The late Christopher Hitchens’s once said, “The four most over-rated things in life are champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics.”
I have never liked champagne, but it is compulsory to drink it on special occasions like weddings or New Year’s Eve. It’s so engrained into the fabric of our society that we even give sparkling apple cider to children and people that abstain from partaking in the pleasures of alcohol. For some reason bubbles are linked to fun like Pavlov’s bell was linked to food for dogs.
This year I will not be drinking any champagne because I have to work, but I thought it would be fun to write something on the process of making it. Most people never think of these things and since a lot of people have been telling me that I have a lot of useless information I thought it would be fun to share some interesting factoids about what you’ll probably be drinking during the first few seconds of 2012.
Most people are aware that there is a difference between sparkling wine and champagne. Because governments like to make useless laws, for an adult beverage to be called “champagne” it must come from a certain region in France, the Champagne region. This is the conventional wisdom. If you’re like me, and you like to exploit conventional wisdom and impress some of your friends at the same time—you can bet (perhaps your next drink) that there is “champagne” that does not come from France. You have to be subtle, and bets like this tend to work better on drunken people, but you will surely win.
All you have to do is say Korbel. It’s made in Guerneville, California near the Russian river. I’ve been there twice and even though I don’t like champagne, I found it interesting to learn about. According to Wikipedia, Korbel relies on a semi-generic provision under U.S. Law to call its sparkling wines California Champagne, but on the tour they give another reason. The treaty of Madrid was written in 1891 and this contains the provision reserving the term “champagne” for sparkling wine produced in this special region of France. Korbel was founded in 1882. Therefore, they used the term “champagne” before the law was created. In essence—they were grandfathered in like when you get unlimited internet on your cell phone even though it’s now limited to 2GB for new customers.
I should edit the Wiki, but I’m too lazy.
Creating champagne is a process. The first step is the same as any other winery. Grapes juice is mixed with yeast and barreled until it ferments into wine. Most people are familiar with this process. IF you’ve never been to a winery, you’ve at least probably seen the episode of I Love Lucy where she steps on the grapes.. . so you probably have at least a rudimentary idea of how the process works. After the wine is produced, and this is the part I find fascinating, it’s bottled. The difference between champagne and Two-Buck Chuck is the second fermentation process. A second batch of yeast and sugar is added to the bottle. The wine is fermented again. This creates the bubbles and the distinct taste that differs from wine. It also makes it stronger. The level of sweetness is dependent on how much sugar is added to the second fermentation process. This is called the dosage, pronounced Doe-ssage (like massage) The dryer the champagne the less the dosage is added and vice-versa.
Adding yeast to a bottle presents an interesting problem. At some point you have to get it out. Traditionally this is done by storing the bottles and a 45 degree angle with the cork facing downward. Hundreds of them were placed on a rack just like this. Then the bottles were moved by a man that had to wear a face mask in case one of the bottles exploded and shot the cork off, which was fairly common. Each bottle had to be shifted twice a day so the yeast would settle to the top of the bottle. It is done with hydraulics now, but it’s more fun to think of someone actually doing it by hand.
The last step in the process is to freeze it and then take off the cork. Once frozen the yeast pushes out of the bottles. Consequently, so does some of the liquid. Another problem for the champagne makers is each bottle contained a different amount of liquid. The solution was to add foil to the top. This concealed the discrepancies in volume between different bottles. Technology has now eliminated the need for this concealment, but the foil still remains. It is now part of the allure; it gives it that certain specialness. Foil became a mark of luxury. This is why Imperial margarine is wrapped in foil, the makers of Imperial margarine tried to capture that same allure. (Don’t eat that crap by the way. It’s full of trans-fat.) Trans-fat is more dangerous than terrorism.
So this year, when you drink that bubble stuff, you can tell your friends how it’s made. Raise your glass, think of how I’ll be working and have a Happy New Year.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Gambling Is Not a Crime
I’ve been starting to play HU NL on cake because the games are quick and I figure it will be the fastest way to build a roll, at least that’s what I once read on two plus two. The problem is the games are sparse. Limit Head’s up games are even more rare. Come to think of it there’s nothing really that popular on Cake except for the No limit Cash games. I watched a few videos on it before and I figure I can just play 30 buy-ins. It’s helping with my bet sizing and reading abilities. What does someone do when they have one of the monsters they get about 4% of the time? They tend to raise more, especially the min raisers.
Yesterday someone called a raise with 92o and I filled up. I couldn’t imagine hardly any deuces in his range that didn’t contain an ace so I stacked off. I was wrong. Why did he play 9-2? My first inclination is to think. . . yeah big mistake, but that’s not really the case. The reason to play 9-2 when my stack is on the shorter side is because I would stack off if he hits a monster(he had quads) He didn’t need a hand that strong, but it’s very deceptive. In fact I should probably add a couple of those bottom 10% hands in my range just for balance. 92o and 83o seem perfect.
I don’t really like Cake, but I don’t have much choice. I'm dead money right now and I'm okay with that. I play ultra micro levels to try to learn the game, figure out my SPR, and learn the ABC's of No Limit before I venture out into higher stakes.
