...and other short stories

2010-12-13T18:07:00.000-08:00

The ruling family of North Korea may be made up of homicidal despots currently threatening South Korea with nuclear war, ...

...but they know their British rock legends.

(Slate)

2010-11-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

This is so many million dollars for a bottle of wine!

"The auction record was previously the 105,000 pounds ($168,000 million) paid for a single bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite engraved..."

(Bloomberg)

2010-10-27T20:53:00.001-07:00

YDN: "10 of 14 students interviewed said that drinking is more central to their experience at the Game than the football itself."

I don't even come close to believing this.

2010-10-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

Wait, what?

Bloomberg:

The U.K. government won’t go ahead with plans to enforce the substitution of generic medicines for
branded drugs, Health Minister Frederick Curzon said.

...

“We know that there are valuable savings to be made from the use of generic medicines where it is clinically appropriate,’’ Curzon, also known as Lord Howe, said in the statement.

2010-10-13T15:39:00.001-07:00

Bloomberg, in one of the best quote contributions in recent memory:

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The New Jersey-bound tube of the
Lincoln Tunnel was closed due to a traffic accident, New York
City said. The information was disclosed in an e-mailed
statement.

2009-04-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

NYT:

After “Up,” the overtly commercial “Toy Story 3” arrives in 2010 and “Cars 2” in 2011, and there is much talk that a sequel to “Monsters Inc.” is in the works.

2009-03-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

NYT:

American consumers aren’t buying many vehicles at all, let alone the small cars and hybrids that are clogging dealer lots and creating big inventories for the ailing industry. That S.U.V. in the garage isn’t the costly liability it was last year, when gas prices hit $4 a gallon.

But the American auto industry, under pressure, has invested heavily in the small-car and hybrid market. So it should probably not be a surprise that auto industry leaders like Alan Mulally of Ford have called for higher gas taxes, an idea Detroit once abhorred.

2009-03-17T22:22:00.001-07:00

Reuters:

More than half of Nevada's mortgage holders now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Arizona holds second place with 32 percent of homeowners have negative equity, and Florida and California follow with 30 percent each, according to First American CoreLogic, an affiliate of property services firm First American Corp.

The total value of U.S. residential properties fell to $19.1 trillion in December 2008 from $21.5 trillion a year earlier. California's losses came to more $1.2 trillion -- roughly half the nationwide decline, the firm said.

2009-03-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

Apparently 90% of those with access to the internet in the Philippines have a friendster account.

2009-02-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Maybe the best article I've read in months:

But the discovery that London's reaction to a minor snowfall is even more hysterical than Washington's annual panic inspired a set of more serious, more philosophical reflections: Events really do look different to people who live in different places, after all. (Slate)

2009-01-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

Slate:

"Do any of you moms hold it against [Obama] that he chose to go for it anyway, even though [becoming president] would almost certainly make a 'normal' childhood impossible for his daughters?" My answer is yes: It's the least appealing thing about the man.

CNN:

The company that brought the world Beanie Babies is now selling dolls named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia, but a spokeswoman insists that the dolls have nothing to do with President Obama's young daughters.

2009-01-29T23:53:00.001-08:00

From Slate:

Last month, Karl Rove revealed that he and Bush spent the past three years in a furious competition to see who could read the most books. It started, fittingly, with Team of Rivals. In 2006, the year Republicans lost the Congress, Rove out-read Bush 110-95. Rove went on to win the next two years, 76-51 and 64-40.

2009-01-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Some of the coolest things I've found recently, part 1:

The TSA has a blog.

Articles:

A Bailout for Laid Off Journalists (The New Republic)

Will Obama have a computer? Probably not, but you might be able to reach him at president@whitehouse.gov. (Slate)

An old but interesting skim: President Bush did a chat from Air Force One last January.

This is going to be updated periodically.

2009-01-20T15:29:00.001-08:00

A small closing windows post.

Christopher Hitchens claims in Slate that he's not sorry Bush won over both Gore and Kerry.

GM stock is one of the most commonly re-gifted item in a strange viral UPS promotion.

2009-01-06T21:31:00.001-08:00

The Onion gets strangely morbid.

2009-01-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the warning, ForeignPolicy.com. Apparently, some skyscrapers in Shanghai were built with such poor quality steel that they may be uninhabitable by the end of the next decade.

2008-12-31T21:53:00.000-08:00

An article from an Arizona newspaper suggests:

The Diamondbacks have perhaps $4 million to spend this off-season. So what if they came at Sheets with a backloaded, three-year deal structured like this: $4 million in 2009, $8 million in 2010, $12 million in 2011 with a team option for 2012 worth $12 million, including a $3 million buyout. Guaranteed money: $27 million.

I know it's a bad economy and all but that's just not in the right ballpark.

2008-12-31T04:50:00.000-08:00

This is news to me:

Certainly, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have too many deadbeat brands and models. But while G.M.’s financial cupboard may be bare, its product cupboard spilled out more critically lauded models than any other company this year, import or domestic. (NYT)

2008-12-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

America’s three broadcast network news divisions have stopped sending full-time correspondents to Iraq. (NYT)

2008-12-28T17:03:00.000-08:00

This quote from a weird, rambling article about Tom Cruise on Slate is:

1. a surprisingly good analogy

2. the introduction of a catchphrase for 2008?

