Mo Diddy's Tumblings:

"President Barack Obama took office promising to lead from the center and solve big problems. He has..."

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:49:35 -0600

“

President Barack Obama took office promising to lead from the center and solve big problems. He has exerted enormous political energy attempting to reform the nation’s health-care system. But the biggest economic problem facing the nation is not health care. It’s the deficit. Recently, the White House signaled that it will get serious about reducing the deficit next year—after it locks into place massive new health-care entitlements. This is a recipe for disaster, as it will create a new appetite for increased spending and yet another powerful interest group to oppose deficit-reduction measures.

Our fiscal situation has deteriorated rapidly in just the past few years. The federal government ran a 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion—the highest since World War II—as spending reached nearly 25% of GDP and total revenues fell below 15% of GDP. Shortfalls like these have not been seen in more than 50 years.

Going forward, there is no relief in sight, as spending far outpaces revenues and the federal budget is projected to be in enormous deficit every year. Our national debt is projected to stand at $17.1 trillion 10 years from now, or over $50,000 per American. By 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis of the president’s budget, the budget deficit will still be roughly $1 trillion, even though the economic situation will have improved and revenues will be above historical norms.

[…]

What to do? The best option would be for the president to halt Congress’s rush to fiscal suicide, and refocus on slowing the dangerous growth in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He should call on Congress to pass a comprehensive reform of our income and payroll tax systems that would generate revenue sufficient to fund its spending desires in a pro-growth and fair fashion.

Reducing entitlement spending and closing tax loopholes to create a fairer tax system with more balanced revenues is politically difficult and requires sacrifice. But we will avert a potentially devastating credit crisis, increase national savings, drive productivity and wage growth, and enhance our international competitiveness.

The time to worry about the deficit is not next year, but now. There is no time to waste.

”

- The Coming Deficit Disaster - WSJ.com

Mr. Holtz-Eakin is former director of the Congressional Budget Office and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. This is adapted from testimony he gave before the Senate Committee on the Budget on Nov. 10.

I’m glad to see someone is telling them.

(via bellatoris)

(via sds)

(via hilker)

CHART OF THE DAY: Apple’s Soaring Pile Of Cash (AAPL)

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:09:18 -0600

CHART OF THE DAY: Apple’s Soaring Pile Of Cash (AAPL)

Dear Every Site That Paginates Articles

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:49:38 -0600

kevintwohy:

marco:

I’m sure you split stories like this into two pages for a good reason: to save my bandwidth. After all, the remaining 3,126 characters of the story’s body (1,530 bytes as transferred with gzip compression) would have increased the page’s total size by 0.0032%.

No, I’m just yanking your chain. I know you’re double-charging your advertisers for the same story by artificially inflating your pageview count. It’s just like the old auto-frame-refresh trick, but this one’s better because most of the ad networks haven’t banned it yet. That’s their problem, right? Why should you leave money on the table? You’re a business.

But it doesn’t really work as well as you had hoped because only a tiny percentage of viewers will actually read page two. You know that, but you don’t care, because you won’t give up a chance to make a few extra cents. Who cares if it annoys the crap out of that tiny slice of your audience? Who are they, anyway? The people who actually read your content thoroughly instead of skimming the headline and moving on? That can’t possibly be your most important audience segment — they’re just the most involved and attentive. Repeat customers. You already have their “eyeballs” that you can sell to your real customers. And these dupes get their eyeballs double-counted. What a steal!

Keep up the great work, publishers.

Advertising Promises Pleasure Through Consumption

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:09:00 -0600

“There’s clearly a hedonistic consumerist pleasure that drives marketing for almost every product, usually sex related. We’re a miserable society full of alienated, frustrated, isolated, lonely people. And so promising that stuff gets you to go out and buy something hoping it will solve that whole big empty space in your life. And guess what, that purchase didn’t quite get there. Guess I’ll have to find another purchase … to bring me that sense of community and that sense of love and contentment I just can’t quite ever get to and I’m always rushing around trying to get there and I never get there. Meanwhile I’m spending an awful lot of my life doing things I don’t give a shit about, but it gives me the money I need to go on with this endless pursuit of buy things.”

quoting Chris Carlsson - from Daniel Brook’s book The Trap

It has been a week since I got engaged to my dream girl :-) and...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:19:47 -0600

It has been a week since I got engaged to my dream girl :-) and it is still the coolest thing to think about.

Yaaaay!

davereed: yeahoctopi: Shark vs Octopus | National Geographic...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:30:00 -0500

davereed:

yeahoctopi:

Shark vs Octopus | National Geographic Video (2:45)

No way!! The octopus totally owns that shark!

(via futuremilk)

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:52:36 -0500

(via futuremilk)

tristanwalker: this is what keeps me going every, single day. so...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:45:26 -0500

tristanwalker:

this is what keeps me going every, single day. so inspiring.

