time*treat's Blog

If Ron Brown were still alive, I might still be a Democrat, because Clinton wouldn't have had his 4 seconds "change of expression". That said, I have discovered that on the body politic, the dems are the left wrist, the reps are the left elbow, and they both give us the left... middle finger. It is fitting that they were once the same party. They still are. The electoral process is basically "Vote for one of these 2 idiots". Any decent candidate runs out of money before the primary, is ignored, or even arrested. I woke up after Election Day '04 and found I was to the right of the President, who was now talking about a "guest worker" program (another amnesty), and a Congress that passed CAFTA (rhymes with "shaft ya") in the middle of the night.

Let's see: I come to the U.S. because there are no good paying jobs in Mexico. I work. I make money. I might even (probably will) start a family. Now, after so many years, I'm going to pack up my family and take us ALL back to Mexico where there are STILL no jobs? And live the rest of our lives on what? I don't think so. Oh, wait, my hatchlings are U.S. citizens. You have to let me stay.

The Demon-crap Gov of Illinois attends a rally for illegals and declares "We are a nation of immigrants", a statement that, carried to it's illogical conclusion would apply to anyone living outside Mesopotamia. And, by the way, who was doing the jobs "Americans won't do" while the rallies were taking place?

The Repugnican Gov of Indiana sells off ("leases") the I-90 toll road for 75 yrs at 3.85 Billion dollars, although almost every Hoosier with a pulse and a decent IQ is against the deal. Seeing how the dollar has performed in the previous 75 yrs...

Someone told the illegals that carrying those mexican flags at their rallies tends to pi$$ off Americans. So now they carry American flags and signs that they cannot read. It probably doesn't hurt that word got out some spanish girl who was harrassed at an early Dallas, Tx rally for wearing an American flag will now get a scholarship for her trouble.

The "It was their land first" payasos forget that there were no "hispanics" before the Spainards came over and intermixed with the Indians around 1500 AD. A third of what is now the United States, was purchased from France. Anyone remember a little transaction called the Louisiana Purchase? Alaska? Bought it from Russia. Cheap. The southwest? Won it in a little incursion called the Mexican-American War ~ late 1840's. This is not to be confused with the Spanish-American War ~ late 1890's. That one got us the Phillipines and Puerto Rico. Maybe they stopped teaching history in school.

Everywhere that people are settled today is somewhere that they displaced someone else. Personally, I like much of what we've done with the place; paved roads, indoor plumbing, cars, supermarkets, hotels, electric lighting, antibiotics, toilet paper.

 
Here are a few "GEMS" from the MEXICAN constitution

Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.

Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.

Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.

Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.

Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.

Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.

Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities. If our citizens do this, the President calls them "vigilantes"

Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

The most annoying facet of this idiocy is that it is not idiocy by accident at all. It is by design.
FDR said it best "Nothing in politics happens by accident." He would know.

Two more good write-ups from Stott.

The first is titled Production and is too long for me to re-post, here. A layout of what a major portion of the price of goods/services consists of. A link as permanent as anything on the web http://www.gold-eagle.com/gold_digest_05/stott040606.html

The second (below) is from his ephemeral MWF columns @ coloradogold 

Those of us who know about economics, have been saying this for quite a spell now, but people kept buying.  We warned about the NASDAQ collapse months and months before it happened, and the fools kept buying.  It has been said that if all the money in the world were re-distributed evenly; within ten years the same people would have it again, and the same people would be poor.  I am certain this is true, but what can one do to inform and reason with the uninformed and unreasonable, other than write speak, urge, cajole, and do whatever is in one's power...and still have the same people do the same foolish things again and again.  So let me once again tell you that this is no time to buy a home, no time to buy stocks, never buy a new car, cash in your annuities and whole life policies, and buy silver and gold. 

And finally, on Jay Leno's "Jay Walking" last night, a blonde college freshman, when asked who Christopher Columbus was, answered, " A woodpecker?" I'm sure she graduated from a public school, and her parents save in dollars.  Have a great weekend!

 

I put this list together as:

1) A look back at some of the more interesting or useful threads I've followed in my first full year, here.

