Some might be characterized as “half-truths.”
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLFSanvt_kg&feature=related 450 300]Some as blustery bullcrap…
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLXydnGbfk 450 300]But then there’s the outright evil, completely in bad faith falsities.
Had enough yet, America? Time to get serious again.
A simple primer, set to annoying music, for the kids:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDRA3XFfDr4&feature=related 450 300]___________________________
(* Special Note: The Gentleman at 3:05 is not Barack Obama.)
___________________________
Breaking! Samsonite Hamburglarette wants to become a College Perfessah (sic):
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obTNwPJvOI8&feature 450 300](these things never get old!)
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You are Reagoning quite nicely.
It was an innoventuality!
http://www.nbc.com/30-rock/video/reaganing/1255493/
Thanks, guys. I have a date with Liz Lemon later.
You sure it’s not the Dog Sledder?
______
Quite sure. Talking date with Liz Lemon on the DVR btw.
Mrs. Anton is not like Anton’s college girlfriend in that way.
I don’t watch much teevee, but I have to admit that show is pretty damn funny whenever I get to see it. There’s something “just crazy” enough about Alec Baldwin that he makes that “antic” bit seem believable.
Even though I can’t stand his politics, I think I could get along with him as a fellow Lawn Guylandah (he is a famous son of Matzoh-Pizza, like Jerry Seinfeld).
Tina Fey does the right thing by playing it straight for that show.
_________
Healthcare should be publicly funded. We don’t pay anyone a profit for police. We don’t pay anyone a profit for firemen. We don’t pay anyone a profit for the military. Why should we pay someone a profit for healthcare?
With that said, the current abomination passed through by the trainwreck of a political system we have today is more likely than not going to end up worse than how it used to be.
Well actually, you can hire private police/security/detections if you so choose.
And guess what? That service is more often than not superior to the publicly paid kind.
Do you want your healthcare to suck? Then take the profit motive out, drive smart people and innovators to other more greener pastures, and you’ll be about there.
It’s not like the UK has been providing us a steady drumbeat of medical technological innovation. In fact, the best thing that system has produced is warning stories for those who would like to adapt such a system.
________________
The only reason privately funded organizations in the realm of police/security are better is because the publicly funded ones are underfunded. Imagine how great the talent pool of potential officers would be if they made star type money. Which they should, mind you, as athletes/movie stars/etc are just a hinderance on the progression of society, whereas the socially beneficial careers help move us into the future.
While I’m not totally familiar with the UK system, I can certainly envision a situation where the publicly funded healthcare system is able to incentivize innovation in medicine.
Chivo,
The reason the the public sector fails over and over again is not because it it underfunded, in fact it has way too much funding, the reason is because they are inefficient due to lack of competition. And this talk about doctors making star type money is ridiculous. Government cannot ever match up supply and demand at a perfect equilibrium price, only a free market can do so. Price fixing always leads to inefficiencies in the market such as a shortage or a surplus. Governments have tried it in the past and as a result people either wait in line for hours to buy groceries or in some cases starve to death, depending on the ruler. It usually always ends of being a shortage for some reason, never a surplus…… What do you think raising a doctors salary to 20 Millon a year would do??? If you guessed shortage you are correct.
Chive,
So you get to decide who gets paid and who doesn’t?
you typical commmie bastard…
Have you looked into the the financial ($200k+) costs of medical school not to mention the sacrifice of time (11 years+)??
Are you aware of the bloated pension benefits of many fireman and police in many of the cities around the country?
You said “Imagine how great the talent pool of potential officers would be if they made star type money.” First of all the talent pool is the already the best in the world. Secondly, even if you set a price floor at 5 Million, or anything above what the equilibrium price is for that matter, you would create a shortage. Where throughout history has this socialistic model worked??? We should learn from the mistakes of the past and not relive them.
LOL!
First: Pretty sure I said imagine the talent pool of “potential officers.” Doctors make a lot of money already.
Second: Obviously I’m not talking about paying EACH officer $20M/year.
