both very fine musicians. this should be interesting, methinks.

have a nice weekend ETers!

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

Neil A. Armstrong (1930 - 2012) » Archive » Statement from the Family of Neil Armstrong

Saturday, August 25, 2012

"We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.

"Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.

"Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati.

"He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits.

"As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life.

"While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Given how much we've had in the last few months, I'm half-expecting FSU's opening game of the season to be played in scuba gear.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

I draw this item to Helen's attention.

You can't be me, I'm taken

I was a teenage Gramlich - News Features

I can't say I ever intended from a young age to spend my 18th year mastering Washington Consensus-era monetary policy to recite in stuttering, rote cliché before a panel of mildly curious economic policymakers who filled out the payroll at Alan Greenspan's Randian fiefdom.

...

And somehow, over a few months, I became fluent in the tongue of historically resolved, tightly synthesized neoclassical bullshit.

Clue #1: The picker on the left lived in Woodstock same time as me.
Clue #2: The picker on the right has his guitar on backwards.
Clue #3: Stuff was so damn legendary, and I got to hear them so damn live so damn often.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

Keep yer gutters clean, kids

keep to the Fen Causeway

"We shouldn't underestimate the danger that central bank financing can become addictive like a drug," Weidmann said in an interview with Der Spiegel. "Such policy is too close to state financing via the money press for me."

...

"In democracies, parliaments rather than central banks should decide on such an encompassing mutualization of risks," Spiegel cited Weidmann as saying in an e-mailed summary of the interview today. The plans are becoming "concerted actions by the state rescue mechanisms and the central bank. That causes a link between fiscal and monetary policy."

Weidmann said that while he doesn't see an immediate danger of inflation, central bankers risk losing their focus on their primary objective if they become political problem solvers, according to the Hamburg-based magazine.

Telegraph: Peak cheap oil is an incontrovertible fact

So we face a world where Brent crude trades at over $100 even in recession. Fears of an Israeli strike on Iran may have spiked the price a bit, though Intrade's contract for an attack is well below levels earlier this year.

Iranian sanctions may have cut supply by more than the extra 900,000 bpd pumped by Saudi Arabia. Japan's increased reliance on oil since switching off most of its nuclear reactors has played its part.
Yet the deeper force at work is the relentless fall in output from the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, endless disappointment in Russia because of Kremlin pricing policies, and the escalating cost of extraction from deep sea fields.

Nothing has really changed since the IEA warned four years ago that the world must invest $20 trillion in energy projects over the next 25 years to feed the industrial revolutions of Asia and head off an almighty crunch. The urgency has merely been disguised by the Long Slump.
We learned in the 2006-2008 blow-off that China is now the key driver of global oil prices, with consumption rising each year by 0.5m bpd -- now a total 9.2m bpd in a world market of 90m bpd. Demand is broadly flat in Europe and America.

So what will happen when China latest spending blitz gains traction? The regions have unveiled a colossal new spree on airports, roads, aeronautics, and industrial parks: a purported $240bn each for Tianjin and Chongqing, $160bn for Guangdong, $130bn for Changsha, and so forth. Sleepy Guizhou has trumped them all with $470bn. Your mind goes numb.