I'm blind linking this because I hear it is damn funny [this must from Emperor Ng -jv], though I'll need to wait until I get home to look at it.

Sony reccomends that the creator of this seditious and libelous material have his genitals cut off and shoved into his mouth to symbolize his infidelity to our Fatherland, have his heart dug out with a dull shovel and shoved up his ass to underscore how cowardly he is and, after he has died, his foul carcass should be cut into pieces, which will be hung from traffic lights at major intersections in our cities to show how we treat people like him. (all props to Froissart for the metaphorical mutiliation).

[Erik clarifies: By the way, I loved the SOTU. He broke the Dems' ankles with the AIDS/Hydrogen Car crossover move, two-hand dunked on the anti-war crowd with his case for taking action in Iraq, then hung on the rim while pointing at Kim Jong Il up in the crowd. I know he's just reading a speech that someone else wrote, but still... that was Kobe-esque.] {Yeah, but: the judges take points off for lack of sincerity and opportunism. I mean, when exactly did he start showing any interest in anything in Africa? Joe public expects Joe Taurel to lead the new committe on AIDS in Africa.} [E: that's why I called it a crossover. It's used to fake your opponent out before you score.]{That's funny - RM}

[Michael Buffer says: Welcome fans to the Ultimate Tax Fighting Championship. Our fighters are in the ring, so LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!]

To pick the Enron string again. Erik asked about stock options & I sez the tax treatment of stock options is as neutral as the treatment of cash salary. When you issue an option, no tax for the individual and no deduction for the company. When employee exercises (not including ISO and, BTW, this is not tax advice) then employee takes an income tax hit equal to the difference between strike price and fmv. The company gets an equal and offsetting deduction. As a policy matter, during the boom Tech corporations paid very little in taxes [ In large part due to the enormous deductions available under this rule -RM (Stay away from wet paint and DAP, you're getting delirious. Giving away ownership in a company is not a cost? How is that different from selling stock on the market and using the cash to pay employees? As far as subsidy, the employee takes an equal income hit, so net revenue change is in the government's favor for the wealthiest employees (higher individual rate then corp.))] so the deduction didn't drain the treasury. Individuals do pay taxes, so stock exercises flooded the treasury with cash and more cash (which Grey Davis promptly spent, then monetized the future revenues to spend some more. Wooo Hoooo, free cash and revenue forever.)

Anyway, as you can see, options have no more tax benefit to the company then cash. [Bullshit. It's a tax subsidy. (just because you say You farted, doesn't mean I did) The company gives away nothing and gets a deduction. No other country in the world (that is a really good argument, I am floored) provides the same tax dedution and I'd bet that the CBO and GAO call them subsidies for budgeting purposes. - RM Nope, they call the income taken in by the employee as revenue. [Doesn't go to my argument, but, whatever - RM] Try to put this model in your SIMs the Game world: Company A goes IPO and uses the money to pay employees, Company B simply gives stock to the employee. Does your SIMs the Game world treat similarly situated entities differently] But options have a huge, huge accounting/book keeping benefit. By giving away options, you are paying employees, but its not a charge to earnings in the same way . The stock market run-up was basically tied to incredibly earnings projections and faking ways to meet them. So pay a guy $100,000 cash and that knocks your earnings down. Give him options with a FMV strike price, and you have ho expense. Bigger companies like Coke now book the option/ expense as a form of accounting honesty [ Not so much honesty as anticipation of a rule (Stop reading the Comrades To Arms for your news, FASB hasn't passed or proposed any such rule, its shareholder pressure all the way) {Sony, you ignorant Slovak, it's the McCain-Levin bill, not FASB. Not to discount shareholder pressure you fucking cabbage eating bumpkin} steal my own line? Clever, clever. I understand that you're One Froot Loop shy of a full bowl, but even you know that the bill is dead, as is any bill with McCain's name attached. Now go read up on Black-Sholes change requiring booking stock options as an expense in order to qualify for the tax deduction. Again, no other country (if you say that again, I will stop reading this chicken scrawl ) treats this as an expense for book purposes. Deducting the "expense" actually distorts earnings. A company that spent a million dollars to make $100million could have no earnings due to stock options, even though the company clearly has profit to distribute and will never have to pay to acquire the stock underlying the options.. The better way is to show dilution scenarios as now required by the SEC. - RM That is so freaking wrongheaded, I don't know where to start. I've never seen a Fed subsidy that has as its qualification: a market run up in stock coinciding with a vesting schedule and having a third party exercise option. If you don't have all three elements no "subsidy"?. {The qualifactions are irrelvevant. { kind of like a working knowledge of the topic is irrelevant to your posting? } All tax subsidies have qualifiactions. E.g., home ownership.] Lets assume your SIMs the Game Company did not issue options with a one year vesting period (because lord knows, no company I advise would), instead it promised to pay its employees $90 million if they brought it $100 million gross revenues, which happens. It sells stock on the market and pays teh employees. This company gets a legit deduction but your SIMs the Game Company gets a subsidy equal to the deduction? ]

This has nothing to do with Enron. Enron faked earnings by creating related party transactions: Enron buys a Widget for $100, next week Enron sells it to Raptor, LLC (owned by Enron’ VPs, SVPs etc.) for $500. That’s $400 in earnings. I’m not that smart, but if you read a research report back then, you could easily gauge that its earnings were smoke and mirrors. Same with El Paso, to a lesser extent.

the tangential connection is that insiders holding huge equity stakes have a primordial interest in seeing stock appreciate, so they do wahtever it takes. Back then, everyone focused on earnings or market share, so insiders faked earnings and market share growth (i.e. Global crossing and Qwest trading (unused) capacity and booking it as revenue and claiming market gains).

Anyway, That’s Stock Options and Enron As I sees it. I’ll get Rick’s argument that more rules will make everyone honest and happy later.

RM says: Agreed on conclusion, dissent on the dicta. Next issue. The next issue is what makes Rich such a freaking commie regulator? Whatever it is, it works well. Hey what happened to my comments? I'm looking in your direction SH. You can delete all the text you want, but you will still be wrong in your unique Hodurish way. - RM So protests Seriously, I didn't delete anything. Not sure what happened (editing at the same time?) but that kind of thing is flat wrong & I wouldn't do it. [It's cool brother and I never actually thought for a second that you would do such a thing. Well, maybe one second, but that's it, I swear. - RM]

The Sentence was only slighty worse then the lecture: Calling the sentence Reid will face "a fair and just sentence, a righteous [E:Who is this guy, the pope?] sentence," Young said, "We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice. ... You're big, but you're not that big. You are no warrior. I know warriors. You are a terrorist.

"You hate our freedom -- our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, and to believe or not believe as we individually choose. ... See that flag, Mr. Reid? That is the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is forgotten. And it still stands for freedom."

I'm no UN-hating Buchananite, but first they put Libya in charge of the human rights commission, and now they put Iraq in charge of the disarmament conference. (IRAQ sez: Bwaaahaahahaa "joining Iraq as co-chair for the session in Geneva, Switzerland, will be Iran. " Doh!) That's just mind-boggling. Then again, the conference kicks off in May, and by then Iraq may know a thing or two about being disarmed. [Kofi Annan thinks: Hm, maybe rotating through countries in alphabetical order isn't the best process for picking conference leaders.] [Americans think: Goddamn U.N. and its new world order. Ma, get me mah gun. Not that one, the big one. Over there.]

