Stonehenge Solved?

"The Readers"

"FOR a quarter of a century, surveys of reading habits by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a federally-funded body, have been favourite material for anyone who thinks America is dumbing down. Susan Jacoby, author of “The Age of American Unreason”, for example, cites the 2007 NEA report that “the proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004.”

So it is a surprise that this bellwether seems to have taken a turn for the better. This week the NEA reported that, for the first time since 1982 when its survey began, the number of adults who said they had read a novel, short story, poem or play in the past 12 months had gone up, rising from 47% of the population in 2002 to over 50% in 2008.*
"

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12941110

Kid Cudi

This song took bit of time to warm up to but it's dope:

Benjamin Button...Crazy!!

Leona Lewis is VERY pretty

FDIC Insured Jet Memberships

 

Everybody's scared about their money getting vaporized...even the super-rich

Conan guest..hilarious - "Everything's amazing and nobody's happy"

Burn E - A side story from the movie Wall E

Slumdog Millionaire

Well worth a watch

Bill Ackman on how to deal with GM, Fannie and Freddie

Rotoscoping

"In Heartless, director Hype Williams uses a method called Rotoscoping. It’s an animation technique in which illustrators trace over live-action film movement and turn it into animation. Originally, pre-recorded films were projected onto frosted glass panels and re-drawn by an animator, but now it’s all computers. This technique allows animators to perfectly emulate a character’s idiosyncrasies, even someone as complex and nuanced as Kanye West! " - Complex


Other examples of rotoscoping:



Link: http://www.complex.com/blogs/2008/11/07/how-kanye-made-the-heartless-video/

Largest Bankruptcies

Company	Bankruptcy Date	Total Assets Pre-Bankruptcy	Total assets pre-bankruptcy in 2007 US dollars[6]	Filing Court District
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.	2008-09-15	$639,063,000,000	?	NY-S
Washington Mutual	2008-09-26	$327,913,000,000	?	DE
Worldcom Inc.	2002-07-21	$103,914,000,000	FY2007 US$119,716,589,862	NY-S
Enron Corp.*	2001-02-12	$63,392,000,000	FY2007 US$74,229,508,197	NY-S
Conseco, Inc.	2002-12-18	$61,392,000,000	FY2007 US$70,728,110,599	IL-N
Texaco, Inc.	1987-04-12	$35,892,000,000	FY2007 US$62,638,743,455	NY-S
Financial Corp. of America	1988-09-09	$33,864,000,000	FY2007 US$57,010,101,010	CA-C
Refco Inc.	2005-10-17	$33,333,172,000	FY2007 US$35,385,532,909	NY-S
Global Crossing Ltd.	2002-01-28	$30,185,000,000	?	NY-S
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.	2001-04-06	$29,770,000,000	Fy2007 US$34,859,484,778	CA-N
UAL Corp.	2002-12-09	$25,197,000,000	?	IL-N
Delta Air Lines, Inc.	2005-09-14	$21,801,000,000	?	NY-S

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code

Women might take over America

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/11/girl-power-females-dominate-higher.html

Love This...Heartless Video

Heartless from kwest on Vimeo.

I.O.U.S.A.

A 30-minute short version of the full movie that details the potential consequences of the US debt. Target audience is an average American.

Nanoscaffolding - US Military Regrows Limbs and Organs

"The technology works by placing a very fine apparatus called a scaffold, which is made of polymer fibres hundreds of times finer than a human hair, in place of a missing limb or damaged organ. The scaffold acts as a guide for cells to grab onto so they can begin to rebuild missing bones and tissue. The tissue grows through tiny holes in the scaffold, in the same way a vine snakes its way up a trellis."


Link to Article 

Riding Dirty

Ten flips and a completely torn up shoulder later...worth it?

AHH! My beloved home state..

from Calculatedrisk.blogspot.com:

"As the California recession deepens, the state is facing an enormous budget deficit ... 

From the LA Times: Schwarzenegger calls for sales tax hike, cuts in services

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a plan today for a steep sales tax increase, new levies on alcoholic drinks and the oil industry, and deep cuts in services to wipe out a budget shortfall that is expected to swell to more than $24 billion by the middle of 2010.

The linchpin of the plan is the sales tax increase of 1 1/2 cents on the dollar, which could raise $10.8 billion through fiscal 2009-10. ...

