Largely a repeat of his books but interesting in context of the last few days/weeks/months. The Fourth Quadrant: A Map of the limits of Statistics.

I learned today from my new favorite blog myballard.com that our zip code is the eight fastest selling in the country, with an average time on the market of 86 days. Looking at the list Ballard has done pretty well in comparison to many higher up on the list, like Plano, Tex. (#4) where prices are down 2.8% year-over-year, and #7 Wakefield, Mass. (down 7.3%). We’re down just 0.9%.

Like most averages this one is totally meaningless. The slow end of the average has to be dominated by overpriced condos (like the two next door to us that have not sold in over a year - dunno who we should thank more for that, the a-hole developers who left nails in our driveway and gave us three flat tires over the year, or my neighbor who with his Native American friend put a curse on the a-hole developers) and run-down overpriced tear downs with a good view and elderly owners who need to cash out to retire.

Interesting political piece in the New Yorker: The Code Of The West: What Barack Obama can learn from Bill Ritter.

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Originally uploaded by smooth.

Thank you racoons, for ruining my only remaining pumpkin and not even EATING the fu*king thing.

So yeah, maybe our entire financial system is melting down (thanks wall street), we’ve f’d up the environment to the point of no return, and our war mongering has pissed off the entire rest of the world. And this week I’ve discovered that China even has some really bad ass female beach volleyball players.

It’s times like these that I like to think about arenas in which we’re still unquestionably the dominant world power. 5 things the US still kicks ass at:

Julia Child was a spy?

Former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell says yes - we have been visited. The interesting question to me is… how long could X people inside the government, NASA, etc. keep a secret like this before credible evidence from a credible source comes out? The key would be keeping a lock on the evidence, so without simultaneous confirmation from a large group of insiders each leak looks like a minor kook.

Update: here are the pictures: http://www.news.com.au/gallery/0,23607,5029118-5007150-1,00.html

From cnn: Bush: Olympic boycott would insult Chinese. I think that’s the point.

Not that I’m in favor of an olympic boycott, I just can’t resist the opportunity.

As if I needed another reason not to buy an American car, the inside cover of this week’s Business Week includes this gem of an ad from Chrysler:

We live in a car culture. Don’t apologize. Without our cars, we lose a measurable source of freedom, individuality and, yes, happiness.

That’s why we consider it our obligation to improve the technology within the car so your experience behind the wheel remains blissfully unaltered.

So thanks Chrysler, glad to hear that you have everything under control.

Dwight Schrute presenting The National

Originally uploaded by smooth.

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