Today Card Runners posted a thread on 2+2 that suggested the DOJ thinks the WIRE act only applies to sports betting. That seems strange to me. If they thought that then why did they seize the domains of Poker Stars and Full Tilt? I can see Tilt, but it appears the Department of Justice did not know about the so called Ponzi scheme until well after they seized the assets.
The proper roll of government is to protect its citizens from others, not to protect citizens from themselves. When laws are passed to protect people from themselves, freedom is lost. It bothers me to see how often people make the wrong arguments. Poker is not gambling, it is a game of skill. This moot point, is a red herring. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, it is gambling. It certainly can be, and for the losers it is. What is wrong with gambling? Is it inherently immoral? Gambling is not a form of stealing. All bets are essentially an agreement just like any other verbal agreement or contract. When you “put your money where your mouth is,” what you are really doing is placing a value on your knowledge. If you wager $100 on a football game you are betting that your knowledge of the players, injuries and assessment of the skill of the players et cetera is better than your opponent’s knowledge of his or her chosen team. If you sit down at a poker table you are banking on the fact that your knowledge of the game is greater than at least one of the other players.
Of course you could be wrong. You could even bet a hand of blackjack thinking that your “luck” is good. Your knowledge is flawed, but people make these bets everyday. They don’t realize the casino knows that as long as you bust before the dealer you pay them, but if the dealer busts in the same round the casino doesn’t pay you.
In gambling, knowledge is power. This is not the same as stealing. If you buy a car at one dealership, but don’t know it is $5,000 cheaper at a dealer across town—you lose $5000 to your ignorance. What’s the difference if you lose a gambling game because of your ignorance? Shouldn’t you be free to choose to do so?
Should it be a crime to waste your money?
Nearly all gaming is games of skill. Usually the casino, or in the case of lotteries, the state is in possession of that skill.
Why does it matter if someone bets $5.00 on the Laker game over the phone? What’s wrong with that? What if it’s $500.00 $1,000, or even one million? Why is it anyone’s business? Why should someone not have the right to do as they please with their own money? The question should not be is poker legal according to the WIRE ACT of 1961. The question should be why does the government need to impose the WIRE ACT of 1961 on it’s citizens?
Yesterday someone called a raise with 92o and I filled up. I couldn’t imagine hardly any deuces in his range that didn’t contain an ace so I stacked off. I was wrong. Why did he play 9-2? My first inclination is to think. . . yeah big mistake, but that’s not really the case. The reason to play 9-2 when my stack is on the shorter side is because I would stack off if he hits a monster(he had quads) He didn’t need a hand that strong, but it’s very deceptive. In fact I should probably add a couple of those bottom 10% hands in my range just for balance. 92o and 83o seem perfect.
I don’t really like Cake, but I don’t have much choice. I'm dead money right now and I'm okay with that. I play ultra micro levels to try to learn the game, figure out my SPR, and learn the ABC's of No Limit before I venture out into higher stakes.
Today Card Runners posted a thread on 2+2 that suggested the DOJ thinks the WIRE act only applies to sports betting. That seems strange to me. If they thought that then why did they seize the domains of Poker Stars and Full Tilt? I can see Tilt, but it appears the Department of Justice did not know about the so called Ponzi scheme until well after they seized the assets.
The proper roll of government is to protect its citizens from others, not to protect citizens from themselves. When laws are passed to protect people from themselves, freedom is lost. It bothers me to see how often people make the wrong arguments. Poker is not gambling, it is a game of skill. This moot point, is a red herring. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, it is gambling. It certainly can be, and for the losers it is. What is wrong with gambling? Is it inherently immoral? Gambling is not a form of stealing. All bets are essentially an agreement just like any other verbal agreement or contract. When you “put your money where your mouth is,” what you are really doing is placing a value on your knowledge. If you wager $100 on a football game you are betting that your knowledge of the players, injuries and assessment of the skill of the players et cetera is better than your opponent’s knowledge of his or her chosen team. If you sit down at a poker table you are banking on the fact that your knowledge of the game is greater than at least one of the other players.
Of course you could be wrong. You could even bet a hand of blackjack thinking that your “luck” is good. Your knowledge is flawed, but people make these bets everyday. They don’t realize the casino knows that as long as you bust before the dealer you pay them, but if the dealer busts in the same round the casino doesn’t pay you.
In gambling, knowledge is power. This is not the same as stealing. If you buy a car at one dealership, but don’t know it is $5,000 cheaper at a dealer across town—you lose $5000 to your ignorance. What’s the difference if you lose a gambling game because of your ignorance? Shouldn’t you be free to choose to do so?
Should it be a crime to waste your money?
Nearly all gaming is games of skill. Usually the casino, or in the case of lotteries, the state is in possession of that skill.
Why does it matter if someone bets $5.00 on the Laker game over the phone? What’s wrong with that? What if it’s $500.00 $1,000, or even one million? Why is it anyone’s business? Why should someone not have the right to do as they please with their own money? The question should not be is poker legal according to the WIRE ACT of 1961. The question should be why does the government need to impose the WIRE ACT of 1961 on it’s citizens?
