So drain it, pave it and shut up

 

Natalie Jarnstadt says, "spare that goose!"

Byram residents “embarrassed” by beach’s pool. The beach itself was closed to swimming 14 days last year, tying it with Fairfield and Westport, and shut for seven days in 2010, as was Tod’s. Heavy rains (nine of last year’s closings were due to Hurricane Irene) flush goose poop off the lawns and into the water,polluting it. You might think a goose eradication program would be cheaper than building a pool but you have PETA, Friends of Animals and Natalie Jarnstadt all ready to stop that kind of brutality.

So if Byram’s closed and Tod’s is open, go to Tod’s. Or to Island Beach – no goose poop there. And if Tod’s is closed too then sweat it out onshore with the rest of the town. Tough nuggies.

Holy Trinity, Batman, a man of God, an Occupy supporter and a 1% er, all in one

"In my father's house are many mansions - all owned by me"

Trinity Church’s rector James Cooper spends millions a year to support his lavish life style.

Instead of helping the poor, Cooper’s helped himself — with demands for a $5.5 million SoHo townhouse, an allowance for his Florida condo, trips around the world including an African safari and a fat salary.

Rather than building an endowment, he is accused of wasting more than $1 million on development plans for a luxury condo tower that has been likened to a pipe dream and burning another $5 million on a publicity campaign.

Cooper, 67, whose compensation totaled $1.3 million in 2010, even added CEO to his title of rector. He began listing himself first on the annual directory of vestry members.

I haven’t always thought highly of the TSA but they’ve finally caught themselves a terrorist

The little midget was posing as a three-year-old in a wheelchair – will Al Qaeda stop at nothing?

Obama: “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!”

From Obama, with love

Can you see that tail wagging?

The big question is going to be, if Iran is resistant to these pressures, including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do not cooperate, at what point are we going to, if any, are we going to take military action?” Obama asked.

Given the continuing war in Iraq, the United States is not in a position to invade Iran, but missile strikes might be a viable option, he said. Obama conceded that such strikes might further strain relations between the U.S. and the Arab world.

“In light of the fact that we’re now in Iraq, with all the problems in terms of perceptions about America that have been created, us launching some missile strikes into Iran is not the optimal position for us to be in,” he said.

“On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is worse. So I guess my instinct would be to err on not having those weapons in the possession of the ruling clerics of Iran. … And I hope it doesn’t get to that point. But realistically, as I watch how this thing has evolved, I’d be surprised if Iran blinked at this point.

Higher oil prices? It’s all part of the (Rockefeller) plan

Rockefellers restoring poverty

Irony aside, it turns out that the Rockefeller Foundation has teamed up with and financed non-profit groups to thwart the production of oil in Canada and the Unites States. 

Canadian news channel Sun News uncovered of a PowerPoint presentation from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund detailing its work with other groups to derail the Keystone XL pipeline and other similar projects it deemed parts of “a globally significant threat.”

The presentation, written in 2008, describes the allocation of $7 million to environmental non-profits for tactics that include the use of the legislative and legal systems to delay or derail energy production in the United States and Canada, and to “raise the costs” of energy in both nations.

Here is that presentation in full (click here to view in a new window):

The face of Occupy Wall Street, Part II

 

Sandra Nurse celebrates her good fortune

A woman named Sandra Nurse speaks to the Daily Mail identifying herself as ” a member of the Occupy direct action working group” but of course, Google any of these people and you can find out a little more about who they really are. Sandra turns out to be a paid employee of something called “Interaction” which in turn is actually “The American Council for Voluntary International Action”, based where the money is, Washington D.C.

The financial statement for the group is here.  I have no dispute with folks spending their own money as they see fit but it frosts my bottom to see that, on revenues of $8,018,105 in 2010, $1,777,018 came from the federal government. Almost two million bucks of taxpayer money fed to these people so they can rape, pillage and plunder? And while I’m sure Sandra and her cohorts love this country and would work to save it for free, fortunately they don’t have to – salaries for 2010 were $3,329,543 and fringe benefits added another $1,777,018 for a grand total of $5,106,561. Nice work if you can get it. Are they sharing this largess with all those homeless dregs in Zucchini Park?

The bears are stirring from their hibernation

I’ve been busy showing houses this weekend and I’ve heard of a lot of offers from buyers finally deciding that there will be a spring market after all. Some of those offers have been accepted, some have been rejected, indicating to me that a fair number of sellers still haven’t adjusted to the new reality.

