Wall Street Gets Blue Balls

HOLD ON TO YOUR TOUPEES! This has been a wild ride.

I honestly wonder how necessary Bush's first economics speech was. The situation was that much worse than it was 6 months ago. Did someone just lean over and tell him that for the first time? I wonder if part of the sharp fall is because of him panicking the markets.

Fuld gets punched in the face and AIG execs party at taxpayer expense. Here's the receipt. Oh yeah, and they're now getting even more taxpayer money. When will the criminal prosecutions and asset forfeiture proceedings start?

For some historical perspective, here's an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education focusing on the Panic of 1873. Probably a lot more applicable to today's crisis than the Great Depression.

Oyster runs us through some numbers. Speaking of numbers, what would it take to close the markets?

UPDATE- Now that I've bitch-smacked delicious into working, I'll post a few more links.

The Candidates Own Questionable Real Estate Deals. From McCain and Keating to Obama and Rezko and also the Veeps, crooked real estate deals have infected the system.

Bethany McLean, author of "The Smartest Guys in the Room" takes on the crisis. She basically said that all the wonderful post-Enron reforms suggested were never acted upon, prime among them were shareholder rights and revamping corporate board composition. I read that book and was just floored about how blatantly evil those guys were. Fucking granny in the ass, the death star, the list goes on and on. Also, had it not been for one incident when Bush was running for Governor in Texas, Ken Lay would probably be our Secretary of Treasury right now.

Alan Greenspan bets the system's stability on traders not being greedy. Dumb fuck. I want a refund on your book. The whole book talks about the joy of the free market and about how he had to bailout the free market when it got out of control. He's half Adam Smith, half Karl Marx.

International take on the bailout. After the US went around forcing other countries to implement "shock therapy" responses to economic crises, the US does the exact opposite.

The national debt clock runs out of digits. They've got a new board on order, but until then, the $ sign is replaced by a 1.

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*Title Also, who knew the bronze Wall Street bull was anatomically correct?

DJIA Jumps Off Building, Bounces on Concrete

Down 800 points before a modest recovery.

How did we get into this mess? Well, let's look at history. Here's a nice sample to look at:

Jim Cramer's quote about today: "Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week."

Anyone notice the Louisiana Banks commercial during the Saints game? Louisiana Bankers rep reading right off the teleprompter. "Your money is safe. Very safe." I feel better now.

On one serious side note, Whitney Bank was the only local bank to make it through the Great Depression intact. They've always been EXTREMELY conservative with their lending (why they survived the Depression). My barber still has a thermometer from "Whitney Savings and Trust" (pre-FDR name). A lot of old folks in New Orleans refuse to bank with anything other than Whitney. They regard it as safe as a mattress.

UPDATE- Matresses might still be safer: Whitney seeking bailout money for bad Florida loans.

Go Reggie!

I now officially apologize for every mean thing I've ever said about Reggie Bush.

GO SAINTS!

Foreclosure Alley

Shocking video. Personalizes the tragedy.

Yesterday's vote

Voted yesterday. Depended heavily on Dangerblonde's slate of judges. I voted the ticket when it came to the judges.

Jeffery points out the irony of New Orleans voters selecting an indicted congressmen and voting to fund the Inspector General the same night.

The new school board looks underwhelming, to say the least.

My big question: The Secretary of State's Election Results show $Bill and Cedric Richmond. Did the media screw up their projection? What gives?

UPDATE- Just to make sure I wasn't going insane (always a distinct possibility), I read through the precinct by precinct results for anomalies. The highest precinct total was actually for Moreno, not Richmond. As a further sanity check, I dumped the results to Excel and summed up the precinct ballots and got the same totals as the Secretary of State.

UPDATE 2- Oops. Forgot Jefferson Parish results where Moreno got another 5K votes and Richmond only got 1K.

UPDATE 3- Best wrap-up of $Bill making the runoff.

Project Truck Update: No More Ugly Cowl!