2) A central location for most of my previously posted ideas on systems, etc. so that I won't have to answer the same questions over and over, later. (at least as long as there is not a major re-work of the site)

excel help (first macro code I ever posted)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/110848

Coincident occurrence - 1-ply vs. 2-ply
(an idea too abstract for some)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/114738

Excel VS. VB (p-code for p3/p4)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/123519

(thoughts on) Programming a System
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/123676

Excel Users - Pick 3 & Pick 4
(many formulas, ideas, links on this one. Looks like the group was really busy trying to make some money before Christmas)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/124458

(more) Macros in excel (and other tools, plus the flight simulator "Easter Egg" in eXceL)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/124765

Preferred lottery prediction methods (poll)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/124902

excel formula help (color code p3 doubles & triples)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/126186

How Far Off the mark (not as useless as it may seem, if you're a thinker)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/125989

what does a prediction formula look like? (make some coffee)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/126647

need help from the excel gurus...
(got really esoteric, here. Drawing lines from cell to cell)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/127069

Excel Help (skip counting)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/127068

Is your system your property?
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/127270

Are cold numbers a loosing stratagy? (possibly a losing one, too. Then again...)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/127851

Calling out pacattack (the only time I bothered with the block-a-mope button)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/128212

Help with mathematical averages (for the p3 players)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/128297

Multiple Scenarios, Single Run (MSSR)
(another monster series of routines + plus the lowform_3 function) 
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/128762

Access vs. Excel (considerations)
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/129241

200 posts in 1 year is not much. Some beat that in their first month, but I was aiming for quality. 

Don Stott is a PM dealer who writes 2 sets of articles. One set is longer commentaries archived at gold-eagle along with articles from lots of other PM and econ writers. These are not written at any regular interval. His other set appears as short write-ups that appear M, W, & F, on his homepage, coloradogold. Currently, these are not archived. If you miss a day, they are gone. His articles are usually thought provoking... and sometimes just provoking .
The one below is from M 3/27/06.

 

 

It is generally agreed that if you hire a man to do a job and then fail to pay him, you have cheated him. Likewise, if you pay that man with counterfeit money or a bogus (NSF) check, you have committed fraud. When we exchange our labor for money, the idea is that the money will buy us goods & services at some future date. It does us no good to accept it, if we will not be able to use it later.

It is reasonable that a $10.00 bill exchanged for 2 five dollars bills is a fair exchange. I would caution anyone from going into a store and trying to spend 5 $2.00 bills, as you will likely be accosted by the secret service for a while. $2.00 bills are real currency, but the average citizen is too drugged up/dumbed down to know that. That is a whole other series of entries.

If someone were to offer you a dollar for your dime, would you think them crazy? Would you take the trade? Would it be a fair trade?

Anyone born before 1950 should remember when all coins above five cents were made of 90% Ag. The weights were proportionate to the value. A silver dollar (~1 oz) had 10 times as much Ag metal as a silver dime (~0.1 oz). After Congress printed so many paper dollars (silver certificates) that they couldn't all be redeemed, the gov't did what they have done throughout history... lied to and shafted the citizenry. The last "real" value coins were minted with 1964 stamped on them (although they were minted until 1966). According to the treasury website (ustreas.gov), this was because there was a shortage caused by "speculation". Well, the "speculation" was due to people not wanting crap clad for money.

All coins above a nickel, stamped 1965 and after, are copper "clad" coins. The pre-65s trade for multiples of their face-value. Their "price" rises and falls with the bullion price of Ag.

But something interesting has happened over the years. Ag is trading near $10/Oz. That means that, right now, a pre-65 silver dollar has a "melt" value near $10. By extension, a pre-65 dime has a "melt" value near $1.00. This means that a 1983 dime has 1/10 the value (even less on a strictly melt basis) as a 1963 dime, even though they both have the same jerks' picture on them (don't get me started); and this is before you get into things like the grade/condition/rarity of the '63 coin.

So now I reposit my questions... If someone were to offer you a dollar for your dime, would you think them crazy? Would you take the trade? Would it be a fair trade? And, if not, who is getting the better end of the deal? Which will have value in another few years?

The local newspaper is recognizing 100 yrs of its distribution. To that end, each day, they are reprinting a page from some bygone year. Today, they reprinted a sales page from Tue., Sept. 16, 1919.

This was during the reign of Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) who blessed us with the permanent establishment of the IRS and the founding of the Fe(de)ral (because they're a bunch of weasals) Reserve (not that they have any). For his final trick, we joined up with the battle of WWI.

By reference, Au was money as a $20.00 coin containing slightly less than 1 troy oz.

