Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
American Auto Bail-out? I Think Not!
U.S.Going Overboard in Bail-Outs?
I don't know if you guys heard, but the CEO of Ford (and others) called for the Gov't to make a loan of up to $50 billion to the auto industry cause they're failing! I think this is ridiculous! If you make a bad business decision, that is the risk you take when entering into a business proposition. All of this "bail-out" crap is getting out of hand. To some degree I understand, but when is enough enough? I don't buy Ford because they suck (i.e. Found On Road Dead), so why should my tax dollars subsidize them? I understand the whole saving jobs thing, but how much can we really do before people become responsible for their mistakes? I'm afraid of all of these bail-outs because it enables people to do it again. It provides the midset that goes something like this: "Well, we did it once and the government, why not again?" What stops consumers/lenders alike from making bad loans again 10, 15, or 20 years down the road if they both bank on the government bailing them out?
This is reminiscent of the failing US Steel industry. It too was failing because of international competition and called for government aid. The gov't approved funding for large steel companies so they could improve their equipment/technology, just like the Big Three automakers want gov't loans to retool old plants and save on borrowing costs. So what happened with the steel companies? Big bonuses for everyone! Woohoo! Literally, they blew all the money, didn't use it for it's given purpose of upgrading equipment, then they horribly KEPT failing (with their old equipment). Of course they wanted more money. At this point the gov't put their foot down (finally). What was the result? The merger of #1 and #2 steel producers (both foreign steel makers) in the world creating Arcelor-Mittal, the obvious ruler of the steel industry and based out of Luxembourg and London who is now the number one provider of Steel IN THE US.
What's even worse is that there was a break out of smaller steel recycling plants that were doing the major production of steel here in America and had a chance to make it. Did they get any gov't help? Of course not! The gov't only encourages failure nowadays! What not help companies that can stay alive instead of encouraging irresponsibility. I understand with some of the financial ones so the financial industry doesn't crash, but how long has the American Auto Industry known about impending growth in popular foreign vehicles? How long has Toyota, Honda, and others growth been happening? Foreign Auto makers have been providing quality, affordable, cars AND customer service for years and I consider that the American Auto industry has done nothing to improve quality. And for some reason the American Auto Industry didn't catch on until they fail and want a get-out-of-jail free card. I SAY NO! If Congress Seriously tries to pass something to help the Auto industry then WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN and tell them NO!! Anyways, that's my gripe for the day.
I don't know if you guys heard, but the CEO of Ford (and others) called for the Gov't to make a loan of up to $50 billion to the auto industry cause they're failing! I think this is ridiculous! If you make a bad business decision, that is the risk you take when entering into a business proposition. All of this "bail-out" crap is getting out of hand. To some degree I understand, but when is enough enough? I don't buy Ford because they suck (i.e. Found On Road Dead), so why should my tax dollars subsidize them? I understand the whole saving jobs thing, but how much can we really do before people become responsible for their mistakes? I'm afraid of all of these bail-outs because it enables people to do it again. It provides the midset that goes something like this: "Well, we did it once and the government, why not again?" What stops consumers/lenders alike from making bad loans again 10, 15, or 20 years down the road if they both bank on the government bailing them out?
This is reminiscent of the failing US Steel industry. It too was failing because of international competition and called for government aid. The gov't approved funding for large steel companies so they could improve their equipment/technology, just like the Big Three automakers want gov't loans to retool old plants and save on borrowing costs. So what happened with the steel companies? Big bonuses for everyone! Woohoo! Literally, they blew all the money, didn't use it for it's given purpose of upgrading equipment, then they horribly KEPT failing (with their old equipment). Of course they wanted more money. At this point the gov't put their foot down (finally). What was the result? The merger of #1 and #2 steel producers (both foreign steel makers) in the world creating Arcelor-Mittal, the obvious ruler of the steel industry and based out of Luxembourg and London who is now the number one provider of Steel IN THE US.
