frankilin roosevelt

It's not about being liberal or conservative anymore y'all. That is a hype offered by the fascist whores who want to confuse the people with lies while they turn this country into an aristocratic police state. Some people will say anything to attain power and money. There is no such thing as the Liberal Media, but the Corporate media is very real.


Check out my old  Voice of the People page.


Gino Napoli
San Francisco, California
High School Math Teacher

jonsdarc@mindspring.com




Loyalty without truth
is a trail to tyranny.

a middle-aged
George Washington



ARCHIVES
1662 POSTS
LATEST ITEM

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
May 2022
April 2022
February 2022
January 2022
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
September 2016
August 2016
May 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
September 2014
August 2014
May 2014
March 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
August 2012
July 2012
April 2012
March 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
August 2010
July 2010
March 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
August 2009
July 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
June 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
June 2005
May 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004

Saturday, 29 October 2011 at 4h 3m 4s

The apostasy of hope

The more I bother to witness this Republican progression towards the official nomination ... the more I think that it is all just stage show for what has already been determined. No different than the Democratic party, to be quite honest. That is very sad for me to say, but the establishment has taken over both parties.

Romney, the corporate patsy and ex-corporate merger/bond salesman, appears to be the set up for the Rethuglican nomination. Versus Obama the water carrier.

Can I say how excited I am about the coming election? That's a rhetorical question.


Saturday, 29 October 2011 at 0h 40m 58s

Occupy DC


Thursday, 27 October 2011 at 4h 34m 12s

Intense exponential regression


Between 2002 and 2007, for instance, the bottom ninety-nine per cent of incomes grew 1.3 per cent a year in real terms—while the incomes of the top one per cent grew ten per cent a year. That one per cent accounted for two-thirds of all income growth in those years. People in the ninety-fifth to the ninety-ninth percentiles of income have represented a fairly constant share of the national income for twenty-five years now. But in that period the top one per cent has seen its share of national income double; in 2007, it captured twenty-three per cent of the nation’s total income. Even within the top one per cent, income is getting more concentrated: the top 0.1 per cent of earners have seen their share of national income triple over the same period. All by themselves, they now earn as much as the bottom hundred and twenty million people. So at the same time that the rich have been pulling away from the middle class, the very rich have been pulling away from the pretty rich, and the very, very rich have been pulling away from the very rich.

-- James Surowiecki, New Yorker Magazine, 16 August 2010.



Thursday, 27 October 2011 at 1h 50m 54s

Teachers work a lot of hours per year

A writer in an prior letter to the editor of the Pacifica Tribune made a very misguided statement concerning teachers still getting paid during the summer. The writer seemed to have an idea that teachers are getting something for nothing from the tax payers and should therefore be penalized.

This opinion is nonsense. Teachers work 36 to 40 weeks out of the year. For a 36 week year, about 30 of those weeks a teacher works 70 hours per week. The other 6 weeks average 50 hours a week. 30 times 70 plus 6 times 50 equals 2100 + 300 or 2400 work hours per year. A person who works 50 weeks at 40 hours per week only works 2000 hours per year. A teacher works 400 more hours per year than a 40 hour week worker does for 50 weeks out of the year. That would be another 8 weeks for the 50 week worker by the way.

Teachers get a salary for the important hard work of teaching children. This salary can be paid over 12 months, or it can be paid over 10 months. People who propose a negative opinion about teachers based upon the notion of 2 months of summer vacation need to consult the math before they speak.

Teachers do more for society than bankers and stock brokers but get paid less than a waiter at a 5 star restaurant. And not everyone has the makeup to become a successful teacher, no matter how many credentials they obtain -- whereas most people can be a good waiter. Not everyone can manage 160 or more raw emotional children over a 9 month period grading enormous amounts of papers and dealing with a lot of irrational issues and stressful situations each and every week.

The old saw that says "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" is absolutely, ridiculously false. Such opinions think people are coming to the profession in droves because they can't make it in the real world. However, the average duration of new teachers is 3 years. Very few bad teachers can make it longer than 5 years. Too many new teachers cannot manage the stress-load, and either quit the profession or move on to college or administration. The new blood comes but it doesn't remain. Most schools have 80% or more quality teachers, which is no different then any other real world business or any large bureaucracy of individuals.


