rss feed


   
Politics


    TUESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2008
Hillary is Mom Jeans
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


HILLARY ORDERED THE LOBSTER ON YOUR DATE WITH HER AND ONLY ATE TWO BITES


Not sure if you've caught these websites but they are very clever:

First one is Barack Obama is your new bicycle
[hit refresh once you're there]

What is cooler than your new bicycle? Nothing. Every phrase on the site is an example of what a cool person is:

Barack Obama took off when he heard you weren't coming
Barack Obama picked you up at the airport
Barack Obama helped you move a sofa
Barack Obama remembered your birthday


The exact opposite of cool is mom jeans.
[hit refresh once you're there]

What is less cool than your mom's jeans? Nothing. Every phrase on the site is an example of what an uncool person is:

HILLARY BLOCKED YOUR CAR IN THE DRIVEWAY
HILLARY KEEPS INTERRUPTING THE MOVIE SAYING "WHAT DID HE SAY?"
HILLARY FOLDED THE MAP WRONG
HILLARY LEFT ONE SPOONFUL IN THE ICE CREAM CARTON

These sites are user generated content so they keep getting better and better and better the more people submit. hillaryismomjeans has something like 10,000 random phrases submitted so far so you have to at least see it once (and reload it a few times...).


    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    THURSDAY JANUARY 03, 2008
Construction Spending for November 2007
Report comes out today at 10am
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Economy


    TUESDAY DECEMBER 11, 2007
Federal Open Market Committee December 2007 Statement
Fed Funds Rate released today
   
federalreserve.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    FRIDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2007
Construction Spending for October 2007
Report is released today at 10am
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Off-Topic


    MONDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2007
Nice Job Fenway Park
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: OFF-TOPIC
         


Man with autism sings the national anthem and gets a case of the giggles half way through. Listen to what the crowd does to support him:



    

     Off-Topic blog | Permalink | One comment 0


   
Politics


    MONDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2007
The Politics of Planting - CNN
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


Thank you Judy for the question and thanks for the great work you do on behalf of culinary workers



    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31, 2007
Construction Spending for September 2007
Press release from the Census today at 10am
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Economy


    WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31, 2007
Federal Open Market Committee October 2007 Statement
Fed Funds Rate released today
   
federalreserve.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Economy


    TUESDAY OCTOBER 16, 2007
First baby boomer applied for Social Security benefits Monday
This is the start of an avalanche of applications from the 80 million post-World War II generation born from 1946 to 1964. This lady is the first of the baby boomers, born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946. She will be eligible for benefits after she turns 62 on New Year's Day.
   
chron.com


         
    

     Read full post | Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    THURSDAY OCTOBER 11, 2007
Republican National Convention Logo Photoshopped
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3112814


    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2007
Construction Spending for August 2007
Today at 10am is the press release
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Economy


    TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
Federal Open Market Committee September 2007 Statement
Fed Funds Rate released today
   
federalreserve.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2007
The United States Presidency on Ebay
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320157866712


    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 04, 2007
Construction Spending for July 2007
The press release from the Census comes out at 10am
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | One comment 0


   
Economy


    TUESDAY AUGUST 07, 2007
Federal Open Market Committee August 2007 Statement
Fed Funds Rate released today
   
federalreserve.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    TUESDAY JULY 31, 2007
Construction Spending for June 2007
The report comes out today at 10am
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Off-Topic


    TUESDAY JULY 17, 2007
Political ad from Argentina
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: OFF-TOPIC
         


Check it out, a little over 2 minutes:



It's about 5 years old and has been translated to English - clever stuff

    

     Off-Topic blog | Permalink | One comment 0


   
Off-Topic


    SATURDAY JULY 14, 2007
The Tonkin Gulf Incident
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: OFF-TOPIC
         


There is some buzz around the net about the Tonkin Gulf phantom attack. I hate to admit but I had never even heard of this before. Here is some basic summary of it from NPR.org:


from NPR:

                   On Sunday Aug. 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the American destroyer the USS Maddox in Southeast Asia's Gulf of Tonkin.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara told President Lyndon B. Johnson that a covert strike against North Vietnam two days earlier likely provoked the attack upon the Maddox.

Left, an oil painting depicting the attack.



