Snapback

a) 70-something years of S&P
Just a quick snapshot of S&P 500 returns for the past 70-something years, sorted in descending order: Stockbee S&P thingie

The top 10 best and worst years seemed interesting to me.
Of the best 10 S&P years, 5 of those top-performing years occurred between 1927-1936:

• 1927 37.5%,
• 1928 43.6%,
  
• 1933 54.0%,
  
• 1935 47.7%,
  
• 1936 33.9%

Of the worst 10 S&P years, 3 of those occurred since 2001:

• 2001 -11.9%,
• 2002 -22.1%,
  
• 2008 -37.0%

Also, year 2000 had a negative return of -9.1%.
I think it's interesting to note, as well, than only 11 years of 70+ had declines of greater than 10%. In contrast, we've seen 18 years with gains of 30% or more!

b) Obama BP snapback
We had a rationality test a couple posts back regarding media coverage of President Obama and the BP oil spill. That was fun.

Since then, I have been taken aback a bit by the ferocity of the snapback in media coverage to bolster President Obama as REALLY REALLY on top of this oil thing and that he REALLY REALLY cares too. In just a few days, we hear that the President is "caring", "competent", "heartbroken", and (my fave from yahoo) he's digging in to "face a difficult challenge!". Wow. This is all very encouraging 40 days into the spill here.

But nothing says it better than pictures, right. Below, President Obama actually touches the sand to show his concern and how REALLY REALLY involved he is in the whole process.


He he. Crock a shit.

c) Rationality Test, cont.
Hey, you lefties can add this one to the rationality test:

Is it OK for some anti-Palin author to rent the house next to hers,
so that he can spy on Sarah Palin and family?

Or, is it creepy?
Some WaPo chick votes "creepy".

QOTD

"Plow through all the papers, interview all the sources you want.
But seizing the opportunity to live next door is creepy."
- WaPo chick on the loser who moved in next to Sarah Palin, Palin doesn't need this neighbor.

That's an easy call, but jeez, at least she got it right.

I am wont to recall some rightie nut jobs moving in next door to leftie pols. In addition to being "creepy", this seems like an escalation. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think so though.
happy mem day... yow, bill

PS - Late addition... my fave BP rant on the radio this morning was a lady mad at Britain. He he.

As time goes on...

Read slowly, while you are slow dancing...

QOTD

As time goes on
I realize
Just what you mean
To me
- James Pankow, "Color My World"

a) Bobblehead goodness
My SF Giants spam continues to be gold. Those guys are working for a living... just to get all those jaded weeners in SF to come see a ballgame. They seem to have a special affinity to bobbleheads... which I heart. SF Giants 2010 Special Events Calendar

Our first giveaway is SF Zoo Night on Jun 14, 2010... it features this weird Panda-ized Pablo Sandoval bobblehead.


And second is Women's Softball Night on Jun 2. 2010... featuring this Jennie Finch bobblehead:


Now, you may question the SF Giant marketing boys on this Jennie Finch thing, but it's genius. Jennie's a good baseball-ish athlete. She's pretty easy on the eyes. And I going to assume that the gay & lesbian community in SF isn't going to miss out on this event. Huzzah.

b) Amazing stats
Link: Sun Times story - felony crimes in Cook County
These stats about crime in Cook County are messed up.
In Cook County:

• 57% of felony cases were for drugs... the highest ratio for major counties in the US
• Only 9% of felony cases were for violent crimes... the lowest ratio in the US
  

Lots of drug cases in Cook County.
Not many violent crime cases.
Where's Freakonomics when you need them.
Some too-obvious ideas from these weird stats:

1. Lighten up on the flippin' drug laws
   
2. Violent crime happens in tiny slivers within Cook County... focus law enforcement there
   

I know. Fat chance.
bobble bill... yow, bill

PS - This just in! Seattle Mariner spam too... King Felix Train Car Night on Jun 4, 2010!

My Katrina

a) Rationality test
President Obama had a rough press conference yesterday on the oil spill. Hommina... hommina... hommina... dop.

This does, however, provide an opportunity for a simple rationality test for people of either political persuasion. Pick either the leftie or rightie question (or both if you're confused) and answer yes or no:

• Leftie test: If W were President, the Gulf oil spill would be reported in the same way it is currently for President Obama.
  
• Rightie test: Eventually the media will really latch onto this story and it will become President Obama's "Katrina".
  

If you answered "yes" to either question, then you need to turn off your TV or take "moveon.org" out of your faves list or something, so that you can rejoin rational, thinking society.

If W were President, this would be his Katrina. He he.

