Thanks to Drudge for this interesting link.
Mysterious "Horseboy" caught on Google Streetview camera.
Other funny photos too.
Check it out.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Forget the Summer Job
I feel like this article addresses many issues that may contribute to the bad summer job market for teens, but fails to mention anything about the minimum wage, which I think is the real culprit.
There is a broad consensus among economists that the minimum wage is a form of price control and in fact leads to higher unemployment, especially among the least skilled (teens, immigrants) workers among us. The above article tells of the effects, but I don't gives the whole story.
Also, check out this letter from a business owner to his employees addressing the link between the minimum wage and their cutback in work hours.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
One More Lost Thing: Unanswered Questions
Take 2. I tried to embed the video, but it didn't fit correctly.
This link shows a video asking about all the unanswered issues in Lost. A good recap.
This link shows a video asking about all the unanswered issues in Lost. A good recap.
Monday, May 24, 2010
For All You Losties
This article has a nice summary of the blogosphere's reaction to the Lost finale.
Personally, I vacillate between satisfaction and frustration. My question is still Why? I wanted to feel resolution, knowledge, why it all happened. It's almost as if we need a spiritual book explaining the meaning of the characters' alternate reality in Los Angeles and why it was created by/for them. Even if "Lost" was never meant to refer to the island but to their lives it doesn't make much sense of the alternate reality in Los Angeles.
Sigh. It was fun while it lasted though and gives us something to discuss, which is all we want to do with Lost in the first place.
Personally, I vacillate between satisfaction and frustration. My question is still Why? I wanted to feel resolution, knowledge, why it all happened. It's almost as if we need a spiritual book explaining the meaning of the characters' alternate reality in Los Angeles and why it was created by/for them. Even if "Lost" was never meant to refer to the island but to their lives it doesn't make much sense of the alternate reality in Los Angeles.
Sigh. It was fun while it lasted though and gives us something to discuss, which is all we want to do with Lost in the first place.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Too Good to Pass Up
This article about despotism serving a purpose is "enlightening."
It is the natural progression of republics: freedom and prosperity shrink unless guarded.
It is the natural progression of republics: freedom and prosperity shrink unless guarded.
Time Well Spent
Good to know what the House is up to these days, beer is pretty important.
My family recently drove to the Bay Area of CA for my aunt's wedding. I wish I could have been in attendance, but was honored to be in my roommate, Matt's wedding the same weekend in New Mexico. It was great.
But while my family was driving home on Sunday I was talking with them on the phone, and my dad said he had trouble hearing me due to the poor condition of the roads. This was along a major interstate highway, the famous I-5. He made the (I would say correct) connection between the poor road conditions and the state's budget crisis. California is a case in point of what happens to governments that do not operate within the realm of economic reality. Things simply cannot be doled out or consumed without some cost. Pretty soon governments must face reality, usually in the form of recessions, inflation, collapse of the state, etc. The Federal government has a little more time to delay the inevitable due to their ability to print money, unlike states. If a state does it, it's illegal. But somehow the Federal Government can do it through the Federal Reserve which is overseen by congress. The Fed produces a valueless paper rather than a valuable coin. The Constitution permits congress to coin money and fix the standard of weights and measures but prohibits states from coining money. Illusions rarely remain illusions for long.
My family recently drove to the Bay Area of CA for my aunt's wedding. I wish I could have been in attendance, but was honored to be in my roommate, Matt's wedding the same weekend in New Mexico. It was great.
But while my family was driving home on Sunday I was talking with them on the phone, and my dad said he had trouble hearing me due to the poor condition of the roads. This was along a major interstate highway, the famous I-5. He made the (I would say correct) connection between the poor road conditions and the state's budget crisis. California is a case in point of what happens to governments that do not operate within the realm of economic reality. Things simply cannot be doled out or consumed without some cost. Pretty soon governments must face reality, usually in the form of recessions, inflation, collapse of the state, etc. The Federal government has a little more time to delay the inevitable due to their ability to print money, unlike states. If a state does it, it's illegal. But somehow the Federal Government can do it through the Federal Reserve which is overseen by congress. The Fed produces a valueless paper rather than a valuable coin. The Constitution permits congress to coin money and fix the standard of weights and measures but prohibits states from coining money. Illusions rarely remain illusions for long.
Monday, May 10, 2010
A Few Interesting Links
The Atlantic has a video posted of a drug bust of a nice looking suburban home. The article has an interesting take on it. I wonder if it's real and what the real back story is on the perpetrator. Either way it's intense. Be aware that it is a little jarring.
Also, this dude has survived for 70 years without food and water?
Obama doesn't like Xboxes. They are bad for democracy.
Also, this dude has survived for 70 years without food and water?
Obama doesn't like Xboxes. They are bad for democracy.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Understanding the Conflict in Afghanistan
If you want to comprehend what exactly is going on, simply reference this crystal clear Powerpoint slide which was presented to military commanders.
No problem.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wage at the Minimum
I am a minimum wage guy. Well, almost. I get 10 cents more per hour ($7.35) than the federal minimum wage requires.
The default opinion on minimum wage laws seems to be Higher! One major reason being for those who are supporting children, single parent homes especially. Also the mystically defined "living wage."
Every so often I think about the mandated minimum wage and it makes my stomach turn a little. There are faulty, yet well intentioned lines of thought wrapped up in the issue.
The first one I think of is why stop at $7.25 an hour? If we want people to have full lives with all opportunities available to them, let's hike it up to $50 or $100 an hour. I feel it would be difficult to find someone who believes that would work out well for more than a month. Companies cannot pay that much. So why think they can pay $7.25 an hour or any other "low" rate? How many firms close because of this unaffordable price control? It merely creates shortages, nothing else.
Allowing companies to pay a rate they determine to be affordable would not be a bad thing. Entry level jobs would be more plentiful, there would be more firms thus increasing competition, not only in product or service pricing but in wages as well, which would be beneficial for workers. Benefits would increase as well.
It's an issue that is easily sold to voters by politicians because of its assumed value, thus making it popular to say one is for raising the minimum wage.
The default opinion on minimum wage laws seems to be Higher! One major reason being for those who are supporting children, single parent homes especially. Also the mystically defined "living wage."
Every so often I think about the mandated minimum wage and it makes my stomach turn a little. There are faulty, yet well intentioned lines of thought wrapped up in the issue.
The first one I think of is why stop at $7.25 an hour? If we want people to have full lives with all opportunities available to them, let's hike it up to $50 or $100 an hour. I feel it would be difficult to find someone who believes that would work out well for more than a month. Companies cannot pay that much. So why think they can pay $7.25 an hour or any other "low" rate? How many firms close because of this unaffordable price control? It merely creates shortages, nothing else.
Allowing companies to pay a rate they determine to be affordable would not be a bad thing. Entry level jobs would be more plentiful, there would be more firms thus increasing competition, not only in product or service pricing but in wages as well, which would be beneficial for workers. Benefits would increase as well.
It's an issue that is easily sold to voters by politicians because of its assumed value, thus making it popular to say one is for raising the minimum wage.
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