that other guy’s thoughts

You thought this was the only TOG audio post ever.

Wrong!

It was so well recieved I made another one. Telling yet another personal story, this time from my distant past. I present to you:

Why I never became a professional baseball player.

Enjoy!

From the lovely UnDoubtably Krap: Outlawing fireworks in Lawrence goes against American Dream

Sometimes, it’s just WAY too easy:

The act of lighting fireworks is an apt metaphor for the American dream, and the essence of what makes us great.

Being tricked into buying a foreign-made consumable that utterly destroys itself 15-seconds after use, leaving you poorer and your money in the hands of an enemy communist regime. Is that the Amercian dream you’re talking about?

“The ability to take a risk, in this case lighting the fuse, but to do so prudently, and for that risk being rewarded with a grand, brilliant display in the sky and to take pride in the fact that you caused it.”

Ooooh, that American dream.

Listen buddy, I’m with you on the whole “government decides too much for society” thing, but regulating a fire hazard in a dense area of flammable buildings isn’t infringing on your freedom, it’s just common sense.

I like blowing crap up just as much as way more than the average person, but setting of explosions and fires in proximity to someone else’s property is borderline criminally negligent. Just because it’s a tradition doesn’t make it any smarter.

The Children Neglected by No Child Left Behind

No it’s not about what you think it’s about:

“Gifted and talented students struggle because they sit in our classrooms and wait. They wait for rigorous curriculum. They wait for opportunities to be challenged. They wait for engaging, relevant instruction that nurtures their potential.

And, as they wait, these students lose interest in their passions, become frustrated and unmotivated from the lack of challenge their school curricula provides them. As a result, they become our lost talent.”

It’s absolutely true.

I know this because I was one of them.

I nearly was held back to repeat 4th grade. I’m not overstating to dramatize my childhood struggles. My parents and my teacher actually had a conversation about it. She was for it, they were against it, and they won.

I struggled in 5th grade when my teacher had the school district special education specialist give me some tests. So for an entire day I sat in a small room and played with colored blocks, pictures, and read stories. I didn’t understand what was going on, but it was better than learning the multiplication tables. It turns out I was “gifted” though I didn’t really understood what that meant.

So from then on I spent 1 hour a day, 2 days a week in class with the other “gifted” students my age. There were 5 of us total and we learned about whatever we were interested in. It fueled my love affair with airplanes and set me on my career path (at the tender age of 11.) It’s where I learned study habits, and town zoning laws. It’s where learned that it’s okay to know the answer and to raise your hand, it’s okay to be smart.

I went to that class all the way through high school. Being in that environment made me the smarty-pants you read today.

I shudder to think where I’d be without my teacher recognizing something in me, or without that supportive environment in which to learn. I wouldn’t be here; I surely wouldn’t be an engineer. I’d likely still be back in my rural Kansas hometown, working at the auto parts store or lumberyard after a failed attempt at the local community college.

“The needs of gifted and talented should not be an argument on behalf of privilege, but one on ensuring that every child, regardless of ability, demonstrates growth.”

That’s really what school is about isn’t it. Helping kids to be smarter, more reasoning and intelligent than they otherwise could be. It is about growth, not living up or down to an arbitrary standard of knowledge.

It’s therapeutic and the ladies love it. (maybe not a 14 oz. steak, but still)

editors note: if you make fun of my apron I’ll track you down and kill you. My grammy made that for me.

each year I die a little more.

So I just pounded out my first 12-hour workday since graduation 22 months ago. Which is pretty amazing considering how frequent they were for so long. Today served as an unhealthy reminder as to why I left for industry over Grad School.

12-hour days suck. There’s no getting around it. It’s a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of thought, and not a lot of perspective. It’s exactly this kind of crap that made me such a pain to be around. I can’t imagine going back to 60-80 hour weeks again. Looking back I’m surprised I didn’t shoot somebody. It only cost me the ability to sleep without drugs, 3 relationships, the lost joy of youth, and a likely decade off my life due to induced stress.

I’m going to bed, hopefully to fall asleep without artificial help, and maybe tomorrow will be a lighter day. Maybe.

