A Canadian, and a Californian both...

A friend and former colleague of mine blogs about North American economic concerns here. He is a former Californian, now living in the great white north... Enjoy...

Sincerely,

Corkie the Dog

Now that I look at it, I have been ignoring this blog for quite some time, which is becoming an alarming trend.

Technically, I have a good excuse: I became a father and changed jobs.  All things considered, I can honestly admit that I would rather be playing with my three and a half month old daughter than work on blog posts, but now that I am down with flu I am kinda running out of excuses.

I suspect the real reason is that I now have to wake up very early in the morning because my schedule has changed.  That leaves me grouchy for some time, since I am not a morning person.  To put it mildly.  Heck, at one of my old jobs, I recall that people would go to great lengths to make sure that they do not cross paths with me unless I had already consumed a couple of cups of coffee.

Now, I am finding an interesting coffee replacement therapy of sorts:  I walk by Julie's crib in the morning and she cracks a big toothless smile when she sees me (and now she is learning to giggle as well).  That keeps me smiling most of the day.

Respectfully,
Kolobok

Heh heh...

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=EVwlMVYqMu4&vq=medium#t=125

Figured one more post on Global Warming will not hurt...

This references a peer reviewed article in Remote Sensing:

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-data-blow-gaping-hold-global-warming-alarmism-192334971.html

Kolobok

Revolution and the Muslim World | STRATFOR

Here is another well-reasoned piece.

Revolution and the Muslim World | STRATFOR

Kolobok

Unrest and Libya's Energy Industry | STRATFOR

Recently I have been reading article on current events by a couple of people.

One is John Mauldin's newsletter on economy, market, etc.

Another is the newsletter by a company called Stratfor, which deals with political issues all around the world. This is a free newsletter, but I like the way they report stuff, so I might subscribe to a paid membership.

Here is the latest from them:

Unrest and Libya's Energy Industry | STRATFOR

Robotic Gripper Made From Coffee Grounds

Coffee -- is there anything it can't do?

Hat tip -- instapundit.

Back from the Trip

We are now back from our South Pacific Vacation, and it was quite therapeutic for us.  The trip was sinfully spectacular, and the beauty of that part of the world is magical.  I'll write more about it as I go along.

For the time being I am going to wrap up with our recent misfortunes (earlier posts on this are linked at the bottom).

On the way home from the airport we stopped by the cemetery and, to our surprise, found the headstone already placed.  It is a week or two earlier than we were promised and a nice thing to do on the administration's part.

As time goes on, we are doing better both physically and emotionally and the headstone was yet another element of closure that we needed.

Respectfully,
Kolobok


Little Details
Now It's over
Talking To God
It is Amost Over

Socialism in the Classroom

I received this e-mail from my brother a little while back, and I am not sure who put it together originally.  Once I figure it out, I will add proper attribution.  I thought it was very well put, so here it is copied in its entirety:

This teacher is truly a genius!

As the late Adrian Rogers said, "you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." 

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.  That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A...

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.  The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.  As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. 

The second test average was a D!  No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. 

Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on) 

Remember, there is a test coming up.  The mid-term election in 2010!

Little Details

It is remarkable how, no matter what you do, there are always some follow up details to deal with.

In this case, it was something we knew we needed to do, but it took us a little while to master the courage.  We needed to decide what to put on the headstone/marker for the grave.  We decided that we must do this before we go traveling in about a week, so a couple of days ago we headed to the cemetery first thing in the morning, before I had to be at work.  We spent a couple of evenings trying to decide what to write, which proved to be a bit complicated since we did not name our babies.  In the end, we came up with something that is meaningful to us.

Next week, the lady from the cemetery will cal us, so that we can come in and approve the exact sketch of what it will look like (presumably with the exact granite color we picked).  The stone should be ready and placed another three to four weeks afterwards.

In the meantime, we will go to South Pacific for a couple of weeks on this cruise:
http://www.pgcruises.com/destinations/itineraries/11-night/default.aspx

We need a change of pace for a little bit.

Now it is over.

