Not for everyone

Christmas cards for geeks:
[Via AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth]

See the rest here

Many of these are pretty funny. I particularly liked #9.

Technorati Tags: General

A truly American story

by ~MVI~
Rooms to rent for inauguration – at eye-popping prices:
[Via Ed cetera]

My favorite story of the week involves the eye-popping entrepreneurial spirit on display in the nation’s capital in advance of the once-in-a-lifetime inauguration in January. The New York Times has a terrific story on windfall profits some are dreaming of by renting their homes for, get this, as much as $57,000 a week.
The math is very simple. The five-country metro area has 95,000 hotel rooms. Inaugration planners expect more than a million people to show up for the inauguration.
Every possible arrangement is being considered – RV’s to rent, couches for rent, spots on the basement floor.

I guess the economy can’t be that bad if $6000 a night does not scare people away. The key will be how man people actually pay that price.

Technorati Tags: Economy, Politics

I love playing with numbers

The Population and the Popular Vote:
[Via FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right]

In response to our post from earlier this week on the size and scale of Barack Obama’s popular vote victory, several readers wrote in to ask how Barack Obama’s popular vote total ranks as a share of the United States population at the time of his election.

Obama has received at least 68,724,397 popular votes for the Presidency. I say “at least” because they’re still counting in California and several other states, and so Obama’s total should wind up comfortably over 69 million; 70 million appears unlikely, but is not entirely out of the question.

This total represents 22.62 percent of the Census Bureau’s 2008 estimate of United States population, which was 303,824,640. That figure doesn’t sound that impressive at first glance — fewer than one in four Americans actually voted for Barack Obama — but it’s actually the second-highest percentage ever, trailing only Ronald Reagan in 1984:

(Note: for 1900 onward, population figures are based on yearly Census Bureau estimates as of July 1st of the year in question. For years prior to 1900, they are based on a linear extrapolation of population figures from the nearest decennial Censuses.)

[More]

Only one other President ever had a greater percentage of Americans vote for him than voted for Obama. For Obama to get more than Reagan, he will need more than 70 million votes.

What is interesting is that Obama got that high a percentage on his first run for President. Reagan’s election in 1984 was as an incumbent. In fact, the only other President to get more than 20% of Americans to vote for him when not the incumbent was Eisenhower in 1952.

Now there are some obvious glitches in this approach. It counts infants as well as teenagers in the mix. But it does answer the question which President had the largest percentage of Americans vote for them.

How meaningful that is may be open to interpretation.

Technorati Tags: General, Politics

Coolest optical illusion ever

Run tiger, run!:
[Via Bad Astronomy]

I loves me some optical illusions. I’ve seen so many I can’t remember them all. But this one may be just about the coolest I’ve seen on teh intertoobz. If you play with it for a minute or two you’ll see how it works, and at what speed to drag …

Here it is.

Technorati Tags: General, Science

Credit cards and bonds

Video: How Credit Cards Become Bonds [Securitization]:
[Via Consumerist]

We’ve heard lots about how mortgages get turned into tradeable securities, but they’re not the only thing. No no no, there was far too much Chinese money not able to earn anything on T-bonds for us…

[More]

Really nice explanation of how credit cards become securities. This will be crashing sometime soon also. Because the credit card companies are not responsible for the debt anymore. If someone defaults, it is not on their books, it is on the funds that bought the debt.

No wonder credit card companies don;t care whether anyone pays off the card. They move the debt onto others, just as banks moved the mortgages. So now, if those hedge funds tried to remove risk, they probably dabbled in credit default swaps and really messed themselves up.

So, as people start defaulting on their credit cards, the same sort of deleveraging process seen with mortgages will begin, causing some more economic problems.

There are about $14 trillion in outstanding mortgages in the US. Outstanding consumer credit is about $3 trillion with debt about $1 trillion. So, maybe not as bad as mortgages but it may be nasty anyway.

