Casuistry

1. 85 home runs ago

Jose Bautista spent years playing baseball and consistently had trouble catching up with a 90+ mph fastball. It's odd how something will connect with a person. Like a key or a trigger. A catalyst.

QOTD

"You know what you should do. Think about starting as early as you can possibly imagine, so early that it seems ridiculous. And then start even earlier than that. What do you have to lose? If you look like a fool, you look like a fool. It's just one game."
- Bonzi Wells, batting advice to Jose Bautista, SI story

Since teammate Bonzi's advice, Joey Bats has hit 85 home runs and been the best hitter in baseball for nearly two years now. And he's the starting 3B for my first-place Naperville Oriole, thank you very much.

2. The Obama deficit

Repeat after me. We do not have a tax/revenue problem in our country. We have a spending problem. Revenues have dipped only slightly, yet fed spending has surged higher by more than a trillion dollars under President Obama. The Obama deficit.

ibd - The Dems unbalanced debt plan

I wish this simple message were penetrating the Bill media bubble, but it is not. We are suffering through the Obama deficit. The Obama deficit. The Obama deficit. We should be tired of hearing about the $1 trillion increase in fed spending under (you guessed it) the Obama deficit.

Fed revenues are not down significantly. Fed spending has skyrocketed from less than 20% of GDP to 25% of GDP. The Obama deficit will get even worse as Obamacare kicks in. And I shouldn't have to mention, but I will. How much more would have been spent if the feds had more tax money to spend? I posit it is logical to deduce from past behavior that more money available would have led to even greater deficits, not less.

3. Guilty pleasure
Book: "The Secret Knowledge" by David Mamet
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good!
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/180621202

QOTD

"And we have become a nation of noodges."
- David Mamet, "The Secret Knowledge"

Lordy, my vocabulary sucks:

• casuistry: The use of clever but unsound reasoning, esp. in relation to moral questions; sophistry
• noodge: A pest of whiner
• risible: Such as to provoke laughter
• depredation: An act of attacking or plundering
• effluvia: An unpleasant or harmful odor, secretion, or discharge 
• agitprop: Political (originally communist) propaganda, esp. in art or literature
• inchoate: Just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary
• doyenne: A woman who is the most respected or prominent person in a particular field
• condign: (of punishment or retribution) Appropriate to the crime or wrongdoing; fitting and deserved
• Jacobin: An extreme political radical
• proprioceptive: Relating to stimuli that are produced and perceived within an organism, esp. those connected with the position and movement of the body
• phrenologist: someone who claims to be able to read your character from the shape of your skull
• cavil: Make petty or unnecessary objections
• ineradicable: Unable to be destroyed or removed
• incommoded: Inconvenience (someone)
• jejune: Naive, simplistic, and superficial
• aperçu: A comment or brief reference that makes an illuminating or entertaining point

David Mamet is one of my all-time fave screenwriters (imdb). Mamet was a hardcore NYNY Jewish  leftie who has been transformed, upon reflection and experience, into a rightie. He transformation began by yelling at the whiny, monotone, droning NPR voice on his radio to "Shut the fuck up!" (williamt post)

I wish Mamet had more personal stories in there. His philosophy is wonderful and well considered, but the book shines brightest when he presents a philosophy through his personal anecdotes, like his interactions with college students.


I haven't bought many rightie books. It's seems kind of, um, jejune (he he!) to read a book that you know will support your opinion. It's like lefties watching MSNBC as if it were a news broadcast or something. So, please consider my Mamet read a guilty pleasure, as I do.

It was actually uncomfortable to hear a true salesman, a true performer, pitching the politics that I believe in. David Mamet provides the one-two punch: 1) he is extremely passionate about his (rightie) beliefs, and 2) he is such a creative genius that he is able to deliver his passion full on, with no pause, no herky-jerky awkwardness. I am used being represented by a stuttering W or big ole Chris Christie sweating at the microphone; Mamet's polish is unsettling.

The content of Mamet's book is rightie doctrine. I won't summarize. It's outstanding from start to finish. His writing is the very definition of compelling and elegant. What is Mamet's "secret knowledge" of the title? There are no "beneficent experts", so beloved by lefties, to run our government, our economy, our health care, our environment, etc. In Mamet's dictionary, President Obama's likeness is side-by-side with the definition of "beneficent experts". I agree with Mamet on beneficent experts, though I prefer a more colloquial approach: There is no Daddy!

This book is very strident, but I empathize with Mamet in his presentation. His experience with lefties has been different from mine (and probably yours). He was so immersed in leftie culture and has felt its full brunt upon even questioning his leftie comrades (he he). He has been branded racist, misogynist, Zionist and more. The left does not suffer being questioned, especially by one of its own.

Oddly, I connected with this simple quote.

QOTD

"Culture will beat organization every time."
- shop floor sign at Chrysler Motors from "The Secret Knowledge"

Why is America the greatest of nations? Our culture. Our way. Mamet makes this point over and over again. Our uniquely American culture of freedom and opportunity and rugged individualism is the key. Yet this American culture is currently being tested and perverted by the left and it's an attack, can you believe it, is led by a part-time college professor who's never had a 9-to-5 job or made a payroll in his life. Sounds like a David Mamet script or something.
yow, bill

Viva Las Vegas!

