Do Be Afraid

fun

2013-04-03T20:40:00.001-07:00

in this piccher find the cursuve s ,the clover,the rainbow,the red heart ,the pink heart

how to take care of a bunny

2013-04-03T14:35:00.001-07:00

daily
let your rabbit out every morning at least an hour each day
give it fresh timothy hay
give it water and food
weekly
threw away chiped or broken toys
empty both litter boxes
yearly
take your bunny to the vet
what a bunny needs
a roomy cage
a carryer
toys
timothy hay
love
harness
eating bowl
food
water
attention

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

2013-04-03T13:20:00.001-07:00

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and that was my day. fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and that was another day.

gymnastics

2013-04-03T11:17:00.001-07:00

gymnastics is fun

gymnastics is really fun

I love gymnastics

math

2013-04-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

123
+ 123

123

+123

234

+ 234

361

+361

432

+ 432

592

+ 592

haikus and poems

2013-04-03T10:33:00.001-07:00

there was a cat

that cat said at

rat-a-tat-tat

there was a bunny

it was really really cute

and very funny

there was a cat

her name was pat

there was another cat

his name was mat

horsey you go fast

you go as fast as the wind

I will name you fast

Poems

2013-04-03T09:58:00.001-07:00

kitty you are cute

kitty you are really cute

you are funny to

Grilled Cheese Odyssey- Part Deuce

2013-02-07T08:46:00.001-08:00

One day, several years ago, I decided to quite my corporate job and start my own business. My first office I shared with another Civil Engineer and was near the Gather Wine Bar.

Gather has an awesome backyard porch which makes a fabulous place to work, for me at least, since I could sip on a hot tea, get WiFi from my office, and do my work in the partly cloudy outdoors of the Village of Arroyo Grande. Since then my office has relocated farther West in the Village, so the WiFi doesn’t make it so far. Recently Gather has expanded their hours to include lunch, featuring Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

As you can probably tell from my last post, I’m a fan of fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches. Kari, the owner at Gather, has put some great grilled cheese sandwiches with an adult twist that matches the stupendous ambiance of the bar. I recently stopped in and got the Grilled Honey Bee Gouda with Onions. The gouda paired nicely with the onions and the sundried tomatoes provided a nice sweet taste to the sandwich. The salty tortilla chips provided a nice complement to the sandwich. I even resisted the childhood urge to place the tortilla chips inside the sandwich.

As a beverage I went with a nice refreshing black ice tea. Normally I don’t go with the citrus accompaniment, since I’m not a fan of lemon in the ice tea. For a twist Gather offers orange slices, as well as lemon. The orange slices compliment the tea wonderfully bringing a mild sweetness. I’m a fan.

Grilled Cheese–Day One

2013-02-05T22:55:00.001-08:00

I like grilled cheese sandwiches. Outside of children’s menus, good grilled cheese sandwiches are far and few between. I was excited to learn that Gather Wine Bar, in the Village of Arroyo Grande, was going to be featuring grilled cheese sandwiches throughout the month of February. Today was the first time I was available to stop in for lunch to grab a sandwich.

The menu consists of a selection of five grilled cheese sandwiches. I’ve decided to order the grilled cheese sandwiches in the order they appear on the menu. The first one up is the Brie and Prosciutto Grilled Sandwich. The sandwich comes with a mild brie cheese, apple slices, dried cherries and mustard.

The dried cherries make a nice pairing with the brie cheese. The bread is nicely toasted to a golden brown color. The cheese is nice and gooey. The prosciutto adds some nice saltiness to the sandwich. A side of chips provides some additional nostalgia from as common childhood sandwich side. I choose the side of BBQ chips, with an additional option of corn chips. For an additional charge one may receive a side salad.

Since it was cold outside I decided to get a side of hot tea. In addition to hot tea Gather Wine Bar has a large selection of wines and Figueroa Mountain Brewery beers on tap.

I’d definitely have the Brie and Prosciutto again. I look forward to trying another sandwich tomorrow.

Sneaker Taxes

2013-01-21T20:35:00.001-08:00

I was traveling from Point A to Point B. Well Point A was dropping of a borrowed car and Point B was the bus station. On the way to the bus stop there was a no pedestrian sign. Now it would have been nice for it to a corresponding sign at the other end warning of the upcoming sign. Unfortunately there wasn’t and of course I ignored it and walked right past it.

