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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

July 2010 News Factoids

Bush's Legacy: The F.D.I.C. took over 25 insolvent banks in 2008 (including giant Washington Mutual), 140 in 2009, and have already taken over 68 more insolvent banks in the first four months of 2010.

Sales of Ayn Rand's 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" doubled in 2009.

Went to the local Movies Ten the other day, a Tuesday. Since school is now out, they changed from 4pm weekday start to Noon or 1pm matinees; they raised the matinee price 25 cents; I saw 1245 show "Robin Hood" with two other people in the theater and then "Iron Man 2" 4pm show with a couple behind me only. Also, the local ads are gone: instead of the stream of slide ads for area businesses, there is one actual ad (for a senior services outfit) and the rest of the slides say 'you can have your ad here, call us'.

"Eight percent of major bills [in the U.S. Senate] were subject to filibuster in the 1960s. That number has climbed to an unprecedented 70 percent today." (2009}

Sign up to participate in 350.org's worldwide 10/10/10 Global Work Party - A Day To Celebrate Climate Solutions

Ninety percent of emails sent every day are spam.

"Great catastrophes - 'act of God' weather events that cause more than a billion dollars in damage - have tripled since 1950." ~~ insurance company Munich Re

Total movie theater box office in May 2010 was down 11 percent from same month last year, and attendance was down 19 percent. ~~ per Time Magazine

"The recession has directly hit more than half of the nation's working adults, pushing them into unemployment, pay cuts, reduced hours at work or part-time jobs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey."

When it came time to get a new bottle of merthiolate -- great on bug bites, scratches, etc. -- I found out that this OTC remedy is being removed from the market, period. (Same as with quinine, which was removed around 2005, so that even the doctors at the V.A. are not supposed to prescribe it.) But Albuquerque has a major Hispanic population, and so I found a nice replacement for tincture merthiolate at a 'yerberia' in the South Valley. This product (hecho en Mexico) is Mertodol Blanco Jaloma, a clear topical antiseptic that is also good against herpes blisters; Jaloma also makes Mertodol Rojo, a red-colored version.

According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate among people in management, business or financial occupations was 4.8 percent in June, compared to 9.5 percent over all, 18.2 percent in construction and 12.1 percent in production.

Copyright 2010 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

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