Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Rants on Palin
I’ve got this part covered.
Here at the Rants, we provide detailed commentary that is usually on-point and completely right. I stress the word “usually.”
Here’s what we think about Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin: She hates taxes, she hates corruption, she knows how to shoot a gun, and she’s hot.
In other words, ‘nuff said. Let’s get these two into office and tear some stuff up.
Update: It should be noted that I, Helo of Drumwater’s Rants, wrote the above commentary. I added in the part about Palin being hot because, for lack of a better way to put it, she is (I added that after the board meeting, after the roundtable discussion, and after the copy was written. Okay, okay, I’m a guy. It happens. If I offended any of the ladies, or the wives of any of the members of the Rants, I apologize. But seriously, she’s hot!)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Heads up to our Urban friends
For those of you who lived in Los Angeles during the month of April, 1992, you will know why, but the rest of the nation’s largest (and most congested) cities will also be involved this fall.
For those of you who don’t remember (or for you youngsters who weren’t around back then), let me refresh your recollections. On March 3, 1991, a man was stopped after a high-speed chase on Southern California freeways. The driver had been arrested for driving under the influence several times in the past, and had been arrested in the possession of drugs, so the police were a little concerned. The passenger got out, was handcuffed and frisked and then set to the side without incident, but the driver - hight Rodney King - got out, was verbally belligerent and, despite being Tasered, did not stop being combative and threatening.
The police used what some have described as “excessive force” in subduing him, but the only reason that they say so was that the police and King were caught on videotape. The police officers who beat him were tried and acquitted by a jury of their peers (3 acquittals, one hung jury), and blacks went ... well, let’s be honest. They went apeshit. I’ve read that 57 people were killed because of that verdict.
(Personal annoyance: blacks were shouting “Rodney King din’t get no justice!” One minor thing, though - Rodney King wasn’t the one on trial. He wasn’t even prosecuted for the numerous crimes he had been stopped for in the first place!)
Well, folks, people riot and kill even when they are happy.
Whether Obama wins or loses on November 4th, what do you think that the big city streets will look like? We’ve already been told that if Obama loses, it is for no other reason than “racism”.
Chicago. New York City. Detroit. Los Angeles. New Orleans. Atlanta.
Washington, D.C.
Thank God for the Heller decision…
We have a First Place winner
But second and third-place prizes are still open for anyone who manages a perfect score.
If no other perfect scores come in before Monday morning, those prizes WILL be awarded, since we have more than three entries. (Time-stamp of receipt breaks any scoring ties...)
Best of luck to all, and congratulations to Joe, even though I’ve already notified him via e-mail.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Almost halfway in
And the only thing I can say is that of the entries I have received to date, none of them have gotten a perfect score.
It seems that some of the questions I thought would be difficult, you guys found really easy, and the ones I thought would be really easy seem to have “stumped the band”, so to speak.
I can’t get any more specific than that, but there is still a chance!
Ya gotta be kidding me
Via a link at Ace’s place comes this scary story about what some people here in California are trying to do.
You see, as the State spends more on its Utopian social programs, and nurses and teachers are demanding ever-higher amounts of money, something has to give. What gives in this case will end up being the middle class.
Again.
Seems that someone has realized that people will move away from higher taxation levels, moving out to the suburbs, and even, in some cases, out of the State completely, heading to (say) Nevada or Arizona. (Or Oregon and Washington if they like the social ideas and just don’t like the extremist Republican turn California has taken since Arnold became the Governator.)
A California activist is trying to gather the 694,354 signatures needed to place a tax initiative on the ballot that would:
* Impose a new 35% income surtax (in addition to federal taxes and the existing 10.3% top state rate)—17.5% (on all of the taxpayer’s income) when income exceeds $150,000 (single)/$250,000 (joint), and an additional 17.5% (again, on all of the taxpayer’s income) when income exceeds $350,000 (single)/$500,000 (joint).
* Impose a one-time 55% wealth tax on assets exceeding $20 million held by a California resident or held in California by nonresident.
* Impose an exit tax of between 36.5% to 54.3% on both income and unrealized appreciation in asset values over $5 million when a resident dies or leaves California.
I wonder how quickly I can convert everything to cash…
McCain’s VP Choice
It was bound to happen.
Over at Drudge they’re reporting that McCain has chosen his VP, who he will be announcing later today. This is big news. All of the pundits are actively going through their lists to figure out who it’s going to be, and here at the Rants went through ours lists and came up with ten (10) candidates.
Go ahead and make your choice for who will be McCain’s VP:
I believe it’ll be Dr. Thaddeus Venture, but we’ll see who’s right.
Wasting My Money
What the deuce!?
