The Great Deflation

Billions and Billions

2010-08-24T09:38:00.002-04:00

From here.

The Radio of the Future

2010-08-18T12:40:00.003-04:00

In 1942, anyway

Mad Men Ads of Today

2010-08-06T15:21:00.001-04:00

What if Facebook coexisted with Mad Men?

Apple Hater

2010-08-05T20:27:00.001-04:00

One young man goes to lengths to avoid an Apple-contaminated roomate in NYC

Counterfeit Sterling

2010-07-29T14:06:00.002-04:00

It seems that 1 in 20 One Pound coins in circulation in the UK is counterfeit.

The Magical iPad

2010-06-02T00:22:00.000-04:00

Betelgeuse

2010-06-01T22:16:00.001-04:00

Probably good for now.

Remember when the Gulf was a living Sea?

2010-05-30T00:23:00.000-04:00

Here we go

http://www.businessinsider.com/top-kill-a-failure-oil-leaking-as-fast-as-ever-2010-5

2010-04-21T22:45:00.001-04:00

Cool fantasy subway maps.

Piracy Deflation

2010-04-15T16:23:00.002-04:00

Looks like the cost of all those fake DVDs made in China may not be so great after all.

Music Deflation

2010-04-09T22:23:00.004-04:00

After a short period it looked like the revenues of the recorded music industry might stabilize (CD sales have been collapsing but digital sales have been growing to the point where the two were at equilibrium), digital sales have now started dropping too.

Elian Gonzalez

2010-04-06T13:22:00.002-04:00

Is now 16 years old.

Second Avenue Subway

2010-03-29T18:29:00.001-04:00

The Second Avenue Subway in New York City has been under construction in one form or another for 80 years. It looks like they are getting somewhat serious.

Wrong Island

2010-03-27T23:57:00.001-04:00

Two years ago

2010-03-26T22:11:00.001-04:00

SPAM!!

2010-03-26T09:30:00.003-04:00

Here's a great graphic from New Scientist showing the relentless assault of spam.

Bad News For Treasuries

2010-03-22T11:20:00.002-04:00

The yields on 2 year treasuries are higher than those on Berkshire Hathaway bonds - not great news for Uncle Same

At last

2010-03-21T23:04:00.001-04:00

Healthcare reform has been a lifetime in the making.

Facebook Passes Google

2010-03-16T10:24:00.001-04:00

In terms of hits, anyway.

Madison Square Park

2010-03-09T23:33:00.001-05:00

c/o the NYT

Lightning Strikes Twice

2010-03-05T15:29:00.002-05:00

There have been a lot of earthquakes lately, but here's a family that fled Haiti after the earthquake there. Their choice of refuge? Chile.

Luckily, everybody is safe.

Rogue Wave

2010-03-04T11:48:00.001-05:00

Video of a rogue wave hitting a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

Apple has Patented Everything That Matters

2010-03-02T22:24:00.002-05:00

So it turns out that Apple has somehow patented pretty much every imaginable aspect of the iPhone.

Let the games begin.

Deflation in Europe

2010-03-02T11:39:00.001-05:00

Tighter money is very easily pushing down prices with demand still so low.

Chrysler Building March 1, 2010

2010-03-01T22:37:00.001-05:00

I am living in a sublet for a month or two so I've lost the view of my beloved Empire State Building. However, imagine my delight when I get this view from the bedroom in my sublet!

Merkel to Greece: Drop Dead

2010-02-28T23:00:00.002-05:00

Angela Merkel says Germany will help Greece out after all. How? "By stating clearly that Greece has to fulfill its duties."

Dubai Aquarium Springs A Leak

2010-02-25T14:46:00.003-05:00

I've spent quite a bit of time in Dubai and this story seems to more-or-less sum it up for me.

Like, OMG!

2010-02-23T22:52:00.001-05:00

Things to Do with a Cadbury Cream Egg - watch more funny videos

Bald Eagles in Manhattan

2010-02-23T12:25:00.002-05:00

These were spotted in the water off 145th St.

Ooops

2010-02-22T23:49:00.002-05:00

So perhaps Sen. Scott Brown isn't the Great White Tea-bagging Hope after all.

Skeleton

2010-02-15T23:03:00.002-05:00

The world's scariest sport?

Criminals

2010-02-12T23:47:00.001-05:00

More likely to be fat and ugly.

Regarding Airport Security

2010-02-11T09:58:00.001-05:00

So it turns out that anyone can walk into the terminal at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport at night, when there's no security and access to the terminal is easy.

Snowpocalype in Space

2010-02-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

Most Interesting Shots (Today) #10

2010-02-07T21:15:00.003-05:00

Every day the photo sharing site Flickr ranks my photos in order of "interestingness." Here are today's 30 most interesting shots.

Earlier versions here.

