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Tuesday, February 27, 2007Mistresses in ChinaSo I was reading some random news stories today and I came across this one: "Stand-in mistresses sought to take wife's abuse". This, of course, caught my eye. Basically, over in China it is acceptable (kind of) to have mistresses and to have them shack up at one of your other places of residence. So one wife found out about her husband's affair and is threatening to beat up the mistress. Makes sense so far...but here is where it gets odd. The husband has placed a personal ad requesting that a lady take the beat down in substitute for his real mistress. More than 10 people had applied for the job, the newspaper said. The "successful" candidate would be 35 and originally from northeastern China and would be paid 3,000 yuan ($400) per 10 minutes, it said.I think this is hilarious. Amazing and hilarious. I always wonder what people will think of next. I PROMISE this will turn into some sort of small industry of girls (probably dudes too) who whore themselves out, only it's just physical abuse here. Here is the paragraph that really caught my eye though: Many Chinese businessmen keep mistresses in second homes, a trend banished after the Communists swept to power in 1949 but which has made a comeback with market reforms in recent decades.This brings up a number of questions:
Thoughts? Labels: China, Economics, News Monday, February 26, 2007OUCH!!!Check out this wicked injury! Brian Batch dislocates his elbow in Sunday's Wisconsin-OSU game. I blame him...he shouldn't have been trying to beat the Buckeyes. This is what happens. Labels: College Basketball, Injury
The NFL Combine The NFL combine took place over the week. Actually it might still be taking place. I have no idea, and surprisingly, I don't care. The reason that is surprising is because I LOVE the NFL draft. I count down to it. For example there are something like 2 months until the draft. Hey, I never said it was a detailed countdown. Jerk. Anyway...the reason I don't like the combine is because I think it totally misses what makes for great football players. Obviously being able to run fast, or jump high, or bench press 225 pounds a lot is a good thing for a football player. I just hate how a player's college career kind of becomes worthless if they don't put up great numbers. Take Matt Leinart. (no really...take him. haha) He won almost every single game he played in college. But he fell in the draft. HE IS A GOOD FOOTBALL PLAYER...THAT SHOULD BE ALL THAT MATTERS. Brady Quinn is going to fall this year too. I actually understand that one a little more though. Quinn is a pretty solid player, but he struggled in all the games where he was playing a real opponent (like USC or Michigan). He did beat up on Army and Navy pretty good though, so that should count for something. Anyway...I am not a huge fan of the combine. But you will see more NFL Draft related posts from me as we come to the draft. Labels: Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, NFL, NFL Draft Saturday, February 24, 2007USPSI have a question. I am hoping someone can answer me. I would appreciate comments/conversation on this topic if anyone is willing. My question is this: Should the United States Postal Service be privatized? I was reading a really interesting article put out by the Cato Institute. In it, a number of people were asked this very question. One of whom is the Postmaster General, Marvin Runyon. His comments were about what you would expect them to be: don't privatize the USPS, let us privatize ourselves. I would say that is pretty much the same thing. The USPS can't privatize themselves though...they have to ask permission to do pretty much everything. In other articles I have read there seems to be a question of what, if anything, privatization would do. Most economists say it would force the USPS to play by the same rules that regular companies do. For example, The USPS has turned a profit a number of times. When it does make a profit it does not have to pay any taxes that a regular profitable company has to pay. When it doesn't turn a profit, it evens the books by using federal tax money...your money. If the USPS were privatized I think it would force it to immediately improve efficiency (yes, I realize this is not a particularly original though..but it is true). Obviously it is not currently running efficiently because it rarely turns a profit. Privatization would eventually rectify that problem. Of course, a major problem with getting this done is to get it past the USPS federal employee union. All USPS employees are guaranteed their jobs, they certainly wouldn't want that to be in jeopardy. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens with the USPS. I think it needs to be done...to save my tax money and to be more efficient. Higher efficiency would free up more people to be more productive elsewhere. This is one of the early lessons of economics...scarcity. The scarce product here is labor. Another impact of privatization would be the new competition for first class mail. Currently the USPS has a legal (read: governmental) monopoly on first class mail. If the market would open up then the other carriers (UPS, FedEx, etc...) would want to get in there, driving prices down. These parcel carriers would also now have someplace to diffuse their costs and this would also drive down the prices for package shipment. None of this would happen right away probably, but the growing pains (read: higher prices) would be worth it in the long run. I doubt much will happen with this though...probably at best there will be some sort of semi-privatization, a la Fannie May. That would be better than nothing, but still would not be the ideal position that we as taxpayers deserve. I am interested in your thoughts on this. Labels: Economics, Privatization, USPS Thursday, February 22, 20073 QuestionsThis is a new feature on DIA. In it, I ask someone 3 questions and they answer them. I will also answer