But here is a photo, also September 2, but in 1923. Two decades earlier. It was billed as earthquake damage. But clearly, fire caused this destruction. The buildings are not flattened, they are burned.
I have no idea why the air force command is still covering up the truth about the firebomb raids. We won, did we not?
Two things nobody warned me about found me way down at JZ’s place at 1:00 PM today. First, unlike the normal Florida sluggishness in mind in movement, these hurricanes must have really done a number on these people in the past. They shut down early and have learned not to leave anything until the last minute, at least the smart ones. The weather is not due here until Saturday, yet they closed the office and boarded up the windows this morning. That also means another tiny paycheck and a lean September. I did my shopping, but that brings up the second surprise: gasoline. There is no shortage of gas, so I was astonished to see gas lineups, holy 1970s. Everybody was tanking up, so taking a lesson, I thought I would also.
As I pulled up, station after station was putting out the “empty” signs. Miami is a port, what’s with the no gas, I wondered. I finally wound up driving over to JZ’s to find a station and he explained the problem. Can you guess? (Good, because I couldn’t.) While nobody wants to be caught without gas, everybody tanks up not because of a gas shortage, but because the gas pumps are electric. Florida Power and Light, that is the problem. The power always goes out, often for no apparent reason. I ran out of gas and had to call John to come get me. It turns out I’d coasted right past an open station without seeing it. The sign said it was a tire store, but it must have been right when I ran out for me to not even see it. JZ must figure I’m blind. (He’s half right.)
Ernie was not pleased about being called in. There were many paycheck discrepancies thanks to the rush. He did not appreciate being radioed while others were busy covering up their yachts and cottages. They booted us out at noon. I see a lot of people take this weather very seriously, while I say if you go in a rainstorm, it’s because your time was up. I have no issues with death. Ignorance and bank managers, yes, but not death. If you disagree, remember I also have issues with ordinary people who have ordinary thoughts, using ordinary interchangeably with boring. Politicians are boring. Feminists are boring. They are boring because they have no original thoughts, only causes. (Have you ever heard a feminist complain that the devil is stereotyped as a man? There is nothing quite like people who are okay with their own assumptions.)
Hurricane victims. If you look closely at Florida TV, you notice that some people are professional victims. They must wait around waiting for disasters just to head for that free shelter. It is just too sucky to hear those do-gooders saying cutsie 1960’s stuff like, “All we got is each other.” They remind me of Ken, who thought along the same lines, like if everyone obeyed the rules, then he shouldn’t have to. I mean, I saw that guy do some scary things on the freeway because other people were supposed to be wide awake. I will admit that living in Canada for years has taught me to hate “people who need people”. They should all be stranded on a desert island together until they’ve had their fill of each other. They forget what the “share alike” part means. Another Canadian trait is thinking that because they are right, and you are wrong, this somehow changes things.
The two main causes of Miami traffic jams: all the Cubans trying to be first through a bottleneck, and all the Anglos insisting each other go first. The streets were hectic but quickly got empty as the first rain squalls started about 9:00 PM. This is not the hurricane, it is still in the Bahamas. But I recognize the “arms” from living through two typhoons in Thailand. It is the same thing so far, except I notice the weather here is not steady, or at least not yet. The rain here is blasted around by the wind, I can hear it on the shutters. In a typhoon, it is damn steady for minutes at a time. I lived in a grass hut on stilts that was so adapted by experience, that the candle flames inside barely flickered. Thom Mundon, she was a school teacher, we lived together for 17 weeks in late 1985. I wonder what ever happened to that couple who lived in a tent beside their motorcycle? Has it really been twenty years since I was there? With AIDS, I know that Thailand isn’t really there anymore.
The minor investment news is first that ML paid a last minute dividend of $1.75 that prevented them, just barely, from me quoting them as the worst mutual fund managers I’ve ever dealt with. My situation is that I cannot make money unless the market moves up or down, my enemy is a market that just sits there doing nothing. ML seem to pay the same no matter what the market conditions, about 2/10ths of 1% per month. You’d make more checking coin return slots. The overall market is down, that much is true, but it is also volatile and the implication is that they are supposed to be at least a little better at it than average. I’ve accumulated $2,000 for the next disaster news, having missed both IES and IBC (the Hostess Twinkie stock) which fell and recovered faster than I could react.
As for the second surprise, I’d forgotten that money market funds pay interest. Those who know my investment philosophy would understand how that happens. This time is different, in that I am waiting for disaster news, instead of operating at zero surplus. I often had to sell to buy, where now I accumulate the cash. So this morning, I check my books – highly programmed spreadsheets that, among other things, change color when anything is out of balance. This always starts a witch hunt, but I noticed the difference was only ten cents, narrowing down the search. It will be a while before I can confirm, but if true the Scottrade people pay twice the rate of my bank savings account, and about the same as ML. But the upside is phenomenal. I’d like more info about the on-line trading tactical side. For instance, there is a guy who has been desperately trying to sell his ALSGY shares for 57 cents, but nobody is bidding anything. The conclusion is that he needs $5700 right away, he is telegraphing his problem a little too openly. I would like to purchase ALSGY, but at 38 cents. They are due to get a big loan from the French government later this year that could do some interesting things to the stock price. What I need to know is the method to let the seller know I’d buy without insulting them by offering a ridiculously low price on the Internet. No sense letting the whole world know I’m bottom-fishing.