A lot of movement since I last posted this link. My top shot changed for the first time in months, with "Flood Tide" knocking out "Woolworth" for the first time in months.

Coyote!

2010-02-04T21:09:00.001-05:00

In Central Park!

Archipod

2010-02-01T18:05:00.001-05:00

It's a home office. It's a space vehicle. It's a pine comb. It's an Apple store.

Empire State Building Utilities Outrage

2010-02-01T11:57:00.001-05:00

Turns out the tenants of the Empire State Building are billed pro-rata for the building's exterior lighting, which is paid for separately by sponsors. A lawsuit is in progress.

My Mom's Next Computer

2010-01-31T11:59:00.001-05:00

An argument for the iPad as the perfect solution for the non-tech-savvy.

GOP Deficit Reduction Policies

2010-01-30T12:59:00.000-05:00

Taking a page from the GOP playbook

iPhone's Big Brother

2010-01-30T11:45:00.002-05:00

In the Summer of '59

2010-01-18T22:37:00.001-05:00

707's were the It planes

Air Travel Animation

2010-01-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

Gorgeous

It's Okay

2010-01-14T17:30:00.001-05:00

It is not immoral to walk away from your mortgage, even if you just feel like it.

Language Maps

2010-01-14T14:02:00.002-05:00

The Modern Language Association's website has a cool feature that let's you look at the distribution of languages by county across the nation in an interactive fashion. Her's a map of Yiddish in the NYC area.

Dreamland

2010-01-13T22:09:00.001-05:00

Drift from mustardcuffins on Vimeo.

Empire State Building January 9, 2010

2010-01-09T19:10:00.001-05:00

Most Interesting Shots (Today) #9

2010-01-09T11:55:00.003-05:00

Every day, the photo site Flickr ranks all of my photographs in terms of their "interestingness." Here are my 30 most interesting shots today.

Earlier versions are here.

Flickr has always liked my boxers Lukas and Chip, and my shots of buildings with 7 featuring the old Metlife Building in Madison Square Park and 3 featuring the Empire State Building.

Blame the NAO

2010-01-08T19:53:00.002-05:00

You're freezing and Greenland is warmer than Florida.

Blame the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

Empire State Building January 6, 2010

2010-01-06T19:07:00.000-05:00

Epiphany

Empire State Building January 4, 2010

2010-01-04T19:03:00.000-05:00

Empire State Building December 23, 2009

2009-12-23T22:44:00.001-05:00

Empire State Building December 19 2009

2009-12-20T16:07:00.001-05:00

Blizzard!

Empire State Building December 14 2009

2009-12-14T22:22:00.002-05:00

Empire State Building December 11 2009

2009-12-11T22:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Chanuka

Empire State Building December 10 2009

2009-12-10T22:24:00.000-05:00

Stuff to keep you awake at night

2009-12-10T01:08:00.001-05:00

Here are 10 potential geopolitical disasters. #1? Israel attacks Iran and all hell breaks loose.

Creepy Disney

2009-12-05T20:33:00.001-05:00

Here's a photo from Disneyland in the 1950's. How creepy is that rabbit? More here.

First Flight

2009-12-05T11:33:00.004-05:00

The 787 might finally fly the week of December 14th. It's been a long time coming.

Empire State Building December 4, 2009

2009-12-04T23:35:00.002-05:00

800th Aniversary of Cambridge University

Improving email

2009-12-04T19:07:00.001-05:00

I think the best business plan of all for Yahoo would involve fixing it's outmoded email. Here are a few ideas.

Empire State Building December 3 2009

2009-12-04T06:45:00.000-05:00

Predawn twilight

Empire State Building December 2, 2009

2009-12-02T23:16:00.000-05:00

The Longest Way

2009-11-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

This video is incredibly cool.

Empire State Building November 26 2009

2009-11-26T23:28:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving

Empire State Building November 24 2009

2009-11-24T22:55:00.004-05:00

NASCAR

Freedom Tower

2009-11-22T13:25:00.002-05:00

The Freedom Tower at ground zero continues its climb skyward.

Empire State Building November 20 2009

2009-11-20T23:44:00.003-05:00

Madison Square Boys and Girls Club

Empire State Building November 19 2009

2009-11-19T23:42:00.000-05:00

Just Go

2009-11-18T12:02:00.004-05:00

There is a lot of hubris in Congress, of course, but there is the hubris of Robert Byrd who just became the longest serving member of Congress in history. He refuses to retire even though his health often prevents him from voting and the Democratic Governor of West Virginia would surely appoint a fellow Democrat to fill his seat should he retire.

Just go.

El Nino

2009-11-17T20:22:00.003-05:00

A new El Nino is growing in the pacific. This is imho good news for NYC since an El Nino usually creates a warmer-than-average East Coast winter.

