August 26th, 2010 by Max
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/foxconn-suicide-factory-r_n_602870.html
Some of the Chinese workers who's salaries were recently doubled to $293
“This wage increase has been instituted to safeguard the dignity of workers,” said Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou in the statement.
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August 26th, 2010 by Max
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn
Foxconn recent doubled its wages to $293/month. Most of America’s technology is now manufactured in a walled town of 350,000 to 400,000 people, euphemistically characterized as Foxconn City.
Steve Jobs gets his toys from here. America gets their toys from here.
This place needs unions.
Posted in Fun, Politics, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
August 25th, 2010 by Max
www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/us-soldiers-punished-for-_b_687051.html
(Excerpted from the Huffington Post)
For the past several years, two U.S. Army posts in Virginia, Fort Eustis and Fort Lee, have been putting on a series of what are called Commanding General’s Spiritual Fitness Concerts. As I’ve written in a number of other posts, “spiritual fitness” is just the military’s new term for promoting religion, particularly evangelical Christianity. And this concert series is no different.
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August 20th, 2010 by Max
Floyd Landis – who steadfastly, passionately, angrily denied doping when he won the Tour De France – recently gave in and admitted that he did cheat.
The strategy is clear. Don’t just deny it. Get pissed off. Angrily, self righteously deny that you cheated, as if you would have if you had not cheated.
Sounds like Roger Clemens to me.
I believe Andy Petitte.
Posted in Politics, Social Commentaries, Sports | No Comments »
August 11th, 2010 by Max
Ok. All summer I’ve seen commercials for the new Hawaii Five-0. I’m psyched. I was a big fan a million years ago, and I’ll probably watch it recast hipster style.
However, the thing about Hawaii Five-0 is the theme song. Its the theme song. You may have missed that, its the theme song! Well, yes, and the opening credits.
So I happen on the new Hawaii Five-0 opening credits all excited to hear this great song and see the new sequence, and well … its just plain thin. I’ve heard people complain about how opening credits are getting shorter and its true but its change. Change is ok. I liked the opening for LOST which was as short as it gets. But the open of the original Hawaii Five-0 was just perfect. It can’t be improved. You can’t improve it. Sorry. You can’t improve it. Its the only show I can think of where you had to be seated before the show started.
The new one? What is that a midi generated guitar? Its so thin! Give me the brass. I know the images have to change some, but … well, maybe they should have just left it alone.
This may sound like old folks bitching about the past again … so here. Just watch and compare:
Hopefully there’s still time to change the new one.
Posted in Arts, Max's Theories, Social Commentaries | 1 Comment »
August 9th, 2010 by Max
I went to Massachusetts to hang with some friends. As these action photographs demonstrate, fun was had. There were good friends, games and at least a portion or two of legal substances were consumed. Fish were caught. Speidies were grilled. Birthdays were celebrated.
We’d planned on working on the podcast a little. We’ve a new idea for Countless Screaming Argonauts www.csapodcast.blogspot.com but somehow the flow seemed like the only way to go.
I had to leave before I had to leave. Can’t really say why.
Posted in Fun, Social Commentaries | 1 Comment »
July 18th, 2010 by Max
Today I saw a commercial for BP in which the BP employee states that “Every morning, over 50 spotter planes and helicopters search for
oil off the coast…”
He also claims that “We have recovered more than 27 million gallons of oil-water mixture from the Gulf.”
“How much of that “oil-water” mixture is oil? Also, They make it sound like it is hard to find oil in the Gulf. Is it really that hard to find oil in the Gulf of Mexico these days?
There it is!
Posted in Politics, Science, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
June 12th, 2010 by Max
This is my adopted small town. This is litterally right outside my door. June 12th 2010. Let’s have a parade!
[these pictures are in time sequence]
Posted in Social Commentaries | 3 Comments »
April 19th, 2010 by Max
[With apologies to Sen Al Franken]
I wanna test something. I got more hits on my blog yesterday, than ever in the past, now I made some changes to my Google profile, and that may be the reason the search engine crawlers are finding me more, but I think it has more to do with the name …
Rush Limbaugh
But I’m not getting any responses from anyone who approves of him. So maybe it IS my improved profile.
Or maybe it is because people are looking for that know nothing, say anything, bag o wind – and my non political 85 year old dad calls him Rush Windbag …
I think of him as “that” hypocrite … but you may know him as Rush Limbaugh.
