Brian in Mpls

Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind by Tim Groseclose

2012-01-26T13:44:00.000-06:00

I just finished Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind by Tim Groseclose and just want to record some initial thoughts. As most people, who read this blog, if there is anyone out there still, are aware I tend to lean left of center on most issues and so this is probably not a book you would see me reading. That said I really enjoyed it. 1.)I love anyone who can present evidence in a clear and logical way and Groseclose does that beautifully. I appreciate that all of his assumptions are on the table from his point of view to data collection and to be honest although I think everyone assumes the media to be liberally biased I found the results to be fascinating as to the extent and implication.2.)I put this book down and walked away and was acutely aware at how sloppy and weak my critical thinking has become when it comes to the new I read and watch. 3.)There is an example in the book that has to do with the reporting of the Bush tax cuts and seeing the data presented from both sides (like reporting is supposed to do) I would have honestly sided with Bush on the issue had they been fully presented at the time. This leads me to wonder what other positions I am defending without knowing all of the facts. 4.)Surprisingly the offense that I took to this book was as an atheist not a liberal. I believe in data, I think the study is sound, but just because something is centrist doesn’t make it true.**Future possible study. One thing that I couldn’t shake was the weighting concept and the scope of items measured. Although I have no data to support this position I would like to jot down some thoughts for further possible study on the subject. In my personal life the book I finished reading prior to this was Boomerang by Michael Lewis about among other thing the European debt crisis. Now for example, like many people you can’t turn on the news these days without hearing Greece this and default that. I have probably heard 20 news reports on it, read 30 articles in the paper but how I now see that issue is framed by that book. Somehow that doesn’t seem to factor in to this. For example today is 1/26/2012 this is the New York Times Best Seller List. I guess you could pick any top reading list. How many are conservative? Liberal? Does that make a difference? What if the order of magnitude is so much bigger then reading a paper?***I know it is also not included in the study but similar to watching a one hour special on TV what impact does a message you are getting from a one hour sermon in church have on a user? Listening to Midmorning isn’t going to send you to Hell but ignoring the message of a sermon might? This could impact elasticity, right?**If the free market principal is at play and there is more underlying demand for conservative news papers or balanced opinion. Why hasn’t the sector shifted to more of a balance? If more people are conservative , have conservative demand, shouldn’t the free market system sort this out?

What Your Average Bed Time Says About You…

2012-01-24T06:24:00.000-06:00

I bet if you did a large enough regression analysis you would find the following: every hour past 9:00PM that an average person goes to bed correlates to an incremental increase in how many sexual partners they have had. For example a person whose average bed time is 9:00PM and person whose average bed time is 3:00 AM would have vastly different numbers in partners.There is also the inverse of this. The later a person arrives at the office in the morning the more partners they have had…since it tends to hold the later you are up the later you the later you arrive at the office. Think about that the next time you watch someone stroll in at 9:15.

App Idea #653789

2012-01-16T16:52:00.001-06:00

Wouldn't it be cool if you could design an app that took pictures and video of what the world looks like through the eyes of a dog or cat? You could have an app per pet type people would eat that up.

Check Mark – Finished – Completed

2012-01-12T07:43:00.002-06:00

Last night I gave my final presentation for my MBA and so it done. What will I do with all my new found free time? If I am smart I will fill it with jogging and salads. I wont miss class or papers but there is some good people I have met along the way:) Cheer and keep reaching for the stars:)

2012 GOP Field

2012-01-07T06:53:00.000-06:00

Even if I accept so called most negative statements made about Obama - He is socialism, Muslim, he is not a US citizen, change hasn't come fast enough etc. I would still rather vote for him than any person the GOP has offered up.If I was a republican I would be embarrassed.

Order Up

2012-01-05T06:04:00.000-06:00

I wonder if coaches cover up their mouths when ordering with the menu to avoid tipping off to the rest of the table what is coming next?

2011

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

I feel a little bit bad because I know this was a tough year for a lot of people but I can’t help but be amazed when I look back at how awesome 2011 actually was. I hit my entire personal development goals and objectives.I quit smoking.It was a year of wedding bells (Ours were the best, no offense ,I am biased) Mexican beaches, the completion of my masters, Phoenix sunrises and sunsets, Chelsea Handler drunk on stage, Twins games, a Saints game, One of the last performances of Mike DeStefona’s life.Dog walks, peddle pubs, Arsenic and Lace. Roofers and plumbing make over’s for goodness sakes. Country car trips into the heart of Wisco, golf lessons, books and movies and probably way too many drinks.It was a year of seemingly constant celebration. Of new beginnings.Of a few mournful endings. I feel somewhat strange to be so optimistic about the future when so many harbor so much doubt but as I look to the horizon of 2012 I do so with a big smile on my face, peace in my heart and a mind that is firing on all cylinders. For my wonderful wife and those who I have had the honor of spending time with this last year I thank you and I raise a glass in your names. Cheers

Birthday

2011-12-30T08:24:00.000-06:00

Today I celebrate my 34 birthday and begin my 35 revolution around the sun. More grey hair and pounds than I would like but wisdom gained from them has been priceless.I count my many blessings today and feel powerful momentum of moving in the direction of my choosing.

Pants

2011-12-29T06:08:00.000-06:00

I wonder why they don’t make Khakis that stay a certain color or that won’t change color when they get wet. Nothing like running late for a meeting and quick squirting one out, forgetting to double shake and showing up with a little urine blot on your pants. I bet the person who would be able to invent these pants would be a billionaire. Especially as the senior citizen population grows….maybe a new business venture for 2012?

Saint What?

2011-12-28T06:44:00.000-06:00

Sorry little vent had to spend some time with someone this week who would not shut up about how good it feels to help others and think a little BS has to be called. I mean how big of a saint can you be if you got paid for it? I mean I am glad have appearing to be righteous down to a science. I appreciate you have good intentions but you also get paid. You wouldn’t do it for free right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have asked to be paid.I understand that people can help each other and still make a living doing it but those people don’t tend to posture and throw how wonderful they think they are in everyone’s face. I don’t know maybe it is just me but when you put a price on it and won’t do it without a price it becomes a job and you lose the right to claim nobility about it.

These Steps

2011-12-27T06:32:00.000-06:00

I used to sit on these steps and smoke. Staring off into the distance and thinking about everything and nothing at all. Worrying about things that would never come to pass. Waiting on something that was supposed to happen. I feel foolish when I think of that boy. How much time he squandered. How many fingers he pointed. How many excuses he made. I am not sure when I decided to stop sitting on those steps. But I am glad I did.

Thoughts Expand Exponentially

2011-12-26T15:32:00.000-06:00

For a long time I thought that there was linear relationship to the ideas I could generate and the amount of knowledge that I consume. I see now that that is a correct statement up to a point. But at some point it starts to expand exponentially. Imagine my mind is like a refrigerator and all of the information I consume are like ingredients that fill the fridge. The quality of my ingredients is equal that which I select. Now as my fridge fills up there is a one to one relationship but at some point there is a realization that I can combine all of these items in different ways to come up with something different (idea) I realize that depending on what I purchased and put into the fridge I can make endless combinations of stuff that didn’t exist before. Learning how to combine these ingredients in ways then grows exponentially. Add to that it can also grow dimensionally once I learn about blenders, crockpots, the oven microwaves etc each one of those becomes another dimension.

Critics

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Thankfully your approval is not required for my happiness

Temperance

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

I stand in a position to fully appreciate the power of temperance and yet something in me denies it. It is a competing vision of the future the safe path that leaves me in good health and wealthy beyond my dreams. And the part of me that knows that doesn’t really mean anything and urges me to enjoy the ride and leave your body spent at the finish line. I would like to think temperance is somewhere in the middle.It probably is I think I am just an all or nothing person.

Thoughts on Finishing Up my MBA

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Final stretch is here. I am just waiting on presenting my final project and then it is complete. I can officially update my resume with those three little letters. In retrospect of completion just want to record the following thoughts.1.)I am glad I did it and it feels good. Although I view it more as an insurance policy than any sort of intellectual achievement. 2.)It was much more generic then I thought it would be. I went into it thinking it would help me to unlock the vast sea of capital markets and instead it was mostly a bunch of stuff I already knew.3.)I used to think people with advanced degrees were amazing people, smart, refined, now i know most of it is just BS. 4.)I learned more reading and in self directly study outside of the program then I did in it by an order of magnitude. 5.)Grade inflation is a joke.