That might explain this:

[Via AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth]
From reader Careyana:

I received a letter from CitiBank today informing me that they were updating my card agreement. They were modifying my Fixed APR of 7.99% to 14.99%. I was given the option to opt out of the changes which would then carry my current agreement until the card expires (7/09).

So I called Citi and got “Amit” on the phone and asked why was there a change to my account, as I’ve been a customer for over 4 years and I’ve NEVER had a late payment and ALWAYS pay over the minimum. Amit starts, “Well, due to the current economic situation…” I interrupted him immediately. “So what you’re saying is that I’m being penalized because I’m a good customer?” He didn’t really have a good scripted answer to that and kept repeating the “due to current economic situation…” mantra.

I’m curious how many more of your readers out there are receiving similar letters from their banks.

Almost doubling the interest rate. Even for good customers. I guess this is supposed to hedge against increasing defaults.

Technorati Tags: Economy

Losing the dis

All Airports Should Have A Recombobulation Area Like The One In Milwaukee [Recombobulation]:
[Via Consumerist]

Today is a travel day for millions of Americans, so we thought we’d focus on the positive. Here’s a good idea that needs to catch on. Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport has a sign after their TSA check point that reads “Recombobulation Area.”

This is a very nice idea and one all the airports should have.

Technorati Tags: General

Ebola in mouse cells

Stimulation of Ebola virus production from persistent infection through activation of the Ras/MAPK pathway — PNAS :
[Via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]

Abstract
Human infections with Ebola virus (EBOV) result in a deadly viral disease known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Up to 90% of infected patients die, and there is no available treatment or vaccine. The sporadic human outbreaks are believed to result when EBOV “jumps” from an infected animal to a person and is subsequently transmitted between persons by direct contact with infected blood or body fluids. This study was undertaken to investigate the mechanism by which EBOV can persistently infect and then escape from model cell and animal reservoir systems. We report a model system in which infection of mouse and bat cell lines with EBOV leads to persistence, which can be broken with low levels of lipopolysaccharide or phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA). This reactivation depends on the Ras/MAPK pathway through inhibition of RNA-dependent protein kinase and eukaryotic initiation factor 2α phosphorylation and occurs at the level of protein synthesis. EBOV also can be evoked from mice 7 days after infection by PMA treatment, indicating that a similar mechanism occurs in vivo. Our findings suggest that EBOV may persist in nature through subclinical infection of a reservoir species, such as bats, and that appropriate physiological stimulation may result in increased replication and transmission to new hosts. Identification of a presumptive mechanism responsible for EBOV emergence from its reservoir underscores the “hit-and-run” nature of the initiation of human and/or nonhuman primate EBOV outbreaks and may provide insight into possible countermeasures to interfere with transmission.

Ebola is a particularly nasty virus that has been described as incredibly efficent in turning an infected human into virus. The resulting damage to the victim results in high rates of death.

The natural host for the virus has not been definitively identified, even after 30 years of investigation. This paper details some interesting biology that may shed some light on this.

First, they screened a lot of mammalian cell lines to see if any were capable of maintaining a low level of infection and surviving. They “found that the mouse lines NIH 3T3 and RAW264.7 (mouse fibroblast and macrophage line, respectively), as well as a Mexican free-tailed bat line (Tb1.Lu, a bat lung fibroblast), have this capacity.”

These infected cells could be grown under the same conditions as normal cells and virus could be recovered even 10 months after infection. So now they had a lab source of cells to investigate conditions affecting viral production.

They found that stimulating the cells with chemicals that typically induce a strong immune response, such as PMA or LPS, increased virus production over two orders of magnitude. Interestingly, the increase in production was not at the level of transcription or replication but at the level of viral protein production.

They were able to show that the cellular pathways that affect virus production are ones that deal with interferon I production, in particular the Ras/MAPK pathway. Murine cell lines that have had this pathway inactivated by mutations become much more easily infected (60-80%) than wild type cell lines (<5%).

Finally they infected mice with Ebola virus. Normally there is very little viral production at all in mice. But, if they injected the mice with PMA or other activators of the Ras/MAPK pathways, they saw about 3 orders of magnitude increase in virus production.