Could the government be any more incompetent? This is my freakin’ money (the money of other taxpayers) they completely forgot about. I smell incompetence and stupidity.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money is sitting in inactive Los Angeles trust funds, some idle for more than decade, at a time when declining revenue has forced the city to raise fees and cut services, according to an audit of the Department of Public Works.
The audit, released Wednesday by Controller Laura Chick, also found that the city was forced to return $193,000 to the state from the Griffith Observatory Trust Fund “due to poor program oversight.” In addition, the city failed to recoup $5.4 million in labor costs on the refurbishment project and should claim $3.1 million left over in the observatory trust fund, the audit stated.
“Government is always trying to find ways to pay for providing basic services to the public,” Chick, who was at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, said in a statement released with the audit. “There is no reason that millions of dollars should sit gathering dust, especially when we are seeking to raise fees and taxes on the public.”
Holy crap, did a Democrat just think of a way to protect taxpayers and reduce taxes? The world has truly gone bonkers. Seriously though, if Chick is going to take this under her wing (no pun intended) and fight for us, then so be it. I’ll back her as much as needed.
Raising the Economy
Will it keep going?
I hope the economy keeps growing and the rebound stays strong. After all, it’s bad news for the Democrats, who swear that we’re going through the Great Depression. The daily dose:
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. The revised reading was much better than the government’s initial estimate of a 1.9 percent pace and exceeded economists’ expectations for a 2.7 percent growth rate.
That was in April-June, when everyone swore the world was going to end. It was a lot better after that. I can’t wait to see the numbers for next quarter.
Update: Well, I can’t wait to see the numbers if they’re good.
High Hopes
A bit of optimism.
I guess Steve had a good cup of coffee this morning, because he’s a little more optimistic than usual.
I think John McCain will be President this time next year. I don’t think we’ve gone crazy enough to elect a man who has never held an executive position, and who pals around with anti-Semites and unrepentant terrorists. My guess is that once the ads start running full-force and people learn what Obama is all about, McCain will be in position to win by four or five percentage points.
I hope you’re right, Steve.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Being A Man - Wednesday Edition
Forget about your “good side.”
Once upon a time, before Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, every other show on Bravo, “athletic fit” shirts, and other seeminly gay items, guys stayed in shape because we did guy stuff. We were fixing the house, working on our cars, and messing around with various sports in our free time.
But now things have changed. You’re a hick if you work on your car, you’re poor if you work on your house, and if you don’t own an “athletic fit” shirt, you’re out of the realm of popular style. There is nothing cool about an athletic fit shirt. Real men do not wear tight shirts that expose our stomachs. That’s gay.
I was wandering the web looking for cool stuff for guys (there’s a ton of stuff out there, you just have to look for it), and I came across a website that highlights one of my favorite exercises, the burpee. If you’ve never done a burpee, you’re missing out. It’s a full body exercise that will get you ripped and leave you able to pull the nerf bar out of the bed of your truck without any tools. Visit this page to learn how to do them.
I can’t stress it enough - stay in shape. Don’t worry about being the thinnest, most model-esque guy on the block. Be big and strong. That’s what we, as guys, are. Don’t worry about your image. Actions speak louder than words. Go out there and kick some ass and do some burpees.
DNC Thoughts
Short entry, but here it goes:
1> If you are some sort of tie-dyed, whacko leftist that thinks that Michelle Obama was lying through her gritted teeth during her speech, you were right. The words she spoke were not her own.....they were picked for her by the Obamessiah’s speech writers to take her edge off. She is the harder, more angry, more race-mindful of the two. She’s been caught before when speaking off the cuff, saying she’s never been proud of America in her adult life.
2> Hillary Clinton was as gracious as she could be....and that ain’t much, guys and gals. Not much at all. She’s angry, she’s bitter that it isn’t her getting crowned this week, and everyone that has half a brain knows it. The Clinton’s have been figuratively asked to leave the stage, and with the lust these two have for the limelight and the power, know they are deeply angered.
3> This whole ‘Greek temple’ thing is so overboard as to be ridiculous. If the Obama campaign people actually set up the stage to look like this, and even come close to having something like this involved, he’s done. This temple-stage thing is proof that this man is an arrogant elitist.
I have more under the fold.
Monday, August 25, 2008
If McCain has any brains
He would choose Kay Bailey Hutchison (Senator from Texas) as his running mate.
All of those disaffected PUMA voters who would normally be backing Hillary because they want a woman on the ticket and were contemplating voting for McCain anyhow will immediately jump ship.
She provides some serious conservative bona fides, not to mention that she is incredibly well-spoken.
Just one blogger’s opinion.
I’m not going to fire a pistol UPDATED
and that }crack!{ you just heard was my knee.
