Well, That Didn't Work

Ever have a nightmare where you have a critically important demo in a faraway place and the equipment ends up damaged and unusable? Well, I've just lived it. Twice! In one week!

The 1st demo was supposed to be early last week in The Netherlands. We went to check the luggage, including the carefully packed robot in a custom crate, and the robot weighed in at 123 pounds. This was a surprise to us since when we received this, the packing slip said 100 pounds even. The airline wouldn't take it at any price. We even offered that one of us would stay back and put the robot in his seat. No dice. So we had to take apart the robot and put it in different suitcases. A wheel here, a power supply there, etc. We got the main crate down to around 100 pounds and they took it. Unfortunately, the removal of the wheels allowed it to slide around in its container and it arrived badly damaged.

We did, fortunately, have a video. The customer was dismayed and skeptical but decided to give us the benefit of the doubt and rescheduled for April.

So then we had our spare robot shipped to Cleveland for the second demo (and supposedly the making of a video). It arrived in good shape except that one of the hubs came loose on one of the axles. The Cleveland client had welding capabilities so we set up to weld the axles and hubs. Unfortunately, we accidentally dropped the robot on it's camera boards in the process and knocked them hopelessly out of alignment. Scratch that demo.

Man that sucked!

Well, I'm home now, and my blogging pace should pick up to the old level now. I'll also be pushing towards GG IV.

I hope you all have happy holidays! Happy belated birthday Benj!

Did He Really Say That?

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by the following exchange in a NY Times Magazine interview of Noam Chomsky, but I am:

NY Times: "Have you considered leaving the United States permanently?"

Noam Chomsky: "No. This is the best country in the world."

Given his unrelenting, harsh criticism of the United States for the last forty years, I had assumed that he thought that much or all of the rest of the world was better. I stand corrected. But I have to believe that many (on the Left) who quote Chomsky routinely are choking on that statement.

Consumption Taxation

According to the Nation Center for Policy Analysis, our fearless leader (that'd be Bush), supports a move towards Consumption Taxation, as proposed by Jim in this blog entry. It's good to see Jim and George so closely aligned on this particular issue!!!

Here are some excerpts

The Bush Administration supports a fundamental tax reform that would move the federal tax system away from taxing income toward taxing consumption. This is a highly desirable goal, because it will raise growth and living standards for most Americans...

Consumption taxes are less burdensome than income taxes because of the way they treat saving. Under an income tax, all returns to saving and investment - interest, dividends, rent and capital gains - are fully taxed. Under a consumption tax, they would be exempt. Consequently, saving and investment are much higher with a consumption tax than an income tax...

Additionally, according to this article, "supported by President Bush", "[w]ithout much public debate or even awareness, the United States is heading toward an almost flat tax.", which would give us a mix of consumption and flat income taxes just like Jim proposed.