Cast your mind back a few decades. It was 2000 AD, and wifi was all the rage. Wireless router. It was more expensive than the standard wire coming out of the wall, so just about all of the early adopters were people with money. A couple of computer geeks I knew at the time, guys that were really savvy about all this internet stuff, decided to make a play for the brass ring. Their idea was to load up one of their cars with computer equipment, and drive around the swanky neighborhoods. If they detected a wifi signal, they would park on the street in front of the house and listen in. Almost…
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Lost Dog Update
Katy at the vet Remember the little puppy I found, crying and alone next to the crushed body of her Mom? Remember how she was so heartbroken that she would just sit still and stare at nothing? At least, that is, until I introduced her to Pete the Dog? Katy and Pete I thought you might be interested in an update. This is Katy as of today. Pete and Katy She was 5 1/2 Lbs (2.5 kilos) when I found her. Katy is now 35 Lbs (16 kilos), all in a little more than 4 months. Kids! Seems they always grow really fast. In case…
Does your Horse Read Human Emotions?
Do you have any pets? If yes then the bond between you and your pet is strong or not? If both the questions’ answer is yes then I might not be wrong that your pet easily read your emotions. Just like dogs, horses also read their owner’s emotions. Generally, we all believe that only cats and dogs can make a strong bond with their owners as well as understand and communicate with them. But it is also applicable in case of when you are a horse owner and you have a strong bond with your horse. Many of us also have the same feelings when they are with …
How much damage can a reputation crisis do? Ask Chipotle
Lots of discussion about how much harm a reputation crisis can cause, long and short term. I’ve written on this quite a bit in the past using a study out of UK which showed that the longer term recovery of the share price was directly related to the perception of the character of the leader or leaders as demonstrated by actions they took. That is one of the most important things folks in crisis management need to know. Chipotle is hurting. The gizmodo story makes it painfully clear just how much the e.coli and other food related illnesses have cost them. I give Chipotle executives mixed marks on the response as much as I have seen. I think they did a lot of things…
Assessing the UK Electoral Avalanche of December 2019
By John Weeks On 12 December the UK Conservative party scored a stunning victory as it buried the opposition in an electoral avalanche. As I venture some thoughts on that outcome and its implications for US politics, transparency requires that I make it clear that I supported the Labour Party and publicly endorsed its policies and disparaged its critics. My disappointment will surprise no one. How should I interpret this disastrous electoral loss by a party advocating a range of policies that I consider appropriate and essential for our country? As is the case with many complex events, I find it useful to begin with simple, even simplistic, explanations, when inspect those simple narratives for their flaws. I seek to avoid…
Bob Sutcliffe–In Memoriam
By Arthur MacEwan Bob Sutcliffe, who died at age 80 on December 23, was an influential socialist economist over several decades. The publication that probably gained him the most attention was British Capitalism, Workers and the Profits Squeeze (1972), which Bob co-authored with Andrew Glyn, his close friend and frequent collaborator. The book became a classic among the growing movement of socialist economists in that decade, and, indeed, moved beyond radical circles to have a major impact on public debate. Yet, Bob’s life had a breadth and charm that went far beyond his professional accomplishments. At age 15, Bob took off with…
The 6 Big Prepping Goals of 2019
The New Year is upon us and we are facing yet another year to get… The post The 6 Big Prepping Goals of 2019 appeared first on American Preppers Network.
Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu Recalls His Father’s Suicide
I was visiting the Xiu Xiu website, since every now and then Jamie Stewart will write something of interest: either dramatic life stuff, or fun silliness, and came upon a really intense post about his father’s suicide which occurred 10 years earlier. Here it is in full: On November 13th, 2002, 10 years ago, my father, Michael, killed himself. He may have actually died on the night of the 12th, but my mom found his body on the 13th. Her own mother had died only 6 months before. I have never told anyone my entire experience of those days or of the funeral. …
Vegas, Baby!
