As it stood there was enough support to carry the vote and initiate the break, however with the wisdom and leadership of John Adams, Congress agreed that a unanimous decision was needed in order to show necessary strength and unity amongst the precocious colonies.  It was certain on this night, that more debate and backroom dealings were needed.

And so it began, the delegates met throughout the night, outside the walls of Congress to reach a working agreement for the final vote that would take place on July 2, 1776.  South Carolina agreed to switch their vote to the positive if Delaware would do the same - the problem here was that two of the three Delaware delegates were at an impasse.  John Dickenson of Pennsylvania (a devout Quaker), who was the most ardent opponent of independence maintained his penchant for peace with England.  Instead of allowing his ideals to be compromised with a public switch before the record, he agreed to not attended the vote thus allowing Pennsylvania to vote in favor of Lee’s motion.  Finally the New York delegation, who had yet to receive orders for separation from their constituents, pledged to be the one abstaining vote.

So, on July 2, 1776 it officially came to pass when in heroic fashion the ailing Caesar Rodney, afflicted with facial cancer rode tirelessly 80 miles throughout violent thunderstorms to break the Delaware deadlock and seal the fate of America.  In a recorded vote of 12-0-1, a snapshot of monumental import took place.  Thirteen fledgling colonies, of various backgrounds and beliefs, asserted themselves as the new era in the new world.  A place were a representative government by the people, for the people would rule the day; honoring the republican values sent down through the annals of history.

As we make our Independence Day preparations, take a simple moment to reflect and honor a seminal moment in the history of western civilization.  A moment in time where the perfect storm of circumstance coalesced in the great crucible of nation building.  I leave you with a excerpt from a letter that John Adams had written to his wife Abigail at the close of July the Second.

The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America.  I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.  It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, with games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.

It is truly remarkable to hear a principle architect of this nation speak to us now in such a way.

It will also be a stunning landmark for the city, catching the sun as it quietly twists like a monolithic Rubik’s cube.

How It Works?

Construction begins with a concrete central core, containing the plumbing, the elevators, and other utilities. Then each apartment unit, which was pre-fabricated in various locations around the world, is shipped to Dubai and added to the concrete tower. Architect Fisher does this to cut down on construction costs and to make the actual construction more efficient. The Dubai Tower is planned to be 80-stories tall (1,380 feet) and house 200 apartments that are in a constant rotating motion around the central core. In between each floor unit there will be a horizontal wind turbine. There are slated to be at least 79 wind turbines in between the units, each producing an abundance of energy; enough to supply the entire tower and help out the surrounding neighborhood. Also, Dynamic Architecture has plans to place photovoltaic cells on each apartments roof, which will assist in powering the building through solar power. Due to the dynamic motion of each unit, every roof will ultimately see sunlight and this will only add to the self-sufficiency of the skyscraper. You might ask yourself, “Self, is this innovative building safe from natural disasters, like earthquakes?” Well, apparently it is.

Dynamic Architecture, the company building these structures, says that they’re actually safer from earthquakes than normal skyscrapers because each unit is independent and flexibly moves with the wind.

There is one downside though. While the few owners of an entire floor will be able to control the floors movement and pick their view, those that own individual units will be moved through the architects laptop. Thus most of the rotating floors will be controlled by the architect. Somehow this makes me uncomfortable.

What Are the Apartments Like?

As I said before there will be 200 total units attached to the Dynamic Tower. According to Dynamic Architecture, the first 20 floors will be offices, floors 21-35 will be a luxury hotel, and floors 36-70 will be residential villas. The last 10 floors will be luxury villas, which will no doubt host the wealthiest kings and lords.

Apartments will range in size from 124 square meters (1,330 square feet), to Villas of 1,200 square meters (12,900 square feet) complete with a parking space inside the apartment.

You read right, apartments will also be able to house a parking spot. This means that residents will be able to drive their vehicles into the elevator running up and down the central core.

Cost, Finance, & Science

While I am by no means a financial analyst nor an engineer, I thought it would only be proper for me to at least introduce the figures that have been thrown around in regards to the construction and the energy production of the Dynamic Tower. The initial cost is estimated at $700 million. Fisher’s plan to have the apartments pre-fabricated off-site and then shipped to Dubai to be added to the tower is estimated to save at least 10% of normal construction costs. Additionally, each apartment’s cost will range from about $3.7 million to $36 million (about $3000 per square foot).

On the other side of the coin, the tower is expected to produce $7 million of surplus energy per year marking its long-term profitability. According to inventorspot.com and gizmag.com, the wind turbines in between each floor are expected to collectively produce 1,200,000 kilowatts per year. With each turbine producing 300 kWh over the year and with the average family consuming 24,000 kWh annually, there should be a giant amount of surplus energy that can be pumped back into the city’s grid.

