Austin Bloggin'

Greetings from lovely Austin, TX.

Came for a long weekend on our continuing research on warm places we might want to live. General verdict on the city is that it's pretty nice, lots of new building going on, clean, nice people. Weather for us has been pretty good, it was in the upper 80's for the last couple of days, today is low 60's. It can get really hot in the summer from what we hear.

Some restaraunt reviews:

On Wednesday, we had lunch at Iron Cactus on 6th St. Awesome. I had Steak Colorado Enchiladas, J had the Acapulco. We may return before we go home. 9/10

Wednesday evening, we went to Bess Bistro. Ambiance and location are great, food was good, service was a little off. 7.5/10. The Artichoke hearts and spinach appetizer was fantastic. J really liked her seafood risotto, I thought the steak frites were OK, but not spectactular. Prices were OK.

Thursday, we had lunch at Jo's on 2nd St. Awesome. I had a pulled pork sanwich, and J and I shared Frito Pie. Very well done, friendly service. Outside seating needs to be a little cleaner (or bussed mor quickly), as we made close aquaintence with a number of birds finishing off someone else's Frito Pie. 8/10 (9/10 without birds).

Friday night, we went to Louie's 106. Had some build up, as they've won awards from Wine Spectator, and the place looked really nice. Inside, the ambiance is great. Classy place, nice bar, open kitchen. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience was quite lacking. Our server had no interest in being there. We had to ask her what the specials were, I was served a warm (like warmer than room temp) glass of wine, and she was generally inattentive. The food, likewise, was dissapointing. My Ceasar salad was good. J had Veal Risotto. She liked the risotto, but the veal was not of the quality the price made us expect. I had a 16 oz ribeye, which wasnt' bad, it just wasn't the $36 steak I was expecting. It was also overcooked (I asked for medium rare, I got medium to medium well). Since we could see into the kitchen, it was clear my steak was sitting under heater for several minutes while the risotto finished. Wine by the glass list unimpressive, and the general wine list was quite overpriced, in my opinion. 6/10.

Today is touristy stuff, then going to an art/food thing tonight. Back to the grindstone on Monday.

Your tax dollars at work

Study finds that if you eat less, you lose weight.

What's more awesome? The study was apparenly poorly conducted.

So not only do we find out what Physics (Thermodynamics) taught us quite some time ago, but we couldn't even conduct a proper study to do it.

This is why the government shouldn't have anything to do with science.

Or anything else, for that matter.

A picture says a thousand words

A graphic representation of the 2009 defecit

This is going to be a great 4 years. Change, indeed.

This explains a lot

Apparently, I may be mentally ill.

Quote of the day

"Congress is their last chance to find a sucker who will give them more money."

Maths, who needs them?

More jovial posts, because really, how can you not laugh.

Obama will touch on his efforts to restore fiscal discipline at a White House fiscal policy summit on Monday and in an address to Congress on Tuesday. On Thursday he plans to send at least a summary of his first budget request to Capitol Hill. The bottom line, said an administration official Saturday, is to halve the federal deficit to $533 billion by the time his first term ends in 2013. He inherited a deficit of about $1.3 trillion from former President George W. Bush.

The first step: Spend $800 Billion.

So this must mean raising taxes, which as we know always works so well to increase revenue (just ask the Teflon Leprechan).

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the president has not yet released his budget for the fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, said the deficit will be shrunk by scaling back Iraq war spending, ending the temporary tax breaks enacted by the Bush administration for those making $250,000 or more a year, and streamlining government.

Those mean old rich.

The best part, these two sentences are together. How can anyone think this is serious?

Obama has pledged to make deficit reduction a priority both as a candidate and a president. But he also has said economic recovery must come first.

Last week, he signed into law the $787 billion stimulus measure that is meant to create jobs but certainly will add to the nation's skyrocketing national debt. He also is implementing the $700 billion financial sector rescue passed on Bush's watch; about $75 billion of which is being used toward Obama's plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

Now, something a little lighter

Mandate

Wondering what universal health care will look like?

Click here.

Enjoy.

Horrifying

Horrifying that a state government would allow this to go on, even after they knew it was happening.

I wonder what, if any, criminal charges will be filed. I have an idea.

None.

Remember this when you wonder why people don't trust the government. Remember this when you think criminals get too many rights. These scumbags put countless people in prison. Or worse.

Failing experiments

NASCAR season isn't off to a good start from a ratings perspective. The Bud Shootout ratings are off last year by 22%.

I normally would watch. Didn't this year; I didn't care. Why? Stupid rule changes, again. Instead of being all the pole winners from last year, plus folks who had won the Shootout in the past (usually a good 25 car field of top teams/drivers), NA$CAR had to change the format because of sponsorship (Coors Light now sponsors the pole award) So, now since qualifying is essentially meaningless, and there's no 'all star' race reward, the pole becomes even less important.

Anyway, instead of what it was, they took the top 6 teams by manufacturer, then added in some extras... too complicated to even care to understand. But pretty much every Dodge got in, since there are only 6-7 teams left.

