Wisconsin’s culture of drinking to excess is probably the most formidable obstacle to bringing our state’s laws in line with most of the rest of the nation. It’s just a guess on my part, but I think a lot of our politicians are of a mind that their constituents don’t really want them to write much tougher laws regarding drunken driving.
And, in the past four years, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says the beer, wine, and liquor industry spent over 800 grand to buy off the politicians, and predicts that when we have totals for what’s been spent since this past June, it will exceed a million bucks.
You can rent a lot of politicians for a million bucks.
Here’s what the politicians did, though: they made the 4th DUI a felony - but only if it happens within five years of the 3rd offense. They required interlock devices for repeat offenders, and for first-timers who blow 0.15 or higher. They made the first offense a misdemeanor if a child under 16 is in the vehicle. The somewhat stronger laws go into effect on the first of July next summer.
There’s a lot they didn’t do, though.
A first-time DUI offender gets essentially a traffic ticket, unless there’s a child in the car. Not even a misdemeanor. Somebody should remind our politicians that many of our state’s alcohol-related deaths and injuries are caused by first-time offenders.
Anybody want to argue that first-time offenders have driven while under the influence before, but just didn’t get caught? Pretty safe bet.
Remember the loud wail a couple summers ago when cops set up “sobriety checkpoints” in the Windsor and DeForest area? And the hue and cry about “Operation Nightcap” on the Beltline, which they run every blue moon or so? (Wait a minute - we have a blue moon tomorrow night!) 38 states use sobriety checkpoints to try and keep drunks off the roads, but not here.
We independent and stubborn ‘sconnies are always howling about search and seizure, and entrapment, and so on. But the US Supreme Court has never had a problem with reasonably-run sobriety checkpoints. Our politicians don’t have the intestinal fortitude to mandate checkpoints at places where cops say the biggest problems are.
But there’s hope.
The culture of alcohol to excess in our state is slowly changing. In my checkered past, four decades ago, I bent the law many times and was very lucky to have never been caught. But my kids - God bless them - are adamant about walking or taking a cab when they’re at the bars. I hope they’re representative of their generation.
The legislature’s latest effort to curb drunken driving was lukewarm at best. It may take another decade or so to give our laws some teeth. For the families of all those who will be killed or hurt by drunken drivers in the meantime, it’s no solace, though.
Have a great time tomorrow night, but please let somebody sober do the driving.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Homeland Insecurity: Questions
First, why is this terrorist still alive and in some Federal pen in Michigan? Why did the passengers on that flight from Amsterdam to Detroit not beat him to death on the airplane, after he burned his pee-pee trying to kill everyone on board and more on the ground? Why didn’t they give him the martyrdom he wanted?
Second, who is this doofus we have running Homeland Security now? Janet WHO? What kind of idiot says “One thing you have to understand is that the system worked” when it so obviously FAILED on so many levels? Her stupid, unprompted assertion should go down in history right alongside “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job here”. Yesterday, this Napolitano woman tried to back away from her idiotic statement, telling NBC her words were taken out of context. Right.
Third, what kind of idiots do we have running our national cable news networks when they put headlines on the screen like “Terror Attack Thwarted” (CNN) or “Terror Attack Foiled” (MSNBC)? The act of terror was most certainly not thwarted nor foiled. This kid, who was on a terror watch list, got on an airplane bound for America with explosives, and managed to make an attempt to detonate them while on board the plane over the United States. We’re incredibly lucky that his fumbling attempts failed, but it had nothing to do with being thwarted or foiled.
Fourth, what kind of asleep-at-the-switch slackers are running security at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam? Maybe we ought to ruffle a few Netherlandic feathers and send some of our TSA employees over there to check passengers boarding any flight bound for the USA. There are a few TSA employees at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix I have in mind, who could probably straighten things out at Schiphol in about 3 hours. A 23-year-old kid pays CASH for a 28-hundred dollar ticket, and that alone doesn’t “flag” him? Jeez.
Fifth, why are airports in the US now being coerced by the Department of Homeland Insecurity into still more pointlessly invasive “security checks”, when the failure occurred in the Netherlands, not in the US? Will snowbirds headed from Chicago to Orlando for a family vacation or just a few days on the beach now have to be subjected to fully nude inspections and thorough body cavity searches because the Netherlanders don’t know how to run an airport?
Sixth, the kid's father warned authorities he was becomming radicalized against the US. How does he get a visa?