Hebbs Rule and the Power of Thoughts

2011-12-19T06:25:00.000-06:00

Hebbs rule states that every time a correct decision is made those neural pathways are reinforced.
Correct isn’t quite the right word but we can see its power. Every time say an addict smokes or commits a behavior that is pleasing it reinforces the pathway of the brain. Repetition of behaviors over a long time get stronger and stronger.
This leads the control of the pathways that will be reinforced in the hands of the person. It is up to that person to define what is correct and then repetitiously complete that activity.

I can reinforce whatever I view as correct behavior, absent a role model I need to choice for myself what that behavior is. Thankfully over the long haul I have become better and better at which items to reinforce and which ones to diminish.
What behavior am I reinforcing today that is needs to change for the benefit of the long run.

Moore’s Law Reaching a Breaking Point?

2011-12-16T05:56:00.000-06:00

ok maybe not for another 20 years...

This is something I have never spent much time thinking about but in light of a few recent articles I am wondering how vast the impacts of it might be and maybe off souring the manufacture of technology to other parts of the world is a blessing in disguise. Like ticking time bomb placed picked up by your competitor.

Imagine for a moment that computers technology reaches a point where they can’t get faster or cheaper. Since next year’s model will not be any better than this year’s model there is no reason to upgrade your components. The market seizes. The high-tech manufactures producing items tank, the stores selling them tank etc.

I have always taken an optimistic view that science would find a way to keep the liner equation going but the more that I am understanding the limits of physics involved the process more I am starting to understand that there is a limit and we will hit it.

Maybe it is good that we off shore these services over the next 20 years and build more sustainable manufacturing bases here? We could be dodging a pending economic bomb and not even know it.

Blind Graffiti Artists

2011-12-14T06:47:00.002-06:00

I wonder if there are any blind graffiti artist. Ones who throw up dots for tags and just laughs that know one gets it?

December 12th

2011-12-13T06:45:00.000-06:00

What a difference a year makes. Last December 12th the Metro-dome collapsed under the weight of a blizzard. This year it is 40 degrees and I can still see all the grass on my lawn.

Exert from Boomerang by Michael Lewis

2011-12-12T06:50:00.002-06:00

This was a great short read this weekend and one of the best narratives on the European debt crisis I have read to date.

"Leverage buys you a glimpse of prosperity you haven't really earned."

"Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity a right, lawlessness as freedom, abrasive speech as equality and anarchy as progress."

Mathematical Symmetry

2011-12-10T08:59:00.000-06:00

Beautiful isn't it?

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111=12345678987654321

English Lesson: Then and Than

2011-12-09T06:35:00.001-06:00

I would rather cuddle then have sex...if you are good with grammar you will understand the lesson.

Classic lesson and good way to remember the difference

Link Between Teacher Salaries and Abuse Cases?

2011-12-08T05:59:00.001-06:00

I am starting to wonder if the decline in teacher’s salary actually puts children increasing at risk of child predators?

The theory is that a teacher makes a smaller percentage of salary for their skill in the class room then they would in the real world for example a trainer with a sports team makes $150,000.00 and a gym teacher makes $30,000. (I am totally making these numbers up just as an example)

Now in order to take a job that pays less salary presumably other incentives come into play. Sure some people trade money for summers off and some people trade more money because they like children. But this is where I think this can get skewed as the wage disparity between private sector opportunities and teaching positions widens it will start to produce more cases of molestation since a partial factor of choosing to teach will increasingly be an extreme love of children and the bucket of people who demonstrate this extreme love of children over financial compensation will in my hypothesis include increasing numbers of child predators, who have an ulterior motive or derived benefit to make up for the financial disparity.

Something to think about when voting down referendums?

Barbie = Bad?

2011-12-07T06:42:00.000-06:00

I recently read an article describing how crippled and horrific the experience would be if a real life woman had the same measurements and expectations of Barbie. How unrealistic it is to have an image that we can’t live up to as an idol?

But they might get a complex and not feel good enough about themselves….

People look up to Jesus and are never going to walk on water or turn water into wine.

Is it wrong to have an image beyond which you could realistically live up to in your life?

If I had a statue of Zeus or David in although I could never physically live up to the stereotype model would it be wrong for me to try?

This brings up and interesting concept about striving to be better than we currently are, even if it is unattainable.

What is better? Would it be better to have little obese Barbie’s? How many people die of heart disease compared to anorexia?

Why not make normal sized Barbie’s? Little plastic Venus de Milo’s it is more obtainable right? I think because deep down we want, long for and even deceive ourselves into believing in an ideal version of things. We see an idealized version of ourselves and want to play with or look up to something that is just beyond our reach. I don’t think that is bad.

And then after all this you realize it is just a fucking Barbie and if you want another idol for your kids to play with or live up take them down target and buy them something else.

Words of Wisdom

2011-12-06T06:55:00.000-06:00

In what you say of another, apply the test of kindness, necessity and truth, and let nothing pass your lips without a 2/3 majority. ~Liz Armbruster

Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow. ~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

Achieving Goals

2011-12-05T06:54:00.000-06:00

The only way I know how to achieve any particular goal is to write it down and divide the work to achieve it into meaningful (Reasonable) pieces and manage to complete it piece by piece day by day. I manage projects for a living it is what I do.

I would rather have a plan than not have one.

I think it also makes other people around me uncomfortable. That is ok. Their reaction will not stop me from moving life forward.

Color of Your Mind?

2011-12-03T14:41:00.000-06:00

If you are born deaf and blind what language would you think in?

Would your thoughts be in sign language or brail?

The House that Built Me

2011-12-02T06:49:00.000-06:00

On 50th and Xerxes in South Minneapolis sits a little house. A little house where I was born. I walked to school from down the alley, played with my neighbors, through mid pies at garages. It was a small house. It was the house that I knew what family meant.
We moved out of that house into a much larger house in an upscale suburb. I watched as money worries evaporated what I knew about family. Over reaching for the American dream pulled apart the strand and dumped them like a pearl necklace snapped off a neck.
I learned something interesting

You can only help someone who is sinking in quick sand from a vantage point of not being in the quick sand yourself. In essence you have to save yourself first before you can save others.

I think self preservation gets a bad rap

Financial mismanagement can undermine the strongest bonds.

Take lots of smart small risks instead of big ones.

Chasing someone else’s dream is dangerous.

I don’t need much to be happy.

Once relationships are damaged they are really hard to repair.

Going it alone is scary, exhilarating and generally frowned upon by others.

While that house is still there it belongs to someone else now. Now is my turn to build a house that will know what family is once again.

Golden Financial Ratio

2011-12-01T06:48:00.000-06:00

(This concept has not been fully flushed out yet, just jotting the thought down to come back to it later)

One of the greatest things that you have as a child is time. Unfortunately you are too stupid to know how valuable that it actually is. I think that there exists a gold ratio although in my mind I debate on the correct portions over time. The general principal is this if you have a $100 and are thirty it would make more sense in the long term to invest that $100 then to spend that $100 since it will work harder for you compounding over time. However you can’t just save everything you have to live your life too plus fix stuff. So my budget philosophy has become something like this.

Anything you spend above necessities has to be directly proportional to the amount of money that you for example for every dollar you save you can spend 50 cents so if your disposable income is $15,000 you save ten you can spend $5000.00 the trick I have noticed is if I set the savings goal first. Say in the year saving I have to reach X before I spend Y then I reach my savings goals much earlier and with greater accuracy then if I just spend and save as I go.

But as time winds down that ratio changes and starts to hit parity. When I am 75 I might as well just spend $100 rather than save a $100.

Few Things I Like Breakfast Edition

2011-11-30T06:47:00.000-06:00

Few things I like but fail to take the time to make.

1.)Eggs Benedict - Poached Eggs, Canadian bacon and Hollandaise sauce you have to be kidding me I love it. I hate making hollandaise sauce at home though and I can never get my eggs just right.

2.Biscuits and Gravy another classic that just happens to take way too much time. Made with hot sausage and thick gravy over fresh biscuits..nom nom nom

3.) Screwdriver what the hell it is the weekend…I have an on again off again love affair with the bloody mary and currently we are on a time out and screw drivers are in.

It is a curious thing I am willing to make elaborate dinners with no problem but I just get won’t spend the time to do the same on breakfast. I know I can just as easily go out for breakfast but somehow getting moving during the morning on the weekend just seems like such a low priority. Maybe that is why I like them so much when I do get them.

