Dropping

To be fair, if Saxby is only up two points in this state, then it's going to be really bad across the board.

Anyone who voted against the massive turd sandwich bailout bill should be grabbing every camera they can to defend WHY they voted against it. Instead, they almost seem to be hanging back and allow themselves (McCain included) to be tarred and feathered - which is damn near suicidal,especially with the DJIA recovering almost 2/3 of yesterday's losses.

Who the hell is running these campaigns?

In related news, the mayor of Lithonia was recalled by a 3-1 margin - and yet, is DISPUTING THE COUNT.

New math is hard sometimes.

Told ya

Now for the love of God, get off the ledge and stop panicking.

Making Strides - Change of Topic

No politics in this post, so relax.

On October 25, I will be participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Atlantic Station. I will be walking with my company team for the American Cancer Society's 10th Annual Walk. It is a three-mile walk in midtown Atlanta.

I had set up a donation page yesterday morning, and had a very long (and possibly decent) post ready to go, but my publishing tool ate it. Once everything else started yesterday, I didn't get back to it until this morning.

The donation page can be accessed here, and I'm working on adding a little widget on the sidebar. I haven't quite figured that part out, though - hopefully I can get that done by the weekend.

Atlanta Games Examiner: GTA goes over the top for even GTA

Atlanta Games Examiner: GTA goes over the top for even GTA

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VICTORY!!!

Congratulations, taxpayers, you are not going to be screwed today.

The House voted down the taxpayer-reaming bailout bill, 228-205. So, it was a bipartisan effort to KILL KILL KILL KIL THE BILL, which we've been hoping for around these parts.

(Flaming skull courtesy of Ace. I'm so happy I could do a jig.)

I didn't really feel like shelling out the 10,000-15,000 the bill would have cost the average taxpayer.

Did you?

We're not out of the woods yet, but this is an extremely heartening start.

Thank you, Sen. McCain, for coming back to Washington to kill this monstrosity. This had better become a series of ads, and FAST.

And so you know, yes, the DJIA dropped 400 points right after the vote was announced, but has made up almost 200 of those points already. Eventually, the floor might be about 9000 - we are so overdue for a 20% bear market and that would put us in the mid-9000's.

THAT IS NOT THE SAME AS 1929 OR 1987.

So lighten up, Francis.

Also, before you flame: Yes, we got a mortgage during the last few years. No, it was not subprime. Yes, we worked our asses off for a few years to become eligible for a halfway decent loan. No, we did not go for a gimmicky ARM, interest-only, or neg-ARM loan. We did it the old fashioned way, as much as it hurt to do, and we worked our asses off to get there.

Undecided

As much as I vehemently disagree with most Obama supporters on many issues, they have made up their minds, so they have that going for them, which is nice.

Armstrong Williams wants to ask the remaining undecideds (anywhere from 8 to 15% of voters) what they are waiting for that might sway their decision.

Considering the wall-to-wall coverage there has been for the past 18 months, I have to agree with him. Obama supporters think Obama won, and McCain supporters think McCain won. But what the hell are the undecideds waiting for in order to decide?

Our Next Car

With a horsepower of....5.

Hey, after a wait in line to get raped by $3.99 gas while Nirvana's "Rape Me" is playing on the radio, this may be a decent idea.

Besides, the kids love Bevo.

Debate thread

*chat box removed due to expiration of session*

But it was fun. Looking forward to the next one.

Enjoy!

Chatting

I'm over at Conservative Belle's blabbing with fellow morons. Come join in.

Or, enjoy the drinking game below.

Well, it’s time to wake the kids, call the neighbors, turn up granny’s hearing aid, put out the party favors, and have yourself an old-fashioned Debate Party — despite the fact that someone wanted to postpone the first one.

With all the “is it on or not?” debate about the first debate, I decided to forge ahead as planned with the hope that there would be no delay. Regardless of when the debate(s) actually happen, you’ll need a drinking game to survive all the political double-speak and subterfuge.

For all you partygoers, Friday September 26th is the night (allegedly)–the 1st of three Presidential Debates!

And here’s your Drinking Game Initiative:

DEBATE NUMBER ONE: Friday, September 26, 2008

MODERATOR: Jim Lehrer from The NewsHour on PBS

FOCUS: Foreign Policy (could be changed to the Economy given the circumstances)

GENERIC RULES THAT SHOULD APPLY TO ANY DEBATE:

TAKE A SHOT:

-When the buzzwords “change” or “maverick” or “hope” are used

-When someone says “I voted for or against” or “He voted for or against”

-When McCain refers to Obama’s “inexperience”

-When McCain stammers and looks like he might have a heart attack

-When McCain somehow works in his personal story as a POW during Vietnam

-When McCain refers to the moderator as “my friend” or the audience as “my friends”

-When Obama somehow works in his personal story of being raised by a single mom and his grandparents

-When Obama makes a smirk, shakes his head, and says, “Now wait just a minute…” or “hold on there…”

-When Obama makes the case that McCain and Bush are one and the same or uses the phrase “more of the same”

-When Obama talks about “multi-tasking” or having to address more than one crisis at a time as president

-When anyone brings up “suspending the campaign”

-When either one lays claims to being “bipartisan” or working “across the aisle”

-It’s a Social when Sarah Palin is mentioned!

