New York State of Mind

Ever since I was presented with the idea of moving into Manhattan, I've been feeling like Billy Joel and/or NaS. Living in New York has always been a goal, since beginning work. The problem was always money. Do I hold off on retirement savings and live for the Now? Or sacrifice my youth (have I already? Find out here!) and live for the Later? Living for the Now and Later would be ideal. Who could pass up a life filled with sweet juicy taffy? However, with Manhattan rent costing at least one arm and one leg, it never seemed like a possibility.

*Enter Global Economic Collapse stage left*
Global Economic Collapse - Hey guys, what's up?
The World - Oh #%$@.

Consider this analogy: Global Economic Collapse is to Tom, as The World is to Walt.


I've been doing some much research on Manhattan apartment prices, and have found a lot of information regarding the recent downturn in the NYC realstate. It seems to have finally begun to catch up to the rest of the country.

Vacancies are forcing landords to reduce rents, offer months free, and pay broker fees.

Some Goldman Sachs guy talks about how prices need to fall

Examples of some recent apartments being rented for less

Currently, it is unclear whether prices are expected to drop further as the year goes on. Typically there is higher demand going into the Summer, which may balance out the decline. I'll be following the market closely in the next few months, but it's pretty clear now that moving in soon would be the best plan.

The more I think about it, the more exciting it sounds. No longer will I have to commute an hour and a half to work every day... No longer will I have to cut city nights early to catch that last train... No longer will I have to follow up "So you want to come back to my place?" with "I live over an hour away in New Jersey"... But is all that worth the extra $700+ rent every month? Yes.

2008 In Retrospect

What a year... We lost an economy. We gained a Black president. The Grape Lady video is still as funny as it was in 2007. In order to officially say goodbye to 2008, I feel it’s only necessary to compile a list of useful tidbits to keep in mind as we venture into the new year.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you,

The Guide to 2009: Lessons Learned From 2008

• You don't appreciate the 1:41 AM train until it's gone.

• Getting an early start on Sunday to drive home from the beach is a smart plan in theory, but fails in practice, because EVERYBODY gets an early start on Sunday to drive home from the beach.

• Hockey games are actually fun to attend.

• You can get anyone to sing with a private karaoke room.

• Getting a tattoo IS as painful as it looks.

• If you are desperate at the end of the night, say "Yo, does anyone want to make out?" to a group of girls. It has a 100% success rate so far.

• When attending a wedding, don't bring someone you have to babysit. Bring someone you know will have a good time. Bonus points if they are hot.

• Play poker very conservatively in the casinos. The other players will get pissed and throw away all of their money trying to make you fold on good hands.

• The difference between a restaurant "fee" and "gratuity" added for large parties is not worth arguing over. It can end friendships.

• The difference between "crayon" and "cran" IS worth arguing over. It can strengthen friendships.

• Don't miss Newark Penn Station when taking the last train home. Bad things happen to good people.

• Mistletoe-on-a-stick has great potential, and if mass produced, would make literally hundreds of dollars.

• Copper wind spinners don't work when hanging from an attic ceiling.

• Girls find you more attactive when you dress like a guido.

• NEVER, under any circumstances, do Teach For America. It's worse than boot camp.

• Don't wait another 15 years to go to Medieval Times.

• Boyfriends are like assholes. Every girl has one. Especially the really awesome girls who have 2 (one being their boyfriend).

• Virginia Tech > Boston College

• Joshua Tree gets way too crowded, but I will still continue to go there.

• and finally, Don't take taxis home from NYC that lack GPS capabilities.

Hi, my name is Jerry

Jerry Atric

My knees have been aching more this winter than any other. Hopefully it's just the weather and not the fact that I still sit on my knees like a 6 year old when I'm at home. A couple times it's been so bad, that you could even see my knees glowing red. Like I was in an Icy Hot commercial.

