blunami

I am grateful:
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4) for the indulgence of my wonderful girlfriend, R.

Yeah, I'm doing the initial thing, cuz I'm posting this open. R. is so wonderful with me. For example, today we say down and went through netflix and rearranged the entire list, adding several disney films. We get "Fox and the Hound" next! She also waited until I was home from rehearsal to eat with me, which is so sweet. I love her very much. I could go on, but it's bedtime. Sweet dreams!

I am grateful:
1) for my bio-family
2) for my family of choice.

I spent the day lazing about at home, wishing that the internet was working. (Could someone explain the point of the button on our modem that renders it useless?) R. and I then went over to bff's house, and we had a huge feast with one of my non-bio family groups. I love them all dearly (though the boys were missed).

3) that I have had so many interesting experiences.

Today has been spent sorting things in the garage. We're getting there, and can soon think about what things we wish to acquire for the apartment. Other than a dining table and chairs, I'm not sure what will be on our list (R. has a longer list than me). It's been neat to look back through my old stuff and remember what I did in Japan. They treated me really well.

I just read "policy X is opposed by all Y because Y hates Z who would benefit from X."

Don't give two shits who X, Y or Z are. Don't care.

As soon as I read that pattern, it's clear the writer is a small-minded troglodyte who should no longer be read.

The keys to that pattern, by the way, is "all Y" and "hates Z"--it assumes everyone who is Y hates Z.

From Slashdot: What the iPod tells us about Britain's economic future

For one, although in trade statistics the Chinese export value for a unit of a 30GB video model in 2006 was about $150 (in other words for every iPod sold $150 went onto the Chinese exports ledger) Chinese producers really only “earned” around $4. China, you see, is really just the place where most of the other components that go inside the iPod are shipped and assembled. The remaining cash instead went to the US, Japan and a host of other countries (among which the UK is one) who made the parts that go inside. In other words, where the product is not necessarily where gets the lion’s share of the profits.

...

Due to the way trade statistics are compiled, these flows of cash back to the US are unlikely to show up in the trade balance. But when you work out the overall US balance of payments, it will show that cash has flowed back into the country as a direct result of the intellectual property Apple owns in the iPod. It is a cursory reminder that we don’t necessarily need to hammer steel and bash products together here in the UK in order to become a better-balanced manufacturer.

There was all sorts of hand-wringing that took place a few years ago when Dyson made the decision to relocate the manufacture of their products to Malaysia, but the same principles that apply to the iPod also apply to the Dyson products. It is highly likely that Britain gets a far greater share of the proceeds from every vacuum the company sells than either Malaysia or any of the other component manufacturers or assemblers.

It's one of the reasons why I don't pay attention to the doomsdayers about international trade.

They look at the declining dollar, then they examine the trade balance (and not the balance of payments), and conclude that the reason why the United States dollar is declining is because our economy is going into the shitter.

But if that was true, the companies who do the greatest amount of manufacturing exporting (such as Apple) should appear to be the poorest. That Apple is not a poor company should be a red flag that the doomsdayers are wrong.

Yes, we've exported manufacturing--but the reason why is because manufacturing is not where the money is at. When a job is exported, it's exported because a corporation believes the job is not a core competency to that company--which (in corporate speak) means it's not a job which butters the bread--and the company believes seeking the lowest price is preferable to keeping the job in-house.

... [T]rade statistics can mislead as much as inform. For every $299 iPod sold in the U.S., the politically volatile U.S. trade deficit with China increased by about $150 (the factory cost) plus the cost of shipping. Yet the value added to the product through assembly in China is at most a few dollars. Even if we included the direct labor involved in making various parts and components in China, it would still add only marginally to China’s share of the value.

By this same logic, if the iPod were assembled in the U.S., most of the corresponding $150 bilateral (US-China) trade deficit would disappear, but the overall U.S. trade deficit associated with each unit would only fall by a few dollars. ...

(Technical difficulties prevented posting this yesterday)
I am grateful:
1) for my bio-family

Yeah, my parents and brother may be far away, but I felt their love today. We talked for just a bit as they ate dinner together, and I missed them. The stuffing was apparently very good this year, and Dad talked about trying to send some to me in the mail. We might just wait until the reunion, when we can have a small turkey together (or a large one with everyone?). I love them very much.