I could go on, but you get the idea.
One ugly sketchy-looking guy tries to make bombs out of his shoes, and now every airline passenger in America is needlessly inconvenienced. We can only carry three ounces of shampoo onto a plane. God forbid you should forget you have a nail-clipper in a pocket of your jeans. We need some far smarter people actually running Homeland Security and coming up with better ways to keep these misguided Islamic jihadists off airplanes.
My wife can keep up with the latest news about the failed terror attack on her iPod Touch - a device only slightly larger than a credit card - while we’re doing 70 miles an hour down the NorthWest Tollway on the way to grandma’s house.
We need minds like the ones that made that scenario possible working on ways to keep terrorists off airplanes.
Taking our shoes off and being allowed only 3-ounce carry-ons isn't making us safer, and it does NOTHING to prevent a competent terrorist from blowing up a plane. Next time we may not be as lucky as we were on Christmas Day.
Second, who is this doofus we have running Homeland Security now? Janet WHO? What kind of idiot says “One thing you have to understand is that the system worked” when it so obviously FAILED on so many levels? Her stupid, unprompted assertion should go down in history right alongside “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job here”. Yesterday, this Napolitano woman tried to back away from her idiotic statement, telling NBC her words were taken out of context. Right.
Third, what kind of idiots do we have running our national cable news networks when they put headlines on the screen like “Terror Attack Thwarted” (CNN) or “Terror Attack Foiled” (MSNBC)? The act of terror was most certainly not thwarted nor foiled. This kid, who was on a terror watch list, got on an airplane bound for America with explosives, and managed to make an attempt to detonate them while on board the plane over the United States. We’re incredibly lucky that his fumbling attempts failed, but it had nothing to do with being thwarted or foiled.
Fourth, what kind of asleep-at-the-switch slackers are running security at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam? Maybe we ought to ruffle a few Netherlandic feathers and send some of our TSA employees over there to check passengers boarding any flight bound for the USA. There are a few TSA employees at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix I have in mind, who could probably straighten things out at Schiphol in about 3 hours. A 23-year-old kid pays CASH for a 28-hundred dollar ticket, and that alone doesn’t “flag” him? Jeez.
Fifth, why are airports in the US now being coerced by the Department of Homeland Insecurity into still more pointlessly invasive “security checks”, when the failure occurred in the Netherlands, not in the US? Will snowbirds headed from Chicago to Orlando for a family vacation or just a few days on the beach now have to be subjected to fully nude inspections and thorough body cavity searches because the Netherlanders don’t know how to run an airport?
Sixth, the kid's father warned authorities he was becomming radicalized against the US. How does he get a visa?
I could go on, but you get the idea.
One ugly sketchy-looking guy tries to make bombs out of his shoes, and now every airline passenger in America is needlessly inconvenienced. We can only carry three ounces of shampoo onto a plane. God forbid you should forget you have a nail-clipper in a pocket of your jeans. We need some far smarter people actually running Homeland Security and coming up with better ways to keep these misguided Islamic jihadists off airplanes.
My wife can keep up with the latest news about the failed terror attack on her iPod Touch - a device only slightly larger than a credit card - while we’re doing 70 miles an hour down the NorthWest Tollway on the way to grandma’s house.
We need minds like the ones that made that scenario possible working on ways to keep terrorists off airplanes.
Taking our shoes off and being allowed only 3-ounce carry-ons isn't making us safer, and it does NOTHING to prevent a competent terrorist from blowing up a plane. Next time we may not be as lucky as we were on Christmas Day.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Adventures In Customer Service
For thirty-some years, most of my income came from the sale of radio advertising. No radio station every made a buck because it gave better news or played the best music; essentially every dollar comes from the sale of advertising.
So I’ve tried to return the favor by spending my money with advertisers. That’s why we spend a lot of our grocery dollars at Miller and Sons in Verona. They’ve invested advertising dollars on this website, some of which have trickled down into my wallet.
They know they’re up against “the big guys”. There’s everything you could ever possibly want in their store, which has come along way from the medium-size operation it was years ago. But they still carry your stuff out to your car for you - every time - and they sponsor local teams with local youngsters, and all that stuff LOCAL businesses do.
If you ever look lost in one of the aisles, as I often do with the list Toni has prepared for me, a friendly store employee will come up and say “whatcha lookin’ for” and help you find it. Those “sons” in the name “Miller and Sons” learned customer service from their dad, who’s a master of it.
