Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

By Any Other Name

By Any Other Name

Over the past 7 months or so, mostly while wandering through Germany, I have been ruminating on the similarity of last names, particularly between German and English names – particularly English surnames in the US.

Surnames, relatively speaking, are somewhat new.  They are much older in Asia, particularly China (where the surname is the first name).  Perhaps four or five thousand years ago they began attaching a maternal name in front of the personal name.  Marriage between people with the same matrimonial family name was strongly discouraged, sometimes outlawed.  Oddly, there seems to have been no concern with paternal lines, at least via naming.  Well, one always knows who the mother is; not always with the father.

Romans often had three names as well.  Gaius Julius Caesar, for example.  His given name Gaius, followed by the family name, Julius, and a sort of nickname, Caesar.  He did not acquire this because of his caesarean delivery; it was an old family name often appearing as the final nickname that would often be used to address someone personally. Russians are fond of nicknames as well, often formed from the given personal name.

Gaius Julius

Surnames came much later to Europe, starting in the late first millennium, progressing through nearly all regions by the mid-second millennium. One supposes it was necessary for censuses and taxation, property records, criminal records, debt records, etc.   In a region with far fewer first names than today, and with economies growing quickly and more interconnected, it could be quite a task to keep track of who owed what to whom with surnames (and middle names too)

In the Netherlands they didn’t fully arrive until 1811-14 after Napoleon Bonaparte decided to take personal control over the region.  He had taken it in 1806, and given the duty of ruling to his son, Louis; his heir did not meet his father’s expectations. The Corsican soon decreed that everyone take a surname. He was a man of order, if nothing else.

Many surnames were quite often based on where people lived, nearby topographic features, or – our concern here – their profession.   This seems to be most common among Germanic peoples, including the English.

Let’s start with a recently newsworthy name: the Wagner Group.  Over the past few years, few have not heard of the Russian mercenary army that goes by the name Wagner Group.  [1]

Curious, because Wagner (“vag-nur”) is a well-known German surname, for instance the famous German composer, Richard Wagner (all I can think of now is Ride of the Valkyries; “Ritt der Walküren“ — or “Walkürenritt .”  This name, Wagner, was the Nom de Guerre, of an early Wagner Group leader and co-founder, Dmitri Utkin, who was quite a fan of all things Nazi.

To clear up one thing, it is properly pronounced “Vag-nur”. It derives from the German name, and neither the Russian nor the German language has the “W” sound.  They say it with an English sounding “V.”

The name Wagner is also a profession. In English it would be “wagoner,” a person who drives a wagon.  Or, secondarily, a person skilled in making or repairing such things. (More often a Cartwright, see below)

Rub a dub, dub, three men in a tub …

Many surnames in both US English and German are similar in at least this regard: they tell us the profession of an ancestor.  Many names ending in -er and -man (and even -mann) fit this category. [2} The suffix -er can also be someone or something from a place.  [“Dollar” traces back to Thaler (or Taler) … some thing from the “valley.”  In this case a special coin minted in the St Joachim Valley.]

While my mind pondered this, I made a list of several dozen, eventually jotting down most (that I could remember).  We’ll start with the good old Butcher, Baker and Candlestick maker (last one is “Chandler” in English). Then proceed alphabetically where practicable.

They are listed below in both English and German. I hope I can remember all the names I thought of.  Most follow the -er, -man and -mann profession rule stated above.  I’m sure this list is not complete and contains errors.  Comments are welcome in that regard, as always.

English German Discussion
Butcher Metzger
Baker, Becker Bäcker, sometimes Pfister in south Germany. This also gives the English “Becker”, which is how Bäcker is pronounced
Chandler (no good equivalent) Candlestick maker.
Baxter (Bäckerin, not a surname, just translated) Baxter is the feminine version of Baker
Bauman, Baumann Commonly a fellow peasant, or fellow neighbor, especially Ashkenazi Jews, literally one who builds
Brenner A distiller; verb brennen is to burn
Brewer, Brewster Brauer Brewer of beer or ale.  Note the -ster denoting a female of same profession.
Carpenter Zimmerman, Zimmermann, Schreiner A z-man typically constructs large wooden items (up to house-sized), a Schreiner typically smaller, from toys to cabinets. On location I’ve seen some overlap, at least by my novice interpretation.
Cartwright, Carter Wagenbauer (rare) Skilled at making and repairing Carts, or Wagons. More common: Wagner.
Clerk, Clarke Schreiber Someone who creates and tracks written records (Schreiber – one who writes)
Cole, Coleman Kohl, Köhler One who works with coal or charcoal, or one who makes charcoal
Collier (see Cole, Kohl) Similar to above
Cook Koch
Cooper Küfer One who makes barrels, casks, storage vessels, etc
Dexter, Dyer Farber (occasionally Färber) One who dyes, particularly cloth.  Note:  -xter is feminine Dyer
Farmer Bauer Bauer is more commonly a farmer, could also be one who builds, see Bauman. In Afrikaans, it’s Boer; hence Boer War was a farmers’ and peasants’ rebellion
Ferrier Black smith, esp w.r.t. shoer of horses
Fleischman Fleischman (or -nn) One who works with meat, esp. a butcher
Fletcher (could be Fulcher, but that’s rather archaic) Maker of arrows, an arrow smith
Fowler Vogler One who hunts or catches birds
Fisher Fischer Self evident
Gardener, Gardner Gartner Self evident
Hoffman Hofman, Hoffer Literally one who works in the yard, or enclosed area, but usually courtyard.  So, it could also be a courtier.
Woodman Holzman One who chops or sells wood.  Could be others in the lumber industry
Hunter Jäger Also, Jager, Jarger, Yarger in US
Judge Richter
Kaufman A merchant. Literally: one who buys
Keller From Keller: basement (cognate cellar), Trusted steward of provisions, usually of significance, e.g.  nobles, monasteries
Kellner (var. of Keller) Or Tavern Keeper, wine server (from cellar), Waiter
King König Also, Konig, Koenig, similar to Kaiser (emperor)
Krüger, Kruger, Krueger A Krug is mostly used as a name for a large beer mug. A Krüger is a barkeeper – like my great-grandfather Frederich (Fritz) Vollmer, from Würtemburg
Potter Töpfer Maker of pots, usually earthenware or ceramic. Topf means pot, or vessel
Teacher (uncommon) Lehrer
Mason Maurer, Mauer One who builds stone walls or buildings
Mayor Meyer, Meier, Maier Generic municipal officer.  Could be mayor, bailiff, or steward. Historically Mayor/Meier is more appropriate (as we see from the obvious cognate). When I was a kid Milwaukee had a mayor named Meier.  Mayor Maier.
Miller Müller A mill is a place where work gets done (windmill, sawmill, grist mill).  A person who works in such a place. Also Mueller in US.  From Mühl, a mill.
Miner Bergman (-nn) Although Berg typically means mountain, it can also be a mine in some contexts
Priest Best as Pfarrer, Pfarr; although Priester is a direct translation Pfarr is parish, Pfarrer is parish priest or minister
Sawyer Sager, Säger Saws timber
Schumacher, Schuster, Schuhman, Schuhmann Shoemaker, cobbler
Shepard, Shepardson Schäfer And variants: Shaver, Schafer, Schafer, Schaefer: a shepard
Smith Schmidt A craftsman, usually metal – note does not end in -er or -man
Steiger One who climbs a path, often steep and/or narrow.  Or lives near one.  Rod Steiger
Tanner Gerber
Tailor, Tailer, Taylor Schneider Schneider is one who cuts. Here, cloth.  Also variants like Snyder, Snider in US English names
Thatcher Some who made/repaired straw roofs, thatch
Thrasher, Thresher Drescher Had a Thrasher teammate on my Senior Babe Ruth baseball team.  Grain processing.
Trader Handler Merchant, trader.  Handler has other meanings; I like this most.  Generically: one who gets things done
Weaver, Webster Weber Also Webber, -ster is feminine ending
Wine < ?, not common at all>
In English the name Wine comes from an old English word meaning “friend”		 Weiner English “V-eye-ner”, Wein is wine.  Could be someone working in the wine industry, often a vintner. Older times:  a maker of wicker devices like fans and baskets. Or sellers thereof, or people from a region where this is a main profession. [3]
Wiener “V-ee-ner”, someone or something from Vienna. Wiener Schnitzel is a cutlet in the Viennese style.
Weller Bruner, Brunner Brun is the root for well, or a spring. One who worked with water, like acquiring it, or someone from near such a place
Wheeler Rademacher I actually know someone with the Radmacher surname; she’s in Saint Louis.  One who makes wheels, mostly for carts (Wagen)
Wright, Wainwright, Millwright … Wagenknecht [6], Wainwright could also be Wagner A wright is a craftsman, one who builds or repairs special things like wagons, mill gears, usually from wood. A wainwright is one who does this for carts (wagen). A millwright for a mill.
Zoller, Zöller Customs agent, toll collector (cognate: toll)

