IpMan
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Posts posted by IpMan
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8 hours ago, kipper said:
The news said Apple is bringing back to the USA 20,000 jobs thanks to the current president.
I got a very nice raise in December and another one is coming in a few months. The company had frozen raises for several years when Obama was President. My neighbor said she got a raise too, but I dont count hers because it was a minimum wage increase which is really just more like a welfare raise anyway.
I will believe it when I see it, after all, Walmart just closed 68 Sam's Clubs which resulted in the termination of over 10,000 employees. Also, I know of no one who has gotten a large raise last year or is expecting a large raise this year. Most companies will continue with the standard "cost of living" increase which is actually, typically, 1 or 2% below the actual COL / CPI increase. Just remember, a company can announce ANYTHING, it does not mean they will actually do it.
Also, please remember, the stock market performing as it is has zero bearing on the overall economy. More than 83% of all stock are held by the 1%. The stocks are performing so well due to the reduction of regulations which allow windfall profits. We are essentially, back in the Gilded Age. On a final note, the stock market is also artificially inflated akin to a bubble. Most economists believe we are in for a major correction around August / September 2018 and a loss of around 10,000 point would not be unexpected. Also, interest rates will likely start going up around that time in an effort to curb out of control inflation.
So, I suggest (for people in the market such as I) to begin moving your investments out of high gain or moderate gain stocks and into low gain, low risk such as public utilities and T notes otherwise you could easily lose half of your portfolio. Real Estate will also likely take a hit, but a small one, maybe a max of 7% devaluation, however rental prices are really going up so if you do invest in real estate, even though the property may take a slight dive in value, you can more than make up for it with the increased rental income.
Another great investment will be in marijuana related stock, that shit is going up, up, up and would not be affected by a downturn in the stock market. Sessions will not, nor can do a damn thing about weed at this point whether he knows it or not. That horse left the barn once Cali legalized it for recreational use. That being said, please do your research into a company before you invest. Weed is a growing (get it) market but all the positive indicators mean squat if the company is being mismanaged so be sure to check out quarterly and annual statements before investing.
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3 hours ago, kipper said:
Do the palace dwellers even have a button? I thought they just spent all of their time playing polo and visiting their castles and stuff. arent the palace dwellers just about like our kardashian family but supported by tax payers? kind of a joke if you ask me
Not quite. Unlike our politicians, all males in the royal family are required to serve in the military and to my knowledge, every one has served on the front lines in combat during times of war. Also, they are pretty much the vanguard for all charitable endeavors in the UK and act as ambassadors of good will across the globe. So in reality, they do work quite hard.
My only quip with the Royal Family is that they pretty much control the bulk of European Banking. They are shit ton rich yet they did not really make a dime of it. All old money pilfered from countries like India and Africa + compound interest over centuries.
So like anything else, a mixed bag.
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4 hours ago, BledZabbath said:
Perhaps if they legalized drugs and controlled them, it would eliminate drug cartels, dealers, bring down gangs and such?
Prohibition is what increased organized crime and how the mafia rose to power.
Well, of course but...where is the profit in THAT!
Criminalization = tons and tons of sweet cash for several different industries. Money is typically the root of the problem.
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On 1/12/2018 at 3:32 PM, kipper said:
update on my weird neighbor
I guess he got into an argument with a police officer and was maced. I heard this from another neighbor who saw the incident. A police officer was at another apartment making a burglary report and this weird guy just walked up behind the officer and started yelling at the cop who ended up macing the guy. Im telling you this guy is crazy and is going to do something. How do you get him observed by a doctor for mental illness? I called the police to ask about the incident but they wouldnt say anything. The guy was just maced and then the ambulance came and washed his face off and then the guy was allowed to just go home. I thik this guy is going to blow like a volcano and I dont want to be around when it happens. Moving again now would really suck.
