Kitten Snaps!

As threatened, here are some oh-so-cute snaps of the 10 week old kittens!

Happy Tired

Yesterday we had a lot to be thankful for at chez Broderick-Ruggieri.

Our home was blessed with a 23 lb turkey, two fantastic stuffings, my best cranberry sauce yet, and more deserts than you could shake a stick at.

More importantly, the house was blessed with 16 adults (term used loosely) and 9 crazy-giddy kids!

As tired as I am this morning, I can’t imagine being more thankful. Hope you and yours had a stupendously happy Thanksgiving.

Welcome Scooter and Emma! And Leroy Too!

Against her better judgement, the boss caved today and let us adopt two more cats, bringing the total to four.

A little over a year ago, we adopted two cats from the local shelter. Sadly, Kitty/Magenta didn’t make it – she passed away a couple weeks later due to fatty liver disease – not uncommon among stressed-out cats. Scarlet got through her first two years of life with other cats around, so we didn’t think it was optimal to have her be an only cat.

We kept monitoring the shelter and soon adopted Leroy, a 6-8 year old, big-lug, lovey-dovey, insta-purr gentleman cat to keep Scarlet (and us!) company. Somehow he managed to not get blogged about – shame on daddy! Here are some phone pics from a drive back from the kitty doc this summer. He really doesn’t like his carrier – it’s easier to just let him sit on your lap.

I’ve been bothering the boss for nigh a year now about getting two more cats (we had four cats for a long time until a few years ago). I was pushing to adopt two more older cats (sorry Siam and Molly!), but since Scarlet is an uber-alpha and since Leroy has some issues with his territory, the consensus was that female kittens were probably a much better idea.

This afternoon we brought home two 9-10 week old sisters who we’ve named Scooter and Emma. They’re still in the early stages of acclimating, so no super-cute pics of them yet – just a couple I took last week when they were still in the shelter. More snaps soon!

Emma

Scooter

The Hazard Of Moral Hazard

Back in September, I seethed about the bailout inanity that the Feds had begun with Fannie & Freddie.

Now that there are plans in place to bail out homeowners in mortgages they cannot and/or can no longer afford, the media is atwitter with tips and tricks on how YOU TOO can get your piece of the largesse.

I guess we shouldn’t expect homeowners to behave any differently than mortgage companies, banks, and auto manufacturers.

I want to fucking puke.

Instrument Innovation!

This is the Torzal Natural Twist bass neck:

If that’s not one of the coolest things you’ve seen in a while, please share whatever you’re smoking! Their standard bass neck twists 35 degrees – 15 at the bridge and 20 at the nut. They also do guitar necks now.

Ultra-genius Jerome Little put his first crazy-ass-neck like this together in the mid 1990s. “Why?” you ask? Ergonomics!

Tendinitis, repetitive strain injury, and a score of other physical ailments are de riguer in the professional music industry. Mr. Little – along with other smart folks – is working to help address that, and his twisted neck is a stupendous piece of the solution. As your hand moves towards the nut (the top, the tuning pegs, the head) it twists away from your body so you don’t have to do wrist gymnastics to finger the fretboard! I do hope he’s patented the bejezus ouf of this stuff!

There are lots more cool pictures of various Torzal Natural Twist necks on their web site, including my “in progress” favorite:

This dude’s a mathlete.

UAW RIP

By way of an opening comment, let me say that I want to see GM, Ford, and Chrysler survive. I really really do. They produce some GREAT cars, the USA created the auto industry, I love cars, and I think each of those companies truly has the capacity to kick serious ass over time. Also let me say that I have NOT been impressed with management of the Big 3 over the last many years. I’d cry no tears to see new C-level management in all three companies.

I’m not a big fan of unions. As a friend of mine puts it, unions might be fine for coal miners and other workers doing really dangerous, risky, scary stuff – but otherwise, their time has passed.

