Posts Tagged ‘economy’

The New Yorker, On the Money The Economy in cartoons 1925-2009: Amazon Review

Posted: September 24, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews
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on the moneyMy review of the New hardcover collection: The New Yorker, On the Money The Economy in cartoons 1925-2009 is available at Amazon.com here.

One of the odd things about this book that I didn’t think of when I was writing the review was the almost total lack of black faces in the cartoons. Before 1960 it might have been unsurprising (how much of wall street’s wealth was in the hands of people of color then?) but once you get to the 90’s and the 2000’s it seems kinda odd to me. And the only time a black Character in a cartoon is actually the subject of one it is a ball player being interviewed: “Hey, I’m just happy to be making an obscene amount of money.” (not a bad joke either)

Perhaps it is a assumption that wealth and power is held by a bunch of privileged White men, perhaps because a lot of the cartoons consist of the rich being either tweaked for pomposity or arrogance the natural political correctness of the modern cartoonist forbade it. Who knows.

That in itself is an interesting cultural study.

Oh and the best cartoon is from the last year on page 250.

Speaking of elections in Fitchburg

Posted: September 22, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff
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Our Mayor Lisa Wong is a very bright young woman, if you meet her you can’t help but like her.

Her visit to our house when she was going door to door was memorable because of something funny. As we were talking to candidate Wong at the front door, my youngest kept trying to pull me away , Dad, Dad come here, I kept telling him it could wait. When she finally left I said what was so important? He led me to the back porch where all over the carpet lay the shattered glass of the pinball machine that broke as he was preparing to put it back on. (Good think it was tempered glass).

Wong came into a mess as as her first term ends it’s still a mess but I so far i like what she is trying to do and truly believe she is doing her best for us.

I also believe she has been marked by the democratic party for higher things, I’m torn by this since on the local level democrats then to remain, well normal but as they get higher up the political ladder the crazyness index goes up Real fast, but if you are going to have people on the other side they should be good people and that is Mayor Wong.

Running against her is. Fuzzy.

That is Michael “Fuzzy” Voisine. Everybody knows him as Fuzzy. Everybody knows Fuzzy. He worked at Espresso Pizza practically forever, before opening Premier Subs down the street. Don’t laugh Espresso has been a Fitchburg Fixture for 45 years, when everything else on main street ran away they stayed even after a devastating fire. There is nobody in the town that hasn’t tried it and it is the single best Italian sauce and pizza in town.

He is an average man who has worked hard all his life, he has both managed and owned a small business in town and done all the things necessary to make things work.

Right now I’m leaning toward the incumbent but it isn’t a clear cut choice for me. The Mayor is a highly educated person who has a lot of theory behind her and is a very hard worker, but Fuzzy has the actual practical experience in real life that is vital on the local level.

Or to put it another way. The education the mayor has Fuzzy (or anyone) can get with hard work. The practical knowledge and decades of real world Experience that Fuzzy has is a lot harder to come by.

It will be interesting around here.

This one goes to 11

Posted: September 22, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff, personal
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My city is a small city of 35,000, as you might know, we have a gang problem (we have become a drug hub over the last couple of decades just as we were a trade and manufacturing hub in the 19th century) and the violence that comes with it problem, our budget is in trouble, it’s so bad that to save money streetlights are turned off at night all over the place. And we pay I believe the 3rd highest electric rates in the entire country (Thanks Unitil!) It is a mess.

So naturally we should do whatever we can to avoid spending money when it isn’t necessary.

Which brings us to today’s primary election…..

In Fitchburg we have 6 ward counselors and 5 “at large” counselors. Under the rules of the town if more than 10 people run for the “at large” seats a primary has to be held to bring the total back down to 10 before the general election.

We have 11 people running.

On the plus side it’s nice to see so many people interested in getting involved to turn things around, and it will be the first vote ever that my son casts. That is a right of passage into the rights and responsibilities of American democracy and republican government (and by “republican I of course mean the system of government not the party). UPDATE Both he and I thought he registered at the DMV but he’s not on the list, so he will go to city hall and have to wait for the general election in November.

On the other hand we are going to the expense of a city wide primary election to shave ONE STUPID NAME off the ballot when we can’t even afford to keep our streetlights on.

Can’t anybody play this game? What would Rush Limbaugh Honorary Lizzardoid say? Now that the kid can vote I hope he votes for smarter people than we have.

I didn’t know Clayton Cramer was in the same spot as me

Posted: September 4, 2009 by datechguy in employment
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I hope his job search goes better than mine does but at least I’m not held back by his restriction:

There was a job through a temporary firm over at HP that I was a perfect match for–indeed, it was pretty much the job that I did for HP until layoffs last year, although for a considerable lower salary–but HP won’t allow any former employees to work for contractors there until we have been off HP payroll for at least one year.

That’s a pain in the neck. However I don’t think I’d get very far Gold Panning in the Nashua River.

God willing we will both have better luck in the days ahead.

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