5 star yum

a) 5 star evening

Ty and I knocked the cover off the ball last night with this crock pot recipe:

This was one of our best crock pot efforts. The green apples nearly disappeared, but you could taste them in the sauce. And the chops were incredibly tender. I might add some real mushrooms to the mushroom soup next time.

I've said it before: the crock pot... a bachelor's best friend.

QOTD

"This is great music"
-Ty, listening to "Swan Lake"

I have the Philly Symphonic version of Swan Lake. The needle is buried in 5 bill-stars for this one.

Ty and I had a 5-star evening last night.

b) State tax revenues

You've heard the siren song of my leftie brothers: "we must raise taxes"... states are going to run out of money, etc. A picture exposes the BS of this mantra... state tax revenues for the last 20 years through Q3 2010:

Q3 2010 State tax revenues, source: Bespoke guys

See the big dip there in the Great Recession?
Yeah, me neither.
Not 25%. Not even 10%.
The states and the feds have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
My mantra is easy: not a dime in new taxes until spending is reduced.

c) Sway
Book: "Sway" by the Brafman brothers
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it

Like Malcolm Gladwell, this book is a part of the burgeoning Freakonomics cottage industry. In fact, Gladwell could have written this book. They take Freakonomics-ish social science experiments and then extrapolate to come to a grand conclusion. In this case, the experiments deal with how external factors influence our decisions. For example, you tell half the students before a lecture that their guest prof is a good guy and the other half that he's a bad guy, and guess what... it influences their feelings about the guy's lecture. Duh.

The book had a couple fun studies in it, but not much else. They also had Gladwell's same sort of breathless, "oh my god, this is important" writing style. Argh.

QOTD2

"The meta-analysis showed that "Joe Friday" interviews are six times more effective than first-date interviews at predicting a candidate's job performance."
- Sway factoid

A "first-date interview" is where you just sit down and chit-chat with a job candidate.
A "Joe Friday interview" is where you test the candidate or ask specific performance questions.
This is mildly interesting. More funny though is the professor how they cite on this stat can't get his own department at his university to change how they do interviews.

d) New Year's resolution

My New Year's resolution is to not swear so much at the REALLY crappy blogger editor. He he. Just kidding. About the swearing. Not about how bad the blogger editor is.

QOTD3

"I quit smoking two years ago... but I have all kinds of nicotine supplements."
-Slash

Slash, I'm happy for you. Being a rock star is for the young. With the 70's under it's belt, Father Time is now converting all the 80's rock bands into tribute bands.
peace... yow, bill

PS - Rain stopping? Off for my traditional New Year's Eve run. Huzzah!

Intercept this

a) Unpleasantness

Let's get the unpleasantness out of the way, first.

QOTD

"Guantanamo is probably the number one recruitment tool that is used by these jihadist organizations."
- President Obama

I like this one because it's doubly stupid. Or, stupid stupid as I'd like to say.

1. Of course, Gitmo isn't even 23rd on the list of recruitment tools for terrorists. 
2. And, of course again, if you actually believed that President Obama, then why didn't you close the place.

And shit, he said that this month... not during the campaign of something.
Unpleasant pol liar.
On to the good stuff!

b) Brady!
Awesome Tom Brady stats this year (source):

• 319 consecutive passes without an interception
• For all of 2011, only 0.8% of Tom Brady's passes have been intercepted
• Brady was the MVP of the Payton34 fantasy football league for 2010 (link).

Jiminy!

c) google bikini 2011 calendar

The williamt blog has been lambasted in the blogosphere lately for my lack of bikini-age recently.
OK.
Sell it baby: Best-selling swimsuit model calendars

Why doesn't everyone sell a bikini calendar?
hmmm... yow, bill

...

...

...

...

and so on... and so on... and so on...

Quit yer yammerin

a) Yammer

I always thought "yammer" was a word made up by my father.
Ya know... "Quit yer yammerin!"

Nope.
dictionary.reference.com/browse/yammer

It's also a website: www.yammer.com
That website looks like a good idea... private/corporate twitter-type dealie.
Interesting. 

b) Facebutt

Facebutt: "The result of using facebook for 24 hours or more." (source)

c) Franklin

Ty and I are working on our Charlie Brown Christmas puzzle. Excellent.