Democratic Vices

2011-11-29T07:04:00.003-06:00

"Flattery of the people and incapacity to resist public opinion are democratic vices, particularly among writers, artists, journalist and anyone who is dependent on an audience."

--Allan Bloom

Randoms #65471

2011-11-25T09:29:00.000-06:00

"Let’s be real if Jesus took your wheel he would probably steer you into a bridge"

"Women these days would rather jump out of a cake then bake one"

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T11:16:00.001-06:00

I feel especially thankful this year. It is amazing what a difference a year can make. I am married to a wonderful woman. I quit smoking and I feel great. I have been surrounded by lots of people I love. I am seeing the buds on the tree of plenty starting to sprout. I am truly grateful for everything that I have in my life and all of the people who share in it.

The Best Health Advise Ever

2011-11-23T06:11:00.000-06:00

I came across the following statement that has become such a powerful visual in my mind that it has started to reshape how I look at every meal I eat.

“You dig your grave with your teeth”

It is a slow process but eventually how you die is going to be linked to what you eat. I get it. That cheese burger is not going to kill me today but I carve out a little piece of earth with each greasy bit…

Neighbor Wars Minnesota Style

2011-11-22T06:12:00.002-06:00

What do you do when your neighbor will not rake? Talk to them about it? How about go to the store and buy a series of volleyball nets and create a leaf barrier in between your two yards?

I pass by this house on the way to work and always get a chuckle out of it. Especially when you see neighbors blowing leaves back over fences..lol Priceless.

Passive Aggressiveness at its finest.

Random Thoughts on the History of Things

2011-11-21T06:47:00.000-06:00

Say I go to sleep in tip Florida in the year 1000 and my body is moved by ideas and technology to Seattle in the current year of 2011. When I wake and try to describe my current surrounding. When I assess my current situation how important is the history of what happened to me while I was asleep? How important were the ideas that came and went, the philosophy that reigned and then fell out of favor, the political movements that transpired. How important is the history?

I am conflicted on the answers that swirl in my head. Part of me says that history is important since it provided the context for how I am where I am. It shows me by contrasting my previous experience by my current experience. It says these things are different it is no longer warm, this rain is freezing etc. Context that it designs for me also clouds my ability to see it shadows it through assumptions.

Now if I was born in Seattle had nothing to do with Florida does the fact of that transition of ideas occurred to others make any difference to me?

Do we really repeat history if we don’t learn from it? Or does history repeat because we have human qualities like greed, need for validation, desire, anger, manipulation, guilt and with a finite set of emotions and command for understanding them we enter a cosmic form of pinball that collides these reactions in such a way that wars will happen, travesties will happen, people will steal, etc? Then the says is not history shows us but human nature teaches us.

Surely I can learn to build a plane and learn how to fly it without the need to trace the history of aviation back to the Wright Brothers or the drawings of Davinci.
Surely I can answer the philosophical questions of why fly? Is it right to fly? Or how can one fly better without this history.

Why then is history so important? It is important to know your history. It is important to know where you come from? In previous life times it was important to know your linage since your medical history was attributed more towards guess work of your relatives fates then towards scientific certainty. But knowing you position where you come from could also hurt you couldn’t it? An invisible shackle that links you to some past event that has no basis on the present but inevitably shapes it.
At this moment I am struggling to find a reason why history is so so crucial and not seen as a hindrance I am sure it will come to me just not today and I am not sure why.

Snow Falling on Minneapolis

2011-11-19T19:45:00.002-06:00

Seeing this snow falling today and walking through the falling flakes reminded me of the following poem

as the snow fell by Rg Gregory
the children played games
getting from here
to where the truth was
without touching a flake

needless to say
the only ones who got there
were liars

but while the honest ones
shrank back from
the touch of snow
the liars
were where the truth was

Drought

2011-11-18T06:30:00.000-06:00

Some notes from the dry journal public for posterity.

120 Hours …5 Days
As of this evening it has been 5 days since my last drink and surprisingly I feel really good. Lots of energy, clear focused mind and not at all as edgy as expected. Sleep patterns so far have been normal and refreshing. Although I will not be stepping on a scale until another 40 days have passed I am almost certain I have lost a few pounds already. Two notes to self the increased water and increased walks seem to help immensely reduce the headaches and withdrawal impacts. Weekends are always the toughest but I think I will be fine if I stay busy and keep focused on the end prize. Lose weight, self worth, prove to yourself you can do this, the whole purpose is to become re-aware of your life and its fulfillment and to lose some weight fatty. So far I must admit I feel good and haven’t had to pass up to many events yet. +

192 Hours…8 Days
Survived a weekend alone. The say the true you is how you act when no-one is looking. The I guess the true me is awesome and full of all kinds of will power.

216 Hour…9 Days
Went to the bar for my first time with a group of people drinking. Just had soda water with a lime and didn’t feel as awkward as I thought I would. No one was looking at me funny. I didn’t really feel tempted or left out either. All of the feelings I thought I was going to have never really happened. I felt good…even I know it will be weird to say but cool. I was quieter than normal but that could have been just as much with logistics as it was with not drinking the nucleolus of the event was to my right and I was on the end and couldn’t hear very well. Overall I would say it was a success and now onto day 10

360 Hours…15 Days
Was ready to cash it all in this weekend and give it up. What devilish temping event triggered this urge to abandon my mission? Stress? Shakes? Withdrawal? Temptation by others? I was willing to chuck it all in for nothing other than pure boredom. I wonder what other people do with their lives. I figured on average using receipts from the last 3 months that not drinking saves me an average of $12 dollars a day so in 15 days I have saved $180.00. I think my biggest problem is that my mind just never shuts off. It just hums sometimes to a depressing and gloomy end. I often wonder why I am such a positive person when my mind can reach no other conclusion than this is all pointless. I also wonder if my timing of this event may be squandering a narrowing window to enjoy this brand of freedom.

504 Hours – 21 Days $252.00
Still no major concerns, feel good although weight loss has kind of leveled off at 8 pounds will need to switch it up. Went to the bar this weekend to watch football. It was not as fun admittedly but I didn’t feel bad and was under no stress about driving or finding cabs or anything it was just kind of easy, smart and responsible and actually felt good.

792 Hours – 33 Days $396.00
Only 9 pound or total weight loss but 3 inches from the waist line difference is something that I will take. My little experiment has come to an end but it is definitely an exercise I am happy I completed.

Marketing Idea – Recipe Me

2011-11-17T06:17:00.000-06:00

Almost everyone I know brings a signature dish to a party. Whether it is artichoke dip, tator tot hot dish, etc. and inevitably people are going to ask for the recipe. Why not have the recipe printed on the back of business cards you could pass out? Although this might just be a regional idea since in the Midwest potluck, football Sundays and neighborhood cookouts are almost sacred.

Other things you could personalize on the back of your business cards?

Top ten business book recommendations.

Or really any top tip list for your industry.

Product Idea #25212 – Reflective E-Book Reader.

2011-11-16T12:27:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the crude picture.

One thing that always bothers me as a slightly overweight man from the Arctic North is that when I finally do get to sit in the sun for some reading I get weird tan lines on my neck. Butt white concentric circles that just clash with the tan look I am going for.
The picture above is a proof of concept to mash two like ideas a solar reflector and an e-book reader holder.
The green 1’s are reflector panels.
It has straps to hold the reader in and a felt back to prevent the reader from overheating.
In my mock up I also devised a locking clip that keeps the readflector or e-flector in position denoted with the red like although have found that it is not really needed..
If the tint on the reflectors is correct I think that you could design it so that you wouldn’t have the glare interfere with your reading otherwise you would need glasses and just exchange nick rings for raccoon eyes.

Any good feedback? Anyone want to hook up on an idea or have an idea\ start-up circle please put me in.

Pinocchio = Creepy

2011-11-16T06:16:00.000-06:00

Let’s be real this is a little creepy an old guy creates a little boy in his garage.

The movie mannequin also is probably a little inappropriate but at least a little more accurate and acceptable. I mean we have all had a blowup doll that comes to life when no one is looking right?

Why Blog?

2011-11-15T06:49:00.001-06:00

I hear this a lot in a world of tweet s and YouTube videos. No one is commenting or reading your posts anymore so why continue? The simple answer is I do it for me.
I do it to liberate thoughts from my mind. To put my thinking, prejudices, assumptions and failings on public display for critic and ridicule. My goal in this day and age of personal branding is not to appear perfect but to become better than I am right now. This only comes with exposing recesses to light not to polishing shadows on the wall.

