This gang of Florida real estate agents in this article are giving god an assignment. It's not a tough one, simply see to it that houses in their neighborhood start to sell at their rip-off prices.
So if sales pick up without prices going down, I think we have a big chunk of evidence that their god exists. If on the other hand prices need to keep coming down before people will buy again then we have substantial evidence that their god doesn't. So that's your assignment, watch the Florida real estate market closely and all your theological questions will be answered.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Where's my computer!!
After taking the CBEST today I now realise how hopeless a writer I am without my handy dandy computer. I have been writing exclusively with a computer for about 25 years now. Somewhere about the 8th grade I started turning in my assignments using MacWrite and never looked back. Using a pencil to write something longer than a grocery list is completely foreign to me.
So that fact didn't quite dawn on me until I was faced with writing two essays using the archaic tools of pencil, paper and eraser today. To pile insult to injury the essays were on topics I had no interest to write about. So I struggled through dragging a dull pencil across paper for an hour or so, getting carple tunnel in the process. Hopefully whoever has to read my cat scratchings will put their stamp of approval on it.
The math was not difficult either but again it was the process involved. As we couldn't use a calculator I had to sit there doing long division with decimals on the answer booklet. After an hour of that I found myself spacing out on my multiplication tables. I would rather do advanced calculus than 8-number long division in pencil.
The CBEST is a worthless pain in the ass, not because it is difficult but because it doesn't test teachers using the current tools found in any classroom. The only thing it did today was test my patience.
So that fact didn't quite dawn on me until I was faced with writing two essays using the archaic tools of pencil, paper and eraser today. To pile insult to injury the essays were on topics I had no interest to write about. So I struggled through dragging a dull pencil across paper for an hour or so, getting carple tunnel in the process. Hopefully whoever has to read my cat scratchings will put their stamp of approval on it.
The math was not difficult either but again it was the process involved. As we couldn't use a calculator I had to sit there doing long division with decimals on the answer booklet. After an hour of that I found myself spacing out on my multiplication tables. I would rather do advanced calculus than 8-number long division in pencil.
The CBEST is a worthless pain in the ass, not because it is difficult but because it doesn't test teachers using the current tools found in any classroom. The only thing it did today was test my patience.
Friday, June 15, 2007
What's best about the CBEST?
Ok so after we moved down to CA for my wife's job I waited over 4 months for them to process my teaching certificate down here. Just a pain to deal with I suppose, like anything to do with a govt agency. Well they put an additional requirement on it that I need to pass something called the CBEST test within the year.
Apparently it is a test of basic skills. So hmm, lets see I have an MA, 3 years of teaching experience with good references, can that exempt me from taking the test? No such luck, I guess I could have managed all that with a sub-8th grade education. How about my good GRE scores a few years back? Oh wait it seems I'm in luck there, Arnold signed a law stating that those will qualify for the requirement. However, he signed the law last year, yet the state still haven't established what a passing GRE score is and I have yet to meet a school district HR official who knows about this new accomodation.
So basically I realised I can either wait for months for CA to acknowledge my GRE scores, and then have to explain that to every district I apply with, or take this incredibly easy test. So I chose the latter, time and money down the drain is the way I look at it. I hurredly took the online practice test and scored 99 out of 100. I will try to make the most out of this hoop jumping and see if I can get that extra 1% tomorrow when I take the thing for real. I hope you are able to spend your Saturday morning doing something more productive, like say . . . watching cartoons.
Apparently it is a test of basic skills. So hmm, lets see I have an MA, 3 years of teaching experience with good references, can that exempt me from taking the test? No such luck, I guess I could have managed all that with a sub-8th grade education. How about my good GRE scores a few years back? Oh wait it seems I'm in luck there, Arnold signed a law stating that those will qualify for the requirement. However, he signed the law last year, yet the state still haven't established what a passing GRE score is and I have yet to meet a school district HR official who knows about this new accomodation.
So basically I realised I can either wait for months for CA to acknowledge my GRE scores, and then have to explain that to every district I apply with, or take this incredibly easy test. So I chose the latter, time and money down the drain is the way I look at it. I hurredly took the online practice test and scored 99 out of 100. I will try to make the most out of this hoop jumping and see if I can get that extra 1% tomorrow when I take the thing for real. I hope you are able to spend your Saturday morning doing something more productive, like say . . . watching cartoons.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
That's not FAIR!!!!
Follow this link for a great video clip of what happens when people learn some basic laws of economics. Apparently some houses in South Florida are only going for half of what they sold for a few years ago and the headline above is the reaction of those who bought at the peak.
One quote was, "They promised us that they were not going to go below the market value." There were 100s of bidders in this auction, sorry but they are the ones who get to set the market value. I don't even think they got a good deal as the prices are still crashing down around us. If you don't have any money in housing like myself you can just sit back and enjoy the show.
One quote was, "They promised us that they were not going to go below the market value." There were 100s of bidders in this auction, sorry but they are the ones who get to set the market value. I don't even think they got a good deal as the prices are still crashing down around us. If you don't have any money in housing like myself you can just sit back and enjoy the show.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Let the boycott begin!
Thinking of buying a house now that it is a "great buyers market!" You need to keep thinking, and thinking, and thinking about it. My guess is you will be better off to think about it for at least four years, as only then will prices stop their downward fall.
I got one of the best laughs of the month when reading this article today. Basically it is about a guy who is pissed off at a neighbor for lowering his own house's selling price because of the writer's big plans to earn riches from selling his house next year. It is as if the neighbor is intentionally doing it to screw with the guy. So a little education is in order: sellers don't set the prices, buyers do!
