USA Today rarely goes out and does five-star old-fashioned journalism....with investigative reporting. This week, they published one of the more fascinating articles of the year.
What they figured out after requesting information from the Federal Election Commission....was that dead Americans had contributed roughly $600,000 to candidates since 2009. We are talking....absolutely dead, with a death certificate to prove so.
It was a nifty little article, with only one issue. I would have liked to known their thinking, but the journalists can't really go back and ask these dead guys what they were thinking when they wrote the checks.
The odds here? Most all of these were folks who got hyped up and wrote out some $100, or $3000 check to some candidate....Republican or Democrat....and died the next day. They died via heat attacks, heat stroke, car accidents, chain-saw accidents, food poisoning, snake bite, drowning while fishing, or died under suspicious circumstances.
I should note here that USA Today says that roughly $250,000 of that money came to Democratic candidates, with the Libertarians safely in the second spot. Dead Republican enthusiasts were the least likely to donate money. What this says.....most dead Republicans just are plain stingy with their money, and it's better off spent in some other fashion.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Simply Observations
There was a travel association meeting this week in San Diego. One of the topics that came out....was this wild suggestion of allowing you to buy half of the third-seat in a row. Instead of making three guys fit into a very tight space....you'd have two guys sitting in an ample area. The problem with the idea? They said right off the bat....you'd have to pay fifty percent of what the seat currently costs. The positive? Well....if you had six rows on a plane that you converted to the two-seat scheme, then you'd have fewer passengers on the plane, thus less weight, and fewer bags (less weight too). So the airline would save money, while making money. The reaction by the airlines? They didn't really want to touch the subject....thinking folks just won't pay fifty percent more for what amounts to a 75-minute flight between city A and city B. To be honest, I suspect that half the public would be willing to stand for an entire flight of sixty minutes, and you could squeeze another extra sixty passengers onto a plane that normally carries 120 passengers.
The Pentagon has said that gay military couples have to be married....to get these military benefit packages. So they've hustled up this deal....if you are gay and not married to your partner....they will give you (give is really stretched here) a 10-day pass to get married in a state that allows gay marriage. Ten days.....free....to get married. You can sense that some anti-gay folks will get frustrated with this deal. Non-gays won't be offered the ten-day deal, and I'm guessing it will be noted at hundreds of staff meetings around the Air Force. How many folks will run out to get married? Maybe a hundred to two hundred couples. I suspect some folks will review their arrangement and just not feel comfortable marrying their partner, preferring single-status. And the number of divorces from this get married quick deal? Well, it's best not to bring up this topic.
Zillow does real estate estimates as part of their gimmick. So they took on the White House and say it's worth $319 million at the current real estate pricing. It's hard to say it's accurate or a fair value. Some would say the White House is worth a billion. Some would say it's worth $500,000 because of the neighborhood around it.
Jeff Bezos, after buying the Washington Post, has said in public comments that newspapers will generally all be dead in twenty years. The only way they survive in his imagination....is digital form. He may have a point, and maybe his intention of handling the weak Post's profit margin....is to dissolve it from paper print, and require everyone to get a subscription to get a copy. He might also be able to move half of the journalists of the newspaper out of DC, and into some cheaper surroundings....like southern Virginia, to avoid some of the cost issues.
Finally, while I generally avoid discussing baseball topics....this Alex Rodriguez suspension announcement of the last couple of days....is a major episode. He will sit and challenge baseball management over this, while still playing and collecting a pay-check. My humble guess is that no real court decision will be handed down until April-May of 2014....a few weeks into next year's season. It'll go against him, and the 200-odd game suspension will go into effect. For the Yankees, it means picking out your replacement third-baseman by the end of spring training, and just have him sitting in AAA until X-day. This new guy gets roughly 130 games of the 2014 season, and at least half the games of the 2015 season. He will be a permanent asset of the team. Rodriguez? Well....how do you come back eighteen months later and play at any decent level? The team will likely use him only as a DH, and he won't hit for any value. Yet, the Yanks are stuck with this guy for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. He may not make anything during the 200-odd game suspension but they have to still pay him for the remaining years. The big loss here? I'm guessing Alex has a hefty monthly allowance and living cost situation, and he's probably not prepared for eighteen months with nothing coming in. His agent? Same deal.....he was likely getting five-to-ten percent of Alex's monthly income. If you had to pick a major-league with player with zero value and five years of remaining contract.....this guy is the 'king'.
The Pentagon has said that gay military couples have to be married....to get these military benefit packages. So they've hustled up this deal....if you are gay and not married to your partner....they will give you (give is really stretched here) a 10-day pass to get married in a state that allows gay marriage. Ten days.....free....to get married. You can sense that some anti-gay folks will get frustrated with this deal. Non-gays won't be offered the ten-day deal, and I'm guessing it will be noted at hundreds of staff meetings around the Air Force. How many folks will run out to get married? Maybe a hundred to two hundred couples. I suspect some folks will review their arrangement and just not feel comfortable marrying their partner, preferring single-status. And the number of divorces from this get married quick deal? Well, it's best not to bring up this topic.