The '80s did for money what the '60s did for sex. They told a miraculously tempting lie about the curative powers of disinhibition. It took AIDS, feminism, and sociobiology a while to catch up to our illusions about free love. It has taken cronyism, speculation, and manic overleveraging a while to catch up to our illusions about free money. Now that Ponzi capitalism is collapsing in on itself...

2008-12-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

Tony LaRussa on Rickey Henderson:

He got on base with his tiny strike zone. Throw it in there and he would hit it. If you didn't, he'd walk. Either way, he stole second.

2008-12-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Yet again, the handful of people—including Dick Cheney—who maintain that torture is completely legal corresponds almost perfectly to the number of people who could be prosecuted for war crimes because it is not. (Slate)

2008-12-25T06:21:00.000-08:00

From Kat O'Brien's Newsday Yankees blog:

The Yankees had made a substantially lower offer to Teixeira before the winter meetings; an offer that was quickly pulled once Boras informed the Yankees how much he was seeking. The Red Sox, Nationals, Angels and Orioles bid on Teixeira in the next few weeks, with the Yankees not making another contract offer until late Monday.
Even Tuesday, hours before Teixeira agreed to terms, the Yankees were pessimistic about getting the 28-year-old slugger, the source said. Boras told the Yankees they needed a 10-year deal, with the last two years as player options. That got an absolute no from the Yankees, who had offered eight years and $180 million ($22.5 million per year).
Around midday Tuesday, Boras said Teixeira would agree to an eight-year contract, but only if the average annual value was $24 million per year, making the total contract value $192 million. The Yankees conferred, then told Boras no, that they had made a fair yet firm offer and would hold pat, the source said. Boras responded by saying that Teixeira would likely be a Red Sox. The Yankees refused to budge from their offer, and 20 minutes later, Boras called back and said Teixeira would take their eight-year, $180 million contract offer.

2008-12-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

One of the stranger sentences I've seen on a receipt:

Treat this confirmation like cash.

2008-12-23T05:29:00.000-08:00

This NYT article on how Indian banks managed to avoid the subprime crisis has a few interesting insights:

When Mr. Reddy saw American banks setting up off-balance-sheet vehicles to hide debt, he essentially banned them in India. As a result, banks in India wound up holding onto the loans they made to customers. On the one hand, this meant they made fewer loans than their American counterparts because they couldn’t sell off the loans to Wall Street in securitizations. On the other hand, it meant they still had the incentive — as American banks did not — to see those loans paid back.

I somehow hadn't heard this point made before about American banks. It might be an oversimplification, but it makes sense.

Also, this must've been frustrating:

“For a while we were wondering if we were missing out on something,” said Ms. Kochhar of Icici. Banks in the United States seemed to have come up with some magical new formula for making money: make loans that required no down payment and little in the way of verification — and post instant, short-term, profits. As Luis Miranda, who runs a private equity firm devoted to developing India’s infrastructure, put it: “We kept wondering if they had figured out something that we were too dense to figure out. It looked like they were smart and we were stupid.”

2008-12-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

The technical Wall Street term for this is a nightmare. (Slate)

2008-12-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

Oh no!! Slate's explainer column has a list of questions they are considering answering for their end-of-the-year best of the unanswered article. One of them is:

Hi, I am Anna. I am only 11 years old! My friend told me about this black hole, and I have gotten really scared. I don't want to die! I thought if it didn't happen today, it wasn't going to happen. I did not know nothing about it happening in Spring! I find it unfair that scientists are making a machine that could possibly destroy the entire human race. Me and my friends have cried about the black hole, and I find it really upsetting. There has been barely nothing about it on the news. I am so nervous. I just think I am too young to die—is there any way we could stop it happening?

I'm impressed that an 11-year-old reads Slate.

2008-12-16T01:06:00.000-08:00

It's so strange that Airbus wouldn't hedge this much forex exposure:

The strengthening of the dollar, which has risen almost 20% against the euro since the summer, certainly offers short-term relief to Airbus. When the dollar was sinking, the company noted that every 10¢ rise in the euro would knock more than $1.3 billion off its bottom line, because airplanes are priced in dollars but most of the manufacturing costs are in euros. (BusinessWeek)

2008-12-11T21:19:00.001-08:00

It doesn't hurt to remember baseball general managers' interests once in a while when considering why certain trades were made:

Cleto and Carrerra are a pair of the Mets' extremely young Latin maybes that they've made a big effort at collecting, and just as readily peddled; either or both could engender regret five or six years from now, but five or six years from now, if the Mets don't have a pennant, that won't be Minaya's problem, and if the Mets do have a pennant by then, it still won't be Minaya's problem. (Baseball Prospectus)

2008-12-11T20:04:00.001-08:00

This is literally three years old, but it's still hilarious:

Amid rising rhetoric on both sides, Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, denounced the North Koreans as "bullies" and called their leader, Kim Jong Il, "not a good person." (International Herald-Tribune)

2008-12-11T12:37:00.001-08:00

At this point, I sort of feel like the sooner Zimbabwe collapses, the better. The story -- about a raging Cholera epidemic -- is a bit all over the place, but it's a good primer on where Zimbabwe stands right now and it's definitely heart-wrenching. Very little has happened since the power-sharing deal this summer.