Been doing some body work and continuing to paint the water pump. Lots of clear coats on the water pump will make it very shiny which will go well with all the engine chrome. I'm trying to get a new passenger door prepped for painting and installing.

While I was waiting on the paint to dry, I got a little mischievous with a hammer and removed that awful cowl on the hood.

Using a claw hammer to tear something to shreds is fun.


Took the hood off the truck to work on it on the ground. The thing is enormous. It's at least 4' x 8'. It's bigger than some modern cars!

The nice thing is now you can see the wonderful bullet shaped line that extends to the front.

We had a lot of sanding to do. Candice and I took shifts as our hands got numb.

But, eventually, it was ready to prime. Notice the U-shaped rusted area. The cowl trapped water underneath during the rain and that ate out a good chunk of the hood, but the metal is so thick, there's plenty left. Nothing a little welding + bondo can't handle.

I'm going to go back with a sandblaster and take care of a few details, but I didn't want the areas I worked on to be taken over by rust.

Best Local Blog Posts - September Edition

Here is my take on the best blog posts from NOLA bloggers in September in chronological order:

WCNO: How much misinformation can Jeff Masters put in one blog post? Correcting out-of-towner misconceptions about the city.

SCR: Eminence Front. "Evidently, we are not sufficiently scared." Countering overreaction before it came trendy.

WCBF: Attempting to Pivot to An Alternate Vision. Eli did so much good reporting on the Facilities Master Plan, it's hard to nail down just one post. Also spot on the airport deal.


SCR: Roll Call. The Heroes of Gustav.

WCBF: Southern Scrap. Devastating indictment of the company.

HC: "Mayor Declares I Heart Wrecking Balls" Also, a heartbreaking story from an NOFD wife.


WCBF: "We do not have a record but at least you have the land." Honestly, shit like this makes me never want to buy a house in New Orleans. If I were this poor lady, I'd rent a Bobcat and take a trip to Park Island.

AZ: "A Modest Proposal, Metry Edition" I think that a lot of Louisiana would like to show up to LaBruzzo's office and sterilize him.

PGR: "Pouring Drano down the New Orleans brain drain" Locals being neglected for carpet-baggers, especially with education.

PGR: "Remember the good old days?" Also, "“Staggering from crisis to crisis”"

Ray: "This is Our Katrina... In Connecticut?" A well deserved smackdown. It's Katrina because of a possible increase in public school enrollment? Please. Also, a hearty fuck-you to Lamont. You couldn't knock of Leiberman and now you continue to fail.

BONO: "ASCE Buttons Its Lips" Appalling behavior by a professional organization. The entire leadership should be cleared out. They are a blight on the reputation of engineers everywhere.

Blogspotting NOLA - Oct 4th

First Draft: "Clutching at Straws." On self-delusion. Also gives a book review of the "The Fall of Berlin 1945," a book I've been interested. Along with William L. Shirer's book, it's among the WWII must-reads.

YRHT: "Permanent Pump Stations Delayed Until 2013?" More news from Matt McBride.

BONO: "Ninjas vs. Pirates?" Unleash the weirness.

Kevin Allman named Gambit editor. Congratulations. The Times-Picayune is in a slow death spiral from self-inflicted wounds. I hope Gambit steps up and takes their place.

Science Links and Videos

Ants commit suicide to save colony. The evolution of altruism?

Summer vs. Winter Gasoline Blends. Why gas prices always go down in the fall (even in non-election years).

Ocean dead=zones bigger than previously thought. Great report by Wired. Those dead zones were exacerbated by the corn-ethanol mandate from a few years ago. Remember, this is what Bush promised would "free us from our dependence on foreign oil."

Beware guys: "Sharing bed drains mens' brains.

And a couple of cool videos:

Mythbusters on gas densities affecting sound propagation


http://view.break.com/291378 - Watch more free videos
Very well designed table saw.
Table saws eat lots of fingers every year. Just imagine how many gruesome injuries could be avoided by popularizing this relatively simple device. Semi-related: Oilfield deaths up 70%. Lots of inexperienced workers, attracted by high pay, are out there and filling in for recently retire veterans.