OH boy, you just taught me some shit

[Get outta here with your commie, Saddam-loving propaganda - RM]

[Erik tsks: I think posting someone else's complete work like that goes against the Blog moral code, as it were. You should always link to the site what pays the author if possible... unless, UNLESS, you really are a commie. AD? We look to you for guidance.]
A sez {Sheeit. I don't know. or care.. I tend to be amoral. but I was thinking how lots of sites don't like people linking images / wasting their bandwidth like that.. but it's not like this blog is any traffic.. i dunno. I do like funny pictures though.}
{SH congratulates Erik: your high moral standards just won you the job of Commissioner of Roto Baseball. Please Report to Las Vegas Hilton on MArch 29, Conference Room TBD, to assume your duties. This is not a test, this is fer reel}}
A sez: I was going to link that image to the site and ask if that was better but Salon won't even let me see that single comic strip [get it here] unless I shell out $30, 18.50 or watch a Benz commercial. so phuck them. thank you for saving me the agony Sony. I also was looking at the hummer site to see if those sporty new yellow jobbers really did get 8 MPG but I couldn't find the info.
E: Good points all--now I'll have to go find a picture to post. And don't be so hard on yourself A, you're just differently-moraled.

This article on Korean clans of Counter-Strike players in the east bay is funny on a number of levels, including that the reporter inexplicably takes these guys seriously.
[A: Violence Breaks out in Los Angeles Cyber Cafes oh those Kids..]
[E: Owned!]
{S That was an interesting article, funny how Doom really got it all going.
(A: also funny how Doom was ahead of it's time in releasing source code (1997) and ensuring mods that kept it alive This authors book The Cathedral & The Bazaar had been blowing my mind. And all his books are up for your free perusal here. Highly recommended. sorry to thread-jack your comment Sam.)
Here is Eric Harris's remembrance of Doom}
[SL: After they were done shooting, the perps bunny hopped their way to a quick escape (inside video game j/k). But seriously what else is there to do in Northridge?]
[E: Or Concord for that matter.]

Anyone who's bored is welcome to go heckle semi-retarded new moms on the babycenter bulletinboards. You can start with "How much milk do you pump these days?" They've already started a special thread in honor of an incredibly restrained little post o' mine. [Perhaps you would be interested in my new book: Trolling For Fun And Profit. - RM]
[It was so restrained I could barely tell it was you-A]
{A good troll never gets kicked off after the first post. You have to gain tehir confidence, a few allies, etc so that it becomes a harder and harder thing to delete you. That way you can ratchet up the annoyancator.}

I never could open up the RIAA website
[A: 'sactly. Here is a mirror of an old hack. I believe they were trying to push legislation thru that allowed them to use disruptive techniques against pirates using P2P. Mad pirates+hackers = not good.]
Does the RIAA owe you $20? {Burner asks: have you bought a CD in 3 years? I haven't.}[MP3z: Good question.] {Obvious: Um, I've bought I few. Do I get more than $20?}[Oops: No. As a matter of fact you probably won't get squat. Too many people will file and they will end up making a charitable contribution instead of paying out. Sorry if you got your hopes up.. who knows though.]

[Erik links: to the New Yorker and a quick article about hacker-god Kevin Mitnick getting out of jail and surfing the web for the first time ever.]

Rick to your point on Enron. We agree that insiders committed fraud and the shareholder are entitled to file a derivative suit to force the insider to disgorge their profits to the corporation. But their ill gotten gains are tiny in comparison to shareholder losses. Consider the raptor transactions; they faked trasactions and booked huge profits. A couple guys stole a few million as commission, a few others sold stock and netted a few million. But the profits convinced investors wage hundreds of millions on the company. How do they collect those hundreds of millions? Insiders don't have it and didn't steal that much. If the auditors perpetrated the fraud, they can be sued too, but that hasn't been shown; Auditors are entitled to rely on the data provided them (they were convicted of Obstruction of Justice, after all the hooplah had occured). Plus they BKed. So no one who committed the evil deeds has the funds to bring shareholders their lost investment. So they are, and will continue to be, screwed.

I think Ari's point, but I'm not sure, is that something must be done and my answer is "not legislatively." This is simple fraud that aggregations of wealth are always subject to. The Economists has a funny article on Corporate reform, how British, American and German boards are structured differently, but all of their business communities get sucked in by fraud. The point being that no structure weeds out that most base of human impulses.

[RM requests clarification: When you say "Not legislatively," are you saying (1) the feds shouldn't insure against these kinds of losses, (2) additional criminal lor civil liability for such wrongdoers is not appropriate, (3) new federal regulation isn't warranted, or (4) something else? I would start my amoral diatribe now but I'm all drunk and would hate to waste my muse on a misunderstood position. Also, what does "BKed" mean?]

Sony tries to clarify, but his thinking is admittedly loose (1) yes, (2) yes (since they're pretty hefty now, as long as the prosecutors don't take the short cut and deal, like they did with Milken and Boesky) (3) yes and (4) my point is that litigation & existing rules will handle the current mess and that nothing will prevent fraud, so lets not punish/burden the innocent. Sorry, BK is short for bankruptcy- so much of it going around we developed a short hand. I assume your SOU drinking game went well? Are you able to tell me how I should feel? Was he robust and strong? Did Elizabeth Dole get moist?

Rick mostly agrees: I'm with you on points 1 and 2, but disagree on point 3 and partly disagree on point 4. Existing laws and litigation aren't handling the current mess because they will fail to (1) make whole those who were wronged and (2) restore the average persons confidence in the equity markets. The second part is the larger problem. I think you would agree that over the last 10 years or so for a number of reasons the average American has become more heavily invested in equities. This has been good for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it resulted in a robust IPO market which in turn made financing available to new and innovative companies that created jobs and economic growth, both delicious things. The current crisis is really the first crisis in that new reality. I think that what the average investor has learned is that you can't rely on financial statements, that financial advisors, auditors, and corporate managers don't necessarily have the same interests as public investors, and that when you get burned that money is gone forever, even if the loss is caused by outright fraud. And the average investor isn't going to have the resources or sophistication to, say, interview company management or scour companies' books. The proper response to this crisis would have been to both introduce legislation and fund enforcement to restore the average investor's confidence in the reliability and transparency of financial statements and to align the interests of the average investor with the interests of financial advisors, corporate managers and auditors. It's simply not enough to tell Joe Sixpack that he needs the knowledge of a CPA or JD to be able to make informed equity investment decisions and that if things go wrong he's SOL because he can't afford to litigate against an Enron (granted he could join a class action, but that rarely fails to make any investor whole) and even if he could, there's nothing left to take from them. All that says to me is stuff your money in a mattress, and that belief isn't going to do anybody any good.