Well it does bring up a worthwhile topic of taxes. I think it’s time to institute a Sneaker Tax for the purpose of constructing and maintaining sidewalks. Cars are expected to pay for their roads and highways through gasoline taxes, so why isn’t walking expected to pay for it’s on way? Surprisingly there are 300 million to 2.4 billion pairs of shoes sold each year. This means the shoe tax could be fairly reasonable at $5-10 per pair of shoes which would raise billions of dollars for sidewalk construction. We could spend this money to improve sidewalk travel throughout the country. Making safe routes for kids to make it to school and for pedestrians to safely make it to the bus stops.

Many lives could be saved and injuries avoided if we improve pedestrian travel. Around 4,000 pedestrians are killed each year and 59,000 injured. Wouldn’t it be worth it if we taxed shoes from 1% to 200% of the cost of shoes?

Large Corporations

2013-01-16T19:39:00.001-08:00

I’m consuming some vittles at a Family Owned and Operated Restaurant. Some say we should frequent small family owned businesses over large corporations. But is that really the case? I make a case that we should favor large corporations over the family owned. Large corporations are more likely to have, and enforce, health and safety standards. This is due to an extra level of watching that occurs in some chains, whether it be district managers who come and check in operations, or secret shoppers.

If your goal is enacting environmental changes for the better, such as using less materials, then you can’t beat large corporations. If you’ve ever been in a McDonald’s and grabbed some napkins and noticed marketing of McDonald’s working with a environmental company to reduce the number of napkins used? It’s much easier convincing one corporation with tons of locations to enact a change then it is convincing tons of individual locations on why they should do something you think they should be doing. I feel its much better to enact changes in individuals by convincing them what to do rather then legislating changes.

There’s also the knowing what you are going to get, or at least a general idea of what it should be. Going to small business can be hit and miss to a greater to degree. If it is a great big miss it’s more likely you will get a good resolution to the problem. I recently received a milk bottle cap in my morning beverage from Starbucks. Even though I left the store I was able to get resolution of the issue through their website. A resolution that I’ll be able to use at an location. Where if it’s a small business I won’t have that same opportunity. This is especially important since I was travelling and probably wouldn’t have been able to get resolution otherwise.

Lastly aren’t all small businesses fledgling large corporations? Why should we favor the small and then despise when they grow?

What strike this post. I own a small business, you should definitely shop with my small business. But then again you might just turn the small business into a large business and put me out of business moving on to the next small business. I guess it doesn’t make much sense to choose to do business based on the size of the company. Maybe we should just do business with good businesses, both big and small.

Going Out to Eat

2013-01-14T18:41:00.001-08:00

It’s nice the President thinks the Federal Budget is like going out to eat. Unfortunately his analogy isn’t quite right. The correct analogy is that you go out to dinner with all of your friends and some acquaintances. Everyone orders what they want. When it comes time to pay the bill, everyone throws into the center what they think they owe.

You have the people who knowingly throw in more then covers what they order. Other people throw in far less then what they owe, and others get it just right. When all of the money is collected in the center it becomes apparent there isn’t enough money to pay the bill. Some of the under payers usually make a quick exit, not wanting to pay their fair share. Others stick around and try to sort it all out to cover enough money for the establishment. If you go out with your friends enough times at some point it’s time to make all of the friends and acquaintances to pay their fair share. The Federal Budget is crafted in much the same way. Wants are put above means.

Why isn’t it the same with the Federal Budget? Isn’t it time to tax everyone with a Federal Income Tax? Shouldn’t we stop giving a free pass to people instead of running massive deficits? So lets raise taxes across the board sufficiently to cover our Country’s obligations. This would make budgets real for the 47% of people who don’t pay income taxes. It’s easy to say you want $4,000 per capita of Federal Services when you don’t pay a dime to provide those services one indicates is necessary to operate the Federal Government. It’s much more effective to tax 100% of the population then it is 10%.

Maybe you don’t think it’s fair that all people don’t pay their fair share. Maybe then we could institute a check box on the tax forms indicating how many people you are willing to cover and then charging you for the taxes. A fair solution to problem, where those who think not everyone should pay are given an opportunity to pay more. It would be interesting to see how much Warren Buffet would put down. After all he is always complaining his tax rate is less then his secretary's. This would be a put or shut up tax. It would give Warren Buffet the choice to pay the same tax rate as his secretary and in the process cover the less wealthy then himself. We do live in a democracy so lets have people vote with their dollars on how much the poor should get discounted rather then force the payment by gun point.

