Wednesday, January 28, 2009

"Feed me, Seymour!"

So, I’ve read/heard recently that the “Macs” of the Freddie and Fannie type are in need of more money from the bailout package. Apparently $14 billion wasn’t quite enough. What the . . . .

Are they worth it? Is it beneficial to keep/support organizations that have botched their purpose as badly as they have? Some say that we should keep them, but couple it with better regulation. Is more regulation going to help when the Macs are so large, the right hand doesn’t even appear to know what the left hand is doing? And, who or what is going to do the regulating? How long will it be until the regulators are firmly in the back pocket of the Macs and their power is neutered?

Whatever happened to the days when owning a home was more of a privilege, and not a right? A product of hard work and saving? Starting out in an apartment, purchasing a smaller home, and working up to the larger home? With the policies that were in place, everyone, even high-risk borrowers, should have a home at a really cheap interest rate.

I understand as well as anyone the sense of pride and security that home ownership brings. I have been blessed in that my ownership has come during periods of very, very (almost unrealistically) low interest rates. Of course, these rates help people own a home at a more reasonable rate. But, these rates have also been used to lure people into the trap of owning more than what they can really afford, and the Macs have certainly contributed to this cesspool. (This certainly does not excuse the mortgagee from fault!) Accepting real estate appraisals that reflect an artificially inflated market and accepting loans at 125% of the “loan to value ratio” don’t help, either. “Everyone should own a home!”

As Oliver Hardy so eloquently states, “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Stan!”
I become so angered when I think that my tax dollars continue to help bail out these gluttonous pigs! NO MORE MONEY! STOP!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Facebook FAQs


Drew, this crazy/funny guy I work with, let me snag this from his Facebook page:

I was exchanging e-mails with an old friend and I mentioned a fake FAQ that I numbered #34. I then wondered in my e-mail exchange what the first 33 FAQs would be. I wrote these as a creative exercise and found them fairly amusing. Thought I’d share.

-----------------------

FAQ 1 - Why is it called Facebook when really, it isn’t all that much about faces or books?

FAQ 2 - What do I do when someone I really secretly hated but pretended to like so that I could get a ride to that dope Public Enemy concert back in 1988 invites me to be their friend?

FAQ 3 - Is it bad that my self confidence relies heavily on the number of friends I have?

FAQ 4 - If the answer to FAQ 3 is yes, how can I seek help? Is there a qualified expert I can invite to be my friend to solve this problem? Better yet, is there a large number of said experts so that I can increase my friend count while simultaneously increasing my self confidence?

FAQ 5 - Screw the answers to FAQ 3 & FAQ 4 - - forget I asked them. I’m secure. I really am. Hey, will you be my friend?

FAQ 6 - Is there a list of FAQs that expand on this list of FAQs?

FAQ 7 - Is the founder of Facebook single and if so, is he straight/gay/indifferent/curious/polyamorous so that I can tell if I have a chance with him?

FAQ 8 - Is it fun to work at Facebook? Is Facebook blocked on the corporate Net connection at Facebook?

FAQ 9 - I just found out that one of my good friends from high school who reconnected with me on Facebook came out of the closet four years ago. If we fooled around a little during that truth or dare game sophomore year after having too much peach schnapps and spritzers, does this mean that I could be gay too? Am I in denial?

FAQ 10 - Once, when I was a kid, I killed a baby bird that had fallen from its nest. It was obviously suffering. Did I do the right thing?

FAQ 11 - Do you get paid for answering FAQs? Is it a good job? When you get things wrong, do your friends tease you for ‘FAQing up?’

FAQ 12 - Really though - - will you be my friend?

FAQ 13 - When I joined Facebook, I immediately looked up my old fifth grade student teacher. You know - the hot one who smelled like almond soap when you stood really close to her and kept unbuttoning the top button of her blouse before she stood up to teach American history. She just changed her status to single. Do you think I have a shot?

FAQ 15 - I’m 43 years old and have trouble counting past 13. Is it too late for me to consider taking a remedial math class?

FAQ 16 - When you wake up in the morning and check your Facebook profile first thing before eating breakfast while ignoring your crying, hungry children, you often wonder if Facebook is working on a way to transmit data to sleeping people in their dreams. Are you working on this? Can I be in the beta group?

FAQ 17 - If Facebook were a tree, what kind of tree would it be?

FAQ 18 - Facebook on my iPhone crashed on me while I was using it while driving and I caused a four car pileup. Don’t worry - no one is hurt. Can you recover the e-mail I was writing?

FAQ 19 - When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand and nothing - whoa, nothing! - is going right, can you close your eyes and think of that sweet status update you did last week on Facebook to feel better?

FAQ 20 - If a train loaded with bread leaves Boston going 60 miles an hour at the same time a train loaded with salami leaves Chicago going 90 miles an hour, will the resulting head-on collision be as delicious as it sounds? I like salami.

FAQ 21 - I realize that not all of these FAQs are specifically Facebook related and apologize. Are you still reading this?