Yeah, you could see my bone, and the glowing was even covering my finger. It was THAT painful. Knees shouldn't be the first things to go on humans. After a million years of walking upright, you'd think the ones with shoddy knees would have dropped from the gene pool. Those wooly mammoths would have ROFL'd as the hopeless humans attempted to escape writhing in pain, their knees buckling every step looking like marionettes. Alas... they obviously must have survived long enough to reproduce, since I'm a direct decendant of one of them. Hopefully, by the time these knees give up for good, there will be some technology out there to make them super charged. Give em a POWER SURGE! I knew Mike O'Malley was on to something.

A Great New Blog

A new blog has started up featuring some big names in the blogosphere and ...podcastosphere? Skepticblog is a blog put together by the cast of "The Skeptologists". Each blogger is very educated in their field of expertise, and every post is insightful. Check it out if you are at all interested about the credibility of whacky claims heard on the news or from others. But you don't have to take my word for it.
Heres a good start:
http://skepticblog.org/2008/11/10/science-and-skepticism-on-tv/
http://skepticblog.org/2008/11/12/superstitions/

Republicratism: The New Religion

This concept has existed since the beginning of the Bi-Partisan era. However, these days, it's spreading fast. If politics were baseball, Republicans would be the Red Sox, and Democrats would be the Yankees, with Independents as the young kids wondering why their dads are yelling at the other team's fans instead of just watching the game. The two parties are so divided, that virtually no one is a true "Republican" or "Democrat". Or are they??? (Dun dun dunnnn....)

Why do people consider themselves a Republican or a Democrat? Get this - I believe the answer is the same as why people are a Christian or a Muslim or a Jew. Parents and Community. Since birth, we are placed into categories that, most of the time, don't even have close to the same values as us.

"What a cute kid." "Yup he's my little Democrat."

What???

How can a 3 year old know enough about the world to have opinions about it? I don't remember a lot from when I was 3, but I know I wasn't concerned with world issues.

Now when that same kid is 10, he wants to beat up a classmate, because he said Democrats suck (which the classmate's parents taught him to say). These children grow up, vote for their party, have children, and it starts all over again. Just like Religion, people believe in the party itself, retrofitting their views to agree with the party's. As the presidential campaign continues, the initial biases against the opposing candidate get strengthened every time something negative is said. Even if it's not true! These political patriots will still find a way to allow that statement, however untrue it may be, to enhance their hatred towards the candidate. It gets to the point where just seeing the other candidate, or listening to their speeches make them angry. Everything the opposing candidate says is a lie in their mind. It's all an attempt to brainwash you into voting for them, so they can be elected and execute their plan for world domination. Party polarization at its finest. This all happens in the unconscious, which is why most people don't think they are being biased at all. They will just claim that they disagree with the opposing candidate, and agree with their own.

- "We're not anti-abortion. We're pro-life!"
- "Oh yeah? I am also an advocate of life! Go Republicans!"

- "We want tax cuts to the lower 95%!"
- "Woot. Go Democrats."
- "But they will be raising the tax for your business."
- "Yeah, but they are lowering taxes for 95%! Go Democrats!"

Are people actually against gay marriage? Or is it just because their party says they are? Why would someone "pro-life" want less gun control? Ah Yes! Political patriotism is at it again. I think the worst is when people respond with "because I'm a Democrat/Republican" when asked why they are voting for their candidate. We are giving up our critical thinking skills, and allowing the irrational emotional part of our consiousness to take over. No one wants to question themself, so why do it? Admittedly, when Barack Obama became a potential candidate, I wanted to vote for him, almost exclusively because he was Black. I thought that having a Black president would be a huge step in the progression of this country. Plus it would be a great way to tell those who oppose it to get with the times. To me, this issue was way more important than anything else. Now this is no where near as bad as voting for someone because of their political party, but I now agree (thanks to a few friends) that all issues should be considered when choosing a candidate. I mean, what if he was palin' around with terrorists?(LOL @ Fox News) After looking up the issues, and positions I found that I agreed on mostly everything he had to say. Did I hold those same beliefs before I knew Obama was supporting them? Who knows? I'd like to think so (I was a "little Democrat" afterall :)).

