Tag Archives: news

Obama’s NPP, Merit Non Gratis

Look, before we get all carried away with my grammar games, let’s take just a few seconds to talk about what everyone else has been griping about in days passed, because, surely, if _everyone_ is talking about it then it must be worth talking about.  Oh my, I’m so tired.

To anyone with an opinion on the matter — who have clearly claimed a right to — vociferously opine that the President of our United States of America is neither worthy of, nor has earned, his Nobel Peace Prize, please share with us your nominee.  Tell us who, through your diligent research, is “the person who shall have done the most or best work for fraternity between nations.”  I would much rather enjoy your argument, however weak, for a potential recipient than I do care to hear your regurgitated radio rhetoric .

We’ll give you a minute to think it over and, in the meanwhile, we’ll also enjoy to mock your emotive plurality.

###

Getting Hitched, Become Obese

The third of July marks a special day for two very dear friends of mine planning to tie the knot in 2009, and TIME magazine’s latest article on [young?] Women’s Health couldn’t have come at a better time for my dessert-loving cohorts.  Rochman, Bonnie.  “First Comes Love, Then Comes Obesity?: A new study links domestic bliss to serious weight gain“.  TIME 06 July 2009: Page 54

“New research shows that within a few short years of getting hitched, married individuals are twice as likely to become obese as are people who are merely dating.”

The article furthers its humor angle by including a picture of an “average” male holding hands with a continually expanding female.  In the end, you have your run of the mill guy and an overweight, or obese, gal.  Which is funny for a lot of reasons, but mostly because this isn’t what you’d expect.  I expect the male to grow and grow and grow, and the female to stay the same.  (And this probably says more about me than it does about married people in general, but it’s my blog, so it should always be saying something about me.)  And if you were to ask my friends entering wedlock, they’d tell you the same.  Dude aspires to become a fat bastard, and she doesn’t.

So, why then does this study claim women will end up the heavier of the two in a couple, and how does it work in a lesbian marriage?  Rochman doesn’t ponder the same-sex issue, but she does provide some theories (not her own) for the former:

  • meal time may become more important
  • gym memberships may not get the same workouts
  • after months of wedding prep, it’s okay to give up or “let go”

These are all very exciting and seem to maybe miss the point entirely.  Sure, eating becomes more important, but isn’t this happy couple eating together?  Are they not consuming the same amount of calories at meal time? And sure, gym memberships are no longer being used, but isn’t the honeymoon period of rapturous love-making compensating for all those lost gym hours?  Walks in the park, Sunday bike rides through the village, and even more happily-married sexing?  There has to be some hint of burning calories to offset the increased importance of mealtime.  Right?  Anyhow, the third point I’ll concede because I have no idea what the pressure’s like to “squeeze into crinolined and cummerbunded finery.”  I usually just get whatever fits and I wear that.

Granted, not every couple is going to gain weight, and not all people are getting married for the wrong reasons.  But having said that, I want to make two more points, and you can do with them what you will.

1) The article makes no mention of the fact that childbearing often comes shortly after marriage, like say in the first few years.  Now whether you’re having children or not, I would argue that a woman’s mind set switches gears at some point into, what we’ll call, nesting mode, which is the period just before popping out a little life form.  There must be some physical change that goes along with that, say, gaining weight, to prepare for the life that will soon be growing inside of her, if it isn’t already.  After the bearing is the rearing — the baby hatches, and said couple burns many calories actively taking a role in parenting and chasing the rug-rat(s) for the following 18 years.  Obviously if you remove this element from the life-path equation, someone could have some extra pounds to carry around.

2)  I maintain that a couple who eats together, sleeps together.  But if meal time is happening alone and more frequently for one than the other, it’s reasonable to assume, as we’re so often told, that she might be using food to drown her sorrows.  Many of us have also been told, or even seen, that marriage and children neither mend nor save a broken, dysfunctional relationship.  (After getting hitched, eating did become more important, but for the wrong reason.)  Film at 11.

At the end of the honeymoon, if your spouse is slowly gaining weight, you either have a problem or you don’t.  In any event, the fact that TIME magazine shared such an article about keeping your new wife skinny makes me wonder why I read the publication at all.  Then I remember it’s because they offered me 80 issues for $20.  Well heck, why not?

And…we wish you the best happily ever after you could hope for!

###

California Special Election, May 19, 2009 — Voter’s Guide From RTL

Keeping this short,  a buddy of mine (RTL) recently emailed his voter’s guide for the upcoming California Statewide Special Election.  And in a somewhat rare event, we agree on almost every measure to vote "NO ", with the exception of 1F where I’m not sure RTL explains himself well enough.  I’ve added my comments to 1F in brackets [] below RTL’s explanation.  So, without further ado, we give you the elocutionist’s 2009 Voter’s Guide.  (Should that be voters’ guide?  Kidding.)

…begin quoted text…

I was going to wait until we got closer to the Special Election, but many of the localities are using mail in ballots so I had to send this early.

