My view of the world

There is a study that says there’s an even money chance that Lake Mead will be dry by 2021.

Given this bit of data I would ask:
When there’s no water to turn the turbines in the dam. What are they going to do for power here, in Arizona and in southern California?
What will they do for water for the next few thousand swimming pools? Besides pumping northern Nevada dry.
What will the farmers in California do for water?
How will they build another water wasting golf course, or man made lake for the next multi-billion dollar joint?

For my part, I doubt that the drought will last that long. I also have no doubt that the uncontrolled growth in this valley will use up the very last drop of whatever water we are allocated, now or in the future.

With the blessings of Washington, they are talking about building new nuclear plants, and they are currently building coal fired power plants at a record pace. –Probably fast enough to offset the lose of the dam.

Nobody cares about California farmers, because most of the produce in the grocery stores seems to come from other countries.

All the developers care about is today’s profit, and all the politicians care about is today’s kickback.

All the major casino operators are expanding in to new and expanding markets, like China. If the growth rate here in Vegas stalls or starts to fall, these Mega-Corps will simply expend more of their resources in foreign markets.

I’ve decided that there’s nothing I can do about this whole bloody mess but get a faster truck so I can keep up with the marina.

A headline from the New York Times:
U.S. to Attempt to Shoot Down Faulty Satellite

Didn’t the Bush administration get up in arms over China testing a weapons system on an old weather satellite?

King George and company swear that shooting this thing down is a health issue, not an attempt to hide secrets. And just exactly who do the think is going to believe this cock and bull story?

By definition, anybody who gets the phrase “global warming” changed to “climate change” in order to protect his buddies in the oil industry is not going to be overly concerned with our well being.

Now they expect the military to shoot this thing out of the sky, just before it tumbles into the atmosphere. Given the past performance of new and highly modified weapons systems. Given the complete lack of oversight of government contractors, including bonuses paid for complete failures. And given the apparent belief that “wishing will make it so” by the politicians, excuse me, military geniuses that run the Pentagon, at least as long as their future employers and old friends are involved.
I’ll bet on the satellite.

I love this observation:
“In many ways, the task resembles shooting down an intercontinental nuclear missile, although this target is larger, its path is better known and, if a first shot misses, it will continue to circle the Earth for long enough to allow a second or even a third try.”

Excuse me. But wasn’t this system designed to shoot down ICBMs?

Warheads are about 10 to 20% the size of this thing, which is the size of a school bus. And now they tell us they have a much larger, much slower target, on a known trajectory and it may take two or three tries over the course of several days to hit it?

The military industrial complex. —-Technology at it’s dumbest.

The initial offer was based on cash and stock. Now Yahoo shares have risen to nearly the $31 offered and M$ shares have fallen something on the order of 12%, which means they may have to adjust the stock portion of the deal.
The Yahoo stock price increase was predictable, but I bet ole Bill didn’t count on his stock falling.

Not that it matters.
If M$ is going to get their web services into the majors, they need the talent and some of the infrastructure offered by Yahoo.

Let us not forget that MSN search is in third place, and search results sell advertising. Ala the Google click-through model.

If they get to number two, and follow Google’s example, they will be able to direct searches to their own assets, and to the sites of their paying customers.

Directed searches are the current “big thing.” Google says these searches are simply to help us find what we need more easily, but have you every noticed the number of sites that you are directed to that may have lousy SEO, but are using high volume Google adwords.

There’s money in them thar searches.

The trouble with being a cynic is that it gets old being right all the time.

The weirdness continues when dealing with governments and services.

On the Pioneer Loan Blog the author was commenting on the latest fiasco from our local government / garbage service.

It appears that the people built a small strip center on the property directly behind them, in doing so they built a wrought Iron fence. This fence narrowed the alley way to it’s original size. Now the garbage people have decided that the alley is too narrow and refuse to drive down it.

The first thing that happened, was a salesman unilaterally decided that the dumpsters had to be moved to the street.
The second thing that happened was the City said the aforementioned dumpster had to be moved back.
The third thing that happened was Republic Services removed the dumpsters completely.

