1 > 2 (in Argentina)

Posted in Thought on 4 December 2008 by Johnny

As Slate puts it, Buenos Aires is suffering through “the world’s most annoying economic crisis” — a shortage of coins that has let loose an onslaught of bizarre events.

Here’s my currency-related confession: I can’t stand pennies. For me, they have negative utility; the only thing I ever need coins for are vending machines, which don’t accept pennies, so they just waste space. Many groups and individuals, real and fictional, have taken up my cause and tried to banish the penny to no avail. So what do I do when I get them? If there’s no “leave a penny” tray or donation jar,     I just set them down in a neat pile on the nearest shelf or counter.

Enjoy, America.

Biggest. Reach. EVER.

Posted in News on 24 November 2008 by Johnny

You just need one sentence:

Food guru Margaret Fulton has condemned genetically-modified produce, likening companies pushing its merits to Adolf Hitler.

If you thought this was a mischaracterization … well, no.

At the guide’s launch, Ms Fulton hit out at the big chemical companies for pushing the “benefits” of growing GE canola to farmers for their commercial gain.

“They’re going to control the world,” she said.

“We thought Hitler was a bad fella … these guys could show him a thing or two - and they’re creeping up on us quietly without guns or anything like that, but the poison is there.”

Bloody hell. Even if there were real, serious risks to GM food - which, if they exist, are insanely overblown when compared to the possibility of eliminating hunger in our lifetime - the comparison should make us all feel sick.

Everything’s Bigger in Texas

Posted in Sports on 22 November 2008 by Johnny

In the first round of the Division II football playoffs, West Texas A&M scored 68 points and gained 721 yards on offense … and lost. BY 25.

Through the Economic Looking Glass

Posted in Thought on 19 November 2008 by Johnny

Two articles at Reason note just how confused and outright delusional politicians and economic pundits have become in recent months.

More Ridiculously Improbable News

Posted in News on 18 November 2008 by Johnny

Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf, has named a Jewish woman — one of only thirty-seven Jews in the entire country — as the nation’s ambassador to the United States. (link)

Life Never Ceases To Surprise

Posted in Sports on 15 November 2008 by Johnny

Myron Rolle plays safety at Florida State — a football factory with, say, a sub-stellar academic reputation for undergraduates. The ancient Bobby Bowden oversees a program often laden with malcontents, primadonnas, and antisocial personalities. Indeed, five of his wide receivers are suspended for today’s game after getting in a fight at the student union. Rolle may miss part of next week’s game — because he’ll be in a Rhodes Scholarship interview. Really. He’s graduating in just five semesters with a 3.75 GPA in pre-med. And he plays football. At Florida State. Go figure.

The Day I Feared

Posted in Sports on 15 November 2008 by Johnny

Former Indians ace CC Sabathia, rightly dealt by the Tribe for a king’s ransom of prospects to the Milwaukee Brewers in an acquisition that almost single-handedly brought the long-suffering Brew Crew their first playoff berth in over a quarter-century, received a contract offer from the Dreaded, Loathsome New York Yankees today that would make him the highest paid pitcher in baseball history — a six-year contract worth a mind-blowing $140 million.

Don’t do it, man. Please. You like batting in the National League, right? Don’t join the dark side. Don’t make me root against you.

On a totally unrelated note, I picked up a T-Mobile G1 today. It is at least 875 kinds of awesome, though I’m still counting …

Please, Washington, Let GM Die

Posted in Thought on 14 November 2008 by Johnny

WARNING: Angry rant ahead.

General Motors is now, apparently, bordering on insolvency. Somehow, this is not the fault of incompetent management and engineers that produce an inferior product, or past agreements with labor unions that lock in massive fringe benefit costs for current and past workers, or any number of other things that are part of what is left of the free market. No, there is an epic crisis that totally just started when the financial crisis hit and they need money. Apparently, the fact that we JUST LOANED THEM $25 BILLION doesn’t count, or matter, or something. The rationale for the $700 billion+ bailout was flimsy, though at least understandable (under its initial archetype, not the sheer socialism of buying up banks); if we expand this to the auto makers, then we start out down a very long road that will lead to every depressed firm and industry asking for a bailout. The trope about privatizing profits and socializing losses will become a complete reality. If companies are never held accountable for poor business decisions, YOU WILL GET MORE BAD DECISIONS. It’s called moral hazard. Look it up, Congresscritters. Further, you will have completely removed Schumpeterian “creative destruction” from the economic landscape. In the future, at this rate, you’ll have the 21st century equivalent of buggy and typewriter manufacturers not going out of business, but sucking at the taxpayer teat indefinitely. We are hastening the end. The national debt is now skyrocketing at a literally incalculable rate. Demographics-based entitlement programs will wipe us out like a tidal wave. And what do we do? Try to save every bad corporation with bailouts. In other words, THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. We need to let everything wash out now and get government out of owning businesses. For the love of God, don’t cut the Big Three a check. You’ll have to pay off everybody else too.

And finally there’s this, which … well, my head just exploded:

fail owned pwned pictures

Palin 2012: Feel the Excitement!

Posted in News on 11 November 2008 by Johnny

Oh, it’s happening, everybody.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin suggested in an interview broadcast on Monday that she might run for higher office in 2012 if the right opportunity presents itself. …

Palin, whose term as governor ends in two years, said she could not predict the future. But she said it would be “very exciting” to have an opportunity to serve in a greater capacity.

“If there is an open door in ‘12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

Now the only question is whether her staging ground is Anchorage (Juneau is a pretty much a Potemkin capital) or Capitol Hill. She’d have to win a special election to take Stevens’ seat, were he to be expelled, but given her popularity in the Arctic, that’d seem to be a fait accompli.

Sarah Palin’s never going away. She’ll haunt your dreams, America.

You betcha.

Wait, What?

Posted in News on 10 November 2008 by Johnny

Let’s hope this is right-wing fear-mongering and not an actual policy proposal. All you need is the first line:

Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.

Alright, that’s actual honest-to-goodness socialism. Yikes.

In other news: Lying on the Internet is now a federal crime.