Blog Heap o'Links for January 2012
Your Tax Dollars At Play
In fiscal 2011, the cost of the promises grew from $30.9 trillion to $33.8 trillion. To put that in context, consider that the total value of companies traded on U.S. stock markets is $13.1 trillion, based on the Wilshire 5000 index, and the value of the equity in U.S. taxpayers’ homes, according to Freddie Mac, is $6.2 trillion. Said another way, there is not enough wealth in America to meet those promises. If the government followed corporate accounting rules, that $2.9 trillion increase would be added to the $1.3 trillion cash deficit for fiscal 2011 that has been widely reported. And a $4.2 trillion deficit is something that Americans need to know about....
Art of
Digital Business
As of around October 2011 – the date varies by category – iTunes has sold over 16 billion songs, about one half-billion movies, videos and teevee shows, some 20 billion apps, and Crom knows how many books, magazines and newspapers.
Here’s the rub: in each and every one of these approximately 40,000,000,000 cases, the purchaser could have downloaded the damn thing for free. In most cases, it is far easier to illegally cop a boot than it is to purchase one. Let’s start with the fact that you don’t need to have a credit card or room left on your credit limit to procure your illegal bootie.
So. 40 billion downloads from just one – the biggest one – online merchant in a world that only houses seven billion people. That’s an average of four and one-half perfectly legal downloads for each and every person, including babies in the Amazon who don’t even have access to Amazon.
Hey! People are inherently good. Go know!
Educating Ourselves
Baby boomers changed politics, Gen X changed family, Gen Y changed work, and Gen Z will change education. Here’s how the education of Gen Z will affect us at work.
1. A huge wave of homeschooling will create a more self-directed workforce....
2. Homeschooling as kids will become unschooling as adults....
3. The college degree will return to its bourgeois roots; entrepreneurship will rule....
[h/t Cuz BD]
US Military
Dewey [Okla] dedicated its Fallen Heroes Memorial at a ceremony this morning in Don Tyler Park. The memorial, which was 5 months in the making, is dedicated to the members of the armed services who have given the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country.... The memorial has six flag poles, one each for the Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard and one for the American flag... close to the road so they would be visible to people as they pass by.... built without the use of any public funding....
Defending Ourselves
A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year’s Eve, less than a week after the baby’s father died of cancer.... On New Year’s Eve... two soon began trying to break into [her] home. ... she quickly got her 12 gauge, went into her bedroom and got a pistol, put the bottle in the baby’s mouth and called 911.... [When one intruder] came after her with the knife, the teen mom shot and killed the 24-year-old. Police are calling the shooting justified. [Y'think? h/t Cuz BD]
Mass Murdering Monsters
A man who was being sought in the shooting of four people at a New Year's party in South King County early Sunday is suspected in the fatal shooting of a park ranger in Mount Rainier National Park later in the morning.... Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, a mother of two who was married to another ranger at the park, was shot about 10:30 a.m. after setting up a roadblock to stop a car that was fleeing another officer.... at a party in Skyway, where an early-morning session of "show and tell" with guns among several armed partygoers devolved into a shootout, according to detectives. Four people were shot, and three people fled the scene. One of them was identified as Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24. Kevin Bacher, a spokesman for Mount Rainier National Park, said the vehicle recovered at the scene of Anderson's shooting was registered to Barnes.
Animal Companions
A beloved squirrel monkey known as Banana Sam was returned scared but safe to the San Francisco Zoo on Saturday night, two days after he was taken. ... The monkey was found by a bystander who saw him come out of the bushes. "He managed to coax the monkey into his backpack" ...
People Die
Colorado man... killed when a 3-foot tree branch flew through his windshield and impaled him in the chest was able to steer the car to safety before losing consciousness... saving [his wife] from any injury....
Sarah Palin 2012
Sarah Palin isn't running for president, but that isn't stopping her supporters, who are encouraging Iowans to "vote rogue" and caucus for the former Alaska governor on Jan. 3.
A group called Sarah Palin's Iowa Earthquake has produced a number of TV and radio commercials available online.
Governing Ourselves
Washington County Election Board officials are inviting all voters in Washington County to participate in a public mock election slated for second week of January. [The cynic might cry, "Oh, the irony! Aren't they all mock elections?]