Oil! We don't need no stinking oil!!

I LOVE the idea of alternative energy sources, but after reading this article you have to wonder about the effectiveness of ethanol as an alternative fuel. Does Germany have the right idea?

Jumping into the energy debate is always a tedious enterprise because the volume of information is enormous and truthfully there is no easy solution. A lot of the choices have serious downsides, but if we don't make a national and global commitment to one of them then we will never inspire the discoveries we need to make in those areas. JFK walks into a room in 1962 and says, "I want to see a man on the moon in the next ten years!" 1969, it happened. Thought leadership driving an important national initiative to fruition. We needed it then. We need it now.

Solar power is interesting, but bad because photovoltaics are inefficient. Wind power is interesting, but wind farms actually change the weather over time wherever they are. Ethanol is ineffective for reason described in the link above.

I have seen a system that allows cars to run on water, but fresh water. I can't think of a more colossal waste of creativity. Fresh water? You think the oil crisis is bad. You have not seen anything until the impending fresh water crisis on this planet comes to the forefront of everyone's mind. Fresh water supply is finite and the world's population is increasing, you do the math. Desalinization is an answer, but desalinization technology is currently very inefficient and it take a lot of energy to desalinize water. This leads us back to an energy crisis.

Harnessing the ocean's force is fascinating and I have begun designing a power generation grid that would be anchored to the ocean floor and something that could have significant possibilities harnessing the power of undersea rivers. However there are serious and significant ecological concerns. How will the grid interact with wildlife? To get enough energy to make it really effective would we actually be killing the ocean? What are the generation capabilities of ocean based turbines and would the fail rate or material used actually make it cost prohibitive? All things are to be determined. It is good to have a team of engineers working for you. They can answer questions like that.

If you are interested in renewable or alternative energy here is a link to the National Renewable Energy Lab.

_____________________________________

Onward to less important things:

Check out this site building a community of car owners. Have a bad lease, or a car you don't really like, post it on Swap A Lease and find someone to take it off your hands. Pretty cool.

Two very cool new atmospheric research satellites were launched into space early this morning.

Building a skyscraper? What should you put on the roof? Tar, nah, how about trying a garden?

Want to build a billion dollar business? Here are 7 ways how.

Blue Angels, over my shoulder, draining my productivity

It is the end of the month. Like most companies, my company puts the pedal to the metal come the last week of the calendar. Sales and deliverables both spike off the charts and there is an excited buzz in the air. As a senior member of the staff I have an office, with windows, just a stone's throw from Dobbins AFB in Marietta, GA. This weekend at the Atlana Naval Air Station the Blue Angels will be headlining an airshow. As I speak they are practicing out my damn window. Loops, precision flying, criss crossing formations... just about anything you can think of that appeals to the 7 year old boy in me. I can't keep my damn eyes on my computer because every time I hear the engines roar outside I want to roll my chair over and see what these incredibly talented folks are up to.

It has been kind of a fun exciting day. The first one I have had at the office for awhile. Between the office buzz and the Blue Angels outside the window it has made the day incredibly pleasant.

I thought it was 2006 and not 1956. I don't care if you are black and dating a white girl. I don't care if Latinos and Asians mix. I don't care. You know why I don't care? It is none of my damn business who goes to bed with who and what race they are. These two wannabe skin heads in Texas beat a poor Latino boy essentially to death (he hasn't passed yet, but he probably will) because the Latino tried to kiss a white girl. I hope their time in prison is well spent as the bitch to some Latin gang members. Perhaps that will teach them to keep their sniveling bigoted hands to themselves.

Record profits for Exxon. Record profits for Conoco Phillips. Qatar saying, "if you shut up, the price will go down." Isn't the world oil market grand. 3 bucks a gallon. There's innovation. I propose we pass legislation that ceases all oil imports within 5 years and see what kind of invention that necessity mothers.

And with the 4th pick, the New York Jets select...this guy. You know they are going to blow this pick. You just know it. Or, they will somehow manage to get Reggie Bush and he will suffer some sort of catastrophic injury and never live up to his promise. Just like the Jets.

No 1 of Consequence

Now that's a sick Beluga!

This is a picture of Gaspar, one of the Beluga whales at the new Georgia Aquarium. I just read this article about him and was saddened to hear he had taken ill. He is one of the great exhibits and stories of the aquarium after being rescued from an amusement park in Mexico where he was not able to receive top flight medical care. I am a devotee and season pass holder of the aquarium and believe it is one of the most spectacular attractions of my adopted home town.

Read my review of the aquarium.

See my pictures from the aquarium.

Get well soon little buddy!

No 1 of Consequence

Rounders, Poker and the Sports Guy

I am a poker fan. I am a decent player, but I don't play enough to be really good. I have a good understanding of other people so when sitting around the table I feel like I have an advantage. To be honest though I only play for stakes that don't mean anything to me. If I was ever playing for real money I would probably be in way over my head.

I am also a Bill Simmons fan. He is a very good writer and despite being a Boston fan is pretty insightful. He is also one of the last remaining Caucasian NBA fans on planet Earth. I read every column he writes and I enjoy 90% of them. The last couple of days he did a public e-mail exchange with the guys who wrote Rounders, a movie that was ahead of its time, but is an all time great film in terms of rewatchability and quote-ability. Who can sit down at a poker table these days without hearing the immortal words, "Jacks, does he look like a man that can be beaten by jacks?" I think not. Anyway, I enjoyed the articles so much I wanted to post links to them here. Enjoy. Here is Part 1 and here is Part 2.

No 1 of Consequence

Public Service Announcement

I have a beef, a complaint, a full out whine. The internet is mature at this point. It is constantly changing and reinventing itself, but as a medium I think we can all agree that it's no longer NEW. E-mail has been around just as long, if not longer. Can we all agree at this point to stop forwarding stupid stuff around to each other. I mean, if you are a friend of mine and you want to send me pictures of your kids, I am more than happy to see them. However if you send me something about Microsoft tracking my e-mail and sending me a check it is going to piss me off and make me think you are stupid. You find a news story that you think I will relate to? Send it over, I love to read interesting stuff, but if you send me something about a cancer kid trying to raise money by circling an e-mail around the globe I am going to get annoyed. It is the difference between personal contact and wasting my time. I have a friend who edits a newspaper, so when I see stuff that relates to his general geography I shoot it over to him. For one reason, to let him know I am thinking about him and give a crap about what's going on in his life. Secondly, because I know he will usually have some juicy tid bit that didn't make the paper. My brother and I are Jets fans. When we see something that we are excited about (rare) or something that makes our stomachs turn (often) we tell each other about it, because that has personal value. A silly forward about a missing girl that isn't really missing is just disrespectful of everyone's time.

I know this has been written about before, but I just find spam irritating and spam from my friends is even more irritating. Do me a favor, before you forward something, unless it is going to have real personal value to that person, check it out on snopes. They are really good at keeping track of internet garbage and helping you screen it out of your life and the lives of the people you care about.

No 1 of Consequence

Return from a break

OK, I am back. March's month end was incredibly fantastic and insane. At the same time I was saddled with writing performance reviews and job descriptions for my staff. Neither are fun and unfortunately for me, neither are complete. My job continues to be a challenge and exciting but as my company grows more of the mundane management details show their ugly heads and I am forced to deal with them. I know, boo hoo for me.

During my brief respite from blogging we had a number of visitors to Casa De No 1. Both No Mother of Consequence and No Mother in Law of Consequence and No Brother and No Sister in Law of Consequence graced us with visits which was absolutely great. It is always nice to see family, especially since it can be kind of lonely down here in GA. However, we had continuous visitors for almost two straight weeks and I don't care who you are, that can be draining.