I see that I often used English too generically, as my text quite often is referring to American English surnames.  Sorry.

Joe Girard © 2024

Thank you for reading. As always, you can add yourself to the notification list for newly published material by clicking here . Or emailing joe@girardmeister.com

 

[1] The Wagner Group is a for profit private army, almost always paid by the Russian Government.  As it’s not officially part of the government, this gives them “plausible deniability” regarding its actions; and casualties are not officially “Russian” losses.  They are still fighting in may places, like the Sahel where they are mostly fighting armed and disruptive Islamists. They are also fighting for Russian interests in in Libya, Venezuela, Sudan and Syria, and several other countries, usually also in support of the local government, or an alternate government that is fighting the one currently in power.

[2] “Man” is a person; “Mann” is a man.  “Wo kann man ein Bier kaufen?” Where can one buy a beer? “Wo kann der Mann ein Bier kaufen?”  Where can the man buy a beer?  Here in surnames-land it makes no difference; just the spelling.

[3] Wicker. Back in the day when Wicks or Wicker was a bundle of sorts, often woven, used to clean grain, by hand.  Could also be weaver.

[4] The Pfister family and Pfister plumbing fixtures company. Long family line reaching back to Württemberg, before there was a German nation.

[5] Surnames became necessary to track populations, legal contracts and record taxes. Consider the popularity of “John” and the possibility of dozens in the same general area.  To more fully discern they added Smith, Baker, Thrasher, Farmer, Wright etc.   There, fixed it (mostly).  Later came 2nd or middle names.

Middle Names: Started in Rome way back in the empire days, mostly among the elites, most often to more clearly denote ancestral lines. Came to Europe and began spreading in the 15th or 16th century, first among elites, then moving to lower classes. Now it also often designates some ancestral information: a mother’s or maternal grandmother’s first or surname, a parent’s first name, an ancestor’s first name, an important family friend or life influence.  In same regard, multiple middle names are used, and surnames are concatenated, joining two (or more) family surnames.  It may also be somewhat religious: forms of Mary, like Marie and Maria, can show a family’s devotion to the mother of Jesus – and may serve double duty with one of the reasons above. Same with Mohammed, John, Patrick, Isaac, Jacob ….

[6] Wagenknecht:  Interesting (to me) footnote. I know a woman with this surname. Simply a wonderful, lovely person. Wagen=cart.  Knecht is a worker or farmhand.

Etymological Roots: It’s someone who worked on wagons, or carts, like a driver or craftsman (Wright). Literally a Wagoner’s servant or assistant. Historically the German Wagenknecht family was renowned for the quality of their wagons.

The name Wagenknecht has recently sprung to prominence; it’s the surname of the woman leader of a new German political party (weirdly, partly eponymously named for her: Sahra Wagenknecht: the BSW). Their policies seem to be a concoction of Hard-left (draws from The Left party, Die Linke), Socialist (redistribution of wealth, equality of outcome), populist (anti-globalist, isolationist, as in “no support for Ukraine or Israel”), and hard right (anti-immigration – although this is also populist – culturally very traditional and conservative, and they fully reject anything that smacks of Wokeism).  Another flavor of right wing populism that seems to be sweeping  Some publications call them national socialists; National Socialist is the exact source of the abbreviated word Nazi (I guess this means they don’t like the BSW party.  The BSW is now, evidently, more hated than AfD).
Germany seems receptive to both parties. With AfD also growing in prominence, now the second most popular, expect the pair to soon upset German politics, and unseat the current wobbly coalition government of “Milquetoast Man”: Olaf Scholz; and possibly upset European politics overall.

