Ace has posted the long-awaited results of the American Haiku contest.

Priceless.

Yours truly entered, but neither placed nor showed. Ah well, there's always a next time. . .

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Check out this article. Or this one. Or this one, or this one. Gloomy, huh?

In fact, even a notable optimist's first reaction might be to replace the cowbell:

with the cow:

But the news may not be all bad, after all. First, obviously, is the fact that payroll employment increased (even if not as much as expected). Second, the number of unemployment claims declined over last month.

Finally, and most importantly, look at the unspun release from the BLS and try to interpret that as anything but positive. Overall household employment increased by 629,000 over the previous month. For better perspective, take a look at this chart:

(from this site).

That's right. July saw the largest increase in household employment since February 2002. And for only the second time since August 1994, more than 600,000 jobs were created in a month.

Why, then, the gloomy news reports about the increase of only 32,000 (versus the forecast of 240,000). Two words: old economy. These BLS surveys and predictions are all predicated on the 9-to-5, 5-day-a-week, clock-punching job sector. They miss the ever-larger numbers of self-employed workers who make our economy a vibrant example of Schumpeter's creative destruction.

Of course, I'm not the first to note this, by any means. This particular post was inspired by Dr. Jeffrey Cornwall of The Entrepreneurial Mind. And Virginia Postrel has lucidly stated and developed this theme repeatedly in the past.

Thank goodness we can so readily access the raw data to critique the common wisdom (or at least the "commonly-reported" wisdom) about the job figures.

Update: Reading through the above, I noted some sloppiness in the paragraph starting "Why, then, . . . . " Instead of saying "these BLS surveys, " I should have written "the BLS payroll survey." Sorry for the sloppiness.

For a well-written leftist analysis of the BLS report, read this EPI article, which goes through all the numbers and explains why more weight is commonly given to the payroll survey than the household survey. I don't agree with the EPI's ideological slant, but it does help explain the conventional wisdom.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:37 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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At 36, I've worn the same pant size since college, and, thanks to a fairly active lifestyle and good genetics, I haven't needed to work very hard to stay that size. But nature finally caught up last summer and I noticed my waistbands getting tighter. I never actually bought a larger size, but during the fall I did buy a couple of pairs of pants with an expandable waistband. Cheating? Maybe.

I made a resolution at the beginning of the new year to finally incorporate regular exercise into my daily routine, and began doing situps and pushups every day. Four months later, at my annual physical, I was happy to find my blood pressure at the lowest I can remember (112/52) but very shocked to find my cholesterol level in the 230s (with a bad LDL/HDL ratio). It has always been in the mid-100s. My doctor put me on Niacin for the time being and we will follow up soon to re-check the level. In the meantime, I resolved to improve my diet and incorporate some aerobic exercise.

Shortly after that checkup, Jake came into our lives, and he has been an angel. Every night since April, I have progressively gone from walking to jogging to running with that dog for thirty minutes.

Wanting to find an objective way to measure my physical fitness progress, I went Googling around today. Surprise, surprise, surprise. The USMC has posted a helpful reference to the physical fitness and swimming requirements for Marine Corps courses. Even better, it lays out the point scoring system and provides rankings by age. Perfect.

So tonight I administered my first USMC-style PFT. I managed a three-mile run in 21:35, 39 situps in 2 minutes, and 4 pull-ups. Scoring against that chart, I passed each component of the test and came up with 138 total points, putting me in the 3rd Class for my age (not great, but better than "Unsatisfactory").

Not bad for a civilian. Having an objective milestone is important, and up to this point I have merely been working on consistent exercise. Now I can work on improving that score.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:45 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Not a unicycle, a monowheel. In many forms, including a proposed armored version for the military.

Hat tip: Gravity Lens (where does he find this stuff?)

Posted by: JohnL at 09:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Steve the Llamabutcher provides some helpful graphics for the technically impaired to demonstrate the effect of a trojan virus.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've trimmed, pruned, and supplemented my blogrolls.

I'm also experimenting with the style and layout (although not publishing it here yet). Look for a revamped look here soon.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This week's Carnival of the Vanities was a rather "Fly By Night" affair.

(Via fellow Rush-head and junior Vodkapundit Will Collier).

Posted by: JohnL at 09:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Speaking of slipping the surly bonds, I am getting away for a bit of a summer vacation from blogging. After I have rested and recharged, I'll be back.

I still owe you OPERATION COFFEECUP -- a tribute to Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Adios amigos.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Alan Brain links to a convenient quick-reference chart comparing the fastest human sprinter to the average speeds of hazards faced in the movies (Killer Bees, T-Rexes, dogs, elephants, tornadoes, etc.)

Posted by: JohnL at 11:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Spurred by the new look in my house, I am thinking about a new look for the blog.

One persistent constructive criticism I have received is that there's not enough Heinlein content here, given the blog title. Well, I have fixed that in the process of editing my blogroll. Check out the new categories for my blogroll (if you're familiar with Heinlein and think I've got you under the wrong book title, please let me know why, and which one you think you belong under).

