Do this. No, do that.

1. Investing contradictions
In investing, everyone has an opinion. All one needs is a rationale... and as this humble blogger knows, rationalizing is easy. He he.

For example, here are two directly contradicting blog posts... that are consecutive posts from the same blog!

First - Dangerous Game of Probability Chicken
In this post, we are warned of the possibility of any stock market, even the US, going to zero. So, the post extolls, you better be active and aware and broadly diversified when you're investing.

And then - Investors Behaving Badly
In the next guy, we are warned that "to succeed over the long term, investors must patiently hold funds through good times and bad." So, this post advises that stick with a manager or strategy even after it has performed badly.

The kicker... I heart the guys doing the blog: www.systematicrelativestrength.com. They're pitching their stuff (in the first post), and that's fine.

Second kicker, both posts have merit. I subscribe to the belief in more active trading that the first post espouses. But, some people trade with their emotions, and I think that is the trap that the second post is talking about: panic at the bottom and complacency at the top. So, for me, the answer is an algorithmic approach that will (hopefully) avoid big downturns, while unemotionally jumping in when markets recover. We shall see.
yow, bill

Fantasy Baseball

1. Begin season

Ah. "Begin Season". That's what Daddy likes.

I have never understood it. Yahoo only allows you to "see" a fantasy league if you're a part of it. I don't understand why this public/private decision isn't left up to the league itself. I mean, Yahoo makes its dough off people seeing ads. Why not let people who aren't in the league see those ads?

I do keep an auxiliary site for our league with some extra stats and what not... those pages are here: LetsPlay3 Fantasy Baseball.  I am hoping (against hope) to be running LetsPlay3 from my bed in the old folks home in between changes of my drool cup. It would be grand. Ha!

Oh well, blah blah blah. Fantasy baseball starts today and ends in the middle of September. It's a marathon, but it mimics reality in a lot of ways. Sometimes you pay close attention, sometimes you wander. Sometimes it's incredibly interesting and exciting, and sometimes you're on cruise control. All in all, it's a wonderful experience.

On opening day, I've got Yovanni Gallardo pitching @ the Cincy Reds.
Play ball!

2. Fantasy, reality

This is a fun idea form the WSJ. Just about 5% of all players taken in fantasy baseball teams are New York Yankees. This happens to be the top percentage of any team in baseball. The WSJ ranks teams based on this ownership percentage, and it's a pretty good ranking:

What Fantasy Baseball Tells Us About Actual Baseball

There are a couple of outliers there, like the Cub being ranked ahead of the Cardinal (he he), but we'll see.

3. Competitive Anger

Here's an interesting radio interview with Coach K from Duke. When asked about people hating Duke basketball, he, rightly, differentiates between competitive anger and irrational hate. Anger based on competition is fine. You want to beat the other guy. The other guy is often times more successful than you are. But when emotions rise past that competition and get into irrational hatred or personal attacks, then you're off the mark.

QOTD

"Competitive anger, I'm good with. Look, I hate the St. Louis Cardinals. Ya know, I'm a Chicago Cub fan... I still can't get over Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio... I love the Cubs. I love Chicago."
- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke basketball coach and Chicago native (espn radio interview, about 9 mins in)

I dislike the Cardinal.
play ball... yow, bill

Yesterday Once More

Opening day tomorrow for the big leaguers. Here's my fave little leaguer firing from left field.

"Out at the plate"

1. Union hit piece
This is a tasty, tasty WSJ hit piece on the teacher's unions:

Weingarten for the Union Defense

There's the last-in, first out issue and tenure and the pensions and the crappy public schools in the inner city... the whole magilla is in there. Along with the money QOTD.

QOTD

"But the real strength of the AFT, NEA [teacher's unions] and their state and local affiliates lies in their ability to obstruct. They have been particularly effective at blocking poor people from leaving bad public schools."
- WSJ

2. Ya never know

Ya never know who is depressed. It is independent of fame, fortune, talent, looks, whatever...
I like the Carpenters, but the sad songs seem even sadder given the Karen Carpenter story behind these songs and the lyrics.

QOTD

Lookin’ back on how it was in years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed
- Carpenters, "Yesterday Once More"

yow, bill

Steep cuts

1. Cat mover

People will get awfully creative when you raise their taxes 70% in a year, like IL gov Quinn did:

Caterpillar threatens to leave Illinois over taxes

A little competition, eh...

