Laffer Curve

Today on the way into work I fired up Google Listen, my replacement to XM radio with the new phone.  Every day I listen to Dave Ramsey's free one hour podcast which 99% of the time is purely call in advice. So when he has a guest I get kind of giddy and worked up inside.  I don't listen to political shows, right or left, they are way too emotional for my tastes and I don't agree with a lot of points on either side of the fence.  About five years ago I ditched these shows and just started focusing on money talk.  Eventually they cross and blur their lines, but I think this is the one instance where it was educational and introduced me to an amazing concept I never knew was behind a few of the stronger financial eras in American history, the Laffer curve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve

I don't want to go into much detail or debate on the subject.  The topic has been called trickle down economics and drug through the mud a few times, but basically to me it boiled down to balance.  The more you tax, the less there is to collect on, the less you tax the fewer revenues you receive.  Where is the middle ground?, Where are we currently on the curve?, etc.

I would also suggest listening to other episodes of the podcast since this is normally a financial advice show.  We have paid off everything but my Taylors Falls real estate stupid tax (which I did before I listened to him) using his advice.  It isn't much different from the mathematical way of paying off the highest interest item first and snowballing the rest forward, he just sorts the debts by amount owed from small to large and factors in the addictive qualities paying off a debt can have.  It really does get you hooked to paying stuff off and keeps you on the fast track.

Anyways, I will state if you are 100% pro-Obama save your time, this is a middle to right leaning conversation.  I have very left leaning friends that may read this (the advantage of not caring about politics too much) and I don't want this to appear to be a trick.  I think it is good information either way and presented very well but neither of the people talking are fans of the current administration (I maintain my fence sitting attitude).  At the same time they aren't bitching and moaning about the current administration in the conversation either, so if you are only 80% in favor it is still worth a listen.

Podcast Link:
http://www.daveramsey.com/media/audio/podcast/podcast_itunes.xml

Direct Link to 5/26 episode:
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/a1611.g.akamai.net/f/1611/23422/9h/dramsey.download.akamai.com/23572/audio/mp3/itunes/05262010_the_dave_ramsey_show_itunes.mp3

I promise my next post will be properly nerdy.

Ubuntu install for proper WordPress development environment in Windows 7.

Weekend Project #1:

So I have wanted to dabble in WordPress for a while now, I did a little default project a while back converting a DotNetNuke site over to WordPress to cut down on hosting costs, for that project I used XAMPP. Don't get me wrong, XAMPP is great, but if I was going to delve deeper I wanted to have a full dev environment (and it also gave me an excuse to try out Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx).

I didn't want to lock myself into Ubuntu though. If possible I wanted to still develop inside of Windows, just using Ubuntu for the server. Here is what I did:

1. VirtualBox + Ubuntu 10.4 = Happiness.
   http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
   http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
   
   Yes, I tried Windows 7 Virtual Machines, but I found out really fast they have it locked down now to only Microsoft OS's, spank you very much.
   
   Key step: when configuring the virtual servers network connection, choose "Bridged" so it will grab it's own ip address from the network.
   
   I am not going to go into details of how to set this up as I won't with most of these items, google is your friend and this step was cake. I am sure the will work with VM server as well.
   
   
2. Install LAMP.
   https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP
   
   This link has a metric f-ton of information (actual unit of measure), so bookmark this, you will be back often. I will leave it to the experts once again to tell you how to configure php, etc. I used sudo tasksel install lamp-server and then proceeded to the steps for "After installing MySQL" noting to comment out bind-address since I was using DHCP for my server.
   
   
3. Install Webmin
   http://www.webmin.com/download.html
   
   Nice little front end config for apache, choose the Debian Package option in Ubuntu for those n00bs like me that didn't realize that.
   
   
4. Install PHPMyAdmin through the Ubuntu Software Center, search install, done.
   
   Once installed do these steps for your ip address:
   http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?35,38653,253722#msg-253722
   
   
5. (DON'T) Install MySQL WorkBench on your Windows 7 box:
   http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/
   
   Make sure to install 5.2+, 5.1 has nothing you need. 5.2 should be a major release not a minor upgrade as it has the server browser and query editor. The old tools have been abandoned I guess.
   
   Test your connection, etc.
   
   =======================
   UPDATE:
   http://www.heidisql.com/
   
   Use this tool instead.
   =======================
   
   
6. Create Host Entries on Ubuntu and Windows 7:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file#Content_and_location
   
   Ubuntu you are after 127.0.0.1 www.sitename.com
   Windows 7 you want UbuntuIPAddress (use ifconfig -a in a terminal) www.sitename.com
   
   I recommend doing this before configuring apache to avoid errors.
   
