riddler

A fun article about Thanksgiving for the critically-minded: http://www.oyate.org/resources/shortthanks.html Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Make no mistake - the Dems are doing their share of fear mongering. Calling the current economic crisis the next Great Depression, for example. You can use rhetoric like that to win an election, but it doesn't do any good for the economy. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ever drink water from a tap in any large town or city? Most have water purification systems. How many people do you think it's been through before you drank it? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Federally guaranteed loans will still be easier to get, if you qualify. They've always come with a built-in "bailout" (government will pay the bank if you don't). They are considered a good credit risk by banks, so they will be some of the least impacted. Private student loans follow the standard credit markets. So you're credit rating will be checked, as well as any cosigners, same as always. The standards for lending are going up, meaning if your credit score is in the 500s, then you may not qualify, but if they are in the 600s, then you probably won't have a problem, assuming you aren't heavy into debt already. Do you have co-signers on your private loans? Their leverage and credit scores will be factored in. No, I'm not a financial adviser, or monetary expert, so take the advice with a grain of salt. But I had student loans, too, so I've been there. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just a guess - your parents were Christians, too? Probably, your grandparents were also Christians? I find it an incredible coincidence that out of all the hundreds or thousands of available religions that just about everyone "chooses" the exact same religion that their parents had. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yes - that is all true. Say the average really is $50,000 - sure, some people would make more, but most bank tellers don't make that much. Then overhead is another $25K (another estimate, but not an unreasonable one). Then retraining is another $25K (I'll get to that below). Then the true cost of each employee is $100K per year. So the cost of reinstating employees is $5.2 billion. Still the size of the numbers is overwhelming. $45 billion bailout, minus $5 billion to keep everyone employed leaves $40 billion to let the execs pay some debt, keep their corporate jets, have an executive retreat in the Bahamas every month. Hell, require CitiBank to hire another 50,000 people that have been laid off at GM, and it's only $10 billion, leaving $35 billion for them to play with. Or even better, guarantee all of the original employees keep their jobs for the next three years, instead of one. The bigger problem, as you already stated, is what do you do with people that work in buildings that you are closing? That's where the $25K in retraining goes to. Joe the Bank Teller becomes Joe the backup network admin in the IT dept, follows the network admin around for a year and fills in when there's a resource shortage. Have you ever met a network admin that didn't want help? Then, after a year, you've got a lot of people in the economy with new skills. All paid for with your tax dollars (which has already been given to the banks, anyway). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

At least I'm not hearing that he's a Muslim. Progress! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The most important line from the Bloomber article that you cited: We've gotten by on credit for the last 50 years. And now we are 100% dependent on it as a country. It might work for 50 years, but eventually, corporations will figure out how to leverage themselves to the point that the entire system collapses. Homeownership is the foundation of credit, and almost no one can afford a house without it. Fine. But do you really need a new car on 5-years of credit? Can you live without the bathroom accessories that you just put on your credit card? The banks will start thawing the credit markets quick, since the government is going to strong-arm them (a little, remember, they're friends). Combined with the drop in interest rates, smart people will refinance their house in, oh, about February. You will probably be able to pick up a 30-year fixed at 4% (or less). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Like the WaMu CEO (Alan H. Fishman) that was in place for three weeks before they went under? That guy is a hero, IMO, and deserved at least $50 of the $18 million golden parachute that he got. What about the previous CEO that was paid $14 million for one year's work? They need to go all the way back to when the banks started gambling your money with risky investments (think Graham-Leach-Bliley). Sure, the crooked politicians made it legal, but the people that actually did it should be fined first, fired second, and a few of them probably need to be put in prison. But oh yeah, they're friends with Uncle Sam, so they get off without even a slap of the wrist. I wonder how the FBI "investigation" is going? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

People on both sides are throwing eggs? Maybe there's just a bunch of people throwing eggs at cars in California. It may not have much to do with Prop 8. At least people aren't shooting each other over it, I guess. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, good luck to a US bank that is trying to do business overseas. Maybe they want all their US customers to mail their deposits to South America? I'm not saying it's simple - I'm saying look at the numbers. If the government gives $45 billion to a company, they can very easily tell them to make sure that $2.6 billion goes to keeping 53,000 people employed - that's well worth 5% of the cost of the bailout. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

