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A frequent argument I have with K is about the idea of community.  I don’t understand it, so it’s really hard for me to relate.

Let me first elaborate, on why (I believe) I have such a difficult time understanding community.  I have never fit in anywhere.  Growing up as a kid, I didn’t have many friends.  I didn’t fit into the cliques.  I was typically smarter and more mature than my peers.  I suspect because our family didn’t have many kids, literally 5 in my local extended family. I digress.  I found friends in Jr. HS, and HS who also didn’t fit in anywhere.  We all got a long pretty well for years, meanwhile I forged a lot of on-line friendships via BBS’s.  Looking back, those people where all oddballs as well.

The idea that tied us all together, was the fact that for the most part we accepted each other despite our faults.  Hell, some of us didn’t actually like each other, but we accepted each other.  People came and went in the group, but a few of us stayed friends untill today. Friendships that last over 17 years is uncommon right?  These are relationships though, not a community.  We don’t nessecarily share common interests, or general traits.

I was never a “suburban white kid”, as I had long hair, and dressed in torn clothing.  Security followed me around, cops pulled me over on suspision.  I spent a lot of time being the brunt of people’s looks and unfounded disdain.  I had a teacher once speculate that I should look into contruction, because I wouldn’t amount to much…

I’m colour blind, when it comes to race.  I wasn’t raised to figure race into anything.  I ended up looking like an idiot to racial jokes growing up… Standing there grinning awkwardly at a missed punch line, trying to figure out what was funny, or why it was funny…

Wikipedia defines community as: “In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.”

I’ve always understood a community to be “a group of people who are similar”, not people who are bound by one single commonality.  I mean it should take more than that, right?.

So this leaves me unable to understand the concepts like “The Black Community” or “The Gay Community”.  I know plenty of black people, and I can confiently say that everyone is different and unique.  I would go so far as to say that for the most part the only thing they have in common is that they have naturally dark skin.  They come from different backgrounds, immigrant, decendent of slaves, middle class, lower class, they all speak differently, they are just as diverse as anybody else.  So why ties them together?  Being black?  What is “being black”?  Is it a skin colour?  Is it a common history?  Shared experiences?  I don’t think you can define “black” or “white” as anymore than a colour.

I have a similar difficulty with “The Gay Community”.  What makes someone gay?  An attraction to the same sex right?  Or is it being flamboyant?  I know lots of flamboyant dudes who are into girls.  They aren’t gay.  I know some guys who like other guys, but you would never know it.  Gay does not equal flamboyantly feminine, anymore than straight equals a love of sports, and masculinity.  So how does this make a community?

I just don’t understand…. Maybe if I ever felt like I was acutally part of a community it would be easier…

So, I may be back from the dead.  We’ll see how things go…

What prompts this post?  I was thinking this morning listening to the radio, and there is an article from “John Tobacco” who is the CEO of LocateStock.com. His report/website is geared towards short sellers, giving them tips/suggestions on what stocks to short sell.

Now for the offspring of a career CPA/Controller/Finance Nerd, I am embarrassingly under informed when it comes to financial matters.  So I was wondering what the meaning of “Bull” or “Bear” market is.

A good simple explination comes from WikiPedia,

The terms bull market and bear market describe upward and downward movements respectively and can be used to describe either the market as a whole or specific sectors and securities (stocks). The expressions “bullish” and “bearish” can also mean optimistic and pessimistic respectively (”bullish on technology stocks,” or “bearish on gold”, etc).

So, this lead me to wonder how one short sells a stock, or how you could make money when a stock goes down.  Again, let me look to WikiPedia,

In finance, short selling or “shorting” is the practice of selling a financial instrument that the seller does not own at the time of the sale. Short selling is done with intent of later purchasing the financial instrument at a lower price.

So, I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s never good to sell something you don’t own.  Turns out, this is sonds advice.  While reading I came across an interesting article that basically indicates that short selling was a mjaor cause of the Stock Market Crash of 1929.   Apparently, so much so it led to the first federal regulation law, that essentially prevented short-sellers from selling when the security on the the downtick. This regulation was repealed in 2007.

One interesting part of the article, showed that while speculatory investing may have brought us to the peak of the 1929 economic troubles, and the fact that a huge number of people borrowed money to fund these risky investments is what pushed us over the edge.  Short Selling was essentially a hammer on the fingers of the struggling market.

