28 March 08 - 00:31What a way to go......
One of the Bear Stearns tragedies I just read about......
A quote from the New York Times, "Only a year ago James E. Cayne’s stake in Bear Stearns was worth more than $1 billion. But on Thursday, Mr. Cayne, the chairman of Bear, disclosed that he had sold all of his shares in the troubled investment bank this week for just $61 million." Further research shows Mr. Cayne to be 74 years old.
Ok. Lets assume he lives to be 100 years old. That means that (ignoring Social Security) he will only have 61 milliion divided by 26 years or $2,346,153.85 per year to live on. Bummer.
Of course, the bad news is that the other folks in the company suffered a similar percentage loss and they are the ones that are really hurt. Not a golder parachute for Cayne, could have been a billion bucks which would have been a much better retirement I am sure.
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26 March 08 - 22:38Balance, balance, balance
Today Delta grounded planes which inconvenienced a great many passengers. American did this a few days back. The inspections could have been worked into the schedule and done in a more orderly fashion. Why not?
Why is this? Its our government beureaucrats. These powerful, yet unfettered people reside in all levels of government and are entirely uncontrolled unless they do something so stupid that their actions draw attention to them. This is what happened.
FAA beureaucrats took it upon themselves to fine Southwest Airlines a lot of money because of a misunderstanding over the sequence to be used to inspect 737 planes for structural cracks. So, you ask, are these cracks dangerous? Of course they are, there was a 737 that failed in flight over Hawaii some years back and the top of the plane peeled off in flight killing a stewardess who was sucked out of a pressure relief valve and injuring folks hit with debris and high speed air.
The beureaucrat way is to have you report your own violations when you discover them. This is what Southwest did. They also thought they should be able to inspect the planes in an orderly manner. The beureaucrats disagreed.
Now the other airlines are saying with their actions that the beureaucrats cannot be trusted so they will have to inconvenience customers to satisfy the requirements as plainly deliniated by the beureaucrats.
Lord help us.
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25 March 08 - 22:03What was that again???
This is a joke!
A boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper. "Hello?"
"Is your daddy home?" he asked.
"Yes," whispered the small voice.
"May I talk with him?"
The child whispered, "No."
Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked,
"Is your Mommy there?"
"Yes."
"May I talk with her?"
Again the small voice whispered, "No."
Hoping there was somebody with whom he
could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else there?"
"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman,"
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"
"No, he's busy," whispered the child.
"Busy doing what?"
"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the fireman," came the whispered answer.
Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?"
"A helicopter" answered the whispering voice.
"What is going on there?" demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.
Again, whispering, the child answered, "The search team just landed a helicopter."
Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked,
"What are they searching for?"
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle... "ME."
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19 March 08 - 23:37Bin Laden Speaks (again)
It seems that this guy gets a lot of attention when he speaks. As projects go, blowing up the two tallest buildings at the World Trade Center was fairly successful for him.
Now he is crabbing about cartoons being published somewhere in Europe (who cares where) that offend Mohammed. I am telling you, for the founder of an entire religion Mohammed is awfully thin skinned and unable to withstand criticism from outside his religion. Not only Osama, but others in the Islam religion point out how it is very bothersome to Mohammed to be featured in cartoons and such.
I am surprised at the weakness and lack of resiliancy of a founder of a major religion. Is Mohammed a weeny? That is the position I keep hearing.
Beef up Mohammed!! Go with the flow. Bring your religion to the masses without being such a whiney guy. Or is it just the Osamas of the world that lack faith in you?
Whatever.
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13 March 08 - 22:29When it rains it pours
Wow, what a week of news. A woman gets glued to the toilet after sitting there for two years, adn Barack Obama loses track of what he actually is (for those who don't know, the first black guy with a real shot at the white house!). As all of this goes on Britney Spears is under the control of her father (thank God) and some bunch of Arab guys are offering her $4,000,000 dollars to perform in their country.
Why is it some days it seems like nothing happens and then one day all heckydarn breaks loose.
Geraldine Ferraro knows why her candidacy as vice president was special. Not because of the fact she was qualified, which she was, but because she was a woman!! Barack is also qualified to be president, probably more so than Hillary Clinton (if you don't consider Bill). The neat thing is that Hillary is a woman, Barack is a black guy, and McCain is an old fart. None of these are mainstream Americans, but we still are considering them as candidates to administer our laws as President.
Oh, yeh, baby, elected by us.
Yes, Obama, you are an exciting candidate because of your race. Yes, Hillary, you are an exciting candidate because of your gender. Is this the only reason? Heck, no. Grow up you two. Be presidential and rise above this. Geraldine is right, whether you like it or not.
Oh, yeah, the Harvard gal? What a wimp.
Later.
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12 March 08 - 21:59Geraldine
I am really not a political zealot, nor do I consider myself remotely racist or sexist. I do consider myself to be aware of my surroundings (much to the dismay of some). The lady in the picture is Geraldine Ferraro. She was a candidate for vice president running with Walter Mondale representing the Democrat party in the 1984 election in which Ronald Reagan was the Republican candidate for president.
