08:40 – For the first half of April, I thought it would be an excellent month in terms of kit sales. Last year, something like 80% or 85% of our April sales were in the second half of the month, so I was kind of expecting the second half of this April to be big as well. Not so, as it turns out. Things have been pretty dead since the 15th. We’ve sold only five kits so far in the second half of April. Still, month-to-date we’re doing very well compared to last April, and for the first four months of 2013 we’re running ahead of the total sales for the first seven months of 2012–well into our busy season–so I can’t complain too much.
Barbara was finally able to get to the gym yesterday, which was the first time in at least a couple of weeks. That was a very good thing, because the gym is a stress reliever for Barbara, and she certainly needs that given the constant crises for the last several months. It’s been just one thing after another. The amount of stress on Barbara and her sister caused by caring for their parents is similar to the stress of caring for a baby. The obvious differences are that new parents are typically in their 20’s or 30’s rather than their 50’s, and that with a baby one looks forward to the future rather than dreading it. With elderly parents, there’s nothing to look forward to except more of the same and worse.
10:54 – I didn’t notice until this morning, but Amber Marshall is now Amber Turner. Congratulations to her and Shawn. (I hope he realizes he’s not good enough for her…) Amber will soon be shooting season 7 of Heartland. I wonder if she’ll decide to be credited as Amber Turner in the new season or to keep Amber Marshall as her working name.
Our finished-goods inventory is starting to dwindle, so I’m building more science kits today and over the weekend. We’re still trying to build stock for the rush period that begins in July, but we’re constrained by backorders on a couple of key components. One of those is the thick cavity microscope slides, which are included in the biology, forensic science, and life science kits. We have apparently cornered the US supply of those slides. I had 200 dozen on order as of 15 March, with expected delivery of 15 May. Earlier this week, I got a shipment that included 41 dozen, with the remaining 159 dozen backordered, now through 17 June.
To conserve our supply, I decided to reduce the quantity included in the biology kits from a dozen to half a dozen. None of the biology labs require more than six of these slides, so cutting the number included in half allows us to build twice as many biology kits with the same number of slides. The forensic science labs actually use the whole dozen, so those kits will continue to include the full dozen. The Life Science kits include only a two-pack, so they’re not a major issue.
Rather than reduce the price of the biology kits, we’ll simply reduce the price increase that’s due to take effect soon. In fact, ordinarily we’d have increased kit prices as of 1 January, but we’ve held off on doing that. We had been adjusting (read, increasing) kit prices on 1 January and 1 July, but I decided we could afford to go to annual rather than semi-annual price changes. As of now, kit prices are scheduled to increase on 1 June. Cutting the number of thick cavity slides in the biology kits just means the prices of those kits won’t increase as much as they otherwise would have.
Meanwhile, my vendor tells me that they shipped us every box of thick cavity slides they had in stock, and there are no more to be had anywhere until their next shipment arrives. They actually did get a shipment last week, which was the one they were expecting on 15 May. But that shipment had so much breakage that they ended up refusing it and keeping only the 41 undamaged boxes that they just sent me. So I should get another 159 dozen in mid-June, and then the pipeline is dry. If I reorder around then, the new batch of slides would show up 60 to 90 days later. Unless, that is, I want to pay for air-freight in. Believe me, I don’t. These slides are glass, and I shudder to think what the air freight charges would be on a case of them coming from China.
” With elderly parents, there’s nothing to look forward to except more of the same and worse.”
And among the worse will be our own aging, illness and death; by the actuary tables we’re next up!
Have a nice day!
Yes, but don’t forget that I intend to have many clones of myself running around.
One of those clones will undoubtedly be Rev’d Dr Robert Bruce Thompson, a Southern Baptist and ID evangelist who will do his best to stop you from going “down there”.
Another one will probably be Robert Cardinal Thompson, in line for the highest post in Christendom and already familiar with butchered medieval Italian.
Plus Dr Robert Thompson, the infamous creationist evangelist for the nationwide public school and university systems.
There’s no reason RBT couldn’t be a cardinal now. Religious faith is not needed for that post and would indeed only get in the way of an essentially political position.
There’s no way that’d ever happen. My DNA would leap screaming from the cells and flee.
SteveF is correct: any Tom, Dick, Harry or Bob can be a cardinal. In fact, there is really nothing against a woman being appointed cardinal. I support this, actually, believe it or not; so long as the women come from the so-called Third World. Below the Equator. No pissed-off, bitter librul harridans or hags from the modern Western nations; that’s been a long nightmare since the 70s. I’d like the Pope to name three or four women cardinals from South American, Africa and Asia.
Note that Bob didn’t rule out the creationist clone, though….hmmmm….and Google Maps is showing a column of smoke from NC, could be the bonfire of all the Darwin books….
Let me rephrase that. There’s no way *any* of those things would ever happen.
Well, if I were ever elected pope, I’d accept the job. I’d then announce infallibly that the church is and always has been completely bogus and that henceforth it is official dissolved. I’d sell off all of the church’s possessions and return the money pro rata to current church members. Pro rata, that is, based on how much they’d given the church over the preceding year. Of course, I’d keep my 15% commission. It’s a filthy job, but someone has to do it.
“I’d sell off all of the church’s possessions and return the money pro rata to current church members. Pro rata, that is, based on how much they’d given the church over the preceding year. ”
A “dirty job”? More like an impossible job; do you realize what an undertaking that would be??? Identify and locate all the Church’s possessions. Then evaluate them all. After that, arrange to sell them somewhere. Then, identify and locate one-billion Roman Catholics to give them the proceeds. Worldwide. I’d call on You-Know-Who for help if I were you, or maybe the FSM.
