That’s A Negative Ghostrider, The Pattern Is Full
February 27, 2008
Maverick twice does a flyby in his Tomcat F-14, in TopGun, one of the Navy's favorite movies. He first buzzes the conning tower on the USS Enterprise and next the control tower at FighterTown USA, otherwise known as the Naval Air Station Miramar in California. The stunt apparently has some real-life imitators, one just recently in Seattle.
Most recently, a Cathay Pacific Airways plane swooped down and buzzed a Seattle-area airfield without permission just after the company took delivery of a new, Boeing 777-300ER passenger jet.
There are some subtle differences between the two planes, however. One is a supersonic, twin-engine, variable geometry wing aircraft that can reach 45,000 feet in one minute. The other is a lumbering, 350-ton passenger jet that needs an extra-long runway to get off the ground and two engines at going at full blast, and it generally takes 20 minutes to get to top altitude of 35,000 feet.
One is sixty-two feet long and only thirty-eight feet wide with its wings swept back, weighs about 30 tons fully loaded and costs just $38 million. The other is 242 feet long, weighs about 350 tons and is listed at $264 million. In stark contrast to the two-seater F-14, the 777 carries about 500 people and can only hit about 570 mph. The F-14 can reach speeds in excess of 1,550 mph. The longer and bigger plane doesn't carry any weapons, either unless you count federal marshals.
In the movie, Tom Cruise's character, Maverick, got put into hack by his commanding officer, Stinger. In real life, the Cathy Pacific pilot was fired.
Boys, boys, boys.
Verbal Contracts Aren’t Worth The Paper They’re Written On
February 26, 2008
Especially when they involve business deals arising out of a personal relationship. Couple that fact with two more: our hero is a computer programmer, and our heroine is a performer in the adult entertainment industry. In fact, she's in film, in addition to her participation in certain on-stage performances.
In nightclubs. Where she met our computer programmer.
The plot thickens.
Based on the allegations flying back and forth between the two, I'm not quite the extent of their relationship before the lawsuit, but it may have involved more than ... shall we say, business. Just a guess.
The lawsuit isn't particularly revealing either, other than to point out two hints. Phillip Williams, our hero, created a website for Kira Kener (link may not be appropriate to open at work) and also "loaned" her over $75,000. The lawsuit was precipitated apparently because she didn't pay him back, despite her recovery of money in what Williams alleges was a "multi-million dollar settlement from certain litigation she had filed." Despite his demands, she refused to "pay him back."
I put "loaned" and "pay him back" in quotes because the lawsuit contains no allegations of a written contract between the two, despite what else may have been between them. Indeed, at one point in their relationship, they were talking every day, and Kira had assured Phillip there were "no other guys in her life."
Oh. I forgot two other facts. He lives in New Jersey. She lives in North Carolina. The lawsuit was filed in New Jersey. He claims she maintained sufficient contacts with the State and entered into a series of transactions with the intent of benefitting from New Jersey's stream of commerce.
You figure it out.
Life On The Open Road: Some Up In The Air About Where To Vote, Some Not
February 25, 2008
As we slog through the presidential primaries, debates and endless media coverage, there are some folks who are trying to figure out where to vote.
It's those 100,000-plus (500,000 if you believe one advocacy group) people who drive recreational vehicles, but no longer have roots anywhere but under their RV on a temporary campsite. The problem stems because they no longer have permanent residency anywhere. According to Tennessee law, you have to live somewhere, you can't just have a post office box, which is the method chosen by the RVers to handle their mail.
Instead, the Voter registrar in Tennessee yanked their right to vote there because they live on the open road, so the "residents" of Tennessee filed suit to challenge the registrar's action.
Now, all 286 of RVers dropped from the Tennessee voter roles can't vote in Tennessee according to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee Chief District Judge Curtis L. Collier.
In Texas, however, some 9,000 RVers can vote, according to a different federal judge, Judge Putnam K. Reiter back in 2000. You can read about that decision here.
The inconsistent opinions is enough to drive any sane lawyer crazy, and the Tennessee RVers, along with the ACLU (who filed the lawsuit), are considering whether to appeal.
How can we end up with inconsistent decisions that involve the same issue? Federal trial judge decisions are not required to be reported as precedent that other federal judges in other states can rely on. If a judge thinks her decision would be of value to other judges in the country, then that judge can have her decision recorded in the Federal Supplement, but not all judges follow this practice. Unless the case is appealed to one of the eleven circuit courts across the country, then a "trial court"-level decision may never become known.
Why Tennessee? According to the Associated Press, most RV full-timers are registered in one of nine states that have no general personal income tax, including Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
But there's an easy solution here for the RVers who are no longer registered in Tennessee: register to vote in Texas. They'll still maintain their personal income tax-free status, plus they'll have the right to vote.
After all, they'll probably drive through Texas at some point anyway.
Everyone In Your Family Owes $8,402 In Consumer Debt
February 24, 2008
Well, if you believe the national average. Just to top it off, some 37%, or $3,109 of that debt is credit-card debt.
Ouch.
Just so we're clear on the concept here, that's debt on consumable, non-investment assets that depreciate, not appreciate. Consumer debt includes money from credit card debt, store-financed consumer purchases, car loans, and family loans that are supposed to be repaid. I'm not talking about your house mortgage here.
In case you've got your calculator out, this debt totals $2.55 trillion. To put it in perspective, the federal government's debt is about $9 trillion. Collectively, the residents of the US carry just a little bit less than one-third of the federal government's debt.
The one difference: we can't print money.
According to a Columbus Dispatch editorial, it's worse for younger Americans: "College-educated young adults are saddled with an average of $21,000 in student loans. And they've grown up in a have-it-all-now culture, in which living on credit is the norm. People ages 25 to 34 spend an average 16 percent more than they earn, Fast Company magazine reported in December."
But don't be smug if you're older. Likewise according to the editorial, older folks are turning to their "401(k) retirement savings accounts to pay off credit-card debt and to meet other ordinary expenses. Retirement-plan administrators saw a 17 percent jump in the number of workers in 2007 asking to withdraw their money prematurely."
What's the message here?
New Orleans Home and Business Insurers Win In Supreme Court
February 19, 2008
On February 19, 2008, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of Xavier University, New Orleans business owners and homeowners, resulting in the denial of their insurance claims for flood damage arising out of Hurricane Katrina.
The insurers who had denied coverage won.
While you might think that a Hurricane is an Act of God and covered by insurance, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied coverage because the direct cause of the damage was the failure of the man-made levees, not the Hurricane. The Court determined Hurricane Katrina was not the proximate cause of the injuries suffered.
Man-made disasters aren't covered by insurance. That ruling leaves New Orleanians with only one avenue for recovery of their losses: the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and frankly, that claim isn't looking too good, either.
So, if there's going to be any relief for these folks, it will be good old tax dollars. Might as well be the same thing as insurance. Just not private coverage.