the questions. Today my guest is Abby Wilson. She is my sister. Question #1 What is the all-time greatest music video? Why? Abby My candidates included Tom Petty’s Last Dance With Mary Jane and Thriller by Michael Jackson. But so very obviously, the best music video ever has got to be Hello by Lionel Richie. First of all, it’s an actual little movie with dialogue and everything. Lionel’s a…I want to say college professor? And he’s got a creepy stalker crush on a blind student, which is all very Mary Kay Letourneau but somehow okay here. The climax, and best part, is when Blind Chick finally spins around the sculpture she’s been working on and a horrible monster is revealed. “This is how I see you,” she explains, and it looks nothing like him. Granted, she is blind. It actually reminds me of when I got a caricature done once and everyone else before me looked exactly like their drawing and then in mine I had devil eyes and weird teeth and it made me seriously depressed. Unlike me, however, Professor Richie takes this slap in the horribly grotesque face of clay like a champ and is totally down with it. The music video is all around awesome and very, very 80’s and the best part is that the video actually compliments a great song. Adam I say the all time greatest music video is "Freak on a Leash" by Korn. (I don't know how to type a backwards "R"...anyone?) This video is awesome for a couple of reasons. Question #2 Pretend a deviation from the procedure from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is available and you could remove one celebrity from your (and everyone else's) consciousness...who would it be? Why? Abby I will choose to eradicate Clay Aiken. He makes me want to break his glasses and then punch him in the freckles. I also think he looks like a girl named Megan. The thing is, he’d actually be more tolerable as a full-blown Liberace-style queen. Own the gay, Clay. And also grow a sense of humor. And also stop singing. And then also? Stop singing. Adam Ironically I chose Simon Cowell. So it appears the Wilson kids don't like American Idol much. The reason I chose Simon Cowell is just because he is responsible for all that garbage. I don't really have anything against him personally. In fact, I like people with British accents. Especially if they are cranky all the time. I just don't like the show. I also would like to get rid of anyone who dates Scarlett Johannson. Question #3 Who is TV's greatest character? Why? Abby Without a doubt, the greatest TV character ever is George Costanza (a.k.a. Art Vandelay). The reasons are numerous and self evident, but I will name the first three things that come to my head – he’s got a bed under his desk, he’s got beautiful hands, and has, on his answering machine, possibly the best outgoing message ever recorded. Adam I can't argue much with George Costanza. He is pretty good. And it is hard to argue with Abby on television characters because she is more knowledgeable on that topic. She is wrong though. The obvious greatest character is MacGyver. Think about it. He had a mullet. He hated violence. He hurt his hand every time he punched someone (only when he HAD to punch someone, he didn't like to do it. Because he hated violence). He worked for some mysterious company called The Phoenix Foundation, which for some reason spent its time and resources fighting crime. Basically, MacGyver is a super hero, but real. Oh yeah...I almost forgot...HE COULD DIFFUSE A NUCLEAR WEAPON WITH SILLY STRING AND A BANANA. Even with all that...there is a chance he wasn't as awesome as Murdoc. I'll never forget the episode when MacGyver had to go through a bunch of problem solving quizzes and booby traps at Murdoc's house. Outstanding. Thanks to Wikipedia, here is a List of Problems Solved by Macgyver. I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Three Questions. Look back for more in the near future. Labels: 3 Questions, Abby Wilson, Music, TV
Top 7 - 2.22.07 The weekly DIA Top 7 List Seven Things I Like Right Now
Labels: Food, Freakonomics, Music, Scarlett Johansson Tuesday, February 20, 2007Reds StuffWell, since I am pumped about spring training coming up, I figured I would wax poetic about the Reds. These are my pre-preseason thoughts:
That's about it for now...more baseball observations to come. Labels: Cincinnati Reds, Josh Hamilton Monday, February 19, 2007Pitchers and Catchers ReportWho else is excited about baseball?? I realize that Opening Day is more than a month away, but I am still excited about baseball and Spring Training. This is the only time of year I can expect the Reds to win 162 games. I do expect that too. Now is the time when I am over excited about average players because they are having a good spring. "This is the year that he gets it. He is going to be a superstar!", I tell myself every spring. It doesn't matter who it is. Usually it's because some backup 2nd baseman hit .375 over the course of 6 games. I have to assume that will translate into superstardom (is that a word...yes...yes, I do believe it is). Some double-A pitcher will throw a 4 inning shut out with 7 K's and I will crown him the next Roger Clemens (minus the juice of course)! Of course the season will start, both players will suck terribly, the Reds will lose a lot of games and I will lose my baseball attention span. Luckily, that's right about the time that the NFL starts. My Conclusion - Long live Homer Bailey...the savior of the Cincinnati Reds!!!! Labels: Baseball, Cincinnati Reds