Yes, I’ve already tore him a new logic hole in another post. But if he get’s to write a 2nd column on Yahoo Finance on the same retarded topic, I should get to write a 2nd post on why he’s still a worthless piece of crap. If you don’t feeling like reading the whole thing, just skip down to the last few paragraphs and you’ll get the jest of my beef.

Rich Today, Poor Tomorrow

“this week I’ll explain why deflation will severely punish the upper middle class. These are the people who think they’re rich because their houses and stocks have gone up in value — that is, because of inflation.”

Inflation is disadvantageous to lenders and those on fixed incomes. If something goes up in value, it isn’t because of inflation. That would just cause something to go up in price. Value and price are not interchangeable, I explained this all last time in my Dollars/Cadillac’s/Girl Scout Cookies analogy. Lil’ Bobby apparently hasn’t learned his lesson.

“People concerned about inflation today tend to buy big houses and nice cars. They believe that the purchasing power of the dollar is going down. But what happens if cash becomes king?”

People concerned with inflation today tend to buy gold or oil or other commodities that retain their intrinsic value regardless of what’s happening with currency. It’s not a matter of belief; inflation is defined as the rate at which the purchasing power of the dollar is going down. Your brash stupidity makes me want to physically hurt you.

“Today, nationwide savings are low and debt per household is up. Most of us know the following equation from Economics 101:

cash + credit = the economy”

Well, I didn’t take Economics 101. While in college at KU I took Econ 144 (Introduction to Macro Economics) and we didn’t have any equation like that. Most of us don’t know that equation, because much like yourself Robby; it is a worthless piece of crap. In fact I don’t think you ever took Economics 101, because if you had you’d be able to understand the fundamental definition of inflation.

First off, to describe something as all encompassing as the sum of all human monetary interactions, you’re going to need a hell of a lot more than 2 variables. The only thing cash + credit would equal is total purchasing power.

(On an aside, the most absurd “equations” I’ve ever seen, complete with pretty orange arrows, like he’s trying to be profound or something, it’s good for a laugh to anyone who passed 7th grade algebra, check it out)

“Ever since 2000, there’s been an oversupply of credit. When the Y2K threat loomed, the Federal Reserve flooded the market with credit. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the stock market downturn in 2002, the market was again flooded with easy credit. Excessive credit and lower interest rates kept the economy afloat.”

The Federal Reserve is responsible for promoting “full employment, low long-term interest rates, and reasonable price stability.” (from the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act in 1978) by regulating certain kinds of financial transactions. The most well-known of which is the interest rate that banks change one-another for overnight loans, this trickles up and eventually affects the interest rates of all loans executed within the US (although indirectly.) The Federal Reserve does not issue credit, as anyone who’s ever passed Economics 101 could tell you.

“In the first five years of his presidency, President Bush borrowed nearly a trillion dollars, more money than all of our previous 43 presidents combined”

Most. Wrong. Sentence. Ever.

Firstly, no president “borrows” money. The citizenry “borrows” If you’re looking for a government entity to blame, constitutionally, the responsibility lies with Congress in the House of Representatives.

Secondly, from 2000-2005, the national debt increased 2.2 trillion dollars. Also, the previous 43 presidents combined for a national debt of 5.6 trillion dollars.

Thirdly, it’s a record of abysmal fiscal stewardship of the citizenry’s money. By the end of President Bush’s term, it will likely be the worst record ever. These are the facts; there is no need to lie about them for effect. It’s dishonest and a sign of a rotten soul.

“If the credit markets bust, there could be millions of couples… who seemed rich but are suddenly poor. This could send the lending rate of the dollar higher, making the value of the dollar higher as well — essentially causing a deflation.”

‘Could send the lending rate higher?’ how else would the market ‘bust’? Seriously Bob, I’m tired of having to correct you all the time…

“I don’t want the U.S. economy to go into a short squeeze, and I hope the credit bubble doesn’t burst. Deflation isn’t good, and inflation is easier to cure than deflation.”

…but I keep having to. Deflation is fairly simple to fix, just go down to the basement of the treasury building to the printing press and press the big button labeled “ON” Bam! Instant increase in the money supply. The cure for self-perpetuating inflation is for the Federal Reserve to jack up the prime interest rate to the stratosphere. Ask anyone who got a mortgage in the late 70’s how “easy” their 17% interest rates were.