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Vegimite
On the gold coast of Australia, there is a casino named Jupiter’s. The cocktails are not “free.” I say free n quotation marks because Vegas cocktails have are paid for with a hidden cost. Degeneracy is a lot more expensive than any fair price. The air is fresh at Jupiter’s. Smoking is one of the seven deadly sins in Australia. Marlboro Red’s don’t have a surgeon general’s warning. Instead the country has opted for graphic pictures of charred lungs. Smoking causes gangrene, I never even knew what gangrene was until I saw a picture of it on a pack of smokes. Gangrene makes your foot look like you were walking on hot coals for three hours and then decided to stand on a blistering hot spot for a smoke break. Mouth cancer looks like the Angelina Jolie’s lips kissed a hot iron and her teeth and gums were burnt to a crisp I the process.
They have a vending machine similar to the one at jury duty. It dispenses free coffee and soda. You just need a rewards card. I think I received two free refreshing diet cokes. I probably could have earned more if I would put a penny in one of the pokies, except they don’t have pennies in Australia and I don’t play slots. The poker room is downstairs. They didn’t have Limit Hold Hold Em and spread only two tables of No Limit. I chose not to play because I suck at No Limit cash. I just went to look around, check out the ambiance and the atmosphere. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a Motel Six lobby, Australian food sucks. The only thing worth eating down under is meat pie and schnitzel. Beef isn’t corn fed, so it has that grassy gamey taste to it. I It’s the kind of beef you get a t a health food store that has all the omega 3’s 6’s9’s or whatever. Less fat equals less taste. So I had the lamb shank. It was decent but the mashed potatoes were instant and the carrots were overcooked. Our waiter had an American accent. His name was Michael. He insisted that we (there is no more we, but there was) try Vegimite. Vegimite is made from Yeast. XXXX, pronounced four X, is a brewery in Queensland. They brew yellow-pissey beer similar to Anheuser-Busch. The process includes disposing of the yeast. Some genius figured out that they can sell this used yeast to a company that would make something out of it. I say something because it can only describe it as a cross between margarine and axle grease. I don’t understand how it’s fit for human consumption.
For some reason, I have an uncanny knack for remembering names. My father still calls my Uncle Avery, Adrian. He’s been doing since I was young enough to still call him Dad, which means two things. One—It’s not genetic and two—I’m getting old. Michel lacks certain social skills. He had this look on his face that screamed my hand is in the cookie jar and I don’t want to get caught. His voice was timid, and he avoided making eye contact. Quaint, shyness often gets mistaken for creepiness. He wasn’t creepy, but creepy was close. Michael was from the United States. He loved to surf. He said the one of biggest surfing competitions is held at Coolangatta, a beach town like Huntington or Laguna Beach. Before relocating to Australia he lived with his mother in Florida. Before that, he lived with his father in Loma Linda. The best man at his father’s second marriage works at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands.
In other words, it’s a small fucking word after all.
I went to the A.K. Smiley Library today and I know the Lincoln Memorial Shrine is somewhere around there, but I’m not exactly sure where. My extraordinary name remembering skills are humbled by my lack of sense of direction. I want to go in there and say hey I met this guy that knows you in Australia, but I don’t know who to look for. I remember Michael’s name, but I don’t remember his father’s best man’s name. I have to meet someone to remember their name. I almost don’t want to go because It’s been a mystery for a couple years now. There’s this guy I heard about in another country that works a couple miles away from me. Part of me wants to keep the mystery, but part of me wants to check out the Lincoln Memorial Shrine. I don’t know. It can’t be half as good as Great Moment with Lincoln at Disneyland right?
They have a vending machine similar to the one at jury duty. It dispenses free coffee and soda. You just need a rewards card. I think I received two free refreshing diet cokes. I probably could have earned more if I would put a penny in one of the pokies, except they don’t have pennies in Australia and I don’t play slots. The poker room is downstairs. They didn’t have Limit Hold Hold Em and spread only two tables of No Limit. I chose not to play because I suck at No Limit cash. I just went to look around, check out the ambiance and the atmosphere. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a Motel Six lobby, Australian food sucks. The only thing worth eating down under is meat pie and schnitzel. Beef isn’t corn fed, so it has that grassy gamey taste to it. I It’s the kind of beef you get a t a health food store that has all the omega 3’s 6’s9’s or whatever. Less fat equals less taste. So I had the lamb shank. It was decent but the mashed potatoes were instant and the carrots were overcooked. Our waiter had an American accent. His name was Michael. He insisted that we (there is no more we, but there was) try Vegimite. Vegimite is made from Yeast. XXXX, pronounced four X, is a brewery in Queensland. They brew yellow-pissey beer similar to Anheuser-Busch. The process includes disposing of the yeast. Some genius figured out that they can sell this used yeast to a company that would make something out of it. I say something because it can only describe it as a cross between margarine and axle grease. I don’t understand how it’s fit for human consumption.
