They Should've Known Better

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A New Flag Idea

Courtesy of Colorado & Washington State citizens..

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Wizards' JaVale McGee Paying Attention

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Palouse Falls, Washington State

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Palouse Falls Wiki

Other Palouse Falls images..

Massive Destruction

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Totally Looks Like

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Eddie - Showin' Up The White Boyz

"My Bad" - Manute Bol?

Here's one of the many articles I've seen recently about this topic. (Via) It's about time I type what I've been thinking ever since I first heard this piece of nonsense, following the death of former NBA player Manute Bol. No doubt many, many of you who are athletic and between the ages of oh.. 37 and 43 can probably vouch for what I'm about to say.

I'm gonna call BS on this. While I realize that a lot of the media may have been trying to credit someone "famous" for this little saying, I know for a fact that we were saying this to each other on the basketball court, the baseball field, and everywhere 7'7" Manute Bol - Source

else -- in the weight room, when we tossed a can of skoal out of our buddy's reach, or when guys were gonna get mad because we farted at the wrong time -- back in the late 80's. Heck we may have been saying it as early-on as middle school sports, which would be 1983-1985 for me.

I mean yeah I'm sorry the guy lost his life at a young age, but damn, there's no way he coined that phrase, and was the sole reason it became commonplace ..likely all across the nation.

The Net Worth Of The U.S. Presidents: Washington To Obama

Having examined the finances of all 43 presidents (yes, 43; remember, Cleveland was president twice), we calculated the net worth figures for each in 2010 dollars. Because a number of presidents, particularly in the early 19th Century, made and lost huge fortunes in a matter of a few years, the number for each man is based on his net worth at its peak.

We have taken into account hard assets like land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance, homes, and money paid for services, which include things as diverse as their salary as Collector of Customs at the Port of New York to membership on Fortune 500 boards. Royalties on books have also been taken into account, along with ownership of companies and yields from family estates.

The net worth of the presidents varies widely. George Washington was worth more than half a billion in today's dollars. Several presidents went bankrupt.

The fortunes of American presidents are tied to the economy in the eras in which they lived. For the first 75 years after Washington's election, presidents generally made money on land, crops, and commodity speculation. A president who owned hundreds or thousands of acres could lose most or all of his property after a few years of poor crop yields. Wealthy Americans occasionally lost all of their money through land speculation--leveraging the value of one piece of land to buy additional property. Since there was no reliable national banking system and almost no liquidity in the value of private companies, land was the asset likely to provide the greatest yield, if the property yielded enough to support the costs of operating the farm or plantation.

Because there was no central banking system and no commodities regulatory framework, markets were subject to panics. The panic of 1819 was caused by the deep indebtedness of the federal government and a rapid drop in the price of cotton. The immature banking system was forced to foreclose on many farms. The value of the properties foreclosed upon was often low, because land without a landowner meant land without a crop yield. The panic of 1837 caused a depression that lasted six years. It was triggered by a weak wheat crop, a drop in cotton prices, and a leverage bubble in the value of land created by speculation. These factors caused the U.S. economy to go through a multi-year period of deflation.

The sharp fluctuations in the fortunes of the first 14 presidents were a result of the economic times.

Beginning with Millard Fillmore in 1850, the financial history of the presidency entered a new era. Most presidents were lawyers who spent years in public service. They rarely amassed large fortunes and their incomes were often almost entirely from their salaries. From Fillmore to Garfield, these American presidents were distinctly middle class. These men often retired without the money to support themselves in a fashion anywhere close to the one that they had as president. Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield had almost no net worth at all.

The rise of inherited wealth in the early 20th Century contributed to the fortunes of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and both of the Bushes. The other significant change to the economy was the advent of large professionally organized corporations. These corporations produced much of the oil, mining, financial, and railroad fortunes amassed at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th. The Kennedys were wealthy because of the financial empire built by Joseph Kennedy. Herbert Hoover made millions of dollars as the owner of mining companies.

