Monday, September 03, 2007

Another One Bites the Dust

The whole stock options bought before 9/11 on Airline Stock turns out to be a myth. Yes, Virginia, Osama and crew weren’t that clever. 

Bad Construction

Many more images here. Most are from Russia. Once again, people, this is what socialism gives you. 

Social Engineering Doesn’t Work

While Affirmative Action seemed like a good idea at the time when it came out, times have changed. And one thing is for sure, when the government tries to force certain things to happen, unintended consequences, usually bad ones, happen.

Affirmative action in colleges have actually held back blacks and cut back on the amount of black college grads. The liberals keep pushing for affirmative action, but the numbers don’t lie. Whenever you tell people they need the state to get ahead, it creates a psychology of dependence which is very unhealthy. It’s time to rethink the whole idea.

Or just can it, as its basically become a racist system. When you put one group before another, that’s what happens. But when people feel they need a crutch like this, it makes them weak. Humans need some kind of struggle at times to make them stronger. 

Sunday, September 02, 2007

The Stolen Sweets

I just discovered a new band in Portland which I highly recommend. The Stolen Sweets is a jazz band that styles itself after the 1930s sound of the Boswell Sisters. Since Auricast, the company I am working for is also an independent music label, this crossed my desk and I was hooked from the first song. Every song on this CD is great. Here’s how the describe themselves:

The Stolen Sweets perform vocal jazz arrangements inspired by New Orleans favorites, The Boswell Sisters, one of the hottest girl groups of the 1930s. Comprised of vocalists Jen Bernard, Lara Michell and Erin Sutherland and string syncopators Keith Brush, Pete Krebs, and David Langenes, The Sweets deliver a unique brand of vintage swing jazz, dishing up abundant doses of coy stage antics and sideways glances as they play.

The Boswell Sisters were verifiable radio stars in the late 20s and early 30s, keeping company with the likes of the Dorsey Brothers, Bunny Berigan, Eddie Lang, and Benny Goodman - partnerships that provided the jazz world with some of its most influential recordings.

The nature of the music was auspicious and good-humored, providing a ray of hope to listeners during a truly dispiriting economic depression.

Their music is available on iTunes. Just search for the Stolen Sweets on the store and give them a listen. I can’t recommend their stuff enough. 

S.M.

No, not Sado-Masochism, though it borders on it. I’m talking about Socialized Medicine. One of my favorite bugaboos this side of Global Warming.

So what’s the complaint this time? Just another example of how badly it works.

THE State Government is considering a proposal to lease “excess space” at the Prince of Wales Hospital to the private hospital next door.

After sidestepping the issue for weeks, South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service confirmed it was looking at a plan by the Prince of Wales Private Hospital to have private beds in the public hospital’s cardiothoracic intensive-care unit.

The proposal was for a six-month lease to be renewed monthly for up to a year.

The public cardiothoracic unit had enough space for 12 beds but only ever had four or five due to a lack of funding, the director of cardiothoracic surgery at Prince of Wales Hospital, Dr Hugh Wolfenden, said.

Patients are having to wait up to three months for urgent heart surgery at St George Hospital, which is another of the area health service’s hospitals.

Gosh, why would they need to do that if the system worked so well? Why would the private hospital need excess space? Wouldn’t everyone want to go to the State hospital?
Hmmm?

I guess the answer is no. And why do you think that is? Oh, I know. Socialized Medicine sucks.  If you want an example, go to the Emergency room of any state funded hospital in the US and see how long the wait is. When I had to go to the hospital last year, they told me it was a six hour wait just to see me, even though I told them I thought I was having heart problems. And when I mean see me, I mean, to even talk to me.

So I walked over to the private hospital across the street and they saw me right away. And America is a lot better (despite what carny clowns like Michael Moore will tell you) than most other places.

All medical systems need and overhaul, including ours. But one thing’s for sure, people like Hillary, Obama and Kucinich, who want us to ape Canada or England have it all wrong. 

10 Weirdest Illnesses

Some of these are new to me, but all of them are pretty strange.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Rock Out

This looks like a 70s video, but I can’t tell if its real or not. The 70s is self parody.

UPDATE: Some of the worst cover songs of all time. And the worst videos of all time.

Beautiful Dubai

Based on this ex-pat American’s view of the place, I’m not so interested in going there now.

It sounds like they have a hell of a lot of work to do.

And why does the middle east have to be so bass ackwards?

Life in Stills

This amazing series of photos shows a woman’s pictures from her childhood into her 50s. The pictures were found in a flea market, so the person in them has probably passed. But it’s a fascinating series of images. 

Manufacturing Dissent

You can watch the first 40 minutes of the documentary that exposes Michael Moore’s lies here. If you think you found Moore to be a jerk before, wait till you watch this! This was made by people who were fans. But what they uncovered was a man who will stab anyone in the back to get famous. Who would lie and manufacture anything to get attention. He comes off even much worse than I imagined.

Manufacturing Dissent will be on on DVD in November.