 

Philosophy, Sports, Uncategorized

The Two Minute Warning

Two Minute Warning: An Essay in Two Parts

Bear with me here.  Part II builds from Part and is completely different

Part I

How they used to do it, in days of yore

From its origins, many decades ago, American Football still employs the Two Minute Warning.  Off the top of my head, I’ll report the basic idea and history of the warning.  [My brain might be foggy here.  I stopped watching NFL football long before it was cool to do so: stop.  I can’t see spending 3-1/2 hours watching a game with 12 minutes of action. The world laughs at us]. [1]

Long, long ago, on American football fields flung far and wide, there were no stadium clocks showing time remaining.  This was annoying for fans, players and coaches alike.  The head referee on the field, or member of the referee staff so assigned, kept the “official” time on the field.  This was performed for decades with a rather pedestrian wind-up time piece.  Pre-WWI this was likely done with a pocket watch with a man-in-the-loop faux timer function … or not. Oy veh!

Of course, in such a set-up, no one but the referee could know the exact official time.  This is significant at the end of each half.  Not as important in the 1st half, but crucial in the 2nd half, which is the end of the game. Imagine a team driving toward a winning score with a minute, or two, or three minutes left. The game suddenly ends.  Whaaaat? They absolutely must know the precise time remaining for efficient play calling.

Enter the Two Minute warning.  The game is stopped at 2:00 minutes remaining. The referee calls time out and walks to each coach and informs them:  “Coach, 2 minutes remain.”

Perceptions of time can differ among people experiencing the same things – even for the same person in different situations. Coaches on the sidelines would typically have their own timekeeper to inform them with a good estimate of how much time remains.

Anyhow. Enter the stadium clock. I don’t know exactly when this happened, it doesn’t matter much, but let’s guess early- to mid-20th century.

Good ol’ analog stadium clock. Probably in NYC’s Polo Grounds.

The sad fact is, this didn’t totally fix the problem.  Though the game had a timer, or clock operator, they could only made their best guess as to when the clock should stop and start, based on referee whistles and motions.  In other words: a SWAG.  At the two-minute warning from the time-keeping referee, the timer would re-set the clock to 2:00.  However obvious it might be, errors of a few seconds here and a few seconds there accumulated and the stadium clock began to drift away again.  By the time the two minutes are over, the game clock is not quite the same as the stadium clock.

Same problem, not as bad.

Successful technology changes and improves things.  At some point – doesn’t really matter when but let’s guess early 1970s – radio communication allowed instant synchronizing with the official time and the stadium clock.  Stadium clocks became digital; not just two analog hands rotating on a dial. When the clock drifted from referee-official-time we hear the ref say something like “Add 3 seconds to the clock.”

Great!! Problem completely solved.  No more Two Minute Warning needed! But … under the leadership of entrepreneurial experts, like former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, the NFL grew to become a colossal money generating machine.  One of the many ways they “exploited” the consumers and fans was to keep the Two Minute Warning, despite its uselessness with regard to the game. Its duration is usually of two-minute duration (don’t confuse the duration with the time it happens) – a free timeout for the trailing or driving team, by the way.   The NFL had grown addicted to selling that TV time to advertisers.

This is the time in a game when fans are most likely most glued to a TV – at home or in a bar – especially in a tight game. It’s expensive to advertise then. During the regular season 30-second ads during the 2-minute warning cost, SWAG, up to $1 million.  During the Super Bowl many times higher. This is very expensive to the advertisers and lucrative to the NFL.  (Actually, that TV time had already been sold to the TV network that had paid for the exclusive right to broadcast the game. Who then re-sold it.  But the general idea remained.)

So here we are.  A useless 2-minute warning that’s not needed at all.  Except to make money.

 

Part II

As the Two Minute Warning is now useless to the actual game of football, wouldn’t it be interesting to transfer a how-much-remains information spot over to some other arena of life, where it might actually be useful?

Warning.  Part II contains both oblique and somewhat humorous references to death.  If you or anyone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988.  If under medical or psychiatric care call the provider immediately.

A football-based philosophic question comes up from time to time.  As the football Two Minute Warning was used to tell us how much time remained… what if we had an End-of-Life Two Minute Warning?

An angelic soothing voice hits the brain: “We thought you should know how much time remains. You are nearing the end of your earthly presence. At the end of this sentence, you have two minutes.”  Poof, gone.

Clarence the angel announces to George Bailey — not that his life is ending — but that he is there to save it. It’s a Wonderful Life.

Two minutes would, of course, be rather useless.  Even if you’ve used the two minute “free” time out and saved you unused time outs during the last half of life. Since it’s fantasy we should design a more ideal timing of the warning.

Circling back to only two minutes (don’t ya love how talking heads say “circle back” so often?  Rather replaced “frankly” and “at the end of the day.”  But I digress.)

What would you do?

Although imaginary, … what if?  What if a reasonably healthy person got the message?  You have two minutes.

Now, what would you do?  It’s kind of a Rorschach test, no?  Not a realistic question at all, so there’s no right answer.

Me?

Well, first I’m gonna apply “Football two minutes.”  It’s all fantasy anyhow.  The two-minute time out lasts two minutes itself.

I think I can get up to 6 minutes more if I take time outs.  With dead ball time outs, a bit more.  So, maybe up to 10 minutes.

In one last flash of luck, I’m home in the kitchen, and my wife is home too. There’s a nice bottle of tequila in the cabinet.

“Hey honey! Come in here quick!  Urgent news! Really, really Urgent.”

She enters.  What, what!?  I take a shot of tequila and chase it with a can of cheap American lager.

I’d make sure my wife had access to my file of passwords.  Big kiss. Sit on the couch.  Go through our lists.  Find the Wills.”

“I guess I’ll see ya on the flip side.”  Hug.

Look, no BA test

Send a quick prayer to mom, “Sorry for the late notice, but I might be dropping in to see you in a little bit; but maybe not, I don’t know how the process works from here. There’s no bus schedule.”

Then I hope the buzz kicks in (that’s why I did the shooter/chaser first) and hold on for the roller coaster ride, on the couch with Audrey, both trying to remain calm.  [Now if there’s a “Golden Gate” or “Pearly Gate?” If so, then I wonder: does Peter, or whoever, give a Blood Alcohol test?  Probably not, I’m just a ghost, right?] Then the ride starts.  Mom or dad, or someone already passed on who is emotionally close, shows up to serve as my escort.  Round and round it goes. Where it stops, we don’t really know.