The biggest critic of my thoughts is my future self. Reading this idea. This mental mile post sometime in the future in a new light. Sometimes thinking of genius and sometimes wondering if I was thinking at all.
That is the beauty of this page for me. It is a mapping of my mind. As it expands and contracts. As it gets stuck in loops. As it breaks new dimensions it didn’t even know were there.

I hear concerns about the image that I am projecting. When I hear that word I shudder. Image. I think of Hollywood sets, scripted. Think about an image a still frame. Is that you? A person reduced to a logo. Catch phase in 140 characters. A stone skipping across the surface of life.

Profiling for Non-Residents

2011-11-14T06:25:00.000-06:00

Profiling, the extrapolation of information about something, based on known qualities.

Profiling is illegal in Minnesota. Follow me on this one for a second on my way to work I take an expressway from my city that allows me to quickly by-pass a city on the way to the city in which I work. Every day there are cops from the city I by-pass on the expressway pulling people over for speeding.

Since the expressway is only used by people who do not live in that city to bypass that city. Couldn’t I make the agreement that by conducting that speed trap they are profiling people who are not residents? Hence profiling just by the nature of where they are conducting the operations? Making the process of a speed trap illegal?
Since 68% of the speeding tickets issued by this city are issued on this expressway unfairly targeting non-residents couldn’t a case be made to overturn all speeding tickets issued since the cops are profiling for non-residents?

Night Indicator

2011-11-11T06:05:00.000-06:00

An interesting indicator comes out this time of year. When day light savings hits and it is dark at five o'clock at night you can really see the office space that is vacant because it is dark.

The good news there is less darkness then last year this time.

Bad news is there is still a lot of darkness.

Salvation and Redemption

2011-11-10T06:47:00.000-06:00

Two words that have always bothered me. And for some reason when people find out that I am an atheist they seem to be among the first words uttered.

What do you need salvation or redemption from and why? Who is doing it and why?

I am my own salvation and redeemer.

I do not need rescue.

I am not on a superstitious sinking ship.

I do not seek external atonement for my guilt for your quackery is rendered useless here. As the boy pointed to the emperor and said he is naked I so too point at you and your implied power and call you that which you are, which is nothing more than a tax exempt charlatan.

Do I really have 99 Problems?

2011-11-09T06:37:00.000-06:00

Can a person have 99 problems? I guess the more mo money = mo problems so maybe I just don’t make enough money to have enough problems? I guess it also depends on how you define problems. I have some issues I would like to work on, so for the sake of trying to complete this exercise I will list issues I wish I could fix as problems.
I suppose it also depends on the gain of how we define the problems for example I need to lose 20 pounds is that a probably for each pound or just a meta problem of being overweight? I will assume Jay Z take a 10,000 foot view of things so I will keep these at the meta grain. Although there is contrary evidence in the song that he is counting at a smallerl grain.

1.) Stucco Patching
2.) Back steps need replacing
3.) Garage Rebuild
4.) Main Level Floor Replace
5.) Bathroom Tile
6.) Slightly Over weight
7.) Don’t make enough money to be a baller
8.) Small “features”
9.) Don’t really like my car
10.) The whole mouth breathing thing

I guess I am better off then Jay –z since I only have ten problems and a bi tc h anint one.

I guess we would all be so lucky if these were our problems so don’t feel bad for me son

Interesting Encounter

2011-11-08T06:36:00.000-06:00

Was looking to farm out some side work to a contractor for a couple months and have been interviewing candidates. In an interesting twist one of the people I interviewed was someone who I went to high school with. I didn’t recognize the name at first but he was someone a bit older who ran with the cooler, wealthier kids. Someone who would not have talked to me in years past. It was an awkward interview to say the least. I don’t think he knew who I was which was actually flattering. It made me think a lot about where I was then and where I am now.

1.)I was mean to a lot of people due to some insecurity about myself. For anyone who might stumble in here who I ever made feel small I am sorry.

2.)Minneapolis is the biggest small city in the world.

3.)I feel 80% bad for and 20% envy for people who have had the same group of friends since high school.

4.)I have come a long way, it wasn’t easy and or pretty but man it feels good.

Data Dictionary

2011-11-07T06:35:00.000-06:00

Something that is deemed extremely important, never used and usually created in vain only to be outdated immediately.

Three Reasons I am a Bigger Geek Than I Need to Be

2011-11-04T06:10:00.000-05:00

1.)Dressing:
I am a terrible dresser. If I would take 10 minutes more to get ready in the morning and listen to my fashion forward wife I would probably look 10 times better. My biggest problem is I tend to be a function person. Working is some form of IT team for the last 10 years has afforded me the ability to look like a slob most of the time. Khakis and a button down shirt are the norm even if matching them to a similar color scheme isn’t. This is an easy fix spend a little bit of time Sunday preparing outfits and listen to those who know best.

2.)Mouth Breathing:
A broken nose that was poorly set and left a lot of cartilage jammed in the air way has turned me into a mouth breather with horrible consequences. I breath loud, I snore, I have some dragon breath at times. This is an easy but semi expensive fix I just don’t know if I can justify. Little nose job and everything can be back to normal.

3.)Introverted :
I tend to be introspective this has been escalated recently with being on the wagon. Simple fix here need to get out more……………daddy need a drink

Shape of Thing to Cum

2011-11-03T06:39:00.000-05:00

I always get a kick out of people who see Jesus or Mary’s face in a say a piece of toast or a rust stain. I wonder why you never see expelled spunk on eBay in the shape of the Virgin Mary. Some paper towel with a protein outline of the king of kings. I mean when you think about how many times every day these packets are shot about in the world, statistically speaking, of these white Rorschach tests has to have been in some arbitrary religious shape. You couple that the number of times this act is now filmed in high def and someone has to have seen something.

Yet there are no such articles available on eBay.

This must be some conspiracy.

Meta Verbs

2011-11-02T06:38:00.000-05:00

Are you really fishing if you don’t catch anything? Or at the point of catching something are you ceasing to fish and actually catching? Or maybe more importantly reeling? I supposed you reel without having to have a fish on the end though? I guess my problem with fishing might be wrapped up in you never know what they are doing? When I say biking you know what someone is doing. They are peddling around I guess this happens in golf too where you could be swinging, walking, waiting, drinking, swearing….really when you think about it golfing and fishing are meta verbs that act as an umbrella for single verbs…holy shit I think I might have just invented and entire new branch of English study. Meta verbs….I wonder if this stunning revelation can count towards my doctorate….probably not.

Social Circle Tides

2011-11-01T06:10:00.002-05:00

They say that a person’s social circle changes over on average about once every seven years. As I look back on the years of my life I think that is probably close to accurate. Whereas most people might feel sad about this I think it is remarkable that we can walk this earth with so many different groups of people. We can become ghosts and memories in some circles while manifesting in others only to disappear altogether again.

Sometimes these memories are allowed to linger while other times they are exercised and removed.

While there are a few people that tend to remain cornerstones, the peripheral crowd tends to ebb and flow with difference. Like a tide going out and exposing new treasure with every cycle. I feel on the edge of a new change in circles and it is going to be interesting watching it happen. Fully aware of the transitions from manifestation to memories and awareness to manifestation.

To some it is Au revoir and to some it is hello.

Occupy Wrong Street

2011-10-29T10:33:00.000-05:00

I have been watching with interest the entire concept that has become Occupy Wall street and I struggle with what this movement actually means. I get it I mean a lot of people are pissed off. If I was out of work and had to picked up the news paper to read about bail outs, excessive compensation packages , I would be angry.

But the issue has to boil down to an outcome right. What do you want to change because of these protests? No more rich people? It seems that the protest has targeted the wrong lever. It should be going at how the system becomes corrupted in the first place. If you want to make real change – Protest for campaign reform. The rich and powerful people of this great land will continue to maintain undue influence as long as the people making the rules are dependent on them for money to get reelected. In my opinion that is the lever that is fundamentally broken and instead of occupy wall street it should be occupy lobbyist capital.

I don’t have a problem with people making lots of money with living in towering mansions while people starve. That may sound awful. But I am awful sometimes. The problem that I do have is when this money allows for the subversion of the democratic process.

I don’t blame rich people for wanting to protect the wealth I blame the people we elected to safe guard our political system with letting them do it.

I struggle to find the difference between political contributions and bribes.