Third: Cheese, I’m not saying who gets paid and who doesn’t. Everyone gets paid, and everyone can work the job they want. I’m just saying that some jobs hinder progression and some jobs enhance it.
Look, as it stands, every child in America is growing up to be a rapper, athlete or actor. They want the cars, money and ho’s. If instead we directed their motivation, via salary, to other careers that benefited society, we’d be much better off.
None of my children want to be any of those. Why would you think “we” as a government would be better off directing children than parents themselves?
If you look back a bit in history, you’ll find an amazing amount of self directed invidividuals that made rational choices to take on societ-benefitting careers, all without the helpful hand of government to assist them.
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No, I disagree, Jake. If you look back a bit in history, you won’t find athletes making absurd amounts of money in comparison.
Jake, you are a bright person, capable of evaluating situations and forming your own, intelligent opinion. And able to provide your children with the same ability. Unfortunately, U.S. en masse is fucking stupid, and that’s something you can look back into history and find proof of.
http://news.discovery.com/history/highest-paid-athlete-hailed-from-ancient-rome.html
Highest paid athlete of all time was a chariot driver.
From the article, it seems like his “pay” was a prize pool, not wages.
Babe Ruth made 100’s of thousands of dollars in the depths of the Depression. It’s simple supply and demand. With the advent of teevee, owners were able to make more money off of athletes because more people would watch commericials for programs to which they were attached.
The athletes (and their agents) saw what the owners were making and decided to up their price for participation. Because there is a limited pool of teams and players, they were able to effect that part of the supply curve and drive prices up.
This is not rocket science. And it has nothing to do with the degeneration of our youth. For the most part, professional athletes are disciplined, hard working individuals. We BENEFIT from their example, and from the myriads of kids who seek similar achievements.
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Babe Ruth is one example. I’m talking about the the comparison of the entire realms. Athletes don’t provide safety or education. Teachers, policemen, firemen, etc, do. I’m also not talking about supply/demand. It doesn’t matter to me if the masses are willing to pay these people bloated prices. I’m talking about whether they deserve it or not, and whether it is good for society.
Lastly, professional athlets are disciplined and hard working individuals? REALLY? Do I have to rehash the plethora of storylines revolving around their stupidity & immaturity? There are some good examples here and there, but come on, overall the population of professional athletes doesn’t compare in work ethic, attitude, maturity or intelligence to the rest of the population.
Jake, you better hope the Prez doesn’t share Reagan’s opinions on repealing the 22nd Amendment.
If he can convince people to sign bills blindly, who knows what else he’s capable of…
Cops should get relatively low salary, but pay for performance. Good bonuses for convictions, tickets, good paperwork handling, etc.
Yes, so police have incentives to commit fraudulent arrests and prosecutions…
Right, the incentives should be for proper police work, not “gross arrests” per se.
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Exactly. Maybe arrest to conviction ratio or something. Far too many jobs and sectors of society need to be incentive based. Teachers are a good example, and one area that I grudgingly agree with Obama (teacher evaluations). Although Obama has a long history of not doing what he promises. He broke my heart over the space program already.
I agree, all pay should be weighed heavily through incentives.
+++ Agree.
In Canada, my grampa got sent home from the hospital with a broken neck in taxi, only to be rushed back to hospital 3 days later. One of my roommates broke her foot a week ago. She was told she would be called the next day if the results of her X-ray were “broken bone”. No one called, she walked on it for a week, now its messed up. I had a similar problem with a partially detached retina a few years ago.
In 2008 I was in Houston, injured my shoulder, went to a doctor, and he said, “Would you like an MRI this afternoon? It will cost $185. I said no thanks, I’ve got plans. I’ll just have to do it in Calgary. 2.5 years later, got my MRI, still have painful shoulder problem which hasn’t been treated. “The Sports Med clinic will call you in the next 6 months to set up an appointment for treatment options (surgery).”
Public health care is STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Avoid it at all costs!!!!!!!!!
You have more than 1 roommate? You are not qualified to post here. Hit the bricks, you northern monkey.
