StrangeSox

Vacation packages/ airlines/ hotels are dirt cheap right now.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) As long as you are a long term investor, just remember, this is a buying opportunity. You are buying everything cheaper now than it will be later. Actually, if you are just starting in the work world around now (not you, in general), I'd suggest putting as much as possible into your 401k right now. Just lost 401(k) matching for this year At least it wasn't my job.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 01:03 PM) I feel like I might as well burn my money every time I look at my 401K balance. That's why the last time I checked it was November.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/business...=AIG&st=cse An interesting read on AIG and the monumental mess we're all in. On a personal note, we have an "all staff meeting" at 2 today about "to provide employees with important information about recent activities at [company]." Yearly raises were supposed to be effective starting today. That's never a good sign.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 12:11 PM) It was a general comment towards everyone. I still dont understand the fuss about this, UN resolutions are non-binding so this has almost no implications on anything. Sounds like the rest of the UN. Yeah, its a non-binding resolution, but it shows support for religious oppression/ speech restriction laws.

It's fun losing 3.5% every day for two weeks straight (or at least it seems like that).

QUOTE (Texsox @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 09:37 AM) Is that the book by Urrea about the group that was crossing in Arizona? It is on my list of books to read, but so far I just have not found the time. Yeah. My girlfriend took a border lit class from him at UIC and she really enjoyed it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 07:55 AM) I think that was less ignorance, and more fear and group think. It was delivered at 11PM the night before the vote. How many even read page 1? Hell, how many of them read anything they vote for?

Tex, Have you ever read "The Devil's Highway"? I think you might enjoy that book (I'm not sure enjoy is the right word to use).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 1, 2009 -> 07:05 PM) Heck the entire Senate if you're talking about the stimulus bill. And the Patriot Act.

Obama's administration is also proposing limiting charitable deductions and changing the way itemized deductions are structured. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/f...itical-friends/ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/us/politics/26budget.html This administration is moving more and more in the direction I rolled my eyes at when Republicans kept whining during the campaign. Soaking the rich in taxes is not going to fix this mess, and reducing incentives to give to charity only compounds it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 27, 2009 -> 04:04 PM) That is correct to my knowledge. The increase is on actual money, so the new rate only applies to the dollars above $250k. What Kap might be getting at though, is that above $250k (or wherever the line is), certain OTHER taxes increase, involving investments and what not. So even though your income tax will not negativize income direction, the total effect could theoretically end up that way. There's also the whole Atlas Shrugged idea where they just get pissed off at getting taxed more for producing more and say "f*** it." Rand seems somewhat popular among business owners. Of course, Rand wrote that book when the top marginal rate was 91%, not 39%.

Canada's banking system seems ok Should we really give all regulation power and funding to one quasi-governmental entity, though?

Interesting NPR story on this: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=101155466

It passed a crucial vote this week. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/st...de-6ff6e78c78d5

link's bad.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 26, 2009 -> 07:42 AM) Neither mass production, nor assembly lines, were American inventions. They just won the PR battles. In regards to MP or assemblies in general or specifically in the automobile industry? I was speaking about cars only, though I could still be wrong.

Credit for inventing the automobile is usually given to (German) Karl Benz. America invented mass-producing it via Ford's assembly lines.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 03:14 PM) Isn't that thing something else? There are a couple of good YouTube videos of these guys as well. My brain hurts trying to think about what sorts of intermediate forms make up the evolutionary sequence leading to this animal. It really seems that if there's some crazy niche advantage, nature will develop it eventually.

This fish sees through its own head because it has transparent bones. Nature is stranger than fiction once again. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/02...d-eyed_fish.php

BS in Mech. Engineering Looking to go back soon for an MSME.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 11:23 AM) Now of course, Obama's speech is the second coming of the almighty, and the response is a turd GOP response. It's always that way, isn't it? *yawn* Note: I'm not stating my opinion, I'm stating the responses to both. ...you're in the Dem thread.... By any metric, though, Jindal's response was pretty bad.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 11:06 AM) Ok, Governor Jindal, seriously, now it's personal. Bobby Jindal is opposed to me having a job, and Bobby Jindal wants you all to die in volcanic eruptions. Sounds like politicians who complain about "wasting" money to study fruit flies without having any understanding of why they're studying fruit flies.

Inappropriate Response Channel was always one of my favorites.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 24, 2009 -> 06:03 PM) Do you know what pilots make? They're still "rich" according to Barack Obama. Yeah, experienced airline captains on major carriers are in the six figures.