10 Commandments Update

A bit crude, but funny!

I love Science

Every year they give away the IG Nobel Prizes for achievements in science that make people laugh.  This years winners include a study into electronically modifying the sound a potato chip makes to have it appear crisper and fresher to looking at the effects that ovulation had on the tips that lap dancers received.  So none of these are exactly curing cancer, but they are good for a laugh.  Read all about them here.

A Good Question

I was so proud to hear this question at a recent Obama press conference and the answer wasn't perfect, but not awful.  Good to hear "Balanced" economic principles being used:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. In your opening remarks, you talked about that if your plan works the way you want it to work, it's going to increase consumer spending. But isn't consumer spending or overspending how we got into this mess? And if people get money back into their pockets, do you not want them saving it or paying down debt first before they start spending money into the economy? 

OBAMA: Well, first of all, I don't think it's accurate to say that consumer spending got us into this mess. What got us into this mess initially were banks taking exorbitant, wild risks with other people's monies based on shaky assets. And because of the enormous leverage where they had $1 worth of assets and they were betting $30 on that $1, what we had was a crisis in the financial system. That led to a contraction of credit, which in turn meant businesses couldn't make payroll or make inventories, which meant that everybody became uncertain about the future of the economy, so people started making decisions accordingly -- reducing investment, initiated layoffs -- which in turn made things worse. 

Now, you are making a legitimate point, Chuck, about the fact that our savings rate has declined and this economy has been driven by consumer spending for a very long time -- and that's not going to be sustainable. You know, if all we're doing is spending and we're not making things, then over time other countries are going to get tired of lending us money and eventually the party is going to be over. Well, in fact, the party now is over. 

And so the sequence of how we're approaching this is as follows: Our immediate job is to stop the downward spiral, and that means putting money into consumers' pockets, it means loosening up credit, it means putting forward investments that not only employ people immediately but also lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth. And that, by the way, is important even if you're a fiscal conservative, because the biggest problem we're going to have with our federal budget is if we continue a situation in which there are no tax revenues because economic growth is plummeting at the same time as we've got more demands for unemployment insurance, we've got more demands for people who've lost their health care, more demand for food stamps. That will put enormous strains on the federal budget as well as the state budget. 

So the most important thing we can do for our budget crisis right now is to make sure that the economy doesn't continue to tank. And that's why passing the economic recovery plan is the right thing to do, even though I recognize that it's expensive. Look, I would love not to have to spend money right now. This notion that somehow I came in here just ginned up to spend $800 billion, that wasn't -- that wasn't how I envisioned my presidency beginning. But we have to adapt to existing circumstances. 

Now, what we are going to also have to do is to make sure that as soon as the economy stabilizes, investment begins again; we're no longer contracting but we're growing; that our mid-term and long-term budget is dealt with. And I think the same is true for individual consumers. Right now they're just trying to figure out, how do I make sure that if I lose my job, I'm still going to be able to make my mortgage payments. Or they're worried about how am I going to pay next month's bills. So they're not engaging in a lot of long-term financial planning. 

Once the economy stabilizes and people are less fearful, then I do think that we're going to have to start thinking about how do we operate more prudently, because there's no such thing as a free lunch. So if you want to get -- if you want to buy a house, then putting zero down and buying a house that is probably not affordable for you in case something goes wrong, that's something that has to be reconsidered. 

So we're going to have to change our bad habits. But right now, the key is making sure that we pull ourselves out of the economic slump that we're in. 

Go Georgia Tech!

Saw this in an article on CNNSI.com and it made me proud to be a jacket!

No.1 - Biggest College Football Loss: Cumberland College Bulldogs

Prior to the 1916 college football season, Cumberland folded its football team, but due to a scheduling obligation, they needed to suit up once more to play its game against Georgia Tech or risk a $3,000 fine. Cumberland’s baseball team had run up the score 22-0 on GT earlier that year, so Tech head coach John Heisman (of Heisman Trophy fame) wanted to teach Cumberland a lesson. Tech led 126-0 at halftime, but Heisman didn’t take his foot off the gas. The GT quarterback passed for nearly 1,000 yards, and Cumberland was thoroughly embarrassed 222-0 in the most lopsided college game in history.

The Real Super Bowl

From CTmagazine Twitter.  This is an amazing football video about loving your neighbor, get your kleenex ready. http://tinyurl.com/bj55eu

The Extra Degree

Awesome video called 212. Talks about how one extra degree really matters! Very inspirational about doing the little things that really matter.

"Chemical" Apple Pie

Dan's wife Jennifer made a recipe for us today that I found in one of my science journals.  It used to be on the back of Kraft butter crackers and uses a chemical reaction (with common household food ingredients) to turn them into something that tastes like apples!

Here's the article!

She also made a regular apple pie. Jennifer is a great cook so we know it was done right and believe it or not the taste and texture were a dead ringer. Who would have figured?

Now that's Fast Internet - Buckhead Church Live Video

Curious about the new "live" video at Buckhead Church?

The live feed does go over a dedicated fiber circuit to work. It doesn’t actually ever hit the internet - it goes over a portion of AT&T’s fiber network that they have dedicated to us for this service. The actual circuit is a TV1 circuit, and is 270Mbps, and we can send/receive video/audio from any campus.  We also have backup video running over the circuit that connects all our campus computer networks together - just incase.

I'm a tech junkie and love this stuff!