So as buyers you have the power now. The number one thing you can do is not buy until prices return to reality, the more of us who do that, the less time we will have to wait. There are lots of reasonable spots to rent until the sellers finally come to their senses.
I got one of the best laughs of the month when reading this article today. Basically it is about a guy who is pissed off at a neighbor for lowering his own house's selling price because of the writer's big plans to earn riches from selling his house next year. It is as if the neighbor is intentionally doing it to screw with the guy. So a little education is in order: sellers don't set the prices, buyers do!
So as buyers you have the power now. The number one thing you can do is not buy until prices return to reality, the more of us who do that, the less time we will have to wait. There are lots of reasonable spots to rent until the sellers finally come to their senses.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Losing the hearts and minds, democrat style!
Apparently yesterday there was a forum for the 3 media-selected democratic frontrunners on CNN designed to highlight how they can out bible-bash one another.
Based on their answers to softball questions there, I can already decide on June 5th that I won't be voting for any of them in the primary or general election next year. Edwards proudly said he prayed everyday, Obama cherrypicked some liberal bible passages that have guided him, and Hilary said, "Global warming posed a challenge to god's creation." I won't vote for a president that 1. talks to an imaginary friend, 2. thinks morality should come from the bible or 3. thinks the earth was created by a supernatural being. So it's done, seven months before the primary you have all three lost my vote.
But here's the real kicker morons (which I say with no due respect), you most probably haven't picked up a single vote to replace mine. The folks who respond to bullshit statements like those above will never vote for you! Put on the pope's hat, hang a big cross around your neck, speak in tongues, always carry a bible, pay them off, or whatever else, you aren't getting their vote.
Just like they have done for years and years with Blacks and Gays, they are now taking the Atheist vote for granted. By Atheist in this case I mean in the broad sense of anybody who lives their life without the belief in a supernatural power who is involved in running the planet. Well that encompasses 20% of the electorate, maybe more, and thats a part of the electorate who might actually consider voting for you, unlike the group you are targeting.
A lack of voter turnout has nothing to do with the laziness of Americans as it is often framed. It has to do with the fact that most of us don't want to vote for the two choices offered to us. It is like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet that only offers liver and cooked spinach, I for one would rather sit and starve.
So in this long campaign it is a battle to the bottom for who turns us off the least. So in 2008 lets all vote independent, as somebody smarter than me has said - The only wasted vote is a vote for somebody you don't agree with.
Based on their answers to softball questions there, I can already decide on June 5th that I won't be voting for any of them in the primary or general election next year. Edwards proudly said he prayed everyday, Obama cherrypicked some liberal bible passages that have guided him, and Hilary said, "Global warming posed a challenge to god's creation." I won't vote for a president that 1. talks to an imaginary friend, 2. thinks morality should come from the bible or 3. thinks the earth was created by a supernatural being. So it's done, seven months before the primary you have all three lost my vote.
But here's the real kicker morons (which I say with no due respect), you most probably haven't picked up a single vote to replace mine. The folks who respond to bullshit statements like those above will never vote for you! Put on the pope's hat, hang a big cross around your neck, speak in tongues, always carry a bible, pay them off, or whatever else, you aren't getting their vote.
Just like they have done for years and years with Blacks and Gays, they are now taking the Atheist vote for granted. By Atheist in this case I mean in the broad sense of anybody who lives their life without the belief in a supernatural power who is involved in running the planet. Well that encompasses 20% of the electorate, maybe more, and thats a part of the electorate who might actually consider voting for you, unlike the group you are targeting.
A lack of voter turnout has nothing to do with the laziness of Americans as it is often framed. It has to do with the fact that most of us don't want to vote for the two choices offered to us. It is like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet that only offers liver and cooked spinach, I for one would rather sit and starve.
So in this long campaign it is a battle to the bottom for who turns us off the least. So in 2008 lets all vote independent, as somebody smarter than me has said - The only wasted vote is a vote for somebody you don't agree with.
Friday, June 01, 2007
When was the election again?
Yes last I checked it is a year and a half away. Yet if you only watch TV news it is already down to four potential dopey candidates, 6 tops. Why do they get to pick? The good news is they don't and their darlings can easily dissapear if those of involved in the online media promote the candidates who speak the truth as they know it.
The party system ends up giving us the same garbage time and time again. So as everybody you meet is bound to pride themselves in being "an independent thinker" how about this time we all go Independent in our voting choices? If you want to stick with the parties go for Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich. While they favor very different policies, and I don't agree completely with either one, I would be happy with either one of them as my president because they don't spout bullshit!
The candidate who deserves your vote is the one who is a critical thinking person who speaks plainly and is able to support their beliefs with evidence. We can nitpick all day about some aspect or another of a candidate's platform we don't like, but the important thing is getting a real honest person in that office for a change.
When the primary comes to your town I imagine if you just randomly pick some name on the ballot that you never heard mentioned before in TV or newspapers you would do better than the ones they have already picked out for us.
The party system ends up giving us the same garbage time and time again. So as everybody you meet is bound to pride themselves in being "an independent thinker" how about this time we all go Independent in our voting choices? If you want to stick with the parties go for Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich. While they favor very different policies, and I don't agree completely with either one, I would be happy with either one of them as my president because they don't spout bullshit!
The candidate who deserves your vote is the one who is a critical thinking person who speaks plainly and is able to support their beliefs with evidence. We can nitpick all day about some aspect or another of a candidate's platform we don't like, but the important thing is getting a real honest person in that office for a change.
When the primary comes to your town I imagine if you just randomly pick some name on the ballot that you never heard mentioned before in TV or newspapers you would do better than the ones they have already picked out for us.
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