05/29/16

Memorial Day v Veterans Day

Big Red Car here on a quiet Sunday morning. Tomorrow is Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is different than Veterans Day.

Let the Big Red Car explain the difference. This is why we have Memorial Day.

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Texas Military Cemetery near Fort Hood with the Hill Country in the background, decorated for Christmas.

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05/28/16

Internet Speed

Internet speed? How fast is fast?

The other day, the Big Red Car gets some spoofing from a pal who says, “Those one gig Internet speeds are all baloney. Nobody really gets those speeds.”

So, the Big Red Car checks it out.

Here is the actual speed test for the Grande Communications Internet Speed Test.

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05/27/16

Hiroshima, President Obama, Nuclear Hypocrisy

Hiroshima.

Big Red Car here on a nice but cloudy ATX day. Going to rain, y’all. Getting into the Memorial Day flood cycle. Flash flood warning last night. Lakes more than fill and flooding the marina parking lots. Lots of water.

So, the President is in Hiroshima becoming the first sitting US President to visit Hiroshima whereat the United States unleashed the power of a new weapon, a nuclear bomb called “Little Boy” which was delivered by a B-29 bomber on 6 August 1945.

Little Boy bomb

Little Boy nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945, killing an estimated 145,000 civilians

On 15 August 1945, the Japanese surrendered entering into a formal surrender on the USS Missouri (one of the refloated ships sunk at Pearl Harbor by the Japs) on 2 September 1945.

The war the Japs started was finally over.

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05/26/16

Lobsters, China, International Trade, Entrepreneurs, Maine Lobster Hustle

Lobsters? Really, Big Red Car, lobsters?

Big Red Car here. Bit dark and rainy in the ATX today but it is almost Memorial Day when we get our torrential floods.

Today, we talk about lobsters. OK, lobsters are your friend and if you go to Red Lobster, you know what I mean. [Pro tip: Go hungry. Go early. Go big. Eat the cheese biscuits but don’t get too full on them.]

Lobster pic 1

Hello, I am a Maine lobster. I am headed to Red Lobster. See you there?

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05/18/16

Donald the Disruptor Trump

Donald the Disruptor, we speak of him today but first, the weather report.

Big Red Car here, y’all. Bit rainy in the ATX but, hey, we like some rain. We don’t really need any rain as our lakes are filled to overflowing and we’re sending water downstream to the Gulf of Mexico and the rice farmers. Yes, Texas has rice farmers and, yes, they need water.

So, today, we chat about the nature of Donald the Disruptor. You may not have noticed but Donald J Trump has been “disrupting” the political landscape.

The political landscape has been trying to bury Donald and thus we know him as much as the disruptor and for the powerful forces he has aroused in opposition to his disruptive influence.

Disruption, in most things, is a healthy force though it may not look like it at first.

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05/16/16

Process, The Power of Repeatable Process

Big Red Car here is the rainy ATX. The lakes are filled to overflowing after having been down by almost seventy feet several months ago. This is one of two rainy seasons in Central Texas. I sort of like the rain. But, today, we talk about process and making it repeatable.

Lake Travis has a floodgate or two open and is nominally a foot over “full.” Good news!

Lake Travis full

Lake Travis filled to overflowing with H2O, oh!

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05/15/16

The GOPe Dinosaur Olympics

Big Red Car here. Sort of gray in the ATX. Sort of gray in the world of the GOPe — the Republican Establishment.

OK, in case you’re still living under a rock, Donald Trump has now, apparently, run the table. The GOPe still doesn’t like it.

Yawn! Ooops, sorry.

The GOPe is that bunch who brought forth two losing Republican candidates — Romney, Stevens, Sasse, Kristol, Graham. Rock stars who need no first names cause they’re rock stars. Rock heads.

They are all #nevertrump guys, which is to say they want to see Hillary Clinton in YOUR White House.

They will crash the car to prevent Donald Trump — the same Donald Trump who has eliminated and defeated fourteen experienced and salty politicians, a captainess of industry, and a brain surgeon. That Donald Trump.

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05/12/16

Recovery? Won’t Get Fooled Again

Recovery. Talking recovery today.

Big Red Car here. I’m vexed. People think that the economy is doing fine or, worse, that it is headed in the right direction. It is not.

Let me tell you why. First, say: STRUCTURAL CHANGES to the ugly face of employment.

There are four things we need to look at: total unemployment, unemployment for 25-54 year olds, the Labor Force Participation Rate for the same 25-54 year olds, and Employment-to-Population ratio for the same 25-54 year olds.

So, the hypothesis of this post is this — while America has been engaged in the weakest recession recovery dynamic in the history of the United States, the job market and the structure of our employment force has changed STRUCTURALLY.

A historic example of something like this was the wholesale introduction of women into the work force in the early 1980s. It changed things. Forever.

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