For some reason, I have an uncanny knack for remembering names. My father still calls my Uncle Avery, Adrian. He’s been doing since I was young enough to still call him Dad, which means two things. One—It’s not genetic and two—I’m getting old. Michel lacks certain social skills. He had this look on his face that screamed my hand is in the cookie jar and I don’t want to get caught. His voice was timid, and he avoided making eye contact. Quaint, shyness often gets mistaken for creepiness. He wasn’t creepy, but creepy was close. Michael was from the United States. He loved to surf. He said the one of biggest surfing competitions is held at Coolangatta, a beach town like Huntington or Laguna Beach. Before relocating to Australia he lived with his mother in Florida. Before that, he lived with his father in Loma Linda. The best man at his father’s second marriage works at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands.
In other words, it’s a small fucking word after all.
I went to the A.K. Smiley Library today and I know the Lincoln Memorial Shrine is somewhere around there, but I’m not exactly sure where. My extraordinary name remembering skills are humbled by my lack of sense of direction. I want to go in there and say hey I met this guy that knows you in Australia, but I don’t know who to look for. I remember Michael’s name, but I don’t remember his father’s best man’s name. I have to meet someone to remember their name. I almost don’t want to go because It’s been a mystery for a couple years now. There’s this guy I heard about in another country that works a couple miles away from me. Part of me wants to keep the mystery, but part of me wants to check out the Lincoln Memorial Shrine. I don’t know. It can’t be half as good as Great Moment with Lincoln at Disneyland right?
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
IDGAF
New Year’s resolutions are for people who lack the ability to be honest with themselves. If you really want to quit smoking or lose weight—Do it now. Don’t resolve—take action. Just do it, not because of some slogan on a box of Nike’s—because the second you resolve to do something—you are hesitating. Hesitation doesn’t accomplish anything.
For some reason I’ve been meeting a lot or writer’s lately. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I’ve always stopped myself. I’m way too critical. I have some ideas and I begins to write a story, but they seem to all end up being dragged to the recycle bin. So I’ve decided to write a blog. I’ve started this before, I’ve written some things here and there, but I always felt like I need some kind of gimmick. Blogs that have a lot of reader seem to be about something, perhaps cookie recipe blog, or a political activist blog.
I don’t want to do that. I tried here and there, but I don’t think it’s for me. I thought about doing a blog that reviews as seen on TV products, which is ironic because I don’t even watch TV. There needs to be an objective third party review of all these products. Some are decent and some are huge rip offs.
This is not going to be about a subject though. This is going to be a verbal exercise. I’m just going to commit myself to write every day for ten to thirty minutes, just to practice. The grammar may not be perfect, I might not throw in many polysyllabic words and no one will probably read it. I might write about my friends, or doing some card tricks at bars, or dating, or whatever. I’m not sure yet.
This is more like a diary, but with no key and I’m not hiding it under my bed.
I had an epiphany the other day. Someone asked me what changed about me? She knows who she is and I’m not going to mention why, but after careful consideration I realized what it was. I have found the key to happiness. This is the key that will set yourself on the path to accomplish all your hopes and dreams. Anything in life is for the taking if you just recite this little incantation. It works like magic. Brace yourself. Here it is:
“I do not give a fuck.” That’s all you have to do. Of course I don’t really believe in “magick,” but this is as close as you’ll get to anything supernatural. Let me explain. Let’s say you meet a woman at the grocery store and you think she’s really attractive, and you want to meet her, but you chicken out. Maybe it’s because you haven’t shaved, or you’re not feeling very attractive because you’re bumming it in your pajamas or maybe you’re just a pussy that has no self-confidence. If you didn’t give a fuck you would have asked for her number. Maybe she would have said no, maybe she would have given you a fake number or maybe you would have met the woman of your dreams, but if you give a fuck it makes you hesitate. If you don’t give a fuck, you become indifferent to rejection and are able to take action.
It took me a long time to learn this. I used to be too polite, I was always afraid to say what I really wanted to say in general. When religion came up, I used to just go with the flow and keep my mouth shut and just pretend that pray with everyone at the table. I don’t do that anymore, and I feel a lot better about myself.
When it comes to writing though—I still give a fuck. What if I’m not good enough, what If I don’t know what I’m doing what if my vocabulary isn’t up to par? What if I don’t know how the story is going to end? What if my character development isn’t good enough? What if I don’t have enough information? What if what I write is offensive? What if it gets rejected?
A better question is. . . What if I just don’t give a fuck?
For some reason I’ve been meeting a lot or writer’s lately. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I’ve always stopped myself. I’m way too critical. I have some ideas and I begins to write a story, but they seem to all end up being dragged to the recycle bin. So I’ve decided to write a blog. I’ve started this before, I’ve written some things here and there, but I always felt like I need some kind of gimmick. Blogs that have a lot of reader seem to be about something, perhaps cookie recipe blog, or a political activist blog.
I don’t want to do that. I tried here and there, but I don’t think it’s for me. I thought about doing a blog that reviews as seen on TV products, which is ironic because I don’t even watch TV. There needs to be an objective third party review of all these products. Some are decent and some are huge rip offs.