Or better.  Let’s choose a bit longer period.  Two weeks, or two months.  Time to get your “poop in a group.” Finish that list, check off those items.  Stage a send-off party.  Indulge yourself.  Get right with your Creator, whatever you conceive them* to be.  Go through memorabilia. Select a mortuary. Then, as satisfied as you could possibly be, it’s off you go.  * [“Them,” since: who am I to presume a gender?]

May you all have a long, healthy, active life.  You’ll never get that warning.  Spend at least a few minutes every day like they might be your last.  Share your love, be generous, be patient, be kind. [2] Be at peace with the world, your creator, and yourself.

Peace

Joe Girard © 2023

Thank you for reading. As always, you can add yourself to the notification list for newly published material by clicking here . Or emailing joe@girardmeister.com

Author’s notes (footnotes follow):

[1] I hope some of my clever and sports-oriented readers noticed that I used a bear (Chicago Bear) picture next to the paragraph that bears the word “bear.”

[2] Based on Paul, Corinthians, 13.

Current Events, Generational, History, Uncategorized

What’s the G2?

What’s the scoop?  What’s the poop?  What’s the G2? What’s the 4-1-1??

Old Reliable — those suckers never wore out

These are all slang ways to ask about what is going on, what is the “insider” information.  In military parlance, the “2” group is intelligence.  “G2” refers to divisional (or above intelligence), whereas, say S2, is staff intelligence at a lower level, usually brigade.

A cool, hip way to ask “what’s going on” about 10 to 20 years ago was to say, “Hey, what’s the 4-1-1.” This was a play on the phone company’s information number, 4-1-1, a way to get phone number listings in most locations.

It’s a surprisingly little known fact that n-1-1 is a useful number in most locations in the US and Canada, and is governed by the North American Numbering Plan, which sets standards for how phone numbers are set up.  I just learned this last month (or was it the month before??).

What are the other n-1-1 codes or phone numbers? We all know about 9-1-1. That’s for emergencies. And now we all know about 4-1-1.  What about the others?

2-1-1 provides information and referrals to health, human and social service organizations. Think United Way, or how to get help with housing, health or simply paying the electric and water bills.

3-1-1 is for getting non-emergency help or assistance from local government (usually your municipality).  Some examples might be: an abandoned car, general public safety concern such as burned out street or traffic lights, dead animal removal, or roaming packs of dogs with foaming mouths.

5-1-1 is one that you might have seen before.  It is for getting information on local traffic conditions. In some areas you can also learn about public transportation and carpooling options at the 5-1-1 number.

6-1-1 is for reporting problems or concerns with phone equipment.  Many cell phone service providers use *6-1-1 to get help with your cell phone.

7-1-1 is used for the Telecommunications Relay Service to translate from TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) to speech, and vice versa. I’m not quite sure how it works, and hope to never need it (although my hearing is fading while the tinnitus is as strong as ever) … but it is important enough to be a federal code and have the FCC (federal communications commission) chime in that it must apply to VoIP phones, too.

8-1-1 has different purposes in the US and Canada.  In the US the number is used to get help locating buried utility lines.  You might have seen or heard the line: “Call before you dig. ” Well, the number to call is 8-1-1.  In Canada the number is for getting health care questions answered and in assisting with individual health care, such as for patients who are far-flung from most medical services and doctors. Canada is big … really big.

There is no 0-1-1 or 1-1-1 phone number.  This would conflict with rules of the aforementioned North American Numbering Plan.  0-1-1 is the code that an international phone call is being made.  After 0-1-1 the country code is expected to follow … so while you are waiting for someone to answer the call, the phone computers are waiting for you to enter a country code (e.g. 49 for Germany).  And 1-1-1 is equally confusing: the beginning “1” signals the computer you are calling long distance — the computer is then waiting for 10 more digits.

I suppose these rules could be modified to account for more n-1-1 codes.  I say that because it wasn’t too long ago when all area codes had a “0” or a “1” as the middle digit (out of three).  And local exchanges never had a “0” or a “1” as the middle digit. These have fallen away, driven mostly by the need for so many more phone numbers (and area codes).

It’s often said that the only thing constant is change.  So probably all the phone rules we now take for granted will change too.  Hey, who remembers rotary dialing?  Not that long ago, was it?

Now you have the poop, the G2, and the 4-1-1 on n-1-1 phone numbers.

Joe Girard © 2018

Uncategorized

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving to Geeks, for Geeks, and Geek aficionados

There is a lot of buzz this time of year about being thankful.  Submittals cruise through the ether of the web; things to be thankful for each day of the month, and for each letter of the alphabet.

To be quite different, I’ve compiled a list quite outside what’s been done so far.  Sure, I’m profoundly grateful for many, many other things.  To repeat them would be redundant, but a much abbreviated list would be health (in fact, the gift of life!, thanks Mom), free will, the blessings of a kind wonderful wife, three brilliant and healthy sons.

My list is a list for geeks, at least one item for each letter of the alphabet, and one for each day in November.

 

A is for Avogadro’s number.  Its effects are wonderful: the number of particles in a mole is rigidly fixed, and consequently humid air is actually lighter than dry air; it is a huge number (6.02×1023, or 1026, depending on units), a testament to the very, very tiny size of molecules.  It is our connection to the atomically and molecularly-sized very small. (1) <1>

A is also for Archimedes, the first real scientist (recorded) (2)

B is for Bernoulli’s fluid dynamics equation.  Without it airplanes could not fly, baseballs would not curve or soar majestically 400 ft, and golf balls could not carry over 200 yd, nor would they slice or hook. (3)

C is for the speed of electromagnetic waves, c.  This mind-boggling speed (3 x 108 meters/second; or 186,000 mph) makes nearly instantaneous communication possible. (4)

This value changes, slightly depending on the medium.  This subtle change causes light to bend, making vision correcting lenses possible – as well as mirages, fiber optic communication, microscopes and most telescopes (even reflecting telescopes usually have a lens-based focusing feature).

D is for Charles Darwin, who opened our eyes and imagination to the wonders and mysteries of evolution, and our earthly origins. (5)

E is for the number e (6), and for the mathematician Euler (6a).  He, and his magical number e, whose forms of derivative and integrals have the same form, provide a key for understanding how things oscillate, propagate, decay, and grow over time and/or distance.

