Wednesday, March 23, 2011

why the US will win in Libya

Actually, no matter which side comes out victorious, we win.

Think about it - we are in the process of successfully destroying Gaddafi's stash of weapons.

The only world-class manufacturing we still do is making and selling weapons.

Whoever wins will want lots more weapons.

Jobs in the USA!!!!!!!!

We are SO smart.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Game Over (Enron)

So, you may recall that I spent about 5 amazing years working for Enron Broadband, ending somewhat abruptly in September 2001.

At the peak of the frenzy, my stock and options were worth about 1.25 million. I, along with many others, watched as that number first shrank, then plummeted.

Since then, I've been receiving a monthly statement from UBS, showing the 'value' of the stock I still held. For the past few years, it's been holding steady at abou $1.32.

The other day, I received this notice, that the stock is (what took so long) officially declared 'worthless'.

I think I can now declare that episode officially ended.

understanding Michelle Bachmann

Lawrence O'Donnell has a good summary of the recent gaffe.

To me, there are only three explanations:

1) Her staff really is that stupid and the genesis of the Lexington and Concord screw-up can easily be explained. They knew she was going to New Hampshire, so they did some googling and saw that one of its largest cities is Concord. A quick trip back to Google took them immediately to the Wikipedia page on Concord and the rest is simple plagiarism.

2) Someone on her staff intentionally inserted that statement hoping to intentionally sabotage her. This appears unlikely, since we have not been informed that any staffers need to spend more time with their family.

3) Someone on her staff intentionally inserted that statement on a dare, to prove to fellow staffers that they really can get away with anything, and the 'trusted' media will not make an issue of their humorous little prank.

I guess my vote is still #1. There really are bozos on that bus.

ominous story of the day

No, not the Japanese nuclear crisis, as bad as that is.

It's Saudi (i.e. Sunnis who dominate a Shi'a minority) troops marching into Bahrain (i.e. Sunnis who dominate a Shi'a minority). This makes Iran very nervous.

Too bad we are still so dependent on Saudi oil. Didn't Jimmy Carter have something to say about this in 1976?

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

The NPR 'scandal'

Makes sense that NPR should bow its head in shame over this. Everybody knows that there has NEVER been even the slightest hint of racism at Tea Party events, right?

Why is it no problem to have Fox Noise repeatedly lying and distorting, year after year, but an NPR executive speaks the truth and heads roll?

Murdoch-world triumphs again. This is very dangerous.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

photos from Sylvia's 100th Birthday weekend

My mother-in-law's 100th birthday is today. This past weekend, we celebrated at her Pasadena home, with two parties, with family, friends, and neighbors. She was (rightly so) the center of attention, at the Saturday Open House.

Here are Valerie and Don, reading greetings from the President and First Lady (really!). She pronounced the President's name as 'Boruch', which was hysterical, under the circumstances.

Another 'proclamation', this one home-grown.

Sunday night, the family got together at this great restaurant, for a fabulous dinner, with plenty of wine and laughs.
There was this luscious cake, with her name spelled wrong.


Monday morning, before heading to the airport. Karen and Sylvia on the terrace at the house.

It was a quick trip, but how often do you get a chance to spend time with someone with a 100 year perspective? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SYLVIA!

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Ya Who?

While listening to the radio (OPB, of course) this morning, I heard a story that Bing has now overtaken Yahoo (big surprise, right?) as a search provider. Yet another sad step on Yahoo's march to oblivion.

I've had a Yahoo! account for years. At different times I used the email, calendar, and chat functions. One feature that I especially liked was 'Briefcase', which was discontinued a couple of years ago.

Nowadays, the only Yahoo feature I still use is 'Notepad', because that's where, over the years, I stashed various bits of information like website logons, mileage plan account numbers, and other things to which I occasionally need access, from a computer other than my main one.

Just for grins, I googled 'export yahoo notepad', and it took me to this clever site, where following the simple instructions quickly exported all my Yahoo Notepad items into Google Docs. Painless.

Farewell, Yahoo. Oops, that should be 'Yahoo!'