The year is half over...
...yep! The year is near the halfway mark! How about them resolutions? Are you all halfway there? I'm not, but I don't even recall what resolutions, if any, I had. Oh wells...
The semi-big story in Arizona lately has been the failure of the state legislature to pass a budget for the next fiscal year. Y'see, Arizona, having been hit particularly hard by the housing bubble bursting, has lost in lots of sources of tax revenue; income tax destroyed by increasing unemployment, property tax ravaged by sinking-like-a-rock property values and sales tax decimated by people not buying as much crap anymore. All this means that State government has to fix a $3 billion hole in a $10 billion budget.
Today is the last day to officially get a budget passed. If a budget isn't passed, state government would theoretically shut down. In practice, different departments will get funding on a week-to-week basis. However, if a budget isn't passed by midnight, it's anyone's guess as to which departments will get shut down. The one thing that is almost certain is that whatever budget does get passed, most of the cuts will be in K-12 education.
Arizona is so much a Mini-Wannabe-California sometimes, it's sickening.
My times and techniques for fixing cameras is steadily improving. I was able to tear a camera apart, replace a bad lens assembly, put it back together, run through the focus, white-balance and shutter calibrations, do the final operational checks and clean the camera in under 45 minutes today. A new personal best! I just hope I can continue to improve those numbers...
In case I don't get to say it later, ★★★★Happy Independence Day everyone!★★★★ Remember to always remain more independent than your incompetent, bankrupt State government!
The semi-big story in Arizona lately has been the failure of the state legislature to pass a budget for the next fiscal year. Y'see, Arizona, having been hit particularly hard by the housing bubble bursting, has lost in lots of sources of tax revenue; income tax destroyed by increasing unemployment, property tax ravaged by sinking-like-a-rock property values and sales tax decimated by people not buying as much crap anymore. All this means that State government has to fix a $3 billion hole in a $10 billion budget.
Today is the last day to officially get a budget passed. If a budget isn't passed, state government would theoretically shut down. In practice, different departments will get funding on a week-to-week basis. However, if a budget isn't passed by midnight, it's anyone's guess as to which departments will get shut down. The one thing that is almost certain is that whatever budget does get passed, most of the cuts will be in K-12 education.
Arizona is so much a Mini-Wannabe-California sometimes, it's sickening.
My times and techniques for fixing cameras is steadily improving. I was able to tear a camera apart, replace a bad lens assembly, put it back together, run through the focus, white-balance and shutter calibrations, do the final operational checks and clean the camera in under 45 minutes today. A new personal best! I just hope I can continue to improve those numbers...
In case I don't get to say it later, ★★★★Happy Independence Day everyone!★★★★ Remember to always remain more independent than your incompetent, bankrupt State government!