Archive for November 2005
“Cold-Ass Facts”
I think Cathy Young does a decent job, here, of sorting through the steaming piles of bullshit that represent the left's case against and the right's case for the war in Iraq. You should take the few minutes to read it regardless of what side you're on. Of course, the charge that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence data either is true, or isn't true. There's no such thing as an unpatriotic fact. And here's the…Read More
Justice Always Gets Paid
“Whenever Merck was up there [on the witness stand], it was like wah, wah, wah,” juror John Ostrom told The Wall Street Journal, imitating the drone of Charlie Brown’s teacher after dunning Merck & Co. for $253 million in damages. He was describing his own reason for finding that Merck’s Vioxx had killed a 59-year-old man, even though the trial established that the man had died of unrelated causes. Ostrom’s fellow jurors don’t seem much…Read More
A Thought Experiment
OK, here's the deal: go read what Kyle Bennett did to some thieves, and then imagine had he called "the authorities" to help him out. Here's what I imagine. Rather than justice having been rendered in total, by now, Kyle is still sitting there with the guys who've got to "file their report" (in order to justify their budget: use it or lose it, y'know?), and they're still stuck on the part where the thieves…Read More
Practical Causes & Effects
The announcement by GM to eliminate a whopping 30,000 jobs delivers a good opportunity for a lesson in causes & effects. Since you're very unlikely to receive any sort of accurate assignment of same anywhere in the major media, let's give it a bit of a go here, shall we? Of course, you're going to hear the standard inversion of cause and effect. You're going to "learn," because the labor unions are going to make…Read More
Get the Bloodhound
I like to report on good service I receive whenever I can. As I've blogged, we recently sold our home. One of the motivating factors was to use some of the profits to invest in other real estate. Phoenix, AZ, happens to be the hottest appreciating market in the country, right now, and even though the run-up in prices in the last year precludes positive rental cash flow (unless you go in with lots of…Read More
Sent Items: Exposing Evil Motives
Yea, I've been a lousy blogger of late. Well, we finally sold, closed and moved out of the home we've occupied these last 6 1/2 years in San Jose, CA. Bought it as a fixer-upper in 1999 and sold for almost tripple what we paid. It was about 1500 sq. ft., 4 BR, 2 bath, and a 2-car garage. We bought a new construction, downtown loft town-home at an insane price of almost $600 per…Read More
Stand-Up Business
TypePad, the company that runs both the servers and the continuously updated and improved server-side software that runs this blog, have been having growing pains. There have been service issues: sluggish performance and the occasional short-term outage. Nothing amounting to incompetence, that I can detect. I'd have no tolerance or patience for that. They've sent out a communication or two about it, asking for patience. Now this: Compensation for this less than stellar performance We…Read More
Understanding Evil
Like I said in my last entry, I've been in San Fran all week. Last night, Friday, I headed out for one of my favorite regular joints, the Daily Grill, just off Union Square. I'm staying on the other side of the square, right atop the Stockton Tunnel. The square's packed this Friday night in a sea of crimson & gold: USC is up for today's game with the Cal Bears. I mean: USC is…Read More
Goings On
I'm in San Francisco for the week, since Saturday night. Mostly business, and the days are full. Other than that, both our house that we sold and the new loft we purchased close this week, and we move Sunday morning -- right after I get back Saturday night. Alors, just too little time to blog. I would like to get something out regarding France, since I lived there for two years and parle le langue.…Read More
Lucky Stars
Yep, the lucky stars were definitely out for this group of football spectators. How would you like to have a plane crash only two or three feet behind where you're standing, and by the time you have any clue as to what's going on, it's over? Go and click on the "Video" link right under the photo. It requires IE. Firefox doesn't work. They show it once in real motion, and then in slow motion.…Read More
Just Politics as Usual
Matt Welch lays out just exactly why I will never, EVER again in my life get worked up over a political election. Besides, it's a lot more fun sitting on the sidelines. Ever go to a party, not feel like drinking, and watch everyone else drink -- and then dance? While you're stone-cold sober? Yep, that's what the political scene is like, for me. I admit it. I was stupid. I just thought that firing…Read More