Monday Musings: December 6. 2010

Take just a moment when you get finished with this post to read the piece on the Impurely Maven page next door, by Chuck Collins - co-founder of Wealth for the Common Good and co-author with Bill Gates, Sr. of ‘Wealth and Commonwealth’. And, if you agree with Mr. Collins - as I do - then please forward the article to others, particularly your Senators and Representatives in Washington D. C.

This ‘struggle’ to extend or not extend Bush tax cuts needs to stop, and stop right now. And it’s time for Obama, the DINO’s and the Party of “No” to get a clue, and get beyond the mis-information that has been pounded up the backsides of America’s electorate courtesy of the right-wing owned media.

That’s the same ‘lame-stream’ media that Sarah Palin derides during her TeaNut sloganeering stops. It’s owned and operated, not by Liberals, but by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, GE, Westinghouse and Sony. All well-known bastions of Socialist think.

Sheesh.

What do I want for Christmas? I want to let all the so-called ‘tax cuts’ expire. DOA. Poof! Turn back into pumpkins on New Year’s Eve. And if We The People don’t get an extension of the unemployment benefits, so be it. Let the Party of “No”, and the DINO’s, led by their Wimp-In-Chief, explain why the pain will be deeper due to their political brinksmanship. In an odd sort of way, I stand with the TeaNuts in my frustration of a government that is unwilling to govern. I celebrate government, unlike the TeaNuts. But I think it ought to actually govern.

Listen, if the people didn’t notice the tax break that Obama actually gave them, will they really notice a relatively small tax ‘increase’? (It’s not a tax increase, but that’s what we’ve been saying and nobody listens). You actually have to tear yourself away from Dancing With the Stars occasionally.

LATE BREAKING DISASTER!!!!!!!!

Hold the presses. Oh, wait. Duh. This is the internet age. Presses are so analog.

Anyway, according to the HuffPo, Obama has caved! Yes, you heard it right here, ladies and germs!

“I’m not willing to let our economy slip backwards just as we’re pulling ourselves out of this devastating recession,” said Obama. “I’m not willing to see 2 million Americans, who stand to lose their unemployment insurance at the end of this month, be put in a situation where they might lose their home, or their car, or suffer some additional economic catastrophe. So, sympathetic as I am with those who prefer a fight over compromise, as much as the political wisdom may dictate fighting over solving problems, it would be the wrong thing to do.”

Then, according to sources, he leaned over and kissed John Boehner and Mitch McConnell full on the mouth. There might have been a little tongue involved, too.

The rumor mill is reporting that Don Blankenship, the disgraced CEO of Massey Energy is hosting a really hot party with notable Wall Street hedge fund managers, Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks ($17 million), Rashard Lewis of the Orlando Magic ($18.8 million), Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics ($19.7 million), Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics (same more or less), Dirk Nowitzski of the Dallas Maverics ($19.7 million), Shaq ($20 million), Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs ($22 million), Jermaine O’Neil of the Miami Heat ($22.9 million), Kobe Bryant of the Lakers ($23 million) and Tracy McGrady ($23.3). There could be women and liquor involved.

Is our American economic system wonderful or what?

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Fuck.

Oh, and aren’t you proud of John Ensign, R-NV, he who can’t keep his pants zipped, finally really standing up for something? Yup, he’s right on top of the WikiLeaks thing. The man’s been there how long, and finally found something to do besides ride his bike and attend prayer meetings over at the Fellowship.

The special feature in yesterday’s Reno Gazette-Journal on the region’s economic future was actually quite good, despite the fact that it merely rehashed similar pieces that have been printed since at least the 1950’s. We had dinner last night with a friend who moved here in the late 1950’s and he heard it then. It’s nice that everybody talks about it every few years. The discouraging part is that nobody has even the slightest intention of doing anything about it.

The casinos and mining have conditioned Nevadan’s, like entitled, spoiled upper-middle class kids, that hardship will never darken their doorway, and that whatever happens, Mother Casino and Father Mine will write a check and make it go away.

I was especially impressed with the op-ed piece by Robb Smith, about how innovation - which could lift Nevada out of the cyclical economic doldrums - has been repeatedly promoted as the answer but just as often been left waiting at the altar - like a bride that just wasn’t as sexy as the babe down at the end of the craps table.

Over the last couple of years, I had the opportunity to watch this first hand, as my employer - a brilliant woman with a great idea and the intellectual chops to make it happen - was pumped up by one local business ‘mentor’ after another, but when it came to writing a check … well, they just weren’t so excited anymore. So, she put up her home, her 401K, even the novel, cutting-edge software itself to fund the enterprise. I think she might have also put up a couple kids as collateral. But it was never quite enough to really do it up right. The product is there, for sale, but it’s a shadow of what it might have been with really sharp, aggressive and targeted venture capital help.

It also would’ve meant about 100 jobs right here in Reno. Oh, well. Too bad she didn’t try inventing some new way to take money from dumbshits in a casino. The powers that be woulda’ been all over that.

Yup, another multi-billion dollar casino is ready to open in Las Vegas. That’s sure to turn the state’s economy around. LOL.

Hey, I got my anniversary present and Christmas gift this last week. Friend, Sheldon, wasn’t ‘in love’ with his gently used, big KitchenAid stand mixer - the one that raises and lowers the bowl. So I bought that, and now he can go get the Artisan model that he thinks he’ll prefer. I saved serious money, and didn’t have to pay tax or shipping either!

Then, I scored on a Cuisinart digital, electronic pressure cooker. Awesome is the only word to describe the pressure cooker - I haven’t put the KitchenAid through it’s paces yet. I have a nice Kuhn-Rikon pressure cooker for sale. I’ll make you a good price. Watch the video here.

Check on the Food page of this blog for continuing posts on my pressure cooker recipes. I’m jazzed. Although I’ve been a dedicated pressure cooker user for decades now, I thought they simply couldn’t get any better than a classic Kuhn-Rikon or Fagor model. Wrong! You can actually set this Cuisinart - after doing all your searing, browning and simmering in the same pot - and walk away to do something else. I don’t have to be a pressure cooker nanny anymore! And the food is fantastic in a fraction of the time.

Stay tuned for more on that.

It’s that time of year to re-do my ‘book’ of passwords, and begin changing my critical passwords for online things that matter. You might think I’m reckless to leave a book of passwords on the desk, but how bad can it be when it gives me the ‘user name’ (Standard Protocol) and password (Standard Protocol+2) or some such gibberish? You see, I be a ‘systems thinker’ and I develop systems for damn near everything. That includes passwords. I don’t really need the book except as a little memory jogger at times, to see what I actually have an account and password for.

You might want to do this same thing for yourself. Mr. Maven and I agreed on a Standard Protocol - a ‘formula’ -  that makes up our passwords and user names, and we hardly need to ever look them up. They are also not the same across multiple online sites. They should also be alphanumeric and should never, ever be common words that can be found in the dictionary. Loose the pet names and similar obvious devices, too. That’s important. There are some good ways to make them very secure, and you can find out more information by clicking here.

Oh, and another thing that I do around here, that you might want to adopt. I buy a handful of smallish spiral bound notebooks and always keep one going at my desk. At work or at home. Always. I make notes about what I’m ‘on’ about for the blog, but I also write down dirty little details about phone calls I’m making with ‘Customer Representatives’ or ‘Technical Support’ types. Names. Dates. Times. The gist of the conversation. It makes it ever so easy to refer back to later when the brow starts to furrow.

That’s why I’m here. To help.

Okay. I’m gonna go skiing tomorrow. It looks like it could be a BlueBird Day at Mt. Rose. Then tomorrow night is dinner - on the Groupon coupon - at Roundabout Bistro for our 23rd wedding anniversary. Hold the applause.

Last night some friends took us out for our anniversary, and we went to Sezmu on Mt. Rose Street in Reno. Really, really awesome food. Pretty good service. Won’t be back. We all froze our asses off. Yes, it was that cold in the restaurant… even after we balked at being seated next to the front door. Even in back by the kitchen. All four of us. Cold. Maybe on a summer night. Oh, and I couldn’t get excited about the waiter laying it right on us - before the soup of the day - that they only had two of the $50 per person prix fixe meals left. In case we wanted them.

Uh, there is a bit of a depression, uh, recession on … maybe with a Groupon next time.

Sit. I’ll let myself out.

Cheers.

-maven