“If the credit bubble bursts, not only will credit disappear, but people will stop spending and start hoarding cash, and savings will increase. Money is fuel for the economy, so when credit is gone and money is in hiding, the economy slows and a recession — or worse, a depression — can occur.”

Money is NOT fuel for the economy. Money (currency) is simply the medium through which the economy uses. Much like paint, or marble, or sound isn’t the fuel for art, it is merely the medium through which the artist conveys the emotion of their mind.

Productivity is the fuel of the economy. Exchanging goods or services for mutual benefit is its foundation. Why are we better off, as a society, then our grandparents, or their grandparents? Is it because we printed billions of pieces of paper with pictures of dead people on them? Is it because there are more people on the planet? Is it because we pulled more shiny metal out of the ground? I don’t think so.

Over our history we have observed the world around us. We have learned to do things better. We have used our minds to shape the world around us. We can make things faster, better, cheaper than ever before. We can serve one another with added convenience. We are better off because we are the sum of human knowledge. We are better off because we are more productive.

Productivity is the lynch pin to societal evolution. Without it we’d nothing but a clan of hunters and gatherers. With it, just look around at what we can do.

So you tell me Bob, where is the redeeming quality of your work? Your fundamental understanding of economics is wrong; you misuse and abuse the basic English language; you out-and-out lie to make a point that isn’t even valid in the first place; you discourage the most vulnerable of your brothers and sisters through fictional stories of woe; and you serve to distract everyone who reads your work from the better aspects of life.

There is no redemption available from you, Robert Kiyosaki. You were, and still are, a worthless piece of crap.

Have you seen Spanglish? Probably not because it didn’t do so well at the box office.

Anyway. Adam Sandler’s character owns & runs a little restaurant that is getting reviewed by a major food critic. He decides that he wants to be rated 2.5 stars, because it still means the food is good but there isn’t the pressure of being a 3 or 4-star restaurant.

There is a big build-up, and on the day of the review he casually walks out to the driveway to pick up the paper, brings it inside and finds himself a private moment to read the review. He sits down, takes a moment and nervously opens the newspaper and instantly exclaims:

“*BLEEP* You!”

The reviewer gave him 4 stars and went so far as to call him “The best chef in America”

The whole life he had built for himself was instantly destroyed. He now longer had a quaint little restaurant that paid the bills. He now had a premier establishment, which meant more work and less time with the family. He came to that realization before we even knew what the review was. it’s a great scene and I recomend the book for that single moment alone.

So how does this justify this post being categorized under “Fun with Balls”?

A few days ago I was casually reading one of my favorite sports columns, and the writer was discussing the NCAA tourney and what he thought of each team, in reverse order from worst to first. I didn’t think anything off it until I got down the the very last entry. Then I could only think 1 thought:

“*BLEEP* You Bill Simmons, *BLEEP* You!

Do you know the way to San Jose?
I’ve been away so long
I may go wrong and lose my way
Do you know the way to San Jose
I’m going back to find some piece of mind San Jose -a
L. A. is a great big freeway
Put a hundred down a by a car
In a week - or maybe two - they’ll make you a star
Weeks turn into years and quickly pass
And all the stars there never were a parkin’ cars and pumpin’ gas
I’ve got lots of friends in San Jose
Wo oh oh oh
Can’t wait to get back to San Jose
Wo oh oh oh
Do You know the way to San Jose?

-Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Do you know the way to San Jose

Kansas 107, Niagra 67
Kansas 88, Kentucky 76

Hello Sweet 16, have you missed us?

I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but ethnic celebrations like St. Patrick’s Day seem wrong to me. They seem to suggest that because you’re grandpa’s grandpa’s grandpa’s family moved here from Dublin, you have a license to get wasted on March 17th. (I’m not objecting to the getting wasted part, just the oligarchical justification.)

I’m just not comfortable with pride based on where where your dead relatives lived 150/300/40 years ago. The same sensibility opens up culpability for the sins of the father in my mind. It’s a stream of logic I refuse to recognize as useful.