Yahoo Headline

Multiracial people become fastest-growing US group

This ties into some experiences I had with my daughter. When registering for kindergarten in the United States, I made sure I checked the Asian ethnicity. From the story it says you can now check more than one box, but I think I would have chosen only the Asian option, because I think the US will end up with entitlement quotas based on "how ethnic you are", much as in bad old days of quadroons and octoroons, and such. See this quote from the story:

Liebler noted a potential dilemma where a white student who is one-eighth Cherokee applies to college and seeks an admissions preference based on race and disadvantaged status. Should the college give the multiracial student the boost, if one-eighth of his family suffered a past racial harm but seven-eighths of his family were the perpetrators?

Notice the complete bullshit assumption that the 7/8's white must be guilty of causing racial harm. What if they were Shakers or abolitionists or Russian peasants who only moved to America in 1900?

Or the most torturous impossibility, Russian peasants who had been enslaved by the Turks/Tartars/Mongolians who share the same Asiatic genes as the Cherokees, and in fact, had harmed the Russian peasants before the white man ever made it to the New World...

I guess you'd have to prove that with documentation.

How about the whole Hispanic ethnicity, which essentially is some mix of white and American Indian. Should they be forced to break out the fractions, too? "Hmmmm, according to the spectrograph, looks like you're 70% conquistador and only 30% Indig." Or could they figure out by your genes that you were mainly Aztec, who had conquered many other local peoples, and thus would be ineligibile since getting smacked down by the Spanish was really just Karma?

Okay, back to reality now. In the Yahoo story's hypotherical case, the student would be an octoroon of ethnic goodness and probably would lose out to a full Asian (though that may change, too.) 

Maybe I should have claimed Pacific-Islander, after all Taiwan is an island in the Pacific.

Note: I am not sure if am for or against affirmative action. I just think its gets silly when we get down to fractions of ethnicities. 

Final crazy thought: So, the kid who is 1/8 Noble Savage and 7/8 White Oppressor....what if he exists today only because some scumbag drunken Irish soldier raped a peaceful basket-weaving Cherokee woman several generations back? I mean, sure, objectively that is a horrible thing, but subjectivley, for that person, they have to be happy it happened...otherwise they wouldn't exist.

p.s. 1/8 Cherokee means someone made it with a Cherokee like 80-100 years ago, which would be 1909-1929, so in this instance we are not even dealing with actual perpetrators of the Trail of Tears.

Paraphrasing Confucius

Women and children are not only the hardest animals to raise, but the most pain in the ass to move.

Outer Space Alien Intelligence Officer

Imagine you are an intelligence analyst for the Bzrokigians, a alien species who has been spying on the planet Earth via remote electronic surveillance. Below is some of the analysis you will provide your leaders based on the collected photo:

"In Earth society the most powerful people are old people with double or triple chins and shortish head fur. They wear monochrome clothing based of the color black. Eyeglasses are only worn by the most powerful individuals, and may be worn in either the "aggressive" position covering and shielding the soft defenseless eye orbs, perhaps symbolizing distrust or wariness, or upon the head fur, showing openess and friendship, or simply brazen strength. The small glasses of distilled fruit juice seem to be ceremonial, though we are uncertain why the female apeling's glass appears less full than that of the male apeling. The Xenopsychology team has extrapolated that the baring of teeth to the counterparty is accompanies by deceitful action in approximately 80% of incidents involving high level individuals."

Currency Markets

I still do some foreign currency investments, which basically means I keep some CDs in RMB waiting for some more appreciation to happen. I also bought VE, a European stock that pays a nice dividend, when the Euro was weakish.

Anyways, this article interested me. Basically the gist is that China will try to trade with Brazil using their own currencies and not the US dollar. Nothing hard about that, except that for some reason these sorts of exchange rates tend to simply follow the dollar.

Let me explain via the NT$. Theoretically, I thought there should be a separate market for US$/NT$ exchanges and another  one for €/NT$ exchanges, but they instead simply follow US$/€ relationships. So, if its NT$ 44/€, its probably because the US$ is weak vs. the Euro and not because there is some strong demand for Euros in Taiwan due to trade, investment, etc.

I suspect the RMB/Real will have a similar relationship where the exchange rate is simply a proxy of RMB/USD and Real/USD - so does it really hurt the US dollar as a reserve currency when they trade like this? 

I don't know - I could even be wrong about my experience with the TWD.

But I would suggest that unless you really need USD, to not hold too many of them.