Inflation officially hit 231 million percent in July, but John Robertson, an independent economist in Zimbabwe, estimates that it has now surged to an astounding percent: 8 followed by 18 zeros. (NYT)

2008-12-10T18:34:00.001-08:00

Slate, on the new position to oversee the Detroit bailout:

According to a circulated draft, he must have "appropriate expertise in such areas as economic stabilization, financial aid to commerce and industry, financial restructuring, energy efficiency, and environmental protection." So, to summarize, he needs to be a mix of Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson, Jack Welch, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Al Gore. Oh, and if he knew something about the car industry, that would be helpful, too. If the search committee needs them, I've got a needle and a haystack it can borrow.

2008-12-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

U.S. 3-month treasury bills go to 0% yield. (NYT)

2008-12-08T16:41:00.003-08:00

2008-12-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

NYT on whether Caroline Kennedy is interested in Hillary Clinton's vacated senate seat:

“The conversation was informational,” Mr. Paterson said. “She did not express an interest in the Senate, but we talked about the Senate, so I got that she was just trying to get some information."

Yeah, ok.

2008-12-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

The Chicago Tribune suggests that it's okay for the White Sox to trade Jermaine Dye because he can easily be replaced...by a recently signed 19-year-old in rookie ball who has no defensive position? I guess:

More scouts rave about the hitting ability of 19-year-old Cuban Dayan Viciedo. They are less certain about his defense and conditioning, but his offensive ability could help soften the blow once right fielder Jermaine Dye departs.

2008-11-27T13:19:00.001-08:00

I don't even know what to say. Bill Plaschke berates the owners of the Dodgers for daring to consider how many social problems they could solve by spending the $30M+ they're going to give Manny Ramirez on building baseball parks for kids. Just bizarre, all around.

2008-11-27T11:45:00.001-08:00

Curt Schilling on how the Red Sox convinced him to waive his no-trade clause. Huge insight into just how complicated free agency is.

2008-11-26T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show, on piracy in Somalia: Barack Obama will be tested by not only problems of the 21st Century, but also the 18th. For God's sake, what's next? Vikings?

2008-11-26T09:37:00.001-08:00

Something well-written on ESPN.com? Really? (About Lawrence Tynes, the kicker for the Giants, and his older brother in jail.)

2008-11-26T09:22:00.000-08:00

Reuters on Britney Spears:

Instead, she talks about her current life and going on chaperoned dates with men who failed to impress her. She jokingly describes one as "an older version of Harry Potter but skinnier."

Spears also discusses being a mom to her two sons, Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden, 2, whom she sees three days a week.

"To be a really good mom, I feel your child needs to be your full-time job," Spears told the magazine. "I want to raise my kids and share all of those precious moments with them."

Still as obnoxious as ever...

2008-11-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

Two quick things from a news recap column on Slate:

This is interesting:

The Federal Reserve has been playing a relatively quiet role in the crisis. Even as the Treasury's every move is analyzed and debated, the Fed has lent $893 billion to a variety of institutions that are having trouble getting a hold of cash to continue operating. In some ways, it's carrying out the original goal of the TARP program by allowing financial institutions to put up troubled assets as collateral for the loans. But it's doing it all out of public view, as the Fed is refusing to reveal not only which companies are asking for money but what collateral they pledged. The Fed insists this type of secrecy is necessary to avoid creating a stigma for the firms that ask to borrow money, which would make the program much less effective, because companies would be reluctant to seek the central bank's help.

And is this necessarily a bad thing?:

There's growing concern in Iraq that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is setting himself up to become "a benevolent Shiite Saddam." Once dismissed as a weak leader without real power, Maliki has been able to navigate his relationship with the United States and stands to gain if the security agreement is approved this week as expected. He would then officially become the man who brought an end to U.S. occupation, which could help him consolidate power in January's provincial elections. Supporters dismiss the suggestion that Maliki could become a dictator but say that Iraq needs strong leadership in order to move forward.

I feel like a couple months ago, before the large recent improvements in Iraq and before the financial meltdown, most people would have taken this offer.

2008-11-25T15:10:00.001-08:00

It's strange that the Kansas City Royals have possibly the most talented blogger following. This is from Rany on Royals:

You’d think the Royals would have remembered what happened when they didn’t sign Beltran to a long-term deal, or Dye, or Johnny Damon. You’d think they could look around the league and notice that this year, four years after Beltran was traded, seven after Dye was traded, eight after Damon was traded, all three of them are still playing at an All-Star caliber. Damon hit .303/.375/.461 with 29 steals; Dye hit .292/.344/.541 and got some MVP votes; Beltran hit .284/.376/.500 with 25 steals and also got a few votes.

Not that it’s realistic to think the Royals could have kept all three, but if they had, the 2000s Royals would have had one of the greatest outfields in the history of baseball. Instead, they traded all three, and all they have to show for them right now is Mark Teahen and John Buck.