And no, the press is not going to suddenly whomp up on Obama or his administration about this or any other topic. I remind my rightie brothers of recent history: As President, Bill Clinton:

• hoisted a 20-something aide onto his desk in the Oval office,
  
• diddled around with her with his cigar (literally and figuratively),
  
• came all over her nice blue dress,
  
• wagged his finger at the nation that he didn't do it,
• and then lied under oath about it

And this didn't impact the media's reporting or opinion of the Clinton presidency one bit. So don't pretend that an oil spill is going to impact anything about the Obama term. So instead, let's think about being rational. Or not. Whatever.

b) My IL rep writes back
I wrote a (nice) email to my IL state rep, Darlene Senger, about the school choice bill in IL that she supported. I talked about it here: The Illinois School Choice Program.

Here's her (nice) reply:

May 17, 2010

Thanks for your supportive words Bill. I really appreciate it. Just
trying to do what I think is the best for our children and the future
of education.

Have a good evening.

-Darlene

Thanks, Darlene.
Good job.

c) One last quiz
Miss USA 2010 is a Muslim girl from Michigan. There she is all smoking hot over there to the right. YOW!
Americans don't care if your Muslim or Jewish or black or one-legged or whatever... as long as you're a hot chick.

That was a couple weeks ago. Now, there's some background noise of building a mosque near "ground zero" at the World Trade Center (link).

One last quiz: No way they build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attack on America by Islamic terrorists that murdered 3,000 innocent people. Right?

Right.
rational is good... yow, bill

PS - Interesting how, even for an oil spill, the feds answer is a tax hike (link). Bah, rational is over-rated... as long as the money keeps pouring in.

Bad Bull Karma

a) Bad Bull Karma
I've said this for a while... unless LeBron is an idiot (and he is not), there's no way he comes to the Bull. D-Wade tells you why I'm right.

Wade Questions Bulls' Loyalty

Money QOTD1

"I think the biggest question that you think about has to be loyalty. I know one thing about Miami: It is a very loyal organization. I see what they do with their players when their players get done with the game of basketball … how loyal they are. I don't know about the Bulls."
- D-Wade on the disloyal Bull

And this is bullshit from the past QOTD2

"Players and coaches don't win championships; organizations win championships."
- Jerry Krause Bull ex-GM and Jerry Reinsdorf owner

Reinsdorf is the main guy. He couldn't wait to get Michael, Scottie, Pheel and the other Bulls out of town. Well, now maybe some of that bad karma will come back to roost on the Bull this free agent summer.



Prediction: LeBron will sign for 2-3 more years in Cleveland.
Reasons aplenty: his home town, they can give him more dough than anyone, he can name his own coach, he's still only 25... and if he doesn't win over that time, then he gets Cleveland to handshake on a sign-and-trade in 2-3 years so he can go anywhere he wants.

b) Good Ozzie Karma
Another tasty Ozzie eruption...

QOTD3

"Sometimes he thinks (bleeping) people pay to watch him (bleeping) umpire!"
- Ozzie, on Joe West, link

Good video of the shenanigans here:

Ozzie, Buehrle ejected for arguing balks

It's interesting to get the calls from both TV crews: White Sock and Cleveland. Hey, if Steve Stone says something is not a balk, then I believe it. But then the Cleveland announcers are right too... when you throw your flipping mitt, you're gone.

QOTD3

"He's becoming a joke to the umpiring profession."
- Hawk Harrelson, on umpire Joe West, video

I know Ozzie will be fined and/or suspended.
I wonder if TV guys ever get in trouble.

c) Castle birds
It was nice to walk out this morning and see both my Castle "tenants". I have my usual doves with a nest in my portico, and a newbie robin whose nest is right above my office window.

safety third... yow, bill

The chicklets came pouring out of his mouth

a) Hawk (still) win

Awesome/gruesome recap of the Hawk win and Duncan Keith's 7 knocked-out teeth.

Keith loses teeth, but shows plenty of heart

That's a crappy headline, but inside is the best start to a story ever.

QOTD

"The chicklets came pouring out of his mouth..."
- Duncan Keith's chiclets

And yeah, they misspelled "chiclets" in that story... as in the gum Chiclets.

History of Chiclets


b) Cap and trade this
WSJ op-ed today on the negative impact of cap and trade taxes: Cap and Flee

Two interesting facts tidbits in there:

1. CA votes in Nov - "In November, Californians will vote on an initiative to suspend AB-32 until the state unemployment rate falls to 5.5%. The rate is now 12.6%". That AB-32 is California's stupid cap & trade tax law.
   
2. Tariffs in the fed bill - "The recently introduced Kerry-Lieberman bill all but concedes the point by calling for tariffs on products from countries that don't impose similar energy costs." Did you know tariffs were a part of crappy cap-and-trade? I didn't.
   

More and more and more, the shit points to the vote in November.

c) One more tax
Finally, from The Tax Caps Cometh... this is the point.
One point that is dead-on, spot-on, middle of the bullseye, 100%, BOOM!

• MA has a cap on property taxes at 2.5%. Now Jersey does not.
• MA spends about $13K/student. Jersey more than $16K.
• Yet, "Massachusetts students in almost all demographics achieved better results than their Jersey counterparts."

You see that bottom-line point... MA schools do better with less money/waste. You see this in corporate America all the time. Tough times lead to streamlining and improved productivity and focus.