But, I'm an Independent now. Only because we all have to be in a category, right? We can't just be a Person. One who holds their own beliefs, shaped from critical thinking, and rational thought about what we experience in our life. We have to choose a group, and since there is no WeLikeTo Party, Independent is the next best thing I guess. It feels nice being able to think for yourself. No obligation trying to defend your group of people against criticism. No need to retrofit your beliefs to justify the category that you want to be associated with. How does one obtain such luxury? Not blindly following one party or another is a great first step. Voting for Obama, because he is Black, or McCain, because he is old are both pretty stupid reasons, but they are at least reasons that required conscious thought. Simply going with "the usual" is not the way to go. Unless "the usual" is a Taylor ham egg and cheese sandwich.


Epilogue - An experiment I would love to see happen is to present hypothetical candidates to the most hardcore partisan patriots. Each candidate has the other party's plaform. How many would still vote for their party's candidate? I would hypothesize significantly more than if you didn't give party names.

Important News

Mega Man 9 is fucking hard.
That is all.

In other news, here is how to make a White Russian:

1. Fill a rocks or highball glass with ice.
2. Pour the vodka into the glass. Use a measuring cup, free pour, or pour a portion from a mini bottle. Mini bottles are 50 milliliters, which is equal to 1.69 fluid ounces. Pour a little more than half of a mini bottle to get about one fluid ounce, and a little more than a quarter of the bottle will be about one half of a fluid ounce. If using one and one half ounces, just pour in the entire bottle and call it even.
3. Pour the Kahlua into the glass. There is no need to stir, but some may prefer to stir the ingredients at this point with a swizzle stick to mix the alcoholic ingredients. The Kahlua can be poured before the vodka, but even when the Kahlua is poured second it will sink to the bottom of the glass because it is heavier than the vodka.
4. Top off the glass with half and half or milk. The drink is usually not stirred after adding the half and half or milk, as the alcoholic ingredients, especially the Kahlua, should rest on the bottom of the glass. The dark Kahlua should be evident on the bottom of the glass, and contrast with the milk. The vodka will not be apparent, at it is clear, and it will mix some with the milk.
5. Garnish with a single maraschino cherry if desired. The cherry can be rested on the surface of the drink itself, and will be supported by the ice cubes that are in the drink. A stemmed cherry that has not been speared with a toothpick is desirable.
6. Serve the drink with a cocktail straw if desired. The straw will enable the alcoholic ingredients to be sipped from the bottom of the drink, or the drink can be stirred if desired.

These Tablets Aren't For Your Heartburn

Last night was quite the bamboozler. I went to a Secret Science Club (probably shouldn't have told you that) meeting in Brooklyn. The speaker was Tony Rothman, a Cosmologist and Physics professor at Princeton. He talked about San Gaku's which are old Japanese mathematical tablets. On them were ancient geometical problems like this one:


Here is the solution

Considering there are only about 900 that remain of these, I don't think they are going to replace Sudoku's anytime soon (althought they should). Rothman also wrote a book this year called Sacred Mathematics: Japenese Temple Geometry. He was selling signed copies there, but I was too busy getting my flirt on with some scientific honeys, and they sold out. Overall, the meeting was a good time. I'll end with a cool puzzler that was asked at the beginning.

Three mathematicians are talking.
"How many kids do you have?" The first asks the second mathematician.
"Three," she answers.
"How old are they?" he asks.
"Well if you multiply their ages, you get 72. But if you add them, you get
your office number." She says.

The first mathematician thinks for a few seconds and says, "I do not think
there is enough information for me to solve this!" he says.

The mother mathematician immediately says, "Oh, of course, I forgot to tell
you that the eldest plays the violin!"


What are the ages of the children???

Answer

Hi, could you put some cash residue on it too? Thanks. Don't be shy, slather that shit on there.

"Here is your food sir, along with the dirty oils from 1000 hands dating back to 1980."

That is what people who prepare your food, and work the cash register should be saying. I appreciate the thought of you trying to keep your hand germs from getting on my food. Really, I do. Those plastic gloves are a miracle of modern science. If only they cleaned themselves after handling the money of every customer... Who knows? Maybe the employees are just protecting their own hands from the food they are playing with. If this is the case, I appologize.

