voluntaryXchange

$15 to Europe

Ryanair has a plan in the works to charge $15 or so for a flight from the U.S. to Europe.

The catch - as always with Ryanair - is twofold. First, Ryanair doesn't have the planes or gates for this yet, and second, you have to put up with non-stop advertising and marketing on your flight (along with the pay for everything a la carte Ryanair scheme).

Note that almost 3 years ago voluntaryXchange noted that Ryanair wanted to have half of its passengers paying nothing for a ticket by 2010.

Technorati Tags: ryanair

What I Was Thankful For

I stand by my choice that Obama will be a better president than McCain could've been.

Having said that, we need to be thankful for at least some of the policies of the Bush administration.

The evidence for this position is that an attack targeted at Americans*, around a uniquely American holiday with a lot of TV orientation, occurred in Mumbai. The location is critical because Americans are so much easier to attack in large numbers elsewhere.

People can and do argue against this point, but we should all be clear that their claim is drastically more difficult to defend: that the Bush administration is at fault because such attacks occur at all.

The first is a safe neighborhood argument, while the latter is a root causes argument. I think the moral position of those who buy into the root causes argument yet choose to live in neighborhoods made safe by those of the alternative position is worth confronting.

I am not thankful for that job.

* British citizens and Jews were also targeted. No French people were harmed in the making of ... what is for most Americans ... a scary show whose channel they can change.

Technorati Tags: mumbai,terrorist,attack,2008,thanksgiving

Word Tip # 3: Making Neat Blank Lines

This could make a lot of people's fill-in forms look better.

Technorati Tags: word,underline,form,blank

Weird Science: Microfauna Edition

Women have more bacteria on their hands even though men wash their hands less.

Hat tip to Newmark's Door.

Technorati Tags: germ,hand,wash

Come Again?

Democratically controlled New York City is upset with the Bush Justice Department because the Republicans have blocked the Democrats' requests to violate civil rights more seriously in pursuit of terrorism suspects.

Yep ... you read that correctly.

Oh ... and the Democratic police chief pushing for this is on the short list to lead Obama's Homeland Security department.

Go figure.

Technorati Tags: democratic,republican,new york,terror,justice,civil,rights

Bailout Math Funnies

The November 21 Best of the Web Today reprints a letter to the editor of the Tallahassee Democrat:

Being a veteran of World War II trying to save this good old U.S.A., I find after 65-plus years it should be saved again.

This time, it takes a lot of thought instead of lives, so people, start thinking!

How's this for a start?

For the automobile industry, don't give it a grant, get something in return. Give each college graduate a coupon for a new American-made car. Most of them will surely need it as they will be in debt because of paying for their educations. This would allow them to get their student loans paid sooner--it's a win-win situation.

For the retail industry, no bailout. I am losing faith in CEOs. Give to each high-school graduate who passes a drug test and does not smoke a coupon for the purchase of American-made clothes. We have to get rid of the drugs in our schools, and this incentive might help.

For the money-hungry, give these people who steal unreal amounts of money by the position they hold automatic life sentences in a prison located in the middle of a swamp. Let them chop wood to stay warm.

Last but not least, end the war and get our troops home where they should be.

VERNON KOPPERUD
Alligator Point

 

I've read in the Jamestown Post Journal how two people wrote about a plan that would bail out the economy, and their plan is good but not right. One wrote, take 87 Billion dollars and divide it with 200 million people 18 years and older. Each would get $425,000.00 [sic] but really each would get $425.00. Another wrote, take the $784,000,000,000.00 used to bail out the insurance companies and banksthat [sic] were in trouble, divide that money with the 200 milliom [sic] people, that each would get about $3,900.00. This is good, but it would not stimulate the economy much.

Now I've never gone to coolage [sic] and I'm not good with math but I do know that $784,000,000,000.00 is a great deal more than 200,000,000. Why can't the government take $100,000,000.00 and divide this among the 200 million people that filed a tax return like the last stimulus package, each woud [sic]receive $500,000.00 [sic]. Now this not tax free, you would have to pay taxes on this money, what ever the tax percentage would be. The one person figured about 30%. So 30% of $500,000.00 each person would end up with $350,000.00 [sic], this would fix a lot of problems.

People would be able to pay off the mortgage on their home, student would be able to pay for collage, people would be able to put money in the banks, so the banks would have money to lend. People would be able to buy things, so jobs would call people back to work to make the products for the consumer. Job problem solved.

As I said, I'm no wizard, but with a plan like this, the national debt would not have to be as big as it is. The taxes each person pays for this money could go towards paying off the national debt and a lot of problems would be solved. So why can't the government see this and figure it out. If someone has and anwser [sic] to this, I would like to know.

Robert Frederick
Warren

 

Oh ... now I understand why teaching macro is getting harder each year.

UB's 1958 Tangerine Bowl Decision

My alma mater, the University at Buffalo, SUNY, has been invited to one bowl game in its history.

They declined the invitation.

It was 1958, and Orlando was hosting its annual Tangerine Bowl. The invitation stipulated that black members of the UB Bulls team would not be allowed on the field.

Read the whole thing.

Hat tip to former student Cam Findlay who spotted this piece as a "Must Read" in the College Football section on ESPN.

Technorati Tags: tangerine,bowl,1958,orlando,buffalo,ub,bulls

Movie Recommendation: See "Transsiberian"

Transsiberian is the most intriguing thriller I've seen in a long time: young couples with character flaws, cops, bad guys, Siberian grandeur and Russian squalor, all in one neat package.

And ... yet another unusual and provocative movie starring Ben Kingsley.

Compliments to MJ for showing up at home with it from the video store.

Technorati Tags: transsiberian

Quote about the Election

From John Topoleski:

...The only way the Democrats could  have lost this year would have been if that nominated John Kerry.

How Obama Got Elected

There's a documentary being made entitled "Media Malpractice ... How Obama Got Elected" (the site has a 10 minute video clip).

Interestingly, it is supported by a Zogby International survey, which Zogby supports in writing on their own website. I think most liberals would view Zogby as presenting a favorable view of their issues and candidates.

This is over the top, but I don't think it can be denied that the Obama voters seem way more informed about Palin's missteps than about those of Obama or Biden.

• 82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)
• 88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)
• Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes
• Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter
• And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Here's a video clip and discussion with the creator - John Ziegler - from Hannity and Colmes.

Technorati Tags: obama,mccain,biden,palin,documentary