[Erik wonders: Wasn't it federal tinkering with the tax code that encouraged companies to give out lavish stock options as benefits to senior management, thus setting the stage for the corrupting of corporate goals to the point where the day's stock price was the only thing that mattered to them? [Don't know what exactly you're referring to. Anyone? - RM] I could be wrong, and often am on these matters, but it would seem that some minor legislation to fix this problem would be in order. I'm not sure, though, that I like what Rick seems to imply, that the government should protect Joe Sixpack from his own bad investments.] [Insuring against loss, or prohibiting overly risky investments would undoubtedly be protecting JS from his own bad investments. Enacting and enforcing rules requiring that financial statements acurately and completely reflect the financial health of a company and also requiring independent auditors be actually independent isn't, IMHO. The later measures do, however, dramatically reduce transaction costs and help to ensure that equity prices reflect business risk rather than the risk that company management is a bunch of lying bastards. I suppose one could argue that securities regulation is a bad thing altogether. For an example of how that works, see, e.g., Russia and its thriving financial markets.]

[Erik blockquotes from some thinktank:]

One fast-growing tax break that had a very significant effect in lowering taxes involved stock options. When stock options are exercised, corporations can take a tax deduction for the difference between what employees pay for the stock and what it’s worth—even though in reporting profits to shareholders, companies don’t treat stock-option transactions as business expenses. ITEP found that 233 of the 250 companies lowered their taxes from stock options, by a total of $25.8 billion over the three years. Microsoft led the pack with $2.7 billion in stock-option tax benefits—reflecting the fact that stock option tax benefits are dependent on how much a company’s stock has gone up in value, and thus the tax savings were especially large in high-tech industries whose market valuations zoomed during the three-year period.

[Oh, dats what dey is. Personally, in my tiny, tiny, mind, that's not telling me that that has any impact in the recent wave of corporate scandals, although I do think that it's a lame-ass tax subsidy. I mean, there are other reasons to favor stock options as compensation. Most importantly, for example, is that they are taxed much more lightly in the hands of the employee than ordinary cash compensation would be, so the employee gets a better net return. Another is that the options aren't cash out of pocket for the employer. Even if the tax subsidy were the primary motivation for this type of compensation, I don't see why it's bad. I mean, if the corporate managers are shareholders, then doesn't that align their interests with the other shareholders. If on the other hand, their compensation were solely in cash, wouldn't they be mostly interested in extracting cash from the company? But perhaps I'm not seeing the arguments on the other side, which perhaps you will kindly provide me. - RM]

i ho is Ian, not class of '88 so he's not harbitten, meanspirited nasty partying epicurean, but he's a good boy. The problem with a The State Of The Union Drinking Game is that you have to watch the SOU. I usually wait for the morning paper to tell me how I feel about the speech.

"Money is scandalously stolen in front of our faces":

Please note that the IRS has revised the mileage reimbursement rate for business use from 36.5 cents a mile in 2002 to 36 cents a mile in 2003.

Damn fascists.

Don't know if anyone checked out BMWFILms.com but the one with James Brown & Gary Oldman is freaky cool, even has a cameo by Marylin Manson. [AD: yeah very crazy, funny how they had to subtitle JB. Very 'fast & furious'ish driving scene.] The John Woo is good too. [AD: love the to the edge scene, kept rewinding it. I think the shot catches the tires going way out of shape and snapping back]

By the way, has anyone talked to Mike Rowe lately?

[Erik has: sent that message and link to Mike. That picture made me laugh out loud. ]

Any idea how I can play your shit, Sam, on Windows Media? Shockingly, this Microsoft product doesn't perform well It makes everything sound tinny and plays it like a 45 RPM instead of 33 MPH. Incidentally, my daughter may never actually hear a 45 in her entire life. gmmmmm.

you should download those mp3s to your hard drive, then any mp3 player including windows media should handle playback. maybe take a look at WinAmp, pretty cool mp3 player.

[she'll probably not know what a cassette tape is either. -A.]

[The cassette tape is probably on its last legs but there's actually a big 45 revival movement going on right now. Well, maybe not big compared to N'Synch, but big compared to, um, cassettes. Check out, e.g., Stones Throw, or Soulfire Records. Not that I'm particularly in on it. I think the last 45 I actually owned was The Night Chicago Died by Paper lace when I was, like, 8 years old. Have it on mp3 now to remind me that there's a difference between good music and bad. It's the bad.- RM]

Ari- its snot that I disagree with your positions, its that I have no clue what they are. Your posts sometimes look like a pastiche of discarded signs from a WTO demonstration. Its not the content that I am criticizing, its the argument-by-sloganeering.

E.g. "money is scandalously stolen in front of our faces" what does that mean? You don't think people should pay taxes? You think that someone who invested in Enron at $180 a share is entitled to that money, even though the company wasn't actually worth its market valuation? How exactly would the government insure against market loss without collecting taxes?

[A chimes in: naw something is hella foul bout Enron. Mofos scammed billions using companies named after Star Wars Shit? [Sony's take off balance shit financing is common and considered a normal business method. What they did was flat out lie about the sales and prices. That's just fraud, nothing fancy.] Shelly, come on! Maybe we can start a new linkfilled thread on it. There really was a energy shortage causing all those blackouts right? no? {Sony's take blame your elected leaders. You can regulate or deregulate a market, but if a bunch of term-limited career politicans think they can legislate some half-ass mangement system, they should be prepared to be gamed.] my half assed searching and linking just noise? I dunno. Just tell me the dude did not have the huge brass ones to campaign for tort reform cause.. and killing the environment and supporting atrocities in India.. dude is Darth Vader!]

Sony's take Good Stuff A.D., there's truth in all of that, but so what? To the victor go the spoils. The Repubs were fired up in their hatred for Clintonista, they banded togother, unified behind the Shrub, ponied up millions in a pass-the-hat and won the damn country (and I am enjoying my tax cut, thank you very much). Now they're doing it their way, just like a democrat would. Anyway, you look at Enron and tell us who is entitled to what damages? If I bought at $180 the day before Enron went belly, what was it actually worth? Am I entitled to to $180 when it was never really worth that? If so, who owes it to me? The other shareholders? The Guvment (i.e., all the taxpayers smart enough to stay away from that shit?)? I have very little sympathy 'cause during the California energy crisis I wanted to park some of my roll-over IRA into Natural Gas. I looked at El Paso, I looked at Enron and absolutely passed because that shit was clearly shady and overvalued based only free Yahoo material (I got a mutual fund instead, which is not so hot, but not bankrupt). Companies have always pulled shit like that since the dawn of corporations and from then on to the early U.S. versions; its a republican tradition. But just because bad things happen in the woild, doesn't mean we need to legislate a mess of laws that effectively punish the innocent. Just b/c you ride your motorcycle like a complete nut, doesn't mean I, the innocent law-abiding driver, should face a cc limit or ban on Motos.

But Rick points out: If some of what went on at Enron was "fraud" as you call it (and I agree), then aren't shareholders entitled to damages under existing law? And wouldn't those damages come from the perpetrators of the fraud, such as, e.g., the auditors and company management?

E.g. "I'm not comfortable watching atrocity without taking an outspoken & contrary position.
How many more corp scandals will it take before even the lawyers start saying, 'We're in the midst of a fascist takeover'?" Are corporate scandals "atrocities"? Is Enron the same as Rwanda (by the way, did you support the failure to militarily intervene there?)? See, that kind of hyperbole only energizes the converted, its makes no sense to teh skeptical. Look at Rick's conclusive email on the cost/benefit analysis of the war, or MLK's Letter from a Birmingham Jail to see different approaches.