2008-11-24T15:54:00.001-08:00

Greg Mankiw bitch-slaps the main-stream media.

2008-11-24T14:30:00.001-08:00

Interesting question: Why in the world does no one seem to care about Ben Sheets?

2008-11-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Gas prices fall for 68th straight day -- to February 2005 levels. (CNN)

2008-11-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

And remember, in Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS between the Rays and Red Sox, many tickets went unsold at face value at Fenway Park. (ESPN)

Really? I'd have gone if I had known. There is no way this will ever happen again now that people know there's a chance they can get tickets day-of.

2008-11-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

This might be the best "overvote" ballot of all time:

2008-11-18T16:24:00.001-08:00

I like America.

2008-11-18T05:00:00.001-08:00

Nate Silver:

CBS's underlying problem...is the arbitrary and largely ineffectual nature of the fact-checking process employed by the mainstream media. I have written for perhaps a dozen major publications over the span of my career, and the one with the most thorough fact-checking process is by some margin Sports Illustrated.

2008-11-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

Detroit Carmakers Meltdown -- Update 94357489

Ford is now selling its 20% stake in Mazda. It will result in a welcome infusion of cash that should keep it afloat through the crisis, right?

Ford, whose coffers are depleted from a relentless sales slide mainly in the United States, will raise more than 52 billion yen ($538 million) from the sale of the stake, Mazda said.

Slowing auto sales and the global financial crisis have sent shares of Ford plunging, and its coffers are depleted. It reported a worse-than-expected $2.98 billion quarterly operating loss this month. (NYT)

That is, it will keep Ford afloat unless the crisis lasts through next Friday. :(

This is why a New York Times blogger wants GM and Chrysler to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It sounds like a great plan on paper, but I can't imagine anyone (except maybe Obama?) having enough political power to actually do it -- it involves some union busting, job cutting, brand cutting, government-insured warranties, etc...

2008-11-17T00:44:00.000-08:00

Scott Boras's best defense of Manny Ramirez in response to allegations that the Red Sox suspended Manny in July:

"The fact is the intent to suspend is not a suspension." (ESPN)

2008-11-16T22:11:00.001-08:00

Aaaand it begins. This just came up on my gmail:

CNN.com Recently Published/Updated - South Korea would 'welcome' Obama meeting with Kim Jong Il - 3 hours ago

2008-11-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

This is going to be awkward (regarding the counting of electoral votes):

Electors gather in each states' Capitol to vote on a specific day in December. These votes, under seal, are then sent to Congress for counting and reading at a joint session chaired by the Vice President.

2008-11-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

Two more death knells for GM, by way of CNN:

1. Demand is falling for GM cars because:

Customers don't want to buy from a company they fear may soon be insolvent.

2. GM is not considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would allow it to reorganize, because "it would create more problems than it would solve". So, it's bailout, or chapter 7 -- liquidation.

2008-11-15T22:40:00.001-08:00

Just saw this helpful tip on CNN.com:

2008-11-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

This, from the Motley Fool, is ridiculous:

The brutal reality is that Detroit doesn't need a bailout so it can reorganize and compete with foreign manufacturers; it needs the money to salvage a business model that's been proven horribly hopeless. After all, Chrysler was bailed out in 1979 ... and three decades later, here we are again. Detroit isn't suffering a cyclical downturn that'll bounce back and reward taxpayers for their benevolence. It's suffering an inevitable day of reckoning decades in the making.

What? I would GLADLY bail out the Detroit carmakers if it guaranteed another three decades of profit.

2008-11-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

Nonsense, courtesy of the Houston Chronicle:

To sign both Wolf and Pettitte would mean raising the payroll to around $100 million. That’s a one-time expenditure. If the boys in scouting and player development are doing their job, the Astros will be able to wean themselves from big-ticket free agency in a couple of years. It’s a road to nowhere anyway.

2008-11-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

Google forgets the Coast Guard off of its front-page Veterans' Day logo, apologizes, then makes it worse by saying it was on purpose:

Today is Veterans Day in the U.S., a day to honor all veterans of military service. As we often do, we created a special design of the Google logo (which we call a "doodle") in honor of the event. The design for the doodle featured a few military-style hats. We weren't trying to represent all of the branches or all of the symbols of military service and, as a result of space and design limitations, we inadvertently left the U.S. Coast Guard out of our depiction.

2008-11-12T01:27:00.000-08:00

There are a couple hilarious things in this article about Tim Lincecum winning the NL Cy Young.

1. What a nonsensical and backhanded lead:

NEW YORK -- Tim Lincecum was a big winner on a woeful team, which fit him perfectly.

2. What's out of place in this list?:

Santana, a two-time AL Cy Young winner with Minnesota, received a $50,000 bonus for finishing third. Sabathia got $75,000 for coming in fifth. Webb's second-place finish increased the buyout of his $8.5 million 2010 club option by $500,000 to $2 million.

