Thursday, February 27, 2014

No More Comments

This site has seen - in it's day - about 392,000 page views.  Apparently that is enough to trigger the avalanche of comments.
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Assuming the one doesn't want Japanese blow up dolls, Slovakian Viagra, knock off Uggs from Nigeria, gta 5 boiberiz, garcania cambogia, pure yacon mollasses (and these were just some of the spam I got from today) I am turning off comments.
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Yes, you've ruined it for everyone else.
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Having Given My Theory However (see below) My Friend Sam Scares the Poop Out of Me on The Following

However despite my "Killer" Theory, I do watch The Following with my friend Sam in it (he often watches it at our house with us).  And....
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He scares the hell out of me...
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Sam as Luke and as Mark - Hard to tell the creepier

I have a theory...

Okay - I have a theory...
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I wondered today, as the ads for yet another "killer" TV show were running, "Why are we so obsessed with killers?  Serial killers, Psychopaths, Law & Order, Mom Killers, Detectives that catch killers, Detectives that identify killers, but don't always bring them to justice? Why?!"
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And it hit me. upward mobility.
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"What the hell?", say you.  "Bear with me," say I. (BEAR with me. -> get it?)
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Let us assume (you know - because it is true), that breaking into the upper upper class is almost impossible these days.  The average income of the top 10% of Americans is (excluding the top 1%) is $167,000 per year.  (for the 99% to 99.9%, the average income is $717,000 per year).
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BUT, enjoying some of the perks of that group is not so impossible.  You can save up and order the Vodka with gold flecks in it.  You can buy a big ass stupid car.  There are a lot of things you can do for a short period of time.
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But what does the top of the top do that you can't.  Commit crimes at will and get away with it.  Wall Street Bad Guys (see Ma, no cursing) stole BILLIONS of dollars, forced people out of their homes, left people to die.  And not one of these .. people... went to jail.  None.  They got a bailed out by us, then a bonus.
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They, quite literally, got away with (non-first degree) murder.  They forced people out of their houses and into sketchy shelters or on the street - where many subsequently died.  Homelessness during the 2008 "market correction" surged, as did suicides, poverty and massive massive unemployment.  People lost their homes, therefore their jobs, therefore their health insurance.  I won't go on because my head will explode.  These Robber-Barons are quite literally above and outside the law.
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So nearly everyone who is older than 25 has no chance of breaking into Wall Street and getting away with figurative murder.  But that's the dream.  So literal murder is a fantasy escape.  We can be as psychopathic as Wall Street robber-barons.  Maybe we CAN get away with actual murder.  Become untouchable and famous.
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So these shows aren't about actually about the joys of killing, but the fantasy of being powerful enough to be above the law. 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Yes - I know it is worse in all kinds of places.. I Don't Care - I Hate It

To every idiot in Los angeles who has ever whined "I Miss the Seasons" - shut up.  I HATE WEATHER.
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And yes, I know it is worse in Greenland or North Dakota or the Yukon.  I don't care.  I HATE WEATHER.
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I just walked back from a great play tonight and by the time I got home I was in le mood de crappé.
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

