I called my friend Steve up to talk shop about music. He was in the middle of watching the updates on the bailout and boy was he pissed. In fact, he was livid. He was so mad that he could barely complete a sentence.
He was pissed over several things….I’ll list some of them here, and I apologize that these are not direct quotes but paraphrases that I remember from our conversation:
One of the things he was really pissed about is that nobody, including McCain has the balls to stand up and point the finger at Obama and members of his staff for being directly responsible for the situation we are in.
True and I agree. And, if you want to argue that feel free. The media may not be portraying it much but democratic economic policies, bills, leaders, and cover-ups are directly responsible for creating the sub-prime market and the meltdown. Google it, watch it on Youtube, whatever.
Something else he was really pissed about is that he doesn’t believe an economic bailout is appropriate, yet the government (both republicans and democrats) are going to shove it down our throats. (As of this writing it has just been passed by both the house and senate with Bush signing the bill). I suggested Steve try calling his representatives but he and I both had the same problem – we couldn’t get through due to the call volume from people requesting that it not be passed.
Agreed. I don’t know anyone that wants this. I even know a few people that are fairly empathetic to the government bailing people out and even they aren’t sure this is a good thing. Economists seem to be split on the issue. So why is the govt. shoving it down our throats?
And Raines? Steve was furious about Raines. If you don’t know who Franklin Raines is he is a fellow democrat that cooked Fannie Mae’s books, drove ‘em into the ground, and then took a huge $20+ million dollar payout. As Steve put it, this is bigger than Enron (I agree) and Raines did the same thing Ken Lay did so why is he not under indictment and being prosecuted?
It might have to do with him being Obama’s top economic advisor. And sadly, we have a presidential nominee that had a big hand in the problem, with a top economic advisor that was directly responsible and yet somehow the story is not getting out and people aren’t going to jail.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Obama and Free Speech
You don’t hear about it much in the mainstream media. In fact, you may not have heard about it at all. Anti-Obama media is being attacked not only by Obama supporters, but by Obama himself.
I think it’s fairly typical for people to attack the other party or other party’s leader via phone calls, blogs, writing letters, etc. To take it a step further, I’ve been hearing about people that are afraid to put McCain stickers on their vehicles because they are being vandalized. Of course, you can’t exactly prove it’s an Obama supporter but it certainly seems that the people are “anti-McCain.”
But Obama himself takes the cake. Obama’s lawyers have filed numerous threatening letters to radio stations, the NRA, TV stations (ABC) and other media outlets for people speaking out against Obama. Fairly “thuggish” behavior for such a nice guy.
I’d like to point out that democrats are not the only group to try to stifle free speech. Right-wing republicans have been doing it for years and are still doing it. The slight difference is that right-wing republicans attack free speech under the guise of moral turpitude, where as democrats seems to attack free speech in order foster their political agendas by suppressing opposing points of view.
I think it’s fairly typical for people to attack the other party or other party’s leader via phone calls, blogs, writing letters, etc. To take it a step further, I’ve been hearing about people that are afraid to put McCain stickers on their vehicles because they are being vandalized. Of course, you can’t exactly prove it’s an Obama supporter but it certainly seems that the people are “anti-McCain.”
But Obama himself takes the cake. Obama’s lawyers have filed numerous threatening letters to radio stations, the NRA, TV stations (ABC) and other media outlets for people speaking out against Obama. Fairly “thuggish” behavior for such a nice guy.
I’d like to point out that democrats are not the only group to try to stifle free speech. Right-wing republicans have been doing it for years and are still doing it. The slight difference is that right-wing republicans attack free speech under the guise of moral turpitude, where as democrats seems to attack free speech in order foster their political agendas by suppressing opposing points of view.
Deceptive Politics
Obama appears to like to deliver speeches and campaign ads in a interestingly deceptive manner. Politics is a game. Make no mistake. And Obama plays it as well as any, but most of you are deceived by it. He’s no politician. He’s different. He is….The One.
The two incidents that strike me are one in which Obama made a reference to “..at least keeping machine guns out of the hands of teenagers.” (sorry, that may be a paraphrase and not an exact quote). If I recall correctly the speech made a reference to keeping guns out of the hands of illegals and teenagers.
Ummm…someone needs to tell him that it’s already illegal. He isn’t proposing anything new nor is he shedding some golden light on the situation.
The other incident is part of his campaign in which he attempts to lure the vote of women by lying about McCains voting record on a law that would provide equal pay to women.
You would think that since Obama is a lawyer he would know that it’s been illegal to deny equal pay to women since 1963 via the Equal Pay Act, and reinforced in 1964 via the Civil Rights Act.
BTW – McCains female staff earns $1.04 for every dollar that his male staffers earn while Obama’s female staff only earn 83 cents for every dollar that his male staffers earn.
The two incidents that strike me are one in which Obama made a reference to “..at least keeping machine guns out of the hands of teenagers.” (sorry, that may be a paraphrase and not an exact quote). If I recall correctly the speech made a reference to keeping guns out of the hands of illegals and teenagers.
Ummm…someone needs to tell him that it’s already illegal. He isn’t proposing anything new nor is he shedding some golden light on the situation.
The other incident is part of his campaign in which he attempts to lure the vote of women by lying about McCains voting record on a law that would provide equal pay to women.
You would think that since Obama is a lawyer he would know that it’s been illegal to deny equal pay to women since 1963 via the Equal Pay Act, and reinforced in 1964 via the Civil Rights Act.
BTW – McCains female staff earns $1.04 for every dollar that his male staffers earn while Obama’s female staff only earn 83 cents for every dollar that his male staffers earn.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Hoper is Gone!
The last few weeks have been a bit stressful. My friend, Hopper, decided to join the Army. He’s a crazy bastard anyway, but now I know he’s completely freaking nuts. He sold off a lot of his stuff, put some into storage, and then needed a place to stay while he waited for his day to ship off to basic (boot camp).
I have a spare room so I told him to stay with me if he’d help out. He did, but I could really see it stressing him out as the day loomed over the horizon. He was drinking a lot and Hopper can be a bit obnoxious anyway….but when he’s wasted he can be especially difficult to deal with.
In any case, he left last week. The house is quiet again and I think I am regaining my sanity. I don’t do too well with roommates. I need my space and my solitary time.
I hope he’s doing well in basic.
I have a spare room so I told him to stay with me if he’d help out. He did, but I could really see it stressing him out as the day loomed over the horizon. He was drinking a lot and Hopper can be a bit obnoxious anyway….but when he’s wasted he can be especially difficult to deal with.
In any case, he left last week. The house is quiet again and I think I am regaining my sanity. I don’t do too well with roommates. I need my space and my solitary time.
I hope he’s doing well in basic.
My Bike Is a Torture Rack
My family had a reunion right off of Lake Nacadoches in E. Texas. One of my distant cousins lives there and hosts the party every year or so. I haven’t been to one since prior to Katrina mostly due to my work schedule not allowing me to go. I was actually going to make the one that coincided with Katrina, but you can guess the rest.
My great aunts are all getting up there in age. They have a myriad of problems. One can’t hear. One can’t see. One is having short term memory loss. Another can’t get around too well. But they are all pushing 90 and have had a pretty good life so I certainly don’t hold any of that against them. I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in several years so that was pretty nice, too.
Several members of my family live in or near Houston. Most of them had their houses wiped out and it was touching to hear their stories and how they are handling it.
I took the bike to save gas. I average about 43mpg when I slab it down the highways like that. Compare that to the 12 or 13mpg my truck gets and it’s a quick economic decision. Besides the weather is ½ way decent right now especially in the mornings. It’s even cooler out of the Metroplex so it was fairly nice to get on the bike and ride.
But I still have a sports bike. It still has low clip-ons, raised foot pegs, etc. It gets uncomfortable after a while. My round-trip total was 457 miles and you can figure I was on the bike about four hours straight each day (Sat. and Sun.).
Today I can really feel it in my traps. They are going to be sore for a day or two. Even my butt is a little saddle sore from droning for so long. Surpassingly, the twisties wear you out in a completely different way. You have to use your muscles differently as well as rapidly altering your position on the bike. It doesn’t give you much of an opportunity to get sore in any one spot.
And, as luck would have it, our reunion coincided with some Harley event just outside of Chireno that I believe is called the Wild Hog, or Hog Wild rally. Something like that. I never saw the huge throngs of bikes that others saw, but I passed a good many Harleys on the highway. Some of them even gave the friendly biker wave, but most of them were too goddamned stuck-up even for that (me being on a sport-bike and all).
And as I was trying to make my way back….it happened. It’s the number one reason I hate riding with or around cruisers. I was clipping along around 75mph (speed limit was 70) came over a hill, around a bend and all of a sudden I am in traffic…. In the middle of freaking nowhere on a Sunday morning (before Church lets out). Can you guess? That’s right…a whole stream of bikes going under the speed limit. They didn’t leave a trail of motorcycle parts, oil, grease and beer cans…. Well, they might have done that. Harley’s are known to throw parts going down the road – another reason not to get to close to the back of ‘em. But what they did leave was a wake of pissed off cagers (cars) about a ½ of a mile long.
It’s hard enough to pass on the country roads in a car. You just don’t have much time before you are back in a no-passing lane. But when there are 30 bikes to get around you simply can’t do it.
Theoretically, it should be easy for me. I worked my way around all the cagers stuck behind the bikes and then hit the pack. If the speed limit was 70, they were doing 50 – 55 mph. When it dropped to 50 I thought “well at least we are already going 50” and they would slow down to 30mph. Are you fucking kidding me????
Most bikers have the common courtesy to scoot over to the right-hand side of the lane and let a fellow biker go by. But not these folks. I kept waiting for a nice up-hill climb that opened up to two lanes to let the slower traffic get to the right so that others can get by, but it never happened. Mile after mile goes by and I’m thinking soon…soon…soon…I can get by these assholes. But no, it doesn’t happen. But finally…a passing lane. Not a big one, but I downshifted hit the gas and blew by about 10 or 15 of ‘em before I had to scoot back into the pack. I am sure they were not very happy about that as I split ‘em. Another passing lane and I went back to the oncoming lane and got by the rest of them. I think the leader was flipping me off. Fuck him.
They faded from my review mirrors as I got back up to the speed limit (and maybe a little extra). I just shook my head. I don’t get it. Why ride a bike and be such a nuisance to everyone like that?
For some reason, I was reminded of a conversation I had with Jenny not too long ago. I was telling her I hated pot-luck lunches because people always bring stuff I hate – beans, potatoes salad, cole slaw, some pasta-something dish and everything is slathered in mayonnaise. To me, riding a Harley is like that. You are one of the people that goes to the pot luck all the time. Your dish is just like every other dish and they all get by, but none of them really stand out. Your bike is the mayonaise. As Jenny said “enjoy your mayonnaise.”
My great aunts are all getting up there in age. They have a myriad of problems. One can’t hear. One can’t see. One is having short term memory loss. Another can’t get around too well. But they are all pushing 90 and have had a pretty good life so I certainly don’t hold any of that against them. I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in several years so that was pretty nice, too.
Several members of my family live in or near Houston. Most of them had their houses wiped out and it was touching to hear their stories and how they are handling it.
I took the bike to save gas. I average about 43mpg when I slab it down the highways like that. Compare that to the 12 or 13mpg my truck gets and it’s a quick economic decision. Besides the weather is ½ way decent right now especially in the mornings. It’s even cooler out of the Metroplex so it was fairly nice to get on the bike and ride.
But I still have a sports bike. It still has low clip-ons, raised foot pegs, etc. It gets uncomfortable after a while. My round-trip total was 457 miles and you can figure I was on the bike about four hours straight each day (Sat. and Sun.).
Today I can really feel it in my traps. They are going to be sore for a day or two. Even my butt is a little saddle sore from droning for so long. Surpassingly, the twisties wear you out in a completely different way. You have to use your muscles differently as well as rapidly altering your position on the bike. It doesn’t give you much of an opportunity to get sore in any one spot.
And, as luck would have it, our reunion coincided with some Harley event just outside of Chireno that I believe is called the Wild Hog, or Hog Wild rally. Something like that. I never saw the huge throngs of bikes that others saw, but I passed a good many Harleys on the highway. Some of them even gave the friendly biker wave, but most of them were too goddamned stuck-up even for that (me being on a sport-bike and all).
And as I was trying to make my way back….it happened. It’s the number one reason I hate riding with or around cruisers. I was clipping along around 75mph (speed limit was 70) came over a hill, around a bend and all of a sudden I am in traffic…. In the middle of freaking nowhere on a Sunday morning (before Church lets out). Can you guess? That’s right…a whole stream of bikes going under the speed limit. They didn’t leave a trail of motorcycle parts, oil, grease and beer cans…. Well, they might have done that. Harley’s are known to throw parts going down the road – another reason not to get to close to the back of ‘em. But what they did leave was a wake of pissed off cagers (cars) about a ½ of a mile long.It’s hard enough to pass on the country roads in a car. You just don’t have much time before you are back in a no-passing lane. But when there are 30 bikes to get around you simply can’t do it.
Theoretically, it should be easy for me. I worked my way around all the cagers stuck behind the bikes and then hit the pack. If the speed limit was 70, they were doing 50 – 55 mph. When it dropped to 50 I thought “well at least we are already going 50” and they would slow down to 30mph. Are you fucking kidding me????
Most bikers have the common courtesy to scoot over to the right-hand side of the lane and let a fellow biker go by. But not these folks. I kept waiting for a nice up-hill climb that opened up to two lanes to let the slower traffic get to the right so that others can get by, but it never happened. Mile after mile goes by and I’m thinking soon…soon…soon…I can get by these assholes. But no, it doesn’t happen. But finally…a passing lane. Not a big one, but I downshifted hit the gas and blew by about 10 or 15 of ‘em before I had to scoot back into the pack. I am sure they were not very happy about that as I split ‘em. Another passing lane and I went back to the oncoming lane and got by the rest of them. I think the leader was flipping me off. Fuck him.
They faded from my review mirrors as I got back up to the speed limit (and maybe a little extra). I just shook my head. I don’t get it. Why ride a bike and be such a nuisance to everyone like that?
For some reason, I was reminded of a conversation I had with Jenny not too long ago. I was telling her I hated pot-luck lunches because people always bring stuff I hate – beans, potatoes salad, cole slaw, some pasta-something dish and everything is slathered in mayonnaise. To me, riding a Harley is like that. You are one of the people that goes to the pot luck all the time. Your dish is just like every other dish and they all get by, but none of them really stand out. Your bike is the mayonaise. As Jenny said “enjoy your mayonnaise.”
Lazy Charities
A day or two ago I was talking to Hopper about a birthday party one of his kids attended. Apparently the parents of the birthday boy / girl sent out the invites with the note that the child was registered at a store (Toys R Us?) and could people please make sure they don’t buy and give the same toys.
Are you kidding me? Since when did kids start registering for their toys? The point of a bDay party is to celebrate that particular day with your friends and have some fun. Yes, it’s nice to get some really cool toys but it seems awfully presumptuous to expect people to go down to the toy store and look up the registry information.
I think I would be offended to get such an invitation.
Today, a friend of mine emailed me about a fund-raiser their child is doing for school. Their child is very young and the fundraiser is online. One of the selling points – it’s all online so there is no cash exchanged, the items you buy come directly to you, and the child doesn’t have to get out and canvass.
WTF? What the hell kind of lesson does that teach our children? That isn’t being entrepreneurial and assertive. That’s being lazy, pure and simple. Why not just ask me for money? I’d appreciate that more than trying to disguise it behind a rouse of the child trying to raise money for school.
Fundraiser are supposed to be about hard work, creativity, and social networking. This type of fundraising doesn’t encompass any of those things.
I fear for the future of our children.
PS – I just received another one of these things from another friend. This time it was to go and order pizza’s, but plug in the kids ID code to get the discount and credit the kid’s program.
Are you kidding me? Since when did kids start registering for their toys? The point of a bDay party is to celebrate that particular day with your friends and have some fun. Yes, it’s nice to get some really cool toys but it seems awfully presumptuous to expect people to go down to the toy store and look up the registry information.
I think I would be offended to get such an invitation.
Today, a friend of mine emailed me about a fund-raiser their child is doing for school. Their child is very young and the fundraiser is online. One of the selling points – it’s all online so there is no cash exchanged, the items you buy come directly to you, and the child doesn’t have to get out and canvass.
WTF? What the hell kind of lesson does that teach our children? That isn’t being entrepreneurial and assertive. That’s being lazy, pure and simple. Why not just ask me for money? I’d appreciate that more than trying to disguise it behind a rouse of the child trying to raise money for school.
Fundraiser are supposed to be about hard work, creativity, and social networking. This type of fundraising doesn’t encompass any of those things.
I fear for the future of our children.
PS – I just received another one of these things from another friend. This time it was to go and order pizza’s, but plug in the kids ID code to get the discount and credit the kid’s program.
Obama – I think not!
A few days ago a friend told me that they thought there wasn’t anything they could say to convince me that Obama would be the right candidate to vote for. They are probably right, but not because I won’t listen to reason.
First off, I flat out do not like him. I do not like politicians in general, and no matter what he says he is clearly a politician. Obama is a very charismatic person. But I am leery of anyone that people “flock” to so readily without providing anything other than rhetoric. I find all this talk about “change” and calling him “the one” deeply disturbing. People that are able to orchestrate large scams are often able to do so because they are able to draw the people in the way Obama has. It’s not until later that someone says “how did he manage to do that?” So again, I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.
Now what about change? This one is leaving me empty. Anyone who takes that office will be a change from what we have today. And who says change is a good thing? When the Nazi party took over Germany that was definitely a change, but I’d say that mankind has agreed that it was not a good change. BTW, I’m not comparing Obama to Hitler unlike so many people that would ludicrously do that to Bush.
Ok, so change. We get that, but let’s be more specific and move on.
Obama, like many democrats, favor socialistic policies – whether they come out and say it or not. Socialized medicine, increasing control and regulation of and by the government, increasing taxes (but not for everyone!), are all socialistic policies. Even today, congress is leading the way to put us in the same financial positions as our brethren in the U.K. and France (two countries that are suffering disastrous consequences).
Financial policy? Every economist I have read so far indicates that they think his policies will be a disaster. He’s already had to revise them because they were so far off the mark he couldn’t get elected with them.
Obama favors gun control, and I think I’ve written enough about that.
http://invioletlight.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-and-your-2nd-amendment-rights.html
Foreign policy experience? Forget it….but at least he has Biden to help with that.
Leadership experience? Just about nill as far as I can tell. I’ve read his voting record and while there are a few things I’d agree with I simply do not agree with most of his policies (the few he actually cast a definitive vote on as opposed to being “present.”).
And finally, my biggest problem with Obama. Forget the crap circulating out there that is pure bullshit for a moment. Obama has strong Muslim ties including financial, political, and family ties. I’ve posted articles on this before as well. Prior to running for President Obama was well known as a Muslim sympathizer. Combine that with other things that he has said / done and I simply do not trust his loyalty to the United States. And let me be frank for a moment – fuck everyone else. This is the U.S. and our country and countrymen (women) should come first. Take care of ourselves and then we can worry about other people.
http://invioletlight.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-and-my-concerns.html
Notice I haven’t bagged on McCain / Palin. Well, it’s not that I like McCain and Palin….but this was about me not liking Obama.
But the good news….. I think Obama will probably get elected. People had enough of republicans for a while and even though the democratically controlled congress has a lower approval rate than Bush I think people will vote for Obama. So the good news? That the President of the United states can’t control the country. Sure, they can do a lot of damage (or a lot of good!), but ultimately it’s Congress that we need to worry about. They can’t do much without Congress.
First off, I flat out do not like him. I do not like politicians in general, and no matter what he says he is clearly a politician. Obama is a very charismatic person. But I am leery of anyone that people “flock” to so readily without providing anything other than rhetoric. I find all this talk about “change” and calling him “the one” deeply disturbing. People that are able to orchestrate large scams are often able to do so because they are able to draw the people in the way Obama has. It’s not until later that someone says “how did he manage to do that?” So again, I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.
Now what about change? This one is leaving me empty. Anyone who takes that office will be a change from what we have today. And who says change is a good thing? When the Nazi party took over Germany that was definitely a change, but I’d say that mankind has agreed that it was not a good change. BTW, I’m not comparing Obama to Hitler unlike so many people that would ludicrously do that to Bush.
Ok, so change. We get that, but let’s be more specific and move on.
Obama, like many democrats, favor socialistic policies – whether they come out and say it or not. Socialized medicine, increasing control and regulation of and by the government, increasing taxes (but not for everyone!), are all socialistic policies. Even today, congress is leading the way to put us in the same financial positions as our brethren in the U.K. and France (two countries that are suffering disastrous consequences).
Financial policy? Every economist I have read so far indicates that they think his policies will be a disaster. He’s already had to revise them because they were so far off the mark he couldn’t get elected with them.
Obama favors gun control, and I think I’ve written enough about that.
http://invioletlight.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-and-your-2nd-amendment-rights.html
Foreign policy experience? Forget it….but at least he has Biden to help with that.
Leadership experience? Just about nill as far as I can tell. I’ve read his voting record and while there are a few things I’d agree with I simply do not agree with most of his policies (the few he actually cast a definitive vote on as opposed to being “present.”).
And finally, my biggest problem with Obama. Forget the crap circulating out there that is pure bullshit for a moment. Obama has strong Muslim ties including financial, political, and family ties. I’ve posted articles on this before as well. Prior to running for President Obama was well known as a Muslim sympathizer. Combine that with other things that he has said / done and I simply do not trust his loyalty to the United States. And let me be frank for a moment – fuck everyone else. This is the U.S. and our country and countrymen (women) should come first. Take care of ourselves and then we can worry about other people.
http://invioletlight.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-and-my-concerns.html
Notice I haven’t bagged on McCain / Palin. Well, it’s not that I like McCain and Palin….but this was about me not liking Obama.
But the good news….. I think Obama will probably get elected. People had enough of republicans for a while and even though the democratically controlled congress has a lower approval rate than Bush I think people will vote for Obama. So the good news? That the President of the United states can’t control the country. Sure, they can do a lot of damage (or a lot of good!), but ultimately it’s Congress that we need to worry about. They can’t do much without Congress.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
AT&T And Binding Arbitration
I’ve been trying to keep track of arbitration information. In some ways, it appears as if consumers are slowly turning the tide on big corporations forcing them into arbitration. Recently there have been several cases in where the courts told the big companies to take their binding arbitration and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine and that they would be going to court.
I’ve seen other cases where the courts indicated that they violated the law and they couldn’t hind behind the guise of arbitration.
And then behold what I get from AT&T (I have DSL)….
For all Members:
Arbitration Agreement. We have added language that requires customer disputes with AT&T regarding AT&T Internet Services to be submitted to binding arbitration or small claims court. Arbitration is less formal than a lawsuit in court and often faster. In addition, AT&T will pay for all costs of arbitration, no matter who wins, as long as your claim is not frivolous.
First off, here is the big bully company forcing people into arbitration. Did you notice that they’ll pay for it? Of course they will! They want to control the entire process just like all the companies! This is their way of ensuring that you get fucked. I also like the part about AT&T paying for all costs of arbitration no matter who wins, as long as your claim is not frivolous. Who do you think gets to decide if your claim is frivolous? Probably the arbitrator….who is already being paid by AT&T. Yeah, that seems fair to me.
I am generally opposed to the government sticking their nose in private business. I’ve said that over and over and over again. Yet, I fear that we may have another instance where capitalism has broke down. The companies are too greedy and the general consumer too ignorant to know any better. It has gotten to the point where you don’t get a choice anymore and that’s bad for consumer. This will be an instance where I favor some type of government intervention. I don’t think that it has to be made illegal, but it should be made optional.
I’ve seen other cases where the courts indicated that they violated the law and they couldn’t hind behind the guise of arbitration.
And then behold what I get from AT&T (I have DSL)….
For all Members:
Arbitration Agreement. We have added language that requires customer disputes with AT&T regarding AT&T Internet Services to be submitted to binding arbitration or small claims court. Arbitration is less formal than a lawsuit in court and often faster. In addition, AT&T will pay for all costs of arbitration, no matter who wins, as long as your claim is not frivolous.
First off, here is the big bully company forcing people into arbitration. Did you notice that they’ll pay for it? Of course they will! They want to control the entire process just like all the companies! This is their way of ensuring that you get fucked. I also like the part about AT&T paying for all costs of arbitration no matter who wins, as long as your claim is not frivolous. Who do you think gets to decide if your claim is frivolous? Probably the arbitrator….who is already being paid by AT&T. Yeah, that seems fair to me.
I am generally opposed to the government sticking their nose in private business. I’ve said that over and over and over again. Yet, I fear that we may have another instance where capitalism has broke down. The companies are too greedy and the general consumer too ignorant to know any better. It has gotten to the point where you don’t get a choice anymore and that’s bad for consumer. This will be an instance where I favor some type of government intervention. I don’t think that it has to be made illegal, but it should be made optional.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Blink and You May be Ripped Off!!
In the mail today I received my new chase Visa card with Blink. My existing card doesn’t expire for a couple of more months, but I guess Chase wanted me to start using their new Blink technology right away.
What is Blink? It’s similar to a “smart pass” card some of you use at the gas station. For specialized readers, you can simply hold your card up to the reader and it will read your credit card information. You don’t even have to sign for anything. In fact, you don’t have to take your card out of your wallet. Isn’t that nice?
See, they’ve embedded an RFID tag in the card. That way any merchant or technology savvy hacker can glean your credit card information just by being in proximity of you. Isn’t that special? And since you don’t have to sign for purchases over $25 they can use that card all they want before you probably realize it’s been duplicated.
Oh! Now, I almost forgot! They do tell you that it works just like a normal credit card in that you have the same type of theft protection. So if someone did rip off your credit card then all you have to do is tell them it wasn’t you…..provided that they don’t ask you to prove that it wasn’t you. I mean, you didn’t sign anything, right?
Needless to say that because I work in the wireless space I am not too keen on RFID tags with this type of information in them. I called chase to get a normal card, without an RFID tag:
Me: Hi, I just got my new credit card with the Blink RFID tag.
CSR: Great! What can I do for you.
Me: I’d like you to cancel it and send me another card without the RFID tag.
CSR: Can I ask you why you want to do that?
Me: Because I work in the RF space as well as IT and I don’t think it’s secure.
CSR: It’s very secure. You don’t even have to swipe it like a regular credit card. In fact, you don’t even have to take it out of your wallet. (I don’t bother to explain this is what bothers me. I guess they haven’t seen the articles, forms, and videos of hackers stealing credit card info just by sitting on the subway train next to you.)
Me: I see. So you’ve seen all the youtube video’s of people hacking these things, right?
CSR: Uh, no. [silence] Let me see what I can do to get you another card.
What is Blink? It’s similar to a “smart pass” card some of you use at the gas station. For specialized readers, you can simply hold your card up to the reader and it will read your credit card information. You don’t even have to sign for anything. In fact, you don’t have to take your card out of your wallet. Isn’t that nice?
See, they’ve embedded an RFID tag in the card. That way any merchant or technology savvy hacker can glean your credit card information just by being in proximity of you. Isn’t that special? And since you don’t have to sign for purchases over $25 they can use that card all they want before you probably realize it’s been duplicated.
Oh! Now, I almost forgot! They do tell you that it works just like a normal credit card in that you have the same type of theft protection. So if someone did rip off your credit card then all you have to do is tell them it wasn’t you…..provided that they don’t ask you to prove that it wasn’t you. I mean, you didn’t sign anything, right?
Needless to say that because I work in the wireless space I am not too keen on RFID tags with this type of information in them. I called chase to get a normal card, without an RFID tag:
Me: Hi, I just got my new credit card with the Blink RFID tag.
CSR: Great! What can I do for you.
Me: I’d like you to cancel it and send me another card without the RFID tag.
CSR: Can I ask you why you want to do that?
Me: Because I work in the RF space as well as IT and I don’t think it’s secure.
CSR: It’s very secure. You don’t even have to swipe it like a regular credit card. In fact, you don’t even have to take it out of your wallet. (I don’t bother to explain this is what bothers me. I guess they haven’t seen the articles, forms, and videos of hackers stealing credit card info just by sitting on the subway train next to you.)
Me: I see. So you’ve seen all the youtube video’s of people hacking these things, right?
CSR: Uh, no. [silence] Let me see what I can do to get you another card.
Stormbringer Coming….
Hurricane Ike made its debut in North Texas and then left without too much excitement. For those who were on the coast, they got hit pretty hard. Galveston, Houston, Beaumont and all the other cities really suffered.
We had a bunch of evacuee’s shipped up here from the coast. The highways were a little congested and DOT signs were telling evacuees where to go. Jenny told me that she heard some folks call in from the coast that refused to evacuate and were now stranded on the second floor of their home in two feet of water.
But here?? Despite all the warnings and emails and everyone freaking out and stockpiling water, food, candles, batteries, generators etc., we only got a little rain out of it.
And no, I am not kidding. People were flocking to the stores to buy extra water and food….food that you could cook without electricity! People were buying generators and spare candles and all kinds of crap.
I’ve lived here for over 30 years, and while Ike was a big hurricane we are still almost 300 miles from the coastline and they just don’t have much of an impact this far inland. Dallas got it a little worse than we did, but there weren’t any high-winds (a few gusts) and no record breaking rainfalls. We had a nice all-day soak and managed to cool off into the 80’s.
No electricity going out. No fires. No blown down trees. No flooding. You get the idea. In fact, by about 9:00pm on Saturday night the “worst” of it was over and I spotted a BMW with the top down at the local Starbucks. That’s how bad it was here.
I feel a little ripped off. I had my water hose ready to put out fires (yes, people were suggesting that) and I was ready. But it was really disappointing. It was barely windy enough to take the kites out. Imagine if you had the opportunity to have sex with your favorite supermodel / actress / etc., and they weren’t any good in the sack. That was Ike in N. Texas.
PS – this is how people senselessly get killed in hurricanes.
We had a bunch of evacuee’s shipped up here from the coast. The highways were a little congested and DOT signs were telling evacuees where to go. Jenny told me that she heard some folks call in from the coast that refused to evacuate and were now stranded on the second floor of their home in two feet of water.
But here?? Despite all the warnings and emails and everyone freaking out and stockpiling water, food, candles, batteries, generators etc., we only got a little rain out of it.
And no, I am not kidding. People were flocking to the stores to buy extra water and food….food that you could cook without electricity! People were buying generators and spare candles and all kinds of crap.
I’ve lived here for over 30 years, and while Ike was a big hurricane we are still almost 300 miles from the coastline and they just don’t have much of an impact this far inland. Dallas got it a little worse than we did, but there weren’t any high-winds (a few gusts) and no record breaking rainfalls. We had a nice all-day soak and managed to cool off into the 80’s.
No electricity going out. No fires. No blown down trees. No flooding. You get the idea. In fact, by about 9:00pm on Saturday night the “worst” of it was over and I spotted a BMW with the top down at the local Starbucks. That’s how bad it was here.
I feel a little ripped off. I had my water hose ready to put out fires (yes, people were suggesting that) and I was ready. But it was really disappointing. It was barely windy enough to take the kites out. Imagine if you had the opportunity to have sex with your favorite supermodel / actress / etc., and they weren’t any good in the sack. That was Ike in N. Texas.
PS – this is how people senselessly get killed in hurricanes.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Obama and Your 2nd Amendment Rights
If you’ve read my blog for any length of time you know I’m not a big fan of Obama. I’ve made a bit of an effort not to just rail on ‘em, but this is one issue that has come to light and it concerns me.
Recently when the Supreme court upheld the second amendment I was bothered by the fact it was a 5-4 decision. To me, it shouldn’t even be that close but my friend pointed out that a 5-4 vote may not be what it appears.
In any event, Obama was questioned about it and it and in typical politician style he flipped and flopped like a well lubricated fish so you couldn’t quite get a straight answer.
The NRA is posting synapses of his 10-point-plan:
1. Ban use of firearms for home self-defense.
2. Pass federal law eliminating right to carry.
3. Ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.
4. Close down 90% of the gun shops in America.
5. Ban rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.
6. Increase federal taxes on guns and ammunition by 500%.
7. Restore voting rights for five million criminals including those who have been convicted of using a gun to commit a violent crime.
8. Expand the Clinton semi-auto ban to include millions more firearms.
9. Mandate a government issued license to purchase a firearm.
10.Appoint judges to the U.S. Supreme Court and federal judiciary who share his views on the second amendment.
That doesn’t sound much like someone that supports the second amendment. If you google Obama and what his official policy is you will find something close to the following: “As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms.” And then he’ll turn right around and support banning hand guns.
Even if the NRA is a little over the top, I don’t think they are too far off the mark. Here are some examples of Obama and his “support” of the second amendment:
- Respects the 2nd Amendment (Feb. 2008)
- Supports local governments to enact handgun bans (Apr. 2008)
- Obama endorsed Illinois handgun ban (Apr. 2008)
- Co-sponsored a bill to limit gun purchases to one a month (Oct. 2007)
- Concealed carry OK for retired police officers
- Stop unscrupulous gun dealers dumping guns in cities
- Keep guns out of inter-cities.
- Bush erred in failing to renew assault weapons ban.
- Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions.
- Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
You can read between the lines but it basically says that he’ll publicly support the 2nd Amendment to appease people (voters) but he clearly favors enacting other laws and supporting lawsuits in an effort to take our guns away.
Maybe it’s not a big deal to you. Maybe you aren’t into guns and don’t get it. That’s fine. I was raised in the south and have been around guns all my life. But for me, it’s more than that. The second amendment provides us with a mechanism to curb and prevent a tyrannical government from imposing it’s will upon the people via an act of force.
It has been shown that throughout history once this basic mechanism is taken away, the ability to defend yourself, that those who protest against the government and could enact change are swiftly silenced.
And I’ll break out my “what if stick” or as Jenny said, my “slippery slope argument” and ask you….which constitutional right do they have to take away before YOU get upset?
Recently when the Supreme court upheld the second amendment I was bothered by the fact it was a 5-4 decision. To me, it shouldn’t even be that close but my friend pointed out that a 5-4 vote may not be what it appears.
In any event, Obama was questioned about it and it and in typical politician style he flipped and flopped like a well lubricated fish so you couldn’t quite get a straight answer.
The NRA is posting synapses of his 10-point-plan:
1. Ban use of firearms for home self-defense.
2. Pass federal law eliminating right to carry.
3. Ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.
4. Close down 90% of the gun shops in America.
5. Ban rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.
6. Increase federal taxes on guns and ammunition by 500%.
7. Restore voting rights for five million criminals including those who have been convicted of using a gun to commit a violent crime.
8. Expand the Clinton semi-auto ban to include millions more firearms.
9. Mandate a government issued license to purchase a firearm.
10.Appoint judges to the U.S. Supreme Court and federal judiciary who share his views on the second amendment.
That doesn’t sound much like someone that supports the second amendment. If you google Obama and what his official policy is you will find something close to the following: “As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms.” And then he’ll turn right around and support banning hand guns.
Even if the NRA is a little over the top, I don’t think they are too far off the mark. Here are some examples of Obama and his “support” of the second amendment:
- Respects the 2nd Amendment (Feb. 2008)
- Supports local governments to enact handgun bans (Apr. 2008)
- Obama endorsed Illinois handgun ban (Apr. 2008)
- Co-sponsored a bill to limit gun purchases to one a month (Oct. 2007)
- Concealed carry OK for retired police officers
- Stop unscrupulous gun dealers dumping guns in cities
- Keep guns out of inter-cities.
- Bush erred in failing to renew assault weapons ban.
- Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions.
- Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
You can read between the lines but it basically says that he’ll publicly support the 2nd Amendment to appease people (voters) but he clearly favors enacting other laws and supporting lawsuits in an effort to take our guns away.
Maybe it’s not a big deal to you. Maybe you aren’t into guns and don’t get it. That’s fine. I was raised in the south and have been around guns all my life. But for me, it’s more than that. The second amendment provides us with a mechanism to curb and prevent a tyrannical government from imposing it’s will upon the people via an act of force.
It has been shown that throughout history once this basic mechanism is taken away, the ability to defend yourself, that those who protest against the government and could enact change are swiftly silenced.
And I’ll break out my “what if stick” or as Jenny said, my “slippery slope argument” and ask you….which constitutional right do they have to take away before YOU get upset?
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Medical Bills You Shouldn't Pay!
Here is an interesting article about how medical companies are ripping off patients, most of the times quite illegally. It’s worth a quick read and you might find yourself in a better position next time you have to visit the doc!
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_36/b4098040915634.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_36/b4098040915634.htm
Killer Remote!!
This last weekend I finally broke down and bought a new remote control. I know, I know…big deal, right? But I’ve never been very happy with any of my remotes that have come with my stereo / TV components. Even the ones that do some of the other functions on the other remotes only do just that…..some of the functions.
Plus, anyone else trying to watch my TV or a DVD was completely lost. You had to change the TV to the correct inputs, then you had to set the receiver to DVD, and then there was the DVD player itself.
For a while I was checking out remote controls and trying to find a really good universal remote that could replace all my remotes and have macro functionality. I didn’t want to get into a $1000 remote (yes, they have $1000 remote controls) and as I looked around Harmony seemed to be the one that consistently got good reviews. Sure, some people didn’t like them or they didn’t do some odd thing just right but overall most people were happy with them.
Since I had a spare $200 from my piggy bank I went ahead and used that money to pick up a Harmony One remote.
It has a docking station that recharges the batteries. This is good for two reasons. First off, you don’t have to replace the batteries all the time. Secondly, you almost always know where it is if it’s back on the docking station.
But the best part? I spent about 30 minutes setting it up and it worked like a champ to control all of my stuff (including my iPod dock) the first time!!! Setting it up was really pretty simple. You install the software, create an account, and then plug-in all of the devices that it will control. The database at Logitech has all the devices in it and then it programs the remote via a USB port. Real slick.
The remote supports things activities such as “watch DVD” – turn on the TV, set the inputs, turn on the AV receiver and set it to DVD, and then turn on the DVD player and start playing the disc (if one is in there) – all with the touch of ONE button. Not two, not three, not switch devices and change things. One button. *click*
You want to turn everything off? One button.
You want to switch from watching DVD to satellite TV? One button
Switch from satellite tv to HDTV tuner? One button.
Listen to the iPod? One button.
Make scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon? Well, better get your honey to do that one for you and perhaps she only has one button you have to push.
Oh! I almost forgot…. It’s touch-screen. Really really cool. I’m still learning where all the buttons and stuff are and the one I have the most problem with is the volume and the channel as they are on the opposite sides of the remote from my old one. I keep hitting the wrong one, but since the remote has a motion sensor and it lights up when you pick it up it’s easy to look down real quick and hit the right buttons.
Is it pricey? Yes. But it freaking ROCKS!!! It has serious bling! and cool factor. It replaced seven remote controls and it did it all without batting an eye.
Give me a month and I can tell you all the crap wrong with it, but right now I am very impressed!
Killer Rainbows Doom Earth!
Here is a ‘tard that is so caught up in the scaremongering she has completely forgotten about basic science. I mean, oh my god!! It’s a freaking rainbow created by sunlight through water vapor!!!! The world is going to end!!!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Slim Pickens
By now, you may have heard of T. Boone Pickens plan. If not, click the link and follow the jump to read about it.
Not too long ago my friend forwarded me the link and asked me my opinion on it. That’s a dangerous thing and not too dissimilar from sticking a live possum down your pants, but I digress.
Now I’d like to present you with several long reads:
Not too long ago my friend forwarded me the link and asked me my opinion on it. That’s a dangerous thing and not too dissimilar from sticking a live possum down your pants, but I digress.
Now I’d like to present you with several long reads:
Pickens Plan Pt 1
This is the response I had to reading the initial outline of Pickens plan on his website.
Thanks for the link. Jenny was telling me about this the other day, but I hadn't seen it as of yet. I didn't look all through his stuff, but checked out the main video and some of the supporting documentation.
I've been an advocate of exploring alternative energy sources and drilling in the U.S. to decrease our dependency on foreign oil. No matter what you do (drill or alternative) this is not something that is going to go away quickly. I want to make sure I address that because I think a lot of people hear "we need to drill!" and they think that means that the problem will abate itself immediately. Not so.
So, I agree with Mr. Pickens that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and it will take time to develop. But, let me explore that briefly and for a few moments:
His math doesn't quite work out and is flawed in a major capacity. Pickens advocates taking natural gas away from the power plants and substituting it for wind energy (22%). This plan assumes that the wind blows constantly and all the time. This doesn't work. It blows too hard, or not hard enough. This means you can only utilize turbines about 20% of the time. Surprisingly enough this is the case most of the time meaning that while we can derive energy from wind it is not going to give us enough consistent energy to pull the 20% away from natural gas. Suddenly there is a jump that says if we can get 20% utilization from turbines we can substitute it for 20% of natural gas. I haven't ran the numbers but I don't know if you can evenly swap that power or not (i.e. natural gas may have a much higher efficiency rating, and I bet it does which means it might take three or four times as much power from wind to yield the same power as that of natural gas). Power plants burning natural gas cannot completely alleviate their dependence on gas simply by using wind power. All wind powered plants rely on another form of fuel that can ramp up quickly as an energy source when wind power is not available (nuclear is not an option here). As soon as you realize this, his plan starts to fall apart. It doesn't mean it can't work at all, but not at the scale he's alluding to.
Now let's hit the second part of the plan which has flaws. Natural gas is a pretty good alternative form of fuel for cars but today we don't have the infrastructure to support it on a wide scale. This can be overcome in 10 years time. You also have an enormous expense of the auto manufacturers to re-tool and re-design the vehicles. Again, this can be overcome in time. Pickens indicates this and I agree with it. But, people aren't going to go out and get rid of their cars (or convert them) at some cost just to go to natural gas. The average lifespan of a car in the U.S. is about 18 years. So figure that even if the infrastructure became prevalent you would have a potential 20+ year time span before cars stopped burning gasoline (infrastructure+conversion+new cars+deprecation of old cars).
And what do you think is going to happen to natural gas as the demand goes up?
The last part of the plan is also flawed math. How does he arrive at 38% reduction in foreign oil from a 20% substitution of natural gas? He doesn't say and I don't know how he does it. For one thing, most people are under the false impression that our cars are the primary users of oil / gasoline. But that isn't true. It's diesel for things like trucks (still a small percentage) and power generation. Again, how he gets at a 38% reduction I have no idea and he doesn't elaborate. Perhaps the math is buried in the web site somewhere.
And let us not forget, environmentalists are already fighting wind farms all over the U.S. The government has even ceased erecting any more wind farms until an environmental impact study has been completed. Even if they are allowed to build them the costs of wind mill farms is enormous. Europe has been building these and doing the ROI for years and what they have found is that it is fataly flawed and costs FAR more (i.e. 10 times more) than they anticipated per mwh (megawat hour). They are still pushing forward and continue to build them out so that they know the true ROI / economic impact, which I think is a good idea. Sometime you have to break a few eggs to bake a cake.
Pickens says it's a blueprint. I say it's a good idea but that it needs more planning and a more qualified level of expectations (i.e. this isn't going to solve our problems right away, it may create new ones, and it may not even work as well as he indicates).
BTW - I don't have the definitive answer. I am not sure anyone does. Again, I do feel very strongly about developing oil in the U.S. and continuing to seek alternative forms of energy. We need this type of thinking (Pickens) to help move us along.
My friends weren’t real impressed with my initial thoughts. Many of them railed on me asking “don’t you think he’s already thought of all this?” and “clearly he’s an intelligent man, you must be missing something.”
Perhaps this is all true. My general response was that I indeed think that they have thought about this, but that they still haven’t produced the numbers, methodologies, etc. to back it up as anything more than theory.
Thanks for the link. Jenny was telling me about this the other day, but I hadn't seen it as of yet. I didn't look all through his stuff, but checked out the main video and some of the supporting documentation.
I've been an advocate of exploring alternative energy sources and drilling in the U.S. to decrease our dependency on foreign oil. No matter what you do (drill or alternative) this is not something that is going to go away quickly. I want to make sure I address that because I think a lot of people hear "we need to drill!" and they think that means that the problem will abate itself immediately. Not so.
So, I agree with Mr. Pickens that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and it will take time to develop. But, let me explore that briefly and for a few moments:
His math doesn't quite work out and is flawed in a major capacity. Pickens advocates taking natural gas away from the power plants and substituting it for wind energy (22%). This plan assumes that the wind blows constantly and all the time. This doesn't work. It blows too hard, or not hard enough. This means you can only utilize turbines about 20% of the time. Surprisingly enough this is the case most of the time meaning that while we can derive energy from wind it is not going to give us enough consistent energy to pull the 20% away from natural gas. Suddenly there is a jump that says if we can get 20% utilization from turbines we can substitute it for 20% of natural gas. I haven't ran the numbers but I don't know if you can evenly swap that power or not (i.e. natural gas may have a much higher efficiency rating, and I bet it does which means it might take three or four times as much power from wind to yield the same power as that of natural gas). Power plants burning natural gas cannot completely alleviate their dependence on gas simply by using wind power. All wind powered plants rely on another form of fuel that can ramp up quickly as an energy source when wind power is not available (nuclear is not an option here). As soon as you realize this, his plan starts to fall apart. It doesn't mean it can't work at all, but not at the scale he's alluding to.
Now let's hit the second part of the plan which has flaws. Natural gas is a pretty good alternative form of fuel for cars but today we don't have the infrastructure to support it on a wide scale. This can be overcome in 10 years time. You also have an enormous expense of the auto manufacturers to re-tool and re-design the vehicles. Again, this can be overcome in time. Pickens indicates this and I agree with it. But, people aren't going to go out and get rid of their cars (or convert them) at some cost just to go to natural gas. The average lifespan of a car in the U.S. is about 18 years. So figure that even if the infrastructure became prevalent you would have a potential 20+ year time span before cars stopped burning gasoline (infrastructure+conversion+new cars+deprecation of old cars).
And what do you think is going to happen to natural gas as the demand goes up?
The last part of the plan is also flawed math. How does he arrive at 38% reduction in foreign oil from a 20% substitution of natural gas? He doesn't say and I don't know how he does it. For one thing, most people are under the false impression that our cars are the primary users of oil / gasoline. But that isn't true. It's diesel for things like trucks (still a small percentage) and power generation. Again, how he gets at a 38% reduction I have no idea and he doesn't elaborate. Perhaps the math is buried in the web site somewhere.
And let us not forget, environmentalists are already fighting wind farms all over the U.S. The government has even ceased erecting any more wind farms until an environmental impact study has been completed. Even if they are allowed to build them the costs of wind mill farms is enormous. Europe has been building these and doing the ROI for years and what they have found is that it is fataly flawed and costs FAR more (i.e. 10 times more) than they anticipated per mwh (megawat hour). They are still pushing forward and continue to build them out so that they know the true ROI / economic impact, which I think is a good idea. Sometime you have to break a few eggs to bake a cake.
Pickens says it's a blueprint. I say it's a good idea but that it needs more planning and a more qualified level of expectations (i.e. this isn't going to solve our problems right away, it may create new ones, and it may not even work as well as he indicates).
BTW - I don't have the definitive answer. I am not sure anyone does. Again, I do feel very strongly about developing oil in the U.S. and continuing to seek alternative forms of energy. We need this type of thinking (Pickens) to help move us along.
My friends weren’t real impressed with my initial thoughts. Many of them railed on me asking “don’t you think he’s already thought of all this?” and “clearly he’s an intelligent man, you must be missing something.”
Perhaps this is all true. My general response was that I indeed think that they have thought about this, but that they still haven’t produced the numbers, methodologies, etc. to back it up as anything more than theory.
Pickens Plan Pt. 2
It was about a month later that my father uncovered this article (sorry, no original link). I always figured that there had to be a vested interest in Pickens plan that went beyond simply “saving the good ‘ol USA.” The plan begins to become far more clear. What’s really disturbing is that it’s the typical sneaky, underhanded, crap you’d expect from a rich guy and the government.
Pickens Gives New Meaning to 'Self-Government'
By Steven Milloy
July 31, 2008
The more you learn about T. Boone Pickens’ plan to switch America to wind power, the more you realize that he seems willing to say and do just about anything to make another billion or two.
This column previously discussed the plan’s technical and economic shortcomings and marketing ruses. Today, we’ll look into the diabolical machinations behind it.
Simply put, Pickens’ pitch is “embrace wind power to help break our ‘addiction’ to foreign oil.” There is, however, another intriguing component to Pickens’ plan that goes unmentioned in his TV commercials, media interviews and web site -- water rights, which he owns more of than any other American.
Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion. But there’s more to earning such a profit than simply acquiring the water. Rights-of-way must be purchased to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be overcome. Here’s where it gets interesting, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.
Purchasing rights-of-way is often expensive and time-consuming -- and what if landowners won’t sell? While private entities may be frustrated, governments can exercise eminent domain to compel sales. This is Pickens’ route of choice. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Are you sitting down?
At Pickens’ behest, the Texas legislature changed state law to allow the two residents of an 8-acre parcel of land in Roberts County to vote to create a municipal water district, a government agency with eminent domain powers. Who were the voters? They were Pickens’ wife and the manager of Pickens’ nearby ranch. And who sits on the board of directors of this water district? They are the parcel’s three other non-resident landowners, all Pickens’ employees.
A member of a local water conservation board told Bloomberg News that, “[Pickens has] obtained the right of eminent domain like he was a big city. It’s supposed to be for the public good, not a private company.”
What’s this got to do with Pickens’ wind-power plan? Just as he needs pipelines to sell his water, he also needs transmission lines to sell his wind-generated power. Rights of way for transmission lines are also acquired through eminent domain -- and, once again, the Texas legislature has come to Pickens’ aid.
Earlier this year, Texas changed its law to allow renewable energy projects (like Pickens’ wind farm) to obtain rights-of-way by piggybacking on a water district’s eminent domain power. So Pickens can now use his water district’s authority to also condemn land for his future wind farm’s transmission lines.
Who will pay for the rights-of-way and the transmission lines and pipelines? Thanks to another gift from Texas politicians, Pickens’ water district can sell tax-free, taxpayer-guaranteed municipal bonds to finance the $2.2 billion cost of the water pipeline. And then earlier this month, the Texas legislature voted to spend $4.93 billion for wind farm transmission lines. While Pickens has denied that this money is earmarked for him, he nevertheless is building the largest wind farm in the world.
Despite this legislative largesse, a fly in the ointment remains.
Although Pickens hopes to sell as much as $165 million worth of water annually to Dallas alone, no city in Texas has signed up yet -- partly because they don’t yet need the water and partly because of resentment against water profiteering.
Enter the Sierra Club.
While Green groups support wind power, “the privatization of water is an entirely different thing,” says the Sierra Club. Moreover, the activist group has long opposed further exploitation of the very groundwater Pickens wants to use -- the Ogallala Aquifer.
“The source of drinking water and irrigation for Plains residents from Nebraska to Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world's largest -- as well as one of the most rapidly dissipating… If current irrigation practices continue, agribusiness will deplete the Ogallala Aquifer in the next century,” says the Sierra Club.
In March 2002, the Sierra Club opposed the construction of a slaughterhouse in Pampa, Texas, because it would require a mere 275 million gallons per year from the Ogallala Aquifer. Yet Pickens wants to sell 65 billion gallons of water per year -- to Dallas alone. In a 2004 lamentation about local government facilitation of Pickens’ plan for the Ogallala, the Sierra Club slammed Pickens as a “junk bond dealer” who wanted to make “Blue Gold” from the Ogallala.
But while the Sierra Club can’t seem to do anything about Pickens’ influence with state legislators, they do have enough influence to make his water politically unpotable. This opposition may soon abate, however, now that Pickens has buddied up with Sierra Club president Carl Pope.
As noted last week, Pope now flies in Pickens’ private jet and publicly lauds him. The two are newly-minted “friends,” since Pope needs the famous Republican oilman to lend propaganda value to the Sierra Club’s anti-oil agenda and Pickens needs Pope to ease up on the Ogallala water opposition.
This alliance isn’t sitting well with everyone on the Left.
A TreeHugger.com writer recently observed, “… I am left asking myself why the green media have neglected [the water] aspect of Pickens’ wind-farm plans? Have we been so distracted by the prospect of Texas’ renewable energy portfolio growing by 4000 megawatts that we are willing to overlook some potentially dodgy aspects to the project?”
It shouldn’t sit well with the rest of us either. Pickens has gamed Texas for his own ends, and now he’s trying to game the rest of us, too. Worse, his gamesmanship includes lending his billionaire resources, prominent stature and feudal powers bestowed upon him by the Texas legislature to help the Greens gain control over the U.S. energy supply.
Pickens Gives New Meaning to 'Self-Government'
By Steven Milloy
July 31, 2008
The more you learn about T. Boone Pickens’ plan to switch America to wind power, the more you realize that he seems willing to say and do just about anything to make another billion or two.
This column previously discussed the plan’s technical and economic shortcomings and marketing ruses. Today, we’ll look into the diabolical machinations behind it.
Simply put, Pickens’ pitch is “embrace wind power to help break our ‘addiction’ to foreign oil.” There is, however, another intriguing component to Pickens’ plan that goes unmentioned in his TV commercials, media interviews and web site -- water rights, which he owns more of than any other American.
Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion. But there’s more to earning such a profit than simply acquiring the water. Rights-of-way must be purchased to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be overcome. Here’s where it gets interesting, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.
Purchasing rights-of-way is often expensive and time-consuming -- and what if landowners won’t sell? While private entities may be frustrated, governments can exercise eminent domain to compel sales. This is Pickens’ route of choice. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Are you sitting down?
At Pickens’ behest, the Texas legislature changed state law to allow the two residents of an 8-acre parcel of land in Roberts County to vote to create a municipal water district, a government agency with eminent domain powers. Who were the voters? They were Pickens’ wife and the manager of Pickens’ nearby ranch. And who sits on the board of directors of this water district? They are the parcel’s three other non-resident landowners, all Pickens’ employees.
A member of a local water conservation board told Bloomberg News that, “[Pickens has] obtained the right of eminent domain like he was a big city. It’s supposed to be for the public good, not a private company.”
What’s this got to do with Pickens’ wind-power plan? Just as he needs pipelines to sell his water, he also needs transmission lines to sell his wind-generated power. Rights of way for transmission lines are also acquired through eminent domain -- and, once again, the Texas legislature has come to Pickens’ aid.
Earlier this year, Texas changed its law to allow renewable energy projects (like Pickens’ wind farm) to obtain rights-of-way by piggybacking on a water district’s eminent domain power. So Pickens can now use his water district’s authority to also condemn land for his future wind farm’s transmission lines.
Who will pay for the rights-of-way and the transmission lines and pipelines? Thanks to another gift from Texas politicians, Pickens’ water district can sell tax-free, taxpayer-guaranteed municipal bonds to finance the $2.2 billion cost of the water pipeline. And then earlier this month, the Texas legislature voted to spend $4.93 billion for wind farm transmission lines. While Pickens has denied that this money is earmarked for him, he nevertheless is building the largest wind farm in the world.
Despite this legislative largesse, a fly in the ointment remains.
Although Pickens hopes to sell as much as $165 million worth of water annually to Dallas alone, no city in Texas has signed up yet -- partly because they don’t yet need the water and partly because of resentment against water profiteering.
Enter the Sierra Club.
While Green groups support wind power, “the privatization of water is an entirely different thing,” says the Sierra Club. Moreover, the activist group has long opposed further exploitation of the very groundwater Pickens wants to use -- the Ogallala Aquifer.
“The source of drinking water and irrigation for Plains residents from Nebraska to Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world's largest -- as well as one of the most rapidly dissipating… If current irrigation practices continue, agribusiness will deplete the Ogallala Aquifer in the next century,” says the Sierra Club.
In March 2002, the Sierra Club opposed the construction of a slaughterhouse in Pampa, Texas, because it would require a mere 275 million gallons per year from the Ogallala Aquifer. Yet Pickens wants to sell 65 billion gallons of water per year -- to Dallas alone. In a 2004 lamentation about local government facilitation of Pickens’ plan for the Ogallala, the Sierra Club slammed Pickens as a “junk bond dealer” who wanted to make “Blue Gold” from the Ogallala.
But while the Sierra Club can’t seem to do anything about Pickens’ influence with state legislators, they do have enough influence to make his water politically unpotable. This opposition may soon abate, however, now that Pickens has buddied up with Sierra Club president Carl Pope.
As noted last week, Pope now flies in Pickens’ private jet and publicly lauds him. The two are newly-minted “friends,” since Pope needs the famous Republican oilman to lend propaganda value to the Sierra Club’s anti-oil agenda and Pickens needs Pope to ease up on the Ogallala water opposition.
This alliance isn’t sitting well with everyone on the Left.
A TreeHugger.com writer recently observed, “… I am left asking myself why the green media have neglected [the water] aspect of Pickens’ wind-farm plans? Have we been so distracted by the prospect of Texas’ renewable energy portfolio growing by 4000 megawatts that we are willing to overlook some potentially dodgy aspects to the project?”
It shouldn’t sit well with the rest of us either. Pickens has gamed Texas for his own ends, and now he’s trying to game the rest of us, too. Worse, his gamesmanship includes lending his billionaire resources, prominent stature and feudal powers bestowed upon him by the Texas legislature to help the Greens gain control over the U.S. energy supply.
Pickens Plan Pt 3
Then, I get this article forwarded to me so I went out and found the link for it. Now I’m really ticked off. This is complete corruption of the government from (nearly) the top down. Let me state clearly (and this is for ALL the people that seem to only read what they want to read) that I have no problem with politicians investing in companies. They are human beings and are out to make a buck like everyone else. What I have a problem with are politicians that use their political and public influence to manipulate the economy in such a way as to improve their personal investments at the expense of the public.
I am sick and tired of the press tearing Bush / Cheney apart for having investments in oil or defense companies (hey, *I* have investments in oil and defense companies). There are plenty of republicans, democrats and independents that feel that our government is leading us to even further economic catastrophes under the guise of being green.
The democrats top dawg sits there and accuses people of being greedy and only interested in making a buck without regards to the environment, but let’s follow the money trail for a moment.
Pickens plan continues to unfold…..
Pelosi and the Big Win Boone-doggle
by Michelle Malkin
Creators SyndicateCopyright 2008
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called congressional Republicans who want up-or-down drilling votes “hand maidens of the oil companies.” Let’s call Pelosi what she is: House girl of the Big Wind boondogglers.
Though she seemingly backtracked on labeling drilling a “hoax” this week, Pelosi refuses to consider GOP energy proposals that don’t include massive government subsidies for eco-fantastical alternatives that have never panned out.
Which brings us to Madame Speaker’s 2007 financial disclosure form. Schedule III lists “assets and ‘unearned income’” of between $100,001-$250,000 from Clean Energy Fuels Corp. - Public Common Stock.” Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is a natural gas provider founded by T. Boone Pickens. Yep, that T. Boone Pickens– former oilman-turned-wind power evangelist whose ads touting a national wind campaign are now as ubiquitous as Viagra promos.
Pickens and Pelosi now share the same talking points downplaying the need to drill and open up more access to American oil. Instead, the Pickens pie-in-the-sky plan campaign proposes to completely replace natural gas with wind power in power generation and theoretically free up natural gas for America’s transportation needs.
All well and good in la-la land. But let’s be real about the limitations and costs of wind power. Past and ongoing experience has demonstrated the notorious unreliability of wind and the miserably low operating capacity of wind power facilities here and around the world. Depending on wind requires supplemental fossil fuel plants as back up to be turned on and off to compensate for wind power supply shortfalls– nullifying any reductions in carbon dioxide emissions (which are miniscule, according to the National Academy of Sciences).
Not to mention the thousands of sliced-up birds and other wildlife that have become wind power casualties (a problem that scientists say would be solved by “repowering” old turbines at a cost of untold billions).
Fittingly, the environmental mascot of the Democrat National Convention– the showcase of their alternative energy approach — is an eastern Colorado wind turbine propped up with Democrat carbon credit funds that has never produced any energy because of chronic equipment malfunctions.
But I digress.
Naturally, the Pickens Big Wind plan is proudly endorsed by Do-Nothing Pelosi’s friends at the obstructionist Sierra Club. Through another company, Mesa Power, Pickens has committed upwards of $12 billion in wind farms on the Texas panhandle. CEFC and Mesa Power are separate entities. But what benefits one piece of the Pickens puzzle benefits them all. The wind venture, as Pickens himself acknowledges, depends on permanent federal subsidies.
Pickens is banking on ‘em. And Pelosi’s banking on him.
As reported on #dontgomovement.com, Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Pickens’ CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering:
“She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high and municipal, state and even the Federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them becomes less and less attractive.”
CLNE also happens to be the sponsor of Proposition 10, a ballot initiative in Pelosi’s home state of California to dole out a combined $10 billion in state and federal funds for renewable energy incentives. Namely: Natural gas and wind.
Follow the money. Or, to put it in economist terms as energy analyst Kenneth Medlock III did in an interview with the Dallas Morning News about the Pickens multi-billion wind farm investment: “A lot of what he’s trying to do is add value to a stranded asset…he’s obviously got millions of dollars on the line.”
And so, potentially, does the Democrat Speaker of the House windily wagging her finger at the financial motivations of others.
I am sick and tired of the press tearing Bush / Cheney apart for having investments in oil or defense companies (hey, *I* have investments in oil and defense companies). There are plenty of republicans, democrats and independents that feel that our government is leading us to even further economic catastrophes under the guise of being green.
The democrats top dawg sits there and accuses people of being greedy and only interested in making a buck without regards to the environment, but let’s follow the money trail for a moment.
Pickens plan continues to unfold…..
Pelosi and the Big Win Boone-doggle
by Michelle Malkin
Creators SyndicateCopyright 2008
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called congressional Republicans who want up-or-down drilling votes “hand maidens of the oil companies.” Let’s call Pelosi what she is: House girl of the Big Wind boondogglers.
Though she seemingly backtracked on labeling drilling a “hoax” this week, Pelosi refuses to consider GOP energy proposals that don’t include massive government subsidies for eco-fantastical alternatives that have never panned out.
Which brings us to Madame Speaker’s 2007 financial disclosure form. Schedule III lists “assets and ‘unearned income’” of between $100,001-$250,000 from Clean Energy Fuels Corp. - Public Common Stock.” Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is a natural gas provider founded by T. Boone Pickens. Yep, that T. Boone Pickens– former oilman-turned-wind power evangelist whose ads touting a national wind campaign are now as ubiquitous as Viagra promos.
Pickens and Pelosi now share the same talking points downplaying the need to drill and open up more access to American oil. Instead, the Pickens pie-in-the-sky plan campaign proposes to completely replace natural gas with wind power in power generation and theoretically free up natural gas for America’s transportation needs.
All well and good in la-la land. But let’s be real about the limitations and costs of wind power. Past and ongoing experience has demonstrated the notorious unreliability of wind and the miserably low operating capacity of wind power facilities here and around the world. Depending on wind requires supplemental fossil fuel plants as back up to be turned on and off to compensate for wind power supply shortfalls– nullifying any reductions in carbon dioxide emissions (which are miniscule, according to the National Academy of Sciences).
Not to mention the thousands of sliced-up birds and other wildlife that have become wind power casualties (a problem that scientists say would be solved by “repowering” old turbines at a cost of untold billions).
Fittingly, the environmental mascot of the Democrat National Convention– the showcase of their alternative energy approach — is an eastern Colorado wind turbine propped up with Democrat carbon credit funds that has never produced any energy because of chronic equipment malfunctions.
But I digress.
Naturally, the Pickens Big Wind plan is proudly endorsed by Do-Nothing Pelosi’s friends at the obstructionist Sierra Club. Through another company, Mesa Power, Pickens has committed upwards of $12 billion in wind farms on the Texas panhandle. CEFC and Mesa Power are separate entities. But what benefits one piece of the Pickens puzzle benefits them all. The wind venture, as Pickens himself acknowledges, depends on permanent federal subsidies.
Pickens is banking on ‘em. And Pelosi’s banking on him.
As reported on #dontgomovement.com, Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Pickens’ CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering:
“She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high and municipal, state and even the Federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them becomes less and less attractive.”
CLNE also happens to be the sponsor of Proposition 10, a ballot initiative in Pelosi’s home state of California to dole out a combined $10 billion in state and federal funds for renewable energy incentives. Namely: Natural gas and wind.
Follow the money. Or, to put it in economist terms as energy analyst Kenneth Medlock III did in an interview with the Dallas Morning News about the Pickens multi-billion wind farm investment: “A lot of what he’s trying to do is add value to a stranded asset…he’s obviously got millions of dollars on the line.”
And so, potentially, does the Democrat Speaker of the House windily wagging her finger at the financial motivations of others.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Kudos to Visa Claims Services
Over a year ago I bought a Denon DVD up converting DVD player. It wasn’t exactly cheap, and it was before Blue Ray and HD DVD started having the serious wars. Just after the standard factory warranty was up the player started having problems.
I had remembered that Visa had a program to extend the factory warranties on products if you had made the purchase on your Visa card, which I had. I called them up and went through a fairly simple process of getting them a repair estimate so they could decide if they wanted to fix the player or replace it. I had a harder time getting the repair estimate than I had dealing with Visa. Visa even extended my deadline because I have been out of town so much.
When the repair estimate came back at just under $200 I was secretly hoping they would tell me to replace the DVD player with the new model, but they said to go ahead and fix it. I got the player back and it works great (btw – it had to have the entire laser transport assembly replaced!). After faxing the full invoice to Visa they had me a replacement check within the week!!
Thanks Visa!
I had remembered that Visa had a program to extend the factory warranties on products if you had made the purchase on your Visa card, which I had. I called them up and went through a fairly simple process of getting them a repair estimate so they could decide if they wanted to fix the player or replace it. I had a harder time getting the repair estimate than I had dealing with Visa. Visa even extended my deadline because I have been out of town so much.
When the repair estimate came back at just under $200 I was secretly hoping they would tell me to replace the DVD player with the new model, but they said to go ahead and fix it. I got the player back and it works great (btw – it had to have the entire laser transport assembly replaced!). After faxing the full invoice to Visa they had me a replacement check within the week!!
Thanks Visa!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Cheap Energy
I was working with some cost and energy use estimates to power a wi-fi shot at a ski resort. For kicks, I looked up what it might cost to install a solar system on my own house.
Using the web site’s calculator at http://www.wholesalesolar.com/ I came up with an average usage of 1245.385 KWH/Month. For me, most of that is in the summer when the AC bills are brutal.
I then estimated that I would like to produce 50% of my home’s energy needs via solar power and that according to the solar map I would receive 5 hours of peak sun per-day (obviously we get more, but this is the peak solar time).
The calculator estimated I needed 4151 Solar Watts to hit my target of 50%. Using the handy-dandy chart I looked up that a “complete” system would run me between $17,500 ~ $25,000!!!! Those costs don’t include freight (and there is a LOT of weight involved), tax (if any), installation, or battery backup. In all fairness there is a $2000 federal tax incentive.
If I keep using their averages I would need 23 175watt solar panels which gives me a size of 3,909 sq. feet (bigger than my house).
Let’s be nice and take into account the tax break, go with a “middle of the road” estimate and assume that I’d be enough of a moron to get up on my own roof and cover the entire thing in solar panels as well as part of my yard all on my own (i.e. no installation costs) which brings me to about $20,000 in costs.
If I saved 50% on my electric bill during maximum usage it would take me 200 months (or 16 years) and that’s a best case scenario. Of course, if we have a hailstorm which is not uncommon here I can expect to spend even more money repairing the panels and I’m not even taking that into consideration.
One added benefit may be that covering the entire house could conceivably keep it cooler as it would no longer get any direct sunlight on the roof.
Somehow I don’t see this as a practical scenario.
In CA they are going cover 12 square miles in solar panels to try to draw enough solar energy to meet the new 20% mandate of renewable energy that CA is forcing electric companies to meet.
Think about it. 12….square….miles of solar panels. You don’t think that impacts the environment?
Too Much Testosterone in One Place
I was out in Dallas today with the girl I am dating. We had to run a few errands and as it turns out one of them took my right past where they were holding a gun show. I needed some bulk ammo for a new gun I had recently purchased and asked her if she minded going inside for a bit (of course I promised not to stay long!).
We go inside and I tell her roughly what I am looking for and we finally find two vendors that happen to have fair prices on bulk .223 ammo. I check each vendor out and finally pick the one that has the best price on the ammo at $175 for 500 rounds. I ask the guy for a box and he whips out a calculator and I think he’s figuring tax. Then I get out my credit card and he punches in some more numbers and tells me that it will be 3% more to use a credit card.
I start to explain to the guy that it’s a violation of the merchant agreement with Visa and that he can’t do that but he won’t even listen to me and says it’s not against the law (actually, in the state of Texas it IS against the law). The price is his cash price. I asked him where the sign was that stated it was a cash price because the only signs I saw were advertised prices.
The guy was a real dickhead and I should have gotten his information, but I ended up going to the other vendor (who was much nicer) and getting the ammo.
The reason I should have gotten the guy’s information was because he was a dick. The top three violations of the cardholders / merchants agreement are:
1 – you cannot impose a minimum purchase price to use a Visa card.
2 – you cannot charge extra for using a credit card. This one is a bit tricky but it works like this. You have an advertised price, let’s say it’s $5.00. You can offer a discount against the advertised price for paying cash. You cannot charge more than the advertised price for using a credit card.
What is the difference? Quite simple. The advertised price is what gets you “into the store.” Not a big deal for me because I only had to walk a few feet in this case, but I’d be really pissed off if I pulled off the highway or drove out of my way for the advertised price only to be told it will be more with a credit card.
3 – you cannot refuse to run a credit card because the person chooses not to show you identification provided that the card is signed on the back.
Merchants violate these all the time, but I don’t think anyone does anything about it. I’m going to try to start reporting them because until someone does they’ll just keep doing it. I wrote Visa to ask what their procedure is when someone files a grievance, but I haven’t heard back. Seems silly to me if all they do is give them a warning. Who cares? That’s not going to stop someone like this dickhead from charging people.
But, as I found out today on the Attorney General’s web site for the state of TX it is in fact illegal to charge extra to use a credit card in the state of TX as it violates the Texas Finance Code. Again they can offer a cash discount, but they cannot charge extra based on the advertised price. There are some minor provisions for things like “convenience fees,” but they don’t apply for face-to-face meetings.
So I screwed up. I should have gotten that guys info and filed with both Visa and the AG. I guess if I was really smart I would have allowed him to charge my card, taken a photo of the advertised price, and then filed with Visa and the AG as well as filed a fraudulent charge for the 3% on the receipt and gotten that back, too.
PS – for those of you that like to write “please see ID” on the back of your card: That’s a violation of your agreement and a merchant may refuse to accept your credit card without penalty. It is part of your agreement to sign the back of the card.
As I am leaving the gun show with my ammo the very last vendor on the way out stops me (as he’s sitting in his chair with his gut hanging over his belt) and says “you didn’t just buy a bunch of re-loads, did you?”
I explained that I did. And he said that it was too bad because he had brand new manufacturer loads at 40-cents a piece. I explained that was more than I paid and he said “whatever…. it’s your gun.” WTF? Is everyone an asshole all of a sudden? First off, professional competition shooters use reloads – there is nothing wrong with them. Secondly, I had ½ a mind to tell this fat bastard that perhaps if he’d spring for a little extra cash he could have a better spot than right by the exit so that he could peddle his wares before people made their purchases.
I’ve never had a bad experience at a gun show and here was two back-to-back before I could get out the door. Actually, I think I’ll blame all this on my date…. She’s a liberal. I bet she was oozing liberalness and they could somehow sense it.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Environmentalist Theory
My father has an opinion that environmentalists are counter-productive for the continuing advancement of civilization. His opinion is that environmentalists are modern day Luddites. That’s a fairly strong opinion and the girl I date was a bit offended by it.
I’ve since been thinking about this quite a bit and have come up with some thoughts, ideas, and theories on the issue. I presented these to the girl I date who is a self-proclaimed tree-hugger and she strongly disagreed with me.
In any case I have been trying to break down what an environmentalist is down to the very core or essence of environmentalism.
Three common dictionary definitions are:
1.
an expert on environmental problems.
2.
any person who advocates or works to protect the air, water, animals, plants, and other natural resources from pollution or its effects.
3.
a person who believes that differences between individuals or groups, esp. in moral and intellectual attributes, are predominantly determined by environmental factors, as surroundings, upbringing, or experience (opposed to hereditarian).
Definition #2 is the one I wanted to focus on as this is close enough to what people think of when they hear the word “environmentalism” or “green.” When one thinks of the “protect” you have to then ask what are we protecting the environment from? The definition above indicates pollution or it’s effects. You could break this down even further and go to define pollution. But what causes pollution? It’s mankind.
Essentially my theory works like this: At the very core and extreme edge of environmentalism is a movement to have as little impact on the earth as possible. If we work within the raw context of this the ultimate goal would be to have zero impact on the environment and the only way to do this is if mankind did not exist.
Obviously we (mankind) do exist and so this is not possible but I promise that some nutbag out there is trying to figure out a way to exterminate us to save the planet. The other issue I have with this that mankind is part of the system and the environment we are not separate from it, and within this we must find some balance.
I think that the Eskimos, native Indians, etc. are probably the closest form of true and reasonable environmentalists. Within the confines of extreme environmentalism they had learned to coexist with the planet and very little impact to the environment. They took very little from the land or animals and when they migrated within their territories the land and environment were essential no worse for wear.
My theory continues by advocating that if you wanted to be a true environmentalist you would have some land. You would farm the land without raping it because you would not be producing commercially available crops. You would grow trees and utilize them to build your house. You would have no electricity, no running water, and no goods available in a grocery store because any of the three would require some form of modern day environmental impact (steel, copper, metal, gas to farm and deliver groceries, etc.) That’s extreme environmentalism. You can see we are getting back to the native Indians prior to the invasion of the white man.
But again, this is not realistic and if you think of what my father says then we are on the same page because any modern day advancement has an impact on the environment. So what we really get down to is a compromise. What is an acceptable impact to the environment? I used an example of riding a bicycle. Modern day environmentalist ride a bicycle so that they don’t have to burn gas or support the manufacturing of automobiles. But there is a fallacy in this way of thinking. The bicycle itself impacts the environment via production. There is plant where the bicycle is made. People have to get to the plant. Raw materials are utilized and how do you think they appear? Certainly not by magic. And once the bicycle is manufactured it is shipped to a retail outlet where you purchase the bike. Again, all of this has an impact on the environment. The counter-argument? That the bicycle as used by the individual has less impact on the environment than an automobile and I completely agree with this.
That same person may ride their bike home to where they have modern day conveniences like electricity, a television, and running water. Again, they are getting away from their core values but I can guarantee they have found some form of acceptability because it fits within confines of their values and compromises. I, too, fall into this category because while I love my house, toys, etc., I don’t want to harm the environment any more than I have to in order to live my life the way I want to.
But this is part of the problem. Even the environmentalist can’t agree on what is right and what is wrong with trying to save the environment. Some environmentalists care more about the animals. Some care more about the water or the land. Some care more about fellow man and it goes on and on and on. Ultimately, we get back to the root of environmentalism and someone, somewhere, is going to be unhappy at whatever impact modern day progress is making. Don’t burn fossil fuels they pollute the air and cause global warming (SIC). Don’t put up windmills because they kill birds. Don’t put up solar panels because they impact terra firma. Don’t use wave and tidal technology because they impact the sea. Don’t do this, don’t do that, etc.
And ultimately what is the answer? There isn’t one. We have to find some semblance of balance between environmentalism and progress. In theory our system of democracy should achieve this, but it may take a long time. If you really want to reduce the impact on the environment stop breeding. Stop making babies and stop increasing the earth’s population every year. Balance it out. We have finite resources yet we treat the planet as if we can just keep on taking more and more from it without impacting something else. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I believe it was George Carlin that said it best, though. He was doing a stand-up skit and said environmentalists were full of shit. Why? If you had a nuclear holocaust and wiped out mankind and burned the earth before throwing it into a post-nuclear winter the earth would survive. It might take a billion years but it would come back long after mankind had ceased to roam the planet. The point? We aren’t saving the planet for the planet’s sake, we are saving it for mankind’s sake.
Hey, I didn’t say it. And now I have to go get ready for another trip on an airplane.
I’ve since been thinking about this quite a bit and have come up with some thoughts, ideas, and theories on the issue. I presented these to the girl I date who is a self-proclaimed tree-hugger and she strongly disagreed with me.
In any case I have been trying to break down what an environmentalist is down to the very core or essence of environmentalism.
Three common dictionary definitions are:
1.
an expert on environmental problems.
2.
any person who advocates or works to protect the air, water, animals, plants, and other natural resources from pollution or its effects.
3.
a person who believes that differences between individuals or groups, esp. in moral and intellectual attributes, are predominantly determined by environmental factors, as surroundings, upbringing, or experience (opposed to hereditarian).
Definition #2 is the one I wanted to focus on as this is close enough to what people think of when they hear the word “environmentalism” or “green.” When one thinks of the “protect” you have to then ask what are we protecting the environment from? The definition above indicates pollution or it’s effects. You could break this down even further and go to define pollution. But what causes pollution? It’s mankind.
Essentially my theory works like this: At the very core and extreme edge of environmentalism is a movement to have as little impact on the earth as possible. If we work within the raw context of this the ultimate goal would be to have zero impact on the environment and the only way to do this is if mankind did not exist.
Obviously we (mankind) do exist and so this is not possible but I promise that some nutbag out there is trying to figure out a way to exterminate us to save the planet. The other issue I have with this that mankind is part of the system and the environment we are not separate from it, and within this we must find some balance.
I think that the Eskimos, native Indians, etc. are probably the closest form of true and reasonable environmentalists. Within the confines of extreme environmentalism they had learned to coexist with the planet and very little impact to the environment. They took very little from the land or animals and when they migrated within their territories the land and environment were essential no worse for wear.
My theory continues by advocating that if you wanted to be a true environmentalist you would have some land. You would farm the land without raping it because you would not be producing commercially available crops. You would grow trees and utilize them to build your house. You would have no electricity, no running water, and no goods available in a grocery store because any of the three would require some form of modern day environmental impact (steel, copper, metal, gas to farm and deliver groceries, etc.) That’s extreme environmentalism. You can see we are getting back to the native Indians prior to the invasion of the white man.
But again, this is not realistic and if you think of what my father says then we are on the same page because any modern day advancement has an impact on the environment. So what we really get down to is a compromise. What is an acceptable impact to the environment? I used an example of riding a bicycle. Modern day environmentalist ride a bicycle so that they don’t have to burn gas or support the manufacturing of automobiles. But there is a fallacy in this way of thinking. The bicycle itself impacts the environment via production. There is plant where the bicycle is made. People have to get to the plant. Raw materials are utilized and how do you think they appear? Certainly not by magic. And once the bicycle is manufactured it is shipped to a retail outlet where you purchase the bike. Again, all of this has an impact on the environment. The counter-argument? That the bicycle as used by the individual has less impact on the environment than an automobile and I completely agree with this.
That same person may ride their bike home to where they have modern day conveniences like electricity, a television, and running water. Again, they are getting away from their core values but I can guarantee they have found some form of acceptability because it fits within confines of their values and compromises. I, too, fall into this category because while I love my house, toys, etc., I don’t want to harm the environment any more than I have to in order to live my life the way I want to.
But this is part of the problem. Even the environmentalist can’t agree on what is right and what is wrong with trying to save the environment. Some environmentalists care more about the animals. Some care more about the water or the land. Some care more about fellow man and it goes on and on and on. Ultimately, we get back to the root of environmentalism and someone, somewhere, is going to be unhappy at whatever impact modern day progress is making. Don’t burn fossil fuels they pollute the air and cause global warming (SIC). Don’t put up windmills because they kill birds. Don’t put up solar panels because they impact terra firma. Don’t use wave and tidal technology because they impact the sea. Don’t do this, don’t do that, etc.
And ultimately what is the answer? There isn’t one. We have to find some semblance of balance between environmentalism and progress. In theory our system of democracy should achieve this, but it may take a long time. If you really want to reduce the impact on the environment stop breeding. Stop making babies and stop increasing the earth’s population every year. Balance it out. We have finite resources yet we treat the planet as if we can just keep on taking more and more from it without impacting something else. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I believe it was George Carlin that said it best, though. He was doing a stand-up skit and said environmentalists were full of shit. Why? If you had a nuclear holocaust and wiped out mankind and burned the earth before throwing it into a post-nuclear winter the earth would survive. It might take a billion years but it would come back long after mankind had ceased to roam the planet. The point? We aren’t saving the planet for the planet’s sake, we are saving it for mankind’s sake.
Hey, I didn’t say it. And now I have to go get ready for another trip on an airplane.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Travel Gods Still Pissed Off
When we left out of Bozeman headed for Atlanta the weather report was moderate winds and party cloudy skies in ATL. Those turned into gale force winds, and huge-ass thunderheads. I think one of them actually looked like my third grade teacher....
Anyway, I was thinking "so much for partly cloudy" as I was cinching my seat belt tighter when the captain came on the p.a., said it was going to be rough and for the flight attends to sit the fuck down!
We flew through a thunder cell. This was not fun. It wasn't as bad as the Ireland fiasco, but it wasn't far from it. People were white-knuckling whatever they could get their hands on and literally screaming in terror as the plane would drop or be violently thrown side to side. I guess some people pay for this type of thing at amusement parks, but I'm not particularly sadistic in this regard and didn't enjoy it much. At least nobody was puking.
This was on a 757 and so I'm thinking the whole time - now what did Mrs. Bling! and Bling! me about tolerances? What about those rivets and stress fractures, etc. etc. as the wing is "cycling." That's a nice way of saying that it reminded me of a diving board after a fat bastard just went off into the deep end. And nobody says much when your iPod is floating off your lap.
But, yes....we made it....to another airport. Mainly because after flying through the cell it was decided that it was too dangerous to land. We made it to a regional airport and waited to get re-fueled (Bling! does this sound familiar?). They wouldn't let us off the plane so I was walking around and started talking to the captain. He was pulling up the weather radar on his do-hickey and was showing me the huge-ass red cell that we just flew through. I couldn't tell, but I think he was actually bragging a little bit. I wanted to wring his neck.
Anyway, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to Bling! and Mrs. Bling! for all the tin files and things they have told me over the years. I put it to good use up there.
But it wasn’t over, yet….because we flew back to ATL and of course all the connecting flights were either gone or cancelled. So there was about…oh…the entire population of Georgia at the airport trying to get their bags, a hotel, a car, something to eat, you name it.