Lets get to the nuts and bolts of what she has done lately and her high profile past. Ferraro, as catholic, came under fire in 1984 from her church as being pro choice on abortion, in opposition to catholic church doctrine. More trouble ensued regarding the release of her husband's tax
returns. This aside, it was exciting to me that a woman was being considered as a candidate to be Vice President of the United States of America. I found it exciting, however, I voted for Reagan.
Now she has spoken what seems to be an obvious observation, that Barack Obama gets some momentum from being black. So what, if this is a true observation on her part, or what she believes, leave her alone. I do not subscribe to the "head in the sand" beliefs of some of our major news machines. This is America, you should be able to speak your mind without having to totally disrupt your life.
Jeesh.
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10 March 08 - 08:08What's wrong with America?
I'm going to tell you something, our government is anti-business. These are the same businesses that give most of us jobs. Why is this? It is because our government is built that way. Laws are meant to create entities (bureaucracies) that run on their own based on "guidelines" or "rules." They have a single minded goal to meet, such as eliminating or reducing the existence of some particular molecule from the atmosphere.
Right now China, South Korea, and India are charging ahead penetrating world markets. What is government doing? Through bureaucracies that don't answer to anybody, our government has created complicated requirements for business which require them to tell on themselves if they screw up, then punish them for taking corrective action.
In China they have the pedal to the metal. The Chinese economic accelerator is pressed to the wood as we suck air. Government desk jockeys are looking through blinders to resolve only the part of reality that they are assigned. Individuals who are circumspect and reasonable are usually pushed aside by those who press for the goal.
The problem is checks and balances. Our forefathers saw that there was a need. They set up the three branches of government to balance each other. As painful as it is to see these goofballs fight amongst themselves, even the most incompetent of politicians are forced to even the three branches of government to keep things on an even keel. The problem is the fourth branch of government. The bureaucracies. They are not managed and they are not working to the advantage of the common man. They are often based on a zero tolerance premise and do not have the ability or the tools to analyze the best path for the common good.
And so it is. Southwest Airlines is fined by the FAA for failing to complete one of a gazillion inspection requirements in a timely fashion. Sounds bad, but let me tell you, it is not. Granite Falls Ethanol is fined in Minnesota by the EPA in Minnesota for having a good year and producing more ethanol than they thought they would. These are an embarrassment to you and I. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or any other of the founding fathers would be extremely angry at this. Our bureaucracies are out of control. They are counter-productive and narrowly defined. What can we do America? What can we do?
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09 March 08 - 22:05A convoluted Thought
I was looking at a review of the movie "Fargo" and the review referred to the movie "Very Bad Things," a movie I also am familiar with. In both of these movies murder is the central construct of the movie. Contrast this to my life growing up as a funeral directors son and it had to get me thinking.
Even though we will spend the vast, very vast, extrememly vast, portion of all available time "not-alive" we are all very protective of our own lives when we are technically, "alive."
In both of these movies one of the characters commits murder and then tries to cover up the event in order to stay alive, even though they have just caused someone else to do the opposite. Both movies have a police representative that is driven to right the situation by identifying the hapless murderers and setting the situation right, or as right as can be possible considering the dead state of the deceased persons previously murdered.
This kinda slips us back to the great question of reality. and what is it. (Reality and perception that is!!)
When I was teaching physics, there was a catch question we used to ask. It was dependent on the definition of sound. When a "medium" such as air, water, earth, stone, etc. is disturbed by something waves are passed through it. By disturbed I mean talking, clapping two objects together, dropping a plate, or the like. Now comes the definition of sound. Sound is a sonic wave that stimulates the hearing or is heard by the auditory senses of a creature of some kind. Sonic waves are just that, disturbances or whatever, sound it the reception and interpretation of these waves by a living being.
So here we go. The big question. If a tree is struck by lightening in the woods and falls to the groung during a storm (or whatever) and nobody (or no creature) is there to hear it, did it make a sound?
Later!
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08 March 08 - 20:18When will China join the 21st Century!
Here is a quote from the New York Times...
"WASHINGTON - March 6, 2008 - Federal drug regulators said Wednesday that a critical blood thinner that had been linked to at least 19 deaths and whose raw components were produced in China contained a possibly counterfeit ingredient that mimicked the real drug."
This is one of the serious problems that arises from relying on a country like China to provide sophisticated products of expected quality and safety in a reliable manner. They do not yet have the checks and balances of most modern countries. This is evidence as is the melamine tainted dogfood ingredients, lead tainted paint, etc.
Today quality systems are set up to assure quality at the source through certification by the vendor that the items received meet the specification. If sources cannot be trusted it is necessary to back up receiving with tests of incoming materials to determine quality. Frankly, a full battery of tests to determine if counterfeit substances have been substituted or poisons have been allowed or added is not an area usually addressed by quality systems. It is a sad day, indeed when you need to discover if you suppliers are scamming you, which is what this sounds like.