Moar Politix

Last night was the part 3 of the Republican National Convention, and oh what a night it was! I managed to make it through an hour before deciding that there were more important things that I could be doing (like trying to max out my character's stats in Castle Crashers). In that hour, I saw what looked to be a combination of a country concert sans beautiful girls, one of those evangelical mass gatherings you see on TV, and an unorganized rally where everyone just puts together their own signs that really don't make sense. Despite the red and blue everywhere, I noticed a lot of WHITE in the room. You're not fooling anyone, camera crew! I know people of different races all look the same, but when you focus the camera on the same one black person in the crowd, people begin to notice. They had those faces like, "What the fuck did I get myself into?" Old white people dancing and shouting everywhere. I found the chanting actually funny. "NBC! NBC! NBC!" as an attack on the media? Sorry, but that's not going to help it. "Drill Baby, Drill!" I love it! These people don't even know what they are chanting about. This crowd was so fired up, I could have gone and started a chant like "Show Your Boobs!" or "O'Doyle Rules!" and most of these blind zealots would have joined in, without question. For the most part, the speeches went well. Palin's, was delivering one-liner after one-liner that got the crowd even more pumped. She's got talent. Even Joe Biden was impressed, http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/04/biden-reviews-palin-shes-good/ However, when it comes to the real issues she's gonna have a problem. How will she be able to debate real ticket issues without coming off bat shit crazy? I hope she passed gym class, because she'll have to dodge a ball of topics(ohhhhh!). Back to the convention. Here are some pictures I dug up of last night:

What? You want to drill?? For moose???

Sold out seats

Heeeeeerrrreee's Johnny!

I approve of both of those buttons.

Texas: We are exactly what you thought we were.

Ah yes... The main reason McCain chose Palin - To unite all hockey moms...

No.

Ok... ¿Dónde están sus amigos unidos?

A scary picture.

I realize this is very bias. I'm sure there are just as many flaws that could be pointed out in the Democratic National Convention. If anyone has some funny info / pictures from the DNC worth sharing, lemme know.

Opinions are like assholes

The excitement of the VP annoucements have come and gone. All the hype about a hot Vice President is getting old now, and it's time to get down to business. As most people know (or should know), the presidential campaigns are always full of shit. The sole purpose of campaigns are for the candidates to wrangle as many voters as possible to believe that their platform is the one to vote for. They have general positions that usually conflict with the opposing party (Not parties. Let's face it. The US is a two party system, and until we can accept that there is more than just black or white on issues, it's going to stay that way). For example: "Abortion is good!" Ok. That is a well defined position, and everyone knows exactly what that person believes. But what if only 1/4 of the population think abortion is good? What if another 1/4 think that abortion is only OK, and should be avoided if possible? They might go with the other candidate who says, "Abortion is not good! Killing babies is not even cool, and no one should be able to do it. We support life!" Well that person might decide, "Well, while I think that abortions might be beneficial in some cases, I also support life, and don't support killing babies. I guess Anti-abortion is my stance." It's all about the bluring of lines.

With that said, We can only vote for one person. With that person comes all of their stances. It's like a game of tag, and those 3 BFF's, one of whom really sucks at tag, HAVE to be on the same team. Well two of them are really good, but is the slow kid worth them? Maybe not, but at least it is a net gain over those other 3 BFF's, two of whom really suck at tag. It's a package deal. So the only reasonable method of deciding on the candidate of choice is to determine the general position on every issue of each candidate. Pick the candidate for each choice in which you find their views closer to yours than the other. Then weigh each issue on personal importance, and conclude who fits your opinions better. I've already done this for McCain and Obama, and made my choice. So for fun, I wanted to compare Palin and Biden.

