"The following chart shows that bank reserves held at the Fed have increased 100-fold over the past 14 months -- from around $10B in August of 2008 to around $1000B ($1T) today. [Nov 2009] It is important to understand that while this explosion in the reserves of US depository institutions has rightfully prompted much discussion and consternation, it hasn't directly added to the total supply of US dollars (bank reserves are not counted in monetary aggregates such as M1, M2, M3, MZM and TMS). The reason that bank reserves aren't added to the money supply is that they do not constitute money available to be spent within the economy; rather, they constitute money that could be loaned into the economy or used to support additional bank lending in the future."
-Bank Reserves And Inflation

"...money enters the economy at specific points and therefore affects different parts of the economy in different ways at different times. (As an aside, this is why monetary inflation is such a popular policy. If increasing the money supply caused all prices to immediately rise by a similar amount then nobody could benefit from the inflation, but the way inflation actually works is that the first receivers of the new money obtain a benefit, at the expense of everyone else, by getting to spend the money before it loses purchasing power. The first receivers of the new money tend to be the government, the banks, and the supporters and pet projects of politicians.)
[...]
The main point we are leading to is that the damage done by injecting a lot of new money into the economy cannot be undone by subsequently removing money from the economy. With regard to the current situation, the monetary profligacy of the past year has propped-up many businesses that should no longer exist and prompted investments that would not have been viable in the absence of the "stimulus". These businesses and investments will inevitably fail after pressure is applied to the monetary brake. And if the central bank refrains from tapping on the monetary brake then an inflation problem will emerge that even the Keynesians can recognize."
-Withdrawing the Stimulus

I won't bore you with more thoughts on that, but here is an article that may help in understanding the relationship (and lack of one) between reserves and true money supply - and another article which helps explain the Inflation process. I know I posted a bunch of links, but they're worth reading IMO.

By the way, remember how the stimulus package was to save jobs? Unemployment rate is at %10.2.

For more on this goto: The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together

It's something that peaked my interest, hence why it's here. I really need to get a new hobby though. =)

Me: Speaking in terms of traveling from present day to the past, I beleive there may be some form of limited particle time travel to be applicible for data transmission perhaps, but I'm pretty doubtful about solid matter. I'm also having a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of mother nature "time traveling" back to stop the discovery of something. The first word that came to my mind when I read that was fate - and I don't like the idea of predetermination.

H:You mean like in Deja Vu?

Me:  I consider DejaVu to be strictly a biological response in our brain associating current perceptions to recorded memory ones and perhaps some rare connection in the brain - I would fail to see how particles could have the properties to travel back in time and also be able to affect biological events - but I admit that is an interesting concept and in the future who knows what may be possible.

I was actually thinking more along the lines of being able to control the speed and/or production of a Tachyon-like particle at one time, and a detector sometime in the past. This would allow data transmission in a simple form (think morse-code). If these particles truely exist there would be challenges. First you would need to be able to detect them. Second, you would need to know exactly where to look. Third, a method to alter them would be needed. Four, once altered you would need to return them back to their old state (speed) and direct them to the correct spot. I'm sure there's a million other issues too, but that's just what came off the top of my head in the last three minutes. This would explain why we have had no apparent visits or messages from the future - if we can't even detect the paper, how can we see what's written on it? 

Side note: I say Tachyon-LIKE particles, because most of the theory of tachyons states the ability to do the things I mentioned (alteration, isolation, encoding) aren't even theoretically possible.

H: I meant the movie not that phenomenon.. where they could send small items back into the past..

Me: oh...

Deja Vu...Good movie.

*facepalm*

*Deep breath....count to 10*

I just gave you a short summation, but the article is a good one to check out. Bottom line is that they have to get approval before any changes to their voting system. They wern't given approval because the Justice Department felt that "white voters in Kinston will vote for blacks only if they are Democrats and that therefore the city cannot get rid of party affiliations for local elections because that would violate black voters' right to elect the candidates they want.". Nevermind the fact that the area is predominatly black democrats - and they're the ones voting for this change!. (the article cites people saying they can't remember the last time a republican won anything there)

How does removing party affiliations stop black voters from electing who they want? Won't everyone vote for who they want anyways? White voters are more likely to vote for a black democrat vs. a black republican? Really? If white guy A votes for black guy B, what difference does ti make if he's democrat or republican if his opinions don't change? What about the fact that many black voters voted for Senartor Obama without knowing his policies only because he's half black? Should we say those were racially motivated votes and throw them out? Did that violate white voters rights?

My point to be made is that people should vote for whoever has the best ideas as it aligns with your views. If voters vote based on race, I think it's wrong, but it's their perspective and their choice to do so. Why should the Justice Department block a change the people (again, mostly black democrats) want, saying it's for their own good? I beleive there is a tone to this that alludes to one of two things really going on here - both of which are pretty sad: The first is that the DOJ thinks black voters are too dumb to actually look into what candidates beleive and that they need that "D" next to a candidates name like an answer key. Second, and more likely, is that if you remove the party system everyone will be stripped of any preconceived notions and will have to rely only on the facts of what they beleive. Voters will have to research the candidates and learn about politics. Strangly enough, this scares most politicians - especially democrats.

