Month: May 2008

Tip: See Dictionary Definitions in Real Time:

I’ve just run across a useful little variant in how you can use Mac OS X’s built-in dictionary service to see definitions of words in your documents. You undoubtedly know that you can Control-click or right-click any word and choose Look Up in Dictionary to display a little pop-up definition (some applications instead launch the full Dictionary application). And you may know that if you press Command-Control-D, the little dictionary pop-up appears for the word currently under the pointer. But if you press Command-Control-D and keep holding the Command and Control keys down, in either Tiger or Leopard, that little dictionary pop-up stays on screen and changes to define whatever word is under it as you move the pointer around. Try it yourself, or watch my brief screencast demonstrating the feature.

Copyright © 2008 Adam C. Engst. TidBITS is copyright © 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you’re reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

Hero Stops Mass Shooting:

From a Winnemucca, Nevada police statement:

On Sunday May 25, 2008 at approximately 2:30 a.m. the Winnemucca Police Department was dispatched to the Players Bar and Grill …. There were approximately 300 patrons in and around the bar….

The officers on scene discovered three adult males who had died from obvious gunshot wounds. Two additional gunshot victims were also located[, treated, and released from the hospital]….

The … investigation lead detectives to believe that [Ernesto Fuentes] Villagomez[, 30,] entered the bar and at some point began firing multiple rounds. At least two of these rounds struck and killed the other two decedents, Jose Torres age, 20 and his brother Margarito Torres, age 19 both of Winnemucca. At some point during this shooting spree Villagomez allegedly stopped and according to witnesses reloaded his high capacity handgun and began shooting again.

It was at this point that … [a 48-year-old Reno man] produced a concealed handgun and proceeded to fire upon Villagomez who succumbed to his wounds. The Reno resident was in possession of a valid Concealed Carry Permit issued through the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office…. [T]he shooting of Villagomez by the Reno man was [concluded to be] a justifiable homicide ….

The investigation is currently pursuing a lead that indicates that this event may have been the result of a long standing feud between several families….

My hat is off to the anonymous man who likely could have blended into the crowd and escaped, but who put himself at considerable risk to protect the lives of others.

[I know this post will interest almost no one who regularly reads my blog, but it may help someone out there experiencing a similar problem]

One of my clients moved from PC to Mac back in December, and installed Parallels so that they could continue to use QuickBooks Pro 2005 to do process their payroll direct deposit. [When will Intuit bring feature parity to the Mac version???] Everything worked fine for several pay periods, but at the end of January it broke: the session would start, it would get 10% done, then
fail. The initial call to Intuit resulted in them claiming at first not to support QuickBooks under Parallels (contradicting what they had told the client before the switch), then trying lots of different approaches, culminating in Intuit resetting the payroll account on their end, which got things working. Two weeks later, though, the same thing happened.

More woe and final redemption after the jump.
(more…)

Why prices rise (by Russell Roberts):

Steve Mufson at the Washington Post is bewitched, bothered, and bewildered about why oil prices keep rising. The headline:

Skyrocketing Oil Prices Stump Experts

The article begins:

Confused about oil prices? So are the experts.

Executives from the giant oil companies say it’s partly the fault of “speculators” or financial players. Key financial players say it’s really a question of limited supply and expanding global demand. Some members of Congress accuse the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for bottling up some of its production capacity. And OPEC blames speculators, wasteful U.S. consumers and feckless U.S. policy.

Almost everyone points at China’s growing appetite for fuel.

Whatever the causes, one of the most dizzying runs in the history of oil prices picked up pace yesterday — again — as crude oil prices jumped to settle at more than $133 a barrel, up $4.19 in one day, 18 percent so far this month and more than one-third so far this year.

Prices climbed even higher in late electronic trading.

After a few paragraphs explaining the impacts of the higher prices, the Post quotes an expert who does have a theory:

But the bigger question is: What has been driving the doubling of prices over the past year even as U.S. demand has stagnated and global output has continued without any major new disruption?

“The basic story that has brought oil from $20 to $130 dollars is that world demand is growing robustly when world supply is not,” argued Jeffrey Rubin, chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “As a result, we need ever-higher world oil prices to kill demand in the [industrialized countries], which is exactly what’s happening.”

While U.S. demand has leveled off, Rubin said, demand in China is growing at a 12 percent rate, more than the 8 percent rate he forecast. While the extra increase in China is probably because of short-term factors, such as the earthquake or hoarding by the government in preparation for the Olympics, Rubin said even the lower rate would keep world demand growing briskly.

Hmmm. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? Rubin doesn’t seem stumped. I’m not sure why this article was written. I think the author wants one reason. China. Speculation. Greed. (Or more accurately, an increase in greed.) But the simplest explanation is that world demand is growing briskly and world supply is not as responsive.

If we want low gas prices, we should lower the costs of exploration and refining. If lowering those costs has environmental costs you don’t like, stop complaining and get on your bicycle.