Entertainment
The Causes and Cures for Global Warming
Friday, July 30th, 2010Author Tony Demaio
Folks, I have been giving some thoughts to the problem of global warming. I sort of hope it is true, as I sit here in “sunny” California, in the middle of April, with a fire in the fireplace trying to keep warm. As a matter of fact, I KNOW it is true because [...]
The Minimum Wage – How Poor is Poor?
Friday, July 30th, 2010Author Tony DeMaio
Once upon a time, many years ago, I had a Civil Service job and was making the princely sum of about $3,000/month ($150/day). At the time it was one of the highest paid Civil Service positions in the State of California. (For the most part, higher levels were political appointees.) I had a [...]
Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit Of Happiness
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
The idea behind the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was to secure to citizens the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by way of the sanctity of private property and the least possible foreign government. The same is true of the Constitutions of [...]
Probability and Percentage
Sunday, July 4th, 2010Author Tony Demaio
(You Fool Me Once…)
Leo Durocher once said, “Baseball is a game of percentages.” Leo was wrong. What he SHOULD have said was, “Baseball is a game of probabilities.” Of course, while somewhat correct, that is still insufficient. A correct statement is, “LIFE is a game of probabilities.”
Being a professional statistician, I often cringe [...]
Who Should Replace McChrystal?
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
After due consideration, about two seconds’ worth, I have concluded that I am the best candidate to replace General McChrystal, and before you start patting my hand, making soothing noises, and wondering what the treatment for senile dementia is, consider my qualifications via the following imaginary interview.
“Mrs. Traynham, do you now, [...]
We’re All Racists Now
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
Well, actually, we were all always racists because we can’t help it, back to the Big Bang. It is probable that the Big Bang resulted because the Big Banger couldn’t stand the vacuous Bangee, and that the asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs because it hated dinosaurs or perhaps the earth or [...]
Separating Oil and Water
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
Anger is not a problem-solving tool. Anger will not choose a profitable stock, nor will it lead to peace in the Middle East. Anger cannot reveal the identity of the “unknown” solution in your beaker in a chemistry lab, it cannot produce harmony in your marriage, and it has yet [...]
FREE SPEECH, HATE SPEECH, & LYING
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010Author Tony DeMaio
I have been listening to Air America recently. I find the station to be most interesting and amusing, perhaps fascinating. On the national level, I find it to be the poster child of “hate radio”—perhaps the epitome of it. I also find it to be vulgar and crass. Phrases such as, “All Republicans [...]
Racial Profiling
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
It’s one of my Dagny Taggart days: “Gentlemen, there is not a single mind left in the Obama crowd.” To get even more Randian we have the situation in Arizona, where their legislators, despite large Hispanic influence, attempted to make their state a safer place to live by passing an [...]
The Stuff Of Legends
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
I haven’t written much lately because both the financial and political news, at best, look like the very thin libretto of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, while the worst was surely written by a particularly bad Japanese comic strip writer. The only “transparency” in government these days is the gauze-thin [...]