PS I think the ways this is slipping into everyday talk are already way past their welcome. i.e Occupy Couch, Occupy Nap, Occupy %#^#%^ etc

People Been Foxed - Obama Scorecard

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

This graphic has been displayed on and reshared on several social networking sites and it needs to be addressed because it is misleading.

1.)In order to do this I need to address the ironic nature of the exercise itself. Those people who keep resharing this are defending it as the truth. Notice there are no sources listed on this diagram by the nature of the content it has obviously been put together by someone with a republican agenda. Even though there are no sources listed on this diagram people will attack mine as if my sources are the problem not the “mysterious sources” used here. I encourage attacking my sources and sending your own it will only make my argument stronger.

2.)Inauguration date is specific however ,today is not and open to interpretation. I could assume that today means the end of 2010 since you could only do an apples to apples calculation for say debt per person using the last known figures for population which were the 2010 census results but since that calculation doesn’t equal the answer on this graph I can only assume that the creator of the graph picked an arbitrary date after looking at the data that would provide them with the best results. Some of the answers are just false using any available statistics I can not recreate where this number is coming from or how the person is calculating.

a.However to make the data meaning and answer the question is the change really negative I will use the yearly national average comparing 2007 last year of predecessor to the most current year end which is 2010(this avoids being able to cherry pick monthly data. )

3.)I am also going to challenge another embedded assumption. The creator of this graph wants you to believe two things

a.That this value on inauguration is the value it was in the past. For example gas was $1.85 until Obama took office and then it sky rocketed. This is a complete fallacy as gas was nationally above $4.00 while Bush was in office and the market movement occurred right before his inauguration. (Which happens to be in January, when demand for gas is at the lowest)

b.This graph also make the assumption that the only thing that matters in these figures is the US Government. It fails to acknowledge the role of global markets, China and India’s increased demand and US Government activities that happened prior to his term that have an impact on these numbers such as the Bush Tax Cuts, War on Terror, Financial Bailout Package, Medicare Part C and D ect.
While some of these metrics could be debated in a 50 page thesis my intent here is only to debate a few of these that would have the least amount of controversy and the most reliable amount of public data.

Global Competitive Index
Let me start with one I don’t dispute. One that is probably not familiar to most people. The movement in global competitiveness from 1-5 as stated by the World Economic Form. (http://www.weforum.org/members) First what is the World Form? It is a group of the largest companies in the world. How do these companies decide the rankings? If you find out let me know. Here is the current ranking :

As an illustration: Am I surprised that Visa was upset over the caps on transactions fees and dropped its score of the US? Not really. Does this score mean that you are worse off or better off? Depends on how you feel about transaction fees as a small business. (What sounds worse four place drop or .05 reduction in score from large companies?) Are US companies set to leave for Sweden and Finland?

Gas Prices
Information varies widely this is the source that I used http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.cfm?t=ptb0524
For the year of 2007 the nominal value of a gallon of unleaded gas was 3.007 for 2010 last full year of data it was 2.519 (3.007-2.519)/3.007 = 16% decrease in gas prices since he took office. I think largely this is a benchmark that is more of a market function then a political one but still.

Health Care Premiums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnUfPQVOqpw Can’t think of a better rebuttal than this video. Yes your premiums have gone up but it is looking at a larger issue. :50-1:30 This static is looking a specific individuals premium amount not the larger picture that the plan is trying to solve for the future. The “change” that is being directed is a much more global level and when the global view is focused on the individual increase makes sense.

Misery Index
There are several of these next ones that are interrelated and subject to the same fallacy. What is the misery index for example? It is the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. What does that mean? Not a whole lot other then Arthur Okun thought it was cool. According to him Americans has the most miserable time of their lives in 1980…you know what I remember about 1980 The Empire Strikes back
http://www.miseryindex.us/ - Great website something I would bank my future on.

Unemployed Americans – Unemployment Rate – Federal Debt – Debt Per Person – Food Stamp Recipients – Americans in Poverty – Health Care Insurance Premiums
All of these topics are worthy of lengthy debate as to their accuracy what isn’t reflected in this graph is the changes that are leading to these figures.

1.)Markets conditions have caused mass amounts of lay-offs period. I will not debate the causes of those contractions here but what I will address is that the government can only employee people through stimulus or more spending. When that is voted a down there is not much the government can do to change these numbers.

2.)Massive amounts of debt can be attributed to Bush Tax Cuts, Iraq War, Financial Bailout Package, Medicare Part C and Medicare Part D.

3.)If you want to really do a challenge of the cost and impact of “Obama care” on premiums and debt and exclude the impacts of these prior initiatives on present results you are not looking at a correct picture.

4.)Changing demographics as the baby boomer generation retires there is more demand on social programs.

5.)As we recall troops from war which make up one of the largest unemployed populations in the country we are increasing some of these figures.

6.)Global completion and pricing are having an impact across the board too.
http://www.bls.gov/ - For some further analysis on Employment numbers.

Conclusion

When I say someone has been “FOXed” what I mean is that they believe without question or looking holistically at an issue what a talking head has presented as fact. I highly doubt any of the people who posted this graphic knew what misery index or global competitive position actually mean, who or how they are calculated. To be fair there are a lot of liberals who do the same thing.

This debate has been going on over several different feeds and social network sites over the last week. I have been called a socialist, communist, a liberal nut, a child that receives a bad report car and is looking to blame others for the marks.
If researching and questioning something equates to any these items it is a title that I gladly accept. I realize that more of these barbs are in good fun and I hope parts of this can be considered in the same way.

The truth is Obama campaigned on and change is hard. The truth is the president no matter who that person is will have little impact on the current employment figures we see. I think it is also true that we are all the children pointing fingers at the people we feel responsible for the current situation instead of looking at ourselves and wondering what can as an individual do to change them.

My personal bias is that we are moving in the right direction, that it is darkest before the dawn. That significant change comes from small course directions over a long period of time. I shudder at the mere thought Perry, Bachman, Cain, Paul coming into office.

That said I appreciate all of the people who participated in these discussions. Even if I don’t agree with you I appreciate your wiliness to defend a position for you make me more diligent and aware and it is evitable that a few my own assumptions over turn.

New Business Idea #25461

2011-10-28T06:34:00.000-05:00

Industry: Home Care
Name: Vinocare or Vinosolutions
Premise if you are feeling bad and lonely someone comes over and drinks some wine with you. Kind of like meals on wheels except you get smashed together.

Come and Go

2011-10-27T06:32:00.001-05:00

What makes people move out of the city?
Fear >( Concern /motivation) ^pride in where you live – other options?
What makes people move back? Gas > Afford

A little tongue and cheek but think about that, I bet we will clean up our city and modernize our schools at $5.00 a gallon.

Murder Rates

2011-10-26T06:31:00.000-05:00

I wonder if murder rates are really the best way to judge if a city is getting safer or more dangerous. I mean we have to be getting better at treating gunshot victim’s right? Medical treatment and response times going up would mean less people die from their injuries but less people dying than before does not mean the same thing as we are safer than ever before. I think medically admitted for gunshot (stab wound) wound treatment would be a better metric to track.

How to be a better dick

2011-10-25T06:03:00.000-05:00

Some lessons I have been learning from one of the best lately that I thought I would share.
1.)Leave trash on the counter when you are paying for stuff so the cashier has to throw away your stuff.

2.)When go to a party don’t bring anything, if you usually don’t bring anything take something from the party to go.

3.)On your treat day for work bring only enough treats for half the people.

4.)When it is other peoples treat day take two of what they brought and complain about whatever it is.

5.)Take up two parking spots because you’re special.

6.)Don’t stop for pedestrians they are not important, if they were they would be in a car.

7.)Brag about how much money you make and then leave a 5% tip.

Toast to Love

2011-10-24T06:46:00.000-05:00

(Scribbling of a wedding toast to my wife)

Love

Here is to love.
Here is to clinking glasses
Hugs from Friends
Warm Summer Days
And Nights that never end.

Here is to fires in the fall
As leaves trickle down
And warm and comfy blankets
Against winters fridget wall

For those who travel far
So they could be near
For those who couldn’t make it
Wish you were here
No matter what lies ahead
On this road of life
I am truly grateful
That you are my wife.

80% or 90%? Same Difference Right?

