Sunday Morning Coming Down

I am not up to date with genetics and the sports world.  The horse racing world has crossed a bridge that I was only partly aware of.  Throughbreds and breeding is very old school.  The stallion has a date with a mare.  They do the wild thing and about 340 days later the foal is dropped. Quarterhorse racing and standardbreds skipped the mating ritual more than a few years ago and just recently the AQHA and horse breeders with CLONED horses are in a court fight. I guess the genetics industry has made cloned horses possible.  Things have come a ways since Dolly the cloned sheep.  I realized recently that there was a lot of invitro breeding in the animal science realm.  Embryo transplants, cooled seamen shipped to impregnate mare.  Is the birth mare the horse that donated the egg, the horse that gave birth to the foal?  The answer these days is a resounding maybe, could be, or might not be.  Horse(child) birth can be a dangerous time,...

The Sunday 4/22/2012 Miami Herald tried to write an article about the financial affairs of David Rivera, a member of the House of Representatives.  The article was about as hard to follow as this guy's finances. "According to the article he is being investigated by the IRS and FBI." "The State Attorney in memo wrapping up their case said that Rivera essentially lived off campaign contributions for almost a decade while serving as a part time state legislator." The article lists some of the more questionable items paid for with campaign money and it seems that there are more than a few irregularities with reports regarding campaign funds and income from sources other than his salary as a legislator. I hope he has not done anything that would lead to indictment, the reputation of Congress and its members are under enough clouds as it is. The voters don't need indictments to vote somebody out of office.  If that is the new standard for kicking an incu...

Sometimes I think it would have been easier had I just kept working.  The checks would have been better as long as I was not laid off.  I think I could have absorbed being downsized.  I would have had to fight traffic, and be more organized regarding laundry, housekeeping, food shopping and had to deal with job related stress. For extended periods during my "retirement" maybe I did not have to fight the traffic to get to a job, but getting someone to school and back needed some scheduling and there are continued issues regarding housekeeping cooking and having a part time job.  Thankfully the job is only tough when it is hotter than hell or it rains like crazy.  Otherwise I like my job and the folks I work with. I heard somewhere that all the jobs related to running a house are worth a lot more in money than what some one would receive in Social Security benefits.  A stay at home Mom usually has more than enough challenges is poorly compensate...

The magazine The Economist brought you the Big Mac Index. On April  17, 2012 McDonalds gives you a good deal: buy a Big Mac get another for a penny. The idea for the index was originally to determine how much the same thing was worth in different parts of the world.  Globalization makes this a reasonable measure of relative purchasing power.  In Switzerland a Big Mac is over $8.00, while in India it is only $1.89. The April 7, 2012 Economist ponders the question: How much is an Olympic gold medal worth? This year's medals will be 14 ounces in weight but contain only about six grams of gold (1.5%), and the rest being silver (92.5%) and copper.  The gold medal is worth about $706 at today's bullion prices because silver isn't as cheap as used to be. Winning a gold medal is a ticket to celebrity and maybe a good paycheck or two..., but the medal ceremony with your national anthem being played is priceless.

The latest scandal in the GSA where an official is taking the 5th at a Congressional Hearing is troubling.  It's a shame that this is the way truth is being discovered or buried.  I'm positive there are rules that require people to be frugal in the use of public funds.  There are aspects of the law to educate and inform those in charge administering the law and there is the usual management idea that it is good to get away from the office so that people can get focused and do some really good planning. Road trips for government employees are part of the job for some.  Even local travel to attend meetings happens all the time.  Some meetings relate to policy making and others are routine but necessary.  Road trips that include airfare, car rentals, hotel bills, and meal money are part of the band of usual suspects that need to be roped in occasionally.  Truth be told sometimes these meetings are really good and sometimes you get home and wish you had ...

I guess this was sort of like the pre game parties in Miami during the Super Bowl.  Somethings get out of hand, things should not happen, you wish they would not happen, but they happen anyway.  This is not the first sex scandal in government and it will not be the last one either.  I don't condone this kind of behavior because it reflects badly on everybody involved.  Scandalous behavior should be avoided.  The results will be that some people's careers are ruined and reputations tarnished.  Bill Clinton was a good president mostly but his personal behavior was piggish at best.  Ask Newt Gringrich if he would like a few do overs.  There are security issues that are compromised when this behavior takes place and because the secret in the Secret Service is the standard operating procedure, this will only bring more questions and oversight.  Self regulation of behavior is the best policy but this will be tested, because ...

The attendance at last night's Marlin game was just over 30,000.  This is way down from the sellout figures (36,000) I was expecting.  The Miami Herald reports that several sections were empty and a search of the cable left me thinking the game was not televised. I'm not going down the boycott road yet.  There were the Heat and a Panthers playoff game to compete with and I'm sure the sports dollar down here is spread a little bit thin these days. The Panthers had an announced attendance of 19,919 and 19,600 for the Heat.  The Heat and the Marlins won last night and Gaby Sanchez had a walk off double in the 11th. The lid covered the field last night but it was rainy before the game last night and in minds of many sports fans in Miami that is a good enough reason to stay home and may become the new standard for fan apathy.