E is also for Entropy. If you think you can’t get everything under control, you’re right!  Entropy tells us that any closed system (like your life, or the universe) moves inexorably toward complete lack of structure; and the more energy is expended trying to enforce structure, the more unstructured the whole system inevitably must become.  I minimize entropy by keeping my life and desk moderately messy at all times.  Not sure I’m thankful for it; but it does help explain the universe’s and human’s general preference for messiness and chaos (7)

F is for Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, a keyhole passage into vast horizons of treatments for infections. (8)

G is for gravity, g (a unit of gravity) and for G (the universal gravitational constant).  Without them, we’d need Velcro to stay on the planet’s surface, orbits would not be possible … so neither would sunrises, sunsets, or even beautiful clouds. (9)

H is for Heisenberg, and we’re not breaking bad here.  His contribution to quantum physics informs us that nothing is completely measureable or knowable … unless we are willing to have uncertainty about knowing everything else. (10)

H is also for Planck’s constant, h.  It helps describe the radiation of heat, the connection between energy and wavelength, to which we owe the warmth we receive from the sun. (11)

I is for i, which opened up whole areas of physics via the mathematics of complex numbers. (12)

J is for Joe, the oddest of geeks. It is also for j, the electrical engineers’ version of i (always have to be different). (13)

K is for Lord Kelvin (William Thomson), who made numerous contributions to science  that helped support the evolution or improvements of: various motors, electric power, laying of undersea cables, data transmission. (14)

L is for Anton van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of the microscope.  Our first views into the world of cells, microbes … showed that life is much more complicated than we could have imagined. (15) <2>

M is for mathematics, a system of equations, symbols, numbers — and rules for manipulating them — so as to promote understanding of  our world, and make better use of its wondrous phenomena. (16)

N is for N, the set of natural numbers.  Simple, yet infinite, it allows us to tally, count and wonder at its limitless detail, structure and patterns. (17)

O is for Oxygen, in the form O2, about 20% of our atmospheric air by mass and volume, which allows our bodies to function, our lungs to breathe. (18)

P is for pi (π) and phi (Φ), those funny quirky irrational numbers.  Pi shows up all over mathematics and physics.  Phi shows up in patterns of the natural world; many humans aspire to seek and design to its ratio, which is golden. (19 & 20)

Q is for quark, and Q is for quirky.  Quarks are, as far as we now know, are the basic component, elementary particles, and comprise, among other things, the building blocks of sub-atomic particles like protons and neutrons.  Without Quarks, and their quirky rules and patterns, there would be no universe … as we know it. (21 & 22) [Not gonna talk about bosons …]

S is for Schrödinger, whose varied insights led to the wave equation, new understanding in quantum physics, and lots of great cat jokes and t-shirts. (23)

R (see X, for “Röntgen Strahlen”)

T is for “tomorrow” … not geeky, but “The sun’ll come out tomorrow …” … “ I love ya, tomorrow.  You’re always a day away.” (24)

U is uncertainty.  Without it life would be boring.  There would be no surprises, pleasant or unpleasant.  And there would be no quantum mechanics. (25)

V is for velocity.  The time derivative of position and a key component of kinetic energy, orbital mechanics, the integral of acceleration and a really neat sounding word.  “He moved with great velocity” (26)

W is for work.  Interchangeable with energy, when there are no losses; energy can do work, and work can store energy.  Either can “get stuff done.” (27)

X is for X-rays (or Röntgen Strahlen), discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen, they allow us to see not only into our bodies, treat tumors, inspect weldments – they also allow us to learn about the universe, as many deep space phenomena produce these very short, high energy electromagnetic waves. (28)

Y is for the Y-chromosome.  Yes, there are men.  And that’s ok. Some are manly men, and some aren’t; and that’s ok too. (29)

Z is for zero.  The additive identity; that which signifies “none” in math; aught and nought.  And that’s all there is remaining: zero, zip, zilch, nada, nichts, niente.   Goose egg baby.  (30)

Notes:

<1> modern chemical engineering practice is to use the (great Scrabble® or Probe® word) kilomole.  Then the 1026 would be used.  Old Style always uses moles, which is actually quite small and often inconvenient.

<2> Technically his last name starts with “v”; but his name is so cool.  It means “Lions Corner” in Dutch.

 

 

Uncategorized

Useful Math Fun

A little fun with math (don’t be afraid), and it might even be useful.

Have you ever tried to find a simple error when you have two numbers that are supposed to be same, but they aren’t?  Maybe you have a bunch of numbers entered in an Excel spreadsheet; maybe you are even trying to balance your checkbook.

One of the most common data entry errors that can be hidden is the transpose: you’ve swapped a digit.  Maybe a number like 19,243 was incorrectly entered as 13, 249 [see how the 3 and the 9 were swapped?]  Your eyes are glazed over and you can’t find the error, looking over long columns of  numbers.

When this happens the error will always be divisible by 9.  For our example the error is 5,994 (19,243 – 13,240).  But   how do you quickly tell if that number is divisible by 9?  Simply add the digits.  For our example with 5994, compute 5+9+9+4 = 27.  If the sum of the digits is divisible by 9, then the original number was divisible by 9.  If you still can’t tell if the number is divisible by 9), then add the digits again.  For 27, use 2+7=9.  In fact you can just keep adding the digits of the resulting sum until you get to a single digit number; if it is 9, then the original was divisible by 9.

On occasion, I’ve found these tricks very handy over the decades.

A couple of caveats.  If the error is divisible by 9, you could actually have several transpose errors, since each error contributes a sum error divisible by 9, and any time we’re adding multiple numbers, each of them divisible by 9, the sum is of course divisible by 9.  I’ve had to fix several transpose errors in a row.  Sigh.

Another caveat is that you could have a transpose error and another error (like reading or writing a 4 instead of a 9), which would mask the transpose error.

————————

Next we’ll wander over to logarithms.  Don’t worry, I promise there is something useful here too.  [Skip to the last paragraph in this section to get the useful part and avoid the math].

First, a quick story.   A few years ago someone asked me the logarithm of “i” (i.e. i = the square root of -1).  My first inclination was to respond “That’s illogical; there cannot be any such thing.”  But I paused and thought a moment, recalling Euler’s relationship: eiΘ = cos Θ + i sin Θ.

Since ex, the exponential (exp) function is the inverse of the logarithm function (just like squaring is the inverse function of taking a square root), I deduced that there was a whole universe of logarithms that I had never thought of.  For example the logarithm of eiΘ = iΘ

So I typed “ln(i)” into my Google search bar (“ln” is the usual notation for the natural logarithm function) and up popped “1.570796 i” — a number.  An imaginary number, but a number.  In fact it appeared to be, π/2 times “i”.