This is not going to be about a subject though. This is going to be a verbal exercise. I’m just going to commit myself to write every day for ten to thirty minutes, just to practice. The grammar may not be perfect, I might not throw in many polysyllabic words and no one will probably read it. I might write about my friends, or doing some card tricks at bars, or dating, or whatever. I’m not sure yet.
This is more like a diary, but with no key and I’m not hiding it under my bed.
I had an epiphany the other day. Someone asked me what changed about me? She knows who she is and I’m not going to mention why, but after careful consideration I realized what it was. I have found the key to happiness. This is the key that will set yourself on the path to accomplish all your hopes and dreams. Anything in life is for the taking if you just recite this little incantation. It works like magic. Brace yourself. Here it is:
“I do not give a fuck.” That’s all you have to do. Of course I don’t really believe in “magick,” but this is as close as you’ll get to anything supernatural. Let me explain. Let’s say you meet a woman at the grocery store and you think she’s really attractive, and you want to meet her, but you chicken out. Maybe it’s because you haven’t shaved, or you’re not feeling very attractive because you’re bumming it in your pajamas or maybe you’re just a pussy that has no self-confidence. If you didn’t give a fuck you would have asked for her number. Maybe she would have said no, maybe she would have given you a fake number or maybe you would have met the woman of your dreams, but if you give a fuck it makes you hesitate. If you don’t give a fuck, you become indifferent to rejection and are able to take action.
It took me a long time to learn this. I used to be too polite, I was always afraid to say what I really wanted to say in general. When religion came up, I used to just go with the flow and keep my mouth shut and just pretend that pray with everyone at the table. I don’t do that anymore, and I feel a lot better about myself.
When it comes to writing though—I still give a fuck. What if I’m not good enough, what If I don’t know what I’m doing what if my vocabulary isn’t up to par? What if I don’t know how the story is going to end? What if my character development isn’t good enough? What if I don’t have enough information? What if what I write is offensive? What if it gets rejected?
A better question is. . . What if I just don’t give a fuck?
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Squatting on Wall Street
I saw this Occupy Wall Street protest and I’m not really sure what these people are trying to accomplish. If you want to protest at a publicly traded company—try Starbucks. Those greedy bastards that give their employees’ health insurance have only earned me 19.24% on my money. Better yet protest by not using Google. I’ve lost 13% with that stock.
What is Wall Street? It’s a street in New York where stocks are traded. Stocks are shares of corporations. You too can own a share of stock in a company, or multiple shares in several companies. Why would you want to protest this market? If you don’t like big oil, (which I freely admit, I’m not part of that crowd) would it make sense to protest outside of Auto Zone because they sell Pennzoil?
I used to make a couple hundred bucks a month playing online poker, (usually) averaging about one losing month per year. I read a couple books on investing and decided to start putting some of that money into the market in 2009. It’s a good thing too, because if I would have left a lot of that money on FTP—it would have been gone. I did this because I started seeing people have their withdrawals confiscated by the government. Part of what I had left on the site was probably seized by the government, but most of it was either grossly mismanaged, or straight out stolen, . . .but looking back, the writing was on the wall. I probably won’t ever get that money back. Luckily I put most of my money on PokerStars and the stock market.
Even if the market goes down by 50% tomorrow I’m still ahead.
I like the stock market. I like looking for low P/E ratios on stocks that pay dividends. I’m not rich, granted, but I also enjoy putting money into 401K’s. I like that the government let’s me defer my tax liability to invest. I don’t like paying taxes. I think the government has mismanaged Social Security even worse than Full Tilt Poker has managed player deposits.
I like watching my 401K grow. I expect to have swings. I don’t mind the swings, in fact I kind of like them. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks to have your money go up or down 5% in any given week, but I like the fact that when it goes down, I get to put my money in when stocks are a discount. I made some mistakes investing in the stock market, but I’ve also learned from them. I’m down about 7% right now and I’m okay with that
I think the government has a duty to protect people against fraud, but here’s the thing about fraud you usually don’t see it until it’s too late. Let’s face it, Greenspan and Bernanke made a lot of mistakes in this area. A lot of Objectivists, like me even vilify Greenspan. He’s the ultimate example of what happens if you compromise on your principles. Regulation of a free market is no longer a free market. That being said, there seems to be something immoral about telling people the can afford a house when they can’t. It seems to me, that the problems of this economy were not the problems of Wall Street—a lot of people lost their shirts in the stock market. The problem seems to be with the deceptive evaluations of risk, predatory lending, and sub-prime mortgages. If someone has bad credit-they probably should not get a mortgage. If someone makes $30,000 a year, they can’t afford a $400,000 house. I wish I could tell you what the hell a derivative is, but I can’t.
I think one of the problems is that if you ask the average Joe on the street what is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? They don’t have a clue. S&P 500? It’s one of those things on the news that terrify them when it goes down. If you ask 10 people which president is on the dime, you might get one person to give you the correct answer, if you’re lucky (without checking their smart phone—made by some “diabolical corporation”) I can tell you Rosevelt’s on the dime, but I only have a vague idea of what derivatives are and have an even vaguer idea of why critics say it lead the economic collapse.