Right, the three attacking North Vietnamese torpedo boats, as seen from the Maddox.

The U.S. destroyer damaged two of the boats and sank the third. Retaliation by the Americans was limited to attacking those boats that day. The Maddox and another destroyer, the Turner Joy, were then deliberately positioned to draw a second attack.

            



                   Two days later, on Aug. 4, McNamara, left, reported to Johnson that an American destroyer in the region was under torpedo attack by the North Vietnamese. That brief conversation was the tipping point for the entire Vietnam War.

Johnson ordered American forces to openly attack the North, and he asked Congress to pass a resolution pre-approving any military actions the president would take.

                 



                          Johnson on Aug. 4, 1964, announcing that the U.S. will retaliate against North Vietnam for two attacks on American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Later, Johnson and others would learn the second attack, which propelled the president and Congress to enter the Vietnam War, never happened.

                                


So if I get this right:

A United States covert strike against North Vietnam by an American Destroyer ship (the Maddox) provokes 3 North Vietnamese torpedo boats to attack back at the Maddox.

During their attack, the Maddox completely sinks one and damages the other two NV torpedo boats and never even gets hit.

Then the Maddox, as well as another American destroyer (the Turner Joy) are deliberately positioned to draw a second attack

The Defense Secretary (assuming that those two ships would be attacked) tells the President that they were under torpedo attack by the North Vietnamese.

Johnson orders American forces to attack North Vietnam
       (and gets Congress to pre-approve further military actions)

America assumes that this is a retaliation so the Vietnam war begins - but it turns out that the second attack never even happened and the first attack was provoked...

But that is what justified the beginning of the Vietnam War?

    

     Off-Topic blog | Permalink | Four comments 0


   
Housing


    THURSDAY JULY 12, 2007
Ten reasons to sell your house NOW.
Here is a top ten list of why you shouldn't wait to sell your house:
   
efinancedirectory.com


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Nine comments 0


   
Economy


    WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 2007
Global Gasoline Consumption
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: ECONOMY
         


Petrol consumption per day in Liters and the price to fill up a Honda Civic in US Dollars:


Global Gasoline Consumption

The United States consumes more Gas than 20 other countries combined...


From Economist.com

    

     Economy blog | Permalink | One comment 0


   
Politics


    WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 2007
Republican Comparison
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


A side by side comparison of Republican candidates and things they are against. Obviously made by a Ron Paul supporter, is it over simplified? I think it's well done


You have to click on it for the full size:
Republican Comparison


Via Digg

    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Two comments 0


   
Housing


    WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 2007
Subprime Derivatives Explained
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: HOUSING
         


A quick segment from CNBC. Watch this and you will understand what all this derivative and tranches stuff is. Very well done!



Thanks to Housing Crash TV and HP

    

     Housing blog | Permalink | One comment 0


   
Economy


    FRIDAY JULY 06, 2007
Big Mac Index
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: ECONOMY
         


If a Big Mac costs $3.41 in the United States, how much are they in the rest of the world? The most inexpensive = China $1.45. Most expensive = Switzerland $5.20.


The Big Mac Index

from the economist


    

     Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Housing


    FRIDAY JUNE 29, 2007
Construction Spending for May 2007
Census press release comes out today at 10am
   
census.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Housing blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    THURSDAY JUNE 28, 2007
Third Debate Transcripts Sorted by Candidate - Democratic
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


This was by far the the best debate this year. All candidates had an equal chance to answer each question - one minute each per question at the start; 30 seconds each towards the end. Much less moderator involvement. Nice job PBS


The transcript of tonight's PBS Democratic primary debates broken out by individual candidate:

Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson


Full transcript of the debate here


check out DC Shuffle's breakdown:

Three interesting things of note:
-The general evasiveness was much higher than the last time they got together
-Hillary won the reviled DC Shuffle award a second time in a row
-They all got equal air time because Tavis did a great job


barack-obama hillary-clinton john-edwards bill-richardson joe-biden dennis-kucinich mike-gravel christopher-dodd
Direct Questions answered clearly 5 4 6 6 6 5 4 5
Additional questions answered clearly 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Questions discussed but not answered 4 4 3 3 1 4 4 3
Questions avoided entirely 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2
Responds clearly to direct question ratio 50% 40% 60% 60% 67% 50% 44% 50%
Responds clearly to all questions ratio 50% 40% 60% 60% 67% 50% 44% 50%
Empty answer ratio 40% 40% 30% 30% 11% 40% 44% 30%
Question avoidance ratio 10% 20% 10% 10% 22% 10% 11% 20%


