JuicyHumor

"The New Yorker is famous for its cryptic cartoons, which seem to require at least two decades of..."

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:56:29 -0400

“The New Yorker is famous for its cryptic cartoons, which seem to require at least two decades of residence in New York City plus a diploma in Woody Allen Studies before a reader can stroke his or her chin and think ‘Ah, I see why that’s funny.’ But this week’s cover doesn’t work…”

- Richard Adams: New Yorker cartoon unfunny shock

"BACK before we lost our collective minds and began shrieking with horror at the thought of kids..."

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:51:42 -0400

“BACK before we lost our collective minds and began shrieking with horror at the thought of kids having fun on their own (as in not part of an official league or otherwise organized activity), they used to do things like find a vacant field, turn it into a makeshift diamond and spend glorious hours in the summer sun.”

- Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come

"[I]f you look at the political fights he’s picked throughout his political career, the main theme is..."

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:36:00 -0400

“[I]f you look at the political fights he’s picked throughout his political career, the main theme is not any ideology. It’s that he hates stupidity… He was anti-dumb.”

- I tend to hate stupidity as well. Gail Collins on Obama’s Flip-Flopping.

squashed: Apparently McCain understands that drilling for oil...

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:03:13 -0400

squashed:

Apparently McCain understands that drilling for oil in protected area will 1) provide new immediate economic benefit, and 2) have a negligible long-term benefit. He apparently supports it for the “psychological impact.”

That’s right. McCain wants to increase drilling because it would feel good.

Old School

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:02:56 -0400

Mitch: I wasn't looking for a girl like that.
Beanie: Well, Columbus wasn't looking for America, my man, but that turned out to be pretty okay for everyone.

"Judging by what’s transpired, that’s what Google is fast becoming: just another company."

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:40:18 -0400

“Judging by what’s transpired, that’s what Google is fast becoming: just another company.”

- On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble — I doubt I am the only one that wonders how Google will handle expanding to 19,000 employees so quickly.

Goatse.cx

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:35:50 -0400

Goatse.cx:

unalone:

Somebody restored this Internet legend, and the result is rather… interesting.

Judge authorizes full access to YouTube's viewer logs

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:27:08 -0400

(via whatthefuckdoineedtoknow)

theletterb: Some one get me in to cryogenic freezing until this...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:43:53 -0400

theletterb:

Some one get me in to cryogenic freezing until this movie comes out…

"Over the past few years, people from Goldman Sachs have assumed control over large parts of the..."

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:42:45 -0400

“Over the past few years, people from Goldman Sachs have assumed control over large parts of the federal government. Over the next few they might just take over the whole darn thing.”

- David Brooks commenting on the real sources of Obama’s money, specifically the fact that Goldman Sachs, as a company of individuals, has contributed more to the Obama campaign than any other corporation.

Baracknophobia from The Daily Show. Just the pickup I needed...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:08:17 -0400

Baracknophobia from The Daily Show. Just the pickup I needed after the recent, extremely shoddy coverage that the mainstream media is giving to blatant rumors.

Obama Received Loan at a Rate .315% Less than Average; Media Outrage Ensues

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:14:00 -0400

In the latest of a string of non-news this week, Barack Obama received a home loan in February 2005 that was for 5.625 percent. The Washington Post attempted to make a big hubbub out of this by reporting, quite prominently, that this number was less than the average for jumbo home loans at the time in Chicago.

It’s only a matter of time, I’m sure, before Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC pick up this story — MSNBC had reported a teaser already by 11:40 AM today. The only problem? Averages are poor indicators of significance. They’re a terrible way to tell whether or not a particular data point is out of the ordinary. That’s why statisticians never use an average alone to determine whether something is typical or not. HSH Associates (5.93%) and Bankrate.com (6.0%) were both quoted as sources for averages, but only a Vice President at HSH was given a chance to comment on whether or not the number was signficiantly lower:

“It’s certainly safe to say that this borrower did better than average,” said Keith Gumbinger, an HSH vice president, noting that consumer rates vary widely. “It’s a good deal.”

“A good deal”? What is the median? The range? Have they performed any statistical analysis on this? Unfortunately, I can’t get access to the same HSH numbers without paying for them. Timing is critically important here — the Obamas received a verbal commitment of their interest rate on February 4, 2005, according to the campaign, but did not receive the final commitment until June 6, 2005. Thanks to Google’s news archive, however, I was able to find three articles listing rates from February 2005: one from February 2, a second from February 9, and a third from February 23. From all three of these articles, we can see the mortgage rates in Chicago weekly from January 27 until February 23:

January 27: 5.69%

February 2: 5.74%

February 9: 5.65%

February 16: 5.68%

February 23: 5.79%

Average mortgage rates for single-family homes … as compiled by bankrate.com. The rates are for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages for 80 percent of the value of the house.

