CharmingGeek.net Funness

Well, I’ve been looking up some info. I have been forming opinions. I might as well write it down.
The Economy
I’m unemployed. I am unemployed on W’s watch. I’d like to have a job. Yet I still think he should be re-elected. Why? Well, I’m a computer/math guy. Let’s look at the facts.
Okay, well first let me tell you what these facts are going to tell you. A national economy is a big animal. It takes a while to make it move, and a lot of what a president gets is what he inherits. So we’re going to look back a little bit. We’re going to look at trends.
First, we know the stock market is a great indicator of where the economy is going. Well, the Fact-Index gave me some great information on where that’s been going for the past few years. There’s a lot to be gleaned here, but here are some highlights.
The Dow Jones peaked on January 14, 2000 (11,723.00). The Nasdaq peaked on March 10, 2000 (5,048.62), on Clinton’s watch.
“As of September 24 [2002] the Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 27% of the value it had at the inauguration of George W. Bush, a total loss of 5 trillion dollars. …. It should be noted that the Dow Jones had already lost 9% of its value from its peak when Bush took office, and the Nasdaq had lost 44% of its value from its peak before Bush took office.” (emphasis added)
Did you see that? Before Bush took office, the Nasdaq was at nearly half it’s peak value. Still there’s a deficit. You should check out the rest of the info at this site. It’s more than I’ll talk about.
So back to the deficit in the markets. Well, that’s still 2002. The Dow closed Friday at 10,282.83. That is only 12% below the peak in 2000. Okay, that’s not great, but it’s improvement. The Nasdaq has seen a similar recovery. I can’t find the exact numbers, so I’m leaving it at that.
Second, for as long as the Department of Labor has been keeping statistics, there has been an economic downturn followed by an economic boom about every 8 years. We just came out of a boom. This is the downturn. But now it’s turning back upward.
Kerry likes to point out that 3 million jobs have been lost under Bush’s term. He fails to point out that those numbers are as of last June. In the past 12 months, over 1 million jobs have been created. It brings it to 2 million lost jobs. I know that’s still a big number, but those were for the vast part in the first year of the term. Remember 2001? We were already riding a downturn in the stock market when we suffered a terrorist attack that took more American lives than the Vietnam War. Nasty nasty year.
Check out this fly Excel graph I made with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are some important dates included there so you can see the unemployment trend along with key events affecting the economy.
So what am I saying in the end? The economy right now is pretty lousy. But I don’t think it can be blamed entirely on the current President. I’m optimistic about the direction the last 12 months of that unemployment chart and the stock market charts are going.

I’m at Martha’s.

On the subject of Iraqi freedom, we hear a lot on the news about what’s going on and how the people feel about it. Everybody here in the West seems to have their opinion. Either that Iraqi’s love the Coalition Forces for freeing them or they want the Americans oppressors to leave. Whatever your opinion, you can’t deny the fact that in the last 18 months, Iraqis have been given the oportunity to let the world know what they honestly think. Here’s a sampling of the situation from the source.

A Family in Baghdad: Actually mostly maintained by the mother of an Iraqi family (These pages have a fairly angry tone).
Okay, this family does a lot of blogging. You can follow the links to find another family blog site and each of the three son’s sites.
Baghdad Burning: “Girl Blog from Iraq”
Kurdo’s World: Bogging from the north of Iraq.
Iraq The Model: An Iraqi doctor’s postings (very optimistic).
Sun of Iraq: Not recently updated, not very clear English, but seems pretty honest.
Baghdad Update: This is actually from an American living and working in the “Green Zone.” Thought I’d throw it in.
Healing Iraq: aily news and comments on the situation in post Saddam Iraq by an Iraqi dentist.
Road of a Nation: Nice site by an Iraqi professional. I’ve questions about his English, though.

I’m going to my cookout. I plan to scour more of these later.

And to all you Iraqis who read my blog …. Congratulations. Go run your country.

Well, without telling me, NASA seems to have gone off to Saturn. Check these cool pictures of the ringed planet.

[ed] removed snide comments
Let’s all celebrate Canada!! Go Canada!
Um. Yay Celine Dion!
Hockey!
Um, since that’s all I can think to say about Canada let’s celebrate with a song!!

Don’t get me wrong, there is a downside to having nothing to do with your day. But there is something to be said for being able to get up whenever you want, eat whenever you want, and wear whatever you want. Oh, and I don’t have to shave.

According to Time, “When asked ‘How are you?’ said the official, Saddam responded, ‘I am sad because my people are in bondage.’ When offered a glass of water by his interrogators, Saddam replied, ‘If I drink water I will have to go to the bathroom and how can I use the bathroom when my people are in bondage?'”
I picked this up from another interesting article

So I set out for a 14 mile run today. I got about 11 out of that. (If you ask me how long it took, I’ll rip your spleen out.) I was dissapointed, but that’s still a heck of a long run for me, and I’d say I’m on track for the half-marathon this November. But yeah, that really wore me out.
And even with having absolutely no job, it’s been a pretty busy day. That could partly be because I spent about an hour after my run trying to regain the use of my legs.
I turned on the Food Network and watched some Rachael Ray. She was making a meal for a hungry man. Unfortunately, it involved a vinegrette. Also unfortunate, it turns out she already has a boyfriend. He likes to cook.
Nothing else of value today. Bye.

My boredom = new video.
This is me feeling awkward for about twenty seconds. Video
Enjoy.