Weekend remainders

A guy used an android app on his phone to prove he couldn’t have been going as fast as the officer claimed he was.  The cop claimed he was going 15 M.P.H. over the speed limit when, in fact, he had never exceeded the speed limit.  In court, the cop admitted he had never calibrated his radar.  So I wonder how many other people wrongfully received tickets. 

A couple of weeks ago it was reported that a married-with-children congressman had placed a personal ad of himself shirtless.  He abruptly resigned.  Many at the time scratched their heads because it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal.  Well, then came the news that was also soliciting a cross-dressing prostitute.  Oops.

Ever heard of the term "mope"?  Neither had I.  I'll save you clicking on the link:  It is a guy willing to do porn for as little as $50 and some food.  Giving him a place to crash is a real payday(money shot?).  If you're interested in the dark underbelly of porn click here.

A teacher blogged (negatively) about her students and she lost her job.  Not surprisingly, I have mixed feelings about this.

Friday's jobs numbers were good and maybe even better than they appear.

Rush Limbaugh has insinuated that Michelle Obama is fat.

And finally, Cedar Rapids has its own rap.

I’m not sure what to think of it except that I doubt the Chamber of Commerce will be using it in their promotions.

Weekend remainders

It's been a while so some of these are quite old.

A British researcher says you can't have more than 150 friends. Your mind can't wrap itself around a larger number. I call BS because I have 150 on FB alone that I keep at least some contact with...

Want a list with links to all of the Superbowl ads?

Keep in mind: Reagan's presidency was declared dead after the 1982 midterm election.

Would you like to see your handwriting when you type a letter in Word? Now you can. If I had nice handwriting I'd do it.

A guy has a novel approach to protecting his camera. He takes a series of pictures...

It goes on like this for dozens of pictures basically asking the person who sees this to return the camera.

Want to see what you look like as a cartoon? You can do it here and it's free! I can't bring myself to do it so if any of you do please let me know.

Telling your boss what you think of them is good for your health. Perhaps, but my employment at Hamilton would have been much, much shorter.

And finally... I give you something that will make you lose your lunch: Sex ed videos from the 1950's and 60's. They are all bad but the first one is giving me the shakes as I write this.

In the news... the Hummer is green?

A teen built an igloo and was found by police to have 2 bongs, a survival knife, hammer and 7.5 grams of pot. He was arrested. My sources say the pot was enough to make a person happy for a couple of days, nothing more. What an incredibly stupid waste of time for our judicial system. The article didn't mention a Taco Bell in the neighborhood...

So I know many of you thought the cash-for-clunkers program was stupid. (It wouldn't have been my first choice on how to spend a few billion, but it was better than nothing...) Japan had a similar program with restrictions that kept out virtually every American made car. Given that almost half the vehicles purchased under cash-for-clunkers was Japanese, the Obama administration pressured the Japanese to ease up. They did. Now a Japanese citizen can get a subsidy for buying a Hummer.

Don't you hate it when you go into your arranged marriage with high expectations and find the bride to be cross-eyed and sporting a beard?

Weekend remainders - the apocalypse edition

Cows jumping six feet, a prominent economist calls for a trade war, tomato plants eating insects... They're all signs of the apocalypse. Fortunately, we now know it will all come down in 503 days.

A good sign of the end of the world? When you see a cow on a roof.

Weight loss surgery, it's not just for the obese anymore.

It may not be Armageddon but here's some depressing economic stats:

Here's food stamp usage by county across the US.

Here's a look a county by county look at unemployment for the past five years.

There are tomato plants that can eat insects!

Economists Paul Krugman falls just short of calling for a trade war with China. (For non-econ geeks this is very rare.)

Don't panic, but the real date of the apocalypse has been determined: May 21, 2011.

Those "The world will end in 2012" suckers won't know what hit them.

Holiday remainders - the scary edition

There's spyware for phones that allows another person to be notified when you get a call and listen in without you ever knowing. Luckily my calls are boring and nobody would want to listen in.

