wanderings of a curious mind

Happy spacey Monday.  Didn't sleep well last night and have been suffering from zombie syndrome today. 

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I read an article the other day talking about falling crop yields in India and how that country is having to import grain again after being self-sufficient for a long time.  With the exploding world population I am wondering about the long term food needs of the world.  There should be an economic opportunity in that topic.  There also is likely a series of economic and political crises in that topic. 

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2004 Women of the Vines Tempranillo - Excellent wine.  Looking for more now for the cellar.

Well, that's a first.  I was selected for a secondary screening by TSA early this morning.  I accepted the complimentary dignity destruction while my laptop bag was riffled through.  I then proceeded to march down the concourse and straight onto my plane; only to discover upon landing that I'd left my laptop happily ensconed in a Rubbermaid bin sitting back at the checkpoint in my originating location.

Airport lost & found reported a successful retrieval and FedEx is working to reunite me with my little companion.

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross."

The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

The Scots raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards”. They don’t have any other levels and this is the reason they have been used on the front line in the British Army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans also increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Stiff Leg Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose”.

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish Navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish Navy.

Americans meanwhile are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

New Zealand has also raised its security levels – from “baaa” to “BAAAA!” Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the Air Force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper planes and the Navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister’s bath). New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is “fuck”, I hope Australia will come and rescue us”.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be right, mate”. Two more escalation levels remain, “Crikey!’, “I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend” and “The barbie is cancelled”. So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Never made it to Buffalo.  Hopefully going home in a few hours.

More snow.  Have to try to fly from CT to Buffalo today.  This ought to be fun.

More snow in the Northeast.  I'm in CT.  Hopefully I can get home tomorrow.  DCA is currently closed but all signs point towards being open tomorrow evening.

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Security theatre gets uglier soon as thos accursed full-body scanners are going to be installed all over the place.  Read a bit more here. 

Spent the weekend in MI.  Could not get home due to the storm in DC.  Got to spend time with my Grandmother and Aunt and Uncle.  Could have been a lot worse.  At least I did not have to sleep on the floor in the Chicago airport.

I do want to go home though.



What would I charge that isn't an 'electronics device'? 

Electronics, devices that work by controlling the flow of electrons

There was a news article stating that an insurance company was proposing to cut reimbursements by up to 50% if they were not notified within 24 hours of a hospital admission.  I was thinking of what impact that would have if it was put into place.  The persons in charge of setting pricing would have to make some estimates across all admissions and procedures to determine how much revenue would be lost.  Then, that amount would have to be spread across the procedures that will be paid for by the insurance company.  Because reimbursements are negotiated it would be a challenge to get the cost increases passed, but once they were, how often would they be revised.  And, if the finance staff is successful at their job of estimating and negotiating with insurance companies, what benefit does this change create?  It does create more work, stimulating the economy through job creation perhaps. 

I've been quiet.  I am not sure why.  Perhaps my life has been boring.  Perhaps I have had my eyes closed.  Perhaps I have grown accustomed to the inane world we live in and can no longer see another way.

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That's a butte.  They happen when a hard caprock errodes slower than the layers underneath, protecting the soft underlayer and leaving us with odd little hills.   Larger versions of this are called Mesas.  Smaller, hoodoos.

We spent time over the Christmas break out in New Mexico and Colorado.  Good times had by all. 

Four cops, two cars, one very ticketed Chrysler 300.  Way to go guys.

So, the expensive, intrusive, and, at least in my opinion, 'aren't the terrorists winning by causing us to have to do this useless security theater', screening business failed to prevent someone from bringing exploding underpants onto a flight.  So, off we go again on a whirlwind of new regulations.  I am all in favor of the authorities just cutting ahead to the end game.  We will all have to travel naked and tranquilized, chained up and crated.

I will take trains, boats and perhaps even buses whenever possible.  At least until someone tries something on those forms of transportation.  Then, I'm moving to the hills and shall live out my life as a hermit.

I got excited when I saw the revised flight status had us leaving EARLY.  The airport was going to close the runway for cleaning so we had to go quick.  Unfortunately. the commuter airline's operations people decided they could not fly.

So, rebooked through Detroit.  Tight connection.  All of the baggage was left in Detroit.  People were mad about that.

The usual.

I was listening to a story on NPR this morning about the President meeting with business people to discuss job creation today.  There was criticism aimed at the meeting claiming the meeting was too heavily weighted towards businesses that desired governmental intervention in job creation.

Well, duh.

If you are a business person with work to do, and you don't think the government needs to help you, are you going to go out of your way to go to a meeting like that?  Doubt it.  But, if you want more governmental handouts, what would you do.