of how our current government cares about rich corporations, and not about their own people. Adding up the numbers - Citibank will receive $45 billion dollars from the government, just announced today, another $20 billion, on top of the $25 billion they were already promised. Citibank, so far this year, has announced 53,000 layoffs, about 1/7 of their workforce. 53,000, times an estimated salary (this part, I'm just making up), let's say $50,000 per year = 2.65 billion. Now, if the government just gave Citibank $45 billion, and it only costs $2.65 billion to keep those people employed for one year, the government should force them, as part of their bailout, to give all those people their jobs back! No, that ain't socialism, it's the best way to ensure that the taxpayers are employed, the government gets money back, and the velocity of money increases again. And yet, that doesn't appear to be one of the terms of the bailout. The government wants to ensure that the stockholders get minimal dividends, and that the mortgagees are helped out (it doesn't say how), but what about the 53,000 people that are on the street this holiday season? The people of the US government don't trust the government, and they wonder why. Still looking out for your rich friends, Uncle Sam? Edit for spelling. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I thought it was kinda sexist of Jesus to have a council of 12 men. I can understand them all being approximately the same race - people didn't travel much in those days, so there wasn't as much diversity. For such a progressive guy, you would think he would have one or two women in his following (DaVinci code notwithstanding). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I went to a Bjork show at Red Rocks and had a good time. Unlike most concerts I go to, the kids and the people were very nice to each other, people were hugging friends and respectful of strangers. I'm sure some of the love was drug-related but it's amazing to see a crowd of people anymore that isn't trying to kill each other. It's also the last time I've been at Red Rocks. They were darn-near doing a body-cavity search on everyone going in. Bjork didn't want cameras, everyone had to throw out their water - it was worse than the security line at the airport. She's a odd one for sure, but I like her music. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

More like 150-200 years. I'm beginning with the assumption that the US will not be around forever. Maybe you feel it will. Personally, I think that the US will cease to exist as a country before an atheist is elected POTUS. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What's wrong with that?? I've been a Dollarin all my life. I was raised a Dollarin. My parents before me were Dollarins - converted from Baptists. I'm tired of being persecuted for my beliefs. I'm a Branch-Benjaminist Dollarin - the truest (and most expensive) form of Dollarin. Don't pay attention to those Lincolnian Dollarians - that's just a Cult. In fact, I have a shrine of $100 bills in a cloister that I kneel to and say "ohbenjimakemerich" five times a day. We're not allowed fire (as it burns the sacred bills), but we can use blacklights for illumination (which makes the security strips glow with a righteous aura). The Department of the Treasury's Financial Code of Ethics tells me every thing I need to go to Heaven (and stay out of jail). Best of all, my God is tangible, reproducible and enlightening (hand someone a $100 and watch their face light up). In fact, I've got a few of my God in my wallet right now. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've done a fair amount of traveling, and I can tell you from experience that's pretty much true everywhere. People in every country are taught to believe that there's in the greatest country. I remember talking to a guy in Indonesia who was telling me how his was the greatest country on Earth. 50 yards directly behind him was a mountain of trash that had been accumulating there for at least 15 years, and there was an entire family that had built a shanty out of the garbage and lived there - dogs and all. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Meh - don't like Hillary. Never did. I liked Bill, thought he was a good President. I think anti-Hillary sentiment among the GOP is far greater than Obama Derangement Syndrome. It makes me wonder if part of the rationale here is that Hillary will be a bigger target for the GOP, and will deflect some of their attacks away from Obama. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Don't know about that. I'd say that the right has done such a masterful job of painting all Muslims as terrorists, that it would be at least 100 years before a Muslim might stand a chance. Even my mom thought that Obama was a Muslim, and therefore a terrorist I know one thing. An atheist, will never, ever be President of the U.S. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

When does the soul leave a body? When we start skydiving Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have yet to see a health insurance application that asks about extreme sports. I've had no problem getting health insurance as a skydiver or scuba diver. Now, life insurance - that's a different story. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just spoke to a friend of mine in California who is admittedly a conservative and voted yes on Prop 8. What's interesting is that he went to church, and protesters were standing outside the church throwing eggs at the cars. They squirted some blood-colored goo on his wife, and while everyone was in church, they broke a few windshields in the parking lot. He said it wasn't reported on the news there. I support gay marriage. But there's no excuse for assaulting people because you think they may have voted against you. In fact, anyone engaging in violence over this issue is just setting back how long it will take to eventually be overturned. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ya know, as a vegetarian, I'm not all that into the resurrect-old-species-so-we-can-eat-them mentality. The fossilized plants that I see in flagstone around here just don't look that tasty Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

***Do you really think it would "encourage" people to be careless around a screaming saw blade out to rip through anything in its path including your fingers? *** I agree with you - the other thing is that $60 for replacement parts, plus the time it takes to get the saw operational again. That'll discourage people from being careless, without risking arms, hands and fingers. This thing is cool. I wonder if you were wearing gloves, would it cut through the gloves, then stop at your finger? Or would your finger get trashed? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I would go so far as to say that the dinosaurs were not killed by nature. An asteroid did that. Many of the dinosaurs weren't unviable as species - just unlucky. So resurrecting dinosaurs wouldn't be a crime against nature. But it probably would make insurance premiums go up. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD