Tab Dump

I have to say this in favor of my new(ish) computer: I can keep tons and tons of tabs open in multiple Firefox windows without noticeable sluggishness or crashing. Also, though I still have some non-trivial complaints about Vista, I've noticed I can go weeks without rebooting and don't encounter any problems.

But I really need to get rid of some of these open tabs:

1. A near-must-read absurdist rant from IOZ on how the economy got to where it is. And I'm not even going to try to excerpt it.

2. Yglesias slams Citi (among others) for agitating against a proposed law which will make it easier for employees to unionize. And, while I know nothing about this bill and have mixed feelings about unions, it is hard to argue with this bit of dicta:

First you manage your business so catastrophically badly that your company not only becomes worthless, but that it threatens to destroy the livelihoods of billions of people around the planet. Second, you get the taxpayer to keep you in business. And third, you turn around and warn that higher wages for workers might destroy the world economy!
[...]
These [bankers] haven’t shown themselves to be knowledgeable about anything other than enriching themselves and there’s no particular reason to take their opinions about ... unions or taxes or anything else especially seriously.

The thing is... people desperately want to believe in capitalism and free markets, but these people just have no shred of credibility whatsoever. Which, like it or not, gives folks like Yglesias the opportunity to argue forcefully (and, to some, convincingly) for positions like "we need more powerful unions and less powerful executives". Sigh.

3. Amazingly, Slash is not included among the right answers in this Sporcle game of the Top 100 Guitarists.

4. And while we're on Sporcle, this was one I did well on. Though admittedly it seems pretty easy even for non-lawyer types.

5. I've made a habit of checking out this blog from Scott Adams. I was never into Dilbert, but the guy has a lot of interesting stuff to say.

6. Here is The Hunt for the Worst Movie of All Time. Incredibly, neither Marie Antoinette or Inland Empire has yet appeared. They've picked a few candidates that I actually enjoyed (e.g., Across the Universe and Mr. Brooks), but it's worth reading just for the quality of the snark.

7. Meghan McCain: "I just don't understand" the economy. This type of honesty might have served her candidate father well... or at least better than trying to b.s. his way through the campaign on this subject. Back in the first year of law school it was always painfully obvious when a student hadn't done the reading the night before and was called on by the professor. The smarter ones always closed their books, put on their best shameface, looked the professor right in the eye, and said "Unfortunately, professor, I have not read that particular case." Which would be brutally embarrassing, but not nearly as bad as the alternative, which would -- inevitably -- be a scenario where the hapless student endured 5-10 minutes of being ruthlessly dragged over the coals in a savage cross-examination, only to finally be forced to admit it anyway in a desperate plea for mercy. The professors who didn't have the stomach for administering this type of suffering were simply not allowed to teach first year classes. Too bad political reporters don't fit this mold, or we might have a lot fewer clueless politicians driving this country off a cliff.