Sweden's income tax is over 50%. They have free healthcare, free public transportation, free education (including college), and they probably give away free puppies at orphanages (which are also completely supported by the government). For all intents and purposes, Sweden is a socialist country.
I share this because my mom is half Swedish, and until mid-2008, full-Canadian. I was raised to be as liberal as is socially acceptable in this country. For my high school graduation, my mom gave me a ring that has "Question Authority" engraved on the inside. To me, socialism has always made a lot of sense -- I see it as espousing values of generosity and kindness toward those less fortunate than ourselves. I have always believed that government exists to help people above all, and provide as many services to the public as possible. Healthcare for everyone. Public transportation. Welfare, social services, you name it. I like my government big and taxtastic.
However, in the light of the out-of-countrol financial crisis, the American government is making me wonder whether or not big government can ever work in this country. The AIG bonus scandal in particular is leading to believe it's a lost cause -- but not for the reasons you'd think. An article from the New York Times does a pretty good job of explaining what I'm worried about, but since reading a lot of hard, I'll summarize:
The government's knee-jerk reaction to AIG is making things worse. One truism that seems oft-neglected is the fact that if the government is going to be running a lot of things, there need to be smart people in the government. And apparently there are none. In Congress, at least.
I'll start by saying the bonuses look bad. Clearly. Taxpayers are aware that their money is being funnelled in to the company (although I imagine the average household contribution isn't worth getting upset about), and they don't want that money going straight to the fuck-up executives that largely created this problem in the first place.
But it's important to consider that the bailout money bequeathed to AIG isn't a gift -- Edward Liddy, AIG's new chief, has said he intends for the company to be able to repay it. If the insurer has any hope of doing that, Congress needs to stop fucking with their shit. AIG has been raked over the coals so much by this thing that no one wants any part of it anymore -- and their ability to recover and repay the government grows slimmer with every stupid and ultimately pointless "How many of you took a corporate jet here?" question.
Congress needs to stop stooping to this populist mob-mentality, and start solving problems. They should not hold a hearing to yell at Liddy for things that were largely beyond his control. They should find out why the bonuses happened and then stop them. Done. I don't need to watch every congressman raise their hand and tell me how outraged they are. You cannot fix this problem by disapproving. The economy is collapsing. Do something about it.
Can we elect Barack Obama king? He seems like a pretty smart guy. Maybe that'll work.
3.17.2009
the price of freedom
I've always had a problem with free time. My goldfish memory and general laziness often causes me to spend large chunks of time clicking around the internet, reading celebrity news and random wikipedia articles until I come to two hours later, wondering what the fuck I've been doing. It's kind of like an automatic StumbleUpon, except I'm terrified to download the actual toolbar because I know I'll never get anything done.
I still grapple with this issue on a daily basis, but one tactic I've devised is a To Do list made by a company called Cultured Code. They have an iPhone version too, which syncs to the Mac version (though not well), and it provides a remarkably satisfying "checking off" graphic whenever I complete a task. I've conditioned myself to look at the program every time I find myself without something specific to do, so I don't get lost roaming the internet.
Downloading (and paying for) this little program has probably created an aggregate 30 hours of productivity since the beginning of the semester, but I've noticed the effect is beginning to fade, especially when damn-near 100% of my time is unstructured, a la spring break.
This is bad. Very bad. I need to find some motivation, because if I have my way, career-wise, pretty much every day is going to be nothing but unstructured time. It's gotten to the point where I consider writing this blog entry to be a productive use of my time.
Resolved: every time I find myself not working when I'm supposed to be working, for whatever reason, I'm going to try a new strategy to cope. It might be going in the other room, it might be leaving my apartment, it might be drinking tea, it might be standing on my head for thirty seconds, whatever. Do something else. This is my pledge to you, the-one-person-who-still-reads-this-blog. Hold me to it.
I still grapple with this issue on a daily basis, but one tactic I've devised is a To Do list made by a company called Cultured Code. They have an iPhone version too, which syncs to the Mac version (though not well), and it provides a remarkably satisfying "checking off" graphic whenever I complete a task. I've conditioned myself to look at the program every time I find myself without something specific to do, so I don't get lost roaming the internet.
Downloading (and paying for) this little program has probably created an aggregate 30 hours of productivity since the beginning of the semester, but I've noticed the effect is beginning to fade, especially when damn-near 100% of my time is unstructured, a la spring break.
This is bad. Very bad. I need to find some motivation, because if I have my way, career-wise, pretty much every day is going to be nothing but unstructured time. It's gotten to the point where I consider writing this blog entry to be a productive use of my time.
Resolved: every time I find myself not working when I'm supposed to be working, for whatever reason, I'm going to try a new strategy to cope. It might be going in the other room, it might be leaving my apartment, it might be drinking tea, it might be standing on my head for thirty seconds, whatever. Do something else. This is my pledge to you, the-one-person-who-still-reads-this-blog. Hold me to it.
