hermionesviolin: (hard at work)
I couldn't even tell you what I did at work most of this past week, but I really was working most of the day every day.  Friday like 2 or 3pm I had finished everything that really needed to be done and I wanted a nap.  Hopefully there were will be fewer late night comfort sessions this week.  I am really looking forward to that week off between Christmas and New Year's.

Somerville UCC is doing a 15-20min prayer service every weekday morning during Advent at 7am.  I am debating whether this would be good for me or not.

Oh, and I want to go to the Back Bay Chorale's "An 18th-Century Christmas" (Saturday Dec. 20 @ 8pm -- there's also Sun. Dec. 21 @ 3pm); I have friends in it, plus it sounds appealing -- "Enjoy selections from Handel's Messiah, Bach's glorious Mass in B Minor, the gem-like Christmas Concerto of Corelli, and Vivaldi's Gloria.  Then lend your own voice to our traditional carol sing!"  I could just buy my ticket now, but on the off chance that anyone wants to come with...

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gym: Wed-Fri )

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Saturday I read [Newsweek] My Turn: Confessions of a Fat Runner.  That night I dreamt I was jogging the Boston Marathon, barefoot (but painless), and I kept getting interrupted -- including by [livejournal.com profile] hedy who was telling me about a job she got involving purses.

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The music video for Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" makes me uncomfortable.

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Wednesday SquawkBox: Rick Santelli talked about how markets get conditioned, like Pac-Man where you eat something and that opens up zones and Becky Quick was nodding her head, talking about the ghosts flashing.

They were gonna have bond guy Bill Gross (PIMCO) on later, and asked Rick what he wanted them to ask him.  He said, "The markets give me all the answers I need, so ask him about global warming."

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I saw a blogpost titled Harvard's endowment loses the GDP of a small country in 5 months.  I wasn't sure whether to giggle or feel depressed at that framing -- both, I suppose.

Clicking on Matthew Yglesias' "Harvard" tag,
Out of Town News

Speaking of smoking, the confidence in the economy of America's elite is sure to be shattered by the news that Out of Town News, the newstand smack in the middle of Harvard Square, is shutting down. The internet had basically made its core business model obsolete some time ago. The general idea, as witnessed by the name, was that you could buy all kinds of "out of town" publications there, thus serving the news needs of the university's geographically diverse community. But people still buy other stuff — I used to buy cigarettes there, and sometimes Diet Coke (but soda's cheaper at the university vending machine), but I think cigarette retailing is a declining industry as well.

Note that the closing of Out of Town News is part of the dystopian vision of The Handmaid's Tale.
That last line is of course a bit of a cheat since a big reason places like Out of Town News are shutting down is because there are other, cheaper, more easily accessible, ways for ordinary folks to get lots and lots of information from a variety of sources.
hermionesviolin: black and white photo of Emma Watson as Hermione, with text "hermionesviolin" (hermione by oatmilk)
gym )

(Sidebar: How am I always so hard on my footwear?)

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CNN AM, a female anchor (Carol?) on Hillary Clinton: "She would be the 3rd female Secretary of State.  Is there something about that job that attracts empowered women?"  I wanted to *headdesk*  There have been so few women at high levels of government in the USA that if you're going to ask an inane question, wouldn't it make more sense to ask one like, "Is there something about that position that makes men feel safe appointing women to it?"

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I understand less of SquawkBox than I do of CNN, but I prefer watching SquawkBox.  excerpts )

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No one wants us to bail out financial institutions, but we want to bail out the auto industry?  I'm honestly curious what the thought process is behind that.  some sort of related blogposts )
hermionesviolin: (hipster me)
gym: Thurs/Fri )

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Friday

SquawkBox )

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A GMA anchor said Warren Buffet has surpassed Bill Gates as the richest man in the world. First time in 15 years Gates hasn't been at the top. She cracked, "I guess it's a good thing someone's been making money this past month."

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I've watched Pink's new single "So What" [lyrics, video] on VH1 a couple times and am not really a fan. I do really like Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher" [lyrics, video] and Gavin Rosdale's "Love Remains the Same" [lyrics, video]

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Speaking of tv, MaryAlice said the HBS turkey was on WBZ last night. Katie told me some about the segment later, and we agreed that it was pretty lame. Excerpt

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via undeny: Jayne Hoodie ("A man walks down the street in this, people know he's not afraid of anything")

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I don't actually know what kind of cake we ordered for Greg's party 'cause Ben took care of everything, but it was YUM. Looking at the menu [PDF], I'm thinking the Chocolate Symphony? -- "Three tiers of Valrhona chocolate mousse (bittersweet, milk, and white) with chocolate cake"

We also had the two bottles of wine that Peter had given Greg over years past and which Greg had been saving for a special occasion. He poured us all a little bit of this Wisconsin Cranberry Wine (he'd even chilled both bottles in his mini-fridge that morning), and then while I was talking to Sara and Nithya, whatever was left of that as well as most of the second bottle got drunk. Various people had elsewheres to be, so when I turned around 25 minutes after the "party" had started, the hall was almost empty.

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Meme I've seen around: When you see this, post in your own journal with your favorite quote from The Princess Bride. Preferably not "As you wish" or the Inigo Montoya speech.

Possibly my favorite line is, "Is this a kissing book?" but the one I've been thinking about recently is:

That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying "As you wish", what he meant was, "I love you." And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back.
hermionesviolin: black and white photo of Emma Watson as Hermione, with text "hermionesviolin" (hermione by oatmilk)
So, Congress approved the revised bailout bill.  I haven't been following the econoblogging so much this week 'cause I felt like in all my reading about the bailout &etc., I was comprehending and retaining so very little.

