FJM wrote this post last night before I got a chance to.
When Morgan pulled the old "law of averages" nonsense I literally smacked my forehead. I mean, how fucking stupid can he be?
And then when the ump went down with a fastball to the temple, and they went to his microphone like it was a fucking snuff film... really, what did they expect other than shit and fuck?
I still can't decide whether this was High or Low comedy.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Mortgages in graphical form...
And that's just subprime. There are tons of "good" mortgages going into the shitter too.
Pay special attention to the correlation between construction rates and jobless rates.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Even more on the mortgage mess
Denver.
"The foreclosure epidemic has swept so quickly through this part of Denver that in less than two years, lenders took action on 919 of the roughly 8,000 properties here, according to city records. Their owners defaulted on more than $171 million in mortgages they had used to buy their way out of apartments and into cul-de-sacs. Many were buying homes for the first time, in what seemed the most affordable of the city's new subdivisions. They paid their way with easy credit — sometimes secured from aggressive lenders who appeared to look past the checkered credit histories and unstable jobs of some of their customers. Ultimately, many of the buyers couldn't afford their mortgages."
"The foreclosure epidemic has swept so quickly through this part of Denver that in less than two years, lenders took action on 919 of the roughly 8,000 properties here, according to city records. Their owners defaulted on more than $171 million in mortgages they had used to buy their way out of apartments and into cul-de-sacs. Many were buying homes for the first time, in what seemed the most affordable of the city's new subdivisions. They paid their way with easy credit — sometimes secured from aggressive lenders who appeared to look past the checkered credit histories and unstable jobs of some of their customers. Ultimately, many of the buyers couldn't afford their mortgages."
Your privacy, as it were
Gizmodo discusses the extension of the RealID deadline, and whether privacy concerns are even worth the argument any more.
Diaz makes some good points, and yes, for the most part the "privacy" cat is out of the bag.
Still, just because they've already got us by the balls, there's no reason to meekly go along with handing them a leash for our necks too...
Friday, April 04, 2008
Album review - here goes nothing
I've been avoiding this for weeks, because I don't express my emotions/feelings well, verbally or in writing. I get complimented all the time on my business/technical writing, because I speak English, which for most people is a welcome change from "out-of-the-box thinking to utilize our core competencies" bullshit. Try to express something real, though, and I go all Billy Budd.
Anyway...
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
(links are to the lyric sheets)
Fort Hood
“Fort Hood is the Texas Army base that has lost the most troops in the Iraq War,” Doughty says. “I visited some of the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. and wondered what was going through their minds. When I first thought about using ‘Let the sunshine in…’ as the chorus, I thought it would be funny, but when I sang it, I felt myself tearing up. [‘Let the Sunshine In’] draws an obvious parallel to past quagmires, and all the vets who are suffering from PTSD. Once again the damage being done will not only be in lives lost, but in how those losses affect family, friends and society as a whole. The bridge laments the fact that instead of going to the prom, they’ve been given a burden they’re going to have to live with forever.”
“I'm not going to try to add anything to that," said Angelos, to no one in particular.
But then he went ahead and decided to snip this lyric:
I see them coming back; they’re motionless in an airport lounge
I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
Guy's playing a bar, a party, any small, crappy gig. It's cash, and you do what you gotta do. 90% of the people aren't paying attention. But there's always that girl up in front, dancing like inhibition isn't in the dictionary. This is a love song for her. An affair of the imagination, about 3 sets long, every night.
Blue girl, dance for me
The empty floor, and I said (ba-rum-pa-tum-pum)
Put it Down
Cut by the thorns, oh I must loosen my grip
Got to let the flower fall from my hand
and
My mind’s aggrieved and my belly’s ablaze
I have swallowed all the words that you said
Time to end it, girl. Typically, one does not feel the urge to do the butt-dance in one's chair while listening to a break-up song. But Doughty can do that to you.
More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle
Um... this is a toughie. I, as a hard-core fan, get it. I've seen him live once (twice, come April 12th), and have 6 or 7 live shows downloaded, as he allows taping. To a Doughty noob, or a reviewer who was just randomly assigned this album, yeah, I see your "WTF?" and grant it to you. Basically, what started as a joke (FIRETRUCK!!!!!) has, over the years, morphed into a fantastically entertaining jam. Doughty has this keyboard where all the keys play pre-recorded vocal bits, and he just goes apeshit, with the drummer McNeal driving the pace. It has to be seen to be believed.
27 Jennifers
An oldie, from his solo acoustic demo days, reworked for a band. Funny, and true. Hell, my workplace of 26 people had 4 Jennifers at one point.