-Finish whatever you are drinking if McCain loses his temper!

ECONOMY SPECIFIC RULES:

TAKE A SHOT:

-When someone mentions the “Bailout” of Wall Street

-When someone mentions Wall Street and Main Street in the same train of thought

-When someone starts quoting dollar figures (for example: 700 billion)

-When someone talks about mortgages/foreclosures/homeowners

FOREIGN POLICY SPECIFIC RULES:

TAKE A SHOT:

-If anyone uses the words “surge” or “victory”

-When anyone mentions a particular nation as being a potential “nuclear” threat

-When McCain talks about Islamic Radicals/Terrorists

-When Georgia and/or Russia are mentioned

-When Iran and/or Iraq are mentioned

-When Afghanistan is mentioned

-It’s a social for al Qaeda or North Korea!

-Finish whatever you are drinking if anyone delivers specifics on how to get out of Iraq “safely and responsibly”.

But I Want To See The Flute-Playing!

You can always count on the moronosphere. Thanks, guys, for the clip.



Let's see if this gets pulled down or how long it stays up.

Summary video of Crash history

I just wished I had found this video on Hot Air before I wrote my long screed earlier. Better late than never, I suppose.

A history lesson

"Yes, one day the bottom will drop out." - Bob Marley/Eric Clapton/whatever artist you prefer, "I Shot the Sheriff"

I think we just saw what the bottom may be late last night during a conference call. JPMorgan Chase is snapping up Washington Mutual for pennies on the dollar - $1.9 billion - a far cry from the $7 per share offered by JPM Chase and shot down by WaMu's board.

This time, the bank failed, the Feds seized, and Jamie Dimon got what he wanted and was able to pay far less than anticipated for it. While there is an estimated $31 billion write down coming, JPMorgan Chase has already managed to raise $10 billion in a stock offering this morning. While the assets on WaMu's books probably don't equal $300 billion in true value, I'm pretty sure they're worth a decent amount. With JPM's current position, it's hard to argue against making that sort of move, when a lot of the negative risk is being underwritten or removed.

Not bad, for Jamie Dimon and Chase. I've never been a fan of Washington Mutual, from its advertising to its strange expansion plans, to its horrid customer service, so I'm not really surprised or bothered that it went under. Chase, on the other hand, is one of the few banks around that doesn't inherently piss me off for some reason or another, and Dimon has always seemed to have a knack for swooping in at the right time to take on risk at almost no cost (see Stearns, Bear)

One other big boon for Chase: thanks to acquiring WaMu's retail banking business, it just passed Bank of America in its nationwide branch structure, with more branches across 23 states (for now) than Bank of America has across 30. While some will close, it is not unreasonable to think all major banks will have some sort of branch-closing process - so Chase may emerge in the end with more than BoA after all.

HA!

Click through for a quick rundown of how they stack up, because Blogger doesn't want me to add a table right now, formatted or not. One big point you'll see is that, as bad as WaMu's sheet looks on the liabilities, it seems Chase does have the capability to take on that risk given its own reserves - and if they are able to normalize that balance sheet, they will make an absolute killing.

Jamie Dimon's been regarded as a banking golden boy for years, and between this and the Bear acquisition, he's managed to snap up some very good looking assets while having enough in reserve to withstand huge losses with regards to outstanding debt and liabilities.



So, we've managed to "save" a firm in way over its head, with the Feds acting as intermediaries instead of a rich uncle, and other private business stepping to provide the stabilization while also hopefully breaking somewhat even on the deal.

Compared to just tossing $700 billion to firms without any oversight or regulation, and I'd rather take what just happened in the last twenty-four hours rather than a pork-laden bill disguised to look like it's accomplishing something when it will actually do very little. Thankfully, it looks like some Senators have finally grown a set to decide that just tossing money at a problem won't fix it and neither will tossing money at pet projects. They're actually blocking a spending bill, and not the one you think, and it's about damn time they started doing that.

We've seen these sorts of panics every 20-30 years throughout this country's history. The underlying cause may differ but it happens just the same. 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1907, 1929-32, 1973, 1987, and now 2008.

As a matter of fact, here's a quote...from 1907.

In the wake of the initial business collapses, stock market prices plummeted and
depositors made a massive run on the nation’s banks. The U.S. Treasury pumped
millions of dollars into weak banks in the hope of saving them, but the string
of collapsed institutions lengthened.

In a reprise of his role during the second Cleveland administration when the gold standard was under assault, J.P. Morgan acted to restore order. He summoned the leading bankers and financial experts to his home where they set up shop in his library. Over the course of the next three weeks, Morgan and his associates labored to channel money from the strong institutions to the weaker ones in an effort to keep them afloat.

The joint effort of the government and the business leaders improved conditions markedly over the course of several weeks. While the crisis passed, the finger-pointing began. Reform elements of both political parties believed that the American banking system was fundamentally flawed and needed wholesale change.

Boy, this stuff sounds familiar. Even history doesn't like the idea of full-fledged bailouts sponsored wholly by government. You want government intervention, you get Smoot-Hawley.
Shit happens every so often, and if the response is wrong, it will go for far longer.

Just one more reason to voice opposition to the bailout plan as currently featured. There is absolutely no reason to take Hank Paulson's word at face value when he asks for a blank check with no oversight just days after professing to be caught completely off guard by recent failures.

If even a rag like the New York Times can figure it out, then some smart people should have seen it coming as well. If the government wants to be a LENDER of last resort, that is at least somewhat prudent. But the suggested plan contains no provisions for fiscal prudency or oversight, so for the administration expecting us to be on board with such a plan is ludicrous.

I'm not on board with Sheriff Hank's idea of justice; I'd rather trust Deputy Jamie or Deputy Warren.

Lastly, for Democrats to sneak in pork to such plans is equally as ludicrous.

Hang the whole lot of them.

All points request

I need help, and through four weeks my professor has not been too helpful or quick in providing assistance.

I am trying to slash through my Web Application class, and I keep running into problems that he is unable to explain, so I am hoping one of you can help me with some problems I have with ASP.NET.

I've been trying to make some data connections within button-clicks and have been failing miserably. I have also been trying to write functions to execute, and have been getting almost no relevant guidance from the professor despite repeated requests.

Even as I type this, he's become lost on putting together a simple applet which is basic enough I could figure it out.

So, if any of you has an hour to spare, I'd love to have some help and figure out just how I'm supposed to code some of these things. It's a pretty sad state when I've learned more from APO's Nationals registration site than I have from the professor. I seem to get about 85% of the way, but I can't close the other 15% so that I'm actuallly learning in a decent manner.

So, in a word...

HELP!

Open mouth and insert foot, part 243

Joe, Joe, Joe........

There was TV in 1929?

FDR was president in 1929?

At least FDR didn't preside over one of the largest government expansions in the country's history....oh, wait....unfortunately, now being repeated.

Just watch the whole clip for yourself, count the boo-boos for yourself, and then ask yourself if we really should be concerned without Gov. Palin's lack of experience when this moron has been running around Washington since Watergate.

Hot Air even had video - thanks:




Yes, he really did say that. But, at least he didn't insult any Indians this time.

Also related, welcome back, Newt, from sitting on a couch with Nancy Pelosi.

85 and no longer counting

Here are the pictures from Monday, September 15, when the Yankees took on the White Sox in the seventh-to-last game at Yankee Stadium.

No, they are not in order.

And yes,we know Sammie is wearing a Braves outfit. We had to represent the South a little bit.

Sammie claps happily. She liked it when everyone clapped.

Old facade, meet new facade.

Wide shot of the field and sold-out stadium.

DeWayne Wise, right before he hit a home run in the 4th inning.

6th inning, while Kim is walking with Alex around the stadium.

We don't look too exhausted, despite it being late.

Jason Giambi knocks a ball foul down the line.

Me, enjoying a coke. We were in the back of the main level.
At least the seats were covered, in case it rained.

Sammie likes hot dogs. A lot.

From the upper deck.

From our seats, right near the foul pole. Nice shot down the line, aside from the giant yellow pole.

Shooting down from the 4 train platform onto 161st Street.

Sammie wisely takes a nap before the game starts in Stan's.

Alfredo Aceves started for the Yankees. I have not heard of him.

Outfielders (from bottom) Bobby Abreu, Brett Gardner, and Johnny Damon.

4 train platform, with the new stadium rising in the background.

4 train platform after we got off the train.

Folks coming over from the river side into the plaza.

Pretzels make us happy.

From the loge level.


Yawn. I'm getting tired. I want to make noise or run around soon.

Soon after, Mo came in, and they got to make a lot of noise. End game shot of two Yankee legends - Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, with two out in the 9th.

A fun and fond farewell.

Remembrance & Proclamation

H/t Conservative Belle. A ceremony was held last Friday - I'm about three days behind right now.

Believe it or not, Bill Maher, there are bigger political prisoners than Levi Johnston.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we honor the brave and patriotic Americans who were held as prisoners of war, and we remember those who are still missing in action. For their valor and selfless devotion to protect the country they love, our Nation owes them a debt we can never fully repay. On this day we underscore our commitment and pledge to those who are still missing in action and to their families that we will not rest until we have achieved the fullest possible accounting for every member of our Armed Forces missing in the line of duty.

To observe this important day, the National League of Families POW/MIA flag is flown over the Capitol, the White House, the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and other locations across our country. The flag is a solemn reminder of our Nation's enduring obligation and promise to our courageous service members who remain missing and a tribute to those who have been imprisoned while serving their country in conflicts around the world.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Friday, September 19, 2008, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I call upon the people of the United States to join me in honoring and remembering all former American prisoners of war and those missing in action for their valiant service to our Nation. I also call upon Federal, State, and local government officials and private organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Vacancy

I forgot to mention one little thing.....

