Amusing cover story. Cover has a cartoon of a limp hot air balloon sagging toward the sea, where sharks are gathering. Anyhow the gist of the story is we don't have enough inflation, and central banks, (The Fed!) ought to pump up inflation again. They spend some words trashing deflation (falling prices and wages) but they never get around to expaling why inflation is good for anybody. Any how, they are in favor of more of it.
They never explain just which measure of inflation they mean. US labor dept keeps track of "core" inflation, usually everything except food and fuel. Food and fuel are "volatile" and that makes them evil. Core inflation is services and manufactured goods, and is "purer" in the view of economists.
Unfortunately, they use "core" inflation for all those cost-of-living escalators in union contracts and social security. Doesn't help me much. I have to buy oil for the furnace, gas for the car and food for the bod. My house is clogged with generations of manufactured goods, both hand me downs from the older generation and left-behinds from the children. I don't buy new stuff much anymore. But the Social Security cost-of-living escalator works on "core" inflation.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
First Plow of the season
We had a bit of snow last night. Less than an inch. But the town plow rumbled by at 6 AM. That's the first this season. First plow counts for more than just first snow
Warren Commission
Been a lot of talk on TV about the Kennedy assassination, new evidence, second gunmen, all good Oliver Stone material.
I clearly remember the day Kennedy was killed. Word reached us on the Franklin & Marshall campus. It was just before my afternoon class in Civil War, taught by good old Frederick Klein. We gathered in the classroom, Fred was clearly shaken. He said a few words about now he understood how the country felt after Lincoln's assassination. Then he dismissed the class. Nobody said much, we settled in front of the dorm TV set to watch the news. We got to see Ruby waste Oswald live. And the state funeral. Those were sad days.
Back then, the entire thing seemed fishy. There was fear in the air. 1963 was the coldest part of the cold war. Oswald's Soviet Russian connections were in the press, his Russian wife, his stay in the Soviet Union. Every one still remembered Joe McCarthy. If the citizens ever got the idea that the Soviets were behind Oswald, all hell would break loose, including a demand for revenge, leading to WWIII.
They appointed the bluest of blue ribbon committee of investigation available to investigate and report what really happened. Earl Warren, chairman, was chief justice of the Supreme Court. You don't get more respectable than that. The rest of the members were all household names. They had full and enthusiastic cooperation of FBI, CIA, the armed services, the Congress, the Dallas authorities, everybody. All the witnesses (except Oswald) were still alive for questioning. Events were still fresh in everyone's memory.
We were disappointed in the contents of the Warren report. Nobody liked the idea that JFK had perished at the hands of a lone nutcase. But we accepted it, largely 'cause we figured the commission members were too honest and too patriotic to lie to us.
I still feel that way. The fifty years of conspiracy theories of history from that time to this don't impress me. I think the Warren Commission, had all the time, all the expertise, all the pressure to produce, that were possible. I doubt that latter day revisionists will get it more right than the Warren Commission did right after the fact.
But they keep trying. It sells movies.
I clearly remember the day Kennedy was killed. Word reached us on the Franklin & Marshall campus. It was just before my afternoon class in Civil War, taught by good old Frederick Klein. We gathered in the classroom, Fred was clearly shaken. He said a few words about now he understood how the country felt after Lincoln's assassination. Then he dismissed the class. Nobody said much, we settled in front of the dorm TV set to watch the news. We got to see Ruby waste Oswald live. And the state funeral. Those were sad days.
Back then, the entire thing seemed fishy. There was fear in the air. 1963 was the coldest part of the cold war. Oswald's Soviet Russian connections were in the press, his Russian wife, his stay in the Soviet Union. Every one still remembered Joe McCarthy. If the citizens ever got the idea that the Soviets were behind Oswald, all hell would break loose, including a demand for revenge, leading to WWIII.
They appointed the bluest of blue ribbon committee of investigation available to investigate and report what really happened. Earl Warren, chairman, was chief justice of the Supreme Court. You don't get more respectable than that. The rest of the members were all household names. They had full and enthusiastic cooperation of FBI, CIA, the armed services, the Congress, the Dallas authorities, everybody. All the witnesses (except Oswald) were still alive for questioning. Events were still fresh in everyone's memory.
We were disappointed in the contents of the Warren report. Nobody liked the idea that JFK had perished at the hands of a lone nutcase. But we accepted it, largely 'cause we figured the commission members were too honest and too patriotic to lie to us.
I still feel that way. The fifty years of conspiracy theories of history from that time to this don't impress me. I think the Warren Commission, had all the time, all the expertise, all the pressure to produce, that were possible. I doubt that latter day revisionists will get it more right than the Warren Commission did right after the fact.
But they keep trying. It sells movies.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Sorry doesn't cut it
Obama actually managed to say he was sorry about canceling people's health care policies. Too bad he didn't promise to fix anything while he was at it. All talk, no action, that's our boy.
It's all in the pan
Popovers that is. Very tasty for breakfast. Trouble is, they don't always pop for me. I started out using ordinary stamped muffin tins. Then I upgraded to pyrex cups. Either way I have having a 50% failure-to-pop. They would rise, come out tasty, but half the time, no pop.
So I splurged on a brand new Bundt popover pan. $41 marked down to $35. Cast aluminum, carefully shaped popover holes. And it worked. Made my regular recipe this morning, filled the new pan half full, and bingo, they all popped. Must be something magic in this fancy pan.
In fact, maybe there is. Used to be, using muffin pans and such, the top of my popovers would brown and bake solid, rock solid, too solid for the popping action to push up. The fancy pan keeps the tops softer longer, and that may be the secret. Popovers are unleavened bread, no yeast, no baking powder, they rise and pop on steam from the milk alone.
I only have to bake about another 30 batches to spread out the cost of fancy pan. Good thing I like popovers for breakfast.
So I splurged on a brand new Bundt popover pan. $41 marked down to $35. Cast aluminum, carefully shaped popover holes. And it worked. Made my regular recipe this morning, filled the new pan half full, and bingo, they all popped. Must be something magic in this fancy pan.
In fact, maybe there is. Used to be, using muffin pans and such, the top of my popovers would brown and bake solid, rock solid, too solid for the popping action to push up. The fancy pan keeps the tops softer longer, and that may be the secret. Popovers are unleavened bread, no yeast, no baking powder, they rise and pop on steam from the milk alone.
I only have to bake about another 30 batches to spread out the cost of fancy pan. Good thing I like popovers for breakfast.
Friday, November 8, 2013
WIMP detector WIMPS out
The search for WIMPS was returned a negative. Big new WIMP detector buried deep underground failed to detect any WIMPS. Either the detector has a problem, or there are no WIMPS. Stay tuned for future developments. Perhaps MACHO's are the real answer?
DarkMatterEludesLUXdetector
Engineering.com
DarkMatterEludesLUXdetector
Engineering.com
Bring the deck chairs in, it's snowing
I'd left the deck chairs out, hoping for some more weather warm enough to sit out. No such luck. Deck chairs are now safely stowed in the cellar, not to be seen for six months.
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