PS: Or am I dumb and the market is so huge and strong that its simply an equation of US$ =NT$ = €, so that any changes are so swiftly computed that it looks like the NT$ is unimportant?

GM to import cars from China

I am so glad we gave GM billions to rescue them once, and probably will give them billions more in the coming years to keep them and the UAW going.

Because we had to save a vital part of American industry and the high-paying blue collar jobs they provide. 

Of course, by "American industry" I mean import warehousing and by "high-paying blue collar jobs" I mean paying union wages for guys to watch the Chinese cars roll out of said warehouses while collecting paychecks paid for by taxpayers. Those workers would help give the car a final wipe-down with a damp cloth, but since they're classified as left-rear bumper welders, the union work rules won't let them do that. So Sorry. I'll just finish the sports page and then go home to watch American Idol.

UPDATE:

Maybe you wonder why GM management is doing this...my theories

1. Because they are stupid and think that the Democratic run government will let them do this AND still take government money.

2. Because they can't be forced to drive in hybird sedans to China - so their private jets will still be useful.

3. Because they enjoy banquets and socializing in China. Don't laugh - you'd be suprised how some companies decide where to purchase based on non-economic factors.

 

Taiwan news makes Fark

Man busts wife, mate in porn DVDPrinSubmit comment:Submit comment

May 13, 2009 01:40pm

A TAIWAN carpenter bought a porn DVD only to find secretly taped motel footage of his wife having sex with his friend, whom the husband later stabbed.

The husband, identified only by his surname Lee, discovered the illicit sex on the DVD in 2002.

The sexual acts apparently had been recorded using a hidden camera and were on a pornographic DVD, titled Affairs with Others' Wives, which the husband bought from a vendor to watch at home. 

Lee, who lives in Taoyuan County near Taipei, divorced his wife after viewing the DVD. His friend, a butcher, fled their village. 

In August 2008, Lee spotted the butcher in Chungli City, returned with a knife and stabbed his former friend in the thigh. 

KEY LESSONS

1. When having sex in a motel, make sure to wear your Sunday best and smile a lot. It will increase your chances of stardom.

2. Make sure the woman knows to fake a few orgasms and comment appreciatively on your size and skills.

3. Be wary of poetic justice. If you are a butcher, expect to be stabbed with a knife. If you are a teach, expect to smothered in chalk dust. Be prepared.

This reminds of the story, possibly apochryphal, of the foreigner in Changhua who was caught sleeping with the police chief's wife. That pretty much means your ARC is going to be revoked, dude.

Weird Thought

Do gay guys ever call each other motherfuckers?

Audio Books

AJ set me up with some books to try after we defeated the evil geniuses at Apple.

So far I am enjoying Six Days of War.

I am wondering if I will enjoy science fiction as much as non-fiction.

And what happens if I get a steamy sex scene? To paraphrase Kostanza, "will it move?"

This is looking like a good solution to the fact that China does not allow Itunes podcasts to be downloaded.

Thanks again Ajay.

Update:

Price:

$46.24

Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers: Kindle Edition (Kindle Book) $7.19 Paperback (Reprint) $17.95 $12.21 99 used & new from $3.99 Audio Download (Audible.com) $34.95 $18.35 Audio CD (Unabridged) $34.95 $25.51 23 used & new from $19.50

Looks like the Kindle would be a good investment if you end up liking books that cost a fortune in print.

Guantanamo Bay

Globalization means individuals captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been housed on a US Navy base on the communist-run Carribean island of Cuba.  Some of these guys were actually Chinese separatist Uighurs who have been sent to Albania, while a few turned out to be American or Canadian citizens. Many Yemeni detainees are hoped to be sent to Saudi Arabia for safekeeping. European countries plan to take some of these detainees as well, such as one Ethiopian who was previously released and went to Britain.  The one Australian detained in Guantanamo was sent back home a few years ago.

Conclusions:

1. South America is not pulling its fair share.

2. The premise of cheesy sci-fi movies where the world's most hardened criminals (as well as a few innocents)  are kept in a super-prison in outer space is not that outlandish.

2.a. Though we are missing the Russian billionaire who plans to televise death matches of aforesaid prisoners over satellite TV/the internet.

3. No wonder it will take forever to shut down Gitmo. The immigration lawyers alone will have a billable hours feast.

There are currently 241 people held at the detention center at the U.S. military base in Cuba. Holder said some will be released, some will be put on trial, and some "are going to be detained on a fairly extended basis."