I agree, this is bullshit Kip. If you are so crazy to argue in a menacing manner / assault an armed officer, you need mental evaluation. I mean come on already, the state can legally kill you in such circumstance and everyone knows this. Why are people like this allowed to go on their way without evaluation? 20+ years ago my friends father was a hard core meth addict (at almost 60 no less). He showed up at my friends apartment, broke in through the window, and assaulted my friend before he knocked his father on his ass. My friend then called the cops. The cops showed up, searched him and found a few grams of meth. My friends dad began to argue with the police some seriously delusional, meth monster bullshit. They just took his meth and made him go on his way. They did jack shit!
Just to clarify, I am talking about people who are clearly nutters who are threatening violence against the police or assaulting the police, not people practicing civil disobedience or simply questioning a police officers opinion / actions.
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9 hours ago, paul carruthers said:
Never noticed myself. Of course, I'm so obsessed with the 80 tour right now, I seem to enjoy most--if not all--of it. But--as always--to each their own...
Oh no, I love it actually, even if it is a wee bit fast. Everyone is on, Plant sounds good. Good version overall and I too really like the 80' tour.
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2 hours ago, paul carruthers said:
Damn...cocaine, one helluva drug! That is way over tempo and Jimmy uses almost pure legato on the opening riff at twice the normal tempo. Jimmy's solo is really good on this but again, a bit too fast.
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8 hours ago, SteveAJones said:
Jimmy did serve one tour in Vietnam, in 1965. John Paul Jones later recorded a song inspired by it titled "A Foggy Day in Vietnam".
Yep, he was knee deep in the shit, this is why he turned down the Yardbirds gig when Clapton left. Once he got back, that's when he joins the Yardbirds.
This is also the reason neither the Yardbirds or Zep used pyrotechnic affects such as flashpots until 73'. Page would have wanted to "get some" and heaven forbid if Yoko was at a gig
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11 minutes ago, chillumpuffer said:
Never a more true word for the Legalisation of Cannabis. The UK is the largest consumers of the drug in Europe. All of it bought Illegally and on the black market. How long before the penny drops that the UK economy is missing out on millions of pounds in tax revenues? The Police have pressured successive Governments on the complete waste of resources to arrest,charge and prosecute cannabis offenders. This Conservative Government is cutting money to every department in their austerity measures whilst us smokers carry on regardless. A total disgrace. Our treasured Health Service is creaking under the strain and this Government continually under invests.There are no beds. Patients are told to go away or are left on stretchers in corridors for hours. Hospitals seriously under staffed and the Tories don't give two fucks. They want it like this. It encourages private health insurance, a luxury of the wealthy. Do you know they pay "private" companies to do work of the NHS? Madness. Are we the people who are on drugs and losing it?
You know Chill, with the whole economic loss Brexit will bring to the UK along with ongoing challenges, the MP's may have no choice but to legalize weed in an effort to drum up revenue.
I would hate that weed finally becomes legal due to dire straits but it is something that maybe a positive can come from so many negatives.
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1 hour ago, EaglesOfOneNest said:
Got a text once from my next door neighbor... "I have to borrow your bolt cutters, NOW!"
Rather have that vs. "...um, I need to borrow some extra large glad bags, a few bottles of bleach and, by the way...do you by any chance own a chainsaw?"
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Such a great character actor..you will be missed Donnelly, aka Dr. Cottle, aka Dutch. Rest in peace
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8 hours ago, cryingbluerain said:
Speaking in absolute terms it is quite true.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/131
Better put down the bong IpMan. Cali isn't the financial utopia you claim. Let's break it down. As recently as 2014 it had the second lowest bond rating of any state, only beating out basket case Illinois. The middle class is fleeing the state (http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2016/02/11/californians_are_voting_with_their_feet_102004.html)
as the cost of living is through the roof. It also has the highest poverty rate in the nation. http://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2017/jan/20/chad-mayes/true-california-has-nations-highest-poverty-rate-w/And speaking of welfare, with 12% of the US population, California has one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sdut-welfare-capital-of-the-us-2012jul28-htmlstory.html
Most of the supposed economic miracle in California over the recent years has come from one industry - a few dozen Silicon Valley tech firms (Apple, Google, Facebook, etc.) But the state is more of a banana republic of high tech when you look at per capita GDP as adjusted for cost of living. http://riderrants.blogspot.com/2016/07/updated-2015-figures-ca-per-capita-gdp.html
Edit: sorry for any broken links, don't have time to fix those right now.