    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Economy


    THURSDAY JUNE 28, 2007
Federal Open Market Committee June 2007 Statement
The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 percent.
   
federalreserve.gov


         
    

     Read full post | Economy blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    SATURDAY JUNE 23, 2007
Official 2008 presidential campaign blogs
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


All the official campaign blogs aggregated.


Every candidate with an actual blog (meaning a blog with an RSS feed) is on here and gets checked a few times a day for their new posts:

Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Giulianai, Huckabee, Kucinich, McCain, Obama, Paul, Richardson, Romney, Tancredo, F Thompson

Click here to check it out


To the rest of the candidates without RSS:
One would think that Internet literacy would be a pre-requisite for a Presidential campaign staffer to build your website - guess not - good luck convincing others of your ability to lead the country with the obvious knack you have for picking the right person for the job: Welcome to the Internet.

    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    FRIDAY JUNE 22, 2007
Giuliani's website sucks
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


So I'm in the process of building a page for each of the candidates and thought it would be nice to have their latest official campaign blog post included. So after a bit of coding, I added a little box at the top of each candidate's page that links directly to their blog's most recent post - slick! I'm trying to be cool about it and link to every single candidate and I picked Rudy's candidate page here as a test to double check my mad programming skillz:

So I double check that the link to his latest blog post works. It says Weekly Wrap - Why Rudy and has a URL that looks like this: ( http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php?section=6&id=126 ). I click on it but then get completely redirected away to some huge sign up splash page that fills the screen (this one is shrunk way down):

What's this? That's not the article - How do I get out of this and to the article?


Oh I found it - There is only one way out without giving up an email address: so I click on
">> Skip to Main Site"

Then what happens - you guessed it, I did skip to the MAIN SITE ( http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php ) - THE MAIN SITE - not to the article I wanted ( http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php?section=6&id=126 ). All kinds of stuff to click on his homepage, fiscal discipline - that looks interesting. Hey wait, why am I on Rudy's webpage again? What was that headline I clicked on again? Wasn't there something that I wanted to read about? - Oh well, I'm already here - might as well click on that polished picture of Rudy maybe - or hold it, look - a shiny red button what does that do I wonder?

Giuliani's website redirects their visitors to a splash page and then forces them from there to Giuliani's homepage. Not caring where the visitor was even going on the site, not caring what even brought the visitor there! This is how ecommerce webmasters increase their conversion numbers in the SHORT TERM because they don't give a shiat if the visitors ever return again - just force each web visitor onto the mailing list and then email blast them until they buy something or get so mad they opt-out. Yikes Rudy!

Not sure what I'm talking about? Go try it: See if you can read their recent article titled Mayor Curt Pringle: Why I Am Supporting Rudy Giuliani for President - Notice the URL for it: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php?section=6&id=17 and watch where they take you in the location bar and see what I'm talking about - how many clicks and how long did it take you to read the article? - Did you EVER find it? I couldn't.
That Pringle article is their most recent post on this feed: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/rss/thebuzz.xml which I guess is their blog? Not sure? If I can't figure it out I wonder who can?

This is exactly why I never link to any article from forbes.com - forbes is always 90% pop-ups, splash screens and ads - whatever their short article is about is not even worth the hassle - they've turned into a spam site. Learn from forbes mistakes Giuliani staff.

If it was just some sort of typo in the code I really doubt it; I think it was much more about greed than building a visitor base - a rookie mistake made a zillion times by web masters 5 years ago. I'll give them a bit to fix it but I think I'll have to remove the links to them eventually. If a hyper link does not go to where it is pointing to, then that is intentionally deceiving - SPAM. No one wants to be permanently redirected off to some junk sign up page and then to a start page like that - I don't care what website it is.

