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Aug 18

The Bankruptcy of Detroit (Motor City is Burning)

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Economic Disaster, Human Misery
How do democratically elected political leaders, their well paid bureaucrats, and astute citizens allow for the largest ever bankruptcy of a U.S. city? On July 18, 2013 Detroit declared what was already understood that they did not have enough money to pay for their commitments and obligations. The Mayor and the city Council knew that Detroit was losing jobs and people. But did they do anything to change how they operated the city? The people that the Mayor hired had to know that Detroit’s tax base had eroded over decades and that it was not going to be possible to continue spending money as they were. The people who did not leave Detroit, did not hold the government accountable to find a solution. The bondholders and business elite stood aside and did not demand that changes take place. This is the most startling example of a clusterf*ck. Detroit has been on a decline for decades. They did not lose half of their population (1.5 million to 700 hundred thousand) in the span of a few years according to The Economist. This is what has happened in Europe with is Euro crisis, with nation states not recognizing the limits of their […]

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Aug 07

How To Prepare To Blog

by Chris Billows in Republic of Bloggers 0 comments tags: Blogging, Self Analysis
Technology can be a wonderful thing. The ready availability and ease of setting up one’s own website is very easy because of services like WiredTree.com and blogging platforms like WordPress. But ease of publishing on the net is a gilded dream. It looks good but is insubstantial. You still need to do the hard work of coming up with good content which requires substantial perspiration and inspiration. And the only way to find inspiration is to know thyself enough to know what interests you and triggers a response. Otherwise, you are just rehashing what others are saying which is simply boring and lazy. Developing an online presence has never been easier, but this ease of entry into the market means that portraying a unique message is even more important. And this can only be done by developing enough self-insight to know what things trigger in you an emotional and intellectual response so you have material to work with. Its what separates the leaders from the followers. It is hard work because it requires so much self-analysis and self-editing. Thankfully, just like any skill set, it becomes easier with practice and repetition.

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Aug 06

Atlanta Thrashers 2010-11 Player Leaders

by Chris Billows in Jets Flight Control 0 comments tags: Atlanta Thrashers Relocation, Jets Goalie Stats
On May 31, 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers were sold to True North Sports & Entertainment. Within weeks a new management structure was hired and developed a plan to build a competitive team. The Atlanta Thrashers were a mediocre hockey team. From 1999-2000 to 2010-2011, they accumulated a winning % of 0.379 (342 wins out of 902 games), made the Stanley Cup playoffs only once, and were dispatched during those playoffs in the first round not even winning a single game. Games Played Wins Losses Ties OT Losses 902 342 437 45 78 The new Winnipeg Jets 2.0 would be built on a hockey team that did not have much to be proud of.  True North acquired a team that were just one step above an expansion franchise. Winnipeg and Manitoba adopted the team enthusiastically despite the team’s past performance. For the sake of posterity and to begin analyzing how Jets Management has attended to the team here is a list of the Atlanta Thrashers skaters (ranked by point totals) and goalies (ranked by games played) for the 2010-11 season. NS Player  Pos  GP  G  A  P +/-  PIM  PP  SH  GW  OT  Shots  1 X Andrew Ladd L 81 29 […]

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Aug 05

Welcome to Winnipeg Jets Flight Control

by Chris Billows in Jets Flight Control 0 comments tags: Atlanta Thrashers Relocation
Welcome to my personal dedication to the Winnipeg Jets. I love hockey and I love sports statistics. I am combining the two in my blog that looks at insightful new ways of seeing how the Management of the Jets (Mark Chipman & Co.) are doing with advancing to the Stanley Cup. I firmly believe that a sports franchise is only as good as its Ownership and Management. When Mark Chipman & David Thompson purchased the Atlanta Thrashers, they inherited some building blocks but the franchise was disorganized and listless. They have spent the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons evaluating the team all the while trying to put a competitive team on the ice. This blog will look at different aspects of the Winnipeg Jets from its drafting record, its player performances, and how the team compares to when it operated as the Atlanta Thrashers. Thanks for checking this site out.

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Aug 03

Business Failures due to Slack Partners

by Chris Billows in Business Beller 1 comments tags: Human Misery, Personal Resolve
This post is a cathartic release. What I love about blogging is that it can become a way to share and put to rest one’s experiences. This post is my way to summarizing what three years of doing business online has taught me. Essentially there are two things needed for business success: 1) a product that sells (scratching an itch, fixing a problem, providing a solution that people want); and 2) find the right business partners to help you deliver the product. Finding a product that sells is a challenge but is definitely the sexier topic and there are thousands of services out there to help you find a product to sell. It is the second point about needing to find the proper business partner has crystallized for me just recently and is not discussed very much. It is because as a topic it is full of disappointment and unhappiness. Nobody can do everything by his or her self. You need to find and work with others who help you with technology, accounting, marketing, etc. You can engage these people by purchasing their services or by entering into a formal business partnership. Regardless of how it is done, finding the […]

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Dec 30

Enjoying iTunes via Statistics Year 4

by Chris Billows in Hobby Heedings 0 comments
A year ago I posted about my third year of listening enjoyment on iTunes. Another year has come and gone and I am pleased to share my nerd and show you my listening statistics. Listening to music has become such a part of my life I basically have it going all of the time. I use two different programs to run the statistics. The more polished one is called SuperAnalzyer and it creates some wonderful statistics and graphs. SuperAnalzyer PDF Document The other program is a fabulous little script written by Scott Yanff. Thanks Scott for updating it with some new reporting goodies. iTunes Statistics Text Document These statistics were taken early December 30, 2012 of my personal library. It is a snapshot of a year of iTunes use and listening. After listening to a song a couple of times I will assign a rating to it. Some changes of note: 25,717 songs has grown to 29,915 songs with over 4,200 songs being added to the library. 2,238  artists has grown to 2,575 artists 1,710  albums has grown to 1,938 albums I have almost 30,000 songs and I have listened to 61% of them at least once. Last year I listened […]
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