A Coherent Argument for Smaller Government

Those of you who read this semi-regularly may know of my mixed feeling on, but always appreciation for, Niall Ferguson.  I often finds his snippet arguments too pedantic to be useful - they are more apt to be intentionally controversial.  ON the other hand, I find his long form non-fiction words to be excellent.
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I recently read something that falls in the middle, and I highly recommend it (although it has probably been out a while).  It is a short non-fiction titled The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die.  It is a short read, and I challenge you to read it.  I have a copy and will loan it out if you send it back.
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Here is the amazing thing - it is thought provoking and introduces some new ideas to an old liberal like me.  It will challenge almost anyone.
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There are the bits that I totally agree with, and I assume that Republicans will not - how we have become a Nation of Lawyers instead of a Nation of Laws.  With one set of rules for the rich and another set for everyone else.
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How big money has distorted Democracy and reduced participation.
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And then there are bits that I didn't think I would agree with, but he makes some great points.  For example, how our "Public" education through High School was designed for a different age and hasn't adapted.  (We educated our children excellently for the Industrial Age - but not so well for the new age - whatever it is.)
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How a Public / Private system has produced the greatest Universities in the world but how a public monopoly of grades K thru Secondary hasn't produced the results we want.  He might be wrong, or have odd ideas of how to fix it, but they are discussion worthy.
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But the biggest revelation for me was his main premise (and I am sure I don't do it justice) that the Institutions that made this country great - PTAs, churches, Rotary Clubs, Garden Clubs, Libraries, Masonic Lodges, down to barn raisings, sewing circles and the other formal and informal organizations  - have decayed and atrophied.  And the decay is caused in large part due to the Big Government taking over those functions.
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Mr. Ferguson does an excellent job of convincing me that as the government grows in scope and interests, it crowds out local institutions; therefore, people depend on the government more.  And that dependency leads to a cautious, "stationary" country - where opportunities, investments and the future are seen to be in finite supply.  And more and more time, money and effort is spent staying where we are than breaking out of our cycle.
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As I said, agree or disagree, it is the first coherent argument I have heard for a smaller government that does less.
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Sure, there is a massive issue with how we got here and if we can reverse it.  Throwing people off food stamps, dumping Medicare, rolling back arbitrary education standards can't all be done at once.  Every program was done for a reason - but we all agree that some have grown too large.  (Food Stamps or Aid to Mega-Farmers - everyone would disagree with one program or the other).
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Check it out, it is a thought provoker.  And it made me rethink some long held ideas.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Ah, Provo... I'll smile when I think of you


So.. up until this week, Provo was just a city in Utah near the Golden Spike.
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But for now and forever Provo will be the beautiful island of Provencials in Turks and Caicos.  It is stunning.  Oddly, it is neither Turks nor Caicos, but whatever.  It has been a great break from snow and cold.
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It isn't a busy island - and there isn't a ton to do.  The restaurants are nice, but expensive.  To buy food at the store is silly expensive.  And the place goes to sleep early.
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But for me, that is a plus.  It is empty.  The beaches are gorgeous, silky and warm.  Plenty of room to spread out and enjoy life.
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Lovely
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The beach at the end of our walk.
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Sunset from a sailboat cruise (we snorkeled and then just sailed for a while).
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We will come home today rested and (a little) sunburned.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Michael Dunn: Another White Man Free to Kill Black Youth because he was "a-scared"

This is Michael Dunn.
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Last year, in Florida, he pulled into a Gas Station / Fast Food place.  The car he pulled next to had 4 black teenagers in it.  They were playing (his quote) "thug music" loudly.
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Way too loudly for the 47 year old white man.  So he told them to turn it down.  The black teenage driver and the 47 year old white man had words, and cursed at each other.
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Mr. Dunn, supposedly fearful for his life, walked back to his car, pulled out a magnum revolver and fired 6 shots into the teenager's car.  (Think about that for 1 second.  He walked back to his car and removed a revolver from the glove compartment on the passenger's side.  Which means he was "scared for his life" but had plenty of time to be pissed off.)  He fired another 4 as the car was driving away.
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Oddly enough, Mr Dunn, remember fearful for his life (from "thug music") and firing 10 shots at a vehicle and killing 1 black young man, was not so fearful as to go to the police.  In fact he went back to his hotel.  Checked out and drove back to his home, a few counties away.  Never informing the police of the action.  Because, well, killing a young black man in Florida isn't a fucking big deal.
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So, like the Trayvon Martin case, a fearful white man killed a black young male with whom he had instigated an altercation.  And then there was a trial.  The jury couldn't agree on a verdict for the death of the black man.  He was not convicted of murder.
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But the jury DID convict Mr. Dunn on attempted murder of the three youths he shot at as they were driving away.
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There is only one possible lesson from this verdict, kill all your witnesses.
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Since he (and George Zimmerman before him) had gotten away with killing young black men - but been convicted for only trying to kill three others, the legal precedence is clear - you should kill all the black men you have an altercation with.  Look, he shot at four men and killed one.  He was convicted of trying to kill three, but not of killing the one person that he was successful at.  Had he killed all four men, by the same exact logic, he would have not been convicted of anything.  George Zimmerman left no witnesses and he walked away scott free.
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As a society we are EXPLICITLY saying that lives of black young men are not worth any punishment.   (Okay - not "we" Americans, but definately "we" Floridians.)  These were teenagers, with no previous criminal record, with fine families and doing nothing illegal.  And yet, the state of Florida allows the men who started an attack on them AND THEN killed them, to walk away.  How do you convince young black teenagers to follow the rule of law? What is in the legal system for them but acceptance of murder?
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Both young men (teenagers) were unarmed.  One was killed (note I did not say murdered because Florida says they weren't "murdered" per say), one was killed for walked home from the 7/11 with candy wearing a hoodie.  And one was killed for playing "thug music" in a public service station when an annoyed 47 man drove up and stopped.
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We are telling a generation of young black men that white men and juries in Florida do not believe they have a right to live if they, in any way, cross a white person.  Killing young black men is acceptable if you claim self-defense, even when they are unarmed.
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It is untenable.  It is wrong.  And it is evil.

Longer Weird Weather - whatever it is.


More weird-ass weather on the way.  
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A new scientific study has identified that weird-ass weather will continue pretty much from now on.  I don't have the immediate link, but I will get it.  However, here are the details.
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Because the Arctic (and the poles in general) have warmed faster than anywhere else, the difference between temps at the poles and the temperate areas are less than ever.  This major differential is what kept the Jet Stream in place.
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What this means is that the Jet Stream may now meander without a force to push it back into place.  What does this mean?  New weird weather (be it torential rains in England or crazy snow in the North East or drought in California) will stay longer than ever.
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Next year it may be snowy again OR hotter than ever OR the drought may move into the mid-west.  But whatever it is, it will stay longer than ever, because the mitigating effect of Jet Stream is reduced.
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And this is what we mean by unknown unknowns.

Monday, February 17, 2014

I was taking a picture of the sign - she was just a happy accident

I'm not sure which is more New York City.  The sign on the wall or the woman in front.
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Pick Me!!

I know! I know!!  Pick Me!!!
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Love the last line "I do not understand why that is but I am living my life as I have always lived."  (full story)
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Pick me, I know!
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You shoot and killed an unarmed boy of 17 and got away with murder.  Because you claimed you were afraid for your life that he was going to kill you with SweetTarts and a Big Gulp!

John McCain and Mitch McConnell are Pissed Off at Ted Cruz because he wouldn't let them Lie

Ted Cruz upset the apple cart and pissed off John McCain.  See this tweet.
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Okay, the "problem" is that Ted Cruz forced the Republican leadership to tell the truth.  You see the Senate was going to pass the clean debt limit bill.  And the Republican Leadership was going to let them do it without a Filibuster (the 60% floor).  So it was going to pass with just Democrats and all the Republicans would get to say they voted against it.
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But Teddy Cruz objected.  And that meant that 60 votes were needed to vote on it.  So some 12 Republican Senators had to vote YES to bring this to the floor.  Actually only 4 Republicans were needed, but the other 8 stood up with their colleagues.
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So 12 Republicans determined it would be better to allow the government to work as it should than risk the full faith and credit of the United States to pay bills they already racked up.  Twelve smart men and women said that the country was more important than the Tea Party.
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-ish
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You see, most of them think their voters are stupid.  And maybe they are.  Because these 12 voted to allow a vote because the bill would die otherwise.  But when the vote on the bill came, it only needed a simple majority - to be had with only the Democrats - so all those Republicans turned around and voted no.
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I think it shows a level of contempt for their voters - too stupid to see through the charade.  They are trying to appeal to the Tea Party by voting NO to raising the debt limit.  But there is a government to really run, so they had to vote yes to allow it to come to the floor.
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Which brings us to Teddy Cruz.  The leadership is mad because "he made them vote FOR cloture".  Or, as we in the reality community believe, he made them vote for what they really believe, not the lies they are telling.
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Which is one of the few things I find admirable about the Junior Senator from Texas.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Where are the Nincompoopery Readers From?

