http://www.edkovacs.com/weblog.php en-us Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:42:18 GMT Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:42:18 GMT pMachine 2.4 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.edkovacs.com/weblog.php http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P35 I was on this Arizona Gold Prospecting Website recently trying to give myself perspective regarding just how much I don’t know about prospecting for gold. After spending hours clicking on every page and link and reading the forums, I decided it would be impulsive to rent a metal detector and set out half-cocked. I prefer to be fully-cocked these days. Interestingly, there was a forum thread on using dowsing in the search for gold. Eighty percent of the posts from the prospectors... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P35 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:18:18 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P34 I was sitting on the porch of my rented bungalow in the Tucson, Arizona foothills the other day, smoking a cigarillo and chatting with an old friend via cell phone in Portland, Oregon. In order to protect the guilty, I'll call my friend 'Reginold.' Reg for short. Reg reminded me that the reason we met, lo so many moons ago, was due to a guy named Jim Davidson. Jim founded the National Taxpayers Union and made millions via his investments, best-selling books, and appearances on network... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P34 Fri, 09 May 2008 19:42:40 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P32 OK, I haven't been very good at blogging these days, primarily because I work seven days a week, sometimes twelve hours a day, and in my "spare" time I am deep into writing my second novel. That's not to say I don't dip my toes into the swirling waters of entreprenurialship in an attempt to make extra money. Like spending tens of thousands of dollars in equipment to get into debris hauling; or starting my own security company; or creating a line of tee shirts to be sold in... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P32 Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:48:05 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P31 It’s early September, hurricane season well underway, brutally hot and humid every day, when the hotel vacancies are high, and tourists something of an endangered species. Oh, the tourists come occasionally. Like this weekend, for Southern Decadence, a gay festival. Gays come in from all over the world and turn the French Quarter into one big debauched street party. A larger debauched street party than usual, that is. Still, tourism is way down in a city crucially dependant on it.... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P31 Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:06:45 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P30 WISER PEOPLE THAN ME HAVE SAID that human actions are motivated by one of two basic emotions: fear or love. Politicians are adept at using fear tactics ("Terrorists live among us, we need more draconian laws to fight them!") to push their agendas and manipulate the public. Hate can also be reduced to the fear factor. Why do we hate something or someone? Because we fear what it/they can do/will do. We might hate Iran for what they say and do, and that boils down to our... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P30 Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:40:37 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P29 Last night I placed some flowers at a makeshift shrine, then drank champagne in some of New Orleans finest establishments. One glass I would not touch, but I'd cover the top with a napkin and leave it on the bar in homage. And then I would toast Nia and tell the other bar patrons about this wonderful person. It was my feeble attempt to celebrate a life. You see, Nia was a friend I knew from my neighborhood bar was brutally murdered Wednesday night, August 15. She was killed for... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P29 Sun, 19 Aug 2007 02:34:44 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P28 I HAVE BEEN WORKING in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck nearly two years ago. I have documented some of my experiences on the pages of this Website. Many of the more provocative and controversial work-related experiences here, I am simply not at liberty to discuss. Suffice it to say that my fellow team members and myself could not understand our reception in the city, with some of the locals trying to kill us, and all, back in early September, 2005. It was a... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P28 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:41:45 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P27 Okay, I don't really know if the dirtbags stole my mini-van in 60 seconds. They may have taken their sweet time, but at least they didn't break any windows. An NOPD buddy of mine warned me long ago when he saw my "soccer mom" 1996 white Dodge Grand Caravan, "Ed, they like to steal those kinds of rides. Be careful where you park it." Well, I parked it in a crappy neighborhood for a year with no problem. My street in the Lower Garden District, just off Magazine... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P27 Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:34:39 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P26 July 14, 2007. Forget about the protestations of the locals. New Orleans is every bit as corrupt -- and then some -- as its reputation. In homage to the French influence, I read the local paper looking for the Scandal De Jour. I seldom fail to find one. At least one. Last week it was the former head of the school district. Payoffs of some sort in exchange for contracts being awarded. Just before that, numerous employees of civil court for embezzling, before that some judge,... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P26 Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:13:32 GMT http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P25 (SINCERE APOLOGIES THAT IT HAS TAKEN ME SO LONG TO POST THE LAST PART IN MY SERIES ON WORKING EMERGENCY RESPONSE FOR HURRICANE KATRINA. MORE REPORTS FROM NEW ORLEANS WILL FOLLOW) I have a theory about corporate disaster response. In the first, reactive phase, tons of money is thrown at the problem with the mandate: “fix things fast.” In the second phase, the situation stabilizes and begins to shift out of the reactive mode. Phase three has the corporate bean counters in... http://www.edkovacs.com/index.php?id=P25 Sun, 08 Jul 2007 02:10:37 GMT