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USA Today reports former world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield has been reprimanded by the bosses of a British reality TV show for saying being gay "ain't normal."


Holyfield compared being homosexual to being born with a deformed leg, saying "you go to a doctor and get it fixed back right." He also said it was "a choice" to be gay.

The 50-year-old American made the comments during a conversation with a fellow contestant on Celebrity Big Brother in an episode that was aired Sunday in Britain

More here

So we can't get started on the new year without seeing how I did last year, right? It's always fun to see if your December 2013 self was in tune with your January 2013 self - did I get anything done or not? So with that said, may I have the envelope please.

My 2013 goals were:

1. Entry Refresh - Wahoo! We are off to a good start. It may have taken me a while (I started in June and finished in...October) and I did have to redo the entire stencil, (sometimes I guess it pays to read the directions) but it turned out even better than I had envisioned and now it's fresh and bright and a jolly little welcome to our little home.


2. Sew something. Anything. - Bam! I rocked this one like a hurricane for the One Room Challenge in November. It is amazing what confidence a looming deadline will give you. I had just days to go before the big reveal and I was staring at a pile of fabric and no pillows, so I bit my lip and gave it a go. I will say that the intimidation factor is squarely on that damn machine. Actually sewing a pillow is pretty simple, its that blasted bobbin that gets me. Every. Time.


I even went ahead and made myself some pillows for my bedroom while I was at it. Overachiever.


3. The girls' room. This already feels like a million years ago, but I knocked this one off the list in February/March thanks again to the One Room Challenge. This was one of my favorite projects of the year and I'm happy to say the room still looks largely the same - just with the addition of a thick layer of clothes, toys and naked barbies strewn on the floor.


4. Bathroom Redo. This one is a mixed bag. Yes, I have updated the bathroom. Good homeowner. But I have yet to share the updates. Bad blogger. I did share a very small sneak peak a while back on Instagram but that is it. For shame! I promise a full reveal before we hand out Valentine's.


5. Open my little black door a little more. I just realized how...interesting that line sounds. But anyway, it was about sharing more about other aspects of my work, my life, and just putting myself out there more. And I did work on this. I shared some client projects here, here and here. I started a new series, Fess Up Friday and shared more of my crazy life on Instagram, which I consider like a mini-blog of sorts. I have more plans and more work to do this year, so we will call this one 'under progress'.



So all in all, not so bad for old Elizabeth. And I'll tell you, this has gotten me motivated for 2014. I'm ready to get working! And I'll share those plans tomorrow.

So how about you? How did you do with last years goals? Do you make any years goals for yourself, your business, your home?

The following chart shows the natural log of the 1-year treasury yield. By using a natural log, constant exponential growth (or more importantly in this case, exponential decay) can be seen as a straight line.


Click to enlarge.

We're repeatedly told to brace for the rising interest rate environment. It's a sure thing! Coming any decade to a country near you! I assume that the advice is intended for the long-term, and not just some short-term unsustainable cyclical bounce. I therefore offer a two-step program to get us there.







File:Kelpie wearing an Elizabethan collar.jpg (aussiegall from sydney, Australia)

How hard can it be? Do not concern yourself that we aren't making any progress towards completing the first step. The second step is bound to be easier. Once the cone goes on, how hard can it be to get the cone off and run free? There I go, thinking as a dog again. Always the optimist!

The future's so bright I gotta get coned! Yes! Genius!

As a side note, you'll be happy to know that the dog in the photo made a full recovery. I just wish the same could be said for our economy.

Once again, this is not investment advice. I'm simply suggesting that some sure things are not quite as sure as many seem to believe (whether it be getting in cones or escaping from them). But what's new?

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Police asking the public to submit photos, video and other evidence taken at the Bremen airport of a possible UFO.

Click to enlarge.

Although we seem very determined to make it to $1000, I'm going to have to go with bust on this one.

1. The blue trend line was a noble effort.
2. The orange trend line offered renewed hope.
3. The red trend line doubled our efforts.

Three attempts. Three exponential trend failures.

Despair.com: Incompetence


I'm told that the economy will soon accelerate from here. If it is true, then I have just one question.


Seriously. At best, the answer seems worthy of a coin toss.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Stanford Advocate reports a Norwalk man who shot three men while trying to defend himself from local gang members in South Norwalk, and was subsequently picked up with a pistol while out on bond, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in jail.
Christopher Entzminger-Joyner, 22, of Taylor Avenue, pleaded guilty in November to illegal discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit.