“When I went to high school everyone was named Jennifer, Michelle or Heather,” Doughty explains. “This is a salute to them.”
Fun groove, another total dance-in-your-seat song.
The nerd in me hates this line though:
You might be the one that I’ve been seeking for
"seeking"? Really?
I Wrote a Song About Your Car
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Dogged up by the rain
And at your door again
Seeking anything
I’m a roustabout
And I’m bound to roust you out
I Got the Drop on You
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Sorry isn’t good enough.
Wednesday (Contra la puerta)
A day in a lost life? An ode to the city?
Beep Josh on Sunday
Charm him into driving in from Queens
Coming up the staircase
Bringing tiny envelopes to me
Like a Luminous Girl
Another song of unrequited infatuation. Or is it? Is she really just the model in the big poster, or is she real?
Saw you in the subway station
Shining with a strange light
Girl, you’re like a weird vacation
How am I gonna make you mine?
Nectarine
My favorite of all themes. "Let's you and me get the fuck up out of here." Pretty much Born to Run, but 107 strangely twisted words instead instead of 3000 (OK, 302, I checked). And funky. Don't forget funky.
Navigating by the Stars at Night
Ennui. Depression. Shallow people. A touch of 'get the fuck out of this place.' And gimcrackery. Don't forget the gimcrackery.
Medicating in a minivan
...
Roll the road alone.
OK, I need to go to bed now, but I will continue this tomorrow, with a discussion of the overall feel of the thing, and I will try to explain how/why it means so much to me.
Anyway...
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
(links are to the lyric sheets)
Fort Hood
“Fort Hood is the Texas Army base that has lost the most troops in the Iraq War,” Doughty says. “I visited some of the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. and wondered what was going through their minds. When I first thought about using ‘Let the sunshine in…’ as the chorus, I thought it would be funny, but when I sang it, I felt myself tearing up. [‘Let the Sunshine In’] draws an obvious parallel to past quagmires, and all the vets who are suffering from PTSD. Once again the damage being done will not only be in lives lost, but in how those losses affect family, friends and society as a whole. The bridge laments the fact that instead of going to the prom, they’ve been given a burden they’re going to have to live with forever.”
“I'm not going to try to add anything to that," said Angelos, to no one in particular.
But then he went ahead and decided to snip this lyric:
I see them coming back; they’re motionless in an airport lounge
I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
Guy's playing a bar, a party, any small, crappy gig. It's cash, and you do what you gotta do. 90% of the people aren't paying attention. But there's always that girl up in front, dancing like inhibition isn't in the dictionary. This is a love song for her. An affair of the imagination, about 3 sets long, every night.
Blue girl, dance for me
The empty floor, and I said (ba-rum-pa-tum-pum)
Put it Down
Cut by the thorns, oh I must loosen my grip
Got to let the flower fall from my hand
and
My mind’s aggrieved and my belly’s ablaze
I have swallowed all the words that you said
Time to end it, girl. Typically, one does not feel the urge to do the butt-dance in one's chair while listening to a break-up song. But Doughty can do that to you.
More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle
Um... this is a toughie. I, as a hard-core fan, get it. I've seen him live once (twice, come April 12th), and have 6 or 7 live shows downloaded, as he allows taping. To a Doughty noob, or a reviewer who was just randomly assigned this album, yeah, I see your "WTF?" and grant it to you. Basically, what started as a joke (FIRETRUCK!!!!!) has, over the years, morphed into a fantastically entertaining jam. Doughty has this keyboard where all the keys play pre-recorded vocal bits, and he just goes apeshit, with the drummer McNeal driving the pace. It has to be seen to be believed.
27 Jennifers
An oldie, from his solo acoustic demo days, reworked for a band. Funny, and true. Hell, my workplace of 26 people had 4 Jennifers at one point.
“When I went to high school everyone was named Jennifer, Michelle or Heather,” Doughty explains. “This is a salute to them.”
Fun groove, another total dance-in-your-seat song.
The nerd in me hates this line though:
You might be the one that I’ve been seeking for
"seeking"? Really?
I Wrote a Song About Your Car
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Dogged up by the rain
And at your door again
Seeking anything
I’m a roustabout
And I’m bound to roust you out
I Got the Drop on You
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Sorry isn’t good enough.
Wednesday (Contra la puerta)
A day in a lost life? An ode to the city?
Beep Josh on Sunday
Charm him into driving in from Queens
Coming up the staircase
Bringing tiny envelopes to me
Like a Luminous Girl
Another song of unrequited infatuation. Or is it? Is she really just the model in the big poster, or is she real?