QOTD

“If Illinois doesn’t want your business, Texas does.”
“In Nebraska, we balance our budget by controlling spending, not by raising taxes."
“In South Dakota, you make a profit, and you keep your profit.”
- a little state sloganeering to IL businesses (link)

You can't put it any simpler than this: "The Illinois tax increase will cost Caterpillar’s 23,000 employees in the state about $40 million this year."
Gov Quinn?

2. Steep cuts

The media, Reuters in this case, assumes you are a blathering math-idiot:

NY Gov and lawmakers reach budget deal

Well, shit. We can put our big boy math pants on together.

"The fiscal 2012 budget is largely a victory for the freshman governor, a Democrat who utilized a number of unique tactics and raised the specter of a government shutdown in order to convince lawmakers to make steep cuts to schools and the state's Medicaid program."

Wow. That sounds pretty dire: "steep cuts".

STEEP CUTS!!!
[that's better]

Um, wait a sec... next paragraph.
"The budget cuts overall spending by 2 percent."

2 percent.
steep... yow, bill

Turn me on

1.Turn me on, baby
Have you ever heard of Earth Hour?

Just turn off your lights Saturday

This is one of the best metaphors for how shallow the green movement is. Turn off your lights for an hour and save the planet. Mmmm, that feels good. I wish I could go to the after-party on that one.

These guys do have a point, I guess. If only we could devise a system where people who used energy somehow traded something for it, or somehow paid for it. Oh. Yeah. That is the way things work already. Dop.

So, I'll let you make the call.
During Earth Hour, should I?

1. Turn on every light in the house?
2. Forget about the whole thing the minute I publish this post?

And I'll put my money on the table. This Andy Ridley guy in charge, who's the big executroid at the some environmental company and came up with Earth Hour. Well, I live in a big, old house here in the Great Midwest, and I can't even spell green, but I'll bet you a dollar that I use less energy than Andy Ridley on Earth Hour and most other hours of the day. I'll bet his world-saving efforts consume a fair bit more energy than lowly old you and me. For example, I'll bet you a dollar he travels 10x more than we pleebs... all in the hope of saving us, of course.

But I don't blame Andy for this nonsense. He's just making some coin; it's the way of the world. He's just a little slimier, I mean, greener is all.
turn me on... yow, bill

PS - Earth Hour. Bah. Fantasy baseball draft today. YES!

Keep your hands off my tabs

QOTD

"These aren't kids; they're midgets... filthy, drug-peddling midgets."

- Brian Griffin

1. Firefox 4.0 review
It's a couple little changes in the appearance. No big deal either way.
I did try some crazy button that's supposed to help me manage my browser tabs. I couldn't get back to browsing after that. I'm not sure that was their intent. and really, I don't think I need help managing my tabs in the first place.

Still, don't be confused.
I heart Firefox.

2. gmail change

And, I REALLY heart gmail.

At (50 - 1) years-old, it is my presumed role to panic at the mere whiff of possible change. Well, I guess gmail is experimenting with image ads (link). I was surprised by this one today:

OK, I guess I can live with these ads. He he.
But really... I hope gmail doesn't go over to the dark side with ad craziness.
And no, I didn't buy any "Bad Idea" t-shirts. Hey, I'm a Threadless guy!

QOTD2

"I'm not insensitive, Lois. I just don't understand why we have to cancel our vacation just because the dog is a cokehead."
-Peter Griffin

peace... yow, bill

PS - For real QOTD tonight.

QOTD3 - the best one... basketball in The Castle basement with an 11 yo during the Bull game vs. the Griz.

"D-Rose with the jam!"
"No, I'm D-Rose."
"No. I'm D-Rose."
"You're Tony Allen."
"You're Tony Allen's butt."
"You're a girl."
"Your mama's a girl"
- I'll let you decide who's 11 and who's 49

Dammit, that's funny!
On fantasy baseball eve.

I gotta go

1. New home sales, or not

New homes sales hit a new, epic low last month. The Bespoke boys have a couple great charts for you to get all depressed and weepy over:

Bespoke - New home sales even worse than they look

The annual rate of 250,000 new homes is a 40 year low. You see that high point in the chart... that was a reading of 1.5 million.