Subscriptions

2009-11-17T00:27:00.005-05:00

The current conventional wisdom is that consumers will sooner or later have to start paying for online content. That may or may not be true.

My own view is that the core problem is not that people won't pay. They will pay. But when you add up all the digital pennies you end up with a top line that is a fraction of what today's top line subscription revenues look like. This is only due in part to the fact that we've trained consumers to expect stuff for free. The other more important fact is that so many people are willing to create and distribute quality content (and services) for free. Think of how much excellent news analysis is being created on top-quality blogs, for example. yes the authors would like to get some form of payment for the content but for them to do so would necessarily cut into their traffic and harm them on the advertising side. And we've reached the point where top bloggers can make a six-figure income from advertising alone.

This may be bad news for newspapers and for journalism as a profession (because many fewer of them will be able to make a living), but I'm not yet convinced it's bad news for body politic.

Article here..

Empire State Building November 15, 2009

2009-11-16T23:53:00.000-05:00

Empire State Building November 13, 2009

2009-11-13T23:52:00.001-05:00

March of Dimes

Tilt-shift photo: Bosphorus

2009-11-07T17:41:00.001-05:00

Mini Cape Town

2009-11-06T23:14:00.005-05:00

I love tilt-shift photography, which creates the illusion that an image is miniaturized, and have just discovered a web site called tiltshiftmaker that will take uploaded photos and simulate tilt-shifts.

AOL Deflation

2009-11-04T22:51:00.002-05:00

AOL's revenues keep plunging. can anything be done?

The Periodic Table of Financial Bloggers

2009-11-02T15:55:00.002-05:00

From the reformed broker.

Empire State Building November 1, 2009

2009-11-01T23:49:00.002-05:00

New York marathon

Hey Jude

2009-11-01T20:06:00.001-05:00

Cruise Inflation

2009-11-01T19:02:00.003-05:00

The Oasis of the Seas is now the world's largest cruise ship. 40% larger, in fact, than the next largest cruise ship.

Empire State Building, October 31 2009

2009-10-31T21:57:00.002-04:00

Halloween II

Most Interesting Shots (Today) #8

2009-10-31T19:13:00.003-04:00

Each night, the photo sharing site Flickr ranks all the photos I've posted there according to their degree of "interestingness." Here are my 30 most interesting today. Earlier versions can be found here. Flickr likes my dogs and my buildings.

Empire State Building, October 30 2009

2009-10-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

Halloween

Empire State Building, October 29 2009

2009-10-29T22:00:00.001-04:00

Go Yankees! (Again)

Empire State Building, October 28 2009

2009-10-28T22:26:00.003-04:00

Go Yankees!

Amtrak deflation

2009-10-28T18:40:00.003-04:00

With the exception of the Northeast Corridor services, all Amtrak routes lose money. But the surprise, to me anyway, was how much some routes lose. The Sunset Limited, which runs from New Orleans to LA, loses $460/passenger!

Now, I'm a hug Amtrak fan and I ride the rails about twice a week between New York and Philly, but it really burns me that places where rail makes good economic sense like the Northeast are starved of funds to feed the romance of the rails in parts of the country where it makes no sense. I mean, surely people riding from New Orleans to LA could, er, pay a little more?

Empire State Building, October 27 2009

2009-10-27T22:18:00.001-04:00

"Only Make Believe" 10th Anniversary Gala

World's Tiniest Model Train

2009-10-26T12:42:00.002-04:00

This took me a little while to figure out, but this is a working model of a very tiny train set.

Empire State Building October 25 2009

2009-10-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

Empire State Building, October 24 2009

2009-10-25T21:44:00.001-04:00

Alzheimer's Memory Walk

Empire State Building, October 23 2009

2009-10-23T21:40:00.000-04:00

Alzheimer's Memory Walk

Don't Land on the Taxiway

2009-10-21T21:41:00.004-04:00

Like this Delta flight did yesterday

News deflation

2009-10-20T12:53:00.002-04:00

Can reams of news articles produced for $15-$20 a pop crush the New York Times online? That's the question posed by the business model of Demand Media.

Empire State Building October 17, 2009

2009-10-17T20:38:00.000-04:00

Empire State Building October 16, 2009

2009-10-16T20:36:00.000-04:00

El Museo del Barrio anniversary

That dog in the window

2009-10-15T14:27:00.002-04:00

This storefront has a CGI dog in the window

Declining Dollar

2009-10-06T22:50:00.003-04:00

Long term, there is no where for the dollar to go but down, especially if countries like those of OPEC stop using dollars to price commodities like oil.

Online Ad Deflation

2009-10-05T16:21:00.002-04:00

Total spending in online advertising fell for the second quarter straight. That's the first time that's happened since the first dot-com bust.

2009-10-03T01:51:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick explanation of Google Wave. Can I have an invitation to be a beta tester please?