Clipmarks | ericskiff's clips

Hank's Bailout as Nigerian Spam

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:47:15 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I get a bunch of these every day in my spam... Funny to hear the bailout plan put plainly in this same language.

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

Hal sends us this "brilliant satiric email phrasing Hank Paulson's giant Wall Street bailout as Nigerian spam."

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

Tags: bailout, economy, finance, spam

Oil jumps $25!

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:44:59 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I don't think this has hit the market yet, some of my tickers are still reporting the old price. Once today's market gets wind of a major jump in oil on worries about the dollar because of this bailout, we're in for some trouble.

How can we bail out banks to the tune of $700b+ from federal money without devaluing the dollar?

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

Oil prices spiked more than $25 a barrel Monday—the biggest one-day price jump ever—as anxiety over the government's $700 billion bailout plan

Crude has gained about $40 in a dramatic four-day rally that has at least temporarily halted oil's steep two-month slide below $100. At this rate, crude is within striking distance of its all-time record of $147.27, reached in July.

Tags: money, oil, economics, economy, bailout, dollar

T-shirt: Hey Hank... Where's my bailout?

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:13:45 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: A friend of mine just put this one up on his site - definitely fits the mood for the moment.

If all these banks get to back the money truck up to the treasury, why not everyone.

It's going to be an interesting week.

Clip Source: www.printfection.com

Tags: treasury, fed, bailout, banking, credit crisis

Colorado "purges" voter registrations

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:39:53 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Regardless of your political leanings, one thing is clear. Unless everyone has the same opportunity to vote, our democracy doesn't work.

Clip Source: www.gregpalast.com

In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

It’s time SOMEBODY raised the alarm about these missing voters; not to save Obama’s candidacy – journalists should stay the heck away from partisan endorsements - but raise the alarm to save our sick democracy.

Palast on the Thom Hartmann Show 7-29-08 [10:20m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: vote, voting, politics, colorado, swing state

Fun with a laser cutter: Tinysaur is Tiny

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:48:55 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: This was cut using our new epilog laser at NYCResistor. Look at how little and awesome he is! I wonder how the heck Kelly put it together.

Clip Source: www.nycresistor.com

Martin sent us a dino pattern to celebrate our laser. I made a regular size dinosaur, but Kelly made a tiny tinysaur!

Where do you hide all the best object files on the internet? We want to play with them!

The tinysaur has been spotted again! - Link

Tags: dinosaur, tiny, laser, nycresistor

Favre reinstatement letter

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:10:55 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Finally a good move by Favre

Clip Source: sports.espn.go.com

Brett Favre followed through on his statements that he wanted to come out of retirement by faxing his reinstatement letter to the NFL on Tuesday.

Favre sent the letter to the league office late Tuesday afternoon and also spoke by phone with commissioner Roger Goodell, who indicated he will not act on Tuesday in hopes the Packers and Favre can reach a resolution during the next 24 hours, the sources said.

"It's obviously the first step in Brett coming back, but we'll deal with that when Brett is reinstated and have a plan for that when he comes back," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said, adding that the team is still committed to Aaron Rodgers as its starting quarterback.

Tags: favre, nfl

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