QOTD

"I'm a 35 year old lesbian.
I have two kids, and I'm married to a woman.
So, are you ready for that lap dance now or what."
- Stripper at the Spearmint Rhino, or urban legend

1. Viva!

Vegas was great. Duh.
But you know what. Vegas is a throwback. Smokers. Boys and girls. Too loud. Fun in the sun. Money flying all over the place. Everything.

• Smoking - People were smoking everywhere. It was great (of course). Freedom! But I was really surprised that it was tough to even find a non-smoking blackjack table.
• Go-go girls - The new thing in Vegas (at least since I was there last): go-go girls dancing on  platforms above the blackjack tables. Evolution! Very distracting, but evolution!
• F TSA - You get in two long lines at the airport: Southwest and TSA security. In the Southwest line, you are treated like a human being, a customer. In the TSA line, you're treated like crap, like cattle. No incidents. No problems. Just people in uniform scowling like idiots and barking orders at anyone and everyone.
• Getting old - Caesar's Palace is headed downhill. Shit, I wasn't even the oldest guy at the pool. Not even close, and that ain't right. He he! Plus, a lot of the services had long lines, like, oh I don't know, the beer line at the pool.
• Best buffet - A cabbie recommended the buffet at the new Cosmopolitan casino. We win! It was the best buffet that I've ever been to.
• See Bill run - I got in a great 3-4 mile run in around 11:00 one morning. It was 100+ degrees hot, and the wind made it tough to gulp down the air. But it's still easier than running in the 90+ heat and humidity here in Chicago.

And yes, the 35 yo lesbian was a doll and was absolutely one of the highlights of the trip.
Oh yeah, I bought a casino while I was there.

QOTD2

[Scene: the elevator at Caesar's, Bill in his running togs]
Huckleberry: "Were you out jogging in this heat?"
Bill: "No. I was running. Not jogging."

2. Vacation reading

Book: "Post Office" by Charles Bukowski
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... the best!
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/review/show/180170317

This is the finest male vacation fiction on the planet: Bukowski, booze and broads. Huzzah!

Bukowski is minimalist, politically incorrect to the extreme, and nearly always completely inappropriate, especially with the ladies. Cha! And he's a wonderful, fun read. In these bundled up, overwrought times, Bukowski is everyman.

This is a top 10 book all-time for me. Easy.

QOTD3

"But now and then, a woman walks up, full blossom, a woman just bursting out of her dress... a sex creature, a curse, then end of it all. I looked up and there she was, down at the end of the bar."
- Bukowski, "Post Office"

viva... yow, bill

PS - I'm bad. Can't resist.

Stupid QOTD

"When times are tough, you tighten your belts... you don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college."
- President Obama, Feb 2010 (link)

Forgot to put a title in

QOTD

You got your passion; you got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
- Billy Joel, "Vienna"

1. Far Bright Star

Book: "Far Bright Star" by Robert Olmstead
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/179056268

This is great guy reading: the Mexican desert, rugged individuals, horses, soldiers and mercenaries and ultra-violence. Olmstead's terse but romantic writing style sets a perfect tone for the story. His description of the desert heat was amazing. If I described them to you, the characters would sound like caricatures, but they feel rich and alive when you're reading the book. Excellent!

QOTD

"His was a dirty death, but in the end if was his own death and no one else's  and it'd been waiting here for him all these years and now he'd walked into its chain and it'd taken him in it's embrace."
- Robert Olmstead, "Far Bright Star"

2. Domino
How clever. Project Domino.
From nytimes - Public Unions Take On Boss to Win Big Pensions

It was informally known among local union leaders as “Operation Domino,” and for years the goal was straightforward: persuade one city to increase salaries and pensions for workers, and then approach neighboring municipalities and argue that if the increases weren’t matched, the city’s police, firefighters or other employees might quit, in large numbers, and go elsewhere.

By the time the dominoes made it to Costa Mesa, neighboring areas had already toppled. “The unions would say, ‘Gee, Irvine, Newport, all of these nearby cities, they offer these higher benefits for police and firefighters and it’s a real tight labor market, and if we don’t receive similar benefits, what if we leave and go work there?’ ” said Allan Roeder, Costa Mesa’s city manager for more than two decades, who retired in March with a pension of $190,000 a year.

Costa Mesa, CA has a population of about 100K.
It makes all the budget nonsense seem a little more tangible and urgent when you hear about towns like Costa Mesa having $190K pensions on the books for their "public servants".
yow, bill

PS - BTW, the "far bright star" is the north star.

Lytro me!

1. Lytro

Um, wow. This is some pretty messed up new technology. Cool.
Read on:

ben's blog - Lytro and the magic camera

Lytro has a photo gallery where you can focus your picture after its been taken.
Play on:

Lytro picture gallery

Amazing!

2. QOTD1-4

Cha!


QOTD

"We live within our means, we put the private sector ahead of government, the taxpayer ahead of everyone, and we will stay in the black, whatever it takes."
- Mitch Daniels, IN gov (wsj story)

Huh? Three amazing stats from the Freaks.

QOTD2

"There are twice as many suicides in the U.S. each year than murders." 