I’m not a fan of government spending, but I think I could live with it a little better if they start using some of that money to teach kids about money. Learn about the stock market. How is money made in this economy?
When I was in high school, I had one semester of economics. That’s not enough. I was lucky enough to have a teacher that actually started a bank with seven of his friends. They only needed a million dollars, but were able to lend out more than that( I want to say 3 million, but it was about 16 years ago so I’m not sure) He taught us about thinking at the margin by bringing in a couple dozen doughnuts and having a couple students eat as many as they could. I learned that the world has never had a 100% capitalist economy, nor a 100% socialist economy.
I learned that greed is good, contrary to popular belief.
Money is not backed by gold (at least not anymore) It’s only an idea, a representation of value.
I watched a video showing some of these Occupy Wall Street people. Here’s my question. What is the goal of these protestors? One man said there are no jobs for teenagers. Will protesting “Wall Street” create more jobs for teenagers than lowering (or eliminating) the minimum wage? I don’t smoke marijuana, but legalizing it would do way more to create jobs in in this country than protesting Wall Street. We might even get some of these hippie pot heads to work, since they wouldn’t have to pass piss tests anymore.
Another protester says if you paid more in taxes then General Electric, you should be here. WTF? Corporations don’t pay taxes—people do. If you decided to put $15 bucks in a GE rather than blow it on a pitcher of beer(B.T.W. I’m not against beer by any means)—you would have earned $1.30, not counting fees of course. How much of that should be taxes? Let’s say you also bought Rite Aid and lost .50 cents on that share. Should you not be able to deduct that to pay for GE’s taxes? What if you lose money one year and gain the next? You can’t subtract the previous year’s losses on the current year’s tax liability. Hey. . . what if you get taxed 30 cents on that GE share, but the company decided to raise it’s products prices to make your EPS $1.60?--Who’s paying the tax now?
What is Wall Street? It’s a street in New York where stocks are traded. Stocks are shares of corporations. You too can own a share of stock in a company, or multiple shares in several companies. Why would you want to protest this market? If you don’t like big oil, (which I freely admit, I’m not part of that crowd) would it make sense to protest outside of Auto Zone because they sell Pennzoil?
I used to make a couple hundred bucks a month playing online poker, (usually) averaging about one losing month per year. I read a couple books on investing and decided to start putting some of that money into the market in 2009. It’s a good thing too, because if I would have left a lot of that money on FTP—it would have been gone. I did this because I started seeing people have their withdrawals confiscated by the government. Part of what I had left on the site was probably seized by the government, but most of it was either grossly mismanaged, or straight out stolen, . . .but looking back, the writing was on the wall. I probably won’t ever get that money back. Luckily I put most of my money on PokerStars and the stock market.
Even if the market goes down by 50% tomorrow I’m still ahead.
I like the stock market. I like looking for low P/E ratios on stocks that pay dividends. I’m not rich, granted, but I also enjoy putting money into 401K’s. I like that the government let’s me defer my tax liability to invest. I don’t like paying taxes. I think the government has mismanaged Social Security even worse than Full Tilt Poker has managed player deposits.
I like watching my 401K grow. I expect to have swings. I don’t mind the swings, in fact I kind of like them. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks to have your money go up or down 5% in any given week, but I like the fact that when it goes down, I get to put my money in when stocks are a discount. I made some mistakes investing in the stock market, but I’ve also learned from them. I’m down about 7% right now and I’m okay with that
I think the government has a duty to protect people against fraud, but here’s the thing about fraud you usually don’t see it until it’s too late. Let’s face it, Greenspan and Bernanke made a lot of mistakes in this area. A lot of Objectivists, like me even vilify Greenspan. He’s the ultimate example of what happens if you compromise on your principles. Regulation of a free market is no longer a free market. That being said, there seems to be something immoral about telling people the can afford a house when they can’t. It seems to me, that the problems of this economy were not the problems of Wall Street—a lot of people lost their shirts in the stock market. The problem seems to be with the deceptive evaluations of risk, predatory lending, and sub-prime mortgages. If someone has bad credit-they probably should not get a mortgage. If someone makes $30,000 a year, they can’t afford a $400,000 house. I wish I could tell you what the hell a derivative is, but I can’t.
I think one of the problems is that if you ask the average Joe on the street what is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? They don’t have a clue. S&P 500? It’s one of those things on the news that terrify them when it goes down. If you ask 10 people which president is on the dime, you might get one person to give you the correct answer, if you’re lucky (without checking their smart phone—made by some “diabolical corporation”) I can tell you Rosevelt’s on the dime, but I only have a vague idea of what derivatives are and have an even vaguer idea of why critics say it lead the economic collapse.
I’m not a fan of government spending, but I think I could live with it a little better if they start using some of that money to teach kids about money. Learn about the stock market. How is money made in this economy?
