A Quick Flush

When one wishes to flush away unnecessary waste one flushes the toilet.

 

When Mother Nature decides to do the same she crates hurricanes.

Be Prepared

 Dayum...
It seems that the East Coast wasn't much better than those in N.O.L.A. when it came to disaster preparedness.
I was once a Boy Scout so I was taught to always be prepared.

Growing up in SoCal we had; earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, mudslides and any other natural disaster one could think of.
Most public buildings were built to withstand enough damage to be classified as a designated Fallout Shelter (Just in case the Russians dropped the  Big One on us - we were told.).

But as we become more and more dependant upon technology for our everyday lives we discover how tenuous our lives have become.
We learn that as our society becomes more technologically advanced that the same society loses many of the basic survival instincts many once thought were imbued upon birth.

I Guess I Should READ the T.O.S.?

Who knew that after logging out on a facebook account (using a different e-mail address) and then posting on a blog using Discus that someone could view ones facebook page?

Dumbasses

Q. On what product do I make the largest profit at my club?
A. Bottled Water

I buy 24 bottles of water for less than $4.
I sell each bottle of water for $4.
Since the bottled water has less minerals than the free tap water I give away - people never quite have their thirsts quenched so they buy more water!?!?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/

Most people are just suckers for smart advertising.

Back In The Day...

 My girlfriend's son is so into shoes that it's almost woman-like.
I used to get the shoes I wanted but never a whole closet full as though I were Emelda Marcos.
We came from a family thought to be relatively affluent but we never had as many shoes as many kids from the hood have have today.

Back in the day...
Everyone wanted a pair of Chucks.
These shoes offered little support and ones feet would be sore and burning after a long day of play.

Then Dr. J, Magic and Bird broke out with this model and all the sportiest brotha's wore these.

 At that time, the Nike Bruin was also popular - causing many pairs of blue stained socks in the process.

While the Nike Cortez was worn by many cheerleaders - it was also a popular 'walking around' shoe for many guys.

 But then I became influenced by all the Tennis Moms I would see in K-Swiss.
These shoes were hell one ones Achilles tendon but they did look oh-so-sporty.

 The Bo Jackson craze upped the ante by causing many to fork out $139 for his signature cross trainer.

 Probably my all-time favorite were the Nike Air Flare/Agassi model
(I'm still waiting for the re-release at this moment.)
The color blocking, comfort, performance and moderate price made this shoe one of the best designed athletic shoes of all time.

These days I just kick it in Nike Shox (NZ or Monster).
Sure, I still like a comfortable sneaker but it blows me away that so many kids have more shoes in their closet at one time than I've had in my lifetime.

Half Of New York Is ABOVE Sea Level

Oh wait... That's New Orleans.
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/04/study_bust_myth_that_new_orlea.html

FreeMan Doesn't Like Her

But I do.
Think the GOP will buy this for a billboard?
(Click image to enlarge.)

What Choice?

It seems that Mr Romney wants to get rid of FEMA and the Federal responsibility of disaster relief. That Mitt wants to transfer the burden of recovery to each local governing body is similar to Obama's way of thinking (Obama, "Please listen to whatever state and local officials are saying. When they tell you to evacuate - you need to evacuate. ...").

 

But Mitt goes too far in the idea that local governments should do as much for themselves as possible.

And Mitt even thinks it would be best to privatize the onus of disaster recovery.

The thing that is wrongheaded about this idea is that the private companies would just ultimately bill the federal government for the cleanup costs - as is now the case with cleanup after a natural disaster.

But if the government had to pay market value for these services - without any oversight - many of these companies would over and double-bill the government for their work.

I could just see Halliburton KBR getting into the local (read; on American soil) cleanup business that it seems to have perfected overseas in war torn countries and making even more insiders richer in the process.

But now Mitt seems to be backing away from such silly ideas.
The Romney campaign has recently issued a statement stating that Mitt is in favor of the federal government's role is disaster relief.
What changed?
Is Mitt just a Yankee who thinks himself better than those from other races and regions?
Remember; Romney's prior remarks were made immediately after a series of tornadoes ripped through many Southern states.
Does Mitt consider the Hillbillies and Blacks in the South to be inferior and unworthy of federal assistance?

This election won't change a thing.
Just pick from the homunculi pretending that it does.

 

Drill Baby, Drill...

 So, one candidate stated that permits for drilling in the Gulf have dropped by more than fifty percent under the Obama administration?
OK, I'll agree with that.

But let's not forget that many permits were reviewed and/or denied predicated on safety concerns following the BP Oil disaster back in 2010.

Drill Baby, Drill....?
NOT if it is going to have such a negative impact on state and local Gulf economies and ecosystems.

What REALLY Occured

Not to offend those harmed by the effects of Hurricane Sandy but the media has a tendency to overstate what actually happened.

Some would have the masses believe that the statue of liberty was drowned by massive tidal waves caused by this storm. 

 

When in reality the waves created by this hurricane were only slightly greater than those caused by any other low-level storm.

Mendacious

The only visible difference?
The choice of what color tie to wear.

Back Again?

A bit disappointing but oh-so-cute - maybe Lolo can win gold in Sochi.