FAQ 22 - Given the volume of FAQs here, have you considered opening a sister site known as FAQbook? People could pronounce it in a snarky, hipster manner like ‘Fakebook’. This would lend purpose to their otherwise humourless life.

FAQ 23 - Why do some people spell humor and color with extra vowels? Do they think they’re betteur than me? See what I did there? How’d it make you feel, Canadian!

FAQ 24 - If Facebook got MySpace drunk and they engaged in a heated night of passion and sweet, sweet love, would an even better social network be the result or would Internet inbreeding result in a genetic cyber mess of jumbled Web pages with advertisements for erectile dysfunction medication and Internet long distance companies?

FAQ 25 - When your cat is licking your face and her breath smells like catfood, is it bad to get hungry?

FAQ 26 - I’m getting off topic again with my FAQs. What I meant to say in FAQ 12 is that I think we should be friends given the length of our relationship. You’ve now been through more than 20 FAQs with me. Shouldn’t that time together count for something?

FAQ 27 - If my husband/wife/SO is spending too much time with Facebook and not enough time playing World of Warcraft with me, should I start considering a divorce?

FAQ 28 - I recently dropped a friend from Facebook when I caught her in bed with my husband. My boyfriend says that I overreacted. Is he right?

FAQ 28 -Whoops - - I just caught my error in FAQ 15. I told you I had a problem. This FAQ is correctly numbered now. Do you like Cheese Whiz?

FAQ 29 - If I’m caught on Facebook at work one more time, I’ll be fired for wasting company resources. Is there a way you can make Facebook look like an earnings report spreadsheet for the third quarter? You know, I can see my friends in the 3rd row and their status updates in the fourth row. I could then do cool things like say ‘Wow, cell A4 looks like positive news’ and my boss would think I’m hard at work when really, I’m finding out that Tom, that cool guy I met last week in Cabo is going to be in town for the weekend and wants to hook up for peach schnapps...oh wait, I am gay.

FAQ 30 - If I delete my Facebook account on accident, does this mean that all of my friends are immediately killed in horrible ways?

FAQ 31 - How does Facebook protect my privacy? i don’t like people knowing too much about me. Is there a way for me to make my Facebook private to everyone except me? Wait. I just realized that would be stupid. Pretend I didn’t ask this question.

FAQ 32 - What the front door are Snowball Wars and why should I care about stupid snowballs?

FAQ 33 - Why should I care if one of my friends wants to know my birthday? It was yesterday, Chelsea - - if you must know!! Doesn’t she know that birthdays are a myth invented by the greeting card companies designed to make us spend beyond our means? Speaking of which, that was a fake Coach bag you got me, you stupid #@$$#@%!! Thanks!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Mobs Rule


Tribes by Seth Godin

The power of groups is not a new idea, but Seth Godin does a decent job of explaining how technology is making the power of “tribes”, like-minded people with similar goals, more prominent in today’s society. This is a very easy and short read, but if you are fascinated by the cultures that develop around things like Facebook and Twitter, this is a good book to get on your reading list.

I am not a big fan of a lot of these “management guru” book writers, but Godin does a great job of condensing ideas down to a quick read. Sometimes, in fact, he gets a bit too simplistic. And, although I approach these books with skepticism, this one struck a cord with me.

Beyond the power of tribes, Godin also touched on another favorite subject of mine. I have talked about blogging about the topic of fear and how we let it rule our lives and decisions, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. This book has inspired me to get on that.

Godin’s redefining of the Peter Principle was spot on in this book. Essentially, the Peter Principle was defined by Dr. Laurence Peter as a way to explain how people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their level of incompetence. People are promoted until they reach a level they can’t handle.

Godin, I think, gives a more accurate explanation of the Peter Principle. He says that “in every organization, people rise to a level at which they become paralyzed with fear.”

I have always had a problem with The Peter Principle, in part, because I tend to believe that the driving force that holds us back from achievement isn’t our own incompetence, it is our fear. Fear of failure. Fear of criticism. Fear of additional responsibility. Fear of fearing. People only achieve what THEY believe they are capable of achieving, no more, no less. We put our own limitations on ourselves.

Good book. Pick it up.

Friday, January 23, 2009

The Original National Party Times

Kegger sent me this via Facebook. It is the original issue of The NPT, circa, 1987. My friend Lin and I proceeded to do a few more issues after this one, but it never got any less cheesier, nor did it ever rise to the level of 6th grade cleverness that Scott and I achieved with Disaster Magazine.




Friday, January 16, 2009

Spending Time in Web World

The Internet music thing is evolving. Although I have been a big fan of eMusic for a year or so, other music sites are even more popular. Just in the last week or so, Brother Jon shared his Pandora Blues station with me, Cuz Kim IM’ed me about jango, and I read about last.fm on Co-worker Joe’s Facebook page. (I had blogged a bit last week about justhearit, which also came from him.)


I also read last week that Apple is lifting it’s DRM off of what it sells on iTunes. More freedom is always a good thing in my book. And, although the music industry has suffered by trying to keep up with all the technology changes, in the end, it is ushering in an incredibly diverse world of opportunity for music fans. More music, more freedom, means more money to be made by all involved.