Where are they going to be detained? Antarctica or somewhere in South America would be geographically pleasing. Or full circle back to Bagram?

If you want to gamble...

Here are two funds you can consider...

FAS = Bull on financials, i.e. buy this if you think bank share prices will go up.

FAZ= Bear on financials, i.e. buy this if you think bank share prices will fall.

Supposedly, bank share prices will fall on Friday or Monday, ending this bear market rally.

I don't know anything about this stuff really.

Someone's Sweet Gig is over.

In a preview, administration officials named a few examples Thursday which mostly represented easy-to-pluck targets, like ending the Education Department's attache in Paris, at a savings of $632,000 a year.

Seriously, what am I doing trying to earn a living when there are obviously better options.

Interesting Spam

If you have any problem with high amount of Anti-dumping tax on CHINESE PRODUCTS IMPORT, please call or email to get in touch with us for a solution. We always help our clients cut cost!

 

1.       L.D.P. Shipment (branded garments, shoes etc.)

2.       Transit Trade Shipment

 

We are an international freight forwarder service provider, which was found in Hong Kong since 1996. Throughout these years, we established 3 brands in Mainland China, (Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai) and 1 in Singapore and 1 in Jarkata. Up to now we have 60 agencies around the world.

I don't believe that transit trade can help you get around anti-dumping duties, at least, legally it can't. I hope this got spammed to US customs somehow.

Steven Seagal

When he left his first wife Miyako Fujitani to go back to America (reportedly, Steven's last words to her were, "You're crazy; I want a divorce"),^[18][19] he married former Days of our Lives actress Adrienne La Russa, despite his divorce to Fujitani not yet being finalized. During his marriage to La Russa he met actress/model Kelly LeBrock, with whom he began a relationship and who eventually became pregnant with his child. When news of this emerged, Seagal's marriage to La Russa was annulled and he then married LeBrock on September 5, 1987. In 1994, LeBrock filed divorce papers citing "irreconcilable differences". During this time it emerged that Seagal was having an affair with Arissa Wolf, who was hired to be a nanny to Seagal and Lebrock's children.^[20]

Seagal has six children from three relationships in which he has been involved. With Fujitani, he had a son, model and actor Kentaro Seagal (b. October 3, 1975), and a daughter, writer and actress, Ayako Fujitani(b. December 5, 1979). His three children with LeBrock are daughters Annaliza (b. 1987) and Arissa (b. 1993), and son Dominic (b. 1990). Seagal and Arissa Wolf have one daughter, Savannah (b. 1996).

The dude had a kid with Kelly Brock and named her after the nanny he was doing. How else would you explain that name Arissa being in common? I bet Kelly Brock enjoys calling her daughter by the same name as the woman who stole her husband. OK, maybe they liked the nanny's name before he was bonking the nanny. Still....

Tidbit

So, the Onion had a funny video about the Treasury requiring all Americans to turn in their dollar bills by Friday at noon.

But in checking out the Glass Steagel act in Wikipedia, they mentioned this FDR action...

Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates."

The Order required most people to deliver on or before May 1, 1933 all but a small amount gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve. Under the Trading With the Enemy Actof October 6, 1917, as amended on March 9, 1933, violation of Executive Order 6102 was punishable by fine up to $10,000 ($166,640 if adjusted for inflation as of 2008) or up to ten years in prison, or both. Because of this forced immediate sale of gold to the Federal Reserve at the government set price of $20.67 per troy ounce, this Executive Order is often referred to as the Gold Confiscation of 1933.

So that Onion video is not without some precedent. And we should all feel better that President Obama has not had to confiscate everyone's gold yet. Seriously, spending huge amounts of money, creating a vast array of financial bailout funds, etc., all seem scary, but imagine trying to confiscate everyone's gold! (Well, forcing them to sell it.)

Financial Regulation

Reading various articles, it seems like one thing both right and left agree on is that they are pissed at the idea of "too big to fail" banks that require taxpayer money to prop up. 

Regardless of how left and right want to resolve the current crisis, you'd think they could sit down and figure out a way to avoid this in the future.

Maybe putting Glass Steagal* back into effect? 

Though I wonder about that...would that have stopped Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, or AIG's problems? Did it stop the Savings and Loan crisis? Could it stop hedge funds? 

Maybe simply capping the size of a financial institution?

Maybe this is not as easy as it sounds...but it seems an area of actual agreement between both parties.

*Except this time call it the Steven Seagal Act "Be prudent or I will kick your ass in a mystical Asian way" act.