I have not had a single poker post since coming back from Biloxi.

Well, there's been no time for it. At. All.

I was hoping to try and play a little on Stars to get into one of the WCOOP events, but I just didn't have the time, patience, energy, or desire to do it.

That's probably going to continue for several more weeks. I think I needed to continue this break and keep focusing on other interesting topics and fun things.

However, one of them will NOT be the Bash. Despite what you voted for in the poll, I am not heading to Pennsylvania this weekend. I am too tired, too broke, and have too much work to go, but I'm sure those of you who are going should have plenty of fun.

Of course, dial-a-shots are permitted and encouraged.

Your Friendly One-Stop Shop

I've been fiddling around again. Just a little bit, not too much.

I'm trying to increase my inventory of items and connections on this page, slowly but surely. The hit history and Google search history definitely show some, uh, INTERESTING searches, but for the most part they're pretty respectable (though the funny ones are worth a completely different post.)

I found one way which seems to be used by some of the other sites I read on occasion (see, I don't just use feeds, I give traffic as well.)

Well, one way that I've noticed which I've decided to add on is a computer and printer supply cross-reference block. While some people have book blocks, I decided to add this on since I've been talking more and more about web publishing and application development for my classes. In addition to other office supplies, this site also enables quick and easy purchase of printer cartridges cross-referenced and other ink and toner cross-referenced supplies thanks to the Amazon-connected database.

For my project, I've decided to simulate the development of a web presence for a photography studio. It's something I've kicked around for years, as I used to work in a stock photography shop when I was in high school which could never really adapt emerging e-commerce competition. So, I've decided to utilize that framework for my project. Besides, since my wife also has a lot of photographs from different places and events, it might be a fun venture to launch if we ever feel like it's something we can commit a bit of time to.

In the meantime, I need a lot of printing supplies anyway, since I'll be printing a lot of pictures from recent trips as well as trying to create some business cards for this little site. Even though I didn't get to go to Blog World this year, I'm still having fun with this site even as I redesign it into whoknowswhat.

Atlanta Games Examiner: For those about to rock, we salute you

Atlanta Games Examiner: For those about to rock, we salute you

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Musings and would-be dumping

I was hoping that I could do a pic dump right now while the final game at Yankee Stadium was going on, but I think I just made Picasa explode by trying to work on 100 photos at once.

I wasn't going to upload all of them, but I was hoping to edit them fairly quickly. Since I'm using a couple of them in my project, I figured I would knock out a couple of things at once.

Unfortunately, I can't do it now. Maybe tomorrow night.

In the meantime, while already listening to the dreadful broadcasting of Joe Morgan, it became much worse with the entrance of....Michael Kay.

Oh. My. God.

The sucktitude in the booth is beginning to exponentially increase.

If Jon Sterling, Tim McCarver, or Bob Costas show up in the booth, we may face another epic meltdown. I'm not prepared for that - I need another month, when the Cubs threaten to win the World Series, to be fully ready for the apocalypse.

A Tale of Two Cities

On Sunday, we all enjoyed going to the Feast of San Gennaro in New York.

We started off with dinner in Chinatown, which was amazing because Alex actually ate his food without 8,524 promptings from us to eat and stop playing with his food.

Of course, when the food looks like this, it's hard to resist.


That would be sweet and sour chicken in a pineapple boat. I had chicken in ginger. They were incredible, and cheaper than what we would pay for Chinese anywhere around here.

After getting our fill and letting the food settle, we headed over to Mulberry St because the San Gennaro feast was going until 11 PM on Sunday (instead of 1 AM on Saturday). Despite being a schoolnight, it was still packed to the gills - which I expected, but which surprised Kim a bit.

The kids enjoyed the festival, for wildly different reasons.


Alex, because he played a carnival game, got to throw balls to break plates, and won a nice prize all by himself. Here he is, holding his latest Clifford toy.










Sammie, because he got to enjoy a lot of the sweet treats offered at the festival and to see a lot of people (including Danny Aiello, as the celebrity sighting of this festival.) Here she is, enjoying some raspberry cheesecake from Caffe Palermo.







Kim was able to go into the church of the Most Precious Blood (the national shrine of San Gennaro), located about a block and a half into the feast, and we all marveled at the interior.

Overall, quite fun for all - and amazingly, when we left, it was only 10:00!

Now, for the second city - and it's about as different as you can get from Little Italy in New York. Last night (and again tonight), I am volunteering with the Knights of Columbus at the North Georgia State Fair here in Cobb County.

I did not have the camera with me, as we were bringing bags of ice to the various vendors around the fair. It's too bad, because then I would have some great pictures of the Oak Ridge Boys performing in the Equestrian Pavilion, which was right next to our truck.