Immigration has soared to the forefront of the news in my absence. It is serious and contentious and I don't have the energy to deal with it today. Also, I am not sure how coherent my position on it is. So, I will reserve judgement until I have time to do some research.

Now the fun begins. You know you have been talking on the phone a lot when you get a phone bill for $218 trillion dollars. I mean, even at $1000 a minute you would have to talk for 218 billion minutes. At 525,600 minutes in a year you would have to stay on the phone for 414,000+ consecutive years to rack up a bill like that. Now No Mother of Consequence likes to prattle, but even she isn't shooting her mouth off for millennia at a time. I know it is obviously a silly mistake or fraud but figuring out the math was a nice break from working.

On a much less fun note, a newspaper in the UK is reporting the Bush administration is planning nuclear strikes on Iranian nuclear targets. Is it only me, or is it becoming more and more likely that President Bush is trying to end the world since he can't be elected again. Come on, can't they rig the election for Jeb or something to keep the monarchy going.

I don't think encouraging students to take a position and make their voices heard in this country is a bad thing. A school is taking heat for offering community service credit to students who attend an immigration rally. This is not something I believe they should be taking heat for. Decisions in this country are made by those who show up. They are made by those who get involved and they are made by those who take risks. Encouraging students to take a stand, take a side and make a choice is a valuable lesson for them to learn and something that should be applauded, not criticized.


No 1 of Consequence

No Brother of Consequence Guest Blog - Dieting for the Hungry Man

Ostrich Burger, Fries & Steamed Vegetables

Like many of you out there I too have had problems controlling my weight over the years. I am an avid gym goer however I still am not at the weight I would like to be. The problem is I like to eat! I am a graduate of Johnson & Wales Culinary school and have dedicated myself to developing recipes that enable me to eat the most amount of food for the minimum amount of calories possible. The following is one of my favorite meals and is only about 600 calories. That may seem like a lot until you take into account that it only contains 3 grams of fat! Compare the same Big Mac and Medium Fries from McDonalds and you can see the benefits. (940 Calories 50grams of fat!) Even if you add a bun you will only add around 120 calories and less than 3 grams of fat. Remember that based on a 2000 calorie diet (most larger people tend to burn a lot more than this because of the amount of work the body has to do to lug all that weight around) this meal at most is 36% of the days allotment. This leaves you 1280 calories for both Breakfast, Lunch, and a Snack. Remember, eating healthier will make you feel better physically and feel better about yourself in the long run. I use a technique that has worked pretty well in helping me to keep my junk food under control. Before I eat anything I ask myself the following question in my head: "Do I want to eat this more than I hate being fat!" I guarantee if you ask yourself that question each time you eat something you will start to get your cravings under control. Drink a lot of Water, exercise (walking is a great start) and you should see results. I will be offering recipes from time to time so your feedback is appreciated.

1/2 pound Ostrich Burger - Bunless 220 Calories 3 grams fat W/Bun around 350 calories 5 grams of fat
(Give Ostrich a chance. I know it sounds strange but when you season it, it tasted like a very lean ground beef. It has the lowest calories, fat, and cholesterol per ounce of ANY meat so if your goal is to be able to each as much as possible for the lowest amount of calories it can be a great friend!)

Ingredients:
8oz Ground Ostrich (You can find it at health food stores or buy on-line. You will get a MUCH better price on-line)
Franks Red Hot Garlic Powder

Season Patty with garlic powder and coat in Franks Red Hot. (optional but very tasty!) Broil until desired texture is reached. Remember Ostrich cooks just like red meat. You can eat it rare-well done. It is NOT Poultry so if you apply the same safety standards you apply to beef it will be fine.

Baked Fries - I realize this is a contradiction however this recipe only has 200 calories and 0 fat! This is my favorite thing to eat. It has no more calories than a Baked Potato with a French fry feel. Despite the recent anti carb marketing blitz potatoes are NOT bad. They are extremely high in potassium and naturally fat free. I wouldn't eat 100 a day but a couple won't hurt and are very tasty.

Ingredients:
2 Medium Size Yukon Gold potatoes
Fat Free Cooking Spray

Heat oven to 450 degrees
Slice potatoes into French fries
Line the bottom of a baking sheet with foil and spray liberally with the cooking spray. Place potatoes on tray and spray liberally again with the spray. Bake for 40 minutes flipping with a spatula after 20. Remove from oven and season. They will be nice and crispy and golden brown! I know they take a while but they're worth it!

Steamed Vegetables - 2 cups around 80 calories. I suggest buying green giant bags of mixed vegetables for this one. You can even buy some decent microwavable ones. The point of the vegetable is to add food without a lot of calories. I guarantee you will be full after eating all of this. If you're not I'd be very surprised. Enjoy!

No Brother of Consequence

Vibrate this!!!

What sort of backwards ass country do we live in? Sex my friends, is not evil. Sex is natural and fun. Sex is healthy. Sex is a great expression of love between two people. Sex is also a great expression of lust between two horny people. For some folks, more than two people make up great expressions of love and or lust. You know what I say? GOOD FOR THEM!! If I, or those people want to use a vibrator to enhance or prolong the experience, then so be it! Making sex toys illegal is not protecting the public from anything. The fact that the Mississippi legislature spent valuable time (sort of) on this law is ludicrous. It is an injustice to all married and unmarried couples who use toys to enhance their bedroom experiences and to all single people who are lonely. Good G-d, is the government not in enough places in our lives? Must they continue to try to insinuate themselves into our bedrooms?

Mazel Tov!!! A hearty, deep, and warm congratulations to NoBestManofConsequence and his wife on the birth of their daughter!! A 7lb 6 oz treasure who I can’t wait to get back to NJ to meet.”Babies come with hats!!”

Trivia Bonus: “Babies come with hats” comes from what TV show? Double bonus for character who said it and triple bonus for the episode name or story arc taking place when it was uttered.

This blogger posted instructions on how to perform an abortion on her website. Here is an article about the backlash she has received for doing this. Of course the death threats from the religious right have shown up in earnest. Can you please explain the rationale of these zealots? “I believe in Jesus so much I am going to kill you for saying something that is different than what I believe.” Could they be more unbelievably myopic? I hope she gets tons of traffic on her blog and a book or movie deal. I also hope no one finds out who she is and kills her. She should probably stay out of Mississippi.

Without getting too deeply into my love of physics and scientific discovery, read this. It is some pretty mind blowing stuff.

While living in California, it is probably advisable to avoid Denny’s like the plague.

This is a really interesting article about productivity.

Here is something terminally unimportant.

Conception Protection

My first YouTube video post from Real Time with Bill Maher, quality comedy as usual.

This kind of story makes me happy. One of the ways we need to drive innovation is by encouraging our top young minds into the sciences and engineering. Intel taking this kind of social and civic responsibility to try and advance the youth of our country is a very good thing. I hope more large companies take their lead and give back to the communities that support them.

I love Jon Stewart and whenever I watch The Daily Show I end up laughing hysterically. When you click this link, scroll down and watch the Access Holyland clip. It is incredibly funny.

This is an interesting little story about how the Asian style of baseball is very tough and it is showing up in the success of Japan and Korea in the World Baseball Classic.

Africa is splitting in two. Literally. This freaks me out on a core level.

Robonanny, coming to a Japanese nursing home near you. Of course living to old age in Japan doesn’t happen as often as it used to because they have one of the highest suicide rates in the world and apparently routinely have group suicides.

The leader of the communist party in Russia is blaming the US for bird flu. Wacky, wacky Russians, but if you ever read Stephen King’s The Stand, a little creepy too.

Trivia Bonus: In The Stand, what is the command code to release the virus into the world after it escapes in the US?

Maybe we can bring freedom and democracy to the Mexican people next.

No 1 of Consequence

Darwin, meet broadband

Societal evolution is an interesting thing to witness. Fast, faster, fastest. The ability to communicate across the globe instantaneously, whether voice or data, is changing the way humanity interacts. This is a really interesting story about how the dinosaur of media, Rupert Murdoch, has picked up the mantle of the web and finally said, “OHHH! This is what the buzz is all about” His company bought MySpace which, unless you have been living under a rock, is the hottest interactive portal on the web. I have poked around on it and overall it is way too busy for me to enjoy. As you can tell by my basic Blogger template I don’t like things that complicated. However, understanding the mass appeal of reaching that kind of audience is very easy. It is a new and effective way to sell stuff. There are some other sites that have really captured my attention recently also. The first is Café Press which I have mentioned before. If I had any artistic ability at all I would have my own Café Press store. The second and much more interesting site I have really come to enjoy is YouTube. Their motto is, Broadcast Yourself. Anyone can put anything on there. Obviously, if you don’t own the content you run the risk of getting it pulled for copyright violation. The really cool part of it is anyone can suddenly be a TV or movie producer. If you think you are a genius writer or genius film maker you can shoot some short films, or long ones and put them up there. You will find out how good you are in a short amount of time. One of the best things about the internet is that nothing cool remains a secret. If you provide anything of entertainment value at all, it will get out. Spend some time on YouTube if you have a broadband connection. You will probably really enjoy it. I plan on doing a YouTube video of the week post, but it will have to be on the weekend, when I can investigate from home.

Onward to more things of moderate import:

- The US government is running out of money. Not really shocking considering the unprecedented spending of the Bush administration.

- France is looking to screw over Apple and a lot of musicians. This, by the way, is total crap. It should not be legal to steal other people’s intellectual property. If you are a fan of Bruce Springsteen and you want to listen to his music, isn’t it fair that he be paid? He wrote the music, sang the music, produced the music in a format that makes it easy for all to enjoy. Isn’t he entitled to remuneration for his work? I think he is. I think making it legal to break the technology that protects digital rights is very shady and anti performer. There are plenty of places that people can share what they create, but it should be their choice to share it. If they choose to sell it, it is again, their right. If in choosing to sell something they own, they find a market for it, meaning people want to pay for it, then it is not the place of any government to impede their ability to protect what they created. As a matter of fact it is the responsibility of the government to at least try and protect intellectual property. France, getting it wrong again. Should be their national motto.

- Another kick in the teeth for freedom and privacy. This excerpt says it all;

Although the Justice Department said it doesn't want any personal information now, the victory would likely encourage far more invasive requests in the future, said University of Connecticut law professor Paul Schiff Berman, who specializes in Internet law.

"The erosion of privacy tends to happen incrementally," Berman said. "While no one intrusion may seem that big, over the course of the next decade or two, you might end up in a place as a society where you never thought you would be."

Honestly, this should be a post all by itself, but I am only allowing myself 3 minute increments to build this post today. So far it has taken me 5 ½ hours.

- Just in case you were worrying the German sex industry is ramping up for the World Cup in a big way.

No 1 of Consequence

A-Rod, Mr March

If you are a frequent reader here, or know me at all you know I love baseball. I spent some time this weekend watching the World Baseball Classic, which is like soccer’s World Cup, except for baseball. At least that is what they want it to be. The scheduling is a little moronic since you are disrupting spring training. The rosters weren’t finalized until a week before the start and the coverage has been mediocre. I mainly say that because I can’t seem to find the damned thing on TV when I think it is going to be on. I watched the US play Japan, resulting in a victory for the US more or less because a bogus umpiring call.

It was very cool to see Jeter and A-Rod wearing there Team USA unis. The downside was this whole thing now reeks of a fix. MLB wants the WBC to work. They have banked a lot on it and poured countless millions into it. They need the US to make a strong showing and, honestly, so far they haven’t. (17-0 routing of South Africa notwithstanding) Things like this need to catch the public eye on there own. They can’t be forced otherwise they turn out like Major League Soccer or the WNBA, which haven’t exactly lived up to expectations. They should schedule the next one a lot better. If the had the next one in November, post World Series, in all warm climates I bet it would be HUGE.

(Note: this post was written before Heep Seop Choi and Korea bombed the US yesterday)

No 1 of Consequence

If you gonna dunk it, you better make sure it goes down

"If you gonna dunk it, you better make sure it goes down" - John Chaney to James Spears in McGonigle Hall 1992 after a missed dunk attempt.









John Chaney is retiring. He probably would have retired last year if not for the incident that clouded the season. Chaney was a maverick coach his whole career. He steadfastly refused to recruit blue chip players. He staunchly adhered to a system that stressed smothering defense during an era of basketball that basically eschewed defense totally. He also conducted practice at 5:30 AM to help mitigate the amount of class time his players missed. His gravelly voice boomed through McGonigle Hall and later the Liacouras Center on Broad Street in Philadelphia. He was very good for basketball. He was a good role model and a ground breaker in Division 1 basketball as one of the first African Americans to coach a major program. When I was a Temple University student is when the program enjoyed some of its greatest success. I absolutely hated him then. I thought his strict adherence to his system left no flexibility for the finest athlete Temple ever produced to rise to the next level. I always believed that if Chaney had given Eddie Jones the freedom he deserved with the basketball Temple would have made a Final Four. It never happened and I don’t think I ever really forgave Chaney. I hope he lives out his retirement in peace and comfort. Despite my youthful animosity, Chaney and Temple basketball provided the only good memories I have of my time there.

Comments, questions, anecdotes

A couple of people posted comments and I wanted to respond.

The first has to do with corporate greed, which I agree there is a lot of and the second has to do with IT globalization which I didn’t address at all in my last post. I believe in a more collective economic structure. Socially, especially in terms of those without health care for the low and middle classes the US is woefully behind other nations. I believe there is more than enough wealth generated in this country to move us more closely towards socialism without impacting personal wealth to a huge degree. I am more than willing to pay more of my personal earnings towards taxes if those taxes will be used to help people in need. However, without changing the entire organizing structure of our society, which would be nice, but is ultimately not possible without a revolution, this is the world we live in.

The second has to do with IT outsourcing to low cost countries which is much broader topic. I touch on it briefly.

Here are the comments:

1. Maybe instead of the workers giving money back the CEOs should take pay cuts for the better of the company? When the last time that happened at GM? Where's your blog about that? Fuck the these big companies crying poor and expected the only people actually working for a living to bail them out!

2. Ok fine maybe you can blame the unions for some jobs being more costly here than they should be. But what do you say to the IT workers, software developers, and other tech workers who don't have unions, and who in most cases have to pay for their own health coverage (and more than $5 a month in many cases), who would not be able to live off the same salaries as those doing the same job overseas? Don't forget also that China provides most health care and medical care in other countries is relatively cheap (though inferior in many cases).

First, let’s be clear, I am not really blaming the unions, their members, or organized labor. I am blaming their negotiating tactics and some of their leadership, which doesn’t seem to be that interested in protecting or creating union jobs. In this economy, in this world, they are going to be forced to be more flexible or they are going to continue to lose members at an alarming rate and worse, lose thousands of jobs. If you read that article, the president of the Teamsters more or less agrees that the unions need to change or they will continue to face steep declines in membership. I am saying that as the marketplace evolves, everyone has to evolve with it or the losses will continue to mount. In a global economy the labor force needs to re-organize and re-prioritize.

GM has 327,000 full time employees. Richard Wagoner, the CEO makes less than 5 million dollars. That’s about $15 for each employee he is responsible for. GM sold between 9 and 10 million cars in 2005. Richard Wagoner’s salary cost GM around .50 cents per car. GM’s revenues for 2005 were approximately 192.6 billion. 1% of GM’s revenue was 1.926 billion. 1% of that is 19.26 million. Wagoner’s salary is less than 25% of that. It doesn’t seem unreasonable in a capitalist society. Conversely GM’s healthcare costs were about $1500 per car or about 15 billion dollars. That is close to 8% of total revenue. A $5 co-pay on the health insurance mitigates a significant portion of this. If GM’s response to the losses is to close three plants and put 15,000 union laborers out of work, permanently, which is worse? I think adding the $5 co-pay protects a lot of jobs for a decent amount of time and a hard line labor stance costs an already dwindling union fifteen thousand members. I think I am a pretty reasonable person, but that kind of negotiating by a union seems to be doing a disservice to its membership in the short and long term.

There are evil companies out there. Wal-Mart is one of them. Wal-Mart is so anti-labor it is sickening. Here is an excerpt from a CNN labor article that demonstrates the point.

Wal-Mart Stores
The largest private-sector employer in the country with 1.3 million employees, Wal-Mart is by far the biggest target for labor. And so far it has been among the most unattainable.
Unions have won the right to hold organizing votes at only a few Wal-Mart locations. The only time that a union won a vote was in 2000 -- 10 butchers signed on for representation at a Jacksonville, Texas store. Two weeks later, Wal-Mart got rid of all its butcher operations nationwide.

That is downright evil. Fired every butcher in its employ and stopped cutting meat globally rather than allow its workers the right of collective bargaining. Of course, most everyone I know shops at Wal-Mart, because we like cheap stuff, so we are ALL part of the same hypocrisy.

Moving on to IT globalization:

The glib answer is, of course, these people should have joined a union back in the 70’s, but of course, who knew that the IT industry would be ravaged from overseas in 1977. You want someone to blame? Blame Al Gore, he invented the internet after all. The internet, long distance networking, the ability to transfer terabytes worth of data in seconds or minutes killed the US programmer’s stranglehold on the industry. Another way to put it is the commoditization of programming skills killed the US marketplace. What does that mean? Good question.

Commoditization is an exercise in basic economics. It is simple supply and demand. When the demand for programming talent can be filled anywhere in the world, including places where labor is significantly cheaper than in the US, then that is where it will be filled. Manufacturing has a chance to come back, because the logistics of moving parts back and forth across the ocean is getting more expensive, while the transmission and storage of data via phone line and satellite is shockingly cheap. The price of raw material fluctuates, but steadily rises. The amount of available mechanical and design engineering talent is shrinking which drives wages up. In the IT world, wages are being driven down by a glut in talent, prices for hardware are being driven down by cutthroat competition, so the industry has less monetary value overall. Have a CISSP (data security certification)? Are you able to code in special languages? There are still plenty of high paying jobs out there for Americans to fill. Basic html and java coders are pretty much a dime a dozen and because of this they are not as valuable as they used to be in the marketplace. It isn’t an indictment of the American economy to say that, it is the function of the American economy existing in a global marketplace.

Try looking at it this way. If you lined up 20 HTML coders and gave them an assignment would you get basically the same product back? My contention is that you would. How does an employer distinguish between the 20? They hire the cheap one because the have to meet budgetary constraints. Extrapolate that out to a large company who needs 50 java programmers. Does that company go through the human resource expense of identifying, interviewing, and hiring 50 programmers, paying them a yearly wage and benefits? Can that larger company justify that to its stockholders and investors when there are plenty of solutions available that will get them the same production at ¼ the price? (i.e. outsourcing the jobs to India or eastern Europe or wherever.) Should our fictitious large company spend 75% more for the same thing? That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. Understandably it is a tough pill to swallow.

Protectionist responses to market shifts like this only bring protectionist responses from other countries. Who is taking our programming and manufacturing jobs? China and India. Who are the two largest emerging markets for US goods and services? China and India. We need to expand our markets and we need trading partners to do that. Our economic problems can’t be solved with reactionary tariffs or protectionist legislation. We have to innovate within our own borders and come up with the “What’s next” for our economy. What’s next? I don’t know. Maybe the biomedical industry? Private space companies? We need to identify the next big thing and nurture that. Then, 20 years from now, when there is a glut in geneticists in the biomedical marketplace, someone will complain that all the gene sequencing jobs are being outsourced to India.

Marketplaces evolve, and so do economies. Companies have to evolve with them in order to continue to exist. So do labor forces. There are no easy answers or short term solutions.

Thanks for the comments!

No 1 of Consequence

And if he is that friend to labor!!

People cry about manufacturing job loss in this country without having an understanding of why we lose manufacturing jobs. “Everything is going to China!” Well, this is partially true, but it isn’t totally true and it doesn’t have to be this way. Low Cost Country Sourcing is an industry phrase that describes a US company finding suppliers overseas that can make parts at a greatly reduced price. Labor costs are a significant reason for this. The UAW is threatening to go on strike, crippling production lines for GM and Delphi. Obviously if you follow the business world at all you know GM and Delphi have significant profitability problems. The main reason for this is labor and health care costs for labor. I was at a trade show a few weeks ago. I met an automotive professional. He was well versed on the industry ins and outs and we talked about what was going on. He told me that if the UAW would agree to a $5 co-pay on their health insurance vs. no co-pay which they have currently, GM and Delphi would have both been profitable companies last year. That is an incredible indictment of the US labor situation and unions in general. Inflexibility is corporate killer. It is also a job killer.

When unions first came into existence they were incredibly important. Laborers were routinely exploited by company management and conditions for workers were brutal, dangerous, and more than that, unfair. Management had all the power and they wielded it like a club. The American Federation of Labor, the Teamsters, and the UAW changed all that. They fought tirelessly for the workers and they won legal and moral battles that swung the pendulum back and created an equitable relationship between worker and management. Now, in 2006, it has gone too far. Labor has far too much power and the benefits they have won for their constituency are more costly than most companies can afford. If the UAW would give just a little bit, they could probably avoid significant job losses, but they won’t. They have a “slippery slope” philosophy, as do most unions, which means they believe that any concession will lead them back to the dark ages. It is understandable, but shortsighted. Only through true partnership between worker and ownership will anything ever be resolved and both sides need to see that. If they don’t, more and more manufacturing will go overseas and the American economy will continue to suffer because of it.

Onward to far less important things:

SNL did another rap. Just in case you have been living under a rock 2 SNL guys did a rap earlier this season called Lazy Sunday. It was really funny and as one of my friends said, “the funniest thing to come out of SNL in the last 15 years.” Of course, because the show totally lacks creativity and focus they have ripped themselves off, this time wrangling Natalie Portman into the rapping game. Watching Padme Skywalker rap about getting drunk and having sex is pretty funny, but she really looks like a 12 year old boy these days, so it goes from funny to disturbing pretty quickly. It is just a sad state of affairs watching one of the most innovative TV shows of all time languish in unimaginative irrelevance.

Shocking upset in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Hey do you care about soccer? Me either, but this is pretty funny. I don’t think it is fair for only one team in the league to have wings.


No 1 of Consequence

Business ethics, we don't need no stinking business ethics!

Sometimes you have to wonder why people behave the way they behave. I used to work for a company I like to call the Titanic. They have been a sinking ship for a long time and each month they lose more and more money. I was laid off 18 months ago and recently a number of people I respect were laid off. I am very interested in bringing at least one of them here to join the winning team.

The company I work for now sort of competes on the same field as my current company, but comparing the two is like saying the Columbia High School baseball team competes with the New York Yankees. Playing the same game? I guess, but in two totally different worlds.

The one person I really want to bring down here is a great guy. He has multiple skills on multiple levels and can really boost an area that I think my company needs boosting. He is young and energetic and fits right in with our office culture. Unfortunately, the Titanic forced him to sign a non-compete agreement. Let me repeat that for those not paying attention. They forced him to sign a non-compete and then fired him. That offends me on such a level that I can’t begin to describe it.

It came out that he was coming down here to meet with my company in GA somehow and the Captain and First Mate of the Titanic called this poor guy and threatened him with legal action. This is a young guy and he is scared out of his mind right now. He doesn’t want to come here. He is afraid they can keep him from working and have him sent back to India because of his currently uncertain visa status. They a bunch of punks for flexing muscle on some poor kid they decided they had no use for. They will pay.

No 1 of Consequence

Property Ownership, The Constitution, and you!

I am never going to be a person that cries for the rich. Even if I someday strike gold in my life and become significantly wealthy I would be a person that would take my tax burden in stride and be thankful for my good fortune. However, for a local government to essentially steal land under eminent domain provisions is just wrong. The sad thing is, if you read that article, the courts upheld the government’s right to basically seize anything it damn well pleases from any private citizen. Government seizing private property from citizens and government breaking its own laws to “protect the people,” I am pretty sure there is a word for that. Maybe we can pass some laws that make all US based Muslims register with the government, or intern them in camps to concentrate them into one place. Woo Hoo!

This is the owner’s manual for the United States of America. It was written by some of the greatest minds of all time. It has been the framework for freedom and justice for 200+ years. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to spend some time with it. It is eye opening and informative and can provide you with understanding of how very very bad our governments, state, local, and federal have been behaving lately.

This story is just the tip of the iceberg when beginning to understand what happened to this country. I won't say special interest groups are to be blamed for everything... well, maybe I will.

This story makes you wonder if anyone in our government has any sense of fiscal responsibility whatsoever.

The government is really irritating me today!

No1ofConsequence

OJ murdered basketball for me.

I used to be a huge basketball fan. I have mentioned this before. The Knicks were my poison, although I had a healthy respect for Dan Majerle and the Phoenix Suns. I was such a big fan, in 1994, when the Knicks made the NBA finals I was living overseas in Israel. The games were on live at about 3 AM and I rented a hotel room, at great expense, in order to watch game 5. Game 5, as many of you may or may not recall was going on while the infamous OJ Simpson low speed chase took place. I speak Hebrew, or more to the point, I spoke Hebrew in 1994. However, the Hebrew commentary on the games was far too rapid for me to understand. Every few minutes there would be a shift away from the game to a white Ford Bronco. I was screaming at the television pretty regularly. I had no idea what the hell was going on as the whole OJ saga had not made the Israeli papers and the internet was in its infancy. Eventually the game went to split screen with the Knicks on one side and the Bronco on the other. I was livid, perhaps the angriest I have ever been. I dropped a hundred dollars on a hotel and room service to enjoy the game and my enjoyment was being ruined by a Ford Bronco. Eventually I flip over to CNN International and hear the whole story. This only made me more enraged. I wanted to, needed to see my Knicks. It’s was the finals, everything we had been struggling for my whole fandom and I was stuck watching half a screen in an expensive hotel in Jerusalem because of OJ fcuking Simpson. After that game and that series my love for the hoops began to wane. I was still a very big fan, but not to that degree. Now, my interest is only passing at best and I find the Nets a way more interesting team than the Knicks. However, was I still as rabid a fan of the New York Knicks, their current state of affairs would nauseate me beyond belief. I would want Isaiah Thomas’ head on a pike in my front yard and I would own this t-shirt and wear it with blazing pride.

Onward to other items of mild interest:

How cool is Café Press by the way? You can make your own design or logo, send it to them, and all of a sudden you have an entire inventory of merchandise. Amazing. The on demand world is an interesting shift in the way business is done. It is incredibly innovative.

John Stewart too smart for the celebrity Oscar crowd. I think so, so did this guy. His humor is too smart and subtle for most of America as well. The Daily Show is one of the best things on TV.

Thank goodness HBO is back to its original programming. I can’t take it when they are between original series. I am ambivalent about the Sopranos being back. It may have run its course and turned into a caricature of itself. Last season really started to seem that way, although it was so damned long ago I can hardly remember. I am looking forward to Big Love. It looks like a really interesting premise and I usually enjoy the HBO original series. I can’t wait for The Wire, Deadwood, and Rome to come back.


At the bottom of this story there is a link to a gallery of business leaders and their “secrets” to success. I found it very interesting and informative.

No1ofConsequence

Some cool stuff

These kids are awesome. Talk about overcoming some adversity to basically demonstrate to the world that our dependence on foreign oil is at least somewhat, a total fabrication. This car they designed and built in shop class runs on soy diesel. Soy diesel is made out of soybeans. Soybeans, if you are unaware, grow back after you pick them. Renewable fuel. Also, for regular diesel engines to run on soy diesel fuel requires exactly NO retrofitting or adjustments of any kind. Basically the same stuff.

In my opinion Bret Boone is a bat flipping juice-head who was incredibly overrated. He is finally hanging it up. I am not sad to see him go. He was a lot of what was wrong with baseball for awhile.

OK, Madonna’s pseudo Judaism is just irritating me at this point.

The New York Jets are a freaking joke at this point. Cut Pennington, ok, sign Jon Kitna, shoot me now. Another 400 bucks for Direct TV and the NFL Sunday Ticket down the drain next year.

Apparently I am not the only one who thinks the new Georgia Aquarium rocks. Check out my pictures of it here!!

One of the things I like to do that I have not been doing lately is playing my Playstation 2. Every year, around this time I get the new MLB game from EA Sports and play an entire season with the New York Yankees. This year, EA lost their license for MLB and will not be producing a game. This leaves me with two choices. MLB The Show and MLB 2K6. I am not sure which one is becoming part of the video game library, but the decision is being made this weekend.

No 1 of Consequence

Public Relations for the USA

Read this. We need to understand something here people. The good old US of A needs some international branding that doesn’t come from us blowing things up. We need some press that shows a bunch of Americans kissing babies and building homes and helping people around the globe. We need these things in order to open markets to sell our goods. I work in the manufacturing world and it has been booming lately. We need to expand our markets. Countries that are buying things from each other have a lot less interest in shooting at each other than countries that are not involved in commerce. Yes, there are inherent problems with this but eventually it all boils down to this. Free trade stops wars. It doesn’t stop them immediately or even soon, but long term free trade can solve a lot of problems for our global village. Free trade doesn’t mean exploitive trade. Free trade also needs to be fair trade.

We have a group of selfless, giving, honorable people that are out there right now. They are on the ground in some of the worst and most downtrodden places on Earth giving everything they can to bring up the standard of living for those in need. We should hire a global PR agency to make sure that stories about the Americans who give and sacrifice make their way into every newspaper on the globe. It might help some of the people that don’t really like us, like us a little bit more. It night not, but in my opinion it is worth a try. We need some better press. We have some great humanitarian stories to tell, we should be telling them.

In other news:

Apparently your college stats professor knows more about situational decision making in the NFL than most coaches do.

Youth sports in the US can be ridiculous. Youth sports in France, off the charts insane.

The religious right continues its attack on women. How any woman could vote for a republican, ever, is beyond my understanding.

No 1 of Consequence

You can't be Sirius!

Last week was my first full week with Sirius Satellite Radio. It paid for itself entertainment wise in the 5-6 days I actually used it. I rarely spend time in my car during on the weekend so this is essentially a Monday to Friday investment and even then, it is only during commuting times. There is a way to hook it up in the house, but I have not even tried. In the interest of full disclosure it was No Dad of Consequence that put it in the car for me, saving me some money. I am not what one would call a handy guy.

I grew up listening to Howard Stern. From the time I was 13 years old, so 21 years or so, intermittently when I lived overseas, Howard has been a part of my morning. My school morning, my commute, whatever, Howard and the gang have made me laugh or grossed me out. There have been times he has gone too far and I have turned him off, but for the most part, I am a big fan. Traffic on Route 80 and Howard Stern’s coverage helped define 9/11 for me.

When I moved down south to Atlanta one big problem was there was nothing to listen to on the radio. It was all mediocre, with no edge. I took to listening to Bill O’Reilly on my lunch, partly because I like to know what the enemy is up to and partly because I knew I would hear actual opinion and not watered down waffling which is basically all that is available around here. Unless you listen to the Christian stations, of course.

So, the last 7 days or so of commuting with Sirius has been an absolute joy. Traffic? Yeah, but who cares, traffic means longer time in the car listening to the radio. The ride to work, obviously I am locked in as to what I am going to listen to, but the ride home is really fun as well. I spend some time listening to Shade 45 which is the Eminem programmed rap station. I listen to 104 which is the uncensored comedy channel. If you are a Bill Hicks fan this is very cool, because they play his stuff all the time. I never heard him until recently, but apparently he was like the comedian’s comedian. I have even spent some time listening to the Howard 100 News team which is a group of very professional reporters reporting on the goings on of not only Howard but his band of idiots as well. I can only take this in small doses though as the overwhelming arrogance of it all is a little disturbing.

In other news:

Could Bode Miller be a bigger buffoon? I know that the rest of the world hates the USA, but do we need to play in to every stereotype they have about us? Bode Miller was the best skier in the world in 2005. In less than 60 days he transformed himself into a global joke. Dan Patrick made a great point on ESPN Radio today. He said the Winter Olympics were like a bad reality TV show and frankly American Idol was more entertaining.




Very cool new discovery in Egypt

Spring Training ahhhh… is upon us.

What would you do with 256 million dollars?

Hillary striking out at the devil, I mean Karl Rove. Rove said today that Hillary would win the democratic nomination but lose the general election.

This post is incredibly dirty

This is REALLY IMPORTANT. That Georgia has the 48th ranked schools in the nation, not as important. Official State Dirt, phew, thank G-d they cleared that up. Here is a mildly interesting explanation of why Georgia’s dirt is red.

No 1 of Consequence

Pro choice? Not in South Dakota! Government oppression and what the Wi-Fi?

The government has no right to infringe on the medical choices of women under any circumstances. The government should not be in the medical business unless it is going to start providing health care to the close to ten million American children that suffer needlessly without it. What will it take before the population reacts to this up-swell in legislated pseudo morality?

There was a recent comment on this blog that essentially said, ‘Who cares about the wiretapping?” There are two arguments that go along with that. One is that we need to trade some of our freedoms in order to be more secure as a society. The other is it is not that big a deal and there are more important things to worry about. To the first I give you Benjamin Franklin, who said, “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” To the other I say it is a daisy chain to fascism. If we don’t halt the slide away from personal freedom now, we may never be able to again. How far are we from a suspension of due process in order to fight terror? Oh wait, we are already there, the government is listening to us without first getting approval from the courts and showing probable cause. How is this not important? At the very least, why aren’t we asking a special prosecutor to investigate whether laws were broken by the White House and The President? We spent something like 30 million dollars to find out the Clintons made a bad land deal and former President Clinton likes to get head. Isn’t it worth a little cash to find out if President Bush and Vice President Cheney broke the law and wiped their asses with our freedom? I think so, considering we are spending 80 billion a month or more in Iraq.

This is really disturbing. Can we please see some data before we start freaking people out? The real problem is, what if this Canadian college is right? Every time we walk into Panera, Starbucks, and our freaking houses we could be exposing ourselves to harmful radio waves. “Hey Honey, I am going to work.” “Don’t forget your radiation suit dear.” At least I don’t carry a cell phone.

In other news, a bad movie turned real life crime in England.

No 1 of Consequence

Wanted: Fox to guard the henhouse

This country has to do business. It is that simple. We need markets for our goods and services and we need goods and services for our markets. We are involved in international commerce. I am a pluralist by nature, meaning I have the ability to accept more than one idea. However, accepting the idea that it is OK to sell off major ports or any ports for that matter to a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates is lunacy. The UAE is one of the more stable Arab countries and they have been fairly friendly to the US in the past. However, if you read the article linked above and many others you can find on the subject you see that the UAE harbored 9/11 terrorists and is a major transit hub for illicit nuclear materials. I am not in favor of the government involving itself in commerce for the most part, but I think you have to draw the line somewhere and for me, this is it. Ocean freight is the easiest way to smuggle anything on this planet. I really am not interested in giving the keys to the front, side, back and basement doors of the country to people that may or may not be in bed with the people who want to kill us all.

No 1 of Consequence

Back from a brief respite

OK, I have returned. I apologize for the layoff. Those of you who know me know why, those of you who don’t know me, suffice it to say, life is beautiful.

A lot has happened in the last two weeks but the first thing I want to tell you is this, it doesn’t freaking matter that Dick Cheney shot someone. This is what our press chooses to get excited about? I mean we have no bid contracts for billions of dollar being gifted to his cronies at Halliburton and everyone shrugs their shoulders. We have an administration spying on its citizenry and the press says, oh well, instead of screaming for a special prosecutor. But oh beware, the VP is on a hunting trip accidentally shoots his buddy and reports it to the local press. This ladies and gentleman is a hanging offense. Forget the fact that this administration shits on democracy and due process, forget the fact that there is significant evidence of election tampering in Florida and Ohio, forget all of those things, but don’t forget about the hunting accident. No siree bob! The hunting accident is really REALLY important. Members of the national press are the biggest bunch of complicit bitches out there. They are failing the American people far worse than the government is right now. They have the power to bring public pressure to bear and choose not to. They are guilty by inaction.

On to much less important things. I watched the NBA slam dunk contest for the first time in about 10 years. Who cares? Usually not me, but this year No Dad of Consequence was visiting me in the ATL for the first time and we were shooting the shit and having some laughs. We popped on the dunk contest to see if there was anything worth caring about. I used to be a HUGE NBA fan, but the game seems to have passed me by. After watching little Nate Robinson dunk by leaping completely over Spud Webb and watching Andre Iguodala dunk after taking an off the backside of the backboard alley oop pass from Allan Iverson I may have an inkling of interest in the NBA again. They were two of the coolest dunks I have ever witnessed.

The Jets are on the verge of cutting Chad Pennington. Thank goodness. The Jets suck. They are going to suck, they may always suck and I love them anyway. Pennington is a guy who captured the imagination of Jets fans because he was smart, a little brash and seemed to be very accurate in his passing. The other players seemed to love him and this made us hope, for a moment that we found our guy, our QB, the one that would lead us to the promised land. Then, of course, because they are the Jets, we found out his shoulder was made of angel hair pasta and was held together by congealed Alfredo sauce. Neither of these things are conducive to long term health. Chad, we loved you, but you were the same as all the rest, not there when we really needed you.

I am a huge Olympics fan. No Wife of Consequence makes fun of me for being the only man in America that remotely gives a crap about the winter Olympics. She is correct, the winter games are not nearly as compelling as the summer, of course it might be because we really aren’t that good at winter sports that I am not nearly as intrigued. Also, I think since everyone is so cold and covered up all the time the whole thing is kind of off putting. How can you root for people when you can’t see their faces? NBC tries to make up for this of course by giving you every athlete’s back story, but come on.