I despise the idea of parties because (almost) everyone has great ideas and also some really bad ones. The steriotypes that the democrats are all welfare-loving government increasing communists and that all republicans are crazy God/gun loving radicals are hard to stray from - and if a candidate tries to they're shunned by all voters.

Strip politics down to the people. Let each individual reprsent THEIR ideas and THEIR goals. DOJ, stop getting in the way.

]]> 10/20/2009 12:25:00 PM http://www.lostlocalhost.com?view=pLink&id=260 260 So I found this story about the Large Hadron Collider and the theory that we will never find the Higgs Boson because "Nature will 'ripple backward through time' to stop the LHC ... like a time traveller who goes back in time to kill his grandfather" huh? Nature itself time travels? We live in a universe that has solid properties and laws, so isn't it better to say time travel is not possible in the dementional space we reside in, instead of attaching this matter-based concept to "nature"?

Best part of the story is Professor Brian Cox, who kind of reminds me of my father-in-law, who says "Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twit" He's from England, so I think calling them twits is the equivallant to giving the finger, right?

Damn it's easy to be a theorist.

"Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize this morning. Over the last decade the only requirement to win the prize was that the nominee had to be critical of George W. Bush (see Al Gore, Mohamed El Baradei and Jimmy Carter).

President Obama has broken new ground here. Nominations for potential winners of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ended on February 1. The president took office only 12 days earlier on January 20.

Let’s take a look at the president’s first 12 days in the White House according to his public schedule to see what he did to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize:

January 20: Sworn in as president. Went to a parade. Partied.

January 21: Asked bureaucrats to re-write guidelines for information requests. Held an “open house” party at the White House.

January 22: Signed Executive Orders: Executive Branch workers to take ethics pledge; re-affirmed Army Field Manual techniques for interrogations; expressed desire to close Gitmo (how’s that working out?)

January 23: Ordered the release of federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries. Lunch with Joe Biden; met with Tim Geithner.

January 24: Budget meeting with economic team.

January 25: Skipped church.

January 26: Gave speech about jobs and energy. Met with Hillary Clinton. Attended Geithner's  swearing in ceremony.

January 27: Met with Republicans. Spoke at a clock tower in Ohio.

January 28: Economic meetings in the morning, met with Defense secretary in the afternoon.

January 29: Signed Ledbetter Bill overturning Supreme Court decision on lawsuits over wages. Party in the State Room. Met with Biden.

January 30: Met economic advisers. Gave speech on Middle Class Working Families Task Force. Met with senior enlisted military officials.

January 31: Took the day off.

February 1: Skipped church. Threw a Super Bowl party.

So there you have it. The short path to the Nobel Peace Prize: Party, go to meetings, skip church, release federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries, party some more.

Good grief.

Editor's Note: Although President Obama had only been in office for 12 days before the nominations for this year's Nobel Peace prize closed the entire process actually takes a full year. According to the official Nobel Prize Web site invitation letters are sent out in September. Every year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee sends out thousands of letters inviting a qualified and select number of people to submit their nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The deadline to submit nominations is February 1. -- Two hundred five names were submitted for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, 33 of which are organizations. A short list of nominees is prepared in February and March. The short list is subject to adviser review from March until August. At the beginning of October, the Nobel Committee chooses the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates through a majority vote. The decision is final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are then announced."

wow. I'm speechless.

This speech was a pep-talk to school children accross the country. When the discussion about him bringing politics into the speech came up and considering the fact that the speech was not released early, I was skeptical and pretty angry. If you control the perception of the children of a nation, you control the nation. (10 points to whoever can tell me who thought that in history) Calling on impressionable youth to "help [the President]" is wrong - maybe they shouldn't help you and your socialistic friends destroy our founding piciples. Maybe they don't beleive what you beleive. With that said, it seems he listened to the American people this time and reworked his words. Thank you, Mr.O.

Today a video came out of school children singing praises to Mr.O. WHAT?! This is taking a page right out of Hitlers playbook! The school should be ashamed of themselves. If this happened with Bushor Reagan, there would be a shitstorm already. Where is the storm? Click here for details.

What the kids are saying...
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

=======

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!

All praise Kim Jong Obama.

OK, so I added that last line myself. With things like this and schools needing to notify students on how they don't need to say the pledge of allegiance I'm sooooo homeschooling my kid.

That's where I was.

Of all the reasons for me never to forget my six years working for Badlandz, Bad Boyz Toyz, and Shocktech, that's the worst.

Please post up your thoughts if you know more than me (not hard to do) about this, or what you find interesting about the conept. To get you started, here are the breif definitions from military training manuals. The following comes from Training Manual No. 2000-25 published by the War Department, November 30, 1928.

