Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Republicans are stepping up their Ugliness

Let's hope they fall on their swords in the end - November 2012

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Here are three types of bosses that should be fired, and sooner rather than later

The Smartest Guy in the Room
This is the guy who has all the answers and can never, ever be wrong. He doesn't just breathe his own fumes or drink his own Kool-Aid, he makes and mass-markets it, as well. He wants everyone to agree with his grandiose vision of how things should be and makes sure of that by surrounding himself with yes-men and women and ruthlessly beating down dissenting views. The reason these people fail is they're blinded by the power of their own vision 


It's All About Me
Some people never grow up but get stuck in one phase or another of human development. They look just like normal adults, but inside, they're petulant, narcissistic children with oversized egos. Since their overriding goal is to get attention, to be adulated and worshipped by all, they're often charismatic and charming, almost chameleon-like in the way they appeal to all sorts of constituents. And their positions and strategies can flip and flop from one day to the next based on one data point, meeting, or conversation. The reason these people fail - not one idea is their own - they represent a Census of ne'er-do-wells


The Has-Been
We may as well call him by his name, Peter, because this person is more or less defined by the Peter Principle. Peter was once effective and successful; at least it appeared that way. But the situation had a narrow set of boundaries and variables and now, things have changed and Peter is out of his depth, beyond his level of competency........he's not just an old relic, but a heavy anchor around the company's neck.


Give me a Maverick, who thinks quickly (everyone can feel it) Who listens and adjusts and gives credit to better ideas (than his) Has as many enemies as friends... is feared in the industry - (Remember Steve Jobs?) The Goal is a constant - the methods of getting there are flexible.

-Steve Tobak | CBS MoneyWatch (adjusted and plagiarized)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Vacation Time

This is not a good time to trade. There are generally many low volume days which keeps the markets - not Markets with volume pressure which keeps the prices of securities stable for trading - Technical Analysis.

I'm taking this time off to reflect on the joys in my life. It has been a very good year and 1/2 since I stopped traveling and became a resident of Boise, Idaho. Even though I have complaints they are "no complaints"... small little "why can't I have everything so perfect - I can take it for granted" type complaints.

It's a holiday season - out of control - as they all are - consumerism in its ugliest form. Politics make it even uglier... it's a sick world... and yes, I'm a happy guy. The Human Condition of our population is at best - Leary, weary and dreary. It seams that our society has run out of Oxygen. "goodness" is gone.  fairness is gone. Tomorrow, I'll open my best bottle of wine, smoke some weed,  and make it a "Bob Dylan day" probably 4 to 8 hours of non-stop bob dylan songs...  - and then I'll move on.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Isaac Asimov - More than 30 years ago - He called it - about Today


One of the preeminent Science fiction writers - who called things well before they appeared on the scene.

He coined the word: Robotics

Saturday, November 12, 2011

"Dandy" (Dandelion Wine) - John Michael Artist



Halloween - lily

Pinot Noir - came of age in Oregon 1983

Oregon Pinot Noir
About twenty years ago Oregon winemakers took the bold and outrageous step of inviting famous wine experts and journalists to blind taste their 1983 Pinot Noirs along with 1983 Grand Cru Burgundies costing four and five times as much. The Oregon wines were mistaken for and rated higher than the Burgundies in almost every case. The experts were shocked by the results, and in that moment Oregon Pinot Noirs achieved their status as the world class wines which they hold today.



Thursday, November 10, 2011

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Mother Nature is unsettled - to say the least - On this Full Moon Eve

The large asteroid passing by has come within the Moon's Orbit of the Earth.

Epic 100 MPH Storm is headed into Alaska - Initial reports from towns along Alaska's northwest coast early Wednesday indicated that a massive Bering Sea storm had tossed rocks onto roads, eroded beaches and blown off roofs — and that's before water surges expected to peak Wednesday night This is just a beginning of "The Moon's Rage" for the next few days

First Nail in the Coffin - Google to Blackberry

Google Dropping Support for BlackBerry Gmail App

"Users with the app installed can continue to use it, Google said, but it won’t be supported, nor will it be available for continued download"

Full Moon - began its pull Sunday here Tomorrow 11/10, will finish and push through Saturday.

Expect Change - Outcome of a Football Game, Markets Change direction - and for my friends who are Engineers and Scientists... Well the Moon has its own Physics... a draw on water bodies, the human  being one.

"Up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water"


The Moon does not recognize how big or small the body of water might be... afterall, It's The Moon!


Don't fool with Mother Nature.... Take Heed! 