But, the last true goddess of customer service, as my wife refers to her, is Lori, who runs the business for the eye doctor my wife and I have been seeing ever since moving to Madison. Dr. Schanel’s office is on State Street, so it’s always a hoot to visit.
A few days ago my wife cracked a contact lens, which happens with sufficient frequency that it’s just a phone call to Lori to take care of the problem. I just have to call and say “left eye” and Lori takes care of it. Toni’s prescription and our debit card number are on file there, so Lori orders the lens and drops it in the mail to us when it comes in.
Early last Wednesday afternoon, Lori called and said “you work out of your home now, don’t you?” Toni’s contact had come in, and Lori said “with the blizzard or ice storm or whatever’s coming, I think the mail is going to be kind of iffy…and you guys travel over the holidays, don’t you? How about if I just call Badger Cab and have them run it over to you? That way you’ll have it for sure.”
Lori should be teaching PhD courses in customer service at the UW Business School.
If you Google “why customers leave”, you’ll find out there’s agreement among marketing experts that somewhere around 75% say it’s because of poor customer service. My wife and I walked out of a big-box sporting goods store a few weeks ago because the “service personnel” were too busy shooting the bull to bother to help us unload well over a hundred bucks. So we went a few blocks away to the LOCAL store - where we really didn’t think they’d have that big a selection - and were pleasantly surprised, bought high-end hiking shoes, and will go back there again.
I was in the UPS store at Pier 37 in Monona last week, shipping off presents. They were busy, and I mean “slammed” busy. But the franchise owner - a local guy - greeted every single customer the minute they walked into the door, and said “we’re busy, but don’t worry, we’ll get to you in just a couple minutes”. And when my turn came, he said “thanks for waiting”.
The very first “boss” I ever had - the late Ray Baerwald, who owned the A&W Drive-In in Hortonville, gave me the best lesson ever in customer service. He said “the customer may not always be right, but they’re always the customer”.
Such a simple concept, but so right.
So I’ve tried to return the favor by spending my money with advertisers. That’s why we spend a lot of our grocery dollars at Miller and Sons in Verona. They’ve invested advertising dollars on this website, some of which have trickled down into my wallet.
They know they’re up against “the big guys”. There’s everything you could ever possibly want in their store, which has come along way from the medium-size operation it was years ago. But they still carry your stuff out to your car for you - every time - and they sponsor local teams with local youngsters, and all that stuff LOCAL businesses do.
If you ever look lost in one of the aisles, as I often do with the list Toni has prepared for me, a friendly store employee will come up and say “whatcha lookin’ for” and help you find it. Those “sons” in the name “Miller and Sons” learned customer service from their dad, who’s a master of it.
But, the last true goddess of customer service, as my wife refers to her, is Lori, who runs the business for the eye doctor my wife and I have been seeing ever since moving to Madison. Dr. Schanel’s office is on State Street, so it’s always a hoot to visit.
A few days ago my wife cracked a contact lens, which happens with sufficient frequency that it’s just a phone call to Lori to take care of the problem. I just have to call and say “left eye” and Lori takes care of it. Toni’s prescription and our debit card number are on file there, so Lori orders the lens and drops it in the mail to us when it comes in.
Early last Wednesday afternoon, Lori called and said “you work out of your home now, don’t you?” Toni’s contact had come in, and Lori said “with the blizzard or ice storm or whatever’s coming, I think the mail is going to be kind of iffy…and you guys travel over the holidays, don’t you? How about if I just call Badger Cab and have them run it over to you? That way you’ll have it for sure.”
Lori should be teaching PhD courses in customer service at the UW Business School.
If you Google “why customers leave”, you’ll find out there’s agreement among marketing experts that somewhere around 75% say it’s because of poor customer service. My wife and I walked out of a big-box sporting goods store a few weeks ago because the “service personnel” were too busy shooting the bull to bother to help us unload well over a hundred bucks. So we went a few blocks away to the LOCAL store - where we really didn’t think they’d have that big a selection - and were pleasantly surprised, bought high-end hiking shoes, and will go back there again.
I was in the UPS store at Pier 37 in Monona last week, shipping off presents. They were busy, and I mean “slammed” busy. But the franchise owner - a local guy - greeted every single customer the minute they walked into the door, and said “we’re busy, but don’t worry, we’ll get to you in just a couple minutes”. And when my turn came, he said “thanks for waiting”.