That said, still have to give team Rudy props for at least trying - Hunter, Brownback, Tommy Thompson and Gravel don't even have RSS Feeds ( Needed to automatically figure out what their latest blog post was )


UPDATE JUNE 23: Whoa - now it properly redirects you to the article after the email sign up spash page. Better; much much better - well done whoever fixed it - it would still be best without the redirect to the splash page but at least now it eventually goes to the article.

UPDATE JUNE 23: Not so fast hold short... it seems that only links to their /news/pr/ pages work - so the jury is still out on this one..

UPDATE JULY 12: I can no longer stand them doing that - I deleted Giuliani's website from the aggregated candidate feeds page and will no longer update the Giuliani page here with his new content. If they fix it I'll put them back in ASAP. I hated to do it and I went back and forth on it but decided there is no point in linking to an article that redirects somewhere else then somewhere else with no way to get to where you intended and just frustrates the visitor ... That being the case, what point is there linking to them? Why even bother?

    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    WEDNESDAY JUNE 20, 2007
Earmark Transparency
Despite the new Democratic congressional leadership's promise of 'openness and transparency' in the budget process, a CNN survey of the House found it nearly impossible to get information on lawmakers' pet projects:
   
cnn.com


         
    

     Read full post | Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    TUESDAY JUNE 19, 2007
Hillary Clinton Sopranos Parody
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


I have to admit this was clever; doing a parody of the Sopranos episode everyone is talking about. Clinton's announcing her new campaign song in this video (she picked You and I by Celine Dion).



If you don't watch the Sopranos you won't get this - but it's a replica of the final scene - with Hillary instead of Tony. Funny that the best song she could pick is written and sung by Canadians   

    

     Politics blog | Permalink | Add a comment 0


   
Politics


    MONDAY JUNE 18, 2007
The Money Race (1st quarter)
POSTED BY RICHARD HODGE PERMALINK FILED UNDER: POLITICS
         


Presidential fund raising by candidate up through March 31, 2007. The next quarter ends June 30 and the data will be released mid-July.


 Democratic Candidates
CANDIDATE HOME RAISED SPENT CASH ON HAND DEBTS
Clinton, Hillary NY   $36,054,568
  $5,079,789
  $30,974,779
  $1,582,639
Obama, Barack IL $25,797,721
$6,605,200
$19,192,520
$190,560
Edwards, John NC $14,031,662
$3,299,781
$10,733,641
$0
Dodd, Chris CT $8,795,706
$1,313,239
$7,482,467
$0
Richardson, Bill NM $6,249,354
$1,226,881
$5,022,473
$19,579
Biden, Joe DE $4,013,089
$1,174,174
$2,838,915
$0
Kucinich, Dennis OH $344,891
$194,217
$163,887
$0
Gravel, Mike AK $15,534
$18,304
$498
$88,516


 Republican Candidates
CANDIDATE HOME RAISED SPENT CASH ON HAND DEBTS
Romney, Mitt MA   $23,434,634
  $11,570,981
  $11,863,652
  $2,350,000
Giuliani, Rudy NY $16,623,410
$5,688,207
$11,949,734
$88,862
McCain, John AZ $13,087,559
$8,379,214
$5,180,799
$1,812,636
Brownback, Sam KS $1,871,057
$1,064,431
$806,626
$0
Tancredo, Tom CO $1,256,090
$711,012
$575,078
$15,000
Paul, Ron TX $639,989
$115,070
$524,919
$0
Huckabee, Mike AR $544,157
$170,239
$373,918
$52,502
Hunter, Duncan CA $538,524
$265,971
$272,552
$0
Thompson, Tommy WI $391,628
$252,404
$139,723
$129,194
Gilmore, Jim VA $203,896
$113,789
$90,107
$88,013

Source and a lot more details


Where does all this money come from so very early in the campaign?? I don't understand how the so called top three favorites of each party have all this 10++ million dollars campaign money to start with right off?

What makes them a top three favorite in the first place - the money? Who makes them the favorite? - The media? Why? Because they are going to be a big ad spender - or did someone in their party make the call?

Does more money = more sold political favors?

Not sure...

BTW this is old first quarter data but I wanted to get the first quarter snapshot of it in the archives here to compare changes / rankings quarter by quarter

    

     Politics blog | Permalink | One comment 0