hunza's blog, page 1 - StumbleUpon

Last login: 3 hours agoHunza: Don is a 43 year old guy from Munster, Indiana, USA.; Likes 619 pages, 13 videos, 7 photos • 19 fans • Received 8 reviews; Member since Feb 05, 2006

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epsilon101s profile - StumbleUpon: Aug 13, 7:43pm 3 reviews stumblers •http://epsilon101.stumbleupon.com/

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/252255239_534d83ea92.jpg: Aug 7, 4:51pm 16 reviews activism, alternative-news, counterculture, movies, satire •http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/25...; Let's play a little game: Spot the out-of-datism.

No, it's not the "Marry and Reproduce" sign on the top of a big building. While children may be bad for your health, marrying definitely benefits you all over. Men especially, but women too.

No, it's not the "Watch TV" sign over what appears to be a smallish parking structure. What else is the computer, but a TV with a bit more processing power behind it?

Look to the left of the "conform" sign, above the "BEY" (obey) sign.

That's right. the "Work 8 Hours, Play 8 Hours, Sleep 8 Hours" sign. Who would have thought that those signs would have become so out of date.

Nowadays, it'd be a fantasy for many people to work eight hours. Some would love to work so few (and have it for the only five days a week that it was done then); others wish they could find a job that gave them so many hours.

And the eight hours of sleep? Please...such a luxurious amount of shut-eye would be paradise nowadays.

Still, I'd very much watch the film this came off of: "They Live." Saw it once, knew a classic when I saw it.

Depressed, repressed, objectified: are men the new women? | Life and style…: Aug 3, 12:51pm 5 reviews feminism, genetics, relationships, men-s-issues, rights •http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyl...; For me, the point is this: For one of the few times in the history of humanity, there are areas in the world where it is possible for women to live their lives without the constant support and help of men. Disdain, anger and bile ensues.

Historically it's been men who've been able to live without the constant support of women, and the historical rules and mores show it. Many religions have rules that minimize and denigrate women. Homosocial societies seem to be much more widespread than believed.

So is it any wonder that in one of the few moments women are able to make a life without a male to support them, they prefer their own company and denigrate men? Human nature, not solely revenge seeking (although I'm sure it adds to the mix).

The New York Times & Log In: Jul 20, 9:33am 1 review economics, finances •http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/bus...; While it is true that the lady in the article is responsible for her plight, there is also a lot of other things going on that mess things up for her.

Consider that thirty years ago we had credit card companies that knew how to say "no," limited ability to spend on doodads, no QVC, overnight delivery as an expensive option, layaway as an acceptable way of purchasing stuff and protections from predatory lending practices and rates fit for loan sharks and the mafia. We also had a consumer society that still understood that it had to live within its means and an educational system that was affordable to those who wanted/needed a higher education.

Now we got loan companies of all types operating freely and able to charge as much as the market can bear, an "I Want It Now" culture that shoves everything in our face and tells us we don't need people (just the ability to own more and better things), an educational system that no longer works well at any level and a corporate culture that only knows how to bully people into saying "yes." Add into the mix a health system that cost too much and you get the picture.

Sure, people need to know how to say "no," but it wouldn't hurt our society to tip the scales to the "no" more than it does.

As price of corn rises, catfish farms in U.S. dry up - International Herald Trib…: Jul 18, 6:22am 1 review cooking •http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/1...; Remember when we didn't have to grow corn for use as fuel? Remember when there were peaches grown in Iowa? Yeah, food is presently cheap, but what happens when some super disease (or insect unable to be pesticided to death) finds our corn plants irresistable?

I can hear the vegetarians sing about the coming dearth of meat and of people forced to subsist on non-meat products (the rate corn prices are going, that day IS coming) but where's the vegetables and fruits? When I start seeing front yards and woodlands translated into gardens maybe I'll look forward to the changing diet; but in the meantime I see people accepting faker and faker food over the prospect of starvation and non-corn/soy planting nowhere near the ramping-up that's needed for the widespread de-carnivoiring of the population.