8 bedroom house. Me&wife, 2 little boys, an office, 4 roommates (separate suite upstairs). 2 flight attendants, 1 aircraft maintenance chick, 1 accupuncturist.
Kitchen has 2 sinks, 2 dishwashers, 2 big fridges, 2 big pantrys. Everyone seems happy enough.
Communist!
lol – just kdding…bad case of the irish flu this morning…
It’s like a Cosby show version of Big Love, but I’m only allowed to use one of the vaginas.
Damn, I was just thinking… “gotta love those Canuckistanian values.”
Heh.
Are you a pilot or something?
________
Geologist/Reservoir Engineer (degrees in both but most of my work is related to geology).
As to the Vaginas/values “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”. Having 5 women in my house is great. Being limited to one vagina… I accepted that stipulation when I got married 10 years ago. I live by it, but I still like playing guitar hero etc. with the other ladies.
Does the aircraft maintenance chick have short, spiky hair and bring home gifts for the 2 flight attendants?
Nope. But she does have a new boyfriend who is over a bit too often.
I love the Big O! Best President we ever had! Should be el Presidente for Life! Long live Brother Obama!
No need for the overkill, Brucie. You already had established your “nuts” bona fides on the last thread. 😉
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That president Obama in relation to other world-mights, countries and peoples puts dialogue first and does not immediately use threatening might-words in order to put others under pressure and to terrorise them is something that appears to a part of the American people as a sign of weakness and not knowing what to do and even as cowardice, because their mentality is still strongly marked by the stereotype of the gunman and cowboy, which is inclined to rely on weapons and Gewalt (The German word Gewalt is definied as «to use physical, psychical, mental, and consciousness-related powers, abilities and skills with all available coercive means in order to carry through and carry out actions and deeds.) as the sole means for the solving of problems. Apparently this part of the US-population has very little interest and respect for other cultures and peoples because it is of the view that everything revolves, or should revolve, around the USA and that the entire world should submit itself to the USA or should at least adapt to the “US way of life”. In contrast, Obama is a president who is open to the world, modest and eloquent, knows and esteems other peoples, religions and cultures, and for this reason does not constantly boast of US-values in order to impose these on all the others. Therefore, it could not have turned out any differently than his being hated by that part of the American people who only knows the language and gestures of the use of Gewalt, the threat of war, the exploitation of the economy, and the brutal domination of the world, and that they also attempt to vilify the president and to insult him and to expose him as being incompetent with all means, whether through television programs, caricatures, cover pictures, newspaper articles, political smear campaigns, satirical internet sites and all possible propaganda tricks, in order to destroy his public and private image. While doing so, these brainless critics and evil slanderers never consider what positive results the Obama politics have already brought not only America, but the entire world.
As Jack Straw from Wichita (and his sister) used to say, back in the day, ‘”just die”.
Yikes, Brucie!
It’s not the foreign policy weakness that is Obama’s greatest flaw, but his love of tyranny.
I know by the previous thread that you don’t have much of a problem w. tyranny as long as its not your rights being abrogated, but just to give you the heads up….
It’s the SOCIALISM, stupid!
(fyi– that’s the slogan, not calling you stupid).
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Your assertion that Obama loves tyranny is illogical and absurd.
Don’t play dumb. You know very well that freedom & responsibility, self-responsibility go hand in hand and have nothing to do with tyranny. You love to harpoon hippies, yet you must be a hippy yourself if you advocate everyone doing whatever they feel like doing, including breeding like rats and subsequently asking you to cover their social welfare costs. I didn’t know you were for handouts/socialism.
What are you talking about?
What “responsibility” is there in giving up one’s freedom to a large centralized government?
Answer– no responsibility at all. You give up the bill, but you also give up the control to a largely uncaring, massively inefficient bureaucracy.
No thanks on that trade, I’ll be responsible for my own choices, thanks very much.
And FYI — I know you don’t get this, but forcing nationalized healthcare on a body of citizens that does not want it thanks to a brief temporary gerrmandered majority in Congress is tyranny, plain and simple.
Watch Tuesday for the do-over.
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And what freedoms has Jake given up since the great Tyrant Obama has taken over?