‘Confusion’ barely explains (to me) what value the UAW provides to any segment of the auto industry. United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger got a bunch of press yesterday, rattling off some truly incredulous, insane, inane things. To wit:

We’re here not because of what the auto industry has done, we’re here because of what has happened to the economy.

And we should simply ignore the fact that the Big 3 were sucking wind for a LONG time before the economy capsized? Gimme a break. Also:

Getting the automakers back on their feet means figuring out a way to turn around the slumping economy.

So the automakers are doing GREAT and FINE and nothing needs to be done other than just fixing the economy. That’s certainly “a theory”.

This one didn’t come out of Gettelfinger’s mouth, but I can only assume he agrees violently (emphasis mine):

The Center for Automotive Research, which receives funding from the auto industry, has warned that the collapse of the Big Three could set off a catastrophic chain reaction in the economy, eliminating up to 3 million jobs and more than $150 billion in tax revenue over the next three years.

If irrationality doesn’t make people jump out of their seats, LET’S TRY RAW FEAR! What the UAW and friends fail to grasp is that not only are they playing with a nuclear bomb – they’re sitting on the damn thing!

How about we look at some facts instead of pure demagogic drivel. Through 10/2008, 11.6M cars and light trucks (pickups, SUVs) were sold in the US (that’s about 40K per day – wow!). Of those 11.6M vehicles, 5.5M were sold by the Big 3 – that’s just under 50% of all car and light truck sales in the country. About 20K vehicles per day!

What organization, if any, might have the capacity to completely shut down the Big 3? Two: the Feds (assuming they first fire each and every government employee with a measurable IQ – and especially anybody with an economics degree) and the the United Auto Workers (assuming they’re that wildly insane).

What is the likelihood that half of the automobile supply in the USofA would simply disappear overnight?  The answer is – none. No likelihood. Zero percent probability. Basic supply and demand: what happens if you remove half the supply and keep demand constant? Prices will go THROUGH THE ROOF. Cue mushroom cloud, please.

If this nuclear bomb is detonated and prices, say, double in the course of a few days, what will happen?

• First and foremost, Toyota, Honda, et. al. will get a HUGE windfall on their hundreds of thousands of cars sitting on lots around the country, and everything coming off the lines. This will be a GIFT of gargantuan proportion to the competition.
• Second, the Big 3 dealers will see their inventories plummet (no more parts or warranty comfort, etc.) in value while their competitors inventory values will soar through the roof. Bam – the Big 3’s distribution network will cut and run. Joe-Bob Chevrolet will become Joe-Bob Honda faster than a 2009 Caddy CTS-V can do 0-60 (sub 4 seconds, BTW!).
• Third, the non-Big 3 will have to grow FAST to meet demand. How are they going to do it? They’re going to (a) keep keeping the UAW out of their factories, (b) hire any Big 3 employee who is willing to keep feeding their family (perhaps sad, but definitely true- it’s not like the UAW has those kinds of reserves), and (c) get new factories on line IMMEDIATELY to satisfy the demand gap – which they’re going to do buy buying existing Big 3 factories now that the companies are in bankruptcy and have no other viable assets to sell.

Here’s a chart that should scare the pants off both the UAW and anybody who wants to see the US auto industry survive and thrive:

As indicated in the chart title, those are loaded salaries. The Japanese numbers are apparently for their dozens of plants in the US. You don’t need a PhD in economics to understand that if your labor costs are so much less, you can sell a much more compelling product for the same price – or a much cheaper identical product for the same price. Never mind what Kia, Hyundai, Tata, and the Chinese automakers are paying their native workers [This Reuters article indicates that the major Chinese automakers are selling 6M units per year, but have the capacity to produce 10M vehicles per year - that's potentially 4M cars of near-instant supply to mop up after the Big 3.]

