Geithner assures China investors, according to the BBC (in an item that won't even appear in the American press), but on closer look:

In a speech at Beijing University at the start of his two-day visit, Mr Geithner reassured his Chinese hosts that they need not worry about the estimated $770bn (£475bn) they have invested in US treasuries, a class ( Read more... )

We've been delving into the archives, trying to put our past into some sort of order. Talk about Aegean stables! Anyway, we were going through some old Horizon stuff (Horizon Production Company was the theatre company Sean and I founded in Ireland, God, twenty-five years ago?) and came across a manifesto I'd put together fairly early on - and much ( Read more... )

nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

So goes the postal carriers motto. Books, however, seem to be a different matter.

Over the past few weeks, Sean and I have been doing a bit of ordering from Amazon.com. Nothing outlandish - maybe three, four books a week. And twice - ( Read more... )

Evidently, the pundits are already characterizing Wanda Sykes' routine at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner as having "gone over the line" or some such shit and playing too much to the "liberal media" and dredging up the last administration. Yeah, and Stephen Colbert's speech in 2006 was terrible.
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So I saw Goldie Hawn on Hardball earlier this evening - GAH! She has finally reached the last reel of Death Becomes Her in real time. Of course, the scale of her disastrous plastic surgery immediately brought Jocelyn Wildenstein to mind ( Read more... )

The British Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has decided to publish the names of sixteen people banned from entering the UK since last October so others could better understand what sort of behavior Britain is not prepared to tolerate: "We are telling people who they are and why it is we don't want them in this country. ... If people have so clearly ( Read more... )

Since David Souter announced his resignation from the Supreme Court, speculation has been rampant about who President Obama might nominate as his replacement.

For those who might wish to discuss the potential candidates a bit more intelligently (and, really, who wouldn't?), the following are among contenders mentioned so far:

Merrick Garland ( ( Read more... )

So it's hiring season again here at the cave. We've decided to cut back our staff slightly, but had a few guides and so on who have gone off to college and moved out of the area, so we thought we'd need to take on a couple of new people this year ( Read more... )

We're hosting the Pennsylvania Caves Association meeting tomorrow evening, which is neither here nor there, really. But, as it includes dinner, it gives us an excuse to knock ourselves out cooking. We've spent most of today - and a few hours over the past few days - prepping. So here's what's on the menu:

New England Clam Chowder or Tomato Bisque ( Read more... )

Damn, I just found out that Jack Wrangler died about two weeks ago - apparently of emphysema. He was 62 ( Read more... )