Collect Experiences. Not Things. :')

July 30, 2010

One And The Same

Why are all the people at the beginning of this video white?

I'd vote for a candiate that supported progressive social policies (but not social spending). Policies that provided everyone an equal chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness regardless of background, sex, beliefs, or economic class, and promoted fiscal conservatism.

The problem is either parties offer this. Both parties like to spend and add to the national debt. Reagan started it. He promoted smaller government, cut taxes and cut spending, however, he also increased military (e.g. "star wars") spending. The result was an increase in the federal debt. The tax cut was greater than the additional spending. Bush 1 understood the debt problem, but this was unfortunate for him. He increased taxes and the public voted him out. Clinton got lucky. He reigned over the tech boom. Tax revenues increased sufficiently to covering his increase in spending.

Bush 2 cut taxes, increased government spending, spent a trillions on a hopeless war and billions to bailout Wall Street. And now Obama!

Republican Party like to claim they are for smaller government, but in reality when they get into office they spend as much as their Democratic counterpart. It seems that all politicians are for larger government. The only distinction is that they are for different types of governments. The Democrats focus on social programs and Republicans feed the military industrial complex.

The taxpayer just keeps on paying more tax. Inevitably the U.S. will have it's own debt crisis, just like Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain. It will only be when the international financiers refuse to finance the U.S.'s debt,will the budget be cut, deficit reversed and debt decreased.

July 27, 2010

Getting Slammed

Already four employees within my group have resigned. It hasn't even been two months since I began. I'm trying to not take it personally. Three of them were fairly senior. Of the eight remaining within the group, one is on disability leave, and there is myself and another employee, who are both fairly new. So much work and nobody to do it!

July 25, 2010

Are They Diet Coke Cans in Her Hair?



No one in recent pop memory has been a greater enemy to the authentic than Lady Gaga. In her somewhat un-meticulously constructed universe, there’s nothing that can’t be rewritten, refigured, revised or reborn. Not long ago she was playing confessional piano music in tiny New York rooms. Now she’s the biggest pure-pop-music star of the day, a mercurial talent lurking beneath an orgy of mirrored balls and bubble clusters and vinyl curtains and sticky lace.

Lady Gaga has become successful by adhering to the belief that there’s no inner truth to be advertised, or salvaged: all one can do is invent anew.
NY Times

You know you're a pop-star (possibly icon) when you can piss-off suburbia, or better yet when middle-America just doesn't get you. When you baffle the timid, frighten suburban housewife and her job-hating husband. In revenge, they will label you a whore and a wack-job. Then you know the generations have shifted. The nihilist are taking over. Distraction becomes the objective. And Lady $Gaga$ counts the dead presidents all the way to the bank.

July 22, 2010

Guilt, Shame and Blame

Obama is an expert at guilt, shame and blame. Isn't he? He presents himself as wanting to help people in need, and he would indeed if it weren't for the Republicans preventing him. As evidence, after a few days of spinning the message in video the Senate was shamed into voting for an unemployment benefit extension. How long can this Administration and Congress extend employment benefits? Probably too long.

Some of the unemployed need to find a job. If I can find a job after five years of not working, others can too. It's not that hard. Take some classes. Learn new skills. Move to where the employment is located. Move to Asia.

July 21, 2010

Why Parents Hate Parenting


Interesting article: All Joy and No Fun !
From the perspective of the species, it’s perfectly unmysterious why people have children. From the perspective of the individual, however, it’s more of a mystery than one might think. Most people assume that having children will make them happier. Yet a wide variety of academic research shows that parents are not happier than their childless peers, and in many cases are less so. This finding is surprisingly consistent, showing up across a range of disciplines.

Perhaps the most oft-cited datum comes from a 2004 study by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize–winning behavioral economist, who surveyed 909 working Texas women and found that child care ranked sixteenth in pleasurability out of nineteen activities. (Among the endeavors they preferred: preparing food, watching TV, exercising, talking on the phone, napping, shopping, housework.) This result also shows up regularly in relationship research, with children invariably reducing marital satisfaction.

The economist Andrew Oswald, who’s compared tens of thousands of Britons with children to those without, is at least inclined to view his data in a more positive light: “The broad message is not that children make you less happy; it’s just that children don’t make you more happy.” That is, he tells me, unless you have more than one. “Then the studies show a more negative impact.”

As a rule, most studies show that mothers are less happy than fathers, that single parents are less happy still, that babies and toddlers are the hardest, and that each successive child produces diminishing returns. But some of the studies are grimmer than others. Robin Simon, a sociologist at Wake Forest University, says parents are more depressed than nonparents no matter what their circumstances—whether they’re single or married, whether they have one child or four.
Some of this point-of-view has begun creeping into Hollywood and Western Culture. For example, "Marley & Me". If you haven't seen the movie, you should. It's about the slow demise of a couple's life as they marry, give up their dreams and have children. The husband's professional colleague becomes the counter point.

Photo above stolen from Pheasants

July 20, 2010

GMO's 7 Year Forecast


Most asset class returns appear fairly bleak, except quality U.S. equities and emerging market equities. More here .

July 18, 2010

Marine Corps Marathon

Finished in 3 hours 28 minutes. Can I do it again? Hmmmm. Doubt it...

July 14, 2010

Becoming More of A Consumer

Trying to become more American. I started buying things! Besides an iPhone, I finally purchased an E-Z pass. It's make the ride over the Tapan Zee much easier. I resisted for years, because I didn't want the government to track me. They track everybody's movement using E-Z pass database and GPS chip in cell phones, you know. On the other hand, I'm spending and consuming, helping the economy (and landfill jobs).

July 11, 2010

"Plastics"

"Exactly how do mean?"

July 09, 2010

Life in 2050: Amazing Science, Familiar Threats


Imagine a future in which cancer becomes a memory, ordinary people travel in space, and computers carry on conversations like humans. Now imagine a darker future -- a world beset by war, rising temperatures and energy shortages, one where the United States faces a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons.
Survey by Pew Research

July 08, 2010

Work

Work is going great. It's only been four and a half weeks, but I'm learning a lot. The company has an internal learning module site that explains most of the internal policies and methodologies. And while I'm learning the internal culture and operations, much of what I'm doing, I've done before. So basically, I'm just applying my knowledge on a much grander scale within a new corporate culture paradigm.

My life style is a lot easier now. I don't get up every morning, sit in front of the compute, force myself to write and struggle not to surf the web. Now I go to bed by 9 pm, wake up at 4 am, read for an hour, jog a couple of miles, cool down, stroll into work about 7:30 am, most others don't arrive until 9:30. I have an hour and a half of quality work time. Then I stroll out around 6, meander home, study a bit, hang out with the housemates, or sometimes catch a movie, and head to bed again around 9 pm. No hassles.

The only down side at work, there is an exodus occurring. Four people have resigned in the past four weeks, and they asked to me to take on additional responsibility, but I've only been there a short time. I really don't know the ins and outs of the place. It should be interesting.

4th of July

Ithaca, lake house, BBQ, beer, wine, boat, tubing, water skiing, organizing, fun, swimming, lots of fireworks, dogs, scared dogs, scratches, sun burn, friends, coffee runs, ice, cuts, lots of people...

If only I had my camera. It's now Tuesday morning, I'm wishing I was still at the lake house....