There is a story in today’s Denver Post about a guy who dropped his lawsuit against the family of a 17 year old he hit with his car and killed while driving 100 mph. Apparently, the kid's head and bike trashed his Audi, and he was trying to recover the money to fix his car from their settlement from his insurance company. Sound crazy? Here’s the even crazier part: this happened in
Come on
I am currently teaching 3 Economics classes at
| Question | | | | Total | % |
| TOTAL RESPONSES | | 57 | | ||
| Who is Sec. of State | | 23 | 40% | ||
| Who is Ben Bernanke? | | 12 | 21% | ||
| Name the leader of: | | 0 | 0% | ||
| | | 8 | 14% | ||
| | | 3 | 5% | ||
| | | 0 | 0% | ||
| | | 0 | 0% | ||
| | | 9 | 16% | ||
| What is the Bill of Rights | | 18 | 32% | ||
| What is Brown v Board | | 19 | 33% | ||
| Who is Sec of Treasury | | 0 | 0% | ||
| How many in US Senate? | | 17 | 30% | ||
| Name a Commie country | | | | 45 | 79% |
| Who is Gov of CO | | | | 15 | 26% |
| Name CO Senators | | | | 2 | 4% |
| Who is Speaker of House | | | | 8 | 14% |
Only 25% know the name of the Governor of their own state! No one, including one student who is a Canadian citizen, can name the PM of
I didn’t expect many would know Hank Paulson is Secretary of Treasury. And it is surprising that 1/3 know about “Brown v Board of Ed. of Topeka”. But the rest of this is just scary.
What does this say about our youth, and the future of our country? Does it explain why the White House is occupied by a complete idiot? These people can vote, yet they would badly fail the test to become a
There are very few things you can get most Economists to agree upon. The benefit of free trade is probably at the top of the list. But it also seems that the stupidity of public funding, via tax dollars, for sports stadiums is another. I’ve never read a single article or study that says this makes sense. This is also one of the few issues my dad and I agree upon. Yet the politicians and snake-oil salesman keep convincing voters their money is better spent building playgrounds for the rich than on their own needs, or on education or infrastructure. A recent post on The Sports Economist speaks to this.
About 11 years ago the voters here in the
Well, some folks around here must think we are real suckers. A story on the front page of The Denver Post today describes a plan to build a massive complex that will include the Great Western Stock Show, the
The article says the proponents haven’t yet decided what areas they want to include in the region that would be taxed. They hope to have an issue on the ballot in November. Fortunately for me, I live in
I wasn't shocked when the Stones sold some songs for commercials. They've always been into money. Nothing wrong with that. I was a bit surprised a few years ago when I heard a Spinal Tap song (“Gimme Some Money”) used in a financial services ad on CNBC. I actually found that one amusing, what with Spinal Tap being a fake band.
But Joe Jackson for Taco Bell!!!!???? Come on ! Joe Jackson? And not a hit song, as if he ever had one (Stepping Out?). But “One More Time” off his very old album “Look Sharp” ( a great album by the way). I'm not pissed....everyone has a right to make some bucks from their creative talents....but JOE JACKSON? This is a guy who has always struck me as being happy to be a niche guy, happy to make good music, make a decent living, and never cared whether he had a hit. So now he let's Taco Bell use his song to sell cheesy stuffed gorditas! Weird!
If you haven't seen the add, go here
A shortage of hops threatens Christmas
JUST as the festive season gets going, drinkers in America are finding their favourite beer suddenly more expensive or even—horrors!—not available at all. Hit by price increases and shortages, many breweries, particularly the small “craft brewers” and the even smaller microbreweries, are being forced to raise prices, make do with modified recipes or shut off the spigots altogether.
