swinging lhianne’s Neighborhood

Just too neat. Watch it.

The following is from one of our leaders.  Can anyone guess who make this speech just recently. 

We are facing an array of challenges on a scale unseen in our time. We are waging two wars. We are battling a deep recession.

And our economy - and our nation itself - are endangered by festering problems we have kicked down the road for far too long: spiraling health care costs; inadequate schools; and a dependence on foreign oil.

Meeting these extraordinary challenges will require an extraordinary effort on the part of every American. And that is an effort we cannot defer any longer.

Organizations should give serious thought to furloughs and part time work schedules in order to deal with this economic downturn.  This would be the right thing to do.  Because, employees would rather have more time off than to be without a job. 

An organization could give each employee two days off per week and still keep their staff intact.  Even though this would be a hardship, it would be better than disrupting the entire workforce by having mass layoffs. 

The following is a good example of a progressive organization trying to maintain balance in turbulent times.

Telecommunications giant BT is offering staff the chance of long holidays in return for a big pay cut.

The former state-owned company is looking to reduce its wage bill while trying to avoid redundancies after being hit by the economic downturn.

One option available to staff is an up front sum of 25% of annual salary in return for taking the whole year off.

Employees have also been offered a one-off payment of £1,000 if they agree to go part-time.

Parents will have the opportunity to restrict their hours to school term times to allow them to spend time with their children.

The Banking industry is trying to shift blame for the foreclosure crisis.  This is amazing.  Banks need to be honest about the current foreclosure meltdown.

Any rational person in the real estate and mortgage industry knows that Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMS) and Stated Income were the major contributing factors in the current foreclosure crisis.

Now, the banking industry is trying to publish doctored reports to suggest that somehow negative equity is the culprit.  This snow job is outrageous. 

The following is another lousy attempt by a paid banking advocate to take the heat off the banking industry.  Shame on this writer and shame on the banking industry.

What about upward resets in mortgage interest rates? I found that interest rate resets did not measurably increase foreclosures until the reset was greater than four percentage points. Only 8% of foreclosures had an interest rate increase of that much. Thus the overall impact of upward interest rate resets is much smaller than the impact from equity.

Governments are getting too much money.  The problem is not with tax revenue.  The problem is with government spending.  Overall, governments do not know how to manage spending.  Governments know how to spend. 

Government leaders do not hire management professionals.  Governments hire public administrators.  Because, good management would require good fiscal management.  Governments are not capable of managing their resources properly (California). 

Furthermore, most large companies do not know how to manage their ethics and budgetary affairs (GM - Countrywide - Santa Anita horse race track - Wards - Arthur Anderson - Enron).  Organizations need to start looking around for some good management professionals.

With two Masters Degrees in the management discipline and decades of management experience, I am here if anyone needs me.

Amazon.com Inc. and other e-commerce companies are winning some skirmishes against cash-strapped states that want to force them to collect sales taxes, but their victories may be short-lived.

Several states are contemplating new laws or revisions to existing law that could eventually force online retailers to pony up.

Too little too late.  It seems that Washington still does not realize the the full extent of our crisis.  Washington should move quickly to make it mandatory that all mortgages be written down to the current appraised value.  The largest banks have money stuck in reserve accounts, so they will survive a write-down.  Shame on Washington for not moving on this issue.  

The administration said Wednesday that borrowers with mortgages worth up to 125% of their home's value will now be eligible to refinance under its program, up from a 105% limit.

Nearly 30% of homeowners with mortgages owe more than their homes are worth, according to Moody's Economy.com.

Shame on Washington for not supplying leadership during this troubled time.  Even teachers are being hit hard by this economic meltdown.  It is awful.  No job seems safe this year.  It is time for the federal government to move quickly to create a jobs program, so all vital services such as education, hospitals, fire, police, and other critical services are maintained. 

In addition, Washington needs to stop spending money on international peace keeping and nation building.  Plus, all foreign aid should be eliminated.  Money should be spent at home putting people to work.  Yes indeed, shame on Washington for not supplying leadership during this troubled time. 

In a sign of how severe the employment downturn is getting, even schoolteachers, an occupation once viewed as recession proof, are feeling the pain.

Education jobs grew steadily in recent years amid rising enrollment and government efforts to reduce class sizes. Now the increase in teaching positions has leveled off as school districts struggle with budget pressures. The demographic bulge caused by children of baby boomers -- the so-called echo boom -- has also begun to wane.

