neilios

Yahoo Finance finally updated their graph generator so we can go back to a time long before GWB, when men were men and the economy wasn’t in the toilet.

The point of all of this is that we’re not in an “economic downturn.” It’s pretty much been straight downhill since GWB was elected. And apparently no one noticed prior to the last election.

(the graph shows the US dollar versus the Swiss Franc. It’s pretty much the same compared with the Euro and don’t get me started on the Chinese Yuan. China used to tie the value of their currency to ours. Until ours wasn’t worth crap and they dumped it. Now the relationship between the almighty US Dollar and the Chinese Yuan is, let’s just say, rather more limp than the graph above.)

(note also that the value of one’s currency is not the be-all and end-all, however it’s a good indication of what investors around the world think of the economic status of your nation.)

(also note, I was kind to Bush with that line. If I drew it correctly, it would be sloped slightly more downward).

I’m happy to announce that Congress passed a revised GI bill with generous college benefits for soldiers who served more than three years since 9/11.

I’m not so happy that this bill was opposed by both Bush and McCain:

Mr. Bush — and, to his great discredit, Senator John McCain — have argued against a better G.I. Bill, for the worst reasons. They would prefer that college benefits for service members remain just mediocre enough that people in uniform are more likely to stay put.

They have seized on a prediction by the Congressional Budget Office that new, better benefits would decrease re-enlistments by 16 percent, which sounds ominous if you are trying — as Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain are — to defend a never-ending war at a time when extended tours of duty have sapped morale and strained recruiting to the breaking point.

See the rest of a short editorial here and thanks to Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, for the link to it from his blog.

Thanks to those who put themselves in harms way in order to serve our nation. Let’s hope that the next President doesn’t take that commitment in vain.

See photos of Memorial Day on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=memorial+day&s=rec

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that oil retailers have actually cushioned some of the rising oil prices by not actually raising gas prices as much as the price of oil has gone up. In the next six months to two years, apparently $6-$7 a gallon is possible.

Maybe those liberal elite are elite because they actually know something?

These shots were a dime a dozen standing on top of Diamond Head crater in Honolulu:

I have this photo on the lock screen of my iPhone and I was feeling guilty about not remembering who the artist was, so I decided to check him out. Aside from the work shown at David Zwirner gallery above, check out other work by Berlin artist Daniel Richter here.

I can haz return to beech now?

kkthxbai.

p.s. — see LOLcats [wikipedia.org]

Spent today taking photos of a very cool building in the South End in Boston and then taking some photos of little baby E who I’m holding in an earlier post. I’ll come back to that building once those shots are edited, but here’s the baby for now:

I blew the focus on this next shot and it really, really pains me.

Well, J had her baby while I was traveling back from Hawaii.

and I will miss this water:

And yes, C, there is a giant piece of dust on my D70’s sensor. It ruined some great panoramic shots. I was PISSED. I blew it off with a bulb blower after that first day, but never got a chance to take good shots again.

IMG_0007

Originally uploaded by weisen123

I’m in Hawaii for a pediatrics conference and met someone special. Last night she left for home- a place about a sixteen hour flight from me.

I can’t really get her out of my mind and don’t really want to.

I had the waitress at my favorite bar on the beach bring me a second, empty glass and took this photo. It’s a missing man (or woman) formation for the drunken holiday set.

Sweet dreams back at home, V. I’ll think about you quite a bit.