Nixon Leaves the White House
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Activities of the Industrial Climber
Commercial climbers are not only used for the renovation of buildings, they are found also in the facade cleaning and window cleaning to areas which have more to do with the cleaning, as with the repair of houses. Also in the Taubenabwehr the commercial climbers are used. In many cities, pigeons are a real nuisance and to prevent further spread of the animals, nests must be removed and the building secured so that a nest is not possible. Industrial climbers take the necessary steps to make it impossible for the animals an enjoyable stay in the buildings. Last, it should be called the tree service, used in industry can be climbers. Here they make pruning and ensure that the road can be threatened by hanging or dead branches, for example of street trees.
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Little Housing Crisis on the Prairie
"It sounds wonderful," Ma said politely in her gentle voice. "And what will our rate be after the introductory period, Mr. Edwards?"
"That depends on those scoundrels in Washington!" Mr. Edwards declared hotly.
"Pa, how much will we pay for the house?" Mary asked.
"What we pay doesn't matter much, Mary," Pa explained. "At 1.5 percent interest, we can easily service the debt on the principal."
Laura was confused. "But when do we pay off the principal, Pa?" she asked.
"She's got you there, Edwards!" Pa laughed. "What about that principal?"
"Those are two mighty smart daughters you have there, Ingalls," Mr. Edwards said admiringly. "Well, it's pretty simple. Your loan will reamortize every 60 months. The minimum payment will be recalculated at that time, but your rate will vary annually according to the then-current prime lending rate. Of course, your regular rate and payment resets will continue to apply, but these will be capped at— Look! A jackrabbit!"
"Good game surely is plentiful in this country," Pa observed.
-- Susan Schorn's "Little Housing Crisis on the Prairie" at McSweeney's
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Tony Judt’s Night
I suffer from a motor neuron disorder, in my case a variant of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Lou Gehrig's disease. Motor neuron disorders are far from rare: Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and a variety of lesser diseases all come under that heading. What is distinctive about ALS—the least common of this family of neuro-muscular illnesses—is firstly that there is no loss of sensation (a mixed blessing) and secondly that there is no pain. In contrast to almost every other serious or deadly disease, one is thus left free to contemplate at leisure and in minimal discomfort the catastrophic progress of one's own deterioration.
Jonathan Raban on Sarah Palin
In our present neo-Keynesian moment, economics has never seemed more bewildering and arcane, or more the exclusive preserve of hated "experts" from the "East Coast elites." Most people I know, myself included, can't readily follow the algebraic equations that explain the "Keynesian multiplier," which, in its turn, is needed to explain TARP and the stimulus package. Belonging to a tribe different from Palin's, I simply take it on trust as a matter of faith that Paul Krugman, in his columns for TheNew York Times, is more likely to be right about such things than, say, Lou Dobbs or Senator John Thune, but I share in the general apprehensive fogginess about what's happening.
For Palin, it's simple. The national economy is a straightforward macrocosm of the domestic economy of the average god-fearing family of four. What's good for the family is good for the nation, and vice versa; and the idea that the family should spend its way out of recession is an affront to common sense, conservative or otherwise. On December 3, she tweeted: "Baffling/nonsensical: Obama's talk of yet another debt-ridden 'stimulus' pkg. Fight this 1, America, bc after last 1 unemployment rose, debt grew." Five days later, while Obama was speaking at the Brookings Institution about the economy, Palin wrote, "Quik msg b4 book event: Prez pls pay down massive, obscene U.S debt &/or give 'stimulus' $ back to Americans b4 propose spending more of our $."
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