The very first “boss” I ever had - the late Ray Baerwald, who owned the A&W Drive-In in Hortonville, gave me the best lesson ever in customer service. He said “the customer may not always be right, but they’re always the customer”.
Such a simple concept, but so right.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
And Again: Highly Addictive, Extremely Dangerous
I suppose if a law enforcement officer isn’t paranoid to begin with, a tinge of it eventually comes with the turf. They’re lied to constantly and incessantly. Cops have to develop tremendous “truth radar” if they’re going to survive on the street.
But Captain Charles Wood, a Waukesha County narc who’s also VP of the Wisconsin Narcotics Officers Association, takes it to a new extreme. He’s convinced the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, which is winding its way through the legislature, is a foot in the door to fully legalized marijuana.
Well, let’s hope so!
Wood really let fly with a recent letter to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, where he calls the Rickert Act a front for the machinations of those wacky dope-smokers at NORML, the National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Law. Wood claims our well-intentioned legislators are being duped by the hard-core weed smokers.
About the only sensible thing Wood says in his screed to the editor is “Polls show Wisconsinites are behind medical marijuana. I suggest dropping the word medical and ask our citizenry if we want marijuana”.
Be careful what you wish for, Captain Wood.
He also advances the predictable smoke-screen that if we change our laws in Wisconsin to allow use of medical marijuana, we’ll be “contrary to federal law”.
Heaven forbid!
That’s what you’ve got, Captain Wood? “Contrary to federal law” and the usual fear tactics about marijuana? That’s IT?
You see, Captain Wood, here in America, we make our own laws. They don’t come down from God, Moses, Jesus, or anybody else, on smoking tablets. If we don’t like our laws, we change them. If enough people break the law (like “the great experiment’, prohibition) we just stop enforcing the law, or we dump it.
So, again, be very careful about what you ask for, Captain Wood. I have a sneaking suspicion that if legalizing marijuana ever DID come under serious consideration in this state - or any other - it would pass. If the good, hard-working, taxpaying, God-fearing people of Wisconsin were to be fully and fairly apprised of the actual cost of enforcing the present law, I’m pretty sure I know which way they’d vote.
And, perhaps once and for all, that foolishness about marijuana being a highly addictive and extremely dangerous gateway drug that almost always leads to heroin addiction and death, would finally be put to rest.
But Captain Charles Wood, a Waukesha County narc who’s also VP of the Wisconsin Narcotics Officers Association, takes it to a new extreme. He’s convinced the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, which is winding its way through the legislature, is a foot in the door to fully legalized marijuana.
Well, let’s hope so!
Wood really let fly with a recent letter to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, where he calls the Rickert Act a front for the machinations of those wacky dope-smokers at NORML, the National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Law. Wood claims our well-intentioned legislators are being duped by the hard-core weed smokers.
About the only sensible thing Wood says in his screed to the editor is “Polls show Wisconsinites are behind medical marijuana. I suggest dropping the word medical and ask our citizenry if we want marijuana”.
Be careful what you wish for, Captain Wood.
He also advances the predictable smoke-screen that if we change our laws in Wisconsin to allow use of medical marijuana, we’ll be “contrary to federal law”.
Heaven forbid!
That’s what you’ve got, Captain Wood? “Contrary to federal law” and the usual fear tactics about marijuana? That’s IT?
You see, Captain Wood, here in America, we make our own laws. They don’t come down from God, Moses, Jesus, or anybody else, on smoking tablets. If we don’t like our laws, we change them. If enough people break the law (like “the great experiment’, prohibition) we just stop enforcing the law, or we dump it.
So, again, be very careful about what you ask for, Captain Wood. I have a sneaking suspicion that if legalizing marijuana ever DID come under serious consideration in this state - or any other - it would pass. If the good, hard-working, taxpaying, God-fearing people of Wisconsin were to be fully and fairly apprised of the actual cost of enforcing the present law, I’m pretty sure I know which way they’d vote.
And, perhaps once and for all, that foolishness about marijuana being a highly addictive and extremely dangerous gateway drug that almost always leads to heroin addiction and death, would finally be put to rest.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Four More Years of Bernanke?
Late last week the Senate Banking Committee, on a 16-7 vote, approved another four-year term for Ben Bernanke to head the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve. As far as I’m concerned, Ben and his pal Toxic Timmy Geithner can take a slow boat to China.
