Money and the Economy

It's all about the Benjamins, baby

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So, the new $100 bill unveiled by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, is pretty baller. Heck, it’s basically the Avatar of money, what with the spankin’-new 3-D features. Other thing that is awesome: The website for the Bureau is moneyfactory.gov. In other dollar news, according to a recent Marist poll, a substantial majority—79%—think it’s a bad idea to change the face on the $50 bill from Presidents Grant to Reagan. I’ll just point out: This means more people think Obama is a secret Muslim Socialist Nazi Pig-dog than think Pres. Reagan should be on money.

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Why are novels so long?

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Charles Stross has a really interesting explanation for why novels are the length they are: Once a trend like that becomes established, it’s hard to stop. Put yourself in the position of a bored browser in front of a supermarket wire-rack, contemplating novels by two authors you’ve never read. They both cost the same, and you have enough pocket money to buy one. The year is 1980; LibraryThing or other internet resources aren’t available. How do you make your mind up? Well, you remember what you’ve heard about the authors, and you look at the cover painting,...

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1,000 lawyers in a deep sea trench…

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I think I’d like to make basketball the subject of my inaugural post. You see, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the negotiations leading up to agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement. There a lot of points of contention, lots of issues to be hashed out, but the gist of it is that the owners are feeling pinched by decreased revenues owing to the recession, and are looking to cut their personnel costs. This, to sort of stop before I even start, is total nonsense, see here. But what’s interesting to me is the owner...

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