Month: August 2015

Book of the Week: “The Bunker.”

I was under the impression that The Bunker was what they based Downfall on, but it turns out that the two works are just looking at the same thing; the last days of the Nazi regime (specifically, Hitler’s final days and death in the Berlin bunker). It’s a very lively work, given that it was written by a journalist and not an academic. I also assume that we’ll get at least one person in comments who will politely but firmly bring up James O’Donnell’s (the author) weakness for a good narrative. Still, it was and is compelling reading.

And so, adieu to Snow Crash

Moe Lane

Big Government in action: FDA busybodies target… ‘vegan mayonnaise.’.

Via Reason comes this charming look into the soul of a federal food bureaucrat:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the labels and website labeling for your Just Mayo and Just Mayo Sriracha products in June, 2015. The label for these products directs the consumer to your website at the Internet address www.hamptoncreek.com. We examined your website in June, 2015. Based on our review, we have concluded that these products are in violation of section 403 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) [21 U.S.C. § 343] and its implementing regulations found in Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 101 (21 CFR 101). You can find the Act and FDA regulations through links on FDA’s home page athttp://www.fda.gov.

[snip of violations]

The above violations are not meant to be an all-inclusive list of violations that may exist in connection with your products or their labeling. It is your responsibility to ensure that your products comply with the Act and its implementing regulations. You should take prompt action to correct the violations cited in this letter. Failure to promptly correct these violations may result in regulatory action without further notice, such as seizure and/or injunction.

Continue reading Big Government in action: FDA busybodies target… ‘vegan mayonnaise.’.

Does @Ted_Strickland support changing the name from Mt. McKinley to Denali?

I ask because Ohioan legislators are ‘fuming‘ over this:

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in a statement on his Facebook account that he was similarly “disappointed” in the decision to rename the [Alaska] mountain long named after “a proud Ohioan.”

“The naming of the mountain has been a topic of discussion in Congress for many years. This decision by the Administration is yet another example of the President going around Congress,” Portman said.

“I now urge the Administration to work with me to find alternative ways to preserve McKinley’s legacy somewhere else in the national park that once bore his name,” Portman added.

President McKinley was from Ohio, you see. So politicians from Ohio are going to be just a little bit touchy on the subject. Well. Certain politicians. Apparently Ted Strickland doesn’t actually care about his own state’s history…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: If you think that this is a silly issue, then obviously the easiest way for Ted Strickland to prove that he’s not ducking said issue is to come out and forthrightly say that Barack Obama was perfectly justified in unilaterally changing the name from Mt. McKinley to Denali. I’m not joking. Ohio Republicans aren’t afraid to be publicly upset about this (and, by definition: if the Speaker of the House thinks something is relevant, it automatically becomes so); why can’t Ted Strickland show a little gumption and come our swinging on President Obama’s behalf? – Unless, of course, Strickland’s kind of against the name change, too, but doesn’t want to look like he disagrees with Obama. Which is, admittedly, pretty much how state Democrats cringe and fawn these days every time they’re in a dispute with the national party…

Wal-Mart increases wages, cuts hours.

Shocking! – And by ‘shocking’ I mean ‘not shocking at all.’ If you are familiar at all with how business works, then you know that retail companies typically operate on a limited profit margin (Wal-Mart averages at about 3% a quarter). They do not have much of a margin. They certainly don’t have the margin that the Activist Left apparently thinks that retail stores do!  So if wages go up, either expenses go down, or profits do – and you need a buffer for bad months and/or years, otherwise the company starts losing money and then things get messy.

Here’s Wal-Mart’s comment, by the way: “Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg told Bloomberg that the company is reducing hours, but the reductions only affect stores that have have been overstaffed.” Translation: Wal-Mart can no longer afford to be easygoing about job performance. Time to earn that nine bucks an hour…

Moe Lane

PS: I am indifferent about the fate of Wal-Mart, but I wish more people would sit down and actually think about the math involved in running a business.

READ THIS IF YOU PLAN TO CROWD-FUND ANYTHING.

Seriously. If you are thinking about doing anything on Kickstarter or another crowd-funding site, go get that cup of coffee, drink it, and peruse this how-to guide. Somebody sat down and did the math on how to budget a project properly, and then showed us the math, and the advice offered was so freaking matter-of-fact competent that I went and ponied up for her Kickstarter on the spot. Seriously, that’s probably the most bang for my fifteen bucks that I’ve gotten in a while. If for no other reason that it told me what you should be thinking about when you’re thinking of running your own crowd-funding project.

Via @RichBurlew and @mariancall.

So I take it that people are surprised that the VMA was a train wreck?

I mean, for the love of God: it has celebrities there. How many of those people have functional life skills outside of the ability to carry a tune or play a musical instrument? And by ‘functional life skills’ I mean ‘iron clothes,’ ‘balance a checkbook,’ or ‘walk past a bar without drinking it*.’  Don’t get me wrong: musical celebrities are often fun to hear. Just don’t listen to them.

Moe Lane

*Thank you, Mitchell Royce.