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Monday, July 6, 2009

Your Morning News 7.6.09

Posted by Josh in , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

news-0706Though it is already old news, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that over the weekend Republican 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced she is resigning as Governor of Alaska. The Governor’s resignation and the odd timing (Fourth of July weekend) leaves many wondering if she is resigning just ahead of some sort of scandal or if this is all part of a master plan to gear up for 2012. I sort of suspect that she might just want to pull the plug and get out of the public spotlight since she must realize she has become a national punchline, right? However, after resigning in a hastily-assembled (an adjective I hope is never used to describe my resignation from anything) back yard press conference at 4 p.m. on Friday, Palin spent the night posting weird legal threats/manifestos on Twitter and Facebook. Sarah, if you are really trying to get out of the public spotlight then there is an old saying that applies here: “Ur Doing it wrong.”

The coup in Honduras continues today. Ousted and exiled former President Manuel Zelaya tried to fly back into the country over the weekend with media and international leaders in tow but was prevented from landing by military trucks blocking airport runways. The military occupied the airport in Tegucigalpa and clashed with the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out to greet the President. The President, who strikes me as disturbingly media-savvy, did live interviews with various Latin American TV and radio outlets while his plane circled the Honduras capital. Though one’s gut instinct is to root for the embattled President-in-exile, it is worth reading this Slate article that points out that the President made horrible decisions for his country and was running roughshod over the constitution there before he was ousted.

Roger Federer won his 15th Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon yesterday. Federer outlasted Andy Roddick into a fifth set that lasted for hours. I feel bad for Roddick, because even while I was watching yesterday’s match (one of the greatest I have ever seen) I could tell it was just going to become a footnote to last year’s epic championship match between Federer and Nadal.

Your “this-is-an-outrage” fact of the day: The health-care industry is spending $1.4 million a day lobbying Congress to influence the current debate over the future of our nations health care system.

You “this-is-not-news” story of the day: The head of MI6′s wife put photos of him up on facebook. I don’t think his identity is a secret though, so why do we care?

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Your Morning News 10.29.08

Posted by Josh in , , , , , ,

The Wall Street Journal is really starting to get into this banner headline thing, as they splashed yesterday’s massive market gains across all columns. U.S. stocks are looking ready to continue yesterday’s massive gains as investors speculate on a rate cut by the Fed. Yesterday was the second-largest point gain in market history. Thought some are still cautious because the largest point gain in history took place on October 16 of this year and, well, things got ugly after that [By the time I finished this post, the markets had opened and were slightly down as investors wait for the Fed's announcement this afternoon].

The New York Times is trying to get ahead of the next crisis before it even happens. They are reporting that the tightening of credit markets is going to start to trickle down to consumer credit cards. Soon it will be harder to get credit cards and harder to get large lines of credit. Even if you have a card, your bank might be reducing your credit limit or revoking the card if you have bad credit or are deemed too risky. I am sure this will make life tough for a lot of people, but the fact that yesterday I was offered a credit card in the mail, when I bought a soda and when I bought some pants, I think a little tightening in this market might not be the worst thing.

Tom Friedman explains how decreasing oil prices (when did it hit $57 a barrel) will give the US increased leverage when negotiating with Iran and Russia. He points out that a hypothetical President Barack Hussein Obama would flummox the Iranian worldview, further giving the US the upper hand in any negotiations. Of course, a hypothetical President McCain would just invade, which would fit neatly into the Iranian worldview but probably also flummox them somewhat.

Finally, we are all vindicated by our chosen method of wasting time. A study by the British think-tank Demos suggests that attempts to ban employees’ use social networking software like facebook could damage a company in the long run. The study finds that employees are not just using facebook for personal reasons; They are also using it to collaborate, share documents, and develop closer relationships with customers and ex-coworkers so a blanket ban halts productive activity. Let me be the first to thank the good people at Demos and suggest some possible new studies:

  • Beers at lunch and increased afternoon creativity.
  • Napping in empty conference rooms and increased job satisfaction.
  • Employees who spend all their time blogging at 2.0somethings should be given raises.