Whose idea was it to include a clause in Webb's contract that increases his $2 million buyout if he finishes in contention for the Cy Young? I suppose that's insuring against the specific instance where he's awesome in 2008 and very badly hurt in late 2009. Really, Brandon Webb's agent?

The only crazier one I've seen was Gregg Zaun's 2009 team option, which would have been guaranteed had he played in 160 games in 2008. This is ludicrous on at least three levels:

a. Find me ANY catcher who has played 160 games in ANY season. Go.

b. If he plays in 160+ games, the odds are he's a pretty important piece to the Blue Jays anyway.

c. If he's NOT an important piece, the Blue Jays could just sit him for the final three games of the season.

2008-11-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

Some good baseball articles:

Baseball Prospectus: a reminder that no one really has any idea where free agents will end up.

ESPN: an elegy to John Moores' ownership of the San Diego Padres.

2008-11-09T10:27:00.001-08:00

A very well done Slate two-minute video recap of the last two weeks of the election.

2008-11-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

Very good short NYT Magazine piece: Why blue-collar Pennsylvanians swung Obama, after all.

2008-11-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

I think I'll be posting a few great election post-mortem quotes in the near future, mostly just to have a record of them. Meanwhile, I've been doing some election blogging here.

There was no sense of anger, or rivalry, no sense that the enemy had been vanquished. There was, rather, a tremendous sense of empowerment in the notion that someone more like them was going to take up residence down the street: someone younger, someone blacker, someone poorer, someone who knew that the majesty of America exists not just in the tranquility of its small towns but also in the bustle of its cities. (Fivethirtyeight.com)

2008-10-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

I guess if Ford goes down, it might as well go down in flames:

DEARBORN, Mich. — With United States vehicle sales down nearly 13 percent this year, most car companies have been cutting production rather than increasing it. Workers at Ford’s River Rouge plant were told that 1,000 laid-off employees would be rehired.

But with 1,200 hourly workers cheering them on, top executives of the Ford Motor Company said Thursday at the ceremonial introduction of a new version of Ford’s most important product, the F-150 pickup, that they would call back 1,000 laid-off workers to help build more trucks. (NYT)

2008-10-26T16:05:00.001-07:00

From the Boston Globe via MLB Trade Rumors:

Nomar said that he cautioned his teammates not to believe everything they heard about Manny before his arrival:

"I told the guys here, 'Don't believe everything you read about Manny, because it was wrong,' " Garciaparra said. "I said from day one that he was going to come in smiling, he was going to be great in the clubhouse, and he was going to be fun to watch, and I was right about every single thing."

Garciaparra went one step further even, stating that this is not the first time Boston has tried to make a departing star look badly:

The former Sox All-Star asserted in an interview that the Boston brass unfairly tried to demonize Ramírez, just as team executives tried to do to Garciaparra, Pedro Martínez, and Mo Vaughn, among others, when they left town.

Hohler also talks to Bill Mueller, who states that when he won his batting title in 2003, it was because Manny voluntarily sat the last game of the season out, telling Mueller that he wanted Mueller to win the title. Mueller entered the game hitting .327, while Manny was at .325.

2008-10-26T11:02:00.001-07:00

You're so silly, New York Times:

These are the front page summaries for their "Week in Review: Special Election Issue".

A President Barack Obama would prize consensus, except when he would disregard it. His penchant for control would likely translate into a disciplined White House.

Joseph R. Biden Jr.: A First-Time Second Fiddle

John McCain’s conflicting impulses toward deliberation and aggression have been the alternating currents of his singular career and, if he wins, could shape his presidency.

(Let me translate. NYT: "????????")

2008-10-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

A surprisingly sad, heartfelt, and informative look at why the Rays, and not the Royals, are the AL champs.

2008-10-22T09:38:00.001-07:00

Oh, the Yale Daily News:

(As noted in a previous correction, the story also mistakenly attributed a comment to Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee. The statement, “I can see Russia from my house,” was made by comedian Tina Fey, impersonating Palin, on an episode of Saturday Night Live. Palin’s actual comment to ABC News was, “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.”)

2008-10-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Am I misunderstanding this, or will most of the U.S. have free wireless internet in four years?

2008-10-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Quote from a review of Crash, the TV show, based on the movie, in the Newark Star-Ledger:

It's an hour of unpleasant yet bland people occasionally bumping into each other and saying racially provocative things.

2008-10-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

Clearly, the "palling with terrorists" thing is silly, but is there really something more to Obama-Ayers?

2008-10-19T01:01:00.000-07:00

By the way, I live-blogged the second presidential debate with Julian.

2008-10-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly good article on something I thought would be trite by now: what, realistically, we can expect Obama to bring to the White House.

2008-10-13T23:29:00.001-07:00

Good article in NYT about why we tip.

However, it's all sort of spoiled by the tidbit about the writer at the end:

Paul Wachter wrote about the mixed-martial-arts fighter Shad Smith for the magazine in March.

2008-10-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

A couple things:

This, on ESPN.com, is the worst lead I have ever read:

Dave Cassarella wants to avoid being part of that growing menace to American safety, worse on a daily basis than the threat of al-Qaida or even the increasingly Dust Bowl characteristics being adopted by the nation's financial system. So, instead of endangering friends and strangers equally by driving with one hand on his cell phone and the other on the steering wheel, he pulls over to the side of the road to talk to me.

