Month: April 2005

Is General Motors In Trouble?

Stumbled across this via Free Republic[*1] :
Wall Street speculates on General Motors bankruptcy [*2] .

The adjustments that the company has made to its production schedule in the first two quarters of 2005, and the warnings from credit rating agencies that the company’s huge debt faces downgrading to junk bond status has focused America’s financial markets on the problems of the world’s largest carmaker.

GM CFO John Devine denied that GM was headed for bankruptcy on a Neil Cavuto interview on Fox News:

DEVINE: Absolutely not, no. There’s no question about that.

I realize some companies have done that, but it is not our game plan, doesn’t enter our mind. Our issue is, get our product right, focus on our marketing and get our costs right. So, we think, in the case of health care, there are things we can do. We have other areas of cost. That’s what we have to focus on. That’s what we have to do to turn around North America.

As this Business Week article on Yahoo![*3] states however, GM still has quite a distance to fall before the b-word really becomes imminent:

Still, GM is a long way from the worst-case scenarios floated by some critics. Before it could qualify for bankruptcy, GM would have to tip into serious cash-negative territory. United Airlines Inc. (UALAQ ) lost $5.4 billion in the two years before it went bankrupt in 2002, and it has avoided paying hundreds of millions in pension payments since. GM, by contrast, now has a $3 billion surplus in its pension fund and won’t have to make any contributions this year or next. Says Devine: “Anyone who thinks that bankruptcy is an answer is nuts.”.

Still, even mentioning GM and bankruptcy in the same sentence says volumes about the “perpetual” nature of corporations. It’s really simple: make money and live, lose money and die.

Morning Whip 4/20/05

Pope Benedict XVI[*1] .

Cell transplant from mother to daughter cures Type 1 diabetes in daughter[*2] .

Hope for rural Internet users (Hi, Betty! Hi, Brenda!) Wi-Max is coming[*3] . Long-range (up to 30 miles), wireless networking. As mentioned in a previous Whip, Intel is moving forward with a chip implementation of Wi-Max.

“One Size Doesn’t Fit All.” With those profound words, the Government tries again[*4] with their Food Pyramid. Is the USDA still pushing carbs? You betcha!

Division I athletics finally come to South Dakota[*5] , as the U. of Minnesota visits South Dakota State in Sioux Falls. To understand what a big deal this is, realize that South Dakota was the very last of all the states to field a “big-time” college athletic program.

Tech question of the day: How do you syslog[*6] ?

Morning Whip, 4/18/05

The Papal Conclave[*1] starts today. German Cardinal Ratzinger is the front-runner.

India and Pakistan are making nice[*2] .

Bad week for cruise ships. First bedbugs, now a giant wave damages a ship[*3] .

South Dakota is giving away an official Governor’s Mansion[*4] . Get yours today!

Is too much Vitamin E bad for you?[*5]

Wi-Max gets closer. Intel announces a chipset.[*6]

Firefox releases an update.[*7]

Where’s The Technology, Filbert?

I haven’t posted any stories in the Technology section yet (until this one). While this might be due to my slow recovery from a career as a network engineer and network security guy, it’s probably due more to the fact that it’s been a whirlwind of activity since I left corporate America at the end of March.

There are a couple of new computers (one desktop, one notebook) sitting in their boxes at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to do some pre-configuring before taking them over to my in-law’s to 1) replace the father-in-law’s sluggish, elderly Gateway, and 2) get my mother-in-law into the wireless/laptop generation. That should be entertaining, and I’ll be posting that saga here.

Also on the Ideas list for articles is a review of my 2005 Acura RL[*1] . In short, a very nice car.

Elsewhere, I got my own notebook back from the fine folks at LinuxCertified[*2] . My motherboard fried itself earlier this year. I took it to the local MicroCenter[*3] , who tried their best, identified the motherboard itself as the toasted component, but couldn’t locate a replacement. Fortunately, LinuxCertified (who I originally bought the laptop from) came through. Happy customer here.

Other topics which may find their way here may include:
Network management,
Network security,
Satellite TV,
Mobile computing,
Home automation,
and anything else which catches my fancy.

Morning Whip 4/17/05

Snookums and I took a day off yesterday, going to a baseball game and fininshing off with our 6 month anniversary dinner at The Melting Pot[*1] .

Playing SimCity for real: Fire department response in most of metro Kansas City[*2] is longer than the national target of six minute response 90% of the time.

The Chinese really don’t like the Japanese very much[*3] .

Biosafe cat litter?[*4] Isn’t that a contradiction?

Drunk Monkeys Brawl with Humans[*5] .
BHUBANESWAR: A group of monkeys descended on an Orissa village, quaffed down pots of an intoxicating brew lying in the open and then set upon the villagers, injuring three of them.

Couple gets cruise line apology for bed bug infestation[*6] .

Cola Wars

We picked up a 12-pack of the new Pepsi One last week in South Dakota, and as much as I’m a Coke guy, I have to say the Splenda and acesulfame-potassium-sweetened Pepsi product is pretty good. It had the usual yucky Pepsi Cola aftertaste, with very little artificial sweetener taste. Overall, it was very much like “real” Pepsi, in fact.

Now, I can’t wait for Coca-Cola Zero[*1] to come out in June. It’s supposed to taste a lot like Coke Classic. They’re also planning to roll out a Splenda-sweetened Diet Coke, but retaining DC’s unique taste which has legions of fans (including my very own Snookums).

It looks like it will be a tasty summer 2005 for cola lovers.

Morning Whip, 4/15/05

RV Capital of the U.S.?[*1]
Yesterday’s Whip stated that two of the top five fastest growing counties in the US were in suburban Sioux Falls, SD. Not quite true. Hanson County is one county over from the Sioux Falls MSA which now includes Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner, and McCook counties. The reason for the big percentage growth in Hanson County’s population is that nomadic RV owners have to list somewhere as their residence, and use a Hanson County company to do that.

Tech News: IBM revenue and profits rise, but the company misses its targets[*2] .

Cisco buys Topspin[*3] , a “grid computing” company which makes products to cluster servers.

Is it possible to drink too much water? Well, yeah[*4] . Keep those electrolytes up, y’all.