Los Angeles Unified School District laid off 2,500 teachers this spring. Broward County, Fla., Ms. Frommer's district, cut 400 school jobs. Rochester, N.Y., laid off 300 teachers.

Some of you may know that my little brother is basically a semi-pro poker player. He started for fun but essentially now keeps a record of his games and how he does money-wise and so far he's got a lot more than he's lost. He's paid for holidays with his wife, her laser eye-surgery and other things like trips or sometimes even just groceries when his regular work wasn't doing so well, by winning at poker.

Those of you that know old paper and pencil RPGs (Toe-to-Knee, that means you!) will know (if you have any religion at all) the classic Traveller way of noting skills. And recall that Level - III in anything essentially qualified you to be a professional that could make a living at the skill in question. I think my little brother has just gone from Gambler - III to Gambler - IV. And with any luck at all he may soon become Gambler - V in the game of Poker.

Here's a picture of us and Jabba the Hutt, taken by our sister last year in Egypt.

129

In true Traveller style we also have both had interesting and well-travelled lives, either of which would be interesting enough to fill at least one book if not a couple of them, and if recounted by him in person, one thing I can guarantee with absolute certainty is that you would piss yourself laughing listening to any story he might tell.

Although extremely close we went to different countries and had relatively different lives after I reached the age of 16 or so when I basically left home. We tend to have mostly different pursuits and interests yet we remain, along with our little sister, the closest of siblings.

His interest in gambling has been going on several years and it's a skill he developed quite unlike anyone else I know who delved into this field. Mainly he's not had to spend lots of cash to learn his lessons. Or in gambler parlance, my brother is possibly the only gambler I know that is definitely in the money if you add up all his wins and losses.

He truely does treat it like a skill and his "addiction" to gambling, if it could be even called that is to developing his skill so as to remain and continue to increase his overall "in the money" position. He is not so much addicted to gambling per se at all, as he is to making sure he continues to win both short and (especially) long term. It is the difference between being an addict and a professional skilled player in my opinion and I am not just baffled by, but respect immensely his ability to be so disciplined with this pursuit of his.

To me it would feel like work, (I'd be a terrible gambler) but to him it's enjoyable as well as profitable. Well, the other day he went to his local casino on an off night for him, that is a day he thought he shouldn't even go and lo and behold there was a game starting up where entry was just 500 bucks* the prize was pretty good...and so...he entered. And totally won it!

The Prize was a three day trip to the Royal Swazi Hotel in Swaziland.

Royal Swazi Hotel

Rooms to this place are R 2300 per person per room, and he won the whole trip for himself and a partner, but wait.. it doesn't end there. Included with the prize is also the trip there which will be in a party bus with complementary booze, which knowing my brother and other poker players in general could be worth a serious amount of cash in itself, but best of all, he also won entry to a freezeout tournament** worth R 10,000.

There should also be only 90 players I believe almost all of which had to actually buy their entry tickets.

Payouts will be for the top 9 players and the top prize will be somewhere between R 250 000 and R 300 000. Which would be enough money to definitely change a few things in his life.

Pile of Cash

So he's basically already won a prize worth about R 25 000 no matter how he does and of course... yeah!

Here's hoping my little brother kicks ass in that competition and wins a shitload of money. You go bro!!!

If we can't find that Scout ship or come by it honestly we're just going to have to buy a beaten up old ex-belter one, with dirty cash money from your gambling games and my byzantine power-plays or you know...you're just going to have to win one at a game of poker!

PS: Anyone that reads this and doesn't send honestly good vibes toward my little brother will have their unconscious part of their psyche microwaved in their sleep by telephatic Martian mind rays that will reduce you to a Depends wearing gibbering, drooling moron, festering with bed-sores. Just thought you should know, cause it's kinda set on automatic. 

* The South Africa currency is Rands which are about R7 for 1$ but in practical, real life terms, what you can do in South Africa for about R 1,000 is not so different from what you could probably do in the US for about $ 400 or so or in the UK for about £ 250 or so.

** For the non-gamblers amongst you, a freezeout tournament is one where if you get blown out of a game you are out of the competition and cannot just re-buy your way in. Sadly in professional poker, they have different types of games, some of these allow unlimeted re-buys, which essentially means that the player with the most money to spend often wins as opposed to the best player. My brother excels at the freezout games because he uses his skill to win, not re-buys, so this is an ideal tournament for him.