Just dumb. So no one cares to watch.

Since the 150's don't matter any more, I'd bet ratings for those races yesterday were off, too. (I didn't watch, and didn't even bother to record them.)

Wow... just... wow.

"Would you have done that if McCain were elected?"
"No."

1000th post

1000 posts in a little over 4 years. How about that.

As I'm getting older, I'm becoming more resolved that what I say here (or anywhere else) really doesn't matter that much. I'm not going to change anyone's mind. I had this realization with lifting about a year ago, when I was spending way too much time trying to teach people who didn't want to learn about training. The power of the Bro is strong, and I can not overcome it. Same is true with the power of the majority in this country.

People think they have the right, through the government, to take other peoples' stuff and give that stuff to the more deserving. That's not going to change, we are too far down the road. So I have to focus on doing the best I can, and defend my rights to the best of my ability, realizing, of course, I can't fight the state. I'll get some satisfaction when they finally get what they want, and someone in the federal government is deciding they can't have that joint replacement because they don't deserve it. Hopefully I'll be able to afford to outside the system, then, assuming that's legal.

I'll keep doing good things, keep helping where I can, and work hard so I can get to the point I don't have to anymore.

The Solution

I've figured out the solution to the economic "crisis". I, alone, can save 500,000,000 jobs.

End Social Security. That's all. No stimulus package needed.

Think about it. You immediately give every working person 12% more money each year to spend. It's a "progressive" tax cut, as the rich don't pay as much as a percentage (the cutoff for wages taxed is about $100k). You also give people the option to take a lump sum of what they have paid in, or leave it for when they retire. Those who are already retired and drawing Social Security payments would not be affected, as they just draw down the Trust Fund (assuming it exists. If not, I'm pretty sure the total liability of retired people isn't the $1 Trillion the 'stimulus' package will cost).

Sure, you'd have to iron out some details for people nearing retirement, but all in all, I think it would work. I'd even be willing to forgo the lump sum - they can keep what they have, so maybe have a cutoff of age 40, where if you are under 40, the government keeps what they took, if you are over 50 you have the option to stay in the program.

Think of how well that would stimulate the Economy! And give us a little freedom back.

Real Change.

Rain Tomorrow

A quick read on the decline in clarity of business writing.

I work for a big corporation, and I see evidence of this every day. Not only are kids rewarded for using lots of words, we are rewarded in the workplace for using more words (and bigger words) than required, and certainly for using buzzwords.

"Speak to" drives me nuts.

Seriously. Simpletons

How do these idiots get elected?



Yes, that's correct. If we don't Do Something, we will lose more jobs than there are people in the United States. This truly is an unprecedented economic catastrophy, eliminating the jobs of people who do not yet exist.

And this wasn't a one off. She said it multiple times.

Self fulfilling..

Talking us into a depression at Coyote Blog. Interesting employment stat included.

To add some anectdotal evidence: I deal with a couple of small business owners on a regular basis, as well as some very large organizations. All of them are having trouble hiring.

That's right.

Seocnd hand, through them, I'm hearing an awful lot about people cutting back and slowing growth in anticipation of poor results. Business is fine, but they are cutting back anyway.

I think all this doom and gloom talk might have something to do with that behavior.

Simpletons

So much has been said about the insane spending bill about to be passed, I don't really have that much more to add, other than to remark we are governed by simpletons.

This kind of stuff amazes me. It amazes me it gets said, it amazes me people buy it.

President Barack Obama pounded Republicans Saturday for policies that fueled the economic crisis, while welcoming a Senate deal on his stimulus bill that ideologically split lawmakers hope to finish by mid-month.

Obama said quick action on the package was imperative to avoid catastrophe and praised the group of moderate senators from both political parties for coming up with a compromise.

Senate Democrats agreed late Friday to trim spending proposals and support tax cuts in a roughly $800 billion bill. They rolled back an earlier $937 billion proposal by culling what critics, mostly Republicans, called billions of dollars in unwarranted spending.

Doesn't anyone understand this bill is the policies of the last 8 years, just more? Anybody realise the actual 'stimulating' spending (without going into too much detail on why government spending isn't any more stimulating than non government spending) is on the back end of the bill, at the same time we'll be coming out of the recession if we do nothing?

Which is what Congress should be doing. Nothing, other than cutting taxes. That's the only thing they can do to help the economy. The rest of it has to play out, and it will.

(By the way, this isn't the 'worst economy since the depression'. It isn't even close. But the more our President says it is, the more people act like it is, as he is the Messiah.)

SHOCKING BREAKING NEWS!!!

College kid smokes pot in his girlfriend's dorm room.

Don't we have something more important to worry about?

Sorry

I had to commute back and forth to Philly every day this week, so I only had time to drive, work, eat, and sleep.

I'm reading up on what's happening, and may have something to say later today or tomorrow.

Oh - government spending on social programs doesn't stimulate the economy. I hope y'all wake up and call your Senators before this mess passes.