I'm also working on my CSS and trying to think of a layout that works in each of the main browsers (this site still doesn't look right in Opera. Grr.) As always, please feel free to comment or send an email with constructive criticisms. Thanks for your continued support and patronage.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm sorry for the recent radio silence. Life happens.

And life ends. Ronald Wilson Reagan, requiescat in pacem.

We owe a huge debt to this man. He, along with Margaret Thatcher, turned the tide of Marxism and put the lie to the notion that socialism was inevitable and could never be reversed.

At this point, I can't possibly add much to what has already been written elsewhere. And I don't want to generate any more "purple prose" than has been generated. Two of my favorite bloggers, Virginia Postrel and Timothy Sandefur, have done a great job covering Reagan. (Just click on each link and keep scrolling).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I found out yesterday that I have a blog child -- an old friend from high school days. Very similar background to mine, but as should be apparent from a reading of his site, quite a different adult life.

He is very smart with a really dry sense of humor, so I look forward to checking out his observations on things. Here's the money quote from one of his first posts:

"I didn't start my own blog because I thought I didn't have anything to say. Finally realizing neither does anyone else, I decided to go for it."

That's the spirit!

Posted by: JohnL at 10:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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While I'm on the topic of fascism, I have to confess that tonight I'm feeling like a member of the Ministry of Truth, going back and changing the history to show that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia instead of Eurasia.

You see, I've been re-categorizing my old Blogspot posts into their proper subjects. In the process, of course, I am re-writing history so that it appears that I have always been a Munuvian. For some reason, I feel vaguely guilty. Should I?

Posted by: JohnL at 09:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I meant to blog on this a couple of weeks ago, when the LlamaButchers first pointed me to it.

Things I'm not ashamed to admit, but probably should be:

• I am a huge Neil Diamond fan, even if he has questionable politics.


• I played AD&D in High School. And still have the books. And dice. And miniatures.


• Barry Manilow? Musical genius (for his genre). Really. Just listen to Copacabana with an open mind.


• I know how to buy women's clothing. My wife's a knockout but is too modest to acknowledge it, so I occasionally have to buy her things to help her see herself the way I do.


• I know the derivation and meanings of the words "fannish" and "'dane."


• Despite the preceding sentence, I've never been to a "Con."


• I like the Yes album Talk.



Posted by: JohnL at 11:21 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 From a dating book I have: the definition of Romantic when listed in the personals-Owns extensive Barry Manilow collection.

Posted by: JB at May 22, 2004 08:51 AM (0gK4v)

2 all right, you shamed me into it. Talk isn't in the cd jukebox, so last night i popped it into one of the empty slots and relistened. still can't say i like it as much as the rest, though i do like it better than Union. my #1 son is a prog rock fan, so it was a nice variation for him. after that we put on the first half of Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, which he also hadn't heard before. by the way, anyone with fast internet access should frequent auralmoon.com for excellent prog rock internet radio.

Posted by: chris at May 22, 2004 09:49 AM (zH1Gw)

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Timothy Sandefur has moved his Freespace blog off Blog*Spot to Typepad. Check out the spiffy new look.

Timothy brings a libertarian/Objectivist perspective to several subjects, but most eloquently to constitutional law, theory, and history.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In case you haven't surfed over there recently, be sure to check out SFSignal's spiffy new look. Gone is the purple. Nice shades-of-blue color scheme going on there now.

Posted by: JohnL at 12:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'd like to welcome a couple of new sites to my blogrolls.

At Don McClane's Mixolydian Mode, you'll find daily music posts as well as links to Steven King's The Shining in 30 Seconds (reenacted by animated bunnies), a dissertation on meteorology in Tolkien, and classic analog synthesizers (which is how he found my site, apparently). Don has several other sites covering a large range of topics here.

The other newcomer is the Bookish Gardener, who was kind enough to take my side in the recent tete-a-tete (or is that "Kopf gegen Kopf?") over the lovely German language. Another lawyer eclecti-blogger, but with a focus on gardening (and music, and books, and family, and. . . you get the idea!)

Enjoy!

Posted by: JohnL at 11:26 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Speaking of French duels, I hereby challenge Rob the Llamabutcher to one, for calling the lovely German language hideous. (Full disclosure: my undergraduate degree was in German).

Among the sung languages, certainly Latin is the most beautiful, but German has an earthy power to it, much like English. Just read Der Erlkoenig (The Elf-King), by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and listen to a decent recording of Schubert's rendering of this poem.

If you have a child, I dare you to make it through the song without a tear in your eye.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Professor Hall went searching for "Spacecraft" images on Google and found this, ahem, interesting, ahem, pic. (Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more). . .

Looks like it would make a decent background image for Ted's site banner, as he likes to keep his title art fresh.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Looks like Steve and Rob are giving the Creator of Worlds a run for his money at humorous photoshopping. Just start here and scroll down.

Looks like they picked up a Vodka-lanche today, too. Good on them.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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