It' amazing to watch the global financial markets. Last night, when I went to bed, the headlines screeched "Markets tumbling in Asia". I wake up this morning, and the Asian markets look steady. Europe isn't crashing and burning. And would you look! Stock futures in the U.S. are way up. I guess the spoiled brats that sold their Mothers yesterday to make a point have had some time to sleep on their actions. And cooler heads will prevail? Nope, the press has chalked it up to a dependence on the hope that a bail out will pass - eventually.

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I've been having issues with FireFox 3 font rendering. I've not been too happy of a camper after I upgraded from FF 2.0. Here's some notes I've been keeping: FireFox 3 Upgrade Notes.

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It's amazing what a couple of days of bed rest and some intake of antibiotics can do for a sick man. By yesterday afternoon, my energy was really returning. I took it easy, but I was able to head to the stables and watch my daughter ride. It was a good day.

John Cook has published a nice article on The Code Project: Five Tips for Floating Point Programming. It's a good refresher article, with some deeper implications if you really want to get into numerical analysis. Here's the blog article and discussions. I have some circa 1970 references if you want to go further. Hopefully someone will take pity and add some modern references:

• First Principles Of Numerical Analysis, Burton Wendroff, 1969, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 69-16406
• Numerical Analysis, A Second Course, James Ortega, 1972, ISBN 0-12-528560

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The auto industry got its own package:$25B in "loans" to design new cars.

Folks, as cruel as I sound, we cannot continue to fund, loan or bail out ineffecient industries.

It's the same as you owning a 1948 power boat. You spend $12K per year (mostly for custom made parts) maintaining the boat every year. You do this because you love the boat, it belonged to your Dad and you just can't stand to live without it. Then you meet a girl. She loves riding in your boat. You fall in love. You get married. The day after your wedding, you discover your wife finds out how much the boat really costs. She doesn't share your enthusiasm for the boat and refuses to spend another penny on what she perceives now as an eye sore.

That is our money that just got loaned out for the equivalent task of maintaining your 1948 boat. Actually, it's our kids and grandkids and great grandkids loaning the money to the auto companies, because we do not have the money. We've already mortgaged the farm, the Grand Canyon and a few other trifles. We, the People, Of The United States of America are now in the business of funding non-competitive business models, using credit. We are loaning money we do not have to businesses that are failing. We are told we will get paid back. We'll see.

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I've been running a low grade fever at night the last couple of days. Totally out of the ordinary for me. I'm rarely sick. I decided to leave work early today because I felt so tired and generally rotten. I assumed it was a summer cold that has been going around. My wife talked me into going to an urgent care doc-in-the-box. After a couple of X-Rays, I learned I have a pretty advanced case of pneumonia. I'll be on my back tomorrow and over the weekend. I'm loaded for bear with two different antibiotics and other "stuff". Hopefully, I'll be feeling a lot better soon.

Best Care Medical Center
1265 East 33rd St.
Edmond, OK 73013

216-5565
Dr. M. Michael

Service seemed to be excellent. Office equipment was excellent. The Doc is an interesting guy and has excellent patient communication skills. My regular Doc takes 3-10 days to make an appointment. I'll definitely be returning to him in the future.