"African-Americans, for instance, commit suicide at half the rate of whites" 

"suicide rates rise as does a country’s standard of living. To some, this makes suicide (gulp) a luxury good."- the Freaks, freak post

I wonder (scratch, scratch)... what book should I read next? Maybe "Far Bright Star". Signs point to yes!

QOTD3

"I found the book too brutal. In all honesty, I could not finish it."
- 1 star Amazon review of "Far Bright Star"

Good one.

QOTD4

"I don't know if he's going to run, but if Chris Christie does run, he shouldn't announce at the Statue of Liberty. He should get up on a high dive and do a cannonball. Drain the pool and yell, "I'm in. You want a piece of this!"
- Dennis Miller rant on the radio

3. Pythagorean Win Percentage

Based on runs scored and allowed, the Yankees should be the best team in baseball:

sports charts - Yankees are the best in baseball... so far

They could have retitled that article: Cubs are the worst in baseball... so far.
Did you see the last team on their chart. It's the Cub at a projected 28.5 wins this year.

This projection is made using a formula called the "Pythagorean Win Percentage" (PWP)? The PWP uses a teams runs scored and runs scored against to predict its winning percentage. Here's the goods, from Baseball reference (link):

Pythagorean winning percentage is an estimate of a team's winning percentage given their runs scored and runs allowed. Developed by Bill James, it can tell you when teams were a bit lucky or unlucky. It is calculated by

(Runs Scored)^1.83
---------------------------------------------------------
 (Runs Scored)^1.83 +  (Runs Allowed)^1.83

The traditional formula uses an exponent of two, but this has proven to be a little more accurate. 

Let's try that out on the Cub... after last nights thrilling (cough) victory over the Sock.

• The Cub are (a pathetic) 30-42, a winning percentage of 0.417.
• They have scored 297 runs. They have allowed 365 runs. 
• So, plug and chug, where k = 1.83... PWP = (297)^k / (297^k + 365^k) = 33,508 / ( 33,508 + 48,865) = .407.

So, the Cub actual winning percentage is 0.417, and the PWP predicts 0.407. For 72 games, that's a predicted record of 29.3-42.7 and that's one game worse than our actual record.
So, the Cub have actually been "lucky" this year.
Woot!
Sigh.
cub win... yow, bill

I'm on drugs. Bummer.

"Puzzle fish"

1. Drugs
Book: "Jesus' Son" by Denis Johnson
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... not good at all
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/178437264

Well, this book is way highly acclaimed. Go!

• I got the book because I saw a couple of authors reference it as really good. 
• More than 5,000 people on goodreads reviewed it with an average 4+ rating (out of 5).
• As the back of the book says, it has earned a place "among the classics of twentieth century literature".

I read through some of the goodreads reviews that people wrote, and they are effusive about the book, reading it over and over again. Another common thread in the reviews is how effected by the book people were. Here's an example, not from goodreads, but an example:

QOTD

"I reread it probably once every month or so.  I wish I could find just one writer who comes close but I’m afraid it’s impossible. I wish I could write 1/10 as good as him."
- James Altucher on "Jesus' Son",  My summer reading list

Well, "Jesus' Son" is a surreal tale about addiction and drugs and violence and apathy and negativity and so on. I didn't get it. Maybe there's some grand metaphor that I missed along the way. For me, it was 150 pages of chaos and complaining. I felt the author was parroting Bukowski's simple writing style to some degree. But Bukowski is fun! Bukowski is about experiencing the shit and describing it, not bitching about it for 150 pages. Maybe it's the difference between booze and drugs. I don't know because I've never done drugs. Maybe that's my problem. Ha!

I don't have a problem not liking or not enjoying something that so many others seem to enjoy. It's weird, but I don't mind it. It's kind of contrary and fun, actually. It's part of what makes life fun, interesting, spicy. I read that there is a "Jesus' Son" movie. Maybe I'll Netflix it up and give it a try. I have my doubts though.

2. About Altucher

Ah, synchronicity. James Altucher loves "Jesus' Son" (see QOTD above). He has a blog that I follow on the old Reader: www.jamesaltucher.com.


Actually, Altucher is a nerd with a blog.When I first found his blog, it was pretty cool. Altucher is really smart and his initial posts were witty and self-deprecating. Cute, almost. I have links to a couple of his posts here in my crappy williamt blog.

Alas, Altucher is not what he originally seemed to me. He seemed like a hapless nerd, almost Charlie Brown-ish. But he's not. He's a really whiny, unhappy guy who seems to enjoy lashing out. It's like everyone else is a crappy person, except Altucher and his little family, who have somehow risen above. Whatever. His blog posts seem formulaic and part of the formula is to sell sell sell his quirkiness and an "everything sucks" outlook.

I guess complaining sells; I don't know. Altucher and the "Jesus' Son" author make me appreciate a guy like Bukowski even more. Bukowski is addicted and a mess and trampled by life and struggling and all, but he's not just sitting back and bitching about it. I'm not saying that Bukowski is uplifting or some self-help book, but there's a joy in the description of his journey, regardless of the bumps and bruises.
keep your positivity... yow, bill

PS - BTW, Bukowski "Post Office" is 5 bill-stars and some of the best guy-vacation reading ever with its neanderthal writing style and shenanigans. It's a drunk guy struggling to work at the post office and deal with the women he encounters. Shenanigans ensue.