   
7. Setup your virtual hosts in Apache2:
   http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/412
   
   Plus some of the information in step #2. Not kidding here, you just have to read. The thing that screwed me up was that by default apache2 acts more like IIS6 than IIS7, meaning you would have to use different ports (80, 81, etc) to do multple sites, so read the link here first, but refer to the overall lamp install instructions in the apache section for some useful commands (such as the guy in this step forgets to mention you need to use "sudo" to enable/disable sites and restart apache. Also the directories in this article are dated, I created a public_html directory in my /home/UserName/Public/ directory and created a folder www.sitename.com under that so I can expand this to more sites later on by simply starting from #6 down.
   
   The tool Webmin from #3 comes in handy here also, but I only found it useful for "read only" purposes just to double check my work.
   
   Key step: After you have everything done and go to re-enable the site you will get an error message along the lines of "Virtual Hosts and NameVirtualHosts are not compatible", like I said the "default" for Ubuntu is using multiple ports, so in summation you have to disable the default site, change it's config to match the format you used for your site in this article (give it a ServerName, ServerAlias, etc), then re-enable it. When done you shouldn't have any config files that specify a port (*:80) and every site in sites-available should just specify * and use ServerName/ServerAlias. That one took me a while to figure out and I couldn't find it documented anywhere, you are welcome.
   
   p.s. your default document should be index.php not index.html if you are going to be setting up WordPress and almost any other CMS on these sites.
   
   
8. Setup sharing:
   http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=290653
   
   I initially tried to do everything out of /var/www, which I ran into some issues. Sharing items in your public_html directory you created in #7 above though is easier. I shared the root so I could get at all of my sites as I add more. You will probably get a few errors here but I didn't run into a lot of problems with this one that weren't readily documented. Once again Google is your friend.
   
   
9. Install WordPress:
   http://wordpress.org/download/
   
   I did this step entirely from Windows 7 to make sure I had everything perfect. I copied the files from the zip via the share, I renamed and edited my mysql connection in the wp-config-sample.php via editors/windows in the share, and created my database through the MySql Workbench installed on Windows 7 (phpmyadmin through the browser would work just fine also). I fired up the browser from Windows 7 and put in www.sitename.com, poof, a working wordpress install.
   

I am sure I missed a few details, and I have to say while Ubuntu Lucid Lynx is a lot better, you are still way to reliant on the terminal for it to be ready for prime time. Every time I come back to Linux I hope "this will be the version where I don't have to hit up the terminal", and every time it isn't, but I am a Windows person, of course I think no terminal is superior. I did my time on the Vax/VMS system in college and my first job, I just don't want to go back to that 15 years later (although I still have a soft spot for ISCA BBS, which is amazingly still around: http://www.iscabbs.com/).

However, now I can fire up my virtual Ubuntu, open up MySql and my editor of choice (currently Dreamweaver or Notepad++ for php, I am a n00b, suggest away), all from the comfort and safety of Windows 7.

This isn't as portable as other methods, but since I am using host file changes for my site names, deployment is going to be a breeze.

Total Hassle Factor: 7/10

Total Time Spent: 3 to 4 hours including posting the details, on/off over 2 days is why it is so scatter brained. I need to take better notes if I am going to post these, noted. I would bet it can be done in under an hour with this post.

My other weekend project was much more manly, but I am sick of looking at this computer right now, so it will have to wait. Suspense: It involves ladders and PVP pipe (huh huh, he said "pipe")

Is this thing on?

I am really writing this just because I remembered "holy $hit, that is right, I made a blogger account a year ago" when adding connected sites into Buzz.

Since I don't know what to do with a blog, I will just list some of my current projects:

1. Make some sort of super gutter cleaning tool out of PVP tubing and hose for the last 20 feet of gutter I can't clean from a ladder (damn split level houses!!).

2. Write a wordpress add on even though I am a ASP.NET developer (and using a Blogger account).

3. Write an android app even though once again, I pricked my finger and shook Bill G's hand ages ago, I guess it is the all might Balmer in play now.

4. Figure out how to setup an LLC, file quarterly taxes, and all that happy horse crap. Just want to play with my auto broker license some.

5. Finally setup my personal website, how long have I been coding websites? 2010-1995=Wow, that is lazy....

6. Get better at Kayaking this summer, good enough to fish from the kayak, and no, I can't even type the word Kayak without hearing the "Celine Dion" version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjYABkvSiTI

7. Find a replacement to the gigantor (28') trolling poles we use for northerns at my dad's cabin. These have promise:

http://www.allfishingbuy.com/Fishing-Pole/Pole-A1-65-2-8615.htm

His are all from the 70's, all breaking, and can't be replaced.

That is it for my summer, I still have to sit on a beach and drink a beer from time to time.