The other biggie... anything/everything must be tried to choke off the tax spigot to governments at any/every level. Why? Well, this must be done to counterbalance the absolute fact: Gov entities will do anything in their power to grow and consume resources.

See how happy this Jockey underwear girls is with her property tax caps?
he he... yow, bill

Born to veto

QOTD

"That's it mister... you just lost your brain privileges!"
- Plankton

a) Born to veto
I heart Chris Christie.
Again.
Here's a video of him vetoing a tax increase (from 9% to 10.75% for the top bracket, I think)... he vetoed it two minutes after the Jersey legislature passed it:

Veto Video

And an excellent WSJ article on the "event":

Born To Veto

QOTD2

You're wasting your life.
Do you have a job?
You got money?
Do you have a woman?
Do you have any prospects?
You got anything on the horizon?
Do you have any action at all?
Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?
- Kramer

b) Hawk win
Hawk sweep the dang Shark. Too sweet. On to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Extra entertainment for the over-40 crowd... the Hawk scored a goal, and they panned out into the crowd and I'm like, "Why is Toews in the crowd high-five-ing some blonde bim?" Um, rummy... it's a guy in a Toews jersey. Eh.
He he.

Speaking of old... only 11/34, about a third, of the Hawks players are older than my daughter. Dop.

Hawk win.
Hawk win!
HAWK WIN!
stanley cup me, baby... yow, bill

YAMRR

a) Yet Another Mitch Rapp Review
YAMRR
Book: "Act of Treason" by Vince Flynn
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

Outstanding.
This was a 5-star effort, until it ended too abruptly.
I think I only have one more that I haven't read. ACK!

b) Speaking of books
Even this old dinosaur can feel the tide of the iPad and e-books and such.

E-Books Rewrite Bookselling

QOTD

"By the end of 2012, digital books will be 20% to 25% of unit sales, and that's on the conservative side"
- some nabob, source

Um.
The end of 2012.
That's like 18 months from now.
So, what will happen to all those Borders and Barnes & Noble stores scattered across the country? Well, the only answer is the same one for all the music stores (Tower Records, Crow's Nest, etc) and video stores (Blockbuster, Hollywood)... shut em down.
Right?

And, if you download all your books (in 10 years), then what exactly is a library? I mean the physical libraries. I can see a public site where you can digitally "borrow" a book for free or something, but why would you drive to the library to sit in a building surrounded by old books and magazines and people?
Scratch. Scratch. (my head, thank you)

c) Synthetic Cells
Incredible story.
Cool pictures.
Man-made cells. Life?

Scientists build first synthetic bacteria (photos)

No, I don't know what it means... long or short-term. Sigh.

d) Investing
The deflation trade is back on... Europe, too much debt, pensions, blah blah blah.

• Up: the Dollar, treasuries, volatility
  
• Down: everything else

Happy happy that my super-simple MA crosses are working OK. Now, we'll see how we do on the way back up.
peace out... yow, bill

Smarter than me

a) She's smarter than me
Hey, I don't agree with this chick... eat this, don't eat that, blah blah blah, nag nag nag...
But this is pretty funny.
This nabob blog chick bought a Happy Meal at McDonalds and then let it just sit on her shelf and decay. Here's her blog:

www.babybites.info/2010/03/03/1-year-happy-meal/

The punch line (if you don't already know)... her Happy Meal won't decay.
No mold.
No insects.
No larvae.
No rodents.

The thing has now been sitting there for a year... and no natural thing, living or otherwise, wants anything to do with this Happy Meal.
Now, that's a good/smart idea for a blog post. He he.

b) OK, my own research

QOTD

"I do not ship to Quebec"
- Some ebay guy, selling his Happy Meal toy

I did a little research myself (cough) and searched ebay for "happy meal toy"... 5,600 listings.
The most expensive one:

Super Mario Bros. 3 Nintendo McDonald's HAPPY MEAL DISPLAY 1990
Buy it now for $450
link (while it lasts)

This guy is working for a living, baby.
God bless America.

QOTD2

"This should belong in a museum"
- Same ebay guy

happy meal me... yow, bill

PS - President Obama announced his new financial reform bill... and a rat ran in front of the podium at the White House. That's pretty dang funny (kismet), too. He he he he.

Rodent scurries by as Obama lauds Wall Street vote

Unique times

a) BNLA

QOTD

Start all over again
And do it up the right way
Come together my friend
And celebrate the new day
- Chicago, "Brand New Love Affair", link

b) Unique Times
Well, unique times... Core Inflation at 44 year low.
Core inflation came in at 0.92% annual rate, which "broke a string of 171 straight months where the core CPI came in between 1% and 3%."

That's 14 years of core CPI at 1-3%. Over those 14 years, what things have risen in price much faster than that?