Between the Lines Hi. This is a post about my music album called Between the Lines. It is a CD I recorded in 2003-2004 of original music. There are a number of places you can get the album. It is available on iTunes and most other digital download places. I think to download the album it costs $9.99. I also have them at my house and I will sell them for $5.00 + shipping. Just e-mail me and I'll send one (or more!) out to you. If you want to hear samples of the songs go check them out at iTunes. Just search for "adam f wilson". You can also hear some samples here. I hope you like the music! Labels: Music Sunday, February 18, 2007NASCAR!!!So yesterday was the Daytona 500 NASCAR race. I watched about 20 minutes of it...although only about 2 minutes of it was actual racing. The rest was spent cleaning up the track after wrecks. Riveting stuff... I have to admit I was excited watching the last lap. Pretty suspenseful. I think I'll just watch the last lap of these races from now on. Wait, no I won't. I won't watch any of it unless I happen to pass by it while it was on. In the spirit of full disclosure - I did attend the Brickyard 400 about 5 years ago. It was pretty fun. It's pretty neat to be there 15 rows from the track as these cars fly by at 200 mph. At least it was fun for a while...I fell asleep for about 30 minutes half-way through. I blame the fact that I had to get up at 4am that morning to get to the race. My conclusion - NASCAR is fun and interesting for short periods of time. Otherwise, legitimately terrible entertainment. Labels: NASCAR Thursday, February 15, 2007Top 7 - 2.15.07The weekly DIA Top 7 List Seven Things I Like Right Now
String Cheese - I have often talked about my top 3 innovations of the 20th century. They are: I don't know why I like string cheese so much. Probably because it is delicious. I usually do the super thin string slices for a while then I get impatient and jam the rest in my mouth because I can't contain my excitement anymore. Labels: Cincinnati Bengals, NASCAR, Roger Federer, Scarlett Johansson, Top 7 List Tuesday, February 13, 2007Pepperoni Pizza's PizzaThe other day I ate a pepperoni pizza's pizza. What is that, you say? Well, it's pretty basic...it's a regular pizza (with whatever toppings you prefer) with tiny pepperoni pizza's as the main topping. It is kind of difficult to eat, but it's also more fun to eat that you would think. If you are ever making your own pizza at home...give it a shot...it is good! Thanks to Bonk for the idea and to Mikah for making it! Thursday, February 8, 2007Top 7 - 2.8.07The weekly DIA Top 7 List Seven Things I Like Right Now
Labels: Greg Oden, Indianapolis Colts, Scarlett Johansson, Top 7 List Tuesday, February 6, 2007The Silent ConnectorI was thinking last night about how different people are, and I thought about one particular type of person who I really enjoy. I call this person "The Silent Connector". Do you know someone like this? The SC is generally a happy person who has no trouble being involved in conversations with people and usually has good input. The SC, though, is prone to hear something that sends them off in their own little world. Eventually they join the conversation and spout out something totally random. This is because something they heard triggered a long chain reaction of thoughts. Here is an example: Me: Hey, did you guys hear about the new landfill the city wants to put in? The SC (thinking): Landfill? I use Rumpke...They make me buy those red recycling bins...Recycling is good though...I used to collect cans on the side of the street when I was a kid and take them to a place to get paid...They paid me something like $2 for an entire garbage bag...I would use the money to buy baseball cards...Usually Will Clark cards...Will Clark was on Pro's vs. Joe's the other day...Michael Irvin was on that show too...He's a loudmouth. The SC (spoken): Michael Irvin is a loudmouth. Here it is in real time. Me: Hey, did you guys hear about the new landfill the city wants to put in? (three seconds pass) The SC: Michael Irvin is a loudmouth. Me: (stunned silence) I love when this happens, and I love SCs. Makes normal, everyday conversation much more exciting...who knows what will be said next?!?!? Look for it. Labels: People Monday, February 5, 2007XLI ObservationsWell...the Super Bowl has finally come and gone. Now I am sad because football is over and I don't know what to do. I suppose I could do something productive with the hours and hours per week I spend watching and reading about football. I'll probably just find something else to involve myself in. Anyway...here are my observations
Only 2.5 months until the draft!!! Labels: Jim Nantz, Peter King, Peyton Manning, Rex Grossman, Tony Dungy Thursday, February 1, 2007Great ExpectationsYou know how everyone has certain expectations for how they will perform at certain tasks? I generally have pretty high expectations for myself. But then as I partake in said activity I become disappointed...EVERY SINGLE TIME. I'll explain. I like to play basketball. I am generally pretty confident on the way to the court. I make most of my shots in warm ups. This fills me with confidence. I imagine myself making acrobatic layups and throwing alley-oops to my 6'1" teammates. I also like to play tennis. I have high expectations that I will serve the ball 130mph, rope backhand winners down the line, and hit drop shots that could make the statue of David cry. Although I am not sure how much of a tennis enthusiast David was. I also like to pretend I am smart. I expect that when tackling a new topic I will be able to grasp its key functions and components quickly and with full comprehension. BUT then reality sets in...as it ends up I am not a very good basketball player, I rarely make inanimate objects cry with my tennis skills, and I don't usually have full comprehension of any subject in minutes (or years). But there is good news...I might know the reason. It might have something to do with the fact that I put too much pressure on myself to perform, so I can only fail when it comes to it. But the more likely solution is that I really dislike practicing and studying. I really don't like doing that. So that is probably it. Actually, it's because I am so good at everything that I pretend like I don't do it well...just so other people won't feel bad. Yup...that's it.
Top 7 - 2.1.07 A new DIA feature!!!! Seven Things I Like Right Now
Labels: Freakonomics, Scarlett Johansson, Scrubs, Top 7 List
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