Murals. Weeners.

1. Philly Murals

I was doing a little research for my upcoming trip to Philly with Ty. Philly has, um, struggled for decades (Lordy, understatement of the day). So, they decided to spiff up the place a bit by painting murals everywhere (over the graffiti). It's called the Mural Arts Program. There are a variety of tours that let you check out some of the murals in Philly: www.muralarts.org/tour/tours-offered. I might try talking Ty into doing one of these guys, but there's a lot to do in Philly, so I'm not sure.

These murals are (poorly) displayed here:

www.muralfarm.org

This site has a glaring, obvious design flaw... the pics are tiny. What a gaffe!
Here's a good example, a cool Dr. J mural... click on it for a larger (excellent) size pic.

Look for my own mural photos coming soon, after ye olde baseball vacay, hopefully.

2. Shun

I love to see you and me making money. This is a virtuous thing. You make some money, and your family gets some stuff. All good. I must admit though that I am prejudiced against the class of people who make money by deliberately lying. You know, politicians and the fake preachers on the Tee-Vee.

There's a new class of preacher these days. They are here to lie and make LOTS of money because the federal teet has never been so lucrative. Here's an example of a group that make LOTS of money telling people that hot dogs will give them cancer. They're actually doing it at Nascar events, presumably because they think the least of my Nascar brothers.

Billboard Near Brickyard Warns NASCAR Fans of Cancer-Hot Dog Link

And I hate to point a finger, but these guys with the cancer hot dogs and the curly cue light bulbs and the killer heat and sunshine will kill you and blah blah blah... well, they ain't righties, methinks. It's this whole new suffocating class of nabobs that are pure lefties. Its strikes me as a side effect of the growth of government in our society. Without the $$$, these nabobs would scurry back into their holes.

QOTD

“A hot dog a day could send you to an early grave... like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps racing fans and other consumers understand the health risk.”
- Susan Levin, nabob

These are the same guys who are going to save the world by banning Happy Meals. Prohibition people. 21st century TV preachers. Wouldn't it be great if people like this were (rightly) shunned:

[Scene: Party. Regular guy with drink in one hand, weener in the other (he he)]
Regular guy (RG): "What do you do for a living?"
Nabob: "Oh, I tell people that hot dogs give them cancer."
RG: "Really? What are you... an asshole or something?"
Nabob: "No. Well, not much. But my job is very lucrative."
RG: "Hmm. So, would you dictate people's choices in any area if you were paid to do it?"
Nabob: "Pretty much, I guess."
RG: "Dude, you are an asshole."

Maybe I'll go get a hot dog at Portillo's for lunch. Mmm... 5 bill-stars. You can get an outstanding weener there, or maybe a burger or Italian beef. In either case, I'll be happy to support someone making a gol dnag honest buck versus these nabobs.
yow, bill

Mass hysteria

1. The hysteria

QOTD

"Human sacrifice!
Dogs and cats living together!
Mass hysteria!"
- Bill Murray, "Ghostbusters"

Working out over lunch, "CRISIS" flashed on many TV screens over and over again. Alas, it's this debt ceiling nonsense. There is a crappy buzz out there, piercing even my formidable media bubble. But before we solve this dire crisis... a bikini, sort of. (snort)

OK. Back to the hysteria. Some examples:

1. Peggy Noonan called President Obama a loser: wsj - They've lost that lovin' feeling. Um, Peggy's not always a big winner in my book.
2. This wood-chipper guy with an investment blog doesn't mince words: The US is fucked. Hey, at least Mr. Wood-chipper is NOT talking about the silly debt ceiling. He's saying that we're fucked over the $14T we owe, and that Congress will never reduce spending.
3. Nancy Pelosi is doing her best to save us all: "What we're trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We're trying to save life on this planet as we know it today."
4. Speaking of the debt ceiling, Bloomberg focuses entirely on the silliness with their debt ceiling calculator: bloomberg - August invoices show Treasury's limited choices

I don't think that Bloomberg's little calculator has the effect they intended. The interest on the debt in August is $29B. We take in $170B. So when President Obama and Secretary Geithner posit that we are near default, they are fibbing, or maybe just joking around.

And I can pay our bills without having to spend that  $170B. Going through the feds laundry list,the worthless crap is there for all to see:

• $14B - federal salaries and benefits... cut back
• $20B - Dept of Education... cut
• $15B - HUD, Dept Energy, federal highways... cut, cut, cut

The largest expenditure of all is $42B for "Other spending". What's that? "Most of these payments are federal obligations referred to as “unclassified,” meaning that the Treasury Department is unable to identify the type of spending." Cha. Cut.

