July 25, 2013

           Trivia. It's a dull picture until you know what to look for. I knew about the ancients building walls with irregular shaped stone blocks. What I didn’t know is that on the opposite wall the blocks are cut in a mirror image, as shown in this composite photograph. If there is a trapezoidal block on the left wall, there is a reverse trapezoidal block on the right. Clearly, the theory they were saving material is nonsense. The correct basic shapes must have been planned in advance at the quarry, 500 miles away.

           Sometimes I don’t mind the long cashier lineups at Winn/Dixie, since they provide lots of overpriced magazines in the impulse racks. This issue of People is about celebs who died too young. That tips us off that Oprah is still around. Anyway, I found out more trivia. The reason Elvis never toured Europe is that Parker, his agent, was an illegal Dutch immigrant. John Kennedy, Jr. died, again, so we’ll never know what he was doing on a list of famous people. And Patrick Swayze was a trained ballet dancer.
           Then finally, in record hot weather, I crawled into the mall to finally watch “World War Z”. Surprisingly well-written, with realistic scenery right down to the bio lab, the only really great effect was given away in the preview: the creatures scaling the wall. Enjoyment is enhanced if you are still fresh on your basic pathology, since it helps to know your bacteria from your virus to follow the plot. It’s a little heavily-injected with the man-saves-family angle, lots of air time eaten up by asthmatic kids.
           In my family, there was a sure-fire remedy for the child who hyperventilated or panicked, especially riding in the car. A fast kick in the ass and a fat slap to the head. This prescription has amazing curative powers, though in the case of my brother’s required frequent re-application. The dosage was generally administered in the ditch at roadside in full inspection by any combination of softball teams, local church-goers, and slow-moving farm vehicles. Such holiday memories often remained crisp throughout the entire following semester.
           The following development kills my investment plans for a while. A salvage company just located 61 tons of silver in an Irish wreck. That dumps about $40 million on the market within days since these are treasure hunters, not collectors. And America dumps Caroline Kennedy on Japan as ambassador. She has no qualifications for the job, but doesn’t need any as she won’t be doing any work. Instead, she was appointed because she can “get the President on the phone”. Pathetic. Really.
           Other things wrong with America? You can go on welfare for being ugly. One person in four with a credit card has a negative net worth. Inflation this year will hit almost 10%. (If you think food prices are staying the same, measure the package contents. It’s down an average 13%). Large cattle producers feed their stock chicken manure.
           Surplus is something I always view with foreboding when it isn’t there. Call it what you want, oversupply, excess, it is something I base a lot on. I won’t usually do business with anyone who has nothing, hell, I rarely will date women in that same boat. I was raised in a madhouse where there was not a scrap to spare for emergencies or contingencies. Anything you held back for the future, especially money, was considered hoarding and expropriated.
There is something repugnant about humans who live at the very edge of their resources—if the tiniest thing goes wrong, they will come after your supplies. No need to ask why I’m secretive about what I own. Having said that, my reserves are standing at, hang on let me double-check, 112.6% and I want another holiday. JZ says okay but next week. Help me plan, gang. Where would you go in Florida if you’d already seen the Keys, the Everglades, and the Gulf Coast? I will vote for whatever the majority goes for.
           Once more, the stats prove that (for some reason) Florida real estate is a popular topic. The actual number of houses being repossessed annually (around a million country-wide) is finally climbing again. Before the government streamlined the process, it was costing banks around $45,000 in legal fees for each repo. Although agents are required by law to tell a seller about every offer, they rarely do. They’d rather hold out for a fatter commission.
           The fact is Florida is stuck in a bust with no way out in years. Prices and affordability are not the same thing. On average, house prices are still dropping except in isolated areas such as Palm Beach and Naples. These are amply covered in the news. But it is investor driven because the average job in Florida does not pay enough money to buy any house priced at more than $130,000—and even that must be spread over 30 years. Would you buy something in this economy that you would still owe money on in 2043?
           Other reasons I prefer a manufactured home is I don’t like yard work and maintenance. More to the point, I don’t like giving up my weekends to do things like mow the lawn. I plain don’t like it. Generally, Florida mobiles are a foot off the ground. I like trees so near the house the roots could damage a regular foundation. But me, yard work? When you own a house, there is no place you can even sit without looking at something that needs fixing. I’ll pass.

ADDENDUM
           Bozo of the Month Award is shared this time. Michele Bachmann and Mike Rogers of the House “Intelligence” Committee have no life, and that is why they insist on their right to snoop into yours. How, they ask, can America stop terrorism without monitoring your confidential phone calls? Bachmann adds that phone records are “not considered private property”, obviously not by her, anyway. And Rogers (the same ex-FBI agent who introduced CISPA) is equally anti-privacy. He’s a total douche.

           The “dragnetting” of data on innocent people is never in the public interest in a democracy. It should be prevented on principle alone. Where is the line drawn? If people, whether right or wrong, even remotely expect something is private, that is what should be endorsed.
You probably wonder what these ruthless scumbags look like. Here. As you see, they spend more time in the beauty parlor than they do studying the principles of freedom.
           So, if you pass them on the street, you can spit on them, I won’t object, and if on a jury, I will not convict. These people live in a superstitious world of demons and are actually narrow-minded enough to maintain the information kept on private citizens will be “stripped” of anything personal. Isn’t that what they told us about social security files?
           Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for law enforcement—as long as those who enforce must also obey the law (due process). It is quite clear that a citizen’s private affairs are protected from search and seizure. The purpose of the warrant is to force police to convince a judge that a given individual is suspicious enough to kick down his door. But blanket surveillance of society without a warrant is utterly dangerous to all freedom. Why? If only because people act differently when they expect nobody is watching. Politicians who are deep-rooted ignorant have a lot of trouble with that concept.
           For the record, I honestly believe that a person should be able to live their entire lives in America without any records kept on them except a birth certificate and a death certificate—unless they are convicted of a crime. (Not merely arrested or charged, even if they actually committed the crime. Nothing until AFTER they are convicted. This is mandated in the Constitution in several ways. If not convicted, there should be no record they were even a suspect, for that is ongoing punishment and that is cruel and unusual.)
           All other information should be given out only with their knowledge and permission, and even then only for a single time usage which is declared in full before them in advance, restricted to that usage, and destroyed thereafter. This might sound extreme, but there is no half-way with despicable sorts like the Two M's.