A bit over a week ago, on Monday, March 8th, we buried our babies.

Honestly, that is something that parents should never have to do.  However, as hard as it it was to lower into the ground a casket that is about 30 inches long, we got some measure of closure out of it.

Now we always have a place we can go to.  Our two little girls are there together, as they were together for the short time they were with us.  They will always be a part of us and no amount of grieving can change that simple fact.  The sadness we feel will likely lessen with time, but never quite dissipate completely.  The rage I feel will likely be gone much earlier.

As we pick back up the shattered pieces of our lives, we carry no guilt.  We did all we could for our children, however little it turned out to be in this case.

From the book titled Talking to God

A cantor from a local synagogue sent us this excerpt from "Talking to God". It is labeled "A Prayer When One's Child is Stillborn". It feels like it was written by a woman who lost a child and had an exceptional gift for words. It made Lea totally break down. Whatever it is that I feel, her loss is orders of magnitude more severe.

I am not a religious man, and I find no comfort in religion or in prayer. Sometimes, I envy those who do.  However, I find this prayer (below) exceptionally well written and touching. When I tried to find where this excerpt was from, I learned that the book was written by Naomi Levy, one of the first female conservative rabbis on West Coast. She lives somewhere in West Los Angeles and founded a Jewish community/association called Nashuva.

I never got to know you.

I felt you inside me.  I worried over you.  I dreamed about you.  I grew with you. I picked a name for you.  I was expecting you. I was so looking forward to raising you and watching you grow.  But that is not ever going to happen.  And I feel very angry and very sad.  I wanted to keep you safe, but I couldn't protect you.  I couldn't save you from everything that went wrong.

Heal my heart, God, restore my soul.  Be with me in my sorrow, surround me with Your comfort.  Revive my hope, God; help me to believe that I will come to know blessings and joy once more.

I entrust him to You, God.  Take care of him.  Protect him.  Shelter him with gentleness and love.  As I would.  Spread Your peace over him.

Hear me, God.  Heal me, God.  Amen.

It is almost over.

This was not an easy pregnancy to start with.  From the very beginning one of the twins was smaller than the other, but both were growing at a reasonable pace and things looked hopeful.  We bought a minivan and our friends were planing a baby shower for us.  I was doing some careful research of different twin-specific strollers and cribs. 

Still, twin pregnancy is always a complicated matter, and we were seeing a specialist in addition to the regular obstetrician.  Just to be on a safe side, we were having very frequent ultrasounds and generally had about as good of a medical care as you can find (my wife is a nurse and they take care of their own).  I suppose you could say that we had VIP treatment all the way.

It all went downhill at a five month mark.  The twins developed a very unusual case of twin-to-twin transfusion.  That is generally a not very common phenomenon, and the specifics of our case are something that none of the doctors I have talked to have ever seen (six OBGYNs, two family doctors and two anesthesiologists), nor did the jaded "labor and delivery" nurses.  This was one of those cases where there is nothing anyone could do.  The stars aligned just wrong.  The egg split in a wrong way in the beginning and this was simply not meant to be.

Last Friday (Feb 27th), the "difficult pregnancy" specialist who we were seeing told us flat out that in the course of the previous week there was a drastic deterioration in the twins' condition.  They stopped growing and were very unlikely to come to term.  On top of that there was a very real chance of endangering the life of the mother.  I'll spare you the rest of the medical details, but we spent a weekend from hell agonizing over what to do.  There were really two viable options: terminate immediately or wait until it comes to a natural end.  The second option was ethically easier, but more dangerous to my wife.  

In the end, the decision was made for us: when we arrived to the hospital on Monday, my wife was already having contractions and spent agonizing twenty hours in labor trying to deliver two dead babies.  

We are now back home recuperating.  Thankfully, it looks like my wife's body will recover without any lasting damage.  Psychological recovery will take longer.  The problems with this pregnancy had nothing to do with either one of us, so we should be able to have children going forward.

The twins were stillborn on Tuesday afternoon.  

