Adjustable Spanners Galore

13 Ways to Cut Government Spending NOW

2009-04-16T19:05:42Z

In the wake of April 15^th’s Tea Parties, here are 13 ways you can immediately make an impact toward reducing government spending. Thirteen in tribute to the thirteen original colonies, of course!

If you work for a government agency, quit. Salaries are the single largest component of government spending.
If you are a contractor, do not bid on or accept any government contracts.
If you are a buyer or seller of a home, do not accept any government subsidies, including Utah’s $6,000 of stimulus money to buyers of new homes.
Do not accept any loans from any federally subsidized programs, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If you have a loan from either of these, seek to replace it with a privately funded loan, even at a higher rate. It’s the principle of the thing.
Whenever possible, drive on private toll roads rather than government maintained roads. When you must drive on government roads, keep track of mileage and make a donation of 10 cents per mile to the private charity of your choice. This will help fund them and limit government expansion into their areas of operation.
Tear up your social security check, or any other government “assistance” payment.
Send your kids to private school, including college. Don’t ask for a subsidy – that would only make private schools dependent on government welfare.
Stay off public lands. The less they are used, the less maintenance and supervision they require.
Do not fly on federally funded airlines. If you need to get somewhere distant, charter a private plane.
Walk instead of drive when possible. Gasoline taxes must be paid when you fill your tank, so fill it as infrequently as you can.
Buy bottled water instead of using water from a public utility. Evian will make your lawn a brilliant green. At a minimum, don’t flush for #1.
Write your Congressman and tell him or her that you want government food inspections stopped. This would save billions of dollars annually.
Since the cost of operating and maintaining the internet is almost entirely borne by public financing, through state universities, now that you’ve finished reading this you should log off and never log on again.

Tea Party Post Partum

2009-04-16T15:03:41Z

Does anyone else find it ironic that none of yesterday's "Tea Parties" were held on private property?

Just sayin'....

Paleontology 101

2009-02-18T04:41:37Z

Followed a link on Yahoo to a story about a new fossil find at the La Brea Tar Pits, which of course is pretty interesting in and of itself.

But I found something else there too: the lead blogger about Project 23 at the George C. Page Museum is Andrea Thomer, who used to work for me selling comic books to all the good little boys and girls of Orange County. Way to go, girl!

In honor of Abe

2009-02-11T22:25:37Z

In recognition of our 16th President's 200th birthday, the fine folks at Roadside America have put together this wonderful list of

America's Loopiest Lincoln Landmarks

Enjoy!

And if anybody finds item #6, let Roadsie America know!

Happy 83rd Birthday

2009-01-09T22:11:26Z

To the one and only Soupy Sales!

Steve Martin in the National Film Registry

2009-01-09T20:47:05Z

A few weeks ago the Library of Congress named 25 more films to the National Film Registry. The one that raised a few eyebrows was Disneyland Dreams, a 1956 home movie of a Connecticut family's trip to Disneyland after winning a contest sponsored by scotch tape. You can see that movie here.

Today there's an interesting coda to the story. There's a letter in the Hartford Courant from Steve Martin (as reported by animation historian Jerry Beck here); apparently just over 20 minutes into the film you can catch a glimpse of a very young and not yet entirely wild and crazy guy selling guidebooks.

Today, he couldn't have that job. He was only 11 at the time.

Minnesota's Lizard People

2008-12-19T23:03:32Z

Compliments of uminomamori:

The Minnesota recount feels like great metaphor to me: our future is being decided by people who are unable to successfully fill in an oval.

To my friends upset over Prop 8

2008-11-07T17:23:45Z

I understand your pain and anger. I may be a straight guy but that doesn't mean I can't recognize idiocy when I see it. To those of us who aren't on the extreme right who live here in Utah - because it's such a beautiful place physically - the theocracy you've just encountered is a constant source of frustration. (And amusement - like all theocracies they're two parts mean and one part stupid.)

So I appeal to you today. Move here.

Barack Obama lost Utah by just over 250,000 votes. Not the smallest margin in the US, but for those who live in densely populated areas not a whole lot of people either. If you took 300,000 "liberals" out of the area within 30 miles of San Francisco, you wouldn't impact the outcome of any election there. But if you plopped them down in Utah, you'd flip this state.

Now, there aren't any jobs here. But if you're able to work from home - and I know more and more of us are - you can cut your housing costs by up to 80%. (Food's cheaper here too, and so are many other things.) If you want to bring your company but don't want to hire any of the local yahoos, just your friends, that's perfectly legal here. They wrote the laws so they can discriminate on a religious basis - but that door swings both ways, so to speak :)

There is just about enough housing built right now and sitting empty to accommodate 300,000 move-ins. They built like crazy here during the boom, but were late to the show and it's all just sitting, with prices plummeting. Lots of foreclosures available that have never been lived in!

So, come on. What Utahns did to change California ain't nothin' compared to what Californians and their friends could do to change Utah!

Do not mess with Arnold Jackson!

2008-09-08T00:57:15Z

Gary Coleman is in the local news again.

Yes, it's sad, but sometimes you just have to look anyway.

