June, 2009 archive
Bombs Away 0
I was thinking earlier today on just how the wingnut reaction to everything seems to be to monger war. When all you believe in is a hammer &c., I reckon.
Noz had similar thoughts.
I will grant that killing people occasionally solves problems, but it really doesn’t serve well as a first resort.
R. I. P. Dell Inspiron 6000 0
The laptop that has been my primary computer for over five years finally gave up the ghost.
The screen died. I can get a whole nother computer for less than a new display.
I jacked a monitor into it and am backing every thing up across the network to my file server (the important stuff gets backed up regularly anyway–I’m concentrating on the hidden configuration files in my home directory).
The timing is a little frustrating, since I spent several hours this weekend fine-tuning Fluxbox. But I can’t complain. The box has taken everything I’ve thrown at it and, as my old mechanic used to say, doesn’t owe me a dime.
Oh, well.
Virtual Windows 0
Jeffrey demonstrates how to load Windows 7 as a virtual machine on a Ubuntu box. Watch it here
Drinking Liberally 0
I don’t have a clue what events in Iran mean and, at this point, I doubt anyone else does either. Too much dust is still in the air.
Including the Iranians.
If you do, come to Drinking Liberally to enlighten me at 6 p. m. tomorrow, Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa.
New York Times Crossword Puzzle FAIL 0
The New York Time’s crossword puzzle in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:
Clue, 16 down: WWII craft for gettting troops ashore.
Answer that fits: LST.
Correct answer: LSI.
Where Were the Cops? 0
This American Life, in a follow-up to its marvelous show from last year, “The Giant Pool of Money,” investigates why the regulators missed the boat bust:
Follow the link to hear or download the show. Find other This American Life episodes on the economy here.
Forget the Coaster. Ride the Leverage. 0
MarketWatch:
Bloomberg has a more longer story here. From the Bloomberg story:
Six Flags shares have fallen 86 percent in the past 12 months as investors have grown skeptical about the company’s ability to refinance preferred income equity redeemable shares, or PIERS, before their August redemption date. On Aug. 15, $287.5 million in preferred stock matures and $131 million of 8.875 percent senior notes come due next year.
The issue doesn’t seem to be profitability in the conventional sense. I read elsewhere (can’t remember where–yesterday was a long time ago) that day-to-day operations have been profitable for the last couple of years. Rather, it seems to be “leverage”–debt.
Despite the magic of double-entry bookkeeping (not the same as two sets of books) and Wall Street’s double-talk, the past year has proven that more debt does not magically mean more wealth (or, to use Wall Street’s double-talk, “wealth-creation”) unless the meny obtained through debt is actually used to create something useful, like a bridge or a school or a factory or such.
I haven’t dug it out yet and may never do so, but I got a dollar to a doughnut that a lot of the debt didn’t have anything to do with building new theme parks and improving the business, but just with “taking the cash out.”
I’m betting that cash didn’t go anywhere useful.
Flag Day 0
The local rag had an interesting article on a local man who collects old American flags. Very old American flags.
It makes good Flag Day reading. A nugget:
The result, in an age before mass communication and mass production, was that seamstresses and flag-makers invented their own odd, often outlandish interpretations.
Some covered half the flag in blue. Others set the stripes vertically. Some put the stars on the stripes. Some added eagles, shields, or political slogans, because, after all, there was no rule against it – and no efficient means to compare one design to another.
The Deep End Is in Sight 0
That’s “deep end” as in “off the.”
“When you go to school and church, they tell you ‘hell’ is negative and ‘heaven’ is positive,'” said the 56-year-old Canales, who owns the Kingsville Flea Market. “I think it’s time that we set a new precedent, to tell our kids that we are positive adults.”
Via Wait Wait.
Cutting to the Quick Slowly 0
This morning, while listening to Marconi’s Magic Box, I heard a spokesperson for Big Health Insurance babble on about how a “public option” for health insurance is a bad thing.
It took the interviewer the entire length of the interview and large amounts of lobbyist gobbledegook to get her to admit, under gentle questioning regarding a public option, that “it’s cheaper.”
Returns Dept. 2
I don’t care about ex-Miss USA Carrie Prejean or her views on gay marriage or her inability to express herself coherently. Her views on gay marriage are actually pretty conventional. And, for heaven’s sake, it’s a beauty contest, not a brains contest.
Choosing between her and Perez Hilton–well, he asked her a loaded question; she gave a conventional, if inarticulate, answer; and he and the Celebutard Gossp Industrial Complex went bonkers–well, pot, kettle, and all that.
Nevertheless, as I review Cookie Jill’s questions, I must say the last one deserves a response.
Resale Shop 0
Remember when Lehman Bros. bucket shop investment bank went to Barclay’s in a fire sale?
Well, Lehaman has struck a deal with their landlord on Sixth Avenue of the Americas to swap their furniture for a rent reduction.
It’s not their furniture. It’s Barclays’.
Maybe Wall Street’s next round of pay for performance bonuses should include a matching set of end tables and a credenza.
Words Have Meaning 0
Winston Pickett, writing at the Guardian, on myths about those who commit crimes of hate.
A nugget:
End the politics of hate. Disavow those who feed the hate.
