House of the rising Moonglum

Midwest Lutherans Largely Reject Violence

Might only be funny if you are a midwestern mainline protestant. Hot-dish and Presbyterian jokes abound.

Pointed to by Prince Corwin, it appears that congress passed a measure that allows the US to sue OPEC for setting oil prices. Um…. supply and demand anyone? Free markets? I personally believe that the price of gasoline has been kept artificially low for years and that is going to cause real problems in the future. Gas is expensive because there is less of it available. Hopefully it will continue to become more expensive in manageable chunks allowing our economy to move away from dependence on oil, and allowing people to adjust their lives to the absence of cheap oil. The alternative is to keep the price artificially low until we well and truly do run out, and then there will be a massive price jump rather than a smooth increase over time. This will be a disaster for our economy since we will have to transition instantly.

Oh and by the way, some people have complained that gas isn’t the “highest price ever” since it didn’t include inflation. Guess what, it was just the highest ever, including inflation, and there has been no hurricane or new international disaster (other than the ongoing one…). Supposedly the high prices reduced demand and the futures market will drive prices back down in the near term, but the fact is, long term gas prices are going up, and it would be nice to build the infrastructure we need to live without it, with the benefit of still having it.

I am sad to be in Indianapolis this week because I will be missing the emergence of the Cicadas, which I have been eagerly awaiting for a while now.  They will still be there by the time I get back, however it turn out Indianapolis has its own special noisemakers around this time of year.  My client’s office is right next to the Target Ganassi offices which I didn’t think about too much until today.  It appears that Target’s car 9 is gearing up for the big day this weekend.  This means that they have to take it out for the occasional spin around the parking lot.  Indy cars are REALLY LOUD.  I kinda wish that I still had the Omni though so I could take a picture of it next to Scott Dixon’s car.

Oh yeah, and they are really into racing here.  My hotel cleaning person left some flyers pitching cars 9 and 10 on my bed.  (That’s the target team for those keeping score).

I just wanted to hear a clip from “I Ran” by Flock of Seagulls, so went to the iTMS. They have this new “your store” section on the front page, and number 10 of the top 10 suggested songs was “I Ran” by Flock of Seagulls. I only realized it as I was half way through typing my search in. Now that is scary.

On the other hand, they also have three songs from movie soundtracks. (Man in motion #1, that’s fine, but Take My Breath Away #7, oh please, and the PotterWaltz?!. I can’t say it’s not appropriate given my latest obsessions, but really.) They should know that I don’t need any more U2 though. And sticking Steve perry next to Ozzie might actually be dangerous.

Apparently a man who was executed yesterday asked that his last meal be a veggie pizza to be given to a random homeless person near the prison. The prison wouldn’t comply (bureaucracy?) and locals pitched in thousands to provide pizzas to shelters in the area. I’ve always been intrigued by last requests, and I really like this one. Helping someone out you never even met. I think it is the random person part that I especially like.

A while back I posted some thoughts on optimisim in the housing market. It appears that the realtor’s association is reporting that some of those worries are coming true. And for a real scare there are some people who really believe that we are in the midst of a major bubble. It wouldn’t be a problem though if so many people weren’t using their houses as equity…

Ever wonder where Streeterville got its name? Well the Chicagoist has the scoop. Apparently “Captain” Streeter took to getting people to dump their post great fire garbage in the lake in one location, and declared it his own land. How awesome is that? I love this town.

The first paragraph: Officials say Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was drunk, transporting marijuana, talking on the phone and not wearing a seat belt when he died.

I can only think of one thing to say: don’t drink and drive. And don’t talk on the cell phone and drive. And wear your seat belt. I guess that is three things. Crazy.