Cookie Monster/Madoff

JKG

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  The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. -John Kenneth Galbraith

Gervais meets Elmo

Small confession to make, I love Elmo. I think it's his voice that cracks me up.

Anyway, Ricky Gervais goes to Sesame Street, hilarity ensues.

Geeking out

For those geeks, like me, who can't get enough of these "gee, was that a bus that just hit me?" stories about how - exactly - our financial system just blew up.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=1

Democracy in Iraq

I find this story very inspiring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/middleeast/09karbala.html?ref=world

If a former Baath party member is this dedicated to his town, has so much respect from his community, and can move the government forward in terms of providing basic services, then I dare say that Iraq might remain a functional democracy in the Arab world. Which after all that has happened, would be nothing short of amazing.

Know hope!

NYC girls

Women who used to live the high life, dating i-bankers, are having a tough time these days. Holy cow this is the funniest thing I've read in months.

Start with the NYT article, and then read some of the blog posts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/nyregion/28daba.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

http://dabagirls.com/

FSM lives!

So, religion is supposed to be all about faith. You are not actually supposed to be able to prove that Jesus ever lived, you're supposed to believe it without knowing. At least, that's my take about religion, that it's power is in helping to explain the unknowable.



Anyway, the bad news in all this is that my favorite religion, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is now doomed. Why, you ask? Because the Spaghetti Monster is real! We have pictures!

NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped on All U.S. Communications

I've never been very clear about why it is that Americans don't seem to care about this. Seriously, the government is reading absolutely everything that you write, say, or think, and the response has been a collective yawn.

Thank god for whistleblowers

Post inauguration

Oh my. I don't think I've partied this hard ever in my life. Let me think... college graduation, nope. March madness in Vegas, no way. The inauguration drinkin...er celebrating started on Friday night and still hasn't really ended. I'm exhausted, drunk, and might I add more than a little bit giddy. Today I woke up, tired and uninspired about going to work, and then I thought: Barack Obama is my president.



And then I went skipping out the door.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Kids give advice to Obama

From an NYTimes article. I liked this one best:

Dear Obama,

I have grown up with a very liberal mom and a very conservative dad. Thank you for bringing my parents somewhat closer together. :) You are my idol Mr. Barack — I am partly African-American and I am very happy to see an African-American leading this country.

— Olivia Roper-Caldbeck, age 12, Seattle

Who is better for the economy?

Interesting analysis for the Wall St. Journal, of all people. It looks like among the best presidents in terms of job growth (as measured by "payroll expansion"), the 3 best of them were Democrats (Clinton, Johnson, Truman). Reagan was the Republican who came in at #4. Well well well....

President	Jobs created	Jobs at end of term	Jobs at start of term	Payroll expansion	Jobs created per year in office	Population growth	Percent change in population
George W. Bush	3.0 million	135.5 million	132.5 million	2.3%	375,000	22.0 million	7.7%
Bill Clinton	23.1 million	132.5 million	109.4 million	21.1%	2,900,000	25.2 million	8.9%
George H.W. Bush	2.5 million	109.4 million	106.9 million	2.3%	625,000	12.5 million	4.8%
Ronald Reagan	16.0 million	106.9 million	90.9 million	17.6%	2,000,000	17.3 million	7%
Jimmy Carter	10.5 million	90.9 million	80.4 million	13.1%	2,600,000	9.8 million	4.3%
Gerald Ford	1.8 million	80.4 million	78.6 million	2.3%	745,000	5.1 million	2.3%
Richard Nixon	9.4 million	78.6 million	69.2 million	13.6%	1,700,000	12.3 million	5.7%
Lyndon Johnson	11.9 million	69.2 million	57.3 million	20.8%	2,300,000	11.3 million	5.6%
John F. Kennedy	3.6 million	57.3 million	53.7 million	6.7%	1,200,000	8.2 million	4.3%
Dwight Eisenhower	3.5 million	53.7 million	50.2 million	7%	438,000	23.3 million	12.8%
Harry Truman	8.4 million	50.2 million	41.8 million	20.1%	1,100,000	N/A	N/A

Get money from the government, in 27 minutes

MotherJones has a fun article up about how easy it is for financial firms to get TARP money. The application apparently takes 27 minutes.

To put it in perspective, here are five things that take longer than filling out the TARP application.

1. Applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): 4 hours.
   
2. Watching Wall Street: 2 hours, 5 minutes.
   
3. Making a tuna noodle casserole: 1 hour, 20 minutes.
   
4. Applying for New York State unemployment insurance benefits: 30 minutes.
   
5. Applying for food stamps in New Jersey: 30 minutes.

Stimulus

Back in the fall I wrote a little post suggesting that - based on no data whatsoever and my high-falutin-soundin graduate studies - that the US economy needed a fiscal stimulus of 400 billion or so. "Defense budget size" money, I think I said at the time.

Well, now Obama has outdone me, calling for a $775 billion plan that is a mix of spending and tax cuts.

Gee that's a lot of money. And Krugman says it isn't enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Using the math he gives us, what we really need is a $1.4 TRILLION dollar plan, all of it spending. The reason for that is that tax cuts don't necessarily get spent (people might just put them in the bank) and thus don't have the same multiplier effect as spending. So, if you want a mix of spending and tax cuts, the total package would have to be MORE than $1.4 trillion.

This stuff is giving me a headache. I'm going to look for some dancing penguin videos or something.

Quote of the day

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

- Voltaire

Everybody loves to taunt

If I were an ape - which I'm not, ex-girlfriend's opinions excluded - then I'd like to think that this is the kind of ape I would be.