cutting the tax rates in half poses a problem for predicting the results, first because taxes have never been that low, and because there are many positive side effects to lower taxes that may show themselves amplified in that sort of environment. The cut would bring the highest federal income bracket to 17%. Adjusting the income tax income accordingly, by simply slicing it in half, and by eliminating the Social Security and Medicare tax (you obviously don’t need that because neither of those programs exist under the new system), you would collect a total of $1.117 trillion. Even if the government didn’t manage to balance the budget (a severe oversight), the amount spent would be $1.587 trillion. The difference is less than $4 billion, which is amazing considering the only thing changed was the elimination of three programs! Also, this does not account for the general rule of collecting 19.5% of GDP in taxes. This observation has held true for nearly a century, regardless of tax rates. With more consumer and investor capital, there will be a large boost in GDP due to consumer spending, increased industry, and more corporations forming to meet demand.

Section 5. Conclusions

At the beginning, it was proposed that the highest tax bracket be set at 10%. The results of doing so have never been seen, but it would likely be surprisingly positive. Leaving workers with so much of their income to work with, they could use investment-based retirement funds, they could have private investments and accounts, and choose health care that works for their needs. The cost of the health care and saving is more than covered by the amount of money they save in taxes.

It can safely be said that cutting the current rate in half would still yield at least 60% of the total income tax revenue from present, due to a larger workforce and increase spending. This would make the 17% top rate a reality and would have a great effect on the taxpayers.

Section 6. Afterthoughts and the Meaning Of All Of This

It is shown that with minimal changes to programs other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and with the complete removal of the aforementioned programs the federal budget can almost be halved. This required far less cash, and leaves the workers with more money to spend.

However, citizens would be not be guaranteed or provided health care, pension, or benefits by the federal government. Disabled citizens (unable to function or handicapped persons), may or may not qualify for the few small aid programs remaining. This is not to say that people who cannot survive on their own will simply starve to death. Private charities will see an increase in gifts and sponsorships due to a stimulated economy. The specialized nature of privatization will get people the aid they need more effectively and more efficiently.

The new system would need to place emphasis on smart choices:

·         Setting up private retirement/IRA accounts

·         Positive money-saving techniques along with smart spending techniques

·         Strong work ethic and reward for hard work

·         Understanding that without working hard, you cannot expect to live a luxurious lifestyle

A return to a more capitalistic state would help bring the United States closer to what the Founding Fathers envisioned and would bring to an end the ideal of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

It's a miracle! He can walk!

No lock. Easy steal.

The Bloom Box

Here are a collection of comments both myself and my friend Clifton had on this "miracle machine":

Me:

This is unlikely to be successful. Like that guy said (paraphrased), "20% chance of it being in your basement in the future, but it will say GE". If GE and Seimens spend billions each year to research and patent this stuff, who says they haven't already discovered something just like this but didn't produce it due to costs and low market value? The other problem with the lack of grid due to replacement by the these boxes is the subsequent lack of infrastructure. Just as the Internet architecture has redundancy, so does the power grid.

The one dissenting guy was the smartest one of them all because he understands how infrastructure, industry, and technology works; I'll bet the VC was fine with it being sold on a small scale and was not counting on it being in everyone's basement. If he is expecting a revolution then he will be looking at a failure for sure.
While a few large companies can use these boxes effectively, they also have the capital to invest and can make up substantial monetary savings even at low percentages. A home buyer is not going to be interested in spending thousands of dollars for something that they will still need to feed natural gas and that will need much more maintenance than the copper cables they already have. If you were to install the infrastructure for this, you would need to run high pressure gas lines to every home, which is costlier and far less safe than running cables.

Clifton has taken a fuel cells class and reminded me that no fuel cell company has ever turned a profit, and that fuel cells themselves are very sensitive to contaminants which cause it to completely cease functioning. I already knew the metals involved, and honestly do not find the prolific use of heavy metals to be a very appealing concept to have to manage at both the production and disposal levels. This goes for solar cells as well, they may not emit noxious gases while running, but they are highly toxic to make and dispose.
All in all, this guy will likely end up being bought for next to nothing by GE or will just fade into the background of failed Silicon Valley startups.

Clifton:

I think it will have a minor impact if any at all. I hate to be so negative about it but after having taken a class on it - it is still just a normal fuel cell, with the usual price tag on it. Nothing seemed new or innovative to me after watching the clip and considering that major corporations have bought the devices to "test" them doesn't really say anything either, as that's nothing new. In fact, GA Tech has a fuel cell stack behind the Boggs building for emergency power assistance, but we do not see them everywhere on campus.

The video showed me that a lot of the problems which plague normal fuel cell designs; those being cost, fuel considerations and long term reliability - have not been fixed with these designs. I agree with the producer that the largest impact will be seen in remote areas where it is costly to maintain a power grid or connection, if one even exists at all. As the investor stated: "power companies will be the biggest purchasers", definitely true, because they will save money by doing so. However, will we see this in customer's homes when the price tag is ~3000 dollars? Probably not, as that price tag does not include fuel and maintenance costs - I feel that most customers would prefer to continue to pay their monthly electricity bill from the power company and not care about where the electricity is coming from.

