Germany Removing Gold From the Fed

German courts want an auditing all its gold holdings and has begun moving 50 tons a year from the Fed to Germany. This is very interesting because it indicates a lack of trust in the security of the banks. It also shows the German government does not trust the current economic conditions to get better – or stay the same. Fascinating times.

Odds and Ends 10-19-2012

Lots of little things have happened here and there the last couple of weeks so it is time to have another rambling post filled with disconnected subjects.

I’ll start off with this week being unspeakable for the most part, so mostly I will not speak of it. Today went well, which shocked me. I wasn’t prepared for it, so I don’t know how to handle it. There was some solace in watching entertainment that brought back memories, caused me to laugh, or was simply intriguing.

At long last, I own Evil Roy Slade, a 1973 TV movie stitched together from two failed pilots. This is a cult film and a special one in the family, so it was with great nostalgia that I watched the DVD. Starring John Astin (Adams Family, Night Court, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.) as the orneriest desperado to ever rob a bank, stage coach, or baby buggy, it is like a clean Blazing Saddles. My favorite scene is when Slade is in psychotherapy and tries to walk without his guns. Yes, it is that kind of warped humor.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Lovely Spam…

After the temporary stats outage at Blogger last Sunday, I had vague hope against hope that something was being done about the referral spam. Of course I knew better, but it was a nice dream. So a couple more referral spam links have shown up since then and racked up 37 hits between them.

itpaystoday . TextCashNetwork . com has been the most prevalent, not to mention most obvious. There must be a sucker born every other minute (birth rates are down, you know) in order for these operations to keep going. It boggles my mind that people fall for it. It is out of Russia like so many of the others.

The other spammer has trickip . net for an address. There is a faint possibility this is not referral spam, but there is no way I am clicking on anything that has a name like that. Not even sandboxing the browser is enough to convince me to do it.

Godzilla Raids Again (1955) Review

AKA Gigantis the Fire Monster (1959)

Released a mere six months after the unexpected smash hit, Gojira, this movie is a great example of how not to do a sequel. Too much human melodrama mixed with rushed special effects work marred the project and nearly ended the series. Yet it did serve to introduce the idea there were more giant monsters out there to be found which set the stage for many Toho kaiju movies to come. Also reviewed is the much inferior American edit that bafflingly renamed the famous monster!

What do you do when you have an unexpected hit that packed theaters? Why you rush a sequel into production, of course. The golden age of film making was very much about rushing product out while a property or actor was hot. In this case, it cost them the director of Gojira, Ishiro Honda, due to scheduling so Toho assigned Motoyoshi Oda the job of cranking it out. While it tried to be serious, it failed to be anywhere near the quality of its predecessor despite having a cast filled with actors that appeared in many an Akira Kurosawa movie.

The show begins with Godzilla’s now famous roar over the title superimposed on clouds. A different roar is heard near the end of the credits in a brief moment of cheap foreshadowing. So why clouds instead of the ocean the mutant lizard is associated with? Because our main character is a pilot, that’s why!

Shoichi Tsukioka, played by Hiroshi Koizumi in the first of many appearances in the series, makes a living as a spotter pilot for a large fishing company. Tasked with finding tuna and other fish from the sky, he spends part of his radio time flirting with the operator at headquarters. Not only is Hidemi Yamiji (Setsuko Wakayama) his girlfriend, but she is also the daughter of his boss.

Yes, the romance part of the movie has been joined already in progress. Don’t expect much more progress, though. Unlike the first movie, it is incidental to the plot, not part of it. Perhaps if it had been, the characters would have been more interesting.

2012 Presidential Debate #2

UPDATED:

It looks like the prepared statement and actual address were different, though I’m not sure if this can be definitively interpreted as calling the attack terror or if it was a reference to 9/11. I’ll put it up for comparison:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

September 12, 2012

Remarks by the President on the Deaths of U.S. Embassy Staff in Libya

Rose Garden

10:43 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  Every day, all across the world, American diplomats and civilians work tirelessly to advance the interests and values of our nation.  Often, they are away from their families.  Sometimes, they brave great danger.

Yesterday, four of these extraordinary Americans were killed in an attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi.  Among those killed was our Ambassador, Chris Stevens, as well as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith.  We are still notifying the families of the others who were killed.  And today, the American people stand united in holding the families of the four Americans in our thoughts and in our prayers.

The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack.  We're working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats.  I've also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world.  And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.

Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths.  We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.  But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence.  None.  The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.

Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya.  Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans.  Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens’s body to the hospital, where we tragically learned that he had died.

It's especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi because it is a city that he helped to save.  At the height of the Libyan revolution, Chris led our diplomatic post in Benghazi.  With characteristic skill, courage, and resolve, he built partnerships with Libyan revolutionaries, and helped them as they planned to build a new Libya.  When the Qaddafi regime came to an end, Chris was there to serve as our ambassador to the new Libya, and he worked tirelessly to support this young democracy, and I think both Secretary Clinton and I relied deeply on his knowledge of the situation on the ground there.  He was a role model to all who worked with him and to the young diplomats who aspire to walk in his footsteps.

Along with his colleagues, Chris died in a country that is still striving to emerge from the recent experience of war. Today, the loss of these four Americans is fresh, but our memories of them linger on.  I have no doubt that their legacy will live on through the work that they did far from our shores and in the hearts of those who love them back home.

Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks.  We mourned with the families who were lost on that day.  I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed.  And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi. 

As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it.  Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.

No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.  Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America.  We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act.  And make no mistake, justice will be done.

But we also know that the lives these Americans led stand in stark contrast to those of their attackers.  These four Americans stood up for freedom and human dignity.  They should give every American great pride in the country that they served, and the hope that our flag represents to people around the globe who also yearn to live in freedom and with dignity.

We grieve with their families, but let us carry on their memory, and let us continue their work of seeking a stronger America and a better world for all of our children.

Thank you.  May God bless the memory of those we lost and may God bless the United States of America.

END
10:48 A.M. EDT

I’m not sure this makes him look better, since he still went to fund raising in Las Vegas the next day. That would be more forgivable if he thought it was a riot, but if he knew it was a terrorist attack it really rankles.

ORIGINAL POST:

Health 10-15-2012

This date was easier to type.

Burned out today and having to rest after the family visit and church duties yesterday. On the more positive side, I was able to finish out a game DLC I stalled out on a month ago. This time I was able to survive the scenarios fairly easily, so I’m just tired.

The colder weather has brought increased pain, but I’ll adjust eventually. Now to wake up enough to finish that movie review that has been delayed!

Blogger Stats Vanish and Life Goes On

It was interesting to log into Blogger’s Dashboard tonight and see all the stats had vanished. This messes up two widgets I used, so it is inconvenient to say the least. I am not alone in this with the support boards lighting up with hordes of unhappy bloggers complaining.

While I do use the stats for auto arranging the top posts for the past week and all time, I had been thinking of embedding a tracker besides Google Analytics, which is still working. I will have to dig into those services and see if there is any widgets that perform a similar task available, but it isn’t a priority. With Noscript and Firefox being popular, it isn’t like we can get a perfect record of traffic anyway.

This outage certainly won’t stop my posting and I have much to do besides.

UPDATE: 10-15-2012

I see the stats are back. Life does indeed go on.