Other than the obvious (the housing market is a cluster), there are two other things pop out to me:

1. Our extreme low is following the extreme high readings of the mid-2000's.
2. The faster and harder we hit this low, the better. Flush the system... no new houses and crank through the foreclosures that are going to happen... otherwise we'll be languishing years and years from now.

I'd love to sell my castle, but so be it. Every year, the replacement cost of building a new place will go up and eventually the used castle market will rebound as a value proposition for home buyers.

But dammit, that chart is fugly, and what a crazy, fucked up time we live in.

2. Oh... that's why my Kindle is a paperweight

Kindle book prices remain silly. I'm not buying a Kindle bag 'o bits, if it only saves me a dollar versus an actual, real book. The Freaks give a clue why this is happening:

Who's the biggest loser in E-books?

So, publishers are jacking up the prices of e-books. OK. Amazon has my Kindle $$$, but the publishers of e-books can wait. I'm not the biggest loser, but I'm a loser... until the price of e-books comes down. Which it will. And then I can go out and buy the newer, improveder Kindle. Ha!

3. Firefox 4.0

I gotta go and download Firefox 4.0. Yow!

QOTD

"Awesomely fast
Brand new look
Tons of new features"
- Firefox 4.0 hype, Firefox updated

We'll see about that.
And maybe you'll read about it right here.
peace... yow, bill

The Key to Effective Advertising

1. The higher taxes signal
Here's a tasty article:

Illinois officials tout high-speed rail construction

You'll get the all-clear signal on when you should consider supporting higher taxes:

• No NPR/PBS/etc funding,
• No public employee pensions... 401K's like the rest of the planet, and
• No gol dang ridiculous bullet trains run by the feds

A bullet train to St. Louis. Can you imagine? And I love how, in the article, they describe that Gov Goofus (Quinn) is standing in front of an Amtrak train proclaiming all his spending goodness.

QOTD (emphasis mine)
"The governors of these other states that have given up their money can stand by and wave at our trains when they go by."
- Dick Durbin

"Their" money, eh, Dick Durbin.
Jackass.

2. Effective advertising
I placed an ad for my fantasy baseball league in the world-renowned (well, Lisle-renowned) Morning News. Here's the "copy", as we say in the biz:

I am happy to report that consumers have responded to this ad in a big way. Our fantasy baseball eyeballs have increased 82%. Or something. Anyway, this marketing effort is proving to be well worth its 1 free beer cost. Dear Groupon, you ain't got nothin' on The Morning News. Ha!

3. Libya
Here's the perfunctory "quagmire" (yawn) article on Libya:

Germans pull forces out of NATO as Libyan coalition falls apart

And sadly, this is the dumbest article on Libya that I've seen thus far is from my guy, the mad hedge fund guy:

mad hedge fund guy - Welcome to World War III

QOTD2

"If there was ever a war that had to happen it is our new military engagement against Libya."
- Mad Hedge Fund Guy 

That's about as dumb a QOTD as I can recall.
dop... yow, bill

LetsPlay3!

1. Only One Team Left

I have one team opening in my fantasy baseball league. Check it out:

LetsPlay3 Fantasy Baseball

LetsPlay3 is a ton of fun, and we've been fielding teams for 8 years now.

• NO: It's no $$$. No cranky, stuffy experts either. 
• YES: It's just fun. We have a lot of father/son combos, actually. And there's a trophy for the winner.

Our draft is this Saturday Mar 26. You don't have to draft in person.
Peek at the page above and email me (williamt) if you're interested.

QOTD

"The clubhouse stops and turns up the TV when he's speaking.
Everybody enjoys watching everybody else go crazy, I guess, for some reason."
- ex-Cub Reed Johnson (Forbes quotes)

2. Back to the malaise

I'll admit it. I'm biased. I heart dorky Steve Forbes.
Here's a good article by Forbes on our current malaise-stricken environment:

WSJ - Reagan's legacy and the current malaise

QOTD

"President Reagan understood, and fervently believed in, the American spirit of free enterprise. So far, President Obama hasn't shown that he does."
- Steve Forbes

I have a theory that the housing/economic/debt/Obama malaise is effecting my internet dating.
More on this later.
Or should I say, moron this later.
letsplay3... yow, bill