At least there was enough opposition to Bernanke’s re-appointment to stop it from sailing through the Senate with a rubber stamp, and it’ll take 60 votes, rather than 51, to confirm him.
A Princeton professor who is said to be an “expert” on the Great Depression, he was named by President Bush in 2005 to succeed that ancient and decrepit old fart, Alan Greenspan, who won my “Asleep At The Switch” award year after year when I was writing editorials for WTDY.
Every time the media need to “balance” some economic story, they drag out that miserable old Greenspan and ask him what he thinks. And Greenspan doesn’t have the common sense or decency to refuse comment. He’ll prattle on about anything.
Greenspan and Bernanke have been wrong about just about everything for the past decade, and while I understand “Person of the Year” status from Time Magazine is to recognize someone who’s been very much in the news - I remember back in 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini got the nod from Time - I really think the editors blew it by picking Bernanke.
Just like John McCain The Elderly, who couldn’t remember how many houses he and his wife owned when asked the question by a reporter during the Presidential campaign, Greenspan and Bernanke were absolutely clueless about the gathering storm clouds of the housing/mortgage crisis.
In fact, I believe McCain’s now-infamous “the economic fundamentals remain strong” statement as the mortgage and financial industries collapsed was cribbed from Bernanke.
If he hadn’t so totally misjudged the impending economic crisis, Bernanke could have taken steps to soften the financial collapse. Bernanke, Geithner, and their Wall Street cronies are certainly not the team to lead economic recovery.
Bernanke is not without his supporters and cheerleaders, and I’m not just talking about President Obama. Plenty of powerful politicians and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce think he’s the man.
Not all is lost, though. There’s still hope that the Congress will summon the intestinal fortitude to pass legislation to expand Uncle Sam’s power to oversee the Fed and put some effective curbs on the greed that still runs rampant along that famous little street in Manhattan.
If Bernanke gets his 60 votes in the Senate and another four years at the helm of the central bank, better hedge your bets. As Bette Davis said in one of my wife’s favorite movies, All About Eve: “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night”.
At least there was enough opposition to Bernanke’s re-appointment to stop it from sailing through the Senate with a rubber stamp, and it’ll take 60 votes, rather than 51, to confirm him.
A Princeton professor who is said to be an “expert” on the Great Depression, he was named by President Bush in 2005 to succeed that ancient and decrepit old fart, Alan Greenspan, who won my “Asleep At The Switch” award year after year when I was writing editorials for WTDY.
Every time the media need to “balance” some economic story, they drag out that miserable old Greenspan and ask him what he thinks. And Greenspan doesn’t have the common sense or decency to refuse comment. He’ll prattle on about anything.
Greenspan and Bernanke have been wrong about just about everything for the past decade, and while I understand “Person of the Year” status from Time Magazine is to recognize someone who’s been very much in the news - I remember back in 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini got the nod from Time - I really think the editors blew it by picking Bernanke.
Just like John McCain The Elderly, who couldn’t remember how many houses he and his wife owned when asked the question by a reporter during the Presidential campaign, Greenspan and Bernanke were absolutely clueless about the gathering storm clouds of the housing/mortgage crisis.
In fact, I believe McCain’s now-infamous “the economic fundamentals remain strong” statement as the mortgage and financial industries collapsed was cribbed from Bernanke.
If he hadn’t so totally misjudged the impending economic crisis, Bernanke could have taken steps to soften the financial collapse. Bernanke, Geithner, and their Wall Street cronies are certainly not the team to lead economic recovery.
Bernanke is not without his supporters and cheerleaders, and I’m not just talking about President Obama. Plenty of powerful politicians and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce think he’s the man.
Not all is lost, though. There’s still hope that the Congress will summon the intestinal fortitude to pass legislation to expand Uncle Sam’s power to oversee the Fed and put some effective curbs on the greed that still runs rampant along that famous little street in Manhattan.
If Bernanke gets his 60 votes in the Senate and another four years at the helm of the central bank, better hedge your bets. As Bette Davis said in one of my wife’s favorite movies, All About Eve: “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night”.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Avatar: A Winner
The Hollywood hype for James Cameron’s new movie “Avatar” started months ago. He hasn’t done anything “big” since “Titanic” 12 years ago, but movie fans loved his work on science fiction adventure films like Aliens and a couple of the Terminator movies.