Homelessness

2013-01-13T22:38:00.001-08:00

I don’t get homelessness. How does one get homeless? This week I’m semi-homeless. I’ll be working in Orange County this week and my usual accommodations are somewhat unavailable. This means I’ve been displaced into a hotel. Now it’s like I’m slumming it, and many business travellers are in the same predicament. Making working in Orange County really depends on the free accommodations I usually get from my parents. Since they are between homes, so are my accommodations. Now I probably could contact some old friends in the area and stay at their home. I’m fairly certain, even though I don’t communicate with them often, they’d be willing to let me sleep on a couch and catch a shower in the morning.

This is the part of homelessness I don’t get. Have the homeless burned all of the bridges in their life that family and friends are no longer willing to help out? Or is the free government money outweigh getting a job? When I worked in Downtown San Luis Obispo I took the bus into work most days, mostly because the City of SLO picked up the bus pass (but that’s another post). The bus route I took in the morning picked up many passengers freshly departed from the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter. I was always amazed at the stories I overheard on the bus. It wasn’t about getting unhomeless, but usually was topics that continued on the homelessness. One such story was the person who quit the night shift, and then complaining about not having a job. I’m fairly certain keeping a job long term eventually would have brought a day shift instead. For some reason they couldn’t sacrifice a short to medium term pain to get a long term benefit. Is this one in a series of bad decisions that person made to continue to be homeless? This was at a time the City of San Luis Obispo had a three percent unemployment rate.

I recently read a blog post on the internet indicating that we spend enough money on Christmas to solve the homeless problem. I don’t think they understand the homeless problem if they think only money is needed to solve the issue. Since the Great Society push we’ve been spending money to solve the homeless issue. If anything this spending has proven that money won’t solve the issue. To solve the problem maybe we need people to make the correct decisions on both sides of the problem, but mainly the homeless. Having the focus on the government’s responsibility to the homeless only deflects the responsibility of those who are homeless in solving their own problems and making the decisions to not become homeless. But then again maybe I’m just wrong.

Are the people who say we need more government spending just making a decision to lessen their responsibility? After all odds are 50% of their friends and family are democrats who support additional homeless funding. It seems to me they are wanting the government to foot the bill rather then they themselves helping out. It is after all a lot cheaper for them to offer a couch, or since houses are getting bigger, a spare room then having the government dole out tax money. I guess it’s easier to blame the GOP for wanting to cut government spending rather then offer up a portion of their living space to solve the issue.

I’m going to head to my hotel room now, get some late night work done tonight so I can have ample time to work 8 hours for a client tomorrow.

Skewed Angles

2012-08-13T00:41:00.001-07:00

Often times our perceptions of what the US Government spends it’s money on is skewed. One such place is NASA’s budget. A survey in 2007 indicated that most Americans believed that NASA received almost 25% of the federal budget ($650 billion) when the actual budget that year was only $16 billion (this year’s NASA budget is closer to $11 billion). (source)

This is kind of scary how out of whack most people’s perceptions of what the Federal Government does spend on things. Part of it is the press’ inability to weed out the political slants of people pushing an agenda. I’m sure you’ve heard the statistic that 50% of the Federal Budget is spent on the military. This is a half truth in that the number 50% of the discretionary budget and excludes a large portion of the Federal Budget in it’s calculation. In 2012 the military spending equated to $902 billion of a $3,795 billion budget. Doing simple math that’s 23% of the budget. Nearly half of the amount put out using adulterated budget numbers.

Many say we should spend more money on social programs, but when you ask how much we spend per person on social programs I suspect they will return a unrealistic low number compared with reality. Adding up Pensions ($819 billion), Health Care ($846 billion), and welfare ($451 billion) we get a total of $2.116 Trillion dollars. Assuming there are 314 million people in the US, we spend $6,738 per person on social programs. These numbers don’t include the money paid out by the individual states. We spend a shit load of money on social programs.

What I consider the core function of government is only $424 billion dollars of the budget (11%). General Science, Space and Technology $30.991 billion, Energy $23.270 billion, Natural Resources and Environment $42.829 billion, Agriculture $19.173 billion, Commerce and Housing Credit $79.624 billion, Transportation $102.552 billion, Community and Regional Development $31.685 billion, Administration of Justice $62.016 billion, General Government $31.763 billion. That’s about $1,350 per person. Think about all of the federal taxes you pay in a year, to do the basic function of the government, excluding the military, it’s less then $2,000 per person per year.