Who is the black kid on Charlie Brown?
Answer: Franklin

yammer... yow, bill

Untitled

QOTD

I see you crying in the sunshine
I hear you laughing in the rain
You say you can't tell any difference
Between the pleasure and the pain
- Living Colour, "Desperate People"

a) An apparently spectacular display of cognitive dissonance
You have to put on the big boys pants to read this because it's a whopping 8 pages long, but it is worthy:

Dan Loeb's Third Quarter 2010 Investor Newsletter

Dan Loeb invests billions at a hedge fund company called Third Point. I must admit I haven't heard of Dan Loeb before, but his comments were insightful. I particularly agree with the hubris that comes out of Ben Bernanke about the Fed and others in the government saving the world from Armageddon. This crap is part of what bugged me so much about the book "Too Big to Fail." You get the distinct impression that these guys (Obama, Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, etc) are really quite happy with themselves... all evidence to the contrary.

QOTD2

"Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we‘re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared, and the country is scared."
- President Obama, on his flailing presidency

"...an apparently spectacular display of cognitive dissonance"
- Dan Loeb retort to President Obama's claim of owning "facts and science"

Cognitive dissonance, indeed!

Here's something a little more productive (and wonderful!) from Mr. Loeb:

QOTD3

"The only thing we are 100% confident in is that we are fallible, we don’t have all the answers, and we will make some mistakes. However, if we are honest with ourselves and our colleagues, remain attentive to our own biases and deceptions, focus on process, attempt to understand why we erred, and engage in deliberate practice and self‐observation to improve our decision making ability, we will not only minimize our errors, but also ultimately become better people and better investors."
- Dan Loeb, investor... "That is our story."

Huzzah!


QOTD4

Where is my picket fence?
My long, tall glass of lemonade?
Where is my VCR? My stereo? My TV show?
- Living Colour, "Which Way to America"

what's your favorite color, baby... yow, bill

The Mitch Rapp Christmas Special

a) American Assassin

Book: "American Assassin" by Vince Flynn
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good

I heart Mitch Rapp. No doubt.

Alas, Vince Flynn's latest installment is the weakest of the Mitch Rapp series. The book is a prequel of sorts describing Mitch Rapp's beginnings at the CIA. It doesn't have the edge of previous (4 and 5 bill-star) books and feels more like a Mitch Rapp Christmas Special or something, rather than a next step in the action that Vince Flynn does so well.

QOTD

"He slowly cracked open his eyes, and as expected, he found himself enveloped in darkness. His head was throbbing a bit from the blow, but not too badly. There was no fear on his face or doubt in his mind, though. Just a smile on his lips as he thought of his plan. The seeds of disinformation that he had spread over the past day had drawn them in just as he'd hoped. His captors had no idea of the true intent of the man they now had in their possession, and more important, no idea of the violence and mayhem he was about to visit upon them."
- Mitch Rapp ready for action against Middle East terrorists

Of course, I still heart Mitch Rapp. I look forward to re-reading the whole series sometime soon. Will Vince Flynn turn out new adventures and get back on track. Heck, who cares? He's cranked out, like, 10 amazing, fun books, so whatever happens.... huzzah to Mitch Rapp!

b) Science!

How has life changed in the last (nearly) 5 decades... here's one:

QOTD2

"More than 25% of kids and teens in the US take prescriptions on a regular basis"
- WSJ article

Source: WSJ article

I can't get past square one understanding this one. Can you?
Asthma, depression, ADHD, etc... none of these were significant problems for children 40 years ago. So,what's happening? Two choices, right?

1. We're just diagnosing stuff that was there 40 years ago and not reported
2. Something's wrong with our environment now that is causing some of this stuff

With unintentional irony, adjacent to the "so many pills" story in today's WSJ is this goofy science offering:

Long finger linked to cancer risk, study finds

QOTD3

"Men with longer index fingers (than ring fingers) were 33% less likely to develop prostate cancer, and men under 60 had an 87% lower risk."
- WSJ article

Well, that's good for me and my long index finger. He he.
I'm a big science guy, but science is struggling in many areas these days.

c) Goldfish win!

I won fantasy football this year:

Naperville Goldfish 49, Palatine Pirate 32

It's all here, baby: Payton34 2010 Fantasy Football Season
Go Go Goldfish!
Su-weet!
peace... yow, bill

Many many QOTD

Don't know why, but I heart this quirky photo...