There was not a dry eye on the 4th floor of the hospital where my wife works, and experienced Labor and Delivery nurses on the 2nd floor (where we were) quietly shed tears after work.

The thing that is really killing me is that there is not a damn thing I can do for my children other than bury them.  Everyone tells me that whatever happens is usually for the best.  However, it is hard for me to hold onto that thought when you want to give your children the world and all you can do is give them a final resting place.

There is no separate Jewish cemetery where we live, but a portion of Ivy Lawn cemetery is dedicated to Jewish burials and you can buy a plot of land for burial through a local synagogue, which I did.

On Monday, we will bury our children. They will lie there together.  In one simple pine casket with the Star of David on it, and in one grave.  They were together the short time they were with us, and they will remain together for eternity.

10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

95 percent of millionaires earned, rather than inherited, their wealth.
Most don't feel rich.
They shop at Wal-Mart.
A million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to.

More here.

Hat tip: Instapundit.

Modern Times

I have been largely absent from this blog for a fair amount of time now.

There are quite a few reasons for that, and in some way they are all due to the modern times and the changes these modern times bring to our lives.  For me, modern times reveal themselves in a number of different ways.  Most importantly, my wife is pregnant with twins.  We do not yet have any other children and I expect this to be the most life-changing event we, my wife and I, are ever likely to experience.  Aside from that, there are some other things in my life that, while comparatively minor, are still time-taking.  My work is a bit uncertain since the company seems to be undergoing some changes and I do not know where they lead.  I also have another website to maintain that is narrowly focused on select few of my hobbies (www.opticsthoughts.com).

However, I labeled this post Modern Times for a different reason.

No matter how busy I get, I am still a nerd and a bookworm, so I make it a point that I always read something.  I read books bit by bit in the morning with my coffee.  I read during lunch.  I read before going to sleep.  I listen to audiobooks while driving.  I do a whole lot more reading than writing which, while detrimental to this blog, is highly beneficial to my sanity.

At some point, I might switch to the new e-readers that are all the rage these days, but I have not yet found one that I think is a worthy device.  Besides, there is something special about curling up in a Lazy-Boy chair with a glass of single malt Scotch and some printed word.

As far as books (and quite a few other things go), I tend to shop online a fair bit with Amazon getting the lion's portion of my business.  Why Amazon? I suspect that most large online retailers do largely the same things, but the prices seem about the same, so I stay with Amazon for legacy considerations more so than for any mercantile consideration.  As those of you who purchase things online probably know, once you buy something you get inundated with e-mails asking you to review it.  Well, if I am going to write down something of a review, I figured I might as well do it here on my blog.  Besides, if you click on a link through this post and actually buy the book from Amazon, I might get paid a small portion of the price (which will go a long way toward justifying to my wife the amount of time I spend on the web ::).

Honestly, I do not really know how to review a book.  Heck, I review products all the time (mostly optical stuff like scopes and binoculars), but with books I do not really know what to say beyond "I loved it" or "I
hated it".  Hence, forgive me if I do not know exactly what to say.  I am really trying here.

The book in question here, is the one you see on the left: Paul Johnson's "Modern Times".
Now that I read, in retrospect, I think this is the single best non-fiction book I have read.  Now, I am sure that my opinion is biased because I share a lot of the author's political views, so I agree with a lot of his conclusions.  However, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are on, if you like history and are interested in the 20th century, this book is a "must read".
Paul Johnson is a well-known British historian and an author of a considerable number of books.  "Modern Times" is the first one of his books that I read and I immediately went out and bought three more of his works.  I am slowly making my way through them and they will be subjects of future posts.
"Moder Times" is a long book and it took me a long time to read.  The text itself was about 800 pages long (with fairly small font).  Then there is about 60 page listing of all the sources he has used.  That should give you an idea the amount of research Mr Johnson did for this book.  I am generally a very fast reader, but I read this book very slowly.  I stopped often and waited before starting on the new chapter.  The amount of information in this book is absolutely staggering, and the fact that it is presented in a coherent and digestible manner is absolutely stunning.  Each chapter presented me with so much food for thought, that I had to stop frequently and think about it.  Since I finished the whole book, I kept it on the coffee table in our living room and I occasionally open it again to look for a particular piece of information.  I think I am just about ready to re-read the whole thing again.
In this book Paul Johnson tries to explain the 20th century and makes a very cohesive story out of it.  As you read through the book you clearly know what is a historical fact and what is the author's opinion or conclusion.  If you do not agree with the author, no harm done, you still get the distillation of the truly voluminous research that he undertook.  This is not a book that flows seamlessly from the beginning to the end.  It is sometimes dry and sometimes wordy.  However, to me, it was always worth it.  Every page of it.

Sincerely,
Kolobok

Cost of Living Increase for Congress, Not For Retirees

Social Security recipients are not receiving a COLA (cost of living increase) next year, due to inflation being so low.

So why did Congress voted itself a COLA raise?

It seems to me if the true cost of living has increased, then both Congress and retirees should get the COLA. But why only Congress, and not the retirees?

It appears the Congress COLA was buried in a military appropriations bill.

Sincerely,
Corkie the Dog

Every Day is a Bonus: for our nations veterans

I spent a brief time in the Marines as a tank driver -- thanks to all the vets who did so much for our country!

From Reason.tv:

SNL: Obama on Obama

Reason TV: Breaking News!

LA Times Coverage of the DC "Tea Party"

Many thousands marched in DC today against Obamacare. Here is how the LA Times describes it:

the main focus of today's protest was Obama's bid to use the government's power to cut the costs and expand the availability of healthcare

Contrary to the assertions of the LA Times, I would hazard to guess that no one at the rally was against lowering costs or expanding availability. In fact, I would guess that most thought Obama's plan(s) would probably work against those goals.

This seems an example of the Times "defining" the protesters in a light most amenable to the Times, at the expense of accuracy. MSM in action.

Sincerely,
Corkie the Dog

Obama's lies Matter, Too

Matt Welch, over a Reason Online, writes about President Obama's speech on healthcare.

An excerpt:

It is telling that so many people who claim to be speaking on the side of Truth, Justice, and the American Way of Journalism have consistently focused their outrage-o-meters at individual townhall attendees, political broadcast entertainers, and the lesser lights of a lame (if resurgent-by-default) opposition party, while letting walk nearly fact-check-free the non-irrelevant occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If calling out lies and misrepresentations about a significant policy proposal is such pressing journalistic business—and it should be!—you'd think the watchdogs might start with the guy doing the proposing.

John Muir Wood

During the same San Francisco trip, we also ventured a bit north to the other side of the Golden Gate bridge. While there, we visited the John Muir forest. Right by the walkway we chanced upon a small stream that looked like an unperturbed piece of primordial forests.

Kolobok

Big Sur, part 2

Here are a few more.

Kolobok

Big Sur

We recently spent a weekend in San Francisco with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. On the way there we took Pacific Coast Highway and drove through Big Sur. Here are some pictures.

Kolobok

On politics and politcians

Now that Barack Obama has been US President for a little while, I find myself philosophising (if there is such a word) on the general subject of politics a fair bit.

One question that comes to mind is: what kind of a person strives to become a professional politician?

Truthfully, I know very little about the subject, and, for the most part, I am just thinking out loud here. I have some familiraity with the political process and politicians here in the US and in Russia. I suspect that in other countries the nature of the game, so to speak, is not much different anywhere else.

To briefly summarize my general views on politics, I will simply say that I think all politicians are bad people and if you find yourself in a company of one, make sure to keep close watch on your wallet. I fully expect to maintian this point of view until such day when I decide to go into politics. At that time, I will update my opinion to the following: all politicians are bad people except for me, so you might as well turn your wallet over to me of your own volition.

The natural question following that statement is whether I vote and if yes, why would I vote for someone I consider to be a bad person. An obvious answer is that I do not vote FOR politicians. I vote AGAINST them. In any political race I choose to vote in, I find the politician who, in my estimation, is likely to do the most harm and vote the person on the ballot with the best chance of beating him. In a nutshell: in absense of "good", I vote the lesser "evil".

I think that in order to want to become a politician, you have to have an incredible combination of vanity and appetite for power.

Now, I fully admit that some politicians probably got into politics because they wanted to make a difference and do good things (perhaps, this "wanting to make a difference" is simply a flip side of vanity). However, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No matter how well intentioned a particular politician may have been in the beginning of his career, after a couple of terms in office he will converge to the same state as every other politician: pure and unadulterated lust for power.

I started this post with Barack Obama and now I will use him as an example.

I recall a conversation I ahd on a table tennis forum, of all places, with a gentleman named Robert Blackwell. He is an owner of a table tennis equipment and promotion company called Killerspin. I do not know him well, but he is a successul businessman and clearly an intelligent guy. More importantly here, he is from Chicago and is, apparently, Obama's friend an neighbor. We had a brief exchange where we agreed to disagree. One thing that Robert said in trying to convince me to vote for Obama (that was during the campaign) was the following (I am paraphrasing): "Out of law school, he gave up being a millionare in order to help people". Presumably, he meant that Obama went into a law practice that dealt primarily with civil rights issues. If memory serves me right, Robert's business paid Barack Obama a retainer fee in that period of time.

Anyhow, the details of who paid what to who are not critical right now. What I found interesting is how differently people look at this. I suppose it all depends on your frame of reference.

I suspect that Obama got his graduate degree in "race baiting" during that exact period of time (it looks like that insight was confirmed by his treatment of that Cambridge, MA policeman).

When I look at Obama's political career, all I see is lust for power with little regard to anything else. Every public office he held was only a stepping stone. He used his time in Illinois Senate to set up runs at higher offices. He tried for House of Representatives: no luck. He regrouped and tried for US Senate: that worked. If you look at his track record in state senate: it does notappear that he showed up there a whole lot. Obama's US Senate track record is not much different: it was a launching pad for his presidential campaign. As a Senator, he did not show much itnerest in anything other than his Presidential campaign. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky: if our "Race-Baiter-in-Chief" had another office to run for, we could end up with Joe Biden as a president.

As is we have got a man in the White House who is a professional campagner (and a very good one at that) and a masterful rabble rouser. All other skills a president needs he has to "learn on the job" so to speak.

That by itself is another confirmation of what is important to a politician: stayign in power. If Obama was primarily intersted in being a good president, wouldn't he at least try to prepare himself for running the executive branch of the government? It seems to me that governance and campaigning are not the same, but the again, I coule definitely be wrong.

Kolobok

P.S. No, I am not a racist. I believe that the best way to strop discrimination is to... stop discriminating. Screaming from the rooftops on how your forefathers have been wronged is not the way to go.

P.P.S I am not a "birther" or anything alogn those lines. Barack Obama got into White House fair and square. We, the People, put him there and We the People will have to deal with the consequences. I hope he does not screw things up too badly.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Canada

My Little Neighbor

So, I was walking out my front door, and what do I see? A tiny little hummingbird looking at me from her nest. Here's the picture.

Sincerely,

Corkie the Dog

Onion Video

I like this video.


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Of course, my favorite Star Trek character is Porthos! (Who also happens to be a dog.)

Sincerely,
Corkie the Dog

Rattlesnake In My Yard

I had some of the neighborhood dogs over for lunch yesterday, and there was a rattlesnake in the yard. Here is a picture (courtesy of Kolobok, who snapped the shot).

For lunch we had hot dogs.

Sincerely,
Corkie the Dog

Philanthropic Freedom

Law Professor Gail Heriot (over at the Right Coast) has a post on a disturbing new trend: the targeting of philanthropic independence by left wing groups. Apparently, some on the left want Government to have more control of private charitable spending. The examples she gives are chilling.

One observation by Gail in particular is worth repeating:

A government that is the sole arbiter of which educational, artistic, religious
and other charitable activities should receive support is a government that is
too powerful.

Read the whole thing.

Sincerely,
Corkie the Dog