It surprises many people to learn that no U.S. president was depicted on a coin until 1909, when the U.S. began issuing Lincoln pennies on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Prior to that, American coins had depicted eagles, shields, and various representations of "liberty."

My understanding (I don't have a source link for this) is that the intention during the first century or so of the country was to avoid placing presidents on coins so as not to "glorify" them.

New York Governor David Paterson proposed an Obesity Tax back in December and Richard F. Daines, MD, New York State Commissioner of Health, is lobbying for this act.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Read the rest of the article here.

T-shirt companies love me.
In fact they are going to bankrupt me.
I love the comfort.
I like some of the artistry that ends up being printed on the shirt.
I will soon have enough printed shirts to proly have a shirt for each day.
Did I mention how comfortable they are?
*Hmmm. . . that was horrible grammer*
They come in white, yellow, blue, baby blue, dark blue, grey, dark grey, . . .
Gosh darn it. . . how do you suck me into your abyss.
I love T-shirts.
One of my many t-shirts

As many as you people out there know by now, the House shoved the bailout plan down the throats of the Bush admistration. I for one was opposed to the bailout plan form the get go. Are you kidding president Bush? You are going to recommend a bailout plan that forces the tax payers to bailout the creditors? Creditors that forced some millions of people to pay 9-25% interest rates on their bills? The same creditors that robbed families from there homes because of foreclosure after foreclosure. Great idea, force tax payers to put money back into the money supply from where they have no money to begin with. Smart, really smart. As any fith grader would know the plan will not fly. To which I ask you Mr President, "Are you smarter than a fith grader?"

Before todays result of the Houses' decision on the bailout, 60 minutes, last night reported on some sense of the idea of what the bailout would do if it were to pass. And they asked questions about what it would do if it were not to pass. . . . . One key person they interviewed was Former Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman during the Clinton administration. When asked, "How is the $700 billion bailout going to affect the American people?" His reply was, "if it works it will restore stability in the financial system and avoid loses. . . " well, . . . .duh.

If some of you don't know by now or have taken econ classes and actually stayed awake and paid attention, you would know that the country would never end up in a great depression. Well, I should say most likely not end in a great depression. This is because the central bank created some checks and balances so that a depression would never happen again. You could say that the government helped by regulating the market. Now this is important because in 1999 the government decided to deregulate wall st. What has happened since then? The credit bubble burst. The housing market collapsed. And as senator John McCain put it, "the economy is about to crater"

So what does this all mean? well, I'd like to borrow another quote from Roger Altman, who said, "I'm convinced it will go down in history as the greatest regulatory failure in modern history if not our entire history."

Well, boys and girls our economy may be better protected, but it does not mean that we're any smarter.

BTW. In case I haven't made it clear, I'm not in favour of the bailout.

I went to the movies today with my cousin from Japan. He asked me to join him cause he was bored out of his mind. Plus the date I had scheduled tonight cancelled on me, so I had nothing to do. Anyways, while we was waiting in the theatre in our seats, my attention was towards the screen. As I was watching the material on the screen (you know the pre-show material), more and more of the stuff shown on the screen was commercial after commercial, after commercial. Since when did the movie going experience become a glorified home living room? I remember the days, when they would put trivia up on the screen. Pointless, cinematic facts, but none the more enjoyable. I wish the theatres would stop selling those times for commercial profit, and instead put up useful information like how to go green. If you're already green, then go greener. We need to stop and think outside the box.

Anyways, I think i'm just rambling now. I think I'll just stop here.

After tomorrow I think I'll stick to my free screeners.

Jsingood tagged me.

"The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer."

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Working as a math tutor, and as a computer consultant. Trying to decide whether to stay dead. Dating a Persian girl.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

1. Get rid of all the computers in my office. We had 4 CSIS labs rolled over.
2. Go see a movie with a friend (The Incredible Hulk).
3. Find homes for all the extra LCD monitors from CSIS labs.
4. Figure out a way to get Death Cab for Cutie tix.
5. Look up "sangkakke" on wikipedia.
   