"Christmas Negative"

a) Many many

Many many excellent QOTD's here in the Daily Herald:

The Best Sports Quotes of 2010

I'm not even going to pick a fave.

b) Best obit

SI did a compilation of quickie obits from sports stars that passed away in 2010.
First, I heart Maurice Lucas.
And second, his (bad ass) obit is awesome... click on it to read the big version:

I'm getting Sports Illustrated because of some goofy school magazine thing Ty did. I gotta say, it's a lot better now than back in the day. It used to be so full of crap and holier than thou, but they seem a little more focused on just talking about sports these days. It's a fun read nowadays.

QOTD

"It's a lesson to myself... a lesson to the kids to not do that."
- Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles 2B, after missing the last week of the season with recurring headaches caused by clubbing himself in the head with his bat in frustration after a strikeout (link)

Or as Steve Stone would say, "For all you little leaguers out there..."
he he... yow, bill

107 yo

a) Roy R Neuberger

Really interesting obit of 107 yo investor/collector Roy R. Neuberger:

Roy R. Neuberger Dies at 107; Applied a Stock Trader’s Acumen to Art

QOTD

"I liked adventuresome work that I often didn’t understand. For art to be very good it has to be over your head."
- Roy R Neuberger, at 100

b) Go Go!

It's the day after Christmas, but dear Santa... dang, you know what I want.
   

Go Go Goldfish!

My team, the Naperville Goldfish, is pretty much ready to go. Still pondering some final lineup choices though.

I eagerly await the beginning of today's noon football games; I am playing in the championship of my league (Payton34 2010 Fantasy Football). 

Anyway, go go Peyton, Marcus, Kenny, Stevie, Mike, Matt, Jacob, Josh and (brand) newbie Rashad. And the whole Chicago Bear D!

That trophy sure would look nice on the mantle.

QOTD2

"Hot chicks like trophies."
- Williamt

go go goldfish... yow, bill

Merry Christmas... card

Ty and I had a wonderful time doing 6 Christmas card designs this year.
Maybe you got one, lucky duck. He he.

Here's the online versions, just for fun:

Bill and Ty's 2010 Christmas Card

QOTD

"Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."
- Clarence, "It's a Wonderful Life" (imdb)

Merry Christmas!
yow, bill

Pleasantville, IL

I like that Wikipedia summary: "Once a quaint farming town, Naperville has evolved into a wealthy city with numerous corporate headquarters..."
And no crime. For one day.

QOTD

"Naperville had a 24-hour period free of crime reports on Dec. 13"
- The Trib, Naperville records 24 hours without crime

Let's see... Dec 13, 2010 was a week ago.
A Monday.
No. I don't remember committing any (major) crimes.

There's about 150,000 people living in Naperville. I don't have any crime rate stuff for Naperville or whatever, and I'm too lazy to dig this morning. So, I'll lazily say that it seems pretty weird, though fact free, to not have a single felony or misdemeanor for an entire day in a place with 150K people.

pretty pleasant... yow, bill

IAWL, a live radio play

Theater: "It's a Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... great!
Website: www.noblefool.org/a_show_pages/2010_subscriptionseries_wonderfullife/index.html

A rare theater review here at the williamt blog. Huzzah!
This show was at Pheasant Run which is nicer than I remember with a hotel and a bunch of bars and restaurants and shops.

The premise of the play is a Chicago radio station in the 40's that is doing a radio broadcast of IAWL. So, you get the whole IAWL script along with some extra interaction and singing between the "radio station employees."
It was light and fun. The actors were talented. It was a fun, Christmas-y evening. I listened to Charlie Brown Christmas on the drive home. Sigh.

Moz said that these shows are in Chicago and a couple other places in the burbs.
Something worth checking out next year.

QOTD

"Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."
- Clarence, IAWL

yow, bill

Groupon

I like the occasional crappy phone photo like this one from Oak Brook mall yesterday.

"Tree phone? Phone tree?"

I heart this one... so great!

QOTD

"You've got to go out there and kill what you're going to eat."
- Groupon CEO, on keeping focus in the midst of incredible success

Jeez. I ain't getting any younger.
The Groupon story, a great WSJ read:

Groupon's $6 Billion Gambler

The story and the stats in there are absolutely breathtaking. Groupon's first coupon deal was 2-for-1 pizza in October 2008. Today, two years later, they have 44 million subscribers and have turned down Google's offer of $6B to buy the place.

