Eyeglasses

Got the eye exam done today. I've been having some problems focusing, everything's clear but it's like it wants to split in two. We found the reason: the prism adjustment in my lenses was off. My eyes want to focus a bit behind the object I'm looking at, and the prism adjustment to compensate for that was off. The new lenses should correct that. I'm also changing frame styles back to a full-rim titanium set, and having a full nosepiece put in instead of the two separate pads. That should make the glasses more comfortable. This pair gets the full prescription plus photo-grey, anti-glare and everything. Towards the end of the month I'm going back to get a second pair for close-up (reading and computer) work. Those won't need the photo-grey or anti-glare coating so the lenses'll be cheaper

Lightsabers

Grumble. Parks Sabers has discontinued their original line of EL sabers in favor of the new Phase models. Problem is, the Phase line doesn't include the old designs that I liked and wanted. Grumble.

Rover astronomy

It seems the Spirit Mars rover has a new job: astronomer. It's currently stuck in loose soil and not able to move, and a recent gust of wind cleaned off it's solar panels so it's got more power than it can use. So rather than wasting it, mission control has set Spirit up to stay active overnight and photograph the Martian sky.

Republicans know all about foreign affairs

The governor of South Carolina went MIA for a week. The first thing I question is, how could anyone possibly think it acceptable for someone in that kind of position to go missing like that for that long. It shouldn't matter why, you simply can't drop off the map like that when you're responsible for an entire state. Drop out of public view certainly, if it's a sensitive matter, but your staff at least should know how to reach you if it's neccesary.

The real kicker, though, is why he went missing. It turns out he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina. I find this amusing, because for all their preaching about morality we seem to be seeing far more Republicans than Democrats caught having affairs. At least in this case the affair was with a woman, not another man. I think the Republicans need to take a long hard look at themselves and why they seem so prone to doing exactly what they condemn in others.

Back home from PA

Blargh. I made it back home. Between errands I had to run and getting unpacked and everything back in it's place I don't feel like I've slowed down yet. I had lots of stuff to deal with back there, and lots of "That'd be nice to keep, but I don't have anywhere to put it or use it." going on. And tomorrow it's back to work to find out how many disasters are waiting for me. Feh. What else is new.

Things I won't work with

While I'm killing time, some chemistry fun:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/

Things that make nitroglycerin look downright tame. You know those old leather coats they show steampunk chemists wearing? There's a reason for those, OK? They weren't just made-up, real chemists wear those when working with reactions that sane people don't work with. This collection of stuff goes downhill from there.

Pennsylvania trip 2

It's not 5 yet and I'm just about ready. Most of the bags are packed, I just have to put the toiletries in the main bag and it's done, then put the stuff in the carry-on bag. Last-minute addition: digital camera. This may be the last time I get a chance to take pictures of where I spent the first 5 years of my life. Mom's got her laptop there, so I should be able to upload photos from the camera and put them on USB drives to bring back. A few places I want photos of:

• The house and the trailer where we lived. Word is the trailer's pretty much collapsed though.
• The old Bottorf place.
• The rail yards in Renovo where Dad worked.
• Hyner Run bridge. Good fishing there.

Off to finish packing.

Pennsylvania trip

Just about ready for the trip back to Pennsylvania. Tomorrow's list: do laundry, pack bags, clean car. Then in the evening I get a ride to the airport, and I'll be back on Monday evening. I'll be pretty much cut off, no cel-phone coverage, no Internet and we're not entirely sure whether phone service will be on or not.

I hope this all goes OK. There's a bunch of paperwork about the farm to deal with, and the memorial. Some of the family have been real twits, it may take some work to avoid telling them off.

Chrysler

Well, the deal is done. Most of Chrysler's operations have been sold to Fiat, and a good third or so of their dealers are no longer dealers. Most of their debt load is gone, and their pension obligations are too which reduces their labor costs. But that's not going to help Chrysler too much.

The portion sold to Fiat is going to take at least a year to pick up steam. Fiat isn't a well-known brand in the US, and the kind of sub-compact they make is smaller than the popular size here too. It's going to take them a year to get the factories re-tooled, ramp up production and start actually getting cars into showrooms, with no guarantee people'll buy them over more well-known brands. The portion that remains Chrysler is in even worse shape. It's line-up is still heavily skewed towards large trucks and vans and SUVs, exactly what's not selling well anymore. It's going to take them at least a year, maybe two, to get new designs more in line with consumer demand into production. And both of them will be competing with GM's new models, with Ford's existing line-up, and with Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Acura, Nissan et. al..