Artagraph

1. Van Gogh for sale
I'm on a www.buy.com spam list. I think I bought some ridiculously cheap USB keys there once or something. Anyway, I heart this... you can buy a hand-painted Van Gogh for $83:

QOTD

"This work of art has the same emotions and beauty as the original by Van Gogh. Why settle for a print when you can add sophistication to your rooms with a beautiful fine gallery reproduction oil painting?"
- hand-painted "Starry Night" at buy.com

I have a fake "Starry Night" here at The Castle, but it's not hand-painted. It's a 3-D reproduction technology called Artagraph. I have like a dozen Artagraphs, actually: Van Gogh, Money, Renoir, etc. I got my first one on vacation in Hawaii. I got a number of other ones on ebay a million years ago as well.

These Artagraphs are beautiful because they were produced by literally copying the original masterpiece. It's a two-step deal. First, the original is laser-copied for color. Second, a silicon mold is made of the original for texture. Scan the mold into the computer, and you're set for your 3-D computer-generated reproduction.

I'm pretty sure Artagraph is out of business. In fact, you google them and get very little. Ebay has a couple of prints for sale right now, but just a couple. If you get a change to grab one, you will not be disappointed. Throw them in a nice frame, and they are really great.

I'll paste one of the few that I found online here, but this isn't a great picture or example.

www.icollector.com/Claude-Monet-Antibes-Artagraph-Repro_i5418924

2. The relative strength guys
These guys at Dorsey, Wright have a great investment blog: www.systematicrelativestrength.com. We share investment religions: relative strength.

Anyway, this is a funny post: Economists are never wrong.

The financial crisis hasn't changed a lot of the basic premises that economists and investment gurus peddle every day. It sure seems like it should have.

3. Cheap health care
This is hopeful, I think. Cheap medical care options at CVS and Walmart:

• Walmart has The Clinic at Walmart. 
• CVS has their minute clinic.

There are a few of each of these guys in the Chicagoland area. And more coming soon?

These things are hopeful because

1. They're cheaper, and 
2. They actually show you their prices for medical care.

Imagine the impact if, instead of Obamacare, President Obama worked on bringing more and more of these kinds of solutions to people. How?

1. Own it - detach health insurance from your job and buy it yourself
2. Competition - Allow health insurance to be sold across state lines
3. Tort reform - Limit liability from medical lawsuits (and watch the number of places like the minute clinic explode)
4. Subsidies - Help poorer people pay for high-deductible health insurance

Rather than create an Obamacare morass of nabobs and bureaucracy, these reforms would have really changed America and had a positive impact on people's lives.

QOTD

"I have never correctly spelled bureaucracy without a spell checker."
- williamt

nabobs... yow, bill

McRun this

1. McRunner

The McRunner ate 99 McDonalds meals in 30 days and then proceeded to complete his marathon in a personal best time:

www.mcrunner.com

The McRunner's rules:

1. Can eat only McDonald’s for 30 days
2. Non-McDonald’s water, PowerGel, multivitamin and ibuprofen will be allowed (c’mon, I’m a runner)
3. Run lots of miles
4. Stay married
5. Have fun
6. Donate $1 for every McRunner Facebook fan

 QOTD

“"People ask me, 'Are you tired of eating at McDonald's?' and I can honestly say 'No,'" I probably will have something from there this week. I'm a fan."”
- The McRunner, link

He raised $27K for Ronald McDonald House, and he's from Palatine. McRib. He he.

2. Retire. Move.
42% of 50-somethings said that they will move when they retire.
The #1 factor on deciding where to move: cost of living (61%).

WSJ - He says Maine. She says Florida

And what is a bigger part of our budgets than taxes?
And if oldies are moving to save dough, how about local corporations?
This is part of the reason why state and local tax rates are so important.

