08:03 – The EU must think everyone else is stupid. Fekter announced today that the EU is boosting its “firewall” to $1 trillion+. The problem is, that’s a complete lie. The EU hasn’t boosted anything. The size of the “firewall” hasn’t changed. What’s changed is that the EU is now using accounting smoke-and-mirrors to make its nominal €500 billion look like €800 billion. They even added in the €110 billion from the first Greek bailout. All this in an attempt to convince markets that a real firewall exists and, more importantly, to convince the IMF (read, the US) to contribute an additional $1 trillion to bailing out the euro. Fortunately, the G20 in general and the US in particular aren’t going to fall for this cynical attempt to shift EU debts onto other countries’ taxpayers. And the sad truth is that that “€500 billion” fund actually has maybe 1% of that amount available. The remainder is essentially IOUs, promises to pay by countries that, other than Germany and Finland, can’t pay their own bills. This will not end well.
Work on the forensics book continues, as does work on a new batch of chemistry kits.
New roller coaster at Dollywood. Winged coaster, first in the U.S. You sit in seats that are on the side of the carriage mechanism. Nothing under your feet. Road in the front carriage and took a video with my cheap Nikon S6100. Minor editing at home. This is the result.
http://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/WildEagle.mov
135 meg so it takes a minute or two to download.
They have convinced themselves that they are right, and that the naysayers are wrong. Much the same way that proponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act convinced themselves that it’s constitutional.
Or didn’t care. Are you serious? Are you serious?
No more than the US Congress and Fed and President do. Exhibit 1: The Social Security lockbox. If only there weren’t so much evidence to support the contention that everyone is stupid.
My late Aunt Elinor told me many moons ago, when OFD was a mere skinny lad shooting up toward the six-foot-plus region at age twelve: “David: Ninety-eight percent of the American people are stupid.” Since then I have not only seen very little to disabuse my aunt (a great thirty-something spinster at the time, who played Chopin on the piano, smoked in her room at her parents’ house in Fairhaven, MA, liked a tall cold glass of Miller High Life and had floor to ceiling classical LPs and was hot) of that notion, but actual evidence daily that the percentage is significantly higher.
I don’t see any reason why this statistic cannot apply to the Europeans, with the exception, of course, of the Germans, who, I am reliably informed on this forum are absolutely brilliant at everything, LOL, just funnin’, Chuck.
I think you have to be from a family that has not lost their German ways to appreciate the place and people. Biggest complaint from visiting Americans: “WHAT? No ice?” Then, in descending order: “What do you mean you have to pay for water?” “They don’t bag your groceries for you?” “Around here all the buildings look the same.” (Yeah, so well-kept that all of them look like they were built yesterday.) “There is no trash anywhere.” “Why is there gravy on everything? I like my meat plain.”
And I’ll be damned if I don’t have to pay EXTRA to have some gravy on my gawd awful dried-out breaded pork chop at every restaurant in Tiny Town. People around here don’t even put gravy on mashed potatoes. No wonder Germans visiting here want to get back to German cooking. Fortunately, there is still a good German Jewish deli in Indianapolis. Just had lunch there, yesterday. Had the totally non-Kosher meal of chopped liver on rye with mayo on both sides. Yum. Fortunately, in Indy, they will sell you meat and milk together — unlike in NYC.
I never did hear anyone complain in Germany about the looks of the slender, tanned blonde Deutschen Frauen. In fact, on her last trip to Germany to help me move back to the US, my daughter commented, “Dad, all the people here are so good-looking.” And she WAS an exchange student in college; she just forgot that the US is populated with lots of Hillary/Helen Thomas types.
New roller coaster at Dollywood. Winged coaster, first in the U.S.
Won’t ever find me on any of those, anymore. It’s a wonder the camera didn’t get away from you. I would have to be in the front car, or my cookies would be all over the person in front of me.
I am with you, Chuck, 100% on the gravy and the blonde frauen. Maybe if I pour warm gravy over the naked tanned blonde Deutschen Frau…whoops, this is a family site! Shame on me!
Still, better than someone in Oz who shall remain nameless pouring roo juice over Hillary or Helen, I reckon…naked or not.
Gravy isn’t presumed to go with mashed potato in the US?
Savages…
We always had gravy with our meat when I was growing up. I insisted that it be placed in a separate pool on the plate, never on the meat or veggies. Sometimes there were accidents and I’d whine. Nowadays I don’t mind, but I’d still rather keep the gravy separate and just dip stuff in it just before it’s eaten.
I also loathe apple pie, ever since I was a young child, and won’t eat it under any circumstances. (Raw apple is fine, as is apricot pie, it’s just cooked apple that makes me gag.) I won’t allow apple sauce anywhere near roast pork.
Hillary’s a married woman, so I don’t have the sort of fantasies about her that Dave does. I just think she looks okay by mid sixties radical feminist bra burning Democratic womanhood. I mean, there are uglier female Democrats than her, right?
That’s called damning with faint praise.
Exactly. I’ve never said Hillary is as attractive as the sublime Sandra Bullock.