Again, opinions are like assholes. Everyone else's stinks (though some are way better than others). So debates like "Obama rocks!" - "No he doesn't! Obama totally sucks, McCain is better!" - "Nuh Uh!" are worthless. I'm going to compare some of the issues I think are important, and determine a winner. All of this info was taken from http://www.ontheissues.org/, so I'm going to assume it is accurate. I also removed a lot of the voting stats. I don't agree with the whole flip flopper argument. Peoples' views change. Abe Lincoln didn't want equal rights? What a racist! Society changes and evolves, so what someone said 50 years ago should be taken with a grain of salt. Unless of course it's something like "Voted YES to Anti Breathing Act which would make breathing illegal". Anyway, on to the battle.

Round 1 Fight!
Abortion

Joe Biden
Allow women to choose, but no federal funding. (Jul 2007)
No public funding for abortion; it imposes a view. (Apr 2007)
Supports partial-birth abortion ban, but not undoing Roe. (Apr 2007)
Accepts Catholic church view that life begins at conception. (Apr 2007)
Nominees should agree on constitutional right to privacy. (Apr 2007)
Voted NO on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)
Expand embryonic stem cell research. (Jun 2004)
Ensure access to and funding for contraception. (Feb 2007)

I agree with the views on abortion, and federal funding. I like how, despite his religious affiliation, he supports it. A good example of Church and State separation. Woot! Human Clones!

Sarah Palin
Rejected sympathy for Down's Syndrome son, as gift from God. (Aug 2008)
Opposes stem cell research. (Aug 2008)
Every baby is created with a future and potential. (Aug 2008)
Pro-life. (Nov 2006)
Pro-contraception, pro-woman, pro-life. (Aug 2006)
Only exception for abortion is if mother's life would end. (Jul 2006)

Thumbs down to the stem cell opposition. I am also a proponent of contraception, woman, and life. Thumbs up to those. There are more reasons for abortion than just the mother's life.

Biden Wins!

************************

Round 2 Fight!
Budget & Economy

Joe Biden
Balancing budget is about priorities; GOP made wrong choices. (Dec 2007)
Save Pentagon spending by getting the troops out of Iraq. (Dec 2007)
More transparency for hedge funds and private equity funds. (Aug 2007)
Invest in new programs by ending war & eliminating tax cuts. (Apr 2007)

Hmm, ok.

Sarah Palin
Reduced general fund spending by $124 million. (Mar 2007)
Aim to reduce general fund spending by $150 million. (Jan 2007)
Firm believer in free market capitalism. (Nov 2006)

Not much here either.

Draw!

************************

Round 3 Fight!
Civil Rights

Joe Biden
Civil unions ok; gay marriage is probably inevitable. (Apr 2007)
Voted NO on recommending Constitutional ban on flag desecration. (Jun 2006)

He doesn't have much of an opinion on gay marriage. I'm neutral on this one.
NOTE: The fact that there was an attempt to actually ban flag desecration is baffling.

Sarah Palin
Vetoed bill denying benefits to gays, as unconstitutional. (Aug 2008)
Marriage only be between and man and a woman. (Nov 2006)
Value our cultural diversity. (Nov 2006)
Ok to deny benefits to homosexual couples. (Aug 2006)
No spousal benefits for same-sex couples. (Jul 2006)
Top priorities include preserving definition of "marriage". (Jul 2006)

Value our cultural diversity, eh? It doesn't look like it.

Biden Wins!

************************

Round 4 Fight!
Education

Joe Biden
Hire more teachers and pay them for smaller classes. (Dec 2007)
For longer school day & school year, & 16-year minimum. (Oct 2007)
$3000 tax credit for college for anyone earning under $150K. (Sep 2007)
There needs to be performance-based pay for teachers. (Aug 2007)
Teach sex ed in schools; including prevention methods. (Aug 2007)
Overcome racial achievement gap with early education. (Jun 2007)
Pay teachers more to get better educational results. (Apr 2007)

I agree with all of this (longer school year too, now that I'm out. muhahaha). I'm surprised performance based pay isn't already implemented.

