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Showing posts from February, 2009

iPhone, not as cool as it thought it was

Oops, guess not everybody loves iPhones :) Japan - iPhone for Free What's wrong with the iPhone, from a Japanese perspective? Almost everything: the high monthly data plans that go with it, its paucity of features, the low-quality camera, the unfashionable design and the fact that it's not Japanese.

Iraq war goes from "overt" to "covert" in 2010

Obama decries that he is ending the Iraq occupation, it isn't a war, by 2010. However he states: Conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions Read that as "COVERT CIA MISSIONS". Funny, if Bush said this he would have been hammered. Go Change. link

Woo Go 'Skins...Haynesworth = 100 Million Dollars

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Way to be the New York Yankees of football. Trying to rival the Cowboys are we? Same result either way, sitting home in the post season :) Nice Job, you'll still lose :) This is the same guy that stepped intentionally on another player, and you reward him with 41M in money. Failures. Step to

Fannie Mac touches the lifeline it "wouldn't need"

Remember Barny Franks running around saying "they aren't going to need it.." really? Oops

$1,750,000,000,000.00 <-- Obama's Deficit spending

Good Lord. Well, just as we left the Gold Standard in 1971 we'll be leaving the USD as the dominating currency now. The UK and others are already ramping up to provide another standard of value as the dollar in the coming year will plummet in value. There were urges before to leave the USD as standard, but it never had enough pull. Then with the oil skyrocket of last summer, the middle-east was pushing for another standard. With Obama's spending, this is guaranteed. The USD will not be the dominating standard currency. It simply can not hold its value with this spending level. Obama is expecting to drop 4T in all. Four TRILLION dollars. We simply can not afford that. The US GDP is projected to be around 2.5T for 2009. So make it simple..your salary is $50,000 a year...you just spent about $110,000 in one shot. How do you plan on paying that? Also Obama wants to fully fund his so-called health care reform with rich peoples taxes. Everyone, rich or poor should be terrified at suc...

George Carlin, November 5th, 2005

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George Carlin, November 5th, 2005 Beacon Theater, NYC I'm a modern man. I'm a modern man. I'm a modern man. I'm a modern man. I'm a modern man, A man for the millennium, Digital and smoke free. A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist, Politically anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I've been uplinked and downloaded. I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing. I know the downside of upgrading. I'm a high tech lowlife. A cutting edge state-of-the-art bicoastal multitasker, And I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. I'm new wave but I'm old school, And my inner child is outward bound. I'm a hot wired heat seeking warm hearted cool customer, Voice activated and biodegradable. I interface from a database, And my database is in cyberspace, So I'm interactive, I'm hyperactive, And from time-to-time, I'm radioactive. Behind the eight ball, Ahead of the curve, Riding the wave, Dodging a bul...

New meaning to "cup size"

link VASSALBORO, Maine — Cup size has more than one meaning at a new central Maine coffeehouse. Servers are topless at the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop, which opened its doors Monday on a busy road in Vassalboro. A sign outside says, "Over 18 only." Another says, "No cameras, no touching, cash only." On Tuesday, two men sipped coffee at a booth while three topless waitresses and a bare-chested waiter stood nearby. Topless waitress Susie Wiley said men, women and couples have stopped by. The coffee shop raised the ire of dozens of residents when it went before the town planning board last month. Town officials said the coffee shop met the letter of the law.

Obama Fact Checker :)

OBAMA: "And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it." THE FACTS: Depends what your definition of automobiles, is. According to the Library of Congress, the inventor of the first true automobile was probably Germany's Karl Benz, who created the first auto powered by an internal combustion gasoline engine, in 1885 or 1886. In the U.S., Charles Duryea tested what library researchers called the first successful gas-powered car in 1893. Nobody disputes that Henry Ford created the first assembly line that made cars affordable. ------ OBAMA: "We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before." THE FACTS: Oil imports peaked in 2005 at just over 5 billion barrels, and have been declining slightly since. The figure in 2007 was 4.9 billion barrels, or about 58 percent of total consumption. The nation is on pace this year to import 4.7 billion barrels, and go...

Ford CEO drops his salary by 30%

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Link DETROIT (Reuters) -- Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally has agreed to take a 30% salary cut for this year and next, the executive chairman Bill Ford said in a memo to employees Tuesday. Only a matter of time before GM and Chrysler come out to copy. Explains why Ford still has liquidity and GM/Chrysler don't.

