January 2009

I just learned yesterday of a tragic story about a family murder-suicide in Southern California by a Kaiser hospital lab technician. The man was having economic problems, owes the IRS $15,000, and behind in mortgage and credit card payments, and all of that just caved in on him when he got fired from his job for fraud (he lied about his income so he can get cheaper child care). He went on to kill his 5 children, his wife, and then turns the gun on himself. Read more

My friend Sam Fong, founder of the Bay Area-Merced Homebrew Investments Club last year, recently forwarded me an interesting article from Portfolio.com about the money trail of the Church of Scientology -- the church that some of Hollywood's infamous icons such as Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and John Travolta worship.

Here's the shocking statistic: despite its controversial religion, intense scrutiny by the U.S. government, history of lawsuits, and the recent economic recession, the church still managed to generate a staggering estimated $500+ million in revenues in 2008! Read more

This Drupal-based website is where I rant about my interests (see the topics menu on the right) and essentially anything else that was worth my time to read or laugh about. It's also a work in progress for me as I use it to continually sharpen my Drupal web development skills and explore the power Web 2.0. In case you're curious, here's a list of things I've been working on for this website.

WARNING: It's technical and geek-oriented... Read more

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works."

- Barack Obama, 44th U.S. President

Barack Hussain Obama has been sworn in as President of the United States, marking him as the 44th President and the first African American to be elected to the United States highest office. Obama said in his speech that this is a moment that will define a generation. Read more

An ace US Airways pilot made an astonishing controlled crash landing into the frigid Hudson River yesterday after his jet hit geese and lost power minutes after takeoff from La Guardia and missed the George Washington Bridge by just 900 feet - all 155 people aboard, including one baby, were rescued. The crash took place on a 20-degree day, one of the coldest of the season - with the water temperature 36 degrees.

What a miracle. I can't imagine how a flock of seemingly harmless geese are able to take down an entire Airbus A320 plane by disabling both jet engines in just mere minutes!

Read more

UPDATE: This blog post has been moved to a permanent page node and can be found at http://spiffyd.com/log. All future development updates will be posted there. (2009-01-15 05:00:26)

This Drupal-based website is where I rant about my interests (see the topics menu on the right) and essentially anything else that was worth my time to read or laugh about. It's also a work-in-progress for me as I use it to continually sharpen my Drupal web development skills and explore the power Web 2.0. In case you're curious, here's a list of things I've been working on for this website.

Those like me who recently graduated from college and are in the process of settling down with a new career may contemplate on finding a new home as a trophy in their quest for independence. On the other hand, the fallout from the subprime mortage mess last year has generated much deflated real estate prices which may fit the bill for many first time home buyers.

And so begs the question: is it better to buy or rent?

This calculator may just very much help deduce the answer...