2011-10-22T06:44:00.000-05:00

No
4 out of 5 people X
9 out of 10 people X
Just for the record these are two different things. Two different totals. It doesn’t mean the same thing as one person out of an entire group is going to disagree. It means 80% and 90% of some sample that is probably easy poke hole in X’ed

Smoking as a Habit

2011-10-21T06:39:00.000-05:00

Driving past my old high school recently I couldn’t help but get a little sense of de ja vu seeing the little kids outside smoking. I mean that was me many years back. While it has been six months since my last cigarette and I have grown to hate the smell a part of me understands.

When your world as a kid has no consistency or is so topsy-turvy there is something extremely comforting in a habit. There is something comforting in sharing it with others. It is a consistent break, a consistent motion, a consistent feeling.
I notice that even as I removed cigarettes the need for a certain amount of ritual remains in my life. My lists, my routines. I think these remain as by-product of growing up with so much uncertainty of what the immediate and long term future might hold.

In a sense I tried to even out the wild swings in daily expectations with some sort of normalcy. With the small things I could control, often to my own determent.
I wonder what I tell a younger version of me. How I would help them make better decisions.
Then I remember a younger version of me wouldn’t have listened anyway.

Saved by the Grace of God

2011-10-20T06:32:00.000-05:00

The truth is you saved yourself you just don’t feel like you deserve to say that. Like it would be selfish if you decided to save yourself. It is ok. You earned it and deserve it don’t cheapen it by giving the credit away.

Computer Programming and Autism

2011-10-19T06:31:00.000-05:00

I have no proof of this in any level but just something that I have observed. I would be willing to bet that autism runs at a higher frequency in families that are of a highly technical nature. For example if you look at the incidence of autism you would find more incidences within an IT Team than within a sales team.

All Things Equal

2011-10-18T06:30:00.000-05:00

“He has really done well for himself at such a young age, masters from XXX and now a job at XXX, making XXX”

“That is great a master in mathematics of finance from XXX that is pretty impressive, have you done the calculation on the cost of your student loan yet..lol “ (I had just done mine so it was a legit question but it involved the subject)

“My parents were able to pay for it”

“Oh?..that’s great. Still it is a hard school to get into you should be proud”

“Well I am a legacy both my parents went there”

So are you a success or is this your parent success story? I guess success is being able to take opportunities as they come and capitalize on them but part of me loathes the arrogance of people who fail to realize that if all things were equal they would not be as successful as they think they are.

It is also a demonstration that the biggest advantage you can give your kids in life is a quality college education.

The God Delusion and its Negative Impact on Medical Research.

2011-10-17T06:28:00.001-05:00

This is not another post about the benefits of stem cell research. It is about something even more fundamentally flawed in the belief systems of religious people that keeps me up at night. It is the myth of the afterlife and its unintentional consequences.

The myth of the afterlife is how people can fly planes into buildings.

The myth of the afterlife is how people can strap bombs to their bodies and kill other human beings.

The myth of the afterlife is also the reason we fail to acknowledge our own mortality and take a lackadaisical approach as a society to medical research.

If we truly accepted our reality for what it is. That this life is all that we have. If we cherished it for what it is there should be no end to the amount of research and development we would devote to the curing of diseases and extending the quality of life.

I don’t want to die.

I don’t want people I love to die.

I believe that we have the capacity for the intellectual and technical skill required for curing cancer or Alzheimer’s.

I just think most people lack the focus or the willingness to accept the reality. This has devastating impacts not only to ourselves but to the people who we love.

Don’t pray for sick, don’t go to the church to light a candle, don’t make a donation to the diocese. These are sure fire ways to do nothing.

Do something real.

Put money in the right coffers.

Get off your knees and do.

Can you imagine the power we could have to change our future if everyone awoke from the myth of god and realized how precious, beautiful and fleeting this life is and how much of a difference a small amount of action by a large number of people can make?

Until we challenge the myth of the afterlife people will continue to blow each other up and millions of us will die while you pray for a miracle and fantasize about puffy clouds and harps.

Remember we are our own miracle.

In Columbus’s Defense

2011-10-15T13:30:00.000-05:00

Not to ruffle too many feathers but all of the negative attributes attributed to Columbus were all alive and well in America before he even set sail. The Aztecs and Inca's for but a small example both lead conquest wars decimating other "native tribes" taking slaves and conquering lands for their own material needs. The Aztecs for example were reaching a pinnacle of their regional domination during the period that the conquistadors arrived. If their empire extended they could well have decimated other so called indigenous tribes across Mexico and central America….yes unfortunately greed, lust , brutality, slavery, theft, rape and murder are not just a European construct.

Handy Man

2011-10-14T06:18:00.000-05:00

He is so handy. There are times when I take this personally. I am not particularly handy. I mean I can do some things don’t get me wrong, change a light fixture, snake a sink, install facets but not the real the big stuff. There is a skip and void there that every once in a while gets me.

99% of handy man didn’t pick those skills up on their own…they were not born handy…they don’t have some ingrained genetic ability or superiority. They usually learned that skill from their dad. When someone who happens to be handy makes fun of someone who isn’t I can’t help but be a little sad cause what I really hear is how come you can’t do this? Your dad must have not been there…and most of the time that is true.

Food Porn

2011-10-13T05:16:00.002-05:00

It is everywhere. I blame Top Chef. When a rack of lamb has its own website and tufu nuggets have a three page centerfold we have gone too far. I wonder if the proliferation of health food pictures will ever come under the same scrutiny as corn syrup, I mean both can cause obesity if not consumed in moderation right? One makes you hungry by tempting you with delicious images and causes over eating just the same as the empty calories in the other can….

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

2011-10-12T06:47:00.000-05:00

There is an expression that goes something like this, if I can see father it is because I am standing on the shoulders of giants. It is meant to encapsulate building off of something that someone else has already done. Taking it a step further.

I have been thinking about this in context to school a lot lately as I close in on the end of my MBA. Sitting in class and at home doing massive computations long hand seems like an incredible waste of time. I understand the need to see the fundamentals but shouldn’t I leverage the shoulders of others who have created things like calculators and Excel? Maybe we waste too much time learning the basics when the basics and how to do them have changed. I realize that you have to learn the basics before you can take the next logical step and learn how to apply the techniques in new ways that might lead to a new break through. But I wonder if there is a better way to do this.

50/50

2011-10-11T06:45:00.000-05:00

I realize that how others view my life depends on how I exit this one.

For example if I am gunned downed a gas station robbery as I was innocently pumping gas the news might state that local troubled kid who made good was cut down in the prime of his life before he could maximize the full potential.

But if I was the cause of an accident one night in which I was killed along side another car full of people I would be the deadbeat who never grow up and had problems with the law on and off his whole life.

For some reason I find this situation extremely liberating. It gives me pause during pivotal decisions that I am making to decide which side of the coin I want to be on if indeed this is the last flip.

It is kind of an absolution in a way all of the mistakes of your life can be forgiven if create an environment and history of being on the right side of the toss. Future actions in this sense can make past mistakes right. As long as you die doing the right things.

Brilliant\Horrific Circular Logic

2011-10-10T06:44:00.000-05:00

People will ridicule your believes and persecute you. In every major religion there is some variation of this theme. The propagator of the religion instructs the followers that some outside evil force will judge them and mock their belief and there is usually some reward for holding fast against these evil forces.

This horrifying circular logic is brilliant in most regards. For example the propagator states that you need to wear a sheet on your head if you don’t there will be some repercussion or withholding of reward.

Now if someone criticizes the sheet on their head instead of causing that person to examine that belief it reinforces the superstition. It becomes a self fulfilled prophesy. It actually gives the participant a greater sense of purpose. (They told me this would happen….no shit you are wearing a sheet on your head) Unfortunately for people caught in the circular reference questioning the reference is not something they are either unequipped to check or too afraid to check. It becomes some perverse sense of honor that sends chills down my back.

Loose Skin

2011-10-07T06:44:00.000-05:00

I have a terrible habit of picking the skin around my nails. You know the little flaps of skin that pop-up. I just grab them and rip them off like little skin ribbons.
I wonder why I don’t get them on other parts of my body?
Shouldn’t I get them on all my extremities? Toes? Other? Maybe the socks keep in natural oils? Maybe hand washing is destructive? Should I quit washing my hands? Wear gloves? I wonder what my ancestors who didn’t wash their hands or wear sock get them did they get them all over? Shouldn’t I get them on my face? I wash my face a lot too? It isn’t under a covering?
Guess that is all I got on skin ribbons…

Three Wishes

2011-10-06T06:29:00.000-05:00

I wish I had enough money to be happy – came true.