The governor also wants a number of significant spending reductions, including cuts of $2.5 billion from schools and community colleges.

This proposal would push the LA sales tax rate to 10.25% - Yikes!

Tax increases and budget cuts during a recession usually just make the recession worse. My guess is the next stimulus plan from the U.S. government will include some relief for state and local governments."

Historical Top Bracket Tax Rates

Historical rates (married couples, filing jointly)

Table

Tax year	Top marginal tax rate (%)	Top marginal tax rate (%) on earned income, if different<1>	Taxable income over--
1913	7		500,000
1914	7		500,000
1915	7		500,000
1916	15		2,000,000
1917	67		2,000,000
1918	77		1,000,000
1919	73		1,000,000
1920	73		1,000,000
1921	73		1,000,000
1922	58		200,000
1923	43.5		200,000
1924	46		500,000
1925	25		100,000
1926	25		100,000
1927	25		100,000
1928	25		100,000
1929	24		100,000
1930	25		100,000
1931	25		100,000
1932	63		1,000,000
1933	63		1,000,000
1934	63		1,000,000
1935	63		1,000,000
1936	79		5,000,000
1937	79		5,000,000
1938	79		5,000,000
1939	79		5,000,000
1940	81.1		5,000,000
1941	81		5,000,000
1942	88		200,000
1943	88		200,000
1944	94 <2>		200,000
1945	94 <2>		200,000
1946	86.45 <3>		200,000
1947	86.45 <3>		200,000
1948	82.13 <4>		400,000
1949	82.13 <4>		400,000
1950	84.36		400,000
1951	91 <5>		400,000
1952	92 <6>		400,000
1953	92 <6>		400,000
1954	91 <7>		400,000
1955	91 <7>		400,000
1956	91 <7>		400,000
1957	91 <7>		400,000
1958	91 <7>		400,000
1959	91 <7>		400,000
1960	91 <7>		400,000
1961	91 <7>		400,000
1962	91 <7>		400,000
1963	91 <7>		400,000
1964	77		400,000
1965	70		200,000
1966	70		200,000
1967	70		200,000
1968	75.25		200,000
1969	77		200,000
1970	71.75		200,000
1971	70	60	200,000
1972	70	50	200,000
1973	70	50	200,000
1974	70	50	200,000
1975	70	50	200,000
1976	70	50	200,000
1977	70	50	203,200
1978	70	50	203,200
1979	70	50	215,400
1980	70	50	215,400
1981	69.125	50	215,400
1982	50		85,600
1983	50		109,400
1984	50		162,400
1985	50		169,020
1986	50		175,250
1987	38.5		90,000
1988	28 <8>		29,750 <8>
1989	28 <8>		30,950 <8>
1990	28 <8>		32,450 <8>
1991	31		82,150
1992	31		86,500
1993	39.6		89,150
1994	39.6		250,000
1995	39.6		256,500
1996	39.6		263,750
1997	39.6		271,050
1998	39.6		278,450
1999	39.6		283,150
2000	39.6		288,350
2001	39.1		297,350
2002	38.6		307,050
2003	35		311,950

Halloween

Exxon taxes will exceed federal tax revenues of 6 states combined

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Dope

Debt clock out of space!

Best explanation for credit crisis I have read

"Its important to understand how this situation occurred in the first place, if we want to be able to fix it. Blaming the CRA and Fannie/Freddie is a total misunderstanding of how the problem occurred, and what we need to do to fix it now, and avoid doing it again in the future.

To repeat my prior arguments, the proximate cause of the Housing crisis were 1) Ultra-low rates; and 2) Abdication of traditional lending standards, thanks to 3) originators ability to resell mortgages for securitization purposes, and hence, 4) not have to worry about loan defaults.

The credit crisis was caused by 1) the above securitized mortgage paper, that was 2) rated triple AAA by Moody's and Standard & Poors, which then 3) Which was then "insured" by credit default swaps (CDS) -- the unreserved for, shadow insurance products 4) whose exemption was made possible by the Commodities Futures Modernization Act. That legislation exempted these derivatives from any supervision or regulation. The lack of reserve requirements is why there is now $62 trillion in CDS, many of which will never pay their counter parties the promised insurance.

If you are going to blame Fannie/Freddie/CRA, or George Bush or Barney Frank, you are missing the big picture. "

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/10/quote-of-the--1.html

17 Year Old Biggie