Nice "housing" fix Obama

link Struggling to keep up with payments on a home worth less than half the mortgage? Owe way more than your home's value, but can still afford the payments? Sorry, but you likely aren't among the 9 million people who may get help under President Obama's $75 billion foreclosure prevention program. Great plan. Basically takes full advantage of those who can currently make their payments but owe far more than the house is worth. Wonder what would happen if all these "citizens" (yeah those who are paying for this stimulus pkg) decided to stop paying? Just taking advantage of your citizens, again.

Two of the best quotes ever...

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." --Thomas Jefferson - "You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away mans initiative and independence. You cannot help man permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." --Abrahan Lincoln

NASA pisses away 280M on global warming

In an effort to "learn" more about global warming, NASA launched a program geared at following carbon dioxide. It ended about as badly as the first Mars lander project. oops..we did it again..

The economy blows, now what?

So the economy is in the tank, the usual suspects to blame, the question is what do we do? If you ask me, and you did by coming here, you start with the entire concept of the Treasury department. While many branches in government work fine or relatively efficient, the Treasury department certainly does not. In combination with the IRS this has to be a crew of mis-guided individuals. Now, in their defense, they are governed by Congress. The US has formed this concept of taxation at the point of net. The time at which you bring funds in, whether you be a business or person, you are taxed when you get the money not when you utilize it (aside from payroll tax). My opinion is change this entire concept. Remove income tax, payroll tax and corporate tax. Instead, create...oh gosh..a flat taxation system. My opinion is assess a 20% national tax. Families or those with dependents would be allowed to add an additional reduction in net values based on how many dependents they had. You take what y...

Tax those business owners, tax em hard.

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Linky Small business makes up nearly 2/3 of all jobs created in the US. And anyone who runs a small business knows that the majority of small businesses are of the S or LCC variety. In these situations, the vast amount of corporate revenue (or working capital) is assessed at the end of the year by the FED as "INCOME" to the business owner. Even though this is not income, that is how the government views it. That said look at this chart: You'll notice something, the two largest contributors are income tax and payroll tax followed by corporate tax. To a business owner this is THREE taxes in one. A business owner is taxed for owning a business (corporate), having employees (payroll) and having an income (income). Now these are two taxes the average non-owner doesn't have. So a business owner is responsible for roughly 2.2 Trillion government revenue dollars out of the less than 2.5 trillion made. Is this really how you should handle small business? Now this listed, who ...

11 year old shoots dad's preggo girlfriend...

Yeah sick I know. An 11 year old in PA decided to unload a shotgun on hid dad's pregnant (8 month pregnant) girlfriend. As a result of this intentional homicide, the boy faces jail. But the jail says "we can't care for an 11 year old", but the boy's attorney is more worried about his client getting to go to school. WTF is wrong with this place? Murderer from PA

U.S. Citizens taking 40% of Citigroup? Possibly.

Given the current economic woes of Citigroup (stock plummeting to 18 yr low of $2.00/per) the citizens of the United States are contemplating taking a 40% ownership in common stock. This goes in line with the 80% we own in AIG. So now that the US Citizens are all over the stock market with investments in huge firms, how do we get our cut? I mean, once the stock goes up how do I get my dividend check? I'm a share holder right? The shares were bought with Treasury dollars taken from our collective pay checks. So that said, how do I get my dividend? My guess is the US government will step in and take it for me to redistributed in the way/fashion they see fit. Man, I sure am glad they are sitting in the wings to help me with this. Lord knows, we'd be in a ton of trouble without their expertise in financial matters. Where is my dividend?

The Oscars

What a colossal waste of time and money. While some of it is funny to watch, the constant rambling by people who make insane amounts of money pretending to be other people is a little funny to me. Especially given the current times, where the bulk of these individuals call a state with a 42B deficit home, it is a little misguided to worship ones ability to pretend to be someone else. Maybe a little more time in reality could be a good thing. I knew from the word "Milk" and a movie filmed in Mumbai would result in awards regardless of the competition. That is because the film industry loves to make quasi-political points with its awards and speeches. Unfortunately, a lot of people listen. It isn't to say there aren't some very intelligent individuals in Hollywood, just to say it should be realized that there is a point to their madness. Now the film "Dark Knight" (which I never saw) was touted as the biggest Batman move since Lewis Wilson & Douglas Croft ...

Human Rights, dollars.....