3. Libya

I don't know diddly about Libya. (say that 3 times fast)
So, of course, here are my insightful comments (he he):

• I hand it to my leftie brothers and sisters who are yapping at President Obama with the anti-war patter. At least they're consistent.
• Isn't Kosovo in the 90's the closest match to Libya right now? It was a civil war. We bopped some people over the head (with NATO) and got out of there.
• Libya is similar to Kosovo, unless you tie it in to some big change that is happening over the whole region.
• It is a tad unnerving (cough) that no one seems to know anything about the "rebels" that we are saving/supporting.
• I guess if this gives democracy a shot in Libya, then huzzah. But again, there's no information on that front at all that I've heard.
• If there is an Obama doctrine, I have no idea what it would be.
• This helps President Obama politically in 2012. Without a doubt.

yow, bill

Per day

1. Fifteen

Picking on the fed's curly-cue light bulb mandate:

Forcing us to use fluorescent bulbs is not a bright idea

QOTD

“A household that upgrades 15 inefficient incandescent light bulbs could save about $50 per year.”
- Nabob from the Department of Energy

OK, a little math here... $50/year... 300-something days in a year... that's a savings of less than 15 cents per day.

Saving 15 cents.

Per day.

My man at the Sun Times is on it: "I would gladly pay 14 cents a day for the luxury of lights that go on when I turn them on."

All I want is the choice. I say let me and the Sun Times guy choose between regular, old light bulbs and curly-cue fluorescent bulbs. That's makes sense, eh.

2. Fifteen again
If you have a $1.5 TRILLION debt in a year, then, well, let's do some more math... $1,500 billion in debt/year... 300-something days in a year... that means borrowing $5 billion per day.

Borrowing $5 billion.

per day.

3. Sun = Run

We are scheduled for another bright, sunny March day today. I hope.
Sun = run.

QOTD

"I wouldn't mind dying while I was running. I think it would be quite a good way to go—if it was sudden."
- Michael Palin, runner (link)

I'm with Palin here. In a couple decades (thank you very much), you get a massive grabber running or shoveling snow... not bad.
run faster... yow, bill

Refresh

1. Mess

QOTD

"We don't think we need a bailout."
- Gov Quinn nabob, on IL public employee pensions

The WSJ had this nice, little giblet showing the level of funding for IL pensions. It also summarized retirement benefits for public employees... which are (cough) generous.

Source: No easy fixes in IL pension mess

2. Healthy, organic pizza

QOTD

"Yeah, Pizza Hut, America's favorite pizza, is ready to..."

- Craig Robinson, selling it baby (radio interview)

Craig Robinson is the basketball head coach of Oregon State. He's shilling Pizza Hut this week as part of some NCAA college tournament deal (link). I'm a big fan of selling. Coach Craig is working for a living. Huzzah.

Craig Robinson is also Michelle Obama's brother. So, Mrs. Obama is delivering her faux healthy eating message, and her brother Craig is pitching Pizza Hut. Count me in Craig's camp. But I'm still not going to Pizza Hut. Ha!

3. The refresh link

I heart gmail... maybe as much as any software I've ever used.

Gmail isn't just fun and cool; it's also quirky. Gmail had this weird setup at the top where they had all these buttons to "Archive" and "Delete" and do other things to your mail messages. Then, the buttons stopped and there was a regular, old link called refresh to tell gmail to re-load your email. It was, um, quirky.

Well, my quirky refresh link was (magically) turned into a regular old button this week. I wish I was at the meeting. "Why exactly isn't refresh a button?" "Um, I dunno." He he.

QOTD2

"You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go go go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo"
- Eminem, "Lose Yourself" 

yow, bill

Run faster

1. Once a Runner
Book: "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK

This book was just OK... saved by a boffo ending.

The subject is competitive distance running and the training involved. Well, training for something like this isn't exactly riveting or action-packed, so the author cooked up a couple of side plots. All in all, the race that ends the books is its best feature.

QOTD

"You run like a big cat."
- from "Once a Runner"

2. Unpaid caregivers

This story, or something like it, has popped up a dozen times at various places. So, finally I gave in and took a peek. It looks like an effort to add something new to the lexicon: "unpaid caregivers".

Alzheimer's carries heavy toll on 15M unpaid caregivers

So, what the heck is an "unpaid caregiver"?
It's family member or a friend. Someone who cares for someone close to them when they're ill.

You're not a son or a daughter taking care of your ill parents; you're an unpaid caregiver.
You're not a grandson or granddaughter helping out a beloved grandparent; you're an unpaid caregiver.
If only we had a "free" federal program to unburden these unpaid caregivers. Sigh.