One festival is on a busy city street, the other in a wide-open park.

One festival had Danny Aiello, the other had the Oak Ridge Boys.

One festival is easily accessible by subway, the other can only be driven to.

One festival had lots of fashionably dressed folks trying to wear as few clothes as possible, the other had lots of rural and suburban folks who should wear as much clothing as possible.

One festival had everyone walking around with drinks in hand. So did the other one.

One festival had lots of people heading home by 10:30 when the concert ended. The other, I'm sure, kept going well into the AM since it's easy to take the 6 or N train back.

One festival had great food of several different nationalities all around. The other had funnel cake and barbecue. Both are wins there.

Both festivals, though, were lots of fun in their own way.

I'll have the camera with me tonight, as the kids are coming along, so I'm sure I'll have some pictures later.

Beatdown

I had been planning to spend this week finishing up some assignments and beginning to write about a lot of fun times this past weekend.

In perhaps the most ironic twist of the whole trip, we were not done in by any sort of exotic food or unsafe conditions in New York.

We were all done in by a Burger King three miles away from home. We stopped on Tuesday night on the way back from the airport to get a quick dinner, which unfortunately caused three of us to get food poisoning effective Wednesday morning.

It resulted in everyone else staying home from work and school, and in me coming home after three hours of work and missing my classes Wednesday night, while also failing to do any work for my Thursday class (which I'm trying to do now as I install a bunch of programs).

We've decided to abstain from any fast food for a while. It's amazing how easily a 4-year old will agree to such a request when they have a tummyache.

Quick note

I'll start writing a lot more later this week - but for now, we are safe at home.

In the meantime, I have just one think to say:

If you're a White Sox fan from Ohio who decided to bitch and moan about everything at Yankee Stadium do us all a favor, and GO BACK TO YOUR GODDAMN TRAILER IN THE REALLY CRAPPY CANTON OR CANTON, OHIO BEFORE I PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE.

He left in the 8th inning, right after journeyman lefty Horacio Ramirez entered the game and promptly, as predicted, gave up the winning run.

More to follow later this week. Maybe Friday and over the weekend. There's too much to write about to shove it all into one post, so I'll probably break it into parts.

New Children's Workshop

Hey! May daughter has created her first recipe! We are very proud of her for this accomplishment.

Here are the directions, step by step.

Step 1: Refuse to eat anything more than half a slice of pizza for lunch.
Step 2: Spend four hours, while walking around the museum visiting dinosaur fossils and giant blue whales, refusing to eat anything except some donut munchkins we've been carrying around for emergencies. Mostly, this involves sneaking into them when our backs are turned.
Step 3: Eat 1/4 of a bologna sandwich at Subway.
Step 4: Eat not only a part of Mommy's frozen hot chocolate, but also some of your brothers frozen pineapple-lime drink.
Step 5: Sneak into parents bag to get some hard candy.
Step 6: Mix all items together in tummy thanks to the N train as it approaches 42nd St.
Step 7: Become slightly dizzy while arching head waaaaay back on Adolph Ochs way.
Step 7: Get into Ferris wheel inside Toys 'R' Us, and rebel against the seat belt holding you in place, forcing movement of combined recipe.
Step 8: Plate and serve combined recipe by bending onto Daddy's chest and expelling contents of recipe. Twice. The end result should be somewhat gelatinous, with a nice bluish-green hue combined with large quantities of drool and small chunks of lunchmeat. It is very important to have the right combination
Step 9: Re-dress both daughter and self in a Times Square and Yankees shirt, because, well, they were there. Stop at sidewalk hot dog cart to get drinks for self and kids in order to return home. Also, continue picking bits of bologna from shoes.
Step 9A: Plot how to embarrass daughter with this story when she is a teenager.
Step 10: Let children pass out on the way home, because trains and cars are very good at that.

Feel free to pass this tried and true recipe on to your neighbors. I'm sure it will be a sure-fire party hit!

RockBand 2 Preview

Fun trailer - I'm sure some of you have already pre-ordered this game. It comes out for XBOX Sunday.



My review available on Examiner.

Another 800-Pound Gorilla, Please

OMG!!!

WTF???

LOL!!!

SRSLY???

Now that those exclamations are out of the way...

Bank of America might be interested in being a white knight for free-falling Lehman Brothers. Why they would consider this without a tremendous safety net (especially since it has MBNA and Countrywide messes to clean up) is completely beyond me.

Hoyazo ought to get a kick out of this.

Unless the deal was similar to JP Morgan Chase's buyout of Bear Stearns (which meant up to $29 billion in potential losses being backed by the Feds, i.e. us), I don't see how they would seriously consider an acquisition.

They've done stupid things before, though. That's why their stock price went from 51 to 17. It's back to 33, but with this deal I'd be shorting this stock if I had ANY spare change at all.

Morons.

Wars of old, business anew

Three items today.