The upshot that they can now investigate what biological processes are involved in containing an Ebola infection inside a cell. They already have hits at a specific protein involved in binding RNA. The work also hints at how to find the natural reservoir.

It may be that virus has not been detected because in most cases the amount of virus in a persistent infection is too low to detect. But under certain conditions that activate the Ras/MapK pathway, much higher levels of Ebola could be detected.

So, investigators could stimulate the pathway in proposed reservoir species and look to see if there is now virus production. It would also explain why virus production in the wild would be transient and perhaps only found in a few members of the species at a time.

The identification of some cellular pathways involved in Ebola virus production also provides hope that better methods of treatment may be identified. Mice are generally poor hosts for Ebola because of interferon I inactivation. Finding ways to effectively mimic this in human cells could have a palliative effect.

Technorati Tags: Science

Fun with maps

Patterns, Land Use:
[Via Pin the Tail]

The top map is voting patterns in this 2008 election– the bottom map is cotton production in 1860…

The more things change… Although there is a spot of high cotton production in Tennessee that does not match Democratic voting patterns, it is eerie to see the similar swath of counties in both, even down into Florida.

Technorati Tags: Economy, Politics

Good to know

Napping Boosts Sophisticated Memory, Study Shows [Sleep]:
[Via Lifehacker]

Neuroscientist William Fishbein says that deep, “slow-wave” sleep can help us commit information to memory, learn new skills, and extrapolate information. Science news site Physorg reports that Fishbein and a graduate student studied English-speaking students’ ability to remember Chinese characters they were taught just before a nap (and some without a nap):

Upon awakening, they took a multiple-choice test of Chinese words they’d never seen before. The nappers did much better at automatically learning that the first of the two-pair characters in the words they’d memorized earlier always meant the same thing&mdash;female, for example. So they also were more likely than non-nappers to choose that a new word containing that character meant “princess” and not “ape.”

Add this latest study fuel to the fire of our unabashed pro-nap agenda; and while you’re here see our top 10 ways to sleep smarter and better. Photo by Tina Keller.

Nap without guilt: It boosts sophisticated memory [Physorg.com]

“But, Boss, It may only look like I was goofing off. I was really trying to commit information to memory, learn new skills and extrapolate information.”

Technorati Tags: Science

I laughed

of Course it’s Fake you Idiot:
[Via Digg]

I love the fact that when I saw it, I felt it could be real. But if you consider the velocity, it has to be against the laws of physics.

Here is the video link. Very nice work.

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, General

Why I love Apple

Error-Ridden MacBook Gets Free Replacement After Nice Letter To Steve Jobs [*]:
[Via Consumerist]

After umpteen attempts to have his multiple MacBook Pro problems fixed, only to be told each time the laptop was working perfectly fine, Jordan wrote a polite email to Steve Jobs. He affirmed his…

[More]

Very nice story. I have heard similar ones about writing Steve Jobs and getting a response. In the long run, it is cheaper to replace such a lemon and then have the customer be their best marketer.

I would expect that they are getting a lot out of this great story getting out onto the internet. It helps solidify why their customers are so fanatical.

Technorati Tags: Economy, General

Liquidating by raising prices

by timetrax23
Busted: Linen’s N Things Liquidation Prices Actually Higher Than Original [Videos]:
[Via Consumerist]

A Good Morning America hidden camera investigation found that if you peel back the label on the “sale” items at Linen’s N Things, you’ll find the old label underneath, with a cheaper price. How do they get away with saying “10-20% off sale” then?

First raise the price, then take the discount off the inflated price. Calphalon saucepan was on sale for $124.99, but the label underneath was for $109.99. Rachael Ray cookware, $199 on top, $179 on bottom. Curtain scarf $39.99, old price $27.99. And at Circuit City, it was the same story. It’s less about actual deals, and more about manipulating buyer behavior. The only thing getting liquidated at a liquidation sale is your wallet.

