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February 2008 Archives
February 1, 2008
February 2, 2008
links for 2008-02-02
February 3, 2008
Super Bowl Stats
Resolution-ers beware!
The Super Bowl represents the No. 1 at-home party event of the year.
$55 million is expected to be spent on food for The Big Game. (After spending an estimated ten million man-hours (give or take a couple of seconds) preparing all that grub, Americans are expected to consume the lot within approximately fifteen minutes, well before the first touchdown is scored.)
Super Bowl Sunday marks the day on which Americans chow the second-greatest amount of food.
Americans will eat 30 million pounds of snacks on game day.
Here's the breakdown:
* 11.3 million pounds of potato chips;
* 8.5 million pounds of tortilla chips;
* 4.1 million pounds of pretzels;
* 3.8 million pounds of popcorn;
* 2.7 million pounds of nuts.
The average armchair quarterback will consume 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat. (yeah, that is what some of us should eat ALL DAY)
Time to burn all that off: 4 hours walking around a football field or 1 hour 45 minutes of running
Here's the thing.. if you're a Patriots fan, ignore all of the above. Do you really think that in the rest of your life you're going to see a 19-0 season? The greatest football accomplishment of any of our lives?? Burn it off next week. Everyone else: moderation is the the key!
Sources:
Associated Content
WTOP
links for 2008-02-03
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please, please, please let them get what they want
Ugh,,,,
I just responded to a text message from my friend, the Giants fan:
Isn't this the first championship of any kind in NY this century? We have 5.
Then I thought: wait..I'm reminding myself of someone. Who is it? Who is it.
OMG... I sound like a Yankee fan. Their answer to everything is "26 championships". Oh, this is SO not good.
** update **
I'm incorrect... I've repressed all memory that the Yankees won in 2000. The entertaining thing is my NY friend is a Mets fan, so he didn't bring it up, either. hee hee.
February 4, 2008
links for 2008-02-04
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Clearly some people won't be getting over this any time soon. However, the only thing that comes anywhere close to Game 6 of the '86 series is the 2003 ALCS. What is it about NY teams???
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I'm only linking to the BEST way
February 5, 2008
Super Duper Tuesday
40 minutes til the polls open on the east coast.
Weeeeee...................
Yesterday a co-worker told me her kids were lobbying her to vote for Obama. It seems the word around the playground is Hillary wants to extend the school day by 2 hours, so the kids have joined together to fight the power. Obama has the elementary school vote locked up. I LOVE this. I love that kids are paying attention to what is happening and realizing they can get involved, they can influence (and not just to buy sugary cereals). Of course they are 1 issue voters only concerned about what makes them happy, not looking out for society at large.. but why should they be different than 90% of the adults in this country.
links for 2008-02-05
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Tomorrow is Super Tuesday... plan accordingly.
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Right out of the: are you fucking kidding me? dept.
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living within your means: what a concept!
February 6, 2008
links for 2008-02-06
Yes, I'm a Sucker..
for a good romance.
And Jane Austen is the absolute best at romance, in my opinion.
If you haven't been following along with The Complete Jane Austen on PBS (for shame), you can pick it up now when the greatest of all the Jane Austen novels is broadcast once again in the greatest of all adaptations for film: Pride & Prejudice - yeah, the one with Colin Firth (meow!), the most interesting of all Austen's men.
The fun starts Sunday 2/10 and continues for 3 weeks... including the scene where Mr. Darcy sports a wet shirt.
I've got to have something until I can see Tek in his tight pants again.
February 7, 2008
The Slickster is Out
Romney suspends campaign
Thank goodness, because I couldn't stand looking at his smug mug one more minute.
links for 2008-02-07
February 8, 2008
links for 2008-02-08
February 10, 2008
links for 2008-02-10
February 11, 2008
Attention... Attention
Just a reminder, for those of you to whom this matters:
Thursday is Valentine's Day
Prepare now.
Why am I saying this? This evening I stopped by the local Home Depot, visiting the tools section. I could write a whole post on the tools section, but I won't now...
On my way out of Home Depot, I spotted all around the cash registers:
Roses. Valentine's bouquets.
Oh no. In my head, I picture the scene from Thursday: a guy shopping for another gadget or power tool of some sort and spots these roses on the way out and thinks: Valentine's Day? Shit is that today? Well, cool.. I'm here, killing 2 birds with one stone. I don't care how much or little they care about Valentine's Day, no significant other wants wilting, discolored Home Depot roses.
Spend a few momments thinking up something. It doesn't have to be big. Just something meaningful.
February 12, 2008
links for 2008-02-12
February 13, 2008
Things I Never Thought I'd Hear on CSpan
There was a palpable mass on Mr. Clemen's right buttock.
Oh my goodness, is Mr. Clemens getting his ass kicked.
** Update **
Picture the scene in my office today: rows of cubes filled with people wearing headphones. Listening to NPR? No. Listening to soothing classical music while thinking big thoughts about work? No. It's Clemens hearing time!