Zillow does real estate estimates as part of their gimmick. So they took on the White House and say it's worth $319 million at the current real estate pricing. It's hard to say it's accurate or a fair value. Some would say the White House is worth a billion. Some would say it's worth $500,000 because of the neighborhood around it.
Jeff Bezos, after buying the Washington Post, has said in public comments that newspapers will generally all be dead in twenty years. The only way they survive in his imagination....is digital form. He may have a point, and maybe his intention of handling the weak Post's profit margin....is to dissolve it from paper print, and require everyone to get a subscription to get a copy. He might also be able to move half of the journalists of the newspaper out of DC, and into some cheaper surroundings....like southern Virginia, to avoid some of the cost issues.
Finally, while I generally avoid discussing baseball topics....this Alex Rodriguez suspension announcement of the last couple of days....is a major episode. He will sit and challenge baseball management over this, while still playing and collecting a pay-check. My humble guess is that no real court decision will be handed down until April-May of 2014....a few weeks into next year's season. It'll go against him, and the 200-odd game suspension will go into effect. For the Yankees, it means picking out your replacement third-baseman by the end of spring training, and just have him sitting in AAA until X-day. This new guy gets roughly 130 games of the 2014 season, and at least half the games of the 2015 season. He will be a permanent asset of the team. Rodriguez? Well....how do you come back eighteen months later and play at any decent level? The team will likely use him only as a DH, and he won't hit for any value. Yet, the Yanks are stuck with this guy for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. He may not make anything during the 200-odd game suspension but they have to still pay him for the remaining years. The big loss here? I'm guessing Alex has a hefty monthly allowance and living cost situation, and he's probably not prepared for eighteen months with nothing coming in. His agent? Same deal.....he was likely getting five-to-ten percent of Alex's monthly income. If you had to pick a major-league with player with zero value and five years of remaining contract.....this guy is the 'king'.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Detroit Math
In public information....the city of Detroit will admit that they have around 2,030 cops hired for the city. But the city also admits.....that roughly only one-third of this group....actually patrols the city....day and night.
So you sit and do the math here.
Roughly 630 guys are around, doing day, night, and weekend duty. At any one time....there might be one hundred cops moving around the city. I doubt if there's more than eighty to a hundred guys actually on patrol at night.
The remaining 1,400 guys? Well, that's not clear.
Some are likely detectives. Some are management. Some are HR. Some are payroll clerks. Some are jail management folks. Some are doing duty at the city hall. Some are pulling hours over at various schools.
The problem with this math equation for Detroit....is that half of these 1,400 'other' folks....probably aren't doing anything worth discussion. They attend meetings, check up on new cops, and spend time talking to the city council.
For years and years....New Orleans had fake cops on the force, and checks going out monthly. For some reason, I have the feeling that Detroit has the same issue.
So you sit and do the math here.
Roughly 630 guys are around, doing day, night, and weekend duty. At any one time....there might be one hundred cops moving around the city. I doubt if there's more than eighty to a hundred guys actually on patrol at night.
The remaining 1,400 guys? Well, that's not clear.
Some are likely detectives. Some are management. Some are HR. Some are payroll clerks. Some are jail management folks. Some are doing duty at the city hall. Some are pulling hours over at various schools.
The problem with this math equation for Detroit....is that half of these 1,400 'other' folks....probably aren't doing anything worth discussion. They attend meetings, check up on new cops, and spend time talking to the city council.
For years and years....New Orleans had fake cops on the force, and checks going out monthly. For some reason, I have the feeling that Detroit has the same issue.
The Norwegian Story
Back in July 2011.....Norwegians went through a mass killing with Anders Breivik....seventy-seven folks dead....the vast majority being teenagers at a island retreat for a particular political party. The intent of the murders? Breivik claims he took out an entire generation of this dominant political party, and that the country will drift to the right in the coming years.
The competency of Breivik? That was challenged, and he passed every single evaluation with flying colors.
The cops quickly took possession of the guy, and the country went through a one-year process of a court case. The most they could give him? Twenty-one years. Justice was served as best as the law is written. The judge did one slap on the hands of the guy in the end.....no use of the internet for the twenty-one years.
This week, Breivik has sent an application form to the University of Oslo. There's a bit of anxiety over this. Some Norwegians don't want him to have access to public resources. Some don't want him to have any public view.