This cartoon wrote a sweary word on your toilet wall. & the rut.: Jul 15, 7:51pm 30 reviews cartoons, humor •http://bigeyedeer.wordpress.com/2008/...; Funny, and true. Even if you're not cool, you gotta do what you gotta do.

xineanns profile - StumbleUpon: Jul 12, 10:06pm 11 reviews stumblers, popularity •http://xineann.stumbleupon.com/review...; I like this page. Especially the end part, when she talks about how to go about it right.

Jul 10, 9:23pm

Responses to a few letters posted on Roby 07's Stumble Blog:

The smarter economists view "consumer confidence" as a false signal because most people will spend what they have. You can be extremely confident, but if you don't have enough money to buy that Prius you're gonna struggle through another year with that used Silverado gas guzzler.

From 2005 thru 2007 gas prices varied between 1.80 and 3.00 in the northwest Indiana area (and, with some variation, throughout a large portion of the nation). This after a few years of varying between 1.20 and 1.80. It stayed in the 2.00-3.00 range in 2007 before holding through the winter of 2008 and rising to 4.25 this summer. Guess what else I remember: $.80/gallon gas in 1999-2000; also known as part of the Clinton Years.

The unemployment rate has been jerri-rigged since 1968, an era encompassing Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2 (as have our other signals; the inflation rate has been especially gutted of its original meaning since 1980). And I can tell you, the true unemployment rate is much higher than is allowed to be reported.

The real estate bubble (with all the debt that Americans took on from the bloated housing prices) developed while Bush was in the White House AND the GOP had both houses (2001-2007). We're just seeing the pop. You honestly believe the GOP would have had the bubble last as long as you owned both houses as well as the presidency?

With all these bizarre financing formats that developed during the Bush/Republican years (interest only loans? only if you're stupid; you could get loans that allowed you to pay LESS than interest) I expect to see that number rise a bit more. Too many people got bad loans that were set up to fail, and too many people were left high-and-dry. Yeah, these people may have deserved it, but if you're going to let people pay for their follies, you're gonna have to let the foreclosures happen. And guess what: this has been developing since REAGAN, not just overnight.

Yeah, yeah; I'm supposedly paying less tax than before and I'm supposed to fear tax increases coming from the candidates. Problem is, right now the money I'm earning is worth less than before. Why is that? Because this nation as a whole, from President Bush and the Republican congress of 2001-2006 (yes, the whipped Democrats went along with the spending) to the local household, spent this nation into massive multiple deficits. There may have been cheating during the Clinton years, but we as a nation were actually ahead of the game when Clinton left office. I remember all that neocon whining over the surpluses (which, amongst other things, led to the $.80 gas we had JUST BEFORE CLINTON LEFT OFFICE); well they got their wish: debt beyond this nation's ability to pay off. Let me sound like a Gold-bug: when governments live within their means things get better. Last time we came close to that was during the Clinton years.

There's a lot of things going on in the background of many of the stats quoted. To place things within a short enough view so as to blind yourself to the past (as the letter writer did) is dishonest.

25 Great Calvin and Hobbes Strips.: Jul 7, 6:38pm 475 reviews cartoons, humor •http://www.progressiveboink.com/archi...; A good collection of comics from someone who knew enough to quit while the quitting was good. Only problem I have with Bill Watterson is that he was such a purist about art vs. commerce that probably the best-remembered picture of Calvin is of him pissing on something.

http://www.loleconomy.com/images/inconvenient_truth.jpg: Jul 3, 8:36pm 149 reviews humor, politics, satire •http://www.loleconomy.com/images/inco...; This cartoon seems to be the story of my life: Learn the truth, only to find out nobody wants it. Worse yet, since I'm on the lower end of the feeding frenzy, I'm not anyone to be listened to to begin with (at least the way others see it).

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