This is why we need to pass laws to require permits for breeding. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39896533/from/toolbar
I haven’t given up any freedoms willingly, Bruce, but already some of my healthcare choices have been threatened, thanks to the squeeze Obamacare has put on my providers.
Not everyone is immune to the vagaries of the market like you Southhamptonites, you know.
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Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Because some wackjob murdered her baby, no people under a certain income level should be allowed to procreate.
Sounds like a plan! In Soviet Russia, maybe.
Breeding privileges would not be so simple as to exclude anyone under a certain income. Like I said, we would not get this right overnight. Nothing worthwhile, lasting, meaningful ….. comes about from today to tomorrow. But we must start somewhere, with any endeavor.
Seems to me that natural selection already worked in that case. The biggest change that you could ethically make is to remove conjugal visit rights to prisons.
What criteria would you follow? IQ at age 15, criminal history? Just playing D advocate.
go2mars, since u asked –
* Both marriage partners have taken advantage of the time and come to the mutual realization that they are really suited to each other, that they love each other and that they want to spend their future lives together.
* Both have a good reputation, a good name, which e.g. means: to be hard-working, not to accumulate debt, no criminal activities, and also not indulging as a parasite (= to live off the state or other people).
* The married couple proves their independence by leaving the parental homes at a time before their marriage, which means that the married couple settles down on their own, has founded their own household and are living together under one roof. To be independent and breaking away from one’s parental home is a basic requirement for the development of a true, healthy and durable marriage.
* The married couple must learn to make all decisions independently and/or together, and they are challenged to reject or repulse any interference from the relatives, including the parents. This, however, does not mean that there should be no contact with the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, etc., and that no advice etc. can be sought.
It is a generally accepted fact that the experiences during a human being’s first years are formative and are shaping the character. Neglect or maltreatment, respectively, very often cannot be corrected (perhaps with very sparse exceptions) and, therefore, leads to very bad consequences for children and children’s children. With this in mind, it will be a duty to any self-responsible person to prepare himself for the coming challenging task prior to the conception of a child. Among other things, this means that – before procreation – the prospective parents have to intensively study the basics of child education, which also means to train in self- development . This could mean, e.g., that a tendency for a violent temper has to be worked on, or that counter-measures are taken against a tendency to be full of self-pity and tearful or complaining , etc. Furthermore, at least some real love should exist between the prospective parents, because this creates a high probability that the family will last, and it will offer safety and security to the future human. Another important aspect of the capability to educate a child is the requirement that both partners have experienced at least six years of schooling and that at least one of the two partners can read and write well. Both partners must master the main language of that country in which they are living or will live. This is absolutely necessary for good integration as well as for an understanding of the cultural, socio-political and social conditions of the domicile or home country, respectively.
With the exception of the above-mentioned indigenous/primitive people, it should no longer be allowed that illiterate people conceive children, which – by the way – will considerably improve the situation especially for the women in many countries.
Since each human being has a creational birthright to physical, psychological and consciousness-related health, this means that children have a right to parents, who avoid everything before and after procreation that could harm the growing human being in the womb, and later on as well. Consequently, the fulfilment of this basic birthright means that a person capable of procreation has no unconditional right to have his own children. It can be concluded from this that certain specific conditions have to be fulfilled for the procreation of a child, and the six most important prerequisites are:
1. Evidence of a highly probable guarantee regarding nutrition, finances, housing and work, etc.; the family shall not live in need, because parents must devote themselves full time to the child, at least in the first years (for biological and psychological reasons it is the mother who is most suited for staying home and caring for the children during their first years).
2. Evidence that both parents neither suffer from a psychological illness (e.g. depression and/or mania = so-called bipolar disorder), nor a so-called ”mental disease“ (e.g. schizophrenia) or even from a degenerative illness (e.g. early stage dementia).
3. Evidence that both parents are not limited to any extent with regard to intellect and consciousness etc. so that they are not capable of living an independent life and need considerable help from other people (which, unfortunately, is the case with most of those people who have to bear their fate as being “mentally handicapped”).
