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rob_92183's Blog
Wednesday November 18, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 6:42PM CST on November 18, 2009
Well, we had a family emergency and I've spent the better part of the last week inside a hospital. I have nothing but good things to say about the current system, from the waiting time to care received. I'm glad this happened now because I can't say the system will be working for the better if the Democrat plan passes. This won't be a very long post, but this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for a lifetime full of memories with the people I love. Wednesday November 11, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 12:29AM CST on November 11, 2009
Someone once asked me what I thought the point of endless exercise and impossible tasks was in military basic training, and I didn't have a clear answer. After all, I've never served and don't grasp quite the exact same concepts of someone who has. To me, the military is a finely tuned machine trained to perfect every motion as to leave no room for error. But that answer couldn't be farther from the truth. As it was explained, the endless repetition and impossible, unfair tasks assigned to recruits weren't meant to turn them into machines. Rather, the entire point was to grasp that military life is utterly unfair and in the moment of warfare they may be asked to do an impossible task which may require everything up to certain death. At that point, a soldier must realize the mission, their mission, is ultimately larger than one person and that their individual effort, unit effort, and so on, is part of a larger campaign towards victory. Any hesitation may cause failure, which can cost more life. This concept blew my mind and introduced to me a kind of brotherhood I could never understand. A kind of sacrifice beyond anything I had ever experience. But every day, I reap the benefits of the work done by our fine soldiers, their individual sacrifice. And I'm thankful for it, beyond words I can express here. Happy Veterans Day, thank you to all soldiers past and present for your service and for your sacrifice. Tuesday November 10, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 2:12AM CST on November 10, 2009
About a week ago, U2 put on a concert for the people of Germany in celebration of the anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. In order to stop people who didn't have tickets from seeing the performance, they constructed a large metal wall to keep people out. A few hours ago, President Obama delivered a video address to the people who had gathered to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall. In the speech, he stated "Together, let us keep the light of freedom burning bright for all who live in the darkness of tyranny and believe in the hope of a brighter day." Oh, by the way, he'll throw you in jail for refusing to pay for your neighbor's hospital bills. What's even more astounding than that America is quietly following lock and step with the old East German policies. Is there possibly a better example of how badly government central planning makes a person worse off? You split a country in two, with one half taking the capitalist approach towards a better quality of life and the other allowing government to dictate the lives of the population and compare them to each other, and what was the result? Well, not many people died trying to sneak into East Germany. Sneaking out of the country though, something should probably be said when you need armed guard posts, barbed wire, and a 97 mile wall to keep people from leaving. Is that happening today in America? I suppose there's a weak argument that we do have the largest fence to the south, and it hasn't really done much to stop people from entering. If you want a stronger argument, just look towards the economy. Do you have a government job? You can look forward to receiving 19% more than your counterpart in the private sector. But just because government is the biggest employer doesn't mean they control your life or have the ability to prevent you from furthering yourself like what happened in East Germany, does it? I mean, it's not like they control the education system, housing, banks, finance, or private industry. Oh, and they're a step away from controlling your health, too. If you fail to surrender that control, they'll just throw you in jail. Let us keep the light of freedom burning bright, indeed. Sunday November 8, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 2:52PM CST on November 8, 2009
One of the hottest selling video games this year is going to be Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. It's being released November 10th and should be a huge seller for the Christmas season. For an idea of sales, the game on which this sequel is based sold over 13 million copies. Yet I'm watching the opening video for this game and shaking my head. The opening level of the game involves you as an American agent with a Russian terrorist group walking through an airport and slaughtering civilians with a belt-fed machine gun. In their defense, the creators of this game have stated that the level is "optional". This is tough for me because I'm not the kind of person who criticizes video games for their violent content. I don't believe the hype that certain games should be banned, or that they even make people more violent. At the same time, I'm watching this video and it's in extremely bad taste. I don't own one of the new video game systems and have no desire to spend $300 plus another $60 for the game, just to see how far technology has come in how realistic they can make a civilian massacre. Games used to be fun, they used to be about something. Donkey Kong, jumping over barrels being thrown by a monkey in order to save a princess. Mario Brothers, same concept (minus the monkey). It seems like nowadays the only point to a game is to come up with more creative ways to kill people. Maybe there's a reflection of society to be made. Thursday November 5, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 12:51AM CST on November 5, 2009