I believe you did not read my post because if you did, you would not have wasted your time posting information irrelevant to my point.
What you say and what you posted does not relate to my argument in any way, however I would like it if you would please explain why you posted irrelevant info and then claim it is I who is high.
My point, and only point, is that:
1. California is the 7th largest economy in the world. 2. California pays more money to the federal government than the federal government pays to California. 3. Without California's financial contribution to the federal government, the nations economy would likely collapse. 4. If California was its own nation and was no longer paying money to the Fed it would be in a much, much better financial situation. Everything I posted is both provable and indisputable yet you chose to respond with completely irrelevant info regarding how much the state of California doles out to its citizenry on the welfare rolls (the fed does not pay these benefits, California does).
So, as to the financial health and prosperity of the STATE it is indeed doing extremely well. What the state pays to citizens is a completely different issue. This is why I mentioned in an earlier post why the Fed needs to stay out of the business of social engineering and leave social issues such as weed to the states. If you live in a state like California, NY, WA, etc. you pay much higher state and property taxes, however you also get much more benefits, services, social safety nets, less expensive and much, much better education. If you live in say Kansas you pay significantly less in state and property taxes, unfortunately the tradeoff is shitty schools, shitty or non-existent benefits, little services. So, if a person is retired and no longer raising children, Kansas or Arizona are much better economic options. If you are raising children and need better, less expensive education, CA, NY, WA are the better economic bets because though taxes are higher, the benefit of service and quality of services makes up for it for those who take advantage of such.
The end result is the Fed can bluster and crow all they want but at the end of the day, screwing with California would be akin to a gold digger kicking her sugar daddy in the balls and fucking his broke, shitheel brother. She may be proud of her defiance in the moment, but she will be feeling the hunger pangs and experiencing the opportunities of homeless street life very soon as a result of her impetious and ill conceived actions.
Legal weed is here, legal weed will stay.
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3 hours ago, cryingbluerain said:
Send in federal agents? They could just cut off federal funds. Cali receives more federal money than any other state.
wow dude, you really are high. California contributes far, far, FAR more money to the fed than the other way around. Let me put it this way, if Cali were to secede and become its own nation it would flourish way beyond where it currently is while the US would suffer horribly and likely collapse from an economic standpoint. As I said before The US losing that sweet California money would be akin to Canada losing that sweet Alberta money. In either case, both nations would collapse as a result.
As Strider said, it is the red states which are the massive welfare queens of the nation whereas the blue states contribute far more to the Fed than the Fed contributes to them.
Fiscal conservative...HA! Talk about an oxymoron.
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34 minutes ago, kipper said:
on the news it said that people who use marijana in states where it is now legal are still breaking federal laws in the USA and be arrested and even lose their right to own guns. So I guess these new laws aren't all cracked up to be what people were being sold by the pro drug lobby.
I literally relish the day Sessions decides to go balls deep on this and sends federal agents to bust a dispensary in Cali. The look on Sessions and Trump's face when they find out the whole cadre of Feds are cooling their heels in a local jail cell will be priceless.
All the Fed has are the small cohort of federal agents (FBI & ATF) at their disposal. The entire field staff of both agencies is not anywhere near the size of the LA County Police Dept. The Fed cannot use military forces or personnel within the US as that would violate the constitution. However, the states can call up the National Guard to deny federal access. Of course the President could try and place the NG under federal control but that would be tantamount to martial law. You really think the executive would be that insanely stupid to do a damn thing against something with a 68% approval of the national citizenry? Even someone as moronically stupid and narcissistic as Trump would be stopped by his own people.
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1 hour ago, Stryder1978 said:
REST IN PEACE...should have been inducted YEARS ago!
Ray Thomas, a founding member of British rock group The Moody Blues, has died at 76, months before the band is due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I agree, this is a travesty without a doubt.
