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Dear Josh Board, Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mr. Hugh G. Rection, the boss of Mr. Williams, a regular reader of your blog. Having recently reviewed his online reading behavior and calculated the time spent on your blog, our company has come to the following conclusion: 2008-2009 cumulative hours spent on this blog: 200 hours 2008-2009 average hourly wage: $75 per hour Total lost income attributed to Josh Board: $15,000 Please send remuneration immediately, as you have promised in this blog entry. Sincerely, Hugh G. Rection President and CEO— September 23, 2009 9:57 p.m.
My husband is slowly falling in love with San Diego
Lay off guys. Geez. The article was interesting, quirky, and was in no way self-aggrandising. Quite the opposite, the author poked fun at herself as well as her new home and lifestyle. Sure, it's not an expose of the corruption in the city, nor a hagiography of San Diego's glory...just a personal take on the writer's San Diego experience. So lay off. Okay? Pistol, you and Refried write wonderfully sometimes. I love that line "sweating like a whore in church." You both have the time to write lots of comments. I wonder why neither of you have yet submitted a story for the cover? I think the Reader pays about $1,500 for a cover story. Not gonna make you rich, but that's not trivial money either. Go for it! Write now! Pistol, write a cover story length article about all the reasons San Diego sucks. Be sure to use lots of colorful metaphors (sweating like a whore in church...swear I'm gonna use that one) to make it interesting. Refried, write an article about what it's REALLY like living in TJ. You've got the skill and experience. Please lay off Ms. Braun who's just starting out as a writer it seems, and actually did a pretty good job. She had the courage to submit a story and supplement her income...you may not like her story, but at least she's been published. When you both comment so harshly, I begin to suspect you're a wee little bit jealous. So get writing, okay? I'd like to read YOUR cover stories. Best, Fred— September 23, 2009 9:46 p.m.
Bypassing Bylaws in Golden Hill
GHsupporter, in part I strongly agree with you. I've walked precincts, called voters, held signs, stuffed envelopes, and volunteered at numerous election events. It's damned hard work. You don't always (or even usually) win. Since I can tell you're a long-time voter, I'm positive I've knocked on your door at least once and might have even spoken to you in person. You're right that it's annoying to hear negativity from folks who might not have put in the thankless hours trying to elect better candidates. What you say about having a positive agenda is absolutely correct too. It's too easy to just criticize. Yet interspersed with your wise council is some baloney too. You wrote: "a positive program of multiple small improvements can emerge from a self-governed community of imperfect individuals" We all agree with that. It's obviously true. But you're missing the bigger point. Without checks and balances, like a functional oversight committee with real powers, those "imperfect individuals" are not subject to the "self-governed community" at all. That's what people are pissed off about. San Diego has a long and shameful tradition of putting unaccountable insiders into positions of power which they go on to abuse. The residents, some of them obviously really angry about this, are not opposing improvements to their community. On the contrary, they are rightly resisting corruption in their community. GHsupporter, surely you DO support having an independent oversight committee with real power, don't you? See, you all should make common cause for the most important principle at state here. Open and honest government that's accountable to the folks paying the bills, not insiders. GHsupporter, you acknowledge this problem. Every other person posting here about their outrage over the current situation agrees. It's time for change in San Diego, before it's too late. Please work together to get that change, and some genuine representation in our city, rather than seeing the same liars who've gotten us into this mess continue to run us into the ground. Best, Fred Williams— September 22, 2009 3:27 a.m.
Sempra "Investigating" Reports That Its Lobbyist Bedded Down Ex-Legislator
Worst of all is that Heidi...well, she's kinda fugly. No wonder Duvall was spanking her and enjoying it. To hear them now try to twist and turn is hilarious. Have you heard the audio? I didn't even talk like that when I was in the Navy. Sempra didn't KNOW she was doing it with Duvall? It was her JOB! (poor thing)— September 17, 2009 5:03 a.m.
