Gotta blog it...

From http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/107575/rise-of-the-super-rich-hits-a-sobering-wall.html: Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall

"In 2007, the top one ten-thousandth of households took home 6 percent of the nation’s income, up from 0.9 percent in 1977. It was the highest such level since at least 1913, the first year for which the I.R.S. has data.

The top 1 percent of earners took home 23.5 percent of income, up from 9 percent three decades earlier."

One gent went from $100 million to $4 million. I know... cry me a river. There is some comfort in knowing I won't need a gaggle of lawyers on commission spending years haggling over my estate when I pass. I will be leaving someone a good-sized headache if I keep collecting the way I have been, but that's an inherited genetic defect. I CONFESS - I now have 4 - 5 if you count the old motorless - lawn mowers. Two 'are worth fixing,' the $5 one from the auction works, and the electric is back up even if the wheels are exceedingly bad (runs, cuts - kind of.) I only need one about 4 months out of the year to keep the mosquitoes down, but hard to know which one will start when, and I hate to take wheels off 'a good one' for the electric, but darned if the $5 (mismatched handle, cables cut but still attached) mower isn't the running-est one! No lawyer will touch my estate, I rest my case.

Back to the topic: Interesting article, really, and worth a glance if you wish to browse it.

Comment One: This is pretty much what Richard Kotlarz addressed and predicted. Most of the 'paper assets' on the balance sheets had no real financial backing, anyway.

Comment Two: If any of the super-rich fall great heights and need a hand up, I can show them a thing or two of surviving closer to the bottom edge.

Comment Three: When the super-rich fall, who do they fall upon?

Comment Four: How does one feel sorry for someone that is forced to sell their private plane and fly coach instead? I can see how dropping a diet from superb culinary delight (prepared by Cook) to scraping peanut butter on bread for yourself would be painful. But then, I actually 'made' supper the other night: spaghettio's, cottage cheese, and baked beans. Layering these together is an interesting flavor combination, but I doubt the finer restaurants will be serving it any time soon. :)

Comment Five: As long I don't get to the point of 'fine dining' with mice on toast (old England, if I'm not mistaken), I'm doing okay. If I think I might be dining on the mice... then I best not use poison to control their population?

Comment Six: "The state of the nation" economically can be seen in the charity auctions; the weathier of us are not 'trickling down' - this is creating a shortage of used appliances and such! Not sure what I'd do if a private passenger plane 'trickled down' since I couldn't afford to fly it or house it, but one could gut it and remake it into a cabin-type thing? Or put it on floats and use it as houseboat in the summer.

Same time, panic is panic, worry is worry, and the size of it is within the individual's perception. I'd bum too if I lost $96 million dollars - but I wouldn't 'lose' it. I'd go broke getting something done while I had the chance, and be delighted at the opportunity to gift it out. I don't exactly live high on the hog; more like on the tip of it's hairy, curly tail. It makes for a wild ride, but not a lot of competition.

How many of us think we, collectively, can hang on this way until 12-21-2012? And what if the dreaded / desired transition doesn't occur... anyone betting on making it to 2025? Me, I'm hanging on the hog's tail - wither the hog goes, I follow, but when I fall, I won't get trampled.

PS - I have no idea what I just said. I've been 'working' long and hard the last few days, though I haven't made a cent doing it. There's a reason I have a blister that was caked with tar, dyed purple with chokecherries and cracked open while hammering - I earned it. I have 'been doing' and I feel good with what I've done. Some of it is for sharing with others, and that is its own delight. True, a ton more stuff to get done, so if Becky's ready for her annual (ahem, it could be, if you came down this year, too) vacation, I can keep her entertained. Not well-fed, but entertained.

Suffice it to say I've been fractaling... :) Luckily they did the math for me. All I have to do is play and save when I have something I like. Main problem with the programs so far is no 'undo' key if I want to back up a step, and if there's a tutorial, I haven't read it yet.

Confusing the Weather Gods

"Chance of showers" - To Tar or Not to Tar, that is the question. My world, this about guarantees rain, so after tarring around the leaking vent, I pretended it was going to rain 'just in case'. I covered the unattached entrance with plastic and stuffed the garbage-to-go in my car (from Val's ceiling tear-out) before calling it a day. Usually if I plan for rain, it won't.

I imagine somewhere above the Rain God sat with his bucket of water labeled "Elaine's" and couldn't figure out if he (assumed gender) should slosh it, thereby watering the late-starting cukes and fresh tar, or withhold it since I'd prepped for rain. I believe I heard a bit of grumbling in the skies, but nary a drop fell.

Same time, I may just be a little more 'naturally high' than usual. Leaping from tar fumes to soggy-ceiling mold to bleach to ant-icide and topping it all off with a round of Deep Woods Off... Handy hint, after spraying oneself, it is unwise to put one's finger in one's mouth. And I have not yet decided if mixing screen-opener (commercial use in print industry), Windex and Goop is recommended - I was just trying to get a blob of ink off my good jeans when I cleaned out Printer #1.

Hindsight, right - I shouldn't have been wearing my good jeans. Once again proving hindsight is mostly useless.

Stays interesting here? Val's stuff is in the living room while her room gets a much-needed makeover. I insisted the damaged ceiling had to come out, because I knew it was b-a-d. Sunny days, I've targeted working outside on a multitude of projects, but evenings or rain I could work inside.

Weirdly enough, I became fixated on making Nettle Wine, but it has such a bland flavor I wanted to add chokecherry to it. Sera was complaining of the fermenting smell in the kitchen, but that was only for a week (like there's room for this with Val's stuff everywhere - a few paths through the living room and dogs invariably exactly where you're walking). Either I have about 4 gallons of wine setting up or I have 4 gallons of vinegar; we won't know which for awhile. I think the most interesting one may be the nettle / ginger root / orange. I didn't say palatable, I said 'interesting'. :)

Today Sera added to the chaos at 6:30 a.m. Neighbors have a pup in a kennel close to our house (and distant from theirs). No real shelter and alone a good 23 hours a day in it, and whines pathetically. Three out of three females in this house have suffered along with the pup, so today Sera brought it in to visit 'while it's raining' - she left a note on the kennel.

You can visualize for yourself what it looks like around here then.

But if you'd rather play...

Coolest thing on PBS - fractal geometry? Like I ever thought this would attract me, hm? Once it's applied to art, one has the most marvelous images! If they'd teach this in school, they would have had my full attention. An excellent visual is at http://www.fractalarts.com/ASF/galleries.html - wonderful images to just view. It has a link in the tutorial for a free download of 'Tiera-zon' which is pretty simple or Sterling2. No real instructions, just go play with it. Excellent fun, no math knowledge required! Created my new screensaver this way...

Let me know if you dabble a bit with this, say on a rainy day. :)

Self-analysis: Chaos everywhere, but a shot of 'cool playing' balances the insanity here. One cannot be enchanted and disheartened at the same time. Who'd've ever thought math would inspire me?? Certainly not my Algebra instructor!