As point of fact, I do think the country is constantly threatened by fascist sentiments and actors, but I don't think corporate scandals are within 1,000 parsecs of that issue.

And by the way Ari, its America, you can, if you chose hide or reject your heritage. Mine calls for heaping mounds of cabbage and potatoes washed down by home made wine served by a fat wife, but I haven't honored it.

Rick comments with amusement: Linking to a definition of "parsecs" could be interpreted by some as smart-assishness. I know that you're only striving for clarity, I'm just saying that it could be interpreted that way.

[Erik wonders whether Sony will ever call a Rick post "reasoned" again after that comment.] [Sony replies Again? gotta love the edit function]

Dudes I am tres excited about the the New Shrek that is coming out, as advertised during the Superbowl Of Advertisements. Bad-ass digital effects, Cars smashing, tank throwing, pissed off Shrek. And no Eddie Murphy!!! I cannot wait.
[A: I finally saw the o.g. Shrek recently. Liked the cursewords for kids names. Who's the sassy sidekick now? John Leguizamo, David Spade(r?)]

Regarding the Super Bowl outcome: Boooooooooo.

I assumed that because the game was anticlimactic, there wouldn't be any trouble. [Trouble? From Article: "Witnesses reported lots of "sideshow activity," with motorists driving recklessly and spinning "donuts" in the street."] Guess I was wrong.

[Gary Radnich this morning on KNBR (sports radio): "We were all set to do our live piece for the [11pm local] news from San Diego when they called and said we were pushed back 10 minutes because there was stuff going on down on International boulevard--someone broke a window on the news van. I don't mean to point the finger at my employers, because all of the media does this, but here we are at the biggest sporting event of the year and we get bumped because some idiot broke a window."] (Sony: Reminds me of the first Laker Championship when we had 4 hours of footage from the one block of newly christianed "Chick Hearn Court," featyuring about 30 guys and two fans. The great L.A. riot.") [A: I have to admit I couldn't tear myself away from that stupid ass (L.A.) coverage.. I liked when they chased the food truck.]

Erik & Sony: Did you scare me off the blog? Nah. Did you frighten me at the state of the nation reflected in the amoral diatribes of my fellows? Not sure if frighten or sadden is the right word Also I was up in SF learning my new job, had no time to BLOG..


I guess fundamentally the issue is not about disliking the war & it's historical ramificaitons, or seeing through the thin cloak behind which so much (tax & stock market) money is scandalously stolen in front of our faces, but more having a stance and willingness to take actions on a stance. That's an issue I've been dealing w/my whole life.


I tend not to mention that, just as we each have our ethnic makeup, I have a heritage which I don't often publicly claim but it is fundamentally of questioning authority & demanding actions to be taken against corruption & immorality. I say all this even while conscious that I am a new part of a giant corporate structure, and certainly in my own life I'm no paradigm of virtue.


I push my view not necessarily because I'm a radical, although I am one & have been for ages -- and SF is a comforting bastion for me -- but more that I'm not comfortable watching atrocity without taking an outspoken & contrary position.
How many more corp scandals will it take before even the lawyers start saying, 'We're in the midst of a fascist takeover'?


Enjoying Sam's artwork. Reminds me of some amazing art I saw ages ago, lots of montage pieces where he changed missiles & weapons by adding limbs to them. & what's with the 'Lemons'? Who's changing their name next??!?!
My suggestions: Andrew Lion, Erik Handsome, Ari Prayfist, Sony Holder...


Since in blogworld, length is irrelevant, and i have no other spots to post & hyper-link my poems to right now, here is a poem of mine that I've read at Poetry Slams. It's no easy read out loud, b/c it has to be read fast & with punch. Mixed reactions from groups. It reads well on paper. Among you, perhaps some will enjoy, or be annoyed... Feedback would be interesting -- especially since I already know the contrary nature of the audience.

TV	9/6/02

I turn on the TV

	pussy Buy This pussy puh puh

	pussy False Authority Lie Lie

	Buy This Buy This Now NOW pussy

	pussy pussy puh puh puh LIE

	pussy Buy Buy BUY IT NOW Lie

	Lie Nine Eleven Buy It Now

	Kill pussy pussy pussy Kill

	Buy Kill Buy False Authority

	Kill Kill Buy Buy pussy pussy

	puss puss puss Kill Buy Lie

I turn off the TV

	I bought it.  I didn't even 

	want it.

I wonder -- where is the dick on TV?

I remember...

	The man lying to me

	Saying the item was free

	Saying I had to kill.

	Saying I am free

	Saying he kills for me.

	Saying he saves my liberty

	He's good to me he's a hero

	with a gun killing the enemy

I remember...

	where the dick is on TV.

The dick is in the TV.

The old wealthy dick

	I'll never see.

	Its wrinkled impotency

	forever buried in money

	raped from everybody

	sucked from every country

	now on 24/7 TV

	selling me garbage with female sexuality.

And I refuse to believe the TV again.  

[AD sez: "amoral diatribes"?
Democracy is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others.]
[Erik sez:"amoral diatribes": Cite exactly which post was amoral and why, otherwise you are just talking out of your ass.]
[Erik adds:If the issue is "having a stance and willingness to take actions on a stance" then does that mean you side with the Bush administration? Pretty much describes them to at T. Of course it could also describe Al Qaeda, or say, a serial rapist.]
[AD guesses: Maybe it was old Tommy Vercetti?]

Rick sympathizes: I'll tell you what Ari, I'll take your side on this one even though I'm not really feeling your arguments. But let's try this tack and see how it goes: Containment, although admittedly unsafisfying, has worked (Saddam hasn't caused any international problems since Gulf I), isn't terribly expensive, and is a known quantity. War is therefore a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, nobody knows how much it will cost (but it probably won't come cheap), and is probably the most volatile investment an individual or nation can make. Conclusion is that the cost-benefit analysis argues against and we should invest our national resources somewhere likely to give us a better return. And here I thought I was too late to join the party. Anyway, my amoral diatribe ends here.

I love The Daily Show, and the interview with four of the correspondents in the Onion this week is hilarious.

Samuel sez: Steven Colbert is a riot, and his part of this interview is hilarious too. I love his field peices, although as he commented in the interview, they have toned down the maliciousness a bit.

Hey Ari, I agree with Sony. I would actually welcome a nice discussion on the issue, it just has to be substantive. I certainly hope you're not intimidated by Sony and me, not when you have France, Germany, China, Russia, the entire Middle East except Israel, the EU, the Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, Reforms, and the vast majority of academia on your side.

Pop Quiz: Your team is down two late in the game, and you're guarding the second smallest player in the history of the NBA when he gets by you on a drive. Do you A) Let him go so that your teammates who are all at least a foot taller than him can contest his shot, or B) Give him a weak shove that doesn't affect his shot but awards a freethrow that ices the game?

Did me and Erik run Ari out of here? Ari, it was all fun and games. Don't turn into an SF radical that can only tolerate hanging out with like minded people. You are smart & tough enough and your ideas robust enough to handle withering sarcasm. Breathe in the rose petal air of teh free market of ideas- stop by the Sneering Libertarian booth, quaff a loving draught at the Peacenik Barre, and enjoy a rousing ensemble musical at Ye Olde Whig Theatre.