When I was in high school, I had one semester of economics. That’s not enough. I was lucky enough to have a teacher that actually started a bank with seven of his friends. They only needed a million dollars, but were able to lend out more than that( I want to say 3 million, but it was about 16 years ago so I’m not sure) He taught us about thinking at the margin by bringing in a couple dozen doughnuts and having a couple students eat as many as they could. I learned that the world has never had a 100% capitalist economy, nor a 100% socialist economy.
I learned that greed is good, contrary to popular belief.
Money is not backed by gold (at least not anymore) It’s only an idea, a representation of value.
I watched a video showing some of these Occupy Wall Street people. Here’s my question. What is the goal of these protestors? One man said there are no jobs for teenagers. Will protesting “Wall Street” create more jobs for teenagers than lowering (or eliminating) the minimum wage? I don’t smoke marijuana, but legalizing it would do way more to create jobs in in this country than protesting Wall Street. We might even get some of these hippie pot heads to work, since they wouldn’t have to pass piss tests anymore.
Another protester says if you paid more in taxes then General Electric, you should be here. WTF? Corporations don’t pay taxes—people do. If you decided to put $15 bucks in a GE rather than blow it on a pitcher of beer(B.T.W. I’m not against beer by any means)—you would have earned $1.30, not counting fees of course. How much of that should be taxes? Let’s say you also bought Rite Aid and lost .50 cents on that share. Should you not be able to deduct that to pay for GE’s taxes? What if you lose money one year and gain the next? You can’t subtract the previous year’s losses on the current year’s tax liability. Hey. . . what if you get taxed 30 cents on that GE share, but the company decided to raise it’s products prices to make your EPS $1.60?--Who’s paying the tax now?
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Pro-Vaccine
For the record, I am not a fan of Rick Perry. Before the debate at the Regan Library, all I heard about him was he likes to pray for jobs, and pray for rain. I prefer problems be solved thorough rationality. In my opinion, reason and logic are much better tools for solving problems than asking the Flying Spaghetti Monster(assuming that’s the god you believe in, although it may not be) to solve them for you.
So I started watching the debate with a preconceived notion of Rick Perry. I still disagree with his fundamental mystic philosophy and I think he could have answered some of his attacks better if he started out with a better premise. What really upset me however were not so much Rick Perry’s comments, but Ron Paul’s attack on Rick Perry’s vaccination mandate. Ron, along with basically every other Republican (with the exception of Romney’s half ass objection) said that parents should have the choice. It is wrong for the government to impose what they think they should do to inoculate their children.
I can not believe the anti-vaccination movement in this country. It is dangerous that someone can lie about a study and the idea still takes off, poisoning the intellectual wealth of a nation. I also can’t believe “pro-lifers” can be against vaccination. These people are against the parents right to choose abortion, but they are for parents choosing to increase cancer risk for their children. This is not the same thing as mandating helmets for motorcyclists. If someone choses to ride a Harley without a helmet, they do so at their own risk. If a parent decides they don’t want the government telling them they need a car seat, only the child is at risk. If a parent says they don’t want their kid to have the HPV vaccine—they are endangering the lives of everyone by propagating the virus and weakening the immunity of society..
The fact is the HPV vaccine only works in about 95% of the women who are inoculated with it. Let’s say a man with HPV has sex with someone with the HPV vaccine that did work. Now she has sex with another man—a man without HPV. Now, that same man has sex with a woman who does not build anti-bodies against HPV even though she had the vaccination. She still doesn’t get the disease because the guy banged a gal who did have the antibodies against HPV.
This is called herd immunity. A country has the right to defend itself against biological warfare. We have the right to create laws telling people they can’t send anthrax in the mail. By that same right, we have the right to protect ourselves from HPV by requiring vaccinations for everyone. We have the right to quarantine people with the Ebola virus. To me there is not difference between the person with the Antrax in the envelope and the person that wishes to spread cancer causing viruses because they chose not to get vaccinated. To say this is an attack on freedom is like saying the second amendment protects your right to manufacture biological weapons.
I actually like that Rick Perry created an executive order to have 12 year old girls vaccinated for HPV. I would have preferred he did not leave an opt-out option for parents. I wish he would have defended this position better.
This makes me question the anti-abortion movement. I’m sure there are some people that oppose abortion because it ends a “human life.” You know what else ends a human life—Fucking cancer. IF you are so against terminating cells the size of a hang nail then you better be for preventing cancer terminating the life of a grown woman. I can respect the argument against the pro-choice movement, but not if those who argue against are okay with parents choosing CANCER over vaccination. It almost seems that they’re not so much against offspring dying as a result of their parent’s actions—they’re just more concerned with people staying abstinent. Let’s face it if you had to have a kid every time you had sex—you might think twice about it.
Michelle Bachman has no problem screening immigrants for diseases, Why is this any different? Are diseases spread by citizens better than disease spread by immigrants? In my opinion viruses don’t discriminate. Would it be better to screen potential sex partners before they are allowed to have sex than to require a vaccination? Should we issue sex licenses? This is why I refuse to join the Republican party—they are so inconsistent. Consequently, I also refuse to join the Democrats for the same reason.