Bosnian Demonstrations... It's like the simmer is turned up a little high

Bosnia, Scott?  Again?
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My hotel was a little further up this street, right outside of the old town.
Yes, whatever.  News from Bosnia is interesting this week.  So two large cities, Tuzla which I didn't visit, and Mostar, which I love have hosted recent demonstrations that go back to the Dayton Peace Accords.
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Essentially, Bosnia was divided between Croats / Bosniaks (about 51% of the land and a bit more of the economy) and the Serbians.  Within those two areas, there are some 10 C/B cantons (like states), while Sprska area is governed as as a single, rather repressive unit.
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This had led to layers of political corruption.  As long as it was semi-affordable it kept the underemployed country happy (unemployment is officially ~25%, but there is a thriving black market).  And political voting runs along ethnic lines.  And a hell of a lot of corruption. But peace.
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Well it's been almost 19 years and just "peace" isn't enough.  In Tuzla and Mostar, the citizens have formed citizen committees that are meeting with city officials.  If this works peaceable, it will be a huge step for them.
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In the Sprska area, these are being put down by Serbian nationalists - but success, if it happens, builds quickly.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

What seems a odd little "human interest" story has some odd repercussions

Turns out penguins hate rain.  A lot.  So much that at the London Zoo (sanctuary) they are being fed a diet of raw fish and anti-depressants.
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Now I am the first to go "ahwww....", but I realize I am the penguin lover here.  But bear with me.  If you dig a little deeper into penguin findings, what you find isn't so funny.
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Not about these particular depressed penguins, but why they are depressed.  It's not just that they want the damn rain JUST TO STOP (like my other friends in London-ish).  It is penguins are not evolutionarily built for rain.  (If you don't believe in evolution, then God didn't build them for rain).  And rain is increasing and snow decreasing the penguin world.  This story talks of Magellan Penguins dying at a highly increased rate because their worlds are getting warmer.  Warmer with rain and not snow.
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So Magellan Penguin chicks aren't surviving.  Their little penguin bodies are designed to keep out the cold and snow, but not designed for navigating rocks in the pouring rain.
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Many penguin populations in Antarctica (Emperors and Adelies) are also plummeting directly due to Global Warming.  Emperors because the sea ice where they raise their chicks is melting as the seas warm up.  When the ice melts too fast, the chicks - without weatherproof feathers yet, get washed off the ice and drown.
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Adelies because they need access to the Antarctic "Desert" Shores where it is too cold to snow.  They use rocks and peebles to built their nests.  Well as it warms up, those "desert beaches" are now warm enough to snow.  So their breeding grounds are being wiped out.
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Now... who cares really?
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Well, you don't have to care, but it should concern you.  It's not that penguins are critical to the ecosystem.  BUT, this is an entirely unexpected side effect of Climate Change, right?  It is the canary in the coal mine analogy.  (If you are too young to know, miners took canaries into coal mines because they need more oxygen that humans.  If they died, then the oxygen was running low and the miners had to exit post-haste.)
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Sure dead penguins are a fact of life.  But penguins deaths due to weather is unusual and unexpected.  What if the next unusual and unexpected death due to climate change is, say, cows?  That would effect a lot of us.
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As Donald Rumsfeld once said, "We can account for the knows, and we can account for the know unknowns, but we can't account for the unknown unknowns."  This towering testament to mankind's inability to expect everything could prove more fateful than he thought.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Let's Put This Whole "Dictator" Crap to Bed for Once and For All

So, for us in America, there is a meme (Memes as discrete units - Richard Dawkins initially defined meme as a noun that "conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation") that President Obama is (a) rogue Dictator that doesn't follow the law and (b) a Dictator that rules by decree.
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Well that is (as the image to the right shows) bullshit.
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Why does it persist?
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Well, it is repeated endlessly by Fox News, Right Leaning Talk Radio and the Republican Party talking points.  If you hear a lie long enough, particularly about someone you hate, you begin to believe it.  But it isn't true.  Instead, it is a way to demonize the valid work of a President which the Far-Right hates.  By describing him in Un-American terms it invalidates his authority.
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However, for those Americans that believe in Elections (both Democrats and MOST Republicans), this is a corrosive development.  Calling elected leaders "dictators" or "illegitimate" tells not just the leader you hate him, but tells everyone who voted for him (over 50% of 2008 and 2012 voters) that we are worth less than they are.  That we "hate" American because of how we voted.
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To which I say, stop it.
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Down that path lies at the least the destruction of society (we have already witnessed the lose of civility).  WE, as a country, are built on the rule of law, not a web of lies.
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Take the "Obama has lost control of the border" lie.  He has deported more people than Reagan, Bush(es) and Clinton combined.  Over 2 million people here illegally - either when they were arrested for anything, or on work places raids.
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The lie that he is soft on immigration is because he has publicly stated that minors brought here as children, with no arrest record and going to college will be allowed to stay.  This makes the President follow the lead of Governors like Rick Perry of Texas and Chris Christie of New Jersey.  Neither hailed as a dictator.
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Look, I did NOT like Bush the Younger.  But I did not say his election was illegitimate.  Or that he was a dictator - even though he had more executive actions (and more "Czars") than Obama.  I could hardly wait for Young Mr. Bush to leave office, but I didn't stockpile guns and spout crazy shit that he was taking over the country by force (or that he was the anti-christ!).
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Please try to calm down.  We think you are hurting the country we love.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