Hillary Clinton spent her recent days convincing China that the US was still a sound investment, because without China we can't continue to run our stimulus packages. Someone has to buy US debt and fund these things, T-bills can't do it all on their own. So in her discussions she waived all her concerns on human rights for the idea of convincing China to assist the US and that the US was still a safe bet. I'm curious why this isn't deeply concerning to some liberals. I'm sure if Bush had urged a deal that dropped human rights in the face of dollars, it would be a colossal topic. Link Clinton Quote: "Human rights cannot interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises,"

Monkey cartoon being compared to Obama.

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By now you've probably heard of the "chimp attack" on the woman in Connecticut and you should have heard about the NY Post article feature a chimp getting shot and two officers saying "now who will write the stimulus pkg?". Of course, racists immediately said that it was a racial view of Obama. Now while I agree the Post was moronic and should have anticipated this misconceived notion, I do not believe this is great cause for uproar. Here are a couple examples of why I think that: These are undoubtedly slights at Bush that were not problematic at all, now imagine if the exact same picture featured Obama and ask yourself, who is racist again?: See more bush monkeys here: link

First we build "skynet" then...

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Automated military that is sync'd together and thus... Autonomous military robots that will fight future wars must be programmed to live by a strict warrior code, or the world risks untold atrocities at their steely hands. The stark warning — which includes discussion of a "Terminator"-style scenario in which robots turn on their human masters — is part of a hefty report funded by and prepared for the U.S. Navy's high-tech and secretive Office of Naval Research. The report, the first serious work of its kind on military robot ethics, envisages a fast-approaching era where robots are smart enough to make battlefield decisions that are at present the preserve of humans. Eventually, it notes, robots could come to display significant cognitive advantages over Homo sapiens soldiers. "There is a common misconception that robots will do only what we have programmed them to do," Patrick Lin, the chief compiler of the report, said. "Unfortunately, such a belief...

Show of hands...

How many people actually believe that Congress read the collective 1,200 page stimulus package (adding together what the senate/house wrote)? The final bill was much smaller, but probably still went unread at 407 pages. Answer..probably...NONE. I'd doubt Obama has read it. You can read the full bill here . Some fun parts of the bill that is suppose to be a STIMULUS bill, seems a lot of whats covered has more to do with morals in general changes that actual stimulus: BUREAU OF THE CENSUS PERIODIC CENSUSES AND PROGRAMS For an additional amount for ‘‘Periodic Censuses and Programs’’, $1,000,000,000 . DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER BOX PROGRAM For an amount for ‘‘Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program’’, $650,000,000 , for additional coupons and related activities under the program implemented under section 3005 of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005: Provided, That of the amounts provided under this heading, $90,000,000 may be for education and outreach, incl...

What, no drones here.

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Pakistan and the US governments have both said "there are no drone bases within Pakistan", however Google Earth (a budding intel agency) has done satellite mapping of bases in Pakistan that 'apparently' have drones on them. Now this doesn't mean they are US Government owned. The US is the largest arms dealer in the world, we like selling weapons and we like profit. So it is quite possible we have simply sold Pakistan these surveillance pieces. However, the greater cause for concerns is Pakistan simply backing down from the Taliban and giving them a green light to run the mountainous regions of Pakistan. So, is it conceivable that the Taliban will now have drone surveillance capabilities? Possibly. link

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan decided to kick the US out formally with a nearly unanimous government vote to remove the US base that aids in the war in Afghanistan, and "Team America World Police" efforts in Iraq. Now, I can understand why they did it. They share a backdoor with Russia who is slowly but surely stating "we want our land back, post break-up". We haven't seen a reunion this tumultuous since Roth and Van Halen. Russia is giving Bishkek insanely low interest loans to make the deal look legit, but you can assume there has been some conversations about the alternative. Hey, Bishkek and its citizenry are free to do as they please. Just, in a few years, when Russia pulls a "Georgia" on them, don't cry to the Western world for help. Remember, you kicked 'em out.

Somewhere...