So I started watching the debate with a preconceived notion of Rick Perry. I still disagree with his fundamental mystic philosophy and I think he could have answered some of his attacks better if he started out with a better premise. What really upset me however were not so much Rick Perry’s comments, but Ron Paul’s attack on Rick Perry’s vaccination mandate. Ron, along with basically every other Republican (with the exception of Romney’s half ass objection) said that parents should have the choice. It is wrong for the government to impose what they think they should do to inoculate their children.
I can not believe the anti-vaccination movement in this country. It is dangerous that someone can lie about a study and the idea still takes off, poisoning the intellectual wealth of a nation. I also can’t believe “pro-lifers” can be against vaccination. These people are against the parents right to choose abortion, but they are for parents choosing to increase cancer risk for their children. This is not the same thing as mandating helmets for motorcyclists. If someone choses to ride a Harley without a helmet, they do so at their own risk. If a parent decides they don’t want the government telling them they need a car seat, only the child is at risk. If a parent says they don’t want their kid to have the HPV vaccine—they are endangering the lives of everyone by propagating the virus and weakening the immunity of society..
The fact is the HPV vaccine only works in about 95% of the women who are inoculated with it. Let’s say a man with HPV has sex with someone with the HPV vaccine that did work. Now she has sex with another man—a man without HPV. Now, that same man has sex with a woman who does not build anti-bodies against HPV even though she had the vaccination. She still doesn’t get the disease because the guy banged a gal who did have the antibodies against HPV.
This is called herd immunity. A country has the right to defend itself against biological warfare. We have the right to create laws telling people they can’t send anthrax in the mail. By that same right, we have the right to protect ourselves from HPV by requiring vaccinations for everyone. We have the right to quarantine people with the Ebola virus. To me there is not difference between the person with the Antrax in the envelope and the person that wishes to spread cancer causing viruses because they chose not to get vaccinated. To say this is an attack on freedom is like saying the second amendment protects your right to manufacture biological weapons.
I actually like that Rick Perry created an executive order to have 12 year old girls vaccinated for HPV. I would have preferred he did not leave an opt-out option for parents. I wish he would have defended this position better.
This makes me question the anti-abortion movement. I’m sure there are some people that oppose abortion because it ends a “human life.” You know what else ends a human life—Fucking cancer. IF you are so against terminating cells the size of a hang nail then you better be for preventing cancer terminating the life of a grown woman. I can respect the argument against the pro-choice movement, but not if those who argue against are okay with parents choosing CANCER over vaccination. It almost seems that they’re not so much against offspring dying as a result of their parent’s actions—they’re just more concerned with people staying abstinent. Let’s face it if you had to have a kid every time you had sex—you might think twice about it.
Michelle Bachman has no problem screening immigrants for diseases, Why is this any different? Are diseases spread by citizens better than disease spread by immigrants? In my opinion viruses don’t discriminate. Would it be better to screen potential sex partners before they are allowed to have sex than to require a vaccination? Should we issue sex licenses? This is why I refuse to join the Republican party—they are so inconsistent. Consequently, I also refuse to join the Democrats for the same reason.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Exercising my first amendment right
Today is a great win for freedom of speech. When Fred Phelps dies we can all go to his funeral and shout FRED WAS A FAG! FRED WAS A FAG! We have to be very careful with our definitions though. In this context I'm using the word "Fag," as someone or something god hates--like people in the UK call cigarettes fags--god obviously hates cigarettes like he hates shellfish, yeast, foreskins, goats cooked in it's own mothers milk, and animals with bruised testicles. So I may use the term fag differently than others may use it. For example, when I go to a seafood restaurant I like to order fag scampi. You have to be very clear about this--you don't want to cross the line and commit libel or slander a dead man at his funeral.
Why is it that we see more Christians protesting gay marriage than we see protesting the Westboro Baptist Church? Because, ironically, they can back up their protests biblically. Why do you not see moderate Muslims being more proactive in stopping the radical islamo-fascists ? (I'll give you a hint--it has to do with their holy books) There's no sense pretending--religion is bad for you and it’s bad for society. Luckily, we live in a secular nation and have the freedom of speech to say so.
Here it is in case you haven't read it in a while:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Since I’m on my soapbox I may as well say it. I’m tired of people assuming that everyone believes in the bible. Sometimes you just don’t want to hear what the bible has to say. Here’s an example (I apologize in advance for posting something so disgusting)
Psalms 137:9 (New International Version)
“Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks”
Why is it that we see more Christians protesting gay marriage than we see protesting the Westboro Baptist Church? Because, ironically, they can back up their protests biblically. Why do you not see moderate Muslims being more proactive in stopping the radical islamo-fascists ? (I'll give you a hint--it has to do with their holy books) There's no sense pretending--religion is bad for you and it’s bad for society. Luckily, we live in a secular nation and have the freedom of speech to say so.
Here it is in case you haven't read it in a while:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Since I’m on my soapbox I may as well say it. I’m tired of people assuming that everyone believes in the bible. Sometimes you just don’t want to hear what the bible has to say. Here’s an example (I apologize in advance for posting something so disgusting)
Psalms 137:9 (New International Version)
“Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks”
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