Clipmarks | ericskiff's clips

Home prices drop 15.3% year over year

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:41:09 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I began watching this whole mess play out in about 2004, and was aghast as prices continued to fly out of control. By the end of 2005, the housing fever was breaking and the "housing boom" was being seen for the bubble it was.

Now, to look at the chart of prices even for the so-far relatively insulated New York, there's no mistaking which direction prices are headed. Not only that, it's heading ever faster in that direction.

This "record" of 15.3% year over year drop won't stand very long. I'd be very surprised if we don't break it next month.

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Prices in 20 cities fall for 21st month in a row. One sign of hope: Pace of decline eased in many areas.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. home prices posted record declines in April, extending a painful losing streak for U.S. home prices.

"In the bubble markets, we continue to see very rapid rates of price declines," said Baker. "If anything, it may be accelerating."

Clip Source: www.flickr.com

Tags: economy, home prices, housing, bubble, chart, money

NYTimes Skewers "The Love Guru"

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:30:38 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Wow - this is one of the most damning reviews of a popular movie I've ever read.

Everything I've seen of "The Love Guru" looks like complete dreck, and I'm a pretty big Mike Meyers fan, dating back to the "So I Married and Ax Murderer" days.

The Times really gives it to him here - I'm surprised to see them go so far in panning it, it must be even worse than I expected.

Clip Source: movies.nytimes.com

Movie Review

The Love Guru (2008)

To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.

Tags: the love guru, movies, movie review

Housing Price data

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:18:52 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I didn't realize this data was made publicly available. Very interesting to see exactly how the market is performing in various cities.

Clip Source: www2.standardandpoors.com

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Home Price Values

March 2008 (published May 27)
February 2008 (published Apr. 29)
January 2008 (published Mar. 25)
December 2007 (published Feb. 26)
November 2007 (published Jan. 29)
October 2007 (published Dec. 26)
September 2007 (published Nov. 27)

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are calculated monthly using a three-month moving average and published with a two month lag.

Tags: housing, market, bubble, data, economy

Washy Ad Jeffy - Presidential mnemonic song

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:59:22 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Jonathan Coulton just put up another great song - aside from being a great mnemonic device, it's also a catchy little tune. I've never learned the Presidents, I'm going to use this to finally memorize them

Clip Source: www.jonathancoulton.com

When I was a wee lad my father taught me the greatest mnemonic device in the history of mnemonic devices. It’s called “Washy Ad Jeffy” and it’s a little jingle/rhyme thingie that helps you remember the order of all the US presidents and how many terms (or partial terms) they served - the number of syllables in the nickname is the number of terms. My father learned it from Mrs. Govan, his 8th grade history teacher at Memorial Junior High School in Ohio. He believes she made it up, but he’s not entirely sure. At the time he learned it, and of course when he taught it to me, it only went up to Eisenhower. I have added to it over the years, so really it’s a collaboration between Mrs. Govan (maybe?) and me.

[Video]

I’ve made an mp3 as well:

You can get it for free or else pay for it, your choice.

Clip Source: www.jonathancoulton.com

Len sent in this Washy Ad Jeffy poster - Coolidge kind of looks like Hodgman, don’t you think? And check out the X’s in Harrison’s eyes…

Tags: joco, jonathan coulton, mnemonic, learning, president, presidents, song

Jonathan Coulton plays the Brooklyn Ikea opening

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:19:19 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: If you don't already know Jonathan Coulton, go take a listen at http://jonathancoulton.com

His song "Ikea" is a fantastic parody / send up / love letter to the swedish flat-pack furniture giant, and apparently they had him play it at the opening of the store in Red Hook! Awesome.

Clip Source: twitter.com

Playing the Brooklyn ikea opening. 6:30 am this morning. Dream come true. Not really.

Jonathan Coulton

Tags: jonathan coulton, ikea, awesome, music, funny

Unemployment jumps the most since 1986

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:02:29 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I was wondering what sent the market tumbling.

The bigger news for me is that oil is up almost $10 in two days. That's huge! I woke up this morning and said "what's going on?!"

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The unemployment rate skyrocketed in May, the government said today, as employers cut more jobs.

The jobless rate for the month was 5.5 percent, up from 5 percent in April, the Labor Department said. That was the largest swing in a single month since 1986. The result stunned economists, who had expected the rate to rise only to 5.1 percent. The report also said the number of jobs on employers' payrolls fell by 49,000.

Tags: unemployment, economy, oil, us

Man caught climbing NYTimes building

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:35:52 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I've got friends who work in that building, I wonder if they saw him!