• Health care
• Education
• Public sector spending
  

The next 14 years?

c) Tattoo stats
Fun tattoo stats from the Freak blog (link):

• 40% of people ages 26-40 have a tattoo
• Only 1 in 10 of us older than 40 have tats

I exist happily in the 90%.

d) BNLA 2

QOTD2

I can hardly believe
How much I really love you baby
All tomorrows will be
A love affair with you my lady
- Chicago, "Brand New Love Affair"

Horns!
peace... yow, bill

Weeners!

a) Weeners for everyone!
The Harvard School of Public Health says that our health problems come from hot dogs and bacon: Study Suggest Processed Meat a Health Risk

QOTD

"Processed meats such as bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli meats may be the most important to avoid"
- Renata Micha, Harvard School of Public Health

To which, The American Meat Institute Foundation says "Fuck off!"
American Meat Institute Foundation Says Processed Meats Are a Safe and Healthy Part of a Balanced Diet

I believe dogs and bacon have been around for quite a while now. In fact, "processed meats" have been around a lot longer than America has been fat.

So, I'll have to side with the meat guys on this one. In fact, I wouldn't let Renata Micha over there at Harvard Public Health babysit my goldfish.

Oh, and BTW, whatever you do, do not google "Renata Micha". I think the Harvard guy/girl is also a porn star or horse trainer or something. Good lord. But I did find this cool, updated Mini-Cooper version of the Oscar Mayer weener-mobile:


b) Hawk win... yawn
Hawk win!

Hawk won game 2 against San Jose, 4-2 last night.
We now lead the series 2-0 and our Blackhawk head home for game #3 on Friday night.

So, why the yawn?

Well, the game had very low intensity. You usually see such a high level of effort in these playoff games, but not last night. San Jose rolled over like a Harvard Public Health guy with a hot dog stuck in his craw.

The highlights of the game: 1) I went to bed after the 2nd period, and 2) Versus channel hockey reporter Charissa Thompson. Now, that girl knows her some hockey!

shoot the puck... yow, bill

Under the Sia Schmia

"Under the sea"

QOTD

You risk all this
For just a kiss
I promise I will not resist
- Sia, "Day too soon"

yow, bill

The Avengers #1

a) IM2
Movie: Iron Man 2
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK.

Easy review... pure action movie sans any plot, characters, or creativity.
Go to the movie. See stuff blow up. The end.
Or, better yet... go see stuff blow up at the Imax. I heart the Imax. Yow!

Two interesting sub-things (?):

1. I was trying to figure out why Scarlett Johansson was in the movie. Crappy part. She didn't even look that good... well, not as good as Gwyneth at least. I don't know. I guess the girl has bills to pay.
2. They did a lot of "The Avengers" foreshadowing, which I assume is where the Iron Man series is heading (link and imdb link). Excellent. Lots of Marvel comic movie stuff here: www.marvel.com/movies. Anyway, I'm not much of a comic-head, so I couldn't remember all the original Avengers. So, to prevent that from happening in the future, it's: Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk (the 3 I remembered), Ant Man, and The Wasp. Captain America joined the group early on as well. (wikipedia)

The Avengers #1, Sep 1963

Did you catch that... 12 cents. He he.

QOTD

"THE AVENGERS...
BAH! I'LL DESTROY
YOU ALL!"
- Loki, The Avengers #1 (above)

b) See Bill run... very slowly
I ran this 5K yesterday: Jeanine Nicarico Literacy Fund Run For Reading 2010.
I was brutally slow... not even 7 minutes per mile.

The factors in this non-performance: 48 yo, beer, pulled pork at Gematos, and a hot date.
This list is not sorted in any manner... least of all by their impact on my running. I leave this to the reader.

c) I have this book
The Freakonomics blog is talking about a book on my to-read shelf called "Power Hungry" by Robert Bryce. The Freaks talk about Bryce's exposure of the real impact of wind power in greenest-of-the-green Denmark: For Whom the Wind Blows. Great reading.

Side note: Freaks easy clean-up idea for oil spills: use hay.
A Simple Solution to Oil Spills?

I'm on to that "Power Hungry" book after Mitch Rapp.

d) Demean me!
Top Yahoo story: "How to demean your employees"
Sigh.
There's Yahoo's picture of a "demeaning" boss over there to the right.
Cha!
peace... yow, bill

And... ACTION!

"Purple flower"

Ah, Mitch Rapp.
And... ACTION!

QOTD

"The black finish of a gun and its long silencer against the faded denim of Gazich's pants caught Rapp's eye. The elevation of Rapp's left arm dropped immediately. Gun seeking out gun. A tenth of a second later Rapp squeezed the trigger, letting loose the first shot.

Gazich stood a mere fourteen feet away. The round caught him square in the back of his right hand, plowing its way through flesh, crucial tendons, and then bone. His hand clenched for a millisecond and then opened like a clamp with a broken spring. The brain made none of these decisions. It was simply a mechanical failure. The gun dropped free-falling to the floor, but before it hit, a second round caught Gazich in the right knee and then a third in the left knee."
- Mitch Rapp, taking out a terrorist/hit man in "Act of Treason"

Jiminy. Review coming soon.
so great... yow, bill

Door number one. Or door number two.

a) Door Number 1
Well, let's start off with door #1... Eric Holder, Attorney General of these here United States.

