Disqus - Latest Comments for WackyHermit

Re: Hatch looks to free up House-passed energy bills in Senate - The Hill's Floor Action

WackyHermit — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:17:17 -0000

Hatch is only doing this now because he's in trouble at home. He faces a primary, thanks to a lot of Utahns who want him out. Land use is a big issue out here in Utah where a good-sized chunk of the state is federal lands, and the use of those lands to gain revenue for things like schools is severely limited by federal regulations.

Re: House GOP women step forward on small business tax bill - The Hill's On The Money

WackyHermit — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:07:07 -0000

Women, more so than men, start up home-based micro-businesses to help pay household expenses. These businesses are disproportionately affected by any law that affects small business, because we can't absorb costs that even a larger small business can. As a result, many of us are operating in a sort of "gray market" where our products are technically illegal to sell (because they aren't "adequately" labeled, are made in a home kitchen instead of a government-approved kitchen, etc., not because they're unsafe) and our businesses go unreported to the government. Many of us would make an effort to comply with the laws if it were easier to do so. Then you'd see just how entrepreneurial women can be!

Re: Good riddance, retail

WackyHermit — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:28:57 -0000

I didn't present it as evidence of anything, I responded on a thread where anecdotes were being shared. Why don't you share your anecdote of how you gave an arithmetic test to teenagers and they passed in droves?

Re: Good riddance, retail

WackyHermit — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:41:36 -0000

I had the same experience in the mid-'90s working at a craft store. We rarely ended up with a high school age employee. They applied, but couldn't pass the arithmetic test with questions like "If clothespins are 5 for $1, how much are 60 clothespins?" We even had two applicants who were currently taking a course called "calculus" that couldn't pass the test even when cheating off each other.

Re: Can You Pass the ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ Test?: Virginia Postrel

WackyHermit — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:24:58 -0000

I don't think it had solely to do with manual labor. I answered yes to the "sore at the end of the day" question because I used to work 12 hour shifts as a supervisor at a craft store. At the end of the day my feet were really sore, but I wouldn't call the job "manual labor". I think it's more about working past the point of bodily comfort. People usually don't do that unless they need the money more than they need to be comfortable. And people who need the money also tend to lack things like high-priced shoes or ergonomic chairs that make these jobs more bearable.

Re: Emily Miller interviewed by Newschannel 8

WackyHermit — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:13:03 -0000

Or better yet, a safety class before being allowed to have sex or to vote. Liberals are big on having no restrictions on reproductive rights and voting rights.

Re: Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

WackyHermit — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:10:38 -0000

Geez, at most jobs you'd be fired for monitoring YouTube. Where can I get a job where I can surf the web for a living??

Re: Why We Stopped Spanking - Atlantic Mobile

WackyHermit — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:05:59 -0000

We modified 1-2-3 for our kids. We count down, and from 5. We discovered the kids with Asperger's Syndrome needed extra time to process the instruction, and were more comfortable with a process that clearly terminated rather than an open-ended "how high is Mom going to count?"

Re: Let the broccoli rot!

WackyHermit — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:17:03 -0000

"Could Congress ban every means of disposing of the broccoli (that it has made you purchase) other than eating it? Is that any different from making you eat it?"

I think the answer to those questions are "yes" and "no, but they will argue that it is." I know for a fact the CPSC did this when, under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), everything for children (including underwear, geology rocks and ATVs) was required to be tested for lead by a laboratory. Only, you see, the law didn't say "you have to test it for lead," it just said you had to know its lead content was under the (insanely low) allowed limit... which you can't know for sure without, you know, a laboratory test. But the CPSC kept on saying "Look, you're NOT required to test!!! Why are you all going around saying we're requiring you to test??"

Re: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/amazon-e-library-is-publishing-s-profit-model-virginia-postrel.html

WackyHermit — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:37:54 -0000

I know I'd rather pay to borrow from Amazon for two reasons. One, my local public library never has the books I want. Two, the nearest public library that does costs me as much for a card as an Amazon Prime membership. Three, I can get books from Amazon 24 hours a day and I don't even have to get dressed.

Re: VIDEO: ‘You’re Gonna Pay’

WackyHermit — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:12:03 -0000

Thanks BarryHussein for finishing the job! (I too heard 70 million baby boomers.)

Re: VIDEO: ‘You’re Gonna Pay’

WackyHermit — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:22:15 -0000

Lyrics (1st verse):
Old people grumblin' 'bout funded medications
Subsidized housing in the capital of the nation
3 trillion dollar deficit on top of 15 trillion dollar debt
Bullet trains, windmills, and monkeys on cocaine
Monkeys on cocaine
You're gonna pay
You're gonna pay
You're gonna pay
Someone's got to pay

That's all I have time to transcribe right now, gotta get the kids ready for church. Somebody pick up the torch and do the rest please?

Re: Are Animal Crackers Headed for Extinction?

WackyHermit — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:35:13 -0000

This wouldn't just address TV ads. It includes displays in stores. How do you sell yogurt and peanut butter without displaying them? And if they take this in the same direction that they did with the Consumer Product Safety "Improvement" Act, where they defined "children's product" broadly enough to include ballpoint pens (and mood rings marketed as adult novelties), we're looking at making it illegal to market vegetables using the Jolly Green Giant, because it's a cartoon character and cartoon characters appeal to kids. So basically these guidelines would make it impracticable to put the Jolly Green Giant on a packet of vegetables, because doing so would automatically make your veggies subject to these costly requirements.

Not only that, but how long will it be until school lunch programs start saying they'll only buy foods that meet the guidelines? How long will those requirements be "voluntary" then?