In case you didn’t see the announcement on Facebook or Twitter a couple of weeks back, Gun Noob will be at the NSSF SHOT Show in Vegas. If you’re new to shooting, the name might not ring a bell. The SHOT Show is, according to the website “…the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, law enforcement, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics and related products and services. The SHOT Show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.“ This isn’t like a gun show at the county fairgrounds. Essentially, it’s the…
Winchester to move Model 70 production to Portugal in 2013
Winchester has recently admitted on its Facebook page that 2013 will see Model 70 rifles assembled in Portugal instead of South Carolina. Winchester states that the change will allow them to increase their output of Model 70 rifles to meet demand. Parts for the rifles will still be made in the U.S.A., but will be shipped to Portugal for final assembly and fitting before being shipped back to the U.S.A. for sales and distribution. SX2, SX3, and Model 101 over/under shotguns are already manufactured according to this model, so it must be more efficient than it sounds. Winchester aficionados already differentiate between pre- 1964 and post- 1964 manufactured Model 70 rifles. Will this change of final assembly point add yet…
Stephen Resnick, professor of economics at UMass-Amherst, dies at age 74
On January 2nd, we lost a brilliant economist, Stephen Resnick, one of the founding members and a cornerstone of the heterodox Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Steve, a devoted and fabulous teacher, touched the lives of hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students over his career. Steve, along with his colleague Richard Wolff, worked tirelessly for decades to transform Marxian Economics and influenced the researching and teaching of scores of students. He will be sorely missed. Here we reprint an early obituary, written by one of his former students from Umass. -Gerald Epstein Greg Saulmon, writing in The Republican: Jan 3rd, 2013, Stephen A. Resnick, a professor emeritus of economics at …
Biofuels and Hunger: The story from Guatemala
Timothy Wise It’s bad enough when bad policy causes unneeded suffering for those governed by that policy. It’s worse when the victims include those far from the policymaking. Such is the history of U.S. farm policy. Today, that history is being written in places like Guatemala, where the U.S. ethanol boom is contributing to hunger and landlessness among that country’s indigenous majority. Thanks to the New York Times’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, we can see that history unfold in all its ugliness. She traveled to Guatemala for her feature, As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs. Her expose makes my own, which showed how U.S. corn ethanol has driven up corn import costs for poor countries, seem like just…
Sweet Green Pickle Recipe
Sweet Green Pickle Print Prepare and chop all the veg into fairly small dice. Break the cauliflower into small florets. Put all veg into a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and cover with water. Put a plate in to weigh it down and leave overnight. Next day drain the brine and put the veg in a pan with 300 ml (10 fl. oz) of the vinegar. Add 250 ml (8 fl.oz) water and bring to the boil. Drain immediately and do not allow the veg to cook. Put the remaining vinegar in another pan, add the spices and the flour mixed with a bit of vinegar so it is a paste. Warm the pan and add the sugar and stir over a low …
Review: Red Cross Blackout Buddy Flashlight
Quick. The lights just went out–where is your nearest flashlight? Can you find it in the dark? And does it have fresh batteries so it will actually work when you need it? Well, if you’re at my house with kids, I know where the flashlights are supposed to be and sometimes they are actually there and most times the ones that are where they belong will light up at least for a little while. But not always. So when I read about the Red Cross Blackout Buddy, I thought I better get one and test it out. Here’s how they work. The flashlight plugs in to a wall plug and you LEAVE IT…
Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu Recalls His Father’s Suicide
I was visiting the Xiu Xiu website, since every now and then Jamie Stewart will write something of interest: either dramatic life stuff, or fun silliness, and came upon a really intense post about his father’s suicide which occurred 10 years earlier. Here it is in full: On November 13th, 2002, 10 years ago, my father, Michael, killed himself. He may have actually died on the night of the 12th, but my mom found his body on the 13th. Her own mother had died only 6 months before. I have never told anyone my entire experience of those days or of the funeral. At the time I …
Vegas, Baby!