So, when the buzz started about Cameron doing a hugely expensive sci-fi film to be released in late 2009, movie fans started salivating. Rumor was that he had essentially an unlimited budget, and that he was going to set a new standard for CGI - computer generated imagery.
When the trailers for the movie began appearing a couple months ago, the deep-voiced announcer said Avatar would “change the movies forever”. I’m not sure if Avatar has changed movies forever, but it’s sure set a new standard for movies of this sort.
I saw it late Friday morning at Marcus Point Cinema, on the Ultra-Screen. I decided NOT to see it in 3-D, because I think most of the 3-D stuff out there today still hasn’t moved past the gimmicky stage. I wanted to see Avatar on a big screen to see if the CGI was really that much better. The 3-D would be distracting to me.
My son took his girlfriend to see it in 3-D yesterday afternoon…to the tune of 37 bucks….but said it was well worth it, and suggested that I go back and see it in 3-D.
Suffice it to say, Avatar does not disappoint.
It’s long, with a run-time of two hours and forty minutes, but it doesn’t drag. The plot keeps moving forward. The story-line is formulaic: evil militaristic humans versus peaceful forest-dwelling aliens, but there are enough twists and turns to keep you interested.
The integration of actual digital photographic images with the computer-generated images is astoundingly good, better than anything I’ve ever seen before. Cameron really has moved the industry forward with this movie, and set a new standard.
The opening sequence, aboard a space-ship about to arrive at the strange and distant planet called Pandora, and the establishing shots inside the nerve-center at the human base of operations on the planet, will amaze you with high-tech wizardry.
The final battle scene, a long sequence which seems to be a combination of Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Aliens, Jurassic Park, and Terminator, is extremely well-done and a fitting climax to the movie.
The blizzard back east will probably hold down the total money-take of the film’s opening weekend, which seems to be the scorecard by which all movies are measured these days, but the word-of-mouth is going to be good and it will make a lot of money. Opening weekend worldwide was around 250 million dollars.
One more thing - the new “memory foam” seats at the Marcus Point Cinema are a pleasant addition. From the coming attractions to the end credits, your butt will be in the seat for the better part of three hours, and it’s a lot easier to take with the new seats.
Now, if Marcus could just catch up to Star Cinema in Fitchburg and add reclining seats….
So, when the buzz started about Cameron doing a hugely expensive sci-fi film to be released in late 2009, movie fans started salivating. Rumor was that he had essentially an unlimited budget, and that he was going to set a new standard for CGI - computer generated imagery.
When the trailers for the movie began appearing a couple months ago, the deep-voiced announcer said Avatar would “change the movies forever”. I’m not sure if Avatar has changed movies forever, but it’s sure set a new standard for movies of this sort.
I saw it late Friday morning at Marcus Point Cinema, on the Ultra-Screen. I decided NOT to see it in 3-D, because I think most of the 3-D stuff out there today still hasn’t moved past the gimmicky stage. I wanted to see Avatar on a big screen to see if the CGI was really that much better. The 3-D would be distracting to me.
My son took his girlfriend to see it in 3-D yesterday afternoon…to the tune of 37 bucks….but said it was well worth it, and suggested that I go back and see it in 3-D.
Suffice it to say, Avatar does not disappoint.
It’s long, with a run-time of two hours and forty minutes, but it doesn’t drag. The plot keeps moving forward. The story-line is formulaic: evil militaristic humans versus peaceful forest-dwelling aliens, but there are enough twists and turns to keep you interested.
The integration of actual digital photographic images with the computer-generated images is astoundingly good, better than anything I’ve ever seen before. Cameron really has moved the industry forward with this movie, and set a new standard.
The opening sequence, aboard a space-ship about to arrive at the strange and distant planet called Pandora, and the establishing shots inside the nerve-center at the human base of operations on the planet, will amaze you with high-tech wizardry.
The final battle scene, a long sequence which seems to be a combination of Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Aliens, Jurassic Park, and Terminator, is extremely well-done and a fitting climax to the movie.
The blizzard back east will probably hold down the total money-take of the film’s opening weekend, which seems to be the scorecard by which all movies are measured these days, but the word-of-mouth is going to be good and it will make a lot of money. Opening weekend worldwide was around 250 million dollars.
One more thing - the new “memory foam” seats at the Marcus Point Cinema are a pleasant addition. From the coming attractions to the end credits, your butt will be in the seat for the better part of three hours, and it’s a lot easier to take with the new seats.
