Funny Serial Killer Comment on Reason.com

Heh: David Berkowitz, because his reason is hilariously ridiculous. Honestly, your neighbor’s dog is possessed by a demon, tells you to kill people, and you think it’s a good idea? Am I the only one looking for any excuse to shoot my neighbor’s dog for excessive barking? If I heard something along the lines of [...]

RIP, Blossom Dearie

I just read in the paper that Blossom Dearie passed away on 2/7/2009. I discovered her music in the late 1980′s and was entranced by her.

“It’s their country – surge them”

Read it here.

Washington Math Sucks: $30,000 (On the Bailout)

$275 Billion / 9 million = $30,000 (rounded down) I am a sucker. Partially I rent becuase I didn’t buy becuase I didn’t want to buy into a bubble. $30k is essentially being given to those that bought houses they couldn’t afford with the money taken from those who did not behave that way. WTF [...]

“Being a geek, it feels a little strange watching a sitcom that wants to cater to you and make fun of you at the same time”

So says a writer at TV Squad about Big Bang Theory. I find the show quite funny and a “Must Watch” each week anyways. I can do without the laugh track though.

US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairwoman Feinstein has a big mouth

Jeez: At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise over Pakistani opposition to the campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Islamic extremist targets along Pakistan’s northwestern border. “As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base,” she said. The basing of the pilotless aircraft in Pakistan suggests a much deeper relationship with the [...]

“Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, told Press Wednesday that the Fairness Doctrine is needed not to remove any conservative voices, but to ensure that there are a few liberal shows on the air.”

When I hear stuff like this, I wonder why is NPR (the dominate FM talk radio network that is Liberal/Leftist mostly – and on the public dole) ignored? How about Wisconsin Public Radio? It is liberal to leftist and I presume the other state Public Radios are as well. I presume since NPR and the [...]

1234567890

For Unix geeks and number freaks from the ISC Handler: Today is Friday the 13th, and also the day when we reach the symbolic 1234567890th second of Unix time.  This will occur at  11:31:30pm UTC on Feb 13, 2009.  A quick note:  To see when this time is going to occur in your locatime: perl [...]

Good features for any “Stimulus” (On the Bailout)

This makes sense to me: Minnick is a member of the Blue Dog caucus of occasionally conservative Democcrats. His START plan is a $170 billion “bare bones” pure stimulus approach that would put $100 billion immediately into the pockets of low- and middle-income Americans, then use the other $70 billion for basic infrastructure projects that [...]

“I love you more then bunnies”

The line comes from a work friend ‘s 6-year old kid. I love that turn of phrase from a future maybe author or songwriter. I must be in an ear-candy mood.  Awwwww Update: Hmmm…the kid wasn’t the only one with this thought

“It’s like watching your crazy aunt challenge your boyfriend to prove that fairies aren’t real”

I loved that line. Here is the  context/link. What? Did you expected a photo of Rep. Waters?

The PurpleStimulus or Let Banks Fail…but fast and other goodies (“On The Bailout” Series)

This started out as a comment at TDAXP [1]. Here is what the USAGOV should do (not what they plan to do [2]) – and it should be done quickly and without mercy: 1) Have Bank regulators set the appropriate capitalization level for the bank 2) Assuming level not met, declare bank insolvent. 3) Wipe [...]

Several of my photos have recently been used

Flaming Volcano at a Hibachi Grill: HoteloTravel – Miami FL: “NCL Norwegian Spirit in the Bahamas“: How can I invest wisely in the stockmarket?

More Wasted Taxpayers Money and a Culture of Corruption (Fixing Milwaukee)

Sigh: When the County Board set up the Task Force on Work Reform for Men more than a year ago, it was pitched as a low-cost effort to find jobs for out-of-work African-Americans and Hispanics. Who can argue with that? But the biggest job the task force has created so far is a $248,000 consulting [...]

By Request: Sudoku Blank Grid – 2 on a sheet

The small blank grid is here. For reference, the large version is here. Update – Hard tricks explained: Hidden Pairs, Hidden Triples, Hidden Quads X-Wing and Swordfish XY Wing

Old photo of my Dad working

Found by my Sister: 1955?

“Malcolm Gladwell: What we can learn from spaghetti sauce”

I have been running through all of the old Ted Talks via my iPod. It was a joy to hear this one again: “Malcolm Gladwell: What we can learn from spaghetti sauce”. Here is the video version from youtube:

I am being abused by Verizon mentally

Verizon, you suck. I am on-hold right now with the Verizon Business technical support super secret escalation number. I am being abused by their on-hold music. It is playing a disco/techno instrumental version of Stairway to Heaven. Why would a business do this? Do they want their customers to hate them more? By the time [...]

Creative Destruction Example in Milwaukee

The local Schwartz’s bookseller chain just died (it couldn’t compete with B&N in the fleshspace, or Amazon.com in cyberspace), but its 800-CEO-READ: At a time when independent, bricks-and-mortar general bookstores all over are closing, 800-CEO-READ is an independent that’s thriving. With just 15 employees and 3,000 square feet in a renovated office building in the [...]

“For the past five months, Amanda’s Medicaid payments have been delayed because of problems at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services”

It is being blamed on the computer system: Officials within the state agency acknowledge they’ve had trouble with a new $64.2 million computer system that handles Medicaid services. Glitches with the automated system caused a backlog of claims, preventing the state from processing some prior authorizations for therapies and medical equipment. The agency has been [...]

“The key to OB1, retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger tells Waterman, is the “separation kernel,a piece of software guaranteed to keep the different networks separate.”

Well, this should get hackers and foreign cyber militia fired up. It sounds like there are just using software virtual machines. I think there could be problems. There is nothing like a good challenge and a profit motive to fire up hackers

“even believers in the ‘domino theory’ did not expect to see the Viet Cong fighting in San Francisco”

The article might be correct. In San Francisco they would have been welcomed as liberators by a large part of the population. Seriously though. Afghanistan is not Vietnam. Islamofascism is not Maoism. Mountains are not jungles and rice patties. The 1960′s and 1970′s are over. 60k troops are not 500k. Pakistan is not China nor [...]

“County Executive Scott Walker and other county officials hope to reap significant savings by issuing the pension debt at about 6% and investing the earnings at 8%” (Fixing Milwaukee)

What idiocy! So who will get fucked on the most on this? 1) The taxpayers who stick around  and will have to pony up in increased taxes and reduced services to cover this action which is sure to fail? …or… 2) The larger pool of creditors, retirees, and taxpayers when the county declares bankruptcy in [...]