Some items that would be recognized today and their prices/qty:

1 lb. can of baking powder: $ 0.27
1 lb. roasted coffee: $ 0.45
5 lb. table salt: $ 0.09
Pet Brand milk (2 cans): $ 0.15
Canned Beans: $0.15
Canned Peas: $0.16
Can of tomato soup: $0.12
3 bars of soap: $0.25

Current grocery prices can be found in your local paper. Current Au prices can be found at (among other places) kitco.

I think of the lottery as a pinball machine.

• The winning number is the steel ball.
  
• The flippers are the number of tickets bought.
  
• The bumpers are systems.

When the steel ball hits a bumper, anyone playing that system has a winner.

    I cannot imagine anyone would want to play a pinball machine that only had one bumper. The state, especially an RNG one, would have little trouble dodging that solitary bumper. Yet month after month, I read spats over whether or not any particular system is any good. Oddly, those raising the most ruckus don't even write their own systems. They angrily have their hands out, demanding that someone give them THE winning method. Better yet, skip the method, just post the numbers for their state! And hurry up, cutoff time is approaching!!

    I posted that if someone came up with a p5 system that hit, say, on the 1st of each month, it would stand to reason that with minor adjustment, it could be made to hit on some other day every month. I think few people would attempt such an adjustment. They would be content to lazily split the prize every 1st, rather than do a little more work and get the entire pot every 10th (or 14th, or 21st, etc.) of the month.

    To my way of thinking, it is better to have many bumpers/systems. When one is dodged, it increases the chance of another being hit. All of the players score higher because of that. Anyone who has ever played a pinball machine with several bumpers has seen when the ball gets caught in a rhythm between 3 or more bumpers how that score just runs up. That ball bounces off one bumper and runs right into another. Ping! Ping! Ping!

    The lazy don't care. Let's all pile on the same ship. They can't grasp the concept that if we're all on the same ship(system), we'll all sink together. And we're an easier target for the torpedo (or the iceberg). It's better to scatter ourselves a bit.

    The Titanic is remembered as this great ship with all manner of fancy outfitting and a great, tragic story to go with it. People don't realize that the reason there is a story to be told, rather than just a mystery of a ship that never made it to port, is because of the RMS Carpathia. That ship is the real hero of the story. She rescued the 700+ Titanic passengers that made it to the lifeboats. Form seems to trump substance. Few remember her. I do.

I say put a few more ships on the water, or a few more bumpers in the machine.

~Better to sail alone, than sink with the crowd.~

 

Thinking back on the family picnic we gave last year, I'd say for a first try, it was very good. Not as big as a reunion, but plenty of extended family & friends. The weather cooperated as much as could be expected. Sunny and hot. Good breeze under the shelter (a large cabin-like structure with roof but no walls). We gave it at the local park, which has its own lake. Printed up invitations to be presented at the gate. Live DJ. Lots of meats, drinks, and cakes & pies.

The one thing we, the planners, didn't plan on (forgot?) were those uninvited guests: summertime flies. Not that there were many, but I didn't care for having them around trying to get where they didn't belong.

It is interesting how we fan flies away as if hoping they would get the hint that we don't want them around. It is more interesting that they never seem to figure this out. Perhaps they don't care. Flies, mosquitos, and other vermin seem to have an attitude that we have something they want and they are going to get it. Period.

There is no rationalizing or negotiating with such a creature. The best way to handle it is to swat it. Dead. Even a wounded fly (ever swatted one in mid-air?) (one wing half torn off, a gimpy leg or two) still tries to spread its filth. Notice how the amount of force used to kill one is probably sufficient to kill fifty of the little creeps at once? Is that excessive force? I think they deserve it for not taking the first hint.

Overall, I was happy with the turnout of the invited family & friends. Some, I hadn't seen in years. Some, never. But the experience has taught me to keep my swatter at the ready for unwelcome pests, like summertime flies.

The Wolf and the Lamb
Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations."
Moral: The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.


The Boy Hunting Locusts
A boy was hunting for locusts. He had caught a goodly number, when he saw a Scorpion, and mistaking him for a locust, reached out his hand to take him. The Scorpion, showing his sting, said: If you had but touched me, my friend, you would have lost me, and all your locusts too!"
Moral: What at first appears harmless may be dangerous.


My opinion: The world could use a few more Scorpions, to keep the wolves in line.