Here’s a neat thing… black and white footage of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis has been “remastered” by digitally cleaning the footage, colorizing and added appropriate sound. To be released next year in Polish movie theaters, 90 minutes long.
[youtube oWMmtwIx9WM]
In short: the company “Forever 21,” which I gather sells clothes of some sort, just turned all the 40-hour-a-week workers into 29.5-hour-per-week workers, effective August 31. Why the rather odd 29.5 hours? Because at 30 hours, the company would still have to pay into their medical, dental, vision and life insurance, but at less than 30 hours, Obamacare doesn’t make so many demands of employers.
As a bonus, not only are the former full-timers losing their medical insurance in favor of a massive new government bureaucracy, they are losing at least a quarter of their income. As a further bonus, they will no longer accrue paid time off.
Hmmm.
Reminds me of something. Didn’t someone closely associated with Obamacare once say:
“If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”
I have no idea what the politics of the management, staff and customers of “Forever 21” are. But looking at a few things online, they seem to cater to “fashionable” young folk. You know, the kind who voted in large numbers of Obama. The kind who thought that Obamacare was such a fantastic idea. The kind who may never know what a full-time job is.
It’s a pity nobody saw this sort of thing coming. Oh, wait, lots of people saw this sort of thing coming.
Uhhhh… “return?”
Short form: some preachers want to become overtly political at the pulpit without giving up their tax-free status.
Seems to me there’s a straightforward solution: get rid of the notion that churches are *supposed* to be tax free, then they can say whatever they like.
My ability to check the internet for the last week or so has been virtually nil, but it’s starting to come back now. If you’ve ordered something and didn’t get it, or sent an email and didn’t get a reply, I’m *kinda* back online now.
The Lockheed space station substantially built-up and added-on, stretched and with added “arms.”
An early 1960’s Lockheed concept for a modular space station. It would rotate around the long axis to create “artificial gravity” in the outboard “bars.” Nuclear reactor at the “tail,” possibly de-spun docking system up front.
A trio of Model 473 jetliner concepts from 1949-1950, from ebay. Note that the one at bottom is a double-decker configuration.
Boeing press release (well, part of it, anyway):
[youtube CzkoeyhAAdk]
… a 15 IQ-point increase is associated with a 25 percent decrease in a woman’s desire for children
Assume it’s accurate. What to do about it? There are two issues of importance for the future of society: inspiring smart women to have more babies, and inspiring dumb women to have fewer. Tax breaks for the smart ones? Norplant coming standard with welfare for the dumb ones (presumption is that the dumb ones are more likely to end up on the dole)? How about: if you’re on government assistance, you are moved to sex-segregated communes, with no opportunity to mingle with the opposite sex? Go back to 1920’s social models, where the dumb ones are sterilized permanently at a young age? Do some early testing, and ship the dummies overseas?
Long term, the answer is clear: off-world colonies. Only the smart ones will survive in such hostile, technologically dependent frontiers. Earth can be left to the marching morons to turn into complete squalor, so long as several off-world colonies are brought to sustainability. Terraform Mars, terraform Venus, terraform the moon and build O’Neills all over hither and yon, preserving the best of mankind and the lifeforms of Earth, and let the idiots have the Earth. Once they wipe themselves out, Earth can be terraformed, reseeded, and begun again.
A mid/late 1960’s Lockheed concept for a heavy lift “flying crane” cargo helicopter. It could carry 150 passengers, or 10 tons of cargo 1000 miles; length given as 104 feet.