4. Evidence that no parent suffers from an hereditary disease which could be transmitted to the child, like e.g. haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, etc. For this purpose medical and genetic-technological research has to be continuously promoted, with the result of ever better and more sophisticated, diagnoses, and on the other hand to develop better and better remedies as well as methods to disable or to remediate defective diseased genes.
5. Evidence that a parent did not suffer from an addiction within the last three (better seven) years that could/will harm the foetus; this must be checked through regular blood tests during the first three years after the marriage. Addictive substances include, e.g., alcohol, heroin, marijuana and synthetic drugs, but also nicotine, certain drugs as well as anabolic steroids and narcotics. Moderate and regular intake of alcohol must not necessarily be an addiction in each case, of course, but the parents must be aware that the man and the woman must refrain from drinking alcohol a certain amount of time before conception/procreation, and the woman also during pregnancy, because it is a fact that alcohol damages the genetic substance of the embryo or fetus more or less.
6. Evidence that the marriage partners do not belong to extremist or subversive groups, because – due to their mind-set – members of such groups are not able to grant their children a neutral education. They are not able to accept or to recognize the necessity of law and order and to let their children grow up as free-, neutral- and independent-thinking citizens. This also applies to people, who belong to sects etc. and/or who consider the life or value of other people as inferior because of their skin color, belief, race etc. or who elevate themselves above the masses (“the chosen one/s”), who grant themselves a special status and/or are propagating violence against fellow-human beings.
All the above-mentioned conditions have to be conscientiously controlled by governmental authorities, i.e. by specially trained administrative representatives of impeccable character, who have good experience as parents. The entire check-up must be done in a neutral form and without bribery/corruption, without favoritism/nepotism and without racial discrimination etc., and when all terms are fulfilled, the permission to procreate must be granted. This permission allows the married couple to procreate a maximum of three children, and this permission applies to the current marriage.
A maximum number of three children (their own and/or adopted or foster-children) ensures that all children of a family receive enough attention, and attention must be paid of course to that fact that no exaggerated care or spoiling occurs. Furthermore, it is an advantage for the psychological development of children if they can grow up with children of the same age, no matter if from the same family or the neighborhood.
What benefits? Point them out to us. Last time I checked, the rest of the world is ignoring Obama as much as I am.
And as to the insinuation that somehow Obama is more “cultured,” last time I checked, the people whom he’s emulating aren’t really giving him any props. In fact, as I see it, Obama looks less like a man who is in tune with the world and more like a git who’s trying to suck up to people who are about to punch his teeth in.
Total Non Sequitor aside — from “the internets are a wonderful thing” department:
I was just looking at the words “bona fides” on the last posting above, and trying to remember what the proper pronunciation might be, so I googled it, and sure enough, there’s a site that not only gives you the American pronunciation (as spoken by a surfer dude from Cally it sounds like) but also the UK pronunciation and the Latin American one as well:
It’s pretty cool!
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Samsonite Hamburglarette == Hilarious, and so treu. I need to forward it to my underemployed PhD friends.
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/why-did-17-million-students-go-to-college/27634
Good article. Though it doesn’t say how many of those janitors for example got their PhD in Romania and can’t speak english. But the main problem with those degrees is that for domestic (North American) students, the shift is into soft sciences. My sister, bless her heart, has an english degree, and works as a cookie-pusher for West Jet (that’s how we got our stewardess roommates). Anyways, getting degrees that are only employable if you get a PhD and teach it are the problem (as outlined in the fine comedic cartoon above). When I was 19, I worked in a bush camp with 90 guys cutting down trees for a summer. At the time, I had a year and a half of a philosophy degree under my belt, and loved it because it was interesting (my dad was just glad that I went to University which I had no plans to do). So there I am in this bush camp, sitting around the fire, I introduce myself, talk about what I’m up to… Turns out 3 guys on my work crew have philosophy degrees. That was a serious academic turning point for me. Sure there is a small chance that a philosophy degree might get you a job as an HR lady, or an insurance salesman, but people with soft degrees are a dime a dozen, and I wanted to be able to support a family.