Would you take your 15% cut in U.S. currency?
No. I’d just keep everything made of gold, silver, jewels, etc. Call that my 15%. I’d sell off all the real estate, cash out and distribute the pension funds, and so on.
You’re right, though. Figuring out how much each member had contributed would be nearly impossible, so I’d just keep all of it and then donate most of it to worthy atheist/humanist organizations.
I wonder what the value of St. Peters is? I heard that it cost $350 million to build in today’s dollars. And that is just one part of Vatican city.
The value of St. Peter’s? Absolutely impossible to know. Besides the buildings and their contents, such as artworks, furniture, etc., there are also the graves deep underneath of countless Christians (also a few pagan relatives of Christians) and Saints Peter and Paul, martyred at Rome.
Do you really think that the bones of Peter and Paul are there? More likely some 3rd century monks bones. I highly suspect that the Caesar of the time (Nero?) had their bodies “disposed” of to keep rumors from spreading. Nero seemed … vindictive.
I wonder what the value of St. Peters is? I heard that it cost $350 million to build in today’s dollars.
Having been there, I can say that the basilica alone would cost a lot more than that, just because of all the stonecarving and the various marble types,. And then you need to add the cost of all the artworks – statues, etc. which would probably equal the building costs. The place is huge – it’s hard to get a concept of the scale from TV and pictures.
“Do you really think that the bones of Peter and Paul are there?”
Yes.
“Though many bones have been found at the site of the 2nd-century shrine, as the result of two campaigns of archaeological excavation, Pope Pius XII stated in December 1950 that none could be confirmed to be Saint Peter’s with absolute certainty.[4] However, following the discovery of further bones and an inscription, on June 26, 1968 Pope Paul VI announced that the relics of St. Peter had been identified.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter's_tomb
“In 1939, in the reign of Pope Pius XII, 10 years of archaeological research began, under the crypt of the basilica, an area inaccessible since the 9th century. Indeed, the area now covered by the Vatican City had been a cemetery for some years before the Circus of Nero was built. It was a burial ground for the numerous executions in the Circus and contained many Christian burials, perhaps because for many years after the burial of Saint Peter many Christians chose to be buried near him. The excavations revealed the remains of shrines of different periods at different levels, from Clement VIII (1594) to Callixtus II (1123) and Gregory I (590–604), built over an aedicula containing fragments of bones that were folded in a tissue with gold decorations, tinted with the precious murex purple. Although it could not be determined with certainty that the bones were those of Peter, the rare vestments suggested a burial of great importance. On 23 December 1950, in his pre-Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced the discovery of Saint Peter’s tomb.[17]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter's_Basilica#Saint_Peter.27s_burial_site
Here’s something I don’t get:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-27/british-islamists-jailed-over-al-qaeda-bomb-plot/4655032
These guys are given sentences of x years but only *have* to serve x/2 or less. Probably they’ll be out even earlier.
“But they were forced to apply for tens of thousands of pounds in loans after their associate Rahin Ahmed, 26, lost more than 9,000 pounds trading on foreign currency markets.
He was given a 17-year jail term and will serve at least six years in prison after pleading guilty to collecting, investing and managing money for terrorism, and assisting others to travel to Pakistan for training in terrorism.”
What’s wrong with truth in sentencing? With extra time for bad behaviour?
The cost of shipping from/to China is manipulated from what I’ve seen.
One of my ham radio products is assembled for me in China. I purchase the parts and ship them via DHL to China where the printed circuit board is fabricated and the parts machine assembled. Completed circuit boards are then shipped back to me.
To ship around 10 pounds of parts to China by DHL costs me $220.
The board manufacturer sends two packages to me by FedEx. One with 10 assembled boards for verification and the second with the balance of boards, typically 90 or 100. Both shipping charges together are invoiced out at about $100. The 10 pounds of parts to China returns to the US as almost 20 pounds of parts + PCB.
I have no doubt DHL charges a lot more to me for shipments I make two or three times a year compared with the deal the board assembly house makes with FedEx, but all in all, it seems that there is a clear directional differential at work.
One would think the price differential would be the opposite; there would be more empty cargo aircraft flying to China from the US than from China to the US and therefore prices would be reduced in an attempt to attract greater volume on the US to China leg of the route.
There’s a similar differential on postal shipping between US and China.
The Chinese, being good practitioners of mercantilism, see this differential as a good thing, as it keeps imports down and encourages exports. (Did I add that when I ship parts to China for assembly, I have to pay an additional customs brokerage and duty fee of $65? Even though the parts are only in China for a few days and then are re-exported.)
Yeah, I’m not surprised.
The only time I’ve ever shipped anything by DHL was back in 2007, when our friend Mary Chervenak was on the Blue Planet Run team that ran around the world to raise funds for pure water projects in poor countries. Mary was running across Russia at the time, and desperately needed a few small items like contact lens fluid that she couldn’t get in Russia. Her husband was getting ready to leave on his drive to the west coast, and asked if I’d take care of shipping the stuff to Mary. DHL was the only service that could get it to her, so I took the box down to the shipping center. It was a small box, six pounds or so IIRC, and it cost more than $200 to ship. Then we had to keep our fingers crossed that DHL would actually get it to the hotel she’d specified before she left there. We “led” her just right, aiming the package at where she was to be a week or ten days after we shipped it, and she got the package before she had to leave the hotel.