Funny Presentation on Religion

http://atheistdelusion.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

Opportunity Cost

I was reading the WSJ this morning and there was a brief article on the current cost of our country's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan ( please keep in mind these figures come form a non-partisan group named the Congressional Research Service which provides research and analysis to lawmakers). The cost of the war is now running at $12 billion a month. The $12 billion monthly "burn rate" covers the costs for both Iraq and Afghanistan. The total funds appropriated by congress since 2001 for these wars is now at $650 billion, with Iraq totaling nearly $500 billion of that. And please keep in mind that this aggregate amount will only increase faster, as the monthly cost continues to rise.

Another important fact to keep in mind is that the government ran a fiscal deficit of $400 billion in 2006 and are forecasting another deficit of $280 billion in 2007. So wouldn't you think you might want to try to rein in expenses? Oh that's right, they did that by decreasing the budget for student financial aid, medicare, and other social programs.

So my point is this. Allocating resources and capital to war spending takes away resources from other areas. So by spending this money on wars which have no return on investment (only death and increased global tensions) you are essentially forgoing the possible benefit of investing those dollars back into American households. Wealth inequality in America continues to grow and it's more evident that more and more people from the lower income brackets are being left behind, i.e. lower high school graduation rates, lower college attendance, and much, much slower growth in median income.

I am a firm believer in capitalism and I am well aware of the fact that today's society is a meritocracy (your worth is measured by knowledge) so I don't believe that all wealth should be distributed evenly. It should be distributed according to the value of what you create, tangible or intangible. But I do believe in equal access to opportunity and unfortunately the trends show this becoming less available. Opportunity is what leads to the notion of social mobility and that is what has made America great. It provides the incentive for people to educate themselves, work hard, and eventually live a better life than where they came from. If social mobility fades away, so too will conformism to our society and economy. We need to look internally and dedicate resources to address our problems because it is with these people where our future lies. Not in a desert on the other side of the globe.

A Summary From My Trip To The Homeland

I just got back from a week long trip to Sayulita, Mexico. It was an awesome little town about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. Completely undeveloped, as 95% of the roads are dirt and randomly has wild dogs and donkeys running all over. Very strange.

The town is known for its surfing as the bay has the several sets of nice constant breaks. One of them is pretty large and the other one is a bit smaller (which is where I stayed). I also saw two people get stung by stingrays while out there in the water..kind of disconcerning but I guess that's part of the sport.

I also went fishing, and between four of us, caught like 40 mahi mahi, or El Dorado as the Mexicans call them. That was pretty cool. Also saw some really strange jellyfish out there in the ocean. Reminds me of why the ocean scares the shit out of me.

There was this tiny little taco shop near the plaza that had the BEST fish/shrimp tacos I've ever had and I probably ate their once their day. We also found a place on the beach that had the largest margarita known to mankind. It was literally probably a half gallon in volume and resulted in the vomiting of several of my comrades. Oh yeah, and of course, we went to Kimber and JP's wedding.

Mexicanos al grito de guerra....(the beginning of the Mexican National Anthem)

Acceptance

I just received word from the University of Washington that I was accepted into their MBA program. Obviously, I'm very excited about this. The program at UW is extremely difficult to get into so they must have switched up my application with someone else's. But regardless, I'm in. Now I just have to make the decision to go or not. Getting an MBA has always been a personal and professional goal of mine, but taking two years off from working is a big decision. Especially when I have a fiance' who enjoys spending money. Kind of sucks. I want to be excited and just do it, but there's also a part of me that tells me to just go back to work. I keep telling myself that it's a small short-term sacrifice for long-term gains, but its a tough decision to make.

Feel free to vote and let me know. In true democratic fashion I will let the people decide.

Things You Do That Are Never Cool

I was walking to catch the bus to go downtown today when something happened that opened my eyes. It happened as I saw my bus go through the intersection two blocks ahead of me as it pulled up to the bus stop. Upon seeing this I started running in order to try to catch it. As I found myself running awkwardly down Mercer St with my flip-flops about to fly off, my Messenger Bag flapping on my back, and my coffee spilling all over, I realized something. Boy, do I not look cool right now. And so after my 200-Yard dash to catch the bus, I came to a fascinating conclusion as I sat on the bus sweating profusely. There are just some things in life that, no matter who you are or what you look like, are impossible to look cool doing. Here's some that came to mind. Feel free to add.

1) Running to catch a bus
2) Pooping
3) Masturbating (Applies to Males Only)
4) Karaokeing
5) Playing XBOX360 with the headset and mic on
6) Roller-Blading
7) Driving any "GEO" car
8) Clamming
9) Metal-Detecting (Is this the proper verb?)
10) Buying Preparation-H at the grocery store

Words of Juvenile Humor

I was sitting at the gym today reading the WSJ when I read an article titled, "Oil Lubricates Asia-Mideast Ties" when I found myself laughing at loud at the word "Lubricates". In addition to realizing that I am a 12 year-old in the body of a 29 year-old, I also came to the conclusion that there's a subset of words that make me laugh anytime I hear them, no matter what context they are used in. I've listed the ones that came to mind, along with examples of non-inaapropriate usage. Please feel free to add any.

Lubricate - "Oil Lubricates Asia-Mideast Ties."
Nuts - "These nuts are very salty."
Penetrate - "This product has the ability to really penetrate the market."
Balls - "Those balls almost hit her in the face."
Gas - "The smell was attributed to a gas leak."
Beaver - "The beaver is extremely adept at taking down wood."
Dick - "Hello, my name is Dick."
Discharge - "The combination of those two chemicals produces a noxious discharge."
Uranus - "Uranus is a gaseous planet."
Skid Mark - "The accident left a notable skid mark on the street."

Office Space(Horror Version)

Pretty Funny...