Bernanke Says Recession Over. Glug, Glug
I think we need a lot MORE rudeness in our political life. This expectation of deference to elected politicians is profoundly undemocratic and anti-american in the extreme. They're not our lords and masters...they're supposed to be our representatives. I called Jack McGrory a whore to his face in council chambers while he was standing next to John Moores. Stallings stalked over and berated me. The UT labeled me an "urban terrorist". I laughed last and best when she was caught taking bribes from Moores and resigned in disgrace. They all should have been prosecuted. What they've done to San Diego is truly terrific.— September 17, 2009 4:56 a.m.
Alan Greenspan proclaimed that central bankers can’t foresee or forestall bubbles
Refried, one of the reasons I admire Taleb is precisely because he doesn't claim to know all the answers. That's his major point...we have to recognize the limits of our knowledge. That said, he's very clear that eliminating VAR would go a long way in clarifying financial institutions' true exposure to risk. Just that one change would have immediate dramatic effects, involving short term pain, but giving us all a fighting chance of doing better in the future. Remember, with the same Goldman Sachs crooks in charge as last year we've had zero reform of the system. All we've done is reward the ones who crashed the economy. Don't be lulled by smarmy sweet talk. Taleb's angry for good reason...he was sounding the alarm for years and no one in government paid any attention. Unbelievably, we're still not paying attention. What's needed is a fundamental reassessment of our economic goals in this interconnected world. It's not a matter of just tweaking the system a bit to get things back to "normal". Instead, we're going to get more of the same. This "crisis" isn't over...I doubt we're even in the middle yet. I predict yet another fall because NOTHING has has changed. Our so-called leaders keep repeating that we're out of the worst of it, but they're ignoring the massive debts still swirling around the system and the inevitable inflation that will follow the pumping of so much money into the system to pay off the crooks. Until we deleverage, something Bauder and Taleb agree must be done, we're subject to the same risks as a year ago. According to Taibbi (and Bauder) our government has been taken over by Wall Street. Since they're the ones truly in charge, Taleb will continue to be ignored or even vilified. That's a tragedy, and we're all going to pay the price.— September 17, 2009 1:04 a.m.
Alan Greenspan proclaimed that central bankers can’t foresee or forestall bubbles
Anti: Try this, http://mandelbrot.collettivamente.com/— September 17, 2009 12:49 a.m.
Alan Greenspan proclaimed that central bankers can’t foresee or forestall bubbles
Matt Tiabbi has more on Goldman Sachs here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/291273… It should make every American very, very angry that the same crooks who got us into this mess are still in charge. Refried, my friend, I think the links you posted do more to bolster Taleb's case than diminish it. At the minimum, Taleb is honest enough to say when he doesn't know something...unlike the Goldman Sachs fraudsters running our economic policy today.— September 16, 2009 11:37 p.m.
Hush money
The reasons for project failure are very well known: * Unrealistic or unarticulated project goals * Inaccurate estimates of needed resources * Badly defined system requirements * Poor reporting of the project's status * Unmanaged risks * Poor communication among customers, developers, and users * Use of immature technology * Inability to handle the project's complexity * Sloppy development practices * Poor project management We've known about this for over twenty years. The Standish Group reports year after year that only about a third of software projects are ever completed on time and on budget. It's not just the County Office of Education or the contractor that has failed. Have a look at the San Diego Data Processing Corporation, the quasi-private City IT operation. I've attended classes with people employed by SDDPC, and they were very dim bulbs indeed. It was embarrassing, frankly, to be in the same room with them. I teach classes on software project management, cost and scheduling estimation, and requirements specification development. It doesn't seem to me that anyone in our local government has the slightest interest in best practices, mitigating risks, or proper system definition. It's not their money, and even when projects fail miserably nobody will ever lose their government job. A little accountability would go a long way. How about giving the name of the project manager? He/She ought to be fired. Instead the County is conducting a cover-up. How many more wasted millions before we wise up in San Diego?— September 16, 2009 11:15 p.m.
Alan Greenspan proclaimed that central bankers can’t foresee or forestall bubbles
Pellis, yes he's abrasive. But he's also correct. The D.C./Wall Street liars are really smooth and likeable. But they're also dead wrong. I'll take abrasive but right over smooth talking fraudsters any day, thank you.— September 16, 2009 10:38 p.m.