Vegas 100

1. Beauty

A thing of beauty... the 10 day weather report at Las Vegas:

I gotta get my ass to Vegas, baby!
Bet it all, win it all.

2. NBC

The media, lowest of the low, crawls out of their hole for a brief moment this weekend.

NBC cuts "Under God" from Pledge

NBC came out with the requisite non-apology... "we're ever so sorry if you didn't like us tinkering with the pledge of allegiance (snigger snigger)". Pretty creepy. Am I wrong to assume a mind meld between leftie media NBC and President Obama? I hope not.

I heard some pointy-head on the radio this weekend pimping his book about sovereign debt. He talked about how many governments across the planet have borrowed staggering sums of money and promised future benefits that they can't deliver, including the US of course.

I don't know his political leanings, but he felt that the 2012 election could be key in determining whether, going forward, America will look more like a centralized European government or America as we know it. Cha!

QOTD

"Was I designed to fly solo? Time would tell. Right now I felt like a defunct species, an old Studebaker sitting in the weeds."
- "The English Major"

vegas... yow, bill

Coldfinger

For Father's Day, this photo was taken by Ty... featuring one of his fingers.

 "Coldfinger"

This pic is a couple years old. I wonder why I only have one glove on. Hmm.

1. Fathers

Gallant part. This QOTD is from a wonderful Father's Day piece by the Freaks... an economist tries to understand how his daughter has wrecked his normal economic equations, his cost-benefit evaluation of his life decisions.

QOTD2

"My feelings toward my daughter Matilda aren’t easily expressed in analytic terms. I struggle to express it, just as I struggle to understand it. I think about my daughter, and I smile. Her laugh is the greatest joy, and it thrills me that she shares it with me."
- Justin Wolfers, Why Economics Falls Down in the Face of Fatherhood

I agree. Everything pales next to my two great kids.



2. Slavery

And the Goofus part. This QOTD isn't made by some crackpot blogger or a lackey or something. This quote is by the head of the Chicago teacher's union.

QOTD

"I don’t believe in slavery on any level. I don’t believe we should work for free. Ever. And we’re not going to."
- Chicago Teacher's Union president, on the loss of 4% raises (link)

3. Baseball cards

Book: "Cardboard Gods" by Josh Wilker
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK.

QOTD2

"Thoreau did not spend his year in the woods staring at baseball cards, but I wasn't Thoreau."
- Josh Wilker, "Cardboard Gods"

The hook of this book is connecting the author's childhood memories to baseball cards he owned throughout his youth. That's really fun. My fave example was Hank Aaron's card and how wonderful Wilker felt after hitting the only home run of his little league career.

QOTD2

"If I could take one moment from my life and save it from erosion and degradation, from the diminishing repetition of need, I'd choose that atbat. I'd start the memory as I was walking toward the batter's box and end it with me stomping on home plate as my teammates laughed and screamed and pummeled me. In other words, if I had a halo, I'd use it to mint those angelic seconds when I was Henry Aaron."
- Josh Wilker from "Cardboard Gods", talking about his only home run in little league

Alas, most of the book is not of this tenor. It's mostly cranky and chockful 'o teen angst. It's just kind of boring, and he seems so earnest about his travails. Dude, teen angst... more common than a housefly, cmon! You throw on top of that "free" hippie drug use and lifestyle, and the guy is wondering why, at 27 years old, he's working at a liquor store. Cmon again! 

But there are some great baseball stories in there. And sometimes, like with Hank Aaron, his connections with the baseball card really click. A couple other memorable ones:

• In the very first chapter Wilker describes how he idolized Rudy Meoli. When the author later found out that Meoli was just a weak-hitting utility player, the card represented the loss of the innocence of youth.
• And later in life, Wilker and his brother bonded in laughter over the cartoon-y mustache of Carmen Fanzone.

"Cardboard Gods" is a worthy read... for guys at least.

If you like the book, he's still writing it, sort of. The author has a blog with a similar format. He has the baseball cards and the self-depricating prose and all. It's here:

www.cardboardgods.net

I think I'll add that one to my Blog reader.
happy fathers day... yow, bill

Folders

"Folders"

1. Reset button

Alas, I think this is a subscription piece. Well, anyway, it's good:

wsj - Iceland's banks come in from the cold

Look, I know this bank stuff induces an immediate coma, but the lesson in the article is simple and applicable to other things. Go!

• Iceland (Gallant) basically let their banks default on loans they couldn't pay. They took their medicine and are already starting to recover.
• Ireland (Goofus) decided to prop up banks using public funds and took bailouts from the EU and blah blah blah. Sounds familiar? They basically did everything possible to avoid default. So now, three years later they are still mired in the soup of recovery and possible default and severe recession and more blah blah blah.

You can apply this concept to the housing market in the US. We are currently taking the Ireland (Goofus) approach... slow, drawn out, prevent bankruptcy at any cost. To this point, the result is a housing slump without any foreseeable end. If we just took our Iceland medicine, got people out of loans/houses that they can't afford and hit the reset button, we'll be better off a few years down the road.