For the university, it's an odd problem. They have encountered jail requests in the past, and worked around the issues by using internet access and having an occasional visit by an instructor. In this case, someone would have to approach the court and have the lack of internet access revoked. I'm taking a humble guess here that no one with the university cares to challenge or force a change to the judge's order.
What would he study? Breivik hasn't indicated that part of the deal.
Normally, the public doesn't ever challenge who should or shouldn't go onto university in Norway. Some comments in the press indicate that people have a particular opinion in this case that such resources used for Breivik....would be a total waste. In the end, I suspect they have to allow him access to the internet, and maybe that was the original intent of pushing for a university application.
The competency of Breivik? That was challenged, and he passed every single evaluation with flying colors.
The cops quickly took possession of the guy, and the country went through a one-year process of a court case. The most they could give him? Twenty-one years. Justice was served as best as the law is written. The judge did one slap on the hands of the guy in the end.....no use of the internet for the twenty-one years.
This week, Breivik has sent an application form to the University of Oslo. There's a bit of anxiety over this. Some Norwegians don't want him to have access to public resources. Some don't want him to have any public view.
For the university, it's an odd problem. They have encountered jail requests in the past, and worked around the issues by using internet access and having an occasional visit by an instructor. In this case, someone would have to approach the court and have the lack of internet access revoked. I'm taking a humble guess here that no one with the university cares to challenge or force a change to the judge's order.
What would he study? Breivik hasn't indicated that part of the deal.
Normally, the public doesn't ever challenge who should or shouldn't go onto university in Norway. Some comments in the press indicate that people have a particular opinion in this case that such resources used for Breivik....would be a total waste. In the end, I suspect they have to allow him access to the internet, and maybe that was the original intent of pushing for a university application.
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Pamplona-American Style
When I was a kid.....growing up in Bama....I would sit and watch the evening news....usually with CBS. One evening, they had an international piece on, with the Pamplona bull run. I was probably eight years old and fairly fascinated with the episode.
Course, as the years went by....I also ran with the steers. Once a year on the farm, you'd have vaccination day, and I'd have the task as the 'runner' to chase the steers down the chute area. Ninety percent of the time....things went well. Usually out of forty steers....you'd always have three that did something you didn't expect.....turn, and chase you down. It was the Pamplona-effect. The thrill of the unexpected. Kinda like going to a NASCAR race, or some WWE-wrestling event.
Over the years, I've continued to watch the reports of Pamplona bull runs, and been kinda interested. Even up until the late 1990s....I had this curious idea of going down to Spain and at least watching. Participation? Well....yeah, I probably had some interest in being stupid like the rest of them. These days, I'd probably just like to have a rooftop position and watch from a distance.
This week....reports came out via the news that there's going to be some bull runs in the US, starting out in Richmond, VA. Atlanta will have one a few weeks after that. Several other runs will follow after that. To note with interest.....none are schedule in Bama yet.
Legal? Well.....presently, there's no laws against it. I'm guessing dozens of animal-rights folks are working hard to stop each one of these. The courts will be reviewing paperwork and trying to determine if there is some piece of the Constitution or state laws affected.
I imagine it will catch on....although some states will make anti-bull run laws. In fact, I'd say that California and New York will quickly move on this and have such a law in effect by the end of November.
It'll continue on.....maybe even become a reality TV series. I could see some washed-up TV stars coming out.....doing a bull-run with some sluggish bulls. It might be worth watching if this were some former WWE-wrestlers doing the bullrun.
The Pamplona folks will claim this is all fake and that only real bull running occurs in Spain.....this American stuff is just fake wussy stuff.
It's hard to say where this goes....except a bunch of guys will be looking around the south for some really tough mean steers, and some cattle guys have got the perfect steer to sell them.
Course, as the years went by....I also ran with the steers. Once a year on the farm, you'd have vaccination day, and I'd have the task as the 'runner' to chase the steers down the chute area. Ninety percent of the time....things went well. Usually out of forty steers....you'd always have three that did something you didn't expect.....turn, and chase you down. It was the Pamplona-effect. The thrill of the unexpected. Kinda like going to a NASCAR race, or some WWE-wrestling event.
Over the years, I've continued to watch the reports of Pamplona bull runs, and been kinda interested. Even up until the late 1990s....I had this curious idea of going down to Spain and at least watching. Participation? Well....yeah, I probably had some interest in being stupid like the rest of them. These days, I'd probably just like to have a rooftop position and watch from a distance.
This week....reports came out via the news that there's going to be some bull runs in the US, starting out in Richmond, VA. Atlanta will have one a few weeks after that. Several other runs will follow after that. To note with interest.....none are schedule in Bama yet.
Legal? Well.....presently, there's no laws against it. I'm guessing dozens of animal-rights folks are working hard to stop each one of these. The courts will be reviewing paperwork and trying to determine if there is some piece of the Constitution or state laws affected.