Jan Winner is just a jerk, anyone he does not like does not get in or takes forever, with him finally bowing to public and private opinion. The Moody Blues were an extremely influential group and should have been inducted in the mid 90's without a doubt.
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7 hours ago, rm2551 said:
I never knew that. Nice bit-o-knowledge there.
Neither did I until I learned it in a college anthropology class. Even through HS what Steve quoted was taught as truth so it is not his fault. American education system for ya but this bit of info is always thrown around due to what is taught in schools. Before the industrial revolution the average lifespan of an adult male was around 42 because infant mortality was around 60+%. So, if you take out death rates, infant - 12 years, we get back to the true average of around 67 years old which was a very constant number for centuries until advances in medical science.
As long as a person made it past 12 they were good to go as the majority of deaths were due to childhood illness.
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4 hours ago, kipper said:
i dont believe there is such a thing as a addictive personality just people who willfully indulge themselves in risky behavior. Its not like was born yesterday but I have heard all of the excused by addicts. Legalizing drugs is only legalizing addicts, it helps nobody.
But of course, 40 years of accepted science be damned ! I will immediately notify the APA and let them know Kipper does not believe in addictive personality disorders. I am sure they will put out a new version of the DSM to reflect this ASAP. Typically, it would be called the DSM-V TR but since you have all the answers they will surely refer to it as the DSM-V KR for Kipper Revised.
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On 1/6/2018 at 3:30 AM, SteveAJones said:
Whole life used to be a whole lot shorter...life expectancy for US male in 1900 was 46.3, woman 48.3. Even lower in many other countries. You'd marry, raise your children to adulthood and die soon after.
Not quite. You see, that number is a mean average which included all age groups including infants. As infant mortality was very high at the turn of the century, this brought the average down as a result. The average age for those who lived past 12 years old was around 66 for men and 69 for women.
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Does this mean old Robert did not start whipping out his dick at photoshoots until 1979?
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9 hours ago, kipper said:
Im not convinced. Fact is most heroin addicts started as pot addicts and you dont have to be poor to be an addict, many rich rock and roll people have been both pot addicts and heroin addicts.
Most contemporary heroin addicts (last 20 years) started as a result of the over-perscrition of opioid painkillers by their doctors. The ones prior are a mixed bag: alcohol, weed, coke, LSD, you name it. The fact is, there really is no gateway drug, you either have an addictive personality or you do not. Believe it or not there are many, many casual and recreational users of heroin out there who never develop an addiction. There has never been drug in existence on this planet where if a person does it once, or even a handful of times will become addicted unless they have the addictive personality traits required. Of course even those without a predisposition to addiction can become addicts if they are exposed to physically addicting substances such as opioids over the long term but in general, the fact is there really is no gateway drug. However, if you really want to lay the blame than alcohol & tobacco are your true culprits as both are physically addicting substances and very easily accessible...plus, they are socially acceptable as well.
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On 1/4/2018 at 10:36 AM, badgeholder said:
Heavy Metal! Yeah, all those Ralph Bakshi movies, Fritz the Cat, and stuff, I'd always go to the triple-bill Hendrix night with Rainbow Bridge, Jimi Plays Berkeley and the WB documentary. Never cared for Rocky Horror much, but it fit right in with Flesh Gordon and flicks like that. The Rialto in South Pas was the place, Big comfy chairs in back, saw TSRTS a million times there....
Goddamned Fritz the Cat. Believe it or not they had that and the sequel on Netflix for about six months. That is until someone realized it was a cartoon porno drug flick and they pulled both. The first one is a classic, the second one is a complete mess, a bad acid trip.
Ah Fritz, we miss you.
