Musings

I haven't been able to focus on writing much lately, but a few things on some recent news:

1. US Unemployment. Usually I live-blog this sort of stuff but I was too tired (8.30am in New York is 12.30am in Australia). I'm a percentage freak so the rise to 6.7% wasn't as high as I thought but obviously the big news was the 500,000+ jobless figure which apparently was the worst in 34 years. As usual, some econ-doomer smartasses are referring to the U-6 unemployment levels which are over 12%, but I'll stick with U-3 simply because it can be used as a comparative figure back in time.
2. There's one Democrat seat I'm happy to have been beaten by a Republican - William "money in the freezer" Jefferson. I don't understand why it takes soooo long for politicians in the US to be indicted.
3. The temperature here in Newcastle, Australia, has exceeded 30°C (86°F) for the past few days. For those of you in the wintry Northern Hemisphere you might think it is paradise. But I get heat rash and it is virtually impossible to sleep at night after a 30+ day in Summer for me.
4. My charcoal making is continuing to fail and the reason seems to be that the sticks/rubbish I am using are still too moist. I'm drying out some garden waste and hoping to try again in a week or two.
   
5. Download these albums by bittorrent.
6. Obama's gonna spend lots? Good idea in theory but I'm wary of any political motivations behind such spending. I'm also still convinced that the US Dollar is going to tank at some point because of the deficit and bailout.
7. And this is a rather disturbing commercial for a Toyota that has been running around the net lately. It's been called the "Ninja Kitten Commercial" by netizens and looks like a Chris Cunningham music video: