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Back Tomorrow…

On August 26, 2010, in Personal, by Tim

We’re off to Yellowstone today for a much needed quick little break. If not for the fact that a little more life gets sucked out of us each and every day as part of the process of trying to get the bank to respond to our short sale offer (it looks like we’ll easily make it to the four month mark in another couple weeks), some items would have been scheduled to appear here later today, but the energy required to arrange that just couldn’t be mustered…

This is the Madison River at Madison Junction where the bison (no, not buffalo) like to hang out, sometimes mixing it up with the elk  – give it a click for a ginormous image.

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Back to Prison for Better Health Care

On August 4, 2010, in Economy, Our Culture, by Tim

Here’s a pretty remarkable story that was spotted over at Patrick.net the other day. In what is clearly a sign of the times for the U.S. economy, the health care system, and government spending, one ex-con is now about to be incarcerated again in order to get more convenient health care. The details are in this report at Signs on San Diego.

Robber says he did it to go back to prison

Peter Barry Lawrence pointed a BB gun at a bank teller and was surprised at the amount of bravado that surged through him. He threatened to shoot anyone who followed him out.

“I felt like Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson,” he said. “There was a sudden rush of adrenaline.”

Lawrence, 71, made his getaway in his wheelchair, with $2,000 in cash on his lap. He was headed back to his rented room at the nearby San Diego Downtown Lodge, but he took a meandering route down Seventh Avenue until the police caught up with him five minutes later.

And just like that, the rush was over. But that was all part of the plan.

The way Lawrence tells it, Monday’s robbery of a Chase Bank was just a desperate ploy to get back behind bars, where he believes he will receive better medical care than he has been able to obtain on his own.

On the outside, Lawrence subsisted on about $1,000 from the government in social security and other benefits while dealing with colon cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and a number of other ailments. This led him to the conclusion that life in prison was better than as a free man where it became too difficult to get around town to access free health care from Medicare and Medi-Cal … surely there’s a lesson in here about something.

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Apparently, There’s a Soccer Match Today…

On July 11, 2010, in Our Culture, by Tim

Don’t let that still shot below fool you – this is actually a pretty interesting (and funny) commentary about today’s World Cup Final as it relate to role of the U.S. in the world.

There’s more over at Davis’s blog – no cure for that – where you’ll find a transcript of the above along with some other recent work, all of which is quite entertaining.

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The New Apple Friend Bar

On July 7, 2010, in WTF?, by Tim

From The Onion, America’s Finest News Source, comes this take on the lives of those people you see waiting in lines every few months or so when Apple launches a new product.

It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that some of the conversations in this clip were real.

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Some July 4th Trivia

On July 4, 2010, in Uncategorized, by Tim

HBO rebroadcast the John Adams miniseries the other day and you might be able to find it on again today or via your cable company’s On Demand service. It’s well worth watching and, as I recall, the reading of the Declaration of Independence is in the first episode.  Here’s some related July 4th trivia from Holiday Corners – I still find that last one hard to believe.

• In May, 1776, after nearly a year of trying to work our their differences with England, the colonies sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Finally, in June, admitting that their efforts were hopeless, a committee was formed to compose the formal Declaration of Independence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman. On June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson presented the first draft of the declaration to Congress.
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• Independence Day was first celebrated in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776.

• The Liberty Bell sounded from the tower of Independence Hall on July 8, 1776, summoning citizens to gather for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.
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• On June 24, 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Roger C. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washington, D.C., to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote.

• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on Independence Day, July 4, 1826.

One of the bad things about living at such a high latitude is that the fireworks shows don’t start until about 10:30 PM. What do they do in Alaska? Start the show at 3 AM on July 5th?

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Chavez Cracks down on Currency Traders

On July 2, 2010, in Currencies, WTF?, by Tim

Raul Maestres of executive placement firm Korn/Ferry in Venezuela commented the other day about the plight of FOREX traders now that President Hugo Chavez is taking over brokerage firms left and right in yet another attempt to keep the currency from falling. Maestres noted, “It’s not the best moment to find work”. The latest details of how financial markets in Venezuela are faring these days are in this story at Bloomberg.

The brokerage business is in danger of becoming obsolete in this socialist nation, said Noris Aguirre, president of clearing firm Caja Venezolana de Valores. Since November, Venezuela’s securities regulator has taken control of about 35 percent of the 112 trading firms and closed four after they were blamed for the 27 percent drop in the bolivar through May 18. That may leave up to 2,500 without jobs even as Chavez says his biggest economic priority is preserving employment.

Chavez, a 55-year-old former paratrooper who’s been in power for 11 years, says the country doesn’t need such companies and accuses them of exploiting loopholes to become rich. The government banned investment instruments known as mutuos in February — which are akin to repurchase agreements, or repos — and prohibited brokers from trading in a new currency market established last month. Securities firms use repos to borrow money to finance positions in bonds and other securities.

In a speech on May 23 to supporters, Chavez said his country should eliminate brokerages.

“We’re going to respond strongly against these thieves that are trying to wash their hands now,” Chavez said. “There’s no economic reason for the weakening of the bolivar. It’s a huge fraud against the republic.”

And you thought it was tough to find a job  on Wall Street…

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