But there’s a bidding war coming up in Old Greenwich. I won’t mention it quite yet on the off-chance that my clients will want to participate but I don’t think they do, even though they loved the house, so look for it to be discussed tomorrow. But here’s why it’s going to go immediately: 1. Great street, excellent location. 2. Beautifully designed and built. 3. Newish (1997) construction, maintained so that it still feels fresh. 4. Priced slightly below what the sellers paid for it a few years ago. They’ll make more than they paid by the time the bidding is over.

So that’s what’s exciting buyers and there really aren’t many houses out there that will generate such enthusiasm. If yours isn’t one of them, I suggest that you look to your price – that’s the one thing you can change that will affect buyers’ attitude towards your house.

The face of Occupy Wall Street

Stacey Hessler, slut and Mother of the Year

Well here’s Stacy Hessler, who abandoned her husband and four small children back in Florida last October to sleep with a fellow protester she met on the “sacred ground”. 

The amazing thing is that six months later, this devoted mother is still here!

What’s she been up to, besides screwing her new boyfriend? Well yesterday she joined her peers in doing this:

Events got under way near midday on Saturday, with street theatre troupes performing and guitar players leading sing-alongs. Some boisterous protesters marched through the streets of the financial district, chanting ‘bankers are gangsters’ and cursing at police.

That’ll change the world. These people, by the way, say they are inspired by “the Arab Spring democracy movement”. That’s working out just about as well as Obummer’s hope and changey thing.

More on Goldman Sachs

Former Merrill employee says it’s the change of culture on Wall Street and not confined to Goldman. No argument here. Although I’m not thoroughly convinced that there’s been all that much change. My father, who worked on the Street from 1929 to 1981, was fond of a joke dating all the way back to when stock brokers were called “Customer’s Men”:

Two former college classmates encounter each other on the street and one asks the other what he’s doing these days.

“Oh, I’m a customer’s man,” the friend admits, “but please don’t tell my poor sweet mama – she still thinks I’m a piano player in a whore house.”

I’m already unhappy with my 3G’s battery life

"Green" charging

And 4G phones are even worse.

The move to 4G LTE phones will put this problem into stark relief. If you’re currently using a 3G phone or a dumbphone, you’re bound to notice a significant drop in battery life when you move 4G. Will you consider the drop a worthy trade—will you live with shorter battery life for better networking? The people in J.D. Power’s survey didn’t think so. I’m right there with them. If LTE means my phone needs to be charged an hour earlier than before, I’m going to stick with 3G.

The trouble with batteries, as everyone who makes phones will tell you, is that they don’t follow Moore’s Law. Batteries are an ancient technology that depend on chemistry that scientists have already pretty much optimized. Improvements in batteries are incremental—and, as the writer Seth Fletcher describes in his fantastic book Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy, most of the innovation in the industry is occurring in the huge batteries meant to power electric cars (and there’s not much hope for those, either).

Improvements in smartphone battery life are mainly the result of power-saving techniques in the processors and operating systems that power our devices. But there’s only so much efficiency you can squeeze out of the phone itself. Manufacturers can’t keep making faster phones with better displays that we use to do more stuff while keeping battery life constant. Something’s going to give. And we’re not going to like the results.

“Hate crime” legislation claims its first victim

The lawyers are beginning to dissect Friday’s conviction of Dharun Ravi for taping his roommates homosexual tryst. As I heard one law professor say on Friday, “for those of us on the sidelines, the appeal is going to be far more interesting than the trial itself”. I agree.

Why are politicians so cruel?

Yet again,  New York Democrats are raising that state’s minimum wage, this time an additional 17% and it’s all for the good.

Ignorant store owners complaining that increasing the wage they must pay teenagers for entry-level jobs will cause them to hire fewer of them just don’t understand what a boon the Democrats are bestowing upon them, according to those Dems:

Kerri Biche, a spokeswoman for [State Assembly Speaker] Silver, says the businesspeople are overlooking the good points of raising the minimum wage.

“These people getting the higher wage will be spending more money in their communities. They will be able to buy more from these businesses,” Biche says.

Well of course they will, and it’s cruel and just plain stupid to deny it. So why I ask, and have asked every year the minimum wage is raised, why not raise the minimum to a level that will make these teenagers truly rich? If 17% will actually benefit, not harm store owners and pay for itself, why not 1,700%? Raising that paltry $9 an hour to $15,300 will have these kids swarming to Mercedes dealers, shopping at Whole Foods and vacationing in St. Moritz and won’t that benefit everyone? Only cruelty and indifference to the poor can explain the Democrats’  heartless half-step towards eradicating poverty.

Just as an aside, NPR reports that the teenage unemployment rate is 25% (49% in D.C.) and keeps rising, despite a steady increase in the minimum wage. No explanation is given for this paradox that, again according to NPR, is creating a “lost generation”.