First, Megan McArdle: “Banking without risk is impossible“: The fundamental fact of a banking crisis, which is different from a crisis in any other industry, is that if people believe a financial institution to be bankrupt, it actually is bankrupt. As Arnold Kling puts it, banks exist to reconcile the desire of households to […]
Over the past decade, I have found it interesting that Hollywood continues to be portrayed as a glamorous, serious business, while the video game industry is seen as a haven for nerds at best, and a cause of real-life violence at worst. What that overlooks is that the video game industry is more lucrative than […]
Michael Swaine has been around, well, possibly even longer than I have, and has been far more prolific as an author and editor in both the programming and personal computer industries (many will remember him as an editor and author at Dr. Dobb’s Journal). Possibly inspired by recent events, he just coined the following twist […]
Over at IT World (via Slashdot) comes the news that Dell has stopped selling its Windows RT tablet without a keyboard (which had been priced at $299) and now only sells a Win RT tablet with a keyboard at $479: Dell made several changes to the RT offers on its website. By Friday evening it had […]
Yes, Dennis Kusinich is suing the House of Representatives Cafeteria for $150,000 because he bit into an unpitted olive: The Cleveland Democratic congressman’s lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages from companies that operate the Longworth House Office Building’s cafeteria. It says he bought the suspicious sandwich wrap “on or about April 17, 2008,” and eating it caused “permanent […]
Yeah, I’m back blogging, a bit at a time. The San Diego City Council, having passed one of those lame anti-Walmart superstore ordinances, is now having to backtrack after Walmart managed to get over 50,000 petition signatures in less that three weeks to put the ordinance to an actual public vote: The ordinance approved in […]
From the Telegraph: Advert for ‘reliable workers’ banned as discrimination by Jobcentre Plus The boss of a recruitment firm said she was told she could not place an advert for ”reliable workers” because it discriminated against unreliable people. Nicole Mamo, 48, wanted to post an advert for a £5.80-an-hour domestic cleaner on her local Jobcentre […]
Eric S. Raymond, author of “The Cathedral and the Bazaar“, has a thoughtful post on his blog this morning on how the current recession is impacting his circle of friends, two in particular. Here are the key paragraphs: When I look at these guys, though, I can’t buy the explanation most people would jump for, […]
Companies are born, live, thrive, dwindle, and then often die or are absorbed by other firms. Being 56 years old, I’ve seen a lot of that first-hand and have worked for several firms that no longer exist. Over at 24/7 Wall Street, Jon Ogg and Douglas McIntyre have picked ten brands that they think will […]
Big Government offers this chart of unemployment trends in post-WW II recessions. Nice to see that the massive deficit spending on ‘stimulus’ has paid off so well. ..bruce w..
