...on a Sunday night in March. First of all, after all these years I finally pulled the trigger and bought a lawn mower. I went with a Black & Decker cordless electric model with the mulch feature. I'm not so terribly concerned with my carbon footprint; I just like the idea of not having to fuss around with gas, oil, etc. I want to thank everyone for their input; I'll let you know how it all works out.
March Madness continued as Duke beat Texas last night and earned the right to play No. 3 Villanova next week. Jon Scheyer had thirteen points and made a nifty play late in the game to save a ball from going out of bounds. I'll be rooting for Duke, of course, not least because I can't stand any place that calls itself 'Nova. Where I live that's a type of lox.
There was a good article in the New York Times magazine today by Roger Lowenstein about a possible bubble forming in Treasury securities. It raised the issue of exactly how risk-free Treasuries are and reminded me of something I read once. On the eve of World War I in 1914, the government bonds of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were considered among the safest investments on the planet. Four short years later, however, when the war ended in 1918, the Hohenzollern, Hapsburg, and Romanov Empires had all collapsed and their bonds were essentially worthless. Now I don't think the U. S. is in danger of defaulting, but I do think the Treasury's strategy will be to continue to devalue the currency in order to pay back the debt with cheaper dollars. George Will seemed positively shocked when he considered this a few weeks ago on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. He shouldn't have been; the dollar has been depreciating for decades. It's always been in the borrowers' interest to pay back debts with cheaper dollars. So they're really not risk-free after all.
Finally, Guy Fieri would be proud of me. A couple of weeks ago my son and I went to Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket on the old Route 66 in Willowbrook, Illinois. We got there at about 7:00 and were told that the wait was an hour. What were we to do? I drove about 45 minutes to get there and wasn't about to turn around and go home. I didn't know any other spot nearby so I was positively flummoxed as to what to do next. Then, just like a deus ex machina, I noticed that people at the bar were eating and there were spaces available.
"Can we eat at the bar?" I asked.
"Sure," said the owner.
"Can my son sit at the bar?"
"As long as he doesn't order a drink."
Why didn't you say so; I'm not even going to order a drink. So we bellied up and ordered their signature fried chicken baskets with french fries and home-made biscuits. Unfortunately, they were out of their macaroni and cheese that was featured so prominently on Triple D. It was all very delicious, though, and we even got to talk to some interesting people at the bar. I don't think my son realized that you could make casual conversation with strangers like that in a public place. But on the way home I realized that the broasted chicken behind my house was even better, a lot cheaper, and only a two minute walk. It's at a place in Glenview called Goode & Fresh Pizza Bakery and has been around since 1983. Pizza is obviously their specialty but I'd put their broasted chicken up against anyone's. I also went to a place in Morton Grove this weekend called Mr. Zee's on Dempster. The BBQ chicken was quite tasty and the rest of the menu looked good as well. I think Guy Fieri should pay a visit to both of these spots. Moral of the story? There's no reason to leave the northern suburbs of Chicago for good chicken.
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Your idea about the worthlessness of the Axis Powers bonds after World War I reminded me of a fear my teacher has regarding the current economic crisis. Her fear relates to the global nature of the problem and how it may effect trade and other forms of international relations. Protectionism for one could lead to mindless nationalism and an increase in tensions between countries.
It seems like the issue of money always gets lost in the propaganda of war. I remember what a sacrilege it was to say that the U.S. invasion of Iraq had to do with oil.
I understand that leaders need to tell something to the families of fallen soldiers. Still, maybe if leaders were more accountable for giving a more full account of the reasons for war, there wouldn't be as much of it because of how pathetically those reasons measure up to the loss of human life.
And to those realists who say that people just don't want to hear about what makes their country tick and that it is our own addiction to oil that helps fuel our relationship to the Middle East, I say that you could make the case that the 500 billion or so already spent in Iraq probably could have gone a long way in research into getting Green technology (not to mention the Green economy) on its feet.
You could even sell it on the sound bite circuit. What's more "American", technological innovation or leaning on puppet regimes for finite resources?
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