That's shit that I can't get my head around. It's humbling.

QOTD2

"We have so many customers that our biggest problem is that sometimes we overwhelm merchants with the number of customers we bring them."
- Groupon guy

Some ancillary links:

• A guy named Eric Lefkofsky looks like the key guy behind Groupon and a lot of other Chicago-based startups: www.lefkofsky.com/. His blog in there is particularly interesting.
• A Fox business video with Eric Lefkofsky talking about his latest venture fund which promotes Chicago-based tech businesses: video link
• Another one of Lefkofsky's companies: chicago.poggled.com. It looks sort of like Groupon for Chicago bars.

So, I signed up for Groupon.
It seems that a lot of it is city-based and chick-based, but we'll see.
buy low... yow, bill

Black Swan

Movie: "Black Swan"
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not good

Well, I liked the ingredients of this movie before I saw it.

• The director is Darren Aronofsky of Pi and Requiem for a Dream fame. So, I was psyched.
• And it stars Natalie Portman... hot hot hot. I had read about a lesbian scene with her in the film that was supposed to be equally hot hot hot.

Well, Black Swan wasn't horrible. It just wasn't good.
The best parts:

• Natalie Portman's performance was great. I was a little bummed that she was so skinny. I know she had to do it for the part, but yuk. I guess I prefer Natalie Portman bald over skinny. And the hyped lesbian shenanigans was nothing to write home about.
• The Swan Lake music was great, of course.
• I actually really liked the very end. A strong ending to a mediocre movie is sort of the opposite of what normally happens.

The rest was just sort of meh. Black Swan is a fable or allegory or morality play or whatever, so you have to give it a lot of leeway, but I did laugh at a couple spots. The best: I guffawed inappropriately when ballerina Natalie threw all her stuffed toys down the garbage chute as a symbol of her breaking free from her mother and childlike isolation. Um, that was a little heavy-handed. He he. Also, the lesbian scene and Mila Kunis in general was not good.

Black Swan was really hampered by the fact that you can't fake ballet. Shit, Natalie Portman acted the part and lost the weight, and I'll bet she trained her ass off (USA Today story), but still. You cannot fake ballet and years of training and the power and fluidity and grace of dancing like that. Aronofsky compensated for this by doing extreme closeups during a lot of the dance scenes. It wasn't visually interesting, especially when you're sitting there wishing you could see the beauty of "Swan Lake".

QOTD

"I was perfect..."
- Black Swan

yow, bill

Merry Christmas, Skynet

"Old-fashioned Butthead Christmas"

   
a) An ebay Christmas
Great ebay story for the holidays:

How One eBay User Got an Uncooperative Buyer to Pay Up

b) I don't get it

"People are going to ask, 'How did it do that'"
Yeah, I'm asking:

Taking IBM's supercomputer to Final Jeopardy

If your computer can understand Jeopardy questions and answer them, then... well, like I said, I don't get it. Put it in a natural language search engine, ala Wolfram's Alpha thingie. Or, just take over the planet for jiminy sake.

QOTD

"Watson uses encyclopedias, dictionaries, news stories, books, and Web content, among other resources."
- IBM'er


"I think we've gone from impressed to blown away."
- Jeopardy guy, on Watson

Go back to that link and watch the video of a computer playing Jeopardy. Kind of a freak out. A cool freak out.


QOTD2

"Hey buddy.
Ya got a dead cat in there or what?"
- Landlord to Arnold in "The Terminator"

c) Now this, I get

He he...

Kinect sex is here, game company says

"We have no idea how [Microsoft] will react...but we think the genie is out of the bottle, so to speak."
Cha.

And Merry Christmas, Skynet.
yow, bill

I ain't no Paul Revere

"Light swarm"

a) Topic Thunder

Movie: "Tropic Thunder"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

Well, this is a 2 star movie that has a few really fun moments that propel it to 3 bill-stars, worth the view.
Robert Downey in black face. That's pretty funny.
Jack Black as Jack Black (yet again). Not so funny.

Like I said, it was worth watching.

