Daily Archives: 10/7/2009
How’s the “Hopey-Changey” thing going for you?
From a trade mag that I subscribe to:
Caterpillar Cuts 100 More Indiana Workers
October 7, 2009
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Caterpillar Inc. plans to lay off about 100 workers from an Indiana engine plant where it has already cut hundreds of jobs.
Company spokesman Jim Dugan says about 106 production employees will be included in the layoffs that will start in November at the Large Engine Center in Lafayette.
He says the layoffs are being made as the Peoria, Ill.-based company continues to monitor its production needs.
Before the cuts announced Tuesday, Caterpillar started rolling layoffs for 985 employees at the factory, where 580 workers already are on a layoff status.
Just absolutely peachy…
“Large Engine Center” is the stuff tied to big equipment and power generation, and points to some soft going in the months ahead.
Food for Thought – 7 October 2009
Today in History – October 7
3761 BCE – The epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar.
1714 – People riot due to beer tax in Alkmaar, Netherlands. Got a better reason to riot?
1763 – George III of Great Britain issues British Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing aboriginal lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlements. If we’d paid attention to this political verbiage this would have pretty much limited the Colonies to the eastern seaboard. Instead, we rebelled, the colonies became the United States, and Manifest Destiny took us across the continent to the Pacific shores.
1806 – Carbon paper patented in London by inventor Ralph Wedgewood. Remember carbon paper? And you could tell how far down the food chain you were by which of several carbon copies you got. The smudgier, the lower on the totem pole. I did morning reports in the Army with the original and eight onionskin carbon copies.
1919 – KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, literally Royal Aviation Company) of the Netherlands was founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
1931 – 1st infra-red photograph, Rochester, NY. This is now a tool I use quite often.
1942 – In their worst move of the war, US & British govt announce establishment of United Nations, thereby guaranteeing a worldwide bureaucracy and a forum for thugs and dictators and despots.
1944 – World War II: Uprising at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Jews burn down crematoria. Brave. Futile, but still brave. Sometimes you HAVE to fight, even if the odds are against you.
1950 – US forces invade North Korea by crossing 38th parallel. That’s the same 38th Parallel that the North Koreans crossed the previous June 25th when they invaded South Korea. US and UN forces proceed to kick North Korea all the way back to the Chinese border. Then the Chinese come to the rescue of North Korea, and it’s a whole new war.
1985 – The “Achille Lauro” is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. These noble freedom fighters demonstrate their bravery by murdering wheelchair-bound American Leon Klinghoffer and throwing his body overboard.
2003 – Gray(out) Davis is recalled as Governor of California, three years before the official end of his office term. Film star Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected Governor. You have to ask yourself exactly how goofy a Lefty politician has to be to get recalled in the land of fruits and nuts.