Somewhere, beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me , is...apparently an eco-reef. link There is a company now doing eco-burials. They will take your corpse, make you into a reef that the family can decorate, lower you into the ocean and within months, you're part of the sea. Now, they don't describe exactly how they do it, but you have to admit it is an interesting concept. I've never understood why we put people in boxes and stick them in the ground to rot..slowly. Graveyards, complete waste of resources. Little quote: Along with its dead, the United States buries 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete, 827,060 tons of toxic embalming fluid, 90,000 tons of steel (from caskets), and 30 million tons of hardwood board each year, according to the Green Burial Council, an independent nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Enjoy your $13 a week stimulus

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Yep, thirteen dollars. That is what the near 800B spending (yes spending) bill by Obama's crew will net you. And that is if you fall into their pre-sorted category for what deserves stimulus. So, you get $400 or $800 in a tax break for the year and your children inherit a 1.1T debt. That is stupendous. Go Change! In fact the Democrats cut a tax incentive for small business (which makes up 2/3 of every new job created) from 67B to 4B. That is a great plan for stimulating the economy. All this stimulus spending bill will do is increase the size of government and bureaucracy in your day-to-day life. Nothing more. The logic behind this is that George Bush's $1200 cut for couples, $600 for individuals, $300 for kid rebate was simply too much of a lump sum which resulted in saving and debt paying, not spending. God forbid that the citizens pay down debt. And Obamanation keeps going back to Bush "well Bush did this" or "Bush failed at that". OK campaign time is ove...

Chavez, King of Venezuela

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Link Hugo Chavez paved the way for indefinite rule by passing the right to remove term limits in Venezuela. While this has the majority of die hard Capitalists (like myself) in an uproar, I'm not so much. Look term limits are over-rated..unless of course you can completely corrupt the election process and pretty much guarantee votes. Every election year is a "term limit" possibility. Here in the states we don't have term limits for either the House or Senate, so maybe we should shut it until we examine ourselves. Personally I think Congress has far more power than any "president".

Drop the BB POTUS

The link Kevin Mitnick, the worlds most proficient hacker, was quoted as stating: "If I was the attacker, I would look to Obama's close circle of friends, family and associates and try to compromise their machines at home," Mitnick said. "The objective would be to get Obama's e-mail address on the BlackBerry." Look Obama, just leave the damn Blackberry alone. Why create the issue? It seems utterly pointless. POTUS is accessible via a multitude of secure environments monitored by vast intel agencies, why risk it..for the sake of being hip and cool.

Aviation..leave it to the birds

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Does our flying capability really suck this bad? In less than a month we've been downed by geese from Canada and ice. So basically birds and water. Wonderful. Now I realize millions of flights occur without incident, so "statistically" (laugh, you know who you are) the odds are very good everything will go well. However ICE.....frozen water and birds. We can't come up with a way to remove these 'chances'? Simplistic, I know :) go icecubes

Government involvement in the economy.

It was terrible in the 1930's and it will be terrible now. Learn from history, or repeat it. FDR's New Deal compared to Obama's Sim Pkg

Excise tax on bonuses

More fake laws to make the public feel good. Short and sweet..if you received fed money for a bailout and your exec got more than a 100K bonus, they have to give it back or face a 35% tax....ewww I'm shaking in my boots. So a CEO that got 500K in bonus either gives the 500K back or 175K of it...hmm which will they do. Go CONGRESS a bunch of geniuses right there. link

Mac the Ripper and such

Exactly how many free tools do we need to rip DVDs? Mac the ripper is good, but then you need a secondary tool to make it iPod readable :( Currently testing out Handbrake, lets see how that flies.

All this TARP & TARPII nonsense.

How about we establish a federal mortgage rate line, that banks access, to cut loans to CURRENT homeowners who are upside down, but make their payments and have "OK" credit scores? Why not be advantageous and adjust these terms for people who CAN pay their bills. This will only make these assets stronger and increase spending by those who are responsible. What a novel approach. Instead of addressing every person who crapped out on their mortgage, help those who are still trying to make it. Until Congress realizes this is the option, we will continue this circle of stupidity.

Awesome Thomas Jefferson Quotes

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A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. An injured friend is the bitterest of foes. My favorite: Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.

One step closer to fall out....

Only the Government can help - Obama on pulling out of the government created recession. So we're saying that government is our only way out, this will end BADLY. --- A thought on this: "It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power." -- John Adams, 1788 "A bill of rights is nothing more than a list of temporary privileges" -- George Carlin

Obama's open site to view the stimulus pkg roll out

Recovery.gov Hmm. Shocker, nothing happening.

Octuplets..