Over the past century, the UAW and the Big 3 have clearly made promises that they can’t keep. They have both over-promised and soon they’ll be under-delivering in the worst way. It’s time to own-up, cut the cord, and jettison the detritus so that GM, Ford, and Chrysler can be run as the globally-competitive businesses they must be and can be.

Entertaining Space Reporting

This was apparently the weekend for all the interns at CNN to get to write news stories about stuff happening off our planet. Maybe it went something like “if you do a good job, we’ll let you cover the stratosphere”.

Exhibit 1, courtesty of CNN’s front page (and this one is just stupid):

Space shuttle docks with orbiting station

… The shuttle and station crews were expected to greet each other soon after opening their vehicles’ hatches. …

As opposed to not greeting each other? Or waiting a long time after opening their hatches? WTF?

This one caused me to laugh milk out of my nose. Keep in mind that a run-of-the-mill .22 rifle bullet travels at about a quarter mile per second and weighs a couple grams. Exhibit 2, also courtesy of CNN, emphasis mine:

India probe crash-lands successfully on moon

… Space official Shiv Kumar said the 34-kilogram probe hit the moon surface traveling at … 3,579 mph. Kumar said the probe transmitted sufficient signals to the mother craft before landing, but no more were expected after the impact.

Gee – YA THINK??? A 34,000 gram object impacting at 1 mile per second?

MP3 < Plastic

Someone is really “unclear on the concept” here. I was on Amazon looking for an album and this popped up in my search result:

In case the text is too small for you to read, it shows that I can download a lossy 256kbps MP3 of the album for $15.99 or I can buy the physical CD for $14.99 (I’m an Amazon Prime member, so I get ‘free’ shipping and two-day delivery).

Bollocks!

The actual CD provides me lossless audio, a hard backup, and more fair-use rights than the MP3 download does — and I pay $1 LESS for taking it up the you-know-what. WTF?

If you open your mind too much…

If you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out.

- Tim Minchin

Why I “Threw My Vote Away”

According to many folks, I “threw my vote away” today. I voted for the Libertarian candidate for President Bob Barr.

Why?

The quotes below, from Bob Barr’s final video push to his supporters and undecided voters, sums up most of my perspective (emphasis mine):

[P]oll numbers … are at record levels for the Libertarian party, and it’s because of … the message that … positive movement to shrink the size, the scope, the cost, and the power of the Federal Government really is possible.

[S]ome folks say “well, you know, the lines are just too long.” Doesn’t matter!!! I don’t care if you have to wait in line for five hours. It is that important … to show America that we’re tired of the status quo two party monopoly system that has done so much damage to this country.

Government is too big, too expensive, too involved, and too intrusive. If we are in fact, as the founders intended, a constitutional republic of aggregated states, then we should behave as such, and not as a single monolithic state. The two party system has played a lead role in the corruption that has seeped into politics and governing over the decades. National elections today are not about issues, problem-solving, tough choices, and deep thinking. National elections are about 30-second commercials, 90-second answers to debate questions, special interests, and who can spend the most obscene amount of money. National elections today are about getting elected, and nothing else. This should make you sad and/or frustrated. If the two parties agree to this sort of insane behavior (be that agreement explicit or implicit) the voters lose. In my opinion, there desperately needs to be an alternative.

Since I live in Massachusetts, my voice doesn’t matter all that much. Our 12 electoral college votes are going for Obama whether I vote for Obama, Barr, or my left testicle. I took this (sad?) fact as an opportunity to hopefully help third parties get a leg up for the next time around. All the better if it specifically helps the Libertarians (he says, raising his CATO Institute coffee tumbler). If I lived in a state that actually had a chance of going one way or another, I would have voted for Obama. Obama seems exceptionally smart, clueful, and sharp – and we really need that now; he seems to genuinely have a je ne sais quoi that might help move the country in a useful direction; and Palin absolutely scares the shit out of me.

Let’s hope that whoever gets elected tonight does some good for the country and doesn’t fuck things  up too much more before 2012…