11/2    California Uber Alles is such a great song
        \_ Yes, and it was written about Jerry Brown. I was thinking this
           as I cast my vote for Meg Whitman. I am independent, but I
           typically vote Democrat (e.g., I voted for Boxer). However, I
           can't believe we elected this retread.
           \_ You voted for the billionaire that ran HP into the ground
	...

8/29    OC turning liberal, maybe there is hope for CA afterall:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/politics/30orange.html
        \_ and the state is slowly turning conservative. Meg 2010!
           \_ We will see. Seems unlikely.
        \_ Yeah, because CA sure has a problem with not enough dems in power!
           If only dems had been running the state for the last 40 years!
	...

7/15    "Mom jailed over sex with 14-year-old son"
        http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38217476/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts
        \_ I just bought a hot homeless teen runaway lunch.
           Am i going to jail?
           \_ Was she 18?
        \_ FYI people "MILF" doesn't always mean what you think it means.
	...

4/15    Guess who is not on this list (States with worst projected deficits):
        http://www.cnbc.com/id/36510805?slide=1
        \_ Don't know how CA missed that list; we're looking at a $20B deficit
           on $82.9B spending (24.1%)  -tom
           \_ Even if that number is accurate, it makes California #7. That's
              enlightening given the attenion California has received.
	...

9/2     California will survive its crackup:
        http://tinyurl.com/qfzdpn
        \_ not if we can help it.
        \_ I like the comparison with Italy.  Maybe someday we can have
          dozens of political parties fighting!  yay chaos!!
          \_ Do you think Italian people have a lower quality of life than
	...

8/12    Thanks for destroying the world's finest public University!
        http://tinyurl.com/kr92ob (The Economist)
        \_ Why not raise tuition? At private universities, students generate
           revenue. Students should not be seen as an expense. UC has
           been a tremendous bargain for most of its existence. It's time
           to raise tuition to match the perceived quality of the
	...

8/14    How California's Lock-Em-Up Mentality actually makes crime worse:
        http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111843426
        \_ Sounds nice, but the stats say the crime rate is better since
           we started locking them up.
           \_ You should look up "correlation and causation."
              \_ Just because they are not necessarily correlated doesn't
	...

2/27    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7914357.stm
        *shocking* allegations.
        China denounces US 'rights abuse':
                China has responded in detail to a US report published this
                week criticising China for alleged rights abuses. Beijing
                released its own report on the US, saying crime is a threat to
	...

2/16    So California is going to lay off 20% of employees. Seems like a
        good idea, but won't all those people now get unemployment benefits? So
        we'll be paying something like 60% of their salaries (depends on
        their income) for 0% of their work.
        \_ It's a great idea because we're starving the beast. Who needs
           a big government? Every man should be self reliant for his own
	...

2/16    California is truly f'd for sure this time.  Can we find another pair
        of stupid radio DJs to start a drive to recall Arnold?
        http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/17cali.html?_r=3&hp
        \_ It will only help if we get a governor with a spine, and get rid of
           the incompetent legislature.
           \_ How do you expect that we will get a decent ledge?  With the 2/3rd
	...

2/4     Another business flees California
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020401632.html
        \_ this whole bribe businesses to "create" jobs is a crock of bs imo
           \_ Sure, but the end result is CA loses jobs.
              \_ well, no, it isn't.  Other business replace them.  -tom
                 \_ May I suggest that when you make such asinine comments
	...

1/12    Californians fleeing to other states in record numbers:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_re_us/fleeing_california
        \_ Thank god, I hope this will ease up with congestion. On the
           other hand, this may result in Latino explosion... hmmm....
           \_ OH NOES!   THE LATINOS ARE COMING!
              \_ I don't mind more Salma Hayek and Yurizan Beltran.
	...

8/1     Suppose your house is already paid off and you retire at 65.
        How much expense does one expect to spend a year, in the Bay
        Area? Property tax will be about $10K/year for a modest $850K
        home. What about other stuff?
        \_ I think at age 65, health insurance is the next biggest expense.
        \_ I am thinking that we can have a nice middle class
	...

7[31    Suppose you have a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank earning
        minimum interest rate and you're not sure whether you're going to
        buy a house in 1-5 years. Should one put that money in a more
        risky place like Vanguard ETFs and index funds, given that the
        horizon is only 1-5 years?
        \_ I have a very similar problem, in that I have a bunch of cash
	...

3/21    Holy crap is Bay Area real estate on fire right now. I keep
        getting outbid by hundreds of thousands of dollars on places.
        \_ does more home-owners mean fewer people will be renting,
           driving the demand for rental down?          -poor renter
           \_ I am kind of doubting that, but it might work.
        \_ what is the zip code that you're bidding on?
	...

3/10    I'm trying to help my parents, in their mortgage there's an
        "escrow" amount. What exactly is this? From reading Google,
        the loan company uses the escrow account to pay for home
        insurance, but they've been paying home insurance themselves.
        I'm really confused on what this fee is.
        \_ Without an escrow account, you write checks to your insurance
	...

2/19    I just realized that my real estate broker has a PhD in plant
        molecular cell biology from an Ivy League school in the mid 70s.
        Now she has to deal with a bunch of young dot-comers, and they're
        pain in the ass.                        -Only a BS in EEC$
        \_ My agent used to be a hardware engineer.  He switched to real estate
           when he got laid off during the 80's.  Now he's doing very well.
	...

12/21   Is it possible to use my Fastrak on a rental car?
        \_ Don't know if you're supposed to, but I think it works under normal
           situation (i.e. you're not speeding, your windshield doesn't block
           the signal, etc.)  The problem is that if the reception is bad and
           the toll tag doesn't beep, the booth will take a picture of your
           rental's license plate and fine the rental company because the
	...