You want reform?
Step 1) Make science and engineering degrees free, while maintaining tuition costs for everything else.
Step 2) Expanded space program (robust humans to Mars) to inspire kids that they might have the chance to be an astronaut. Most of the older engineers I know are such thanks to the Apollo program.
I went to college in the 60’s with a guy who was majoring in Philosophy. His father told him he had to work in the family printing business so he would have a skill. (I wonder how that turned out!)
JakeGint for president!
LOL Jake, are you watching this ENTR????? So exciting =x
Oh yeah, just loads of fun!
I think Madame Market may be telling us to “GTFO!”
Developing….
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When it was at 9.50, I thought $10 and my target was in the bag.
http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/articles/farming-unemployment-agriculture-industry-agriculture-sector/10/27/2010/id/30794?camp=featuredslidealso&medium=home&from=minyanville
Hey DMG….. just for you.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=170601
I hope you bought that dip, Dip.
Hoover under $30.
FYI — this was disclosed in the ten o’clock hour this morning on the PPT. Backed up the truck, as promised, on ANV calls. December 22.50’s… two hunnit of ’em at prices ranging from $1.90-2.20.
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AEM has singlehandedly destroyed The Fly today
Nah, he didn’t have that big a position. Just an EGO bruise (pun intended).
________
You did try to warn him, ah well
Its actually my favorite Gold stock that I never bought.
I’m currently out of Gold just because I found better put sales elsewhere, not because I don’t like its prospects.
Probably a buy until 2014 and this coming from a guy who doesn’t even like it fundamentally.
There’s gold in them thar hills, son! Won’t be there forever, but there were some very large nuggets found in 1849.
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Jake, I wrote a response to your Babe Ruth post but it says “waiting for approval” or something like that.
Sup wit dat?
Sorry about that, there’s some bizarre function in this software that randomly zaps posts. If it makes you feel any better it happens to me on Fly’s site all the time. Sometimes, if I change a word here or there, it gets through.
I just checked my spam filter and I had three things in there… one was yours, and I released it, and there were also two racist rants from Purdy, which I left in Hell, where they belong.
I think Jeremy may have perma-banned the anti-Semite, much to his chagrin. 😉
____________
Chivo, in response to your comment, as follows:
Athletes don’t provide safety or education. Teachers, policemen, firemen, etc, do. I’m also not talking about supply/demand. It doesn’t matter to me if the masses are willing to pay these people bloated prices. I’m talking about whether they deserve it or not, and whether it is good for society.
We can argue all day long about what athletes “provide.” In fact, I can make a great argument that Michael Jordan kept more kids on a straight path than Albert Schweitzer ever hoped to (for those of you saying “who the flu is Albert Schweitzer?” you make my point).
But that’s not the point. The point is, we live in a free society. In a free society, extraordinary individuals tend to get paid what the market will bear for their services. Now today, thanks to certain union restrictions and the tenets of supply, extraordinary teachers will not see concommitant pay for their talents. This is because they operate in a more restrictive economic environment than more free contractors, like professional athletes, do.
That said, there are very very few extraordinary professional athletes, and very many people who would like to see them perform their feats of derring do. This drives their pricing to the moon. Whether this is “good” for society is an argument free people can have, but deciding for society what is good by fiat, and imposing it by force, is not something free societies do.
It’s something tyrannies do.
So no matter how superficially good imposing your ideas of “what’s right” on society might seem to you, that plan is never ever a good one to carry out in practice.
Unless, that is, you are prepared to murder large numbers of people.
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You still got some TC, JG? If so, nice one today.
Yes, tonnes.
But the real thing of beauty was the dos hunnit ANV calls up fitty pahcent today.
___
UPS in the news
The NY Post is such a rag that they don’t even spell check their front page headlines
“Suspecious” as in “The NY Post’s illiterati reporters are ‘suspecious’, at best.”
http://www.nypost.com/
SLW on the daily chart has respected it’s upper bb for months…trading there now…will wait to see monday then take some off the table…
1) That PhD video is spot on. I was in a PhD program for 30 days before I withdrew for many of the reasons the video points out. The systems in place for Academia are shameful.