The humble hop, the plant that gives beer its distinctive flavour, is the main problem. Many farmers in the Pacific north-west, where America's hop production is concentrated, have turned to more profitable lines—especially corn, which can be made into ethanol. The decrease in hop production, put at some 50% over the past decade, has sent prices through the roof. Brian Owens, the brewmaster of the O'Fallon Brewery near St Louis, Missouri, says that the variety he once bought for $3 a pound (0.45kg) now costs five times that. Many smaller breweries cannot find what they need at any price. Industry giants like Anheuser-Busch and Miller are better off, thanks to long-term contracts. But even Anheuser-Busch has been forced to raise prices for its six-packs.
A shortage of good beer? This has gone far too far!!!
Rise up America. Write your Congressmen. Better yet, slap them around. Make them stop now. We already pander to farmers like babbling idiots, but this is threatening the great American lifestyle, and I won't take it anymore!
You would expect that when you travel on Dec. 27, the crazy shit you’ll encounter will be at an airport. Perhaps I should have known that trouble would await me at home when my flights from
Having trudged through a snowdrift up to my tall, thin knees to get to my car and clean it off, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I was starving and dead tired, having arisen at 4AM EST, or 12 hours earlier, and having had only a small sandwich and a bagel all day. I was psyched to enjoy the DiGiorno pizza I had bought, and lie on the couch and watch hockey until I fell asleep.
I shovel my way into my house and quickly go room to room turning on the electric heat….yes, I know electric heat sucks, but that was the fashion in the 70’s when my townhouse was built. I also flip on the oven to preheat for the pizza. After turning on the heat, I usually here a clicking sound, then some popping as the registers heat up, and the house warms up quickly. I didn’t notice any of that. I was too in a hurry to get to the bathroom and out of my snow covered jeans and shoes to notice. But minutes later, the registers had yet to heat up. My lights came on, the tv worked, but no heat.
After a half hour, I determined I had a problem. I check the circuit breaker box, but nothing is tripped. Hmmmmm.
Meanwhile, even though the oven had not heated to full temp, I had thrown my pizza in. It should take about 25 minutes.
By now I’ve decided my heat is broken, and call an electrician. While I wait, I notice that my pizza, which now should be cooked, is only half done and the oven has still not warmed up to the prescribed 400 degrees.
When Vince the electrician arrives, I tell him the symptoms: no heat, an oven that seems to be working on half power, lights and tv’s working, and no circuits tripped. “Wow, that’s interesting” he says. “Great” I think “I got the Dr. House of electricians, excited to work on an interesting case, probably not worried about what it costs.”.
Vince goes out to the circuit breaker box, and delivers this news: “I know what’s wrong, and I can’t fix it.” He says that the current is not coming in properly from the electric company, and that I am only getting about half the power I should. I had no idea that was possible, and apparently did any of my neighbors on the same circuits who also called electricians and got the same news (I found that out later….a bit of communication would have saved us $60 apiece!). In fact, while Vince was out at my breaker box, another electrician yelled out that he’d already notified Xcel (the electric co).
I call the electric company anyway, and they say it will be fixed within 4 hours. It’s about 4pm. By 6:30 I notice no activity, and it’s getting cold. I have the oven turned on at it’s lame half power…..oh, did I mention that my pizza was just turned to worthless goo by the half strength oven?....and the door wide open. It’s my only source of heat. I’m exhausted and want to sleep, but I’m afraid I’ll either freeze to death, or the heat will come on and the open oven will start a fire (don’t ask me how…I was tired and not thinking clearly). I call again, and point out that I have electric heat, so does the neighborhood, and the temp is dropping into single digits.
About 7:30 I see flashlights around the electric box across the street. I’m saved! But by 8 they are gone, and still no heat. About 9 I decide a cup of tea would be warming, and pop one in the microwave. 10 seconds later, all the lights go out. I look outside, and I see lights at other houses. I was sure I was screwed, that I had just blown what little power I had and would freeze and starve to death in the dark.
But wait, a blinking light can be seen in the other direction. I put on 3 coats and a touque and head outside, and there are 2 big Xcel trucks replacing a piece of equipment with a crane. By 9:30, the heat is on!
Do you think I can bill Xcel for the $60 I had to pay the electrician?
