Bailout costs more than Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq war, Vietnam war, and NASA's lifetime budget -- *combined*! (127)
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Cory Doctorow (79)
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Boing Boing (151)
6 days, 13 hours
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Barry Ritholtz sez, In doing the research for the "Bailout Nation" book, I needed a way to put the dollar amounts into proper historical perspective. If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars. People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history. Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find ...
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Joshua Heling said:
Holy crap. I really hope there's some reason not evident to me that we are not collectively screwed.
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invariant said:
And that is in inflation-adjusted dollars. I think we need to overhaul this program to be "corporate welfare-to-work." Get all those execs jobs at McDonalds!
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db said:
OUCH
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jeremy said:
Goes to show you how much i understand about economics: i actually honestly thought it was the *consumers* who were experiencing financial difficulty. I feel really bad for all those poor lenders. Think i'll put a little something extra in with my December payment ;)
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px said:
time to move to mars and start over.
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Tim said:
Of course, all those things were actual expenditures, not backing of loans. But SURE, let's go ahead and compare apples to onions!
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Alex said:
I wonder when our leaders might realize that money does not grow on trees?
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brizbane said:
Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!
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puthali said:
mind can't assimilate big numbers, u need things like this to put it in perspective...
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J. James B said:
Well, when you put it THAT way...
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Rob said:
Gee whiz - I'd rather a couple of Louisianas and a few NASAs. Of course, I'm not reliant on any of the banks in question, so it's easy for me to say.
Jack Imel plays "Pagan Love Song" on Lawrence Welk 1958 (4)
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Beauty mask instructional video (9)
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Magnatune -- sharing-friendly, artist-friendly label -- goes all-you-can-eat, no-strings-attached (20)
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Cory Doctorow (79)
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Boing Boing (151)
1 week, 6 days
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John Buckman, the founder of the radical, sharing-friendly, artist-paying label Magnatune, sez, The Magnatune music service has been transitioning from a "buy album downloads" model to a "DRM-free, all-you-can-eat, pay-what-you-want" model. I believe that Magnatune is the only DRM-free all-you-can eat pay music service. Today, Magnatune removed all commitment requirements for membership, so that literally you can join for $10 and get access to all Magnatune albums and downloads. This marks the end of a ...
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Penny said:
I've been liking magnatune's offerings.
TSA "behavior detection" is wrong more than 99 percent of the time (35)
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Cory Doctorow (79)
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Boing Boing (151)
1 week, 6 days
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Remember when the TSA rolled out its "behavior detection" system whereby slack-jawed, water-confiscating security officers would be trained to recognize your "micro expressions" and single you out on the basis of a twitchy eyelid or a sweaty upper lip? Turns out that over 99 percent of the IDs generated by the system are false positives -- less than one percent lead to arrests (and the article doesn't say how many convictions come out of those). ...
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seanness said:
When will security theater end?
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Jason said:
Another Bush administration legacy to undo. Obama's going to have his hands full.
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Will said:
Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking? If you know it's WRONG 99% of the time, then just do the opposite of what it says, and you'll be right 99% of the time. Right?
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Ryan Svoboda said:
99% of the time this test turns up a false positive, and it would be generous to say the chance someone is a terrorist is 1 in 100,000, so the chance that this test could find even a single terrorist if it was run on everybody in the world is extremely low. This might be the least useful system ever.
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philco said:
i think these are the same "micro expressions" homeless people can detect on my face, and then they harass me.
Tiny Masters of Tomorrow (2)
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Bobby (0)
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+KN | Kitsune Noir (0)
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Over in Montreal, Quebec, the kids are becoming the tastemakers. Bancroft Elementary has started an awesome after school program called Modern Music Makers, which basically take students between the ages of 5 and 10, and gives them the means to create music. Their tools are things like drum machines, laptops, microphones, a midi keybaord, as well as cameras and a make shift green screen to make videos with. I think the results were pretty awesome, ...
Parallels 4 is released (11)
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Christina Warren (3)
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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (33)
2 weeks, 6 days
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Filed under: SoftwareVirtualization vendor Parallels has just released Parallels Desktop 4.0 for the Mac. Parallels Desktop is designed to let users run Windows (or Linux) on your Intel Mac within OS X. The newest version of Parallels Desktop boasts better performance (Parallels is claiming a 50% increase over Parallels Desktop 3.0), better graphics, support for more OSs and support for up to 8 GB of RAM and 8 CPUs. Like VMWare Fusion 2.0, Parallels Desktop ...
#1 US phone? One guess -- the iPhone 3G. (9)
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Michael Rose (2)
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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (33)
3 weeks
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Filed under: iPhoneThere's word this morning that the NPD Group's latest research shows a surprising finish for the iPhone in the 3rd-quarter sales competition among US cellphones bought by consumers; for the first time in three years, there's a new top model. The Motorola RAZR, long the most popular handset for adult consumers, has fallen before the touchable juggernaut from Cupertino, CA. Yes, even while the overall consumer unit sales for cellphones declined 15% from ...