October 4th Races

Oyster's recommendations here. Eli's here. Also, if you haven't read Eli's scathing critique of the Times-Pic endorsements, please take the time to do so.

As far as endorsements go, I only have 2 really:

Percy Marchand for School Board.

Jim Harlan for Congress.

I kicked in $10 for each candidate, too. Here's my reasoning:

Percy Marchand knows what's up with the Facilities Master Plan. He is opposed to gigantic high schools that will give an inferior education to smaller schools with smaller class sizes. I also got to shake his hand at Rising Tide.

Jim Harlan is a Democrat running in a very conservative district. How he can be within striking distance of Steve Scalise is absolutely beyond me. I can't figure it out, but I've asked around and everyone I know in his district seems to hate him. No particular reason. They just think he's sleaze. If anyone knows why, I'd love to hear.

Harlan started out as an engineer working on alternative energy in the 70's. He's a successful venture capitalist and he understands that drilling has its place, but is far short of a comprehensive energy plan. He's also a Harvard School of Government graduate. He knows calculus (a duh thing for us engineers, but a big deal for a politician)! He has a hell of a resume. How can we let someone like this get away?

Past that, I'll give a mention to Amy LaFont (running for school board and one of the few candidates who showed up to Rising Tide).

I plan on voting for Capitelli for D.A. It's a two-horse race between him and Canizzaro and I'm sure either will do a good job there.

Unfortunately, I can't support Harlan with my vote. I've got to vote for someone in the less than impressive field for 2nd Congressional. I'm probably going to vote for James Carter. Yeah, he's weak, but he's probably going to avoid indictment in the near future and I got a chance to chat with him about crime mapping at a meeting at the Sound Cafe in the Bywater after Helen Hill's murder. If you haven't noticed, I like voting for people I've at least met. Politicians, get out there and shake some hands!

I do have one anti-endorsement:

I got a flyer from the Regular Democratic Organization of Louisiana. Now, I've been working my way through T. Harry William's Huey Long and I've been reading quite a bit about the "Old Regulars," the ultra-conservative political machine that dominated post-reconstruction New Orleans politics. Any candidate they endorse deserves to lose. I have no idea who is running the show there now (Huey Long broke their power up a long time ago), but it looks like they endorse some real stinkers this time and the sum total of the slate looks like it came from a landfill. Don't know who to vote for? Look up their endorsements and then vote for the other guy.

How God Intended Us to Cook

Fire. Add meat.

I had always grown up with charcoal grills and I thought it gave a better flavor. Many years later, I discover the joy of gas grills. The flavor isn't quite what charcoal is, but it is SO much easier. After my charcoal grill got stolen, I had been meaning and meaning to get a gas grill. I went to Lowe's last night and for $100 (actually $150 with tax and propane tank deposit), picked up a gas grill and started cooking.

Damn it tastes good. Perfect weather right now, too. In the summer it's too hot to grill. Your meat is half cooked before you put in on the fire.

That is all, carry on.

Stupidbowl

Jeffery's pre-debate thoughts here.

I watched that debate and I couldn't bear it after a while. Palin wasn't nearly as bad as I thought she would be in the first half. And then they got to foreign policy. If she's qualified to be one heartbeat away from being leader of the free world, I'm qualified to be Emperor Clay the First of the known fucking universe. I honestly would like my time that I spend watching that debate back.



Biden fumbled a little at first, then settled in. By the second half, he was using her face as a hockey puck. If she was just a little less dumb, she would have realized it and dropped out of the running to "spend more time with her family."

I couldn't even bear to watch the end. The only reason to watch it would have been like NASCAR: watch an enormous wreck.

Putin's got company

Gorbochev forms new political party to take on Putin.

Why do I care? It's another chance to post this video:

GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO - BIGGER AND RUSSIANER

I loved it last time and I'm still not sick of it.

Kvetching for Obama

A couple of great Daily Show clips:


And Sarah Silverman explains why you need to get your Jewish grandmother in Florida to vote for Obama:

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.