Perhaps He Needs Some Perspective
What do you think Kerry was talking about when he criticized "attack squads"?

a) Karl Rove




b) Mass murder of 200 people




While he is boo-hooing over verbal slights, terrorism continues unabated in the world. And if he can't take a few sticks and stones, what's he going to do under real fire?

I wonder if those "foreign leader" endorsements Kerry claimed to have changed in the last 48 hours?



posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:22 PM (Permalink)
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Well, I Just Had To Do It Too
I used to have a Friday quiz, so this can count as the Thursday warm-up, but is already all over the blogosphere: Libertarian Purity Test. I scored a 51, just into the range of medium-core libertarian:

You are a medium-core libertarian, probably self-consciously so. Your friends probably encourage you to quit talking about your views so much

No, not really, but funny anyway.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 7:16 PM (Permalink)
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Now I'm Happy She Was Convicted
Apparently Martha was a big-time contributor to democratic causes. I guess Kerry meant to say democrats are lying and crooked.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 5:47 AM (Permalink)
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To Sopranos Watchers
Maybe a little risqué for a family blog, but does anyone think that the "dream scene" in this week's episode used a body double, or do you think that was Lorraine Bracco? Not that I focus on nudity or anything...

This week's episode just seemed to be setting up the plot lines for the season, so a good episode, if not entirely exciting. Like Miller's Time, I was horrified by the one act of killing, although that could turn out to be a plot line for future episodes.

(and I will spare you blog entries on other shows since this is pretty much the only series I watch on television)

posted by Director_Mitch @ 8:17 PM (Permalink)
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We Work For Little Pieces of Paper
Just Procrastinating links to a story of a woman who tried to spend a “million dollar bill” at Wallmart. Lots of people have seen these novelty items in the store and it surprises me that someone was stupid enough to try to pass one off as real currency (but isn’t there a saying about never underestimating the stupidity of the American people?).

The only difference between her novelty item and a real bill (besides the technical aspects of the type of paper and printing method) is the fact that our government says a $20 bill is “money”. That’s it: it’s money since the government says it is (fiat currency). If you think about it, it’s a little strange – we work for and then buy all sorts of goods and services by passing these little pieces of paper around. And more recently, all this is done virtually with bits of data being transferred between banks, credit unions, credit card companies and the like with no paper at all.

The evolution of money is an interesting topic and one of the reasons I got into collecting obsolete U.S. currency. Besides the historical and economic history in old currency, many of the old bills are like little pieces of art compared to the monopoly money our government is churning out today.

I am what is called a “type” collector. Once I get a type of currency I move on to the next note (other people collect series, serial numbers, portaits, signatures, the list is nearly endless). For example, here are just a few of the types of small-size $1 notes issued since 1928 (all from my collection):



Note that this small slice of my collection contains silver certificates and a U.S. note. Other types of money that have been issued include gold certificates, national bank notes, federal reserve bank notes (FRBN), and most recently federal reserve notes (FRN). This is another interesting aspect of collecting, which is understanding the different schemes the government has tried to create money.

Besides types of notes, U.S. currency can be broadly divided into “large size” and “small size” notes, the small size notes being the size of the notes in your wallet, which started being issued in 1928 as a way to save money on printing costs. Large size notes tend to be more expensive due to their age, but are also the most beautiful, interesting and rarest notes in the hobby since the larger size gave the engraver more space to show his craft, as shown by this obverse of the 1914 $1 Federal Reserve Bank Note (FRBN) in my collection:




And for that woman? She should have known that the largest bill ever printed by the U.S. government was $100,000, but was used only for internal transfers between the federal banks and never put (and illegal to posses) in private circulaiton




The largest bill ever printed for general circulation was $10,000, and although ALL U.S. currency ever issued is redeemable at face value at your nearest bank, this bill would fetch well into the six figures in a private sale (most known examples are in museums).




The largest "current" bill in circulation is $100, so if you see anything larger than this it is either a phony or worth a lot more than its face value as a collector's item ($1000 bills are still out there and worth anywhere from $1200 up, so don't spend them as cash).

posted by Director_Mitch @ 5:43 PM (Permalink)
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If You Are Against Outsourcing, You Must Be Against The "Do Not Call Registry"
So you are upset about Americans losing jobs?

