SWCAMBORNE

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

Bertrand Russell

from Planet Proctor by Phil Proctor

one of the original members of the Firesign Theater

How many pills do you take each day?  How old are you

Perspective: How many did your grandparents take at the same age?  We are taking a lot more pills.  They must be working.

Pharmaceuticals have arrived in the last century.  It is no wonder that the companies in this business are doing well.  Their market has grown phenomenally.  Much of the growth is in pills that you have to take every day to maintain health.  Things like cholesterol medicine.  It seems like a little thing but it is a big change and will auger other changes.  Like less power for doctors over time and more for pharmicist and testing centers.

One last thought: If medication prices are controlled by the government, will the rapid pace of new pharmaceutical development continue?

Here is an idea for someone who likes craft fairs, dogs, photography and making money.

Set up a booth at a crafts fair have good lighting and a variety of back drops.

Missy is the poster dog for this idea

For ten dollars people can have their dogs picture taken and have a print to take home.  Sell them others for more money right there and on line.  We were at the Wisteria Festival in Sierra Madre recently and there were so many dogs around that I had this great idea which I am now giving to you.

People with dogs will spend plenty of money to get keepsakes of them and at crafts fairs they are expecting to spend some money.

The best diving near Puerto Galera in the Philippines is at Verde Island and the best dive site on Verde Island is the Pinnacles.  We liked it so much our first day we immediately booked a boat for the next day to go back.  There were 12 divers on the boat and we had two dive masters.  The boat had a captain and one crew member.  When we came up from the first dive the sea had become very rough and the boat was only a few yards from the rocks.

We grabbed the line off the stern of the boat and tried to get on board.  The captain had to stay at the helm and the crewman was busy not getting washed out of the well.  Both dive masters were in the water keeping the divers on the line away from the prop and the rocks.  Gene, Howard and I were the first ones on the boat and we turned around and started pulling the others into the boat some of them in all of their gear.

It was quite an adrenaline rush.  No one was hurt, Chris Huss took some great photos and then we went somewhere calmer for the next dive.

Howard dubbed us the “Dive Militia”.  A self organizing group of citizen who help out when necessary.

Employers dread the “Employee Free Choice Act.”  They say it will make it possible to coerce workers into publicly checking a card for a union because it eliminates the need for a secret ballot in Union elections.  Unions love it.  They believe that organizing a workplace today is too hard and that management uses today’s structured certification process to intimidate workers.  I say that change is….

But I have a question?  Will it be possible to use “Card Check” to de-certify from one union and join another one.  It should be.  That simple act would make Unions compete and competition is good it lowers costs and improves service.

I propose to start Simons Discount Union.  This is an example of how it will work: Teachers in California pay about $100 per month in Union dues.  Simons Discount Union (SDU) will give the same representiation for $50 per month saving the average teacher $500 a year.

SDU’s proposal will be simple: “All you have to do is check this card asking to change union representation.  Your card stays secret until we have cards from a majority of the teacher in this district.  Then we start saving you money.”

A teacher was teaching a class of first graders about their senses.  She used a bowl of Lifesavers to identify the different flavors by color: red for cherry, yellow for lemon, green for lime and orange for … orange.  Finally the teacher put a Honey Lifesavers in each of the children’s mouths but none of them could identify the taste.  She decided to give them a hint.  “This is what your mother may sometimes call your father.”  One little girl looked up in horror, spit out her lifesaver and yelled, “Oh my God! They’re assholes!”

“The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Margret Thatcher

Prime Minister

Another thank you to Joe S. for finding this one.

The law passed this week by the Congress to tax bonuses paid to employees of banks that took Government money is unconstitutional populism.

• It is unconstitutional because Article One, Section 9, paragraph 3 of the Constitution states “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
• It is populism because the Federal Government has already paid AIG and its fellow capitalist a thousand times more money than is involved in the bonuses.  A trillion dollars has already been paid to these companies because of bad bets they made on the housing market and the risk it involved.  It was paid without a debate in Congress about the system, the moral hazard or the final recipients of the money.  Trying to take this little bit back is populist grandstanding to draw attention away from the governing elites other failures that contributed to this collapse.

Gene sent me a link to his excellent dive photos from the Philippines.  He went to the effort of buying a good light and taking a class so that he could be the official underwater photographer for the trip and it paid off his pictures are some of the best ever taken by amateur Codger photographers.

His teacher was Steve De Neef.  Who went with us on a trip to Apo Island and took some great pictures. Check out his flickr site here. Steve took some super Codger pictures:

We also dove with Chris Huss for two day at Verde Island.  I mentioned him a few days ago but here is a link to his site. Chris has shared some of his photos with us and Brock is going to Seattle to strong arm some more from him.

This is one of those companies that makes me say “why didn’t I think of that?”  Sports Field Equipment Rentals will rent you the equipment you need to level and smooth your baseball field or croquet court.  I saw one of their tractors dragging a roller on a soccer field nearby.  They have a nice brochure on the internet (see Link above) but no web site that I could find.

This is a very good idea that is well executed for an identifiable need.  Well done.  I sent my excellent new computer and web person Nancy H. to try and sell them on the idea of a web site.