January 2009
66 posts
Connecticut legislator wants government to bail... →
spiegelman:
There is one overriding reason this is a bad idea: it gives the government direct power over the voice of the newspaper, without running afoul of the First Amendment. If the legislature decides that it doesn’t like the paper’s viewpoint, it can pull the subsidy and send the publication back into bankruptcy. The mere threat of this will cause the editors to tread lightly on issues...
December 2008
89 posts
Oil Is Not the Climate Change Culprit — It's All... →
Gardening with brains
magicmolly:
Situations of enforced intimacy (plane rides, emergencies, guy wanking on the subway) can provide the best or most disturbing public experiences. The disturbing ones are rare; so are the best ones. Most are neutral.
I’ve been thinking about bein’ alone lately; about whether it’s a self-deluding thing to spend so much time alone working or an economical one. Mostly, I wonder how the...
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“Today I’ve got good news to report: it looks like we’re on track to...”
– Al Franken
“The repeal of Moore’s Law would create a renaissance for software...”
– Steve Wozniak
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“[It’s] not just win-win; it’s win, win, win, win, win. A gasoline tax...”
– Michael Mandelbaum
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“Almost 90 percent of major league teams have reached the World Series in the...”
– Think MLB is without parity? Just look at these amazing stats. - Joe Posnanski - SI.com (via jeffmiller)
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Would Al Gore have invaded Iraq? Definitely. →
Convincing.
“The only significant difference would have been the size of the invading force – Gore would probably have recommended a much larger troop deployment in line with General Anthony Zinni’s plan under the Clinton administration (OPPLAN 1003-98, originally approved in 1996 and updated in 1998, called for 400,000 troops). Boosted by the confidence of deploying this many troops, and...
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Tom Brokaw remembers Tim Russert, compares him to... →
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WatchVideo on TED.com: Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world’s most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee.
“Today is Mustache Monday. It’s for the throwback game. Every day we go to...”
– Shaun Hill, 49ers to sport mustaches in throwback game
“Creating anything is hard. It’s a cliché thing to say, but every time you start...”
– Philip Seymour Hoffman
“Google and Wikipedia are already brain extenders. You can find almost any...”
– Scott Adams (via azspot)
Compare
SEC Chief Defends His Restraint:
“What we have done in this current turmoil is stay calm, which has been our greatest contribution — not being impulsive, not changing the rules willy-nilly, but going through a very professional and orderly process that takes into account unintended consequences and gives ample notice to market participants,” [SEC Chairman Christopher] Cox said....
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“The panic in the financial markets in recent months has driven Treasury bond...”
– John Hussman, The Dollar Crisis Begins The biggest problem facing large holders of dollars abroad (e.g., China, Japan, etc.) is that they can’t unload a meaningful amount of them without substantially impacting the value of their remaining holdings. There simply aren’t enough buyers to...
The Economy Needs a Painful Period of Adjustment →
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“Stop looking at models and equations and theoretical constructs for a while and...”
– Another Stimulus Spending Skeptic He gives a solid explanation of why it’s doomed from the start.
Quick IQ Test thingy, I got 23. Beat me suckas. →
mikehudack:
ledenes:
(via exclamation)
I got a 23, too! We need a tiebreaker…
Shit. I got a 23, too.
25.
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“While the U.S. was pouring most of its cash into real estate speculation, India...”
– Philip Greenspun (via azspot)
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“Every time we immunize political leaders from the consequences of their crimes,...”
– Glenn Greenwald (via azspot)
!!! →
zoya:
After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy.
2008 in Pictures
The Big Picture and Reuters have some great photos and the Economist has an excellent write-up but, to me, these are the most interesting and important events of 2008.
January 3rd: Huckabee and Obama win Iowa caucuses
January 9th: Hillary Clinton finds her voice in New Hampshire
Heath Ledger: April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008
February 18th: Northern Rock is nationalized in the UK
...
A Modest Proposal To Save Social Security
josephweisenthal:
Raise the retirement age by three years.
Social Security isn’t anywhere near the problem that Medicare and Medicaid are. The last I saw, eliminating the cap on FICA contributions closes two thirds of the Social Security funding gap and slowly raising the retirement age can close the rest. The real problem is that the rest of the government budget now soaks up the...
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Brett Favre Beats Lizard People →
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Brilliant: Credit Suisse To Pay Top Execs With... →
The Top 10 Quotes of 2008 →
via MUG’s The List of Lists. Foreign Policy’s 10 Worst Predictions for 2008 is disappointing but the 10 Worst Employees of 2008 is pretty good.
“For the next 55 years, each time he met a friend, each time he ate a meal, each...”
– H. M., an Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82 You probably have heard of H. M. if you took any psych classes.
Questions That I Have for the Secret Service, by...
mikehudack, soupsoup, filigree:
1. Shouldn’t you have jumped in front of that shoe? 2. Shouldn’t you have jumped in front of that second shoe? 3. Second shoe = the one thrown after being removed from foot after first shoe was thrown. 4. Let’s say people had three feet. Would you have allowed a third shoe to fly unimpeded? 5. While the shoe was in the air, were you like, “Oh, its just a...
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“One view of the current situation is that the core problem at the moment is that...”
– James Hamilton This is important.
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“The new taxes are likely to touch almost every New Yorker in some way and...”
– Paterson Unveils Plan for Closing Budget Deficit Looks like a good time to stock the liquor cabinet.
Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic have performed... →
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“To the point: the Fed is scared right now. I mean really scared. And they will...”
– Hale Stewart
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“The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to establish a target range for...”
– U.S. Federal Open Market Committee Dec. 16 Statement: Text These are extraordinary times.
An All-Pay Auction →
lfar:
Martin Shubik invented a famous game-theory exercise, sometimes called “the dollar auction,” where a teacher auctions off a $20 bill to the highest bidder. Bids have to be in round dollar amounts, but the twist is that both the highest and the second-highest bidder have to pay. When uninitiated students start to play this game, someone rushes to bid $3 or $4 dollars for the prospect of...
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Bernard Madoff's massive fraud will cripple... →
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I just had a surreal, life-fulfilling moment
cathyerway:
So I’m sitting in the audience of a panel lecture at the 92nd St. Y on “food trends and finds,” and Gael Greene, Ed Levine, Marcus Samuelsson and Victoria von Biel of Bon Appetit are discussing said trends with Mike Colameco moderating, and Victoria starts talking about a “young woman probably in her twenties, who writes a blog called Not Eating Out in New York” and goes on to...