Also, this is analogous to what Ronald Reagan did to address the US recession and inflation in 1981. Rather than string things out, he attacked with interest rate hikes and tax rate and regulation cuts. It was tough medicine, but 4 years later the country was recovering and poised for decades of growth.



2. Quick nonsense
Some quick nonsense and nabobbery:

• The FDA took a major step toward preventing skin cancer by clarifying sunscreen ratings (link). Cha. How much did that cost us?
• The US Dept of Agriculture took a major step toward curing obesity by replacing the food pyramid with the food plate (link). Cha again. And again, how much has all this nonsense cost us?
• In Dr. Rebecca Tung's important (cough) research, she describes the dangers of skin cancer from things like wearing baseball caps and driving with the window open (link).

In some fancy kismet, I happened to hear Dr. Tung's wisdom on the radio. I think I was wearing a ball cap and had the window open in my Sooby. Hmm. Anyway, she was blathering about sunscreen and whatever. Someone called in and asked about special precautions needed to protect toddlers from KILLER sunlight. Dr. Rebecca repeated her calls for sunscreen slathering, floppy hats and then added that toddlers should not be out in the sun at all during the day between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon. Swear to God.

3. Product of the Day

From local retailer Broken Cherry (um, really?), the love-hate gloves:

I love the logo too. See the skull in the cherry. He he!

love love... yow, bill

Senor Spielbergo

1. Super 8

Movie: "Super 8"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good

This movie is classic Schpielberg. "Super 8" is formulaic, and there isn't a scintilla of originality. It isn't smart. For the guys making "Super 8", familiar movie metaphors make everything safe as a baby's bottom. (huh?) And yet, this retread of a movie is so well done, that it's a 4 bill-star experience.

"Super 8" is pretty much a copy-paste jumble of earlier Spielberg movies like ET, Close Encounters, and Stand By Me. It seems like nearly every element of the film has been lifted from one of those earlier movies. There is a lot of action, which made seeing it on the Imax extra special. I'll bet a dollar my review would have been 3 stars if I had seen the movie on a regular screen or on TV.

"Super 8" follows a bunch of junior high kids in the great Midwest and is set in 1979. That's a pretty close match to my stomping grounds; I was in high school then. So, I really enjoyed some of the 70's dialogue between the kids and other points of reference to those space-time coordinates.

So, I guess I'm disclaiming my review a bit. I probably liked it a little more than most people would, and I saw it at the Imax. But I doubt you'll go and hit it with less than 3 stars. It's a very enjoyable, old ride.

My fave line from ET.

QOTD

"No douche bag talk in my house!"
- Mom in ET

2. Tech cycle

Quickie for you. In this chart, a really smart venture capital guy shows the 25 year cycles that seem to play out in technology stocks. Conclusion: Buy!

Why Ben Horowitz Thinks Tech Valuations Are Ready To Explode

si... yow, bill

PS - I think I know this handsome scarf-laden male supermodel. I think.

Real austerity

1. God bless the Internet
I can't improve on this headline:

Here's A Photo Of Mark Cuban Going To The Bathroom With His New NBA Championship Trophy

He he!

2. Coming soon
Quick stats on the REAL austerity that the Obama budget would afford us in the future: wsj - Notable & Quotable.

Let's list this one up, step by step:

• The Fed is buying treasuries, thus keeping current US interest rates artificially low at 2.5%
• This Fed policy is unsustainable over the long term; the average interest rate on treasuries over the last 30 years has been 5.7%
• The Obama budget calls for US debt to grow from $14 trillion to $25 trillion by 2020
• If interest rates are 5.7% and we have a $25 trillion debt, then the interest payments alone will be $800 billion

Well, you say, maybe if President Obama was allowed to tax rich people like he wants, then this wouldn't be a problem. Ack, sorry. Ending W tax cuts on earners over $250K would add $70 billion to the Professor, I mean, President Obama's kitty. A $70 billion bite out of a yearly deficit greater than $1 trillion is a tiny 7%.

The term austerity is used in relation to the Ryan plan. Ten years out we would find the real meaning of austerity with the Obama budget.
yow, bill

Unicorns massaging supermodels

1. An instant classic

Cleveland gives the best analysis of the Miami Heat meltdown:

LeBron says He's still rich, You're still poor

QOTD

"Today, LeBron James is probably sitting on the back porch of his mega mansion, and by porch, we mean that separate 4,000-square foot canopied pavilion where unicorns give supermodels back massages while LeBron frolics in a pool filled only with the tears of Chris Bosh"
- LeBron, the morning after (post)

It's kind of fun being populist, part of the mob.

2. Gates Kudos

I poo-pooed Bill Gates lecturing the Chinese on smoking. Well even bigger kudos to Gate for mega-funding this project to vaccinate kids in poor countries.

reuters - Donors pledge $4.3 billion for vaccines for poor

How does the same brain munge the data of life, this reality of ours, and say "OK, this morning I'm going to help vaccinate millions of poor children in emerging countries, and then in the afternoon I'm going to wag my finger at the Chinese for smoking." That's a head-scratcher... scratch, scratch.