Maybe it’s time we took a look at what we spend our money on in the Federal Budget and reassess what we spend our money on. Nancy Pelosi indicated extending unemployment benefits would create 600,000 jobs. She calculates every dollar spent generates $1.73 in economic growth. A study way back in 2006 put NASA’s return on investment at $10 per dollar spent ($180 billion/$18 billion budget). It seems like Pelosi should be shoving money NASA’s way, instead the NASA budget has fallen in recent years. It seems like if we were serious about solving the unemployment problem we’d put our money where the returns are better. Especially since her, and my home state, would greatly benefit from the increase in spending. We could have taken just 10% of the extended unemployment benefits ($18 billion of a total of $184 billion) and double NASA’s yearly budget. Not quite sure why we need to pay people to stay home instead of developing new technology. And yes we are paying people to stay home.

Before you say no one gets paid to stay at home you have to think about the cost and reward of people taking a job. Personally I was one such person who was paid to stay home and not work. I could have worked at McDonald’s, but my paycheck from the Government was $415 per week. That means it would take a job that paid more then $15/hour for me to get back to work.

If you look at the numbers above we aren’t going broke spending money on NASA, roads, or agriculture. We are going broke on social programs. This is my skewed angle.

I'm Not Right!

2012-07-10T09:00:00.001-07:00

Evidently I'm not right for any jobs ;(

HSR-Dedicated Funding

2011-12-05T09:34:00.001-08:00

A recent article on High Speed Rail in California painted a bleak picture of the future of the project. The main problem appears to be no dedicated funding source to pay for the $98 billion project. California does have some rail lines already in place and could be used as a funding source to fund the HSR line through the center of California. Here are some yearly ridership numbers I found:

Amtrak California
11,866,636

Metrolink
10,250,000

San Diego Trolley
4,746,768

BART
17,160,000

Sacramento RTD
33,000,000

Total:

77,023,404

If we take the same approach as the anti-road contingent and press for rail to pay for itself, we can have the riders of the rail line pay extra per trip. If we add a dollar per trip for the HSR rail, we can raise over $77 million dollars per year. By the time the HSR project is finished in a projected 2034 a total of $1.69 billion dollars of the projected $98 billion dollar cost would be raised. Of course we need the HSR rail to be fully funded, so in order to make that happen we need to charge the 77 million trips an extra $58 per trip. No problem right?

OWS is Protesting the Wrong Thing

2011-11-28T11:19:00.001-08:00

This morning I walked from the Palazzo to the nearest Office Depot. The walk is about 2-1/2 miles with about 1-1/2 miles through a poorer community. Within the community many of the apartment complexes had bars on the windows or large pieces of wood in place (to ensure the window could not be slid open). I guess it’s easier to think that a mega corporation caused the condition of the neighborhood and protest on Wall Street then it is to protest the real reasons of the poverty. As I watched two young ladies argue in McDonalds over five dollars, I’m reminded that Wall Street didn’t cause their current poverty, they did.

I’m sure if you asked them, they’d agree with the premise of the large corporations. But I’d hardly think arguing over five dollars in a McDonalds puts oneself on the path of success. If OWS was serious about solving the poverty problem in America they should be protesting in the poor. OWS should be picketing in front of the liquor store at 8am for the alcoholics that enter. The signs should point to the nearest AA meeting or better yet have campouts with the AA meetings right there. OWS should be picketing on the corner the gentlemen standing around doing nothing. With pickets pointing out the nearest job center or community college. Solving the income inequality won’t be solved by adjusting the behavior of large corporations, but by adjusting the behavior of poor individuals.

The War on Poverty Has Failed

2011-11-23T09:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I read an article on a local (San Luis Obispo, CA) business person’s social experiment on providing jobs to unemployed. Unfortunately his experiment showed that unemployed people either want to cheat the system or not work. It’s a clear sign that the war of poverty hasn’t solved the problem of poverty, but made it worse. Instead of taking the steps to make themselves better, people have the State funded option of not working. The job he was offering was picking grapes for the harvest of his vineyards. While a manual labor position, he was offering to pay between $8-20 per hour depending on their efficiency at picking grapes.