I Don't Think My Eddie Would Like This

I can't see Ed doing this.  This isn't the video - go to Vimeo for that.  But you get the idea.
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That's right.  Balloon tightrope walking

Dale Hansen: Dallas Sportscaster Rips NFL a new one.

So consider me chastised.  This (Texas) isn't where I expected Michael Sam support to be loud.
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Shepperton (Our friends in UK) In Flood Watch


The Roundabout at the End of Main Street 9called The High Street in the UK)
It is a little freaky.  We use this roundabout all the time, and we have all trapsed across the village green to the Thames.
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The official Warnings
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The Village Green.  This is the street side.  Just past the first line of trees is the "official" Thames.

He's Gay - He's Not an Alien

Michael Sam Jr., the Defensive Back of the Year in the South East Conference (home to 5 of the last 6
National Championship Winners) came out as gay before the NFL Draft.
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Shouldn't be a giant deal right.  I mean, he's athletic enough to still make it.  And being gay isn't a giant deal anymore? Right?
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Well, off-the-record, many NFL managers have said that isn't exactly NFL worthy.  John Stewart yesterday had a great answer to that (see infographic on right).
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Today his father (who left his mother and 8 children when they were young) told the world that he had a problem with his son's gayness.  He didn't think kids should be brought up in that lifestyle.  Which begs the question, why?  Sam Jr. was brought up in a straight lifestyle and is gay.  Kids brought up in a "gay lifestyle" (family) are just as likely to be straight as kids from straight families.
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Unless of course Sam Sr. thinks the right lifestyle is one where Dad buggers off to leave the mother to raise 8 kids alone many states away.  (Sam Sr. said he did do everything right, including taking his boy to Mexico to lose his virginity to a prostitute.)

Saturday, February 08, 2014

Yes, I Know Commies Were Bad

But I LOVE the iconic propoganda art of the period.  Weather you want to call it Commie, Fascist or Deco / New Deal.  It is art and architecture meant to impress.
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And so I loved the shout out to it in the Opening Ceremonies last night.
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Friday, February 07, 2014

With no reasonable Republicans we are stuck with De Blasio

To my Republican friends, why did you let the nut jobs take over?  Seriously, running a man for mayor of New York that is anti-gay rights, anti-women's choice.  There was a time once when "Republican" did not automatically mean "I want to control your body's naughty bits."
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So instead we have Bill de Blasio, which might more readily be listed as Mr. Chirlane McCray.
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Mayor de Blasio and wife Mrs. McCray
He just gave her the job of running New York's city fund.  This is the job where someone requests corporations to kick in and then the money is used to subsidize various non-profits around the city.  This is not normally given to your spouse.  So Ms. McCray gets to badger corporations into giving to the city.  Now previous mayors (Republican, Democratic and Independent) have had the same function.  But giving it to your wife (which previous mayors never did) seems sketchy to me.  (Although it apparently passed the Conflict of Interest team, and she isn't getting paid.)
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Speaking of sketchy.
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One of the things Mrs. McCray has made a point of saying is that her new office won't even be in City Hall.  It is across the street from Mr. McCray-deBlasio.  However, HER chief of staff's office IS in City Hall, next to the Mayor's office.
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Yeah, Mrs. McCray usually is the talker

And HER Chief of Staff is long time friend and ex-assistant to Rev. Al Sharpton (who enjoys suing the city).  Her Chief of Staff is Rachel Noerdlinger.  Ms. Noerdlinger, as Chief of Staff to the wife of the mayor is to be paid $170,000.  Perhaps she will get a raise now that her boss has a job aside from standing behind de Blasio and telling him what to say.
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HIS Chief of Staff, announced 3 days after the announcement of his wife's $170,000 Chief of Staff, is Laura Santucci.  She was head of his transition team and appointed to be ready to "Hit the Ground Running" on the new administration.  How did that work out?
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Brooklyn (where the de Blasio's live) was well ploughed