3. Your mother's "a dump"

It's interesting to see/feel the birth of a new narrative: Wrigley Field is (suddenly) "a dump". It seems that this began with some ESPN nabob recently proclaimed the home of the Cub a "dump". With that, the story picked up steam. Here's my (least) favorite... a Sun Times nabob who says Wrigley is a dump, and he's been saying so for years and years.

suntimes - Wrigley Field really IS a dump

If you're over 40, then you know that Wrigley Field wasn't always full; the Cub weren't always a tourist attraction. The Cub mania started in 1982 when Harry Caray became the voice of the Cub. Here's some great stats for a Cub fan:

Baseball Almanac - Chicago Cub attendance records

The Cub first drew 2 million people in a season in 1984. The first 3 million fan season came 20 years later in 2004. In 1980, the Cub drew 15,000 people a game. Today it's almost 40,000. Or, by decade:

• 1960's = 10,900
• 1970's = 16,900
• 1980's = 21,700
• 1990's = 29,600
• 2000's = 37,700

One last thing. Since 1960, Cub attendance has almost quadrupled (800K to 3.2M). Over that period, the average attendance at MLB has about doubled (1.2M to 2.5).

So, for my money, two things happened:

1. The Cub are riding the wave of success of MLB over the past 50 years. You have to attribute that to over economic growth and prosperity in the USA, right?
2. The Cub went from below average attendance in 1960 (33% below average) to above average in 2010 (almost twice the league average)... all in the same ballpark.

So, how do you explain the explosion in Cub attendance and idolatry? The traditional aspects of the Cub (Wrigley Field, being on WGN-TV across the nation) were kindling for the arrival of Harry Caray and a more competitive team. All these elements combined to create a tremendous Cub goodwill that culminated in the Rickettses buying the Cub for almost a billion dollars a couple years ago.

Wrigley is a part of that valuable goodwill. Hey, Harry Caray and Ron Santo are gone. The Cub are looking more like every other team these days to me. They're not even really the lovable losers any more with a couple of playoff appearances and their bloated payroll. They're the "not so lovable under-achievers".
cub win... yow, bill

Leather beer holster

1. Dumb Dad

Let the cavalcade of dumb Father's Day gifts begin! Huzzah!
Here's a fave: Leather beer holster
Not only is this really dumb, but it costs 30 bucks!

2. Dumber LeBron and the Heat

Heat lose.
LeBron lose.
Ha. Ha. Ha.

My fave stat in the clinching game 6 win by the Mavs. LeBron was -24 for the game (boxscore). Another stat: I watched 0 minutes of the NBA Final.

I was at Ty's ballgame talking to the Dads, so I thought I'd test the anti-Heat waters. Excellent. We were a frothy mob in less than a minute. The Heat have to be the most universally disliked team and concept I've bumped into in (50-1) years of watching sports. Congrats LeBron!

I read a boffo LA Times article that said that people were rooting for the Mav & Dirk and against the Heat & LeBron because of racism. I won't link to that garbage, so please trust me on this one. But if being against LeBron and the Heat means you're a racist, then please count me in!

Now, lets close our eyes and pretend. Next year, if there is the NBA, the Bull improve (D-Rose, Noah, Taj, etc) and the Heat don't. Bull beat the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals and play for the title in 2012. Mmm.



3. Technology 2
I just finished reading "Alone Together" a couple weeks ago (williamt post), which is cautionary about technology. Here's a different viewpoint from a self-described "old" guy. This "old" guy says that he is going all in on all new technology because it's REALLY important to stay in touch with what's new and cutting edeg. BTW, this "old" guy is 33.

wsj - The terrifying truth about new technology 

I think I'll pass on the reflexive glomming on to the latest, greatest thing. I'll pick and choose from the new stuff based on what I like and don't like, thank you very much. "Getting old", or not.
heat lose... yow, bill

Garden of Beasts

1. Great book!
Book: "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/175947453

The author, Erik Larson, is the "Devil in the White City" guy. "Devil" is one of my favorite books all-time: (williamt post). "Garden" is almost as good as "Devil".

"Garden of Beasts" is about the transition from Germany to Nazi Germany in the 1930's. The story is told from the perspective of the US Ambassador to Germany at the time (William Dodd) and his family. The plot is exciting and swift. The characters are rich. Larson's writing style is dreamy. This book is an easy 5-stars.

This book is labeled as non-fiction, but it doesn't really feel like that. Larson does a great job putting you in the setting and making you feel a part of the story that is unfolding. You get a lot of (juicy) details on the personal lives of the characters, and he uses the foreboding of the coming Nazi regime really well.

If I were to criticize anything, I would say the author was a little infatuated with William Dodd and his family. They are almost always portrayed in a positive light. For example, tying things up at the end of the book, Larson writes that "a strange episode sidetracked Dodd". The "strange episode" is Dodd mowing down a 4 year-old girl with his car and not bothering to stop. Yeah, that might "sidetrack" someone. Huh? That was really weird.

Another odd passage was Dodd describing the Germans' love of animals, particularly dogs and horses. This love of animals persisted even while Nazi Germany persecuted their own citizens and, obviously, people around the world.

QOTD

"At a time when hundreds of men have been put to death without trial or any sort of evidence of guilt, and when the population literally trembles with fear, animals have rights guaranteed them which men and women cannot think of experiencing."
- William Dodd, describing Nazi Germany in "Garden of Beasts"

What a wonderful read!