Now, if Marcus could just catch up to Star Cinema in Fitchburg and add reclining seats….
Friday, December 18, 2009
E-Z Way To Make A Billion Dollars
My friend Steve sent me a link to an article by Henry Blodget from The Business Insider, showing how easy it is to make a billion dollars these days. There’s really only one tricky step, but other than that, it’s just follow the steps and collect the riches.
First, form a bank. Anybody can do it. Just a bunch of paperwork. Second, round up a bunch of your unemployed or under-employed pals to be “bankers”. The next step is the tricky one, but if you’re of average IQ and have above average drive, you can do it. You have to raise a billion dollars in equity.
You do that by showing this plan to fat-cat investors, and odds are they’re greedy enough to want in. You’re doing all the “leg-work” and they’re just along for the ride.
Next, now that you have your billion in equity, borrow 9 billion more from the Fed. Toxic Timmy Geithner will let you have that amount at an annual cost of one-quarter of one percent.
Now you take your ten billion and invest it all on 30-year Treasury Bonds, which pay 4.45%. All that’s left now is to sit back and watch the cash flow in. You’ll be earning around 400 million bucks a year, unless the Fed raises short rates. But they don’t have the backbone.
Pay your “banker” pals (from step 2) huge salaries for all their “hard work” and then - it’s BONUS TIME!!! The industry standard is 50% of revenue, so you’ve got a $200 million dollar bonus pool. Give each of your underemployed/unemployed friends…ah, I mean, “bankers”, a million dollar bonus, and keep all the rest for yourself.
Look at all the jobs and value you’ve created! You’re an economic engine!
If you really want to play the Wall Street game and get greedy, take your venture public. You’ve got no risk on your balance sheet - you’re invested in T-Bonds - so sell a quarter of your “bank” at the standard 20-times earnings, and BAM! You’ve just made a billion dollars.
Use your billion in new equity to start the whole cycle over. In a few years, you’re a multi-billionaire.
If you feel lucky, start gambling on things more risky than T-Bonds. You’ll be able to find a lot of guys who used to work on trading desks at places like Enron, AIG, Goldmine-Sachs, and so on, to help you cook up some really far-out things to gamble on. And to create bets on bets (derivatives) to really leverage your butt and get the BIG money rollin’ in!
Don’t worry about the risk.
The taxpayers will bail you out, and you can start all over again….just like in the real world!
First, form a bank. Anybody can do it. Just a bunch of paperwork. Second, round up a bunch of your unemployed or under-employed pals to be “bankers”. The next step is the tricky one, but if you’re of average IQ and have above average drive, you can do it. You have to raise a billion dollars in equity.
You do that by showing this plan to fat-cat investors, and odds are they’re greedy enough to want in. You’re doing all the “leg-work” and they’re just along for the ride.
Next, now that you have your billion in equity, borrow 9 billion more from the Fed. Toxic Timmy Geithner will let you have that amount at an annual cost of one-quarter of one percent.
Now you take your ten billion and invest it all on 30-year Treasury Bonds, which pay 4.45%. All that’s left now is to sit back and watch the cash flow in. You’ll be earning around 400 million bucks a year, unless the Fed raises short rates. But they don’t have the backbone.
Pay your “banker” pals (from step 2) huge salaries for all their “hard work” and then - it’s BONUS TIME!!! The industry standard is 50% of revenue, so you’ve got a $200 million dollar bonus pool. Give each of your underemployed/unemployed friends…ah, I mean, “bankers”, a million dollar bonus, and keep all the rest for yourself.
Look at all the jobs and value you’ve created! You’re an economic engine!
If you really want to play the Wall Street game and get greedy, take your venture public. You’ve got no risk on your balance sheet - you’re invested in T-Bonds - so sell a quarter of your “bank” at the standard 20-times earnings, and BAM! You’ve just made a billion dollars.
Use your billion in new equity to start the whole cycle over. In a few years, you’re a multi-billionaire.
If you feel lucky, start gambling on things more risky than T-Bonds. You’ll be able to find a lot of guys who used to work on trading desks at places like Enron, AIG, Goldmine-Sachs, and so on, to help you cook up some really far-out things to gamble on. And to create bets on bets (derivatives) to really leverage your butt and get the BIG money rollin’ in!
Don’t worry about the risk.
The taxpayers will bail you out, and you can start all over again….just like in the real world!
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