Now Mr. McCray-deBlasio is atwitter because Joe Biden said something mean about LaGuarida airport.
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Mr. Biden's comments: "If I blindfolded someone and took them at 2 o'clock in the morning into the airport in Hong Kong and said 'where do you think you are?' They would say, 'this must be America. This is a modern airport,'" Biden said. "If I took them blindfolded and took them to LaGuardia airport in New York, he would like 'I must be in some third world country.' I'm not joking.
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Mayor McCray/de Blasio's comment back: "LaGuardia obviously needs an upgrade, but that being said the airport manages an extraordinary amount of traffic and the people work there make it work under very difficult circumstances," de Blasio said at a press conference on Friday.  "So as a proud New Yorker, I didn't like that comment, and I think it was not the right way to talk about it."
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Which, ah... duh, totally misses the point.  Vice President Biden didn't say or even suggest that LaGuardia employees aren't doing something right.  He said the airport was like something out of the third world.  Which it isn't.  Third World Airports are totally nicer.
Siam Reap - Cambodia's busiest airport

Buenos Aires Airport - That Country is bankrupt

Sarajevo's Airport.  Destroyed in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War
Just a Typical Day at Delta LaGuardia
Serving the Metropolis of New York City - 1 Insult at a Time

Sweet (meant sarcastically)

Okay, when I was with Citibank ATMs from 2001 - 2007 we released about 4 major updates for the United States.  Four in  he United States while release hundreds of software releases around the world including: Chipped Cards for Malaysia and Taiwan.  Different chipped cards for Europe (UK, Germany, Greece and Belgium).  Conversion to the Euro from Italian Lira, Belgian Francs, German Marks and Greek Dracma.  Acceptance of Cash Deposits and immediate counting / crediting to the account. Ability to set transaction preferences.  Ability to transfer between 3 different currencies and withdraw cash in all three (Chinese Remembi, HK Dollars, US Dollars). ADn so many many more.
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So let's say about 1 US release every other year.
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In 2007 they moved to a new vendor model and outsource development to "save money".  The outsourced team would be about 33% cheaper (projected) than combined US / Indian team that was working on the ATMs.
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Haza!
This sign went up this week.  Which means the "new" team has made 1 release from 2008 - 2013 (giving a February release credit as 2013).
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So let's just assume the cost per year was $1,000,000 for in house development.  It wasn't but let's just use round numbers.  That means that a US Release (ignoring everything else) cost about $1,750,000 (7 years / 4 releases * $1 Million per year).
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Now let's say that outsourcing saved everything they thought it would (ha ha).  The cost of a US release is now (given the same constraints) $3,300,000 (5 years * ($1Million per year * 66%)).
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That, obviously, doesn't include the "Cost of Lost Opportunity" since your release cycle has moved from 21 months to 60 months.  Nor the "Cost of Non-Conformance" since the new ATM software doesn't do what the old one did (Ability to Set Account Preferences).
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Great Job Brownie.
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Because, of course, outsourcing always saves money.  The Brainiac that decided this has long since been given a big ass bonus and left the company.

Our Attention Deficit Memories

This headline takes me back....
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Now a terrorist attack might change it this... But in general the run up to "disaster" is always washed away in the games themselves.  As it should be.  Remember these Golden Oldies from days gone by....
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2004 Athens... They were never going to be ready

2008 Beijing... Was going to be dominated by news of Tibet and Human Rights Violations

London 2012... Mitt idiotically repeating Media (Fox and Liberal) News Wisdom

Salt Lake City .. Mitt's own Olympics were going to be swallowed by scandal...

Even Vancouver!  Remember the "no snow" disaster (remind you of Sochi news much?)
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I'm not saying Putin is great, or Sochi is a paradise.  But I am saying, the hand wringing occurs because that is what the media, people and (particularly) the internet does - it whinges until it forgets.  And it forgets in about a day.