2. Chinaman

OK, let's role play...
You've got billions and billions of $$$.
In fact, you're the richest man in the world, and you've got billions and billions of $$$ more than anybody else.
You're retired, but still quite young.
So, you want to really focus your resources and energies on a worthy charity.
A worthy cause like... wait for it... getting Chinese people to stop smoking. Good Lord.

wsj - Baidu CEO and Bill Gates take on smoking

I have to check myself when I see the "Save the Whales" people or stupid baby seals on my soap (williamt post) because I don't connect at all with those charities, but hey, to each his own. But I gotta say, Bill Gates lecturing the Chinese populace on smoking is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Bill Gates goes to China and does he talk about political freedoms or democracy or giving the Chinese people a voice in their government. No, he wants them to stop smoking first. What a waste. What a ninny!

Also, nabob Bill Gates jumps into the (cess)pool of political correctness with a term that I have not heard before, "forced smoking". Forced smoking means (killer) second-hand smoke. Sigh.

QOTD

"Also dude. Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature... Asian-American please."
- Walter, "Big Lebowski"

dude... yow, bill

There's going to be a lot of damage

I heart The Donkey. But he's struggling. Mightily.

I spent 3rd round money in our fantasy baseball draft on Dunn. That's a lotta money. Right after my Donkey selection, Ry Howard and Matt Kemp went off the board. Gulp.

Well, The Donkey hit a dinger last night for the Sock, only his 6th on the year (espn homer rankings). 24 more dingers this year would give him 30 for the year. That's about 6 per month for the rest of the season. Totally doable.

QOTD

"I've never been through something like this for this extended amount of time. It just means that when I do come out of it, there's going to be a lot of damage.''

- Adam Dunn, yahoo story

I'm an idiot, but I believe.
Damage. He he.
go donkey... yow, bill

A whiny bunch

I want to buy one of these, but I keep weenie-ing out.

"Cop car for sale"

1. Similar woes

This is a tasty little article... some college prof proposes that we could pretty dramatically lower college tuition by making all professors teach more courses.

wsj - Time to make professors teach

Those stats are kind of tough to follow. Let me take a shot:

• Now, 20% of college profs teach about 60% of the courses
• If we got the other 80% to pitch in that much, then we would save a ton of dough (by getting rid of the extra profs, eh)

I guess my question is why isn't lower tuition a priority at least at public colleges? Why not leave the superstar researchers for the Ivy League and require that professors at public universities actually teach? Then public universities would be a more attractive low-cost option for students.

There are similarities between college tuition and health care costs:

• Both have both grown much faster than the pace of inflation for a long time.
• These high costs are in large part due to the unintended effects of government intervention.
• President Obama misses the point. He wants everyone to go to college (with a pocketful 'o student loans, of course) and wants everyone to get their health insurance from the feds. The problem isn't access it's cost.

2. A whiny bunch

Hey, I know it doesn't make a lick of sense, but I'm with Chuckles here, I REALLY, REALLY dislike LeBron and the Miami Heat.

QOTD

"Listen, if the Miami Heat were playing the Washington Generals I would pick the Washington Generals," Barkley said with a chuckle. "It's something about that team that annoys me. They just a whiny bunch and I can't root for them."

- Chuckles Barkley on the radio, yahoo link

There is one rational explanation perhaps. You see Jordan and Barkley up there. They battled to beat the best, each other. Man, that's appealing. Epic. And it was.

Rather, LeBron and Co. glom together a team of superstars to just win a title. Jordan and Barkley had some balls. LeBron, not so much.

I haven't watched a minute of the NBA Final. I'm too negative on the deal. Still...
go mav... yow, bill

Vote for me

1. "No matter what"
Goofus first.

QOTD

"And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what."
- President Obama, Jun 2009, wsj story

Well. That was a lie.

trib - Many U.S. employers to drop health benefits, McKinsey finds

QOTD2

"McKinsey, which based its projection on a survey of more than 1,300 employers of various sizes and industries and other proprietary research, found that 30 percent of employers will "definitely" or "probably" stop offering coverage in the years after 2014"
- The impact of Obamacare, trib link

QOTD3

"The shift away from employer-provided health insurance will be vastly greater than expected and will make sense for many companies and lower-income workers alike"
- Same stupid link

Duh.



2. 2012
That President Obama is unbeatable in 2012 seems almost conventional wisdom these days. Intrade has President Obama at 60% chance of winning in 2012 (intrade link). Simply put. Obama has charisma, and the repub field is lame.

Well, there are two scenarios:

First, President Obama will likely be defeated if the economy heads down for another recession in the next 18 months. Or if unemployment pops again. But I don't think either of those things will happen.

