Thursday, September 27, 2007

Hotcorn

For some reason popping bubble wrap is really fun. Similarly popping kernels of corn with a sun is also really fun. The object of Hotcorn is to pop as many kernels as required in a given amount of time. When I explain it it sounds like it would be boring, but when I explain popping bubble wrap also doesn't sell it. This is one of those games that you just have to play to see why it is fun.

(So far I have got to level 34 with a high score of 30897.)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Why America is Worse Off: Part 2- Sue Happy Lawyers

I am sure that we have all seem them. The ads that seem to be in the middle of the night where James B. Sucakalove says that since you tired some diet pill or if you are reported as a 'contract worker' you deserve money. Yeah, those guys are killing America.

These are the same guys that made us have labels on all of our coffee cups that say that the contents may be hot. These are the guys that have scared schools into not allowing kids play tag during recess. These guys are the people that make car commercials say "closed course with professional driver, do not attempt" when it is just a car driving in a city. These guys are single handedly killing America.

I'm not saying that all suits are not important. There are cases when people do have a right to compensation because of the actions of others. But should you get money because you broke into a house and got hurt? Should you get money for not obeying rules? Should you get money for eating something that is clearly something not meant to be ate? No, no you shouldn't.

All of these suits are making people too scared to do anything. Schools used to have camping trips -not any more. Houses used to be able to have trampolines in their backyards -not any more. Cities used to freeze over ponds to skate on -not any more. Everyone has gotten too scared to do anything fun, and all this can be traced back to one group of people, the sue happy lawyers. (Well actually first to insurance companies, but then to the lawyers that made insurance costs so high, but that is another post.)

So what is the solution? First is to make it harder to file frivolous lawsuits. Second I think that there needs to be some limits placed on when someone can sue... if you are being a dork you can't sue someone else. Finally we need to set up some boundaries about what the suits mean to everybody else. If one kid gets hurt playing tag somewhere it really shouldn't hurt every school in America because of a spike in insurance costs if they allow tag.

Really though these sue happy lawyers are underscoring a problem that we have in society. They are enabling people who have some problem to place all blame on someone else, and not take responsibility themselves. Be stupid and get paid, the winning combination.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Hierarchy of Capital G's

While many people spend their time debating Iraq or the values of dramatic play I prefer to spend my time being a bit more innovative. For example I have come up with the Hierarchy or Capital G's. Be sure you write this date down, as your children will want to know when this order was established.


Low: This G is the poor man's G. When this G is used it is something that isn't that important. Maybe it appears on a list or on a note, not an important note mind you, this G would never be found on a wedding invitation. This G probably does more work than all the other G's but it never gets the recognition that it deserves. Our world is a better place because of this G.

Low Middle: This is the first G that I learned how to write. And for that I will always be thankful. Every once in a while I still write my G's like this, but anymore it looks like I am trying too hard when I make a G like this one. So this one gets passed up for the lower class G above it. Really this G is a staple of Capital G's and could really be thought of as the middle class of G's. It has money, but also a mortgage on its home.

Middle: The first time that I learned how to read this G was during Christmas in my younger years. My grandma wrote in cursive so I learned that this twisty letter was, in fact, a G. Soon afterwards I learned how to write this letter in elementary school. When I figured out how to draw this G I though it was the cat's pajamas. But know I know better, this G looks fancy but it is all show, it can't back itself up. Don't be tricked when you see this G, it may look really neat, but most likely it was drawn by a 5th grader... or my grandma.

Upper Middle: When someone wants to start drawing a fancy looking G this is the one that is used the most. The proper term for this kind of G is the "Arrow G", because the G forms a rudimentary arrow. This G demands more attention than other capital G's, but it still will party with the other G's. It remembers its roots and shares it's wealth. Many people think of this G as the "rich uncle" of the capital G's. And this analogy is not too far from the truth.

Upper: Finally we have this G. This G is used in the fanciest of all the cases. It can stand up to the pressure of being alone as a company logo or used together as a monogram. There are many variations of this kind of G depending on it's heritage, but all if this kind of G can be identified by the long vertical 'tail' line. If God were to write his name in English letters, this is the G that he would use. A warning: be very careful when you use this G many commoners can not handle its power. It is suggested that you use the "Arrow G" for at least five years before you move on to this G.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Why America is Worse Off: Part 1- The Stock Market

Sometimes when I feel like posting on my blog but I don't know what to talk about I just open up a new post and start typing about the first thing that pops into my mind. That is how my last post about 50 things that make America worse off came about. Now after letting the post stew for a couple of days I think that the items that I listed would make good set of topics to post about. So I present to you the first post in a 50 part series called Why America is Worse Off.

1. The Stock Market.
I don't think that the stock market itself is a bad concept. I think that companies that need to get capital are using a viable option when they offer public stocks. I also don't think that it is bad for people to buy stocks. Personally I have a couple of mutual funds. And I bet overall mutual funds make a major component of trading in the stock markets.

