The Zawels & Me - Boston, MA

We hiked the freedom trail, swam in Walden Pond, cycled and jogged the minuteman bikeway, ate, drank, saw "Ice Age 3" and watched TV.

Zak Flying - Walden Pond

China: The New Master of the Universe

PARIS — In past global slowdowns, the United States invariably led the way out, followed by Europe and the rest of the world. But for the first time, the catalyst is coming from China and the rest of Asia, where resurgent economies are helping the still-shaky West recover from the deepest recession since World War II.

Such a shift would have significant ramifications for the United States and the rest of the West, even after the global economic recovery takes hold.

“The economic center of gravity has been shifting for some time, but this recession marks a turning point,” said Neal Soss, chief economist for Credit Suisse in New York. “It’s Asia that’s lifting the world, rather than the U.S., and that’s never happened before.”

Via NYTimes

Vacation from My Vacation

Off to Arlington MA to visit The Zawels for a couples days. And as a bonus, I learned that Parke and Sarah live near by, only a few blocks away. Diner plans are in the works. Parke and I attended Cornell together. And CLEARLY he is doing more with his degree than I am. He's a Professor of Food Economics at Tufts University and curator of the U.S. Food Policy Blog . On Wednesday of next week, I venture to P-town to hang with the Ithaca Girls, and potentially experience another beauty day! Next Saturday, on my way back from P-town, I break up the drive with on evening at the Herrmans in Stonington CN.

Let the festivities begin! I cycled 86K today in the rain today to loose a bit of my whale costume and then purchased a few new t-shirts from my favorite "urban label" store. (Vengeance is Mine; Fear; Respect; Revenge"). And while I'm gone, friends from Spain are staying at my apartment and taking in the sights of NYC. So it all worked out.

Barney Frank WTF

Barney Frank clearly needs to go AWAY. He hates the world and everybody in it, except himself.

Quinn at 3 weeks old.

Quinn at 3 weeks old, with his mommy, Ayo and daddy, Eric.

Ayo is good friend from Ithaca. She and Eric now live in DC.

Brad Pitt Running for Mayor

Brad Pitt reaffirms his pro-gay, anti-religion, pro-marijuana platform, in which he's running on for Mayor of New Orleans. He says "religion doesn't make sense to me, gay marriage does".

The Future of Marketing

1) Produce a quality product.
2) Find the market.
3) Let those within the market tell each other about it.

Facebook Cornering Market on E-Friends
Fight to Own Social Media Heats Up

Facebook's purchase of FriendFeed, an obscure social-media platform, is potentially momentous. To understand why, we must understand FriendFeed, a start-up that is ubiquitous among techies and unknown to everybody else. It's a sleek application that acts as a clearinghouse for all of your social-media activities. Post something to Flickr? That will show up on your FriendFeed page. Digg something? FriendFeed will know. Post to Twitter from your phone? FriendFeed will syndicate your tweets. Once you initially tell it where to look, it will collect everything and tell it to the world.

Soon we'll all be keeping track in the public domain of what we like and dislike, and looking to each other, or at least those with opinions we respect, before we consume.

Obama Goes After Politicians Spreading "Death Panels" Lie At Colorado Town Hall

This is why the internet is so much better than TV: YouTube Comments.

DesertChief06
How great is it that we now have a president who can grasp complex policy ideas and convey them to the American public, using complete sentences, without talking down to us? And while he is frank and honest about the consequences of inaction on health care reform, he doesn't try to scare the shit out of us at every turn like his predecessor did.

IamJustinM
The Republican Party should have learned in the election that Barack Obama has an uncanny ability to take their "spin", exaggerations, and their downright lies and turn them against them. The "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" tactic just does not work against President Barack Obama.

sampaths
If anything Obama needs to get more passionate - angry, even. Forget saying it "feels dishonest" - call them bald-faced lies and be done with it. Go on the attack, screw diplomacy.

I agree with the last commenter Obama needs to get passionate and in-everyone's-face, if he wants his Obamacare plan to pass. He's coming across as too vanilla. Personally, I could care less if it passes or not. Healthcare is for sissies!

Hard To Believe There Will Not Be Another Dip

The "road to recovery" has been too, too easy!

How To Get Fired Via Facebook

The Land of Opportunity

Shut Out at Home, Americans Go to China Any twenty-something or less looking at long-term prosperity, should head to China.

In the early, 1900's all my grandparents seeking economic opportunities emigrated from Poland to the U.S.A, along with numerous of immigrants from all over the world. The U.S.A. was founded on innovation and technology, along with a heavy dose of immigrant work ethic and ingenuity. Today, the children of the immigrants like myself don't want to work. We like being lazy, drinking beer, watching TV, spending more time trying not to do work than actually working, but still wanting to get paid.

Twenty-somethings head to China. You'll have a better life in the long run. English 330 million people in the World today speak English, compared to 1.1 billion people who speak Mandarin Chinese. The Chinese consumer culture is just beginning.

Project Porchlight!!

At least ONE festivalgoer was positively psyched to see Project Porchlight at the event. Breana Novak (pictured here),18, of Flemington, New Jersey, learned about Project Porchlight last year during our campaign in Vermont. While attending a sustainable energy summer program at the Governors’ Institute of Vermont, she volunteered for a Project Porchlight CFL bulb distribution in Burlington.

“I got soooo excited when I saw the Project Porchlight table at the Ballooning Festival, and I’m definitely going to volunteer before the end of the summer,” says Breana, who will move to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon University in the fall.