Would you expect the need to test a bottle of Aspirin or Tylenol to see if it is what it is supposed to be prior to purchase?
Yipes!!
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07 March 08 - 18:53Sam's the man!
You gotta love this. This is a person who is extremely smart, probably well grounded, and really in touch with the "cosmos" from what I can see. As a Harvard professor, you have to figure there is something there. However, this lady was apparently politically incorrect and this is the story in a nutshell from one of the newsmachines....
"Samantha Power is a foreign policy expert and a professor at Harvard University in Masschusetts.
Power had been advising Barack Obama, but quit on Friday after a Scottish newspaper quoted her as describing Hillary Clinton as a monster."
I applaud her for speaking her mind and reminding us all that you can't say what you want because sometimes people don't want to hear it. However, in this case, I like it!!!
Logically there are three candidates for president at this time. They are Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama, and Mrs. Clinton.
Currently I am very impressed with Mr. Obama. I am so sorry that the colorful Samantha Powers had to go. I hope she can come back once Mr. Obama wins the White House. I believe in forgiveness for honesty. She said what she believed and I support that 1000 per cent!
By the way, the last Democrat I voted for was Jimmy Carter. After the Iranian embassy crisis I considered that a big boo-boo. Nice guy, good man, not presidential in the clutch, but, hell, I probably wouldn't be either. So, for me to support a Democrat (voted for "W" twice, Reagan, etc.) is a leap. Please note that I leap toward Obama!!
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05 March 08 - 21:00What's the real issue - global warming?
I was reading about global warming again tonight. Is it happening? Is it a myth? Who are the alarmists and who are the denialists? How can the other viewpoint be so naive and how can they be so wrong?
That was the general slant to the story. In general the angle that seems to support the warming is due to carbon dioxide concentrations is based more on the fact that Exxon Mobil promotes the opposite viewpoint than on science. It's crazy! Both sides miss the point, however.
The problem is population and lifestyle. It's as simple as that.
Based on estimates from about.com the population of the world was about 200,000,000 (2 hundred million) at the time of Christ, the common starting point for the current era. Thus in the year "1" the population for the world was less than that of the United States by itself today. The population did not reach 1 billion until 1804 or roughly 1800 years later. The next doubling occured when, in 1927 the world had a population of 2 billion, a mere 125 additional years later. Now, only about 80 years later the population is over three times that at 6.6 billion.
So lets look at a statistical comparison between population and temperature of the earth. Lets just look at the population. An earth that had about 1.6 billion people at the turn of the 20th century (1900) now has nearly 4 times that now. It looks like it is time for another reboot. There are far more people here than the earth can support. Heck, maybe the temperature rise is body heat (not really).
Global warming is a side show to the real problem, but that is the real denialist issue here, isn't it.
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05 March 08 - 20:00Happy birthday Mom
My Mom has had a lot of changes going on in the past month. She has moved from her apartment, the second apartment she lived in by herself when Dad died in the late 1980s. She was always very mobile and drove around town in her car, picking up friends and going places to look at flowers, farms, and whatever else there might be to look at. Her move was to an assisted living center where she still has an apartment, she is, however, able to go to the main lunchroom for meals.
This new living arrangement is great. The biggest problem with the apartnment was that her car was starting to run into things and that made for problems. However, once she decided to "ground" herself from driving, the apartment became very lonely. That problem is solved with the new living arrangements since there are plenty of people around and was very impressed with them when I visited earlier this week.
So now it is 90 years old and a new stage in living!! Happy birthday, Mom!
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04 March 08 - 22:22Why, why, why?
Marla is always asking me why..... It makes me crazy. Why do I do this, why do I do that. In order to keep my sanity, I offer this list of questions which beg the "why" of some things that really do tickle the mind. So with no further ado.... WHY?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why, if con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
Why is it, if the black box used on airplanes is indestructible don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!
Why do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.
Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and then a diet coke.
Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
Why do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin ?
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called "rush hour?"
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called 'apart'ments when they are all stuck together?
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03 March 08 - 21:46Fit to be tanned and tidy
I was in Lisbon, ND for my mother's 90th birthday over the weekend. Her internet connection was down so I couldn't get this interesting picture to you any sooner. My brother and sister in law (i. e. Charles and Debby) did a remarkable job of helping make my Mom's 90th birthday a great event. They had a lunch for her with the family on Saturday and served cake on Sunday at the retirement home she lives in.
I went to church with her and they sang happy birthday to her there as well. Rewind to the lunch that Charles and Debby set up (see above). The lunch was in an old hardware store that has been converted into an antique shop. Sort of as an afterthought they decided to serve "foo foo" coffee and feminine lunch items such as quiches and wraps. Damned if that isn't the part of the business that took off. For the birthday lunch most sucked on a latte and enjoyed soup and a wrap (or whatever).
Upon leaving I commented on the strange combination for the business. Antique shop in old hardware store with a "foo foo" restaurant inside. Then I saw this sign. This one wins the strange combination award. Well, it's time to bleach the sheets and tan my tummy. After working on my abs, that is.
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