QOTD

"You'll end up in a situation where people are racially profiled, and that could lead to a wedge drawn between certain communities and law enforcement, which leads to the problem of people in those communities not willing to interact with people in law enforcement, not willing to share information, not willing to be witnesses where law enforcement needs them."
- Attorney General Eric Holder, commenting extensively on the AZ immigration law (source, video)

Well, that's a lot of concern.
A lot of thought put into an important issue.
A lot of declarative statements where you will end up with this or this leads to that and such.
I believe Mr. Holder presented these views on all zillion of the Sunday morning shows.

Only one problem... he hasn't read the flippin bill yet.
It's only a lousy 10 pages long.
Here's the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rH1FEcbi4A

QOTD2

"I've just expressed concerns on the basis of what I've heard about the law. But I'm not in a position to say at this point, not having read the law, not having had the chance to interact with people are doing the review, exactly what my position is."
- Attorney General Eric Holder, now commenting less extensively on the AZ immigration law (source)

b) Door Number 2
And behind door #2... New Jersey Gov, Chris Christie.

QOTD

"You think that's a confrontational tone, then... you should really see me when I'm pissed... And nobody in New Jersey is going to have to wonder where I am on an issue... Blunt. Direct. Maybe you might say honest and refreshing."
- NJ Gov Christie, on his "confrontational tone", video

That's a fucking great video.
Eric Holder. You're a ninny.
Chris Christie. Honest and refreshing indeed.

c) Babies movie++
No, I won't be ponying up the dough to see the new "Babies" movie. Ack.
But here's a (nice) offshoot from a (bad) movie, some notes on parenting here in the 21st century: Babies Call to Arms

So, the deal on parenting and babies:

1. Most important, have a kid. At least one. Hey, are you going to do the amusement park of life and not ride the biggest, scariest roller coaster? Cmon!
2. Don't helicopter! Leave your kids alone. Don't believe the blather out there: breast-feeding, Baby Einstein tapes, organic food, snooty preschool... it don't matter a lick. Love your kid. Be the boss (kids want answers, not questions). And be there for them. The rest is gravy.
3. I guess I would also throw in there... parenting is the toughest job out there. I hadn't gotten that memo when I was 21. He he. So, anyway... it does make sense that the toughest job would be the most rewarding. Eh.

Of course, I wouldn't take my advice on anything.
Except the next part.

d) Miss USA
Jiminy.
Nice link.

Miss USA 2010 photos

Thanks for the link... to a loyal, anonymous reader.
All my readers demand anonymity... he he.

I snarfed my fave of the bunch, Miss Indiana (of all things):



Nice. Not too bony.
Think she's over 40?
peace out... yow, bill

PS - Jiminy. Late to the presses, but not too late... Indy Cheerleader Tryout Photos

Cooties

QOTD

"Why would anybody wanna touch a girls butt?
That's where cooties come from!"
- B Simpson, source

I think that's Mrs. Tom Brady. If they're still together. Who knows.
butt... yow, bill

Best Star Trek Ever

1. Best Star Trek Ever
Best Star Trek episode ever was on last night: City on the Edge of Forever.
Written by Harlan Ellison... Joan Collins as Edith Keeler... sigh.

QOTD

Bones: "You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did?"
Spock: "He knows, Doctor. He knows."
- end of "City on the Edge of Forever", source

2. Buck Fifty Beers
I heart minor league baseball... a buck fifty beers this season from the Joliet Jackhammer. Huzzah!



3. We're Not Europe
Memo to repubs in November: We're not Europe... nor do we want to be:

The We're Not Europe Party

Unless you're a dolt (and I don't discount that possibility), the repubs contrast is drawn with great contrast:

• Europe/Obama = slow growth, equal outcome rather than opportunity, less freedom, public sector over private, high taxes
  
• America = high growth, equal opportunity, freedom, private sector, low taxes
  

4. Supreme Court Nomination
Supreme Court nominations are almost always a snooze-fest.
But my top 3 Supreme Court nomination moments in my adult lifetime:

1. John Roberts - I watched more of Roberts' confirmation than any other. I don't remember why, but I'll guess that I surfed by and stuck around. I don't recall seeing anyone with more intellectual presence and charisma than Roberts. He effortlessly (and without notes) humbled his senate questioners and made them like it.
   
2. Clarence Thomas - His "high-tech lynching" at the hands of the dems (with Anita Hill and the Coke can and the nonsense) was a new low.
   
3. Robert Bork - Well, Bork looks and sounds really funny, so drunkard Teddy Kennedy turned Bork's name into a verb... "borked".
   

Oh. Also. Just FYI... then-Senator Obama voted against John Roberts' confirmation.
Good call, slick.