Got to say, I feel sorry for ALL these kids. Their future is shot from the word 'go'. So we are finding out just how crappy this mother really is. Not only is she already on welfare but 3 of her first 6 kids are disabled and receive federal assistance. Instead of staying home and not pumping out children, she decided to use medical science to have 8 more. Epic failure. The doctor that handled this should be fired, his practice..closed. This is unbelievable. It is acts like these, of gross negligence, that make me fear for cloning and embryonic stem cell research. And now this "mother" and I use that term just per the scientific definition in that she is a female that had children, is trying to cash in on her story. I guess she didn't realize how disgusting she was. Failure

Where few stood against many

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Possibly one of the top 10 most amazing conflicts in human history. Thermopylae .

Mel Brooks..possibly one of the best funny men, ever.

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Lets do a list: The Producers (1968) (Academy Award, best original screenplay) The Twelve Chairs (1970) (also actor) Blazing Saddles (1974) (also actor) Young Frankenstein (1974) Silent Movie (1976) (also actor) High Anxiety (1977) (also actor) History of the World, Part I (1981) (also actor/producer) Spaceballs (1987) (also actor/producer) Life Stinks (1991) (also actor/producer) Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) (also actor/producer) Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) (also actor/producer)

Deny the Holocaust....

Bishop Richard Williamson has denied the Holocaust. Pope Benedict excommunicated him, but then removed the excommunication prior to hearing his current denial of the Holocaust. Now most intelligent people would not deny the Holocaust, as many were killed and it was exceptionally well documented. HOWEVER, it is not the churchs' place to make these types of edicts based on political pressure. Wait, what am I saying? I mean, are we actually using the church as a "sound" body? Because they've made such great choices in the past like draw and quartering people, Inquisition...yeah...great choices, definitely the body that I would let guide my moral compass. Inquisition for those that pretend to not know

USS Port Royal runs aground in Hawaii

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So a US guided missile cruisers runs aground in Hawaii. Hmm. The boat is stationed to Hawaii and it hits a reef of 'gunk' and now we are waiting for the tide to come in and lift the boat up? Excuse me, but someone's rank needs pulled here. How exactly does this happen with a couple hundred million dollars worth of equipment? Was Giligan at the helm? This is a huge embarrassment. We have a pilot in NY that can land a dying plane in the Hudson and save everyone on board, but the Navy can't maneuver around the Ocean. Unacceptable. link

Father Son day at Home Depot

This has got to be one of the best things still going in this society. On the first Saturday of the month, every month, home depot lets you do a project with your child...for FREE. The projects are quick and small, but Dawkin loves it. Plus we've dated every project he has done and he gets a pin for each project. This will definitely be cool when he is older. Home Depot, Kids Workshop

Stimulus Package.

Obama's stimulus package has now grown from 800B, to 856B to now 936B. And what does he do while Congress says "OK POTUS, this is crazy"?. He goes down to Virginia on a Democratic retreat. What kind of leader is this? He spends more time writing his press addresses than actually leading. You can't walk away in the middle of this and vote PRESENT. You need to take a position and explain why it is the correct one. Everyone believed that the war in Iraq would be the blemish and falling point of the USA, no..we'll ruin it ourselves by ridiculous overspending and incompetent leadership.

Sarah Palin

1) Governor of a state. 2) Wicked hot MILF 3) Hunter 4) Actually ran a business 5) Hunts wolves from a chopper Equals AWESOME

Winter...wtf?

If it is going to be 13 degrees out, could we at least have real snow? Why is it frigid up until the day precip is in the forecast, then the temp is 55 degrees. This bites big time.

1/9 of 900B dedicated to "green" projects

Not exactly sure how this is economic stimulus...sounds more like social moral agenda. http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/04/news/economy/green_stimulus/index.htm?postversion=2009020413

Coffee

There is something so very right about it.

Dear Congress.....

As I watch the billions of dollars in future deficit spending pilling up to help aid the United States with the current economic crisis, I can’t help but think “what about the people that played by the rules and spent wisely?”. It seems to me that over and over again with every line on a document and vote of Congress, the people who played by the rules are being asked to tighten their belt and understand that the actions taken are for the betterment of the country. I’m as patriotic as they come and have worked my entire career in DoD. I believe that I do put our country FIRST. However, that loyalty does not mean that I don’t believe in equality. I don’t believe it is prudent or responsible of government to aid the less fortunate routinely at the cost of the responsible, while making limited effort to curtail government spending to the extremes necessary. It seems far easier to spend for extremes than to reduce. Why are individuals that paid their bills, started businesses, stayed withi...