My Thoughts

Without a doubt, the undertaking to construct this rotating tower is an architectural marvel. Upon its completion it will most likely become the 10th Wonder of the World. It will definitely be an architectural feat that rivals the building of the Great Pyramids, relatively speaking of course. The future is here and it seems as though Dubai is playing host to all creative innovation and technology.

. . . each floor rotates independently at different speeds, resulting in a unique and ever evolving structure that introduces a fourth dimension to architecture, Time.

While I am by no means an avid supporter of wind power or solar power, as I think nuclear is the best way to produce energy, I can’t help but think that this tower is a really cool technological achievement. I mean this is the stuff that Sci-Fi books and movies is all about. Perhaps Dubai will be the first futuristic city in the world, kind of like machine city, Zero-One, from the Matrix. Maybe one day, Dubai will serve as the capital to the world. Maybe it will be the home of the future space federation. Regardless of political or financial motives, Dubai is quickly bringing the future to the present.

How?

His campaign claims he will erase hatred and bigotry yet most of his supporters call John McCain “Politics as Usual” simply because he is a wealthy, elderly, white male.  Well to me that sounds like racism, ageism, sexism, and class warefare all bundled up in one convenient package with big ears and a slick tounge.

His biggest proponents claim he will unify the country.  I cannot imagine a more idiotic statement.  Obama is the most Liberal candidate to win the Democratic nomination in my lifetime.  How is a man who makes Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy look like conservatives supposed to unite the country?  In fact, if you look closely at his policy, he is even further to the left than everyone’s favorite villain, Bush, is to the right.  So how will this mend the tear between the parties?  It will serve just the opposite effect of increasing the divide between left and right.  If one candidate actually has a chance at unifying the country it is the extremely moderate McCain who is only a stone’s throw away from a Democrat in terms of policy and has been the single most outspoken critic of the Bush Administration on that side of the aisle since the 2000 primaries.

I’m sorry Obamacons, but your boy is only another Bush riding a Donkey instead of an Elephant and you can’t even see it coming - No you can’t.

~Man Overboard

Popular opinion would say that the start of reality television began with MTV’s The Real World. This is not true. Reality television, a malignant tumor upon our airwaves, boasts roots that grow far deeper than MTV. Reality television is about giving an average person the ability to have fifteen minutes of fame on the old tube. Ever hear of game shows? While this brand of reality television is crude, the networks had to start somewhere. Game shows are to American Idol like the WW I propeller planes are to today’s F-22 fighter jet. Reality television continues to grow in leaps and bounds, giving rise to new programs taking advantage of the unsuspecting viewing audience in ever greater numbers. Like game shows, reality TV is cheap programming for TV networks. No actor salaries, minimal set and production costs, and better yet, you get to put poor fools in deplorably degrading situations for the entertainment of others. What’s the downside? For the networks: none. For everyone else: the continuous demise of intelligent AND entertaining programming. Every time a reality show graces my television for longer than five minutes I immediately lose 10 points from my IQ.

The Four Parts of a vlookup function

1. lookup_value: this is the unique identifier.  It must be a piece of data in the reference data table.
2. table_array: this is the reference data table.  Do not include row or column headers, only include the data itself.  The first column of the table_array must always contain the lookup_value and be sorted in ascending order based on the first column.  This will prevent a large number of lookup failures.
3. col_index_num: assign a number (1,2,3,…) to the columns in the table_ array from left to right, and indicate the number of the column that contains the piece of data you are trying to retrieve.
4. [Range_lookup]:  you must indicate either “true” or “false”.  “True” means that the lookup_value does not have to exactly match the data in the first column of the table_array in order to produce a result.  “False” means that the lookup_value must exactly match the data in the first column in the table_array in order to produce a result.

Tip:  Many times failures in the lookup occur because the formatting of the lookup_value is not the same as the formatting in the first column of the table_array.  Ensure that the formatting of these two columns are identical.

How do I get rid of the annoying #N/A results when the lookup doesn’t find the lookup_value in the table_array?

Good question.  I find that there are usually many different ways of achieving the same goal when using Excel, but here is my solution.  Embed the vlookup function in both an IF and an ISERROR function and you have the ability to determine what results display when both the vlookup function does and does not have a result.  In this way, if you are trying to lookup numerical data such as dollars, you have the ability to make the formula result in a 0 instead of the dreaded #N/A (that which always ruins your sum formulas!!!)

Example: This is the formula result when using the parameters of a standard vlookup as shown above.