1. Telemarketing Jobs Lost Due to "Do Not Call List" - 2 million to 6.5 million, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

2. Jobs Lost in U.S. Due to Outsourcing - Hard to find an exact number for an issue so many people are upset about, but halfway down this article it states that Forester Research estimates 3.3 million jobs will be be outsourced by 2015

So if you are upset about 3.3 million jobs going overseas in the next decade and want to so something, it seems to me that getting rid of the Do Not Call Registry will be a much faster and easier way to bring back jobs to America. After all, as I stated before, one of the riskiest things about doing business in the U.S. is being regulated out of existance by the government - which also leads to a loss of jobs - which is what happened to telemarketers.

Funny, getting rid of those 2 million+ telemarketing jobs was soooo popular with politicians of both stripes...



posted by Director_Mitch @ 1:28 PM (Permalink)
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Political Dictate Versus Consumer Choice
Overseas outsourcing is a political hot potato these days and seeing Kerry pandering to the electorate by suggesting schemes that will do nothing to stop it would be funny if it weren’t for the fact that each suggestion represents a giant government intrusion into how businesses allocate resources.

The government will not create or save jobs by dictating to companies whom to hire or how to allocate resources. All it does is make business reluctant to hire in the first place.

If outsourcing is a concern to Americans, a better solution would be for companies to offer consumers a choice. In today’s WSJ (requires paid subscription) there is an article about E-Loan doing just this by giving their customers the following choice:
1. Have your loan processed in India for fast turn around, or
2. Have your loan processed the U.S., which will take, at minimum, two days longer than if you choose India (but with no additional cost)

I expect to see more of this, probably with monetary incentives given to customers who choose overseas support and those picking U.S. support paying more. After all, those who want to prevent offshoring should be willing to pay more for customer support, 24 hour service and fast turn around to keep jobs in the U.S. The rest of us who don’t have a lot of money to throw around can save a few bucks by having our services go to the place where it saves us money or gives us faster service, or pick according to the situation (I don't care if my PC support is in India, but I think I will keep my tax preparer state-side, but it's MY choice, and not some politician limiting my choices).

After all, isn’t one of the policies of the Left the “right to choose”? (well, they believe in the right to choose as long as they agree with your choice)


posted by Director_Mitch @ 11:27 AM (Permalink)
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If I Am In A Real Job, How Come I am Not Busy?
I forgot about one of the drawbacks of working in a large organization: waiting for people to get back to you. I was a flurry of activity this morning with over a dozen outbound phone calls and emails requesting information and material I need to move forward on a variety of projects.

Now I'm waiting.

One of the problems is not being in headquarters - I can't go down the hall and camp in someone's office until I get the information I need (a good strategy), or grab the person I need as they pass in the hall (I think most men will agree that some of the most productive meetings in large corporations happen in the wash room. If you're standing there doing your business and the person you need comes in, it's not like they're going anywhere for the next few minutes and they can't exactly ignore you).

I suppose I could do something that doesn't need input from anyone - maybe some self-training - but blogging is much more fun.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 11:00 AM (Permalink)
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Since When Did Coffee Need Ordering Instructions?
I was at Starbucks this morning for my daily amphetamine caffeine fix and noticed that, in order to help their clients, Starbucks has published an instruction book on how to order coffee.

Obviously this book is not for boring people like me (just coffee, please), but for people who like showing off how sophisticated they by ordering complicated drinks (you know the type). Here are the instructions for entering your order at Starbucks and some examples:

Step 1: Cup
Step 2: Shots and Size
Step 3: Syrup
Step 4: Milk and Other Modifiers
Step 5: Drink

So you order an Iced, decaf, tripple-grande, cinnamon no-fat, no-whip mocha, or Grande quad ristretto non-fat dry cappuccino.

Got it? Me neither. I'll just stick to coffee. It's the caffeine that's important anyway. And you can check your personality type by entering your Starbucks order here.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 11:10 AM (Permalink)
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