Which makes sense doesn’t it?  I mean when the market starts to drop, people still want to make money on the market.  So they short-sell expecting it to continue to drop, which then changes the investor-at-large’s motivation to a driving the market down, instead of hoping for a rise int he stock value.

It’s like a football game, where the crowd is cheering for the home team, betting on the home team.  At half-time the home team is losing by 14 points.  They could still win the game, but the fans have gone home, and shifted their bets to the visitors and suddenly everyone is rooting for you to lose.

It’s demoralizing.  Since the market itself is driven by perception and speculation, of course it’s going to be significantly affected by short sellers.

So, the regulation was repealed in 2007.  I recall that the recession was really in full swing during that period, and our fearless leader (at the time) decided that the same rabid dog that bit us so badly in the past, should be unleashed… somehow this would help us this time?

Fucking Moron.  Of course this wasn’t something he did alone, the republicans pushed for this.  Now I’m all for a free market, but you can’t repeal regulation that allowed us to prosper all these years.  If it’s working don’t fix it.  Or if the car won’t start, don’t change the tires. or if…

fuck it you get the picture..

We all know how dangerous high-school cheerleading can be, remember 10 years ago the Mom who tried to hire a hitman to kill the mother of her daughter’s rival cheerleader?

Here’s a new twist.  This woman used her daughter’s ID to go back to high school, and joined the cheeleading squad…

Let’s just take a moment and let this sink in.

Wendy Brown, a 33 year old woman, used her 15 year old daughter’s ID to go back to high school, and she tried out and made the cheerleading squad at Ashwaubenon High School. (Near Green Bay)

Holy Crap, did someone watch too much 21 Jump Street Growing up?

I’m not really sure what disturbs me the most about this story.

• A) A 33 year old woman would want to go back to the hell that was high school.
• B) The school ACTUALLY SUCCESSFULLY ENROLLED HER, and didn’t even investigate this student, until she didn’t show up to class after the first few days…
• C) She tried out and MADE cheerleading squad.

A direct quote from the article “she looked older than a student but…” I’ve known a lot of women in thier 30’s who could pass for younger, but NEVER have I met one that could pass for 15 years old.

I wonder if she was all nervous about homecoming? The fact she was the only cheerleader that needed maximum support for her boobies?  While the other girls are worried about going all the way, her big worry would be trying figure out how to be the top of the human pyramid…

Sigh.  Clearly she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer…  Did she think, while cheering for the parents during the big game, someone might suggest she’s a little old to be high kicking on the sidelines?

I’m sure Sarah Palin would have sniffed her out at the the first PTA meeting.

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So, I’m sure it passed relatively quietly amongst the election coverages, and the non-geeky world.

However, in Geneva Switzerland, they where trying to “Recreate the Big Bang.” Now, for those of you who believe in the creation, you might want cover your eyes and start humming here.

Essentially, the idea behind a “Particle Collider”, is that you take a 17 mile tunnel, you then place two proton beams at either end, you shoot them out at each other in a cosmic game of chicken. While they are headed for each other, you use high powered magnets to speed these protons up, until BANG!

Oddly enough the results of this type of particle physics aren’t completely known. I’m sure the American government would never allow such experiments here.. I mean it could cause a black hole, or spontaneously create an entirely new dimension where we are all cartoons, who waged huge wars every Saturday morning, where lots of things explode, but somehow nobody actually gets killed, and we learn a valuable lesson at the end…

I’m not entirely sure that President Bush, upon hearing of this experiment didn’t place a call to James Bond, Will Smith, and GI Joe (just to cover his bases, just in case we all did suddenly become cartoons) to stop this attempt!

I think the realistic danger in doing this would be to in fact if during the 17 mile trip the protons where to split a few atoms on the way… Creating a 17 mile nuclear pipe bomb!  Well that, and emo teenage angst, which they apparently have India as well..

One more thing for homeland security to search for, and more internet rumors about terrorists who are smuggling the parts to build a particle collider in the US… I hear Russia is already talking about building one…

Seriously though, how cool would it be to suddenly become a cartoon? Dr. Zoidburg, wins!

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Well, it’s all the buzz right now… Sarah Palin. If you’ve been under a rock for the past couple weeks is John McCain’s selection for Vice-President.