There is a weird common thread in my reviews today: The Tropic Thunder Effect. I would describe the following books the same way I describe Tropic Thunder. These are not great efforts that are lifted by small moments that I really enjoyed.

b) Malcolm Gladwell
Book: "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

Book: "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

These books have a similar flavor to the Freakonomics books. But not as good.

• Freakonomics: very interesting, self-deprecating, possible hypothesis to explain data
• Gladwell: some interesting, boastful, everything is presented as an incredible breakthrough

I mean take the main message and title of "The Tipping Point". Life ain't linear. I got it. You hit some tipping point and crazy stuff can happen. Or not. Gladwell treats this like a profound breakthrough, over and over again.

My fave point in "Tipping Point" was the story of Paul Revere. We know about Paul Revere telling everyone that the British were coming. What I didn't know is that there was another guy who went in the other direction, telling everyone the same dang thing. Everyone heard Paul Revere and acted. Everyone ignored the other guy.

Why? Well, Gladwell's explanation is simple: we're not all Paul Reveres.
We don't hear this simple message very often these days: we all have talents and some things we do well, and others not so well. Some people (like ole Paul Revere) can do some things (like connect to others) VERY well.

It struck home to me that I ain't no Paul Revere because of various issues connecting with other human beings these days. Cough.

My fave story in "Outliers" was Gladwell's description of the KIPP schools. KIPP is a brand of charter schools (mostly inner city) that emphasizes extra schoolwork and discipline for their students. They also specialize in math and have had excellent results.

QOTD

SSLANT

• Smile, 
• Sit up,
• Listen,
• Ask questions,
• Nod when spoken to,
• Track with your eyes

- KIPP acronym, a message for their students

To a suburban parent/kid, SSLANT might sound silly. To an inner city boy without a fully engaged Dad, this kind of basic discipline and expectations on your behavior are important and formative.

Wouldn't it be great to have KIPP schools as a choice for any parent/student that wanted to adopt such an approach to education?

Gladwell ends Outliers with his own families story, which was pretty interesting as well.

c) Pat Tillman
Book: "Where Men Win Glory" by Jon Krakauer
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

This book should have been better.
I heart Pat Tillman's story: NFL star courageously walks away from a multi-million dollar contract to join the military. He goes to Afghanistan (with his brother) and is killed in a friendly fire accident. It's an amazing story by any measure.

Well, the biography part of the story is pretty dry. The stories are told, but most things still feel 2-D. The quality of the writing is not that good. And this is topped off with a healthy dose of the author's political views about the Iraq war and terrorism and W. This is the yawner cherry on top.

The best parts of the book are Tillman's own writings. On April 8, 2002, Tillman wrote down his thoughts (blogged?) and titled it "Decision". It's an amazing, inspiring read. It's worth a peek at the Google Book version and look for page 157: Where Men Win Glory on Google Books

This QOTD is just a small part of Tillman's "Decision". It doesn't do it justice. So be it.

QOTD2

"I'm not sure where this new direction will take my life though I am positive it will include its share of sacrifice and difficulty... Despite this, however, I am equally positive that this new direction will, in the end, make our lives fuller, richer, and more meaningful. My voice is calling me in a different direction. It is up to me whether to listen or not."
- Pat Tillman's "Decision", on changing his life and joining the military

Tillman was right, with one distinction.
His decision to join the military did not ensure a life that was "fuller, richer, and more meaningful." Rather, he risked (everything) in this pursuit.
Nothing was guaranteed for Tillman... ditto for you and I as well.

d) Wrap
The Tropic Thunder Effect: a couple memorable, shiny spots that make otherwise forgettable material worth sitting through.

Odd coincidence that all these "things" get similar reviews. Or maybe I'm just cranky.
stay tuned... yow, bill

I feel like I just won twice

I really heart this great QOTD from Teddy Roosevelt.

QOTD

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

- Teddy Roosevelt, link

a) Too Big to Fail

Book: Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

First, let me get this out of the way. I dislike the soap opera, sort of, first-hand made-up account in this book. I know why the author did it. Shit, banking, even in a crisis, isn't the sexiest topic out there. Still, dialog about Jamie Dimon's tight jeans or Hank Paulson scratching himself isn't my cup of tea.