You don’t have to listen to the whole thing. Just check from about the 40 second mark to 1:12. “It doesn’t make any sense.” Limbaugh … idiot or brilliant salesman? Here I am talking about him…
I want to see what he does to my ratings.
Posted in Fun, Politics, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
March 26th, 2010 by Max
What is it that keeps a person awake at 4 a.m.?
My mind was just rolling through memories of my grade school class. Dunno why. Maybe its because things haven’t worked out quite the way I imagined. Or maybe I’m wondering what they’re doing now.
Susie Weiller. I had a crush on a different girl, pretty much through my whole grade school daze. Now I’m not even sure how to spell her name. Theresa Kuracina I think. Wow. I just remember always being in her thrall. Her mom lived with the nuns. She was therefore favored by the nuns. But as I recall. Rightfully so.
I always considered myself one of the smart kids in the class. I guess that’s what started me down this wayward path. That and Facebook. I met someone in that goddam Facebook from my grade school class who I never really imagined as a big success. Who is now, a big success. Sorry. My bad.
Now don’t get me wrong, world, this isn’t about vanity. I’m fully aware of my flaws, my lack of intelligence. And I’ve known for years that there is something more important than raw processing power, even raw storage capacity, in making someone a success. I just always figured I would be somewhere else in my life when I was looking ahead in those days. There’s a line in the Desiderata about not comparing yourself to others that I didn’t know then. Its good advice.
However I can’t help remembering. I can’t imagine remembering all the kids from my 8th grade class at Blessed Sacrament School, but I wonder what some of them are doing.
Like Theresa Kuracina. Stunned crush. I remember the day, that John Kozell asked her out. It was the first time I’d ever seen anyone ask anyone out on a date. I was crushed, but just a little bit. John was alpha male. No doubt. And a really good guy. Easily the best athlete in the class, I think a year older than I was. Something about a water skiing accident. I remember a story about a cow bone. Supposedly John had a cow bone in his leg. I still can’t remember who told me that. That can’t be true. Can it? Can John Kozell have really had his shattered leg replaced by a cow bone? Could he have had that and still been “the fastest kid in the class”?
What I do know is that when we boys played Hill-Dill (from Hill and Dale I guess) on the school parking lot, John was invariably the last one caught. I was usually the first. I was pretty smart. But I was definitely the runt of the litter in my grade school class. John was the best athlete by far.
But I wasn’t the shortest. Rick Scott was. And Rick was probably the richest. His dad was actually a banker. Rick looked like “Little Ricky”. Rick and I were rivals. Or maybe I just imagined we were. I remember Rick could sing, but sometimes in music class, I would get the solo. I remember being picked to sing the lead in “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho” and being surprised when the nun picked me instead of Rick Scott. Rick was handsome. Rick was rich. I remember our class debate in 1968. I don’t remember who Rick went up against. I do remember that Rick supported Richard Nixon. And he demolished whoever it was he was debating. I remember “Instead of a chicken in every pot my opponent would have a little pot in every chicken”. Great line.
I know its petty, but I’ve always taken a little satisfaction in Rick having supported Nixon. And him having to stand in the front of the line, two places ahead of me, when they lined us up by height.
I never liked my place in line and the nuns were always lining us up. I was either 3rd from the front, by height, or way in the back by alphabet. I always wanted to be in the back of the line with John McKercher and Mike Donovan when they lined us up by height.
Its funny what you remember. I remember John McKercher trying to trip me when I was on crutches after a year and a half of being home in bed. He went from someone I remembered fondly, to not so fondly. Probably was jealous of all the attention I got when I came back to school. John was always the second tallest kid in the class.
Mike Donovan was the tallest. And the smartest. I remember him winning a spaghetti supper from Father Toomey by getting some number of 100′s on his final tests. I think it was four 100′s! Mike was the smartest kid in the class, but Theresa Kuracina was a close second.
Ah Theresa Kuracina. She was merely perfect. I wonder what she was doing now. I wonder if all the boys had a crush on her. I know John Kozell did. I know I did. Of course I had a crush on Sister Janet too. They were both about equally unobtainable in my mind. Equally pure. Equally smart. Equally beautiful.
