Ahhhhh, that feels better.

I cleaned up all of the election stuff.

All new visuals and links designed to make you feel good*, no matter what your political persuasion.

*Assuming you like beer and women. If you're a wine-drinking gay male, then you may be disappointed. So, to appease those types, please click the links below:

LINK FOR GAY MALES WHO DRINK WINE.

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OMG! KARL, YOU CLICKED THOSE LINKS! YOU'RE GAY!

Corporal Punishment

Taiwanese culture tends to be more accepting of corporal punishment for children than American culture. Bad test results can result in actual lashing in addition to a tongue lashing.

My wife is a big fan of such tactics, but has been trying to not use them so much with our daughter.

So, today, when our daughter was being "bu guai" and not taking her nap, she did something really innovative.

She threatened my daughter's stuffed animal with violence.

"If you don't go to sleep, I am going to beat Minnie Mouse!"

"No, Mom! Don't beat Minnie Mouse!"

Thanks Disney.

Yahoo Headlines

U.S. doctors regularly prescribe placebo pills, survey finds

So, maybe the homeopathic meds my wife is taking aren't so bad.

And, Karl, this is definitely a way to save on costs...sugar pills are much cheaper than actual medicine.

Gmail

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Canada Praisin'

Because I am often accused of Canada bashing, I have to praise our glorious northern neighbors once in a while, too. Just to provide some sort of fig leaf.

This is from an interesting Washington Post editorial.

Government support for housing was well-intentioned: Homeownership is a worthy goal. But when government favors a particular economic activity, however validly, it must seek countervailing control to ensure the sustainable use of public resources. This is why banks must meet capital requirements in return for federal deposit insurance. Congress did not apply this sound principle to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; they were allowed to engage in profitable but increasingly risky activities with an implicit government guarantee. The result was that taxpayers had to assume more than $5 trillion of their obligations. Contrast U.S. experience with that of Canada, where there is no mortgage interest deduction and the law requires insurance on any mortgage over 80 percent of a home's purchase price. Delinquency rates at Canada's seven largest banks are near historic lows.

That's not faint praise coming from the Washington Post where the editors still remember those dastardly Canadians hordes that burned down our White House in 1814. Though apparently we burned down their parliament building first. Both actions would probably get 90% approval ratings nowadays.

High Speed Rail

California has a ballot measure for a high speed rail system linking up SF, Sacramento, LA and San Diego. The price tag is $40 billion. Pretty expensive, which is maybe why there are not many private companies doing HSR on their own.

Its interesting to note that Taiwan's HSR cost US$ 15 billion for about 200 miles of track. Taiwan had massive cost overruns and did not run nearly as many passengers as they initially claimed, so the critics of the CA plan are probably correct that it will actually cost more and not be as busy as envisioned, but despite that, the Taiwan system is supposedly profitable.

The logo for the California HSR looked sort of familiar...so either Obama will support the HSR network, or sue them for copyright violation.







Of course, not just California is interested in high speed rail...Texas is too. Their proposed network is called the T-Bone. That is not a joke.

Why can't we drive our cars onto the high speed rail and then drive them off when we arrive ala the French "motorail" concept?

Fiscal Stimulus

Unleashing my inner state planner, if I were in charge of a fiscal stimulus plan now, I would not suggest a tax cut (which probably would not work so well in these times as it would be more likely to be saved or used against debt than spent.) I would suggest doing the following:

1. Build Nuclear Power Plants: Creates temporary construction demand, and longer-term demand for engineers and technicians that cannot be outsourced to India. Reduces dependence on foreign oil to help national security. No greenhouse gas emissions. Additional power actually needed in many states and potential for increase in demand as electric cars like the Volt start coming out in 2010.

2. Fix the energy grid in general. Consider building that transmission line from the midwest to east and west coasts that Boone Pickens wants.

3. Repair the highways. At least in California, these rather suck now.

4. Build a High speed rail network, complete with plush seating and fully-stocked bars in the coaches. Because every fiscal stimulus needs a rail-based boondoggle.

5. Build a space elevator. I don't care if we don't have the technology. I want a god-damn space elevator. We should be able to ride it up to a revolving zero-G restaurant, laughing at the Chinese Taikonauts in their little shuttle doing their little space walks we see on the way.

