Nice

 Martin Luther King’s family demanded, and received, $800,000 for the right to use quotes of his on this new monument.  So not only is it ugly and made in China, it’s really a monument to his family’s greed. Great.

Other than the French, who gives a rat’s ass?

 Jerry Lewis may, or may not, host MDA Labor Day telethon.

This is almost funny

Hurricane Irene hits Puerto Rico and Obama declares it a disaster zone, “making it eligible for federal relief”.  Puerto Rico is nothing except an island living on the federal teat, so what extra “federal relief” does it need (or deserve)?

Oh isn’t this so sad?

White House, 1987

Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 59. My God, she gave UConn fits over the years and I really enjoyed watching this tough, able woman guide her girls to championships. I’m so sorry to learn of this.

UPDATE: I added this picture from 1987 because Reagan had the same disease at that time and not only continued to run the country but did a far better job at it than the present occupant of the office.  Surely running a basketball team can’t be that much more complicated.

Snarking at Mitt Romney

He’s tearing down a 3,000 sq. ft. house in La Jolla (I’m such an idiot that until 10 or 15 years ago, I thought there were two different towns in California, one called La Hoya, the other La Jolla) and from the commentary, you’d think he was a barbarian. I’m not a particular fan of the man but there are 28 people – kids, grandchildren, etc. in his immediate family and 3,000 sq. ft. just won’t cut it. hey, he’s got the land and the money to expand and California is the original birthplace of the tear-down phenomenon; in fact my own grandfather’s Hollywood mansion was one of the first to go, in the 80’s, so what’s the beef? Nice house though, if you check out the pictures.

A&P – the first Wal-Mart

Interesting interview on NPR this morning of the author of a book on A&P and how it changed the way we shop. Beginning in the 20’s, they knocked off corner grocers and brought efficient food distribution to the country, cutting down the average family’s food budget from a third of their income to – well, much less. The government hated that, of course, and in 1940 FDR sued them on anti-trust grounds. It’s true that hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost by the mom and pops put out of business but new jobs opened up and of course, millions of citizens benefited from paying so much less for food. Didn’t save A&P from the government.

But I won’t be around in 2030

Fed economists see a 15 year bear market but, on the bright side, think stocks will be up 20% by 2030.  That’s bound to cheer someone up, but not me.

The college bubble bursts

From Instapundit:

BIGGEST COLLEGE REGRETS: “The day that I signed on the dotted line of my promissory note, I didn’t even understand what it would mean to have to pay back more than $40,000 in student loans. I’ll tell you what it means: living in a crappy apartment in Queens well into my 30s. I vaguely remember my dad trying to get the message through to me, but I must have had cotton in my teenage ears.” As stories like this spread, the higher education bubble will deflate.

 

A $20 million bribe to UBS?

I may be reading this story wrong but it seems that, in exchange for UBS keeping 2,000 jobs in Stamford (down from 4,000) for the next five years, Connecticut is giving them a $20 million “forgivable” loan. What the F? Didn’t we already grant them a huge subsidy to locate here in the first place? Don’t they already have a commitment to stay here for five years? Call me stupid, but I think Malloy’s even dumber.

Nice layman’s discussion of Hurricane Irene by Brendan Loy

I’m glad he finally posted.  I tried his site yesterday but he was silent. Loy’s just a young lawyer but is also a self-described “weather geek” and always has stuff that even this disaster geek can understand. Plus he has good links for those who want more technical explanations.  Bottom line: good chance that the hurricane will trend east, offshore and just brush the coast, but there’s no possible way to be certain of that at his point, so keep that flashlight handy.

Riverside mommies go nuts

Twice today, in just four hours, a Riverside mommy in an expensive SUV (one a Mercedes, the other a Porsche) zoomed by me on my right, one on the Exit 5 exit ramp, the other on the Riverside Avenue – I-95 overpass, only to end up next to me at the traffic light controlling both routes. What gives? It’s August, traffic is light, and there are kids playing. You can’t stick to the speed limit? Why?

Paging Mike Finkbeiner or any other earth scientist

How can an earthquake be felt near the Civic Center in Old Greenwich but not in a house near Binney Park or my house in Riverside? I took a number of geology classes in college but obviously didn’t get far enough into this subject. Fascinating.

What earthquake?

One hit in Virginia and people as far away as Hartford claim they felt it. I sure didn’t. Did you? When Pal Nancy and I first moved into our 1835 farmhouse in Maine back in 1981 we were awakened by what I assumed was some kind of fire in our furnace, then I remembered that we used a wood stove and didn’t have a furnace. Now that was an earthquake. I can’t remember where it originated, but it shook all of northern New England.

UPDATE: Judging from the comments and this article, effects were spotty. I’m curious how that works – why lower New York, and some parts of Greenwich but not Riverside or Bedford? Odd. Funny thing is, I’ll bet this wouldn’t even merit a phone call to the police in California, but we’re just not used to them here.

I was going to make fun of this lady but on reflection, I don’t think she’s all that off target

Congresswoman blames unemployment on racism. She actually cites a whole slew of causes for the 40% unemployment rate among young black males (although she fails to mention the difficulties encountered by those with a criminal record) but really whether racism plays a part or not, a 40% unemployment rate is just awful. I know builders who won’t hire blacks, claiming that they’won’t show up on time, skip entire days when they feel like it and shirk hard work when they do appear. Is that accurate or racism? Damned if I know, but those same builders have no problem hiring Hispanics, so maybe it is true. If so, how do we instill a work ethic in young black kids? Again, damned if I know.

WGCH’s Sponge Bob kid going down hard

According to Teri Buhl, his co-defendant has cut a deal and will rat out Michael Metter. If you want to laugh at the naivety of penny stock dupes, check out the message board from Sponge Tech of a year ago, if it’s still around, and read some of the furious responses of readers to the notion that they’d been ripped off. Truly astounding. Unfortunately for its growing reputation as the home for such people, Metter was arrested before he’d accumulated enough cash to move from Tinker Lane to Round Hill Road.

UPDATE: Background on this Greenwich crook here.

I can think of worse ideas

Bullet voting to ensure that Drew Marzullo stays on the Board of Selectmen. I think John Blankley, Democrat candidate for First Selectman, would do a fine job in that office, but there are those who like Drew so much that they’re tempted to vote only for him and not Blankley to make sure Marzullo gets more votes and stays as a selectman (the three highest vote getters of the four candidates serve as selectmen).

It’s probably too late but …

Sellers take warning. Thousands of layoffs to hit Wall Street this fall.

Most excellent article on fighting in Afghanistan

By Michael Yon. Not pro or con, just descriptive, and the best I’ve read.

Slow, but some activity

3 Owenoke Way

3 Owenoke Way, in Riverside, sold for $2.3 million. I liked this house even though it was perched on the corner of two busy streets, Owenoke and Hendrie Ave. A decent price, I think.

4 Buxton, also in Riverside, sold for $2.6, down from its ask of $2.9. Sellers paid $2.4 for it in 2009 and added $100,000 in improvements so they made out okay.

27 Midwood, in Deer Park, started at $12.775 back in 2008 and has now dropped to $9.250 today. Still room, I think, but a nice house and a great neighborhood.

133 Lake Avenue has raised its price to $775,000 after failing to sell at $649,000. This rarely works.

New home sales on pace for worst year ever

That doesn’t bode well.