Dan Neil takes spin a or three:
IT’S taken me this long to recognize what I love about a Porsche 911 Turbo. And no, it’s not the internal-combustion volcanism — now up to 480 hp in the 2007 model — or the claws-in-the-carpet grip, the carbide-steel stiffness, the perfect steering or land-anchor ceramic brakes.
It’s this: The 911 Turbo is the only ultra-performance sports car that’s in good taste.
Target is, of course, well known for persuading designers to turn their skills–and publicity-generating ability–to its mass market. The latest twist, as explained in this report is to open full-blown, but temporary, boutiques like this “pop up” Paul & Joe store on Melrose Place in L.A. My niece Rachel and I hit it on July 29, the day Moore’s story ran, and it was packed with women eager to buy discount-priced clothes in a non-discount environment.
Another Jason Giambi.
Mark Teahen was called that once. During the preparation for the 2002 draft, the Oakland Athletics’ scouting director, Eric Kubota, said if there were someone in the class who could develop like Giambi – from a big, strong singles hitter into a powerful corner infielder – it was Teahen. And this is public knowledge only because the A’s opened their doors that year to author Michael Lewis, who chronicled Oakland’s methods in the seminal book “Moneyball.”
“I’d like to say I’m past all of it,” Teahen said, “but it’s always going to be with me. It’s always going to be with all of us.”
You board your flight to Chicago, $600 ticket in hand, and do a quick survey of the people sitting around you. Turns out 13D paid only $300 for her flight, while 14E shelled out nearly $1,000 for his. It’s a reality of air travel that infuriates passengers, but now several new travel websites are promising to demystify the seemingly nonsensical world of airline ticket pricing.
It was exasperation with existing online travel tools that led Robert Metcalf to develop flyspy, a site currently in alpha mode using fare data from Northwest Airlines.
“I once spent six hours combing through different websites,” says Metcalf, who wanted to see how prices changed if he flew into a different airport or adjusted his travel dates and length of stay. “I ended up compiling all the data I gathered into an Excel spreadsheet, and started wondering why there wasn’t a site that provides this kind of functionality.”
Kevin Bankston & Markham Erickson:
Search queries are stored and used by Internet companies for internal purposes. Unfortunately, AOL made a mistake in publishing its subscribers’ online search requests. This should not have happened, and I hope every Internet company is evaluating its information procedures and policies to ensure that kind of thing does not happen again.
There are good, legitimate reasons why an Internet company would use historical search queries for internal uses. For example, search query information can be used in research and development to make improvements to search technology, to better tailor and make more efficient users’ online requests. Companies also analyze historical query information to detect and protect against click fraud — an activity that involves faking clicks on Web advertisements to drive up costs.
Someone lost a box of pizza – breakfast fodder for the birds.
There are over 1,800 earmarks in the upcoming Labor HHS Bill, and we don’t know where they came from. Help figure it out, by researching and posting in the comment section on this blog post.
1) Who secured the earmark?
What district is it in? Call the office of the congressperson you think might have secured the earmark and ask them if they are indeed responsible for it. Record whatever answer they give.
Check out Wisconsin’s earmarks from this single congressional bill here. (Enter Wisconsin in the search field and click go). St. Mary’s Hospital will receive $350,000 for “facilities and equipment” while Baraboo’s St. Claire Health Care Foundation will also receive $350,000.00 for “facilities and equipment”. The Boscobel Area Health Center will receive $455,000.00 for facilities and equipment. The Beloit Regional Hospice will receive $100,000 for computerization of medical records while the UW-Whitewater will receive $150,000 for “equipment and technology” for its Living and Learning Center. David Obey’s Wausau area Aspirus Wausau Hospital gets $1.2M for for facilities and equipment.
There are many more. Tammy Baldwin represents the Madison area. Earmarks are a heck of a way to increase deficit spending. I hope we see more “sunlight” on this matter. Sunlight’s National Director is Zephyr Teachout – who directed online organizing for Howard Dean in 2004. Judy Sarasohn has more.
It would be interesting to compare earmarks over time with contributions.
Finally, I sent an email to Tammy Baldwin and Dave Magnum seeking comments on earmarks generally and these items specifically.
UPDATE: Michael Byrne (Research Director – Magnum for Congress) responded:
Our view here exactly. Especially things tacked on in the shadows which is why we liked Paul Ryan’s efforts to force this stuff out in the open. Dave will be speaking about pork through the coming days and will be referencing the record of his opponent who has quite a string of earmarks she’s walked through Congress. Some were completely unnecessary and certainly not well publicized. Others were just vote trolling things that won’t help our district keep itself competitive economically… Thanks for checking in and keep coming back. Mike
=============
Michael E. Byrne
Research Director,
Magnum for Congress
www.davemagnum.com email: byrnex4 _at_ tds.net
Cell: 608.712.5340
FAX: 608.767.2187e
On Aug 17, 2006, at 9:22 AM, Jim Zellmer wrote:
I’m surprised and disappointed in the number and amount of earmarks:
http://www.zmetro.com/archives/005931.php
The projects may or may not have merit, but earmarks are clearly an abuse of the system and simply add to the debt we burden our children with….
Any comments? I’ve sent the same email to Tammy Baldwin
Best wishes,
Jim
I’ll post Tammy’s response as soon as I receive it.
Marketplace (now wonderfully available on Wisconsin Public Radio – Finally!) has more.
Keep in mind this is “one” bill!
Dave Stark [PDF]:
The chickens came home to roost a little bit in the second quarter of 2006, as sales of both single family homes and condominiums were down in all markets and price ranges when compared to the same period last year. However, if we look at the full year thus far, we see that the pace of sales is still roughly the same as it was two years ago in 2004. Overall residential sales were down 9.3% for the full MLS, and down 12.1% in Dane County. Inventories have continued to rise as well. The problem, particularly for sellers, remains the same; inventories are double what they were two years ago, and 50% to 70% higher than last year.
Days of inventory remain much the same as they were after the first quarter. However, it’s interesting to note that the number of days of active inventory rose very little from 2004 to 2005, then nearly doubled between 2005 and 2006. Even though inventories started rising last year, the rising pace of sales kept average selling times and absorption rates fairly level. This year, even the relatively modest downturn in sales has caused inventories to really back up.
Dave Stark is a long time friend and client.
Midwest Airlines in the coming months will make several significant fleet decisions that will guide the carrier through a planned network and schedule expansion. This marks a significant turnaround for the airline, which barely averted bankruptcy three years ago.
Since its 1984 launch, Midwest was always known for its product and service, which was better than many of its larger competitors. The airline won praise from business travelers for its all-first-class seating and a full meal service, even on many of the shorter flights. Following the post-9/11 crisis, however, Midwest quickly realized that its product alone would no longer bring in the revenue premium it once received.
The carrier stumbled for several years but was able to win labor concessions and relief from aircraft lessors during the summer of 2003 that kept the carrier out of bankruptcy court. That same year, after facing a barrage of competition from low-cost carriers, Midwest diverged from its original strategy by adding seats to its MD-80 fleet and targeting leisure passengers with a new “saver service.” The carrier kept its Boeing 717 fleet in the traditional all-first-class “signature service.”