This is an interesting truth about liquidations – Linens and Things are no longer the owners of their merchandise. The liquidators are and their goal is to raise as much money as possible. So if they can get you to pay more than before, fine.

I found the ABC article interesting. Since we will see more liquidation sales as time goes on, we would be smart to remember them.

“Contrary to popular belief, liquidation sales aren’t a great deal for the consumer,” said retail industry analyst Stephen Baker of the NPD Group. “The liquidator is there to make money.”

[...]

Despite what the public might think, Baker said liquidators rarely sell merchandise at a loss, even near the end of the sale. He said there are other ways to sell it off, like to overseas markets hungry for merchandise. So rather than trying to empty a store to the bare walls, Baker explained that going-out-of-business sales are more of a play upon human psychology.

It appears that the best time to find deals is right before the companies a go out of business and liquidate. The liquidators even say this, explaining that the stores want to be competitive and mark their prices aggressively before they sell the assets and go out of business.

Technorati Tags: Economy, General

Revealing inabilities

by freeparking
Tough Issues Make for Tougher Leaders:
[Via HarvardBusiness.org]

Three issues that executives of the Detroit 3 should have considered before asking Congress for a bridge loan.

How we will spend taxpayers’ money.

What changes we will make to our business model to ensure that the loans will be repaid.

Why the domestic industry is important to the health and welfare of our nation.

So many CEOs speak only in the specialized jargon of MBAspeak. One of the things that made Iacocca a good CEO. He could speak pretty plainly.

So how can an executive avoid appearing like a deer caught in the headlights? The answer is straightforward: create a culture of questioning. Here are some suggestions.

Set the tone. The reason that senior leaders sometimes appear to be so out of touch is because well, they are. Too many of them are cocooned in bubbles that insulate them from the real world. Remember years ago when George H.W. Bush running for president in 1988 was awed by a checkout scanner? Well, Mr. Bush had an excuse; he was a sitting Vice President surrounded by Secret Service for the previous seven years. Too many CEOs impose a similar level of insulation (more for comfort than security) and as a result lose touch with the reality their customers and their competitors are experiencing. Genuine leaders regularly meet with their employees, customers, and key stakeholders and make certain to have open and honest conversations with each.

They have no easy path that provides them to links outside the bubble. Even kings had a jester to remind them they were mortal. Not so many CEOs. As I’ve discussed before, a good use of Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis and blogs can provide such a path, not only for CEOs but for everyone at the organizations.

Ask to be challenged. In tough times, execution needs to be done with urgency. Yet only a foolish executive would allow his initiatives to go unquestioned. But how often have we seen companies pursue courses of action that seem so wrong from the outside yet appear so right from the inside? It is because no one inside the company is allowed to ask hard questions that challenge the status quo.

Few leaders really want to be challenged on their initiatives. That is really hard for someone to do when their position relies on the CEO’s perception. But some of the best ideas came out of a simple question: “Why are we doing this?” Because you can bet that if you are not asking these questions, your competitors are.

Map consequences. Pursuing a course of action requires a consideration of consequences. To a degree, companies do “war game” outcomes but typically within a given set of parameters. Too few executives are expected to ask the “game changing” questions that will alter the playing field. Not only do those questions need to be asked; their solutions need to be mapped to the nth degree so that alternatives can be considered and planned for.

The problem here is that most of the executives on a team are in the same bubble. There is not enough of a diversity of viewpoint for them to really map consequences well.

And the response of a group to some of these consequences is to ignore them. An example is how the military responded to the innovative approach Paul Van Riper brought to the Millennium Challenge 02 wargames. He challenged the US forces with a plan that was devastating in its consequences (i.e. he sunk the American fleet).

The response was to ignore his challenge and to change the rules of the war games. Not a very useful response to innovative challenges but one seen all too often with manny leaders.

We will see during these hard times, which leaders seek out the path of General Paul Van Riper and which seek the path of the Detroit automakers.

It seems pretty obvious which is more successful during time of chaos such as these.