As I was tossing back and forth not sleeping, thinking about things long ago and wondering why I remember what I remember, my mind went back to Susie Weiller and just how stupid a young boy can be.
One of the strange things that I remember was square dancing with Susie Weiller. Suzie was the shortest girl in the class. Cute as a button, poor Suzie always stood at the front of the line of girls when the nuns lined us up. She always stood next to Rick Scott.
The nuns figured, I guess, that we should start being interested in the opposite sex in 8th grade and slow dancing was out of the question, so they had us square dance. At that time I would never have told anyone that my father was a square dance caller. I’m proud of it now, but this was 1968, Rick Scott was talking about Nixon and I was listening to Rock and Roll!
But that day, or those days, I don’t even remember how many times we went square dancing in the basement of the church, that day when we got to touch the girls, as long as we didn’t get too close, what I remember was Susie Weiller hooking elbows with me in the square dance. Susie tilted her head back and laughed with delight as we spun. I’ll never forget the sound of her laughter.
As I sit here alone at 4 a.m. 40 years later, I don’t remember when it first dawned on me that there was another girl in the world besides Theresa Kuracina, but I remember it was Susie Weiller.
Posted in Arts, Changes in the World In My Lifetime, Fun, Mustang, Politics, Social Commentaries | 3 Comments »
March 23rd, 2010 by Max
One of the things I love about New York, and one thing that just brought me down when I lived in a red clay state, was the availability, or lack thereof, of water.
New York is green yes. And the red buds this time of year are amazing, but the availability of blue trails through the hills. Resting lakes both frozen and revived of clear cold water, alive, yes teaming with life and as well as color actually make me feel good just being around them.
Its just another reason that I love New York.
Posted in Arts, My New York, Photos, Social Commentaries | 2 Comments »
March 18th, 2010 by Max
In the years since his friend Joe passed on, Dear Ole Dad hasn’t had a bunch of sunny afternoon rides around the beautiful New York State countryside.
Today me and my pop got in the car, went up to Cooperstown (my town) and down to Cannonsville to take in the feel of spring and enjoy some conversation and a ride.
We stopped in Oneonta to enjoy some Brook’s Barbeque http://www.brooksbbq.com/ which is renown in these parts as the best place to eat for miles and miles.
An outside observer would have been amused as I sat there driving with my laryngitis like cold and cough and yelled my half of the conversation. Dad of course, couldn’t hear.
Despite the comedy, I managed to show him a couple of eagles (I saw 5) and some beautiful New York countryside. Much of which he’s seen before 65 years ago when he was driving truck all round the state before the interstate highways were built.
I’m so glad we went.
Posted in Arts, My New York, Photos, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
March 18th, 2010 by Max
I saw another one today. These signs are appearing all over up here. I bet this is happening all over the country.
I can’t tell you how many I’ve seen…
So and so has the “lymphoma cancer” and we’re having a “Spaghetti Supper” to raise money to help with some of the bills.
Someone had an eye issue. Here’s a jar. Put in what you can.
Three people one one placard had sick kids. Need surgery. Need chemo. Need treatment. “We’re holding a benefit at the American Legion”.
Over and over and over again I see signs, I see giant empty pickle jars with slots cut into the tops and a couple inches of coins and a few dollars, a picture of someone in a desperate situation taped on the outside. There’s almost always one by the cash register at the cafeteria at work.
“Joe’s kid. Give what you can”.
I’m sick of them. SICK of them. And I’m pissed. The people where I live and work are constantly putting dollars in mayonnaise jars and holding spaghetti dinners and coming no where near providing enough money to make a dent in the bills cancer patients and ALS patients and other patients are incurring.
I want National Socialized Medicine. Just like my Dad wanted before he went nuts, found religion, and stopped voting! “I’m voting for a higher power” he said.
I said “Until he shows up, vote for the Democrat!”
Now we’ve got them and they’re damned disappointing.
I’m sick of good hard working, middle class, employed people pretending that a spaghetti supper can do anything near what National Health Insurance can do.
And I’m sick of watching the limp ass cowardly damned Democrats run away from their best issue.
It makes me sick.
Posted in Politics, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010 by Max
Two things.
Sunday night the USA played Canada in what was undoubtedly the most important hockey game in Canada in many years. The USA won.
