Just Checking In

It's been awhile since I made a trip around the internet, so after finishing The Long Descent by John M. Greer, I thought I'd see what's new in the world:

Oil still pouring into the Gulf? Check.
Everyone still pointing fingers and covering asses instead of working the problem? Check.
Morally defective politicians using a major disaster for personal gain? Check.
Hope-n-Change still a shameless whore? Check.
Al Sharpton still a racist media whore? Check.
Socialism proves to be an utterly bankrupt economic system for the bajillionth time? Check.
The US still looking at $1 trillion deficits as far as the eye can see? Check.
The real economy still sucking up the place? Check.
Politicians still morally-defective liars? Check and Check.

Guess I didn't miss much.

Working for the census is proving all the worst things you ever heard about federal employees to be grossly understated. Over the last few days, a number of things have come up that pretty much makes the whole mess a waste of time even for its most basic function of apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. But as federal fiascoes go, it's a fairly cheap one in both blood and treasure compared to other recent foreign and domestic adventures. I get paid $15/hour and $.50/mile to waste a great deal of time while not accomplishing much; the upside is that money will likely do a great deal more for the local economy than TARP ever will, and it doesn't feel as pointless as being paid to dig holes then fill them in, even if it likely is.

Today, the weather was perfect, so I blew off census for a day and we drove out to a local cemetery and took a bunch of pictures. We mostly focused on the old monuments towards the front from the late 19th century and early 20th century, but we did take a few shots of some of the fancy new ones. We didn't spend much time in the new part; with Memorial Day next weekend, there were a lot of people out dressing things up, putting out flags, etc. For some reason, a couple people wandering around taking photos seemed to make them a bit suspicious. I know! Some people, right? So we wandered back down to the old part before someone decided to make a scene.

OK; enough of this internet stuff; The Ecotechnic Future awaits!