Religion is just grand, part 5

I'm standing in a catholic church's foyer. My wife is inside because she's a godmother to a baby being christened. The foyer is where people go when the have a baby in a stroller (like me) or a small child getting antsy (like the other people here). A little girl keeps fidgeting and trying to "dance". Her mother or grandmother or whatever gets fed up and says: "stop it! Do you want to go to HELL? Well, DO YOU?!"

Little girl starts to cry.

Amen.

Search Fail

This is stupid. Bad design like this annoys me. This is really the set of default date ranges your product offers?

Quote of the day

...there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.

--Oscar Wilde

The worst driveway contractor experience ... ever

This is a review of All-New Paving and Concrete, (732) 288-1700 based in Tom's River.

This company is dreadful. I say this knowing that negative reviews can really impact a small business, and I’m not out looking to maliciously hurt a local owner. I take negative reviews very seriously. However, *avoid* All New Paving. Why? Well, how do you judge the quality of any contractor?

1. give an honest, accurate quote
2. show up on time to do the work
3. complete the project with quality results
4. clean up afterward

Fail, Fail, Fail, and Fail.

We initially contracted for repaving the driveway while another contractor did some paving work around it; then, they pitched us to also do the paving work and eventually we gave them the second job. He was very responsive when trying to *get* the job – then… silence. Yes, I know, shame on me for giving a deposit of more than a minimal amount. We had to hound him for WEEKS to get him to show up and do the job. That’s not hyperbole; it was weeks of excuses mixed with long periods of not returning calls. Then, when he finally shows up: “oh, it looks like you need an extra layer of asphalt – that’s an extra $1,100.” At this point of course the driveway is torn up, so we’re in a bind.

BTW an extra 1100 blows the budget off the project (almost an extra 20%), so now we need to negotiate him “working with us” to absorb the extra unforeseen cost. He agrees to let us pay the difference from the original “estimate” in another installment 10 days later, but demands a post-dated check! Because the budget is blown, we change the paving project to a replacement of the retaining walls on either side of the driveway (get rid of the railroad ties and replace with stone). He then tried to get more cash on the spot for more materials – umm, no.

Then when the job is “finished” there are large gaps between the new wall and the rest of the property… more than enough for someone to snap an ankle. There’s a big hole in the new retaining wall where it ties to the existing step. There’s landscaping that was removed and not put back. And my favorite – there’s a giant pile of the railroad ties sitting on my lawn. Right on the lawn in front of my house. ON THE F’NG LAWN. For another week!

The only reason this stuff got fixed is because we canceled that post-dated check for the balance. Good thing too, since he tried to cash it early. Do we really have to hold the money hostage to get the job completed? Apparently, yes. But you shouldn’t have to.
Well, you say: maybe this reviewer is just a bitter curmudgeon, who is so anal-retentive and OCD that he blows tiniest smudges out of proportion – maybe the above litany of errors is all in my head? I retort: Judge for yourself… pics are below.

note the giant gap between the wall and the step...

Here's a closer look. Does that look "done" to you?

Is that big enough for a toddler to hurt themselves? Yep.

On my GD lawn. What do you think the grass underneath that pile looks like?

It's like living in a novel. An Ayn Rand novel...

Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others. --Rand Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

From InvestmentNews' "Taking it to The Street" article on 4/30:

The AFL-CIO, the 11-million-member labor federation, is urging Congress to impose a transaction tax on securities trading to help cover the $900 billion cost for a government jobs program they want lawmakers to create.

Why even bother creating the jobs? Why don't they just demand that the government redistribute the money directly to them? I mean, not via check, because they'd have to go to a BANK to get it cashed, but maybe through an envelope of cash?

Secret identity revealed!

C'mon - the resemblance is uncanny!

Who was that guy from Georgia, who grew peanuts and flew in Air Force One?

From "Inflation's coming V-Shaped Recovery" in Forbes:

Last week's release of the Producer Price Index should have sent shivers down the spines of those who worry about silly things like profit margins. Prices for finished goods were up 0.7% month-over-month and 6% year-over-year. Intermediate goods prices were up 7.7% year-over-year. Prices for crude goods have soared 3.2% since March and 33.4% on an annual basis. If that's not a V-shaped recovery in inflation, what would you call it?

The Consumer Price Index is up 2.4% over the past 12 months. No, that level alone does not equal intractable inflation, but it's still a big jump from last summer's 2% CPI drop. Thanks to the Fed's record-sized balance sheet ($2.32 trillion), which has grown by $20 billion since since last week alone, inflation data has become disturbing. April's import prices were up 0.7% from March and 11.4% from a year ago.

What's it called when you have high unemployment and high inflation? Oh yeah - staglfation! Malaise! Jimmy F'ng Carter fucks with our economy from beyond the grave through this administration! **update: James Carter apparently not dead.

Perfect summary from Mike Pento's article:

The losers in all this are members of the general public, who are suffering the double whammy of high unemployment and the erosion of their purchasing power.