DEMOCRACY:

• A government of the masses.
• Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression.
• Results in mobocracy.
• Attitude toward property is communistic--negating property rights.
• Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether is be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.
• Results in demogogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.

REPUBLIC:

• Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them.
• Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.
• A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass.
• Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy.
• Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.
• Is the "standard form" of government throughout the world.

Old manuals, I know. These were ordered destroyed back in the Rosevelt Era, BTW.

More ramblings and whinning from me to come on this after I put forth my 8th grade reading skills to work. =)

Nice speech, Mr.President. It was refreshing to read it.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

I have not seen the video, but I read the transcript - so maybe I need to say "Nice speech, Mr.Speech Writer" but I'm sure the Big O had something to do with it.

This speech was a pep-talk to school children accross the country. When the discussion about him bringing politics into the speech came up and considering the fact that the speech was not released early, I was skeptical and pretty angry. If you control the perception of the children of a nation, you control the nation. (10 points to whoever can tell me who thought that in history) Calling on impressionable youth to "help [the President]" is wrong - maybe they shouldn't help you and your socialistic friends destroy our founding piciples. Maybe they don't beleive what you beleive. With that said, it seems he listened to the American people this time and reworked his words. Thank you, Mr.O.

I try and bring up things about this speech that I don't like and I'm stretched thin.
I try and say I can do without the "I'm just like you" crap, but kids do need to see the sucess from a child who grew up in poverty. Even if I don't agree with his policies, he has done more than I can dream to. Having a good work ethic is something lacking in many of these childrens role modles.
I don't like that this speech has a feeling of going to young black kids in particular. "I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star" He redeems himself at the end of that sentence though "when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. ... being successful is hard." Despite putting that as a complaint, I am not blind to the differences in racial quality of education and life in general. It is well documented that minorities have a higher drop out rate, get into more legal troubles, and score lower on standardized tests. Because of this, at least I understand where he's comming from. (perhaps someday I'll go into what the causes of these things may be, but not here or now)
I think that's about all I could complain about.

He basicly told kids "Life is hard work - and if you want great things, you have to decide to have an education. Get off your butt and do it". THANK YOU! Other presidents have talked to students, but I don't think it ever got accross as well as this speech does.

"But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. 

Bravo, Mr.President. Bravo.

MxO Forum Post: http://forums.station.sony.com/mxo/posts/list.m?topic_id=36300030227

Torrent Download: http://www.followtheangel.org/DirectorsCutAllGoodThings.torrent
Facebook Stream (FULL): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Furious-Angels/146559142066
Youtube Stream (PART 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxShMbnvHPg
Youtube Stream (PART 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PysFH25-Txo

"Political philosopher Richard Weaver famously and correctly stated that ideas have consequences. Take for example ideas about rights versus goods. Natural law states that people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A good is something you work for and earn. It might be a need, like food, but more “goods” seem to be becoming “rights” in our culture, and this has troubling consequences. It might seem harmless enough to decide that people have a right to things like education, employment, housing or healthcare. But if we look a little further into the consequences, we can see that the workings of the community and economy are thrown wildly off balance when people accept those ideas."
Healthcare Is a Good, Not a Right. - Ron Paul

Growing up I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I just knew I was good with computers. As a kid I remember hearing people say I would have made a great lawyer. I'm still not sure how they sensed that so young, but I'm betting they were right (if it wasn't for all the damn school involved!). Halfway through college I knew I didn't want to do anything with computers, but I was nearly finished with my degree; and you need a job, a paycheck, and a degree to get a good one of both. Now that I've been in the workforce a while, I realize how much I hate computer work and am desperately trying to find out where I can fit in and if not love, at least enjoy my job. Flying is Number one on the list, and some form of police/detective work is a close number two, but the other day wifey mentioned something that could make the top five...Politics.

It's no surprise that lately I've bitched, whined, moaned, and cried about a few of the insane political decisions being made in this country. I have to say I have no idea where it comes from, but I know it isn't my upbringing. My family never discussed politics, never watched the news, never paid attention to political decisions, or at least did not expose that to us kids. It didn't come from some sense of purpose or any activist activity. I've never spoke out for or against anything in any official manner - student counsel really doesn't count. I started caring when I moved away from home, and really when I got my own home and mortgage. I'm at the age where I have to think about what kind of life my kid(s) will have. When I started thinking about how the decisions politicians are making will affect my kids, that's when I started caring...and getting pissed. Again, I'll go back to my logical mind - it's one based on what is supposed to be common sense. The hand-me-out mentality of the majority of America pisses me off, and for the government to codder to that makes me even more upset. If there's one thing I learned growing up it's that you get what you work for. (yes mom/dad, I did pick up on that) My parents kept money so far off my mind, but seeing my father bust his ass every single day at work, only to slave over a stove every single night for us really hits me now that I'm old enough to understand it. If you want something, you work for it. If you can't afford something, you don't get it. If you can't afford something and buy it anyways, you’re in debt, owe someone, and can't get more in the future. See? - Common sense.