QOTD

"If we're in such doo-doo, then why aren't they cutting back at the Mother Ship."
- Dennis Miller, on non-existent federal employees lay-offs

 

2. The (EZ) math

No hysteria needed. Fed spending from www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals:

• 2008: $2.5T in, $3.0T out, about -$0.5T deficit
• 2011: $2.2T in, $3.8T out, about -$1.6T deficit
• 2012: $2.6T in, $3.7 out, about -$1.1T deficit (estimates)

It's not terribly difficult to follow. In 2011, the deficit increased $1T from what it was in 2008. So...

• 70% of that extra 2011 deficit is due to increased spending ($0.8T)
• 30% is reduced tax money ($0.3T).

Continuing to 2012 estimates, tax collection catches up to 2008, returning to pre-recession levels. At that point, the entire trillion dollar deficit will be due to increased spending since 2008. The Obama deficit as the entire increase in the deficit will be due to extra/Obama spending.

QOTD

"Last chance, Marie."
[long, incredible Mini Cooper chase scene]
"We can never come back to this car."
- Jason Bourne

It does strike the casual observers that President Obama is the only actor in this bad theater that really needs something big to happen. President Obama's record thus far: 9% unemployment, anemic GDP growth, trillion dollar deficits, and a heartily despised socialized health plan. What will Obama's 2012 campaign slogan be?

The Tea Party argument for Nov 2012 has already been made and awaits like a favorite Christmas present under the tree with a big bow on top. The Tea Party guys will argue for spending cuts and entitlement reform to stem the tide of massive deficits. They need more Tea Party-ish guys in Congress (and maybe a president) to make this happen. President Obama and the left with argue otherwise. President Obama's budget called for trillion dollar deficits each year throughout the decade, and a continued growth in the size and specter of federal government power.
yow, bill

Vinny

Catch the live, acoustic version of this if you can (amazon link), the good one with the Casablanca intro (sigh).

QOTD

"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain"
- Al Stewart, "Year of the Cat"

1. Vinny the baby puffin

Great, cute pics and video of Vinny the baby puffin:

nationalaquarium.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/puffin-chicks-hatched-in-sea-cliffs-exhibit/

Ty and I are going to visit Vinny over at Baltimore's National Aquarium in August. Excellent!

2. Sooby

In case of zombie attack: baseball bat or Sooby?

Subaru official zombie apocalypse vehicle

I thought for sure he was going to hop in that Sooby and run over some zombies. Oh well.

3. $15,000,000,000,000

This is a fun visualization of what the $15T of US debt looks like:

www.wtfnoway.com

Just for fun.

4. Rickie

I'm sitting on a barstool last night, and there goes Rickie Weeks, my guy, being dragged off the field. Sprained ankle. DL. 3-6 weeks. Dop.

Rickie's incredible 4 month run as 2B for the Naperville Oriole:

• 71 run, 2nd most for all 2B (I Kinsler 72)
• 19 dinger, most for all 2B
• 199 TB, 2nd most for 2B (M Young 201)
• Rickie is ranked the #40 player overall in Yahoo
• All that for 7th round $$$ in our draft. Huzzah!

I also got incredibly lucky to have earlier picked up Michael Cuddyer off the scrap heap. I snagged Cuddyer because he was eligible at multiple positions (1B, 2B, 3B, OF) and playing OK. I didn't expect him to be an All-Star and rank #53 overall in Yahoo-land
go oriole... yow, bill

1. Harry

QOTD

"It took a while, but she looked in the mirror
Then she glanced at the license for my name
A smile seemed to come to her slowly
It was a sad smile, just the same

And she said "How are ya Harry?"
I said "How are ya, Sue?"
Through the too many miles and the too little smiles
I still... remember you.
- Harry Chapin, "Taxi"

"Harry Chapin Greatest Stories Live" (amazon link)... 5 bill-stars.
I wish I'd seen Harry Chapin live because this CD is electric. You get the extra energy of a live performance, and the quality of the performance and the recording is amazing.

2. This is fun

This is fun. You go to Baseball Reference and see what ballplayers were born today.
Here's the link:

www.baseball-reference.com/friv/birthdays.cgi

My fave birthday today (July 26) is a no-brainer: Sad Sam Jones.
He he.

Speaking of sad. Texas Ranger... Go!

1. July 22 - Adrian Beltre gets hurt
2. July 23 - Chris Davis gets called up from the minors for the zillionth time
3. July 26 - Chris Davis goes 0-for-6 in the Ranger 20-6 (boxscore) and committed an error for the cherry on top.

3. Wrap
I am, happily, not sleeping with, or addicted to, my free dumb phone.

ap - Sleep with your iPhone? You're not alone 

Three requirements to be a planet (link):

1. Orbit the sun
2. Have sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium... that's fancy talk for "enough mass to keep a spherical-ish shape"
3. Have a clear neighborhood around its orbit... can't be all cluttered up with similar-sized junk

Williamt... not a planet.
yow, bill

Little black devil

1. Angry predators
This afternoon's run on Hobson Road (why do I run where there's so much traffic... I don't know) was interrupted by a hawk swooping down in the grass ahead of me, plucking some little furry thing (a  chipmunk? bigger than a mouse, smaller than a squirrel) and taking off. That jolted me out of my meditative pace... and was extremely cool.

