December 2008
57 posts
“I was talking a couple of weeks ago to an executive from another big insurance...”
– Justin Fox on AIG
A changing world (from mbb)...
mbb:
It happened so suddenly, but social media has profoundly changed the world. Between the Obama campaign and Israel’s use of Twitter and Youtbe this week, 2008 has birthed a fundamentally new, and better, media landscape.
Update: The Israeli Consulate just responded to TotSpot’s offer to host videos that were taken down by YouTube (and evidentally, since restored)… this is really amazing.
30GB Zunes all over the world fail en masse →
(via steller)
If you bought a Zune, you deserve it…sort of…
E-Commerce Must-Read →
brianfeinstein:
Elastic Path has published a list of their best posts from 2008. Get Elastic is one of my favorite e-commerce blogs and I highly recommend checking out their 2008 lineup.
“You did not cause the anti-Semitic insults about Jews and money, but you caused...”
– Rabbi Marc Gellman’s Open Letter to Bernie Madoff
Israeli VCs Exceptionally Gloomy on 2009 →
(via steller)
“When thinking about the range of threats, it is common to divide the “high end”...”
– Foreign Affairs - A Balanced Strategy - Robert M. Gates (via brianfeinstein)
Did Brian/Boris blog this because he found Gates’ intellectual argument appealing or because he loved Gates’ description of Russia’s Georgian offensive as “brutally effective”?
My answer:...
Dennis Prager : When a Woman Isn't In the Mood:... →
steller:
i am having trouble believing this is real
if it’s real, it’s scary…
Newsweek: Four Design Firms Take on Rebranding the... →
The GOP needs more than an image makeover or an iPhone app, it needs a more relevant and modern message. Cosmetic changes won’t do the trick.
Dahlia Lithwick indicts Dick Cheney →
Twitter / comcastcares →
steller:
this is cool, the Comcast Director of Digital Care answers customers questions and troubleshoots
On Better Netbooks: Or The Most Obvious Product... →
The success of the netbooks speaks to a desire for second PCs, for machines that we can use on the couch or on the train, rather than at a desk. Their popularity seems of a piece with customers’ growing appetite for simpler, less frilly gadgets. The netbook is like the Flip camcorder of laptops, a device whose myriad limitations seem to enhance, rather than detract from, its appeal. But we...
“I think the answer is simple: in the case of Katrina people could actually see...”
– Krugman
Ex-Bush Aides say Bush never recovered from... →
I think this is pretty spot on and, in general, I’m a big Matt Dowd fan.
Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends... →
(via steller)
“If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at...”
– Jeffrey Goldberg
MBB's Tumblelog
Right now, Mikey Broukhim’s Tumblelog is the most interesting and entertaining thing I’m reading…
If you aren’t subscribing, you should.
Full Disclosure: Mike is my co-founder at TotSpot. That said, promoting his blog is a reflection not of my biases, but of its merits. I wish I could write like he does…For example, from his post on Israel’s Gaza strikes:
...
From the Department of Crazy Russian Predictions: →
“California will form the nucleus of what he calls “The Californian Republic,” and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of “The Texas Republic,” a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an “Atlantic America” that may join the European...
Master of 500 Hats: Silicon Valley 2.0: The... →
mbb:
We are living by this presentation these days… one of the best overviews of metric-driven product development I’ve ever come across.
Dave Barry's Year in Review →
“The thing that strikes me is that all rich countries are urbanized, but not all...”
– Richard Green.
“This may be part of the story. The other part is that we do have more leisure....”
– Tim Harford writing in Slate.
“We don’t have a health-care system in America; we have a “sick...”
– - Tom Harkin on Health Care Reform.
This is an important and, far too often, missed point. The goal of a health care system isn’t to treat sick people, it’s to keep people healthy (the treatment of the sick being a component of this larger ambition). If we re-focus on the broader goal...
Krugman on the Spread Between Agency and Treasury... →
What am I not seeing?
If Fannie and Freddie are effectively nationalized, it seems like investors are getting a free 300 bps for buying Agency bonds…
Krugman on the "Savings Glut" →
“My closing segment on The Call this morning about what I keep calling “the...”
– Paul Kedrosky, on the “New Normal.”
“The brand myth made marketing about something classier and groovier than...”
– Mark Gimein
“We need some perspective here. It is becoming an article of faith in the...”
– Bob Herbert on A Race to the Bottom.
- Via (Will)
Fred Kaplan on Afghanistan →
Yanks get Tex →
As a Yankee fan, I’m happy. As a baseball fan, I’m horrified.
“Early this morning, we posted a letter that carried the name of Bertrand...”
– Editors’ Note - Editor’s Note - NYTimes.com
Wow…that’s a fairly major blunder for the NYT
(via mbb)
Eliot Spitzer on Restoring Trust to the Markets →
Over the past few months, I’ve read a lot about the credit crisis. Most commentators have been clueless. Some, Larry Summers, Felix Salmon, John Hempton, Paul Krugman, Barry Ritholtz, Martin Wolff, have been better. But, strange as it may sound, the best columns might belong to a more-recent entrant - Eliot Spitzer. His writing is clear and concise. His ideas are smart and savvy.
Say what...
Op-Ed Columnist - The Madoff Economy - NYTimes.com →
Paul Krugman is perfect. Not good, not great, but perfect.
“Which is why Madoff’s shocking demise has massively increased the risk...”
– BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Robert Peston
TARP's Intended Beneficiaries - Finance Blog -... →
“The government represents its consituents, and its consituents are bank customers, not the banks themselves. The government now holds a large amount of equity in banks, some of which would certainly be bankrupt right now were it not for Treasury’s intervention. So it has every right to make any demands that it likes, pretty much, on behalf of its constituents.”
Bernie Madoff vs. the Jewish gangsters of... →
“Still, as I found myself more and more disgusted by the (alleged) crimes of Bernie Madoff, I kept thinking—in light of my encounter with Lucky—”Where are the Jewish gangsters of yesteryear?” These were people an ethnic group could be, well, if not exactly proud of, then certainly not entirely ashamed of. At least Meyer Lansky—or “Hyman Roth,” as they called him in...
Madoff Misled SEC in '06, Got Off - WSJ.com →
Bronte Capital: Robust and thorough due diligence... →
John Hempton doesn’t mess around - on the failure of due diligence by fund-of-funds re: Madoff.
FT.com / Columnists / Martin Wolf - ‘Helicopter... →
Bernard Madoff's massive fraud will cripple... →
Meet Shaun Donovan, Affordable Housing’s Man of... →
Department of Transportation seeks two-hour... →
“If the U.S. is to remain economically competitive, we must develop high-speed transportation service for our great cities, just as other countries are doing for theirs,” said Mayor Bloomberg.
$600 million in Jewish charitable funds lost |... →
“Duncan played professional basketball in Australia, and Obama also bragged that...”
– Ben Smith’s Blog: A ‘pragmatic’ ed choice - Politico.com
Sure to make MBB happy…
Obama logo ideas that weren’t chosen | Logo Design... →
An interview with Sol Sender designer of the Obama logo…
Warren Buffett emailed this note to the directors of his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Tuesday after he heard that the U.S. Treasury sold $32 billion in 4-week bills at a yield of 0%:
“This should be bullish for Berkshire. With great foresight, I long ago entered the mattress business in a big way through our furniture operation. Now mattresses have become fully competitive as a place to...
Ben Smith's Blog: Obama 2.0 hints - Politico.com →