3.14.2009
"Do not try this!"
A few days ago, my dad sent me an email with a link from the Seattle Times.
The future is near...
Bionic eye, here I come.
The future is near...
Bionic eye, here I come.
3.06.2009
2.25.2009
would it be weird if i made a jewish star?
I walked through Annenberg this morning on my way to a meeting, and I glanced at the wall of televisions to catch a glimpse of some political meeting on CNN. Joe Biden was in attendance, and I couldn't help but notice he had a smudge of black shit on his forehead. During the meeting.
I did a double-take. Did nobody else see this? Who let the vice president out like that? He's conducting a meeting with shit all over his face. It looked like he just crawled back to the office after getting jumped in the alley. And nobody was mentioning it.
As I continued walking to my meeting, I passed a real live human being who also had black shit smeared on her forehead. Am I in the twilight zone? Is today National Mine-Your-Own-Coal Day?
After my meeting, I saw another person with black shit on his face -- except this time the black shit was in the shape of a cross. And then I finally got it. Ash Wednesday.
Which brings me to my point: this is the fucking dumbest custom I have ever seen. There are a lot of things about religion that I deem ridiculous, but the Ash Wednesday tradition of smearing shit on your face takes the sugar-free cake (because you gave up sweets for Lent). Do you have any idea how silly Joe Biden looked, dressed nicely in his suit, attending a meeting with government leaders and covered in black paint? He looked like a fucking chimney sweep. He might as well have been wearing clown make-up and squirting the Cabinet with his flower lapel.
There isn't really a point to this rant, except I haven't posted anything in a while and people were beginning to complain at me. So hopefully you weren't looking for something interesting to read, and instead were hoping to just kill some time. If so, mission accomplished. Good job, Max!
I did a double-take. Did nobody else see this? Who let the vice president out like that? He's conducting a meeting with shit all over his face. It looked like he just crawled back to the office after getting jumped in the alley. And nobody was mentioning it.
As I continued walking to my meeting, I passed a real live human being who also had black shit smeared on her forehead. Am I in the twilight zone? Is today National Mine-Your-Own-Coal Day?
After my meeting, I saw another person with black shit on his face -- except this time the black shit was in the shape of a cross. And then I finally got it. Ash Wednesday.
Which brings me to my point: this is the fucking dumbest custom I have ever seen. There are a lot of things about religion that I deem ridiculous, but the Ash Wednesday tradition of smearing shit on your face takes the sugar-free cake (because you gave up sweets for Lent). Do you have any idea how silly Joe Biden looked, dressed nicely in his suit, attending a meeting with government leaders and covered in black paint? He looked like a fucking chimney sweep. He might as well have been wearing clown make-up and squirting the Cabinet with his flower lapel.
There isn't really a point to this rant, except I haven't posted anything in a while and people were beginning to complain at me. So hopefully you weren't looking for something interesting to read, and instead were hoping to just kill some time. If so, mission accomplished. Good job, Max!
1.12.2009
1.05.2009
well that certainly went in a weird direction
The new year is upon us, snow is falling in Seattle again, and I'm listening to the hereafter on repeat.
I've done virtually nothing since I've been up here -- I've sat around, I've read books (2! And neither of them were "Pat the Bunny"!), I've slept in, and I've recharged.
And now, at 12:45 am on January 5th, 2009, I'm thinking.
There are so many people in each of our lives. All of them contribute in some way, even if the contribution is frustrating and makes you want to scream or cry or both. I'd be willing to bet, though, that most people we choose to associate with make us happy. Very happy. So happy, in fact, that occasionally, at 12:45 in the morning, all we can do is sit around and think about how lucky we are that we have such wonderful friends and family and such a tremendous support system as we get ready to move on to a brand new scary phase of our lives, where everything sucks and is too expensive and the economy is in the toilet and we have no marketable skills outside of Los Angeles County and SAG is about to strike and we're all going to be homeless and desperate for work and have to resign ourselves to taking soul-sucking jobs we never thought we'd touch with a 10-foot pole.
Or not, whatever. Maybe it's just me.
In any case, what I really mean to say is that I love you all, and thank you for taking this journey with me.
I've done virtually nothing since I've been up here -- I've sat around, I've read books (2! And neither of them were "Pat the Bunny"!), I've slept in, and I've recharged.
And now, at 12:45 am on January 5th, 2009, I'm thinking.
There are so many people in each of our lives. All of them contribute in some way, even if the contribution is frustrating and makes you want to scream or cry or both. I'd be willing to bet, though, that most people we choose to associate with make us happy. Very happy. So happy, in fact, that occasionally, at 12:45 in the morning, all we can do is sit around and think about how lucky we are that we have such wonderful friends and family and such a tremendous support system as we get ready to move on to a brand new scary phase of our lives, where everything sucks and is too expensive and the economy is in the toilet and we have no marketable skills outside of Los Angeles County and SAG is about to strike and we're all going to be homeless and desperate for work and have to resign ourselves to taking soul-sucking jobs we never thought we'd touch with a 10-foot pole.
