Yet Another Corporate Bankruptcy - (Un)Intended Consequences of Changing the Bankruptcy Law

So Delphi filed for bankruptcy on Saturday. More here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

This filing (like the NorthWest filing three weeks ago) is being done because of the rule changes coming October 17th to the Bankruptcy Law. IANAL, but it is common knowledge that after the rules change, corporate bankruptcies must be completed inside a year and a half. The duration of current corporate bankruptcies are only limited by the receiver. How many years has United been operating under the advice of a receiver appointed by the bankruptcy court? It used to be said that you could tell which railroad or steamship line was under receivership by looking at their equipment. The business with the newer/better equipment was usually in bankruptcy.

The problem with Delphi is structural. Delphi assumed a series of GM-UAW contracts under the assumption that the union employees would be recalled to their normal positions by GM so that Delphi could hire employees under a new contract with a lower cost of labor. But GM didn't recall the employees. So Delphi is left with people that it has to pay full wages regardless of whether they are employed or whatever.

This would be fine if Delphi were operating as a normal part of GM where the cost of labor is carried by all GM production, but Delphi isn't part of GM, it just has the GM-UAW contract that extends to 2007.

Delphi is a GM supplier and GM expects its suppliers to cut their costs by 30% per year forever. This is hard to do when the production costs for Delphi are fixed by that GM-UAW contract. Regardless of how many widgets Delphi produces for GM (using automation or whatever) the base cost of the widgets still has to carry the labor costs regardless of whether that labor is employed in making the widgets or on layoff.

Delphi is seeking to have the bankruptcy court terminate the GM-UAW contract now so that (a) they are only paying the people who are working, (b) to cut the labor rate to around $14 per hour, and (c) unburden Delphi from paying GM pensions. The item (b) corresponds to the projected labor rate for newly hired workers replacing workers rehired by GM.

It would not surprise me if the receiver transferred the obligation for (a) and (c) back to GM in the process of un-doing inappropriate transactions. This would leave Delphi to soldier on with the rest of the GM-UAW contract until it expires in 2007 at which time they would get (b).

Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner

While browsing the TV channels this evening, I came across a man speaking on CSPAN-2 as part of the Book TV series. The man was Khaled Hosseini and he was speaking from an auditorium of George Mason University under the sponsorship of the Fairfax Public Library.

The son of a former Afghani ambassador to France. His family were political refugees after the second coup in the 1980's brought in the communist backed "government". From his description, it covers the Afghanistan he knew as a privileged youth through what he finds visiting there today.

An Engagement - 56 Years Ago Today

On Her 21st Birthday
Happy Birthday, Mom!

Other Coming Attractions

Elizabethtown is due out Oct 14th.

Pride and Prejudice and The Family Stone are due out Nov 11th.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Walk the Line are due out Nov 18th.

Yours, Mine, and Ours is due out Nov 25th.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Memoirs of a Geisha are due out Dec 9th.

Rumor Has It (Here's to you Mrs Robinson) is due out Christmas (Dec 25th).

In Her Shoes - Friday Night: Dinner and a Movie

Dinner at the usual place, Chicken vs Rigatoni

In Her Shoes, starring Toni Collette, a National Treasure, and Whats Her Face. Shirley doesn't use the line "Come in, I'll put on a pot of Bourbon" in this movie, it was in one of the previews.

There are the obligatory Rocky moments to make sure that you know that it is set in Philadelphia, the cute "active seniors", and a jewel of a character played by Norman Lloyd.

The ages of actors playing the characters don't quite feel right. The grand daughters feel appropriate as they are 38 years younger than the grandmother, but the father being only 10 years younger than the grandmother looks a little odd. The funny thing is that Cameron Diaz is 2 months older than Toni Collette, but her character is 4 years younger (and we believe it).

Worth going to. As the local review says, it was "charming nonetheless". I predict that we will save a copy on DVD when it comes out.

update: The audience was mostly women and the average age of the men (what few there were) was in the mid-forties. The only reason why the men's average age was so low was that a couple parents dragged their teenaged son along.

Previews were for Pride and Prejudice due out Nov 11th, Rumor Has It (Here's to you Mrs Robinson) due out Christmas (Dec 25th), The Family Stone due out Nov 11th, and there were probably others. (I didn't take notes.)