Then every number — real, positive, negative, imaginary, even complex numbers — must have a logarithm. They don’t teach that in college calculus.

After a chat with my math genius coworker down the hall (Nicholas is wicked smart) and my son (the math and physics whiz)  via email I was educated, and then produced my own non-rigorous proof [logarithms-derivation] that shows not only that every number  — even negative numbers and imaginary numbers — has logarithms … each has infinitely many logarithms.  And each follows the rules we expect them to follow, namely: that multiplication can be achieved by adding logarithms, and then taking the inverse log (or the exp function).

Besides “Joe is weird!”, what useful thing did you learn in this section?  Yes!  Good for you.  The Google search bar has a calculator built in.  Open a search bar and type “1+1”, or “sin(30 deg)” or “sin(pi/6)” if you prefer radians; try “5!” … it’s all there.  [Some tips: use “^” for exponents, “sqrt(x)” for square roots.  And a calculator pops up on your screen whenever you “search” for something that looks like a calculation.]

————————————

One more.  How to compute square roots, cube roots, fourth roots, fifth roots, etc.  Here is a derivation[NRoots-derivation], again based on Euler’s relationship, that shows each number has two square roots, three cube roots, four fourth roots, etc … And how to find all of them.  “All of them”? Well yes, every number has 3 cube roots, 4 fourth roots, etc. What are the three cube roots of -1?  No problem.

If you can recall some of your trig function values, you can even compute quite a few of these multiple roots in your head.  How is that useful?  Well, probably it’s not.  But perhaps these little factoids can help you win a bar bet some day, and when you do, maybe you’ll think of this little math essay.

Cheers!  From the wonderful world of math

Joe Girard (c) 2013

Note: the rules don’t apply to zero, which has no logarithm and a single Nth root.

Uncategorized

Keep Clam

I’m not big on touchy-feely stuff.  I’m an engineer by training and profession — and a wordsmith by avocation— so I usually prefer crisp, quantitative descriptions.  So you can guess that I’m not big on New Years Resolutions.  Hey! ——  It took a long time to get me to be this way, and the effort to change me — at this point — seems, well, pointless.

Still I know things can be different, and slight changes can make a big difference. The year 2012 began with the best of intentions.  2011 was filled with stressors, and one consequence of that was that I was not the best “me” I could be.  Joe did and said some things he regretted.  January 2013 would bring a new Joe.  A kinder, gentler Joe.  More aware of the needs, moods and desires of others.

Did I say I’m not big on New Years Resolutions?  Actually, I hate them.  February was awful (mostly at work, although we did have record snowfall), and March was worse.  The gate was left ajar and all the horses got out of the corral.  Really wild frigging horses.  With tempers and attitudes. Fail.

By mid-summer I had discovered the open gate, found most of the wild horses, lassoed them, guided them back to the corral, and closed the gate.  Still, I was the same edgy Joe.  That is to say, prone to saying and doing things he’d regret, if he ever got around to thinking about them.

It occurred to me (as an engineer, one supposes) that you cannot really improve on anything that you don’t measure.

How to measure being “kinder and gentler”?  Can you ask people?  No.  Can you get “in their moccasins” and get a sense of how they see you?   Is there a sort of biological calm-o-meter?  A kindness-o-meter?  For me: no.  As I said: I’m not into touchy-feely stuff.

How about measuring the opposite?  I reckoned curse words are a pretty good measure of how out-of-control and angry (the opposite of “clam and kind”) someone is.

2013.  Over three months into this thing and we’re seeing some success.  Simply by counting swear words.  (I made it to February without saying the f**k word).  I go days at a time with no profanity; there are certainly plenty of defensible opportunities to blurt them out.  I definitely “feel” calmer, and less prone to insensitive outbursts.

Still working on the kindness metric.  Just doesn’t feel right.  Guess I’m just a bada*s.

There was a famous folk-singer in the Seattle, WA area named Ivar Haglund who founded a chain of seafood stores.  As Ivar used to say:  “Keep Clam!”

Peace

Joe Girard (c) 2013

 

Haiku, Uncategorized

March Snow Haikus

Snow retreats again
Reveals grass blades, mostly brown,
Not green.  No Spring, yet.

___________________

Gay, cool, bright March day.
No Watt-hours from panels.
Alas, snow covers them.

Uncategorized

Naming Names

This afternoon I watched the 2nd half of a terrific NCAA tournament game between two very talented and well-coached teams, the Marquette Warriors and the Butler Bulldogs.  There were quite a few lucky breaks and close calls coming down the stretch that could have gone either way — with each team getting their share of good and bad breaks — and in the end Marquette won by a whisker, 74-72.

The outcome was somewhat pleasing; I admit to a slight preference for Marquette, as it is one of those small schools that often fills the role of giant slayer, frequently doing quite well in the big tournament.  In fact, in 1977, they won the tournament and were national champions.  Oh, and since Marquette is located in downtown Milwaukee — and that’s where I grew up (actually in a ‘burb on the near north side) — I’ve always been partial to the Marquette Warriors.

Oops, did I say “Warriors” again?  That’s a slip.  They are called the Marquette  “Golden Eagles.”  However it was the Marquette “Warrors” who won the national championship 36 years ago. In an early wave of political correctness, and not wishing to offend anyone, Marquette University was one of those schools who changed their name from an American Indian name to something more neutral.  Another school that did this was Arkansas State University — where I earned my undergraduate degree — who changed their name from “Indians” to “Red Hawks.”

Soon after the Golden Eagles victory today there came news that Wichita State had beaten heavily favored Gonzaga (another tiny school that often does quite well in basketball).  Wichita State’s team name?  The Shockers.  The name does not come from their propensity to “shock” other teams like Gonzaga with unexpected performance and wins, but rather to their history of “shocking” or “harvesting” wheat.

That reminded me of an article I read in the paper this morning about the NHL hockey season, something I rarely do — hockey is one big yawn to me.  So much for my Canadian heritage.  Anyway, it seems as the Colorado Avalanche (another weird name) are abysmally bad this year.  For them the lockout mercifully limited their misery this season, and the misery of their fans, too.  They are so bad, they might even get 1st pick in the next amateur draft.  The player they would most likely pick is Colorado native Seth Jones, who currently plays on a junior hockey team called the Portland Winterhawks.  Winterhawks?