I imagine I'm going to be hated by my kids. I won't have any problem saying no, despite wanting them to be happy. I won't have a problem spanking them when they're children to teach them some actions have consequences. I'll have no problem keeping their allowance as teens - or forcing them to get a job if they want gas money. I'll have no problem giving them enough freedom to make their own mistakes and get a lesson about failure. If my child stole my credit card and maxed it out, I wouldn't tell them it's ok and give them another one. If they're 30 and still living at home, I might "strongly suggest" they GTFO. Perhaps if our political leaders treated the country more like their own children, we wouldn't have such a spoiled, self-centered country.

So where would I fit into a political career? I have no idea. I don't care enough about votes to rally, and I'm far too lazy for it anyways. I'm incredibly blunt and forward, so certainly wouldn't fit in with the suit and tie politicians. (I can only imagine what would happen the first time I dropped the F-Bomb on CSpan) I don't deal with bullshit well. I don't take it, I see right through it, I call it what it is, and I don't let it pass. Like I will do with my children, I will try to educate, but I'll also let the community make their own mistakes.

A child was killed a couple weeks back around here because he was trying to beat a semi truck across a VERY BUSY road. By VERY BUSY I mean it was a 4 to 5 lane city route. It is tragic he died, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Kids will be kids no matter how well they are brought up (I can't count how many times I did something stupidly deadly and came out ok). BUT, the crap that was being spewed on local news message boards was insane! It is a lower income area, and many made it a race thing. The people in the area claimed the town should pay for shuttles to take kids from one area of town to this park on a usual basis. Their reason? "If it happened in a white neighborhood, you'd have busses!". (I'll go into a tirade over race discrimination some other day) The best response? "We have shuttles... they're called friendly neighbors and minivans. We take our kids to the park ourselves so they don't get in trouble or hurt, say by a semi truck". Bravo. I hate the fact that a child died in our neighborhood, but to use that as an excuse for more "free" stuff pisses me off even more.

Taking this into consideration, I know for sure I would not make it in politics. When the request for busses came to me I'd say the same thing the "good neighbor" said. I would basically say I'm not providing shit because you failed to teach your kid to avoid large trucks and didn't want to drive them yourself. I would then be called a racist and I'd roll my eyes and call them a F*@%&#! idiot and be voted out of office.

Those who want free things are usually those who want everything free. Anyone smart enough to make positive change in this country is too smart to go into politics.

Anywhoo, back to the randomness of my mind.

Ten things that please me, or piss me off. (Guess which ones are which)
10.Dogs
9.Cats
8.Work
7.Money
6.Babies
5.Internet
4.God (Big G)
3.Swimming
2.Driving fast
1.Cheesy Garlic Bread

Side note: I started reading The 5000 Year Leap. It's a great book and I suggest everyone grab a copy.

i want.

I didn't agree %100 with Dr.Paul, but he was laughed at for being one of the only people to talk straight about this country's situation and actually propose viable, and needed solutions. He has had some vindication over the last 8 months and some people are second guessing thier chuckles from the election season. I disagree with him on some international affairs, but when it comes to personal responsibility, welfare, medical, and the economy he nails it. People are starting to see that with his new bill, H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act.

To learn why our monetary system isn't necessarily run by the government, go google info on the FED.
This helps too: http://www.campaignforliberty.com

[yell loudly] [point with both hands, all fingers outward - think karate chop] "HI!, I'm BILLY MAYs" [bring in one hand, made into a slight fist] "and I want to tell you about the" [point again, all fingers outward] "amazing new"  [point to product, one finger] <product name here>!

I never bought anything from you, but gosh darnnit, I wanted to. RIP BILLY MAYs.

Two quotes from him. The first was shown to me by my wife. Her note is directly below it...

“David Axelrod says Obama expressed his condolences to the Jacksons. He said Obama saw the pop star as a spectacular performer whose life had sad and tragic aspects.”

Awesome. Our President spoke about MJ sooner than he spoke about Iran

Well said, love. The reason? Much like Obama, MJ was a celebrity. While entertainment has a huge affect on society, it isn't really important in life. Therefore it's easy to quickly decide the correct, nearly scripted, condolence soundbyte. Unfortunatly, "I think your election was a sham, and so do your citizens. I don't want to play nice with you anymore" was on the very last page, hence why it took so long.

Next up...(from washingtonpost.com)
"There are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going," Axelrod said. "We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey."

I need to disect this a bit, because this quote is classic "don't do this" when it comes to college writing/speaking skills.

• 49 words
• "keep the process moving", "keep people at the table", and "keep the discussions going" are all the same idea, repeated.
• "number of formulations"... ok, how many? What are they? What are the results so far?
• "We'll wait and see"... I won't hold my breath
• considering "wait and see", "people at the table","long way down the road", and "finish that journey" are all just sayings with little to no relevance to anything, only about %70 of this MIGHT contain some useful information.

What's this all about? Could be anything, right? Basicly that promise the big O made about not taxing folks back when he was criticizing McCain for it? "I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase,". Well he kind of lied.