I wish I had a sexy girl to cuddle with through thick and thin – came true.

I wish I had secret ninja skills – stay tuned

I woke up today and realized that the beauty of life is that I am my own genie and have the infinite powers to grant my own wishes…that is as soon as quit waiting for someone else to go it for me.

Life

2011-10-05T06:28:00.000-05:00

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy". They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them they didn’t understand life."

-John Lennon

Roughly 45 Days

2011-10-04T06:04:00.000-05:00

Monday October 3 –November 23. My own personal detox. Wonder if I can survive and if I will have any friends on the other side. See you in a bit. Hopefully looking a lot leaner.

The First Awkward Conversation?

2011-10-03T06:02:00.000-05:00

Genesis 21
Set the scene: God has just created heaven and earth. The entire universe from scratch with the snap of his finger. Animals, plants, trees the whole nine yards. But to create woman he has to roofie Adam and steal a rib while he is passed out.
I often wonder to myself what Adams first words to God would have been after waking up.
“Whoa…..you did what?” WTF?

What would you say if someone put you to sleep and then performed major surgery you without your consultation?

How Would the Tea Party Rewrite Robin hood?

2011-09-30T06:27:00.000-05:00

Would they be on the side of the corporate giant hording money from the people? Against the oppressive might? Would Robin hood be an evil person redistributing ill gotten wealth to a bunch of welfare recipients? Or is he a patriot re-appropriating funds from the government? If the credo was take from the rich to give to the poor, how would this story would be re-written from the tea party point of view? If it was redone in their philosophy who would people cheer for and why?

Slut Walk

2011-09-29T08:08:00.001-05:00

While I am a little sad that I will miss this Saturdays slut walk, I think I will live. I guess I understand the premise that just case you look like a slut doesn’t mean people have the right to harass you or grab you or worse. But then why dress like a slut if you don’t want that attention?

If I dress up in a police uniform do I have the right to get mad when people ask me for help? Or arrest me for impersonating a police officer? How about if I dress up like a doctor? Firefighter? Army Soldier?

See what you wear whether you like it or not creates an expectation of who you are and what you do. We can argue whether this is right or wrong all day but it is true.

Now I am not saying that people who wear short skirts and tore fishnets deserve to get raped. I am just saying that choosing to wear clothes that might create the expectation of sex would lead to being placed situations where the possibility is more likely.

This outward appears extends to all of us for another example, I should be able to wear a colored bandana on my head to keep my hair out of my eyes and soak up sweat when I am raking the lawn. It should be my right to dress how I want. But that way of dress has a different intention or meaning in others, others who might assault or shoot at me. Knowing this exists if I wear the bandana anyway do I have an argument if I am shot at even though it isn’t right and I have not done anything wrong?

See the world is an imperfect place and although your intentions with your wardrobe choice may be good in a dynamic world your intentions do not exist in a vacuum without others.

That said I enjoy the skirts and fishnets so I hope it doesn’t swing to far the other way.

Night of the Living Dead

2011-09-28T06:07:00.000-05:00

This was one of only two movies I ever saw that really scared me. I was young possibly 8-9 years old. I was still naive enough to believe downed satellites or nauseous gases could wake the dead. I was at friend of mines house. His sister was supposed to be watching us but for some reason or other was not around. We watched the movie and I was terrified. I remember my mom calling for me when they got home and saying they were back and I could come home. There was a large field of tall grass and trees between our two houses. Probably about 2 acres in distance. I have never run faster between two points in my life. When I got to the door I told my mom to lock it. I remember being angry that we didn’t own a gun or have a stash of boards on hand that we could shutter the house with. His sister never babysat me again and I although I have tried have never found that thrilling of an experience with a horror movie.

Interesting Side Note:

2011-09-27T06:04:00.000-05:00

Recently was in the bathroom when a well known CEO came into it. Not only two seconds later I hear the tell tale sign of “nest building” just seemed interesting that a person can get to that level but still fear skin to seat contact. Guess we are all just people after all.

Monuments

2011-09-26T06:58:00.000-05:00

What do our monuments say about us? The things we put in stone that will outlive all of us. Time capsules made out of granite that capture a feeling or belief during a specific moment in time. I wonder what people will say or think about us. How do we weight the 9/11 memorial next to the HP Garage? The Oklahoma City Memorial next to Telsa’s statue overlooking Niagara Falls.

I often wonder with our tributes, anniversaries and monuments if we are pausing to remember and reflect on things that will lead us into a more promising future.

Buffet Rule

2011-09-24T06:48:00.000-05:00

There is a talk about the taxing of millionaires an especially the issue of Warren Buffet being taxed at a lower rate than his secretary. Before we get all up in arms we have to look at this one a little closer. When it comes to getting taxed the rate you pay depends on how you earn your money.

In an example if I made a million dollars a year in salary (income) I would be taxed @35%

If I made a million dollars in capital gains (my only source of income is from stocks, dividends etc) I would pay 15%

This is why Warren Buffet is taxed at a lower rate. It is also why it is dangerous to just say tax everyone who makes a million dollars a year even more. It is not that simple.

You say so raise the Capital Gains Tax to 35% but then the Capital Gains is already taxed on the Corporate Side @ 35% so that is not a good option either.

My advise save your money in investment instruments and eventually more of your income will be taxed at a lower rate. Plus…

1.) Raise the estate tax
2.) Eliminate the mortgage deduction on homes > $800k

Even as a left leaning independent I know the mantra of taxing just the rich is populist non-sense. There is a bigger issue here that needs to be addressed and it is being glossed over by this silly example. Every time I hear buffet rule I cringe a little.

Breaking News

2011-09-23T06:56:00.000-05:00

Updated :7/24/2020

Small City Ransacked by Rove of Hoarding Winnebago’s.

In a scene that has become more increasingly common a US city was sacked and looted to the ground by a Hoard of Unemployed Pirates driving modified campers and RV’s. 6 people were killed and 13 injured as they confronted the pirates who were taking gas, food and supplies and then disappearing back into the desert and mountain hide outs.
As of today President Reverend of the Resurrected Johnnie Flash of Texas has refrained from calling in troops to deal with the escalating security concerns in hopes that a divine sign will appear to tell him how to patriotically handle the situation.
The republican candidate stresses the root cause of the increasing lawlessness is the amount that we are taxing the rich.

Product Idea: Nano Charged Paint

2011-09-22T06:53:00.000-05:00

I realize that after yesterday’s entry this is a little conflicting but what the hay…
Imagine for a second if you had a car that had nano-technology that resisted or repealed foreign particles. So it actually repelled dirt or bird poop. All that would be required to wash your car is a trip on the free way. Maybe I will make a prediction that 20 years from now with changes to our corrosive icing agents and changed to the particles of car paint, car washes will no longer be required.

The Future:

2011-09-21T05:54:00.000-05:00

(Heavy huh? it is up to us to make it as nothing is written yet)

Public Service Announcement: Road Map to Recovery

2011-09-20T06:55:00.000-05:00

Despite what most people might believe Doctors do not routinely patrol the facebook status’s looking for people who are ill. So if you have an illness such as cramps, heartburn, insomnia, headache , tummy ache, abnormal runs, a weird lump etc the proper people to tell would be your doctor, pharmacist, or a bartender….not your wall on face book.
Judging by my feeds 15% of you are broken, chronically ill, apparently undiagnosed whiners…time to take a tall shot of shut the fu ck up or the proper steps towards recovery and call a doctor.

Conversation with a Foodie and New Theory

2011-09-19T06:53:00.000-05:00

“Always eat the brightest colored vegetables\fruits since those are the ones that are best for you”

I think this has a dangerous undertone because it is not really explaining what you need and leads to confusion. In a personal example I know someone who eats lots of kale and spinach and because this is a “dark green” and they think they are really healthy. – (FU buy the way I enjoy iceberg, it is a texture thing.)

Now I know where he was going, yes there is a correlation between the darkness of the inner flesh of the fruit aka the density of pigmentation and its nutritional value but that is not key advice you want to give people.

So I replied does that mean cauliflower, bananas, onions, garlic, and turnips are not as good for you? I mean the meat of these plants is almost completely devoid of color?

With a really vague response I had to go in for the kill. He knew it had to do with pigment which shows that he knew or at least read the concept but lacked the understanding of why. He was parroting a set of statements but didn’t understand the data and assumptions that make it up.

So if I eat Larry (Caucasian man) is he more nutritious with a tan then without a tan? And by how much? Now I know this is a ludicrous questions but I know besides the fact that we could agree eating Larry is wrong he didn’t know.