*****

When a couple of my friends convinced me to joined Facebook a year or so ago, there weren’t too many people I knew on there and those I did were mostly co-workers from the twenty and thirty-something crowds.

My, how things have changed. As every month rolls by, my friend list gets older and older. Facebook is a great example of how a new technology is adopted over time. It starts with the young ‘uns. There is something about new technology that young people can more readilly accept than older folks. And if it is cool enough, over time, the old folks slowly, but surely start showing up. The evolution has been fun to watch.

If you haven’t friended me yet, join up. If you only know me by reading this blog, be sure to tell me about it in the message part of your friend request.

Well, now I am off to find me a twenty something to help me figure out how this twitter thing works...

*****

I am also still trying to figure out this 2D Barcode thing. I'll be updating you more on that down the road, I am sure...

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Read This, Or Be Eaten Alive

It is really hard to know what to believe or not any more. The Internet is an incredible resource, but it is also full of erroneous information. Worse yet, hardly a day goes by where I don’t receive at least one email warning me about something. Is it true or not?

I know most of you are savvy enough to have heard about snopes.com, but I figured it is worth mentioning again anyway. It is a website dedicated to identifying and tracking urban legends and myths and clarifying what is true or false, or even just partially true.


I once received a photo of a man getting his picture taken on one of the Twin Towers on 9/11, right before the plane crashed into it. False. I once received a photo of a shark about to eat a British Navy diver. False. I once received an email that John Kerry’s wife owns Heinz, which supposedly outsources much of its work abroad. False. I recently received an email that my cell phone needed to be registered on a no-call list. False.

Snopes. com is a fascinating site to explore. Their list of urban legends will keep you entertained for hours. More importantly, the next time you get an urgent email and feel the need to pass it along, you will have a source to check it out first...

Friday, January 9, 2009

Any Song, Any Time

This guy I work with passed this along on his Facebook page. Joe is always on the cutting edge and this one is actually still in beta, but it already works really well.

Want to hear any song, legal, free? This site may eventually be even better than Pandora. Check it out. It took me all of about 15 seconds to find music I have been unable to find anywhere else...

JUST HEAR IT

Thursday, January 8, 2009

I Am Not Paranoid, It's Just That Everyone Is Out To Get Me

I know that my libertarian ways may at times make me seem a bit loony, but it is hard for me to view anything the government does as anything more than just a new way to suck up more power and control EVERYTHING EVERYONE does. They are not trying to protect us, they are trying to control us.

This week, the fine state of Arizona has decided to make illegal all license plate holders that cover the word “Arizona” at the top. Now, it is obvious they needed to pass this law so they can more effectively scan license plates and mail random speeding tickets to unsuspecting commuters, but where does any of this end? In their quest to raise more revenue more efficiently and control citizenry more automatically, they once again are bound and determined to make more and more laws.

Do we really need to make criminals out of soccer moms that forget to remove a license plate cover their car dealership put on two years ago when they purchased their minivan? Are these really the “bad guys” our para-military officials need to add to the criminal ranks? Maybe Arizona should hire Blackwater to round up all these lawless perpetrators and send them off to concentration camps in the desert. (Not to confuse any big government Democrats and Neo-con Republicans that may be reading this--don’t get too excited about that idea, I am being facetious.)

Then again, if our government really wants to control these evil-doers, wouldn’t it be easier to just plant a microchip in their heads and mail them a ticket whenever a government GPS database shows them moving more that 65 mph?

The sad thing is, I believe these morons in government honestly believe they are “protecting” us. I also believe there are many fellow citizens who follow this train of thought and want the government to solve all our problems by regulating “other” people’s bad behavior. But, at what point does it all end?

Sadly, I don’t think it will end. Slowly, but steadily we become more and more controlled by our “protectors”. Little by little, we will give up all our liberty. When we finally wake up to the fact that these little things have added up to an irreversible situation, it may be too late.

I know getting riled up about a minor new traffic law may seem trivial, but am I the only one who sees the Big Brother Warning plastered all over this?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The Cardinals Exceed Expectations


Well, the Arizona Cardinals have exceeded all expectations and are heading to a second playoff game for only the second time since coming to Arizona from St. Louis back in 1988. In fact, their regular season record of 9-7 was only the second winning season in Arizona (they were also 9-7 the last time they made the playoffs in 1998, when they beat the Cowboys in the first round).

Although the Cardinals are credited with being the oldest professional American football team (1898) and have a couple of ancient championships while in Chicago (1925, 1947), they are only one of six teams never to appear in a Super Bowl.

I fully expect them to uphold that fact again this year. Whatever trash talking I may have done during the season was hyperbole and never based on any sense of confidence. I have enjoyed the season none-the-less, if for no other reason than it has closed the gap between when they are usually out of it (sometime in October) and the beginning of Spring Training.

After all, we all know, real men play baseball. Go Diamondbacks.

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