Pitchers and Catchers baby! Baseball will soon be here to whisk us into the summer.

No 1 of Consequence

Genius in the halls

1-27-06

Today I ran into greatness. It wasn't the first time, but it might have been the most significant.

I met Derek Jeter once, but I never had any illusions about being a professional athlete. Sports were taken away from me at such a young age I never really had a chance to explore whatever potential I posessed. I classify him as great because his high level of achievement cool professional demeanor are always present, even when the lights are the brightest.

I met the man that pioneered my industry once. Despite his Ivy league education and undeniable intellect he was missing something. He lacked gravitas and that is probably why despite being brilliant he never gained the household name status that many giants of industry do. I classify him as great because he invented an industry. My job and thousands, if not tens of thousands of others exist because of this man and that is something to honor, even if his prosperity is not what it might have been.

The man I met today is a genius. He graduated from one of the top technical colleges in this nation when he was 21. He is a patent holder, an economic theorist, and a brilliant engineering mind. He is from a third world country and has written extensively about how to alleviate much of their socio-economic strife by changing the entire economic makeup of their markets. He is working in a consulting role with my company and I was able to spend a little time talking with him this afternoon. It turns out a design idea I am working on is something he worked on as part of his senior thesis. How we approached the problem was very different but in the short time we spoke I realized I was playing on his field, in a sort of unrefined, very raw way.

The conversation left me energized and a little depressed at the same time. One one hand I was charged up that I held my own with someone who is probably in the top 2% of all minds on planet Earth. On the other it left me to wonder what my achievements could have been had I pursued math or science in my youth. I don't know why, but my younger years were spent with a healthy fear of these particular topics and it wasn't until I was an adult that I began to dabble with things like math and engineering. It wasn't until very recently I realized I have some aptitude with them.

I have always tried to do things that bordered on the impossible. Mostly I have failed while trying to do them. My mind extrapolates things out onto a global stage, seeing through to a successfull conclusion. In practice my experiences with entrepreneurship have left me with nothing but some interesting stories and an endless sea of debt. I am not a wealthy internet mogul. I am not a powerful retail magnate. I am not a best-selling author. I am not running a large insurance consultancy. I am not in the pacific northwest living out the fantasy of every rotissirie sports participant in the world. My biggest failing may be I have no ability whatsoever to think small and don't mind being laughed at, even when it is friends and family laughing at me. Sometimes I think that if I scale back my ideas, theories and expectations I might be better off, somehow more content. After meeting with the man I met with today I know I don't want to. My life may end without the kind of success I strive for, but I never want to be known as someone who stayed on the sidelines and played it safe.

There is this great Teddy Roosevelt quote I love from a speech he gave in Paris just after the turn of the century. He said this:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat ."

- Theodore Roosevelt

My conversation today reaffirmed that I want to be known as a man who is in the game, playing on the highest levels with the biggest minds. Maybe I deserve to be there, maybe I don't, but one way or another, I am going to find out.

No 1 of Consequence

Love Monkey & Musical Meanderings

I watched the show Love Monkey on CBS last night for the second time. I really enjoyed it. It stars Tom Cavanagh who made a name for himself in the TV series Ed as a music executive that leaves a major record label and takes a job at a much smaller independent label. One of the defining scenes of the premier episode demonstrates Tom’s deep love of music to a young musician by knowing Sid Vicious’ real name. No Wife of Consequence recently went to the Bon Jovi concert here in Atlanta and had a really fantastic time. She loves music and feels a connection to it on a lot of different levels.

I am a pretty bright guy, but music is my kryptonite. That is kind of a running joke with my friends and family. Many times, if they have a question, I have the answer. However, if the question has something to do with music, they get to make fun of my lack of musical knowledge. Somewhere along the line I just missed the spiritual connection a lot of people have with music. This is not to say I don't appreciate it. I could listen to James Taylor or Sting sing every day for the rest of my life and I have an affinity for what No Wife calls, the simpering bitches. (Jewel, Lisa Loeb, etc.) I really love the Beastie Boys and some of my middle school years were spent break-dancing in the hallways at South Orange Middle School. I love listening to Billy Joel, but I can't tell you who played keyboard on album X and don't know that guitarist whoever from The Cars played a guest gig on the Ramones reunion album in 1978. It just doesn't go that deep for me.

I used to be friends with a guy from Chicago. He and I would go back and forth for hours about sports. I was a huge basketball fan at the time and it was always the Knicks vs Bulls discussion, because it was 93-94 when we were buds. He was passionate and learned about sports, but one day, I sat for an hour and listened to him talk about Grateful Dead shows he had seen. It was poetic. He was a spectator at the first concert the Dead gave after Jerry Garcia's heart attack and gave a riveting recounting of Jerry's appearance on the stage, markedly thinner than the last time anyone had seen him. He talked about how the crowd was silent for a moment, taking in the new Jerry, and how they roared for him.

I should have gone to more concerts. I think I missed out on something.

_____________

Just a brief side note, it has been brought to my attention that the blog has pretty much sucked since I started writing again. This is an observation I agree with for the most part. So I guess I ask my loyal few to be patient with me. I don’t have as much time to write as I used to and my voice is still rusty. I doubt my leisure time will increase but hopefully my rusty writing skills will sharpen up.

No 1 of Consequence

Links and Opinions

The silly:

This story is the kind of thing that really adds insult to injury. Not only does your girl two time you, but your pet mocks you about it afterwards. Absolutely brutal.


The mildly disturbing:

With all of the absolute nonsense going on in the world right now, I think this story describes one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. Privately contracting debt collectors to hound dead beat taxpayers is an awful idea. Let’s put aside privacy concerns, which the article details, and talk about the fact that these people would work on commission. This rubs me absolutely the wrong way although I am having trouble articulating why at the moment.

The incredibly disturbing:

Alberto Gonzales defended the NSA wiretapping program and rejected calls for a special prosecutor. Well, golly gee! What this defender of The Constitution doesn’t say is that if he calls for a special prosecutor he is going to be indicted as well. Friends, Americans, interested observers from overseas, let me let you in on something; we are a Mickey Mouse nation right now. We are basically a dictatorship. Al Gore gave a powerful speech on the 16th on the dangers of what our government is currently involved in domestically. He related it heavily to the dirty tricks that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. endured and quotes the framers of our nation heavily. It is a long speech, but it is one that is worth your time to read. It is an erudite speech, but one that is worth looking up words you may not understand. (http://www.dictionary.com/ I use it everyday.) It is a speech designed to spur people to action. Will it work? Will our Congress act and protect us from our government? Will our courts stand up and check the egregious excesses of a President that seems to have gone round the bend? Will the judiciary and the legislative use the checks and balances our forefathers had the vision to put into The Constitution when they wrote it? I hope so my loyal few. If you haven’t read Orwell’s 1984 now is the time. If you live in this country, you are living this book. Check out the full text of the speech over on No Politiblog of Consequence.

No1ofConsequence

Early Morning at the Office

I get to the office early every morning. As a member of the senior staff I have a lot of responsibility and a lot of information gets processed through my desk on a week to week basis. The company uses the Trillian IM client for instant messaging during the work day. It is very simple and extremely useful. When people log on to the system there is a gentle high pitched tone it gives off. As people come in to the office and log on, all you hear is this quiet little doorbell noise over and over again. My company is growing very rapidly. When I first got here you would only hear about 10 or 15 of those little beeps. Now you hear close to 50. With each beep I get a little more energy. Coming to work every day is very cool. I implemented a new program for my direct reports that can put a little extra money in their pockets every week. It looks like it is really starting to go well. Some incredible things are happening here and it is amazing to be here for the ride!!

