June 2008
33 posts
Irwin Kellner, chief economist for MarketWatch and Distinguished Scholar of Economics at Dowling College in Oakdale, N.Y.:
Historically, the economy performs better when a Democrat is in the White House than when a Republican is president. Here are some examples, by my calculations, for full four-year periods from 1948 through 2004:
Unemployment has averaged 4.6% when a Democrat is in the oval...
Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin? →
Interesting article on two of the most important people of the 19th Century, both born on Feb. 12, 1809.
As delighted as he was with his discovery, Darwin was equally horrified, because he understood the consequences of his theory. Mankind was no longer the culmination of life but merely part of it; creation was mechanistic and purposeless. In a letter to a fellow scientist, Darwin wrote that...
“Putting it in its proper context, the [Fresno St.] Bulldogs entered the...”
– Jim Rome
“Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into...”
– Barack Obama (via azspot). Quote of the decade. (via marco)
Logical, reasonable and honest. So refreshing.
A Modest Proposal - Tumblr Burgr Meetup
foodinmouth:
dazzlingdelta:
biteofpythias:
happycap:
soupsoup:
verenasays:
adamiss:
Ok, I’m gonna admit it, I’ve never had Shake Shack. Yeah, I know, sue me. I promise to have it in the next few weeks. I’ve also never been to Corner Bistro or had a Burger at Luger’s.
I have had: Lucky Burger, Brgr, White Horse, Burgers and Cupcakes, Five Guys, Jackson Hole, Chelsea Grill, Island...
“Put another way, übersocialized middle-class experts, journalists, and policy...”
– Gloucester Girls Gone Wild by Kay S. Hymowitz. A compelling case for why the Gloucester girls made their pregnancy pact.
1 tag
Are You Experienced? Why a U.S. senator might not... →
During the years that Obama served in Springfield, 1997-2005, he was forced to wrestle with the minutiae of health-care policy, utility deregulation, transportation funding, school aid, and a host of other issues that are vitally important to America’s coming years, but that U.S. senators are usually able to dispose of with a quick once-over. State legislators have to do this largely on...
Today's thoughts
Germany vs Croatia = excitement.
I wasn’t expecting that meeting with MZ to be 6+ hours but it was really good.
Ray Allen’s triple clutch reverse layup with 3:18 left in the fourth was majestic. It puts that classic Michael switch-from-right-hand-to-left double clutch to shame and rivals the Dr. J reverse. You know the one. And what a comeback.
Super excited to head to Maine in...
“Well, Jon, think of it this way. Paris will always be there. But judging by...”
– John Hodgman on the Daily Show, on the subject of the “staycation”
$539 million
I do this more often than I should but my curiosity takes over and I can’t stop: I go to the Wiki or Google whatever a disagreement is about or whatever we don’t know in a conversation. The other day, Wall-E was mentioned on TV and I said that I can’t wait to see it. Nick and I started talking about Pixar, Steve Jobs and Disney and I ended up pulling up the Pixar Wiki page. ...
“Shifting less than one day per week’s worth of calories from red meat and dairy...”
– From a paper by Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews of Carnegie-Mellon, quoted in the Freakonomics Blog: Do We Really Need a Few Billion Locavores?
“Come on! It’s an easy job! All you have to do is think about who you...”
– Jon Stewart, after asking Jim Webb if he will be the next Vice President
“There is the possibility that future failures could include institutions of...”
– Sheila Bair, chair of the FDIC which has recently brought staffers out of retirement to prepare for more bank failures. There were zero failures between 2004 and 2007 and four so far this year.
“Some things, like renal physiology, are difficult. Some things, like...”
– Charles Krauthammer: At $4, Everybody Gets Rational
marco:
Push notification service to all developers for background processing! Nice!
Finally! The first new announcement in the entire keynote!
I find it hard to believe that a constant data stream will use less battery than running an app in the background. I think it’s a control (and privacy) issue.
Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.
1 tag
“To the people of Minnesota, let me say this: I’m not a perfect person. I’m not...”
– Al Franken
I’ve been thinking for the past couple of days about what John McCain and Barack Obama have in common. Way back after Iowa, when Mike Huckabee and Obama had surprising wins, Chris put out the theory that change was the winning theme this year. Change from traditional Washington...
“And Big Brown has been eased at the top of the stretch.”
– Tom Durkin, Belmont track announcer. Wow.
Stimulus Checks
In response to Jessica’s post, here’s the deal for paper checks, courtesy of the IRS:
Last two SSN digits:
Payments will be mailed no later than (and received a few days after):
00 through 09
May 16
10 through 18
May 23
19 through 25
May 30
26 through 38
June 6
39 through 51
June 13
52 through 63
June 20
64 through 75
June 27
76 through 87
July 4
88 through 99
...
Michael Tomasky: On a night when Obama made... →
What’s her game? It’s this, I think. It’s not merely to be vice president. Although apparently it is that. I take it she and Bill have decided that being Obama’s vice-president for eight years is the most plausible path to the presidency. But she did not on Tuesday night merely try to make a case for herself as a good vice-presidential candidate. She held a rhetorical knife...
Making a public request to Obama to be the VP like this is way out of line and completely selfish. If Obama’s team decides Hillary is not the best choice for the ticket (and, personally, I don’t think it’s close), she has now set up a much more difficult path to unity. None of this is to say that I’m surprised.
1 tag
The Comeback Id: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com →
The article Bill Clinton is upset about, covering his post-Presidency life and exploits.