But the book is worthy if only to give a context to the financial collapse of 2008. I honestly don't understand a lot of what went on in 2008.But you read this book and it screams MORAL HAZARD!


QOTD2

Scene: Heart of the financial crisis in 1998; a billionaire hedge fund guy calls Goldman to withdraw his money. 

COO Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn: "Look, the one thing I'm doing is I'm learning who my friends are and who my enemies are, and I'm making lists."

Hedge fund guy, Stanley Druckenmiller: "I don't really give a shit; it's my money. It's my livelihood. I've got to protect myself, and I don't really give a shit what you have to say."
- Too Big to Fail, page 433

If the roles were reversed and Druckenmiller was in trouble and needed a hand from Goldman, I'm sure Mr. Cohn's reaction would have been an even more direct, fuck off and die.

This is a nice, short post about anger Americans have toward the financial system (scroll down a little to get to the dark side part):

Giving in to the Dark Side

This reminds me of the Iraq War and the CIA/intelligence community in our country. We (and others) had a huge gaffe thinking Iraq had WMD's, but it seems that little has been changed to fix what caused that gaffe.

The same for our financial system. I don't think any of this stuff has been resolved as far as I know. I don't see anything that has been put in place to prevent this type of shenanigans from happening again.
buy low... yow, bill




PS - Well, "The League". Alas, I'm not a fan. Sorry. But I do happily report, here at the williamt blog, what may possibly be the greatest scene in the history of television.
Jesus. H. Christ. I swear I've personally done this rant.
He he he.

QOTD last

Scene: An imaginary last-second missed chip shot by veteran Philly kicker David Akers gives Ruxin the title (and The Shiva trophy) over Kevin, the league commish. This rant follows.

Loser Commish:

Every year I set this league up. Every year. And I never win.
This was the year!
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Bullshit!
I babysit you morons. I babysit you... 'Oh help me out, do this, move that guy around, oh, I don't know how to set a lineup!'
Fuck you. Fuck you, Taco. And fuck you, Ruxin.
Stupid wise men...
There is no Santa Claus. And there's no Christmas. There's no God. There's no Easter bunny. And there's nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing...

Winner Ruxin: 

"I gotta say.
I feel like I just won twice."

- The League, video

Tim Pawlenty for guv... of IL

"Castle Santa"

a) Gov Unions v. Taxpayers

Tim Pawlenty is the guv of Minnesota. If he were guv here in IL, then our bond rating wouldn't be the worst in the country. At $123K per year, fed wages and benefits are TWICE the average in the private sector. But the worst of all is the unfunded pension liabilities for public employees across the board. Tim Pawlenty has a simple notion:

Government Unions vs. Taxpayers

One, two, three:

1. Bring public compensation back in line with private
2. Define gov standards in funding pension liabilities
3. End pension plans for government employees

Shit, forget 1 and 2, #3 is the budget buster... for the feds and especially here in Illinois. 

QOTD

"The private sector dropped them [pension plans] years ago in favor of the clarity and predictability of defined-contribution models such as 401(k) plans. This change alone can save taxpayers trillions of dollars."
- Tim Pawlenty

Own your own stuff, public employees. It's better. And welcome to the party.

b) Heart

I heart this shootout goal by rookie Linus Omark: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdO66187Os

I heart today's  XKCD: www.xkcd.com/833/

yow, bill

Good stewards

a) Good Stewards
When I read that repubs John Kasich (new OH gov) and Scott Walker (new WI gov) stood their ground against the feds and their billions, the word "hero" came to mind. But "hero" is too maudlin. Shoveling snow this morning, my weary shovel and I agreed upon the notion that Kasich and Walker are good stewards. These guys are managing the public's affairs in a conscientious way.

The Obama administration acted with uncanny speed to announce that they were "shifting" funds for high-speed rail away from WI and OH to other states, like (wait for it) California.

U.S. Shifts $1.2 Billion of Ohio, Wisconsin Rail Funds

Ask yourself this. If the feds walked up to any state, business, person, entity, whatever... and said here's a billion bucks. How many of them would spend it on high-speed rail? Of course, zero.

Or ask this. Why are we setting things up so that our money comes and goes through the feds and tiny nabobs like President Obama and Transportation Sec LaHood?

b) Not Good Stewards

Senate repubs have added ethanol subsidies and tariffs to the current tax bill.