This amuses me.

Our Coming Recession Posted by Kevin Drum on 10/03/08 at 2:02 PM -- on how government spending could help alleviate the recession.

    Other links I've had lying around: Read more... )
hermionesviolin: black and white photo of Emma Watson as Hermione, with text "hermionesviolin" (hermione by oatmilk)
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, (chair of the capital markets subcommittee of the House's Financial Services Committee) was on Squawk this morning [video link, summary piece (Politico)] and said the bailout bill was basically done (about 42-45 pages, most everything each side wanted is in there, there's broad agreement, if they work Saturday and Sunday they could have this bill ready for business on Monday) and said that the presence of the presidential candidates wasn't "disrupting" the process, but was slowing it down, said that they (the people writing the bill) know what they're doing, and that the candidates should go back and do what they're supposed to be doing.

So I laughed when I flipped over to CNN and Douglas Holtz-Eakin (McCain senior economic advisor) said that McCain was gonna go to Washington and help "jumpstart" the process.

[In blogreading today, edited to add this post from Daniel Drezner, dated yesterday.]

selections from yesterday's blogreading )
hermionesviolin: black and white photo of Emma Watson as Hermione, with text "hermionesviolin" (hermione by oatmilk)
I can b-school osmosis the psychology stuff, but I think I'm just not wired for economics.  Have I retained any of what I've read on this?  Not much.

I've retained that most people think the 700-plus-billion-dollar bailout is a bad idea.  And that banning short-selling isn't a useful idea.  And that lot of folks don't buy the blaming of the "repeal" of Glass-Steagall.  Oh, and Megan McArdle is skeptical of hindsight regulation.

reading list )

One thing that's been throwing me in chatting with lefties has been the idea that we should let Wall Street fail (they deserve it after all, and hey, if these companies are too big to fail, isn't the middle class too big to fail as well? shouldn't we get some sort of bailout -- I bite my tongue on the fact that "saving the middle class" isn't that simple, nevermind the fact that much/most of the middle class is not exactly teetering on failure, because I know the statement is intended partially tongue-in-cheek) as if this wouldn't have any sort of ripple effect.  I mean, I'm usually the one advocating heartless pragmatism (just war, ends justify means, etc.) and not being beloved by the Left for it.
I quote Megan McArdle a lot )
Things I might be able to retain include Tim Carney on what the heck AIG is (via Megan McArdle).

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Ten National Security Myths (The Nation - September 17, 2008)

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I finally read Maureen Dowd's "Aaron Sorkin Conjures a Meeting of Obama and Bartlet."  I'd been resisting, 'cause I don't like Maureen Dowd.  Not gonna lie; I wasn't impressed. 

There's a lot of filler, and while there are a few good lines it's mostly not that compelling.

And Bartlet's attack on Palin . . . where to even begin?  Oh, I know, with "It's not bad enough she's forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too?" because where the fuck did THAT come from?  Point out a double standard?  [Which Bartlet does, in his "black daughter" bit.]  Yes, go for it.  But we know nothing about Bristol and [Googles] Levi or their relationship.

[livejournal.com profile] jennyo takes the opportunity to comment: "I also note that 30 Rock has a lot of shippy RPF [...]  This once again suggests that of all fandom fights, the "ZOMG RPF IS WRONG!" is still a rather dumb fandom fight."  I would argue that pr0ning up celebs is a bit different from the gen/shippy RPF that mainstream media is able to get away with.

If we're gonna talk West Wing professional RPF, I prefer The Onion's "Aaron Sorkin Announces New 'West Wing' Animated Series At SorCon" (hat tip: wisdomeagle).

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This from the Tues. Sept. 23 metro made me giggle:
The owner of a San Francisco wine bar was doing a brisk business with an organic wine imported from Chile: Palin Syrah. But after a certain nomination last month, sales have dried up.

"It was our best-selling wine before [the V.P. announcement]," Chris Tavelli, owner of Yield Wine Bar, told the Serious Eats blog. But since then sales have plummeted. Because wine drinkers in San Francisco really are that petty.
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InstaPundit:
OBAMA SUPPORTER John Althouse Cohen on "How Obama Lost Me."

Plus, Mike Rappaport on why he's not supporting McCain.

Don't people wind up feeling this way every four years? Which isn't to say they're wrong. As for me, I haven't liked a candidate enough to be actually disillusioned by one in . . . well, ever, really. The good news is that the guy you don't like usually fails to live up to your fears almost as much as the guy you like fails to live up to your hopes. . . .
The Mike Rappaport piece ends: "Update: Since Glenn has linked to this post with the statement "why [Mike Rappaport] is not supporting McCain," I thought I should give readers a couple of other blog posts on the subject with additional reasons.  Here are three of many, and there are others on this page."  Reading them is something of a surreal experience.

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Starbucks Does Not Equal Savvy
What we talk about when we talk about experience
By Michael Gerson | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 20, 2008

Here They Go Again
Rovean tactics alone do not win the Republican Party elections. This is a center-right country, and Democrats ignore this at their own peril.
By Jonathan Darman | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 20, 2008

Who Cares Where Spain Is?
The debate shouldn't be a chance to play gotcha. What the candidates know about the world is less important than how they think about it.
By Richard N. Haass | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 20, 2008

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hermionesviolin: an image of Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow Rosenberg) with animated text "you think you know / what you are / what's to come / you haven't even / BEGUN" (Default)
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