Top Gun (The True Story)

I kind of guessed this from the volleyball scene

The Colonel Turns in His Grave

KFC has announced it will replace trans-fat heavy hydrogenated oils with a healthier soybean oil by April of this year. Those who know me know that my back deck overlooks what could probably be described as the crappiest KFC in all of Seattle. And you also probably know that I have been tempted many times by the sweet smell of the Colonel's chicken. As a fried chicken enthusiast I can whole-heartily say that I am not taking this news very well. For those who want to remember the good 'ol days I have posted the nutritional information for The Famous Bowl.

Kobe

After watching the Laker game last night I decided that Kobe is not only the greatest basketball player in the league right now, but probably in the history of the game. I know some people will disagree, but in many ways he's better in Jordan. Jordan was amazing and brought the whole game of basketball to another level. He not only was amazing on the floor, but also for how he rose the status of the NBA in general and basiaclly paved the way for huge endorsement deals and higher revenue for the NBA, which has opened the door to $20 million/year contracts.

But Kobe, is just an amazing player. I used to absolutely hate the guy because I thoght he was selfish and a showboat, but I can't help but the love the guy now. The guy's got heart and a huge desire to win and it's kind of refreshing to see that in today's game of spoiled NBA players with guaranteed contracts. I rememebr in last year's playoff series against the suns when he single-handedly drove down the floor and hit a game winning shot in Staples Center, it had me off my feet in my living room. Although that sounds insanely stupid, it proves just how exciting and inspirational this guy is.

Anyway, if it was up to me, I would get rid of guaranteed contracts in the NBA. Look at football. Those guys have shorter careers, greater threat of injury, and smaller contracts and they are not guaranteed.

Here's an awesome video of Kobe:

Brian Spotted Getting Ready For Single Life

I guess being newly single has motivated Brian. He was spotted recently coming back from a jog and looked to be in tip top shape for the ladies in Portland this Summer. If this picture is any indication, his condo in the Pinnacle will be very busy this summer.

Inspiration for Flaccidity

My friend Brian was telling me he saw Mischa Barton at a club in New York City recently and said she was extremely gorgeous in person. Either Brian was extremely drunk, or maybe she wasn't wearing these pants. I mean seriously, what are these things?

I Mean Your Boobs are Huge

Another celebrity has a wardrobe malfunction. People called this a nipple-slip, but it looks more like an areole-slip to me.

Click here for the NSFW version.

Areole Slip

The Dow Closes Above 13,000, Equities on a Tear

The Dow Jones Index climbed again today, closing above 13,000 for the first time, as equities continued their torrid run for the month. Helped by by an extremely impressive run of earnings reports, the stock market has gained back all of its losses from February, and continued to perform well. The S&P 500 index, which is a broader measure of the market, closed the day at 1495.42, up 1.01% on the day's trading.

What should we make of the recent run up? Well, I think much of what we're seeing is a reflection of the excellent run of earnings reports we've seen over the last two weeks. The expectations by many analysts for first quarter earnings was very tepid, to say the least. Companies had been experiencing double-digit profit growth for the last couple years, and the expectation was for the general slowing of the economy, combined with the slowing housing market to produce earnings growth in the low single-digit percentages for growth. But, what we have seen are some extremely impressive reports.


Without going into too much detail, I think the strength in corporate profit is being driven by several factors. First is the continued expansion of the global economy which is providing a continued demand for products and services form U.S. multi-national firms. When you combine this with the weaker dollar, what we have is the perfect environment for a multi-national firm. Simply, a firm based in the U.S. is seeing increasing sales in a foreign country, and then converting those cashflows into dollars. Because the foreign currency has appreciated versus the dollar, those cashflows are translated into higher dollar cashflows. While this may be beneficial in the short-term, the long-term implications are not as rosy. A depreciating dollar will mean investors are less incented to move capital into the U.S. and purchase assets, lowering demand for dollar-denominated assets.


A second reason, is driven by purely technical factors. Companies have been increasing share buybacks as a form of distributing capital to shareholders. When a company repurchases its shares, it lowers the amount of outstanding shares, therefore spreading the amount of earnings over a smaller base of shareholders. Obviously this will drive the price of those shares up. This is another situation where it has the short-term benefit of increasing share prices, but at the expense of long-term growth. If a company is repurchasing shares what it is essentially saying is that it does not see opportunity to invest that capital in projects, or R&D, that will provide sufficient returns to shareholders. This will translate to lower capital spending by firms, resulting in less growth and less innovation.

Further reducing the amount of outstanding shares is the boom of private-equity deals. These deals are simply transactions where a group of private investors buys out a public company, usually by taking on a high amount of debt. The new owners then cut costs, and hope to increase margins and returns so they can sell the company a few years down the road for a large premium. The wealth of these transactions has taken a huge amount of stock off of the exchanges, resulting in a decrease in supply of shares, and thus providing price support to the market.

So, what should you make of all this? Well, enjoy the recent run wile it lasts. There are some factors that are driving this great short-term performance, which could have negative consequences for the long-term. I recommend taking a long position in Vodka and Olives.

Unemployment, And Other Releveant Topics

So, I recently became unemployed several weeks ago, at the request of my former employer. I learned several lessons from the incident:

1) Never mix personal life and Work-Technology
2) Fattitudes are real
3) Severance sevreance severance

Now that I am officially unemplyoyed, I'm considering the possibility of going back to school full time to get my MBA at the University of Washington. I've officially applied at UW, so I should know in the next couple weeks if I have been accepted or not. Or maybe I will just go back to work. The hesitation I have for school is the opportunity cost of two years of not working, plus the actual cost of going to school. Feel free to leave a comment on your suggestion. Maybe I'll run my life based on other people's decisions....