I was reading this article, and one of the comments by a reader really leapt off the page.

Charlotte the Hambeast wrote:

Walt, I am one of those women who would never come to a guy’s house to cook dinner with him as a first date….maybe a third or fourth date, but I will not spend any time alone in a guy’s home with him until I know him a little bit. If there is another couple there for the dinner, that’s different, or the guy’s mom or kid, but no WAY would I put myself in such a potentially dangerous situation unless I already know the guy fairly well. This doesn’t mean I “want a free dinner.” Personally I am not a fan of eating out. I’d prefer something that doesn’t involve expense for the guy, or danger for myself. We could go skiing in the winter (unless that’s too dangerous for HIM), go horseback riding with friends, go to the rodeo, the fair, a crafts market, a flea market or go garage saling together just as a way to do something inexpensive that provides for conversation…..

If a man rejected me because I vetoed the idea of dinner alone in his apartment as a first date, he isn’t worth my time because he cannot see past the end of his nose and isn’t smart enough to grasp the real reason a woman would not want to do this. It has nothing to do with mooching a free meal. I make more than enough money to feed myself, as do the lion’s share of women, and we have no interest in mooching off a guy. If that’s his idea of “the only reason she won’t come to my home alone on the first date” then he isn’t very bright, is he?

Seriously lady? You don’t sound like someone I’d want to penetrate with my worst enemy’s member.

I think the answer is quite simple. They’re not afraid of being raped, they’re afraid of nobody wanting to rape them. Mid to late 30s, starting to get a bit fat, still single – best to act the part of the attractive young girl who is actually in danger of being raped.. best for the ego, anyway. It’s always the ancient whales who probably have to pay young Sri Lankan boys to mount them that are so morbidly “afraid” of rape, too. In fact, I don’t think I’ve met a single fun loving young attractive girl who has ever expressed fear of rape. Do the world a favour, the next time you see a woman who is prime past her time express fear about the sanctity of her virtue, please waste no time in vigorously dispelling such fears with utmost lack of subtlety.

Recently, a hedge fund manager who posted gains of something like 900% decided to call it quits; he left us with a most excellent farewell letter that I think is worth of mention:

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life — where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management — with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say good-bye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

Either this guy has a terrible skin disease or … I dunno.

From the front page of CNN…

Of course, I thought it might be a brace or something, but it appears to also take up parts of his ear, just as if someone had done a poor job of photoshopping it with the magic wand tool. Perhaps this guy has really fucked up skin, or perhaps we’ll never know.

Skype partner company “TOM” is not only untrustworthy but also incompetent.

It’s interesting to note that you can’t actually download “normal” Skype in China from the Skype site (at least not intuitively). You’re forced to use TOM-Skype – which aside from having a bunch of useless shit attached to it, is now apparently also a huge privacy risk. I really don’t think that it’s at all out of the ordinary that the betrayal of consumer trust was done in such a haphazard way, though, although I do find it somewhat humorous. I mean, if you’re going to go through all the trouble of spying on people, wouldn’t it make sense to hire people who are competent enough to not leave servers unsecured? Somebody really dropped the ball on this one.

Skype’s Reaction

Needless to say, you can bet some colourful words are being said behind closed doors. Anyhow – this, of course, raises new questions regarding the security of Skype in general, but I’d say for certain that you want to not be using the “partner version” of Skype (not that there was any reason to before, since it was bloatware anyway).

Man walking his dog attacked by five pit bulls

I don’t see how it can possibly be necessary to own five dangerous animals. Also – considering that the animals were not leashed, this is completely unacceptable. I could go on, but I think that a comment I read on this news article pretty much sums up my feelings:

So do all the people who think that there should be no limits in what canine you can own also feel the same about other animals? Like felines?

Because I’ve always wanted some pet African Lions, but for some reason people seem to think that keeping them in my backyard would be too dangerous. Obviously they just don’t realize that with the proper care and training, they’ll be completely safe around others, even the elementary school across the street.

Right?

Should I count on everyone who thinks that there shouldn’t be limits on dog breeds to support my petition to allow me to have them?

“Polite” neighbours do nothing as girl is stabbed to death

A police investigator said on the program that neighbours heard a man and a woman yelling but thought it was a domestic dispute and didn’t call the authorities.

… Is that an excuse for nonintervention in a violent situation? A domestic dispute that involves yelling (I’m guessing violent yelling) requires intervention. Responsible adults do not yell at / beat each other during arguments. Unfortunately, it’s all too often the case in China that domestic violence is ignored. I once saw a man repeatedly kicking a woman as she lay on the ground, while several security guards stood roughly a hundred meters away doing nothing since it was obviously “a private matter”.

This problem of doing nothing in the face of ill-behaviour is not just apparent with respect to domestic violence; I’ve witnessed several occasions of thieves snatching wallets or purses, and jogging away from a crime scene unmolested and pursued only by their direct victims. What sort of “harmonious society” is complacent to behaviour that is contrary to its value system? I think that the following quote is very applicable in this situation, on quite a few levels:

all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing

Who is she?