Normally I'd consider a bail-out of a company in this bad a shape as an all-around bad deal. But to be honest the point of the bail-out isn't to save Chrysler the company. It's to keep the majority of it's employees on the payroll, to keep the factories open and buying parts from suppliers, to generally stave off the complete dissolution of a major US auto manufacturer until the stock market isn't wavering and economy isn't ripe for any small push to send it tanking further.

I'd note that this is something the Republicans seem to be forgetting. The choice here isn't between good and bad choices. 8 years of Republican policies has left us with choosing between bad and horrible. It's like a tourniquet: it's a horrible idea, one of the worst things you can do as first aid, topped only by letting the patient bleed out. So when you can't stop the bleeding any other way you put the tourniquet on anyway, knowing you're likely costing the patient their leg but at least he'll be alive long enough to worry about that.

Laptop

I'll be spending about a week back in Pennsylvania, with 12-hour plan flights each way. I was looking at getting a laptop to keep occupied on the plane and keep up with e-mail and such while I was there. The problem is the ones I really want are just a hair out of my price range and it turns out I won't even have cel-phone coverage where I'll be. Lack of coverage means no Internet connectivity of any sort at all, laptop or no. And while I can find laptops within my price range that'll do, I'd rather not spend money on "it'll do" unless I absolutely have to. So, I think I'm going to find a couple of books to read on the plane and save the money for later.

Two US automakers down

Well, it's official: GM has filed for Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy. They join Chrysler who filed back in April. Chrysler plans to sell most of it's assets to Fiat, and it's union will end up owning a majority stake in what's left. GM will be selling off at least half it's brands (including Hummer), and the majority of it's stock will end up being held by the US government (the majority, as security for loans), existing bond-holders and the union. In both cases, pre-bankruptcy shareholders will likely end up with nothing. They may still own shares, but they'll have been diluted so much by the new equity being issued that they'll be essentially worthless. GM plans on closing a large number of it's manufacturing plants and idling several more. That'll hurt employment figures. The only positive part is that, unlike Chrysler, GM will still be building cars when it's all over. They'll be half their former size, but they'll still exist. Chrysler looks to be a shell after everything goes to Fiat.

That leaves Ford as the only US automaker still in full operation. And even they're paring things down quite a bit, eliminating lines that aren't selling well and cutting dealerships with overlapping territories.

Foreclosures moving on up

The mortgage meltdown has been painted by some as a meltdown of the subprime mortgage market. That's starting to change, as the number of foreclosures on prime mortgages to people with good credit records is starting to climb. 6% either in default or in foreclosure, in California it's 7.5% in default and 3.5% in foreclosure. Those numbers are disturbingly high, considering. And for the first time prime fixed-rate mortgages are a larger percentage of new foreclosures than sub-prime or adjustable-rate mortgages.

The bottom ain't here yet, folks.

Family

You can choose your friends. You can even choose your enemies, to some extent. But family... you can't even return the remains to get your deposit back. Some of them back in PA are being supreme asshats. They've known since January that Mom's having everything that's left at the farm auctioned off, and that they'll have to get their stuff moved. The auctioneer's tired of not being able to tell what he can put in the auction and what belongs to someone. But have they done anything? No, not a thing. It took Mom finally having to write a letter saying "You have 1 week to get your stuff off the property. Anything left after that will be taken and sold." to get them to finally clear things out. 4 months, and they're complaining about having gotten no warning.

Not that that's new. Case in point was some relatives down in Mill Hall ages ago. The whole bunch of them worked at the same paper mill. Mill isn't doing well, and finally tells everyone "We can't stay in business. We figure we can keep running for 9 more months, so come March of next year we'll be closing the doors.". Come January they told everyone "We've managed to stretch it a bit, we can keep you on until June but that's the final date.". And come June, those relatives to the last one were complaining about how the lay-offs were so sudden and they'd never expected anything like this to happen, and there's no jobs to be had now 'cause everybody else from the mill already took them. And they aren't unusual for back there, everybody has that kind of attitude.