*****

Let me know if you see any bumper stickers that read:

"Pray for Obama - Psalm 109:8"

What is Psalm 109:8?

Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

Let his children be fatherless, and wife a widow.

I'll bet this guy has one of the bumper stickers:

He is not only a birther, but he believes Obama was responsible for the shootings at Fort Hood. He paid $2500 to have a billboard painted to express his beliefs.

*****

Robby sent me this story: A cop tasered an unruly 10 year old girl who wouldn't go to bed - with mom's consent. Given the response to the summer's story on police behavior I'm sure many think this is great... because, of course, cops can do no wrong.

*****

And finally, imagine getting arrested for child porn because a virus infected your computer and made it look like you downloaded it yourself.

Weekend remainders

When it come to healthcare, everything in the US is much, much more expensive.

Democrats came very close to winning to winning the NY City race, but the White House didn't want to disrespect Bloomberg.

I'm not a fan of Maureen Dowd, but her take on Rush is worth reading.

This is not helpful: Right wingers are attacking Islam because of the guy who went nuts at Ft. Hood. This guy is no more a good Muslim than Timothy McVeigh was a good Christian.

Sigourney Weaver joins the cast of Cedar Rapids? Umm, what is "Cedar Rapids" about? Here's the best I have found: It's a movie of a group of small town insurance people headed to CR for a convention. Hmm, considering the AFLAC meetings I went to last year, I could be in this movie.

And finally, if my Republican friends are looking for good news they should subscribe to the Weekly Standard.

Weekend remainders - the psychology edition

Very enlightening: For people with low self esteem saying daily affirmations has a negative effect. Andrew Sullivan finds experts who claim low self esteem is good for you.

Meanwhile, having more competitors makes a person less competitive.

According to evolutionofgod.net the notion of heaven came long after Christ died. It was initially referred to as the Kingdom of God (here on earth). But with every passing generation the Kingdom of God (on earth) seemed less likely so they created heaven. The website has an interesting history of the world's religions.

"I'm scared of the private sector!" seems to be what most Arabs are saying. Across the middle east Arabs would rather be unemployed than to take a private sector job. Working for the government pays better and is considered much safer. Hmm, I'll bet that's a growing feeling in the US, too.

Meghan McCain asks, "Does it sound campy to say I love gay men?" I think the better question is whether or not her father would have been any better at ending "Don't ask, Don't tell."

National Republican chair Michael Steele says he'll woo minorities with "Fried chicken and potato salad."

I know it's a problem when your girlfriend is having sex with a Republican state representative who is also Sunday school teacher... who also "loudly opposes allowing gay couples to adopt and is a firm opponent of sex outside of marriage -- except his own." Just be sure not to ask for too much money or he might go to the cops.

I gotta remember to do these each week. There's just too many when I wait two weeks.

Update: I should have mentioned that the state rep. is 47 and his mistress is 22. He probably won't get reelected but he'll get high-fives in the locker room.

Update II: Very appropriate for the psychology edition... I'd like to think that if I were an Alaskan blogger I'd be writing this about my fellow conservative Alaskan bloggers who realized their governor was nuts.

Weekend remainders

It's been a while so there are a lot. I hope you find at least one story worth clicking on.

Miss a few credit card payments and you might be able to convince the bank to accept 50% on the total debt you owe as payment in full. It will hurt your credit score but it is a way to get the debt out of the way.

Cynthia Davis, a Missouri state representative. thinks cutting the school lunch program for poor children is a good idea because hunger is a motivator. Colbert likes the idea and asks his followers to take food away from Ms. Davis to provide her an incentive to run for higher office.

Disturbing: Broke states are closing rest areas to save money. Speaking of broke states, here's a list I'm glad to not see Iowa on: The top ten most broke states.

The wink that changed the world. When Hungary went rogue twenty years ago and started allowing democratic reforms their eastern europe allies were ready to invade to restore order. All Hungary's leader needed was a wink from Gorbachev to stand his ground. He got it and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc was underway.

I plan to do as much grilling as possible while I'm back home. This article on grilling suggests skirt steaks are the best. While the picture above is not appealing I do find the cilantro goop recipe intriguing.