Anyway, we now have Elena Kagan nominated. Her most important qualification appears to be no "paper trail"... few legal opinions or writings on which she can be judged. Whatever. I do heart this QOTD though.

QOTD

"Professor chooses professor."
-Micheal Barone on President Obama choosing Elena Kagan

joan collins back in the day... yow, bill

Lottery Line

1. Lottery Line
I think it's universal.
I think.
You're late for something, but you need a bottle of water or a Snickers or something, so off to the Quickie Mart you go... and there it is... the lottery line. Most places will have a separate register for lottery tickets, so the bedraggled cashier will hustle over to you with your water and candy and ring you up. People in the lottery line (cough... losers... cough) can wait. In fact, it would seem they don't mind waiting at all... eagerly anticipating the purchase of their next losing ticket.

Well speaking of the lottery, I have found this statistic numerous places, but I can't find the original study. So, I'm a little dubious, but what the hell:

A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average,
$645 a year on lottery tickets, or about 9 percent of all income.

It sounds pretty outrageous, but would a poor family spend $10 a week on lottery tickets. I guess I can see that.

In some tasty kismet, I saw this stat yesterday afternoon and then last night I saw a snarky Illinois lottery commercial where it's raining money on people who buy lottery tickets.
Jerks.

2. The Sky is Falling!
This is one of the uber-bear, sky is falling, blogs that I follow for fun... I love this guy.

QOTD

"European markets will likely crash in a few days, the biggest moves should be in Spain and Italy."
- Xtrends blog prediction, source

OK, poindexter.

3. Philly @ Toronto, or something
Baseball has decided that the Toronto Blue Jay June 25-27 home games with the Phillie will be played in Philly, not Toronto. They (Bud Selig) did this to accommodate (cough) the protesters expected for the G20 summit in Toronto that weekend.

Can someone tell me why G20 protesters seem to be accommodated every year these guys get together? I don't get it.
play ball... yow, bill

Republicans Sell Out Chicago Schoolkids

To bourgeois Bill, blurry translates to "impressionistic" and vise versa:

"Impressionistic Thanksgiving"

WSJ caught up to the IL school choice vote I've been yammering on about.
Dang, I heart this headline:

Republicans Sell Out Chicago Schoolkids

QOTD1

"Republicans had an opportunity here to show they really mean it when they say vouchers are the answer for the inner city. If we could do this in Chicago, it would have caught on nationwide. That's what the teachers unions are afraid of, and that's why they opposed it. I wonder what were the House Republicans who voted 'no' were thinking?"
- Rev Meeks, source

I'm starting to like this Meeks guy.

And for you 40-somethings out there...

QOTD2

"The cumulative chance of dying between 40 and 67 is roughly 20%."
- Forbes article on annuities, source

Horn section at the end...

QOTD3

Baby... baby, it's true
It's only natural
Good things... in life
Take a long time
Yeah yeah
- James Pankow of Chicago, "(I've Been) Searching So Long"

48 and still kicking... yow, bill

Potpourri

QOTD

Anti choice
Anti girl
I am the anti-flag unfurled
Anti white and anti man
I got the anti-future plan
- Marilyn Manson, "1996"

1. Anti-Jane
Follow along, OK:

1. Jane Smiley is an incredibly talented writer, and I have enjoyed a number of her books. Her "A Thousand Acres" is one of my faves.

2. Jane Smiley is also really creepy. Smiley has a blog on the HuffPo where she feels safe enough to exhibit her intolerance and hatred.

3. And mea culpa: I just ordered her latest book on Amazon.

Please note. I am not anti-Jane because of her views on this or that, or her politics... I'm anti-Jane because she's a ninny. A real angry ninny.

2. Robin Roberts, Bip Roberts

Robin Roberts dead: HOF Pitcher Robin Roberts Dies at 83

Bip Roberts alive, doing TV for the SF Giant: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bip_Roberts

Well, Robin Roberts was before my time, but Bip Roberts did a great commercial back in the day (1995) where he's in the dugout with Tony Gwynn. Bip looks up his baseball card in some book, and it says that Bip's rookie card is worth $600. Incredulous, Gwynn grabs the book and says...

QOTD

"Hey man, you're looking at Robin Roberts.
Says here your card's worth four cents!"
- Tony Gwynn to Bip Roberts, source

Can't find the video for that one.

Bip played ball for 12 seasons, 1202 games, 1220 hits.
That ain't bad... a hit a game in the big leagues.

3. Pajama Jeans
Pajama-gram Jeans. For Mother's Day.

www.pajamajeans.com

Good lord.

4. Green Quiz

Green Quiz: In the US, solar power is most commonly used to do what?

Green Answer: As of the end of 2008, about 7,000 megawatts of solar power was installed for heating pools, compared with 1,100 megawatts for all other uses. Source

Beautiful metaphor for the green movement: solar power used to heat swimming pools.

I'm going green, baby!

