Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 01:50 PM) The numbers in this graph are not adjusted for inflation. Using the handy BLS inflation adjustor, I was able to quickly calculate that $165,000 in 2000 dollars is equivalent in purchasing power to $220,000 in today's dollars. Thus, child care costs are not out of control, they have effectively tracked inflation over the past 12 years, to within a variance of 2%. Furthermore, property taxes have, over the last 50 years, averaged about 3.5% of national income. That number has trended down slightly over time. If you can find a 2009 version it could possibly increase because of plummeting national income due to the recession, but the data does not show that there has been a substantial increase in property tax rates or collections over time, rather the data show the reverse. Some of that decrease may be due to the state of California's insane property tax system coming on line in the 1980s and screwing with the national average. How do you know it didn't take into account inflation? It doesn't say either way, so I assumed the Dept. of Ag was smart enough to take it into consideration if they were going to report such a big increase in costs. Edit: and didn't I just read that purchasing power and median income levels over the last 20 years haven't kept up with the rate of inflation? So isn't that the double whammy?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 01:53 PM) Chicago property taxes have soared the last few years consecutive. In 2009, my property taxes were 1900$. They are now 3800$. That's a massive increase. I was going to say, I don't need a graph. I can look at my property tax history.

http://boingboing.net/2011/09/22/cost-of-r...8Boing+Boing%29 Child care costs are out of control. Taxes, especially property taxes, have gotten out of control. I'm sort of in half agreement with Y2HH here. My wife and I are a good case study for why this society is so f***ed up. We both have graduate degrees (she has a masters in literature, i have a juris doctor). That's about 150k in student loan debt. That's about 1200-1300 a month simply in student loans. Add to that a mortgage and a car payment, and even though we're both making good money, raising this new child of ours will be difficult. We don't go on vacation, we don't spend "lavishly." Yes, we have smart phones and cable bills, but frankly that's a drop in the bucket compared to other major costs of life. The fact is the poor don't pay their share (taking more than they give), the rich escape paying their share, so the gov't continues to suck the teet of middle class America, which is why this economy is stagnant and people are as depressed as they are about the future.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 11, 2012 -> 12:40 PM) Since that pathetic loss to Indianapolis, LeBron is averaging 33.3ppg, 11.1rpg, 5.1apg, 1.1 3pg, 1.2bpg, 1.4spg over his last 10. He's at 30.8, 9.6, 5.1, 1.2, 0.8, 1.9 for the playoffs - 18 games. What a disappointment. What a choker. Last year? Ok, dog the guy. This year? You just can't. People recognize how great he is. But he was great last year too until it mattered most. If he does that this year again it's yet another stain on the record books for him. No one can argue that. The Spurs were amazing this year. They were the best team for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Guess who will never remember that? Everyone, because it doesn't matter. And look, obviously we're talking about Lebron in a relative sense to the rest of the league. The problem is he was a self-anointed "King" before stepping foot on an NBA court. That's rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning. The Decision was less about his "overratedness" (in the sense that he was the Second Coming) and more about the selfish circus he put on for a 2-3 week period, followed by the laughable "not 6, 7, 8" speech.

If Lebron doesn't win this year, what's the excuse? It was always the lack of talent. Well that's not going to fly anymore.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jun 11, 2012 -> 10:02 AM) I think LBJ is gonna show up in these Finals, I don't expect him to disapear like like he did a year ago...still OKC is deeper and they win in 7. I've got OKC in 6. Unlike Boston, OKC won't get tired.

That Mad Men episode did not feel like a season finale.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 03:16 PM) Not really a "pet" at all, but someone posted a picture of an "alligator snapper turtle" they found in our lake. I actually found a dead one last summer floating near our shoreline. These things looks scary, and can be up to 300+ pounds. They eat meat, and can easily take off fingers and toes. Needless to say, I'm pretty nervous to go to our lake house now. I've always been weary of water creatures, but now I'm freaked out actually seeing one in our lake. Sounds like someone needs to call the Turtle Man YE YE YE YE YE....LIVE ACTION!

16 is funny to me because it's NOT comfortable, yet you still stay in bed because you don't want to get up.

This had me cracking up: The 21 Absolute Worst Things In The World http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-absolut...gs-in-the-world

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 09:05 AM) I believe something clicked in LeBron's melon last night - an understanding of what is expected of him. And if that finally happened, may God have mercy on anyone in his path the next 7 years. We'll see. He's had some of these games before and then followed them up with clunkers (see, Chicago and Boston series last year, followed by the Finals). I liked Jon Barry's comment that it's nice to see Lebron going to work instead of hanging out and having fun with his friends. No stupid hand shakes, smiles, laughter, etc. Just business.

QUOTE (G&T @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 02:01 PM) I agree here. I haven't had occasion to do a lot of hiring, but the number of people who either have bad formatting or put experience that is so totally irrelevant to the project that it is off-putting is amazing. I had someone (who I eventually hired) for a legal research project put life guarding down as experience. Since they were all students, I figured I'd let it slide. Meanwhile, I had a phone interview today at a place I thought would be perfect for me. During the interview it became clear that the listed responsibilities I was most excited about aren't really the primary responsibilities...and might not be part of the job at all. I was interested in compliance and policy work, but it turned out to be representation, and case load supervision. So the next time I get concerned about over selling my experience on my resume, I am going to remember that they probably have over sold the job responsibilities. What kind law do you practice G&T?

I see. Democracy is dead!

I meant incumbent outspending a challenger given the built-in advantages.

I wonder if that's normal for an incumbent gubernatorial election.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 6, 2012 -> 10:26 PM) You mean the play where Westbrook fell? Yep, a pretty common play

Great win by okc unfortunate refs changed the tone at the beginning of the fourth. Game seven would have been fun.

Horses*** and one call on parker

God I hate Joey Crawford

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 6, 2012 -> 07:28 AM) The new Assassin's Creed looks absolutely incredible. And the fact that it's set in a time period that I can't recall there ever being any sort of decent game before just adds to it Apparently you never played Empire: Total War!

He won by ~150k votes. I doubt there's 150k college students in the state, let alone 150k students that would (1) vote and (2) vote for the democrat. I also enjoy how every time a democrat loses the reaction is "the system is broken! democracy has failed!" Or, people don't think like you as much as you would like to believe, so you lost.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 08:14 PM) And FRIENDS. My wife and I have started to watch some Friends reruns. I gotta say, the show still makes me laugh. The writing is really, really good compared to a lot of today's crap.

Licking of the paws could also be due to anxiety or stress. Is he/she alone a lot?

I hate when people call them "smart phones." They're cell phones with modern features.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:00 AM) Demon Hunters are the strongest class right now. Sounds like you need to unlock your spells so you can use more defensive cooldowns...rather than the way they, by default, force you into certain spell choices for your abilities bar. How do you unlock spells without proceeding through the story though and leveling up? Run around killing mobs? I need to get online and find the "best" mix of talents/skills to be using.