Sarah Palin
Teach creationism alongside evolution in schools. (Aug 2008)
Supports teaching intelligent design in public schools. (Aug 2008)
Committed to providing strong education, including morals. (Jan 2008)
Fully fund K-12 and support early funding of education. (Jan 2007)
Supports charter schools, home schools, & other alternatives. (Nov 2006)
Faith-based materials ok in homeschooling. (Nov 2006)
Supports parental choice for what is best for their children. (Nov 2006)
Let parents opt out of schoolbooks they find offensive. (Jul 2006)
Parents know best, about school spending & school age. (Jul 2006)
Pledge of Allegiance with 'Under God' is good enough. (Jul 2006)

Soooo many things wrong here. First of all, strong education != creationism. Education involves getting facts to students so they can learn and become more intelligent. Creationism has absolutely nothing proven about it. Intelligent design is just more creationism. I do support informing student what the idea of creationism or intelligent design is. However, in no way should it actually be taught as a proven fact. Support charter schools, home schools, and other alternatives? Ok. Faith based materials in homeschooling? No fucking way. That is an oxymoron. "faith" based "schooling". "Faith", which by definition means believing something without evidence to support it, should not be considered as a form of education. Parents do NOT know best. They didn't go to school for education or study the development of the human mind (unless they got homeschooled, by their parents (who probably got homeschooled by their parents (etc...))). Teach your kid what you want, but he'd better not get any real degree. Also, have fun taking care of him when he comes back home, because he can't cope with society.

Biden Wins!

************************

Round 5 Fight!
Energy & Oil

Joe Biden
The energy challenge take sacrifice and is a moral crusade. (Dec 2007)
Supports cap-and-trade for greenhouse gases. (Nov 2007)
Provide for emergency fuel assistance immediately. (Oct 2007)
Make every automobile sold be a flex-fuel automobile. (Apr 2007)

Not really what I was looking for. That automobile idea is pretty cool.

Sarah Palin
Global warming affects Alaska, but is not man-made. (Aug 2008)
To win, GOP must push energy independence. (Aug 2008)
Agrees with Obama on more Alaska oil & gas production. (Aug 2008)
Lift moratorium on offshore drilling. (Jul 2008)
Convinced McCain to drill offshore; not yet on drilling ANWR. (Jul 2008)
$250M for proven alternative energy, including wind & hydro. (Jan 2008)
Fund cellulosic biofuel research in Farm Bill. (Oct 2007)

The global warming comment is just ignorant. I disagree with drilling offshore, but can't really decide what is needed for short term benefit. Funding for alternative energy shows a push for the future.

Palin Wins!

************************

Round 6 Fight!
Environment

Joe Biden
America should guarantee Katrina reconstruction. (Jun 2007)
Take away the billions of subsidy to the oil companies. (Jun 2007)
End commercial whaling and illegal trade in whale meat. (Jun 2001)
EPA must do better on mercury clean-up. (Apr 2004)
Strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting. (Jan 2007)

Cool.

Sarah Palin
Opposed protections for salmon from mining contamination. (Aug 2008)
Sue US government to stop listing polar bear as endangered. (Aug 2008)

OMG polar bearz r not endangered!! Stop saying that they are!

Draw!

************************

Round 7 Fight!
Principles & Values

Joe Biden
Insulted Indian-Americans in attempt to compliment vibrancy. (Nov 2007)
Prayer gives you strength, but doesn't prevent crises. (Aug 2007)
Religion informs my values; my reason dictates outcomes. (Jul 2007)
Biggest mistake was thinking he could work with George Bush. (Apr 2007)
Knocked out of 1988 race due to plagiarizing a speech. (Oct 2005)
Religious affiliation: Catholic. (Nov 2000)

Another good example of separation between Church and State. Oh shit he plagiarizes too!

Sarah Palin
Miss Congeniality in statewide beauty pageant in 1984. (Aug 2008)
Husband left oil job to avoid conflict; now works for BP. (Aug 2008)
Religion: non-denominational Bible-believing Christian. (Aug 2008)

Why don't we talk about your values over a nice bubble bath?

Biden Wins!

************************

Biden: 4
Palin: 1

Game, Set, Match.