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Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 30th, 2008
Now that the government has proposed bold solutions to the financial meltdown, and also rejected them, I am digging my underground bunker and hoarding canned goods. I call that “doing my part.”
I wasn’t truly scared until I saw on the Internet that Michael Moore has waded into the economic discussion. When citizens start getting their [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 27th, 2008
One of my favorite words is “doomed.” It always makes me laugh. I like the way it sounds. And I reflexively find humor in situations that are so bad there is no hope. I’m not proud of this quality. I’m just saying that if scientists discover a giant asteroid heading toward Earth, I would probably [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 23rd, 2008
When famous bank robber Willy Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he reportedly replied “Because that’s where the money is.” And when our next President, no matter who it is, and Congress try to unscrew this financial mess, they will quickly realize two things:
- It will require a crapload of money.
- Poor people don’t [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 22nd, 2008
With all the news of disasters, I thought it was time for another round of unwarranted optimism to cheer you up.
As I have previously noted, every week the media reports breakthroughs in curing deadly diseases, and inventions that turn just about anything into cheap energy. The one thing all of these reports have in common [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 10th, 2008
Europe’s Large Hadron Collider just fired up. It’s a $10 billion particle accelerator designed to probe the mysteries of the universe. I think it is worth the money if we can find just one unicorn. But I would also settle for an elf, or free will, or Jimmy Hoffa’s body. I’m just saying I’m not [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 10th, 2008
I find this lyric interesting: “Christ in me.” What does this mean, that Christ is IN me? I’m not so sure I want to think about anything else sharing my skin while I’m wolfing down fries from Mickey D’s or spending some quality time with the tiolet, let alone married “duties.” And I thought the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 7th, 2008
Here is the introduction to the vineyard staff that I wrote about myself.
The son of poor Oklahoma sharecroppers, Nayt and his family were forced off their land in the 1930s and set out for California in a vain attempt to find work. No, wait, that was Tom Joad in the Grapes of Wrath.
Nayt Brookes was [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 5th, 2008
I have a theory that everyone is born with the same amount of luck, but it gets distributed unevenly. Some people have their best lucky days in childhood and run out of good fortune by the time they enter the job market. Others struggle early on and strike it rich later in life. Call it [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 4th, 2008
Yesterday I asked what role the government should have in fostering alternative energy breakthroughs. The people who think the government can help a lot with this sort of thing often cite two examples:
1. Kennedy’s race to the moon
2. The Manhattan Project to build a nuclear bomb
What do those two efforts have in common? Answer: no [...]
Posted in Creative ramblings on Sep 3rd, 2008
High oil prices have unleashed a flood of venture capital and creative genius on the problems of energy and global warming. Hardly a day goes by without another credible breakthrough in turning sun, wind, waves, water and who-knows-what into useful energy. Even if the vast majority of those ideas don’t pan out, the surviving ideas [...]
Brookes’ Bytes
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