Or not, whatever. Maybe it's just me.
In any case, what I really mean to say is that I love you all, and thank you for taking this journey with me.
1.03.2009
oh come on
First of all, I would like to apologize. No one really wants to hear any more about Sarah Palin now that the election's done, and everyone hopes that she'll go away, but the truth is that she's still the governor of Alaska, and there's not a snowball's chance in hell she won't be on the Republican ticket for at least the 2012 primaries, so I might as well keep building evidence against her and her stupid family.
I just read an article from my favorite journalistic source, People, and it's something I would like to share with you all. My favorite two passages:
"You need to know that both Levi and Bristol are working their butts off to parent and going to school and working at the same time," Palin told PEOPLE in a phone message Wednesday. "They are certainly not high school dropouts."
Let's examine. First off: "... Palin told PEOPLE in a phone message..." What? Does she spend her time calling news outlets to report family news? Was this call solicited? Who the fuck does that?
Two: "You need to know that..." You need to know? Who the fuck does this woman think she is? Her stupidly-named daughter gets herself knocked up by her high school dropout boyfriend and everyone needs to hear all about it?
Oh, wait, "They are certainly not high school dropouts." Well that's good. Except for this little gem, found a mere four paragraphs later:
"Levi, also 18, told the AP in October that he had left high school to enroll in an apprenticeship program training him as an electrician."
I'm going to need to check on this, but I'm pretty sure leaving high school before you finish qualifies you as a dropout. By definition.
Oh well, what do I know? I'm not the governor of Alaska.
UPDATE!
Shockingly enough, these people are still ludicrous.
Favorite quote: "He has to do everything by the book now"
I just read an article from my favorite journalistic source, People, and it's something I would like to share with you all. My favorite two passages:
"You need to know that both Levi and Bristol are working their butts off to parent and going to school and working at the same time," Palin told PEOPLE in a phone message Wednesday. "They are certainly not high school dropouts."
Let's examine. First off: "... Palin told PEOPLE in a phone message..." What? Does she spend her time calling news outlets to report family news? Was this call solicited? Who the fuck does that?
Two: "You need to know that..." You need to know? Who the fuck does this woman think she is? Her stupidly-named daughter gets herself knocked up by her high school dropout boyfriend and everyone needs to hear all about it?
Oh, wait, "They are certainly not high school dropouts." Well that's good. Except for this little gem, found a mere four paragraphs later:
"Levi, also 18, told the AP in October that he had left high school to enroll in an apprenticeship program training him as an electrician."
I'm going to need to check on this, but I'm pretty sure leaving high school before you finish qualifies you as a dropout. By definition.
Oh well, what do I know? I'm not the governor of Alaska.
UPDATE!
Shockingly enough, these people are still ludicrous.
Favorite quote: "He has to do everything by the book now"
12.21.2008
what the hell is all this white shit?
Seattle has a temperate climate. It's wet, sure, but everybody knows that the temperature holds fast at around 40 degrees all winter, effectively preventing all that snowy goodness that seems to exist in other parts of the country.
This year the system broke down. Seattle has had snow on the ground since last Saturday, and a flurry of recent -- I apologize in advance -- flurries has left about a foot and a half of powder.
This is a huge problem. On the east coast, or in Minnesota or some place like that, a foot and a half of snow is no big deal. They salt the roads, get out the snowplows, and all the streets are clean by 6 am. The City of Seattle has precisely 27 snowplows to service the entire city. They do not stock up on salt or sand, and Seattle is probably the second-most-hilly city in the U.S.
Basically, we're fucked. Half of all roads are completely closed, no one knows how to drive, and I'm stuck in the house.
The best part, though, is that it's supposed to warm up just in time to have our usual rainy Christmas.
Happy Holidays, everyone! And happy first night of Hanukkah, Jews!
This year the system broke down. Seattle has had snow on the ground since last Saturday, and a flurry of recent -- I apologize in advance -- flurries has left about a foot and a half of powder.
This is a huge problem. On the east coast, or in Minnesota or some place like that, a foot and a half of snow is no big deal. They salt the roads, get out the snowplows, and all the streets are clean by 6 am. The City of Seattle has precisely 27 snowplows to service the entire city. They do not stock up on salt or sand, and Seattle is probably the second-most-hilly city in the U.S.
Basically, we're fucked. Half of all roads are completely closed, no one knows how to drive, and I'm stuck in the house.
The best part, though, is that it's supposed to warm up just in time to have our usual rainy Christmas.
Happy Holidays, everyone! And happy first night of Hanukkah, Jews!
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