] VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In an unusual spectacle at the
] Vatican, Pope John Paul II presided over a performance of
] break-dancers who leaped, flipped and spun their bodies
] to beats from a tinny boom box.
]
] The 83-year-old pontiff seemed to approve, waving his
] hand after each dancer completed a move, then applauding
] for the entire group. He watched the performance from a
] raised throne.

hehehe

CNN.com - Papal blessing for break-dancers - Jan. 26, 2004

] Meanwhile, I'd suggest being careful about repeating my
] experiment yourself at home. Maybe it's just
] Philistinism, but I had no real desire, and certainly
] none of the resources, to join my audiophile friends on
] their journey. You might not be as lucky: A little sonic
] education might well lead to desire, which as every
] Buddhist knows, is the cause of all suffering.
]
] Or, as was explained to me by veteran audio designer
] Demian Martin: "Until you know it could be better, you
] don't know that it's bad."

A really interesting article about taking ipods to high-end audio shows, but most importantly is the theory discussed in the final quote-- I have long said this. Truly bothersome thing about audio equipment.

WSJ.com - Portals: My iPod's Encounter With High-End Stereo Left All of Us Wiser

Is that our productivity is up but we aren't producing enough.

We've got all of these people who are unemployed or underemployed or who've exited the market. We have all of this potential energy that we aren't applying.

At the same time we're operating a dangerous trade deficit. The world doesn't want what we're selling. Not enough of it anyway. Read Buffet and Gross.

And we're exporting jobs, good ones, which is only going to contribute to that trade deficit.

Economists have been saying throughout the downturn that its not as if consumers are being stingy. If consumers reacted to this crash as the last one we'd be in another depression. We're not, because people are confident in general. What economists are saying is lacking is corporate investment. Companies are not building for the future. They're not creating new products.

Venture Capital is a wasteland. Years later they are still in maintenance mode. They aren't investing in new companies. They are trying to keep their present ventures afloat. No new companies. No new innovation. The VC are trying to give money back to their investors.

Steve Roach responded to discussions about outsourcing by specifically saying that it is critically important that we determine where the growth is going to come from.

Said another way, we're not growing.

Our productivity is up. We're cutting the bottom lines. Everything is on the up and up for business owners, but not in a real positive way. Saving money is only useful if you have a way to apply it. Money is a means and not an end. Money that isn't moving doesn't exist. Economic success is a measure of the velocity of money. Depressions in history were created by individuals who hoarded money. Today it is the leadership who is doing it. The outcome is the same.

Eventually the bottom is going to fall out of this thing. Everyone who should know is saying it. This is not sustainable.

There is but one reasonable way to address this problem, and that is to innovate. We need people who are offering a vision of a better future. There are many technologies we ought to pursue. There are great ideas from the dotcom boom that were run into the ground by people who tried to crunch ten year business plans into 2 years. There are new possibilities in the fields of robotics, new networking technologies, and new biotech. Right now Japan is blowing our doors off in pursuit of two out of three of those things. They are going to end up with a lot of people who know an awful lot about two very important industries in a few years, and we're going to be buying it all from them. They have the patience to see these things through even if they don't have an "exit event" in the extreme short term.

What are we focused on? Healthcare. Yes. Very important. I don't want to disparage that at all. But all this focus on it is rooted in our narcissism. *WE* having an "aging population" but the WORLD does not!!! T... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

The Problem...

] "I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the
] courageous spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful
] example for the young of our country."—Washington,
] D.C., Jan. 14, 2004

Bushism of the Day By Jacob Weisberg

] "Apparently, they were planning to wake up at 4:20 a.m.
] on April 20 of this year to do this," Maj. Tony Bacala
] said.

How clueless does this guy sound?

CNN.com - Two students arrested in Columbine-style plot - Jan. 13, 2004

] Starting with the new year, police officers will be
] required to query the database to check on insurance
] anytime they pull someone over.
]
] The system was supposed to go into effect in 2002 and
] again in 2003, but both times there were extensions
] because the database wasn't ready.

Mike has bad luck.

Atlanta,Georgia,11Alive Insurance Cards No Longer Enough

] So if jobs are scarce and wages are flat, who's
] benefiting from the economy's expansion? The direct gains
] are going largely to corporate profits, which rose at an
] annual rate of more than 40 percent in the third quarter.
] Indirectly, that means that gains are going to
] stockholders, who are the ultimate owners of corporate
] profits. (That is, if the gains don't go to self-dealing
] executives, but let's save that topic for another day.)

Here's our so-called recovery. Paul Krugman is like smart or something. END My So-Called Life Reference.

Op-Ed Columnist: Our So-Called Boom

] FedEx Corp. said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire
] Kinko's, the business services retailer, for $2.4 billion
] in cash.

Holy @$*&(@^#*! And I thought the UPS Store deal was big!

FedEx to buy Kinko's for $2.4 B in cash - Dec. 30, 2003

] Second, Dean faces a unique political situation that
] makes his alienation of any wing or faction in the Party
] particularly risky. For even though Dean’s primary performance has been remarkably strong, the Governor is going to have a harder time than usual uniting the Party behind him. First, his rejection of the Washington policy consensus has put him odds with much of the established Party hierarchy. Second, because there have been so many other deep and talented campaigns, the sheer number of Party leaders – political, elected, financial – committed to other candidates is much greater than in a typical presidential race. Bringing these folks into the fold so they feel like they are part of the Dean team while not alienating his leaders from the primaries is going to require an incredible degree of political dexterity.

New Democrat Network Blog is going to be running a series of posts "Making Sense of Dean." Their aim, I believe, it to make sense of Dean's campaign for the normal Dem who may be misled by the media's portrayals of his campaign.

NDN Blog: Making Sense of Dean - A Series

] The animal diagnosed with mad cow disease in Washington
] state may have entered the U.S. from the Canada in 2001
] with 73 other cows, an official with the U.S. Department
] of Agriculture said Saturday.

I wasn't aware that it had been renamed "the Canada." huh.

CNN.com