Ariannism: We saw a cemetery while we were watching Spiderman II and Arianna said she didn't like those "yards" because they were sad.
Economics: I saw this quiz in our Navy Federal magazine and thought you might like the info. I was so surprised at how well I did:
1. What is Stagflation and when was the term first coined?
2. Which company was accused of creating a monopoly during the tech revolution of the 80's and 90's?
3. In what year did the Great Depression begin and what event triggered it?
4. What were the predominant economic conditions in the 90's?
5. What did the Federal Reserve do in the late 70's and what were the results?
6. What are the basic principles of supply-side economics and who was a proponent of this idea?
7. What is the misery index? Which president had the lowest misery index during his tenure?
8. The stock market crash of 1987 was the second largest one-day stock market decline in history. It became known as ...?
9. What were the programs that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) enacted during the great Depression collectively called?
10. Which president enacted the Medicare program to help the elderly receive medical care?
11. What was true about the "malaise speech" given by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 during the oil crisis?
12. On which date was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) enacted?
13. What was a common site during the energy crisis of the 1970's?
14. Why did the US trade deficit grow in the late 70's?
Answers:
1. Stagflation is a period of high inflation combined with high unemployment and limited business activity first coined in 1965 in an address to the British Parliament.
2.Microsoft
3. 1929 after the collapse of the stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
4. Surging stock market, subdued inflation, and low unemployment
5. The Federal Reserve decreased the money supply to combat inflation resulting in an increase in interest rates, decrease in consumer spending and business activity, and a deep recession.
6. Supply side economics lowers tax rates leading to an increase in savings and investments, stimulating the overall economy. Ronald Reagan was a proponent of this theory.
7. The misery index is the sum of unemployment rate and the inflation rate. Dwight D. Eisenhower had the lowest misery index from 1953-1961 out of Clinton, Ford and Truman.
8. 1987 stock market one-day crash became known as Black Monday.
9. FDR's New Deal.
10. We have Lyndon B Johnson to thank for Medicare.
11. Jimmy Carter gave the "malaise speech" in which he stated that the nation was experiencing a "crisis of confidence" and never actually used the word malaise.
12. January 1, 1994 for NAFTA
13. Long lines at the gas stations.
14. The trade deficit grew in the 70's due to: lower-priced imports such as cars were available and high-quality imports became available.
Hope this helps you a bit understand the economy and some of what is going on now.
Food: I have had this disturbing thought recently regarding food. It has occurred to me that a majority of the world including many in our own country are struggling to get enough food to eat and are malnourished and emaciated while a majority of our country and Europe are trying to stop eating too much food (which we are miserably failing at) and still have huge excesses such as Thanksgiving when the average calories consumed is 4,500.
What is really important? My family was reading the paper and came across several disturbing stories about the frenzied shopping day on Friday after Thanksgiving: In a Walmart in LI, NY one worker was killed and a woman miscarried because of 200 shoppers who forced the doors down and trampled them. In another store, a man shot another man after their "women" were arguing. Do we really need the on-sale product that bad? I went later to Target and Kohl's and had a wonderful experience where people were courteous and kind.
trained me to be a professional bar tender, showing me all the tricks of the trade. I even made a wine menu. I'm still waiting for dessert, including homemade ice cream. look for future posts. 
