I've been wanting to do a series of stop motion animations with my computer, and as i am wont to do, did some reading up on the topic. Turns out, it's actually not that hard, it just takes a lot of time, which I'm ok with.
So, as an experiment, I did this little thing:
Obviously there is a lot of room for improvement, but once i have my Stikfas, i'll be able to start taking this animation thing to a whole new level of awesome.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Corporate Bailouts
My question to the government is this: Why are we rewarding companies for their failures?
In the financial markets, we have a bunch of companies that have been engaging in what can be termed as 'less than ethical' dealings, and now that it has caught up with them, they are crying to the government, and ultimately, the taxpayers, aka, the rest of us, for a free handout to bail them out of the mess they got themselves into. Here is a good explanation of what has been going on.
In the Auto industry, we have at least two companies on the verge of bankruptcy in the face of competition, and a very tight economic market. Reuters has another story about how GM is having trouble. Apparently Goldman Sachs has suspended their rating of GM, and it looks like GM is asking its employees to cry to congress to try and pressure the government into giving GM money.
It seems like the world is in the early to mid phases of another depression, not seen since the 1930s. The financial outlook for the markets and many companies is very gloomy indeed, yet it looks like much of this chaos could have been prevented, and indeed, we see many institutions that did not go the route of previously mentioned shady dealings are doing just fine. One example is BECU, as outlined in this letter from their president.
Now, back to the original question: If companies like BECU and others could avoid this problem, why are the tax payers being forced to give copious amounts of money to the bank that prints our money (the Federal Reserve), and then allowing that corporation to decide who gets that money? Who is actually keeping a watch over how this money is being spent? Who is getting rich off of this, and who is getting screwed over? Is there any way we can gain true transparency into what is going on, and more importantly, keep from getting screwed over in the future?
In the financial markets, we have a bunch of companies that have been engaging in what can be termed as 'less than ethical' dealings, and now that it has caught up with them, they are crying to the government, and ultimately, the taxpayers, aka, the rest of us, for a free handout to bail them out of the mess they got themselves into. Here is a good explanation of what has been going on.
In the Auto industry, we have at least two companies on the verge of bankruptcy in the face of competition, and a very tight economic market. Reuters has another story about how GM is having trouble. Apparently Goldman Sachs has suspended their rating of GM, and it looks like GM is asking its employees to cry to congress to try and pressure the government into giving GM money.
It seems like the world is in the early to mid phases of another depression, not seen since the 1930s. The financial outlook for the markets and many companies is very gloomy indeed, yet it looks like much of this chaos could have been prevented, and indeed, we see many institutions that did not go the route of previously mentioned shady dealings are doing just fine. One example is BECU, as outlined in this letter from their president.
Now, back to the original question: If companies like BECU and others could avoid this problem, why are the tax payers being forced to give copious amounts of money to the bank that prints our money (the Federal Reserve), and then allowing that corporation to decide who gets that money? Who is actually keeping a watch over how this money is being spent? Who is getting rich off of this, and who is getting screwed over? Is there any way we can gain true transparency into what is going on, and more importantly, keep from getting screwed over in the future?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Election Night 2008
Last night, history was made.
Our country has finally shown that no matter your skin color, you can do whatever you want.
Now, I think we really only have one "barrier" left to break. A barrier that has about 18,000,000 cracks in it; one that I imagine has a good chance of breaking in about 8 years.
For the rest of my images from the street party that ensued after the McCain conceded, head on over here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69300&l=c7a35&id=697396521
Halloween Party
For those of you not on Facebook, here is a link to our Halloween 2008 Party pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69289&l=b9970&id=697396521
Friday, October 10, 2008
Change?
I received an email today from one of my family members that really made me sad.
It was that "Letter from a Cuban-American" one that apparently has been making the rounds. If you do a search for the quoted above text, you can see the letter for yourself.
Now, for a little history lesson.
First: Read a little about Castro:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_castro
And now a little about how Cuba became Communist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_revolution
Castro came to power in a violent overthrow of a dictator, Batista, that had himself come to power in a military coup.
Finally, about that letter, take a look at what Snopes.com has to say about it:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/castro.asp
Now, how exactly does that letter sound like this election? I really don't think it does.
While it's all touchy feely nice that an immigrant gets to celebrate independence twice, his personal letter to the editor and subsequent extrapolation into the current election battle misses quite a few key points.
Instead of just forwarding on the next sound bite, take a minute to think about what is being said, and if it tries to come off as being genuine by making loose allusions to historical events, maybe do a little research into it to see what the real story is.
Oh, and while you're at it, head on over to http://www.barackobama.com/index.php. Obama is not too good to take even the small $5 donation from common folks like you and I, because it's people like you and me that he's running for in the first place.
It was that "Letter from a Cuban-American" one that apparently has been making the rounds. If you do a search for the quoted above text, you can see the letter for yourself.
Now, for a little history lesson.
First: Read a little about Castro:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_castro
And now a little about how Cuba became Communist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_revolution
Castro came to power in a violent overthrow of a dictator, Batista, that had himself come to power in a military coup.
Finally, about that letter, take a look at what Snopes.com has to say about it:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/castro.asp
Now, how exactly does that letter sound like this election? I really don't think it does.
While it's all touchy feely nice that an immigrant gets to celebrate independence twice, his personal letter to the editor and subsequent extrapolation into the current election battle misses quite a few key points.
Instead of just forwarding on the next sound bite, take a minute to think about what is being said, and if it tries to come off as being genuine by making loose allusions to historical events, maybe do a little research into it to see what the real story is.
Oh, and while you're at it, head on over to http://www.barackobama.com/index.php. Obama is not too good to take even the small $5 donation from common folks like you and I, because it's people like you and me that he's running for in the first place.
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