Okay, this is ridiculous

2008-09-05T20:55:07Z

There have been a lot of AP headlines the past couple of weeks that were fawningly pro-McCain, but this has to be the stupidest yet:

Cindy McCain sets tone for GOP fashion

Either someone at the AP is blind - or has their tongue really far into their cheek. Or am I wrong and Cindy's the most subversive woman in the GOP? Why else would she keep dressing like she's the Queen of Venus in some bad 50s sci-fi movie?

Randomly Overheard at Gencon

2008-08-18T13:50:24Z

"I don't want to stand here in my boxers, but I need to find out what this is on my pants."

Link of the day

2008-04-29T02:18:47Z

There is no greater power against an oppressive regime than the power of the free market!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_barbie_dolls

Memo from Utahrdia

2008-02-29T03:16:52Z

If it's good enough for George Bush I guess it's good enough for me dept:

World's Worst Motivational Expert

More signs of the apocalypse

2008-02-27T17:07:07Z

Both John McCain and Barack Obama are left handed.

My secret role in the ultimate destruction of Hillary Clinton

2008-01-23T06:49:54Z

I didn't know what I was getting into on that fateful evening in July of 1996.

Stan Lee Media was being launched, and as a comic retailer of some note (or at least one present at Comic Con), I was invited to the launch party at the brand-new, just-opened downtown San Diego Planet Hollywood. Every retailer there was gifted with ten shares of stock in Stan's new enterprise, formed by him in conjunction with financier Peter F. Paul.

Free food and drinks - hey, I'm there! I took Theresa along, and told her to make sure to dig in on the provisions, because even though they were giving me the stock I had to pay a registration fee to put it in my name, and I had little faith in the future of Stan Lee Media. So drink up, me hearties! We did - spent some time talking to fellow retailers, had some laughs, drank too much wine, wobbled back to the hotel and fell asleep despite the relatively early hour. At least, I thought, I'd gotten my money's worth.

A year later, it looked like I might be wrong. Stan Lee Media was being lauded for their innovative web animation, and had placed Stripperella on cable TV. They were so happy they gifted me (and everyone else who had received ten shares) with an extra share of stock.

Then, Peter Paul was fired for embezzlement, and flew to Brazil to attempt to avoid prosecution. Seems he gave Hillary's New York Senate campaign $1.2 million which they somehow neglected to report. Or maybe he didn't - the web is a tangled mess on most every count, and frankly, I can't tell which slimeball is slimier.

I won't attempt to recreate the whole timeline, but see for yourself:

Stan Lee Media

Peter Paul's version

I wonder if MY stock certificate is actually worth $89.95?

The Planet Hollywood restaurant at Horton Plaza in San Diego was closed within a year of that party. In less than a decade, PH co-founder Arnold Schwarzenegger would be governor of California. Coincidence ... or something more sinister?

Worldcon program note

2008-01-23T03:12:25Z

theresamather and I have contacted Denvention programming to offer to lead a trip out to Lakeside Park and talk about the societal links between amusement parks and carnivals and the growth of public awareness of sf/fantasy in the first half of the 20th century. It's a great old park, celebrating it's 100th anniversary in 2008, with a lot of wonderful old rides you don't find very often anymore. Lakeside has a very good coaster, and one of the world's strangest old carousels. Haven't heard anything back from programming yet (and it's still early so that doesn't really mean anything), but if this sounds interesting to you it probably wouldn't hurt to drop programming a note and tell them you'd like to see us on the program. Might involve an extra fee for a bus, undetermined at this stage.

If not we'll probably go anyway, and anyone who wants to tag along is certainly welcome.

Tip o' the hat

2008-01-17T06:50:57Z

without the accompanying wag of my finger to frankwu, for connecting me once again with profgeek. We went to college together way back during the Pleistocene era (or somewhere around then, it's been a while). Anyway, we've been out of touch for many years - it's great to renew contact and remember the good times we had.

Whether or not this is a good thing for the world at large remains to be seen (how many troublemakers does it take to screw up a light bulb?), but for now I'm content to simply appreciate it.

Visited States note to self

2007-09-18T05:25:28Z

Gotta fill in the rest of this map sometime. Should add a couple next year (Indiana, Michigan), and 4 or 5 in 2009, if plans go as anticipated.

Skipped a couple I could claim, only included those I've spent a night in. Going to Four Corners doesn't quite qualify as visiting New Mexico, AFAIC.

create your own visited states map.

Just do your job and shut up

2007-09-13T01:38:59Z

So I'm at one of the big office superstores a couple days ago. Needed to make a few copies, and they're about the only places left with public photocopiers. I make my copies, and I stand in line at the register. And wait. And wait. And wait.

In front of me are a woman and her high school age son. She's buying him a calculator. Nothing fancy, your standard basic $9.99 battery operated add/subtract/multiply model. And why is it taking so long to do this transaction? Because the clerk is going through her whole spiel, trying to sell the woman a service contract on the calculator! "If the display goes out, we'll replace the unit for free." Yes, but for the price of the contract I could just buy another calculator and I'd still be $20 ahead. "Well, you know how it is with these things - you never know what will happen to them'" And the woman was actually listening to what the clerk had to say! ARRRGH!