The dog did not bark...

Mish-mash of random thoughts time!

1) Buy stock in Boeing and Catepillar. Due to the record trade gap between the US and China, and with the dreaded "t" word (note: tariff) bandying about in DC, China decided it would be time to send over some emissaries and buy the shit out of American goods. They will likely do so by purchasing a lot of capital goods that are needed in the near future, and they plan to do this all at once to cook the trade numbers and shut up Washington. The most needed capital goods are airplanes and construction equipment. So, like I said, buy Boeing and Catepillar.

2) Speaking of China, here is another consequence of their rapid economic growth: they are running out of people. More specifically, they are running out of labor, and thus they are seeing a very strong rise in wages. What does this mean? Well, a few things.
i. Chinese goods aren't going to be quite so cheap any more. This will also reduce the trade gap
ii. Either China is going to start pulling more effective workers from agriculture (whereas before the workers were actually in surplus), which will require them to import food, or they will be forced to slow down expansion. Either of which points to a revaluation of the yuan, and a reduction in the trade gap.
iii. Some Chinese firms may start outsourcing work to Vietnam and the Phillipines. This will slow Chinese growth.

3) Ah, Roger. It's nice to know that, in addition to be a traitor, a liar, a cheater, and an asshole, he is also a bigot. Man, what a douche. I really hate this guy.

4) Pulled away for a few hours there. Back to the random thoughts

5) So far, South Park is 3 for 3 poking fun of Scientology at least once per episode, and I have a feeling this is not going to stop anytime soon. Regardless, their attacks on Family Guy last night were fantastic, although I am curious to know why they started picking on the show (besides obvious reasons)

6) A lot has been made of Papelbon getting the save situation instead of Foulke last night. While the consensus seems to be that it was a pretty smart move, I am curious as to if part of the issue might just have been that Paps had warmed up in the 8th when Timlin was in trouble and the boy was ready to go. While I don't necessarily think this is the case, it certainly is a possibility that nobody seems to be raising. Young arms shouldn't be overworked, and warming them up constantly creates the same wear and tear as actually pitching can. Maybe a part of Francona figured, "hey, he is already warm, and Foulke looked pretty bad on opening day, let's give the kid a go rather than warming up our other guy." Again, not saying this is definitively the case, but at the same time I'd be surprised if Francona thought before the game that Foulke wouldn't be the ninth inning answer.

7) Still love this guy, and he seems to be helping himself out on his own. Of course, it probably would have been better if hadn't allowed all those runs, but let's take what we can get.

8) I'd be curious to see if anyone actually go the allusion to Sherlock Holmes in the title. Too obscure? The key, dear Watson, is that...