Saw you in the subway station
Shining with a strange light
Girl, you’re like a weird vacation
How am I gonna make you mine?
Nectarine
My favorite of all themes. "Let's you and me get the fuck up out of here." Pretty much Born to Run, but 107 strangely twisted words instead instead of 3000 (OK, 302, I checked). And funky. Don't forget funky.
Navigating by the Stars at Night
Ennui. Depression. Shallow people. A touch of 'get the fuck out of this place.' And gimcrackery. Don't forget the gimcrackery.
Medicating in a minivan
...
Roll the road alone.
OK, I need to go to bed now, but I will continue this tomorrow, with a discussion of the overall feel of the thing, and I will try to explain how/why it means so much to me.
More on the mortgage mess
From Greg Palast, who does some excellent investigative journalism.
Of course, in another post, he cheers on Randi Rhodes, and the hateful "comedy stylings" that got her suspended from Air America. Beyond stupid. More about Rhodes here. That's just so annoying. Palast writes so much good stuff, then all of a sudden, BAM! "Look! I can be an idiot too!"
Of course, in another post, he cheers on Randi Rhodes, and the hateful "comedy stylings" that got her suspended from Air America. Beyond stupid. More about Rhodes here. That's just so annoying. Palast writes so much good stuff, then all of a sudden, BAM! "Look! I can be an idiot too!"
Monogany*
This is an interesting take on monogamy vs. finding your pleasure from various partners.
Aside from a couple over-generalizations, and a couple sentences where it seemed like she was going to get derailed on an ev-psych tangent, it's a very good piece.
The "lifestyle," as it were, isn't for everyone, of course. But if it works for her, that's awesome. Like a gazillion other people, she found herself divorced at 40. In wingnuttialand, she's useless, and can't have sex until she's married again. She's not supposed to enjoy sex anyway.
In the real world, she's a real person, with needs. And with options. She found what suits her best.
(*Boring sex with the same person. Coined at Domino's Pizza, Troy, NY, by Josh, Glen, Dave, and Angelos. Josh had just broken up with someone, and was talking about just playing the field for a while. "After 2 years of monogany, no need to find a 'girlfriend' right away." Of course, that was just a slip of the tongue, but it cracked our shit up. That word needed a definition, and pronto.)
Aside from a couple over-generalizations, and a couple sentences where it seemed like she was going to get derailed on an ev-psych tangent, it's a very good piece.
The "lifestyle," as it were, isn't for everyone, of course. But if it works for her, that's awesome. Like a gazillion other people, she found herself divorced at 40. In wingnuttialand, she's useless, and can't have sex until she's married again. She's not supposed to enjoy sex anyway.
In the real world, she's a real person, with needs. And with options. She found what suits her best.
(*Boring sex with the same person. Coined at Domino's Pizza, Troy, NY, by Josh, Glen, Dave, and Angelos. Josh had just broken up with someone, and was talking about just playing the field for a while. "After 2 years of monogany, no need to find a 'girlfriend' right away." Of course, that was just a slip of the tongue, but it cracked our shit up. That word needed a definition, and pronto.)
History! Photography! Baseball!
OK, I could just drop trou and "be alone with myself" I'm so excited.
This is so. Fucking. Cool.
Thanks so much to Petulant and his morning link-dump over at Shakesville.
This is so. Fucking. Cool.
Thanks so much to Petulant and his morning link-dump over at Shakesville.
Indoor soccer + hooligans + tear gas = WTMF?
Throw in cops with batons and shotguns, and it's fun for the whole family!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Bill James rocks
Fantastically entertaining Q&A with the godfather of baseball stats nerdery, at the always great Freakonomics Blog.
He's such a fucking wise-ass. You don't even have to care about baseball to be amused...
He's such a fucking wise-ass. You don't even have to care about baseball to be amused...
HEAD-ASS
I need to become an astrophysicist. STAT!
And this concludes the day in butt/ass blogging.
(h/t FJM. They're on fire, now that the season has started.)
And this concludes the day in butt/ass blogging.
(h/t FJM. They're on fire, now that the season has started.)
In the Butt - Take 2
Of all the YouTube "sensations" referenced in last night's South Park episode, this is the only one I had never heard of.
What I wouldn't give to still be unaware...
Um, "thanks" Bill?
Here are the rest:
My favorite:
This one is so fucking stupid
Classic
Totally infectious
My second favorite
What I wouldn't give to still be unaware...
Um, "thanks" Bill?
Here are the rest:
My favorite:
This one is so fucking stupid
Classic
Totally infectious
My second favorite
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
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