June, 2016 archive
Sitting Down on the Job 0
QOTD 0
Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington:
Wise people learn when they can; fools learn when they must.
Plus Ca Change 0
BadTux steps inside the Wayback Machine.
Twits on Twitter 0
Warning: Language.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
A little better.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, fell to 267,000 from 269,250 in the prior week. Last week included the 12th of the month, which coincides with the period the Labor Department surveys employers to calculate monthly payroll data. The average is lower than the 278,000 during the comparable period in May.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits decreased by 20,000 to 2.14 million in the week ended June 11.
In their headline, Bloomberg is all a-flutter because
Jobless Claims in U.S. Declined More Than Forecast Last Week.
I suggest a more appropriate headline might have been
Our Experts Blew It Again.
Snark aside, tying economic success or failure to exceeding or failing to meet “forecasts” is a mug’s game. It serves only to feed Wall Street’s betting pools and to maintain sinecures for self-styled pseudo-savants; it has no other purpose.
Disestablishmentarians 0
Oh, my.
(snip)
The endorsement comes a week after Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of state in George W. Bush’s administration, said he would back Clinton over presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The “establishment Republicans” are starting to make their choices, and they aren’t playing Trump.
Elsewhere, establishment Democrats are holding a sit-in at the Capitol Building, for Pete’s sake. I was in my share of demonstrations when I was young and in my salad days (and even when I was older and my lettuce was somewhat wilted . . .), but that’s a new one on me.
And good on the Democrats for ditching Robert’s Rules of Order and taking a stand.
I suspect that a sit-in on the House floor was not on Republicans’ radar.
I have been predisposed to stoicism and pessimism from birth (I have read Aurelius and found it compelling), and living life and paying attention has done nothing to dissuade me from expecting the worst, but I shall still delight in the confusion of mine enemies.
Football uber Alles, the Prevent Defense Dept. 0
Play college football. Doing so gives you magical powers to prevent prosecution.
Aside:
It’s not that I think they should necessarily be prosecuted, but it’s Louisiana, folks. What do you think would be happening to them if they were just two random black kids from down the street?
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
It would appear that Reconstruction v. 2.0 needs to be installed.
One of the things that continually amazes and bemuses me, when it’s not horrifying and disgusting me, is the ability of racists to convince themselves that, somehow, their racism isn’t racist. It’s something I’ve observed since I first became aware.
Nothing better illustrates how easily persons turn a blind eye upon themselves.
Droning On 0
It looks as if we nay not have robotic radio-controlled delivery after all.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Amazon to start delivering Prime orders by drone.
New rules for commercial use of drones under 55 pounds were finalized by the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, and things don’t look good for Amazon’s planned drone deliveries.
Under the new regulations, drones have to stay within unaided sight (read: no binoculars or the like) of the pilot or an observer, even if the drone has cameras.
The FAA got this one right.
Too many members of the Geekosphere suffer from arrested development: They think like teenaged boys. “Because you can” is an insufficient reason in and of itself for doing something, especially something as stupid as filling our airspace with robots with rotating blades.
The Trump Express 0
Image from Reed, Robert, Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on the Main Line (New York: Bonanza Books, 1958) p. 77.
(When I worked for the railroad, I got a delight in “sharing” this book with new hires, ideally right before their first train trip. I guess that today that would be considered hazing).