Speaking of angry predators...

QOTD

"Known for a stubborn, mischievous, and headstrong temperament, the Schipperke is sometimes referred to as the "little black fox", the "Tasmanian black devil", or the "little black devil"... They are formidable barkers and can be aggressive with other dogs."
- schipperke definition, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schipperke

2. More wine!

Debt ceiling. Yawn. Meaningless.
But, he says, the debt ceiling over time... or more accurately, the total debt owed by the US government is worth a peek.

Source: Horan Capital Advisors post

That's one crappy chart, but roughly...

• Fed debt under W went from $6T to $10T. That stinks.
• Fed debt under Obama will go from $10T to $15T in just 3 years. That really REALLY stinks.

Of course, W did his crappy magic in 8 years. President Obama overachieved and rung up his debt in just 3 years at the helm. The simplest reality is: the feds spend almost a trillion dollars more this year than they did in 2008. And that's BS.

Some stats from the wsj ( wsj - The debt ceiling and the pursuit of happiness ):

• Total government spending at all levels has risen to 37% of gross domestic product today from 27% in 1960—and is set to reach 50% by 2038
• All this is accompanied by an increase in our national debt to 100% of GDP today from 42% in 1980.

I read some article that said: "There is no Tea Party in Greece."
Perhaps.

Perhaps the good, ole US of A is better than Greece. And Europe too. (oops, you can't say that) OK, if you're uncomfortable with "better" how about "American".

American society, American culture means a smaller government, not a socialistic or European approach. From the article above, if government spending at all levels reaches 50% of GDP in 25 years, we won't be America any more. We'll be the United Stats of Europe.

So, let's just pull 20% of GDP out of the air. The feds get spending down to 20% of GDP, then we'll talk about taxes and restructuring and entitlements and blah blah blah. But all this chit chat happens after fed spending goes back to American levels.
yow, bill

The Hobbit

1. LOTR, part 0
Book:  "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... great!
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/188302673

Cmon. "The Hobbit", wonderful prelude to "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy, is an easy 5 stars. I'm re-reading it with the boy to get him going on Lord of the Rings.

QOTD

The clouds were torn by the wind, and a great red sunset slashed the West. Seeing the sudden gleam in the gloom Bilbo looked round. He gave a great cry: he had seen a sight that made his heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow.

'The Eagles! The Eagles!" he shouted. 'The Eagles are coming!'
- J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Hobbit"

2. Trend 27

I was working out yesterday afternoon... doing 20 minutes of righteous stairs.

Anyway, amongst a dozen soundless TV's, there was CNN with a picture of Amy Winehouse up there. They were doing a big, big feature on her death. In their biggest, scariest font, the text read:

TREND 27!

"What's Trend 27?" I wondered, hopefully not aloud.

CNN answered. They were reporting the potential implications of rock stars like Winehouse, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix all dying when they were 27 years old. Nice trend there, CNN. They followed that hard-hitting report by reading messages that viewer had posted on Twitter. Sigh.

3. Dating definitions

A couple of online new terms from the wonderful, wacky world of online dating:

• helicopter girl - a girl so attractive (usually physically) that she can attract guys that are rich enough to own a helicopter.
• leagueness - this is a subtle variation of "league" as in "she's not in your league". Where "not in your league" identifies someone who is more attractive (usually physically) than you are likely able to attract; leagueness is usually used by you to refer to someone else, as in "she's not in my leagueness". This describes a similar mismatch in attraction (usually physical), but the machinations of online dating have, sort of, forced you to make this judgement and you don't want to be a jerk about it. Common usage: "She contacted me on Okcupid, but bah... she's not in my leagueness."

huzzah... yow, bill

Company Men

1. Bill Gates $$$
Speaking of Bill Gates (last post), here's an interview about his (largely failed) philanthropic exploits in public education... about how Gates spent $5B over the last decade:

Was the $5 billion worth it

Let me over-simplify. It's my job:

• Gates sees private/parochial schools like the KIPP schools that achieve exactly the kind of incredible results that he is looking for, but...
• Gates won't fund or support these private/parochial efforts or become active in the school choice debate because he doesn't think it's politically feasible.

I applaud Bill Gates for stepping up, but brother, school choice is not that far-fetched. Ruffle some feathers Bill Gates, and perhaps the results will be better in this decade.