What is the rogue "that" referring to? Who is Dave Cassarella (the article is about Joe Maddon, manager of the Tampa Bay Rays)? Al-Qaida? What? What?

Also I closed the NYT articleI wanted to quote from but essentially:
-best day for New York stock exchange in history
-UK government takes over two big banks: Lloyd's, HBOS
-Obama wants people to be allowed to withdraw from their retirement accounts early without penalty: this is a baaaaad idea.

2008-08-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

I don't pay attention for three weeks and the price of oil dives to $115. Go figure.

2008-08-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

The rapid-fire posts are because I'm closing windows again. Does this reporter (NYT) think "binge" is a drink?:

In Laganas, on the Greek island of Zakinthos, where a teenager from Sheffield died after a drinking binge this summer...

2008-08-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Wow: an article on McCain hanging out with celebrities. Why is Cindy in Georgia? As Jon Stewart said the other night: "You can't deploy ambassadors! You're just some guy! I've got as much authority as McCain in this situation!"

Two quotes from McCain:

“My Social Security number is 8.’’

"I would like to thank so many brave and courageous people who are here that happen to be in the business of Hollywood who are risking their entire futures and careers.”

I would think the second is a joke, but Jon Voigt, who was there, recently claimed to be blacklisted by the Liberal establishment after calling Obama-supporters communists...

2008-08-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is risky:

[Joe Biden] said that Michelle Obama’s speech to the convention Monday night was the most important moment of the week, more significant that that of her husband, Senator Barack Obama, or Mr. Biden’s or Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s. (NYT)

A lot of Kennedy fans might take it personally.

2008-08-27T09:10:00.001-07:00

A reporter (O.K., this one) trekked up to where the Connecticut delegation and asked: “Where’s Joe Lieberman?” Nancy Dinardo, state party chair, shot back, "“If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that.”

(NYT)

2008-08-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

A SportsCenter poll just asked whether fans think the NY Giants this year will:
-finish below .500
-make the playoffs
-make the championship series
-make the super bowl

I'm pretty sure those aren't all the options.

2008-08-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

McCain campaign supposedly predicts 15 point post-convention bounce for Obama. I can't convince myself this memo is real though.

2008-08-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

"For the record, in no way did I intend the article to encourage genocide, and to the extent that it might have done so, I apologize." -- Newsweek

2008-08-17T15:10:00.001-07:00

I hate Olympics bloopers. In normal sporting events, they can be pretty funny, if not entirely necessary. But during the Olympics, all I can think about is how that person's dream is being crushed...especially the one of the Spanish runner falling over the final hurdle in the aforementioned 3k steeplechase while in a position to run for silver. Eurosport played that footage to blooper music. Does NBC do the same?

The one good one I saw was a Russian weightlifter who went completely nuts (jumping/yelling/floor pounding) after successfully lifting 217kg. Also, some crowd shots of Chinese fans.

2008-08-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

I think this is from Fox, but in any case, it's a good summary of the Edwards story:

Instead, some big-time journalists seem to believe the Enquirer has nailed the story, and they are waiting for the tabloid to release the full results of its reporting. In the meantime, they are staying away from the story because it appeared in the Enquirer. In other words, they're waiting for the Enquirer to fully report a story that they wouldn't otherwise report… because it's in the Enquirer.

2008-08-17T13:18:00.001-07:00

It was the 3000m steeplechase. The bronze medalist looked miserable on the podium...

2008-08-17T13:06:00.001-07:00

I love good news writing. This article instantly made me a fan of Tyson Gay.

I'm, right now, watching a sport I've never seen before. It's some track and field event that involves water. And hurdles.

2008-08-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Headline on Dow Jones right now:

GM Posts Surprising $15.5B Loss, Hurt By North America

To say that GM is hurt by North America is kind of like saying:

GM Posts Surprising $15.5B Loss, Hurt By GM

Update: GM's loss is 12 times higher than analysts' estimates.

2008-08-01T03:07:00.001-07:00

This is another closing windows post.

A good response from a letter to the editor in the NYT with regard to young people not appreciating literature or something:

I wonder if the invention of the printing press in 1440 had experts of the day crying out that reading and writing were dead.

Quote by LA police chief from NYT story on possible restrictions on paparazzi:

“If you notice,” Chief Bratton said, “since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving; Paris is out of town not bothering anybody, thank God; and, evidently, Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don’t seem to have much of an issue.”

A Dow Jones columnist on China's economic policy:

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

And then, I don't know how we haven't had a Wal-Mart story on this blog yet:

Wal-Mart Warns Of Democratic Win
Wal-Mart is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

By the way, China let up on the internet restrictions at least a little bit -- BBC and Amnesty International are no longer blocked. No word yet on Fire Joe Morgan.

2008-07-31T07:42:00.001-07:00

This article is rumored to have gotten Jon Voight at least partially blacklisted from Hollywood: wtf?

2008-07-31T05:39:00.001-07:00

This is a good blog. It dwells a bit into media criticism and is where I found the Edwards article linked to below.

