Our booming economy ...

Just not in Wisconsin.

The office of North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue (D) announced today that Toshiba Nuclear will open a project management and engineering center in Charlotte; adding 194 jobs to Mecklenburg County. The jobs will pay average salaries of $122,037 a year.

I would imagine that Wisconsin was near the top of their list, but just missed out. But I would be wrong.

The company is the primary contractor for the construction of two nuclear reactors planned in Texas. The company initially considered sites there and in Northern Virginia, where it is based, for the new operation before cutting the list to Charlotte and Atlanta.

"Charlotte is becoming the place to be in the U.S. for nuclear engineers," Fuyuki Saito, chief executive of Toshiba America Nuclear Energy said in a statement. "The quality of the work force, quality of life and strong support we have received from state and local officials make Charlotte a perfect fit for out new center."

Strong support from state and local officials, I wonder what that means?

H/T - NEI Nuclear Notes.

Almost heaven

The Calumet River Café.

Relax. Have some smoked shrimp and an Old Style. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Where did I eat today?

What could go wrong?

As seen on Instapundit:

California's biggest energy utility announced a deal Monday to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from a startup company that plans to beam the power down to Earth from outer space, beginning in 2016.

...

Solaren would generate the power using solar panels in Earth orbit and convert it to radio-frequency transmissions that would be beamed down to a receiving station in Fresno, PG&E said. From there, the energy would be converted into electricity and fed into PG&E's power grid.

...

Solaren's chief executive officer, Gary Spirnak, said the project would be the first real-world application of space solar power, a technology that has been talked about for decades but never turned into reality.

"While a system of this scale and exact configuration has not been built, the underlying technology is very mature and is based on communications satellite technology," he said in a Q&A posted by PG&E. A study drawn up for the Pentagon came to a similar conclusion in 2007. However, that study also said the cost of satellite-beamed power would likely be significantly higher than market rates, at least at first.

Talk about your unintended consequences. This technology is being developed to reduce the use of carbon based electricity, but it will directly cause global warming. How can concentrating and converting solar energy, then sending it to the planet not cause warming?

Granted, the warming will be on a very small scale, but it will be warming nonetheless. And probably warm the earth more than the CO2 from producing the same electricity using coal.

Smoke Day Entertainment

What's a barbecue party without an Elvis tribute artist?

Nothing. That's what.

So if you see someone at my place on May 23 wearing a white leather sequined jumpsuit and a big belt buckle, it won't be me.

This year we've added Brian from The Suspicious Minds to our entertainment line-up.

I may have to hire professional security for crowd control this year.




Be afraid. Very afraid.

Oh, the humanity ...

The peregrine falcons are back at Kewaunee and it is not pretty. There is carnage everywhere, bird parts and bodies scattered all over the plant site. I witnessed an especially disturbing occurrence today, a seagull in the parking lot being left to bleed out and die. It appears that the falcons may be hunting for sport.

I won.

Lab results.

LDH: Normal
AFP - TUMOR MARKER: Normal
HCG, SERUM: Normal

ABDOMEN/PELVIS FINDINGS:

Shotty aortocaval and mesenteric lymph nodes are stable. There is a stable, 1.4 x 1.8 cm soft tissue density contiguous with the distal abdominal aorta on the left. There are no enlarged mesenteric or retroperitoneal lymph nodes.

Layman's interpretation.



Words that I heard today:

The chances of recurrence more than five years after the diagnoses of testicular cancer are dramatically reduced.

"I won" sounds significantly less trite in this context.

Smoke Day V

Only two months away.

This year's theme: More, more, more.

Details later.

Riding the Presidential Short Bus

What a (social) retard. And now he's been challenged to a Bowling Throw-down by Michigan's Special Olympics Champ.

Kolan McConiughey, a Special Olympics bowler from Ann Arbor Michigan who has reportedly bowled three perfect 300 games, says he could take President Obama on the lanes. "He's cool, but he can't beat me."

I suggest a debate on the economy or national security instead. No TelePrompters allowed. My money will be on Kolan.

Don't blame me, I voted for Palin.

Retention bonus - mine, mine, mine

When the going gets tough, the readily employable get going.

The only way to keep us working at these shitty companies is a bonus payment contingent on working through a certain date. Otherwise, we move on to GREENER pastures and your AIG or troubled nuclear plant goes belly up.

Your choice - make it.

Don't like it. Tough. If you had any marketable jobs skills, you'd be sucking up these bonuses, too.