At all the Clipper games, someone shoots the half court shot for a car. I predict the shot everytime and 99% I predict airball. All those clowns are trying to shoot the ball in the basket. Plus, they seem to pick an inordinate amount of schlumpy jello arms. The only time anyone gets close is a nice laser shot at the backboard. Only once has anyone made it and he was a strong looking guy. He was warming up with a two hand push shot, and I told JB, "you know what, he's trying to bank it in and I bet he makes it." he sure did. The lesson is, on a half court, you must go for the bank or you will airball. No one swishes those except a pro here and there.

Sam, you are in like flynt. Finally, someone else can guard Gary. He just wears me out on D and I can't get anything done on O. Nothing worse then a guy shorter then you blocking all of your shots. (Insert angry face emoticon)

This seems like some serious shennanigans to me, but maybe those of you who know better could fill me in. Also, here's the 10-Q.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 15, 2003 - Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA) announced today that it will restate its financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2001 and 2000 and for the quarters ended March 31, 2000 through June 30, 2002 as a result of an ongoing review of accounting matters. The company also announced that because this review is not yet completed, it has not yet filed its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2002 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As previously disclosed, Ariba has determined that, for accounting purposes, it should treat a $10.0 million payment provided personally by Keith Krach, Ariba’s chairman and co-founder, in March 2001 to Larry Mueller, its president and chief operating officer at the time, as a $10.0 million capital contribution from Mr. Krach to Ariba and the payment of compensation from Ariba to Mr. Mueller. Because no company funds were used and there was no commitment to or from Ariba, the company originally viewed the payment as a personal transaction.

The company has further determined that chartered air services, provided personally by Mr. Krach to Mr. Mueller, should be treated similarly as a capital contribution from Mr. Krach to Ariba and a payment of compensation from the company to Mr. Mueller. These services were provided over the period from September 2000 through July 2001 at a total cost of $1.2 million.

I can't imagine anyone booing a half-court airball considering pros draw iron only a third of the time (unless you're Timmy Hardaway - he got skillz and crazy range), but I do think you'd get booed for even attempting the free throw. I know I would.

Awfully nice of the NBA to reclassify Shaq's flagrant foul from the other night. Too bad it already affected the outcome of the game, and probably shouldn't have been called a foul period.

Most newspapers have published followup Clonaid stories saying, well it's probably a hoax, but none that I know of have said that it's likely a hoax and we look like idiots (sitting there with no cake!) for publishing the claims of a UFO sect to begin with. I will continue to hold my breath and wait.


AD, I agree, just factor the pressure into your probable make percentage. Probably would drive down freethrow % the most, since it requires the most fine muscle control, the first to go when nervous.

Nice headline: Drinking Plus Pot Smoking May Equal More Injuries . As usual the yahoo news message boards are (sarcasm) full of wisdom (/sarcasm), including this statement which seems to implicate someone we know:

"...they walk around thinking nobody except the teenage kid at the gas station with the pot-leaf tatoo smokes pot, when it reality it's their dentist, or their tax attourney, or their pastor going home at night to fire up a joint."

I figure at best I would have a 75% chance at hitting the free throw, maybe 33% at hitting the three, and 5% at hitting the half-court shot. Mutliplying these odds by their respective payouts gives me $38K, $33K, and $50K -- so I'd take the half-court shot.

On to more important topics: the "million dollar shot" at the NBA All Star game. One person gets the chance to take a single shot from one of three places. Make it from the free-throw line and win $50,000; from the 3-point line for $100,000; or from half court for a cool $1,000,000. If you had the chance, which would you take and why?

I know, I can't believe the casinos weren't just pouring money into it. Nothing like getting high to further remove you from the reality of pretty-colored-chips=money. Also, the only thing you might shoot someone with while high is this (um, adult content warning for those of you at work).

From Reason online. Sorry for the large text dump, but this stuff just pisses me off.

Derided by the White House as "nothing more than a cheap political stunt," marijuana advocates' attempt to hold Office of National Drug Control Policy head John P. Walters' feet to the fire for his overt, taxpayer-funded political campaigning against drug-reform state ballot initiatives bore some small fruit this week.

Responding to a formal complaint from backers of the Nevada marijuana legalization measure that received 39 percent of the vote in November, Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller formally charged the nation's drug czar to issue "a written response to the complaint" by January 27th.

[In] its complaint, MPP also takes issue with the White House's near-ubiquitous anti-drug television ad campaign. A series of ONDCP ads that first aired during September links domestic marijuana consumption with foreign terror. During the fall election season (and on in to December), the White House funded some $48 million nationally in anti-marijuana ads.

[Walter's] advocacy against the measure while in Nevada is a matter of public record. During his three days traveling around the state, Walters made a series of media appearances warning that the initiative's passage would lead to Nevada becoming "a center for drug tourism." And he said the initiative would help "feed the criminal organizations that are a dangerous threat to democratic institutions in the Western Hemisphere." On Election Day itself, The Wall Street Journal published his statement that, "we're going to fight whether we win or lose in every state they [reformers] come in to from now on."

This Shaq vs. Yao hype is starting to frighten me... for Yao's health. Giving Shaq a reason to be interested in the game is not smart. Samuel will appreciate this comparison from an article today in Slate:

Over at ESPN.com, Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons went from guaranteeing Yao's demise to calling him the "most compelling player since Michael Jordan in his prime" and someone who "affects the game at both ends more than anybody since Bill Walton." I suppose that makes Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who betters Yao in every statistical category, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Stay out, 12-stepper! Your lies are not welcome here.

. Friendly gathering held
Pyongyang, January 15 (KCNA) -- Russian Ambassador to the DPRK Andrei Karlov hosted a friendly gathering at the embassy on Jan. 14 on the occasion of the New Year, Juche 92 (2003). Present on invitation were minister Ri Kwang Gun and Vice-Minister Kim Yong Jae of foreign trade and officials concerned.
The staffers of the Russian embassy here were on hand.
Speeches were made at the gathering.
The participants deepened friendly feelings, talking to each other about the fact that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries are growing stronger as the days go amid the deep concern of Kim Jong Il and President V. V. Putin

On the one hand that was a complete capitulation to big business arguments but on the other hand, this Court is too tired and old to deal with tough issues. They just like 4th and 10th Amemndment cases. BTW Around here we call it the Mickey Mouse extension, not the Sonny "the other" Bono thing, because Congress extends it everytime Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters come up.

Frodo has failed.

Sony - any thoughts on the recent upholding of the Sonny "the other" Bono copyright term extension act? No doubt we'll see another extension when this one expires, but as long as it is not extended perpetually (only virtually perpetually in 20 year chunks) it's ok by the supremes.

[AD links: Lawrence Lessig Blog]

Must be those 8th-graders that are stuffing the all star ballot box.

Does anyone remember when Sam used to play basketball. Boy, those were the good old days.

In this industry, we call it "Urban," as in "Urban" films don't generate presales in foreign territories. I like "ghetto-linux", though, it sounds like Saami music straight outta Helsinki

I kind of liked the surf and sun coin myself, more Japanese than Californian but at least it has style. The rest are awful variations on the farmworker-and-prospector-riding-a-bear-across-the-golden-gate-into-Hollywood theme.