It drives me nuts how most peices of political information are so scrubbed and vauge, it's not information at all. Mr.RockN'Roll could have said that about anything!

Excuss me, Sir. What can you tell us about the declining spermwhale population and the opposition to whale hunting in general?

"There are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going," Axelrod said. "We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey."

Exceuss me, Sir. How does the current administration feel about legos? Has there been any discussion about what is liked more - blue or red blocks?

"There are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going," Axelrod said. "We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey."

Excuss me, Sir. Do you have any comment about the numbers of starving little people debate teams who also like to participate in long distance races?

"There are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going," Axelrod said. "We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey."

Excuss me, Sir. Can you comment on the possibility of additional stimulus packages despite thier assurances of help yet obvious failures, and perhaps why the big O's administration wants to take back one of it's key primary promises?

...I think you get the idea.

What is it with people praising his life so much because he's a celebrity? I am shocked at the forgiveness of the public and media. Am I really that old-time to have morals and not be blinded by fame? Why should a persons skills null thier personal actions? If I kill one person, and save another from certain death, do they balance out? If I beat my wife, but have a few hit songs like Chris Brown, does that make it ok? What if I like urinating on underaged girls, but "I belive I can fly"...do I get off then like R.Kelly did?

I'm not even talking about legal justice; even I have gotten out of a ticket or two. I'm talking the state of morality in this country and around the world. If I have a neighbor that has been accused of child molestation, has childrens parties at thier place all the time, built an amusement park for them, has no sembalance of an adult life, invites children to his room for sleep-overs I'm sure as hell not going to trust my child in the same area as him! What type of parent would!? Why is he being praised so much? The tallented, kind-of-adjusted, black MJ died a LOOOOOOOOONG time ago. I respect his music, but can never praise the man.

He hasn't even made any good music in like 10 years. Big whoop.

By the way, I never wish harm on anyone *cough*except child molestors*cough* and I do think that thoughts like this are rough for the family. He matters to them, not me. If one of my family members died I'm betting Janette won't write about them on HER blog! =P So yes, I do feel bad for the family because they have reasons to mourn. The rest of the world needs to grow a pair and suck it up.

EDIT:

Some amusing or interesting thoughts I've read today on MJ...

• NOOOOOOOO not MJ! Someone tell the paramedic to grab him by the heart and just "Beat it"
• To quote Chris Rock, "the brother was turning clear..."
• I wish I could fast-forward a week of my life and get Michael Jackson's death and the "global mourning" out of the way. Hopefully this won't last long and we can get back to our regular scheduled programming and keep an eye on socialist Obama and how he deals with nuclear war with N. Korea, unrest in Iran, all the while sinking our economy deeper into annihilation all for the betterment of the global citizen.
• It's a shame how the media covers and adores him and other non-essential personel and they look the other way at the real hero's of our Nation ie: all the Congressional Medial of Honor recipiants that have passed on as well as every Silver, Bronze and all that have gone above and beyond in the line of duty. The folks that deserve it don't get the recognition the media gives whacko & other entertainers."
• BT: What's really a shame is that Wacko Jacko stole Farah Fawcett's thunder.
  Farah was making the news big time in the morning until Jacko kicked the bucket. Now they've been talking about it ever since and probably will be for weeks. We'll probably not hear another thing about Farah.
  T: So one famous beautiful white woman died, and one ugly white woman died.
• The idol worshiping media is all over the Jackson distraction like stink on a heaping pile of manure while pushing Ed Mc Mahon's and Farrah Fawcett's death to the back pages of oblivion. Also, it's a good excuse to ignore little things like the Cap & Tax bill our gang in DC is spiriting through.
• Ho hum, ho hum. Ya' know what I hate about the whole thing? The 400 text messages I received in a 30 minute span from everyone who thought they were breaking the story to me.
• G: I wouldn't be surprised if he was faking it. He's weird like that.
  Y: No better way to pay off that debt...
  T: Except to actually die. Then he wouldn't have to worry about it.
• Wait a minute...Heath Ledger died?
• I haven't seen this much butt-kissing since the election...

This is the best analogy I can think of to describe the situation with NKorea right now. As you may have guessed, Obama has decided to pull out option C. *facepalm* While I wasn't a huge fan of Bush, at least he would have been dealing with the NKorean threat by now. I mean, he went in to Iraq for WMDs with no valid proof (dumb move all together), and here is lil'Kim TELLING US he's building nukes and weaponizing every bit of plutonium they can. He's threatening the US directly. How can the big O be such a fool?! He wants the world to be this utopian place where talking gets things done all the time - they don't. One of my highschool teachers had a very odd lesson one day. It revolved around the idea that WAR SOLVES EVERY PROBLEM. Granted, it may create 2, 3 or 100 more in it's place, but force and threats gets things done.

*Lets say you have 10 kids. "you have 10 kids" (bud-dum chish!).
You give each of them 10 dollars. (10x10=$100)
Little Jimmy decides to sell his new toy truck and earn %5 of the total GDP of the kids. (5/100=$5)
He now has $15, which is 15% of kid GDP.