What's even worse is that there was a break out of smaller steel recycling plants that were doing the major production of steel here in America and had a chance to make it. Did they get any gov't help? Of course not! The gov't only encourages failure nowadays! What not help companies that can stay alive instead of encouraging irresponsibility. I understand with some of the financial ones so the financial industry doesn't crash, but how long has the American Auto Industry known about impending growth in popular foreign vehicles? How long has Toyota, Honda, and others growth been happening? Foreign Auto makers have been providing quality, affordable, cars AND customer service for years and I consider that the American Auto industry has done nothing to improve quality. And for some reason the American Auto Industry didn't catch on until they fail and want a get-out-of-jail free card. I SAY NO! If Congress Seriously tries to pass something to help the Auto industry then WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN and tell them NO!! Anyways, that's my gripe for the day.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Wheel of Time
Many of my readers will appreciate this blog entry just as I appreciated it when Mom introduced me to the information presented here (yep, thanks Mom). In December of 2007, TOR announced the author who will be finishing off Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series as being Brandon Sanderson (see official press release)
For those who aren't too familiar with Robert Jordan and The Wheel of Time, it has been an epic fantasy tale created by James Oliver Rigney, Jr. under the pen-name of Robert Jordan. It was originally planned as a six book series which, those of us who have read it, quickly grew to one prequel and eleven books published by Mr. Jordan. He was working on the twelfth and final (yep, final, there was only one left) book when he passed away on Sept. 16, 2007 from a rare blood disease. Knowing of his impending passing, Jordan prepared extensive notes, some rough draft chapters, and even audio commentary on the story so that it could be completed according to his original design. His wife Harriet is also working in collaboration with Sanderson on the twelfth book.
The book is tentatively named A Memory of Light and will be possibly published as soon as Fall '09. The new novel, A Memory of Light, will be the 12th and final book in the fantasy series which has sold more than 14 million copies in North America and more than 30 million copies worldwide. The last four books in the series were all #1 New York Times bestsellers. Sanderson himself is an accomplished novelist and was chosen by Harriet (Jordan's wife). Brandon Sanderson has assured s of the following:
"Note that while I'll be writing the words of the book, the novel was outlined by Mr. Jordan before his death. His wife, who was also his editor, will be heavily involved as well. I am writing this book, but it is not my book. It is Mr. Jordan's book, and our goal will be to make it fulfill his vision for the series as much as possible...
"I can't do the job that Mr. Jordan could have. Nobody can. But I will do the best I possibly can, and am confident in the quality of my work. This will be a fantastic book. His vision and foresight will make certain of that." (see Wheel of Time FAQ)
Monday, August 25, 2008
Personal Mosaic
Concept: 1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. 2. Using only the first page, pick an image. 3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php (choose four columns and three rows, also choose individual URL's)
Questions:
Questions:1. What is your first name? (Scott)
2. What is your favorite food? (Mexican Food)
3. What school did you go to? (Cal State San Bernardino)
4. What is your favorite color? (Brown)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Scarlet Johansson)
6. Favorite drink? (Milk)
7. Dream vacation? (Italy)
8. Favorite dessert? (Chocolate Covered Pretzels)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? (Dad)
10. What do you love most in life? (Amanda)
11. One word to describe you. (Nerd)
12. Your nickname. (Scotty)
2. What is your favorite food? (Mexican Food)
3. What school did you go to? (Cal State San Bernardino)
4. What is your favorite color? (Brown)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Scarlet Johansson)
6. Favorite drink? (Milk)
7. Dream vacation? (Italy)
8. Favorite dessert? (Chocolate Covered Pretzels)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? (Dad)
10. What do you love most in life? (Amanda)
11. One word to describe you. (Nerd)
12. Your nickname. (Scotty)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
New Ender Book
For everyone out there who loves the Ender series this one's for you. Ender in Exile will be a direct sequel to Ender's Game and is due out for release November 11, 2008! I just pre-ordered mine (which maxes out my book budget through November, oh well) and I kind of have a netflix for book type thing going. I get a new book this week (hopefully), a new one another couple weeks later, two new ones in mid-October, and now this in November. I know, it's a sickness this Bibliophilia.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Of Appendicitis, Hernias, and The 9th Wonder of The World (i.e. our vacation weekend)
Well, this weekend (Thur-Sun) Amanda and I took off for a vacation before school got hectic again (by hectic I mean I am only taking one class right now, just eight hours of study a week and 40 hour work weeks, not too bad, ha ha). Anyways, Thursday starts off with me getting to sleep in, woo hoo!! that part was good. Then after waking up around 12pm I studied for six hours for my evening class, went to that for three and a half hours, stayed after for an hour and a half hours for an extra credit psychological study that this lady was doing for her doctorate degree. This put me out of school around 10:50pm (where Amanda was waiting outside to pick me up). This gave me a round total of 11 hours of Organizational Behavior on Thursday and one fierce headache & complete lack of ability to function. Amanda got me some food and took care of me, what an awesome wife!!
Just as I was settling down to watch Shooter in bed (now around 12:45am) Amanda says that she is having pain in her lower-front abdomen, has been nauseous, and had some other symptoms. After some discussion we decided that we think that where her pain is is also where your appendix is. So I tell Amanda to go on the internet and find out symptoms of Appendicitis, of which she ended up having many! Appendicitis' aren't things to be messed around with as they can kill you, so again I get on the trusty computer to find a local hospital (about 5 miles away, Nice!) while Amanda calls a nurse hot line to double check if we should be going or not. The Nurse says that it could be a number of things, but that we do need to go to the ER.
Now it's 1am in the morning and off we go, me with two comic books in tow, and Amanda with Memoirs of a Geisha to read. Now luckily at this particular hospital, the ER isn't packed at 1am in the morning, so we actually got in quick (took more time to fill out the paper work that to be admitted into a room). They put Amanda on an IV, then through a bunch of tests ranging from blood work to a CAT-scan in this initial process. The results: "Clinically," the doctor says to us, "it can't be diagnosed as Appendicitis, but the CAT-scan showed possible inflammation of the Appendix, so I've talked to the surgeon about your case and he will have to make the final decision if we are going to operate or not." (given the events of the wee morning did not happen so fast and there were great gaps of waiting in between). In the mean time they got us a room and admitted her to the hospital, by this time it was about 4am and the surgeon wasn't going to show up (supposedly) until 6-7am.
We then called Amanda's parents so they could come take over at 5:30am, and so Ken and I could give Amanda a blessing. They needed to come take over for me because Amanda was supposed to be watching G-ma Hendrickson who is at Mom & Dad's right now (so I took over, which meant I went to Mom & Dad's and finally got a few hours of sleep). I went back to the hospital around 11:45am. The surgeon had ended up coming around 10am to make the decision. He said it was not an Appendicitis and that it was possibly a hernia and made the decision to have Amanda get an Ultrasound to see what it could be (hernia?). Amanda got her Ultrasound shortly after I returned, which was around 12:15pm in the afternoon. During the Ultrasound they said that it was not a Hernia but that She had a muscle in a place where they had not seen one before! So they looked at the other side to see if the muscle was symmetrical (normal, not a weird growth seeing as there was only pain in one side) and it was! So they declared Amanda the Ninth Wonder of the World because the eighth was "that swimmer guy who won eight gold medals" (i.e. Michael Phelps).
Imagine, my wife the Ninth Wonder of the World, how exciting right? She got back around 12:45pm from the Ultrasound with this knowledge that nothing was wrong and we would be going home as soon as they reviewed the results. Well, EIGHT HOURS LATER (yes about 8:30pm), after much TV watching, naps, and me taking a quick break to eat and shower, the surgeon finally released us and we got out of the hospital (granted he came in around 7:40pm and it took nearly an hour for the release to happen.
From the Hospital we went to Papa John's to get Amanda some real food (that's right she didn't eat for over 19 hours of her hospital stay because there might have been a surgery) and then went over to her Parents to hang out a bit and relax. But all-in-all I can't complain too much cause Amanda and I were able to spend lots of quality time together and talk and cuddle on a hospital bed. Of course I forgot my camera (Nicole wouldn't have) so no pictures. That is my vacation so far! Woo hoo! But tomorrow looks pretty busy so we'll make the best of it and be grateful that nothing was wrong with Amanda (thank goodness!!!).
P.S. RESULTS OF THE POLL: Well, since I only received a consensus of two votes (both third place) on one of the books listed, I went with that one, which is the Autobiography of Malcolm X, and it is pretty interesting so far. Also, the poll was a success because I found a lot of people who read my blog that I didn't know even had blogs. Thanks to all of you for making yourselves known. I also didn't hear from someone I thought I would hear from but I guess HEIDI had no input for me on what to read because of my No Stephanie Meyers clause.
Just as I was settling down to watch Shooter in bed (now around 12:45am) Amanda says that she is having pain in her lower-front abdomen, has been nauseous, and had some other symptoms. After some discussion we decided that we think that where her pain is is also where your appendix is. So I tell Amanda to go on the internet and find out symptoms of Appendicitis, of which she ended up having many! Appendicitis' aren't things to be messed around with as they can kill you, so again I get on the trusty computer to find a local hospital (about 5 miles away, Nice!) while Amanda calls a nurse hot line to double check if we should be going or not. The Nurse says that it could be a number of things, but that we do need to go to the ER.
Now it's 1am in the morning and off we go, me with two comic books in tow, and Amanda with Memoirs of a Geisha to read. Now luckily at this particular hospital, the ER isn't packed at 1am in the morning, so we actually got in quick (took more time to fill out the paper work that to be admitted into a room). They put Amanda on an IV, then through a bunch of tests ranging from blood work to a CAT-scan in this initial process. The results: "Clinically," the doctor says to us, "it can't be diagnosed as Appendicitis, but the CAT-scan showed possible inflammation of the Appendix, so I've talked to the surgeon about your case and he will have to make the final decision if we are going to operate or not." (given the events of the wee morning did not happen so fast and there were great gaps of waiting in between). In the mean time they got us a room and admitted her to the hospital, by this time it was about 4am and the surgeon wasn't going to show up (supposedly) until 6-7am.
We then called Amanda's parents so they could come take over at 5:30am, and so Ken and I could give Amanda a blessing. They needed to come take over for me because Amanda was supposed to be watching G-ma Hendrickson who is at Mom & Dad's right now (so I took over, which meant I went to Mom & Dad's and finally got a few hours of sleep). I went back to the hospital around 11:45am. The surgeon had ended up coming around 10am to make the decision. He said it was not an Appendicitis and that it was possibly a hernia and made the decision to have Amanda get an Ultrasound to see what it could be (hernia?). Amanda got her Ultrasound shortly after I returned, which was around 12:15pm in the afternoon. During the Ultrasound they said that it was not a Hernia but that She had a muscle in a place where they had not seen one before! So they looked at the other side to see if the muscle was symmetrical (normal, not a weird growth seeing as there was only pain in one side) and it was! So they declared Amanda the Ninth Wonder of the World because the eighth was "that swimmer guy who won eight gold medals" (i.e. Michael Phelps).
Imagine, my wife the Ninth Wonder of the World, how exciting right? She got back around 12:45pm from the Ultrasound with this knowledge that nothing was wrong and we would be going home as soon as they reviewed the results. Well, EIGHT HOURS LATER (yes about 8:30pm), after much TV watching, naps, and me taking a quick break to eat and shower, the surgeon finally released us and we got out of the hospital (granted he came in around 7:40pm and it took nearly an hour for the release to happen.
From the Hospital we went to Papa John's to get Amanda some real food (that's right she didn't eat for over 19 hours of her hospital stay because there might have been a surgery) and then went over to her Parents to hang out a bit and relax. But all-in-all I can't complain too much cause Amanda and I were able to spend lots of quality time together and talk and cuddle on a hospital bed. Of course I forgot my camera (Nicole wouldn't have) so no pictures. That is my vacation so far! Woo hoo! But tomorrow looks pretty busy so we'll make the best of it and be grateful that nothing was wrong with Amanda (thank goodness!!!).
P.S. RESULTS OF THE POLL: Well, since I only received a consensus of two votes (both third place) on one of the books listed, I went with that one, which is the Autobiography of Malcolm X, and it is pretty interesting so far. Also, the poll was a success because I found a lot of people who read my blog that I didn't know even had blogs. Thanks to all of you for making yourselves known. I also didn't hear from someone I thought I would hear from but I guess HEIDI had no input for me on what to read because of my No Stephanie Meyers clause.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Poll (Participation Required)
Well, right now I am reading a great book called Point of Impact by Stephan Hunter (for those who don't know, and I'll assume that's everyone, it is the basis for the movie Shooter, one of my favorites). The problem is this: I have so many books that I want to read that I don't know what to read next!! For me this has never been a problem, I always know which book I'm going to read next. So today when I was thinking about this (yes, I know it's sad that I think about it), I thought "maybe I'll blog about it and see what my readers (i.e. family) have to say about it?" Also at the same time it's a chance for me to see who else reads my blog apart from my sisters and brothers (hint, hint).
So here is the list of options (in no particular order):
-Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
-Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
-Eragon by Christopher Paolini
-Foundation by Isaac Asimov
-Total Recall by Piers Anthony
-The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card
-The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card
-Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card
-The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
-Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
-A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
-Old Man's War by John Scalzi
-The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
-The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Obviously I am open to suggestions but will place two restrictions:
1) My book budget is maxed-out through October so I probably won't be able to buy your suggestion (and I don't like libraries)
2) I WILL NOT READ the Twilight series (or The Host), sorry
So thanks to all in advance for your votes and let me know what you think. Also, if you haven't noticed, I have been keeping a list of books read along the side bar of this blog (I actually had to create a separate list for comic books) so you can see what I've read so far this year, Thank You to Lisa Kirtley for that idea.
So here is the list of options (in no particular order):
-Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
-Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
-Eragon by Christopher Paolini
-Foundation by Isaac Asimov
-Total Recall by Piers Anthony
-The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card
-The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card
-Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card
-The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
-Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
-A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
-Old Man's War by John Scalzi
-The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
-The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Obviously I am open to suggestions but will place two restrictions:
1) My book budget is maxed-out through October so I probably won't be able to buy your suggestion (and I don't like libraries)
2) I WILL NOT READ the Twilight series (or The Host), sorry
So thanks to all in advance for your votes and let me know what you think. Also, if you haven't noticed, I have been keeping a list of books read along the side bar of this blog (I actually had to create a separate list for comic books) so you can see what I've read so far this year, Thank You to Lisa Kirtley for that idea.
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