The #N/A indicates that the invoice number being looked up was not found in the reference data table, or table_array.  These error results will prevent you from being able to perform numerical calculations.  Instead, embed the vlookup function inside an ISERROR function, and use that as the first argument in an IF function.  Sounds confusing?  Let’s break it down.  (The syntax for this compound function is at the top of the image below)

Basically, what you are saying with this formula is, “If this vlookup function doesn’t work, return zero as the value; if the vlookup function does work, then return the vlookup function’s result.”  Below is an image of what this formula’s result is using the same information as the image above.  Notice the #N/A results are now zeroes.  This will enable the user to add numerical calculations without getting errors.

Get creative with this one particular compound function.  You have the ability to tell the spreadsheet what to do if the vlookup works and if it doesn’t work, so imagine the possibilities.  If you were looking up text strings, for example, you can have this function return “Record Not Found” instead of zero as in the example.  This type of function returns better visual quality results and allows for minimization of extraneous data manipulation such as finding and replacing, additional sorting, etc. required to produce numerically calculable results.

Take a gander at this unsightly match up:

Game 1 Friday: Giese vs. Pelfrey …edge Mets
Game 2 Friday: Ponson vs. Martinez …edge Mets
Saturday: Pettitte vs. Santana …best matchup by far, this one is a push.
Sunday: Rasner vs. Perez …edge Mets

Believe me, I know the games are not played on paper, but this is as one sided as it gets.  The Mets miss Mussina, Chamberlain, and Wang (due to injury) in what will be the final Subway Series played at Shea Stadium.  The Yankees can’t hit left handed pitching (Santana and Perez both lefties), Ponson is a headcase that was just picked up on waivers for being a detriment to his former team, and Giese is a career minor leaguer.  This is what I call a true recipe for disaster.

This is a big four game series for the Bombers, who have the Boston Red Sox rolling into the Bronx for a huge July 4th series just before the All Star break.  If the Yankees can somehow steal two games from the New York Metropolitans, this Babeler will be ecstatic.  I just hope the Yankee bats are up for this challenge!

Oh, and that Red Sox series is going to be HUGE!

Update: Look for updates throughout the series.

After a 15-6 drubbing at the hands of the Mets in game 1, there has been a Kei Igawa sighting in the Yankee Bullpen.  “In the name of the Father, and of the… ”

Game 2: Sir Sidney Ponson put up quite the pitching performance, holding the Mets scoreless over six solid innings of baseball.  To say that I am pleasantly surprised with his performance would be an understatement.  It was good to see the Yankees recover in the nightcap of the day-night doubleheader to beat the Mets 9-0.

Game 3: A solid pitcher’s duel, Andy Pettitte was able to outlast Johan Santana for the win as the Yankees took this game 3-2 despite two rain delays.  Mariano Rivera is perfect in his 22 save opportunities this season, and Carlos Beltran earned himself a Golden Sombrero.

Game 4: Mets take the final game 3-1 with a dominating performance from Oliver Perez.  He is 4-0, 1.21 against the Yankees as a Met.

I like bad movies! You can pretty much throw anything at me and I’ll watch it. I am also a sucker for action packed movies, such as “The Rock” and “Independence Day”. Regardless, as a kid, I always stayed away from scary movies or movies that sounded scary. I attribute this fear to my ignorance of movies with scary titles, such as “The Evil Dead” or “Army of Darkness”.

As far as Bruce Campbell goes, I really had never known who this guy was until The Dudes Dad referenced him in his earlier blogs. As for the movie, “Army of Darkness”, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The movie had a good enough story with the main character, Ash, defying all odds to find a way back to his own world. Armed with a shotgun and a chainsaw in place of his right hand, Ash kicks demon butt and recovers the Book of the Dead. He then leads the humans from a medieval time against an army of skeleton warriors equipped with magic. Don’t get me wrong, the special effects weren’t the greatest nor was the acting overall, but the thing that made me a fan was hands down the one-liners and zingers Campbell said. I found out afterwards that “Army of Darkness” is considered the 3rd installment of the “The Evil Dead” series. The “Evil Dead” movies are without a doubt next on my list to watch.

Most people probably have seen this movie, but if you are as lame as me and have not seen it yet. Watch it! If you have a sense of humor and enjoy action movies then I highly suggest you see this movie.

Image Used In This Post

Army of Darkness image courtesy of Flickr user Simon Zirkunow published under the CC license.

The site has only been up for a few days, but there have already been several posts.  Kidd Chris is a hard worker who is dedicated to his craft and to his fans.  Considering the new found spare time he has I would expect his blog to be a very active place.  No to mention this will keep us fans in the loop regarding his next career move.