Tom Barrett gets his trolley, Milwaukee citizens get a new source of constant irritation

Hand Tommy some paper towel, he needs to clean up.

Modern streetcars resemble light rail vehicles, but are smaller and less expensive. Otherwise, they spur the same kind of debate as light rail: Supporters say a fixed rail system stimulates economic development and provides a transportation option that is attractive to both visitors and residents, while opponents say it's too costly and isn't as flexible as a bus line.

As envisioned by Barrett, the streetcars would run in a three-mile loop that links downtown destinations to the Amtrak-Greyhound station. It would connect not only with existing trains and buses but also tie in with proposals for commuter rail and high-speed trains.

That loop could be viewed as a starter system that could be expanded later, said Barrett and Ald. Bob Bauman, another supporter.

"Once you have something in the ground, the debate will change from 'This is the end of Western civilization as we know it' to 'How do we get this line extended to Miller Park,' " the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and other destinations, Barrett said. That has been the pattern in other cities where light rail lines became popular despite the controversy that preceded them, he noted.

Unfortunately for Milwaukee citizens and visitors, the very thing that make the trolley the choice of Barrett and Baumann, were the things that doomed Milwaukee's early street car system. Steel rails will make the trolley a permanent fixture in Milwaukee, fulfilling their dreams of a metropolitan rail system. But those same rails will mean noise, uncomfortable rides, and delays for other vehicles on Milwaukee's street.

Claim as they will that their trolley is a "modern" form of transportation, their system will have all the features that led to the demise of Milwaukee's earlier streetcar system, 60 years ago.

I can't get used to this lifestyle

He offered hope and change
now we got Marxist economics
you got it, you got it

Solidarity U.S.A.

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”. “In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

It is not surprising that Putin would recognize the poison of Obama's system of liberal fascism before Americans would even realize that it exists.

I just had a similar experience with my colleague who grew up in communist Poland. My mere mention of the mortgage deadbeat giveaway started him on a rant and led to deep reflection of his parents' struggle under that evil system and his escape to become an American. Although he grew up relatively privileged as the son of the manager of a huge factory and an M.D., the move to the West became his destiny. Personal, financial and religious freedom have made him love his adopted country.

When my friend mentioned the Solidarity buttons worn is Poland, I saw the parallel to the emerging financial Tea Party ignited by Rick Santilli. Wikipedia describes the Polish Solidarity Movement as "a broad anti-communist social movement." I am eager to become part of that movement.


NB - Someone with more talent with graphics than me can make a killing selling Solidarity U.S.A. logo'd apparel.

We are Number One!

If you're not a Wisconsin native, you've probably never heard of it.

But the city of Pewaukee, Wis., a small Milwaukee suburb overlooking a picturesque sailing and fishing lake of the same name, has award-winning schools, low crime, natural beauty, and homes for every budget. It topped the list of BusinessWeek.com's 2009 rankings of the "Best Affordable Suburbs." Pewaukee was selected for Wisconsin in our state-by-state rankings, and scored No. 1 on our nationwide list.

The city of Pewaukee should not be confused with the village of Pewaukee, which the city surrounds. (Pewaukee village, which has a beach on the eastern tip of the lake and serves as the downtown for the area, fell just short of Pewaukee city in our scoring for Wisconsin.)

Business Week's 2009 top rated affordable suburb in the United States is Pewaukee, my hometown.

Your awe is understandable. But if we are so great, why do the geniuses in city hall want to make Pewaukee more like our inferior neighbors, such as Brookfield and New Berlin?

The housing crisis in terms even a Harvard grad can understand

And in terms that Jeff Foxworthy might understand.

If you can't make the mortgage payment on your house, you just may be trailer park trash.

Exponential

As seen at NEI Nuclear Notes.



Obviously missing from the presentation is the rate of increase of debt under a Democratic administration.

Blackwater name change - 2 tips

First, I have learned from a very good source that in an attempt to soften their image, Blackwater Worldwide will become Pink Kitty Security.



Second, order your Blackwater logo gear now. It won't be available much longer.

Wiki response

Sadly, those dicks at 99.155.187.93 (AT&T Internet Services out of Richardson, TX) refuse to share any credit for the bacon weave wrapped fattie and have deleted the citation in Wikipedia of your humble blogger being first. It has since been changed back. This must be a friend of those maggot gaggers, Jason and Aaron.

Those pathetic little bastards. Payback is coming.

I wish I had said that