Senate tax bill extends ethanol credit, tariff

If there's a dumber, more selfish federal program, then I don't know about it... high-speed rail included. Iowa repub senator Chuck Grassley says, "Letting these items lapse would be a case of penny-wise, pound-foolish legislating." The subsidies and such are expected to cost $6 billion next year.

c) Wrap

Perhaps it's this:

• A good steward empowers people. 
• A bad steward empowers himself and controls the people he is supposed to serve.

There will be no ribbon-cutting ceremony for Kasich or Walker. No photo op. But I salute them as good stewards.

Grassley will go home a crow about the billions he's brought back to Iowa at the expense of the rest of the country. He is a bad steward.

President Obama is the bad steward of bad stewards: high-speed rail, $250 to seniors, fed-controlled health care, $100B in Department of Education graft... to name just a few.
None of these things empowers people.
I hope President Obama enjoys the ribbon-cutting at his choo-choo in a few years.
He is a bad steward.
hedy... yow, bill

PS - Photos from this very nice/interesting Hedy Lamarr page.

PPS - Let me sneak this crap in...

Movie: Skyline
Website: www.iamrogue.com/skyline
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it, barely

I cannot rationally justify my 3 bill-stars for this movie... bad acting, dumb script, lots of slow spots, completely unoriginal, and no nudity!

But the effects were pretty cool, and the movie included a fair amount of brain-sucking, so.
Lord help me.
I guess it was worth seeing.
He he.

Education flurry

"Fri Dec 3"

Lots of education shenanigans going on, but can I give you the punch line first?
Golly, school choice could be a boffo issue for any presidential candidate in 2012 and beyond. It's a powerful message with a goal to empower parents, not school administrators and teacher's unions.

a) Rahmie's kids

Candidate for mayor of Chicago, ole Rahm Emanuel sidestepped the question of whether he would send his kids to Chicago public schools (story). Does Intrade have a wager where I can put my money on the table on this one?

Rahm wants to spend more money getting teachers master's degrees. "Emanuel’s $10 million plan to double the number of teacher training academies"... is silly.

b) CA parents

"Under a California law passed in January, parents can trigger a change in governance at some 1,300 schools that have failed to make 'adequate yearly progress' for four consecutive years."

Well, some parents in Compton voted to trigger a change at their school, where "only 3.3% of those graduates were eligible for California's public universities in 2008".

CA Parents Revolution

Huzzah to these activist parents!

c) I (still) heart Michelle Rhee

I did mention the punch line...

Michelle Rhee Launches Education Project

Mz. Rhee is raising dough to 1) "donate to political candidates who support legislation around her agenda", and 2) offer money to local school districts to help implement the policies.

The deal is called Students First:

www.studentsfirst.org

You can go there and give them your email (or dough) to get on their list. Or, if you like, you can also friend them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StudentsFirstHQ

QOTD

"I am going to start a revolution. I am going to start a movement in this country on behalf of the nation’s children."
- Michelle Rhee, story

And as an aside, this blog was pilloried across the internet in many, many alternative and social media outlets for describing Mz. Rhee as "pretty hot" (my post). Well, to my naysayers, Bah! Evidently, Michelle Rhee is hot enough for her fiancee, ex-Phoenix Sun point guard and current mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson.

In the parlance of the times, if KJ is "hitting that", that's good enough for me.
I'm upping the Michelle Rhee ante from "pretty hot" to hot.
school choice... yow, bill

Beef jerky

Hard not to over-react to this one...

QOTD

"It's tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers — unless the hostage gets harmed. Then, people will question the wisdom of that strategy. In this case, the hostage was the American people, and I was not willing to see them get harmed."
- President Obama, defending his tax deal with repubs (AP story)

 That's just an outrageous statement, man.

This is from a guy who shows you every day, whether you're a leftie, a rightie or just walking across the street, that he's just as vanilla a pol as they come.
jerky... yow, bill

Banalization, frivolization and superficiality

a) Two reactions

Here's a nobel-prize winning author pooping on today's tech-slanted culture or whatever:

Nobel-winning author laments effects of Internet

Two reactions:

1. Whenever I see nobel prize this or that, I snicker. After a long history of nobel nonsense (Jimmy Carter, Arafat, Gore, etc), the Obama peace prize less than month into his administration was my "tipping point" on these jokers.
2. I don't see any evidence of this "banalization, frivolization and superficiality" that he's talking about. I admit that I don't understand all the stuff going on with Twitter and Facebook's half a billion users and watching video on your phone and commercials for a TV system where you can pause a show and watch it in a different room and so on. But people seems to be serious and concerned and working hard.