Second, why can't Tea Party 2 happen? Before the elections last November, the Tea Party was a bunch of whack-a-doodles. They were dismissed. It's happening again. For 2012, I'm talking about a candidate who speaks plainly and directly on becoming president so that he or she can restore some of the American values and freedoms we hold most dear... a freedom agenda, if you will:

1. Repeal Obamacare - return health care choice to individuals, there are half dozen easy way to increase health insurance competition and reduce costs in the free market
2. Reduce fed spending - cut back to pre-Obama levels and cap fed spending at 18-20% of GDP
3. School choice -support vouchers and charter schools throughout the country
4. Entitlement reform - decentralize Medicaid ala welfare reform, provide seniors with the choice to control their own Medicare $$$
5. Energy independence - allow oil and gas exploration here in the states, nukes too
6. Public employee reform - public sector employees should not enjoy benefits unavailable to the general populace like defined-benefit pensions and low-contribution health plans
7. Reinstate tiny freedoms that mean so much - no TSA body scans or aggressive patdowns, no light bulb mandates, etc.

And more.

I want a candidate to read Obama's "no matter what" quote on keeping health insurance directly to Obama, turn to the audience and say: "If you elect me president, I will repeal Obamacare... and restore your freedom to buy health insurance and health services as you please."

The media will howl. The pundits will harrumph. And, an American, pro-freedom platform like that has, IMHO, a great chance of winning... the presidency and the Congress.
vote for me... yow, bill

Not stupid

1. Funny stupid

This is a wonderful, stupid, negative rant. So, why bother? It's kind of funny. I guess I like it because of the rambling purity of its message: despair.

QOTD

"These are the worst of all possible times. Just ask any cab driver. The US default and inevitable currency collapse is only the tip of the iceberg. Hyperinflation, or deflation, or stagnation, take your pick. There will be no winners this time; we will all be impoverished by the banking system, slaves to the global elite. Government has never been more corrupt. Businessmen and bankers, never more villainous. Our schools are failing. College is a scam. The environment is being polluted, our children's future traded away in a maze of carbon credits and energy derivatives. Or, on the other side of the coin, environmentalism itself is little more than a clever ploy by cynical capitalists to wring out the last dollar from a foolish public only too eager to trade cash for recycled plastic plates and over-priced vinegar-based solutions branded with little green pine trees. And we are obsessed with distraction, pop culture, celebrity, bread and circuses facilitated by technology and rapid-fire communication, if one can even call it that, rewiring our brains to crave the Pavlovian immediacy of the virtual call and response, Twitter, Facebook, a vast ocean of meaninglessness which crowds out the significant, narrative broken by unbound connectivity and emergent complexity. Nothing makes sense anymore. That's one way to look at it."- K Depew, minyanville link

I wonder if the guy who wrote that is serious or joshin'. Who knows. That website, Minyanville, is one of the many weird investing websites that are all gloom, all doom, all the time. Yes, it's really really weird. Funny weird.



2. Not funny stupid
Here's a rant that's stupid, but not so funny. Thanks to good people at The Morning News for this link/quote. This is a stupid rant that ask that global warming non-believers be: tattooed, or forced to buy low-lying island properties, or lashed to a pole in shallow waters.

The dangers of bone-headed beliefs 

Unlike the Minyanville rant, this one is not funny.
And did you catch how silly his logic is... complete with testimonial from some bubble-headed actress.

I'm not religious. We've come full circle here because religious people don't bother a guy like me. They don't pester me. They don't want me to change. They don't want to pin some scarlet tattoo on me.

I'm not part of any leftie pop culture pseudo-religion. But Daddy, there's a righteous anger on the left. Turn on MSNBC for 10 minutes. It's jaw-dropping. How about all the green mumbo jumbo. The female-specific attacks on women who are righties. If you disagree with the president, then you're a racist.

Easter is a religious celebration. If you're in the club, fine. If not, fine.
Earth day is a leftie holiday, bit it's explicitly created to proselytize. If you're not in the club, then you're "bad". According to the leftie nabob above, you're really bad. Bad enough to be punished by the likes of him.



3. Funny weener
The Weiner congressman and his weener. Pretty funny.
This is funnier.

QOTD

"They're all adults, at least to the best of my knowledge... I know that I never had any intention to have any interaction with underage women."
- A Weiner, on texting pics to women and other shenanigans, cbsnews link

But the real punch line on this whole dumb thing... his wife is an absolute knockout (below). He he. He's got a hot, young wife at home and congressman dipstick is texting anonymous girls (adult girls... "to the best of his knowledge") pics of his underwear.
OK. Weiner.

whatever... yow, bill

PS - Fab addendum!

QOTD

"Congressman Weiner admits lying about photos and said he and his wife had spoken 'frankly' about the situation. Great choice of words."

- The good people at the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, their facebook page

Fanny

1. Pearl Jam Bobble

Mike McCready, guitarist for Pearl Jam, is having his own bobblehead day with the Seattle Mariner tonight. It's no Rickey Henderson bobblehead, but it's pretty unique.


Source: Seattle PI blog


And McCready will play the national anthem before the game. Mariner marketing... hardest working guys in show business.

Eddie Vedder. Best stage diver I've ever witnessed in person. Awfully good on the Even Flow video too: youtube - Pearl Jam Even Flow



But shit, now, Eddie Vedder is 47 years old and shilling ukulele CD's at Starbucks (link).
WTF.
What's the quote, "Father Time is undefeated".
Or the (rude) Howard Stern variation: "I don't hate women, Father Time does." Snort.

QOTD

"This was a fanny that could start a war and I felt blessed that I had the use of it for the time being, knowing how much I'd miss it when it was gone."
- "The English Major"

fanny, he he... yow, bill