December 2008
29 posts
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“Obama and Lincoln have much in common. Both men come from Illinois, though both...”
– The Daily Beast on why Barack Obama should grow a beard. YES WE CAN!!
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Social Security And Ponzi Schemes: Not The Same,...
I like this article from BusinessWeek.com, which compares the Madoff affair, an alleged Ponzi scheme, to social security. It’s a good read because 1) It is right: Social Security isn’t a Ponzi scheme, 2) It urges investments to be made in education, and 3) Its nascent message, when reading between the lines, is not awfully optimistic.
Social Security taxes current workers to pay Social...
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Preparing To Duck The Rotting Tomatoes.
peterwknox:
Consider the invention of the microwave. Has anything else accelerated our culture more than that one single thing? Think about the implications of having to cook everything conventionally - it would immediately slow down our entire way of life and change everything at once, sitting down to breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Because I’m illiterate in sarcasm, I’ll take the...
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Who'da Thunk A Tumblr User Could Be So...
Let me spin it a bit for you Apple Shitheads: Your computer is an appliance.
It isn’t? Think again, it’s no longer the niche thing to have. EVERYONE HAS ONE. Or close to it.
(snipped from here.)
Can’t resist: Umm, no, not everyone has a computer. Not even close. Perhaps a Google search for “Digital Divide” would be worth your while. You want pictures? Then look at this map, which shows...
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Re: The 'Support Your Gawkers' Thread.
soupsoup wrote:
Writing isn’t often the most-lucrative profession, except for a lucky few. Writers often write because they can’t see themselves living any other way. The state of the job market today makes it even tougher to be a writer.
(Snipped from long thread here.)
This isn’t quite right. Newspapering is dying; magazine publishing is on life support. And, if you...
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My ‘Blog As A Parody Of Yourself’ Entry: Because...
squashed:
Because sufficient self-awareness to know how to parody yourself is good for you.
In retrospect, it was apropos because he used to teach in prisons. Some students slept, some stared out the window. One girl loudly chewed gum and another was actually taking notes as my high-school business law teacher yawned on about environmental law. He was balding and sorta looked like Kevin Spacey....
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A ready-made e-Card for people who might get lazy and not Tumblr very much for the rest of the month. You can thank me later.
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Leak In Insider Trading Case Allegedly Came From...
This A.P. report states a Lehman Bros. broker used his wife’s position at a PR firm to get “tips about upcoming mergers” and is now implicated in an insider trading case along with three others. A simple Google search reveals the wife’s firm, via their wedding announcement in the New York Times. (Campaign donation records indicate the woman still works at the same firm.)
Added: Here is the SEC...
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“Make fun of my BA in English all you like, no English major’s fucked over the...”
– Shorter Excerpts (via peterwknox) (via kaytee). Philosophy majors still fair game?
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And! BRAAAAAINS!!!
For these reasons, I like this story that compares the current U.S. recession to Japan’s late-80s economic difficulties:
It shows how the two recessions developed similarly.
Ex: “Both were driven by aggressive behavior in financial institutions. Wall Street, which sought new ways to get quality returns on investments, turned to securitizing everything it could and issuing unwise subprime...
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Casting For The Next Batman -- Let The Speculation...
Who will Christopher Nolan cast in his follow-up to The Dark Knight, expected in 2010? Johnny Depp as the Riddler and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin? The Sun, naturally, thinks that it knows.
(Via)
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Newspaper Bailout In 2009? →
squashed wrote:
All the newspapers are really, really hurting. The Internet is absolutely mauling the newspaper industry. Unfortunately, the newspapers importance is not mirrored by their revenue stream. Even if you don’t personally read newspapers, most of the things you read get their information from the newspapers. More importantly, the newspapers are much more careful than the blogs about...
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“Performance-related bonuses were supposed to force executives to care about...”
– Timely, no? From the new issue of Brummell, a lifestyle mag for finance types.
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Using Mos Def’s “New World Water” to make this...
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“Tribune files for bankruptcy, spelling trouble for print journalism....”
– Wolf Blitzer, seemingly forgetting that Tribune owns TV stations and web properties too.
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Crowdsourcing Solutions To Media's Problems.
For anyone interested in the goings-on in the media industry (Hey! Tribune might be mulling over a bankruptcy filing! just filed for bankruptcy!), I direct attention to a site I’ve been developing in my spare time.
http://letssavejournalism.com
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Is Moe Tkacik The 'CNBC Sucks' Blogger? Who's...
moetkacik:
Behind the blog CNBC Sucks. I have gotten some pretty classic emails from strangers in my day but rare is the stranger capable of so compellingly blending sociological observations, career advice, political commentary and sexual advances.
Naturally, he is eager to meet Tracie.
(more)
Now, CNBC Sucks, tell us all we’ve ever wondered about tax policy.
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A Dose Of Optimism: Where The Recession Isn’t.
Lawmakers seem to be seriously freaked about recently released unemployment figures. By a lot of different measures, the workforce’s collective productivity is plummeting quickly.
This particular recession has basically ruined financial services and hit other industries, like manufacturing, hard. But it’s not everywhere—yet*.
Technology: Think R&D into technology with clear value, not web...
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I Knew Something Was Wrong With This Picture.... →
moetkacik:
The fee for the critical role I played in Mattel’s annexation of the Bratz. I would totally do it all over again for free too.
Link above goes to a picture of Moe’s check for 43 bucks, which I don’t want to post directly even though by linking it I’m probably just as liable.
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I would nominate Kanye West’s “Welcome...
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Save Sheila McClear! →
chfdigital:
(via katiebakes) Can we help Sheila out by getting this moved up on Digg. Note new link to Digg link above.
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“Virginia businessman Earl Stafford has spent $1 million to give hundreds of...”
– CNN (Via). This is a rare example of news that makes me genuinely happy.
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Lessons Learned From Other People's Trash: Why...
This is bullshit. I’m changing my Gawker password to the third word in the fourth paragraph of whatever story I click on next in Google News, logging out, and forgetting the new password forever. (If someone knows how to delete a Gawker profile, will you please be servicey and e-mail me instructions?)
Gawker’s content and brand were strongest when print layoffs were a new thing and...
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Fine, I’ll Play: What The Office Of The...
Some people are having a lot of fun observing that the so-called Office of the President-Elect isn’t – OMG!!!1!! – a real office. Shame on these internet users for posting such drivel. (I don’t claim to lead by example.)
Save for the observation that this was pointed out (poorly) a month ago, it’s a bit short-sighted, nowadays, to snark about made-up groups/offices/movements/clubs/religions/et...
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“Even though President Bush is supposedly still on the wagon, he’s pulling...”
– Thoughts on the outgoing administration. Also why I should not be trusted to write op-eds.