This is not as big for the USA as the “miracle on ice” game of 1980. No American team filled with professional players can ever capture what was done then, when the USA college kids beat the Soviet Army team, which had already beaten 3 NHL teams and trounced the Americans earlier that year, all against a background of Cold War tensions.
But hockey is HUGE in Canada. Losing to the US, even if it is pro’s against pro’s, is unacceptable for Canadians, most of whom, tend to like America anyway.
But this is hockey.
The NHL stops it’s season for two weeks so that the pro’s can play. And NBC has the contract with the NHL to broadcast NHL games.
So why does NBC put USA vs Canada on the secondary channel, in favor of Ice Dancing?
The Canadians are so unhappy their pulling their best goalie ever in the history of the world, for the next game!
Posted in Economics, Politics, Social Commentaries, Sports | 2 Comments »
February 17th, 2010 by Max
Its 16 minutes long. Its a nice little film for 16 minutes of your time.
Posted in Arts, Fun, Now Playing, Other People's Theories, Social Commentaries | 4 Comments »
February 16th, 2010 by Max
My friend sent this to me. Thanks Gesele!
Posted in Blogroll, Fun, Other People's Theories, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
February 14th, 2010 by Max
Is it just me or do the American mogul skiers uniforms look like pajamas?
Its extremely hard to find an image - a simple picture - of these olympics outside of the NBC site which has everything in montage active format. They seem to be controlling the images of the Olympics fairly well.
Posted in Social Commentaries, Sports | No Comments »
February 2nd, 2010 by Max
Ladies. 
You’re out with your guy, your man, your lover. You (plural) [What is it with English anyway?] went to the hockey game, on a nature walk, , maybe you went to the beach.
Maybe the theater and then a late dinner at Chez WowthisisreallyExpensive.
Back home, you open a bottle of wine, turn on Pandora radio (I love Pandora radio – don’t you? You can set up any channel you want – a little Cheryl Crow, or Barbra Streisand, or Barry White. Yeah, all Barry White. All night). You sit next to him on the sofa. Kick off your shoes. Gaze into each other’s eyes. You think he’s in love with you. He IS in love with you. You smooch. You kiss. He loves the little black dress. Yes, we know about the little black dress and it works. He wants it.
Well, no, he wants you out of it. “I love your skin he whispers so softly.” As you are kissing he’s reaching around and pulls down the zipper in the back. More passion. He really wants you. He peels down the strap of the little black dress revealing your sexiest black bra …
And there peeking out from your sexy black bra is that yellow round head and half the body of your new Tweety Bird tatoo! He pull’s back. What’s that? And why would you put him there! He kisses you again – but the mood’s gone. He’s thinking about Tweety bird. Men are pretty easily distracted you know. He’s praying he’ll never see Elmer Fudd!
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Posted in Fun, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
January 27th, 2010 by Max
… ruling in “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission”
This high court decision overturning part of a campaign finance law poses a threat to judicial independence – in state courts. NPR”s Nina Totenberg points out that more than 80 percent of state judges run for election.
Posted in Politics, Social Commentaries | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2010 by Max
Here’s a snapshot.
http://www.answers.com/topic/santa-clara-county-v-southern-pacific-railroad
US Supreme Court:
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co
118 U.S. 394 (1886), argued 26–29 Jan. 1886, decided 10 May 1886 by vote of 9 to 0; Harlan for the Court. This was one of the legion of cases involving railroads and government agencies (at every level) that inundated the courts in the late nineteenth century. The State of California and certain affected counties sought to collect taxes that they claimed were owed by both the Southern Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. Argument focused almost entirely on whether the taxes were barred by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not address the constitutional issues posed by counsel. Instead, it based its ruling on a narrower issue: whether the fences on the railroads’ property should have been assessed by either county or state taxing authorities. Justice John Marshall Harlan held that such fences could not be taxed as property subject to taxation under California statute; the Court’s ruling upheld that of the California court.
Despite the Court’s narrow holding, the case was not without constitutional consequence. In an unusual preface, entered before argument, Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite observed that the Court would not consider the question “whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution which forbade a state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the Constitution, applied to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does” (p. 396). It followed that corporations enjoyed the same rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as did natural persons.
See also Due Process, Substantive; Private Corporation Charters.
— Augustus M. Burns III
Posted in Big Brother, Economics, Politics, Social Commentaries | 2 Comments »
Countless Screaming Argonauts