No 1 of Consequence

Pictures from the new Georgia Aquarium

If you haven't read my post about the Georgia Aquarium, check it out here. I finally downloaded some of the pictures I took and am going to attempt to post them here. I tried to pick cool ones from each exhibit. Some of them are a little dark, but you should still be able to see the increible size and scope of the exhibits, enjoy. You can view all the pics at NoPhotoBlogofConsequence.

No 1 of Consequence

You'll get nothing and like it!!

Are you kidding me? Our active military, national guardsmen and reservists are some of the most patriotic, selfless people you will eve meet in this world. They sacrifice their time and in some cases, their lives, to protect us and maintain our way of life. We have a civil responsibility to compensate them for their time, not to mention the moral responsibility we have to make sure that they are treated with respect. They certainly don’t make a ton of money. This is a repugnant story. We suffer a massive national tragedy (9/11) and when our reservists and guardsmen report to close the barn door we tell them thanks, but you are responsible for your own expenses. What sort of backwards ass philosophy is this? This is an actual quote from the story, "If you don't like the arrangement, we'll make sure you get taken off this mission." The fact that this has gone on for 5 years and they still haven’t paid these guys is so indicative of an absence of reason in our government. I mean, even if you wanted to screw over soldiers, did you think it wasn’t going to get out? Did you think none of them would finally say, “Enough is enough, pay your bills, you deadbeat Pentagon lunkheads!” The fact that these guys had to get together and sue the government is just so sad. Wait until we see the class action suit from the soldiers who were sent into battle without appropriate equipment. That case should be a humdinger, pain and suffering, punitive damages, a litigator’s dream.

Respect those that sacrifice for the greater good. Maybe one day your life will be in one of their hands. Hopefully, at the time the hands will be holding the proper equipment and the person holding it will have been paid on time.

No 1 of Consequence

If you'll look to your right, you might find something interesting

Just wanted to give a quick run through of the links I have on the right side of this page.

The Sussmans in Israel. This is a great chronicle of a nice family that has decided to leave the US and move to Israel to pursue a life there. They write eloquently about the unique Israeli experience and absorbing themselves in the society. I wish they wrote more, but three little ones will keep you pretty busy.

The Bouncer is a pretty good blog. He has gotten a book deal since I started reading him and that hasn’t really altered his unique view of the world too much. He can definitely string a sentence together and is a pretty interesting guy. As with most writers he seems to be a neurotic mess. Woody Allen meets this guy. I never enjoyed bars or clubs in my life for a variety of reason. After reading this guy’s blog from almost the first post, I feel completely justified.

Paul Katcher has an awesome NYC blog. His was the first blog I ever read and was really the inspiration for this one. We share a deep love of the Yankees. I don’t always agree with him, but his blog is one of the best formatted you will see. He is a master of the net with a huge following that feeds him wacky links. He also travels a ton and is an avid photographer. He usually has some good pictures when he comes home from his many trips. He parlayed his blog into a regular writing gig on the now defunct Page 3 of ESPN.com. I am sure he will be a featured columnist somewhere soon.

People, Places, and Things That Tend to Annoy Me is an angry blog. We have just begun to see content on it regularly and I never fail to laugh hysterically after reading it. I am sure it will bring much comedy as the weeks and months go by. I highly recommend it.

As I find more links worth reading I shall update the list. I promise only this. The writing you read will be decent. I can’t stomach blogs where the writing sucks, they just end up irritating me.

No 1 of Consequence

Bye Bye Herm and Lack of posting!

The Jets traded their coach for a 4th round draft pick. A 4th round draft pick. Is losing Herman Edwards a loss? Yes, it is. However, I think it is more of a loss because there is no one worthwhile to replace him with than I do because he was some kind of fantastic coach. He was a very positive motivational guy, but when it came to in game management, especially clock management he absolutely sucked. There were so many times that the Jets would blow an opportunity because they couldn’t get a play in from the sideline. It reeks of poor decision making skills. It routinely got to the point that I would scream at the television. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I like yelling at the TV, but only when something good happens. I scream like a madman because for some reason my screaming is helping them win. When they screw up my screaming penetrates the television, heads into space by satellite, shoots down from the satellite into the camera and shoots Herm while the guy holding the parabolic microphone has his head explode from the sheer force of my wrath. Bye Bye Herm! We hardly knew ya.

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Sorry for not posting more regularly this week, but I have been away at a sales conference and have spent a couple of days catching up. I work with a great team of people at my job. All are bright, energetic and have passion for the company. It is hard not to have passion for the company I work for. We do some pretty amazing things. I gave a fantastic presentation and it scored big across the board. We work with some of the top companies in the world and really have become the darling of our space. I had a small technical problem during my presentation and later in the evening I kind of gave an impromptu lecture about what I was going to cover and how it related to our business model. I briefly talked about how my company can affect the global marketplace and how free trade is good. I am pretty passionate about it and apparently the CEO of my company overheard me. The last night of the conference he singled me out at dinner and had me give the same mini lecture. It was very cool and was a big hit. The end result of the sales conference and the emotionally draining visit from No Mom of Consequence is sheer exhaustion. I have my first link post written. It will be on the site soon.

No 1 of Consequence

Airport Rant

I haven’t had what one would call any run-ins with the police. I have gotten my share of speeding tickets and there was a huge misunderstanding once in Philadelphia, but overall the police and I don’t interact. Post 9/11 I couldn’t imagine a situation where I would ever be disrespectful to someone in law enforcement. I even thanked and wished a Happy Holiday to a Crisp County Georgia Sheriff that gave me speeding ticket in November. Last night, some power tripping Atlanta cop pissed me off so much I wanted to scream. I was picking up No Mom of Consequence from the airport. She is barely mobile and while not wheelchair bound 100% of the time cannot navigate around something like an airport without the aid of a chair. Her flight came in very late and there were about 3 other cars waiting for people outside the airport. I pull up along the curb and wait for the attendant to wheel her out from baggage claim. An Atlanta cop ran me off and made me loop around, twice. It makes no sense, none whatsoever. There was no traffic flow issue, there were about 3 cars total in a space that stretches for over a quarter mile. There was no security issue as terrorists don’t strike when traffic is at its lowest. They don’t want to kill one person; killing one person is a waste of a bomb to them. What was it, you ask? Good question. It was this jerk off being so damn bored that he couldn’t think of anything better to do than hassle people. Even after getting out of my truck and explaining very politely that my mother was handicapped and would be wheeled out in a moment, this punk remained obstinate. I was really angry about it. I still am. I would complain, you know, call the police, and lodge a civilian complaint, but I don’t want to waste more of my time on this ass clown.

My point is this. If you don’t have to be a jerk off, don’t be. You may find life more fulfilling.

No 1 of Consequence

Please don't shoot the Mormons!!

I am totally against religions that proselytize. However, as proselytizers go, the Mormons are among the most polite you will ever run across. Once when I was in college, one of my fraternity brothers, as a joke, ordered me a free copy of the Book of Mormon. These two young extremely white missionaries showed up in the blackest part of Philadelphia and offered, very politely, to educate me about their faith. I was less temperate and accepting then as I am now and while I didn’t treat them rudely I did openly laugh at them while explaining that Jews didn’t believe in Jesus rising once so the possibilities of me coming to the truth that he rose twice was pretty remote. Then one of my Irish Catholic brothers started questioning them about the Masonics, whatever they are. Anyway, my point is, these were two very nice young men who were just trying to serve their church in a peaceful way. Was it really necessary to shoot them, killing one and seriously wounding the other? Things like this make me so sad. I would surmise, if you follow this story to its conclusion, it will come out that this was some sort of gang initiation.

No 1 of Consequence