Squirrel! (Or Obamacare report on jobs)

The latest Squirrel issue ready for its 2 seconds of fame has to do with jobs "lost" due to the Affordable Care Act (or "ObamaCare").  People who hate it refer to the CBO (Congressional Budget Office - a fairly independent reporting group) latest numbers.
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It projects that approximately 1.5% to 2% of the labor force will leave or work less due to ObamaCare.  In the CBO's report (dry though it is), it is noted that this is because people are now less forced to stay in a job just for health insurance.
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The Republicans, in a half lie, stay this is "job killing".  It is not.  That work will still have to get done and may result in more people being employed for the same amount of work (if some workers do less).
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The Democrats, in a half lie, say this is great.  Now employees are free to leave when they want and can still afford insurance.  Sort of.  It isn't a "free" trade off.  Either the insurance companies can afford this because more "healthy" young people join insurance groups to make this affordable - or these people can retire now and get government subsidies to buy insurance.  I think it is a good thing, but it isn't a "free" trade off.
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But I digress.
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My point is that this doesn't matter.  It is a 24 hour news cycle stupid ass talking point that makes a splash until something real comes along. A squirrel moment.
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Thursday, February 06, 2014

Better Views

Today with better weather I got better pictures of my views.
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This is the view out of my window.  That is the East River (and the Bronx past it)

This is the conference room view.  That is Manhattan (Chrysler Building on left, Citi Manhatten in center) 

Here's the thing

Here is the thing.  Israel (politicians) want three things.
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1. A Democracy
2. A Jewish state
3. The West Bank
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They can have any two, but not all three.
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- If you take the West Bank and have a Democracy, then the Jewish votes will be overwhelmed by the Arab votes. You will cease to be a Jewish state.  Right now the Arab parties are frozen out of power, because they are fewer in number, but if Palestinians are allowed to vote, then they will be a majority.
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- If you take the West Bank and keep a Jewish State, the you have to give up Democracy.  There will be more non-Jewish votes than Jewish votes.  So you have to disenfranchise them somehow. That is where people are come from when they call Israeli policies "apartheid".  Apartheid generally mean separate and unequal institutions for people based on race or religion.
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In South Africa it was 1 system (and all political power) for Whites.  A second class system for Indians and mixed race.  And a third class system for blacks - devoid of power, land or wealth.  Funny enough South Africa tried to carve out mini-homelands for the Blacks to reduce international pressure.  It was a transparent ploy to give the Blacks a Crapistan Homeland and have the whites keep everything nice.  The parallel with Israel is that Israel is taking all the good bits of the West Bank and trying to sell the rest as "Palestine".
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-If you get rid of the West Bank and its population, you can keep a Democracy AND a Jewish state.
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For those of us outside Israel, it really is that simple.  Many in Israel claim that Palestinians will never let Israel stay in peace, and cite the fact that Palestinian teaches there is no Israel.  That argument, once powerful, is now kind of moot since many Israel textbooks teach there is no West Bank, only an Israel Judea and Symeria.

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Don't know if you go to NBC News, but it is scary now...

NBCNews.com used to be MSNBC.com and it was a simple, easy to use news site.  Even after ditching the MS portion and becoming only NBCNews.com it was a fine site.
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Comcast has decided it isn't sexy or confusing enough so they have redesigned it as a cross between The Daily Beast & an eleven year old girl's wet dream (with apologies to any offended 11 year old girls out there ).  I expect either pop-ups from a random porno site or Justin Beiber's latest album with little hearts on it to show up at any second.
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I loath it.
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Actual Screen Capture from the splash page (front page) of the new and "improved" NBCNews.com
I would assume that truth in advertising would prohibit labeling this a "news" site, but the internet is a free-for-all I suppose.  LINK (if you dare!)
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UPDATE!!
Oh snap!  There is a Beiber there!!!!  Sweet.

Rupert Still Looking Good

Rupert Graves - born 1963 - has always been on my list.  Always.  I have thought him dreamy since for-ever.
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And he is now in Sherlock - and he is grey but dreamy.
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Rupert in Room with a View (v. young)

Rupert from Room with a View - when I first had a crush on him.
Now he looks like this, still nice.
Rupert as Inspector Lestrade
Once again as Lestrade.  Good for him.

The View from my Cubical

It is a big nice cubical.  And most everyone works from home, so it is quiet.  And (wait for it) I kind of like the job.  Shocking.  I know.
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I have a window cube and work on the 35th floor in Long Island City.
If you have ever driven into New York, it is the tall Citi building by itself.