Treasury brings back the 20-year bond to pay for the ballooning deficit

Sunday, January 19, 2020

The Treasury Department is issuing a 20-year bond for the first time in 34 years to help pay for the ballooning $1 trillion dollar budget deficit.

Source: Treasury brings back the 20-year bond to pay for the ballooning deficit

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​We talked about the bond bubble.  Here’s a wild card in the equation.  I think it’s a bad sign.  IMHO the only reason to issue a 20 year is the 10, 30,​ and 50 are not selling. Or not selling at rates they find acceptable (i.e., too high).  If I am right, then you’ll see a consumer price increase as well as a drop in the overall value of bonds.  That will translate to higher interest rates on mortgages, cars, and credit cards.  We’ll see.
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PSA: Watch Out for This New Text Message Package Delivery Scam

Friday, January 17, 2020

We’ve been trained to expect and look out for spam emails. But now, scammers are sending realistic-looking text messages (like the one above) posing as shipping and package delivery companies such as FedEx.

Source: PSA: Watch Out for This New Text Message Package Delivery Scam

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WOW.

Why would you give anyone your credit card number?

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[Josh Blackman] The Houston Astros Cheating Scandal and Legal Education

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Mike Barry , the Dean of the South Texas College of Law, sent an insightful message to the students and faculty concerning the Houston Astros cheating scandal . With his permission, I reproduce it here. — I long have been a fan of baseball.

Source: [Josh Blackman] The Houston Astros Cheating Scandal and Legal Education

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First, culture starts at the top. Many of you will run your own law firms. Others will rise to prominent positions in government, the judiciary, business, and the legal community. And, regardless of the role you find yourself in, you will be a leader for, at the very least, your clients and your staff. You will set the tone for those who work for you and who work with you.

*** and ***

If the manager – their on-field leader – had told the players to stop, they would have done so.  When you are a leader, your action – or your inaction – speaks volumes.  What you tolerate, you teach.  What you condone, you own.  Every leader must set not only a culture of ethical conduct, but must identify and eliminate behavior that deviates from that standard.

*** end quote ***

A wise admonition to all Information Technology executive, especially those in Information Security and Disaster Recovery.

I’ve worked in and gotten “downsized” for expressing a factual opinion that the top leadership was being mislead as to the organization’s capabilities — to resist being hacked, the capabilities / capacities of new systems, as well as the organization’s ability to recover from a catastrophic failure.

Sure, being downsized stung.  But I went to Catholic school, where I was taught a standard — would your Mother be proud of you for what you’ve done.

In my book, I observed that “Catholic school taught them that it was their obligation, and could even be a mortal sin, if you didn’t use all your talents to the greater glory of God.” — “Chapter Fifty — Samaritans going to Jericho / Monday November 5, 1962 – Church Day + 17 (continues)” CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 1 Page 296

Can’t say I’ve always met that standard, but I’d like to think, that more often than not, I did.

It seems that we’d have a much better world if politicians, bureaucrats, and everyone observed that.  John Wooden said: “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”

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British Robbery Could Have Gone Differently In The U.S.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Any law that makes people victims is a law that should simply not exist. The ability to defend ourselves against any kind of attack is something we should all enjoy regardless of what country we call home.

Source: British Robbery Could Have Gone Differently In The U.S.

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Criminals should be made afraid that their next victim could be there last!

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How computers will steal jobs from white-collar workers

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

While fewer than 5 percent of these could be completely automated with existing technologies, more than 60 percent were made up of tasks of which at least 30 percent could be automated, the study found. In short, most jobs — including white-collar ones — already involve a sizeable chunk of activity that can be automated.

Source: How computers will steal jobs from white-collar workers

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This should be a wake up call to all the the big fat old turkeys from the big fat old turkey hisself.

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Man hospitalized with ‘3-day erection’ from bull sex stimulant

Monday, January 13, 2020

This is no “cock-and-bull story.”

Source: Man hospitalized with ‘3-day erection’ from bull sex stimulant

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I don’t know why but I thought this was “funny” (peculiar and haha at the same time!).

How dumb can someone be?

It’s like giving cow’s milk to children and being surprised that we have fat children? (It’s “designed” to develop a calf into a several hundred pound cow!)

This fellow was NOT in the running for a “Darwin Award” but I’m confident he’ll do better in his next attempt.

Laugh!

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Healing Dose of Optimism: The Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2019 Will Have You Cheering

Monday, January 13, 2020

1) Scientists Discovered Molecule That Triggers Self-Destruction of Pancreatic Cancer CellsWith pancreatic cancer ranking as one of the most deadly forms of cancer, researchers were excited to report on a promising new breakthrough for a treatment.Pancreatic cancer, which maintains a 95% mortality rate, is resistant to all current treatments. Patients have extremely poor chances of surviving for five years after being diagnosed—and since the disease does not show symptoms until the advanced stages, it is notoriously hard to diagnose.However, this Tel Aviv University study published earlier this month finds that a small molecule has the ability to induce the self-destruction of pancreatic cancer cells. The research was conducted with xenografts—transplantations of human pancreatic cancer into immunocompromised mice. The treatment reduced the number of cancer cells by 90% in the developed tumors a month after being administered.

Source: Healing Dose of Optimism: The Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2019 Will Have You Cheering

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Good news.

Now to get it rolled out.

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[Ilya Somin] Public Education as Public Indoctrination

Sunday, January 12, 2020

[A New York Times study describes how both red and blue states use public education to indoctrinate students in their preferred ideologies. This dynamic should dampen hopes that public education can fix the problem of widespread political ignorance.] Dana Goldstein of New York Times has an interesting article describing how state governments in both liberal California and conservative Texas work to skew school textbooks in favor of their preferred ideologies.

Source: [Ilya Somin] Public Education as Public Indoctrination

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The danger of uniform nation-wide indoctrination is the main reason why John Stuart Mill opposed state control of schools, even though he favored government subsidization of education for those unable to afford it.

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Another reason to “privatize” “public” education!

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Here’s What Happened When I Wore a Tie to Work Every Day for a Year

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Mark Richardson.

The Experiment Just over a year ago, I started an engineering job at a local company where typical daily dress is a collared shirt and slacks. While scouting for something to wear on a random day in the first few weeks, I noticed a large number of ties in my closet.

Source: Here’s What Happened When I Wore a Tie to Work Every Day for a Year

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Engineers take heed.  It’s my experience that us ingineers don’t worry about anything but “numbers”.  This experiment demonstrates that there are “other dimensions” to be considered,

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Why does Planned Parenthood get $600 million from taxpayers?

Friday, January 10, 2020

And tax breaks on top of that? While at the same time making major political campaign contributions. The issue is not about being pro-life or pro-choice, but about not using taxpayer money for campaign gifts. (From Real Clear Politics) Planned Parenthood’s just released annual report for 2018-2019 shows that its abortion business is booming and that taxpayer support is at a record high at more than $616 million in 2018.

Source: Why does Planned Parenthood get $600 million from taxpayers?

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Over the past 10 years, taxpayer support of Planned Parenthood has increased by almost 70%.

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I don’t want my tax dollars used for a (black) genocide for spare parts!

Argh!

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