Year End

The Final Countdown

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

To the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

Get packin', Rod Blagojevich
The state's in disarray
The Tribune wants you unemployed
At least by Christmas Day.
The TV pundits want your head
Could there be pay to play?
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois !
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.
Good riddance Rod Blagojevich
Your Elvis look's insane,
The Senate's mad, so's Lisa' s dad.
You drive us all insane.
Our transit's broke, the state's a joke,
The Tollway's one big pain.
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois !
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.
Good luck old Rod Blagojevich
The feds have quite a place.
Fitzgerald's poked his nose around
And if he has a case,
George Ryan's moving stuff around
Creating extra space.
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois !
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy. 

4 Shopping days until Christmas

Greek Riots

Photos from the Greek Riots .

Compare your film Addiction

Follow this link you can see how much of a film addict you are compared to me. I did much worse than I expected. Let me know how you compare.

Sad consumerism

Its just another blog post i came across, no idea how true it is. If it is true...its sad...

http://jimmycotton.blogspot.com/2008/12/mastercard-commercial-you-will-never.html

Can you say Evil Genius?

If you have a few seconds read the article and visit the sight. This sight is a potent mixture psychology, entertainment, economics, and gambling. I found myself just watching the various auctions much in the same way I will stand watch a blackjack table in Vegas. I have formed no opinions of right or wrong. However, as far as effectiveness there appears to be no question. Also after watching it for just a few minutes it is easy to see it's hook. Which speaks to how effective this must be, considering how easy it is to see the obstacle of coming out a head.


http://www.swoopo.com


http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001196.html

Here is a brief take on Swoopo.com by

Freakonomics

Be Careful of what you read.

The following blog discusses the conclusions published in the USA Today of a study comparing "rich" to "poor" children brain development. Note the reporting and then compare to the analysis of the report. Also a number of the comments are informative.


http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/12/rich-vs-poor-br.html

Please Watch

And now a word from Paul Krugman

Here is an essay from Krugman discussing the interconnected nature of the economic situation.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/the-economic-consequences-of-herr-steinbrueck/

Krugman v. Schiff

I hate to keep hitting on the economic front, but that is what is fascinating to me right now. You all may know that I studied Political Science and History in College. My love of the social sciences didn't stop there. Macro - economics and Political economics were areas that I studied as I could fit in. As a matter of fact I still have a number of my notebooks from some of these classes.

That being said I have been watching the current econimic "crisis" with keen interest. Earlier I posted the video of Peter Schiff . It is hard to argue with his results. I also look to Paul Krugman the recent Nobel prize winning economist. In this weeks New York Times Mr. Krugman addressed one of the questions I have been pondering. A number of economist have been pointing to the Japanese experience in the mid 90's as proof that government expansion is not the answer to the economic slowdown we are expierencing currently. This of course flies in the face of classic Keynsian philosophy. Krugman "generally" follows in the Keynsian school of economic thought. He addresses both the Japanese and our own Great Depression experience in this weeks post.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/opinion/01krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Sorry about the long lead in.

Who knew?

A couple of thoughts. I know very little about Peter Schiff here and this video was edited to show the highlights of his commentary. That being said, one has to appreciate the prescience of his forecasting. Secondly the arrogance of the other commentators is horrific. Admittedly this is television and such brashness makes for good tv. As a result in the end it works to make Schiff come off all that much more of a level headed adult vs. an optimistic cheerleader.





Also thinking in retrospect how many people intuitively knew he was right but chose to accept the more optomistic path.

"The High Cost of Now"

Intriguing (or not) look at the opportunity cost and financial cost curve of keeping current.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/the-high-cost-o.html

Toyota vs. U.S. Automakers

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10451550/1/honda-quits-formula-one-racing.html

The article itself isn't that interesting but I came across it this morning. I can't help but think about the fact that Toyota is being proactive in its response to flagging auto sales, while our automakers seem to still be scurrying around asking for money.

