Economic MAD or Empire Reality Check?

This just in from the autopope and elsewhere.  We just might find out how "robust" our economy is after all.  (I'm thinking, not very.)

China Threatens to Trigger US Dollar Crash - The Torygraph (UK) - 8 August 07

"Two Chinese officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning, for the first time, that Beijing may use its $1,330bn (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China's 'nuclear option' in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is breaking down through historic support levels."

Economic MAD or Empire Reality Check?

This just in from the autopope and elsewhere.  We just might find out how "robust" our economy is after all.  (I'm thinking, not very.)

China Threatens to Trigger US Dollar Crash - The Torygraph (UK) - 8 August 07

"Two Chinese officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning, for the first time, that Beijing may use its $1,330bn (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China's 'nuclear option' in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is breaking down through historic support levels."

Book Publishing for Control Freaks

Enjoyed reading joe_haldeman and his consideration of using the self-publishing company Lulu.com for one of his books.  He also noted an interesting bit on getting ISBN numbers from Bowkers instead of Lulu.com.    You can get 10 ISBN numbers for $275.00 from Bowkers. 

In a similar mood, I decided to finally buy the upgrade for my ancient copy of Pagemaker 6.0.  I have an earlier version that required Windows 3.0 along with GEM but I don't know if that serial number will work.  So I went with the following from Amazon:  Adobe Indesign CS3 Upgrade from Pagemaker DVD-ROM; $194.99. 

Seems like a reasonable enough price for what is now the reigning package, rightly or wrongly,  for desktop publishing these days.  My buddy at Hopedance uses a copy (on a Mac) for his magazine work.

Book Publishing for Control Freaks

Enjoyed reading joe_haldeman and his consideration of using the self-publishing company Lulu.com for one of his books.  He also noted an interesting bit on getting ISBN numbers from Bowkers instead of Lulu.com.    You can get 10 ISBN numbers for $275.00 from Bowkers. 

In a similar mood, I decided to finally buy the upgrade for my ancient copy of Pagemaker 6.0.  I have an earlier version that required Windows 3.0 along with GEM but I don't know if that serial number will work.  So I went with the following from Amazon:  Adobe Indesign CS3 Upgrade from Pagemaker DVD-ROM; $194.99. 

Seems like a reasonable enough price for what is now the reigning package, rightly or wrongly,  for desktop publishing these days.  My buddy at Hopedance uses a copy (on a Mac) for his magazine work.