Author Archives: the editor

Its a good time to be in the construction business in China

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From AFP…

At least 30 people were killed or reported missing and about 180,000 homes destroyed in a powerful earthquake in southwest China, state media said Sunday.

More than 360 people were injured in Saturday’s 6.1-magnitude earthquake, which rocked Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the civil affairs ministry.

Granted this is not as big as last time. And 180,000 homes destroyed is not much in a country with over a billion people in it. But a couple of more earthquakes and and China’s construction industry is going to have a hard time keeping up with the rebuilding and the demands of China’s growing economy.

Coming Soon To A County Near You

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From Businesses Week (h/t Calculated Risk)….

A decision not to make the interest payment would place the county in default and put it one step closer to filing bankruptcy over a $3.2 billion bill linked to years of court-ordered sewer improvements and risky credit arrangements.

Such a move would nearly double the previous record for a municipal bankruptcy, set in 1994 when Orange County, Calif., sought protection over $1.64 billion in debts.

And why did Jefferson County take on such a large debt?

Jefferson County got into trouble after it was forced by the courts to undertake a huge upgrade of its sewage system to meet federal water standards and stop raw and partially treated waste from being dumped into streams.

Acting at the suggestion of outside advisers, the county borrowed money for the project on the bond market in a complex and risky series of transactions. When the mortgage crisis hit and banks began tightening up on their lending, the interest rates on the debt ballooned.

The nearly completed sewer project has been under construction since 1996.

New Orleans to get hit again?

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It looks like New Orleans may get hit by a major hurricane again. On the plus side, the majority of the oil rigs may be missed. Oil Drum has constant up dates.

Edit: More from Calculated Risk…..

We’re already seeing gas prices get hit. Shell Oil said it will pull all workers off platforms, along with nearly every other producer. More importantly, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port will halt taking crude this weekend; it’s the only deepwater oil port in the nation.

Nuts.

Richard Candelaria's last dogfight

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The Americans and the Germans had totally different styles as to how they manged the careers of their fighter pilots. The Americans would send their fighter pilots home after so many missions to train the next batch pilots . The German’s kept their fighters flying for as long as they could stay alive.

Thus, the top German fighter aces at the end of the war were the best fighter pilots around. But all of the rest of the German fighter pilots lacked basic tactical skills. The Americans aces never even came close to having the experience or skills that Germans aces had. But the quality of the American pilots over all was better.

One of the things to keep in mind about the American aces during World War II is that much of what they shot down were poorly skilled flyer’s who had little skills. This is especially true of those kills recorded in the latter part of the war.

But their is always exceptions. And one particular exception was Richard Candelaria’s last dogfight. In that dogfight, he tangled with two German jets and one yellow nosed BF 109 (the yellow nose being a sigh of an ace) as well as some 14 BF 109’s piloted by the usual low skill dog meat that the Germans threw up in the last part of the war. And he fought with all of them all by himself for what must have seemed like forever, but really was a matter of minutes.

The German’s always put their good pilots in the jets so Chandelaria was tangling with three good German fighter pilots in addition to the dog meat. Unlike so many other American air victories recorded in the latter part of the war, this dogfight took some real flying.

The clips below is part of series talking about mustang victories in World War II. But most of them where fights against low skill opponents. That is why I am only calling your attention to part 4 of 5 and part 5 of 5.

According to this account Chandelaria was shot down by German ground fire shortly after this battle took place. But since this account is based off of second and third hand sources and the writer was not even sure Chandelaria was still alive (he was cause History Channel talked with him for the above clips), I don’t know how far you should trust it.

Things are different now

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This is from the early 1800’s…..

In the case of pigs, much must depend upon the situation of the cottage; because all pigs will graze; and therefore on the skirts of forests or commons, a couple or three pigs may be kept, if the family be considerable; and especially if the cottager brew his own beer, which will give grains to assist the wash. Even in lanes, or on the sides of great roads, a pig will find a good part of his food from May to November; and if he be yoked, the occupiers of the neighbourhood must be churlish and brutish indeed, if they give the owner any annoyance…

The cottager’s pig should be bought in the spring or late in winter; and being then four months old, he will be a year old before killing time; for it should always be borne in mind, that this age is required in order to ensure the greatest quantity of meat from a given quantity of food. If a hog be more than a year old, he is the better for it. The flesh is more solid and more nutritious than that of a young hog, much in the same degree that the mutton of a full-mouthed wether is better than that of a younger wether. The pork or bacon of young hogs, even if fatted with corn, is very apt to boil out, as they call it; that is to say, come out of the pot smaller in bulk than it goes in. When you begin to fat, do it by degrees, especially in the case of hogs under a year old. If you feed high all at once, the hog is apt to surfeit and then a great loss of food takes place. Peas, or barley-meal, is the food; the latter rather the best, and does the work quicker. Make him quite fat by all means. The last bushel, even if he sit as he eat, is the most profitable. If he can walk two hundred yards at a time, he is not well fatted.

The whole essay was a fascinating look into the past.

This is why so few construction jobs have been lost

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One of the great puzzles of our current economic troubles is how come construction employment has held up so well. The answer is simple. There is such a shortage of skilled tradesmen that a slow down just means that some of them finally get to work a 40 hour week. That means they are making less money then they where before, but they are still employed.

From EC&M Web….

According to survey respondents, contractors are devising a variety of strategies to overcome the shortfalls. Almost half the respondents reported a weekly work schedule of more than 40 hours. Two-thirds reported working their crews five days every week, and some schedules of 70 or more hours per week were reported.

The corollary to this that most of construction done recently is crap. There was not enough good people to do all the work being done even if the all the constructions companies had wanted to do good work. When people get done being outrage by all the obvious financial fraud that paid for boom, they are going to find that things were not done to any higher ethical standard on the bricks and motor end.

In Pakistan, mental illness is not a handicap

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From the Economist….

With its other smaller allies, the PPP-led government will not fold. And if Mr Zardari is elected president, with the dictatorial powers that the job confers, as seems likely, the government will look more solid. If so, Mr Zardari might be seen to have bested both Pervez Musharraf, the former president, who resigned on August 19th to escape impeachment, and Mr Sharif, leader of the PPP’s biggest rival. For a man who recently stepped into the shoes of his dead wife, Benazir Bhutto, the PPP’s murdered leader, and who is reported to have serious mental illnesses, this would be an Olympian achievement.

Olive Garden having problems

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For those who care....

A surprise warning on earnings by Darden Restaurants Inc. suggests that sit-down restaurants will continue struggling through the fall after a dismal summer.

On Tuesday, the parent of Olive Garden and Red Lobster said its earnings for the fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 24 would be below Wall Street’s expectations, and lowered its profit forecast for the year ending May 31.