Al Gore Living in an Alternative Universe

From his remarks Wednesday at the Media Conference:

As recently stated by Dan Rather - who was, of course, forced out of his anchor job after angering the White House - television news has been "dumbed down and tarted up."

Me thinks he doth protest too much. It wasn't just the White House that was angry at Dan. There were a whole lot of regular Americans that were angry at him.

Dan lost his position and the Network lost its credibility because they attempted to influence a federal election using fraudulent documents.

Documents that they had been told were lacking in provenance. Documents that contained anachronisms that indicated the documents were much less than the three decades old claimed. Documents that Dan Rather and CBS went out of their way to do the most superficial job of authenticating. And now he has the audacity to say that no one proved them inauthentic.

As for the Network News being run by the Entertainment wing of the network, he can thank Mike Wallace's ambush journalism and Ted Turner's creation of the 24 hour news channel for that. If you want to sell advertising, you have to have people watching your show and there aren't that many people who want to see the news readers read the comics. So if it bleeds, it leads. And that's the way it is (even if they have to tart something up like "Opening Al Capone's Secret Vault").

Edna is 90

We went to the "Chicken Cluckin' Place" for dinner this evening.

This is an old country hotel that survives as a Bar and Restaurant with Fish Dinners on Friday nights and Chicken Dinners on Saturday nights. So your only choice on Saturday is White Meat, Dark Meat, or Both and your choice of beverage.

When we arrived there, we were surprised to see signs about one of the waitress's birthdays. One of the ladies is "retired" and only works Saturday nights. The signs announced that she was going to celebrate her 90th birthday on Friday, Sept 30th, and gave the address to send her cards. She was there as usual, but was wearing a tiara as a reminder of her birthday party yesterday.

Following dinner, we walked down the block and got Ice Cream Cones then headed home.

Life Imitates Art

While I was on travel (a week or so ago), I picked up some light reading .. Chris Buckley's Florence of Arabia: A Novel. A story about a young lady who attempts to rearrange the political geography of the Middle East by operating TVMatar for the women of the Middle East and what ensues.

Typical Christopher Buckley story. I had liked his No Way to Treat A First Lady: A Novel about the criminal trial of a First Lady whose husband succumbs to an overdose of Viagra, so I expected "Florence" to be good. It was.

Then along comes Karen Hughes with a visit to the women of the Middle East and she does her best to stir the pot in the same way that Florence did. (But without the fun companions of Bobby, George, and Rick.) What is this world coming to.

Friday Night: Dinner and no Movie

Dinner at the usual place, Steak vs Rigatoni

No movie tonight. Nothing on that we wished to see and the Toni Collette movie In Her Shoes doesn't open until next week.

So I ended up getting malled instead. Random shopping in the mall.

A Night At Fenians - Ceol na n'gael

We visited the Traditional Irish Music Session held every Wednesday evening. All of the people pictured on their web page were present as well as quite a few more. We were roped into attending by my wife's Dulcimer teacher, though neither of us brought our instruments. And, yes the Guinness was good.

All told there were 20 active musicians accounting for 1 Harp (other than that on draft), 1 Accordion, 1 Concertina, 2 Hammered Dulcimers, 2 Bodhrams, 2 Open-Hole Wooden Flutes, 3 Fiddles, 3 Mandolins, 4 Tin Whistles, and 5 Guitars. There were so many musicians that there was hardly any room to dance.

The drive there wasn't bad. We saw three wild turkeys along side the road about two miles from the Pub. The drive home was hampered by driving rain and moderate winds. Not fun on country roads.

An Afternoon of Dulcimers

The afternoon was spent at a jam-fest gathering of Hammered Dulcimers. The hammered ones are trapizoid shaped, not to be confused with the stretched violin shaped mountain dulcimer.

There must have been at least 14 Hammered Dulcimers, plus 2 Guitars and a Cello. It was held on the back deck of one of the player's homes.

I may post a clip of some of the music if I can find a place to put it.

Update: Here's a clip of Bluegrass version of Beethoven's Ninth (2Mb)

Just Like Heaven - Friday Night: Dinner and a Movie

Dinner at the usual place, Lasagne vs Rigatoni

Just Like Heaven is either a strange ghost story, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, or a twisted retelling of Snow White without the dwarves. Jon Heder has a central part in this film and he doesn't dance. Donal Logue provides some comic interludes as a shrink (not counting the bit about JJ and The Tongue). Dana Spybey-Waters is just the cutest thing as the sister Abby (in an Ith sort of way). Her character's handling of her rambunctious daughters is inspirational, especially where she fields the thrown ball with the serving spoon. My wife was not interested in going but was advised to go by our eldest.

