Grilling Gruber

Darrel Issa's committee has Gruber up on TV and they are doing him medium rare.  Gruber made the TV news for a number of speeches in which he called the American voters "dumb" or "stupid".  Actually, the voters, once they found out what Obamacare was doing to them, voted a whole bunch of politicians out of office.  It was the Congress critters who gave us Obamacare, not the voters.  The voters, and the Republicans were solidly against Obamacare.  It was the Democrat Congress critters that Gruber was able to flim flam into sticking us with Obamacare.  The voters weren't dumb, but their Congress men were. 

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Every quarter or so, Uncle will report so many jobs "created".  I wonder where those numbers come from?  ADP?  Businesses mail a form into Uncle?  Withholding tax? Presumable they are reporting on hires.  Every quarter we do some hiring and some firing.  Are the reported numbers the number of hires less the number of fires?  Which it should be.  Or do they just report new hires 'cause you get a bigger number that way? 
Inquiring minds want to know.

Economist cover cartoon

The Economist has a good cartoonist, who does most, maybe all of the cartoons in the mag.  He is pretty good.  He did the cover this week.  The cartoon shows two beefy guys doing the pistols at dawn dueling scene.  You know, standing back to back, pistols in hand, on a word from a second they will step forward a few paces and then turn and fire at each other.  Only instead of pistols, these guys are holding gasoline pump nozzles.  They both have mean and nasty expressions on their faces.  One is an Arab sheik, flowing white tribal robes, red and white checked kaffeyeh.  The other is an oil field roughneck, blue jeans, wind breaker, beer belly, and safety yellow hard hat, with an American flag decal on it. 
  Inside the magazine, the cover story tells us that oil has dropped from $100 a barrel last summer to $70 a barrel now.  They also said that production cost of fracked North Dakota oil is $57 a barrel, so the price can fall a bit more and the Bakken will still be profitable. 

Shipping is the secret to Internet shopping

Doing my Christmas shopping.  Mostly on the internet this year.  No more trips into Washington St, Boston, struggling thru the crowds at Filene's Basement, looking for interesting things at Raymond's.  Big attraction of on-line.  They do the wrapping, the packing, the postage, and getting it to the Post Office.  It's great, click on it, type in your credit card, and it's done.  When all my children are scattered across the country, from sea to shining sea, that's a lot of trips to the Post Office. 
   Plus, there aren't any interesting places to shop up here.  Walmart has great prices, but few things anyone would like to receive as a gift.  The interesting cookware shop in Littleton is gone.  The Village Bookstore is just coming back to life.  LaHoute's is still here, but that's sportswear, for which you need sizes.  Which few of us have. 

The Curse of the Soundman

Hollywood has been making talkies since Al Jolson sang in The Jazz Singer back in the 1930's.  Recently, say last 10 years or so,  they seem to have lost their touch.  A fair number of movies come thru where you cannot understand the dialogue anymore.  The actors mumble, the mics are not placed right, and the score or the sound effects drown out the actor's words.  PITA.  My children tell me it has to do with getting old, they claim my ears are failing.
   Been listening to the TV doing Christmas carols.  Fox had a boys choir on this morning.  I could understand every single word the boys sang.  Vermont PTV was doing another carol show a few minutes ago.  Again, I could understand every single word of every carol, even the ones in Latin like Adestes Fidelis.  If TV can do it, why cannot Hollywood do a decent sound track on their movies?

Lowest unemployment rate in New England

I heard that on NHPR this morning.  New Hampshire has the lowest unemployment rate in New England. Too bad that our young people have to leave the state when they graduate in order to find work.  Makes our unemployment rate look better, but we miss having our children around.  My youngest son had to go to North Dakota to find work. 

Avoiding Turkey Dryness

Turkey dryness, a much discussed holiday calamity.  I can remember my stepmother berating my father over a dry turkey twenty years ago.  I nearly laughed, knowing that the old man had never cooked anything more complex than a peanut butter and bacon sandwich in his life. Stepmother was a dear, but she was a slow learner.
   Anyhow, we had a nice moist turkey this Thanksgiving.  I think the secret lies in a roasting pan with a lid.  The turkey is good and brown after an hour in the oven,  but needs to go another hour or so to be done.  Put the lid on the bird once it is brown enough and it holds in the moisture.  And baste it often.  Modern turkeys are pretty lean, so you may need to use some oil (cooking, olive, anything except 3-in-1) to baste with.