Delta already had me re-booked on the first flight out and a voucher for a discount at a hotel. So I called the hotel and they wouldn’t answer the phone….at all…..ever… so I gave up and scrambled for the “courtesy” phone wall and began calling all the hotels in the area. I lucked out (?) and got a roach-infested flea-bag hotel for $100.00. Now all I had to do was grab a shuttle.
Let me tell you that ATL has got the most fucked up, ass-backwards, inefficient shuttle and bus system I have ever seen at an airport. It was a disaster. It was crowded to the point of not being able to move, everybody was pissed off, and nobody could get to their shuttles because nobody knew where they would park, there were no lines, it was complete chaos, and it was hot. Isn’t that a great combo??
After being pissed off for another hour or so I finally gave up and grabbed a taxi. I got to the roach motel about 1:00am and then was able to get a pizza delivered (I hadn’t eaten in about 12 hours at this point) and crashed about 2:00am. BTW, did I mention that the floor at the hotel was slimy? It was rather disgusting and of course my luggage was “in transit” and I had no fresh clothes after sweating my balls off at the shuttle service.
You might recall I said I had the first flight out and I finally got crashed about 2:00am. So after four hours of broken sleep I made it to the airport to grab the flight. I obviously still haven’t appeased the travel gods.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Scream!
Remember my Costa Rica trip? Do you recall when I mentioned that one of the girls was terrified on the Zip Line tour, but did it anyway? Well, finally I have aquired the photo of her doing the Tarzan swing. I know, I am truly a bastard for posting this….but I just had to.
Is this a look of sheer terror or what?
Fat Bastards Are About to be Outlawed!
It’s ironic, but all the time I try to tell people that if you let the government do it they will take away your rights. Surprisingly enough, most people either don’t believe it or choose to not do anything about it. Some of them even go so far as to encourage it provided that it supports their agenda.
Recently there has been a moratorium by the LA City Council in which they are banning any new fast food restaurants. Their reasoning? Poor people eat like shit and that they must save them from themselves by restricting their choices of food. Today they can’t go so far as to tell them they can’t eat that food. They just might have to go out of the city to find it.
The fast food restaurants countered by indicating that they have some healthy stuff on their menu and that it’s not where you eat, but what you eat. I agree.
Now, I completely agree it costs less money to eat like crap than to eat healthy. I have this problem all the time – especially being on the road. But the article also failed to mention that the majority of people in the LA area are either Hispanic or black and that both of these minorities have a cultural diet laden with fatty foods.
So let’s say you ban fast food from the area. Do you think a Whole Foods Market is going to go an area that is poor and can’t afford their products? Do you see a Del Friscos moving into a crime ridden and poor community? I don’t fucking think so, Tim.
Besides, as far as I am concerned if you want to be a Hamdog eating machine, sucking down cream soda while laying waste to an entire truck full of Oreos you should be able to do that.
But think about this….if “they” can make it illegal for fast food restaurants to do business we aren’t too far off from making it illegal, or fining / taxing you, for being a fat bastard.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Here is an article from The Consumerist. It's a classic example of how we have screwed ourselves into the credit crisis.
The New York Times has an article that tells the unfortunate tale of Diane McLeod and her love affair with debt. She started out "debt free" when she got married, but after a divorce she'd managed to accrue $25,000 in credit card debt. Despite not having a down payment or any assets, Diane was given a $135,000 mortgage. Over the next few years, illness, underemployment, and shockingly irresponsible spending combined disastrously with the bank's willingness to refinance her loan as her home appreciated (for a fee, of course). 5 years later, Diane owes $237,000 on her mortgage. She's in foreclosure now, and a recent sheriff's auction of the home did not draw a single bidder. A similar house down the street recently sold for $84,000 less than she owes on her home.
The NYT says there is a bright spot at the end of the tunnel for Diane. She's still getting credit card offers from "Urban Bank."
I blame the banks and executives for being greedy. But! I also blame people like Diane for being morons. This complete lack of responsibility is her own fault.
The New York Times has an article that tells the unfortunate tale of Diane McLeod and her love affair with debt. She started out "debt free" when she got married, but after a divorce she'd managed to accrue $25,000 in credit card debt. Despite not having a down payment or any assets, Diane was given a $135,000 mortgage. Over the next few years, illness, underemployment, and shockingly irresponsible spending combined disastrously with the bank's willingness to refinance her loan as her home appreciated (for a fee, of course). 5 years later, Diane owes $237,000 on her mortgage. She's in foreclosure now, and a recent sheriff's auction of the home did not draw a single bidder. A similar house down the street recently sold for $84,000 less than she owes on her home.
The NYT says there is a bright spot at the end of the tunnel for Diane. She's still getting credit card offers from "Urban Bank."
I blame the banks and executives for being greedy. But! I also blame people like Diane for being morons. This complete lack of responsibility is her own fault.
Gas at the Pump
It’s sad. I went to the pump a few days ago and put $85.00 worth into my truck. The pump cut me off at that point and I still wasn’t full. I’m glad I have a motorcycle, but I wish I had more room to carry stuff on it.
Jack Daniels at the Bank!
I took my “penny jar” with me into the bank last week. I always put all the change from my pockets into the jar at the end of the day. I am the kind of person that will pick up pennies and other coins when I find them on the ground. I also get a lot of silver in there. I don’t understand why people don’t keep their coins? It’s still money and it still spends. I typically average between $175 ~ $225 when the jar is filled, which takes about 2 years.
Everyone at the bank got a kick out of my jar. It’s a ½-gallon of Jack Daniels. You can probably imagine the usual comments such as “did you have fun drinking that?” or “I sure wish I had some.” Etc. I guess people don’t do that every day.
The bank charges about $3.50 to count your coins for you. It’s not worth my time to count it all up so I dumped it in one of their bags and they send it off to the vault for counting. I’ll find out how much it was in a week or so.
Obama or McCain?
To quote a friend of mine....
"I'm truly concerned that if Obama gets elected we are all fucked. At least if McCain gets elected he'll use lube."
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Wasted Time
I added it up and between June 30th and July 12th I have an accumulative total of about 62 hours of travel time. Somehow I still managed to squeeze in a full work-week, too. It didn’t help that I was supposed to get from DFW to SJC and had a layover flight. It was delayed, and that caused me to miss the last flight out of San Diego (the connecting airport) to SJC. I had to get a hotel for the night. And yes, this is not even the same trip as the DIA fiasco I just mentioned.
Rude People
People are just rude. When I was on this last trip there was this lesbian / dyke chick and her son / daughter. I’m not sure if it was a boy or a girl for sure one way or the other. It looked like a boy, but she / he had fingernail polish on so I wasn’t sure.
We were all on the flight together and not-so-oddly enough ended up at the same car rental agency once we landed in San Jose. I was in a pretty foul mood at this point because although I had spent about 20 hours traveling my client had left me VM while I was in the air that the project was postponed. I figured I would go ahead and get the car and get something done while in CA. I needed a morale booster so I got a convertible. They had a red Mitsubishi for rent so that’s what I got.
Right before I signed the paperwork the agent next to me said “where did the red car go?” I looked up and it was the lesbian and her son / daughter standing there. We figured out that I had just swiped the red car. They had two others so I asked the lady if she really wanted the red one. She said yes. I didn’t care either way so I told the agents to give her the car and I’d take another color. The agents were a little put off by this but re-did the paperwork. I took a burnt-orange one (cooler color anyway). Through all of this the dyke-chick didn’t say one word to either myself or the agents. Not a quick thank you, not anything.
I was half tempted to tell the agent “fuck her rude ass, give me back the red one.”
We were all on the flight together and not-so-oddly enough ended up at the same car rental agency once we landed in San Jose. I was in a pretty foul mood at this point because although I had spent about 20 hours traveling my client had left me VM while I was in the air that the project was postponed. I figured I would go ahead and get the car and get something done while in CA. I needed a morale booster so I got a convertible. They had a red Mitsubishi for rent so that’s what I got.
Right before I signed the paperwork the agent next to me said “where did the red car go?” I looked up and it was the lesbian and her son / daughter standing there. We figured out that I had just swiped the red car. They had two others so I asked the lady if she really wanted the red one. She said yes. I didn’t care either way so I told the agents to give her the car and I’d take another color. The agents were a little put off by this but re-did the paperwork. I took a burnt-orange one (cooler color anyway). Through all of this the dyke-chick didn’t say one word to either myself or the agents. Not a quick thank you, not anything.
I was half tempted to tell the agent “fuck her rude ass, give me back the red one.”
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Pissing Off The Travel Gods
I must have really rubbed someone the wrong way. All of my last few trips have been nightmares in some way, shape, form or fashion lately.
it doesn't help that the airlines are totally jacked up right now. They are overcharging, over selling flights, and implementing policies that make it more difficult to get on and off the airplane. I've heard figures that up to 90% of all flights are delayed, and I'd say based on my experiences this is true.
I was in Montana for the 4th of July weekend. I had a great time and flew home on Monday. I took a morning flight because it was the only thing I could get at a reasonable price. I hate morning flights. I hate getting up at the crack of dawn to catch a plane. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Some of my colleagues love it because the first flight of the day is already at the gate and ready to go.
But not mine. Nope! I get up at 5:00am and make my way to the airport to find out my flight is going to be delayed. To make it better, my connecting flight is also delayed out of DIA. I've said it a thousand times. DIA sucks. I get fucked every time I go through there, but at least I'll make my connecting flight.
And I did....mainly because it was delayed by 5.5 hours! By the time I got back into TX I had been traveling for over 12 hours. That's ridiculous when you really think about it.
And then the fun starts. I am supposed to work on some gear at my house and ship it off to China prior to catching a flight out Tuesday afternoon. You are following this right? Get home late Monday night, fly out Tuesday afternoon.
Monday morning I get up early and the gear has been ordered wrong so I need new parts. I ship it to CA where I am about to fly to so I can work on it there. I get my laundry done and my friend comes to pick me up. Before I even leave the house the flight is delayed. Give me a fucking break. And it really chaps my ass that you still have to check in "on time" or they will fuck you at the ticket counter.
Fine. Get to the airport. The flight is 1.5 hours delayed by the time they board the plane. We get on the plane, they pull out from the gate and park it while a storm comes in. WTF? WHY do they make us get on the plane and back off the gate if we have already blown the on-time-departure metric by 1.5hrs and then park us in a tin-can if they know we aren't getting off the ground?
I sit on the plane for about 45 mins. There are 40 planes stacked up in front of us but we finally get off the ground and are gone. There is no way I am making my connection in San Diego unless it was heinously late, too. And of course, it wasn't. So I missed it. Sorry, last flight out. You're fucked!
I spend the night in San Diego and go back to the airport this morning. I get on a flight that almost made it out on time. I fly to San Jose and I get off the plane and listen to my VM. My client has postponed the job I was supposed to do. 22 hours of traveling at this point, car is paid for, hotel is paid for and now I am in San Jose with a billion other things I could have been working on and they postpone while I am in the air.
What the hell did I do to piss the travel gods off so much? I have no idea, but I am going to KFC tonight and sacrificing a bucket of chicken in my hotel room with some candles. I may even smear peanut butter on myself.
it doesn't help that the airlines are totally jacked up right now. They are overcharging, over selling flights, and implementing policies that make it more difficult to get on and off the airplane. I've heard figures that up to 90% of all flights are delayed, and I'd say based on my experiences this is true.
I was in Montana for the 4th of July weekend. I had a great time and flew home on Monday. I took a morning flight because it was the only thing I could get at a reasonable price. I hate morning flights. I hate getting up at the crack of dawn to catch a plane. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Some of my colleagues love it because the first flight of the day is already at the gate and ready to go.
But not mine. Nope! I get up at 5:00am and make my way to the airport to find out my flight is going to be delayed. To make it better, my connecting flight is also delayed out of DIA. I've said it a thousand times. DIA sucks. I get fucked every time I go through there, but at least I'll make my connecting flight.
And I did....mainly because it was delayed by 5.5 hours! By the time I got back into TX I had been traveling for over 12 hours. That's ridiculous when you really think about it.
And then the fun starts. I am supposed to work on some gear at my house and ship it off to China prior to catching a flight out Tuesday afternoon. You are following this right? Get home late Monday night, fly out Tuesday afternoon.
Monday morning I get up early and the gear has been ordered wrong so I need new parts. I ship it to CA where I am about to fly to so I can work on it there. I get my laundry done and my friend comes to pick me up. Before I even leave the house the flight is delayed. Give me a fucking break. And it really chaps my ass that you still have to check in "on time" or they will fuck you at the ticket counter.
Fine. Get to the airport. The flight is 1.5 hours delayed by the time they board the plane. We get on the plane, they pull out from the gate and park it while a storm comes in. WTF? WHY do they make us get on the plane and back off the gate if we have already blown the on-time-departure metric by 1.5hrs and then park us in a tin-can if they know we aren't getting off the ground?
I sit on the plane for about 45 mins. There are 40 planes stacked up in front of us but we finally get off the ground and are gone. There is no way I am making my connection in San Diego unless it was heinously late, too. And of course, it wasn't. So I missed it. Sorry, last flight out. You're fucked!
I spend the night in San Diego and go back to the airport this morning. I get on a flight that almost made it out on time. I fly to San Jose and I get off the plane and listen to my VM. My client has postponed the job I was supposed to do. 22 hours of traveling at this point, car is paid for, hotel is paid for and now I am in San Jose with a billion other things I could have been working on and they postpone while I am in the air.
What the hell did I do to piss the travel gods off so much? I have no idea, but I am going to KFC tonight and sacrificing a bucket of chicken in my hotel room with some candles. I may even smear peanut butter on myself.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Consumer Confidence Sucks
One of the sights I like to read frequently is The Consumerist. It’s a great website with all kinds of useful information pertaining to consumers. These folks have even been able to help some people out by showing them how to properly write a complaint letter, tell them who to send it to, and have even put pressure on the entity in question to get answers.
But one thing I have also noticed is that if you read the site long enough you’ll find that consumers are fed up with Wall-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and all the other big chains. They are also fed up with American Airlines, United, Delta, etc. Keep reading the site long enough and you’ll start to wonder where can you go to buy that big-screen TV, blender or your next plane ticket.