QOTD

"Mr. Gates says that education isn't only a civil-rights issue but also 'an equity issue and an economic issue. . . . It's so primary. In inner-city, low-income communities of color, there's such a high correlation in terms of educational quality and success.' "
- WSJ interview

2. Company Men

Movie: "Company Men"
Review: 2 bill-stars... not worth it

This should have been a pretty easy movie to make, especially in these tough times of high unemployment. The preview was good, I thought. It should have been a very personal, intimate movie showing how people get hurt and cope and blah blah. I mean, especially for a guy, losing your gig, trying to find a new one, and not being able to pay the bills is drama wrapped in a bow. But this movie blows it.

The strongest part of the movie is Ben Afleck and his movie wife Rosemary Dewitt (over there to the right). Afleck does OK. Ms. Dewitt is even better; she is incredibly attractive and plays one of the few really positive characters.

But most everything is handled at a superficial level, at a distance. The movie also sprinkles in cliche "bad CEO" moments that sucked the air out of the movie. There were lots of unnecessary mega-stars sprinkled in there that slowed things down... "Oh, there's Kevin Costner... oh, there's the guy from the Bourne movies... oh, there's Craig T. Nelson... hi Coach!" It was just a poor, unfocused script along with poor, unfocused directing.

One LOL moment. Ben Afleck is supposed to go to Chicago. So, cut. And now he's in Chicago, standing on the street. To remind/convince us block-headed movie-goers that Afleck is now actually in Chicago, there's a guy standing behind him in a Cubs hat. "Oh, look he's in Chicago because there's a guy with a Cub hat on." So bad.

Maria Bello (below) is another stunningly beautiful girl. In "Company Men", she's supposed to be having an affair with Tommy Lee Jones. This was bad, really bad. I mean, I suspect that Tommy Lee Jones has insomnia because he wouldn't even want to sleep with himself at this point. But in "Company Men", at least we were spared the nude bedroom scenes that she did with fossil William Macy in "The Cooler". Check your gag reflex, the scenes where naked William Macy is jumping on top of poor Maria in "The Cooler" were brutal beyond belief and had to be some kind of eye-searing all-time movie low.



yow, bill

PS - From today's WSJ, another area where the feds are growing fast: the number and prosecution of federal laws. The number of people being prosecuted by the feds has doubled since 1980:

• In 1980: 192 prosecutions per million adults
• In 2009: 395 prosecutions per million adults

wsj - As Criminal Laws Proliferate, More Are Ensnared

Refreshing Green Goodness

QOTD

"I've learned that only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are."
- Bill Gates

1. Good Green

The WSJ pointed me to this article... it's Bill Gates with a little good, rational green patter:

wired - Bill Gates on the World’s Energy Crisis

First off, bah to the bogus inflammatory article title. Gates isn't talking about crisis this or that, and the word "crisis" doesn't appear in the article.

Lots of good, simple common sense in there:

• Nukes - New nuke technology can be an economical and safe answer to energy needs in the future.
• Solar - Today's current technology is "cute" and over-subsidized. We are spending dough on deployment of ineffective technologies, rather than fostering the basic research that is still needed to make solar viable.
• Biofuels - Ethanol is a total waste and this area is small potatoes overall.
• Conservation - Gates' observation is plain as day, but it's not even discussed these days: "But can we, by increasing efficiency, deal with our climate problem? The answer is basically no. The climate problem requires more than a 90 percent reduction in CO₂ emitted, and no amount of efficiency improvement is going to address that." Hey, conserve. Save yourself some dough. But don't pretend you're saving the planet because you're not.

So refreshing! Refreshing green goodness!

I'll only add two cents-worth. Pretend that full-on global warming is gospel. In that case, the rational solution is not going to be conservation or taxes or bigger government or slowing growth... it's going to be a technological solution put together by engineers to mitigate the problem. There's a million of them, just read Freakonomics, eh.

QOTD

"It’s cute, you know, it’s nice. But the economics are so, so far from making sense. And yet that’s where subsidies are going now. We’re putting 90 percent of the subsidies in deployment—this is true in Europe and the United States—not in R&D. And so unfortunately you get technologies that, no matter how much of them you buy, there’s no path to being economical. You need fundamental breakthroughs, which come more out of basic research."
- Bill Gates, on solar power

2. And Bad Green

I don't want to break my mojo, but as a contrast, here are two bad green examples.

Robert F Kennedy is high-profile greenie. Nabob. He's all green gung-ho, until (oops) somebody proposed plopping a gaggle of windmills in his back yard. Oh, my bad... the backyard of his vacation home.

wsj - Nantucket's Wind Power Rip-off

So, wind power costs too much in Nantucket. It's OK everywhere else, just not Nantucket. Dang.

And pushing silliness to the limit, Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the UN, is pounding the table that global warming be an issue for the UN Security Council (link). Ala Monty Python, the silly party platform includes a "green helmet" global warming peace-keeping force (link).

Contrast!
yow, bill

A long-ass July

1. Dueling Cub-Sock

Ah, I heart Ozzie... best rants in the big leagues.

