Tag Archives: economics

Bookmarks for November 30th

By Ed Fladung | December 2, 2009
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Bookmarks for October 23rd

By Ed Fladung | October 23, 2009
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Bookmarks for October 6th

By Ed Fladung | October 6, 2009
  • Samoan Tsunami Surfer Survivor story
    harrowing account of a surfer in Samoa who was out surfing, when the tsunami hit.
  • Why Capitalism Fails (and why it will fail again)
    "Since the global financial system started unraveling in dramatic fashion two years ago, distinguished economists have suffered a crisis of their own. Ivy League professors who had trumpeted the dawn of a new era of stability have scrambled to explain how, exactly, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression had ambushed their entire profession.Amid the hand-wringing and the self-flagellation, a few more cerebral commentators started to speak about the arrival of a “Minsky moment,” and a growing number of insiders began to warn of a coming “Minsky meltdown.”" [via Glen E Friedman]
  • The Politics of Spite – NYTimes.com
    Paul Krugman lays down some truthiness about why the current form of the Republican part: "at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America."
  • Red Lionfish Invade Caribbean
    bat shit insane!: The red lionfish, a tropical native of the Indian and Pacific oceans that probably escaped from a Florida fish tank, is showing up everywhere _ from the coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola to Little Cayman. Wherever it appears, the adaptable predator corners fish and crustaceans up to half its size with its billowy fins and sucks them down in one violent gulp.
    Research teams observed one lionfish eating 20 small fish in less than 30 minutes. "This may very well become the most devastating marine invasion in history," said Mark Hixon, an Oregon State University marine ecology expert who compared lionfish to a plague of locusts. "There is probably no way to stop the invasion completely." – This article says that the infestation is limited to the eastern caribean. not true. they are catching Lionfish by the dozen in Cozumel and the Riviera Maya.
  • Yale Daily News – Yale Press drops distinctive logo
    “Branding tip: if your organization is lucky enough to have a classic Paul Rand logo, never ever fucking change it. Ever.” — Justin Ouellette [via Jen Bekman]
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Bookmarks for July 4th

By Ed Fladung | July 4, 2009
  • The Great American Bubble Machine : Rolling Stone
    required reading for the 4th of July: "Goldman's role in the sweeping global disaster that was the housing bubble is not hard to trace. Here again, the basic trick was a decline in underwriting standards, although in this case the standards weren't in IPOs but in mortgages. By now almost everyone knows that for decades mortgage dealers insisted that home buyers be able to produce a down payment of 10 percent or more, show a steady income and good credit rating, and possess a real first and last name. Then, at the dawn of the new millennium, they suddenly threw all that shit out the window and started writing mortgages on the backs of napkins to cocktail waitresses and ex-cons carrying five bucks and a Snickers bar."
  • Surreality Only Beginning | TPM
    please file this under "batshit crazy": "It looks like a duck and quacks like a duck. Either Palin is resigning ahead of some titanic scandal (which should emerge in short order if it exists) or her resignation was triggered by an even more extreme mental instability than we'd previously suspected."
  • Travelling Surf Enforcer for Hire (Windandsea to O'side Harbor)
    What I'm selling here is one week of regulation at your break. This includes intimidation and violence against the donkeys sporting SUP's, sponges, Stewart longboards, and funboards…. (via @surfysurfy)
  • Ruins of the Second Gilded Age – The New York Times
    Photo essay with captions by Edgar Martins documenting the recent real estate bust in the United States. "People are present in these images, bit not physically. You trace their action, the destruction they left behind." – amazing.
  • "Nearest Tube" Augmented Reality App for iPhone
    We've been hearing a lot about "augmented reality". Here is a perfect video example of how "augmented reality" will help your daily life. think of this as an simple version of how this concept will change our lives in the future.
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Bookmarks for June 19th

By Ed Fladung | June 19, 2009
  • I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel on Vimeo
    1000 frames per second video. ultra slow motion. skip to the 2 minute mark to see the block of jello bouncing (shot at 2500 fps). so amazing. I'd love to see this camera used on a fatty Teahupoo wave from inside the barrel.
  • Al Jazeera English – Focus – Iran on the brink?
    if there is only one article you read about what's happening inside iran right now, politically, read this one. amazing! Mark Levine walks through the different power structures in the government and the potential scenarios for dealing with the protests.
  • Food, Inc. Movie Site and Trailer – Hungry For Change?
    Great trailer, for what looks to be a great movie. That most people won't want to see, because the truth hurts too much. Incidentally, they used to say "you are what you eat". and us gutter punks would chime back "if you are what you eat, then we're all dead meat!" and stick up our two fingers and make the screw face like Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten. The early 90s were a bright, young, innocent time. Now the refrain goes something like "if you are what you eat, than were all highly processed food products" or even "if you are what you eat, then we're all full of shit." that last one is more true than most people know.
  • Asia Times Online :: Divine assessment vs people power
    a huge article on the internal power struggle going on in Iran right now. This is just about election results. It's about a failed system of government and their attempts to stay in power: "As much as corporate media – from anywhere – has been rendered mostly irrelevant. Iranians are deploying an absolute non-stop, 24/7 thriller; a guerrilla communication redux, an ultra-raw version of history in the making via blogs – this is a nation of young bloggers – YouTube and Twitter, battling by all means necessary ultra-slow or shut down Internet, jammed phone lines going in and out, blocked chats, blocked SMS."
  • Nathan Bransford – Literary Agent: Query Letter Mad Lib
    This is an explicit how-to recipe on the proper way to put together a "query letter" for contacting potential literary agents. good advice, wish i found it first before sending out a bunch of queries. oops.
  • On Assignment: Covering Tehran – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com
    images from the Iran election protests taken by 28-year old Newsha Tavakolian, a Times freelanc photographer. These images have a very different feel from the ones we've been seeing from Getty and AP. much more intimate.
  • AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher
    trying to find an literary agent to help you publish your blog book? this is a great resource.
  • Shane Lavalette: A Quiet Heaven in Vrindavan, India | GOOD
    beautiful photography by Shane Lavalette taken in India. very quiet photos. something not normally in unison with India. Shane is also the editor/curator of wicked zine Lay Flat.
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Bookmarks for June 8th

By Ed Fladung | June 8, 2009
  • Ayalon on speech: The new "axis of pragmatic forces" | Israel Policy Forum
    amazing analysis of Obama's middel east speech by Isreal's Mahjor General Ami Ayalon. a great read. – Ayalon: We are witnessing the beginning of new American diplomacy in the Middle East whereby it will no longer appear to be very, very pro-Israel, but, as was obvious in the speech, it will be more balanced. Israel has to now understand that this president really believes that there is a common denominator of moderate Arabs, Americans and Israelis. It is a new phenomenon in Middle East diplomacy because we have long believed that the US and Israel represented one side of the conflict and the Arab world and Muslims the other side. But unlike previous administrations where the world was divided by an axis of evil, particularly that of President Bush, Mr. Obama divides the world by an axis of pragmatic forces. [ via TPM]
  • Castles In L.A. | SurfingMagazine.com
    oh snaps! new movie from Taylor Steele and Dustin Humphrey: "“This is my passion project,” said Taylor Steele who was sporting a solid gash in the head from stitches he picked up during a recent trip to India. “These trips and these movies [Sipping Jetstreams and Castles in the Sky] are the films that we get to see the world in a whole new way. We take risks in making them. Travel long distances on a whim. Say yes when strangers invite us over for tea. That’s what makes them so special."
  • YouTube – Bookcast: Author Don Thompson and his new book
    Author Don Thompson in an interview with National Post talks about his book "$12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art" – if you don't catch the shark reference, about Damien Hirst. [via @longdrivesouth]
  • View Master: Diorama Photography by Lori Nix, Jonah Samson and Grace Weston
    very cheeky sex-driven diorama photography from Jonah Samson. Love the top one, of the swimming pool.
  • Seth Godin's Blog
    Amazing reading on entrepenurship, marketing yourself and generally how to navigate the choppy waters of transitioning business to the internet. Godin's blog posts are prescient, witty and full of good advice. on publishing: "Mark this down as another job for the new economy: someone who can collate, amplify and leverage the work of writers and turn it into cash. I don't believe that there's one solution, not this time. But I'm confident that around the edges and deep into niches, there's money being made."
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Bookmarks for March 27th