Wednesday, 19 October 2011 at 2h 38m 18s

The Civilian Employment to Population Ratio


A 4 to 5 percentage drop in 2 years is incredible, given that the 2010 US Census was 308,745,538. One percent is 3.087 million, so 4 percent is 12.3 million people. And remember that a lot of people who went from full-time to part-time jobs are still considered employed. The population growth per year can be estimated from the rate of increase over the 10 years since 2000, which was 9.7 percent. Taking the 10th root (over 10 years) of the growth factor 1.097 obtains 1.009 or 0.9 percent growth per year. This is about 2.8 million per year.

So 12.3 million were classified as not-employed in 2 years and the population rose probably 5.6 million in those 2 years -- an estimate of new entrants into the work force since 16 years old are 18 years old in 2 year.

Notice the graph stays in between 59 and 58 percent since 2010, and is threatening to drop below 58 percent in the near future. A percentage is basically a fraction, and in this case the numerator is the number of employed, the denominator is the total population. The only way the value of a fraction ( or a per 100 number) stays the same when the denominator (total population) increases, is for the numerator (number of employed) to increase based upon the percentage of the increase. So at 58 percent, if the population increases by 2.8 million, the employed gains for the year between 2010 and 2011 would be 0.58 times 2.8 , or about 1.43 million, or about 115,000 per month.

115,000 per month is an average for the entire nation. If this is divided by 200 to represent the 200 major metropolitan-regional areas of the United States ( a collection of 1,000,000 people), then this becomes 575 new jobs per region per year. Divide the 2.8 million increase per year by 12 and then by 200, and you get 1,160 new persons entering the job market per month per region.

Notice the 1,160 is twice as large as 575. This means there are 2 people for every new job available per region per month.

And the percentage is looking to drop below 58% for the first time in the history of the this statistic.

Yikes.


Tuesday, 18 October 2011 at 0h 19m 9s

Sign at the Occupy Wall Street Protest


Friday, 14 October 2011 at 4h 29m 7s

Wall Street Journal Stole from Advertisers through repurchasing scheme

Click here. Click here. Click here.

Click here for the London Guardian newspaper account that did the ground work of the story.

The skinny: they organized a scheme to funnel money through multiple European companies who distributed their newspaper in Europe for certain corporations to buy extra issues of the Wall Street Journal cheaply to increase (in some cases double) the circulation numbers so that they could get a higher rate to charge for advertisers.

In other words, they bought their own newspaper at a 50% or more discount so they could inflate the circulation numbers and charge their advertisers more money.

You have to read the story.

[SOURCE: London guardian | Nick Davies | 12 October 2011]


Thursday, 13 October 2011 at 0h 50m 48s

A cool quote

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves Orcs.”


-John Rogers


hat tip to barry ritholz.

After reading most of Ann Rand's other long novel, The Fountainhead -- I couldn't finish it -- I always wondered what the cult fascination with the other novel was. The same can be said of the main character in the Fountainhead, but Rand worships the callous stoicism and praises the dullness and single minded obsession for perfection and superiority. It creeped me out about 2/3 rds of the book and I never continued.


Saturday, 8 October 2011 at 20h 31m 34s

Saturday Morning at Simple Pleasures

This is a typical Saturday morning at simple Pleasures.




Sunday, 2 October 2011 at 21h 19m 28s

San Francisco Not Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Below is a video of The Human Condition playing at Spreckles Lake near 36th avenue and Fulton Avenue.



The link might take 2 or 3 minutes to load, because it is about 76 Megabytes. If you get impatient or don't want to wait, Click here

~ ~ ~ ~

Left to right: Mark Joseph (guitar), Nate Harris (bass), Dan Brennan (Mandolin), Gabriel Shepherd (guitar), and Carl (violin).

I've known Mark for about 3 years now. He's a crazy dude who is very engaging in conversation. But he's also a stand up guy, which is why I like him.




GOTO THE NEXT 10 COLUMNS