...he knows he didn't actually meet the residency requirement, and he's rubbing it in our faces.
It's gonna be so entertaining when he actually starts governing.
* * *
I have a problem with this. The article is headlined, "Large Hadron Collider to prove 'God Particle theory within two years'".
The "God Particle theory" may or may not be valid, but how can anyone say, "This theory will be proven by this date in 2013?"
They don't know WTF is in the data; if they did, they'd already have proof. The data may not show any conclusive evidence of the Higgs boson--and if it doesn't, then there's no proof, two years on or not.
Naturally, buried way down in the recesses of the article, the article says that we will have data which either proves or disproves the existence of the Higgs boson. That is correct.
A headline should be indicative of what's in the article it headlines.
* * *
This article about a solar panel manufacturing plant moving to China does not specifically mention environmental compliance costs, but about halfway down it does say:
Chinese manufacturers...have been able to push prices down sharply because they receive considerable help from the Chinese government and state-owned banks, and because manufacturing costs are generally lower in China.Emphasis added.
And of course they are. First, wages are lower because most of China is a third-world country. Second, environmental regulation is virtually non-existent. Third, there are no unions.
...the article never mentions regulatory compliance costs. It mentions labor costs; then starts talking about interest rates and government loans.
You know what? If your business lives or dies based on the rate you're paying for borrowing money, you're not a business; you're a welfare case.
* * *
As noted yesterday, the unrest in Libya is raising the price of crude oil.
Also as noted yesterday, expensive oil is going to be very, very bad for the economy.
The media is completely uninterested in the rise of gasoline prices, though. That Ace of Spades piece uses the word "surprisingly" in its headline, but it's really not all that surprising. Now, if Obama were a Republican you can expect that the spike in energy prices would be the headline story on all the news shows every night; but he's got that little (D) behind his name, and whenever there's a little (D) in the White House the media doesn't care about bad economic news.
(Heh. President "Little (D)". It's like some kind of rap star name or something. Do they let rap stars use teleprompters? Obama could have a career waiting for him after he's done being President!)
Artist's conception of MC Little D, in concert:
Meanwhile there's a new inflation warning, as if any of us needed some idiot with a degree in economics to tell us that.
And the housing market is heading for the crapper at mach nine. Housing prices are at their lowest in years. That's not terribly surprising, because the housing bubble must be paid for.
Vox Day predicted this; and in fact his numbers appear to have been too generous.
Stagflation--high energy costs--unrest in the middle east-- you know, I called Obama "Carter 2.0" hoping to be proven wrong, though even at the time I didn't see how that could happen. Shit.
* * *
Last night I dusted off Victorià and ran around Azeroth working on leveling her Archaeology. I was waiting for Sailor V to get back from being "away", but he never did.
Still, I got the "I had it in my hand" achievment (unearth a rare artifact) and I got the fossilized hatchling pet (the aforementioned rare artifact) and got the "Assistant Professor" title, which is the reward for earning the achievement you get after unearthing ten artifacts.
I originally logged on with Vicki because I really wanted to group with Sailor V and go make some corpses in some instances. Oh well.
You know, I have never managed to finish Blackrock Depths? Ever? Nor Blackrock Spire--because the damn groups always fall apart. It sucks.
But around 9-ish I just faded out, as noted in the prior entry. And I slept like a man drugged; though I had to get up a couple of times to hit the can, as is wont for middle aged men, otherwise I was asleep the entire time.
I woke up feeling pretty good, too. Naturally that lasted about a minute and a half; once the brain started working, I rapidly descended into a sea of self-pity and utter despair that lasted until breakfast.
Figure on Tuesday of next week I'll go over to the nearest Manpower office and tender an app there; hopefully they can get me something. (They only accept applications on Tuesday and Thursday, 10A-12P.)
(Not CNA work, though, especially as my certification expired six years ago. I don't care what, but not that. (Please?))
I also need to hit the bank and get the paperwork started on consolidating my chunk of the estate. And I need to name beneficiaries. And I've got to find the key for the safe deposit box. And....
* * *
Once I get my first paycheck, the first thing I'm going to do is go buy some freaking bullets.
I've used about half the box of .22LR that I bought in October. Now that I've got two guns to feed it to, it's going to be even worse. It's cheap ammo and I--once I'm getting a paycheck again--will have no excuse for not having at least one full box on hand at all times.
I want to put more .25ACP through the Astra. The action is--as noted in a prior post--a lot smoother now that it's been run a bit, cleaned more, and lubricated with the right kind of oil. I keep thinking about detail stripping it and seeing if I can get the trigger smoothed out, so that I don't need a come-along to fire the thing, but it's not really critical.
I'm still looking at what kind of pistol to buy. The small caliber guns are great for plinking and practicing my shooting, but if I need to shoot a goblin I don't want him to shrug it off and keep coming. I'm not going to buy a .44 Magnum or anything, but a decent semiauto in a moderate caliber would not be overdoing it. I want a .30 carbine, too.
...and about half a dozen mags for each of them.
And something robust in which to store them.
God, this is going to be expensive. But I knew that.
* * *
My girlfriend in Iowa had a pistol but no ID card. In Iowa, you don't need anything for long guns but you do need a permit for pistols; but to hear her tell it, if you owned your handgun before the law went into effect, it was grandfathered, so she was legal.
I don't know if I ever saw the gun. Pity.
* * *
I managed to get out of the grocery store for $65 yesterday, and I'm hoping that'll do me for a little while. Seems like every time I go to the store, I end up being out of something I need and have to go back a few days later.
Well--cat food is $10; depending on the presence of the outdoor cat that's about a 6-day supply. I haven't been buying much meat, only because there's still meat in the freezer and I'm trying to clear it out a bit. (I going to have to make some pork dishes--there's a lot of pork chops up there.) Mostly I've been eating eggs and cheese and ham, with the occasional bacon mofo from McDonald's thrown in the mix.
I'm starting to get a hankering for General Tao's Chicken.
Tonight's dinner will be bratwurst baked in sauerkraut. There are some microwaveable side dishes in the freezer and I could stand to be rid of at least one of them (to make more room up there) so probably I'll have that, too. It'll be pretty tasty stuff.
* * *
The "output port" troubles have--as I expected them to--resolved themselves.
But I've gotten used to sitting on the special pillow; it makes this chair easier on my back, strangely enough. I guess it levels the playing field, or something.
There's another thing for when I'm getting a paycheck: replacing this chair.