UPDATE:

California has a ballot measure for a high speed rail system linking up SF, Sacramento, LA and San Diego. The price tag is $40 billion. Pretty expensive, which is maybe why there are not many private companies doing HSR on their own.

Its interesting to note that Taiwan's HSR cost US$ 15 billion for about 200 miles of track. Taiwan had massive cost overruns and did not run nearly as many passengers as they initially claimed, so the critics of the CA plan are probably correct that it will actually cost more and not be as busy as envisioned, but despite that, the Taiwan system is supposedly profitable.

The logo for the California HSR looked sort of familiar...so either Obama will support the HSR network, or sue them for copyright violation.







Also, a small factoid from the wikipedia article on Taiwan's HSR says they are still employing about 30+ foreign drivers. Sacre Bleu! There must be some bar in Taipei that sells a lot of wine and crepes right before the trains run.

Seriously Weird

I went up to the google search button on my browser's tool bar and typed in "Nite Ranger."

I just did it for no reason, subconsciously.

Google's first hit was for a "Sister Christian" video on Youtube, and it sort of shocked me out of my stupor.

"Huh, why did I google that?"

It was like some tiny rebellious part of my brain slipped in a command to my fingers.

It must be the part of my brain that is stuck in the 80's and thinks Night Ranger is Nite Ranger.

Maybe I have ADD in which case maybe a prescription of Ritalin might help, or this is something that happens to other people, too.

Notes from this Week End

A. My Daughter Turned 4 Years Old.

She got some sweet birthday presents, including a cool Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She is really enjoying this toy, and has confirmed her status as a fangirl, by getting all upset when I tried to put some of her older, larger figurines into the clubhouse. Apparently, the Donald Duck and Goofy figures were "not the right size!" Well, EXCUSE me.

She also scored a Ladybug game, a electronic keyboard, and a stuffed animal.

B. Late night movie on HBO

I saw parts of an action movie about a violent encounter between American Indians and Viking warriors. It was kind of cool, though possibly too cliche in that the natives were the usual hippies with bows and arrows. The hero is a Viking orphan who has grown up among the natives and fights against the evil Viking invaders. Still, not a bad premise.

Until the hero tricks the heavily armored Vikings into walking out onto some ice.

Hero: "They come from a land of ice and snow, but they do not know our Spring."

Yeah, right, Vikings have no idea how dangerous thin ice is, and would never think of sending one guy across at a time or even just walking around it.

Nameless Viking: "He is trying to slow us down! We are not cowards!"

It's a little known fact that just being stupid enough to fall through the ice also gets you into Valhalla. That scene basically ruined the movie for me.

C. Diet Tip

If you don't drink beer you lose more weight than from just the diet. I have lost five kilos already after 3 weeks without any beer.

Asshole

Some asshole brought a monkey doll with an Obama sticker on it to a McCain rally.

He of course is getting the attention he wants while harming the candidate he supposedly supports.

Oh well. If Obama wins, I hope this fucker is heartbroken enough to stop participating in politics.

Spam Catch of the Day

I have get spam from Eurotrash who thinks American government uses the word Formular.

Better luck phishing next time, Ivan, Hans or Pedro.

p.s. I never did get my stimulus check.

Yahoo News Headlines

1. Headline we have not seen in a long time...

Learn where to keep cash once taking it out of stocks

Next up..."Under the mattress or in a hole in the ground actually safer and more attractive than in any financial institution worldwide."

2. The presidential candidates are so busy merging their positions that the headline writers can now economize them into single headlines.

Obama, McCain health care plans would reduce uninsured

I wonder if either of them is now thinking to themselves "do I really want to be president?"

If you are feeling overwhelmed...

Don't worry! It easier than ever to start over.

First, drop the house payment and let the bank deal with the mortgage crisis.

www.youwalkaway.com

Next, drive you and your family over to Nebraska, where you can abandon your children without any legal repercussions.

Now, all you have left is the wife to get rid of and you are basically a college student again.

p.s. Don't worry about the Roth IRA or 401K accounts. Those will liquidate themselves within a few days time.