Vote on the California quarter design here. Prepare to be underwhelmed by the choices.

I would link, but you need to subscribe. Any chance of you copying this, A.D.?

Hero
Ying Xiong
(China-Hong Kong)

A Beijing New Picture Film Co. (in China)/Edko Films (in H.K.)/Miramax (in U.S.) release of a Beijing New Picture Film Co. (China)/Elite Group Enterprises (H.K.) production. (Non-Asian sales: Focus Features, New York.) Produced by Bill Kong, Zhang Yimou. Executive producers, Dou Shoufang, Zhang Weipin. Directed by Zhang Yimou. Screenplay, Li Feng, Zhang, Wang Bin; story, Zhang, Li, Wang.

Nameless - Jet Li
Broken Sword - Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Flying Snow - Maggie Cheung
Sky - Donnie Yen
King of Qin - Chen Daoming
Moon - Zhang Ziyi
(Mandarin dialogue)

By DEREK ELLEYA dazzlingly lensed, highly stylized meditation on heroism and the point at which individualism conflicts with the common good, "Hero," Zhang Yimou's long-planned foray into martial arts territory, skewers its chosen theme with a single-minded devotion. Taking its inspiration from several real-life attempts to assassinate China's first emperor, who unified the country from a mass of warring states 2,200 years ago, pic is more a cinematic fantasia melding music, color and combat than a traditional, or emotionally involving, narrative feature. Anyone expecting a conventional crowd-pleaser on the order of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" will come away feeling cheated; film is closer, if anything, to Wong Kar-wai's elliptical, arty take on the genre, "Ashes of Time" (1994), albeit much more accessible. Robust returns as a specialized item look more likely than breakout biz across the board.
Almost two years in the making, and with a reported budget of some $30 million -- double that of "Crouching Tiger," -- pic represents a high-stakes roll of the dice for Chinese cinema in general, as well as a return to center stage by Zhang after a series of well-regarded but small efforts.

After a foreign language Oscar-qualifying run Oct. 24-30 at a 100-seat venue in Shenzhen, and a massive ad-pub blitz thereafter, film officially premiered Dec. 19 in Beijing and went wide on some 200 screens throughout China, breaking first-day records with a reported gross of $1.45 million. Ten days later, theaters were still running the film to SRO biz, with nationwide takings reportedly already north of $12 million. In Hong Kong, business has been brawny on 46 screens, and in mid-January, film fans out to Taiwan and Singapore. Miramax, which has the pic for numerous territories including North America, is mulling a May release, although U.S. preem will take place on Jan. 14 at the Palm Springs Film Festival.

The period, and the basic story of an assassin who tried to kill the King of Qin, formed the basis of two recent Mainland productions -- Chen Kaige's opulent but dramatically messy "The Emperor and the Assassin" (1999) and Zhou Xiaowen's little seen but far superior "The Emperor's Shadow" (1996). Compared with those two movies' detailed sense of era, "Hero" has an almost spare look, which evokes the period without slavishly following its actual designs. In spirit, pic is more a martial arts movie, set in the usual semi-mythical age, than a historical drama.

However, "Hero" breaks tradition with the martial arts genre by neither primarily being driven by narrative nor featuring a huge number of characters (there are basically only six protags, plus loads of extras). Other departure from the genre is pic's use of swathes of color to reflect moods and feelings. While this approach isn't entirely new, Zhang takes an extreme position in "Hero," above and beyond even his use of color and fabrics in "Ju Dou." Result is an estimable success on the aesthetic terms the director sets out for himself, but may encounter resistance from viewers expecting, or desiring, a different, more ordinary sort of movie.

Narrative is simple: After 10 years during which no one has managed to find three legendary assassins, a country sheriff called Nameless (Li) arrives at the palace of the King of Qin (Chen Daoming) to report mission accomplished, with physical proof of his success. The audience between Nameless and the King -- held in a vast, almost empty reception hall, the two separated by a bank of candles which later prove a crucial plot element -- is the framework on which the several flashbacks of Nameless' exploits reside and, especially in Chen's sly perf, provide ongoing suspense. The grim, gray/black set also provides a continual point of contrast between the colorful flashbacks.

First, tightly told flashback continues the opening color scheme but adds the physical element of water, as Nameless recounts his duel with Sky (Donnie Yen) in a rainy teahouse courtyard.

Second, much more elaborate flashback, gets the film going. Seg starts from a small element -- Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) practicing the calligraphy of his nickname with a stick in a sandbox -- and broadens out to reveal first a whole class of students engaged in the same practice and then, in the dusty plain outside, the massed black-garbed army of Qin. As clouds of arrows (effectively augmented by CGI) rain down on the schoolhouse, the aged teacher orders his pupils to continue with their calligraphy.

In the first of several segs-within-segs, a tiny story of sexual jealousy also unfolds: that of Broken Sword's partner, swordswoman Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), against her maid, Moon (Zhang Ziyi), who also loves Broken Sword. After taking on the bombardment of the Qin army's archers in one of several music-and-image montages that pepper the pic, Sword and Snow settle their differences, and Snow -- in perhaps the movie's best showpiece, deals with Moon in an autumnal forest. Subsequently, Nameless kills Snow in a brief duel in front of his army.

When Nameless finishes his report to the king, it turns out this is only the start of the story. As the king questions Nameless' version of events, a different set of variations unspool over the subsequent 50 minutes, with the characters' change of garbs reflecting their different attitudes as the real story eventually comes to light. At pic's end, Nameless has a major decision to confront.

Anyone in search of film buff reference points will have a ball with "Hero" -- Kurosawa's "Rashomon" and "Throne of Blood" are easy starters, plus a host of Chinese martial arts movies. That shouldn't detract from the movie's overall accomplishment in redefining the genre's action elements.

In traditional martial arts movies -- which "Crouching Tiger" conveniently saluted and rehashed to its immense profit -- fighting styles express character (its weaknesses and strengths), with heroes winning by scaling a pyramid of opponents with contrasting styles that each test an aspect of the hero's skills. Zhang Yimou & Co. largely dispense with this.

For the most part, duels, staged by Hong Kong action maestro Tony Ching Siu-tung are quite samey, more aerial ballets than form-heavy swordplay. Rather than expressing character traits or individual skills, Ching's martial arts choreography describes an overall mood, often to jaw-droppingly beauteous effect, but without the kinetic excitement of acknowledged genre classics.

In fact, it's difficult to separate the various elements in each showpiece, as lensing, color design, choreography and music all coalesce into what are virtually tone poems. For example, in a duel between Nameless and Sword on the surface of a shimmering blue-green lake, grief over the death of Snow is tinged with respect by Nameless for Sword's devotion to her -- the outcome of the duel hangs on a drop of water that lands on her face, as she lies on a bier in a pavilion in the lake's middle. The aerial ballet is equally underscored by Tan Dun's ethereal music (often supplemented by Itzhak Perlman's violin solos) and Christopher Doyle's tranquil lensing, both working in a totally different vein from the wild romanticism of, say, the pic's desert scenes.