It should be noted that these numbers are most likely composites of all types of mortgages — jumbo mortgages, on average it seems, have higher rates than regular mortgages. But, this does call into question the fact that Mr. Obama’s mortgage was in any way out of the ordinary. In fact, it was right in-line with the ordinary.

On a side note, via Andrew Sullivan, Nate Silver also noted that without Senator Obama’s FICO score, this story is not even close to newsworthy.

"[Obama] has indeed had great success with small donors, but only about 45 percent of his money comes..."

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:30:48 -0400

“[Obama] has indeed had great success with small donors, but only about 45 percent of his money comes from donations of $200 or less.”

- David Brooks - Obama’s Money Class - NYTimes.com

It’s strange that Brooks says “only.” Only 24% of McCain’s money came from donors of $200 or less. (Clinton had 30%). By contrast, 46% of his money came from people who gave the $2,300. Obama’s numbers are impressive not just because of the total amount raised but because of how little he has relied on the wealthy party base. Obama has raised more money in donations of under $200 than McCain has raised total.

(via squashed)

Dave Matthews Band at Verizon Wireless Ampitheater in Charlotte,...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:21:00 -0400

Dave Matthews Band at Verizon Wireless Ampitheater in Charlotte, NC

1,200 homes threatened in Big Sur fire Photo Credit: Andreas...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:00:09 -0400

1,200 homes threatened in Big Sur fire

Photo Credit: Andreas Fuhrmann / Record Searchlight via Zuma Pres

"Marketing isn’t always about pandering to the masses and shooting for the quick payoff. Often, the..."

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:54:45 -0400

“Marketing isn’t always about pandering to the masses and shooting for the quick payoff. Often, the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all.”

- Seth Godin (via unalone)

Why do we stay with Netflix?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:03:00 -0400

It has always been an easy choice for me between Blockbuster and Netflix, but I was never quite sure why. Blockbuster has some compelling features such as the ability to return to movies in the store and sometimes lower prices, but never in the past three years have I canceled my subscription to Netflix. In the past few days I remembered why.

For the past year my roommate and I have shared an account using Netflix profiles, and the system worked perfectly. At the end of the year, however, Netflix announced that they were going to remove the profile functionality. Just yesterday, I received an e-mail announcing the Netflix had responded to the needs of its customers by reinstating profile functionality. This type of quick response is typical for Netflix customers but is quite atypical for the customers of nearly every other web application or mainstream media service. Users aren’t hassled with lost DVDs and there is a 24/7 number that can be used for customer service inquiries. Netflix makes it easy to be a customer, and in exchange, customers find it easy to pay for Netflix.

Suffice it to say, Netflix will always be able to resist a great deal of criticism because of its stellar customer service.

(via Kottke, today and tomorrow, & red)

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:38:11 -0400

(via Kottke, today and tomorrow, & red)

The Original Chicken Sandwich

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:28:00 -0400

I was listening to the radio the other day when I heard a McDonald’s commercial advertising the new Southern Style Chicken Sandwich. Normally I’m quite excited by the new McDonald’s campaigns, as the focus on healthy alternatives has led to some creative messaging. This commercial, however, was a little too crazy for me:

I’d like to find out who created this sandwich and shake their hand!

I immediately thought, “Well, drive down to Atlanta and shake Truett Cathy’s hand…” Mr. Cathy invented the sandwich probably over a half a century ago in his Dwarf Grill. In 1967 he opened the first Chick-fil-A in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall, and for the next forty years Chick-fil-A expanded into being one of the South’s best secrets. In fact, it took McDonald’s fifty years to figure out it was the best chicken sandwich out there. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich is an attempt to make an exact copy of the Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich. Two pickles and a toasted bun!

I’ll pardon McDonald’s for this taboo for now — at least now I can get something resembling a Chick-fil-A sandwich on Sunday.

(It goes without saying, I hope, that as a former Chick-fil-A employee I completely endorse the decision that all Chick-fil-A restaurants, no matter their location or francise status, are closed on Sunday)

"Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off..."

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:11:00 -0400

“Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America’s highways in history. By 2012, there should be some 10 million fewer vehicles on American roadways than there are today—a decline that dwarfs all previous adjustments including those during the two OPEC oil shocks. Many of those in the exit lane will be low income Americans from households earning less than $25,000 per year. Incredibly, over 10 million of those American households own more than one car. Soon they won’t own any.”

- My favorite quote from an excellent CIBC economic report on the impact of the recent spike in oil prices (via fred-wilson)