QOTD Sock

"Fucking pathetic. No fucking energy. We just go by the motions. We take the day off today instead of tomorrow. If we go to Cleveland and play the way we play in Kansas City it's going to be a long-ass July."
- Ozzie after a Sock loss to the last-place KC Royal, Ozzie Guillen rants about Chicago offense

The Sock have been crippled, largely, by the failure of just two players: Adam Dunn and Alex Rios. If those two guys bop anything like what they have in the past, then the Sock are sitting atop their woeful division. I don't remember two guys of this quality and salary sucking this hard ever. You add the Cub Soriano to this list and it's like the Holy Trinity of baseball busts.

Ozzie wrap: "A lot of people say I talk shit because I have to talk shit. No, I don't. I talk shit because what I see; that's all I see. Very bad."

Of course, the KC Royal have a better record that my Cub. For Cub fans, it's going to be a long-ass century. Dop. Which leads to my Cub QOTD.

QOTD Cub

"The Cubs host the Astros this weekend in a series that features the two worst teams in baseball."
- sports radio blather

2. Independence!
I guess I've figured out that Altucher is a home run hitter. He strikes out a lot, but when he connects, the ball goes a long way. Here's a wonderful Altucher rant/list on being independent:

Life tastes best when you eat what you kill

My faves from Altucher's carnivorous list:

1. Don't depend on one boss/buyer/whatever - be independent!
2. Become an expert in something
3. Connect (with) people
4. Give ideas away for free
5. Be patient - don't give up

A lot of these notions are why I'm coding up investment algorithms rather than teaching.
yow, bill

PS - QOTD Bonus

"One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole."
- Larry Summers, ex-head of Harvard, cws post

It's too hot out there, Billy

"Daylily zoo"

Jeez. My nabob-repellant blathersphere (TM) is serving me well these days.

QOTD

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry. I get like that sometimes. It's a combination of low self-esteem, low blood sugar, and mixing red wine with my dog's pain killers."
- Janeane Garofalo on Two and a Half Men

1. Nabob, cha cha cha

Nabobs are everywhere. You'll find them huddled in their favorite nesting places: Obamacare, the debt ceiling nonsense, and of course, killer weather (oh my!).

First up: Obamacare. Ugh.

QOTD2

"A new report says free and accessible birth control is an essential part of a full range of preventive health services that should be offered to all American women as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010."
- "Birth control should be free", time story

"Free" birth control is "essential." Just to clarify... "free" birth control means "free" as in someone else pays for it, not "free" as in you get to choose what you want.

For weeks now, I have successfully avoided and ignored stories about the silly debt ceiling "crisis".

QOTD3

"President Obama seized on the re-emergence of an ambitious bipartisan budget plan in the Senate on Tuesday to invigorate his push for a big debt-reduction deal"
- Bipartisan Plan for Budget Deal Buoys President, nytimes story

I love the NY Times: President Obama's "big push" for "ambitious" debt-reduction. Snort.
Or, perhaps this sums it up best: "It has some good principles in it." - Nancy Pelosi

Finally, there's the killer heat dome over the country or something. The silly weather reports are now touting "heat index", rather than temperature, so they can say it's 106 out there. I ran 4-5 miles over lunch today. It was hot.

QOTD4

"You can't play outside. It's too hot out there, Billy."
- my mother 40 years ago, no link

Of course, I'm just fooling. My mother wasn't a nabob. I doubt anyone over the age of 40 ever heard the phrase "too hot out there" when they were growing up. I recall "if you're hot, go play in the sprinkler" or "get your scrawny ass to the pool" or stuff like that. Most of us didn't have central A/C growing up. And it was just as hot then, as it was now, but heat wasn't portrayed as dangerous.

That's a wrap. Of course, "free" birth control isn't essential and shouldn't be mandated by the feds. And no real reduction in government spending will happen while President Obama is in office. But hey, there's another election in about a year, so the Tea Party guys will have to win again to get anything done.

And yup... it's pretty hot out there.
Hey, we'll be fine. 
run old man... yow, bill

Giant corn

1. Break break

QOTD

"You know, now I feel almost refreshed and ready to go."
- Adam Dunn, on his 4-day All-Star break break, Saturday July 16

Later that day, Adam Dunn's batted cleanup in Detroit: 0-4 with 3 K (boxscore)

2. Beam me (and Mike Quade) up

Except for the first sentence, this is a stupid Daily Herald story about Cub manager Mike Quade imploring his team to "play better, execute better, pitch better, hit better" in the second half of the season. Whatever.

daily herald - Quade wants better everything

That first sentence is about Quade's encounter with TSA. He was detained for 40 minutes and frisked twice. His bags were scanned multiple times. He was interrogated. The guy on sports radio said that Quade was pretty upset about the whole ordeal. And all this goes unreported, unless your in your car listening to ESPN radio on a Saturday morning.