You can see why I don't care to ever move back there.

David vs. Goliath

When and why David can win. None of this is news to me. I've always held that you never, ever fight your opponent's fight on his turf by his rules if you have any alternative available. Never attack his strengths if you can attack his weaknesses. Redneck said it: "Take a stick to a fistfight. Take a knife to a stick fight. Take a gun to a knife fight. Stay out of a gunfight.". Old Shin'a'in proverb: "If you find yourself in a fair fight, you've obviously screwed up your planning. Learn from this, and avoid making that mistake again.". All of them are making the same point. And it's a good one to keep in mind. Your opponent isn't going to just hand you any advantage, why should you hand him one?

Padres

Attendance at Padres games is down. I can't understand why. The economy's in such sterling shape and people have so much excess money to burn. The Padres have such a great record, they've managed to win 4 of their last 23 games. And the beer at the games is such an incredible steal at $5 a bottle for Coors and it's ilk. If people don't start coming to their senses, how are the Padres going to pay off their Shiny! New! Stadium?

Feh.

Stupid mob

We got stuck last night in an instance in EQ2. The mob there should be a push-over if you handle him right. But last night he was just not behaving. Normally he gives an emote and then casts his spell, and you have to interrupt/stun him when you see the emote to keep his spell from going off. This time he was casting, then giving the emote. With no cue, it's impossible to keep him from frying the group and healing himself. And he was memwiping all over the place, no way the tank could keep him under control. I think the devs did something with him, personally.

By the time we called it, I was getting seriously into J's attitude: "Right. His health or my armor, one of them's hitting 0% before this is over."

Keyboard error

Error: wrong type of frog on keyboard.

Maine allows same-sex marriages

Maine passes a law allowing same-sex marriages. This is why the Religious Right is in such a panic, such a rush to get bans enacted: if they don't shut the door now, they'll never be able to. I find it amusing that they're so willing to trample the freedom of religion of anybody who doesn't agree with them on the issue, but are so touchy about anybody else trampling on theirs. Guys, clue: it is not an infringement on your religion for other people not to act according to your beliefs. It's only an infringement when they impede your acting according to your beliefs. Your churches are still free to not perform marriage ceremonies for gays. But the government isn't your church.

Court reforms

I'd like three reforms in the court system:

1. An acknowledgement of the inequality of the two sides financially. The plaintiff always has control over when they file suit, what allegations they make, and who they pull in. The defendant has no control over who sues them, when they're sued, or what they're sued for. The awarding of costs and fees should reflect this. If the defendant in a case prevails, all fees and and costs incurred should be awarded to them unless the plaintiff can show exceptional circumstances that weigh against such an award. If the plaintiff prevails, court fees should normally be awarded but costs should not be awarded unless plaintiff can show that defendant had no reasonable basis for holding out. IOW if you sue someone you bear your own costs unless you can show defendant was solidly in the wrong and knew it, and if you're sued and win you normally won't be out-of-pocket anything.

2. A "put up or shut up" deadline. Once discovery's over, the judge asks one question of both sides: "Are you prepared to go to trial?". The only acceptable answers are "Yes." and "No.". No equivocation, either you are or you aren't. If you answer "Yes.", then that's it. You will be appearing in court. After this point settlement isn't allowed, the only options are a ruling on the merits by the judge or a jury, or a dismissal of the case with prejudice. But be careful, because if you answer "No." then the judge will end the matter right then and there. He can dismiss the case with prejudice or, if one party's ready and the other isn't, he can rule in favor of the party that answered "Yes.".

3. Once a lawsuit's filed, the first thing the plaintiff has to do is go before the judge and present evidence supporting their case. They don't have to have enough to win, but they do have to have enough to convince a judge that they've got at least the beginnings of a case. If you can't even do that much, the judge can dismiss your case on the spot. Defendant only has to answer your allegations once you've convinced a judge you have actual evidence to back them up.

All three are intended to make it harder for parties to use the courts as a bludgeon to coerce other parties into giving in upon pain of the massive expense of actually defending yourself in court.

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"So, what's new?"
"New item, roast chav-on-a-stick."
"... eeew. Who'd be crazy enough to want that?"
"Dunno, but the bunch stuck in the town green do wonders getting the message across."