RANT: Doing “charity” badly is dangerous

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/woman-denied-food-stamps-kills-self-shoots-children-181629410.html

Woman denied food stamps kills self, shoots children
By Jim Forsyth | Reuters
2011-DEC-06

*** begin quote ***

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – A woman in the border city of Laredo, Texas who was angry because she had been denied food stamps killed herself and shot and critically wounded her two children late on Monday, authorities said on Tuesday.

*** end quote ***

Remember this. I waited until the details came out.

This is all the Gooferment’s fault.

Either of two tracks:

(1) The Gooferment shouldn’t be doing “charity”. Churches and Associations are better suited and more efficient.

(2) The Gooferment dumped all the mentally ill on the streets without support. Families, Churches and Associations are better suited and more efficient.

Get a sense of what the sock answer is: “Gooferment bad; individuals are kings.”

# – # – # – # – #   


INTERESTING: Are “food drives” a symptom of the problem?

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2011/12/food_drives_charities_need_your_money_not_your_random_old_food_.html?wpisrc=twitter_socialflow

Can the Cans
Why food drives are a terrible idea.
By Matthew Yglesias
Posted Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011, at 12:29 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

But a fundamental issue is that many organizations feel that asking for money—like requesting cash as a gift—seems somewhat gauche. So, let me be rude on their behalf: Find well-managed charities in your community and trust them to know how to do their job. They have access to food at a fraction of the price. They know their clients, and they have better things to do than to sort through your canned goods. And from your perspective, it’s much easier to document a monetary donation for tax purposes. Good intentions are lovely, but particularly in hard times it’s more important to make sure your charitable dollars go as far as possible. Can the cans. Hand over some cash.

*** end quote ***

Of course, this IGNORES the fundamental problem of Gooferment “food banks”!

Private charities do a far more effective and efficient job.

When you feed stray cats, you get more of them.

We should be helping people enable themselves to take of themselves. Families should be helping. Churches and Associations should be helping.

Everybody, but the Gooferment. They are structurally unable to help!

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Dec-07 @ 19:29


EVLYNN: Got a lesson from the Universe today

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

In feeling blue about Frau Reinke’s passing …

… today, the Universe delivered a lesson. I saw a man feeding his wife a hot dog. She was confined to a wheelchair and shook uncontrollably. Obviously in the late stages of Parkinson’s. She was obviously totally dependent on him for her care. And, he was lovingly and diligently feeding her. (Give him a lot of credit.)

So that was my lesson!

Frau Reinke would have been crazed to be like that. And, it would have been infinitely harder work for me to do that for her. (I would have but it would have been a lot harder and emotional for both of us.

So the Universe said today, “It could have been a lot worse for both of you.”

And showed me.

I’m glad she didn’t have to suffer like that.

And, I’m “fine as silk”. :-(

# – # – # – # – #   


INTERESTING: “Bertrand Russell’s teapot” (BRT); the award for …

Monday, December 12, 2011

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/this-too-shall-pass-and-other-reminders

This Too Shall Pass and Other Reminders
by J.C. Lundberg

*** begin quote ***

Bertrand Russell was a Twentieth Century philosopher in the fields of philosophy of language and metaphysics. When he would debate people, some of them would argue “You cannot disprove such and such a supposition so you must admit that it is possible that I’m right.”

Russell would agree that of course it was possible that they were right, but that does not mean their idea is worthy of respect.

His counterargument was by way of a thought experiment. “Imagine,” he would say, “that I posit that orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars is a small ceramic teapot. Imagine further that I posit that the teapot is small enough and far enough away and has a low enough albedo and therefore our instruments cannot detect it. You would then have to agree that you cannot disprove my teapot.”

Even though we cannot disprove Russell’s teapot it’s not bloody likely that to be out there. “Not bloody likely” are my words, not Professor Russell’s.

The existence of that teapot is not equiprobable, it is not equally likely to be true as to be false.