Also: Wall Street's hiring! Just not really us.

2008-07-31T04:50:00.001-07:00

Read this. (Because no one really knows about it.)

2008-07-31T03:54:00.000-07:00

I'm reading comments on a NYT blog about a post on the leak of the opening ceremonies, and I get to a post that's long enough to definitely be a conspiracy theory or something of the like. It starts off about China, democracy, etc., so I start scrolling down, until I see:

BOYCOTT GOOGLE!

At which point I closed the window.

2008-07-31T03:46:00.001-07:00

Quote from the wire:
Meanwhile, the Olympics are shaping up as the most restricted since the Nazis hosted the Berlin Games in 1936, Australia's journalists' union said Thursday.

2008-07-31T01:19:00.000-07:00

You know it's bad when the number of cancelled flights is "abnormal" even for United, which is consistently rated the worst U.S. airline with no close runner-up:

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
United Sues Pilots Over 'Sickout'
UAL's United Airlines asks federal judge for a preliminary injunction blocking its pilots from engaging in an unlawful sickout and no-overtime campaign that is forcing airline to cancel abnormal numbers of flights and disrupt its passengers.

A couple briefs from the wire:

We have a return of the at-least-they're-not-bankrupt headline:

Shares in HBOS jump 8.1% after the bank says that net profit in the 1H fell 57% to £880 million due to write-downs and higher impairments.

An analyst at Deutschebank calls the results "good".

And then:
IOC accepts China's rejection of unlimited internet access for the press. Iran effectively rejects a nuclear compromise with Western powers.

2008-07-30T04:51:00.001-07:00

This is new, at least to me: apparently, political campaigns are now running campaign ads in Washington, D.C. with the explicit purpose of exposing them to political journalists - who will hopefully write about them and distribute them for free... (NYT)

2008-07-30T02:40:00.001-07:00

One more story I wrote a few weeks ago and just found. It's sort of epic:

David Jennings of Movers and Shakers Property Networking Club opened a panel on the future of real estate Thursday morning with a spoiler – of both mood and suspense – by telling the crowd that his last question to the panelists will be “if the property industry collapsed, what would you do?”.

The mostly light-hearted talk on sustainability and the future of the real estate market was heavily weighed down by the recent credit crunch and the freefall of housing developers’ stocks, which had shocked the panelists.

Ian Marcus, the head of the European real estate division for Credit Suisse and a financial advisor to Barratt Developments, was introduced as “the only representative of the sector that got us into this mess”.

Marcus said that the drop in developers’ shares is the “fastest market correction we’ve ever seen” and added that he has never seen a market react this harshly on a perception. “Has anything fundamentally changed in these businesses or in the supply demand mismatch? No.” he continued, “If [like Wednesday when] people didn’t believe a CEO statement – what’s the purpose of transparency and public companies?”

Martin Moore, managing director of Property Investment Managers Ltd, said that the challenges are extraordinary and alluded damningly to the falling companies, saying that “there will likely be some casualties along the way. There will be some bad, bad news in the short term.”

The large development firms “are trading at extraordinarily large discounts,” said John Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Hammerson Plc., adding the qualifier that investors should expect slow growth and long-term recovery and that “we will be quite cautious”.

Outlook

When the panel was asked for predictions, Moore provided by far the most optimistic outlook for the U.K. real estate market, saying that “we’re through the worst.” PruPIM itself escaped the worst of the fall of property prices by taking money out of U.K. properties during the last 4-5 years, as they realized that the real estate markets were irrational.

Marcus disagreed, saying that precedent dictated two years of downturn, followed by one year of staying down, and finally recovery. The markets currently would be one year through the downturn. He supported this argument by claiming that market will continue to get worse in the short term since investors will return from vacation with high hopes, only to realize that banks still have serious liquidity issues and have no basis on which to evaluate debt. At last, in a slight barb at Moore, he said, “the issue is not just financial, it’s also human capital” since very few in the industry have worked through a real estate downturn.

In a further warning about the liquidity of banks, Marcus said that the two large Scottish banks represent 25% of lending on the U.K. – a huge concentration of risk – and that the two banks’ health has an important effect on the U.K. economy.

Moore clarified that while the return on property in the U.K. is currently at negative 5 or 6 percent, and while growth in the 15% range may be gone forever, the market is moving toward more normal returns of positive 5 or 6 percent in the long run.

Investment Opportunities

The panelists repeatedly emphasized that with hardships come good opportunities – and that smart investors should capitalize now.

Moore suggested that the U.K. is the most attractively priced real estate market right now, based on fundamentals. “We are not smart enough to call the bottom, but now is the time to invest. It’s a smart place to put money with a three to five year window.”

Marcus said that “the smart thing to do is invest in debt, not equity”, mentioning off-hand that this is what the Blackstone’s and Apollo’s are doing.

Liz Peace, Chief Executive Officer of the British Property Federation, suggested that “now is your chance in the rental sector.”

Marcus agreed, saying that profit on rental property in London is very high right now, that this is a wonderful time to buy strategic land, and that “the problem is the non-availability of mortgage finance, not house prices.”