I imagine it will catch on....although some states will make anti-bull run laws. In fact, I'd say that California and New York will quickly move on this and have such a law in effect by the end of November.
It'll continue on.....maybe even become a reality TV series. I could see some washed-up TV stars coming out.....doing a bull-run with some sluggish bulls. It might be worth watching if this were some former WWE-wrestlers doing the bullrun.
The Pamplona folks will claim this is all fake and that only real bull running occurs in Spain.....this American stuff is just fake wussy stuff.
It's hard to say where this goes....except a bunch of guys will be looking around the south for some really tough mean steers, and some cattle guys have got the perfect steer to sell them.
Saturday, 3 August 2013
The New "Home" Folks
The statistics folks have been busy. They say that there are 21 million Americans....of adult age....living with their parents. The perception is that they finished high school....maybe finished college....and success has not be attained yet (meaning: they just don't have a job capable of paying for an apartment, or they really screwed up and got heavily into debt).
Yeah, these are the guys who spent two years at the community college studying acting, and owe $22,000 on tuition. These are the ladies who spent four years at some private college studying French literature, and owe $72,000. These are the guys who discovered the best job they could get after four years....was chief of a shift at some car rental place at the airport. These are the young ladies who drifted around and wasted three years of college, then quit, and now work twenty hours a week at JC Pennys.
It's hard to say if this is such a bad thing or not. At least the parents are giving them a roof over their heads. They get two square meals a day. There's always advice to be given by dad, or cooking instructions by mom. There's likely a master mechanics garage set up by dad to help with minor car repairs. And if the toilet is broke....you don't have to argue with landlord.
The news media perception? It'll be curious. They probably can only see it as a negative thing....telling of the various woes involved in this. I'm guessing various experts will appear on CNN to tell of the mess that this creates in life. Oprah might even dedicate an entire week with folks who fell into this 'pit'.
The funny thing is that this used to be the norm....say fifty to seventy years ago. We seem to have forgotten that part of the story.
Yeah, these are the guys who spent two years at the community college studying acting, and owe $22,000 on tuition. These are the ladies who spent four years at some private college studying French literature, and owe $72,000. These are the guys who discovered the best job they could get after four years....was chief of a shift at some car rental place at the airport. These are the young ladies who drifted around and wasted three years of college, then quit, and now work twenty hours a week at JC Pennys.
It's hard to say if this is such a bad thing or not. At least the parents are giving them a roof over their heads. They get two square meals a day. There's always advice to be given by dad, or cooking instructions by mom. There's likely a master mechanics garage set up by dad to help with minor car repairs. And if the toilet is broke....you don't have to argue with landlord.
The news media perception? It'll be curious. They probably can only see it as a negative thing....telling of the various woes involved in this. I'm guessing various experts will appear on CNN to tell of the mess that this creates in life. Oprah might even dedicate an entire week with folks who fell into this 'pit'.
The funny thing is that this used to be the norm....say fifty to seventy years ago. We seem to have forgotten that part of the story.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Medical Literature
Some smart folks have gone out and done some research on all the fancy hand-outs that doctors, clinics, hospitals, school nurses, and the medical community continually hand out to people. There's some general consensus, which got published in the JAMA Internal Medicine publication this month (thanks to Fox News for the note).
They've all come to realize what most of us have said for the last twenty years....the commentary in the hand-outs....is too complicated for the average American to grasp.
You have a number of medical experts, who have six to eight years of college, who sit and write these publications. It's nothing personal with me.....but every time you see one of these and attempt to read it....you need to stumble over various phrases and words that you aren't prepared to read.
Last year, the dentist office wanted to hand me literature on gum disease. I ran through the hand-out and probably got about half of the message.
What the medical establishment needs to do.....is simply hire people who write around the eighth-grade level, and use simple graphics to tell a story. Thirty percent of the people who read these hand-outs....probably understand every single word, but the rest of us? The range goes up and down.
The sad thing here is that there is a need for medical literature, and they could write it in a way to be understood. So far, they just haven't grasped the problem.
They've all come to realize what most of us have said for the last twenty years....the commentary in the hand-outs....is too complicated for the average American to grasp.
You have a number of medical experts, who have six to eight years of college, who sit and write these publications. It's nothing personal with me.....but every time you see one of these and attempt to read it....you need to stumble over various phrases and words that you aren't prepared to read.
Last year, the dentist office wanted to hand me literature on gum disease. I ran through the hand-out and probably got about half of the message.
What the medical establishment needs to do.....is simply hire people who write around the eighth-grade level, and use simple graphics to tell a story. Thirty percent of the people who read these hand-outs....probably understand every single word, but the rest of us? The range goes up and down.
The sad thing here is that there is a need for medical literature, and they could write it in a way to be understood. So far, they just haven't grasped the problem.
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