5. What Was That Yellow Object
Speaking of green, you gotta read "SuperFreakonomics" to get this one, but what the hell.

What Was That Yellow Object

OK, the idea in SuperFreak is to mimic the impact of a volcano on the climate by spewing a tiny bit of sulfur into the atmosphere. So, let's pretend the Earth is warming... we spew the sulfur. Done. The tab? No, not trillions of dollars in government spending. Just a couple hundred million dollars into a little science experiment.
potpourri... yow, bill

PS - Cub win tonight.

The Illinois School Choice Program

The IL school choice bill was killed off last week.
Jiminy.

• This is the "official" state gov web page for the bill: IL Bill SB2494 - The Illinois School Choice Program
• There's a good summary of the situation in this article: The End of a Good Run for Chicago School Choice Bill
• A good description of some of the debate: Chicago School Vouchers Shot Down by Illinois House

This McHenry County blog has some nice IL state politics stuff. This is kind of cool... the blog shows the actual electronic roll call for this bill. I snarfed their image of this below.

Franks Joins Majority in Defeating Voucher Bill for Poor Chicago Kids

Please note the tally in that McHenry blog story. The bill came up 12 votes short of what they needed to pass it. And the repub vote tally was 25 for, 23 against. So, repubs could have passed this bill, but did not.

The Bad
The dems are have their heels dug in against choice in schools. Well, what do they do with their kids?

• Dick Durbin, IL Senator, sends his kids to parochial school. Durbin is also working his ass off to kill the DC school choice program.
  
• Arnie Duncan, Sec of Education, moved to Virginia, rather than DC, to send his kids to good public schools, rather than the crappy ones in DC. Arnie is very popular these days with $100B in his pocket from the Obama stimulus bill.
• Barrack Obama, President, of course sends his kids to the most elite private school in DC. And yes, I believe President Obama received nearly 100% of the black vote. Their payback: higher unemployment, more welfare, less choice.
  

Hypocrites, one and all.

The Good
My IL state rep from Naperville Darlene Senger was a co-sponsor of the bill, so good for her!
I emailed her this pat on the fanny:

Rep. Senger,
I live in Naperville, and I wanted to commend you for co-sponsoring the school choice bill (SB2494) recently. It's a shame the bill was not passed, but I thank you for being on the side of choice and empowering parents, rather than government or unions. Maybe next time!

Good luck to you.
Thanks, Bill

Is there any more telling sign of old age than writing some pol. He he.

Wrap
Two final things:

1. Is this at least a chink in the armor? With Rev. Meeks spear-heading this effort, does this mean that African-Americans will at least start to question their supposed leaders (Jackson, Obama, etc)?
   
2. WTF are half the IL repubs doing by voting against this bill? We know the answer to that one. Dems vote to support the teacher's union. Repubs from the burbs and downstate won't lift a finger for inner-city kids because they don't live there.
   

Here's one repub who voted for the bill...

QOTD

"I had some reservations at first because it doesn’t help anybody in the suburbs"... but he voted for the bill on behalf of inner-city kids because it "could give them a better life."
- IL Rep J Durkin (r), source

Oh well. Blah blah blah.
Good job, Rep Senger.
And hope this is a step in the right direction.
choice... yow, bill

Good news

QOTD

"Today’s market was neither orderly nor efficient nor trustworthy.
It was just a bunch of computers making ugly, messy love with each other.
And your money hung in the balance."
- WSJ dude on yesterday's market shenanigans, source

1. Good News
Good news.
Yeah!
Good news on the unemployment front... 290K jobs created last month.
See. A chart:

Source: Crossing Wall Street blog post

Excellent.

2. Nascar ETF
Too funny: NASCAR ETF: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

That's bogus though... the NASCAR ETF shouldn't contain companies that sponsor NASCAR, it should contain products used by NASCAR fans:

• Chewing tobacco
• Bud
• Bud Light
  
• Turtle Wax
  
• Toothpicks
  
• Hair spray
• Those spoons with the states on them
  
• Danica Patrick, um, stuff
  

F NASCAR... Danica!
vroom... yow, bill

WWMFD

The Dow dropped, um, like 600 points today.
Instantaneously.
Nobody knows why. Yet.

QOTD

"It's the Matrix.
I thought a nuclear war started or something."
- Some dude on CNBC

The (bogus) CNBC rumor is something about a fat-finger trade that CitiGroup made in Proctor & Gamble. Ya know, tries to sell a billion shares instead of a million or something stupid.
Let's go to the videotape:


That's pretty cool.
At 2: Eastern, the price plummets and the volume (at the bottom) just stops for like 10 minutes or so.

Here's another good one.
I'd like a million shares of Accenture at $0.00. He he.



Of course, these are just one-off stocks, no matter how big.
The larger indices... well...

That's the Vanguard Total Index, VTI.
Oops.
It's supposed to be like the whole US market. It went from $57 to $40 in a heartbeat.