Now lets say you want to stimulate your kids spending, and give them an extra $90 FOR NOTHING. (100 + 90x10 = $1000)
If Jimmy wants to sell his truck for the same $5, that will be only .5% (half a percent) of kid GDP.
He will now have only %10.5 of kid GDP. ((100+5)/1000) Ripoff. Not much of a worthy investment and he's probably better off keeping his truck to play with.

If he wanted to end up at the same %15 of kid GDP he would have to sell his truck for $50.
This is an increase of %1000 from his original price of $5!

Has the truck changed in any way from the time it was worth $5? NO! Are there less trucks, driving up demand? NO! Therefore, has the worth of the truck increased? NO! Are any of the other kids going to buy a truck for $50? NO! (Maybe cross-eyed Stephen, but that's because he stuck a fork too far up his nose and became the "special" one). So little Jimmy is now out of the retail trucking business along with %9.4 of the rest of the world. (Unemployment rate as of this writing)

To solve this issue, would you:
A. Assume the $90 was too little and instead give each child and additional $200
B. Wait for the kids to spend the money on other more important things (no truck would be bought for a while) until the money supply came down, and then monitor and limit the amount of money to the stable $10

Stimulus packages = dumbest move you can do to solve an economic crisis. You can not change the fact that money, and the spending of that money varies. It has its highs and low, and history has shown that when you try to counteract one of these highs or lows, it is counterproductive!

The more currency you pump into any society, the less valuable each unit becomes. It's all about percentages people! %1 of $100 is $1. %1 of $11,000,000,000,000 (11 trillion) is $110,000,000,000!!! Our monetary system works on worth, and worth is based on PERCENTAGES NOT AMOUNTS! If there was only $5 in the whole country, I'd be a rich man. This is not rocket science! Why is it that I get this, my six year old niece probably gets this, yet our president, previous president, government officials, and the freaking FED don't get this! It's their job to understand inflation. You know what happens to me when I don't do my job, or in this case I costs my company trillions of dollars? I don't get a raise, I don't get extra vacation time, I don't get a private jet. I get canned. fired. trashed. given the pink slip. a boot in my rear. If I'm very lucky I'm not sued.

Maybe in the future I'll write about the fact that this money isn't even real. Long gone are the days where money meant something - it usually meant gold or silver. With the FED having complete freedom to create as much money as they want without backing it, it's anyones guess as to how bad it will get. To give you an idea, though... 100,000,000,000,000 (yes, one-hundred-TRILLION) Zimbabwe dollars recently sold on ebay for $14.10USD. My poor neice may be ahead of her class counting over 100 now, but she has a LOOOOOOONG way to go.

*Let's say you own a wonderful home and assist with a support group for abused families. Let's also say you are fairly close (proximity, not emotionally) to your neighbors; a single mother and a teenage daughter. The mother and the girls father are divorced and live separately, but for some reason (another rant I'll get into some day) the mother has full custody. Are we setup correctly? ok...

Considering that you live close to your neighbors, you overhear some things. The mother is very loud, and abusive. She berates the girl, and tell her that it is good for her. "It builds character!" She brainwashes the poor girl into believing everything she says and it really screws with her social life, self image, and even physical health. One day the girl tells her mother she's sick of it and wants to live with daddy. The mother laughs, says he's no good, and then beats her. You can hear the fight, and know exactly what's going on.

Would you:
A. Keep watching TV. You may not like her, but she has a pool and you don't. Plus the mother is still invited to the next support group for abused children.
B. Tell your family a week or two later what happened. "gee, that didn't seem right...", yet still keep the invite open to her.
C. Call the cops. Get the girl out. Take back your invite to the mother. Speak out against her and support the father

If you picked A or B, leave my site now. here's the thing... I completely agree that we should not meddle in our neighbors affairs. But I also believe in the saying "show me your friends, I'll show you your future". This whole situation with the Iran election is a huge deal for them. For Obama to be weak and not say anything denouncing the acts there for so long is such a shame. When election results came back less than three hours determining that Akmahinajajarbinks was the winner by a landslide when the other guy (who cares about his name?) was expected to win by the landslide, the first words out of Obama's mouth should have been "That shit don't seem right!". Apparently it's how things work in his line of business though - I mean he did come out of Chicago. Don't get me wrong, I'm from there and love it, but I'm pretty sure Obama got a few votes from many dead relatives of mine.

*Let's say you're a hard working American. Let's also say the government raises taxes to pay people who don't work as hard. Are you going to work as hard in the future, knowing most of what you are working for is going to lazy people?

*Let's say you're not a hard worker. Let's say you're a slacker. Let's also say the government gives you everything you need - housing, food, complete medical coverage, and a welfare check all paid for by the guy busting his ass. You even have enough money to buy a big screen TV and rent a limo to bring you to the welfare office to pick up your check. Are you going to want to bust your ass?

“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” – Ben Franklin

I'm not struggling to pay bills because I took the entire $250,000+ mortgage that the bank offered me. I'm not struggling because I have a bigscreen TV. I'm not struggling because I spend money on the things I want instead of the things I need. I'm struggling because despite buying a home I knew I could afford, being happy with my 23 inch TV with a purple spot on it, and doing everything right, the amount of money I have becomes worth less and less every day. The stimulus packages don't help us, they hinder us. I'll hold onto my 'trucks' until I can get that %15 back. $5 just isn't worth what it use to be.

June
26th - Walking all night in Relay for Life
27th - Possibly going to a large gun show in Kankakee (I'm getting more "central Illinois" by the day. *facepalm*)

July
3-4th - Celebrating America. =)
10-12th - Party witht he family
17-18th - OMG A FREE WEEKEND?!
25th - Driving to Iowa for a wedding
30-2nd - Driving to DC!! (Ugh. This 12 hour drive will be a rough one)

On top of that I have to...
-Work on my exception to policy waiver for the Air Force
-See a dentist (I think I need my wisdom teeth out. ugh)
-Keep the wife happy =)
-Arrange some items on my web page for when I head to DC because the server is comming with me.
-Stay sane at work. Harder than it sounds!

Fun times.

Last Friday my wife, one of our friends and I went to our second pistol safety course. We finally got around to shooting. The first pistol I ever fired (many many years ago) was a Ruger .22, and that was the first one we started with. It was nice to shoot it - .22's are always fun little guns to shoot. The big deal was having my wife shoot. A mentioned in a previous post, my wife has no experience with guns. so to see her shoot was pretty exciting. She was nervous, as expected, but did a very good job. She only shot about 5 to 7 yeards out, but was very accurate and handled her weapon safely. She loved shooting the .22 and wants more of it. When we moved to the .38 revolver she was a bit more nervous and wasn't thrilled with the recoil. Despite not liking the .38 as much, she shot a ton through it. I, too, did not like the .38. it had more to do with the grip and revolver frame than any "recoil". While I offered my 9mm to her to shoot she declined. She's not quite ready for that step up apparently - which is fine. I'm thinking when we get some cash I may pick up a small .22 for her for when I head out there.

I shot pretty well. The .22 and .38 were dead on accurate so I was hollowing out bullseyes with it. The I switched to my new 9mm. As before I was shooting a bit low. I was consistent - as in I would put bulletts through the same hole multiple times, but they were always 2-3 inches low at 7yrds. I had our instructor, which has 40 years shooting experience and has won many target shooting competitions, shoot my gun to see if it's the gun, or me (and my father and friend, who was also shooting low). She took 5 shots. 3 were on dead center, 2 were close to it, none of them were low. So it's me. Until I work on my trigger control I have to just adjust my aimpoint and/or sight picture. I do plan on getting both new sights and a trigger job anyways, so I imagine my shots will be better after that too.

On Memorial Day my wife and I went to a friends house for good times. We (the host and I) invited two of our friends. With these two friends they brought thier perspective girlfriends and another person who we know as the driver. All is good, the more the merrier, whatever... We played bags, I cooked some food on the grill, good times were had by all. Wifey and I left early because she wasn't feeling so well.

The next day we find out more than $100 was stolen from the hosts best friends purse. PISSED. Apparently she saw the two girlfriends walking away from the kitchen where her purse was and they left the purse wide open with both her checkbook and wallet out on the counter. She didn't say anything at the time because she didn't want to cause a scene, which the host and I are upset about now. No one will admit to stealing it, and my 'friends' are defending the girl who we think took it. One of the girls was somewhat social, and outside with us playing bags almost the whole time. The other girl was drinking quite a bit, and many times in the house alone while the rest of us were outside playing games or cooking. She was not social with us, and pretty much there to drink. Obviously she denies it. The other girlfriend denies knowing anything about it. One of my friends immediately got defensive and the other blames the dog for opening a purse on a counter she can't reach, opening up the wallet AND checkbook. The dog is cute, but she isn't that smart. I doubt it would be anyone else there because we were all friends of the host. Even theives try to not steal from friends. You'll steal from someone you wont ever see again in a house you're never going to goto again.

I understand the reason for stealing, I really do. You want something, and can take it. I just have morals and empathy. I don't do it because it's wrong. That money was going to be used to buy gifts for her husband who's in Afganistan right now!

Between issues at work, the Air Force thing, and this it's been a very rough two weeks. Oh well: I'm employed and impressing people and am managing to keep wifey happy lately - so it's not ALL bad. =)

I have to go put my halo back on now and write about my new weapon purchase: M&P 9mm.

I bring this up because I've been very busy at work lately. Basicly I've had a great deal of responsibility dropped in lap in the last two weeks and I'm sorting out how to deal with it all. I'm doing fine, but I finally get it. Everyday I keep telling myself this problem gives me another three/four/ten days of work before they can get rid of me. =) Not that they would, but it certainly makes having a job you're not thrilled with a bit easier.

