billions and billions

$634 billion out the door.

now what that $700 billion? where are we on that again? and who's paying for dinner?

2008 astros season over

well it's over and i couldn't be more proud of the home team. they're not going to the playoffs, but they have 85 wins and could end up with 87 if they win the last two against the braves. they've got a rotation of roy oswalt, brian moehler, randy wolf, wandy rodriquez and brandon backe. if you don't know baseball, it's the equivalent of having 1/5 of your parachute work. you'll still land, but damn, it's going to sting a little.

they have no contribution from centerfield (michael bourn), catcher (j.r. towles) and our second baseman (kaz matsui) didn't even play 100 games. we lost carlos lee and we lost ty wiggington for a spot too. lance berkman disappeared after the all-star break. it's the unsung guys. the darin erstads, the geoff blums, the david newhans. those guys are the reasons why we continued to win. they're scrappy, gut-it-out baseball players. way to go 2008 astros. see you next year.

Check out these numbers.

if i have to root for a playoff team, i can't help but love the tampa bay rays. what a story.

have you heard?

with the attention that the financial mess and presidential swap outs are getting, there's a story that's been going largely unnoticed. gas lines are forming in and around atlanta caused by a slight disruption in production and distribution from our gulf platforms caused by hurricanes gustav and ike. but as matthew simmons points out, why does a slight disruption cause so much disruption?

Gas shortages: get ready for more.

i shall be released

wilco and the fleet foxes. wow.

a little help from my friends

my wife likes to say, if you're not offering a solution to the problem, you're really not helping. and then i like to say, "my solution is called operation shut up." somehow in my head when this scene is acted out, she laughs at this point. reality is so far removed from fantasy, isn't it?

anyway, 401k's utilize stocks as a means to provide for retirement. right? well what if you don't believe in stocks? pensions are no longer an option. so here's a quick glance at some other options for people looking to make their own investments:

ideas...

R.I.P.

R.I.P.
1. lehman brothers
2. bear stearns
3. fannie mae
4. freddie mac
5. merrill lynch
6. washington mutual
7. countrywide

in the throws
1. aig
2. america's seat at the table


Paul's take
Bill's take
the death of wamu


it's times like this i wish i had a can of gold spray paint.

while we were sleeping

black swans

• thom yorke wrote a song called "black swan."
• this guy wrote a black swan theory
• and this guy rewrote the lyrics to bohemian rhapsody and called it called it "black swan rhapsody"
• here is a picture of a black swan

very nice.

fallout continues

so i've noticed that one person is not to blame for the entire american financial institution turning into confetti. i'd like to blame steve, but it appears he's not to blame. he was on the moon the whole time. good for him.

jack adamo has lots of names to share in the blame:

also while you're taking a break for not doing much, check out the gramm-leach-bailey act of 1999:

and then if you've got the time, go all the way back to the glass-steagall act of 1933:

no one knows what's going on and the truth is hard to find, but at least we can educate ourselves enough to separate truth from lies.

four letters say it all

donny and the market crash

great commentary by paul kedrosky equating a scene from the big lebowski with the understanding of the current market meltdown.

"come on, man. i had a rough night and i hate the eagles."

treehugger

this is a term thrown around quite a bit. my dad would call people "treehuggers" because they wanted to protect some patch of grass or tree or some endangered species that would delay or limit construction for a neighborhood or business community. he couldn't understand why we should limit our progress because of earth's reluctness to let us. he couldn't understand how it all comes back to us.

i didn't understand it and in some ways, i still don't. my wife is an environmental scientist. she calculates the risks involved to us and the birds, bees and worms when businesses disregard their responsibility to our environment. she helped reshape my view of the earth, my view of the environment, what i was doing to it and what it was doing to me.

you see, it's not about partisan politics and whether global warming exists or not. i personally believe it does, but throw that whole argument out and just think. if we have the technology to make sustainable products, and we have the technology to limit our impact on the earth and our local environment, why don't we use it? what are we losing? why must we be so wasteful? there is no reason not to recycle. there is no reason not to break out your bicycle and take a ride to the grocery store. there is no reason that your car should be some sort of statement on your personality when it should be a statement of your willingness to help our society and your environment by choosing less gas. because if you believe in global warming or not, oil is finite. and its last remaining resting places are in unstable, unfriendly countries. that's where we've put our last remaining eggs. in the hands of putin, chavez and ahmadinejad. it's not a great place to be. and we don't have to be there. so think about turning all your lights off when you leave. think about recycling your plastic water bottles. think about riding your bike or walking to the store. think about it. it makes sense.

http://www.treehugger.com/green-basics/

fast cars, small countries

gas is kind of expensive, right? so how great would be if our cars could get more than 30 miles to the gallon? and how awesome would it be if we could buy those cars right now? those magic cars that got more than 30 miles to the gallon? and how about if they got rid of bucket seats? that's more of a personal choice than something impacting the globe.

well these cars exist. they're made by ford. thinking about getting one? think again. they're only for europeans. i know. they have everything: castles, really old cheeses and kraftwerk. those lucky europeans. they invented facism. they had feudalism and the renaissance. they had caesar and melies. now they have clean diesel and lots of time before their next fill-up.

go here.

so fresh, pt. 2

it's been a matter of minutes and i'm blogging again. this may have been a bad idea. i see the path to unemployment and shirtless dinners.

no matter.... here are other articles to check out:

bloomberg, oil speculation
time.com, the united states of france:

So Fresh

so this is a blog. i decided to start blogging for three reasons:

1) i can say i have a blog.
2) i constantly email articles to people and i'm sure they have no time to read them or they get frustrated by my constant emailing and delete them without reading them.
3) the current financial situation is unlike anything we've seen in our lives (meaning mine and my parents), and the unbelievable inaction/stupidity (drill!! drill!! drill!!) when it comes to making our society free of oil (in all forms, domestic or foreign) is creating chaos in the world economy, putting me and my ability to succeed and live comfortably in this world in jeopardy.

i wanted to have a piece of the web where i could collect articles regarding these two issues that fascinate me. so i'm here.

the first article is about matthew simmons and his vision of the immediate future of oil. i saw him speak once at the musuem of fine arts here in houston. demitria and i went to a screening called "the end of suburbia: peak oil production" and he spoke afterwards. he was concise, convincing and calm. i believed him because he was skeptical. he was questioning of the numbers the saudis were presenting. he didn't take any number at face value. and he had facts on his side that prove peak oil is real.

anyway, here is the article:

by the way, today is bruce ewing's birthday. he turns 30. i've known him for half my life and i'm lucky for it. happy birthday buddy.