Monday, December 03, 2018

ONE


21 comments:

  1. You're welcome for the armadillo, puddle. He seemed like some well needed relief from the general run of the news. I haven't watched it, but I understand that the TV program in which he figured can be seen on YouTube.

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  2. Headline: "Trump Pauses New China Tariffs After Xi Agrees To Buy ‘Not Yet Agreed Upon’ Goods"

    Well, I understand they can get General Electric cheap these days.

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    1. Um. well, Eldest still works for GE, so I'd just as soon he wasn't shipped off to China.

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    2. Just an attempt at black humor.

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  3. Credit where credit is due: Bush the Elder Vs. acid rain. [Click] Like Nixon and the EPA. Environmental stewardship is not a uniquely leftist idea, and opposition to it is not conservative per se. Methods of action may reasonably differ, of course.

    What’s Really Happening to Retail? [Click] “Obviously, there is the rise of online shopping, which is causing consumers to spend more time each year gazing at browser windows than store windows. Just as important, the U.S. is in the midst of a correction: after the Great Recession the country had way too many stores—10-times more shopping space per capita than Germany, and five times more than the U.K. Many of the stories about failing department stores and shuttered malls are more about the ramifications of over-building than The End of Retail. Americans don’t need an order of magnitude more shopping space than Germans—especially when the world’s biggest strip mall is in the cloud.”

    Did Trump Advise Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress? [Click] “The president’s former lawyer didn’t stand to gain from giving false testimony.” I suspect that staying tuned to the Mueller channel will prove informative.

    Bernie Sanders 2020? Senator mulls second White House run [Click] From The Guardian

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    1. Just off the top of my head, the US of A has a larger population than either Germany or the UK if I'm not mistaken...which I could well be. :( But if that is indeed so, then our having more retail space is understandable. Perhaps we don't need quite so much more, but I'd still like to see a comparison by population. Of course, there may be such a thing in the article...

      Don't mind me. Not feeling at all well. I'm going for a GYN exam tomorrow, not only for the standard exam, but in hopes of pinpointing the cause of my ongoing bladder problem. Patty is taking me rather than Dad and Sis, and I swear there wasn't as much tension at Eisenhower's HQ before the Normandy invasions as there is in my house right now. It's driving me batty!

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    2. I can only imagine that the high level of tension is doing nothing to improve how you are feeling, Cat. It's probably a good thing that Patty is the one taking you to the doctor. I'm hoping it's something relatively common and benign, like fibroids or muscle tone...which can be easily accommodated. Keep me posted. Feel free to email or FB Message me if you like. Prayers ensuing.

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    3. Thanks, Listener. The P.A. speculated that it is age-related atrophy. In any case, we'll know more soon.

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    4. If it is any consolation, I can testify that none of my sphincters work as well as they did when I was 20 years old. Adjustments are necessary.

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  4. At last my body is coming out of
    the 9 Day swollen glands & chest cough virus!
    Whoo hoo!

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    1. 2018 Population

      UK ________ 66,570,000
      Germany ___ 82,293,457
      USA ______ 327,160,000

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    2. Thanks, Listener. You're always Johnny on the spot! ♥

      Didn't realize Britain was that small. But, yes, that's pretty much the size relation my gut was giving me. With that in mind, are the figures Alan cited above really that much out of line? What would be more useful, if it were possible, would be a per capita comparison, along these lines:

      On average, Germans have five local mid to large sized retailers, Britons have ten and Americans have twenty.

      After having said all that, the local, family owned department store here in Springfield closed some twenty years ago and the good-sized bookstore, that had both new and used departments, closed shortly afterwards. The Johnsons, who owned the bookstore, lived on my street for many years before moving to another street in the neighborhood. Downtown has never recovered from the loss of those two large and popular retailers.

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    3. Those figures I quoted were retail space per capita, so the sizes of the countries aren't significant. Out here in California, the limitations on property taxes but not sales taxes caused cities all over the state to approve any and all applications for stores, leading to great overbuilding. The big stores drove many small ones out of business. I doubt California is unique in that regard, but just how it is in different states I can't say.

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    4. Fun Facts:

      In 2015, New England had a population of 14,727,584. Massachusetts was the most populous state with 6,794,422 residents, while Vermont was the least populous state with 626,042 residents.

      New England and Great Britain are about the same size, so note the population difference!

      Also, Israel and Vermont are the same size, and get this: The population of Israel is 8,712,000 (2017)

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    5. Plus Vermont has no DMZ, no recent wars, and extensive beauty from the Green Mountains to Lake Champlain. Plus nothing to speak of by way of tornadoes or fires or earthquakes, with rare ice storm and flood issues and only very rare tropical storm issues. Can you tell I love Vermont?

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  5. Black Women Decided the 2016 Democratic Nominee [Click] “The Democratic primaries, as they are currently built, favor a black candidate.”
    Related story:
    Not a new story, but it gives some insight into both Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. [Click]

    At the moment, I still bear in mind the idea that whoever has a national organization up and running first (and can fill stadia) will quickly gain the lead, because voting starts quickly in a lot of states next time. Well, it is certainly going to be interesting. I doubt the Dems will form a circular firing squad.

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  6. Noted in Mueller news:

    “A Flynn sentencing memo is due Tuesday, and memos about Manafort and Cohen are slated for Friday. All three documents are expected to yield significant new details on what cooperation the three of them provided to the Russia investigation.”

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