Honestly, I haven't a clue what project Project Porchlight is about. I'm just posting this to embarrass my niece, whom I just burned 10 CDs of albums and mixes for her ride to Pittsburgh next week. I'm sure she'll hate every single song I've burned, but that's what generational gaps are for, innit!

Crazy Stuff. Don't Try At Home.

NSFW - Sunset Television - Episode 4 (Sadness)

A lot of random sick stuff in cyberspace like this video. And more here!

Of Course It’s Fresh: The Chef Grew It

RINGOES, N.J. — It is near midday, and the parking lot of the Harvest Moon Inn is empty. Stanley Novak’s shift as chef is hours away, but he has been working already, cutting the grass on the restaurant’s five-acre property, taking particular care around the rows of some 300 heirloom tomato plants, the cucumbers, the raspberries, the eggplants and other crops. He has been weeding, too, in the raised beds stuffed with salad greens and herbs.

Mr. Novak and his wife, Theresa, opened their upscale New American restaurant in Hunterdon County in 1995, and Mr. Novak has grown a portion of the food for its kitchen ever since.

Full NYT Article Brother's Restaurant.

Once Again the Religious Bigots Are Wrong

Citing 83 studies performed since 1960, yesterday the American Psychological Association declared that "reparative therapy" (the "ex-gay" movement") for homosexuals does not work and should not be attempted.

In a resolution adopted by the APA's governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of "reparative therapy" — a concept espoused by a small but persistent group of therapists, often allied with religious conservatives, who maintain gays can change.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the resolution, adopted by a 125-4 vote. The APA said some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies. Instead of seeking such change, the APA urged therapists to consider multiple options — that could range from celibacy to switching churches — for helping clients live spiritually rewarding lives in instances where their sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.

The APA had criticized reparative therapy in the past, but a six-member task force added weight to this position by examining 83 studies on sexual orientation change conducted since 1960.

Press release here . After a while, one wishes the religious bigots would read a the Bible, instead of relying to their idiot clergy to decipher it for them. People are drawn to the ministry, because they are stupid and can't get accepted into any other institute of higher learning, so they attend seminary school.

The Bible is ONLY ONE book. Read it! It's full of hatred: condoning slavery, oppression of woman, homophobia, stoning sinners, condemning people who have different beliefs to hell, etc. People need to stop depending on the stupid, corrupt clergy to read the Bible for them.

95% of Christians have not read the Bible. Why be a Christian then? Like I said the Bible is only one book, read it! It doesn't make sense? There's a reason it doesn't make sense.

National Farmers Market Week

Yes, it is! This week marks the 10th Annual National Farmers Market Week. Don't forget to support your locals farmers. I just visited Newark's Weekly Farmers Market. Fresh corn, tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, beets, green beans...yum!

Good Day

While glancing at the list of top daily gainers, I often muse: why couldn't have had the insight to purchase these stocks prior to the jump.

Well this time I did. I've been playing RDN and PMI (see bottom of linked post), since Sept. 08, mostly on volatility. But about a month and a half ago, I jumped in big time. Hopefully, PMI will pop on Friday after Q2 report.

From my years and years of researching real estate loan loss data, the one thing I've learned: always, always, always bet on the future. Real estate always bounces back.

When RND says they see a Bottom In Mortgage Insurance Losses it HAS to be GOOD. Much of their projected dooms day losses will now be reversed.

Those Dating Services...

Who's Using the Internet?

China is now a bigger internet user than the U.S. (based on total numbers, of course). I wonder if China has it's own version of Netfilx, Amazon, and RottenTomato.com?

UPDATE 8/10: An Online Market Flourishes in China . Knew it would flourish, and this is only the start.

Who Has ALL The OIL?

The wealth In the Western World is bolstered by consumer spending, technology and innovation. We then ship this wealth over to the Middle East.

Every time Americans fills up their tank with petrol - they are basically writing a check to the wealthy sheiks and Muslim regimes in the Middle East.

There is no need for technology and innovation in the Middle East because their income is derived through natural resources.

Political Party Affiliation: 30 States Blue, 4 Red in '09

Bush has really decimated the Republican party. Nobody wants to be a Republican these days. It seems like it becoming the party of old, racist, white men. Republicans have to do something to reinvent itself. I'd say focus on taxes and spending, but Obama has given a huge tax cut to the middle class. Republicans are desperately trying to portray Obama as a spender based on the huge federal deficit. But as the economy turns around, so will the national coffers. Huge killings are being made in the stock market this year, which means greater tax revenue next year. Republicans could jump on social conservative, but there doesn't seem to be many left except gay marriage and abortion. And with the majority of youth rejecting religion and supporting gay marriage, this doesn't seem it's a viable avenue for the Repubs. But even with that said, give the Dems 12 years to screw things up and the Repubs will be back on top.
Gallup Poll

Housing Market Begins Slow Rebound

By every measure, except foreclosures, the housing market has stabilized and many areas are recovering, according to a spate of data released in the past two weeks. Nationwide, home resales in June are up 9 percent from January, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Sales of new homes have climbed 17 percent during the same period. And construction, while still anemic, has risen almost 20 percent since the beginning of the year.

Now's the time to buy. Interest rates at 5.25% and housing prices near or at bottom.

Quote by Jerry Powell...

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness.

Just Copied This From FB

i was out shopping today at bridge water mall.then me and my friends were like alirhg were going to go to mcdonals and so we did......and then holy shiz theyre was 12 hot guys outside of mc's 3 had shirts of and they had abs.i was like best trip to mcd's ever!!!!!seeing them made me thing of u so i just had to tell you<3333miss you<3333

The author attends Catholic School.