I am a little disappointed though as it does not seem anyone can leave comments yet.  Hopefully this will change over time as it would be nice to have some back and forth interaction with the shock jock himself.

Jason Giambi, the $22 million albatross, is in the final year of his monstrous contract that he signed prior to the 2002 season.  This binding agreement inauspiciously marked the beginning of a trend of obnoxious spending by the New York Yankees, who insisted on paying aging superstars for their past performance on other teams.  But that is the past now, and General Manager Brian Cashman has grabbed the organizational reigns from the Tampa brain-trust and is working to get the spending in check.

So why bring back Giambi?

The Big G, is due $22 million next year in an option that the Yankees will most certainly not pick up.  However, there is a $5 million buy-out that will free the organization of his contract rendering Giambi a free agent.  It is at this point that Cashman should work with Jason on re-signing him for one year with an incentive laden contract that would guarantee a second season if he meets carefully determined performance criteria.  Considering the enormous amount of money Giambi has made with the Yankees and his lack of production coupled with the controversy he has wrought; Jason should be more than willing to work out a fair deal.

Here are the terms I suggest:

• A one year contract at $7 million (which would be in addition to the $5 million buy-out) yielding a $12 million payout to Jason.
• There would be an option year for an additional $12 million in 2010 if Giambi meets any one of the following performance goals in 2009:
  • Minimum of 500 plate appearances (This ensures that he not only remains healthy but also productive at first base.  Healthy or not, if Jason fails to put up the requisite numbers at first base he will have his playing time reduced making the vesting of his contract hardly possible).
  • 30 Home Runs
  • 90 RBI

You still have not answered the freggin question! Why?

Let’s face it, after a very slow start in 2008 Jason Giambi is tearing the cover off the baseball.  He is providing a big bat in the middle of the Yankee order which functions as significant protection for the league’s best player, Alex Rodriguez.  Currently Giambi’s splits are quite impressive: .271/.403/.575 with an outstanding OPS of .978.  His OPS is third in the league and tops among American League first baseman. Even in his advanced age, Giambi continues to be an on-base machine that hits for tremendous power - true to the Moneyball philosophy of Billy Beane.  If you consider his dreadful start to the season where he was cruising the Interstates, hitting around .150 you can appreciate the prolific numbers he has put up in May and June.

What is even more impressive is that he has maintained his health despite playing first base everyday - something he has not done in years.  Of course he is no Don Mattingly at first, but he can pick it and is not as big of a defensive liability as people think.  He has average range, with his one major drawback being he cannot throw the baseball whatsoever.

The Alternative:

Naturally, most Yankee fans think the organization needs to sever the chord with Giambi and go after Mark Teixeira of Atlanta (2008 splits: .271/.365/.462 with an OPS of .827), who will be a free agent after this season.  That is all well and good, but Teixeira is a Scott Boras client that is reportedly seeking an 8 year deal in the ballpark of $160 million.  Of course the Yankees have a ton of money but here you go heading down the path of paying another player mega bucks who is going to start his contract as a 29 year old.  Which happens to be the same age Giambi was when he signed his enormous deal with New York.  Without question, the switch-hitting Teixeira who is younger (for now) and a major defensive upgrade, will be great for the first few seasons of his contract.  But remember, Giambi was great for his first few seasons with the Yankees too.

The End Result:

So instead of bringing in Tex, re-sign Giambi for what is my final and perhaps most compelling reason; Derek Jeter needs a place to play.  Jeter cannot play shortstop forever, and he can slide over to first base when Jason Giambi finally departs, ideally after 2010.  If Teixeira is here, making big money where can the Yankees move Jeter?  I’m sorry I don’t want to hear people say let Jeter walk when his contract expires in 2010.  I’m not even going to begin to entertain that argument, and if you think that is an acceptable plan you are clearly not a Yankee fan and may God have mercy on your soul.

Nevertheless, the man needs a place to play in another year or so.  Under this plan, Jeter plays shortstop in 2009 at the new stadium, and you begin the transition to first in 2010.  This way the Captain can attack 3,000 hits and his future monument in peace.

Trickle-down

There are many reasons this premise is flawed, and I shall be over-joyed to share them with you.

