Hammer Mill Days

Merry Christmas, Children? Not sure I remember the parts. Besides, that's ... well ... challenging. Anything easier for the season? Jit-Jaguar ? That's a Christmas song? Oh, right. Hey, sorry. Just working out the set list for our next string of performances. We're not one of those groups that just gets up on stage in front of 20,000 people (or 20,000 amorphous blobs of protoplasm) and wings it, playing whatever comes into our heads. No, sir ... we plan out every inch of our stage show, from the song list to the dance steps to Marvin (my personal robot assistant) juggling torches. (Yes, that's right , Marvin - it's torches this time! Deal with it!) Right, well ... okay, we don't have dance steps per se. Nor set lists. But we do work up a vague idea of what we're going to play over the course of the next week. That's called planning, my friends. How does it work out in the specific context of Big Green's [INSERT NAME HERE] INTERSTELLAR TOUR 2011 ?...

As always, a bit pressed this week, so I'll keep my comment brief. Moving right along... The uncertainty principle. It can be said that the uncertainty principle is a major talking point on the center-right particularly, but certainly present across the political spectrum. Why is the U.S. job market so weak? Uncertainty. Why are global stock markets in turmoil? Uncertainty. Why does gravity hold down large rocks and trees? You know the answer. I hear this all the time - uncertainty is keeping businesses from investing in new capacity, new labor, etc. The operative question is, though, what is certainty? Since when do investors expect certainty? Don't we all deal with uncertainty every moment of every day, particularly on the margins of society where one's very existence is subject to it? When has that ever not been the case for either individuals or organizations? Invoking uncertainty is merely an attempt to shout down any thought of raising taxes on rich people, on profit...