Unboxing my Popcorn Hour C-200 that I stayed up till midnight to...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:13:11 -0500

Unboxing my Popcorn Hour C-200 that I stayed up till midnight to pre-order :-P

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:38:17 -0500

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

- Henry David Thoreau (via loveforfire)

Making Drinking Water From Thin Air (Literally)

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:37:06 -0500

Making Drinking Water From Thin Air (Literally):

onemoretimewithfeeling:

For an average of 60 cents per gallon, the DewPointe DH9 Atmospheric Water Purification System extracts water vapor from the air and converts it to pure drinking water.

By pulling moisture out of the atmosphere, the DH9 is said to eliminate virtually all contaminants that might otherwise occur in groundwater. The device then further purifies the water to eliminate 99.99% of contaminants. There’s an electrostatic air filter to remove small airborne particles like pollen and dust, a germicidal uV light that destroys bacteria and other microorganisms, a coconut hull filter that eliminates heavy metals, chlorine residuals and mineral salts, and a reverse osmosis (RO) filter to remove any remaining pathogens or fine particles. Unlike other RO filters, where the wastewater is then flushed (so that the user drinks one purified gallon for each six to ten that are wasted), the DH9’s revolutionary RO filter reprocesses it so that no water is lost. A gravity-fed storage tank holds 6.5 gallons that would be accessible even in the event of a power outage.

"The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his..."

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:15:00 -0500

“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he is always doing both.””

- Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher

(via mocheeks)

davereed: via emonerdcore ROFL! couldn’t help but reblog

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:07:54 -0500

davereed:

via emonerdcore

ROFL!
couldn’t help but reblog

"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings."

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:06:51 -0500

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”

- Salvador Dali

davereed: Living with First-Person Shooter Disease...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:05:23 -0500

davereed:

Living with First-Person Shooter Disease (2:01)

This made me laugh.

This is pretty good

via robotsalsa: danhacker

I FEEL LIKE THIS SOMETIMES!

davereed: hippieflavor: “If the walls of the Big Dig House...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:42:47 -0500

davereed:

hippieflavor:

“If the walls of the Big Dig House could talk, they’d tell you that it’s comprised of 600,000 lbs of recycled materials that were rescued from the Big Dig highway project in Boston. Inhabitat last reported on the striking modern residence in 2006 when it was still in its planning stages, and it has since come a long way from being a pile of rubble and recycled materials. We may now behold what stands today — an elegant and modern private home in Lexington, MA with an exciting backstory.”

from Inhabitat » Big Dig House: Recycled Residence Reaches Completion

so excellent

30+ Coolest Business Cards to Inspire You!

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:41:09 -0500

30+ Coolest Business Cards to Inspire You! :

(via mirza)

A Regular Guy Becomes a Hero

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:38:34 -0500

A Regular Guy Becomes a Hero:

hilker:

sds:

What a sad week in Maitland, FL.

Little League coach, Pop Warner coach, Boy Scout leader, and member of Asbury Methodist Church Mike Grady and his family were on vacation in North Carolina.

His12-year-old son, Austin, was sliding down some falls, when his foot got wedged by a boulder. The current, exerting some 400 pounds of pressure, pushed his face underwater.

Grady plunged into the river, positioned himself upstream and held his son’s head above water by using his body to shield Austin from a torrent of water that would eventually rip Grady’s shirt off his back.

Bystanders who heard their screams for help worked from the surrounding rocks to free Austin’s foot. Soon professional rescuers arrived and went into action. Forty minutes later, rescuers were finally able to work his foot free.

At that point, Grady, suffering hypothermia, summoned his waning strength and lifted his son to the rescue workers who carried Austin to safety.

Mike Grady, age 52, saved the life of his son.

Unfortunately, by this time Grady himself had become stuck in the rocks. Several rescue workers were swept downstream in vain efforts to free the father.

The icy water that pounded him was just too much for Grady. The rescue workers just couldn’t keep his head out of the water. He passed out and died moments after saving his son.

At Mike’s funeral, his son Tyler, 9, read a tribute,

Dear Daddy, you will always be a memory in all of our hearts. You were the kindest and smartest person I ever knew. You risked your life to save Austin…. I love you very much, and I will never forget you. You are a hero.

this is a very sad story, but i like to think there’s a silver lining. austin is young, but i imagine he can begin to wrap his head around what his dad did. it’s hardly adequate consolation & it’s no substitute for his father’s presence, but i hope that this will have a profound & inspiring effect on both these boys (i have no doubt he would’ve done the same for tyler). their dad was not only willing to do whatever he could to save them but he proved, without hesitation, the extent to which he loved them. how incredibly powerful is the thought that i am loved! i am worth saving! i can only imagine how it feels to know that the man who loved me more than any other on earth forfeited his life for mine.

this is the kind of dad i aim to be.

this is an awesome human story, and also a great spiritual reminder to me of what an amazing blessing it is to have a savior who did do that for me [us]

nicolelee: Girl+Watchers+Guide+1+Jan+6+1962.jpg (image) A...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:25:59 -0500

nicolelee:

Girl+Watchers+Guide+1+Jan+6+1962.jpg (image)

A series by Playboy cartoonist Dedine

huh.

A Picture Is Worth About $138 Million

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:49:50 -0500

A Picture Is Worth About $138 Million