Why getting out of the current economic downturn isn't as easy as saying "spend"

The recent economic problems, their source and interrelation seem to be so obviously connected, yet so far I haven't seen any pundits make the connections.

Fact: over the last few years, house prices have risen, and people have been capitalizing on the increase in value with second mortgages, or refinancing entirely and pulling out some cash. That money was used to purchase all kinds of goods, including cars, vacations, horse-back riding lessons, and, of course, 50" Plasma TVs.

People were also expanding their other lines of credit: VISA, MasterCard, and store lines.

Now that the house price bubble has burst, and the ARM loans have adjusted, people have no more source of ready capital to borrow, and must live within their means. Some people, saddled with debt they cannot re-finance, must live below their means as they attempt to service that debt.

The past economic boom was all financed with debt. And that game is over. Telling people to "spend" is not going to solve the problem, they have no money to spend, and they can't even dip into their "debt reserve" to refill their wallets, because nobody is willing to loan them one more dime. Their cards are maxed out, and as they pay them down, the credit companies are going to lower the limits on those cards to reward them.

Winter babies are dumber because... well we don't really know

USA today features a story regarding why babies born in winter show less education, and earnings and generally are losers. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-12-22-winter-babies_N.htm

A large body of research suggests that, on average, winter babies grow up to be less educated, less intelligent, less healthy and lower paid than people born in the spring, summer or fall. Scientists have blamed the winter babies' woes on everything from the weather to age cutoffs for school.

And now, a pair of University of Notre Dame economists have come up with an explanation they say could account for half of the discrepancy observed between winter babies and babies born during the rest of the year: Mom.

Then they go on to try to guess why... and guess and guess. Prom babies. Sperm counts. Poor peple don't have air conditioning, that's what it is!

Studies like this give me fits. I guess social researchers have to do something to earn their pay, but I just call bullshit on this. Get your story straight before coming out in public, OK?

Oh, in case you were wondering. I'm a winter baby. And a number of other people I know are winter babies too, and only one of them is really somewhat questionable. The rest are smart, upscale and "normal" people.

Leaning tower of snow

We had lots of snow here recently. And then it snowed again. And then it snowed some more. I made a big pile on the deck and then started adding to it until it was a big snow column. Very boring.
It started leaning over due to some weak snow layers, and I got the idea of making the "Leaning tower of Pisa" in snow. It should be taller or thinner but it's got the lean down pretty well. I don't expect it to last much longer, the lean rate is accelerating.

Click on the picture for a better view.

Snow day in Bellevue Dec 18 2008

Woke up to some snow today. This was about 11:00 AM and it was still coming down. They had tried to forecast snow for the past couple of days and had a really hard time predicting how much, where and when. We finally got ours.

GE quality appliances -- NOT

We really are not all that hard on our appliances, but somehow our GE Profile refrigerator of just 30 months has acquired a number of broken and dented parts.



Dented top on the freezer door. We went away on vacation and came back to the dent. There were house sitters and pet feeders. Nobody knows how it happened, but it's impossible to repair.


The pull out wire tray in the freezer cracked.


Clear plastic panel in the door cracked. Repaired with clear packing tape. Very classy.


The most annoying of all, the front of the guide for the left side vegetable crisper drawer broke off. This causes the drawer to flop around, fall out of the guides entirely, and come all the way out without a stop.


This unit is just 30 months old, and I swear we are not guilty of appliance abuse. I would have thought for a "Profile" appliance, an upscale line, that they would have built it to be more durable than a "normal" cheap-o model, but apparently not.

And I was glad I bought a service contract because in that 30 months we've had the ice maker replaced, and the computer board that controls the fan replaced.

I have contacted GE appliances to see if they have any comments or can help me get some of these "cosmetic" items fixed or repaired.

Spotted on Bainbridge Island

What is this thing? I saw it today on the Chilly Hilly route and can't remember what it's called.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Where are the Holiday Shoppers?

Recently not spotted in the mall: customers. Check out this image taken in a large well known Department Store in Bellevue WA on a Friday night, about 7:30 PM, at what SHOULD be a pretty busy holiday shopping season.

I'm not gonna mention the "R" word but it's pretty deserted out there.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Chromed twisted steel low-rider bike

Check out this sweet ride! The whole bike is twisted, chromed steel. Even the spokes! And it has dual controls, handlebars AND a steering wheel. (Not quite sure how roadworthy it would be even if you inflated the tires).

Yeah, and I think it even has a muffler in the back.

Spotted at a display in the Bellevue Square Nordstrom

Click on the images for a larger view, it's worth it!

Frontyard remodel progress report

We've been remodeling the front yard, and are filing a photo-progress report. We've cut out sod, tilled, planted lots of new (and very young plants, formed up a new walkway (just need some concrete) and added a dry streambed type rockery made up of rocks found IN our yard.

Spotted another Phishing scammer

They start out pretty well, but by the end of the email, punctuation and syntax trip them up badly.

I spotted 4 errors:
safety. :
process. Please (should be , please)
Sincerely (2x)
temporal hold