This is a stark difference to the environment of the Great Depression. During the Great Depression the central coast was the hotbed of jobs. People from all over the country flocked to the area, not for the great weather, but for the jobs in the numerous agricultural fields in the area. The Central Coast of California was not affected by the great dustbowl of the Midwest and was able to continue to grow the crops of lettuce, beans and other vegetables. The history books tell stories of people camping out next along the roadways with the hopes of finding a job. John Steinbeck told their stories vividly in his literature.

So what’s the difference today? It has to be the war on poverty that provides an alternative to work. Why work? Each week that Government provides a check to entice you to stay home. Sure it’s intent is to keep you living while you search for a new job, but in reality it has become an anchor on the getting America back to work. While most of the news stories of people not taking jobs focus on the farmers unable to find allowable workers, it also affects a litany of suppliers and distributor’s of the agricultural products. To ensure food safety agricultural products are often packaged in disposable packaging. Without growth in the need for packaging, packaging plants don’t expand. If there’s a lessening of demand for the packaging they close plants or reduce the number of plants. Truck driver’s don’t have work, since they don’t have anything to haul. It kills jobs.

During this economic downturn Congress has decided to extend unemployment benefits at a cost of $40-$60 billion dollars for six months, repeatedly. While Nancy Pelosi claims this is the fastest way to create jobs, I’m arguing the exact opposite occurs. It just provides more benefits for not working. Why take the job in the field that will provide a multiplying affect on the work? It’s easier to stay home.

So lets stop the War on Poverty and spend the money on reducing the deficit. Lets make a better situation for children and grandchildren by getting rid of the humongous deficits the War on Poverty has created and restore the American work ethic in the United States of America.

Credit Unions are Banks

2011-11-07T09:05:00.001-08:00

I find it odd that people are following other people’s urging to transfer money from banks to credit unions. It shows the basic misunderstanding of what a credit union is. A credit union is basically a bank with a difference regulatory structure. Many of the reasons I hear for moving from the banks to the credit union seem to have no historical reference. Credit unions, just as banks do, evict mortgage holders who are delinquent on payments.

Credit unions have been recipients of large Government bailouts. It seems most protesters of banks have forgotten the S&L scandals of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Moving your money for the excuse that banks received a bailout is a bit of a moot point.

Credit unions aren’t all the same, most apply the same fee structures as regular banks. After all there are costs involved in operating branches, ATMs, and processing of loans.

Now there are reasons to have money in a credit union. Since they are not for profit organizations fees are used to fund the operations of the credit union. Other than this the other reasons seem like they are coming from misinformed people.

Responsibility

2011-10-19T09:38:00.001-07:00

At some point you should take responsibility of your wants and desires. For instance if you want change in Wall Street and Banking and you get thousands of fellow want changers around you, maybe it’s time you took responsibility for your wants and desires. Don’t like how banks are run? Why not pass a bucket around taking deposits for a bank? Create a bank and operate it you feel banks should be run. Let’s say there’s 1000 people out and about, each deposits $1000 and you have $1,000,000. A nice start to a bank. Then you can operate it as you feel fit, within regulations. If you really feel your way is better you should have no problem attracting additional depositors, eventually you could be the world’s largest bank!

Protesting that someone else should change really won’t get you too far. Providing an alternative and then putting the alternative in action is the best way to do this.

I’m Offended!

2011-10-10T16:42:00.001-07:00

Why won’t the March on Wall Street people read my previous post??? Sure my blog has next to no readership, but the ignorance of the signs is a bit baffling. Take this sign. Where’s the dividend for bailing out Wall Street? I guess they didn’t take a look at the 2010 budget to figure out the dividend made it back to the budget, yeah. Now I guess if and when the protestor holding that sign reads this post he can go home.

Or how about this sign? I guess she hasn’t looked at the numbers. I guess the $2.2 Trillion the Federal Government spent on social programs last year don’t count. Now think about the cost was for just one year. If that’s not a War on poverty I don’t know what is. How much again did the wars cost last year? $126 Billion (excludes regular military spending). I think it’s clear to see the war on poverty is vastly larger then the cost of the wars.

It seems to me the protestors marching on Wall Street need to go the library and research the facts.

School Fundraiser–Order Here

2011-09-29T19:15:00.001-07:00

It’s that time of the year for school fundraisers. My daughter’s school has chosen the Innisbrook as the service provider for the fundraiser. If you wish to support her quest to collect prizes (she is in 1st grade); order some stuff using the information below. They are offering a plethora of stuff including wrapping paper, make-up, chocolate, magazines, gift bags, tumblers, things for girls on the go, candles, bottle stopper’s, cookies, measuring spoons, brownies, spices, nuts, ribbon, lotion, body wash, birthday cards, brain games, final touches, and more…

Here is the form letter from the fundraiser provider:

My school's annual fundraiser with Innisbrook has begun. Innisbrook Wraps has beautifully designed gift wrap printed on quality recycled paper, coordinating gift wrap accessories, gourmet foods and fine Helen Grace Chocolates that make great gifts, Time Inc. magazine subscriptions, and more.

For every item that is purchased, Innisbrook donates up to 40% of the purchase price to my school. I also earn a prize credit for every item purchased. The more prize credits I earn, the more prizes I win!

Please consider visiting the Innisbrook website and making a purchase on my behalf. A link is included below. Our sale will be over soon, so don't wait. Place your order today.

Thanks for your help!
Seller: SEDONA Seller ID# R285148G
School: COASTAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
School Number: 102730
Click this link below to visit the site and they will recognize me and my school automatically.
http://www.innisbrook.com/credits/index/studentlink?id=R285148G
If the above link does not work:
1. Click below
2. Select Shop the Innisbrook Online Store
3. Enter School# 102730 and Select Go
4. Select Continue
5. Enter Seller ID# R285148G
www.innisbrook.com

Here’s my daughter’s pleading for the opportunity to earn prizes:

Please buy this stuff. They have ones with almonds in it. There is one’s with just chocolate, there are ones with chocolate and blue squirrely lines on them. Daddy I don’t know what those are. And on the top and the inside. Chocolate with funny shapes with nuts or something. A mint I think. Something with yellow stripe, but I don’t know what the filling is. (she then read the description reluctantly and determined they are lemon filled). And then theirs something sprinkled on it, and a filling that I don’t know what is (couldn’t read the description). Chocolate things with pretty diamonds on them. And then I don’t know what these things are, I can’t read the first one. And then I have to turn the page and there are these things.

Definitely a shorter request, we’re going to have to work on her selling skills.

Corporate Taxes–They cover the costs!

2011-09-29T09:53:00.001-07:00

A quote by Elizabeth Warren has been going around the internet indicating that corporations should pay more taxes, because they benefit mainly from the infrastructure that they use to conduct their business.

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you!

But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.

But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

But don’t businesses already cover those costs?

Taking a look at the Federal Budget we can see that corporations paid the Federal government a shit load of money.

Corporation Taxes 2010	(in millions of dollars)
Income Taxes	$191,437
Social Insurance*	$432,407
Transportation Fuels	$11,030
Transportation Trust Fund	$34,992
Airport and airway Trust Fund	$10,612
Inland Waterway	$74
Tobacco	$17,160
Tobacco Assessments Trust Fund	$937
Total:	$698,649
* 1/2 of Social Insurance Receipts

Now I’ve included transportation costs in the number since they primarily are paid to the benefit of businesses. Whether it’s people going to work or visiting a place on vacation to frequent businesses that cater to tourists. There is also the fuel taxes to transport goods and services.

Now lets look at the expense side of the ledger.


2010 Budget Outlays (in millions)
	Business	Citizen	Unsure

050 National defense:
Discretionary:			$ 714,179
Mandatory:			$ 7,130
150 International affairs:
Discretionary:			$ 57,028
Mandatory:			$ 3,567
250 General science, space, and technology:
Discretionary:	$ 30,996
Mandatory:	$ 91
270 Energy:
Discretionary:	$ 3,714
Mandatory:	$ 4,018
300 Natural resources and environment:
Discretionary:	$ 36,768
Mandatory:	$ 2,884
350 Agriculture:
Discretionary:	$ 7,329
Mandatory:	$ 12,518
370 Commerce and housing credit:
Discretionary:	$ 7,398
Mandatory:	$ (126,390)
400 Transportation:
Discretionary:	$ 29,014
Mandatory:	$ 71,075
450 Community and regional development:
Discretionary:	$ 21,347
Mandatory:	$ (244)
500 Education, training, employment, and social services:
Discretionary:	$ 89,481
Mandatory:	$ 5,674
550 Health:
Discretionary:	$ 58,537
Mandatory:		$ 347,675
570 Medicare:
Discretionary:	$ 6,246
Mandatory:		$ 446,372
600 Income security:
Discretionary:	$ 65,680
Mandatory:		$ 558,362
650 Social security:
Discretionary:	$ 5,764
Mandatory:		$ 701,065
700 Veterans benefits and services:
Discretionary:	$ 53,274
Mandatory:	$ 71,170
750 Administration of justice:
Discretionary:	$ 51,976
Mandatory:	$ 3,180
800 General government:
Discretionary:	$ 18,838
Mandatory:	$ 4,824
900 Net interest:
Mandatory:		$ 196,193
920 Allowances:
950 Undistributed offsetting receipts:
Mandatory:			$ (82,116)