Al Gore: The Climate for Change (10)
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Xeni Jardin (10)
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Boing Boing (151)
3 weeks, 1 day
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In a New York Times op-ed today, Al Gore (or should we say, @al_gore) reprises some of the themes he spoke of at this week's Web 2.0 summit. Snip: THE inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he — and we — must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and ...
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Curt said:
An activist in Boring clothing.
So Little Time, So Much Damage (29)
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Xeni Jardin (10)
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Boing Boing (151)
3 weeks, 4 days
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On the day before Election Day, the NYT ran an editorial about eleventh-hour scrambling by Bush and aides to alter rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties, abortion rights, and other issues. There are 75 days remaining for the Bush presidency, and they're evidently hard at work on change, too. Snip: CIVIL LIBERTIES We don’t know all of the ways that the administration has violated Americans’ rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last ...
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Barry said:
The administration showed further disdain for Americans’ privacy rights and for Congress’s power by making clear that it will ignore a provision in the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. The law requires the department’s privacy officer to account annually for any activity that could affect Americans’ privacy — and clearly stipulates that the report cannot be edited by any other officials at the department or the White House.The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has now released a memo asserting that the law “does not prohibit” officials from homeland security or the White House from reviewing the report. The memo then argues that since the law allows the officials to review the report, it would be unconstitutional to stop them from changing it. George Orwell couldn’t have done better.
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Bryn said:
Dear Lame Duck Bush. The novel "1984" was not a road map for the future. Please stop. Thx.
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db said:
Unconscionable.
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brizbane said:
I do not understand how anyone can be in favor of this administration. Measures like this are absolutely NOT justified by any reasonable threat, much less vague "they can attack us here" language. Whether he planned it or not, Bin Laden has won not just the battle, but the war. Let's hope Obama has the courage to roll back 8 years of the inexorable slide into 1984.
Anthropomorphized Mars lander in terminal "Groundhog Day" mode, tugging heartstrings (20)
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Laura June (0)
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Engadget (221)
3 weeks, 4 days
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Filed under: Robots Dear Phoenix lander, you always find new ways to both delight and torture us. We listened anxiously for your updates about the weather on Mars, watched you "think" your way out of nearly fatal situations, and marveled at your liquid discoveries. It seems like only yesterday we were preparing for your send off. And what new violence is this you're doing upon our souls? Oh, that's right: you're dying. Not shutting down. ...
Browse iTunes for music, then buy from Amazon (45)
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Mark Frauenfelder (42)
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Boing Boing (151)
3 weeks, 6 days
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Advantageous is a script that lets you search the iTunes store and then buy the MP3s on Amazon. Browse through the iTunes Store, just as usual. Or use iTunes Genius feature to find new music. When you find something you want, click on Get MP3 from Amazon in the iTunes Script Menu. Advantageous mp3 takes you to the artist's or album's Amazon MP3 site. You can buy the music DRM-free and in better quality. Advantageous
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David Miller said:
Particularly good: Naming.
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Mark said:
This is AWESOME.
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Wesley said:
muwahaha! Buying music on Amazon is a dime cheaper and DRM free! I love it!
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tosh said:
ha!
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Jeff Greco said:
Do this.
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Jason said:
Ha, take that you DRM-using bastards.
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Bryn said:
Just say "no" to DRM.
Photos from the Afghanistan Drug War (11)
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David Pescovitz (13)
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Boing Boing (151)
1 month
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Aaron Huey takes gorgeous photos for National Geographic Adventure, the New Yorker, Smishsonian, and the New York Times. He recently hitchiked across Siberia on a National Geographic Expedition Council Grant. Huey's site is filled with stunning images, including a photo essay documenting the Afghanistan drug war (see above). Aaron Huey
Anil Dash on Sarah Palin and Language - Boing Boing (22)
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Xeni Jardin (10)
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1 month
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Anil Dash has a thoughtful essay up today. Snip: Sarah Palin has been unsurprising in her criticisms of Barack Obama's credentials and policies, fulfilling the traditional role of the vice presidential candidate being the most aggressive and pointed rhetorical attacker in a campaign. But a closer look at her deliberate use of vernacular and language reveals that she has gone far beyond any other candidate in vice presidential history in the dangerous and irresponsible implications ...
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brizbane said:
Read this entire essay. It's incredibly important that people at least address be aware there is an issue.
First Look: Google Earth for iPhone (15)
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Steven Sande (5)
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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (33)
1 month
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Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First LookGoogle has ported Google Earth to the iPhone or iPod touch, and it's such an impressive app that it deserves an Apple ad of its own. The interface for Google Earth will be familiar instantly to anyone who has used an iPhone for more than a couple of hours. Upon launching the app, you see a photo of the Earth from space. To zoom in, you ...
New US RFID passports manufactured offshore at a huge profit, transported by unsecured couriers (21)
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Cory Doctorow (79)
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Boing Boing (151)
1 month
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You know those new, super-secure, RFID-enabled passports the US is issuing to its citizens? They're manufactured and assembled offshore, in sometimes-unstable regions, the blanks are shipped around using unsecured couriers, and they're sold to US citizens at an 85 percent profit. I feel safer already. Each new e-passport contains a small computer chip inside the back cover that contains the passport number along with the photo and other personal data of the holder. The data ...
