"I don't care how you did things in California"

When I lived in Renton, WA back in the 00's I often saw a bumper sticker that read: "I don't care how you did things in California". Suburban Seattle was then awash in economic refugees from the Golden State then. Sadly, many had moved to Washington and then immediately started agitating to make over  the Evergreen State into another California. Now it appears that another wave of ex-Cali's are headed outward. Of course they sure aren't gonna come here, but they are gonna end up somewhere. Word to the wise.

Great sound bite Governor Johnson!

I don't know for a fact that it's true but ex-New Mexico governor Gary Johnson's debate quip  about his neighbor's dogs creating more "shovel ready jobs" than Obama has sure is a terrific sound bite. I'm surprised the media echo chamber hasn't run with it so far cuz it's a great line.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg predicts rioting in the streets if we don't get some jobs soon

Nah. If unemployment led people to riot then metro-Detroit would be an uninhabited smoking crater of rubble by now. Oh wait. (NY Daily News)

Obama's Labor Day speech in Detroit

Well here's Obama at a dreary and cool Motown Labor Day 2011 gathering doing what he does best; giving a speech. And if all of our problems could be solved by reading off the teleprompter we'd be a utopia by now. Obama is gonna need to do a lot more than just orate. Obama's hangers-on, sycophants, handlers, fan-boys, and ass kissers did the man no favor in 2008 when they convinced Obama that his silver tongued oratorical skills would be enough. They are not, not nearly. And which makes the current to-do about his "major speech" on employment policy before a joint session of Congress later this week seem like laughably small potatoes. If only giving another speech would do the trick. But like the one-trick pony he is that's all he knows to do.

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Massachusetts job fair cancelled because of lack of jobs
Things are bad out there.
Solving the 2001 anthrax attacks: Did the feds get the wrong guy? Again?
Maybe says wired.com's Noah Shachtman. I think this story will be the Jack the Ripper story of the early 21st century complete with governmental incompetence, red herrings, false leads, witch-hunts, and mysterious clues that go nowhere or were never followed up. Not to mention the FUD amongst the public and a trail of dead bodies. To date no one has ever been indicted or arrested for these murders.
15,000 year old prehistoric tool-kit found
"The artifacts ... were mostly made from white chert, a popular stone for tools because like onyx it can be flaked into very sharp knife-edges."

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Kook-ball televangelist Pat Robertson calls for marijuana legalization - RS
A secular Jew who hates Christmas - Wired
U-6: The real unemployment rate in America
U-6 is currently 17% (as of April 2010) reports the WSJ. The nominal rate typically reported in the media is defined using the strictest and most limited measure of what "unemployed" means and so is always way lower. Who says the media never reports good new?
No such thing as a "voluntary & consensual" encounter with the police -  AJFYA blog

Sign of the times...

Down and out in Silicon Valley. When unemployment hits 17 percent (and in the high-tech innovation center of the American economy no less) things can get ugly.

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Economic sadism as TV entertainment - MLive.com
"Hoping to get in on the success of The History Channel hit "Pawn Stars," truTV will debut its new show "Hardcore Pawn" on Aug. 16 at 10 p.m. The show revolves around Les Gold and his Detroit pawn shop American Jewelry and Loan." Sickening.

How Max Headroom predicted the demise of TV journalism back in the 1980's - Wired

99 Weeks Later, Jobless Have Only Desperation - New York Times

Annexing unincorporated areas "for their own good" - LA Times
"The 85-acre unincorporated area of about 1,300 was placed under Huntington Beach's sphere of influence about a year ago by LAFCO in an effort to decrease the number of county "islands" — the generally small, unincorporated areas that were hard to serve, such as Sunset and nearby Rossmoor."

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WTH would anyone bother with getting a doctorate in Liberal Arts? - Chronicle of Higher Education (via Brainiac)

Not much there in the way of job prospects even in good times but usually always lots and lots of student loan debt. I'm not sure that I'd go to college at all if I were a new high-school grad right now. At least this guy is willing to say so. Not that it'll help that much. Next to being a federal judge or a priest who else gets lifetime tenure? Nice work if you can get it though.

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Cubans producing homemade guns to defend livestock and crops from thieves.-Generation Y


Bees like nicotine and caffeine as much as people do. - University of Haifa
People in arranged marriages happier over time than those who married for "love". - LA Times
Happy Valentine's Day. Heh.
Chasing The White Dog: A book review about the modern moonshine trade-WSJ
The cat-n-mouse game between the government and the moonshiners has been going on since George Washington sicced the militia on 'em two hundred years ago. And it still goes on today.
How A New Jobless Era Will Transform America - The Atlantic
Don't turn good scientists into poor entrepreneurs - New Scientist
Obama to give commencement speech at Michigan this spring - Michigan Daily
I guess we're all supposed to be honored by this somehow. What it really means though is that in exchange for a thirty minute speech the whole area between DTX and Ann Arbor is gonna be a no-go zone of closed streets, police road blocks, roof-top snipers and constant (and very noisy) aerial fly overs by police helicopters for 48 straight hours. Some honor.

The hubless Zigzain bicycle - Gizmodo
No spokes or axles. Amazing looking. I have no idea how efficient it is as transportation though.



Saturn's rings disappear from view when observer is on the same plane - Astronomy Pic of the Day (02.15.2010)
Macworld a great time despite—or because of—Apple's absence - Ars Technica
“We give the citizens the lack of policing they demand.” - Ann Arbor.com/
Ex-Ann Arbor cop explains how the LEO's here use their discretion in low-level crime situations.
What Are They Up To In Davos?-Adbusters
The poobahs of the capitalist class get together yearly to devise new forms of bread & circuses to lull people into complacency.
Bob Black: The Libertarian As Conservative -
"The state tries to turn its soldiers and policemen into objects of veneration and respect, but uniforms lose a lot of their mystique when you see them on park rangers and garbage men."