We may not technically be in a recession, but I think if you ask the average person they’ll tell you that things are bad right now. Gasoline is up and the trickle down effect is horrible. Add that to the shrinking value of the dollar and we are setting ourselves up for even more problems. And sure, that is part of it. But here is the catch:
Americans are still buying as much oil as they were before it skyrocketed. They are still buying as much food, clothing, electronics, etc. People are still spending money, which is why we aren’t in a recession.
But what I think is happening is that consumers have no confidence in retailers and are fed up with what they are getting for their money. Pretty much everyone has a horror story about getting screwed by some commercial entity. But now, it’s almost as if it’s the norm. Promises that are broken, abysmal customer service, horrible business practices, etc. That’s why people are fed up. Not only are we paying more, we are getting less product, a less than favorable experience and the market is basically telling us “tough shit.”
But one thing I have also noticed is that if you read the site long enough you’ll find that consumers are fed up with Wall-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and all the other big chains. They are also fed up with American Airlines, United, Delta, etc. Keep reading the site long enough and you’ll start to wonder where can you go to buy that big-screen TV, blender or your next plane ticket.
We may not technically be in a recession, but I think if you ask the average person they’ll tell you that things are bad right now. Gasoline is up and the trickle down effect is horrible. Add that to the shrinking value of the dollar and we are setting ourselves up for even more problems. And sure, that is part of it. But here is the catch:
Americans are still buying as much oil as they were before it skyrocketed. They are still buying as much food, clothing, electronics, etc. People are still spending money, which is why we aren’t in a recession.
But what I think is happening is that consumers have no confidence in retailers and are fed up with what they are getting for their money. Pretty much everyone has a horror story about getting screwed by some commercial entity. But now, it’s almost as if it’s the norm. Promises that are broken, abysmal customer service, horrible business practices, etc. That’s why people are fed up. Not only are we paying more, we are getting less product, a less than favorable experience and the market is basically telling us “tough shit.”
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I am a Fashion Victim!
I was told this once by a girl I was dating. It drove her nuts that I wasn’t into the latest fashion trends and tended to dress comfortable and inexpensively (i.e. slob). I remember on one specific occasion we were about to go off to a very casual party at some friends (mostly hers) house. I can’t remember if I had on jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and a t-shirt but that was it. She asked if I was really going “like that” and I explained that I was. She obviously didn’t like it and so I told her in no uncertain terms that if she didn’t like the way I was dressed then I’d be staying home. She went on to tell me how it was embarrassing because it looked like I couldn’t afford clothes. I explained to her that I already made more money than just about everyone there and I didn’t give a fuck what they thought about me.
I went to the party, and nobody seemed to care how I was dressed. Maybe they did care and were talking behind my back. I didn’t care. I had a good time and I was comfortable.
So maybe I am a fashion victim, but then again maybe I’m not. Maybe you are the fashion victim! I certainly have no desire to keep up with the Jones’s. I don’t care about designer clothes and trying to fit in with the trendy crowd. My wallet doesn’t shrink just because some movie star started wearing the same style of sunglasses Elton John wore back the 60’s.
But I do have to buy clothes from time to time. Oh sure, I pretty much wear what I have until they have holes in them and are falling apart, but eventually I have to have new stuff. I can’t stand shopping. I hate department stores. I hate all the Yentas with their kids in strollers. I hate the prices and I hate the lines. If I could do drive-through shopping or call my order in ahead of time I just might do that. That would work for most of my stuff, but sure enough I do have to actually look at some things and try them on before I will know if I like them.
So here are some of my major pet peeves with fashion at the moment:
Elton John sunglasses that make you look like an ET.
These are just hideous, OK? They went out in the 60’s for a reason. And not only are people buying them, they are buying them in droves. The designers got in on it and are stamping them with their logos and charging a butload of money for about $3.00 worth of plastic and manufacturing. Slave to fashion.
Sagging
A black guy once told me that this arose from prison wear. Prisoners would be issued pants and would not be allowed to have a belt while on suicide watch (standard for new prisoners) so their pants would sag. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s plausible. In any case, I am all about functional clothing. If you can’t walk right, can’t run, and can’t use one hand because your pants are falling off then you are a slave to fashion because you are well beyond the limit of functionality. To me, you look like a tard that doesn’t know how to buy the right sized clothes.
Shorts
I love shorts. I’m a very warm natured person and I get hot really quick so shorts are vital part of my wardrobe. But I do not understand why shorts have gotten so long that you might as well be wearing pants. With the exception of a specialized short (i.e. running shorts or climbing shorts) shorts should be roughly knee length give or take an inch or so. But now days the trend is for shorts to be half-way (or more) down you shin. When I was growing up these were called highwaters and you would get made fun of for wearing them. WTF is the point in this trend? It’s not much cooler than a pair of pants. Combine it with sagging and you get a bunch of guys that look like they are wearing skirts! Tards…
Sandals
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I cannot stand flip-flops on men. It looks and sounds totally retarded. It also perpetuates the entire slacker shuffle-your-feet-and-make-noise attitude that I can’t stand. Be a real man and put some fucking shoes on your feet. Ever see a guy get into a fight with flip flops on? It’s hard to be macho and intimidating to another guy when you get ready to throw down and your shoes are flip-flopping all over the place and as soon as you start to scrap those things are off your feet and you have no traction.
But that’s the fashion trend. It’s almost all flip flops out there. There aren’t many sandals left. And don’t give me a shoe that is mostly nagahyde, leather, vinyl, or human-skin that has vent-holes either. I want an open-toed sandal that has a strap on the front, one across the top part of your ankle, and one on the back to hold the sucker in place. Think of a sports-sandal. Those are great, but it would be nice to have one that is made in a material that looks good in a restaurant, too. I’ve been searching for weeks and I’ve found TWO that look like this. One wasn’t my size and one was $125 – are you fucking high?
Designer Crap, Logos, and Price
First off, I’m an admitted cheap bastard. As an example, I’m not spending $125 on a pair of sandals. Give me a good, quality pair of Italian leather shoes and I might spend even more on them. But not on a sandal.
People have gotten out of control with the whole designer thing. I don’t care if it says Mossimo on it. It doesn’t mean that it is any better than something else. In fact, most of the big designers are employing the use of sweat shops in other countries so that they can crank out their product faster putting more of it on the racks so that your hard earned dollars fly out of your wallet even faster.
And what do you do? You pay more for it. You pay more for it to say Mossimo, or Abercrombie and Fitch. $60 for a plain cotton t-shirt with a logo on it? Really?
And just what are you paying for? For the privilege of advertising for these people!!! I don’t mind if a shirt has a logo on it, but don’t splash it across the whole shirt and expect me to pay even more money to advertise for you. I have several Nike t-shirts that have mostly been given to me as gifts. Every single one of them has faded inside of a few weeks and most of them fell apart not long after. My cheap-ass, freebie, Mars t-shirt that was given to me at a promo deal years ago? Still as black as the day I got it and still holding up.
The last round of shirts I bought cost me $15.00 at target, don’t have fancy logos on them, and keep me cool and comfortable. If I want a $60.00 shirt it’s going to be a lot nicer than the crap people are putting on their bodies to hang out in.
And what about good merchandise? I have no problem paying good money for good merchandise as is evidenced by my sunglasses, suits, dress shirts, etc.
So you can probably see why I hate shopping for clothes. The current fashion trends drive me up the wall and they aren’t cheap. It’s getting harder to find good, quality clothes at a reasonable price that don’t make you look like a slave to the fashion mill.
I went to the party, and nobody seemed to care how I was dressed. Maybe they did care and were talking behind my back. I didn’t care. I had a good time and I was comfortable.
So maybe I am a fashion victim, but then again maybe I’m not. Maybe you are the fashion victim! I certainly have no desire to keep up with the Jones’s. I don’t care about designer clothes and trying to fit in with the trendy crowd. My wallet doesn’t shrink just because some movie star started wearing the same style of sunglasses Elton John wore back the 60’s.
But I do have to buy clothes from time to time. Oh sure, I pretty much wear what I have until they have holes in them and are falling apart, but eventually I have to have new stuff. I can’t stand shopping. I hate department stores. I hate all the Yentas with their kids in strollers. I hate the prices and I hate the lines. If I could do drive-through shopping or call my order in ahead of time I just might do that. That would work for most of my stuff, but sure enough I do have to actually look at some things and try them on before I will know if I like them.
So here are some of my major pet peeves with fashion at the moment:
Elton John sunglasses that make you look like an ET.
These are just hideous, OK? They went out in the 60’s for a reason. And not only are people buying them, they are buying them in droves. The designers got in on it and are stamping them with their logos and charging a butload of money for about $3.00 worth of plastic and manufacturing. Slave to fashion.
Sagging
A black guy once told me that this arose from prison wear. Prisoners would be issued pants and would not be allowed to have a belt while on suicide watch (standard for new prisoners) so their pants would sag. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s plausible. In any case, I am all about functional clothing. If you can’t walk right, can’t run, and can’t use one hand because your pants are falling off then you are a slave to fashion because you are well beyond the limit of functionality. To me, you look like a tard that doesn’t know how to buy the right sized clothes.
Shorts
I love shorts. I’m a very warm natured person and I get hot really quick so shorts are vital part of my wardrobe. But I do not understand why shorts have gotten so long that you might as well be wearing pants. With the exception of a specialized short (i.e. running shorts or climbing shorts) shorts should be roughly knee length give or take an inch or so. But now days the trend is for shorts to be half-way (or more) down you shin. When I was growing up these were called highwaters and you would get made fun of for wearing them. WTF is the point in this trend? It’s not much cooler than a pair of pants. Combine it with sagging and you get a bunch of guys that look like they are wearing skirts! Tards…
Sandals
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I cannot stand flip-flops on men. It looks and sounds totally retarded. It also perpetuates the entire slacker shuffle-your-feet-and-make-noise attitude that I can’t stand. Be a real man and put some fucking shoes on your feet. Ever see a guy get into a fight with flip flops on? It’s hard to be macho and intimidating to another guy when you get ready to throw down and your shoes are flip-flopping all over the place and as soon as you start to scrap those things are off your feet and you have no traction.
But that’s the fashion trend. It’s almost all flip flops out there. There aren’t many sandals left. And don’t give me a shoe that is mostly nagahyde, leather, vinyl, or human-skin that has vent-holes either. I want an open-toed sandal that has a strap on the front, one across the top part of your ankle, and one on the back to hold the sucker in place. Think of a sports-sandal. Those are great, but it would be nice to have one that is made in a material that looks good in a restaurant, too. I’ve been searching for weeks and I’ve found TWO that look like this. One wasn’t my size and one was $125 – are you fucking high?
Designer Crap, Logos, and Price
First off, I’m an admitted cheap bastard. As an example, I’m not spending $125 on a pair of sandals. Give me a good, quality pair of Italian leather shoes and I might spend even more on them. But not on a sandal.
People have gotten out of control with the whole designer thing. I don’t care if it says Mossimo on it. It doesn’t mean that it is any better than something else. In fact, most of the big designers are employing the use of sweat shops in other countries so that they can crank out their product faster putting more of it on the racks so that your hard earned dollars fly out of your wallet even faster.
And what do you do? You pay more for it. You pay more for it to say Mossimo, or Abercrombie and Fitch. $60 for a plain cotton t-shirt with a logo on it? Really?
And just what are you paying for? For the privilege of advertising for these people!!! I don’t mind if a shirt has a logo on it, but don’t splash it across the whole shirt and expect me to pay even more money to advertise for you. I have several Nike t-shirts that have mostly been given to me as gifts. Every single one of them has faded inside of a few weeks and most of them fell apart not long after. My cheap-ass, freebie, Mars t-shirt that was given to me at a promo deal years ago? Still as black as the day I got it and still holding up.
The last round of shirts I bought cost me $15.00 at target, don’t have fancy logos on them, and keep me cool and comfortable. If I want a $60.00 shirt it’s going to be a lot nicer than the crap people are putting on their bodies to hang out in.
And what about good merchandise? I have no problem paying good money for good merchandise as is evidenced by my sunglasses, suits, dress shirts, etc.
So you can probably see why I hate shopping for clothes. The current fashion trends drive me up the wall and they aren’t cheap. It’s getting harder to find good, quality clothes at a reasonable price that don’t make you look like a slave to the fashion mill.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Seven Words You Can’t Say
George Carlin died yesterday. I loved George Carlin. His crass and cynical New York sense of humor really appealed to me for some reason. Maybe it’s because I am such a smart-ass myself.
He had a different way of looking at things and sometimes that perspective was very refreshing. He was one of the comedians that was relentless with profanity and how ridiculous our society is about its use or restriction of it. I won’t write his biography here, you can read that somewhere else. He died of heart failure at 71. I think he impacted a lot of lives, whether it was to make someone laugh or to piss them off.
Ironically, I found humor in the CNN marquee scrolling by on the TV during lunch. It read “George Carlin Dies” and I could just hear Carlin saying “BULLSHIT! He’s already dead! He’s not dying, he’s not in the process of dying, it’s over….it’s done with….so stop prolonging it.”
Carlin didn’t believe in God and religion but I can’t help but to say Godspeed Carlin.
Here is a quick tribute:
The Seven Words:
Religion is Bullshit:
He had a different way of looking at things and sometimes that perspective was very refreshing. He was one of the comedians that was relentless with profanity and how ridiculous our society is about its use or restriction of it. I won’t write his biography here, you can read that somewhere else. He died of heart failure at 71. I think he impacted a lot of lives, whether it was to make someone laugh or to piss them off.
Ironically, I found humor in the CNN marquee scrolling by on the TV during lunch. It read “George Carlin Dies” and I could just hear Carlin saying “BULLSHIT! He’s already dead! He’s not dying, he’s not in the process of dying, it’s over….it’s done with….so stop prolonging it.”
Carlin didn’t believe in God and religion but I can’t help but to say Godspeed Carlin.
Here is a quick tribute:
The Seven Words:
Religion is Bullshit:
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