1) Apparently, footage has come out of John McCain's return and release to the U.S. after sepnding five years in Hanoi, taped 35 years ago:



2) Seven years ago, I got to work at our brand new digs in the Bank of America Plaza to find out about the first plane hitting the Trade Center. I still remembering walking a couple miles up Peachtree in a daze after work let out before going home. I had planned on being in New York today...but that is not the case.

3) Today, Saudi Arabia decides to leave OPEC and terminate its business relations with Iran and Venezuela in order to ensure meeting the world's growing oil needs, refusing to engage in any further gouging with the U.S., China, or other large net consumers.

Alternate Ending

I don't remember Super Mario Brothers ending this way....

A Good Schedule, Mostly

Compare and contrast the three classes at this point of the term; it's quite funny, so far.

1) Marketing: Tonight's class, dealing with market segmentation, delved into the cultural phenomena of Singled Out, Sex and the City, Manolo Blahniks, and ZipCar. Never have I yearned to have my home computer with me so I could open a poker client, but alas, it was not to be. I couldn't even write anything up which might be interesting. We're only a couple weeks in, but my initial fear is confirmed.....this...class...is...going...to...suck.

2) Information Security: I'm enjoying this class right now. For example, tonight's class earned an A for a summary and presentation regarding the Absolute Poker superuser scandal - which was well-chronicled by many friends of this site. Extra points for not going with a traditional route (ChoicePoint, BCBS, Home Depot, etc.) but for going outside of the box and bringing in some interesting items. After class came further discussion with the teacher regarding iPhones, OODA loops (which was discussed in class before Ace went nuts with it for the campaign), and other integrated systems we're using now compared to mimeographs of yesteryear. I'm looking forward to presenting next week regarding spoofing and hacking. It's fun so far.

3) My Web Application class tomorrow night requires a programming assignment to be turned in. I've been trying to add some bells and whistles to it before I submit it tomorrow night, including this feature which the teacher should really enjoy. It's a first attempt at JavaScript and CSS from me without relying entirely on templates. It's an interesting introduction to e-commerce...and only seven more programming assignments to go.

Two out of three ain't bad.

Tough Choice - POLL!

Well, thanks to a whole host of things that are occurring fairly well, I'm able to do something I've been wanting to do for a couple of months now.

The problem is, there are two somethings.

See, I need to de-stress a bit, and while coming to NY this weekend might accomplish that, I might need a bit of solo time with kiddie radar off to actually let my hair down.

On the other hand, we have also been in need of a new camera and I've been looking for a new phone with a lot of nice add-ons so I can basically be a total geek and write, call, etc. anytime.

As of now, though, I can only pick one.

So, the question is:

Do I listen to my inner geek?

Or do I listen to my inner alcoholic who would like to go party and try to relax without baby radar for a day or two, since it's been on non-stop all summer?

Hopefully, the polling script works.

God Damn America - except for this married lady I'm schtupping

Best. Campaign. Season. Ever.

At this point, everything is just writing itself. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Rev. Wright Done Me Wrong

Oh - Before criticizing the salacious nature of this post, remember that this door got opened up by Obama's camp long ago with regards to such items coming forward. Considering there really haven't been too many negative ads yet featuring Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Tony Rezko, this is about to get Stone. Cold. Muthaf*ckin. Crazy.

Major Experimentation

Some of you may have heard about an experiment in Europe involving a Hadron Collider, which may or may not produce tiny black holes, or even more significantly, THE END OF ALL LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!!!!AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!11!!1!1!!

The long version of Dr. Hawking's Black Hole Theory can be found here. To wit:

Beckenstein suggested on thermodynamic grounds that some multiple of k
should be regarded as the temperature of a black hole. He did not, however,
suggest that a black hole could emit particles as well as absorb them. For
this reason Bardeen, Carter and I considered that the thermodynamical
similarity between k and temperature was only an analogy. The present result
seems to indicate, however, that there may be more to it than this. Of
course this calculation ignores the back reaction of the particles on the
metric, and quantum fluctuations on the metric.

The short version:

With the change that we change so to change what we change

More news to start your day:

Sen. Obama's money drying up - so apparently opting out of public financing will really hurt. Hubris, meet karma.

Democratic incumbents in Montana and Michigan and formerly leading Democratic challengers in Colorado and are now in danger of losing formerly easy races.

Media darlings getting kicked in the teeth, repeatedly, thanks to dramatically smearing and lowering expectations for Gov. Palin only to have her blow them away. (Really, bringing up religion with the ghost of Jeremiah Wright in the background is a pretty bad idea.)

New leads and closer races than expected in Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, and beginning an effort to take California (no, wait...KAH-LEE-FOR-NEE-YA).

Wait, what's that sound?



More cowbell, you say?

We'll continue exploring the studio space later.

It's on.

Ronery

Apparently, Saddam Hussein may not have been the only Axis of Evil leader to lose power in 2003.

According to a Japanese expert (who may or may not be part of the drive to create better sex dolls), Kim Jong Il died in 2003.

He might also be a really, really big Dave fan.

The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China, have been negotiating with an imposter.

