Flotsam and Jetsam

 Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Really think Portland should just go ahead and re-name the city New Detroit because that's the fate the public officials have deemed for the city anyway... I support Tuukka Rask's decision to opt out of the NHL playoffs. He has a newborn child and who knows what's happening in his family life. He decided he needed to be at home now and his teammates support his decision. Now the Bruins will have to place their trust in back-up goalie Jaroslav Halak... Matt Taibbi and the 2020 DNC drinking game. Not sure my liver could survive this (and besides I have no plans to watch)... Scariest thing to me about Elon Musk's proposed Neuralink which at some point is supposed to enable non-verbal communication is Larry Miller's admonition, "If women knew what we were really thinking - they would never stop slapping us"...  It will be interesting to watch the Bruins off-season to see if they do try to trade Tuukka Rask. His contract has one more year at $6.5 million left on it... Yesterday would have been Charles Bukowski's 100th birthday. One of my life-goals is to out live him (he died at 75-years old). Here's an explanation of the epitaph "Don't Try" on his gravestone. Interesting guy... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So the Red Sox have signed AJ Pierzynski to a one-year deal. This feels a lot like when the Boston Bruins acquired Ken "the rat" Linseman. Will be tough rooting for AJ... Jesse Owens' Gold Medal from 1936 Berlin Olympics up for auction... The Nationals were lucky to get Doug Fister for almost nothing. As lucky as an average guy who happens to be in the right place at the right time when a super model decides she needs to have revenge sex... Vintage advertisements that weren't exactly politically correct... The BBWAA needed 4 tries to elect Rogers Hornsby to the Hall of Fame. Very, very flawed process... 19 shocking facts about Detroit's bankruptcy... Jarrod Saltalamaccia was a solid player and top shelf person during his time in Boston. I wish him nothing but the best with his new team. Godspeed Salty...  I think this idea was written only half in jest. I think it would actually work. Why not naming rights for sections of the newspaper?... Funny how some people who think it is wrong to lie to kids about Santa and the Easter Bunny still hold fast to the idea that Obamacare is actually a workable solution... Glorious! Dropping a red hot nickel ball onto various things. I love the Internets!... All the baseball Hall of Fame debates are petty compared to the injustice of KISS not being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

A Modest Proposal

The City of Detroit is in ruins. They are $18 billion in debt and about to declare bankruptcy. Here's a modest two step proposal to help save the city.

First - much of the debt is caused by retiree benefits granted via overly generous union contracts. The City would like to cut these benefits. The union members obviously don't want these benefits cut. Simple solution - tell the retirees if they live within the City limits then their benefits stay the same. If they live outside the City limits then their benefits get cut by 33 percent. Simple. The City is hemorrhaging people - make the people the City has to pay anyway live there.

Secondly, the US government owns a big chunk of General Motors. We will never see full value for the money we pumped into them and if we try to sell our stock it will just force down the stock price. Here's what I suggest - the government forgives all debt in exchange GM gives us their beautiful headquarters.  We then tell the United Nations they have to move to Detroit. We give GM three years to move out and the UN three years to move in.

Bingo-bango! We then take the UN's upper Eastside property via eminent domain and sell it. The proceeds go directly to reducing the national debt (drop in the bucket but every little bit helps).

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Minute Physics - Schrodinger's Cat. I love fun instructional videos like this.

- The Espresso Book Machine - every college town should have a coffee shop that has one of these.

- Tom E. Curran has very good take on Ochocinco's "performance" yesterday. I may add my thoughts later but am in no mood to upset myself right now.

- Awesome picture of a lightning storm at the Grand Canyon

- Vacant land in Detroit turned into beer garden. I so want to open one of these in my town.

- Heh heh - NASA satellite falls to Earth and hits a car

- Very good take on the Troy Davis execution