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I see there is at least one respected(?) analyst suggesting we may be seeing a period of inflation soon. Although he makes his prediction really significant by saying maybe not, and deflation is also possible.
So, uh, in other words, the money supply might go one way, might go the other, and might stay the same. That is really useful information. I hereby enhance my own credibility by saying we might see deflation, inflation, or no change. I can’t wait to be proven right, but I know I will be!
Seriously, so far no signs of serious inflation but if it does happen, well, it happens. Economically it’s unhealthy long term but believe it or not inflation can have positive effects. It might be a necessary correction, for one thing. For another, while it causes all sorts of chaos, it actually tends to help some people. It eats away savings, but it helps people who have, say, home or business mortgages. In the long term.
I have been wondering for quite some time how we’re avoiding inflation, actually.
(Link via Glenn.)
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Let it be known, for anyone investigating my background, especially anything appearing on this blog:
I am a recruiter for Al Qaeda. I stole the Lindbergh Baby. I smuggle lizards out of Mexico. I invented television commercials. I am secretly in charge of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy and ZOG. I steal socks out of laundromat dryers, but only one at a time.
And you know that guy who cut you off in traffic that one day ten years ago and you spilled your drink on yourself? That was me.
Also, while I did not put the bop in the bob-shu-bop-shu-bop, I did put the wham in the whamalamadingdong.
Request to talk to Jake and Drake tonight ignored as usual. Love you kids. Hope to see you soon.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Script Frenzy in an international writing competition for which there is no prize beyond a certificate of completion. The goal: Write 100 pages of scripted material within 30 days (the month of April).
Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or “best” scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner’s Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact.
Even those who fall short of the word goal will be applauded for making a heroic attempt. Really, you have nothing to lose—except that nagging feeling that there’s a script inside you that may never get out.
I’ve already registered and I encourage any reader of Dean’s World that has ever tinkered with the idea of writing a script – any kind of script – to give it a whirl. You may not get a snazzy prize, but you’ll have, hopefully, a completed script in your hands and the satisfaction of finishing something in 30 days what takes professionals months.
And who knows, you may even have something worth selling.
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well, I thought this was settled – but apparently not. Bonus points to Fox News and Bill O’Reilly for pissing off the New England Journal of Medicine. “Fair and balanced” indeed.
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Thing #1: A couple of weeks ago, I was in my car and the local radio news lady was doing a story on the economy. I was half listening until I pulled into the driveway, and then she said, “Experts say that the last year the American dollar was worth exactly one dollar was 1967.”
WHAT???
I remember very clearly sitting in my high school Econ class right about 1967 and then the teacher was saying the last year a dollar was worth exactly one dollar was 1946. In 1967, my teacher said, it was worth 33 cents.
The reason I remember this is that it was the first time I’d learned anything about the value of money, and I thought the whole concept was insane. I think the seeds of capitalism and conservatism were planted in me during that class. Sorta.
Anyhoo, so if a buck was a buck in ’46, and only 33 cents in ’67, how did that buck get back to being a buck in ’67 when looked at from 2010?
Thing #2: Today I was trying to explain the role of government to my minister, who like so many people of the cloth, has very little practical education. We’d been talking about socialized medicine, domestic violence, and Marxism, and she asked me what the basic bare-bones function of government is.
My thoughts are somewhat to the idea that government should protect its populace from invasion, establish a monetary currency, and beyond that I get a little foggy. Something about roads, public utilities like electricity, etc????
From that discussion, a light went on, tho. I’m thinking not many people really know today what the government is supposed to be, and that’s where the Democrats and Republicans are failing us.
Suggestions?
Ideas?
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Another call tonight ignored. Love you Jake, love you Drake.
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Some time back I saw a bumper sticker that, no pun intended, stuck with me. It said: There is no left or right. There is freedom or control.
I really liked it. Too often we get embroiled in arguments of liberal/progressive vs. conservative/libertarian and what I’ve been trying to do is filter the hot topics of the day not through those prisms, but through the idea of freedom vs. control.
Does ObamaCare make us more or less free? Does Cap and Trade make us more or less free? Did the stimulus bill make us more or less free?