I have to admit, my first thought to her selection was “John McCain is putting a lot of faith in the Vagina Vote.” (Vagina Vote: Women who would in fact vote for another woman, soley based on the fact that they both possesses the same parts…) The more I learn about her, the less I like her politics.  Here are some facts:

• Sarah Palin is “Pro-Life”, and apparently to the extent she is just short of sitting outside planned parenthood with a sniper rifle. ( Boo! )
  
• Sarah Palin is for equal pay for women! ( Really what idiot is going to come out and say they aren’t? )
• Sarah Palin is against Gay Marriage ( Boo! )
• Sarah Palin is pro Capital Punishment ( Yay! )
• Sarah Palin is a strong advocate for the second amendment ( Yay! )
• Sarah Palin admitted to smoking pot, though said she didn’t enjoy it… As far as politically she doesn’t support the legalization of any drugs, but public states that cannibis is less of a problem than Meth. ( Yay? )
• Sarah Palin is again Stem Cell Research, because it causes the destruction of life.  Apparently, Ms. Palin is a little underinformed on the process.  I’m guessing she is getting her information about science through movies. ( Boo! )
• Sarah Palin stated “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.” This was the day before the government took over both companies with a “Bail-Out”, essentially giving them a book of blank checks to keep them running.  ( Yay! if she sticks with it )
• Sarah Palin Supports drilling in Alaska’s Wildlife Refuges. ( Boo! Let’s actually utilize all the other areas first! )

Anyway, you get the idea… Keep an eye here for updates as her political opinions change… Essentially her political view’s are so right winged, she moves in a circle.  My biggest problems with Sarah Palin as a selection is that she was litterally a “hockey mom”, not 15 years ago.  While I really applaud the idea that “anyone can be president”, I would like someone who is a little more versed in the political process, on a national level.  I would say someone with a political record (Mayor/Governor) in a little more mainland area such as New York, or California… Hell even Rhode Island, would be better suited.  Alaska has always been about as detached from the mainland as possible.

That being said, he record over her career is impressive.  She does have a good past for reform, and fighting the good ol’ boys.  However, while being an agent for change is good, I don’t’ like the world she’s trying to change it into.  We all need to keep in mind that “Reform is good, as long as it’s reforming to what we want.”

I think my biggest problem with Mrs. Palin is that I just dont’ have confidence in her, or her opinions.  That being said she is a wonderful campaign choice.  It takes the focus off McCain’s voting history, They can take the “You are low for bringing family into this..” stance, but still wave the family choices in your face.  She’s hot, and let’s face it men think with their dicks.

I think realistically she will be a godsend for McCain’s campaign, but a disaster for the country if she is in fact elected.

Pitbull with lipstick indeed, I’ve seen sports moms in action… Diplomatic isn’t the first word I think of, when I see a referee kicked in the nuts for a bad call…

When I was growing up, we had a book club, flyer that you could purchase books from, at school…  I remember that one of the hottest books that everyone wanted was the “Guiness Book of World Records“.  While I was packing up to move, I found a copy from the 80’s. I remember we would watch in amazement as we looked up biggest feet, tallest man, most consecutive pogo stick bounces…  We would giggle trying to look up the worlds “longest penis” and “biggest boobs”.

There where some really crazy records in there like the Fastest Time to eata 12″ Pizza, or Most Books Written Backwards.  We would always try to make up some record…  I never thought of this one though..

This gentleman apparently holds the record for the highest dive into the shallowest water…  He held the record but wanted to raise the bar…

Apparently, while snacking on some chicken wings at the MENSA Picnic, Mr. Taylor thought to himself, “I could jump 35 feet into 12″ of water… THAT would be a world record…”  Let me give you a visual… 35 Feet is around the height of a 3 storey home… and 12″ is about the depth of your run of the mill kiddie pool.

Well he thought is and is going to try it.  And most recently decided 35 feet wasn’t enough.. so this mental giant is going to attempt to improve his record to 40′… (Apparently, next week on Jimmy Kimmel’s show)

Why would someone do this?  I don’t know but I have an idea based on this line from the article;

“…But he felt plenty when he tried his first shallow dive seven years ago - and missed the water. “I jumped ‘out’ instead of ‘up’ and landed in the front of the pool on my face. It hurt - and scared me,” he said.”

I wonder if he wore a towel around his neck like a cape?

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