Well – she’s the mother of “Omar Khadr” – a misguided young man who ended up (allegedly) killing an American medic during the Afghanistan conflict. He was born in Canada and is a Canadian citizen, but moved to Pakistan (as I recall, I’ve been following this on and off for quite a while) when he was very young. His father was killed while fighting against Pakistan military forces in 2003. Sometime after this, Maha Elsamnah moved back to Canada, and she currently resides in Toronto, where she occasionally speaks with the media.

Info about Omar Khadr

Why is she a whore? Well – I’m not sure that “whore” is the correct word, I was just tying to think of a strongly offensive word to call a Muslim woman by. Controversial societal values aside, I think that any mother who is willing to allow her son to fight in ANY war at the age of 15 is a waste of flesh.

Aside from that, though, the fact that she and her family left Canada to pursue a fundamentalist life that goes against a plethora of Canadian and Western values, staked their lives on it, and then had the nerve to come back to Canada after the war went sour for their side, well, I can’t say I have any sympathy at all for her. I do, actually, have some sympathy for her son; he was quite young, and it was not his fault that he had such terribly irresponsible parents. I think SHE should be the one in prison, or at the very least, she should be deported back to the shitty county that she holds allegiance to.

I’m not a nationalist by any means, but if these miscreants think they can immigrate to my country, spawn their children, indoctrinate their children with an anti-Western value system, send their children to fight against my country’s allies… let’s just say, if I was in charge, they wouldn’t have been allowed back into the country.

Wikipedia Info:

A large number of Canadians complained that the Khadrs had “taken advantage of” Canada, living off its social services, while decrying it as a morally-corrupted country.[10] Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty dissented, stating that the province would recognise the family’s right to Ontario Health Insurance Plan medical coverage and to be treated like any other Canadian family.[11]

In 2005, following Zaynab’s return to the country, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer Konrad Shourie stated that “The entire family is affiliated with al Qaeda and has participated in some form or another with these criminal extremist elements”.

And we’re paying for this whore’s health care? Death to lady Macbeth I say!

Terrorist assholes.

US exported >= USD 158M worth of cigarettes to Iran last year

Other products included perfume, bras, and trumpets. I find it hard to believe that any American would object to this one. Yes, there were some military aircraft items, but they were valued at approximately USD 639600 – not even a million dollars, and they were for such modern aircraft as the F14 – a jet that I’m not sure the US even uses anymore. Considering the many countries that use the F16 and are probably much more corrupt than the US, I don’t think it’s all that terrible for the US to be selling these parts even to their worst enemies.

But back to my original point – tobacco. Iranians smoke, Americans profit, Iranians die from cancer, Americans get rich and drive German SUVs powered by Iranian oil. Not so bad, really. If I were influential in the US government, I’d probably be actively encouraging this sort of trade.

If we assume the following (probably generally correct):

$158M in exports / $0.15 stick * 5 death minutes = 5266666666.67 death minutes
5266666666.67 death minutes / 37868311.2 minutes / life = at least 139 dead

Considering that the actual price of the cigarettes is probably much less, it’s probably something in the neighbourhood of 500 dead per year, but who knows, really…

Not particularly noteworthy, but still, it’s the thought that counts, right? Iran wages its guerrilla war against the US with AK47s and RPGs, the US wages its guerrilla war against Iran through cigarettes that Iranians pay for. The irony here is that the AK47s and RPGs were probably in part bought from the US as well.

Internet Clearly a Dangerous Threat to Innocent Teens

“It hurt,” said Roslyn, who appeared weary and a bit shell-shocked. “Because you don’t want to see your children involved in things like this. You don’t realize how dangerous the Internet is. Now, we got to keep her away from the Internet.”

Yes – the internet is to blame. Not you and your grammar. Not your gross failure to instill morality into your child. Your innocent daughter must be protected from the internet at all costs. I suggest immediate confiscation of her computer, as well as a chastity belt. The protective underwear may well get dirty, but that should reduce the attractiveness of your daughter significantly, which is probably good, as she’ll be less marketable as a whore.

How, exactly, is the the internet more dangerous than “real life”? Your daughter sold her body to strangers because was tired of arguing with you and wanted a change, you molested her and she’s doing what she was taught, or maybe… she’s just a whore who likes getting fucked for cash.

OK OK, I knew, and you probably did too. But articles like this bring up all sorts of questions:

Midget Sues Over Sex Tape (or something)

So basically, Mini Me banged some girl, made a video of it, it somehow got stolen from his home, and now it’s on the internet. Of course, if it ever was on the internet, then it will never be off the internet. The point here is that this doesn’t add up; but I suppose it’s not really the best example of sneakiness.

I’m thinking that Mini Me is low on cash and sexually frustrated, and somehow he got it into his head that he wants to get into porn. This is probably just some stunt with the true intent being the promotion of his porn video. Hollywood sure is a fucked up place, first Paris Hilton, and now Mini Me.

It’s the level of depravity that really bothers me, though. The internet has exposed me to so much graphic imagery that it’s hard to be shocked over fecal fetish or bestiality porn, but I’m really not ready to see a dwarf have sex. Something about it is just.. wrong.