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Wasbi flavored funyuns, DORITOS Collisions Hot Wings and Blue Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips, pocky, Jones Soda, 7 Layerd Burrito.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• Buy a house on Vancouver, Canada and an apartment in SoHo.
• Travel around the world.
  
• End world hunger.
• Make alternative fuels affordable AND available.
• Get rid of Lobbyist
  
• Form my own country
  
• If it was even minutely possible build a time machine, go back to 2000 and assassinate George W. Bush.
• One day during the busiest part of the semester go into the campus library and belt out singing, "PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, NOW WHERE HE AT? WHERE HE AT? WHERE HE AT? WHERE HE AT? NOW THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO, THERE HE GO" And then just go home.
  

5) Places I have lived:

Seoul, Korea
San Francisco, CA
Quincy, WA
San Diego, CA

6) Jobs I have had:

So, recently Dunkin Donuts pulled Rachel Ray ad. "Why?" you may ask yourself did they do that. Well, if it wasn't for one particular conservative news reporter/blogger (Michelle Malkin) the ad would had ran forever unnoticed. What was it about the ad that was soooo controversial? I'll give you a clue it has to do with fashion. Second, clue and i quote, "The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." ------> WTF!!!!

Of course, DD retorted back saying, "In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended." Which, basically means "fuck you Michelle Malkin"

Stupid effin bi-nt!!!! First, most keffiyeh is worn on the head from protection of the elements. Secondly, it's not worn for a fashion statement by most men (although, i could see how it can be for those transgender types). Third, a scarf is worn around a neck and for most purposes I see it used as an accessory. Last but not least a keffiyeh is worn on the head not around the neck.

Come on people have some common sense. Now if RR was wearing something like oh I don't know a hat with a point on the end and it covered her face, well then i would be offended.

As I was driving on my home tonight,  I encountered some traffic. It wasn't too bad, but I always get frustrated when the flow of traffic comes to a standstill. Lucky, tonight there was no such accident and I was able to make it home in a reasonable time. But where am going with this blog you might ask your self. Well, my first visit to Japan, which was not that long ago, I/we encountered some major traffic coming from the airport to downtown Nagoya. Now here is the part that frustrated me. So as we are driving along the freeway and find out the cause of the traffic, there is no reason why the direction of our traffic flow should be going that slow. You see, the accident that occurred happened on the opposite side of the traffic on the opposite freeway. The reason why our side was going so slow was the rubberneckers. It seems as though rubberneckers are universal, as human curiosity gets the better of us. I for one believe that if it doesn't concern me or if I wasn't there to be involved then I don't need to know or be intrusive about the situation. There's that old saying, "curiosity killed the cat." In this case don't be so curious while driving cause you may cause another accident yourself.

Stop rubbernecking people!

Recently a fellow “Vox”er and flickr friend posted something called “P365.” I had no idea what this was and of course, I “googled” it. I also “wiki”-ed it and came up nothing to my dismay (after all you can find anything on Wikipedia). Anyway p365 or better known as project 365: How to Take a Picture a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way, seemed like an interesting way to capture your memories one day at a time. I pondered about this project as I am just a novice photographer, with no artistic background nor any skills. Plus, I don’t really have a nice camera. I just have a point and shot. My wish is to get a DSLR soon here. I have photography magazines to read the articles on new cameras and possibly pickup small to major techniques as far as screen shots go. By no means am I a professional. But I guess there is a small part of me that wishes I were and I want to share it with the rest of the world.

So this blog, if anything is just a reminder for me to take up this new project and see what I have at the end of the year. It’s a bit overwhelming for me as it’s something that I will have to constantly remind myself. It can range from anywhere from the mundane to very inspiring. Who knows what will come out of this but I know one thing I think my skills will only improve with time. After all I have a whole year to do it.

What are five words you really like? 
Submitted by purplesque.

Fuck-off, love, circumnavigate, vicarious, vamp