Why is this stuff tolerated? Why is it unreported? Why do we as citizens just sit here and say, "Oh well". It's a tough one to understand and swallow. TSA frisking and scanning and intimidating people is such a change from America as it was and as it should be.

3. Anti Schmanti

Pretty interesting, short article on anti-depressants.

scientific american - Are anti-depressants just placebos with side effects?

And this stat...

QOTD2

"...like everyone reading this column, I know many people who have been treated with antidepressants—not surprisingly, because according to a 2005 survey, one in 10 Americans are now under such treatment."
- Sci Am guy

Jeez. And their alternatives to anti-depressants: "yoga, meditation, jogging, reading groups, journal-writing". Well, it's running, not jogging (ha!)... but I do three of those activities.

QOTD3

"You are about to be crushed by a giant corn."
- fortune cookie, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"

yow, bill

Bunny barf

From golfing yesterday...

"Bunny in the gallery"

1. Barf

If this chart isn't vomit-inducing, then I don't know what is.

Source: bloomberg - Debt endangers growth

We have just begun to de-leverage. Well, everyone except Illinois, California, and the feds. Fortunately, it's all under control with our fearful leader.

QOTD

"We don't have to do anything radical to solve this problem.
We don't need a balanced budget amendment."
- President Obama, cbs story

2. Couple from the WSJ
This is a wonderful, wonderful short article by Coach K from Duke basketball. It's a little bit personally haunting to this nerd because I don't recall ever saying the "right words" in my entire life. Sigh.

wsj - Coack K on how to connect

Why does India hate Pakistan? Why has Pakistan fallen economically and socially in the last decade, while India has risen? What has been the US role in this change?

Shoot, I'll admit... I don't give a rat's hiney about Pakistan or India. But this personal account offers some very simple, direct explanations on why India and Pakistan are the way they are.

wsj - Why my father hated India

bunny... yow, bill

Angie F'ed me

1. Angie

No foreplay or anything, and boom... Angie fucked me.
Angie's List, that is. How about that one?

Paying Bill's bills this morning, checking the Visa statement. "80 bucks to Angie's List. WTF?!?"
So, hop on the toaster... click click click... I couldn't follow exactly what they did, but it looks like any time you query a company they add that service type to the list of service types that you are paying for. So, for example, I looked up a car repair place... boom... I get the car repair list added to my bill. All, without asking.

Call Angie.
Cancel.
"Sir, we'd be happy to quote you a lower rate to keep your business."
F you.
Cancel me and credit my account.

Here's someone else with a similar story: Beware Angie's List billing practice

2. More cowbell

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, aka "The Bernank", indicated that maybe the Fed would do some more quantitative easing (so-called) if the economy weakens further. Is he not paying attention or is The Bernank so smart that mere mortals can't understand what the hell he even thinks he's doing:

Bernanke to Wall Street: More Cowbell

More cowbell. Good one. You'd think, however, that if The Bernank were so clever, that he'd be able to answer five minutes of questions from nutty Ron Paul without stammering and tinkling his pants.

Bernanke Fights Ron Paul In Congress: Gold Isn’t Money

The last minute of that video is precious, BTW:

Ron Paul: "Do you think gold is money?"
The Bernank: [pause] "No."
Ron Paul: "Even if it's been money for six thousand years... why do central banks hold it [gold]?"
The Bernank: "Well, it's a form of reserves."
Ron Paul: "Why don't they hold diamonds?"
The Bernank: "Well, it's tradition."

And... cue the laugh track. Dammit, that's funny.

Bah, The Bernank was just a little off his game. You know what The Bernank needs. He needs a bobblehead. Like the MC Hammer bobblehead put together by the marketing boys over at the Oakland A's. Hammer time!

Not a top 10 bobblehead though... way too tasteful.

QOTD

"Google doesn’t have enough irrational people working there, and the rest of the world doesn’t have enough rational people occupying it."
- Douglas Adams, ex-Google employee, wsj post

can't touch this... yow, bill

Nice news

"Dessert flower"

A couple nice stories. Some classy, honorable people. Positive human spirit. Nice news.

1. Jenny Stone

The definition of class and honor... Jenny Stone is the widow of the guy (Shannon) who accidentally died trying to catch a ball at the Rangers game with his son (Cooper).

QOTD

"Josh Hamilton remains Cooper’s favorite baseball player, the Texas Rangers will always be our team, and baseball will always be our favorite game. … Shannon loved going to watch the Rangers and he loved Cooper. And, at the very end, he lived life to its fullest, doing something he loved."
- Jenny Stone, Fallen fan's widow thanks Rangers

And double nice... how the Ranger and Josh Hamilton and others have treated this family after the accident. Here's a good one on Hamilton, a recovering addict, trying to deal with the tragedy: Faith lifts Hamilton after ballpark tragedy. And the pic is a moment of silence before the Ranger game for the guy and his family.

