YouTube - Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

YouTube
- Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Cheech And Chong Unplugged

Cheech And Chong Unplugged

+ HAITI EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

"Kids have more to fear from priests than marijuana." -- Chong

A Little About The Economy Here…

 

U.S. Job Losses in December Dim Hopes for Quick Upswing

This headline boomed up on me as if to mock my mother’s “success” and “fortune”, if there were such things.

The economy, as they have said, is in the worst shape and bound to become to be worse than the great depression. It’s chilling really…

Should we keep on hoping? Hell Yeah. Should we do it on blind faith? No.

I talked about adding an art related course to my schedule. my recipient only shrugged and challenged it’s profitability. I swear, if it wasn't for my fuck it attitude, I would really kill someone. However, i was reminded that my recipient, in more ways then one, is actually a polar opposite of what i mostly am. A thing I've been avoiding, but i can’t because while i enjoy knowing things that are miles away from me, i still need to plant my feet on the ground and look 10 feet away.

Unfortunately, my schedule clashed with the said course. I’ll have a go at it next semester or as a summer course. They could just fuck themselves.

I browsed the comments of the said article, and it was really insightful, here are they (the last ones a killer):

I’'m the last person to hold Larry Summers or Tim Geithner in high esteem, but the comments that push this economic mess completely into President Obama's lap are very myopic. While I agree that Obama has made some bad decisions across the board, he is actually following the example set under Bush II by Paulson and, ah yes, Geithner and Bernanke. I belong to a minority who believes this nation needs to go through the pain of a real depression to cleanse us of our obsession with debt and easy money. I suspect most of those trashing Obama wouldn't be happy then either. The real problem in our economy has roots much deeper going back to Carter, Reagan and Clinton and involves badly engineered deregulation, excessive foreign outsourcing and -- starting in particular under Clinton -- excessive deregulation of the financial system. The corrupt government bailouts for those in the financial services industry who did so much to bring on the Great Recession is (and continues to be) the greatest crime committed by BOTH the Bush II and Obama administrations. – Diogenes (Boston)

“So even with Obama's monumental government spending he still can't create jobs. Bush got us in to this mess, but Obama is only making it worse."
People need to figure out that the Bush mess was jaw-dropping, staggering in proportions. The country has 20 years of healing still ahead of it. No follow-on President could have fixed it. All resiliency with which to handle the economic disaster was eaten up beforehand by the needless blood bath of Bush's Iraq war. That's yer problem, America -- you were snookered, and you still don't get it. – Mark (Northern Virginia)

I am an economist, with a focus on supply chain and transport. It is part of my daily job to monitor economic indicators. I can tell you that the leading indicators (the ones that begin going up before a recovery) are mostly looking positive. Purchase managers are expanding orders. Manufacturing is expanding, albeit slowly. World trade volumes are beginning to go up. Air freight, ocean shipping and trucking are seeing more business both in the US and globally.
Hang on there people. These things must move up first before jobs take off. Jobs are always the last to recover after a recession. Companies must feel confident that their clients are back to buying their goods and services.
At the same time, I do feel pessimistic about the longer-term prospects of our economy relative to emerging powerhouses in Asia and Latin America. The two main weaknesses are education and infrastructure. We are not giving our young people the type of education that will allow them to be the designers, architects, analysts and managers in the more high end of the global supply chain. Our culture is increasingly anti-intellectual and education is valued by few of our young people.
Second, our infrastructure is not ready for the 21st century. Our roads and airports are congested. Our ports have about a fourth of the throughput (it takes 4 times as long to clear a container) as Chinese ports. These inefficiencies will be eating up money that instead could be going into wages and profits.
Also, although I am an ardent environmentalist and strongly believe that climate change is a risk with potentially devastating consequences, I do not think we should pass a cap and trade bill or a carbon tax if other major economies do not. This must be a global initiative or else our companies will be faced with competitive disadvantages and will relocate overseas at an even faster pace, without even making a significant enough dent in CO2 reduction. A carbon tax must be global to have a level playing field for all businesses. – n.h. (Boston, Ma)

Had John McCain won the election, things would be NO different, in fact, they may be worse....The American economy is much too vast & complex to simply blame the person who inherited this mess on 1/20/09...
Our problems go back decades, starting with Reagan and tax cuts for the super rich, wasteful spending on much NON-needed programs like Star Wars, etc....And of course, insanely greedy American corporations have played a large role in this as well..."Greed is good" was a great line from a good movie (Wall Street) but that attitude has contributed to where we are today...
Neither Obama nor McCain could have fixed this mess in one year..It's absolutely not possible... – Kona030 (HLN)