He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four look-alikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims, the actors are brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.

You know what I'll miss most of all?

His beautiful singing voice.

eBay gets ugly

Icky.

Demotion

I was a little disappointed that MSNBC didn't let Keith Olbermann go to St. Paul - I was looking forward to a full-fledged panic attack.

I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that I will miss the wit, humor, and honesty moonbattery, shrieking, and whining from him.

Apparently, MSNBC will not miss it very much. Yessir, today, you are the worst person in the world.

Another fancy new device

I've made another update on this page - but this one is a very good announcement.

After multiple conversations over the weekend and some racing around today, I was able to make sure that I will be included in the May 2009 graduating class.

I had decided last week to go ahead and take all the classes in the Spring, but had thought I had missed the deadline. After talking with some Georgia State faculty and advisors over the weekend and on Friday, however, I will be allowed in as on-time if I can get my paperwork down there today - which I shall do this afternoon at my lunch break.

So, it looks like I'm not the only blogger finishing up this May. However, I will not be the first Masters degree in the family - my brother has a M.Ed from Iowa. I'll be the second.

AFAIK, the date is Saturday, May 9.

With all this news, there is now a countdown clock on the side of the page. Fancy, eh?

One pick done

Um, that was fast. Picking the Pats may not have been a good idea.



It might be hard for Tom Brady to do Gisele with a leg stretched out in an ugly brace. Torn ACL's make horizontal mambo very difficult.

I guess the AFC East might be a little open that previously thought. I just hope, for the sake of humanity, to be spared from another 7,593 Brett Favre cunnilingus posts.

Please. I beg you.

Out of the closet

If two people know something, it's not a secret.

If four people know - well, fuhgeddaboutit.

This little site, which as of late has been generating a lot of hits and subscribers from a lot of different places, has been seen and found by some co-workers here, where I've spent the last six months (and counting). As I work with fairly smart people, they were able to figure out this site belonged to the fairly new guy.

Now, the good thing: Apparently, it was all the Palin news and political news that brought them in. Specifically, my posting of Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the RNC. Thanks, Google.

Just to make sure, around my office, there are either McCain supporters or Palin supporters.

There were Obama supporters. There are no longer any Obama supporters. They're either on the fence or have jumped to the other side of the fence.

There were more than a few Hillary supporters. They are now McCain-Palin supporters. Some drifted to Obama originally be default, but have jumped ship from him.

There are a few who don't support either. They also do not have the ability to vote, having been recent immigrants.

As for diversity, there is quite a bit here with regards to race and religion, as expected within a Fortune 500 company. However, all these people from a wide swath of groups (AFAIK) has come over to McCain-Palin. Some came over before me; some came over Wednesday night.

Maybe they were offended by being told they were bitter people, clinging to guns and religion.

Maybe they were offended by disparaging immigrants.

Maybe they were offended by disparaging Gov. Palin as "just a small-town mayor" and ignoring her time as governor which exceeds Obama's own executive experience.

Maybe they were offended by the Messiah complex of Barack Obama.

Maybe they were offended by Obama characterizing children as a "burden". After all, he even favored laws that would allow babies who had survived abortion procedures to be left to die - which should be anathema to any individual with an ounce of common sense.

Maybe they were offended by Obama characterizing certain decisions to be made as "above his pay grade".

Maybe they were offended by Obama's confusion of his "community-organizer" ACORN rabble-rousing days with actual volunteer service that makes a difference in communities beyond forming angry mobs and breaking local laws.

Maybe they were offended by belittling women's accomplishments and working mothers and pushing Hillary out of the way in a manner not common with past nomination processes.

Maybe they were offended by the slamming of a pregnant 17-year old and parenting issues, when most people have to deal with serious problems when raising teenagers and don't enjoy those sorts of attacks on their kids.

Maybe they were offended by belittling bringing a special needs child into the world (which is the main reason for my fury lately, with the worries we had about Sammie in utero.)

There's ten ways right there. I'll stop there. Look at who I've linked to: Mother Jones, National Right-to-Life, Michelle Malkin, Rick Warren, Politico, Catholic Sites, the L.A. Times, and more.

Try and come up with a more diverse group of links to put into one topic. I dare you.

There aren't many people left that haven't been offended by the Obama-Biden camp.

So, thankfully, it is a well-received outing at work. Besides, these are good, sane people here where I work now - unlike Bank of America, where half of my group was insane Cynthia McKinney supporters (how I survived there seven years, I'll never know.)

Now, all I have to do is make sure the time-stamps show that these posts are really done at nighttime. Except for this one.

This, of course, means you don't have to worry about me going soft, either.

Hell no, it's time to go to the mattresses.

Hey, looky there!

In the urge to completely rearrange things, I'm considering another place to write on top of what I already have in the queue.

It might be a place familiar to many MuNuvians...but it will be a while before I move everything, if I decide to fully go through with the insanity.

Obviously, it's very bare at the moment. I've been thinking about it tfor a while, and decided now might be an OK time to at least begin making it a reality.