*** end quote ***

“Bertrand Russell’s teapot” (BRT) is going into my shorthands!

Not sure if it’s just for use with wacky ideas. Or maybe with wacky people? Or maybe unprovable <synonym for excrement>? Or people who keep presenting non-facts?

I think I’ll award BRTs to folks that annoy me.

Have to think about the criteria, but I have someone in mind. :-)

# – # – # – # – #   


MONEY: Commodity and Faith-based money

Monday, December 12, 2011

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87887353/silver-dime-trading-cards-police-state

201112050126.jpg

Understanding “value”. What is “wealth”? What is a “dollar”?

“We, The Sheeple” have been fooled into thinking that a “dollar” can be used to measure “wealth”.

“Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store.” He repeated that four times like poetry. “Six Characters in Money: Portable – Durable – Divisible – Uniformity – Limited Supply – Acceptability.” — CHURCH 10●19●62 (Vol 1) 978-0-557-08387-9 page 110

While a “dollar” is STILL a medium of exchange — at least until OPEC demands to be paid for its oil in gold — that what tripped up old Saddam and “Colonel” Gaddafi — it fails a measure or standard. And, it acts very badly as a store of value or wealth.

Imagine a bunch of “dollars” in a storehouse or a pirate’s chest. The Gooferment, more specifically the Federal Reserve System. also mistakenly called the Federal Reserve Bank, can, by silently quietly sneakily PRINTING more “dollars”, can erode the value, aka purchasing power, of all the “dollars” in circulation. In fact, it’s even gotten easier nowdays. All they do now is go into their computer system and add some zeros. And, poof, they’ve “virtually” printed more dollars. It’s just that easy. Like a Ponzi scheme without all the fuss and muss.

Need an better metaphor, go get a monopoly game. There are a fixed number of houses in a real game. Make yourself “the banker”. Then. give yourself a bunch of house and hotels from a different game set. Place them on your properties as soon as you can slip them in. Call it “Quantitative Easing” or “Buying Bonds by the Open Market Committee”. If the other players say you’re cheating, send in your army and compel them to shut up and play. Kinda hard not to “win”.

Eventually, the marketplace discovers the fraud. All those “new” “dollars” eventually cause prices to rise as more “dollars” chase the same amount of goods.

If you were interested, we could probably come up with a funny example on “Robinson Crusoe’s island”. On Robinson’s island, besides Robinson and Friday, we need to add a banker like the FED and a few people. Let’s say, Robinson catches fish and Friday collects coconuts. At first the island population exchanges things, fish for coconuts. In fact, eventually something becomes the medium of exchange. The “firewood guy, as well as the butcher, the baker. and the candlestick maker, all have to exchange for coconuts. The candlestick maker, if he wants bread but the baker doesn’t want a candlestick, has to go to Friday and exchage a candlestick for some coconuts that the baker does want. Cumbersome. The banker has printed paper receipts that he give out when folks deposit their coconuts with him for safekeeping. A paper receipt for ten coconuts is easier to carry. All well and good. The marketplace establishes prices as eventually Robinson’s fishes are bid for by the villages. Eventually in every bidding war, some one says “thanks, but no thanks”. One fish equals two coconuts; one candlestick is 10 coconuts. And so on and so on. Now our banker prints up more paper receipts. The result is that there are more receipts chasing the same amount of goods, prices rise. And, until everyone wants their coconuts from the banker, the scam works. In the USA, when the scam is discovered, and folks lie up to get their gold for their greenback, FDR says “You can own gold and only foreign governments can exchange dollars for gold”. Up until, DeGaule or France says “I don’t want paper dollars” and Nixon says “Gold window is closed”. And, “We, The Sheeple” and the rest of the world just go along with the joke.

It’s like playing Monopoly where the player / Banker has an extra stash of Monopoly money in their hands that they “printed up”. Hard to “win”.

Argh!