Consider the high unemployment rate in regards to student lending: Student borrows are no longer eligible for loan payment deferral if they are unemployed.
I quote my lender: "you are not eligible for Economic Hardship Deferment at this time. Due to recent federal regulation changes, customers no longer qualify for an Economic Hardship Deferment if they are not working full time, nor do they qualify if they are applying under the debt-to-income-ratio option."
So only the employed, who are more likely to able able to pay their loans, are allowed to defer payment, while the jobless and the most needy are compelled to pay. Could the system be more unsustainable and illogical?
And could the "recent federal regulation change" be at all influenced by a lender lobby squeamish about the high unemployment rate?
As a result I have moved to a third-world country to avoid poverty. Watch in the coming years as more and more U.S. citizens emigrate to avoid poverty. –- Michael (San Pedro de Cajon, Costa Rica)

 

 

thoughts?

Watch Me Write about Starbucks and Branding Politics?

 

(Entry in Draft since December 4, has not been updated since..)

sometimes, I am just freaking compelled to go to Starbucks and read crap… But now, I’m writing crap along with 2 other people!!!!

Hurray for D-bags!! But then again. I’m the only guy amongst them…

Crap that.

My PC (Dell), a Mac Book Pro, and a Mac Book. Aw frack! I got to get a Mac!!

Speaking of Starbucks and writing, and d-bags. Here’s a clip from Family Guy.

The thing with Starbucks in America is that it targets the actual middle class, the whole actual middle class. Not the Atenean, La Sallete, and the rich kid crowd.

That may be an assumption, but if you think about it, the only ones who have the nerve to go into the Starbucks are those people who have the guts to spend an (maybe more than an) hour of the minimum wage (about 40.00php = .90$(back in 2008)) in one glass of freaking coffee. Here, I found it to my surprise that an ordinary Venti (large) is about 80% of the minimum wage (7$). (not only that, I get a 10 discount for being a member, and a 10c discount for bringing a reusable container… from them! (you did a good one on me consumerism!))

As of now, a fellow dude is typing in his laptop. A Toshiba one! (Yay a PC like me!)

Besides doing coffee, Starbucks is also affiliated with bookstores (Barnes & Noble in the United States, Borders in the United Kingdom, Chapters-Indigo in Canada, Livraria Saraiva and Fnac in Brazil and B2S in Thailand.) and it also sells coffee-making/drinking/storing stuff and other paraphernalia such as dominoes, tick tack toes, some books and newspapers, and some instant coffee.

For an establishment that is actually EVERYWHERE, one can’t help but notice the kind of people going in and out of ‘em. Branding might be the cause in this mentality that the reputation amongst the public as some kind of advertisement branch. One that i can still remember was a stint made by Tiffany and Co. that cost them damage to their brand as a very sophisticated trophy of the rich.

I was ready to sink into the earth with shame

I was ready to sink into the earth with shame

The link above is from a blog about letters.

This particular entry describes a letter template from china back in the 19th century that is meant for an apology.
It's actually very nice as it says:

Yesterday, having drunk too much, I was intoxicated as to pass all bounds; but none of the rude and coarse language I used was uttered in a conscious state. The next morning, after hearing others speak on the subject, I realised what had happened, whereupon I was overwhelmed with confusion and ready to sink into the earth with shame.

Check it out..

So The People Develop This Opinion That All Americans Are Terrorists.

 

Somewhere in the comments section

Prima: i was deployed to bagram i worked in the prison. theyre animals! they throw shit piss and cum at the soldiers. we feed them three times a day give them rec and showers they get visits. you cant talk to these people theyre ignorant!

Segunda: and why do they throw shit on you
cause you deserv it
if some american soldiers is killed he deserv it
9/11 i juz say you deserv it

Third: @Prima
That is what happen, I have a tremendous respect for you.
I myself, chosen not to join the military.
I rather starve myself,
War is just not the way to go.
I fully support the proposal from
Joe Biden, to extend airstrikes,
and to remove the soldiers.
So everytime, Taliban are gaining control
we should strike them from the air.
Because you cant win heart and minds, by occupieng their country.
and you cant force them to build their country.
They never had a stable country.