Totals	$ 535,162	$ 2,249,667	$ 699,788

As we can see from the breakdown, the costs of the benefits to the corporation to conduct business is around $535,162 million. Now I’ve probably kept some costs in the Business side that belongs in the Citizen side and the defense budget can be argued either way. But in her quote she doesn’t include national defense, so I excluded it and put in the unsure total. Also the profit from TARP maybe should be excluded from the number. Even if we do that business is really close to covering all of the benefits.

Now these are just Federal numbers and don’t include expenditures on the state and local level. But I do think these numbers are reflective of what you would find on those levels also. So Elizabeth Warren’s quote sounds great on the surface, but once we look at the underlying numbers we can see that businesses pay their fair share to the government to cover the benefits they receive.

Take a look at the Citizen column, does something look out of whack there? I’ll cover that in a future post.

GRAIL NASA Tweetup Part IX-The Launch Days

2011-09-22T09:23:00.001-07:00

After all of the tours and speakers the next day it was time to watch the Delta II Heavy launch of the GRAIL mission. NASA was nice enough to setup a seating area for us Tweetup participants on a causeway. Other then the oppressive humidity the weather appeared to be great. Limited amount of clouds, great sunrise and slight breezes where we were sitting. Other then waking up early to be in time to catch the busses at 6 am the day was shaping up to be a successful one. I guess a benefit of waking up early was catching the sunrise. The sunsets I normally see come at a much more convenient hour, since I’m usually up nearly year round when they happen.

From the causeway we could spy numerous NASA and Air Force launch facilities. I took especial note of being able to take a picture of one launch facility and a port-a-potty. I like to think that the without the port-a-potty the launch pad in the background couldn’t have been constructed. Now if you think that’s not true try to build a project without them, if reported OSHA will come down and shut the project down. You could say it’s the most important part of a construction project because its one of the first things to show up on the site.

Everyone got set up in their spot to watch the launch. Once set up people where milling about. One individual seemed to gather a crowd around him while he held court. It seems that Neil deGrasse Tyson didn’t want to sit in the VIP section, but wanted to hang out with all us Tweeps. What was great is that he spent most of the time answering questions about the universe and what ever other topics us Tweeps could come up with. For the most part I felt the interaction between the Tweeps and Mr. Tyson was like watching TV. You could ask a question and hear is response, want to hear more about it ask another question on the topic. Tired of the topic? Ask a question on a different topic and it was like the channel was changed. For the most part there wasn’t much back and forth. It truly felt like a one way discussion happening.

That was until a third grader started asking questions. It’s almost like the same social contract between Mr. Tyson and the third grader didn’t exist as it did with the Tweeps. The perceived rules on how to interact with Mr. Tyson appeared to be different. The interaction was different because the third grader was willing to interact with the answers, not content to just wait for the next topic. Mr. Tyson was espousing on number and factors of numbers. Providing the young person a concept of the size of the various numbers from the tens to googol. It seems that the youngster had issues with one of the large number characterized by the number of stars in the universe. The youngster took issue with the number of stars, since the universe is still creating stars on a daily basis (and destroying them). I could hardly see a socially adept Tweeter doing the same thing. Especially seeing the reaction of the crowd to the interaction. It seemed to be one of amazement and surprise that a third grader would challenge a well respected astrophysics expert on how many stars are in the sky.