You’ve received RTL’s Special Election Voter Guide!

I’ve read every bill the state is proposing so you don’t have to.  It is absolute legalese garbage,  which is what happens when you send a bunch of lawyers to Sacramento.

The key to 1A is knowing that car registration doubled and sales taxes increased this year, and these taxes will stay in effect for 2 more years.  Don’t even think for a second that a spending limit is worth paying higher taxes for 2 years.  Californian’s passed spending limits in 1979 and 1990 to no avail.

RTL says NO on 1A

1B is $9.3 Billion funding for Kindergarten through junior college, from the increased taxes that were just passed.  Currently, we spend almost $72 billion on k-12.  In 2006 it was around $8400 per student, which for a class of 30 is $250,000 per classroom.  Assuming the teacher is lucky and makes $50,000 of that, where is the other $200K going?  They don’t need more money they need to get rid of the middlemen whetting their beak off the taxpayers.

RTL says NO on 1B

1C "Modernizes" the lottery so that it can make $5 billion dollars more.  The lottery is a joke, it was created in 1984 to help pay for education.   I saw one book in my 13 years that said, "paid for by California lottery."  It is really just a tax on the stupid.  I think someone wants a sweetheart deal from the director of the lottery.  The bill is filled with all sorts of talk of removing requirements for bids from suppliers and contractors,

"This bill would delete the requirement that the director award
contracts to the responsible supplier submitting the lowest proposal."  awesome!

RTL says NO on 1C

1D takes all the sin tax money you spend on fine cigars and cigarettes that were going to teach kids not to smoke and county health programs and allows the state to redistribute the funds to programs that they can’t afford to pay for.

"(d) The California Children and Families Trust Fund shall be used
to provide direct health care services, human services, including
services for at-risk families who are involved with the child welfare
system administered by the county welfare department, and direct
early education services, including preschool and child care."

Can you guess where this is going?

RTL says NO on 1D

1E diverts money from a mental health prop that passed in 2004 [prop 63 ].  (Why we keep passing these propositions that cost us more money I’ll never know.)  It was passed to pay for those people, not to jack their funds to cover the general fund.

RTL says NO on 1E

1F says that legislators cannot receive raises when there is a deficit.  There has been a deficit for years, so there has to be something to it.  Plus all of them voted for this initiative to be on the ballot.  I don’t trust it.  Plus it says if there is a negative balance in the Special Fund For Economic Uncertainties , what the hell is that?  How about if there is a deficit in the General Fund?

[Editor’s Note : 1F says no state officer’s annual salary shall increase if the Director of Finance certifies, based on estimates, that the "rainy day fund" will have a negative balance greater than or equal to roughly one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000).  Medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits would still be eligible for an increase.  A YES vote on 1F is a way to voice your frustration, which the legislators know and why they all voted to have the initiative on the ballot — it would have been bad press to vote against it, making the naysayer look greedy and unsympathetic to the situation.]

"This measure would prohibit the commission from adopting in a
fiscal year a resolution that would increase the salary of Members of
the Legislature or other state officers if the Director of Finance
determines that there will be a negative balance in the Special Fund
for Economic Uncertainties at the end of that fiscal year."

RTL says NO on 1F

Hope that helps, leave me a comment if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

References
California Special Election Policy Report
Per pupil spending
Total California School Spending

—
Sent from my crappy computer on my desk

…end quoted text…

###

Tina Fey Wins The Election For Republicans

Honestly, if voting for McCain and Palin means we get to see Tina Fey doing Palin impersonations for four years, then I’m all for it.  Fey makes Palin likable beyond reason, and when I sit to watch and re-watch all the SNL clips with Fey playing Palin, I sometimes forget which is who and what any of it has to do with the government, which excites me a great deal.  So much so that I’m wanting to get out the vote and make rock.  Or get out the rock and make voters.  Something with a rock and a vote and comedy.

I have no idea how elections are won and what one thing has to do with another when it comes to campaigning and mind washing, or why celebrities think they make a difference with their online viral videos.  No idea at all.  But I do idea that the candidate who is better parodied is the candidate who America chooses.  Maybe it hasn’t always been like this, but it’s been this way for two decades, and I imagine it will continue to be this way.  People like to laugh at jokes they understand.

Tina Fey plays the role of Sarah Palin.  Tina Fey is Funny.  Thus, Sarah Palin is funny so we should all vote for her.  (Maybe it doesn’t work exactly that way.)

All I can say is that I’m planning to know what I’m voting for when the time comes.  Hopefully it’s a bear in a tree safely removed from a harmful situation.  (Ambiguity.)  One of those endangered species types that suffers from strangely-hot weather.

It makes me smile.

Update:10/9/08

Just received (via snail mail) the latest edition of a weekly I subscribe to, and one of its comics is a total rip off of my Fey/Republican joke.  How dare they!  Okay, okay.  Clearly they didn’t steal the idea from me, but the joke was obvious.  I’m slipping.

