Faith and Butter

I know I'm the only guy in Wisconsin that follows pro basketball but it's only because I wager on it. I had a relatively large game last night not betting ON the Milwaukee Bucks but betting AGAINST the Chicago  Bulls.

Well late in the 3rd quarter the Bucks were losing by 27 and they put  all of their bench in to get playing time.  I had marked the game off as  a loss and was looking at the Bulls schedule.

Then a funny thing happened. The Bucks bench outscored the Bulls weary starters 31-4 and they won the game. WHOA!!  This happens a lot when a team comes home after a long road trip and relax with home cooking.  BUT  NOT WHEN UP BY 27!!    

So I'm 30-1 now.  Although 1 loss is actually 16 losses so I'm 30-16 in the NBA.  The 16 losses were tough to take but with backtesting I should  only lose the BIG game 4 or 5 times in a year.

I have faith.  And you know what Faith is?  Faith is Believe without evidence.  But Elwood and I have been backtesting every team with the last 10 years of data and we have faith.
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The Fiscal Cliff. I'm so confused.  OK are both sides now giving a little or not.  Every hour I hear something different.   And come on - IT'S NOT A CLIFF.  It's a fiscal slope and actually a gentle slope at that. But slopes are not good.

On slightly the same subject. I'm reading a new book called "Patriots, A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse".  A work of fiction about a group of friends that bands together when the worlds financial infrastructure goes 100% belly up. Lots of great survival information (don't use hybrid seeds).

The thing is the book explains WHY the collapse (called The Crunch) happens and the author says It is a worse case scenario and could never actually happen.  1000% inflation, the dollar is worthless, the power grid is down  and so forth. 

So if you are one of those that collects things waiting for anarchy - better hope for a natural disaster.   
Here is a fun fact that was just told to me by a co-worker. 

When Social Security was established it was deemed that at 65 you could have social security, the average wage of a black male was 62.

When the average age of a black male was raised to 65 the government raised the SS age to 67.  Now that the average age of a black male is 67  the Government is talking about raising the SS age to 70.

Although it's 66 for me. I just made it!!  If you were born 1960 or later it's 67.

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a few years ago I was in at a Pot Bellys on State Street and was watching a a "panhandler" and starting counting how many times someone gave him money.  I figured he was making at least $30 an hour.

Then on Ch 3 there was a segment and they had a woman with one of those cardboard signs near West town asking for money.  Along with pizza and other food she made about $40 an hour.

There was a dude I would give a buck too on the Square. Really friendly guy with a nice story.  One time I was on the other side of the street and saw him.  He was talking to someone and thinking them for a dollar with God Bless Yous and I was sort of shielded by a car and watching.

He walked across the street and was putting the money into a billfold and I swear there had to be a couple hundred in that wallet. He got no more for me.

I know give a dollar to the guys selling those papers. They are ACTUALLY
 homeless, not beggers making $50,000 a year.

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BUTTER - A friend of mine works in the butter industry. He buys and sells butter by the train load and we were talking the other day and I learned a few things.


Except for the small Craft butter industry - all grocery store butter COMES FROM THE SAME PLACE!!  In your normal convenience/grocery store all the butter is exactly the same butter. zero difference EXCEPT for price.


Some butter will have a Wisconsin sticker and some will have a Fed Sticker and the difference is that it costs 2 cents more to get a Fed Sticker. The same people look at it. 





So when you buy butter buy the cheapest butter you can get WHICH is at Kwik Trip.  Also, Grade A butter has a better flavor then AA.  Sort of like syrup.  The worst syrup when it comes to flavor is the highest grade.

You can freeze butter for a year.  The worst time to buy butter starts in November as this is the busy butter season.   The drought hurt butter this year. Less cows.

Just sayin'

Rod