There's another term or phrase that is commonly used now, that is new. It's this illness or that behavior "cost our medical system X billion dollars." Like obesity. "Obesity costs our medical system more than blah blah billion dollars." "Smoking costs our health care system X jillion dollars." And so on.

Obesity should cost YOU more $$$ in insurance premiums. Smoking too. Not some fucking morality tax. Not some "we can screw with smokers or fat people because society looks down on them" tariff. No. A simple scientific evaluation of the extra dollars, if any, that smoking and obesity adds to you medical bills.

It's not that I'm a hard case. It's that if your behavior makes your health care insurance bills go up or down, then you should be responsible for it. If you're not responsible, then someone else is. If you abdicate your responsibility for your behavior, then you are not truly free. And that's "free" as in freedom, not bogus free goodies from the feds.
run faster... yow, bill

Positive Player

"Sprouts"

1. Welfare state, indeed
Well, I don't get this. Do you?

QOTD

"Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement."

- John Melloy, cnbc - Welfare state: Handouts make up one third of US wages

Oh, don't be a gloomy gus, Bill. Look on the bright side: "At the very least, we can take solace in the fact that we’re not quite at the state welfare levels of Europe. In the U.K., social welfare benefits make up 44 percent of wages and salaries"

Just 11% to go, and we're Great Britain.
No offense to my British brothers and sisters, but... shit.

2. Positive Player
Bah. F it.
Grab your sorry ass some wonderful positivity at this link:

freaks - Gary Player in his own words

Great story!
peace out... yow, bill

David Stern and his minions

1. The Japan Quake

Not a fan of natural disasters and the subsequent media blather/orgasm, but I thought this guy's post was worthy... scientific and yet interesting:

Japan Quake + Tsunami

Some of the links referenced in there are money as well. It's hard to believe that it's the 5th largest earthquake they've ever recorded... an 8.9 on the Richter scale.

For you little leaguers out there, the Richter scale is logarithmic. that means that a quake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale is 10x more powerful that one measuring 8.0. In other words, each point on the scale multiples the amplitude by 10x. And, as Wikipedia notes, each additional point multiplies the energy released by 30x!

I was in Silicon Valley for the 1989 earthquake. That bad boy registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. So, at 8.9, the Japan quake was 100x stronger and unleashed 900x the energy. Yikes!

Why didn't this Richter guy multiply his scale by 10? This quake was a 69. That one was a 89. You know. Just makes sense. And why didn't the QB rating guys normalize their nonsense so that...

2. Creepy, little dictator
Stan Van Gundy, coach of the NBA Orlando Magic, pretty much calls NBA Commish David Stern a creepy, little dictator.

QOTD

"This is the system; David Stern and his minions like it. So that's the system you have...I certainly can't have an opinion because David Stern, like a lot of leaders we've seen in this world lately, don't really tolerate other people's opinion or free speech or anything. So I'm not really allowed to have an opinion. So it's up to him."
Stan Van Gundy, yahoo link

As if scripted, in his reply, David Stern confirms his status as creepy, little dictator.

QOTD response

"I would venture a guess that we're not going to be hearing from him [Van Gundy] for the rest of the season. I think when he stops and reads what he said, realizes what he did, he will say no more. ... I have a feeling some modicum of self-restraint will cause Stan, and the team for which he works, to rein in his aberrant behavior."
- David Stern, yahoo link

Here's a fine photo of David Stern and his minions.
He doesn't look so bad. Cough.

I would, however, support a no-fly zone around David Stern.
he he... yow, bill

True Grit Trilogy

1. True Grit

Movie: "True Grit", the original from 1969

Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

I completed the trilogy:

1. Watched the new True Grit movie, which was an OK 3 bill-stars (williamt post)
2. Read the book; that was a bit better at 4 bill-stars (williamt post)
3. And wrapped with the original movie starring John Wayne, which is a solid 4 bill-star affair

Oddly, the new movie follows the plot in the book a little better. You could make like easy and just say that the 1-star difference in the two movies is all John Wayne. The original movie was made in 1969 and has younger versions of Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper in it. Also, the original is much more beautiful, scenery-wise.

2. Blah
Movie: "Battle: LA"
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... blah.

Well, let me give the rationale first. Cool preview. PG-13 rating. Ty is 11, and we haven't seen many action films together yet on the big screen. So, go.