Nobody ever contacted the owners of any of the properties effected except to say that it was a done deal and the dumpsters were going to be moved.

When called, Republic Services said that they had taken the dumpsters, and would be replacing them with those green cans on wheels that they rent to homes.

First question:
How many of those little cans will be required by a strip mall and several apartment buildings?

Second question:
Since Republic Services insists that the property owners must drag these cans the length of the building to the street, where they will be out of sight. Who’s responsible for the theft of these cans? –Trust me, some will be stolen.

Third question:
Aren’t there regulations concerning the storage and pick-up of commercial garbage cans? —Or did the people who built these buildings build enclosures, complete with gates because they had money to burn and they thought it would be cute?

Other questions:
Why does the City step in and then refuse to even discuss any changes?

What’s up with the Public Utilities Commission? If you call them all you get is “our meetings are.” —-Why is it that when I Google for the PUC site I wind up going to a site that gives me a “Server not found” error?

What’s up with Republic Services and their autocratic attitude? —-A little thing like services paid for obviously doesn’t matter.
They don’t have to discuss anything with small business owners. —I bet they don’t treat the hotels that way.
It turns out that the lower echelon didn’t bother to talk to their boss when someone called. Fortunately the building’s owner has the District Supervisor’s direct line. They’re still fucked, but the supervisor says he’s kicking it up to the District President ….Probably whoever is sharing the office today.

What rights do small business’ have in the face of an entrenched bureaucracy? —–NONE

The simplest tequila based mojito like drink I know of consists of:
Rose’s mojito mix, lime not that sissy peach or whatever is was.
Club soda, plain not that flavored crap.
Tequila, use a good brand and never ever use one of those store brands. That stuff is invariably shipped in old oil tankers that nobody bothered to wash out. Sort of like that no-name incredibly cheap Vodka you can taste for days.
Ice.
The specific ratio of ingredients is a matter of taste.

If it’s for a bunch of guys, use lots of tequila and make sure they see you pour it.
If it’s to get some chick drunk, pour light while she’s watching and add more when she looks away. Then add more mojito mix. –That stuff’ll cover a multitude of sins.

Tequila is a truly miraculous drink.
It can give you the nerve to talk to that incredibly hot chick you’ve been staring at from across the room. Be warned however that a great many times you will wake up only to find out that the only thing that would make this chick hot is to set her on fire. —Which may be a viable alternative to chewing your arm off.

It can make you feel 10ft tall and bulletproof. Which may cause the guy you just called a pansy, who really is 10ft tall and bulletproof to bend you over and do something you will find to be extremely uncomfortable.

And ladies, before you make fun of us poor defenseless drunken males, please consider that you are the one we’re waking up next to.
How many of you have told someone you just met that they are your best friend and that you love them.
And finally, ladies. How many of you managed to get home with all your clothes after the last party?

Yep… Went out… Got drunk… Got home…. She’s pukin’…. I’m making an omelet…..
Some thing are just a matter of practice.

Cue the Red Rocker. —-Sammy Hagar Mas Tequila.

A man here in Vegas has this condo for sale on the beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.


It’s one bedroom, two bath and he’s asking $225,000 US.

A year ago he could have gotten his price almost instantly. Now, in spite of the demand for DR property, it’s still listed.

The reason I mention it is because after seeing him, I spoke to a friend who’s floating around the Caribbean.

Old Dude is looking to buy property, but he says that he expects property values to drop even more. Especially in the areas where US citizens own condos and the like, because they’re having such a hard time making the bills back in the world that they need to liquidate their foreign investments.

In the mean time Old Dude’s back in Belize where he has some sort of property and is seriously considering an investment in Miami.
It turns out, that with a couple of other investors, he can buy several condos with an ocean view for about 1/3 the price of a year ago.

I suggested investing in Las Vegas. A $750,000 house here just sold for $265,000 at auction.
But he loves the ocean.

People are abandoning condos in Miami, selling land in the Caribbean for less than they have in it, and having their houses repossessed partly because of the financing and partly because of a “soft” job market. (The market is soft if you’re not the one out of work)
But there is only “some danger” of a recession.

—A recession is when your neighbor is unemployed. —A depression is when you are unemployed.