Indeed, the use of separate colors for each story seg -- moving from black to red to blue, green and white -- has been the pic's most pre-publicized element. (Idea basically replaced Zhang's initial one of using different cinematographers and shooting styles, which proved impractical.) The idea is not as rigidly executed as expected: As the story axis changes, and the protagonists become more shaded, so the use of color becomes freer and less dogmatic.

For those prepared to take the leap, "Hero" advances the genre. There's a gutsy, rough-and-ready feel to the movie, recalling Zhang's own "Red Sorghum." In Chinese terms, pic is typically "northern" in its sensibilities, compared with the soft "southern" feel of a film like "Crouching Tiger."

Doyle's camerawork is sensational, surpassing even his flashiest work for Wong Kar-wai, with one after another succulent composition -- from the umbrous interiors of the King of Qin's palace to the burst-yellow desert-scapes (shot near Dunhuang) and shimmering lake-scape (in Jiuzhaigou). The Snow/Moon forest duel, shot in Inner Mongolia at a precise moment of the year, rivals the classic bamboo forest battle in King Hu's "A Touch of Zen."

Performances vary from average to good, with Li, the titular star of the picture, just OK as Nameless, bringing as little warmth of personality and as much woodenness of performance as to most of his previous roles. He's outgunned in the linking segs by Chen's stentorian, sly authority as the ruthless king.

Of the others, Zhang Ziyi, in the relatively small role of the maid, is among the most eye-catching, though more convincing as fighter than lover. With their more colloquial, less elevated dialogue (sometimes used for comic effect), Cheung and Leung as the two swordfighting lovers seem at times to inhabit a different movie, though the lighter tone comes as a relief from the heavier scenes between Li and Chen. The two H.K. thesps' voices have been dubbed by native Mandarin speakers after a decision that Cheung and Leung's Cantonese accents were still too evident, no doubt a wise move in light of the linguistic train wreck of Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh's efforts to speak Mandarin in "Crouching Tiger."

Mandarin re-voicing is well done, and further enhances Cheung's stately, magnetic perf as the lady Macbeth-like Snow, easily one of her best roles since the remake of "Dragon Gate Inn." Leung is decent, but lacks stature; Yen, in briefly as Sky, is fine, though the role under-uses his genuine m.a. skills.

Other tech credits are tip top, from the flowing but not elaborately decorated costumes by Emi Wada ("The Bride with White Hair") to production design by Huo Tingxiao ("The Emperor and the Assassin") and his former assistant, Yi Zhenzhou. Latter's sets for the King's palace and the calligraphy school, both built at Hengdian TV & Movie City, in Hangzhou, recall the look of "The Emperor's Shadow" in breadth and solidity.

Pic has already drawn criticism, even on the Mainland, for supposedly endorsing the government's line on a unified China. In fact, like most of Zhang Yimou's pics, any messages are there for the individual taking: finale can be read either as a triumph of unity over chaos or as a victory by militarism over pacifism. Irony is that both sides -- "heroes" as well as "villains" -- use the same methods, which is probably Zhang & Co.'s point.

Camera (color), Christopher Doyle; editors, Zhai Ru, Angie Lam; music, Tan Dun; violin solos, Itzhak Perlman; drumming, Kodo; production designers, Huo Tingxiao, Yi Zhenzhou; costume designer, Emi Wada; sound (Dolby Digital), Tao Jing; action director, Tony Ching Siu-tung; visual effects supervisor, Pan Guoyu; associate producer, Zhang Zhengyan. Reviewed at Golden Eagle Cinema, Salle B, World Trade Commercial Center, Xiamen, Fujian, China, Dec. 30, 2002. (In Palm Springs Film Festival.) Running time: 93 MIN.

Well, muchacho, British contract & property values along with administrative proficiency, capital formation and other dreary non-chick-impressing developments give you the life expectancy you have, they give you the security to sloganeer and pop-off while most of the world goes to sleep not knowing who will seize power tomorrow and slaughter some random group, and they give you job you keep bringing up and the drugs that lead you to such conclusions. What I have is a sense of appreciation for what lead us to the era of security and prosperity. Like many liberals you seem to focus on negatives and transform anomalies into patterns and incidents into movements.

For the absence of respect for property, google “Zimbabwe.”

As for war, I have no sympathy for Saddam or the Iraqi people who tolerate him, and only some sympathy for professional soldiers who are about to get what they signed up for. As for the wealth transfer aspect, welcome to the progressive tax code.

Anyway, I don’t begrudge your opportunity to say the things you do, and I even read them b/c I know you’re a sharp cookie, but I’ll say my bit as well.

Despite my better judgement, I guess I will reply to Ari: Yes, your statement was cliche. Yes, because of that it was devoid of any meaning beyond bumper-sticker sloganeering. No, I haven't the slightest idea what you meant by that final statement. Some of my musical inspirations were polarizing forces in major world events, others were simply interested in making enough money to support their smack habit.

WTF? That was a bit of a rant, eh? HA HA

Hey A, dug the link-talk. But ... what's it mean?

Sprichst du Englisch, bitte!

Por favor, puedes hablar Ingles?

Kan U rite in Englich, dewd, plez?
Itz difikuhlt tu falloh alla da 'netspeak'.

So I posted ANTI-WAR & took some flack? Interesting. I guess I should focus on the more important issues, like ... partying?

I feel upset & betrayed by the govt. Don't you guys? Not that Clinton really rep'd me.. but I certainly don't want USA to bomb more countries.

Do you guys feel that perhaps this whole thing is a giant hoax designed to bilk public funds and put it into private budgets (weapons co's and so on)? Does this stuff bug you guys? I guess no-one's interested in talking about this stuff.


Sony, re: your comment about preachiness & 'mid-life crisis' (if you knew me better you'd know I've been a leftist-pinko for years), well... You may be brighter than I am in many ways, and you likely know your history better than I do, too. I guess you're a (self-proclaimed) realist, having chosen & succeeded to becoming a tax-lawyer (pinnacle of American society), and I certainly haven't succeeded in forging my own road in art & music as I'd like to (yet).
But that being said, I'm not going to idealize British contract & property values. It's a legacy of institutionalized oppression.


(Which is the ultimate irony -- for someone like me to be working in the Financial Districts of the USA! I've been on both NY & Pacific Stock Exchange floors, watched institutional trading desks make large block trades to steer pricing, and worked in brokerages in the World Trade Ctr in NY before it was toppled.)

So my point is America has lost the beauty of her inspiration by the drug-like hypnosis of money and overconsumption. And it's up to us to change that.


Erik, are you saying that b/c I'm 'cliche' therefore my statement lacks value? Do you think your musical inspirations have (or had, before the fame & money hit) some opinion on issues, or were they writing mostly love songs?

Variations on a theme, part 2: Hamlet as realized with stick figures and d00d speak.

Gertude: LMAO WTF HEROATIO LIKES MEN THO

Hamlet: LOL DIHM

France has gone too far this time. They must be stopped.

A French Government drive against alcoholism has incurred the wrath of Belgium's famous Trappist monks. Famous for vows of silence, the Trappist monks are also well known for brewing strong beers, including Chimay and Westmalle. But the French Government now wants to slap high taxes on any of those beers that contain more than 8.5% alcohol."