That’s why “hard money” (i.e., money based on a commodity that can’t be printed like gold) is so much better for real people that “faith based money” (i.e., it’s money because someone says it is)!

# # # # #


SERVICE: BIZNAR search doesn’t pass the MC test

Sunday, December 11, 2011

AFTER USING DEEPWATCH’S NEW SEARCH OFFERING BIZNAR

http://biznar.com/biznar/search.html

Dear Ms. Toni:

Just an observation, …

… from a fat old white guy injineer who does IT consulting, and an alumni newsletter http://jasperjottings-daily.com/.

I look for news about Manhattan College and its alumni.

On Google, my search is <<“manhattan college” -marymount -“marymount manhattan college” -“borough of manhattan college” -marymount -manhattan.edu -bmcc.cuny.edu -msmnyc.edu -mancol.edu -gojaspers.com>>.

I always try all free search services for adherence to what I call the Google, or “Manhattan College”, standard. (Those that work get my continued “business”. Lucky them!)

What happens when I search using <<“manhattan college”>>?

Using Google, I get good results. (OK, sometimes false positives come out like <<manhattan. College>> or <<manhattan, college>>. And, I’ve “suggested” to Google that needs fixing. No response. It’s been a flaw for a while. Guess I should suggest again.)

Using your new engine, <<“manhattan college”>> returns results as if it was <<“manhattan”+”college”>>. (It took Legacy dot com a while to fix it and it’s broken it a few times.)

Any chance, this can be fixed?

Till it is, I can’t use it because it returns too many false positives.

Now I realize that I’m just a “free rider”. I have no budget for services. But maybe my “testing” is useful?

Thanks,
fjohn

# – # – # – # – #   


SERVICE: Data rot example; wrong!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=13525688&privcapId=4304480&previousCapId=100440&previousTitle=NDS%20Group%20plc

Manhattan College

# # # # #

ROFL, calling a Brother “Mister”, I know that at the Prep that would result in some immediate “behavior modification”.

And, they still have Brother S as President.

That’s hugely out of date.

Everything on the inet is trustworthy!

Inspires confidence in everything else you find.

# # # # #


GUNS: Attacker with a knife … gets to change his shorts?

Saturday, December 10, 2011

http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_21155766-d172-5cf3-8425-f047f2692a66.html?TNNoMobile

‘Drop it, or I’ll shoot you’
Tim Patterson stepped in when attacker held knife to woman’s throat
Posted: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 12:15 am | Updated: 11:53 pm, Tue Dec 6, 2011.
By BILL BULEY/Staff writer | 38 comments

*** begin quote ***

COEUR d’ALENE – Tim Patterson has no doubts he would have pulled the trigger.

He’s glad he didn’t have to.

But when a woman is being attacked by a man with a knife, Patterson says he’ll do what must be done.

“If he had not stopped what he was doing,” he says, his voice fading. “He came very close to dying. Really, really close.”

Monday afternoon was another normal day of cooking burgers and fries and hot dogs and Philly cheesesteaks for Tim and Debbie Patterson.

Then, about 2 p.m., they heard a scream.

Tim rushed out the back door of The Big Yellow mobile kitchen at the corner of Harrison and Fourth. He looked around the Goodwill parking lot full of cars, and heard another scream. Then, he heard a woman’s voice.

“Let go of me,” it shrieked.

Patterson charged around a car and stopped. A man had a woman’s head pulled back with one hand, and a knife to her throat with the other.

Patterson didn’t hesitate.

He drew his Kimber 1911 .45 with a six-shot clip.

“Drop it, or I’ll shoot you,” he shouted.

The assailant, wearing a hoodie that covered his face, glanced up. He immediately let go of the woman, dropped the knife, raised his arms in the air and fled.

*** end quote ***

“Victim disarmament is the view that it is somehow better to see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose, than see her with a gun in her hand.” — T.D. Melrose

I’d like to read more stories like this. I’d imagine that bad guy had to return home for an “E quip ment change” (i.e., shorts).

An armed citizen exercising civic duty. The police can NOT be everywhere. In fact, we need “sheepdogs” mixed in the flock to keep the “wolves” guessing. Like this one today, he guessed wrong.

A measured response. He didn’t just drill him. But was ready too. imho, he was in a morally defensible place if he did. That woman was in the criminal’s “kill zone” (i.e., her vitals were within knife range). Don’t know what “the law” is there, but who cares. You have to ook yourself in the mirror in the morning.

(Personally, I like to use the “Mother” test. Would you be proud to tell your Mom what you did? I can envision an imaginary conversation. Mother: “What did you do today son?” Me: “Mom, I saved a woman’s life, but I had to kill a man to do it.” Mother: “Well, if you were sure there was no other way, a man has to do what he has to do. I’m proud of you.”)

p.s. Note, like a good well-trained gun owner, that he obviously is, to recreate the situation for the news photographer, he did NOT draw his weapon. It would have made the photo more dramatic. But it’s a tool; not a toy. Accidents happen when you use tools for “dramatic effect”. Watch when politicians do it. They’re <synonym for the act of procreation in real time> dangerous. When you draw your weapon, it’s for a specific purpose. To threaten the use of deadly force in order to stop a felony. If you’re doing that and an accident happens, well <synonym for excrement> happens. But you don’t do it for reasons as trivial as making a better picture.

# – # – # – # – #   


SURVIVAL: What you have on you, and with you, may be all you ever have to survive?

Saturday, December 10, 2011

http://www.adn.com/2011/12/02/2200054/stranded-nome-man-survives-3-days.html

Stranded Nome man survives 3 days in cold
THREE DAYS: Rescuers found pickup stuck in snow near Nome.
By KYLE HOPKINS Anchorage Daily News
Published: December 3rd, 2011 07:08 PM
Last Modified: December 6th, 2011 09:41 AM

*** begin quote ***

Normally Vial carries a sleeping bag, extra gasoline and other survival gear in the 2000 Toyota, he said. But on this trip he had few supplies, no food and no water. Even his dogs, a pair of labs that usually accompany him on drives, stayed home.

*** end quote ***

What you have on you, and with you, may be all you ever have to survive?

# – # – # – # – #   


RANT: Irresistible silliness is the whole “trial”

Saturday, December 10, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Whistling-donkey-traffic-violations-leaves-Irish-courts-in-fits-of-laughter-134896463.html

Whistling donkey traffic violations leaves Irish courts in fits of laughter

Judge left speechless by shaggy dog story

By DARA KELLY, IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, December 2, 2011, 8:05 AM

Updated Friday, December 2, 2011, 8:05 AM

*** begin quote ***

An outbreak of irresistible silliness left a presiding judge, the local police officers, attorneys and even the defendant himself in tears of laughter at the Dingle District Court in County Kerry at the weekend.

According to The Kerryman the unexpected outbreak of hilarity began as they listened to a completely unlikely series of events that led to three road traffic charges being brought against a man.

Dingle street entertainer Deaglan O’Muiris had originally been stopped by Irish police officer Frank Scanlon, who described to the country court the scene when he pulled the busker over for driving with four bald tires.

*** and ***

Mann added that after being stopped by police officer Scanlon, O’Muiris had immediately paid $470.00 for four new tires for the van.

Police officer Scanlon acknowledged that the tires had been satisfactorily replaced and informed the judge the donkey has also been retired for the winter season.

The defendant was then given until May of 2012 to pay $400.00 to the court poor box to avoid a conviction for the bald tire offenses.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

So why does the poor Mundane have to pay another 400$?

If he had caused an accident due to bald tires, then he’d have had to make restitution.

BUT, under the “no victim = no crime”, why was this fellow accosted and robbed by a “highwayman”?

The donkey was the smartest in the room!!!

# # # # #