The problem I have with the stock market is what happens to a publicly traded company. For the most part people that own stock in a company really don't care personally about the company, besides the fact that it will make money. If it makes burritos or party hats or burrito party hats it doesn't matter. As long as the company continues to grow at a good pace it doesn't really matter what it does. However when there are troubled waters on the horizon the ugly face of the public stocks rears it's head. And a conflict grows.

On one hand the people that run the company want to stay true to their products and their customers, on the other are the shareholders that want to make money. And when push comes to "the stock price is falling" the shareholders win. This means that the company will be forced to cut its workforce, cut corners, and cut ties with their loyal base. The product suffers, the customers who had made the company seem so promising get fed up and the devil does a little jig. The only winners are the shareholders who made the changes that would level off the stock prices enough to be able to jump ship without risk... well I guess the devil wins too, if he like to do jigs.

So what is the solution? I don't think that there is a good and simple one. I guess companies should be very careful when they go public, and shareholders should care about more things than their own bottom line. But that being said I personally would like to see my mutual funds to continue to grow, and if that means that Huffy has to switch to a cheaper brand of bolts, well so be it. I don't really care about what Huffy makes anyway.

Friday, September 14, 2007

50 things

Things that overall make America worse off:

1. The stock market
2. Sue happy Lawyers
3. Medical insurance (as it is currently)
4. Misguided copyright laws
5. Roundabouts
6. MTV/Nickelodeon
7. McDonald's
8. Sugar substatutes
9. "Mandatory" college
10. Treating teens like children
11. Starbucks
12. Political Correctness
13. Two party politics
14. Patriot Act
15. AOL
16. Get rich quick schemes
17. Apathy
18. Over protective parents
19. Age requirements for drinking
20. Anti-smoking laws (in private places)
21. Knee-Jerk Politics
22. Over medication
23. Conventional strip malls
24. Bad produce
25. Begging for money
26. Income tax
27. "Sin" tax
28. Rental stores
29. Car dealerships (the wheeling and dealing kind)
30. Pawn shops
31. Cold call telemarketers
32. People that don't know statistics doing statistics
33. People that don't take responsibility for their own actions
34. Hotdogs
35. Diets
36. Government Marriage Laws
37. Incentives for failure (Welfare for one)
38. Lobbyists
39. 24 hour news
40. MSG
41. Rebate sales
42. Outsourcing
43. Ignorance
44. Teaching for memorization not for comprehension
45. Restricting play during recess
46. Closed lunch at High school
47. College classes that require attendance
48. The RIAA
49. People that take sports too seriously
50. Lack of pride of America

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Live action shot

You can not believe how bored I was during class today. It wasn't the material or anything, it just seemed like I got a case of the ADDs and couldn't sit still. In sure the people behind me got annoyed with me changing seating styles every 30 seconds. Also I didn't have a sudoku to do during the class... that would have helped.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

History of Viral Internet Videos

If you haven't been watching the internet the last couple of years this is what you missed out on:

Well played.

Monday, September 10, 2007

The Ice Age Cometh

Well that didn't last long. Normally we get about two months of above 100 degree weather peaking in late August, but this year we got about two weeks of hot weather and thats it. It seemed like after a cooler summer than normal that the temperatures has finally got back to where they are suppose to be, but today is rather cool (63F) and this week we are looking at a high of 84 with most days barley getting into the 80s.

Fall is upon us -summer never stood a chance this year.

Friday, September 07, 2007

A feast fit for a team

On Friday night the hockey team got a gig to valet park for a Beach Art Museum function. We had a good time parking nice cars, and even got to scavenge from some very tasty food. Plus we got to make some money for the hockey team.

That there is a win-win-win situation.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Pile of Skates

The rink that we have practice at for inline hockey is currently being remodeled. While poking around I found where they are keeping all the skates. It is a very impressive amount of skates.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Hip Hop Violin

I would buy a cd of this.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Post Auburn

In the back of my mind I keep telling myself that we weren't even suppose to have a shot at winning the game, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about how close K-State came to beating Auburn. If we just didn't get as many penalties and we made one or two more plays we would be 1-0 right now and still be unbeaten in the last 18 opening games. But it was not to be.

However that is not what I want to talk about, the real story of K-State football this season (and last) is new coach Ron Prince. He steeped into one of the worst situations possible -Snyder is a living god in Manhattan, the starters for the team mostly sucked, and unlike our basketball team we didn't just want to win, we wanted to win while retaining integrity.

I don't know how they found the guy but Prince is the perfect fit for the Wildcats. He is a nice guy that knows how to get ready for and beat good teams. It was possible that K-State would have looked for some high profile coach to take over, or a two year 'hold over' guy that would be discarded after they found someone else. But it really looks like Prince is here to stay and that he has already turned K-State back in to a Big XII North contender (although those standards are quite low recently).

It would have been all to easy for Coach Prince to fold under the pressure of Snyder, but he seems know how to respond to the high demands of his job. And so far he has performed better than we could have hope for here in Manhattan. Here's looking to a promising 2007 football season.

Bring on the Cats.