Blah. Boring. Nonsensical. Bad aliens. Terrible acting. Worse script. Blah blah blah.
The trailer is better than the movie.
The only interesting bad thing in this movie is that aliens are blowing up the world, and half the movie is these guys worrying about the simplest, stupidest stuff like "oh, we've got to save that kid from the bridge", or "take it easy, it's his first command", or "how are we going to get to the checkpoint in time"... um, guys. Aliens are blowing up the planet. Cmon.

This movie made Tom Cruise and "War of the Worlds" look like Shakespeare.

3. America and the European Model
It's nice when things are simple, easily categorized. President Obama and lefties push America in a more European direction. Righties believe in the traditional American model of rugged individualism.

This is an outstanding article on this split:

A European's Warning to America 

QOTD

"I don't doubt the sincerity of those Americans who want to copy the European model... most genuinely believe that making their country less American and more like the rest of the world would make it more comfortable and peaceable."
- Daniel Hannon, member of the European Parliament (nabob)

And does President Obama give one the impression that power should centralized in Washington or distributed more closely to the states and counties of this fine nation. If you don't know that that was rhetorical, then you haven't been paying attention for the last two years.

QOTD2

"The critical difference between the American and European unions has to do with the location of power. The U.S. was founded on what we might loosely call the Jeffersonian ideal: the notion that decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the people they affect."
- DH again

Where did America go wrong? Why is this shift toward a European model necessary?
One man's figured it out. This article is about a leftie book citing the 1980's as the root of all America's evils (ya know, racism, islamophobia, materialism, blah blah blah). It's pretty funny, actually.

Don't You Forget About Them

So, what would a leftie nabob who doesn't like the 80's think of "True Grit".
He he.
I couldn't care less.
giddy-up... yow, bill

Santa's Village Update

I sent the old man that Santa's Village link I posted (williamt - Governor Goofus and Governor Gallant). And he replied with this little piece of Americana:

That shot's roughly 40 years ago. That's me in the matching yellow shirt and hat and the plaid shorts. GQ here I come. Good lord.

Moz vigorously defended himself in my telling of story of Brian puking on the snowballs at Santa's Village.

QOTD

"It wasn't my fault - we went with your Mom's friend, Lenore, and her husband, Glenn. HE was the troublemaker! Well, maybe I went along a tiny bit!
Ask me about Glenn and when we went to Shakey's Pizza one night!"

- Moz, reply to charges that his drunken shenanigans made Brian puke on the snowballs at Santa's Village

Shakey's pizza. It looks like they're still around, just not in Illinois: www.shakeys.com.

Moz also recalled the Amphicars at Santa's Village. "The cars would become a boat and actually "drive" across the water. They used a creek that flowed through the park. We'd get in the car and the driver would drive it into the water, turn it into a boat and "sail" it to the other side where we would go back into "drive mode around a concrete "U" then sail back."

Well, Amphicars have a website at least: www.amphicars.com. And you can see them in the upper left of this old-time ad.

That ad fires off neurons in my noggin like a mother. I think they used to run them in the Sunday paper every week.
yow, bill

Governor Goofus and Governor Gallant

1. Governor Goofus and Governor Gallant

Highlights 2011:

• Governor Goofus (Quinn from IL) taxes internet sales to pay for extravagant public service pensions and benefits. (Trib story) 
• Governor Gallant (Walker from WI) forces public service unions to renegotiate, rather than just leaving the problem unsolved. (Reuters story)

In fact, the impact of Governor Goofus is being seen today as Amazon announces that they are pulling out of Illinois affiliates (Trib story).

Governor Goofus lies with relative ease:

QOTD

“This law will put Illinois-based businesses on a level playing field, protect and create jobs and help us continue to grow in the global marketplace.”
- Gov Goofus, I mean, Quinn on taxing internet sales

I respect Gov Gallant. He could have weenied out, but he didn't. Huzzah to that!
As for Gov Quinn... despite the infamy of his predecessors (Ryan in jail, Blago heading there), Quinn seems destined to stand out as a worse governor than either one.

2. And speaking of Goofus
Jeez. This is up there with the all-time classics.

QOTD2

"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,"
- Newt Gingrich on having affairs and other shenanigans, I presume (Trib story)

Way to take one for the country, Newt.

