An internal audit of SEC employee computer use has uncovered some staggering details about exactly what employees and contractors were doing with their time and their laptops. The results: “During the past five years, the SEC OIG (Office of Inspector General) substantiated that 33 SEC employees and or contractors violated Commission rules and policies, as well as the government-wide Standards of Ethical Conduct, by viewing pornographic, sexually explicit or sexually suggestive images using government computer resources and official time,” said a summary of the investigation by the inspector general’s office. The aerial view presented in the above...
Continue reading...Money and the Economy
It's all about the Benjamins, baby
So, the new $100 bill unveiled by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, is pretty baller. Heck, it’s basically the Avatar of money, what with the spankin’-new 3-D features. Other thing that is awesome: The website for the Bureau is moneyfactory.gov. In other dollar news, according to a recent Marist poll, a substantial majority—79%—think it’s a bad idea to change the face on the $50 bill from Presidents Grant to Reagan. I’ll just point out: This means more people think Obama is a secret Muslim Socialist Nazi Pig-dog than think Pres. Reagan should be on money.
Continue reading...Meet the next Senator from Nevada and learn about her Chickens for Health Care initiative
Sue Lowden, one of the Republican candidates for the Nevada Senate seat currently held by Sen. Reid, currently holds a substantial advantage in polling, and will likely become the next senator from the Silver State. And, she has quite a novel approach to health care reform. Namely, she wants to take health care back to the “good old days,” when our forebears bartered or haggled for care. Here’s what she said: Let’s change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I’m telling you that this works. You know, before we all started having health care,...
Continue reading...Why are novels so long?
Charles Stross has a really interesting explanation for why novels are the length they are: Once a trend like that becomes established, it’s hard to stop. Put yourself in the position of a bored browser in front of a supermarket wire-rack, contemplating novels by two authors you’ve never read. They both cost the same, and you have enough pocket money to buy one. The year is 1980; LibraryThing or other internet resources aren’t available. How do you make your mind up? Well, you remember what you’ve heard about the authors, and you look at the cover painting,...
Continue reading...1,000 lawyers in a deep sea trench…
I think I’d like to make basketball the subject of my inaugural post. You see, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the negotiations leading up to agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement. There a lot of points of contention, lots of issues to be hashed out, but the gist of it is that the owners are feeling pinched by decreased revenues owing to the recession, and are looking to cut their personnel costs. This, to sort of stop before I even start, is total nonsense, see here. But what’s interesting to me is the owner...
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