Ah, um, back to the topic.... We used to go to the Cini-Capri and Scottsdale Fashion Square back in the early and mid 80's and alternate between TSRTS, TRHPS, The Wall, and Heavy Metal. I had a friend who was the most homophobic person, a real characture in the flesh and had no clue what TRHPS was about, he thought it really was a horror movie. Imagine his surprise when we introduced him to it at the midnight movies. When we were standing in line for the tickets he was getting suspicious with all the punters in costume acting weird. However we assured him they were actually nutters who showed up to all the midnight movies. So, the movie begins and all is good until the scene where Tim Curry makes his appearance at which point all hell broke loose. He stands up, starts screaming at the movie every single gay slur you could imagine, starts spitting on the floor and runs out. Man was he pissed and man were we rolling on the ground...he was better than the show it was so damn hilarious.
BTW, that homophobic friend, well, he came out of the closet almost thirty years, a wife, and four kids later.
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6 hours ago, cryingbluerain said:
I guess, if you say so IpMan. Thing is if all these polls showing the majority of Americans favoring pot legalization are correct you would think that would have prompted some federal legislation by now. Yet given all the money involved it has not. So perhaps Sessions and Trump are doing you potheads a favor. As they say, the best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it.
Believe it or not I am a big believer in states rights insofar as it does not interfere with basic human and civil rights. Outside of that, a federal government cannot make one size fits all laws in regard to social engineering as different people want different things. Alcohol, weed, gambling, etc. should be up to the states to decide. If you want to smoke weed, move to a weed friendly state. If you are retired and don't give a crap about education and social services, move to Arizona with a very low tax rate. If you are Mormon, Utah is your paradise. That is where the true potential of the US lies. The Fed should be responsible for basic human rights, civil rights, infrastructure, etc. and ensuring the individual states don't fuck their citizens.
Of course the enemy of a representative republic like the US is lobbying on the one hand and gerrymandering on the other. As long as both exist the average citizen has zero say in the process.
Case in point: 1993 and a ballot measure was put forth to the people of AZ to fund the building of a baseball stadium. The voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure, collectively saying, if Jerry Colangelo wants a stadium, he can pay for it himself as he will be the one reaping the majority of the financial benefits. Well, Gov. Fife Symington overruled the will of the voters and approved the building of the stadium, to be paid for with an added sales tax the voters rejected. So, 80% of the AZ voters said no yet the Guv said hell yes!!! So much for a democracy, so much for voting. Also, medical marijuana passed twice in AZ and both times the Governor rejected the vote. It was finally approved on the third vote.
The fact is, if it benefits the rich, it will become law, if it benefits everyone else but the rich, it will never become law. I could be wrong but this is why I believe weed will finally be legal. There is just too much damn money to be made by the big players.
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2 hours ago, kipper said:
I'm pretty poor by many standards. I have even been on the verge of homelessness and without work. I dont see how economics has much to do with this. Are people in calcutta more likely to be drug addicts than rich people in the Hamptons? I don't think so.
Statistically speaking, indeed yes. Psychological health and social stability play a very major roll in regard to addiction.
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16 minutes ago, kipper said:
So then people were forced to abuse drugs ipman, is that what you are saying? people make choices, many of them are bad choices.
Absolutely not and I stated such earlier. That being said, all things are NOT equal. It is much easier to say no when living in a quiet, middle class white community vs. the hopelessness of the ghetto. In the end though I do agree personal responsibility must take precedent, though on a sliding scale so to speak.
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6 hours ago, EaglesOfOneNest said:
HA!! Shitty people putting out shitty music!
Regarding the Robert - Maureen - Shirley love triangle, I believe Robert was with Shirley first. Then he got Maureen pregnant and married her, so going back to Shirley years after divorcing Maureen isn't so out of reach. I've seen photos of all of the kids together with Robert, so I don't know how much bad blood / resentment there is. People are different regarding openness and tolerance levels, so you can't really judge someone else's relationships by your own standards. And time is a great healer.
This is al true, no doubt, however, the cynic in me believes if old Robert were a steelworker from Pittsburgh, on a limited budget, things would not be quite so hunky dory.
Marijuana legalization
in Ramble On
Posted
Yes, and then the morality police can go to the liquor store and do the same on the way to merchants who sell tobacco and or porn. With some hard work and perseverance, we can be just like Saudi Arabia or Children of the Corn in no time.