The stigma of making money from being a retired president also began to disappear. Calvin Coolidge made a large income from his newspaper column. Gerald Ford, who had almost no money when he was a Congressman made a small fortune from serving on the boards of large companies. Clinton made millions of dollars from writing his autobiography.

We analyzed presidential finances based on historical sources. Most media evaluations of the net worth of presidents have come up with a very wide range, a spread in which the highest figure was often several times the lowest estimate. Most sources provided no hard figures at all. Most of these efforts have focused largely on the analysis of recent chief executives. That is because it is much easier to calculate figures in a world where assets and incomes are a matter of public record.

One of the most important conclusions of this analysis is that the presidency has little to do with wealth. Several brought huge net worths to the job. Many lost most of their fortunes after leaving office. Some never had any money at all.

1st - George Washington (1789-1797)
$525 million Rank: 2

His Virginia plantation, "Mount Vernon," consisted of five separate farms on 8,000 acres of prime farmland, run by over 300 slaves. His wife, Martha Washington, inherited significant property from her father. Washington made significantly more than subsequent presidents: his salary was two percent of the total U.S. budget in 1789.


2nd - John Adams (1797-1801)
$19 million Rank: 18

Adams received a modest inheritance from his father. His wife, Abigail Adams, was a member of the Quincys, a prestigious Massachusetts family. Adams owned a handsome estate in Quincy, Massachusetts, known as "Peacefield," a working farm, covering approximately 40 acres. He also had a thriving law practice.


3rd - Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
$212 million Rank: 3

Jefferson was left 3,000 acres and several dozen slaves by his father. "Monticello," his home on a 5,000 acre plantation in Virginia, was one of the architectural wonders of its time. He made significant money in various political positions before becoming president, but was mired in debt towards the end of his life.

Continue to the rest of the list..

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The BosWash Corridor

Click to enlarge..

I've actually noticed/thought about this on many occasions. Living near San Antonio, we have Austin within an hour, Houston within 3 hours, Waco 3 hours, Dallas is about 4.5..

How "lucky" are these 30-40 million people to have this many huge metropolitan areas around them! Note: You can also include Providence, Trenton, Newark, and Richmond if you wanted to. And if you go a little bit further you also have Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, and (gulp) Atlanta!

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Shanahan's In!

After an afternoon of negotiations produced an agreement, Mike Shanahan signed a five-year contract to become head coach and executive vice president of football operations for the Washington Redskins.

Under the terms of the new deal, Shanahan will team with Redskins executive vice president and general manager Bruce Allen, but Shanahan will have the ultimate authority on football decisions. Shanahan will be introduced as the Redskins head coach at a 2 p.m. ET news conference Wednesday.

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As the contract was being signed at the Redskins' training complex, Shanahan and owner Dan Snyder posed together for a picture. Then, with the deal signed, Shanahan, his agent Sandy Montag, Allen and Snyder headed out for a celebration dinner in Washington, D.C.

The contract is worth approximately $7 million a year, the Denver Post reported on its Web site. Now that Shanahan has been hired elsewhere, the Denver Broncos, who fired Shanahan one year ago, will recoup $7 million in offset money over the next two seasons under the terms of the agreement they had with the coach.

The Redskins' intense courtship of Shanahan began shortly after Jim Zorn was fired on Monday morning. Zorn was dismissed during a meeting in his office with Allen after the team's cross-country flight following a 23-20 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. The Redskins finished 4-12.

Allen had interviewed Shanahan via phone Monday morning, a source close to the situation told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. The Redskins and Shanahan reportedly began talks last month, a day after Allen was hired.

Shanahan won two Super Bowls in 14 seasons with the Broncos. He was fired a year ago after Denver missed the playoffs for the third straight season.

One of Shanahan's first orders of business will be assembling a coaching staff, but first he will interview Washington's assistant coaches to see which ones he would like to retain. Once those coaches are interviewed, Shanahan will launch his search for the best and brightest.

Shanahan's son, former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, will be the Redskins new offensive coordinator.

Zorn was 12-20 over two seasons and lost 18 of his last 24 games after a 6-2 start in 2008. The Redskins struggled early this season despite a weak schedule and finished with their worst record since 1994.

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