Commercial Real Estate Cycles and Sustainability

Richards reflected on the lack of available credit by joking that if his company is having a hard time borrowing, it must be impossible for everyone else. “We are a capital intensive business. The covenants are the same as two years ago, but it’s impossible for a lot of people to raise [the money].”

He cautioned that development will be a bit slower this year than it would have been without the credit slowdown, but qualified that retail is different in that it offers “long term consistent growth” and “if you get out, you can’t get back in at the same scale.”

That said, companies are postponing un-started developments by a year or two. “There will be very few completions in 2012 and 2013”, he said, which will create a shortage of supply, resulting in increased rent, increased bank lending to developers, and new development will surge. This, he said, is fundamentally why retail cycles are seen as long-term.

Richards claimed that while blue chip customers are beginning to “look at sustainability in a way that is non-negotiable”, a long-term view is more appropriate for the issue, saying that while the more efficient buildings are expensive now, everyone, from the builder to the occupier, will benefit more in the future.

Marcus clarified, saying that sustainability “will change how we value, buy, and sell property.”

Politics

The panelists readily explained that neither they, nor the rest of the market, expected help from the government in the near future, saying that it is short-term by nature and that while developers did well under Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson is not expected to be sympathetic.

Peace said that she can see him “ignoring the property industry in London” and that he is scared of imposing his will on the boroughs.

Richards responded that if that was all, then his company would live with it, and hope the antagonism does not go much past that.

Peace warned of a possible increase in SDLT (stamp duty land tax) because revenues are dropping off due to the decreasing number of transactions. This said, she does not expect any new surprise taxes.

Marcus cautioned that there is pressure on Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, to increase interest rates to fight inflation, instead of lowering them to fight the economic slowdown, because central banks around the world rarely move in opposite directions and inflation is perceived to be a bigger threat abroad.

Even though consensus is gloomy, a farewell remark betrayed a sliver of optimism – “If you’re feeling down…at least you’re not Gordon Brown – it could be worse.”

2008-07-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

This is a story I wrote a couple weeks ago that went unpublished. It gives a good idea of how quickly news gets stale -- the charges talked about in the last couple paragraph have already been repealed.

Demand in England for SUVs and other gas-guzzlers is falling through the floor – mimicking earlier numbers from France, Spain, and the U.S. Even though the total number of new vehicle registrations is down on the year, the sale of mini cars exploded in May, more than doubling from this time last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The increased cost of owning a large vehicle is finally catching up with car manufacturers, who make a significantly higher profit from the sale of trucks and SUVs than smaller cars. The record price of oil – which earlier this year caused the number of miles driven by Americans in a month to decrease for the first time since 1980 – is a possible explanation, but there are other more compelling localized reasons.

The U.K. has historically strong ties between consumer spending and housing prices, which have taken an especially strong hit from the recent economic downturn. Car manufacturers have tried to compensate with lower prices and increased marketing – making the decline in the sales numbers even more disappointing.

London – the first major city to institute a congestion charge – has taken an environmentalist stance by exempting electric cars and alternative fuel vehicles from its 8 pound a day charge, and it is now prepared to go even further. Starting in October, its environmental exemptions will be tiered by emissions levels with the highest level, costing an exorbitant 25 pounds a day, starting at 226 g/km of CO2 – a level exceeded by almost every SUV, and almost doubled by the new, smaller Hummer.

The British vehicle excise duty, which is tiered by carbon dioxide emissions and engine size, will become even more refined starting April 1st with taxes being further lowered on smaller cars and increased on larger cars. The new regulations spell even more trouble for car manufacturers: among the changes is a first-year tax on all new cars, once again tiered by emissions, upwards of 950 pounds.

The spiraling costs of driving a large car have caused demand for public transportation, bicycles, and even mules and camels to spike in countries around the world. Encouraged by at least medium-term consumer trends, increasing prices, and restrictive tax policies, the shift to smaller cars appears to have come to England, and it might very well be here to stay.

2008-07-30T01:59:00.000-07:00

Wow. Completely out of the blue, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) is indicted on SEVEN counts of felony for taking undisclosed gifts from an Alaskan oil company. It's a good story, more than worth reading. One twist: Republicans want Stevens to resign, Democrats don't. Essentially, both feel that he's hurting the Republic who will run for his seat. Stevens says he's innocent.

A number of recent retail bankruptcies I hadn't heard of: Bennigan's, Linens 'n Things, Mervyn's; following earlier folds from Steve and Barry's and Sharper Image. This will help drive retail rental rates through the floor. Now's the time to rent long term...

Some morning news:

I wonder if the IOC will have the guts to force China on this issue:

BEIJING (AFP)--China will censor the Internet as it is used by foreign media during the Olympics, an official confirmed Wednesday, despite an earlier pledge to offer complete media freedom at the event.

New York state is running up huge, unsustainable deficits:

The state’s potentially staggering shortfall stems largely from the financial woes on Wall Street, which accounts for a fifth of the state’s revenue...In his speech, the governor said taxes collected on 16 of the state’s largest banks fell 97 percent between June 2007 and June 2008, to $5 million from $173 million. (NYT)