###

My Blog Post Was Stolen

Honestly?  Yeah, it’s true.  I’ve had a post completely republished on another site without my consent and without any credit.  I’m not sure how to feel about it.  Initially I was shocked and upset, but what does any of that matter?  I went through a brief bit of flatteredness, then back to being upset, then off to do things in real life.  It’s all very funny.

I think it’s great that anyone would want to re-post something I’ve written.  Heck, I read some of my stuff and I want to re-post it.  But to re-post without crediting me or my web space is kind of silly.  Especially since I offer the re-use of my content for free under the creative commons license.  Why not throw back a little love?

But what really gets me riled up about all this is that the villainous site is ranking higher for my post in google searches for specific search terms.  Which shouldn’t bother me, because those search terms were not the point of my post, but I don’t like being out ranked — anywhere!

So I’ve written the site owners through the comments, as it seems that’s the only way to contact these people, and if there’s no reply then it’s a formal written complaint to the site owners citing sections of the DMCA and then another letter to the site’s hosting company citing more sections of the DMCA.

It’s tiresome.  All I really want is my name on the post; I took the time to live through the experience and then spent the time to write about it.  In any event, I’ll keep creating and they can keep stealing.  But no, I’m not saying where my post is published.  I don’t want to send them any more traffic.

You’ll want to read it hear first!

###

Weak Wednesday Wrap

The truth is I have several posts, each somewhere between 30 and 90 percent complete.  I’m hesitant to rush any of them, and I’ve been too distracted this week to bother with finishing any.  Can you blame me?  What with TechCrunch 50 and DEMO ’08 going on, there’s a ton of startup coverage which I’m compelled to read, even if most of the companies have been less than interesting.  The commentary is great.  So far two companies from TC50 have impressed me, at least what I can get from all the secondhand feedback.  I’m holding off with any reviews until I see all the companies.

In the meanwhile I promise (mostly) to finish some of these half-done posts very soon.  They include, but are not limited to, and could be bumped: a recent blog-find I want to promote; one of my favorite Sacramento restaurants; title tackling; and, my first impression of Picasa’s latest feature addition.

Loads of good stuff on the way.  In the meanwhile, remember to follow my Stumbles or my Feedreader shares .

###

San Joaquin Woman

As you know, I’m a fan of Google Alerts and I use it for a variety of serach terms, including the name of the company for which I work because we regularly make it into local newspapers and such.  Today it took me to this link, House panel to probe mortgage mess in Stockton, an article on iabuzz.com talking about an upcoming event in which my boss is participating.  As part of a character profile, they linked to an interesting article about her in San Joaquin Woman magazine.  Check it out.

In Booth Radio Time With V101.1FM

It was nothing like I expected it to be, at least not from what I’ve seen on TV.  Although, why would you expect TV to be like radio.  I suppose it was your average clear channel booth, but what do I know about that sort of thing.  I was a little disappointed there were no headphones to wear, and I was a little grossed out as they continued to push the mic closer to my face.  “How many people have hacked, spittled, or coughed on this thing”, I wondered to myself.

Not the point.

I was at the Station early Monday morning, we’ll call it 7AM, to do a bit of promotional work for my employer.  I met with Lee Perkins and Andrea Gomez to do a couple of short interviews about a home ownership expo coming up in late September.

I was noticably nervous and fumbled a few of my words.  The bits were pre-recorded, so I don’t know the final product sounds like.  But, I definitely had at least one two second or longer “uhhhh…”  I’m usually on top of those sorts of things, but I suppose, maybe, thinking about it might have caused it.

Listen for me Monday mornings to hear weekly stumblings of me falling over words.  The topics will change monthly.

Democrats Securing Indian-American Vote

This is what level of not so funny?  Stop.  Wait.  You have to kind of want to laugh because it’s not as harmless as it first seems.  Which is to say, this is not a political post so much as it’s a, “hey, all these clowns are clowns” post.

To be fair, this is probably just a bit of off-color humor.  I doubt they have 7-11 quick stops in Delaware.

Madonna At It Again, Entertaining All

I don’t know how she does it, or how she continues to keep doing it, but Madonna really just is not ready to call it a day and hang up her singing career.  It’s absolutely amazing.  She continues to stay current and relevant, and it’s not just her music.  According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle via Jimmy Orr at The Christian Science Monitor, she’s at it again surrounding herself in controversy.  I’m sure she could sell out concerts from here to the end of the universe, so it’s safe to say she doesn’t need to stir the pot but hey, it’s Madonna, and her antics help hold our attention when we tire of her singing about not asking she quit or slow down.  Right?  I mean, wasn’t it just a couple years ago that she was in the papers for kidnapping children from third world countries.  There’s no such thing as bad PR, even if it means stealing a couple of foreign-born kids.  I suppose this time it’s not quite as exciting as she’s just depicting her opinion of the presidential candidates during some portion of her live concert.