Cruise up I-5 a few hours to Seattle and you’ll find football’s Seahawks.  What are Winterhawks and Seahawks?  Those sound more like American Indian names than sports or animal names, don’t they?

Down in the Bay Area, Stanford’s teams are named for a color.  They are the Cardinal.  Not the Cardinals; the Cardinal.

From there slide over to the coast and the University of California at Santa Cruz has named their athletes the Banana

UCSC - Banana Slug

UCSC – Banana Slug

Slugs.  Really?  What a disgusting creature, sliming wherever they go and for some reason getting themselves stuck inside discarded beer containers.  And it doesn’t look the least bit intimidating: he’s carrying a book (by Plato!) and wearing glasses.  What is it going to do?  Defeat them with logic and dialog?

It does get weirder though.  The Community College of Scottsdale (AZ) are the Fighting Artichokes.  Just across Phoenix in Tempe, the Arizona State athletes are Sun Devils … now a Dust Devil is a rather cool weather phenomenon, but they mess it up by being Sun Devils — whatever that is — and having a mascot who looks like Satan.  Really?  Well, not to be outdone, across the country in North Carolina, Wake Forest University (another little school that often does well in basketball) are the Demon Deacons.  Ok, now you’ve got one team who is represented by Satan, and another by someone who is preaching and doing Satan’s work here on earth.  Oy weh!

ASU's Sparky the Sun Devil

ASU’s Sparky the Sun Devil

In the end, it doesn’t really matter, does it?  It’s just like people’s names, whether they be Tom, Dick and Harry, or LaToya, DeWayne, Shaquile, Lemonjello, Manti, Wyntyr, Muffi, Buffy, Chrystee, Jaxon, Stanley-Ann, or Barack.  The right thing to do is call people or schools what they want to be called, try to pronounce it they way they would, and everyone just go about their business.

Just sayin’

Joe Girard © 2013

 

Afterthought:  Butler used to be called “The Christians.”  I wonder if they ever played the Lions (Columbia, Penn state, Loyola Marymount, and others) or the Demon Deacons.

 

 

 

 

Uncategorized

Words

  “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” – Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carol

In yesterday’s blog, I created a new word, ‘Twitterati”, meaning, “those who obsessively use Twitter to tweet and re-tweet whatever resonates with their cultural and political perspective.”  Since I created the word, one supposes, then it means just what I choose it to mean.

On the other hand, I propose, we should not be so casual on how we use words, and what we intend for them to mean — if for no other reason than to do otherwise causes us to appear intellectually lazy (or vapid) to the literati.

Three topics.  First, assume you have some money.  Then you could give some to someone; in which case you could have less money.  Or: You could have some pain, and if it was too great, wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had less pain.  You could have less pain if you meditated or took some pain killers.

In each case, we could have less of something, but for this to be true, we must have some of it to begin with.  Then, why do accept people saying “I could care less”, when they really mean “I could not care less”?!?  We’ve already made it easy by accepting the contraction “couldn’t” in place of “could not.”  Is it so demanding to require the additional enunciation of “n’t” at the end of “could”??

“Oh, I dropped a nickel in the parking lot, and it rolled into a storm sewer.  But I could care less.”

Really.  If you could care less, that means you care to begin with.  If you don’t care about losing a lone nickel, then “you couldn’t care less.”

Secondly, let’s recognize that apples and oranges aren’t the same thing.  One is one thing, and the other is another.  Trucks and monkeys aren’t the same thing either.  If you have two trucks and two monkeys, these are not the same thing.  Or is it?

Then why do we say “six of one thing, half a dozen of the other”?  We say and accept this as meaning two choices are of the same value or consequence.

“We could have eggs and bacon for breakfast, or we could have oatmeal.  Which do you prefer?”

“Oh, it’s six of one thing and half a dozen of the other.”  In other words, “you choose; I don’t care.”

Literally you are saying these are not the same thing, even though they might appear to be if you only look superficially.  They are really quite different.

It’s subtle, but words mean what they mean.  And if we use them casually, then they can actually mean quite the opposite of what we intend.

The final item.  Consider that you are given one snack for each hour in the day.  But you can only have one per hour, and if you don’t take and consume the snack, it is gone forever.  If you prefer not to arise at dawn, however, and by remaining in slumber, you miss your first snack of the day.  But, by a quirk in the rules, at prescribed parts of the year, you are permitted to take this first (missed) snack of the day at the end of the day, after the sun has gone down.  In other words, you can “save” this snack until the end of the day, when you can enjoy it more.  You are “saving your snack until later”; it is snack saving.

Today is the first day of Daylight Saving Time in 2013 in most of the US and Canada, not Daylight Savings Time.  We are “saving time”, we are not “savings time.”

Now, after investing that one hour, you get one more hour of sunlight to enjoy in the evening for the rest of the spring and summer.  Enjoy it.

Peace

Joe Girard (c) 2013

Politics, Uncategorized

Parading for Political Points

Back in 2008, Democrats in congress, led by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) submitted HRes 1258, which contained 35 articles of impeachment of then-president Bush.  Most of the articles dealt with war crimes, some with election tampering.  By a margin of 251-166, the motion was approved for assignment to the Judiciary Committee.  Astoundingly, 24 Republicans voted for the resolution.

The Left Wing news machine, blog-o-sphere and Bush haters were wild with delight, and played it up big.  Now Bush will get his justice.  He’s going to get impeached.  Not so fast.  The election cycle was spinning up, the Left began swooning over Barack, … the Committee never addressed the matter and it died there.  Nonetheless, it was an opportunity for the media to point to the nation’s “obvious” disgust with GWB: look what’s being done about it in the hallowed halls of congress.

This past week Republicans had two episodes of their own such grandstanding, or Parading for Political Points.  Rand Paul’s ballyhoo (an actual filibuster) to draw attention to the administration’s reluctance to give a simple and straightforward answer to the question of whether a US citizen can be tracked down and killed by simple order of “high government officials” without benefit of 5th and 6th amendment constitutional protection.

Now this.  Republicans, the Right wing blog-o-sphere and news media are drawing attention to current-president Obama’s frequent extravagant vacations and golf outings (to wit, recent vacation to play golf with Tiger Woods).   This at a time when the president’s administration cannot find the funds to continue giving school children tours of the White House.