Unfortunately the while we where waiting patiently for the first launch window of the morning we got word that the upper level winds where red, or too fast, so the first launch attempt would be scrubbed. A half hour later the second launch window was thwarted by the upper level winds as well. It appeared that we would have to wait one more day for an attempt. Later on the next day, late in the evening, the launch attempt for the next day was scrubbed to allow for more time to inspect the rocket. It appeared that the rocket fuel removal from the rocket after the launch attempt may had some issues. Fortunately for me I was up late enough to get word of the scrub. I heard later that another person wasn’t so lucky and awoke early in the morning to head to the busses unnecessarily.

Finally the next day the launch would be attempted again. Once again there was a nice sunrise, but this time we were at a different location. The viewing area was at the Kars Park, a bit further away from the previous launch attempt. This time we didn’t have Mr. Tyson to provide entertainment. We did get to see some of the local wild life. I learned that manatees aren’t photogenic above water, though you can see them pop up every once in a while. Can’t you see the great shot of one in the picture to the left?

In addition to the manatee we spied an alligator. @Fidget02, the person shown in the picture above with Mr. Tyson, got up close and personal with a nest of red ants. I got familiar with the various biting insects flying around.

Unfortunately the first launch window of the morning was scrubbed once again due to high winds. As the second launch window approached it appeared that cloud cover may thwart the next launch window. Fortunately the clouds where the kind that the cameras could see through, so the launch was a go, in regard to cloud cover. As the last launch window approached it appeared that the launch may get upset by upper level winds being too high. Fortunately the last weather balloon to go up came back green so the launch was a go. The rocket took off in a white glow from the solid rocket boosters. The sound of the rocket didn’t catch up with the visuals for quite a time. The rocket was off. Hopefully it makes it to the moon safely and is able to complete the journey.

The experience of the NASA Tweetup was great. I’d like to thank NASA for holding the event and for my wife to let me go. If you ever have a chance to attend one, I’d recommend it. Hopefully NASA continues to hold these events.

GRAIL NASA Tweetup Part VIII-The Science

2011-09-20T07:31:00.001-07:00

During the presentations the science and engineering of the GRAIL mission was presented. The main mission is to determine what the interior of the moon is made up of. The scientists have come up with a method of measuring the gravitation field of the moon by utilizing two satellites orbiting it. While they orbit they will be measuring minute differences in the gravitation field over 3 months. If you want more information you really should check out the mission website.

The reason scientists haven’t been able to figure out the interior of the moon is because the moon rotates at the same rate as it rotates around the Earth. This means that from Earth we can only see one side of the moon. Without being able to see the other side we cannot perform the measurements necessary to determine the composition of the moon.

The coolest part of the mission has to be the Moon KAM. It lets classes schedule missions to take pictures of the moon. All you need to do is convince your son or daughter’s teacher to participate. Participating is easy via the Moon KAM website.

Presentations where also given by ULA and Lockheed Martin regarding some of the facts of the rocket and satellites as well as answering questions from the crowd.

A cool presentation was the Eyes on the Solar System. The Eyes on the Solar System lets you observe the universe and nearly all of the manmade objects launched from Earth. It’s a web only service at the moment and lets you go to any point in the universe and see the space missions at different speeds. Definitely something you should check out when you have time.

Amtrak California	11,866,636
Metrolink	10,250,000
San Diego Trolley	4,746,768
BART	17,160,000
Sacramento RTD	33,000,000
Total:	77,023,404

Do Be Afraid

fun

in this piccher find the cursuve s ,the clover,the rainbow,the red heart ,the pink heart

how to take care of a bunny

daily

weekly

yearly

what a bunny needs

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

gymnastics

gymnastics is fun

gymnastics is really fun

I love gymnastics

math

haikus and poems

there was a cat

that cat said at

rat-a-tat-tat

there was a bunny

it was really really cute

and very funny

there was a cat

her name was pat

there was another cat

his name was mat

horsey you go fast

you go as fast as the wind

I will name you fast

Poems

Grilled Cheese Odyssey- Part Deuce

Grilled Cheese–Day One

Sneaker Taxes

Large Corporations

Going Out to Eat

Homelessness

Skewed Angles

I'm Not Right!

HSR-Dedicated Funding

OWS is Protesting the Wrong Thing

The War on Poverty Has Failed

Credit Unions are Banks

Responsibility

I’m Offended!

School Fundraiser–Order Here

Corporate Taxes–They cover the costs!

GRAIL NASA Tweetup Part IX-The Launch Days

GRAIL NASA Tweetup Part VIII-The Science