In case you didn’t see the announcement on Facebook or Twitter a couple of weeks back, Gun Noob will be at the NSSF SHOT Show in Vegas. If you’re new to shooting, the name might not ring a bell. The SHOT Show is, according to the website “…the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, law enforcement, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics and related products and services. The SHOT Show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.“ This isn’t like a gun show at the county fairgrounds. Essentially, it’s …
The fifth limb: neck stretches and exercises
The fifth limb or the neck as it is more commonly referred to has to be one of the most neglected but most over worked muscles in martial arts. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve experienced a stiff neck after not stretching and warming up the neck muscles properly and then pulling a muscle
The Return of Austerity-The View From Africa
Leonce Ndikumana Following the intense debate on the fiscal deficit during the U.S. presidential campaign, fiscal consolidation continues to dominate discussions in policy circles and academia. The large fiscal deficit in the U.S. and sovereign debt woes in the Eurozone are used by proponents of the “small government” mantra as a means to advance the belief that fiscal consolidation is the only way to bring the economy back to sustained growth and full employment. While the arguments are not new, the current circumstances of a global recession and a slow recovery in the U.S. make it somehow easier for proponents of this school of thought to fool the public into believing …
Stephen Resnick, professor of economics at UMass-Amherst, dies at age 74
On January 2nd, we lost a brilliant economist, Stephen Resnick, one of the founding members and a cornerstone of the heterodox Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Steve, a devoted and fabulous teacher, touched the lives of hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students over his career. Steve, along with his colleague Richard Wolff, worked tirelessly for decades to transform Marxian Economics and influenced the researching and teaching of scores of students. He will be sorely missed. Here we reprint an early obituary, written by one of his former students from Umass. -Gerald Epstein Greg Saulmon, writing in The Republican: Jan 3rd, 2013, Stephen A. Resnick, a professor…
Sweet Green Pickle Recipe
Sweet Green Pickle Print Prepare and chop all the veg into fairly small dice. Break the cauliflower into small florets. Put all veg into a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and cover with water. Put a plate in to weigh it down and leave overnight. Next day drain the brine and put the veg in a pan with 300 ml (10 fl. oz) of the vinegar. Add 250 ml (8 fl.oz) water and bring to the boil. Drain immediately and do not allow the veg to cook. Put the remaining vinegar in another pan, add the spices and the flour mixed with a bit of vinegar so it is a …
Review: Red Cross Blackout Buddy Flashlight
Quick. The lights just went out–where is your nearest flashlight? Can you find it in the dark? And does it have fresh batteries so it will actually work when you need it? Well, if you’re at my house with kids, I know where the flashlights are supposed to be and sometimes they are actually there and most times the ones that are where they belong will light up at least for a little while. But not always. So when I read about the Red Cross Blackout Buddy, I thought I better get one and test it out. Here’s how they work. The flashlight plugs in to a wall plug and you LEAVE IT THERE. You don’t need to take it out …
Vegas, Baby!
In case you didn’t see the announcement on Facebook or Twitter a couple of weeks back, Gun Noob will be at the NSSF SHOT Show in Vegas. If you’re new to shooting, the name might not ring a bell. The SHOT Show is, according to the website “…the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, law enforcement, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics and related products and services. The SHOT Show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.“ This isn’t like a gun show at the county …
Houston McCoy, 1940-2012
Who is he? Find out here. He put his own life on the line to save others. There is no more fitting epitaph. (Hat tip to That Guy.)
