Tuesday, December 27, 2016

KPC year in review

2016 is almost in the books. Here's a look at what tickled your fancy this year in KPC.


1. Brexit this: where I declaim that Brexit is no big deal and ask everyone to chill.

2. Spanish Pipedream: The inspiring tale of Katie Ledecky and the community pool that spurned her

3. The problem with Macro in one blog post: the theory is whack and the data don't fit.

4.  Thank You Donald Trump: support for the Donald blows up my belief that America is woke.

5. My Dog is a Democrat: Mungowitz has a funny!

6. 30th Anniversary: Mungowitz chronicles his anniversary preparations

7. The Wisdom of Paul Krugman: People, can you believe it? PK got something wrong!

8. Hasta el Papel Higenico Siempre: The EYM goes to Cuba

9. Angus's Hateful 8 Review: Walton Goggins rocks!

10.  Dumping on Anti-Dumping: when I solve for the equilibrium, no one has a job.


KPC: Politics, Macro, Culture, all dished out by two friends who have never managed to grow up.

Together, let's make 2017 the year of the Cheese!

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Skippy Has A Christmas Pudding!

Every year we have a pretty big party for the birthday of the EYM.  This year 14 people showed up.

I made boiled shrimp with a spicy cocktail sauce, homemade mozzeralla cheese with crackers and kalamata olives, and a variety of other appetizers.

Then, dinner was marinated grilled octopus, meatballs, baked whiting, Mekong swai with a pretzel crust, melanzane parmagiana, pasta with a beef/sausage meat tomato sauce, zucchini/mushroom/broccoli sauteed vegetables,  honey dill carrots, and garlic bread. 

For afterwards the LMM had made a variety of cookies.And I had made a Brit-styled boiled pudding.  The fruit marinated in brandy for a week, and then spices and bread crumbs and little flour.  Rigged up a boiler, boiled it for six hours.


Skippy Squirrelbane was hanging out under the table, growing increasingly upset at his inability to share in this bounty. You could tell he was thinking "I have the stupidest humans on the planet.  Why can't they see I want a meatball?"

There were lots of leftovers.  Skippy felt he deserved something, I guess.  So we put almost everything away.  We did not put away the pudding, though.  It is completely soaked in brandy, I mean soaked, and I had put too much allspice and cloves in it.  The fresh ground spices were just overwhelming.  It tasted good, sort of, but one or two bites were all you could handle, because of the over-spiced taste.

When we came down in the morning, we saw this. This is the plate that had had the pudding on it. Leftover pudding must have weighed three pounds, it was soaked in brandy, and almost inedible, remember. Or, not entirely inedible, perhaps, as it turns out.

The serving spatula was on the floor, in the middle of a big sticky spot.



Skippy is usually pretty bouncy in the morning.  Today he seems to be taking the "Mannequin Challenge":


If you said, "Skippy!  Hello, Skippy!  How are you?"  you get this dirty look.



Skippy had him some puddin'.  Now there may be some difficulties.  Does boiled pudding overly restrict, or overly facilitate, the passage of....well, time?  We'll keep you posted.

And have a great holiday!


Chrixmix Mixtape



Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Don Van Vliet, Tom Waits, Mark E. Smith, James Chance, The Ramones, and of course your old pals Angus and Mungowitz. Only 7 more days for the SMOD to give us sweet release!






















Wednesday, December 14, 2016

"The people have spoken....the bastards"

People, I just don't like Trump or many of his proposed appointees. I wish he wasn't president elect.

But the reactions I see from so many folks also concern me:

First, we must have a recount (in the places we want only). Then, convince electors to be faithless. Then, get rid of the electoral college. Then postpone the inauguration until after an "investigation".
None of those things are going to happen, nor should they happen. If we are going to change the rules, it has to happen ex ante. We cannot try to change the rules to reverse an outcome we don't like.

This isn't just about Pumpkin Spice taking office, it's about the future of the rule of law and the electoral institutions of the country.

So many criticized Trump pre-election for claiming the election was rigged and hinting that he might not accept the results. And now many of those people are doing the same thing!

I strongly believe our Republic will survive President Pumpkin Spice. After all, we've been governed by liars, promise breakers, opportunists, and flip-floppers for 250 years or so already.

And there's only 2 years til you can send him a message by changing Congress and another 2 after that til you can vote him out. And if the Republican majority in Congress keeps growing, I guess a lot more people will come to understand why some of us really don't like democracy all that much.

As for now, contact your representatives and tell them how you feel and what you don't want to see happen in the next 2 years.

For my part, I will speak out strongly against discrimination, deportation, torture, and militarization as has been my custom. And I welcome and support anyone choosing to use their freedom of speech to protest Trump's actions and choices in office. But I won't speak out against Trump taking office. He won under the system we have. Full Stop.

As the incredibly named Dick Tuck once said, "The people have spoken....the bastards"