Presidential Debates

Remember those college drinking games? Every time I hear a Democratic candidate say, “In the last 8 years” I chug a beer. I haven’t been sober for a month.

I should have bought a keg for tonight’s debate.

Best line: “I’m not George Bush. If you want to run against George Bush, you should have done it 4 years ago.”

CBS Television

Did anyone try to watch Jeopardy tonight? Did it seem like a bad LSD flashback to you?

The first half of the program was ok, then they broke for dead airspace and came back where Alex is interviewing the contestants – deja vu all over again. Recognizing their mistake, CBS immediately went to broadcasting dead air again.  Somebody must have pointed this out to them as they grabbed a Harrah’s tape and put it on continuous play for 5 minutes.

We jumped to final Jeopardy, but only long enugh to flash up the question and then launched into a psychodelic mix of commercials, promos for the 11 O’Clock news, and dead air. Somewhere in this mix, the Clue Crew came up with their end-of-program factoid. All this was finally punctuated by a test pattern just before we cut back to the game – already well in progress: the contestants were filling out their cards for final Jeopardy.

But all that pales in comparison to what I experienced on CBS a couple of weeks ago: I was watching a football game. It’s 3rd and 4 on the 30, the ball is snapped, the quarterback fades back, ”Hello I’m Barak Obama…” (if it were only a voiceover it would have been bad enough) we cut back to the game to see yellow flags being thrown. I didn’t know Barak did play-by-play for CBS.

The Stock Market’s Wild Ride

Let’s face it. There is no group more paranoid than stock traders. Stocks, like money, have on intrinsic value. Their only value is what people think they are worth.

There is a mathematical formula that can be used to predict the value of stock or price of oil or whatever. It is: Value = A * GREED- B * FEAR. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to measure GREED and FEAR and we can compute the coeficients A and B.

What this formula tells us is that when GREED exceeds FEAR, value goes up. Such was the case when oil prices recently spiked. It had nothing to do with supply and demand and everything with trying to make a buck on speculation. However once the market was perceived to “top out”, people started selling off their shares and profit taking took over. FEAR got the upper hand, and people couldn’t dump thier oil futures fast enough before they were worthless. Oil prices went into a power dive back to their previous levels.

My prediction. People will get used to the economic crisis. All other things being equal, FEAR will become less of a factor. GREED will again become the dominating force in the market, and it will go up again. However, having been burned, GREED will me restrained by caution; at least for a while.

The Great Gas Panic of 2008

On October 31st, 1938, people turned on their radios and heard that Martians landed in New Jersey. They believed what they heard and paniced.

On September 12th, 2008, people turned on their radios and heard that the gasoline would run out that very day. They believed what they heard and paniced.

The highest gas price gouge I saw was a 70 cent increase by BP. The lowest was 20 cents by Wilco/Hess. On my way back from lunch today, stations were already lowering their prices.

I hope that the tens of thousands of fools who paid over premium price for regular gas learned their lesson. As it is the damage already has been done. These gullible wusses spoke in actions louder than words to the big oil companies, “Go ahead rasie gas prices to whatever level you want. WE WILL PAY ANY PRICE TO GET OUR GASOLINE FIX.” If there is any argument against more oil dependancey this is it.

The stampede of the stupid clarified my position on off-shore drilling. I used to support it only if accompanied with a tax on gasoline to be used for alternative fuel research. Now I still hold the same position, but the new rigs must now be capable of continuing operations in a Category 5 hurricane.

John Kavenaugh Construction (Homes)

The Hardie Plank siding is falling off my house. Two years ago, we noticed a couple of loose boards. The Kavenaugh representative came out, look at the siding from a distance and said, “When you have the house painted, have them put a couple of nails in.”

In the last two years, we went from a couple of boards to about 100. The house looks like it’s 75 years old. When I contacted John Kavenaugh, the response was that I should have been “caulking and painting the siding every year.”

I did research on Hardie Plank and just about every site says, “It’s a bear to put up, but if installed properly, it lasts forever.” I could not find any negative comments about the product.

I called the James Hardie company about their 50-year guarantee, and they sent someone out to look at it. Their response is that the warranty is null and void since the product was not installed properly. This assessment is confirmed by an independent contractor.

We contacted John Kavenaugh again sending them the Hardie company letter and their response was that the massive failures on the house was due to lack of maintenance. They even admitted (in writing) that they never primed the paint before painting. They say that they will take no further action on this request. All this was done from the comfort of their office.

In their letter they stated that they contacted the Hardie Company and the Hardie Company said that the fault was due to lack of maintenance. We contacted the Hardie Company and not only did they NOT say that, they said that John Kavenaugh’s representative told them that “We don’t understand how it got this far. We offered to fix it.” Of course neither my wife nor I have any recollection of this generous offer, and I doubt that Kavenaugh could come up with any paperwork that vaugely alludes to this alledged offer.

So it now comes to legal action. I have to pay a lawyer to get John Kavenaugh’s attention. I doubt that Mr. Kavenaugh is even aware of our compaint personally.

Northwest Airlines

I received a mailer for discount tickets if I booked travel between 2/27/08 and 5/28/08. I expected some blackout dates. There are two – I mean in the entire 3 month period there are only two days NOT blacked out.

So you can fly on May 7 and return on May 7th or you can return on May 28 or fly out and back on the 28th. Why bother? I’ll toss the next flyer into the recycle bin as soon as I get it.

Got a much better deal on Continental with straight booking

Microsoft Genuine Advantage

Gee, my copy of Office 2003 suddenly doesn’t validate any more. It did for the past couple of years. I wonder why all of a sudden Microsoft wants me to repurchase it. Of course, Microsoft owes nobody any explanations, even the DOJ. So should I complain. Why bother.

Oh well, though luck me! So my next computer will be a MAC.

Bank of America

No, not for the reason you think. They do NOT issue credit cards to illegal immigrants. You just don’t need a Social Security number to get one. They don’t care WHY you don’t have a social security number. As the saying goes, if you don’t want to know the answer, don’t ask the question.

My beef with them is that they claim that this is a benefit to the Latino community. They are just helping the poor working class man and woman out by providing a credit card with a $99 deposit up front, $500 credit limit and 24+% interest rate. They are fairly certain their customers won’t complain.

Bank of America – friend of the working man with or without a Social Security number.

How American Airlines Tried to Kill My Family (Part II)

A lot of people have 9-11 stories. Two of the four hijacked airlines were American Airlines. There must be a reason why terrorists choose American.

My brother-in-law’s appointment in the towers was pushed back from 8:30 to 11:00 AM. He planned on having lunch with his brother and wife who both worked in the towers. They planned on barely making lunch as they were at the OB doctor for a sonagram.

Family communications were accomplished via New York to North Carolina to Portland, Oregon back to New Jersey.