Sony reads bedtime stories to Juansteen from "Tax Havens of the World".

yep, just copped it. I love that kind of writing and I thought it nicely balanced some of the graffitti

Short AHMH

I am not part of the fairly large group of bears that believe the OC amounts are going to decline to the point that mortgage originators are going to face their own Americredit moment (let's hope not - MBIA won't be big enough to rescue them), but this remains a controversial issuer long after the easy money on the short side has been made. It's earnings are heavily driven by gain on sale margins that, frankly, look suspicious to people and look unsustainable to people who aren't suspicious (and I'm more in the second category). People, correctly or incorrectly, believe that the refi boom is finally finished. Their refi mix isn't radically different from other people's refi mix, but many are of the opinion, including the large Lending Tree short contingent, that the margin growth at AHMH is disproportionately refi based. Fair or not, Strauss is generally perceived as a promoter. Some people think a growth-through-acquisition strategy is being misleadingly touted as a growth through new marketing channels strategy. Just the hangover from when this common stock was really over-priced (2xB for a mortgage orginator?) will keep some people away from it. Insiders selling 25% of their shares in the secondary is virtually unheard of in this business. Growth in assets from $28MM to $1B leave many questioning whether this is a bicycle without a kickstand. The OTS' request that it withdraw its thrift charter application and re-apply with a different business plan has a lot of people curious (particuarly since the Columbia acquistion was so much larger), but in truth, the biggest thing is the simplest: the company get its liquidity almost exclusively from people like Paine Webber and RFC: and doesn't disclose its warehousing rates. Non-depository financial institutions are, for obvious reasons, not particularly popular at the moment.

got it. Doesn't it default to blue?

how you do that fancy linking business? Is there a FAQ in here?

I'm too Chalfenist for my body.

Boy this War couldn't come at a better time, what with football winding down, catchers & pitchers not reporting for 6 weeks and poor Laker basketball. I need sonme entertainment, bring on CNN and Fox News! bring it on in digital hi-fi!

As for that other mid-life crisis, guilt preachiness, Ari, if you don't like your property, give it to me, I'll take it. You can borrow my copy of La Nausee.

Re: No War --- Excellent, scathing critique of the geopolitical issues at hand. I wasn't ready to side with you until I saw the size of the font. Perhaps next you could explain us how great the world would be if schools got all the money they need and the Air Force had to hold a bake sale to buy bombs?

NO WAR!!!
and Pocamon? UGGGH!!! Can't anyone talk sanity to you guys?


How about Bob, the Angry Flower?
My favorite page/episode was Bob vs Plantae. And This was funny too...


Then, of course, you have the SWEET new D&D rules 3rd edition with an Open Source version called d20.There's a version of d20 Cthulhu, d20 Modern, d20 Dragonstar (scifi) and more. All that GURPS was supposed to be when we were kids -- but actually playable & pretty easy too. Aaah, forever a gamer.


Gotta love that Open Source! It's a symbol of a native American (1st Nation?) disbelief in property, which is truly one heritage we could all embrace. (History degree + radical politics talking...)


And hey, I don't know about smacking the Pope up. I mean, gotta give 'em the respect they deserve before they finally get their bankruptcy. Lord knows they can't have any money... left from all the thieving! And I mean, I guess it's not that sell-out sodomy-loving orgiastic crusading former despotic rulers (bishop kings & priests) necesarily DESERVE respect, but ...
Aaaah, fuck 'em! FUCK 'em!!!!


Fundamentally, property sucks. Anyone willing to take that one on? My evidence -- any post-colonial society w/exploited population, including the USA here b/c most of the pre-colonializaiton pop (Indian) was killed or rounded up, and the ex-slaves are ghetto-ized and drug enslaved. THANK YOU HOWARD ZINN for making it so clear!!!


And this rant comes from a guy about to move to SF on a corp bankroll to sell stockmarket software to brokerages & investment firms!!!! IRONY is beautiful!
(I should probably be playing SHADOWRUN!)

Apocamon! The book of Revelation reinterpreted as manga. Who's your favorite Apocamon? Mine is "False Prophet," an Antichrist Apocamon and appointed head of global beast worship.

The Top Ten Songs of All Time

"I'll bet I'm the only National Post columnist who even knows the Number One song. It's an Irish Republican rebel ballad from the 1840s. The reason I know is because I was once in a bar in Liverpool and a couple of lads started singing it and a couple of others objected and a fight broke out. As a loyal subject of the Crown, I was on the side of the objectors. We eventually prevailed, but, even if we hadn't, A Nation Once Again is a fine song to get your head kicked into, at least when compared to Believe by Cher, which would rank pretty high on a list of numbers I'd least like to be listening to as my eye's gouged out and I fall into a coma, although it would in a way be a merciful release."

That kid is going to make a great Tri-Lam someday.

Re: Skinhead O'Conner
"I hear you loud and clear my friend. Just put a bag over her head and do your business."

That's not Skin Head O'Connor, its Danny Ferry.

I think there's something wrong... I looked up Samuel Lemons but got a picture of Sinead O'Conner instead.


So you've all had quite enough of GTA? That's good, because The Getaway comes out in about three weeks.

I am Tommy Vercetti. I like guns, drugs, money, power, fast cars and women, but not necessarily in that order. I hate cops, so much so that I have personally killed over 500 of them. I am also not a big fan of Haitians, they really get my goat (and I don't care much for goats either). In my spare time I like to race boats, produce porn movies, and hunt down criminals in my Apache attack helicopter. What Video Game Character Are You?

Gotta love Hunter S. Thompson. The man can turn a phrase:
"...and I piss down the spines of the craven 49ers. They will go nowhere in the playoffs. They are a puff-ball team with no soul, and the Giants will beat them like sick rats."

Well I did just purchase a 30-game package for the A's next year, but I would be able to unload those easily enough. I just passed my six-year mark on the job, which is at least two years too many, so I'm going to make some sort of change in the coming months.

It's not exactly a resolution, but I'd wager I'm closer to moving to LA than JV is to moving back up here.

Are you serious Erik? About deserting the O.T? You need to be here- I already have an weekly, indoor old timer's game and need to split my Laker/Clip tix with someone and a summer-full of boogey boarding awaits. Plus Chick misses Bart, he's always talking about how yummy Bart tasted.

I am Mario. I like to jump around, and would lead a fairly serene and aimless existence if it weren't for my friends always getting into trouble. I love to help out, even when it puts me at risk. I seem to make friends with people who just can't stay out of trouble. I like having butter licked off my feet by nubile female servants. (I added that one.)What Video Game Character Are You? Hey check out the groovy 'tooltip' text if you leave the mouse pointer on the picture! It's custom.

Hey! I don't like that hammer floating over my head!!
Dreadful image -- but I guess he's got my nose. But I LIKE monkeys. In fact, I AM a monkey -- so I'm probably miscast as Mario. I'd make a better Donkey Kong.
(At least that's what the chicks say. HA HA! Wonder if it's b/c of the back hair?)

Snagged the first 2003 post!
Had to stay up til 4am to get it!
HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Whoa... 4am madness... First week of 'on the job training' and I'm up to 4am. Niiiice.
Oops! I'm up too late, suffering sanity loss... Breakdown... Full nonsense mode:
Globba Nub Nub Soba Eyes Juicy Iceyflo Cantstoppa Therollin Thought Thot thaht...... gurk!