Man vs. Food is one of my favorite shows. Except it puts it into my head that I could possibly do one of these challenges and succeed. This creates a problem when you live in an area that has absolutely no place that offers ridiculous amounts of food. This problem is compounded when I only catch this show at 12:44 in the morning, well beyond any closing time of a restaurant that would offer such a challenge, if said restaurant actually existed. Not to mention 12:44 in the morning is not an ideal time to put away record amounts of food in some sort of Olympics kitchen leftovers challenge. And there's no way to explain waking up five pounds heavier out of absolutely nowhere if you're not able to get pregnant. Maybe that's what this show is, male pregnancy. We don't actually grow a baby, but we're putting away the same weight of one at birth. Oh, but all the food looks so good. How can you not try to eat while watching this? Six bowls of fiery hot chili? Chicken wings record? Six pound hamburgers? It's best watched in tandem with Insomniac with Dave Attell. Go from a drinking show to an eating show with two entertaining hosts? What a natural combination. Those two shows would be a great spinoff. Insomniac vs. Food. I'd pay to see it. Tuesday November 3, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 11:23PM CST on November 3, 2009
Few things I've been watching closely: Looks like Republicans won the Governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. The New York Congressional seat hasn't been announced yet. I suspect Democrats will waver in support of health care and cap and trade knowing they're not protected simply by having the president stand behind them (or blaming Bush) anymore. India bought 200 tons of gold from the IMF for around $6.7 billion dollars which is shooting up the price towards $1,100 an ounce. And there's some kind of new virus circulating around Europe. the WHO "assumes" it's Swine Flu, but all 67 victims who have died and been autopsied had massive hemorrhaging in the lungs. These people are drowning in their own blood, it's definitely not a Swine Flu strain. The only aspect I take from this that's mildly positive is that some 250,000 have been infected and it's a relatively low mortality rate. So far, anyways. Saturday October 31, 2009
Posted by: rob_92183 at 1:01AM CST on October 31, 2009
In the simplest terms and definitions, the blinds refer to Texas Hold 'Em positions directly to the left of the dealer. The first blind, the small blind, posts half of the table's maximum bet. the second blind, the big blind, posts the full bet. At this point, bidding begins. If an entire table has called the bet of the big blind, then the big blind have the option to raise the stakes. Though to say the government is sitting in the big blind is not exactly a fitting analogy. If the American economy was a Texas Hold 'Em game, then the government would also be the dealer, a handful of other players at the table, they'd be gambling with your money, and "going all in" would refer to putting your children on top of a stack of your chips. Oh, and the longer the game goes on, the less the value your chips become. The cards are stacked against you, so to speak. Just last week economists were keen on the end of the recession when the DOW hit 10,000. This week it dropped, then raised slightly, then dropped another 250 points today. This is after government's big blind bluff that the economy is hitting a recovery period because the GDP growth was 3.5%. That's the beauty of a good bluff, make someone else believe you're holding cards better than you have. The real reason behind GDP growth was Cash For Clunkers, the atrocious program that cost somewhere near $24,000 per vehicle sold. Naturally this spiked motor vehicle output somewhere near 160% for the quarter. What happens when you remove those numbers from the artificially inflated GDP? The bluff falls flat on it's face. Real GDP growth was somewhere near 1.89%, and because of government interference you're going to see the results in next quarter's GDP, which has the potential to turn motor vehicle production numbers into the negatives. Quite a short recovery, indeed.  When you're at a hold-em table and your opponent raises the bets against all logic and reason, you can fold and walk away. Sure, you take a hit. But you don't lose everything on a bad bet. Right now, through "Cash For..." programs and endless bailouts, the government is taking your money and throwing it into the pot for their hand. We're able to see the cards government is holding and it's a bet that no rational person would ever make. And it adds insult to injury to know that any profits made will be divided amongst the criminals in the White House, Treasury, and Federal Reserve, while all the bad hands and monetary losses will be divided amongst the people. Maybe hoping the people will never figure it out until it's too late is the biggest bluff of all? |
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