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Photo Art at Dandelion Wine - Thursday 11/8 - Tasting

You got to ask yourself - Self?  is that Real, Memorex or Photoshop? Maybe "Shrink to Fit" Maybe Sprayed On - 

Monday, November 7, 2011

This Should be read to every Student in all our school systems every 3 months, every year

Zanesville Gray, By Bill Cope - Boise Weekly
Twenty-four-hundred isn't a number we modern humans should have any trouble grasping? Park yourself outside a Walmart for a couple of hours, and I wouldn't be surprised if you see 2,400 people, or more, go through the door on their way to the shelves of Chinese electronics and cheap clothing.
Or take the intersection of Eagle Road and Fairview Avenue. At certain times of the day, there must be 2,400 people going through that light every 10 minutes. And if your teenager goes to school in one of the area's bigger high schools, he or she could have 2,400 schoolmates, easy.
So, no, 2,400 isn't a figure too hard to wrap our noggins around. One hundred cases of beer­--that's less than two years' worth of libation for some of us. If you live in, say, Caldwell or Emmett or Mountain Home and commute to Boise, 2,400 miles is a mere 40 days of coming and going. A 2,400-square-foot house? Probably about average anymore. And if the weather cooperates, 2,400 acres of wildlife habitat can burn to the ground by lunchtime every day.
I bring up the number 2,400 at this time because just recently, since last week, I learned that in the world--the whole world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from the International Date Line all the way around to the line again--there are approximately 2,400 Bengal tigers left. And by "left," I mean left alive.
I wouldn't have learned this particular bit of (what I'm sure many of you will consider) trivia were it not for the incident two weeks ago in Zanesville, Ohio, where 18 Bengal tigers, along with 31 other distinct entities, were shot to death by policemen when a verminous crapball of a human being released his menagerie of exotic creatures from their cages, knowing it would almost certainly mean the end of them.
So this week, when it comes to Bengal tigers, the new number is 2,382 (or so) after subtracting the 18 that belonged to the aforementioned verminous crapball, who for some unimaginable reason was allowed to buy and own Bengal tigers in the first place.
Coincidentally, within days of the Zanesville massacre, according to population watchers at the United Nations, the head count of human beings on Earth reached 7 billion. Here, let me write that out for you: 7,000,000,000. It looks more impressive that way, I think. The word "billion" has gotten to be a bit overused and cheap, if you ask me. But those nine zeroes all lined up in a row, now that gets your attention, doesn't it?
What I'm going to say next I have no doubt will upset, probably infuriate, many a reader. So I might as well just spit it out.
Those tigers should not have been shot to death. There was more intrinsic value to them living than there is in the life of any human (or humans) that may (or may not) have been killed by them. Like it or not, numbers speak their own kind of truth, and before last week, there were almost 2.92 million human beings on the planet for every Bengal tiger. (With the loss of the Zanesville 18, it is now probably closer to 3 million humans per tiger. Think of the entire population of Idaho, multiplied by two, stacked against one Bengal tiger.)
To make matters worse, their respective numbers are going in opposite directions. The number of humans is going up. Up, up and always up. The Earth is expected to hit 8 billion humans by 2025. The number of tigers--as a matter of fact, all wildlife--is going down. Down and down and ever down. It's not inconceivable that by the year 2025, there won't be a tiger left in the wild, if indeed there is any "wild" left. That makes, on this writer's ledger, a tiger's life more valuable than a human's life.
Do I really believe what I just said? Could I be that heartless? Could I let your child, even my child, be mauled and slashed rather than destroy whatever beast is doing the mauling and slashing--even if the mauling and slashing had not actually occurred but was a worst-case scenario that authorities were trying to avoid?
The question is not only for citizens of Zanesville. We here in Idaho have had a year of dreaded animal attacks, one or two of which were actualattacks rather than the kind that worried officials feared might have happened if the pumas or bears had been allowed to live long enough to actually attack anyone.
And of course, the entire issue is predicated on the notion that the life of a human being is in some way more precious than the life of a puma, grizzly or Bengal tiger. I'm having a harder time every day trying to understand why that is--why a human might be more valuable in the cosmos than a wolf or a bird--or an earwig, for that matter. People will argue that it's because we have a soul while wolves and birds don't, but is there really so much evidence that humans have some inner spirit that animals lack--other than a more acute awareness of our mortality and the self-aggrandizement that awareness brings? Is this what our "soul" might boil down to ... kill it before it kills me.
That can't be. Just because we don't want to die doesn't make us unique. If indeed there is such a thing as a uniquely human quality--a soul--that entitles us to any special consideration, it is to be measured most obviously in how deeply we value those with whom we share the planet and the degree of effort we put into keeping those living treasures alive. Without that value, without that effort, we are no more than animals, and the fewer of us, the better.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Andy Rooney - Rest in Peace

Andy Rooney Andy Rooney's Final Appearance on 60 Minutes

I've watched, and loved, Andy for many, many years