It might beat the feeding problems and server issues I've had to deal with A LOT on Blogger lately.

Stay tuned.......don't bookmark that other link yet, though.

New Page, Batting Leadoff

My first article is up. Instead of a Beau Rivage writeup, it's about the upcoming WCOOP. Goddamn Gustav.

And yes, let me know if I need to lose some weight in the picture.

Appropriate metaphor

I'm not sure if "Home Run" is what the characterization of Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the RNC should be.

Wouldn't "Hat Trick" be more appropriate?

If the AP is speechless and thinks it was an amazing speech despite their liberal ravings, that's pretty damn amazing.

Thanks to Hot Air for getting the whole speech up so I didn't have to wait until tonight to watch it. Further thanks for providing embedding code so that you can watch it here.

UPDATE: Welcome, PUMA's. I believe this was foretold as well:

Sarah Palin found some unlikely allies Wednesday as leading academics and even
former top aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed the Republican charge that
John McCain’s running mate has been subject to a sexist double standard by the
news media and Democrats.

Welcome aboard.

A Challenge to Drunken Lemurs

I am trying to fit this lovely event into my schedule:



I have never made a Bash or a Vegas weekend, and that needs to change. Now.

If you're going, where is a good place to stay? Or, do you have a chunk of floor where I could pass out? Are any of the hotels available? And where the hell is Phoenixville? Is it in or close to Philly or is it way out by the Amish?

It's time to rage a bit, and I'd actually like to see some of you drunken crazy riverchasing donkeys, so let me know if you're going or have some space for a degenerate blogger who may be getting a huge fill of the Northeast Corridor over the next few months.

Besides, it's cheaper to go to Geno's than it is to go to the Bellagio buffet.

Dammit, now I want cheesesteak. Mmmm.....wit whiz.

Gambler's Preview

Over six DAYS, we held our annual football draft. Last year, we had the rare feat of a team going undefeated all the way through our fantasy league, also winning the championship in the end.


So, there's a lot of catch-up to be done for the other teams.

I started with keepers Reggie Wayne and Frank Gore. Last year, I was destroyed by injury-filled and subpar seasons, which dropped me from the playoffs two years ago to almost the basement last year.

I got lucky to get Reggie Bush with my first regular pick, as I had decided to drop Antonio Gates. I was hoping to pick up another #1 back, and I got very lucky to snatch him up.

Oh, and VY: screw you.

So, here's the team I ended up with, titled "Drop the Hammer":

QB: Ben Roethlisberger, Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia
RB: George Bush, Al Gore, Reggie Bush, Frank Gore, Rudi Johnson, Michael Turner
WR: Reggie Wayne, Anquan Bolden, Santana Moss, Joey Galloway
TE: Vernon Davis, Alge Crumpler
D: Colts, Texans
K: Shayne Graham

Between having both PA quarterbacks, Bush, and Gore, maybe I should re-name my team "Swing State".

It feels pretty well-rounded, but not superstars at any position - but since consistency was severely lacking last year, we'll hope for the best this year.

Oh, and with the season starting tomorrow night, I guess I should actually make some real NFL season predictions. I only hit 4 of 8 division champs, and completely flubbed the end-game.

AFC East: Patriots
AFC North: Steelers
AFC South: Colts
AFC West: Chiefs
AFC Wild Cards: Jaguars, Chargers

NFC East: Giants
NFC North: Vikings
NFC South: Saints
NFC West: Rams
NFC Wild Cards: Eagles, Bucs

Massive disappointments: Cowboys, Packers, Seahawks

Super Bowl Pick: Saints over Colts.

Over/Under of Manning Commercials in the time leading up to the Super Bowl: 1,100.

Oh, and I forgot to put this in my last post, but John Derbyshire is still an idiot. A cranky idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. I know it's a week old, but that sort of atittude is borderline ridiculous.

Missed Opportunity

If he had been giving these sorts of speeches and doing this sort of stumping in January and February, perhaps FRED!'s campaign would have really taken off. Instead, he looked tired and saggy, like he didn't want to be there.

Last night, he really wanted to be there. And it showed. Lots of red meat for folks.



That, folks, is how you get the masses within your party fired up and excited.

First time caller, long time listener

Well, I can cross off one thing I've never done and had vowed never to do.

I made a donation to a political campaign.

Now, the deadline to receive funds eligible for matching in the general campaign is Thursday, Sep. 4, so you would have until tomorrow night to get out the checkbooks. It was August 31, but the deadline is actually the acceptance of the nomination which is tomorrow night.

Also, I managed two find two bugs on their website, which are being ironed out as we speak, so I guess the programming I've (tried to) learn is coming in handy.




Bottom line: I've never donated before, but I'll donate to this ticket, and I think Gov. Palin's speech tonight might be a lot more electrifying that some naysayers believe.

Now if the networks will only cover it. They did wall-to-wall coverage of the DNC last week, but have barely cut to anything so for at the RNC in St. Paul.