We’ve had such a bonanza of good games the past two weeks it’s odd to have nothing to pay attention to tonight. For NY fans, the Rangers have been thrilling and we had Yankees/Mets for four games. The NBA has been fascinating despite Brooklyn losing to the Heat.
So what am I supposed to do tonight?
OK, random NBA predictions:
Heat in 5.
Spurs in 7.
Followed by a thrilling NBA finals with the Heat pulling it off in 7.
But I’m rooting for the Spurs…
I’m guessing most people think that banks in the US never just fail. But that’s what the FDIC is for, to make sure regular people don’t get screwed when they do fail.
And they do.
In the bad recession years (meaning a few years ago) several hundred banks failed each year. This year we are on pace to be the best year since 2007 (when only 3 failed).
One of the blogs I follow lists every bank failure they know about. Just to make a point.
So, Aztec America bank in Berwyn, IL failed. It will likely cost the FDIC fund $18 million. No consumers felt any impact as another bank assumed the deposits (the FDIC picking up the cost).
Big government is bad, except when it’s not…
Friday after work, I was looking for a beer on the way home. As I approached my favorite bar I saw the telltale signs of filming. And sure enough, they were shooting the CBS show, Unforgettable, in my bar.
They had finished and were cleaning up, so I didn’t see anyone famous (I’ve never seen the show, so I wouldn’t know who to look for). It was just a delayed opening while they cleaned up the place and got it ready.
The fascinating part was the one guy who stayed behind to completely get the bar looking exactly how it looked before. They must have put something up on a wall and some paint was missing. The wall is an odd dark purple color. This guy had a full palette of colors to match this color and repaint. They had apparently taken before pictures so they knew exactly what it should look like (probably useful for fraudulent liability claims as well).
One of those aspects of show business that you’d never think of…
Via Business Insider
Their point is that start-ups won’t be able to pay for the better service which is obviously anti-competition. Valid point.
But look at the performance from October to January. There’s no reason for that drop other than extortion by Comcast. That is who the FCC is turning the internet over to.
To paraphrase many
Nice little web site you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to it…
Via Daring Fireball:
Translation From Polite British Spokesperson-ese to Plain English Regarding Samsung’s Rebranding of Heathrow Terminal 5.
We’re every bit as appalled as you are by the crass nature of this, but holy shit you should see how much money they’re paying us. Pass the gin.
Don’t take my word for it. A guy set the Guinness World Record for fastest texting using it (obviously not on an iPhone, it was a Galaxy S4).
Needless to say, they are proud. And I have to try it…
As thorough and clear an explanation as I’ve seen so far:
This Mother’s Day NBC News clip was filmed at my daughter’s school. We know Stella, she lives in our building.
http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/nbcNewsOffsite?guid=nn_09_rel_momcard_140509
Probably only amusing to economics geeks, but excellent understatement from Yellen via the liberal Wall Street Journal…
My wife is out tonight, so on my way home tonight I stopped off at my favorite bar for a beer and a burger. A guy I know was there and he told me that he stopped by because
I have to wait a half hour to get asparagus
I remarked that this was a sentence I could not imagine ever saying. I get it in context, he was at a vegetable place and they were unloading fresh asparagus so he had to wait. But it’s just one of those sentences (“I would be happy to ride your llama”) that I just can’t imagine ever saying.
Hence the title of this post. You might think a random sentence generator created it. If only.
It’s a real theory. Really.
The Simpsons’ Executive Producer, Al Jean, responded to the theory with:
Yes, we had the amazing foresight to predict conflict in the Middle East
Sarcasm is a good thing. Here’s the best explanation I’ve seen. I like that the word “insane” precedes the phrase “conspiracy theory”…
Steve Fischer's Random Blog 