Be gentle with me. Best piece of advice I can give you is Pay Attention. Every question can be answered with a natural number (a positive whole number). There are five music clips and a picture of the equation that can be found at http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gzzm6l9xpqi .
Don’t assume that the equation will resolve as a whole number, either.
You know the drill…
A = What is the only number in the title to this song? (Contest Clip 3)
B = There are two numbers, designated for the purposes of this question as ‘X’ and ‘Y’. ‘X’ raised to the ‘Yth’ power is exactly one less than ‘Y’ raised to the ‘Xth’ power. What sum would you get if you added ‘X’ and ‘Y’?
C = The sentence “In the early morning, astronomers spiritualized nonmathematicians” is a mnemonic for a number sequence. What is the next number in the sequence?
D = Divide 30 by 1/2 and add 10.
E = A farmer has 40 sheep, 20 pigs, 10 cows and 5 chickens. If he decides to call the pigs ‘cows’, how many cows does he have?
F = To the nearest mile, how long is an Olympic marathon?
G = What is the only number in the title to this song? (Contest Clip 2)
H = A certain country (Nonameia) has just two kinds of coins. One coin is called a nevesi and is worth 7 units. The other coin is called a levensa (emphasis on the second syllable for both words) and it’s worth 11 units. Because of these strange units, there are obviously some prices that simply cannot be paid using any possible combination of the coins. Citizens and tourists alike can pay for items costing 7 units, 11 units, 14 units, 18 units, and so on. What is the highest-priced item that cannot be paid for using any combination of these coins?
J = This song is the title track to the soundtrack to a movie. How many Academy Awards did the movie win? (Contest clip 1)
K = How many nations are on the smallest continent (and I don’t mean Antarctica!) to have never hosted an Olympic Games?
L = There is a State associated (in a rather obvious way) with this song (Contest Clip 4). On a chronological list of Admission to the Union, what number would this State be?
M = Bill was hired to paint the door numbers on the offices in a law firm. There are 100 offices, numbered 1 through 100, inclusive. How many times does Bill have to paint the number ‘9’?
N = What number would come last alphabetically if written out in Roman numerals?
P = How many different first names have our Presidents had?
Q = How many letters are in the longest English word that can be written without repeating any letters?
R = You have 40 socks in a drawer in your bedroom. The power is out and it is too dark to see what color the socks are. You know that 35% of the socks are black and the remaining 65% are blue. How many socks do you have to take out of the drawer to be absolutely certain that you have a matching pair of socks?
S = Not including the area code, what is the sum of the digits of the phone number that was traced at the very beginning of “The Matrix”?
T = There are actually two numbers associated with the title of this song (Contest Clip 5). What is their sum?
U = How many different first names have our Vice-Presidents had?
V = How many perches in a rood?
You can either post a comment with your twenty answers and solution, or drop me a line at drmwstr-at-gmail-dot-com. Prizes as before: $125 for 1st, $75 for 2nd and $50 for 3rd. Good luck, and contest ends on Labor Day (next Monday).
UPDATE: A question has been asked, and I think it deserves to be answered in public.
Q:Are you counting the “acting Vice President” Lafayette Foster in the list?
A: The question said nothing about “Acting” Presidents or Vice-Presidents, so No.
Q: And are you counting only given names or the name they most commonly went by? Like Dan Quayle’s real first name was James…
A: James was VP Quayle’s first name.
UPDATE 2:
Q: If I give him an 11 coin, he can give me 7 change, and I’ve paid {him} 4. So, I will be able to come up with x and y for 1=11x-7y, then I can buy anything, assuming the shopkeeper can give me change. Unless you mean without making change, which you probably do. I just know how tricky and specific these questions can be, and I’m trying to not get out-tricked!
A: The question said nothing about the shopkeeper offering change, only to determine the most expensive item that cannot be paid for by offering a combination of coins, but making change is probably how Nonameia’s economy works for small purchases. (Instead of being merely a hypothetical, nonexistent country, y’know.)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
12-hour warning
Runners take your mark.
I noticed something, however. The time displayed on the entry is an hour behind the actual time.
I will be posting this contest at exactly 8:00 am Pacific (11 am Eastern/4 pm Greenwich/11 pm Beijing time), no matter what time the server stamps on it, so set your watches.
In the spirit of Being A Man
Let’s hear from the rest of you…
I’d like to hear your opinions on what the qualities of a Retrosexual should be, but here’s the kicker.
You’re only allowed to list adjectives.
Honest.
Forthright.
Polite.
And the like…
Think of it as a fill-in-the-blank in the format of “A Real Man is ___________ .”
Just to spark your noodle for tomorrow’s contest.