Now Representative Louie Gomert (R-TX) has introduced an amendment to the so-called Continuing Resolution bill that would de-fund such extravagant outings and vacations (the 115 rounds of golf, private lessons from Tiger Woods, multiple trips to Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard, plus outings to Spain, Vail ….).  [Sequester Cuts: Congressman Wants To Defund Obama’s Golf Outings]

It won’t pass, and legislatively these actions won’t amount to anything — like the Bush articles of impeachment.  But they do give Rightwing-o-philes and Twitterati something to buzz about on FaceBook,  Fox, Daily Caller … it remains to be seen if the MSM (Mainstream media) will do much more than mention these so that they can ridicule them.

[I mention only in passing that after Bush had committed the US, and the world, to a second war in mid-2003, he ceased playing golf and taking fancy vacations; it just wasn’t prudent in a period when there was so much sacrifice occurring.  Vacations were to Camp David or his hacienda in Crawford, TX — where he was subjected to negative media attention, thanks to Cindy Sheehan’s protests.]

Regards,

Joe Girard (c) 2013

 

Uncategorized

Snow Day = Pay Day

Snowquester?  Jeepers Creepers.  Washington DC got “hammered” by winter storm Saturn today.  So the Federal Government gave all DC-area employees the day off, with pay.  But there’s no snow on the roads, as the snow fell with temperatures between 35 and 40F.  They got the day off anyhow. 

To steal and mangle a line from M*A*S*H, the movie:  This isn’t a Federal Government; It’s an insane asylum!

What’s more ludicrous?  Well, the Weather Channel’s naming of winter storms is silly, but at least it’s not wasting our money — during a funding sequester.  Jeepers Creepers.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/06/news/economy/snow-day-federal-workers/

Snowquester is a dud – CNN

 

Uncategorized

Hollywood “educates” America; offers affront to the rest

Hollywood “educates” us again. And manages to “diss” the rest of the world, yet again. How about we educate them for a change? Quote of the day: “Perhaps the real concern is that too many people are getting their only history lessons from Hollywood.”

>>”Hollywood is a lousy history teacher, and Tinsel Town would have it no other way. That’s why “based on a true story” actually translates to “scripted vaguely from a complex historical event that has been shamelessly oversimplified to give a dashing American hero full credit for saving the day, while ensuring the director can film a gratuitous car chase on an airport tarmac.”

Read the rest of the article from Canada’s Globe and Mail here.

Economics, Uncategorized
Image

February 23, 2013


Regarding this recent BBC article Abenomics

    First, isn’t it time to admit that Paul Krugman is a total freaking “spend all you want, we’ll print more” ideologue, and an insolent propagator of idiocy who — with some regularity — shames the Nobel committee for selecting him in 2008?

     “Don’t like what’s trending?  Try more spending.”

     “Out of cash, and that sounds rash? Borrow like there’s no tomorrow.” 

     Historically speaking, at least in the US, flat prices to slight deflation were the general rule in this country until we had the Fed.  Why?  Easy: as we became more productive and more efficient, many prices naturally fell. 

     So, what’s good about that scene?  It encourages saving and postponing reward.  If you save a dollar today and it buys $1.01 worth of stuff next year, then why buy something if you don’t really need it?  

     This model avoids bubbles — like the tech bubble that burst in 2000-1 and the housing/stock bubble that burst in 2007-9.  It promotes investing only in things that have a good chance of paying off.  It encourages careful investment and due diligence.

     How many people invested in things they didn’t understand during the roaring 1990s and then again after 9/11 when the market went way up again?

      I’m not saying inflation is bad.  I’m saying planned inflation is bad.  It has the opposite effect.  It encourages buying NOW, since something you might want will almost assuredly be more expensive next month.  It encourages investing NOW, since the market is a bull and running away from you.  In short, it encourages less due diligence and more spontaneous buying and investing, since your savings are constantly losing money.  It discourages saving.

     I’m not saying government profligate spending is bad.  I’m saying that spending for the sake of spending — with faith that “the multiplier effect” will save us— is bad.  The US Federal government’s investing in dams in the 1930s is still paying off today!  And building the interstates system resulted in cheap truck-based transportation of goods from almost anywhere to anywhere in the country for almost 60 years now.

  The myopic belief that government spending leads to economic prosperity is partly rooted in the misguided belief that FDR’s New Deal spending and the even more massive spending during World War II led to the economic rise to powerhouse status of the halcyon 40s, 50s and 60s.

     FDR had his own recession in 1938.  The thing about massive government spending to stimulate the economy is: you don’t really know when to stop.  In the meanwhile, the spending has generated countless powerful special interests who are, literally, addicted to that money.  When FDR backed off a bit, the Depression sat upon us once again.

     World War Two gave us a wonderful economy?  Let’s see.  Couldn’t buy a new car, new tires for that car, or a new house.  Couldn’t buy nylon stockings.  Nor anything made with rubber or steel.

     Gasoline was rationed to four (that’s 4) gallons per week.  Drivers were strongly encouraged to limit speeds to 35mph.  (the Victory Speed!)

     Food? Strict rationing on meat, sugar, and cheese.  Even butter.  Shoes. Coffee.  The list is almost endless.  

     This was economic prosperity?  Sure everyone had a job and was making money.  What did they spend it on?  A lot of it went right back to the government to purchase War Bonds.  There were seven major Bond drives during the war.  And they saved.  They saved for the time when that pent up demand could be freed.

     So what led to great half-century of US economic dominance that followed?  Was it Eisenhower?  Was it the unions?  Was it the 90% marginal tax rate on high earners?  No, no and no.  When all those saved up dollars finally went to buy the cars, the houses, the nylons, the shoes, the bicycles, the dresses and slacks and coats and caps … where did they go?  

     Those dollars went to the only place they could go. To companies — and their employees and share holders — based right in the United States.  Why?  Because every other country that we know of who produces these products today were either non-producing Third World countries then (China, India, Viet Nam, Indonesia), or they had been bombed such that their industry and infrastructure were non-existent.  

     It’s time to call out Inflationists like Krugman — he who has called for an imaginary alien invasion to get the governments of the world to spend, spend, spend; he who called for the Fed’s Greenspan to inflate a housing bubble to get us out of the (mild) economic malaise we were in in 2000-2001.

Here’s to the future.  We certainly can’t go back to the past.  Prost!

Joe Girard © 2013

joe@girardmeister.com

My main essay link is still at: Essays