3. When the fun ends

Yep. The old man took us kids to Santa's Village when we were kids. Here are some fun/sad throwback photos of (long ago closed) Santa's Village today:

Santa's Village: When the fun ends: Santa's Village

If you skip ahead in the video to about 2:10, you'll see the snow balls ride. It's this one:

My Dad and his buddy took us on those when they were kind of (cough) hammered. You sat in the snowball and turning the wheel in the middle would make the whole dang thing spin around. Well, we got a vigorous (drunken) spinning, and my brother puked afterward.
Ah, the memories...
yow, bill

Classless

"Arboretum Pond"

1. App

I don't have an iPad or a laptop. I work on this toaster all day; I don't need more computing.

This, however, looks like a really cool app:

www.pennant.cc/index.php

That batter-by-batter feature is too cool. I don't know what you'd use it for, but it's cool.

2. Classless

Surfing for info on the Bull 20th anniversary celebration this Saturday, and I stumbled upon this gem.

QOTD

"As players, we expected that.
We knew they were a classless team.
They had a classless leader in Isiah."
- Scottie Pippen, on the Detroit Pistons walking off the court after being swept in 1991, Bulls video

Meaty.
hey now... yow, bill

Fish face

 "Fish face"

Torture
He he. Funniest headline of the day:

Pakistani lawmaker says women mentally torture men (AP story)

That reads like an Onion story.
Speaking of, that's a pretty dang funny headline too:

Derek Jeter Rejects Move to Outfield

by Reminding Yankees That He's Derek Fucking Jeter (Onion story)

Excellent.

QOTD

"So, I'll be playing whichever dicklick position I goddamn feel like. Hell, maybe I'll play shortstop, third base, catcher, second base, and first base all at the same time."
- faux Derek Jeter, Onion Sports

Disconnect

Ah journalism. Lowest of all professions.
This is a stupid story: Study debunks stereotypes of US Muslim radicals

Americans and our "simplistic theories".  You can go ahead and edit/replace "simplistic" with "stupid". In America, racism and bigotry runs so deep, that you can't even hold a Congressional hearing on the threat of Muslim terrorists in this country. At least that's the leftie view.

And that's also the big leftie/rightie disconnect. It's hard for (rightie) me to get my head around someone walking around this country and coming away with, "Oh boy. What a bunch of idiot racists." But that's the deal. You see this, usually hidden, leftie belief in those secret videos of the NPR executive railing against racist Tea Party guys and what not.

That's the fundamental disconnect here.
disconnect this... yow, bill

Embrace

 

 "Fish puzzle"

1. Funny and funnier

President Obama decides that, oh, maybe Gitmo isn't such a bad idea, and it's not the reason for this problem and that problem. And yes. Dammit, that's funny:

Wapo - Obama creates indefinite detention system for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Even funnier? The lefties are pretty cranky about it.

Amnesty International Denounces New Policies on Guantanamo

QOTD

"The executive order he issued today completed his embrace of Bush area counterterrorism policy."
- Amnesty Intl, on President Obama

President Obama embrace of W. Good one.

You remember the Obama narrative. Muslims and the rest of the planet just didn't like us because Gitmo was so unfair. So much for that one, I guess.

 

2. Less funny
This is a straight steal from the hardest working man in show business, The Morning News.

1. From Oct 2007, the US budget deficit for the year 2007 hits $161B: WSJ article.
2. From this week, the US budget deficit for the month of Feb 2011 hits $223B: Wash Times article.

To have this happen in 3+ years is pathetic.
To have it happen, and we're still piddling around about cutting $10B here and high-speed rail and blah blah blah is worse.

The battle rages at the state level as well. How's this headline:

Pennsylvania budget calls for deep spending cuts

ARGH... DEEP SPENDING CUTS!!!

Translation: "...the budget that cuts overall spending by 3%."

The guy in WI wants to (has to) cut a mere 7%.
Let the battle continue.
Who's going to get paid? You, me or some nabob?
yow, bill

PS - Addendum QOTD, only because it's fabulous!

QOTD2

"I do chuckle a little bit when they sort of complain about the scrutiny they get. My suggestion would be if you don't want the scrutiny, you don't hold a championship celebration before you've even practiced together. "
- NBA coach Stan Van Gundy on the Cry-ami Heat, blurb