Periodic giggles and gaffs escape from the cubes as the hearings wear on. Pauses to pull out the earphones followed by: did you hear that? Did he really just say that? Does he think anyone is believing this. When he said his wife had been injected in his house "without his knowledge", well, that just about brought the house down. Did he just try and blame his wife for Pettite's testimony? And the whole inviting the Nanny to his house.. hello witness tampering. What was he thinking? Almost as amusing was the question posed to Clemens: what uniform will you wear to the hall? To which he responded: I didn't hear the question. Am I the only one who noticed him constantly licking his lips? oh.. check it out: licking you lips repetitively is a body language tell that you're a big fat liar.
Roger must really believe that there isn't any physical evidence and he just ride on a he said he said routine.. either that or he's a fucking retard. He did go from Boston to Toronto and then to the Yankees. Clearly, his logic is flawed.
links for 2008-02-13
February 14, 2008
links for 2008-02-14
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and it doesn't look good for Clemens.. not that anyone actually believes him anyway
February 15, 2008
links for 2008-02-15
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It's good to see this face again. yippeeee....
February 16, 2008
Babies of the Bunch No Longer
I do believe the Syracuse Orangemen have solidified there ticket to the Dance as they take down Georgetown (ahem, #8) a team they almost beat earlier in the year. The freshmen did not wilt in the face of a second half Georgetown run, but most importantly (to me) played with great abandon, with great joy for the game, with youthful exuberance and love of the game, you know the way sports should be* Exhibit A:
Best SU-Georgetown game since GMac patented 3 pointer at the buzzer win in 2004.
* as opposed to how it should NOT be: lawyered up and lying to Congress, taping calls and saving syringes.
February 17, 2008
The Doom Still Lingers...
There is another article in the NYT today on the dreaded Credit Default Swaps I wrote about here, here, and here:
Credit default swaps form a large but obscure market that will be put to its first big test as a looming economic downturn strains companies’ finances. Like a homeowner’s policy that insures against a flood or fire, these instruments are intended to cover losses to banks and bondholders when companies fail to pay their debts.The market for these securities is enormous. Since 2000, it has ballooned from $900 billion to more than $45.5 trillion — roughly twice the size of the entire United States stock market.
No one knows how troubled the credit swaps market is, because, like the now-distressed market for subprime mortgage securities, it is unregulated. But because swaps have proliferated so rapidly, experts say that a hiccup in this market could set off a chain reaction of losses at financial institutions, making it even harder for borrowers to get loans that grease economic activity.
It is entirely possible that this market can withstand a big jump in corporate defaults, if it comes. But an inkling of trouble emerged in a recent report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal banking regulator. It warned that a significant increase in trading in swaps during the third quarter of last year “put a strain on processing systems” used by banks to handle these trades and make sure they match up.
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There is no exchange where these insurance contracts trade, and their prices are not reported to the public. Because of this, institutions typically value them based on computer models rather than prices set by the market.
Neither are the participants overseen by regulators verifying that the parties to the transactions can meet their obligations.
The potential for problems in sizing up the financial health of buyers of these securities leads to questions about how these insurance contracts are being valued on banks’ books. A bank that has bought protection to cover its corporate bond exposure thinks it is hedged and therefore does not write off paper losses it may incur on those bond holdings. If the party who sold the insurance cannot pay on its claim in the event of a default, however, the bank’s losses would have to be reflected on its books.
February 18, 2008
links for 2008-02-18
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the Protect America Act finally expired Saturday night.
The nation is currently undefended. Well, that's not true. The National Security Agency can no longer surveil terrorists.
Conspiracy Theorists Dream Day
February 19, 2008
links for 2008-02-19
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If you're going to "borrow" from someone else's speech, it should be someone better than Deval Patrick. I do believe if this happened in a college essay, Obama would be looking at a big fat F.
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Bookmarks found in used books
February 21, 2008
links for 2008-02-21
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On time!
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The 2008 calendar presents a rare clash between St. Patrick's Day and Holy Week, with parade organizers across the country and in some Massachusetts communities yielding to the Catholic Church. more stories like this But the fiercely independent South Bos
February 22, 2008
links for 2008-02-22
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Manny being Manny... oh how I've missed him these long, cold winter months
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Ex: Schtick Lit - Footnotes, characters named for colors, and other look-at-me machinations. (See Special Topics in Calamity Physics and, again, Infinite Jest.)
Mick Lit - The literature of Ireland. (See Banville, John and Ruland, Jim.)
February 23, 2008
Tournament Time is Coming!
So I'm getting ready...
links for 2008-02-23
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Since this will save these banks from having to report write downs, isn't this sort of a house of cards?
February 24, 2008
links for 2008-02-24
February 26, 2008
links for 2008-02-26
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"People don't want to speak out against Obama because of the fear of being seen as racist," he says. "It's easier to say you want to keep a woman barefoot and pregnant....You can call a woman anything."
Yes, you can can call a woman anything if you
Ok, I haven't done this in awhile....
February 27, 2008
links for 2008-02-27
February 28, 2008
links for 2008-02-28
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Listen up, celebrities, I'm talking to you: You cannot use the media for your own needs and expect it to leave you alone when you're satisfied.
February 29, 2008
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