By Ed Fladung | March 27, 2009
  • The Making of a Narco State: Rolling Stone
    powerful article: "As Mexico descends into brutality and lawlessness, the government itself has become a tool of the drug lords" – Short synopsis: frightengly underpaid police and politicians beg and steal money from narcos. And when the gov't steps up the drug war, things get wild. A lot of people have their hands in the drug pie. If Mexico weren't located next to a country filled with gun-crazy drug addicts, Mexico wouldn't be having this problem.
  • Global currency flies with push from Russia and slip from Timothy Geithner | Business | guardian.co.uk
    China (who is basically single-handedly propping up the dollar by buying our bonds) has signaled that since we are creating so much new currency – which causes inflation, which makes our dollars worth less and their investments worth less – has proposed that an IMF alternative be used as a new alternative to the dollar. This spells the literal end of any American empire that may have been and scares the hell out of me, personally, as a person who deeply believes that the IMF is a shadow world government – as described in Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
  • 43f Podcast: John Gruber & Merlin Mann's Blogging Panel at SxSW | 43 Folders
    if you're in to blogging, writing, or creating anything that deals with the internet, you should listen to this talk from SxSW. amazing and inspirational – "We talked about building a blog you can be proud of, trying to improve the quality of your work, reaching the people you admire, and maybe even making a buck (in a way that doesn’t blow your deal)"
  • The Big Takeover : Rolling Stone
    "The global economic crisis isn't about money – it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution" – great article.
  • PostSurf » Unfiltered Thoughts on Surf Culture:
    PostSurf is possibly one of thee most entertaining and well written surf blogs I've read in awhile. I usually go for the kinda blogs that post sentimental surfing schmata, out of focus trips to the beach photos and shots of newly minted retro kooky surfboards, but I have a soft spot for curmudgeons who like to air dirty laundry. Lewis Samuels can chew up some pixels and despite his irreverent, snarky tone his shit is interesting. Definitely not for everyone, though. He was just fired from Surfline for saying his employer "licks advertisers' balls" among other things. Interesting read. And dude gets like 75 comment per post. damn?!
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Bookmarks for March 2nd

By Ed Fladung | March 2, 2009
  • Tierney Gearon's "Exposure" exhibit
    i'm really digging on the in-camera double-exposure photographs of Tierney Gearon. Amazing stuff. Some of them combine to create images where it's hard to tell which photo is which. really nice. [via every photography blog]
  • Epic Adventures
    Josh and Jocelyn, two youngerish people (not sure how old you guys are?!). They've both just quit their jobs and are getting ready to come down to Mexico to scout around for a new place to live. And their documenting it all on their blog. very cool. definitely worth checking in on them. I really hope they document the highs and lows in their adventure. Interesting experiment.
  • Christopher Hewitt
    A portfolio site for a Director/Designer/Photographer. Site design by Suprb. I really like the super minimal sites these guys do. Lots of javascript going on in this site and lots of "scaffolding" content. Sometimes the text re-wrapping is a bit disorientating, but I really like the one-page feel.
  • ZumoDrive – Hybrid Cloud storage for all your documents and media
    pretty bad-ass personal cloud file storage. check out the demo. amazing piece of software. this is how google's G-drive should work once it finally arrives.
  • The Crisis of Credit Visualized
    "The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California." – incredible animated presentation to explain those big scary words we've all heard recently: sub-prime mortgage, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, etc….
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Born To Lose: Periodic Politics

By Ed Fladung | October 18, 2008

Born To Lose has a timely, funny and ultimately tragic look at our tax system. Explained in the only way most people understand it: through the cost of beer. I gotta say, even with the beer, I almost nodded off in a few places and I have a college degree and I’ve owned my own small business. It’s no wonder why middle and lower income people have no idea how candidates’ tax platform will realistically effect them. Thesis: trickle down economics does not work.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

Go to Born to Lose for the rest, it’s totally worth it.

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