All things considered, with the ladder-like bars that go in front of the windows there, I don't know if this was that much of a challenge.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

NEW YORK — The thrill-seeking skyscraper climber known as the "French Spider-Man" was trapped by police Thursday after successfully scaling The New York Times building in Manhattan.

Alain Robert was handcuffed and taken into custody shortly before 12:30 p.m. EDT after he deftly inched up the side of the Times Square high-rise, which houses the newspaper's relatively new digs.

"I am climbing with my bare hands, as a PEACEFUL way to create support for far greater and urgent action from world leaders on global warming," Robert said in a press release he issued in advance. "Greenhouse gas emissions are still climbing. So am I!!!"

• Click here to visit Robert's Web site.

The Times reported the incident on its "City Room" blog.

Tags: climbing, nytimes, news, funny, environment

Bill Clinton calling it quits?

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:32:25 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Wow, a little early for Bill to be throwing in the towel, unless he knows something we don't?

Clip Source: blogs.abcnews.com

"I want to say also that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind. I thought I was out of politics, 'til Hillary decided to run. But it has been, one of the greatest honors of my life to go around and campaign for her for president," said Clinton as he began his speech.

Tags: politics, clinton, bill clinton, election, primary

Weezer's awesome internet mashup video

Fri, 23 May 2008 18:16:45 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: My god, it's all here. This may indeed be the best music video ever.

(Credit to Alex Hillman for pointing me to this!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: weezer, video, awesome, funny, amazing, mashup

Gloomy outlook from the Fed

Thu, 22 May 2008 00:22:24 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Somehow I have a hard time believing that the Fed is only just now realizing that it's forecasts were a bit rosy.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The US Federal Reserve has cut its 2008 growth forecast for the US economy and predicted that unemployment will rise more than it had previously expected.

The US central bank also said the jobless rate could reach 5.7%.

"Although downside risks to growth remained, members were also concerned about the upside risks to the inflation outlook, given the continued increases in oil and commodity prices," the Fed said.

Tags: fed, economy, bernake

Clinton loaned herself 6.4 million last month

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:52:39 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: When I first read the headline that Clinton had loaned herself 6.4 million, I thought it was today after last night's primary. This isn't quite as unsettling.

Clip Source: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

(CNN) — Hillary Clinton loaned her campaign $6.4 million over the last month and is open to loaning herself more money in the upcoming weeks, her campaign said Wednesday.

The campaign says Clinton loaned herself $5 million on April 11, $1 million on May 1, and $425,000 since then.

Tags: politics, clinton, primary, campaign

Early Results - Obama takes NC

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:21:49 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Looks like Clinton will take Indiana by a slim margin. However this plays out, it needs to be over soon.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Obama projected to win N.C.; Indiana up for grabs

Barack Obama will win today's primary in North Carolina, giving him a larger share of its 115 delegates, CNN projects. It's still too early to call the race in Indiana, where Hillary Clinton is hoping to pick up more of the 72 delegates at stake. Today's delegate total makes it the biggest day left in the race. developing story

Tags: obama, election, indiana, north carolina, clinton

Tasty tasty electronics

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:25:46 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Some of the folks I collaborate with at NYCResistor have been making some awesome electronic inspired pastries. We had cupcakes the other day and now there was a full sized cake. Awesome!

Clip Source: www.nycresistor.com

My friend Becky made me an Arduino birthday cake this year! There was a fight over the AVR chip (dark chocolate) which involved memory loss and a cake knife. Candles became wire sticking out of the pins. Seriously awesome. Next task: to make LED candles that you have to short out instead of blow out.

Tags: nycresistor, food, awesome, cake

The Fox is Wrong: Obama

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:45:58 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Amazing to see the patterns displayed so clearly here.

Clip Source: bravenewfilms.org

[Video]

FOX’s objective is clear: carpet bomb Barack Obama with negative stories, distortions, and smears before the Pennsylvania primary in an attempt to skew the outcome toward the Republicans’ preferred adversary, Hillary Clinton. But did FOX imagine that the “liberal” media would be such willing accomplices?

Line your walls with books to save heat

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:43:26 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Kill trees to make books to line your walls to save the planet

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

The editorial staff of the UK's Bookseller magazine want you to know that lining your exterior walls with books is practically a moral imperative, since it reduces your energy costs and saves the world. You don't have to tell me -- I've been lining my walls with books for decades.

"Books are the original insulator. A shelf of books along an outside wall works well to prevent heat escaping,"

Link (Thanks, wiseGEEK!)