Married, happy and fat. That's what a new study says. The longer a person is married the more likely they are to gain weight. Same for co-habitating women. They gain weight but their boyfriends do not. I wish I had an excuse for my weight gain.

And finally, all those hours playing video games may actually have been good for you. Phew! Now I need to go play Age of Empires II. It's been over 24 hours since I last played and it's an addiction like coffee in the morning.

I have avoided buying a Wii or XBox. I'm ridiculously addicted to a lame game like AoEII. If I had a real game console I'd never get anything done. I've had students who were walking zombies because they stayed up all night playing Halo. And that's why doing cocaine and playing Halo are two things I must never do... because if I start I'm sure you'd never hear from me again.

Weekend remainders

Downed power lines cause electrocuted cows to explode.

Without the the higher minimum wage the recession would be worse.

There's a new high-tech device for dog poop.

With the price of college going up 4 times the rate of inflation for the past 25 years this is a topic I hope to discuss this topic more later. Until then read this: Is education the next bubble to burst?

Weekend remainders

It's to walk away when thousands of caterpillars decide your car is home....

I will get back to blogging and the rest of the weekend remainders tomorrow. Something is not right with my computer and/or internet connection.

Weekend remainders

The FBI and the Minnesota police infiltrated an Iowa anti-war group. Why? There was no evidence they planned any serious criminal activity. Liberals and libertarians are justifiably outraged. Conservatives? I haven't read any response to this from them.

Very much needed credit card reforms have been passed and the banks are getting pissy. Why? They will no longer be able to rip you as much as they used to. Here's a brief summary of what the new law does.

In case you are not getting enough of Star Trek you can take this quiz.

Things are looking good for my party:

From 2002 to 2009, voters' partisan identification has moved from virtual parity -- 43 percent Republican and 43 percent Democratic at the height of George W. Bush's popularity in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 -- to a massive Democratic advantage today of 53 to 36, a 17 percentage point split, by far the largest difference in the past two decades.

To me the most interesting tidbit from the Pew Poll is that now the average Republican is older than the average Democrat. That hasn't been true for a long time because the Great Depression Democrats skewed my party's average. Well, now they are dying, and the younger generation is more Democratic than ever. I suspect this trend will continue as long as Republicans remain tied to the social conservatives.

Here's a story that says the poorest people give the highest percent of money to charity: 4.3%. Really? The average single working mom with two kids making $20,000/year gives $800 of that to charity? This is a story I'd like to believe but it defies reason.

A congressman wants mandatory paid vacation for workers. Don't get too excited: It's only one week. I think it's a good idea. It will effect very, very few employers. Quick, name an employer that doesn't already give one week paid vacation after a year to it's full time employees? Even though it won't have a big impact it's a good idea to have a set minimum. Besides, France already guarantees all workers at least 30 days off.

And finally, here's a cool interactive display showing how the stimulus money is being spent. I admit I'm perplexed. It appears that the stimulus money is going to fix a bridge in Benton County that was fixed last year.

Weekend remainders

Here are some cool illusions.

Arabs find Obama more popular than the US. This is not surprising. The US invaded Iraq, not Obama. Mending fences here will take time.

Here's a fascinating (and long) story of a financial writer for the New York Times diving into his own personal financial crisis.

This guy pays over $1550/month for a 210 sq. foot apartment in Manhattan. He won an award for making his tiny apartment seem spacious.

Apparently more women are coming out later in life. This woman speculates why.

You just can't trust your drug dealer any more. Cocaine has fallen to 20% purity and in 1/3 of the cases it is only 9% pure. Meanwhile, the White House drug czar calls for an end to the war on drugs.

Here's all you ever wanted to know about TARP but were afraid to ask. I haven't finished reading it yet. It's not exactly a page turner.

And finally, The Onion says Americans have asked for an end to honest news about the economy:

"From now on, just tell me the bullshit I want to hear," Pletcher added. "Tell me my savings are okay, everybody has a job, and we're No. 1 again. Please, just lie to my face."