I'm glad I snarfed these glitch charts because it looks like the exchanges are unwinding some of this shit. But still... program trading. What, 23 years after 1987, and we still don't have a handle on controlling computer trading. Cmon.

Oh, BTW.
SELL!!!!
he he... yow, bill

PS - For some reason, you google up "Stock market bikini" and you get some stupid Maxim cover with Megan Fox on it. I mean she's not even in a bikini. Ah, who cares.



PPS - WWMFD, "What Would Megan Fox Do"

Leverage

1. Leverage this
Congress nabobs interviewed the executroids who ran Bear-Stearns into the ground yesterday.

QOTD

"In retrospect, in hindsight, I would say leverage was too high"
- Bear-Stearns exec on the 40x leverage employed at Bear-Stearns

40x leverage (source) a little too high. Ya think.

So, nuts to this guy... and nuts to the regulations that allow it. This isn't rocket science. If we had simply restricted the leverage allowed at these places to flipping reasonable levels, we wouldn't have had the financial meltdown that we had.

2. Newsweek... rag for sale.
Newsweek magazine is for sale: Newsweek's Hazy Future

Why is Newsweek failing?
Newsweek has been referenced a couple of times here at williamt... it's a leftie rag.

QOTD

"... they [Newsweek] increasingly seemed to lean left. I lost track of the number of Barack and Michelle covers... and a couple of its top political writers double as MSNBC commentators."
- WaPo nabob on Newsweek, source

I salute Newsweek's owners, the WaPo, for losing all that money just so they could further pretend they were reporting the news. Huzzah!

Finally, cinco de mayo... one day late... en homage... my fave half-Mexican.
Salma!
peace out... yow, bill

Dichotomy

1. Dichotomy

QOTD

"The Borg have neither honor nor courage.
That... is our greatest advantage."
- Worf, Star Trek Next Gen (source)

For me, the dichotomy between public and private life is huge. In my private life, I'm surrounded by people of honor and courage (and integrity and character)... family, friends, co-workers, neighbors... readers of this tiny blog (he he).

Yet, all I need do is turn on the flippin car radio for a few minutes, and I'm inundated with stories of pols that lack honor, courage, common sense, or a lick of character.

Here are two simple examples: Mikey and Arnold.

Michael Bloomberg: The mayor of NYNY, and great regulator or fats and salt... well, here Mikey takes a guess at describing the person responsible for the failed bomb attempt in Times Square before they apprehended the actual guy: "Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something." (source).

No, Mayor Bloomberg the would-be bomber wasn't a tea party knucklehead... just a garden variety Muslim terrorist. Zero.

And then there's this one: "I see on TV the birds drenched in oil, the fishermen out of work, the massive oil spill and oil slick destroying our precious ecosystem. That will not happen here in California, and this is why I am withdrawing my support for the T-Ridge project." (source)

Yeah, that's Arnold as gov of Collie-forn-yah deciding against any drilling because of the spill in Florida. What would you (or anyone with any character) do? Well OK. It's not tough. You'd say, let's revisit this decision, or let's double our efforts to assure safety or whatever. You wouldn't hop on a podium and say, without even knowing why the BP spill happened, that you're pulling the plug on all drilling in your state. You wouldn't do this because you wouldn't want to sound like a ninny.

Arnold, however, doesn't mind sounding like a ninny.

You and I lead different lives by a different standard than our shithead politicians. I wouldn't let Mike Bloomberg or Arnold walk my dog, let alone run anything.

2. Defining Austerity
Stock market down the last couple-a days, and I kept reading about Greece's harsh austerity plan. Austerity, austerity, austerity... over and over again. This austerity stuff is largely why public service employees are rioting in Greece, so I was curious.

Well, it took some google-digging, but here it is: Details of Greek Austerity Deal

I was dubious about how austere this Greek austerity really was, but there's some pretty good ones in there:

• Pay freezes through 2014
• Reducing pensions to be a portion of average salary, rather than final salary
  
• Mucking with the retirement age, indexing it by life expectancy
  
• Tax the fuck out of everything

Hey Greeks. Own your own stuff, baby.
Will America's public servants (cough) be facing an Obama-inspired austerity program some day? Hope not.
peace... yow, bill

The Brick

QOTD

"Sometimes life's gonna hit you in the head with a brick.
Don't lose faith."
- Steve Jobs, video

What percentage of commencement addresses are worthy?
Most certainly, this number approaches zero.
I thought this one was worthy of 15 minutes:

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Jobs is surprisingly serious. Direct. Non-snarky. I don't think he plays for a laugh once.
As Jobs states up front... it's just three stories from his life. Three interesting stories.

And back to more mundane issues. The local sports team.

QOTD2

"He'll be seeing a lot more rubber in this series."
- Hockey announcer on Vancouver goalie facing the Blackhawks in round two

Well, that didn't work out in game 1: Canuck 5 - Blackhawk 1.
Dop.

We shall see. Go Blackhawk!
happy bikini... yow, bill