Watch the clip, let me know how you feel about having a "Bloom Box".



Watch CBS News Videos Online

Why you should be scared of Apple

Here is the full text of this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_18377_5-reasons-you-should-be-scared-apple.html

I thought the author really did a great job with this one, I have maintained for quite some time that Apple is more "evil" than Microsoft ever was. I don't understand how Apple customers can tolerate having a completely controlled product where they have limited functionality yet claim it is better than the alternative. iPhone still doesn't have multitasking, a technology that has been existent in phones for a decade, and yet the ignorant users continue to believe it is superior. 

Another part of this whole saga that amuses me is that while Apple continues to become more and more controlling, Microsoft has really become a "nice" company. With the advent of Windows 7 and soon-to-come Windows Phone 7, they are trying very hard to present a wonderful user experience with the functionality that Windows users have long come to expect. Plus, they aren't super-secret about everything either. They take the time to demonstrate prototypes and models at trade shows and generally seem to want people to try their product and weigh in on their thoughts. Meanwhile, Apple doesn't care and the fans continue to drink the Kool-Aid. 

In the dining hall?

Is it necessary to have all of this set up at your table? Just eat at the dining hall and study/listen to loud music at home.

Safe and Secure

How does locking your bike and leaving the keys make sense?

Putting Everything Into Perspective

In light of the disappointing end to my last football season at Georgia Tech, I am trying to ponder the bigger picture and look back on the past year. (Also, this is consolation to some extent)

First, Tech may get beaten by some big teams and seems to get the shaft by every announcer and ref on the planet, but us students have a smugness that makes it bearable. Knowing that as long as we remain a Top 25 team we would dominate any combined ranking of academics and BCS rank.
Second, we still had winning seasons each of the four years I have attended despite dismal post-season performance. I have had the pleasure to attend all but two home football games and had a wonderful time with friends doing so.
Lastly, even if a team like Iowa or Georgia beats us one day of the year and claims victory for that moment, the rest of the year the Tech grads employ and outperform them.

Although my time at Tech isn't over yet, I partly am glad to be heading towards graduation and the paycheck and free time that accompany it. There is still is a part of me that will miss Georgia Tech. Yes, we have no life. No, we have no parties. Girls? Negative. But, we all have something in common. We know how to work hard and have become used to it. That gives us a realistic outlook on life and the ability to think at a higher level than most engineering students. I've enjoyed some of the courses at Tech that teach us not to be a lackey but how to be a manager and how to make our knowledge useful and profitable. The downside is that I have generated a contempt for students who choose "unproductive" majors such as law, fashion, literature, and art. Everyone has a place in society, but complaining about how hard it is when you partied in college no longer seems acceptable to me. Perhaps that's a hard line to take, but what goes around comes around.

As I enter the most time-demanding semester of my career I only hope that I can just sprint to the finish before running out of energy. While motivated by a full time job offer, this goal seems as close and yet as far away as ever.

This past semester I was fortunate to be able to successfully enact my plan of meeting new people and forgetting some of my previous "friends" for some people I truly enjoy spending time with. I did this better than I expected; become close with several people I work with, had some great times with my best friend, and rekindled the fire with some old friends. For once, I felt like I know what I'm doing academically (aside from one class), and really enjoyed my studies. 2009 has been good to me, and I definitely was glad for the most part at how it turned out. I think the secret to my success last year was spontaneity, just going with the flow and taking opportunities as they arose; whether it be a spur-of-the-minute outing with friends, making a late night business trip to D.C., or inviting over an old family friend during Fall Break, I've never regretted any of it and benefited in so many ways.

My resolution for 2010 is to step up to the plate and take action when needed. Maybe I'll speak my mind when called for, or just speak more from the heart, or perhaps take a risk that I would normally second guess. With my career officially beginning this year I want to ensure that I start strong and make a lasting impression. Life is too short to wonder about what could have been.

Tech Dating Guide Part I

How to meet women by starting a casual conversation and setting up a date.
Girl: "It is really cold out here!"
Tech Guy: "This is nothing, I went to the Orange Bowl."
Girl: "Really? In Miami? Tell me more!"
Tech Guy: "It's a long story, how about I tell you over coffee or lunch?"
Bingo! You just broke the ice! More handy advice coming soon....

As long as he doesn't run with scissors...

Found this article titled:
"White House: Obama can Walk and Chew Gum".
Seriously, I promise this is not from the Onion.

cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/04/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6054148.shtml

In other news, I got an almost personally signed letter from Senator Webb. The color printed marker signature was pretty clever, anyone with half a brain would have assumed it to be legit. I discovered otherwise.