My local school budget

Data from http://www.middletownk12.org/finance/files/User%20Friendly%20Budget%202010-11.pdf

Pupils	2009	2010	Net	Net %
Pupils on Roll Regular Full-Time	8540	8814	274	3.2%
Pupils on Roll Regular Shared-Time	86	84	-2	-2.3%
Pupils on Roll Reg Accr. Adult High Sch	16	22	6	37.5%
Pupils on Roll - Special Full-Time	1461	1381	-80	-5.5%
Pupils on Roll - Special Shared-Time	101	108	7	6.9%
Private School Placements	58	53	-5	-8.6%
Total	10262	10462	200	1.9%		As pupils increase…
Selected Items	09-10	10-11	Net	Net %
Total Operating Budget	146,208,972	140,366,709	-5,842,263	-4.0%		1. ...we spend less overall
Local Tax Levy	119,793,275	123,878,213	4,084,938	3.4%		2. but we're taxed more
Regular Instruction	51,142,450	48,884,706	-2,257,744	-4.4%		3a. even though we're spending less on teaching
School Sponsored Athletics	1,418,274	1,152,279	-265,995	-18.8%		3b. And less on sports
Personal Services - Employee Benefits	22,499,239	23,808,496	1,309,257	5.8%		4. but we are spending a million more on benefits
Total Comparative Per Pupil Cost	12,638	12,106	-532	-4.2%		5. so we spend less per kid overall
Classroom-Salaries and Benefits	7,240	7,505	265	3.7%		6. but more per kid on teachers
Employee Benefits as a % of Salaries	23.4	26.7	3	14.1%		7. and those benefit costs are rising

And apparently those benefit costs are rising even after the layoffs of 124 district staff, including 72.5 teaching positions! [http://www.app.com/article/20100420/NEWS/4210326/1283/LOCAL07/Middletown-voters-oust-school-board-incumbents-reject-budget]

You're nasty. You know who you are.

If there's a hell, there's a special room in it for people who go to the bathroom and don't wash their hands. But, many are unaware that there is a slightly smaller, adjacent hellroom for people who go to the bathroom and wash their hands without using soap! Especially when it's RIGHT THERE.

2010 New York City Start! Wall Street Run & Heart Walk

Heartland Brewery

When a man reaches a certain age, he must begin to think more carefully about what drinking on a Thursday night does to his body on Friday morning. Last night I met a friend for beers and something to eat at Heartland Brewery (the place you go when no one wants to make a decision as to where to go), and while it was far from a raging party my body kind hurts in that annoying way it does after I exercise. Since when is 3 beers enough "exercise" to make my joints sore? FML.

Anyway, I've been known to be sour on Heartland over the years, with my primary gripe being along the lines of "if you're a brewery, your beer shouldn't suck, and if it does the food better be damn good". And the food wasn't. However I do have to say that they redeemed themselves (to some degree) last night. The IPA flowed really nicely. It's one of their standards and always on the menu; I'm not big into "seasonal specialty" beers but their "Not Tonight Honey Porter" sign made me chuckle. All the pints are $6.95, and a seven-dollar beer is not that bad in the city. Service at the bar was friendly and attentive, and we had no trouble getting a table for something to eat. Comment on the economy that they have tables open at 730?

Maybe I was too busy hating on them to notice the menu, or maybe it really has changed over the years, but in either case dinner did not disappoint as in years past. I had the Pan-Seared Salmon (Pineapple citrus salsa and grilled polenta, served with frisée and radicchio salad and chipotle mayo 15.50) while my friend got the Grilled Cheese (I think it was on special - if so, bonus points for putting grilled cheese on the menu!). I can't speak for his but mine was pretty damn good, the salsa not overpowering the salmon. Overall Heartland Brewery worked themselves up to "acceptable, not exceptional" from "hell no" on my list - your results may vary.

Quote without attribution

Who said "Slavery's chains are forged in the furnace of envy"? I've been using that but can't find an attribution...

At least the UAW is paid to work poorly

Hooray! Another victory for the glorious proletarian revolution, keeping the capitalist oppressors’ foot off our necks. All hail our brave and industrious comrades in the teachers’ unions! Look how they make all our lives better – especially our most precious resource, the future tax- and dues-payers of the great collective (what the free-thinking non-union aristocrats still condescendingly call “children”):

DA: NYC Teacher Had 4th-Graders Fight In Class
[Link to cbs story]

A teacher at a New York City public school has been charged with forcing his fourth graders to fight in the classroom. The allegations are startling; that a fourth grade teacher at PS 65 in Queens not only condoned, but encouraged two boys to turn his classroom into their very own private "fight club." …

Prosecutors say Gullotta [the teacher] then instructed the boys to lie to the school nurse about what happened….

Of course, the part about this being good for the children is bullshit. Thanks to the union, this guy can’t be fired, even though he was arrested. He’s still on the public payroll, as are many other non-fireable teachers. Sure, deep down, in the slimy dungeon core of the educational establishment there’s some level of normal thought where at least they pull them out of the classroom, but hey – you get to keep paying your fair share to keep them employed doing nothing! I was going to just link to the article about NYC spending $53 million to keep them plugged into the union machine, but instead why don’t you Google “paid not to teach” and see how many of these stories come up… NATIONWIDE!

Guess what? The real travesty is not just there’s a 1930s-style industrial union thieving from the taxpayers, fighting every single reform, and corrupting state and municipal politics… it’s that there are actually great teachers in the public schools, people who can change kids’ lives (for the better, not like the example above), and they’re trapped in the teamsters. They can’t be promoted or rewarded, nor can they protect our children by excelling at their jobs and having the crappy teachers wash out of the system. Or even the ones running a fight club. Such a system encourages, enforces, and engrains mediocrity. But hey, pay your dues.

Oh, and for the record I have many friends who are teachers in public schools. They of course belong to the trade unions. I don’t have any friends who are poor or mediocre teachers. If any of them read this and consider it an attack on them, or their profession, I encourage them to read this again; my beef, like almost everyone else in the private sector, is not with teachers but the unions.

It only makes sense if you don't think too hard...

Again, Comrade Kucinich should be voted out of the public eye. His comments, and this article, reflect two big logical flaws in the whole discussion over bonuses.

The first is that it's somehow "bad" that people make a lot of money; this is a ludicrous idea assuming that the money is being made honestly, not stolen. The second is that "banks" should be discouraged from taking risks; this is silly. Taking risk, in anticipation of adequate reward, is the whole point of the banking/investment industry, and any well-functioning (read:capitalist) economy in general.