2) Your tea party romanticizes Reagan almost as much as the libs glorified Obama in 2008.
The main problem with those degrees is that for domestic (North American) students, the shift is into soft sciences. My sister, bless her heart, has an english degree, and works as a cookie-pusher for West Jet (that’s how we got our stewardess roommates). Anyways, getting degrees that are only employable if you get a PhD and teach it are the problem (as outlined in the fine comedic cartoon above). When I was 19, I worked in a bush camp with 90 guys cutting down trees for a summer. At the time, I had a year and a half of a philosophy degree under my belt, and loved it because it was interesting (my dad was just glad that I went to University because I had no plans to do so). So there I am in this bush camp, sitting around the fire, I introduce myself, talk about what I’m up to… Turns out 3 guys on my work crew have philosophy degrees. That was a serious academic turning point for me. Sure there is a small chance that a philosophy degree might get you a job as an HR lady, or an insurance salesman, but people with soft degrees are a dime a dozen, and I wanted to be able to support a family.
You want reform?
Step 1) Make science and engineering degrees free, while maintaining tuition costs for everything else.
Step 2) Expanded space program (robust humans to Mars) to inspire kids that they might have the chance to be an astronaut. Most of the older engineers I know are such thanks to the Apollo program.
I agree with your point but it’s bad at all levels/programs. I was in an Applied Economics program that included an Entrepreneurship Cohort. It was truly the *contrived* and *shallow* nature of the tenure system and publication process that made me think twice about continuing….not the prospects for employment.
When I was in college, I met a friend’s older brother who had recently received his Masters’ in French literature. He was working as a foreman on an oil rig by then, with no intention of going back to get his PhD. He was making pretty good money, until you factor in the risk of losing your life or some of your fingers on any given work day. Three weeks on the rig, one week off. Cautionary tale, for sure.
I doubt the memories a can of motor oil triggers in him today are very similar to those conjured by Proust’s madeleine.
You know Jake, this is what I don’t quite fathom about government advocate types:
They phrase all the solutions to the world as, “We’ll pass a law….” or “We have to…”, as if society were this homogenous/ubiquitous body, in blinding ignorance of the obvious segments of society who oppose these measures, and then can’t understand why the measures are ineffective at solving problems.
To bring my point to reality, I’ll talk about the healthcare debate:
The Democrats pass this thing over my dead body, essentially, and now think that because it’s law, somehow I’m just going to jump on the bandwagon with it. But really, do you or anyone think I would just go with this?
I’ve already decided, if it’s between my healthcare or some “greater good,” invoking which trounces my freedom and hurts my quality of life, I’m going with my healthcare, thank you very much. If Liberals think they can demand physicians and myself to limit our transactions, then I’ll just round up some buddies in the same boat with a few excess million, and we’ll grab the best physicians out there and offer them the wealth they’re told by liberals they can’t have.
Boom, those physicians are off the public market, and it’s black market paradise, thank you very much. I mean, if the laws get that bad, I know I’m not afraid to break them. I’m guessing most others aren’t either.
The laws don’t change the underlying behavior. That’s why the War on Drugs has been an enormous waste of resources and gun laws haven’t lowered the national murder rate any. It’s like these people can’t see that at the end of the day, I can just ignore their dumb laws and there’s little they can do about it.
More importantly, their policies are forcing sharks like you or I in the same tank as the penguins. Are they that fucking dumb?
Ehhhhhhhhnnnywhoozle, if I may turn the conversation to filthy lucre, Mr. Gint, have you any thoughts about the Sprott gold and silver ETVs “PHYS” and the soon-to-be “PSLV,” respectively? Sprott’s opinions about the miners seem to be similar to your own. Here’s a TickerSpy article I bet you’ve already seen: http://www.tickerspy.com/newswire/?p=3470
If you covered this general subject in an earlier post, all Little Alex-style appy-polly-loggies and have a happy Halloween weekend.
Not enough volume for my tastes.
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Thx
“…anv calls…”
treu dat