I spent t-day dinner with the two loves in my life, and L's kids. It was good. The turkey was especially good. Thank you, L!!

can make all the difference

I got a note yesterday from someone - we don't know each other that well yet, but just the affirmation was wonderful

it feels good to flirt, especially with a beautiful woman

very nice to have lightened my mood

Remember: there are two primary mechanisms which control international monetary trade in the Dollar:

(1) Monetary movement determined by international trade. Some guy buys an American product in Europe; he exchanges Euros into Dollars, and that trade along with millions of others are traded on the international exchange in order to allow him to buy his product.

(2) Monetary investment separate from international trade. Countries and large corporations will hold currencies of various countries for investment purposes--for example, France may hold U.S. dollars in order to hedge against inflation, or to hedge against risks against currency movement. And their holdings may either be pure dollars or in treasury bills.


Those who look at the declining dollar today and are squawking about how this somehow proves the failure of President Obama's foreign policy or the failure of President Bush's policies (that somehow Obama inherited) are demonstrating their lack of a long-term memory. Compared to the Japanese Yen, the Dollar has been declining since 1971 when the Yen was fixed against the Dollar at ¥360 to $1 by the original Bretton Woods accord. When the Yen and Dollar were allowed to float, in 1973 (after the exchange rate was adjusted in 1972 to ¥308 to $1), the dollar has been in steady decline as both the Japanese economy restructured itself into a modern (post-World War II) economy, and as countries since the 1990's have moved away from the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency.



Even if you discount the rapid decline of the dollar compared to the yen from 1973 to 1988, there still is a steady decline in the dollar relative to the yen as long term monetary investors shift their portfolios away from a post-Bretton Woods II world and to a world where a basket of currencies make far more sense than holding strictly in dollars.

Yes, it is true that perhaps some of the decline in the dollar is due to uncertainty in the Obama Administration's treatment of the dollar. People hold dollars to hedge against risk--but when the current Democratic-controlled government acts erratically, that uncertainty increases risk, and that risk makes dollars look less appealing for risk management.

But for the most part the decline in the dollar is generational--a further readjustment that has been taking place since the European reconstruction after World War II.

I'm thankful for many things.
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There is a persistent belief about Thanksgiving that the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate a bountiful harvest after being taught how to plant corn by the native Indians. It's a nice "feel-good" story about communal property and cooperation.

And it's a crock.

The real story is more interesting, and worth remembering on this day:

How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims

... This suggests that a form of communism was practiced at Plymouth in 1621 and 1622. No doubt this equalization of tasks was thought (at first) the only fair way to solve the problem of who should do what work in a community where there was to be no individual property: If everyone were to end up with an equal share of the property at the end of seven years, everyone should presumably do the same work throughout those seven years. The problem that inevitably arose was the formidable one of policing this division of labor: How to deal with those who did not pull their weight?

The Pilgrims had encountered the free-rider problem. Under the arrangement of communal property one might reasonably suspect that any additional effort might merely substitute for the lack of industry of others. And these “others” might well be able-bodied, too, but content to take advantage of the communal ownership by contributing less than their fair share. As we shall see, it is difficult to solve this problem without dividing property into individual or family-sized units. And this was the course of action that William Bradford wisely took.

Property is privatized

Bradford’s history of the colony records the decision:

At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other things to go in the general way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number.

So the land they worked was converted into private property, which brought “very good success.” The colonists immediately became responsible for their own actions (and those of their immediate families), not for the actions of the whole community. Bradford also suggests in his history that more than land was privatized.

The system became self-policing. Knowing that the fruits of his labor would benefit his own family and dependents, the head of each household was given an incentive to work harder. He could know that his additional efforts would help specific people who depended on him. In short, the division of property established a proportion or “ratio” between act and consequence. Human action is deprived of rationality without it, and work will decline sharply as a result.

Yes, it's Vivaldi's Concerto No. 2: Summer - Presto. On an accordion.

From Eating The Road: Happy Thanksgiving

45 million – Turkeys eaten during the Thanksgiving holiday. Roughly 1/6 of that consumed throughout the year.

In other words, 1/6th of all the turkey consumed in the United States will be consumed today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much good has been happening I have not been able to contain myself.

Blessed with love and light from Family and Friends. What more could I ask for?

Today will be spent with a couple of web updates - done...
A little gardening, off to friends for dinner with a pie from Batter.

This weekend will be motorcycle riding if not rainy and more time sculpting in the studio. Can't wait to pull out the pieces I did last week from the kiln. We work our casts with wax this week and will get to color glass soon.

Still on the island at my rent job but hoping to hear back from a couple of companies I have interview at this week and last. Fingers crossed.