Technorati Tags: Economy, Government, Web 2.0

Photoshop masks

A Comprehensive Introduction to Photoshop Selection Techniques – PSDTUTS:
[Via del.icio.us hotlist]

Anyone who works with Photoshop masks will know many of these but it is nice to see them all in one place.

Technorati Tags: General

Funny because its true

Family Financial Memo:
[Via The Iterative Life]

It think we’ve all been getting these sorts of memos at work lately, and I recently got one from my alma mater. So, I decided to write one of my own. I figure someone’s going to leak it to the blogosphere anyway, so I’ll just post it here in the first place.

M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Stober Family Members, Newton Highlands Branch
FROM: Marc Stober, Chief Operating Officer
DATE: November 21, 2008
SUBJECT: The Financial Crisis

With the recent news on Wall Street, I have been hearing many concerns about our organization’s situation and wanted to take this opportunity to detail what we are doing from the top.
First, there will be no layoffs.

As you know, we are operating at a deficit this year, due to extraordinary child care and preschool expenses. It is important to note that this is unrelated to the general financial crisis, and these expenses are fully funded through school year 2008-9.

In terms of recurring revenue, our employers have indicated that they are committed to continuing at present levels on a monthly basis. However, they are also facing pressure, and, based on our discussions with them, we are budgeting for a significantly smaller increase in revenue compared to what we have seen in recent years.

At present, our greatest exposure is highly leveraged real estate debt used to purchase our primary residence. While related debt service is our largest recurring expense, the good news is that this is a fixed expense that will not increase until at least 2013. We believe our investment is fundamentally sound, and will achieve long-term growth while continuing to provide immediate benefits through use of the underlying assets, regardless of the current market.

Our extended family’s long history of continuous operation through difficult times – including the Great Depression – gives us the strength to navigate in the present climate. However, in light of the global financial situation, there are some measures we are taking to cut back expenses. We feel these measures are prudent to preserve cash flow in the face of uncertain growth and unfavorable credit prospects.

The most difficult budget issue is transportation, and we have not made any final decisions. As you know, our second car was scheduled for replacement at the end of this school year, and we may decide to extend its service life. The reason we have not made a final decision is that repair costs required for this course of action are yet unknown. While this is potentially disappointing, keep in mind that our primary car still serves over 80% or our non-transit transportation needs. We committed to meeting those needs, and through a program of regular maintenance (that has not been cut), we have not had any unplanned downtime for a primary car in over 4 years. Additionally, thanks to successful strategic planning undertaken by the Board, we are uniquely situated for a suburban family to be able to utilize the MBTA as a safe, cost-effective option.

In the Travel and Entertainment category, you will find that fewer requests to eat in restaurants will be approved, and requests for desserts in restaurants, particularly, will not be approved (unless they are included in the cost of a kid’s meal). In the case of Cabot’s or The Cheesecake Factory, where ice cream or cheesecake, respectively, is kind of the point, sharing is strongly encouraged. An additional benefit of this will be improved health. Netflix has been put on hold for 90 days, and we will reconsider that offering then; unopened red envelopes left on top of the TV indicate a lack of demand at present. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are subject to elimination as well. Executives, including myself, are being asked to purchase regular coffee in place of more expensive coffee drinks while traveling, and to utilize meals from our on-site food service provider whenever possible.

Charitable giving will continue, primarily to organizations to which we have supported on a regular annual basis, and new requests will be considered individually.

All major vacations, home improvements, and furniture purchases are temporarily put on hold, unless essential. Pre-approved food and clothing purchases can continue as needed and may be subject to increased budget scrutiny.

Lastly, note that we have no plans to add human resources. Requests for non-human resources (i.e., pets) may be considered in a future fiscal year.

The bottom line is that while the coming years may not be everything we want, we will stay together and have great stories to tell the grandkids.

Happy Thanksgiving

If only my memo-writing skills could get me a job as a real CEO&#8230;.

Very nicely done. Gallows humor in the best tradition.

Technorati Tags: General