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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Oct-2013
4-Oct-13 World View -- Russia evacuates diplomats from Libya after embassy attack

Web Log - October, 2013

4-Oct-13 World View -- Russia evacuates diplomats from Libya after embassy attack

President Obama 'jawbones' the stock market down

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Series of giant hornet attacks in China kill 41, injure thousands
Libyans attack Russian embassy to avenge attack by Russian woman
President Obama 'jawbones' the stock market down
Obamacare web sites keep crashing because they're too popular?

Series of giant hornet attacks in China kill 41, injure thousands

The Asian giant hornet or Vespa mandarinia

The Asian giant hornet or Vespa mandarinia

A series of freak hornet attacks that began in July in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have injured 1,640 people, 42 of them fatally. The cause for the attacks is not known, but one expert attributed the trend to local vegetation growth, which has increased the area populated by hornets, and two months of continuous hot weather, which has made the insects more active. Xinhua and National Post

Libyans attack Russian embassy to avenge attack by Russian woman

Russia has evacuated its diplomats from Libya on Thursday, sending them next door to Tunisia, after a group of about 60 people on Wednesday tried to force their way into the compound of Russia's embassy in Tripoli. The perpetrators are believed to be relatives and friends of a Libyan officer who was murdered by a Russian woman a day before the attack, according to Russia's Foreign Ministry. No Russians were injured, and two attackers were killed. Moscow Times and Tripoli Post

President Obama 'jawbones' the stock market down

Presidents always like to "jawbone" the stock market up, such as when President Herbert Hoover said, in the middle of the 1930s financial crisis, "Prosperity is just around the corner" and "Now is the time to buy." But President Barack Obama is trying the opposite strategy in the current financial crisis. An interview with CNBC went like this:

JOHN HARWOOD: You mentioned calm. Wall Street's been pretty calm about this [the shutdown]. The reaction I would say, generally speaking, has been, "Washington fighting, Washington posturing, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah." Is that the right way for them to look at it?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: No, I think this time's different. I think they should be concerned.

President Obama went on to explain that if he negotiated with the Republicans now, then he'd be setting a precedent, and he'd have to negotiate with the Republicans in the future -- "[W]e'd have to go through it again six months from now and six months after that." Real Clear Politics

Obamacare web sites keep crashing because they're too popular?

There have been numerous stories of Obamacare insurance exchange web sites repeatedly crashing, ever since they opened on Tuesday. Obamacare officials are saying that they're crashing because they're too popular. For example, California officials claimed that the state's web site got 5 million hits on Tuesday, causing it to crash.

As someone who's been a software engineer for several decades, I can tell you that story is fishy. There are lots of web sites, like Amazon.com for example, that handle many hits gracefully. And these people have had three years to implement the Obamacare web sites.

What I believe happened, since I've seen it several times in my own experience, is that some college graduates who implemented web sites as homework assignments in computer programming courses, were put in charge of implementing the Obamacare web sites. I can assure you, Dear Reader, that that's a recipe for disaster.

And now it turns out that California's web site didn't get 5 million hits on Tuesday after all. The corrected total: 645,000 hits. LA Times

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 4-Oct-13 World View -- Russia evacuates diplomats from Libya after embassy attack thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (4-Oct-2013) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Oct-2013 4-Oct-13 World View -- Russia evacuates diplomats from Libya after embassy attack

Series of giant hornet attacks in China kill 41, injure thousands

Libyans attack Russian embassy to avenge attack by Russian woman

President Obama 'jawbones' the stock market down

Obamacare web sites keep crashing because they're too popular?

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Oct-2013
4-Oct-13 World View -- Russia evacuates diplomats from Libya after embassy attack