Worth going to. It only had one small Sit-Com-ish scene that made me itchy to leave the theater, but then I am sensitive about that. That part passed quickly.

Yes I Did Say Camping

Tent Lit with Rope Lights, Screened Shelter Lit By Coleman Lantern

Happy Birthday to the King

B. B. King is 80 years young today. May I be in as good shape when I reach that age.

No movie tonight, we're going camping.

Pool Closed

Only took four hours, but it is throughtly cleaned, shocked, and covered. The solar cover is rolled and hanging in the garage. The solar heater is rolled up and waiting to be moved into its corner of the garage with the filter tank and tools. The pipes are removed and need cleaning and re-marking before being stored in the garage rafters.

Every part of my body hurts.


(Picture from mid-summer a couple years ago before we added all the hanging plants.)

The Man - Friday Night: Dinner and a Movie

Dinner at the usual place, Lasagna vs Rigatoni

"The Man" (PG-13) set in Detroit with Samual L Jackson (ATF cop) opposite Gene Levy (dental equipment salesman/Turkish Weapons Dealer). Gene's characters tend to be a little over the top and that grinds my nerves. This wasn't too bad and Gene's character really drove Sam Jackson's character up the wall, even though he ended up being a civilizing influence (F*** Crying Out Loud).

Miguel Ferrer plays a supporting role.

Probably worth saving as a DVD.

The G Stands For Walter

Rest In Peace, Bob Denver.

I'm old enough to remember Bob playing Maynard G Krebs on Dobie Gillis. Correction, make that "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". Maynard was beat version of Gillian, just add the chin beard, remove the bucket hat, and slow down all his thought processes.

The show must have been shot on film rather than performed live. The indoor shots all had flat lighting like a stage production and the outdoor shots always had an edge to them. The edge must have come from using a different type/speed of film for the outdoor shots.

Someday I hope to see "Dobie Gillis" on DVD.

My Delivery Cost How Much?

We celebrated my birthday today as the daughters were home from college for the Labor Day weekend. The neatest gift I received was the Hospital Statement for my delivery way back when. My folks found it when they were sorting through their papers. They are trying to reduce the collection so that someday they can move into a place that requires less upkeep. Someday.

Anyway the statement reads as follows:

Delivery Room	$17.50
Labor Room	$ 6.00
Operating Room	$ 5.00
Medications	$13.20
Room - 5½ days	$77.00
Nursery- 5½ days	$22.00
Total	$140.70

As you can guess, it was a few years ago.

Of Course I'm Bill Powell

As referenced at Boudicca's, The Classic Leading Man Test.

William Powell

You scored 14% Tough, 47% Roguish, 9% Friendly, and 28% Charming!

You are the classic rogue, a stylish rake with the devil of a wit and a flair for mischief, and you shake your martinis to waltz time. You are suave and debonair, but slightly untrustworthy, and women should be on their guard. If married, you are simply a bit of a flirt, even if it's just with your own wife...but if you're single, watch out. You usually rein yourself in to concentrate on one lovely beauty at a time, but with you, we never know. You're not a bad guy, but there's a playful devil behind your eyes, and those trying to get close to you should know they're playing with fire. You're stylish and fun, but you follow your own course, which may or may not include a steady gal. Co-stars include Myrna Loy and Carole Lombard, classy ladies with an adventurous streak.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the Classic Dames Test.



My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 5% on Tough
You scored higher than 94% on Roguish
You scored higher than 5% on Friendly
You scored higher than 47% on Charming

Link: The Classic Leading Man Test written by gidgetgoes on Ok Cupid

Drowning New Orleans

Scientific American - October 2001
By Mark Fischetti

Oh.My.God.

The problem has been germinating in the 120 years since they started "taming" the Mississippi.

Like Florida's Sink Holes caused by drawing water out of the ground for normal use, southern Louisiana is sinking because when they pump out the water that ends up in the city they are pumping out the water that is holding the city up. As the muck below the city loses water, the city settles even lower below sea level. Now that the Missisppi River level stands 30 feet above the lowest level of the city there aren't any good options.

Read the whole thing