The car thing didn't work out at the place we originally went to. I don't feel like typing out the whole ordeal, I'll just say we were very disappointed with the service from Orland Toyota. With that said, we found a better deal from a better dealership on the way home from that fiasco. We're getting the same car with every option except nav in the color we wanted in better shape and all for less than the original deal. They helped us out once they heard about the crap we dealt with at the other place. So we're picking up our new ride tomorrow on the way to our parents place for Easter and my birthday.

I'm getting old. *facepalm*

Me: "Hey, you know I never did get that email you said you'd send me. I'd like to see those sites and your code. How dare you not send me what I asked for. You're almost fired before your hired. In this economy, that's a bad thing, missy." Then I bit her head off, pounded my chest like king kong and threw my laptop out the window. (I'm paraphrasing - It wasn't nearly that mean)
WSD: "I sure did. I sent it through your website. You know, the thing that says 'Thank you, MissAwesome. Your message has been sent!' and we all expect it work sinse you're God's gift to website coding and all..."
Me: "Oh...Well I'll have to look into that.....Thank you very much" Then I hid under my desk crying out of shame for an hour.

Yes, I know I'd be a horrible author. Apparently my email link doesn't actually send me email. It worked a year ago when I wrote it. Doesn't now. So if you've written me an email in the last year, send it again. I'm sure I will be amused at the historical view of your input. I will update this when it works.

And to the WSD, this is a perfect example of why we need you. =)

WORK!
Work has been very busy for me. We've been going through a yearly enhancement project for my main system where we make various changes and enhancements (duh) based on executive decisions. Blah blah blah you dont care. I've also been taking on addition work for a second system in the last year. That has ramped up quite a bit ini the last two months and I've learned and taught myself conpletely new skills. I'm now pretty much a master of SSIS and MS Business Intelligence Development Studio. I had to trash thier old way of doing things and recreate it all in a new environment. Another thing to put on my resume - nice. Not that it'll be inpressive to a bunch of pilots. =)

AIRFORCE!
So if you read my last post about the IFC physical you saw my unpleasant feelings about the vision tests. I was later told I was not correctable to 20/20. This brought up a HUGE red flag for me that something went horribly wrong. They even asked "How long have you worn glasses?" I dont wear glasses, nor do I have any issues seeing. So I had the option to see an eye doc near my home and fax the results down to them. I did this on Tuesday. My normal, uncorrected vision is a bit better than 20/25, but not quite 20/20 (20/25+). My corrected vision is 20/15 with a small correction. The doc said he had no clue who did my vision test, but they screwed something up - and he use to head the opthamology area at Scott AFB years ago. So now my vision issues are almost taken care of. They did not do one test that they should have, which I need to go back to the base for next week. I'm not too worried about that. The only other issue regarding medical stuff is that I had to have a waiver submitted for my ear tubes. Apparently the flight doc did this on his own and I dont need to do anything with it. So once the waiver goes through and I get my eye thing done friday I should have everything ready to be approved. Then on to more paperwork!

VACATION! (sort of)
I'm taking a vacation that isn't really... Short story: My wife and I have married for over three years. We never got our marriage certificate. We didn't even realize we didn't receive it until about a year into marriage. We had bought a house together, a car, have insurance together, everything you'd expect. We didn't even think about the certificate until we tried to get a gym membership. That's right...a house, a car, insurance, filing tax together and the only person who asked for proof of marriage was the GYM! So for the next year and a half I was on the phone with a bunch of people in Florida (where we got married) to get it sent ot us and apparently the licence was "lost" before it was returned. I never really got anywhere until I had my lawyers get into it. Amazing how it's easy for them ot get info. So now we need to physically go back to FL with affidavids  of witnesses and get a duplicate licence and then re-execute the licence. We will still retain our original marriage date. I keep cracking a joke that I'm a single man again until the trip - wifey doesn't appreciate that one too much. =) We originally were just going to go down for two nights. Somehow now it's four nights and four of our friends are comming with. Fun times.

http://www.rs.af.mil/recruiter-online/story.asp?id=123127294

In the list of 233 names my common name sticks out. It will look even better with a "Lt."  in front of it. I am one of 233 people selected to become an Officer in the Air Force, and one of 113 pilot selects. So here's the plan for the next year as far as this goes...

1. I take a physical next week.
2. That can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months or more to get approved.
3. My security clearance process starts
3. Once the physical is approved, I will get a class date. I expect to be in the 10XX class blocks, so about July/August 08 to Feb 09.
4. Three months of Officer Trainign School
5. Off to my base for Pilot Training.

I'll keep this updated as I can, but I wouldn't be surprised if it went away for a while. I still have about a year before I head out, so there is a lot of time for things to change.

EDIT:
Updated Info: HERE

SO! what to do, what to do....? I'm thinking I may move my flight related posts to another potion of my site and continue this strictly as a personal blog. Really, I want to think of something more useful than even that.

I need content ideas! Have any for the site? Leave me a comment or Email them to me.
It's appreciated.

Brian