Category: long story short

NYT “Sarkozy….has acquired a reputation as a man of action…who speaks his mind on controversial issues, while Chirac is often seen as reigning more than ruling, speaking obtusely and saying little to offend.” In this case, the word they meant to use is anybody’s guess. Mainly obscurely, I’d think, with some mix of abstrusely, opaquely,…

There have been a lot of complaints that our system of color-coded terrorism alerts does not provide enough useful information. When Ridge or Ashcroft issues a new threat alert, they never specify the targets. Will it be kidnapped prisoners? Random bystanders? Home invasion sprees? Wedding parties in the desert? Well, give me a break! Obviously,…

Is A Housing Bubble About To Burst? Business Week “If 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rise just one percentage point, to 7.2% from their current 6.2% … house prices would have to fall 11% to keep new buyers’ monthly mortgage payments from rising. If fixed rates went to 8%, prices would need to fall 20% to keep…

Statling new evidence suggests that sugar-pills may be the answer to some of humankind’s most dreaded diseases, however scientists are at a loss to think of ways to rigorously test them.

Cheney as Grand Vizier (from Brad DeLong’s Webjournal) …lazy summer hammockblogging has apparently resumed now i just need a chron job to update the sidebar, plus maybe reorder a tad to reflect who updates most often.

Listening to the talking voices on McLehrer in my car today, discussing how Ken Lay is going to put all the blame for Enron’s failure on his CFO, Andrew Fastow (who has already pled guilty and turned state’s evidence, I believe), it occurred to me that perhaps Fastow is American for Faust.