Thirty-nine percent of the polled U.S. public appear to be terribly misinformed. Don’t know whether this is true. But would anybody really be surprised if it were? The radiation may not be the only health hazard. Heh. So much for trust, but verify. Maybe they shoulda seen the signs. Want a free gun? Pretty cool one, too. All the systemic corruption of the U.S. financial system … all the horrendous harm bankers and regulators and the fed conspired to do to us ordinary working folks and our country. And who does the fedgov decide to go after??? OMG. Insider trading.…
Category: Miscellaneous
Snowed yesterday. And again today. Between snows, it veered around between rain, freezing rain, sleet and whatnot. You folks in Minnesota, Colorado, or even Oklahoma might wonder why that’s news in late November. But this is in the coastal lowlands of the dreary-but-ever-moderate NorthWET. Snow here usually comes in December or later, if at all. And though it may fall heavily at 8:00 a.m., it’s melted by noon. This snow looks set to stay. The forecasters all said we’re headed into a wet, cold winter thanks to a La Nina pattern. Global warming, where are you when we need you?…
Does anybody have any idea what to do with several hundred pounds of stove pellets that have lost their integrity? The people who sold me my house left about two dozen 40-pound bags of pellets — some stored marginally but still usable, some stored very badly. Like on muddy ground. In a leaky shed. With mice nibbling at the corners of the bags. While this stuff is still vaguely pellety and mostly not damp to the touch, it’s gunky enough to clog the auger. Don’t ask me how I know that, about clogging the auger. Don’t even mention that subject…
Just going through the motions. Even more moronic than we thought. (Tip o’ hat to Joel and Jim B.) But they sure do seem to enjoy their jobs. Man lets house go into foreclosure over $25 fee. Cutting off face to spite nose? Or method to his madness? Me, I think it’s clear he’s not doing it over the fee, but for the principle of the thing: because the bank did him wrong and now won’t even acknowledge him as a human being and a customer. Companion piece: Just when you thought you understood mortgage securitization. A few months ago,…
I didn’t know airports could fire the TSA and hire their own screeners. Did you? Apparently one of the poly-tick-ans who helped create The Sexual Assaulters is now urging airports to do so. Gotta love this, though: “When the TSA was established, it was never envisioned that it would become a huge, unwieldy bureaucracy which was soon to grow to 67,000 employees.” Because, you know. Stuff like that never happens. A heartwarming story. But more than that; a tale of complexity. And quiet individual initiative. This one’s just plain heartwarming. Also an example of dubious math. But what the heck.…
Well, golly. Maybe this explains why Ben Bernanke’s economic concepts are so … um, oversimplified. Upcoming: This Friday is (once again) National Ammo Day. Maybe you could buy yourself a box of Glasers or other frangibles. You know. Just in case the airline doesn’t supply them. Good question: If you owe uncomfortable amounts of money, should you pay off debt first? Or should you set aside a fund to tide you over in case of emergencies before getting aggressive about your debts? Sierra Black of Get Rich Slowly has her thoughts. Bovard on the biggest threat to freedom. Wow. these…
The Department of Homeland Security is in a rapid process of “regionalizing” its emergency supplies. If a private organization or a family were doing this, I’d say it was common sense in action. Given that it’s the fedgov … dunno. Gotta keep in mind that the federal government’s emergency preparations are, and always have been, focused on preserving itself and its operatives. (Tip o’ hat to Sam.) The full text of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s closing statement in his new trial. Substitute “United States” for “Russia” and much of it could be said — nay, shouted, here. Scary chart. Especially for us…
Just when you think a killer cop might actually get something more than a slap on the wrist … There are Nepalese soldiers? In Haiti??? This has nothing to do with the earthquake. But possibly everything to do with the cholera outbreak that’s sickened thousands and killed hundreds. The world. It’s a very strange place. Nepalese “peacekeepers.” In Haiti. But the world can be a strangely moving place. What sweet people. Hm. You don’t really suppose execs at MSNBC thought Keith Olbermann was unbiased, do you? This is the way some libertarians think the Internet should operate. Uh uh. Not…
Seventy degrees yesterday! Cloudless. There were people driving around in convertibles. (Very smug-looking people, I might add. It’s so rainy around here and so cold even in the summer that nobody bothers with topless cars. These folks were tooling around as if to say, “See? I knew we’d eventually have 70-degree days in November.”) Me, I took cabinet doors into the backyard and sanded and painted. Even that was glorious. —– It appears that one — count ’em — one R-Party candidate understood the message of yesterday’s election. Marco Rubio said, “”We make a great mistake if we believe that…
If you watch the money world, watch for a turbulent week. Of course, now that I’ve said that, it’ll be dull as Barak Obama without a teleprompter. Speaking of the money world: Art of the Collapse. By David Dees. “If you didn’t resist, you must have wanted it.” They used to say that about rape. Now we’re much more enlightened. Instead of applying that hoary old standard to sexual assault (usually committed by freelance criminals), we apply it searches and seizures (committed by official government criminals). Simple wisdom about Firesheep. Cartoons: Almost all … and I’d rather not WikiLeaks and…