GOLD

If you watch TV with any frequency as I do you might have noticed the recent
hysterical efforts to sell you gold by three or four heretofore unknown companies.
Several questions suggest themselves to your bemused blogger.
1) Where did they all of a sudden get all this endless supply of gold ?
2) Why, if is such a great investment do they want to sell ?

Suspicion : Maybe it isn't such a good investment after all. Perhaps they are trying to unload at the present high price before an expected crash in gold price. Time will tell.

Another possibility : As you know, the US has a large stash of gold in Fort Knox
Are they dumping this stash through these gold selling companies ? Hmm- I wonder.

True or false trivia question: All the gold ever mined would fit in an average apartment.

DISGUSTED

I make no secret of my conservative proclivities. That might be why I dislike the Houston Chronicle, the only daily newspaper in town. Several items in recent days reinforce my opinion.

1) The Republican National Committee let slip by a ( GASP) $2000 expense for attendance at sleazy strip joint. The fact that the expense was subsequently disallowed and the submitter fired is downplayed. Now all Republicans have been branded as sexual degenerates. This has been a huge story now for a number of days.

2) A crazed group of 9 nuts wanted to kill cops for some strange reason. Fortunately, they were discovered and stopped before doing any harm.
News item: Right wing extremist white supremacy group-----. Right wing!
They were about as right wing as Adolph Hitler, head of the Nazi (National
SOCIALIST) party in Germany. Hey, you progressives, he was one of your bunch.

ARE THE FRENCH SMARTER THAN WE ARE

About 80% of French electrical power is generated by about 100 nuclear reactors. They seem to have no nuclear waste problem such is plaguing the US nuclear power industry. They, so I understand, rework the spent fuel in situ. I wonder why we don't do this.

In 2002 congress passed the deep geologic repository act and proceeded to spend 10 billion bucks to develop the Yucca Mountain site as a place to dump our spent nuclear waste. This site was completed and then abandoned. It is for sale if you want to buy a big hole in the ground.

Thanks to senator Harry Ried ( Dem., Nevada ) the site will no longer be considered and the 10 billion ( Chump change by Washington standards) is wasted. We continue, therefor, to have the same old serious problem of nuclear waste disposal.

Thanks a bunch, Harry

SOME OSCAR OBSERVATIONS

There was nothing else to watch on TV and I am ashamed to say that
I watched the whole program. What a bore !

There were a few items that I think are worth mentioning
First-
Shoulders are back in style. Almost all the winners ( females that is)
presenters, and attendees showed at least one and often two lovely,
broad, milky white shoulders. ( How do you suppose they keep their
gowns from falling off?)
Second=
Breasts seem to have gone out of style. Most of the women somehow managed
to make these lovely orbs almost completely disappear. How do they do this and why do they do this? Is this the new look for 2010 ?

TRIVIA AGAIN

Our team was successful again last Tuesday. Here are some sample questions.

1) How many centimeters in a kilometer?
2)Name the three cartoon characters used to promote Rice Krispies.
3)Name three African countries that start with the letter T.
4)What is an oligarchy?
5)How many strikes to make a perfect 300 score in bowling?
6)Who died first, Romeo or Juliet ?
7)What is xenophobia

LAS VEGAS REVISITED

I have always been frugal. How pleased I am , for example,when I can use a dollar coupon when buying groceries. In fact, I am a parsimonious penny pinching person, a niggardly skinflint, even a miserly cheapskate.(Does one
think one is being too hard on oneself)

How is it then when confronted with a slot machine one can pour great
amounts of ones life savings into a soulless device designed to pauperize one.
It gets worse. At the black jack tables ( Minimum bet usually $15.00 or more )
one goes loco and finds oneself betting $25.00 and even $50.00 on a turn of a card. It's like monopoly money. Hey, its not real money, it's only chips. All this said, it really is lots of fun.

LAS VEGAS

Jan and I spent a few days in Las Vegas, courtesy a most kind and generous invitation from Greg and Nancy. In many ways, it was a wonderful vacation trip and we didn't even lose too much cash. We were
impressed by the splendor of the palaces, each one more beautiful in its way than the last. We stayed at the Paris where the NGA was holding its annual convention and so the hotel was filled to capacity. We watched the super bowl on a huge screen, attended a speech by GW Bush (very good-
that man is no dummy ) and ate , drank, and gambled, saw a couple of
super shows.

When we left, we felt a little twinge of sadness. Why, you might ask ?
As we visited some of the more magnificent casinos and hotels, we were
aware that they were largely empty. No one is going to Vegas anymore.
What is to become of all these amazing structures if they must go bankrupt? Why are they so poorly attended ? I can think of two reasons:
There are too many hotels and second, they charge too much. Years ago one could go to Vegas and have inexpensive hotel rooms and cheap but excellent meals. Not any more. They are pricing themselves out of the market.