In November, Entzminger-Joyner's attorney Steven DeLeo said his client was being attacked by a gang of youths when he pulled out a gun and shot at the attackers.

His other attorney Mark Sherman said on Tuesday that Entzminger-Joyner has accepted responsibility and is looking forward to moving on with his life.

"This case was a situation of self-defense and the deal we made with the state reflects that," Sherman said.

DeLeo said his client's residence on Taylor Avenue is a crossroads for kids who live in public housing complexes in Norwalk like Roodner Court, Meadow Gardens and Washington Village.

"This family is in the middle of a war zone down there," said DeLeo, adding that numerous shootings have taken place there.

"Not all the kids are carrying guns to commit crimes. Some, like my client, are carrying them to protect themselves," he said at the November hearing.

More here

Click to enlarge.

Just look at that stock market setting new inflation adjusted highs! It's a sight to behold! Amazing!

Oh, wait. In my nearly infinite exuberance, I appear to be using the wrong data set.

The chart above actually shows the ISM Non-manufacturing Employment Index divided by the ISM Non-manufacturing New Orders Index. What was I thinking? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

Don't let it concern you that the non-manufacturing employment index is growing faster than its new orders index. I'm sure it will be totally sustainable this time! We can just extrapolate that out to infinity and call it good. No business cycle worries at all! None! Nada! ZIRP! Just keep believing in the dreams!

Dream #1: The stock market only goes up!
Dream #2: Long-term bond yields only go up (even during ZIRP)!

This is not investment advice. As always, just opinions.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth

Dean Heller

Given the continuing and relatively elevated unemployment figures, which we all know are really understated, it is understandable why the Federal Government is concerned with extending yet again unemployment benefits.

After all people need a safety net when they fall on hard times and unfortunate circumstances such has been the case for millions since what, 2008?

While most, but by no means all, will actively look for work, job retraining, and or both, some will sit it out and look to the continuing goodies from the tax payers they are confident the Democrats (progressives) in Congress will demand for them. This of course without any urgency to actually find work.

Now, before going further I am unequivocally saying that I AM IN FAVOR OF A TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF JOBLESS BENEFITS at this time and the three month time frame ks reasonable.

However, the question that needs to be asked is, what if circumstances do not change? Do we extend benefits further? Should there be a limit to the number of times and the maximum length benefits should be extended to? Is it even reasonable to have the discussion as to the effect a long eligibility for unemployment benefits has on a person's desire to work?

I certainly don't know the answers to these questions for certain. What I do know is that I, as well as most of you are possessed of common sense.

The Daily Beast - Dean Heller is no big spender, yet he talked five fellow Republicans into breaking his own party’s filibuster of extended unemployment benefits.

Before the Senate voted 60 to 37 Tuesday to end a Republican filibuster on a bill to extend jobless benefits for the next three months for the long-term unemployed, just one Republican senator went out on his own to speak in favor of it, the bill’s lone Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada. Republicans Kelly Ayotte, Dan Coats, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rob Portman joined Heller to move the bill forward, along with all Senate Democrats.

“Helping those in need should not be a partisan issue. Providing a limited social net is one of the responsibilities of the federal government,” Heller said. “Unfortunately, instead of planning ahead and figuring the best way to do that, we are now forced to decide whether or not to reinstate these benefits after they’ve expired.”

Heller’s push for the emergency aid makes sense, given Nevada’s 9.3% unemployment rate, the highest in the nation. But his willingness to champion the bill put the former stockbroker on the opposite side of nearly every Republican in Washington, including powerful conservative groups like the Club for Growth and Heritage Action, which announced Monday they would “key vote” against the measure.

His unambiguous push for the aid bill also highlighted the competing visions within his own party of how, and even whether, to help people still struggling in the nation’s uneven economic recovery, even as Washington Democrats push to exploit Republican opposition to aid measures going into the 2014 elections.

On unemployment benefits specifically, most GOP senators said Tuesday they would have supported the bill if the $6.5 billion cost had be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

Whatever the Congress, and the People of this nation decide, be prepared to pay the cost of a decision to extend benefits. Either in the form of spending cuts elsewhere in the budget or tax increases on those still working.

It is after all time to cut the bullsh*t and do what is right for the long term best interests of this nation. I'm quite frankly beginning to believe this may very well be fast approaching an impossibility.

Read the rest of the article below the fold.

Via: Memorandum