Month: November 2008

The Image of “The Audacity Of Hope”

Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright once referenced this 1885 painting as a symbol of 'the audacity to hope.' Tate, London/Art resource
Muse: Barack Obama

Entitled “Hope,” the canvas hanging inside London’s Guildhall Art Gallery as part of an exhibition by Victorian painter George Frederic Watts might appear unremarkable to some.

In drab browns and grays on a blue background, it depicts a young blindfolded woman strumming on the last unbroken string of a harp, her ear to the instrument.

Obama’s controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright invoked the image as a symbol of inspiration during a sermon in Chicago 20 years ago.

The harpist, he preached, “is sitting there in rags … her clothes are tattered as though she had been a victim of Hiroshima… [yet] the woman had the audacity to hope.”

via A painting called ‘Hope’ wins fans as Barack Obama’s inspiration | csmonitor.com

The End of Wall Street’s Boom

Ji Lee
Photoillustration by: Ji Lee

The era that defined Wall Street is finally, officially over. Michael Lewis, who chronicled its excess in Liar’s Poker, returns to his old haunt to figure out what went wrong. And it is ugly.

via The End of Wall Street’s Boom – National Business News – Portfolio.com

Anatomy of a meltdown

Building a Bubble

The New Deal Didn’t Always Work, Either

The traditional story is that President Franklin D. Roosevelt rescued capitalism by resorting to extensive government intervention; the truth is that Roosevelt changed course from year to year, trying a mix of policies, some good and some bad. It’s worth sorting through this grab bag now, to evaluate whether any of these policies might be helpful.

If I were preparing a “New Deal crib sheet,” I would start with the following lessons: Economic View – The New Deal Didn’t Always Work, Either – NYTimes.com

How our Greed Turned To Fear, Again

Losing our shirt? The problem is that our banks are also losing theirs. Illustration by Barry Blitt.
Losing our shirt? The problem is that our banks are also losing theirs. Illustration by Barry Blitt.

Not so long ago, the dollar stood for a sum of gold, and bankers knew the people they lent to. The author charts the emergence of an abstract, even absurd world—call it Planet Finance—where mathematical models ignored both history and human nature, and value had no meaning. A lengthy but cogent explanation of how we got here.

via Wall Street Lays Another Egg: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

Most Politically Incorrect Restaurant?

heartattackburgernursesAn “all you can eat” French Fry bar, which are fried in pure lard, capped by a 8000 calories burger, where even the bun is cooked in lard, no diet drinks – could this be the most politically incorrect restaurant in the world. Click on the link below for more.

via Heart Attack Grill Diet Center

1955 – Year of the Tech Billionaire

“Well, luck, if you look at a list of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley an incredible number of them are born in 1955. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google. All the founders of Sun Microsystems are born in the same year. That is not a coincidence. It has to do with the fact that the personal computer revolution happens in 1975 when they were 20 years old and that is the perfect age to be confronted with a revolution. Right? You don’t have a family or kids or a mortgage. Your mind is wide open. You’ve got nothing at stake in the existing order of things and you can embrace some new paradigm.”

via Is The Self-Made Man A Myth?, CBS Evening News: Best-Selling Author Malcolm Gladwell Explains His Out-Of-The-Box Thinking – CBS News

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.750740&w=425&h=350&fv=]

more about “Is The Self-Made Man A Myth?, CBS Eve…“, posted with vodpod

Do Vitamins Work?

many people gobble down megadoses of vitamins believing that they boost the body’s ability to mop up damaging free radicals that lead to cancer and heart disease. In addition to the more recent research, several reports in recent years have challenged the notion that vitamins are good for you.

via News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins – Well Blog – NYTimes.com

5 Myths on Our Sick Health Care System

At 17 percent of gross domestic product, health care is the biggest single sector of the economy, and it's consuming a larger and larger proportion every year. According to CBO projections, health care will account for 25 percent of GDP by 2025 and 49 percent by 2082. That's simply unsustainable. Any plan that reforms health care has to do more than simply cover the uninsured. The nation's health and wealth depend on it.

via 5 Myths on Our Sick Health Care System – washingtonpost.com

Surfing the World’s Longest Surfboard

surf1-20-2008_60528_lRIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian surfer broke his own record after riding a wave on an extra-long 30-foot (9.16-metre) surfboard for over ten seconds.

In 2006, Rico de Souza broke the Guinness World Record by riding a wave on a 25.6-foot board (8.05-m).From his prior experience, Souza developed the new 100-kilo (220-pound) surfboard with the adjustments he had missed before.

Souza said that surfing the lengthy board was a challenging, but thrilling experience.Souza also organized another record in September this year, when 88 people surfed the same wave for over ten seconds up four from 2007.  VIDEO

via Brazilian breaks record for surfing on longest board

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