We Report you decide

Vote at Funny or Die

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones

Broken Window theory of Behavior

I can vaguely remember hearing about this concept. However, intuitively it seems quite simple and basic. Oddly enough I find this stuff interesting and compounding that by extrapolating it to online behavior makes this even more compelling for me to read.

http://www.kottke.org/08/12/does-the-broken-windows-theory-hold-online

Answer the Call

Just a funny little story about a GOP Congresswoman hanging up on Obama...twice.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1208/RosLehtinen_hangs_up_on_Obama_Twice.html

Drive by Blog

New Education Philosophy

There have been stories out there for a while about learning being almost obsolete. I just came across this new one today. Basically it says that its really unnecessary and pointless for children to learn facts, figures, history, etc. With the internet at everyone's fingertips and a communal knowledge of everything in the world available, what's the point?

I have mixed feelings about this. While I think that some topics in school were boring to me personally, I still probably bettered myself by learning them. I wonder how the next generation of children will be able to hold intelligent conversations if they are not learning the same things we were expected to learn. I know for sure that the internet has made me smarter and dumber at the same time. For example, firefox's automatic spell check has made me incredibly lazy. Sometimes I don't even try very hard to spell correctly.

Education might just have to take a slightly new path...any thoughts?

Still Good People

You all see this story about the bonuses for plant workers in Chicago? How about that...there are still good people and business owners out there!

Fantasy Football

Ethics question - Is it smart or lame for an owner who is a #1 seed headed into the playoffs to bench his entire roster in the last week of regular season so that he doesn't have to face a #8 seed that is a very good team? I say smart (and it wasn't me) but players in the league are u in arms.

Speaking of Economics and Television

Economics of Tivo.

For purposes of full disclosure my Tivo is setting on a shelf in the basement storage right now. However, we do have the Dishnetwork HD DVR and use it quite extensively.

Secondly, I am not certain the value of my time or happiness is $18.00 an hour.

Mumbai Photography

The Boston Globe has "The Big Picture" site which is updated a few times a week with usually pretty spectacular photos from news stories and events from around the world. The photos from Mumbai are at:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/mumbai_under_attack.html
Some are graphic, but it really gives an up close and personal look into the terrible events.

Running in Pennsylvania

So I'm somewhere in Eastern PA visiting the in-laws, and I want to go run before eating on Thanksgiving. Searched for a "Turkey trot 5K" but to no avail. I told my brother in law that I want to run 10 miles, so he maps out a little run for me. I walk out the door quickly to realize that they live in pretty mountainous terrain here, and it was a 10 mile poundathon on the up and down hills. After another 6 today, both my quads and hamstrings are sore. I knew he never liked me. Not sure why I'm posting this, just what I was thinking about at the moment.

Mystery J, myself and about 5 or 6 others locally are thinking of running Chicago next year.

Which do you believe?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/the-markets-crystal-ball-is-broken.aspx?page=2

Indian hurlers' inking opens new market | pirates.com: News

This one made me proud. Not a bad idea to try and tap into the potential athletes among a billion people.
By the way, I consider myself to be somewhere in the top 10 million Indian tennis players in the world.

Indian hurlers' inking opens new market pirates.com: News

Holidays remind us of the important things in life

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Peace, Love and Understanding

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Look Out Below

http://www.altonbrown.com/pdfs/AB_turkey_derrick.pdf

Something is lurking in the depths

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081124-giant-squid-magnapinna.html

Got to love the Moon!

http://www.livescience.com/space/081016-mars-moon-rubble.html

The infamous soda map

Discussion on Wind Farm efficiency

http://www.knowledgeproblem.com/archives/002745.html

The problem with Dynamite (Netflix Dilemma)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23Netflix-t.html?pagewanted=all

Sustainable living in Northeast Missouri

www.dancingrabbit.org

Jonesing for Nascar

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/jimmie_johnsons_car_put_out_to

Comparative Health Care Systems

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ Analysis of various national health care systems