I’m interested in your thoughts. Define your position on these topics, or whatever you wish to opine about, in the comments below within the framework of freedom vs. control. Are we more free or less free?
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I confess that there’s something about Saint Patrick that I find fascinating, from my own Islamic viewpoint. Its kind of a romantic idea, going off to do dawah at the frontier to the pagans. Plus, the color is right.
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It looks like the LHC will be limited to half power runs until at least 2013.
So far, this thing has been delayed (off the top of my head) by unexpected rock formations, budget over runs, a faulty part from Fermi Lab, bad solder joints, the infamous bird dropped baguette, and now bad connectors.
And don’t forget, work on a similar collider in Texas was abandoned half way through construction.
Maybe those physicists who theorized that time traveling waves make such colliders impossible to use were really on to something.
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So, I’m reading A Patriot’s History of the United States and, apparently, the natives of North and South America were murdering the crap out of one another long before the evil Europeans ever arrived.
Weird.
I’m only on page 35 so don’t ruin the ending for me.
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On a farm there are chickens and horses. There are total of 118 heads and 298 legs. How many chickens are on the farm?
Show your work.
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I see that Attorney General Eric Holder seems to have the right idea.
I do find myself wondering what the reaction would have been had a member of the Bush administration made such a statement. Actually, I already know. I even remember how it caused conniptions when Bush said “Wanted: Dead or Alive.”
That said, why complain?
And by the way, Osama bin Laden is almost certainly still dead.
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Things to be grateful for: 1) Just had a great job interview for a great job, 2) my children are alive and part of my life, and 3) I have good and supportive and caring friends. And tomorrow is a new day.
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I was so excited to pick up my son Drake from school today. His mother and I have obviously had poisonous relations for some time but I had all my documentation in order and everything planned and even showed up 25 minutes early to make sure I wouldn’t be late and I was so happy to see him.
But I wasn’t 25 minutes early. I was 35 minutes late, and no one had called me to ask what was up. I help out at my roommate’s pizza shop, where he obviously hasn’t gotten around to resetting the clocks, and I hadn’t reset the clock in my car.
The school parking lot was full of cars. I assumed others were there to pick their kids up. They weren’t. They were there for something else. It wasn’t until 4:45 (what I thought was 3:45) that I realized something must be amiss and realized the doors were locked at the door he normally comes out of and no one was coming.
Frantic calls and text messages to his mother went unanswered. After checking with the school and no one was there, I drove over to her house. No answer to repeated calls. Finally she comes out, berates me for publishing “lies” on my blog, tells me I’m lying about being there to get Drake at the school and why I’m late, screamingly calls me a drunk deadbeat bum and flips me off, I yell back at her instead of just leaving, and because I’ve complained to the courts about previous incidents the last few months she’s complained to them about this and so on. And legally, since I was more than 30 minutes late for the agreed upon time, Drake gets no visit at all.
I hate this. I hate the time change, I hate myself for not noticing those clocks hadn’t been reset, I hate the whole situation.
Damn it to hell. I am shocked the school didn’t call me, I wrote to his teacher to apologize and make sure she has my # for the future (they should have it already), but my son gets screwed because I got confused and his Mom and I can’t get along. 
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Egypt-based IslamOnline.net appears to have suffered a coup by conservative salafis who didn’t like the site’s fearless approach to covering the issues in the Islamic world:
The site was founded in 1997 under the guidance of Egyptian cleric Yousef el-Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar. It has numerous sections-news, arts & culture, youth, health & science, politics in-depth, reading Islam (for new Muslims) and others. In my experience of freelancing there for 10 years and working exclusively as their U.S. correspondent/editor since January, I’ve come to known Islam Online as a site that covers topics other Muslim sites don’t dare to address: marital issues, homosexuality, and child abuse. This, in addition to offering news from the Muslim world and fascinating arts reporting. When I came on board, the site was on an initiative to increase its coverage of Muslim-Americans, for which I was heavily involved.
A serious setback indeed. But you can’t stop the signal.
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Resolved: this is an early example of rap in pop music:
I said in POP music.
Discuss.
(Also resolved: awesome tune.)
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