School Is Boring

It's just odd that no one has come up with "Schoolhouse Rap" for today's children.
I introduced a group of kids to these classics from back in my day and they suddenly understood material they previously had problems understanding.

In the information age - ignorance is a choice.
RSA has a series of videos to keep adults informed in a manner to which many of us were once accustomed.

I'm Pretty Sure It's the Parents

I just looked at the batch of report cards brought to me by the kids I tutor and each kid had at least a 'B' average.
Sure, I care about the club, the rental homes and construction projects... but I really care about the progress of these kids.
Many of these kids were participating in Fall sports as well and many had to learn to better manage and prioritize their time.
Most had parents who blamed the schools or their exes for their own kid's behaviors and academic issues.

The thing is - as soon as I walk into a home, I have the kids clean his or her room and finish any chores before we even start doing homework.
I talk to the kids as we work together cleaning so that I can gauge what frame of mind the child is in and what problems the kid may be experiencing.

One mother broke into tears because she was so proud of the progress her son had made.
Her problem was that she kept making excuses for her son instead of being an example for him.
Her problem was that she spent more time at my club than she did helping her son with his homework and household chores.

When I explained that they still lived in the same house, that the kid went to the same school, that the kid had the same friends (that basically, the kid had the same life) - that the only difference was the level of expectation and the focus on the kids progress.
The mother even started doing better at her job almost doubling her paychecks in the process.

In all honesty, I don't want to hear excuses - I expect results.

STFU

I'm pretty sure that Obama was referring to the attacks in Libya when he spoke of 'acts of terror..'.
I somehow doubt that he was referring to the score from the Monday Night Football game a couple of days prior or anything else that was going on in the world the day the press conference was called.
But maybe Obama's restraint and gracious manner of speaking is lost on most of the hawkish Republicans who seem to be looking for a chink in Obama's Teflon suit.
Maybe they expected a knee jerk reaction and an off the cuff comment that condemned all Muslims and Middle Easterners for being terrorists.
Maybe Fox News sees weakness in the Romney campaign and they have decided to shift the focus to a non-issue like the use of the word 'terrorist'.

DWTS ???

Who even knew that the show was still on the air?

Unemlpoyment Numbers ?

Sure, 7.8% is worse than average 5.8% but nowhere near as bad as the more recent 9.8% in '09 (nor the 10.8%  back in '82).
To be honest, it could be a whole lot worse.
If we measure the economy based on the performance of the Dow Jones we are at 95% of our all-time high (13,473,58 October 10, 2012/14,164,53 October 7, 2009).
Things should be just swell.
But the NASDAQ average seems to be a more accurate indicator of the state of the country's economy.
Currently, we sit right around 61% of the average's recent pre-bubble high (3065.02/5049.62).
Judging by the I see around me and their level of confidence, the economy has only recovered two-thirds of it's highest level of production - not ninety-five percent.

A Cali State of Mind

Da' Souf is a whole other world than that to which I am accustomed.
Sure, Cali has it's problems but nothing can compare to the South when it comes to a self imposed ignorance.
The only good thing I can say about the South is that schools can still spank the kids in many states.
(And many of these bad little fat Niglets in public schools need a good old-fashioned ass whoopin')

It's just odd that many of the fattest states are located here.

Yet so are many of the most religious.

I guess conservation is still a concept only practiced by those tree huggin' Yankees and those on the West Coast.

Oh, never mind...

What's So Funny?

The joke is that most people getting excited about the presidential debates and upcoming election really imagine that one candidate makes more of a difference than the other.
These two are both insiders and understand that their 'power' is mostly titular.
These two insiders understand that they aren't going to make any real nor lasting changes if elected.
These two are in on the inside joke and the joke is on most of us.

Status

If one cannot afford a set of LV luggage - one can at least spend hours spray painting his vehicle so that it resembles a luxury brand. (Even if the car cannot be driven and one gets hit with a parking ticket)
I guess 5-0 wasn't as impressed with the spray painted rims and tires as much as his neighbors were.

But this nothing new nor is it isolated to one race, culture or economic level.

 It seems that most of the families featured on any of the shows in the Real Housewives/Basketball Wives/Love and Hip Hop series are either broke or headed that way just so that they can fake-da-funk and pretend that they are better than those surrounding them.
It seems that few are willing to do the work required to make ones life better - most just want to look as though their life is better than their peer group.
Most are just renting fame and fortune but very few ever have the option to buy (let alone maintain) such a lifestyle.

It seems that in today's world - appearance is everything.
Even if one must steal from investors, friends and family just to look as though one is prosperous.

She Ratchet

We have a lot of different people coming to my club - some of them have fairly low standards.

The thing that gets me about a lot of the hookers is that they think that if they throw tanussy at a brotha' that he is obligated to try to catch it.
I look at a lot of the facebook photos posted by many of my customers and two things stick out more than anything else.
If a ho is tryna' invite me into her 'house' - why can't she first clean up her house house?
If her home is that dirty and messy - I'd hate to even imagine how dirty and unkempt her 'house' is.

The other thing that amazes me is the use of ones children in these photos.
Ninja Pa-leeease. You know you just cashed your check and now you're tryna' make it sprinkle with your rent money?

My people. my people - how have we squandered the opportunities given to us through the suffering of prior generation?