But it's "For The Children" (tm) dontcha know, so anything goes, I guess.

Re: Obama: 80% Of The American People Want Higher Taxes | RealClearPolitics

WackyHermit — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:20:27 -0000

Oh yeah, the American people are "sold"... sold down the river, that is...

Re: Replacing property as a source of wealth creation

WackyHermit — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:14:46 -0000

Indeed. All my friends, even the ones who can afford to feed their kids lunch, go up to the school and get the free lunch that they give out to all children. I think I'm the only one who refuses on principle to let my kids go feed at the government trough.

Re: Geithner: Taxes on ‘Small Business’ Must Rise So Government Doesn’t ‘Shrink’

WackyHermit — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:06:41 -0000

Let me try this one with my husband.

"But honey, if I stop spending $1000 a month on clothes, it's not like you'd have $1000 extra in the budget to pay bills with. Because I'd just have to charge that $1000 on the credit card, and you'd still have to pay it off, only it'd cost you interest. So really, there's no way I can just cut back my clothing expenditures. You'll just have to get a third job. This stuff doesn't pay for itself after all!"

Nope, doesn't work.

Re: Geese Meat To Be Fed To Homeless In Penn.

WackyHermit — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:41:20 -0000

Oh sure, all you'd have to do is persuade the geese to stay wherever you put them. Maybe you could throw in some subsidies for the geese. Offer them a few extra billion dollars to stay in their new forest or lake.

Re: How to Estimate the Radius of the Earth With a Lake

WackyHermit — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:34:00 -0000

If you're doing calculations at all, the deliciously tanned curvaceous blond in a very skimpy bikini is probably not interested in you.

Re: Boys will be boys ... or will they? Gender-neutral parenting is on the rise | Lifestyle | The Bulletin

WackyHermit — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:14:13 -0000

There are just some kids that are like the stereotypes from birth. My daughter always liked pink and frilly and girly, from the moment she was old enough to express a preference, and even going against my own preferences for her. When she needed more gross motor activity we had to put her in dance lessons because she refused to do non-girly types of play. Everybody accused us of trying to make her a hyper-achiever, but we carefully chose a dance studio that wasn't competitive and would just let her dance for fun at her age level. It would have been a great disservice to her to make her deny her nature to make a political statement. So just for the record, I don't appreciate being judged by people who feel that my daughter is just reinforcing gender stereotypes on the rest of society.

Re: Safe Restrooms: Basic for Some, A Luxary for Trans Men and Women on Campus | News | The Harvard Crimson

WackyHermit — Wed, 11 May 2011 09:32:14 -0000

I, for one, love the gender-neutral single-stall bathrooms. As a (non-transgendered) female parent of autistic boys, I find them extremely useful. My boys have a lot of issues with bathrooms-- one used to be incredibly germophobic and the other has hearing so sensitive that commercial flush toilets hurt his ears-- and it is great to be able to help them and not have to deal with others looking at me funny. Also, my non-autistic son has behavior problems and the single-stall bathrooms allow me to use the toilet without worrying about him peeking under the other stalls while I'm occupied.

It's not just transgendered people who have issues with bathrooms and how they are treated there.

Re: Business owner casts reasonable doubt on accuracy of speed cameras

WackyHermit — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:06:15 -0000

I used math to get my brother out of a speeding ticket once. He stopped at a stop sign and was pulled over by the cop within a block of it for speeding in a residential zone. We were able to prove, using calculus and the known 0-60 speed of his car from a magazine, that it was physically impossible for him to have been going as fast as the cop said he was in the distance allotted.

And that, boys and girls, is why you should pay attention in math class.

Re: Are Grains Making us Fat? - Megan McArdle - Business - The Atlantic

WackyHermit — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:49:35 -0000

Three words: Wickard Versus Fillburn. If chicken is regulated by the Federal government, there IS no non-commercial chicken. ;)

Re: Eat the Rich - Megan McArdle - Business - The Atlantic

WackyHermit — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:28:12 -0000

Or, for those with a short attention span, the video version, starring Bill Whittle:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: Colleges Spend Far Less on Educating Students Than They Claim, Report Says

WackyHermit — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:04:54 -0000

Given that so many students enter college completely unprepared in math and English, and then drop out after flunking these classes, it'd probably be cheaper for them to hire a private tutor to attempt to teach them. If they can learn, so much the better; if not, at least they found out on the cheap.

Re: Sunday Reflection: From 'just-tn-time' to 'just-in-case?' | Glenn Harlan Reynolds | Columnists | Washington Examiner

WackyHermit — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:33:57 -0000

Egoist_capitalist, you've hit it right on the money as far as the lead-free stuff. Just look at what CPSIA's unreasonable blanket decrees on lead content have done to the children's product industry-- it's now illegal to sell a ballpoint pen with a cartoon character on it because the ball in the point has to have lead in it to machine it. When the stay of enforcement expires, it'll be illegal to sell bicycle tires for kids' bikes because the tire valve stem also has to have lead in it. Kids' ATVs? illegal, because lead helps the fenders crumple instead of shatter, keeping the kids safe in a crash. CPSIA also applied retroactively so that thrift stores and yard sales can't sell these things either. Schools can't have rocks for geology because they have to be tested in a lab for sharp points (no joke!) The zealots won't stop until everything a kid touches has less lead in it than a piece of hard candy-- and once the kid's naked, bored, and uneducated, then they'll come for the candy.

But it's not just lead-free zealots; it's carseat zealots (the latest is they now want to mandate carseats for up to age 12), and zealots of all stripes trying to get Congress to codify their weird fetishes.