Archive for July, 2007
Cruising The Sea of Misery
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007Our cruise in November wasn’t this bad, but it was pretty close.
Laurie David An Energy Hog & Strumpet
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
I know, I know. I should be above this kind of thing:
“It’s been six years of trophy building, which creates a very large carbon footprint,” neighbor Jackie Mendez-Diez told us yesterday. “It’s huge hypocrisy. Laurie flies around in her private plane telling people what kind of car to drive, and she doesn’t even know where the wetlands are on her own property.” Mendez-Diez said she confronted David two weeks ago, and soon after was served with a no-trespass order by Chilmark police.“Personalities aside, there’s been an incredible amount of land disturbance and development, and there’s been very little public scrutiny,” says Ian Fein, a reporter at the Vineyard Gazette. “They’ve taken an area that was largely undeveloped and turned it into ‘Camp David,’ as they call it.” Even more interesting, since her separation, Laurie has been seen around town with a prominent island contractor — one who worked on her house, no less. What gives?
Hmmm… and there’s more on the “Carbon Sasquatch“:
“Actually, Laurie David has been creating one HUGE carbon footprint here on Martha’s Vineyard for the last 6 years. Her disgusting and ostentatious trophy building has been virtually ceaseless for about 6 years now. The trucks and pollution stop only when Mrs. Carbon Sasquatch is here for her summer vacation, making herself the center of everyone’s attention.And I’d say the fact that I saw Laurie and her hottie but dumb building contractor, Bart Thorpe, holding hands while walking on a secluded dock to a boat yesterday, has a lot more to do with her marriage breaking up than the scratchy toilet paper she’s forced on her family. I’ve also seen Bart bicycling in front of my house with a little girl he kept calling, Romy [Laurie's daughter is named Romy]. Bart, coincidentally, left his wife recently, too.
I met Laurie David 6 years ago. I didn’t like her then. I don’t like her now. She is the prime example of a spoiled, selfish, rich girl who says, “do what I say, not what I do”. She is a narcissist and a hypocrite to the nth degree.”
Man. Other than the fact that she thinks posting nasty blog comments about her neighbors is an appropriate venue for dispute-settlement, we’re kind of liking this Jackie Mendez-Diez! “Scratchy toilet paper.” Heh. Seriously, life is too short for that stuff.
Speaking of scratchy toilet paper, a good friend caused a marital spat when she bought recycled toilet paper. When her husband complained about his “@!$!! bleeding bum” they switched back to the tree-killing kind. It was one of the funniest stories I’ve ever enjoyed.
H/T Ace
MySpace Bans Sex Offenders…That They Know About
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007The remarkable thing about this story: 29,000. That number is terrifying.
“That number includes just the predators who signed up using their real names, and not the ones who failed to register or used fake names, or who haven’t been convicted,” wrote Mr. Cooper, who is one of several attorneys general working to slap restrictions on social networks.
In addition, how many technology un-savvy predators are there? With this Internets thingy, I found out: 600,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. Maybe being computer savvy, lacking social skills and luring children because you’re too lame to get laid by an adult is a sub-set disorder of the 600,000. Or maybe there’s multiple thousands more on MySpace registering under a pseudonym. That would be my bet. Parents, watch your children!
And initially, MySpace wouldn’t release the predators’ information. Let’s see, Google will filter its content for China, but won’t share data with their own government. MySpace will harbor sexual predators.
These technology companies need to find a moral compass and quick. Doing what’s right shouldn’t have to be imposed by the government or law enforcement. They are hardly more trust-worthy.
Home Sales Down
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007Down again across the country. An interesting thing is happening here, in The Woodlands, though. Sales of homes above $500,000 are moving briskly and increasing in value by over 15%/year. Sales of homes below $500,000 are slow, the market is glutted, and lots of lease-able houses are available. I don’t know what to make of it, exactly. My guess is that owners in the lower range are defaulting and can’t afford to even rent those homes. It’s probably a good time to be renting used mobile homes for $700 a month.
From The New York Times:
Those problems have been exacerbated in recent months by spreading problems in the subprime mortgage market, which offered loans to buyers with spotty credit histories. Rising defaults in those areas are dumping more homes onto an already glutted market.
The sales declines covered all parts of the country. Sales were down 7.3 percent in the Northeast and 6.8 percent in the West. Sales fell 2.8 percent in the Midwest and 1.7 percent in the South.
There is a glutted market, alright. I’m just wondering if people in the East and West are seeing the same disparity–the bigger homes asking for more, the smaller defaulting. This would mean that the number of lower-income, middle-class people suffering is astronomical to pull the whole market down.
Show Saddam Hussein’s Hanging
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007…If you’re going to show six American troops burning alive.
And in other news, did you hear that Gerhard Schroeder received an honorary degree from the University of Damascus? That would be in Syria. I love that now that he’s out of office he’s decided to “out” himself as the enemy-lover that he is.
New Autism Theory
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007It’s as good as any. What it seems to ignore is the cause of the genetic anomalies. To me, the cause must be environmental because the numbers have grown exponentially which is not exclusively attributed to higher reportage. Just ask long-term teachers. They’ll tell ya.
Office Space Horror!
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007It’s time for me to take a nap. I’m finding ridiculous YouTube clips more interesting than the Democratic Debates, sports scandals, and just about everything else. Like I said, time for a nap and some NyQuil, too, I think.
Failed States–UPDATED Post Evolving In Weird Ways
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Interesting map and conclusions:
The vast majority of the states listed in the index have not yet failed; they exhibit severe weaknesses that leave them vulnerable, especially to shocks such as natural disasters, war, and economic deprivation. The power of such events should not be underestimated. The war in Lebanon last summer helped undo nearly two decades of economic and political progress. But Lebanon was vulnerable because its political and security structures lacked integrity and remained tensely divided by factionalized elites. Those vulnerabilities not only helped turn the clock back on the country’s development, but they reverberated across the region—into Israel, Jordan, and Syria. It shows again that a country’s problems are never simply its own.
H/T Siggy
I didn’t look far enough down Siggy’s page. He has this hilarious and strangely fascinating video. It’s a slow start, but stay with it.
And then I found this….
Barry Bonds: The Company We Keep
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007Birds of a feather and whatnot. Barry Bond’s ex-mistress is doing a Playboy spread. Wow, he sure has a classy inner circle. And she will be one of the chief witnesses against his royal dopiness.
I watched the duel of the old guys–John Smoltz and Barry Bonds last night. Johnny worked Barry over and Barry knew it. They shared a moment on the field:
“I can’t divulge what he was saying, but we have a lot of respect for each other,” Smoltz said. “We’ve battled for so long. I can’t think of pitchers other than (Greg) Maddux and (Tom) Glavine … we’ve all stayed in the National League, been there 20 years and so has he, so the history speaks for itself.”
Smoltz nearly took Bond’s knees out. Poor Barry can barely move. He is 43 or almost. So he’s old. It was good to see John go after him though. Make Bonds work for it.
Shhhh! The Truth Will Make Them Queasy
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Courtesy JihadWatch who got it from GatesofVienna
