Financial services collapse, SNL premiere, salad dressing

What a week (so far) in the financial services industry! We’ve had Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch’s sale, AIG’s $85 billion bailout by the Federal Reserve, the SEC’s new rules against naked short-selling (thus reining in that particular criminal playground), and other fantastic economic disasters. Question: Are corporate bailouts the new rate cuts? Can this […]

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Four-eared cat, China’s Olympic facade, tainted drugs

Yoda the four-eared cat is an Internet sensation. Everyone wants to see the little horned devil. I think I like him better than that poor six-legged deer. Though I like Lily, our 25-clawed demon cat best. This article was amusing, if you care about the grand, elaborate façade China has put up for the Olympics: […]

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08.08.08 is coming (and Summer Olympics)

Soon it will be Friday, August 8, 2008, or 08.08.08. I guess everyone will be getting married and witnessing the manifestation of biblical prophecies and generally having good luck on this day, yes? On Friday, the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony will be held at the Beijing National Stadium. It is scheduled to begin at […]

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Map of Strange, interactive satellite maps, Sarcasma

Here’s a well-worn concept for the day: Sports as a metaphor for life. That’s part of what makes following sporting events so compelling. I enjoyed this ESPN video: SportsCenter Flashback: Chris Paul Pays Tribute To His Grandfather. CP3 scored exactly 61 points, as planned, during a game in high school. In related news, the New […]

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The Curse of Lono, Leonardo da Vinci, Tax Day

I’m currently reading Hunter S. Thompson’s illustrated hardback The Curse of Lono; somehow I missed this one before now. It’s Fear and Loathing for Hawai’i, which is appropriate because I’ll be vacationing in Hawai’i (O’ahu and the Big Island) in late summer. The book itself is enormous (15″ x 11.4″) and full of Ralph Steadman’s […]

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Radiohead’s In Rainbows and Maynard’s Puscifer

There has been a lot of interesting music news in the past few days. I’m just going to mention two things. One is really good news and the other is . . . I was going to say “bad” but it’s more like . . . WTF news. The good news is: The new Radiohead […]

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Alejandro Jodorowsky, “Chocolate Rain” parodies, U.S. Open

On the heels of my Inland Empire watching and rewatching, I’ve spent a lot of time with Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s films lately. I bought the The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky DVD (released earlier this year), which includes his four earliest movies: La Cravate (1957), Fando y Lis (1968), El Topo (1970), and The Holy Mountain (1973). […]

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Pink Martini concert (and Google wireless, obesity)

Friday night I went to see Pink Martini at the da Vinci Days festival in Corvallis on the Oregon State University campus. I also caught some of the opening act, Sneakin’ Out. It was all very good stuff. For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, Pink Martini is an adventurous multilingual lounge act […]

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Beaver baseball National Champions again (and pepino)

Congratulations to the Oregon State baseball team! The Beavers swept through the College World Series, winning all five of their games. In the best-of-three finals, they beat the North Carolina Tar Heels for the second straight season. OK, you know how I love random trivia, so here are some CWS facts: The Beavers (49-18) trailed […]

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NBA playoffs, Windows, FDA, Caketown, toothpaste

Tomorrow will be the fifth birthday of this blog. I was not so prolific in the early days, but I nevertheless did make my first blog post five years ago (which also means I’ve been designing websites for 10 years now). Some 100+ posts later, what do I have in store for you in this […]

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