2. Christian Lopez

A lesser story, but still, a classy young guy... Christian Lopez is the guy who caught Jeter's 3,000 hit (a home run) and gave it back to Jeter, rather than sell it.

QOTD

"It didn't cross my mind until they asked me what I wanted. The only thing I could think of was a few signed balls would be nice, and to meet him. It wasn't about the money. It was about a milestone and I wasn't going to take that away from him. Money's cool and all, but I'm only 23 years old. I have a lot of time to make that."
- Christian Lopez, Lucky fan grabs Jeter 3,000 ball, gives it back

3. Little league
I'll finish with a tiny, personal story. I saw my friend's little league championship game last week. It was a tough, hard fought game. One of the kids broke his wrist or arm tripping past first base. But, my buddy's kid won. Huzzah!

It was cool with a nice ceremony after the game. Both teams got trophies and shook hands and then somebody had a great idea... let's get both teams together and take a picture. Nice!

That pic is Americana that would make Normal Rockwell take notice.
Positive human spirit is on display in all three stories. We see it pretty much every day.
nice... yow, bill

Waiting

Changesbowie... off the charts outstanding.
LOUD!

QOTD

I
I can remember (I remember)
Standing
By the wall (by the wall)
And the guns
Shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed
As though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame
Was on the other side
Oh we can beat them
For ever and ever
Then we can be Heroes
Just for one day
- David Bowie, "Heroes"

1. Still Waiting

Movie: "Waiting for Superman"
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)

I had high hopes for this movie. It's too long. It's overwrought. It's annoying in places, especially the end. It could have been so much better.

The movie focuses only on lotteries to get into charter schools but ignores the greater issue of school choice. I don't think the word "voucher" was uttered in the whole movie. Also, President Obama's killing of the successful voucher program in DC was not mentioned.

These poor choices in the movie are made, I assume, by the director. David Guggenheim is the director. Bad news: He was the director of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", so that explains a lot regarding the approach. The good news: he's married to Elisabeth Shue.

Best things from the movie:

1. Geoffrey Canada appears throughout the movie with outstanding comments. He's a smart black guy who has taught and tried to change the educational system for years. Now, he's the head of a charter school called Harlem Children's Zone.
2. Stat from the movie: if you replaced the worst 10% teachers with average teachers, then our education system would be competitive. I don't know how they came up with that, but I'm a little dubious on that one.
3. One of the kids they follow is a middle-class girl who is stuck in a "track" in her public school. That is, she has been deemed by standardized tests to be below average and so only below average courses are available to her. She is trying to get into a private school that believes that all children should be expected to achieve. Interesting.
4. Tenure for elementary school teachers. Is that just about the dumbest thing you've ever heard?

At (50-1) years-old, I struggle a bit with the notion of a "hero". Michelle Rhee is a hero. Her struggles against the teacher's union in DC are chronicled in the movie. The movie shows some of the personal toll on Michelle Rhee in dealing with the teacher's unions. The mob.

Ultimately, Rhee wasn't successful at DC, but her spirit and courage are unquestioned. Now, she's at www.studentsfirst.org, lobbying for school choice at a national level.

On the other end of the spectrum is anti-hero Randi Weingarten. She is the head of the teacher's union. She knows the impact of her work... a poor education for millions of children. She knows the cost of her work... the unrealized futures of these kids. I know I should intellectually place Ms. Weingarten in the role of something like a defense attorney. But it's sure tough to do. She's a negative force in our country and in the lives of so many, and she is accurately portrayed as such in the movie.

I have "The Lottery" loaded up in my Netflix queue. I have higher expectations for that movie.

2. Not Wasting

This here blog has been called "a waste" by more than one person. No, not by me, silly. By others.
Anyway, I'll bet you a dollar that I waste less time than Google poo-bah Eric Schmidt.

QOTD

"The truth is, I now write during a lot of the meetings that I am in that are boring."
- Eric Schmidt, Google Chair, on writing his next book

Enough already. I hate to overuse the word "genius", but so be it.
Marketing GENIUS!

Zappos Uses Naked Models To Sell Their Clothes

QOTD

"They gave me a spork with the tensile strength of Crispin Glover's psyche."
- Dennis Miller, on the airline's answer to "safe" utensils these days

Crispin Glover's psyche. HE HE!
school choice... yow, bill

As bad as you can possibly be

1. The Donkey speaks
Good lord.

Donkey QOTD

"I feel like me and Alex (Rios), we've been as bad as you can possibly be.
We're putting it all on us in the second half."
-  The Donkey, cbs sports story

It's been an epic first half for my Naperville Oriole in fantasy baseball. First place with a 10+ game cushion and leading the league in 6 of 10 categories. The Oriole lead in every hitting category: run, homer, rbi, total base. I have mediocre starting pitching, but lots of it. I lead in wins and am 2nd in K. I have above average closers and lead the league in saves. The Oriole are a juggernaut.