Once you know the answer to why cauliflower and tomatoes are both good for you the advice that gets created is you want people to eat a variety of colors and shades within those colors, the variety is more important health wise then eating in a particular shade, while there is a correlation between the pigment that case does not always hold true.

I also proposed an alternative theory that the closer a fruit or vegetable is to the color of my poop the less health value…this one still has to be tested so let me know if you need a thesis.

WNBA

2011-09-17T08:02:00.000-05:00

I think it is doubly fitting that the only professional sports team that has a winning record is the WNBA Lynx’s. All we hear is the stadium BS and whining from the Vikings, the excuses from the Twins the incompetence of the Timberwolves and the decline of the Wild.

In the midst of all of this hoopla a team that regularly plays for a crowd of 300 and an entire organization that makes less than one year’s salary of Michael Beasley has managed to become the winning-est team in the state. I love it.

Reading List for the Next 12 Months

2011-09-16T06:50:00.001-05:00

Keeping a mix of business, fiction and no fiction

Books

Black Boy- Richard Wright
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - David Eggers
Maus- Art Spiegelman
A Supposedly Fun Thing I will never do again - David Wallace
The Closing of the American Mind - Allan Bloom
The Excutionors Song - Norman Mailer
The Emperor of All Maladies - Siddhartha Mukherjee
Nickled and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
Runaway - Diary o a street kid -Evelyn Lau
Beauty Pays- Daniel Hamermesh
The Manager Pool: Patterns for Radical Leadership - Don Olson
The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt
Design for Community – The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Communities – by Derek Powazek.
Blind Spot - Charlie Feld
Left Turn How Liberl Media Bias Distorts the America Mind - Tim Groseclose
Damned- Chuck Palahniuk

Random Thoughts on the Double Sided Nature of Myth Busting

2011-09-15T06:54:00.000-05:00

Random thoughts that will probably get me in trouble one day. In refereeing a particularly heated religious debate where a staunch supporter of some unspecified branch of Christian faith was proclaiming the literal nature of the bible only to be refuted by examples from a staunch atheists using experts from Leviticus and Deuteronomy on the “correct” methods to discipline an unruly child. A few things occurred to me.

1.)It seems like atheists tend to know more about religion then most “religious” people.

2.)These books of harsh standards of religious practice in the old testament make a up books 3 and 5 of the Torah as well. Yet you never see someone openly criticize the Jewish faith in the same manner.

3.) The Jewish tradition plagued by it oppressive suffering past has somehow made it a sacred cow when it comes to ridiculing it’s silly beliefs. (The same core beliefs that people openly ridicule Christians for)

4.)If you ridicule or mock these beliefs you will be called an anti-Semite. Taken to a extreme this can actually be considered a hate crime and be prosecutable.

5.)This has some interesting consequences. Such as government support for Zionism (the creation of a Jewish national sovereign nation) or the creation and backing of Israel.

6.)Why is it so unacceptable to challenge the Jewish belief system or seen as so taboo?

7.)Should suffering exempt your claims of faith from examination?

Just an interesting observation that I would open to receiving feedback on.

Passive Aggressive =Guilt Tripping?

2011-09-14T06:48:00.000-05:00

Is passive aggressive and guilt tripping the same thing?

Guilt trips don’t work if:
A: You don’t feel guilty
B: You don’t give a shit or think the person trying to do it to you is stupid
C: You recognize they are doing it and see their weakness and disregard it
D: All of the above

Perfection

2011-09-13T06:47:00.000-05:00

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I have removed cigarettes and feel wonderful…albeit nowhere close to perfect, I do feel that I am headed in the right general direction. Now for my next removal…..french fries. No more French fries. Ever. I hear by challenge the notion that a value meal, burger, fish fry has to be complemented with French fries. It is a waste of calories I am going to learn to live without. One more stoke of taking away rock off the sculpture of my life on its way to perfection.

Magic Number for Deleting People from Your Feed

2011-09-12T06:45:00.001-05:00

How many times a day does it take for someone to post something before you block their feed?
(S / N) = D (IF D<=1 DELETE USER)
S = Stimulation = Average Number between 1-10 that I have assigned how much I enjoy the content they add to my feed. (Yes this is a subjective value, but necessary to prioritize my time and make sure I am reading content that I enjoy)
N = Number of Postings = Average Number of postings per day.
D = Deletion (Hide\ Block) Threshold

For example if someone posts an average of 5 on the stimulating category and posts five times to my social network feed 5/5 = 1 they are blocked from my news feed. The content posted has to be on average more stimulating then the number of postings.
If not you are blocked\hidden\deleted depending on the SMN (Social Media Network)

I smell Nobel Prize

"Update" The calculation is being modified to the following:

S+(A*B)/N = D

Where A = Attractiveness of the person and B = the perceived benefit of the relationship. (Think likely hood you will sleep with them or value their company or need them to bail you out of jail) I will set A as a value 1-10 and B as a value 1-5. This however makes it impossible to delete all but the worst offenders. Unfortunately it is necessary since this is the way things work in the real world.

GELP or FELP

2011-09-09T06:44:00.000-05:00

What if you could review people the way you could review businesses? Take the concept of Yelp and extend it to allow people to anonymously review people on face book? You could get reviews of who to date, who to hire, past results with how they handled secrets, decisions ect. I wonder if we could do that with each other if it would make people strive to be better people?
Remember way back when we were told this would go down on your permanent record? What if you really had one? A personal one?

Good for the goose is good for the gander right?

2011-09-08T06:43:00.000-05:00

Wonder why no one reversed Michelle Bachman’s comments? She “jokingly” stated that Irene was a sign from God trying to cleanse Washington. Wonder if she thinks the wildfires in Texas are God trying to cleanse Texas from the Christians? Wonder why no one asked Perry this question? Although I am relieved to see she is slipping in the polls. If only Perry would start declining too my faith in humanity might be restored. At least a little bit.

Sacred Cow One - Benefits for Vetrans

2011-09-02T06:12:00.000-05:00

Recently the president was in Minneapolis giving a speech on Veterans affairs at the American Legion. This brought up some interesting side conversation and left me with a trailing thought. As the crowd was applauding the following statement, “I will not balance the budget on the backs of our veterans” I thought to myself well then on whose back are you going to balance it?

It leads through that the more groups you exclude from having the balance spread across the more the burden falls to the remaining.
I was having trouble following the train of thought of some of my friends who are of the mindset that, “I risked my life for this country so now you owe me what you promised me.”

While I think that promises made should be kept I recognize the enormity of the problem in front of us. A problem we are all going to have to balance across our backs.

I wonder if we are so patriotic, if we love this country so much we are willing to trade our lives for it, why are we not willing to give up some of the entitlements received so that it makes the country people fought for solvent into the future. I mean isn’t the definition of patriotism sacrificing self for the benefit of the greater good? Why does the offer physical suffering or possibility of death get traded so easily and yet we will fight tooth and nail over basis point funding on a VA pension?

Financial Functions and Terms

2011-08-24T07:44:00.001-05:00

Some recent thoughts on money:
Cash flow: The acuteness of problems and unfortunate events is directly proportionate to the amount of money you have in excess of resolving them.

The amount of concern a person has with wanting people to like them is inversely related to how much money they have.

I am learning the importance of “AAP” – Or always acting poor. That way you can always collect, never have to lend and mooch for excess off of others.

Sometimes you got to say no.

Maybe it all is a conspiracy?

2011-08-13T06:10:00.000-05:00

Is this the reason that tax increases will never happen and poor republicans think it is ok? The book was not that good it was a ton of rambling but what it did do it put some terms on my radar and I am starting to clearly see the undertow and how strong it really is. ….scary

The Family
Abraham Vereide
Fellowship Foundation
Biblical Capitalism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/feb/03/secretive-christian-group-church-state

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106115324

Smoking as a Blankie

2011-08-11T00:47:00.000-05:00

I have come to the conclusion that smoking functioned for me like a child’s blanket. Something I would do when I was nervous, needed to become invisible or remove myself from a tense situation. It was a shield. A barrier. A way to lower other people’s expectations of me before I had a chance to let them down. It kept me from feeling vulnerable.

I am not sure when it happened exactly. When I stop needing this but I am glad I don’t smoke any more. I take it as a positive sign in my believe in myself.

The Best Decision I Have Ever Made

2011-08-10T06:26:00.000-05:00