Maybe the media representation of all this stuff is just stupid. But we'all aren't.

b) Beware these ides

These two stories seems tied together:

1. Groupon turns down a $6B offer from google (story).
2. Google buys a NY building for $1.8B (story). That tallies to  a hefty $600/sqft.

You can probably add Facebook and Twitter shunning IPOs to this list. The common thread: I wonder if these guys will some day (soon) wish they had taken/kept the cash.

c) Speaking of cash (or credit)

LOL. Just got in the mail two credit card solicitations: GM Mastercard and Citi Mastercard.
I guess the bailout boys figure they should loan me some money now.
Cha. I'll pass.
yow, bill

Optimists and nerds

a) Rational optimism

Times are tough, but that's a short-term view.
From a longer-term view, across the globe, democracy and capitalism and the rise of the West has transformed the globe.
This is a fun video for we (and wee) optimists and nerds:

Health and Wealth over the last 200 years (video)

b) Speaking of long-term...

Is this an important shift in investing momentum? Money has (finally) started to shift out of bond funds.

Source: WSJ: As Bonds Flag, Stocks Beckon

I think this could be important because it may be indicating higher growth and inflation on the way.
We shall see.
yow, bill

Don't read this

a) Look. Don't look.
Look.
Don't even bother reading this story: The Rational War on Fat

Why is Freakonomics writing about rational ways to fight getting fat when we don't even know why people are getting fat. As I barrel toward 50 yo, I like looking for stuff like this... this is one of the things that has changed dramatically in my lifetime.

WHY ARE PEOPLE SO FAT?!?

What has changed so much in the last 50 years to cause this? Is the food different? Is it processed food? Is it some new thing in the food (hormones or trans-fats or something)? Are we just too wealthy? Is food too cheap? Do we exercise less as a result of technology and careers and such? Are kids not getting exercise and that plants a seed that blows up (he he) as they become an adult?

I know what it's NOT:

• The social penalty for being overweight is still there. The way society treats fat people is BRUTAL, right? Fat kids are still picked on, I presume. Fat teenagers despair. Fat adults make less money and have less opportunity.
• It still ain't sexy. Duh. What percentage of people are attracted to obese people... 0.01% or something?
• It still ain't healthy. Duh again.
• It's not organic food or "eating right". Nobody ate right 40 years ago and the country was rail thin.
• It's not "working out". There was no such thing as "working out" or a "health club" or "runners" 40 years ago. If you saw somebody running in the streets in 1970, you'd probably stop and ask them where they were going and if they needed a lift.
• Fast food? We had fast food back in the day. Now, we couldn't afford to go very often, so maybe that's it?

The best explanation I've heard so far is from fave nerd, Ray Kurzweil. My man Ray makes a simple argument: in the course of human history, we've never had to say no to food before because we have always had to struggle to get it.

That's as good an explanation as any, but still it's shocking that you don't read more on why this dramatic societal weight increase has happened.

b) 2nd Best Christmas Present

I've already proclaimed my dumbest Christmas present... I'm not sure how to characterize this one (public education vocabulary). Let's call this my quirkiest Christmas present:

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag

If you're not a Star Wars geek, well first off, God bless you. Second, the Tauntaun is snowy creature in Empire that Luke Skywalker ultimately slices open so that he can sleep in its guts to stay warm.

I'm not buying this quirky gift though... it's a hundred bucks. Fail.

I am actually buying this crappy (re. cool) present:

All Edges Lasagna Pan

Christmas research!

ho ho ho... yow, bill

PS - I've got to do a Ray Kurzweil post. I'm paging through his blog. Excellent!

This Old Cub

I'm wearing my "This Old Cub" t-shirt and Cub hat today.


Ron Santo, RIP.
Great Cub as a player and especially in the radio booth.

Just a couple things for now:

1. Great Santo pics at the Trib: link
2. And the Brant Brown call (he he): mp3 link

Cub games will not be the same.
cub win... yow, bill