buffet surprise

It's been 11 days since I posted? Oy.

I wanted to try Taste of India's buffet, but people were *waiting to be seated*. The place was full! Mandalay doesn't have a buffet any more, just $9 entrees. So I went to Siam House. I'd never been thrilled by their lunch buffet, mostly going when lyceum dragged me to it, but this was long before the post-Valentine's day reboot of their menu and kitchen, when I now really like their entrees. And I liked the buffet, too. Chicken curry was okay, pork curry was great, pad thai noodles were nice, other noodles were good though the meat with them wasn't quite to my taste, but I forget why. Tofu curry decent too. $9 including tax.

Bought the Dark Phoenix Saga collection, so I can finally read something I've known about and been intrigued since borrowing someone's Marvel RPG on the school bus in elementary school.

Yu Yu Hakushou 1 was catchy. Astro Boy 1 was ok.

links: economy, zeppelins

A bunch of Krugman blog posts today on the economy; they're all pretty short though, his column at the end is the longest.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/a-bizarre-complacency/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/a-familiar-feeling/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/money-mouth/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/gee-thats-de-pressing/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/notes-on-the-dollar-panic/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/deficit-hysteria/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/joke-europeans/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/opinion/23krugman.html

The general messages: unemployment is disastrously high and there's no sign it's going to get better and no one's doing anything about it. Instead, they, including Obama, are whining or worrying about the debt and inflation, even though the debt isn't that high comparatively, there's no more sign of inflation than there is of employment, and it all seems like a herd effect of conventional wisdom stupidity like the runup to the Iraq invasion, where if you go against the herd you're a crazy person even if you're right.

Inflation: rates are low, people with money like Pimco are moving *into* government bonds, and Japan has been in its recession for the past 20 years, with high debt, and... 1.x% interest rates. It's a phantom menace. But people are worrying about it more than 10% or 17% of the workforce being un- or under-employed, local governments not being able to hold on to their teachers or repair roads.

* Salary gender gap in engineering
* A quarter of US teen girls get STDs, many from their first partner.

On happier or funnier notes:
* Zeppelins over LA
* Unauthorized index of Palin's book

sentence, actual
________"As the soles of my shoes hit the soft ground, I pushed past the tall cottonwood trees in a euphoric cadence, and meandered through willow branches that the moose munched on," 102