• There are many investment options for the wealthy, as they are minimally constrained with what they can purchase.  Typically, investment into business infrastructure no longer comes in the form of a larger payroll.  Instead, companies are decreasing their payrolls via outsourcing, layoffs of higher-earning employees subsequently replaced by younger, cheaper employees, streamlining processes, and implementing technological solutions.  This is smart business because it increases the companies earnings, leading to an increasing stock price.  Most executives are the “wealthy” being discussed, and executive compensation is mostly comprised of equity (stock) compensation, with a typically much smaller percentage of income from actual salary.  Increase earnings, stock price goes up, rich get richer without any money trickling down; rather, they actually achieved this through taking jobs aways from those in the lower economic brackets.
• Production of goods, and thus the price of goods, is determined by supply.  If 1% of the population has more money to spend on consumables but the other 99% have less (or even the same) amount of money, the demand is actually decreased (or not sufficiently increased) and certainly not prompting higher production (which is the basis for the increased job portion of Reaganomics), and therefore prices don’t budge.  There is also the issue of product mix.  The wealthy are not purchasing all of the same goods as the rest of the country.  They are typically the ones who purchase the imported goods as imports are more often than not the “luxury” items.  Those consumables went straight to another country.  Not that stuff from Wal-Mart doesn’t eventually get traced back to China or Malaysia somehow, but at least the American retailers get most of the profit first.
• As you go up the scale in wealth, there is a corresponding increase in the craftiness of the people handling said wealth.  What I mean is that usually extremely wealthy people pay very intelligent and creative business people large sums of money to be good stewards of their fortunes.  These financial experts also have to compete with one another to obtain the patronage of wealthy clients, especially since they are so few in number.  The results of this competition are things like groups of mortgages with a certain guaranteed return (interest rate for the borrower…) being sold by banks to investment groups.  These investment groups are financed by money from the wealthy as an alternative to things like stocks and bonds.  So, in this instance, the higher the interest rate on the mortgages, the higher the return for the investment group, the higher the return for the wealthy.  Another example of how the rich get richer off of the lower economic classes.
• This is a bipartisan theory, no matter what anyone tells you.  Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both extended and increased the reforms put in place by Reagan’s administration.  This includes the 15% capital gains tax, the lowest in U.S. history, which strictly benefits those with enough income to invest in financial markets.  Proponents would argue that this makes sense based on trickle-down  principles and is clearly the proper course of action.  I think that the first bullet shows exactly why this is false.  The lower capital gains tax makes it more appealing for the wealthy to obtain more of their income through stock and the like.  It is not a coincidence that executives’ compensation is mostly derived from stock, it is because they know that they pay about half of the amount of income tax on capital gains as opposed to their salaries.  The top 1% earners of the country are all heavily invested in the stock market, no matter where their fortune was built.
• In addition to lower capital gains taxes, the Reaganomics reforms also lowered taxes on corporations.  This is in perfect line with the logic that the more money the company gets to hold onto, the more jobs, goods, etc.  Again from the first bullet: business infrastructure is undergoing a metamorphosis.   Corporate investments are being made overseas and in personnel-reducing areas.  They are not taking these increased profits and hiring more people.  They are paying higher dividends to their shareholders, who as we have demonstrated earlier, are mostly the wealthy.
• In order to offset the lowering of the two types of taxes above, the Reaganomics solution in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was not to reduce spending (this would be too Republican, I mean, ACTUALLY a smaller government? Pretty please?), but to increase individual income taxes on the lower earners by decreasing the top tax tier from 50% to 28% and increasing the bottom tier from 11% to 15%.  In actuality, these became the only two tax brackets.  This restructuring of income-level brackets left a segment of the population which was previously classified in the 11% bracket now a part of the 28% bracket to bear a 154.5% increase in their income tax expense.  If they were previously in the 11% bracket, that means they were in the bottom portion of income earners.  The situation is such that people who were not making a lot of money to begin with are now having about 3/4 of what they used to before the tax reform.  This is where the government made out big on economies of scale.
• Don’t go giving me the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction argument.  This benefits a large number of non-wealthy Americans, so it would seem to be a more equitable piece of the Act?  Not so, because the people that just had their tax rate increased from 11% to 15% or even 28% do not necessarily have the requisite liquid cash to obtain a mortgage.  So they rent, and the landlord who owns the property may benefit from the deduction, but not the renter.  I would venture to guess the landlord is the one in the better financial situation of the two.  The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was added for some semblance of balance in the Act.  This has been an effective tool for low-income households, but those who worship to the bust of Ronald Reagan condemn the people who are benefiting from the one thing he did to help the less economically fortunate.

To be honest, the list goes on and on.  There will be more to come including episodes on how Reaganomics resulted in the recession from the early 1990’s, the tech stock fiasco, and the current mortgage and home price situation.

Image used in this post courtesy of flickr user pingnews.com and provides some foreshadowing about what economic policies McCain probably has to offer.  Forget it, Obama won’t change this either.