An unspeakable tragedy beyond words
Like you probably, I’ve thought much and grieved much over the unspeakable events in Connecticut. But my reaction was to studiously avoid the media as much as I could. My phone kept going with the quiet alarm of another AP mobile update–but soon I stopped looking at those, too. I didn’t turn to twitter to see what was going on. And I turned to no news channels to get the latest. I thought I may be the only person in America to have that response, but I noted Bill Boyd in his blogpost reacted similarly, even if he indulged in early twitter monitoring. I&#…
The IMF’S Institutional View On Capital Flows: Back To The Future
Yilmaz Akyuz As the crisis in advanced economies (AEs) has laid bare the deficiencies of unfettered financial markets and developing countries (DCs) have started exploring ways and means of counteracting destabilizing capital inflows triggered by quantitative easing and historically low interest rates in major AEs through various measures, the IMF has been compelled to reconsider its position on capital account liberalization. After two years of pondering it has now come up with an Institutional View, discussed in its Executive Board and endorsed by most Directors. It is meant to guide Fund advice to members and Fund assessments in the context of surveillance, while it is also reiterated that…
Honoring Alice Amsden and Albert Hirschman: Trailblazers in Development and Political Economics
Gerald Epstein On the last day of 2012, we note the passing of two brilliant economists who have done much to contribute a broad and deep understanding of economic history and institutions. Triple Crisis has written of the passing, life, and work of Alice Amsden, the brilliant development economist from MIT, who contributed enormously to our understanding of technology and industrial policy to the dramatic rise of Asian economies, among others. We also recognize here Albert Hirschman, the brilliant political economist, who crossed disciplinary boundaries and had a deep commitment to learning from economic history and political institutions. Hirschman died on December 11, 2012 at the age of 97. According to the New York Times, Hirschman learned the …
What’s Up For 2013? “We simply do not know” but:
Gerald Epstein Prognostication is a fool’s errand…maybe that’s why we economists like to do so much of it, especially this time of year. John Maynard Keynes was no fool, but even he couldn’t help making forecasts. Keynes famously predicted, for example, that over time there would be such abundance of capital that investments would yield close to 0{660353129f8d892044c993645a1c75194301fec6786a7f617c15adde0b0011e9}, bringing about the “euthanasia of the rentier.” Though interest rates are now quite low, the rentiers are still, unfortunately, going strong. Keynes’ willingness to engage in such forecasts is all the more interesting because, better than most economists – then and now — Keynes understood the pitfalls of economic prediction. As emphasized by my colleague James Crotty, among others, central to Keynes’…
Solving Emerging Debt Crises
Martin Khor The issue of foreign debt has made a major comeback. This is due to the crisis in Europe, in which many countries had to seek big bailouts to keep them from defaulting on their loan payments. Before this, debt crises have been associated with African and Latin American countries. In 1997-99, three East Asian countries also joined the indebted countries’ club. This year, European countries, notably Germany, insisted that private creditors share the burden of resolving the Greek crisis. They had to take a “haircut” of about half, meaning that they would be repaid only half the amount they were…
The Return of Austerity-The View From Africa
Leonce Ndikumana Following the intense debate on the fiscal deficit during the U.S. presidential campaign, fiscal consolidation continues to dominate discussions in policy circles and academia. The large fiscal deficit in the U.S. and sovereign debt woes in the Eurozone are used by proponents of the “small government” mantra as a means to advance the belief that fiscal consolidation is the only way to bring the economy back to sustained growth and full employment. While the arguments are not new, the current circumstances of a global recession and a slow recovery in the U.S. make it somehow easier for …
Stephen Resnick, professor of economics at UMass-Amherst, dies at age 74
On January 2nd, we lost a brilliant economist, Stephen Resnick, one of the founding members and a cornerstone of the heterodox Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Steve, a devoted and fabulous teacher, touched the lives of hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students over his career. Steve, along with his colleague Richard Wolff, worked tirelessly for decades to transform Marxian Economics and influenced the researching and teaching of scores of students. He will be sorely missed. Here we reprint an early obituary, written by one of his former students from Umass. -Gerald Epstein Greg Saulmon, writing in The Republican: Jan 3rd, 2013, Stephen A. Resnick, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts who won the school’s distinguished teaching award and is…