Sidetracked

Well, I did say I was going to be writing less!

Busy at work, busy at home, and staying with the new workout regime has trimmed my time to post. I should have a more expansive item up tomorrow, and there is always Friday night!

Sidetracked
The question I get most often on this blog is "Why are you so clueless?" but a close second place finisher is "How do you go about writing a post?". Well I can shed some light on my writing process as i was going to write a post tonight but ran out of time.

Basically I scan items from around my reading list (the blogroll and many beyond) and collect tales or ideas that I think important or that support a thought I want to put out there. I then start typing away and tie it all together, or at least the better posts do that! Of course wandering across the internets can get you lost and sometimes I get sidetracked. Tonight's list of financial articles that I did not use include:

US insurers have limited exposure in Haiti
US insurance companies have limited exposure to massive damage from earthquake in Haiti
What a relief! I man the only thing worse than maybe 100,000 people or more being crushed to death is the idea that our banks and insurance companies might have to pay out cash that is badly needed for bonuses! Perhaps the most sickening headline of the day. Disgusting.

I will stay with Yahoo Finance (they are always a main source for me and they never disappoint) and offer another fine moment in journalism:
Will hearings alter big bank bonuses? Pay experts say, "No."
You can read the article if you like but no where will you find the question: "If this is all for show, why are they doing it and better yet, why am I reporting on it and being a party to such a sham?"

On the "Things are shaping up for the biggest recovery ever" common wisdom Calculated Risk has a pair of outliers:
2009 GDP: Britain: Worst Decline in 88 Years, Germany: Worst since WWII
The usual bulltard will argue that the recovery will be large WHEN measured against such a drop and they are right. What a thinking man says is "If my stock loses 50%, don't I have to be up 100% to get back to even?" to which the bulltard will answer "But think of that 40% run up after the 50% drop, that will be fun!".

A pair of Mish articles were pure gold:
Measuring the Effect of the Stimulus: If You Don't Like the Results, Change the Yardstick
Even in the face of hard facts the President and his people still trot out the "2 million jobs saved or created" line and use twists of logic to get there.

Even better is that the FED thinks they can model, mathematically, what effect more transparency would have on the markets. You have to see that stuff to believe it.

If you think I am bearish or a gloom and doomer try checking out this end of the world preparation post over at Survival Blog:
COA Analysis of Common Survival Strategies, by JIR

Of course I get sidetracked and here are two that are great.

How long after being bitten by a Zombie would you last until changing into one:
The Zombie Bite Calculator
Yours truly would last 1 hour and 11 minutes before joining the undead. How about you?

The following picture reminded me of those old pictures featured on the headers over at The Automatic Earth:

Gizmodo asks "How Did They Make Zeppelins?"
The obvious answer:

Ever wondered how a beast like the Hindenburg zeppelin—a gigantic 803 feet in length and 130 feet in diameter structure—was built in the 1930s? Here's the answer: With the biggest ladders you can possibly imagine. [Thanks David Keyes

Who would even climb those things!!!!!

Have a good night.