The Oriole are anchored by the best player in fantasy baseball, Jose Bautista. Joey Bats' numbers at the All-Star break jump off the page:

• 2011 - 0.334 ave, 73 run, 31 homer, 65 rbi, 210 total base

I also have Adam Dunn on my team. For The Donkey, this season has been epically bad. Adam Dunn has been incredibly bad in an absolute and relative (to last year) terms. Here are his stats by the All-Star break:

• 2010 - 0.288 ave, 51 run, 22 homer, 59 rbi, 188 total base
• 2011 - 0.160 ave, 24 run, 9 homer, 34 rbi, 82 total base

Another Sockie collapse this year is brought to you by Alex Rios. More pre-All Star stats:

• 2010 - 0.305 ave, 55 run, 15 homer, 49 rbi, 161 total base
• 2011 - 0.213 ave, 41 run, 6 homer, 21 rbi, 99 total base

This year, Dunn plus Rios combined still trail Joey Bats in every category. Guy on the radio says that the Sock $130M payroll is their largest ever. Rios makes $12M a year, and The Donkey pulls in $14M. Dop.

As I said, I have The Donkey on my team. Alex Rios is on the scrap heap in our league, and he's on my watch list. The Sock are notoriously streaky. That said... back to The Donkey's QOTD up there regarding him and Rios carrying the team in the second half. In the throes of an absolutely horrific season, both The Donkey and Rios are having their worst month ever... in July 2011.

Jeez boys, practice over the All-Star break or something.

2. Famous

The world's most famous Krieger. Ali Krieger (no relation) scored the winning goal for US Girlie Soccer team.

Krieger's PK Sends U.S. Into World Cup Semis

I'm not sure what a "PK" is, but I'm a big fan. He he.

3. Movie book

Book: "No Country For Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy
Review: 1 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it.
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/183620536

Well first off, I heart Cormac McCarthy. He has a writing style that is just beautiful. I love how he doesn't use quotation marks to separate out what's spoken versus not. That would be a great rule change for the  English language: you only use quotation marks when they are necessary for understanding what is spoken or not.

Anyway, Cormac's a genius, but this is a screenplay. Alas, it's a screenplay of a movie I didn't like. I got the book because I thought it would be more than the movie, and it wasn't. And argh... how many times can the word "badass" appear in 200 pages.

Still, there's some wonderful prose by Cormac in there... here's a little geezer-wisdom/whining from the old man.

QOTD

Young people anymore they seem to have a hard time growin up. I don't know why. Maybe it's just that you dont grow up any faster than what you have to.

I was twenty-one when I went in the army and I was one of the oldest in our class at boot camp. Six months later I was in France shootin people with a rifle. I didnt even think it was all that peculiar at the time. Four years later I was sheriff of this county. I never doubted about what I was supposed to be neither. People anymore you talk about right and wrong they're liable to smile at you. But I never had a lot of doubts about things like that. In my thoughts about things like that. I hope I never do.

- Cormac McCarthy, "No Country For Old Men"

yow, bill

Small Chu

1. Anti-choice
I guess Congress will vote to ban the ban on incandescent light bulbs: ibd editorial.
I guess it's all pretty much procedural because the dem Senate will not act on this.

QOTD

"We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money."
- Energy Secretary Steven Chu, wsj story

Nabob Chu needs some re-education or an Obama dictionary on two fronts.

1. The feds are not taking away choice. They are saving the planet. 
2. It's not "our own money". Money not collected as tax is an expense to the feds which must be accounted for.

Steven Chu. What a small fucking philosophy. What a small human being. Can you imagine getting up in front of a microphone and glibly announcing to the world that you, in your eminence, are going to take choices away from millions of people and determine how their money is spent. Douche bag.

QOTD

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

He he. Sorry. Very immature of me.

2. Pro-choice

Ronald Reagan was honored in Hungary as a symbol of freedom and choice during his presidency.

Source: Statue in Budapest’s Liberty Square credits Reagan for freedom

President Obama has the opposite set of supporters from President Reagan. Obama finds much love from communists, but Polish icon/leader and fervent anti-communist Lech Walesa won't even meet with him. From Perspectives of a Russian Immigrant:

• "I would like Barack Obama to be re-elected president of the United States maybe more than someone else. ... If another person becomes U.S. president, then he may have another course." - D Medvedev, Russian President
• "It is tough to tell journalists what you would want to tell the president of a superpower. But this time I will not tell him, I will not meet him, the meeting does not suit me." -Lech Walesa, Polish leader

Someone else as president "may have another course".
Cha.
yow, bill