Dr. Wingnut

On Friday through Sunday, 8 – 10 June, 2012, I am going to be participating in the Multiple Sclerosis 150 Minnesota bicycle tour from Duluth to the Twin Cities.  The purpose of my participation is to raise funds for National MS research and support programs offered through the Minnesota Chapter of the MS Society.

Riding is a small thing for me to do for people who face the devastating and relentless effects of MS every day.  With each mile I ride, I hope to bring the National MS Society closer to a cure.

I have two friends who have MS, they need the help and support of the programs offered by the MS Society, and it would be great to see this horrible ailment eradicated.  If you could spare as little as $0.10 per mile for my journey and make a pledge of $15.00 it would really help.  Just remember that any pledge that you make is tax deductible too, if that makes it easier for you to pledge above the ten cents per mile level.  In addition, the MS Society makes it really easy for you make a donation to sponsor me; just follow the link to my donation page below and enter a pledge of support.

If you can help, we may be able to eradicate this crippler of young adults in our lifetime.

The MS Society provides an easy way for you to sponsor me by simply clicking the picture above to be directed to their site, or following this link: MS Society.

Thanks for your support!

Jonathan

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC.   “You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified!   Why?   Simple!   The people demanded it.   That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.  This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2012

1. No Tenure/No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.   All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.   It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12.  The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves.   Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.   The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U. S.) to receive the message.   Don’t you think it’s time?  THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

If you agree, pass it on.   If not, delete. You are one of my 20+ — Please keep it going, and thanks.

Patience is a particular requirement.  Without it, you can destroy in an hour what it might take you weeks to repair.

I heard this said in the early nineties, and I believe it is still true: “Java: Twice the complexity and half the productivity of Smalltalk.”

Of course in those days, the performance of Smalltalk was not great, but if you could compile it into byte code and run it in the Java Virtual Machine like they do with JRuby, then you’d have something.

He knows not his own strength that has not met adversity.

You must lose everything in order to gain anything.

Initially I thought that the cover of time that arrived on my iPad on Friday, 11 May, 2012 was just creepy, but then I realized that this wasn’t a staged photo, that this women actually still breast-feeds her three-year-old.

Now I realize that this isn’t just creepy, but the creepiest cover that Time has ever had.  Really?  Breast feeding a three-year-old?  I think they can take solid food at that age.