Cash back from the government

Check this out, $600 cash back: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/24/economic.stimulus/index.html?eref=rss_topstories.

Dow Jones fall! Weak Dollar! Recession! All the scary news. Here is how the government decided to counter that: give you $ back.

Waita minute, how come you collect that much $ in the first place? We give 30+% in tax. $600 is a SMALL refund. Rather than taking so much $ away from us, how about simply not collecting as much in the first place. Look at the hassle: print out all the checks, mail it (and it costs $), and people will simply save it up to pay back to Uncle Sam later anyway.

$600. You think everyone will spend it and that stimulates economy? I doubt so.

Speaking a few minutes later at the White House, President Bush said the package will "boost our economy and encourage job creation."

Just how in the world that $600 can create job?
Look, the manufacturing jobs are all in Mexico and in China. Computer jobs are going to India.

Just what is left in this country?
Money hungry health professionals waiting you to eventually get sick and then suck you dry, and money hungry insurance who collect your money but won't pay when you need them.

Ancient proverb: give person a fish, he has a meal. teach him how to fish, you get a self sufficient person.

This $600 is just a piece of fish. We need a strong economy where there are jobs.

Election Horse Race

2008 is very significant: election year in USA, and Olympics in Beijing!
Political news usually outshadows real issues in America, such as devastating weather across the country. At the first showdown in Iowa, Obama and Huckabee won. Look at that percentages: the winners both win just little over 30%! There is not too much to be happy about. Look: 7 out of 10 people didn't vote for the winners. In NH, Clinton and McCain won, also at percentages in the 30s. It is hard for any single candidate to stand out in either party.

America has had it with the Bush administration. I think the 2008 election belongs to the Democrats. So your pick is: Obama or Clinton (I don't think Edwards and others have any realistic chance to win). Both Obama and Clinton will be remarkable for US History: first African president or the first female president! The world is watching the election year like a horse race.

Will we have a real strong leader with at least a simple majority support? How come the country is so divided?

One Laptop Per Child

So Intel is leaving the One Laptop per Child project: http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205208563&subSection=Personal+Computers.

I don't quite get it, what's the motivation behind giving a laptop to every child?
Is it for publicity? is it for good for mankind?

There are those children in such unfortunate conditions. They don't need laptop and WiFi, they need clean water, food and medicine!

It is not so realistic either, just how cheap can you make a computer?
If Intel has money, donate to the needy, in form of food. They are not ready for a laptop. Heck, I don't have a laptop.

New Year

Happy New Year! This is a time for spectacular firework display as people rush to countdown together. What am I doing on a cold night close to midnight? No, countdown is not for me. I rather watch the spectacular fireworks on TV. Chicago's fireworks are not quite as spectacular as other cities. That's another story. It must take astronomical amount of $ for all that firework displays. Could we be wiser if we spend that somewhere else? I am going to ask the same question for that money that political candidates are going to be spent on ads and negative ads this year.

This year starts with world unrest as the former prime minister of Pakistan was recently assainated and more unrest in elections in Kenya. Election simply do not work in some areas where people don't respect this process. Election works like this: you should support the winning candidate even if your favorite candidate didn't win. That is, minority respects the majority. You don't kill somebody if your favorite candidate don't win. This is not the perfect system in which everyone is happy, but 49% unhappy is better than 51% unhappy. As oil price approach a whooping $100 a barrel, people are saying $4.00 a gallon is coming. It is simply not look pretty ahead. Yet everyone is optimistic about New Year as we cheer: Happy New Year!

Mother Earth gives no good clue as to how many days in a year. It is fairly amazing to figure out that there are 365.25 days in a year. (How? I'd like to read some astronomy text about how people figure out things such as this and that 23 degree Earth tilt that we have which caused the seasons). Astronomy books I've seen merely gives you a chart on each planet on year length: Earth: 1 earth year (duh), Mercury: 88 days, the demoted Pluto: 200+ years.

Ancient Bablyonians thought there are 360 days in a year. It will take a fairly long time for them to figure out they are wrong when their alleged summer comes with bitter winter weather because they are off 5 days every year. The non-exact 365.25 days may disappoint some math purists, as 360 is a "nice" number with lots of whole number factors: 2, 3, 4, 6,...
When is new year? It is up to you. Any of the 365 days is a new start.
We are merely celebrating the earth returning to a particular position of its track around the sun.

A year is a good time to set goals and have accountants do some heavy duty work.
It is also a good time to try something new, like a new layout template in the blog.