Industry Figure Tom Chappell

In an article from The Guardian:

On Friday, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index fell by more than 5 percentage points from its April level, approaching its low for the downturn. The employment component of the index did hit a new low.

These reports might have led to gloomy news stories, but not in the US media. The folks who could not see an $8 [trillion] housing bubble are still determined to find the silver lining in even the worst economic news.

For example, National Public Radio told listeners that the new home sales figure reported for April was up from the March level. While this was true, the April figure was only 1,000 higher than a March level that had just been revised down by 5,000. April new home sales were 4,000 below the sales level that had originally been reported for March. USA Today touted a “surge” in durable goods orders, which was also based on a sharp downward revision to the prior month’s data.

The media have obviously abandoned economic reporting and instead have adopted the role of cheerleader, touting whatever good news it can find and inventing good news when none can be found.

This is not the beginning of a bull market. It is (pretty close to the end of) a bear market rally. We haven’t even begun to feel the impact of the Option ARM recasts (vs. resets, btw) yet, not really, and the number of Alt-A and even Prime mortgage defaults are increasing markedly, because even if you can afford your current mortgage, it’s hard to justify continuing to pay it when you’re 25% underwater, especially if you’ve got a nice job offer in another city, say.

Read the Full Article in The Guardian
“Economic Recovery is Wishful Thinking”
by Dean Baker
June 1, 2009

I saw this posted somewhere a few weeks ago. Still makes me laugh, because… Dude. Really. It’s OK.

…after too long off it.

16 miles, riding in the hills near my house in Sunland on Sunday, took my pulse rate up to 163 beats per minute, almost 98% of my theoretical maximum (which, if you’re not too familiar with typical pulse meter readings, is more or less stunning).

My breathing has been stellar the last few days, so I’m guessing that the high pulse rate is due to:
    (a) 13 months off the bike, and
    (b) the recent ALYX blood donation, which takes a double-dose of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. I’ve read complaints from athletes that it makes a noticeable difference, compared to a normal donation.

I’m lucky to have these lovely hills so close that I can literally step out of the house, hop on the bike, and be among them just a few minutes later.

I didn’t have any problem actually climbing the darn hills; the only limiting factor was some lower-back pain, and then last night, some leg cramping, both of which definitely have to do with lack of practice.

On Big Tujunga Canyon road, an evil hill.

Next up: a longer ride later this week!

I went to buy some flowers yesterday (having taken Good Friday off), because I have some nice vases at home, and I decided that I liked having some cut flowers around the house.

I picked out a few loose flowers, including one of Sylvia’s favorites, the Stargazer Lily, and had them make up a nice arrangement for about $25:

…and then while I was at the flower shop, I saw a bloodmobile ad for a blood drive at the church where I go to vote, so I went down there and asked, “Advair and Prednisone?”, and they said, “Sure!”, so I made an appointment, took my flowers home and came back and donated.

It was the first time that I’d given blood where they take a double-size donation of red blood cells, separate out the plasma and return it to you for you to cherish.

Here’s a picture of the ALYX machine, separating my blood into flavors. It has three pouches on the left, and you can see the whole blood going into the right-most pouch of the three, the red blood cells being accumulated in the middle pouch, and the plasma on the left waiting to be fed back into me. Technology!

They do it all with just the one needle in your arm, and an automated blood pressure cuff. First the cuff presses down, and the right-hand pouch fills maybe quarter-full or so with whole blood, and ALYX works on separating it into parts into the other pouches, and then at some point the cuff lets up, and you feel a chill as the left-hand pouch is emptied and the plasma is returned. Then it repeats for maybe four or five cycles. Takes about 10 minutes longer than a regular donation, but with all the paperwork and waiting and so forth, it’s a huge win all around to get what is effectively a double donation in so short an additional time.

Seriously, though, I can’t imagine (or can barely imagine) thinking about that problem and saying, “Sure, we could build that!”

Several people have asked if there is some memorial that they could donate to in memory of Sylvia, so I have set up an account at the Kiva.org micro-lender in her name.

Anyone who is interested can just send a Kiva.org gift certificate to sylviachappell@gmail.com.

I will lend the money out to third-world entrepreneurs in her name, and as the loans are repaid, will initiate new loans to new entrepreneurs.

You can track the progress of the loans initiated by the fund here.

…and isn’t this a lovely photo of Sylvia, by the way? Look at that smile!

My wife Sylvia Lee Chappell (née Imler) died today from complications of cirrhosis of the liver.

A service is planned for 1:00 PM at Crippen Mortuary in Montrose, California on 21 March 2009.

Where you’ll hear a former IMF economist paraphrase a global bank’s recent strategic white paper as:

“That sure is a nice global economy you’ve got there…
…Be a shame if anything were to happen to it…”

This is the third big program on the economy from the This American Life/National Public Radio team that brought you The Giant Pool of Money and Another Frightening Show About the Economy.

Listen to the full episode by going to the Bad Bank program page at This American Life,
and hit refresh if you don’t see the Full Episode download link.

“Bad Bank”
February 27, 2009

From ScienceDaily.com:

For the first time, scientists have been able to map the disruption in neural circuitry of people suffering from congenital prosopagnosia, sometimes known as face blindness, and have been able to offer a biological explanation for this intriguing disorder.

…[U]nlike that of normal brains, there was a reduction in the integrity of the white matter tracts in the brains of individuals with congenital prosopagnosic. Moreover, the extent of the reduced white matter circuitry was related to the severity of the behavioral impairment.

…People with congenital prosopagnosia are not able to recognize faces, while the ability to recognize other objects may be relatively intact.

…So far, few successful therapies have been developed for affected people, although individuals often learn to use feature-by-feature recognition strategies or secondary clues such as hair color, body shape and voice. Because the face seems to function as an important identifying feature in memory, it can also be difficult for people with this condition to keep track of information about people, and socialize normally with others.

…[T]hese individuals appear not to be able to compensate for their inability to recognize faces even though they have had ample opportunity to do so over the course of development,” said Marlene Behrmann, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon.

Behrmann said the team was excited by the possibility that the failure to propagate signals between different regions of the brain might provide a biological explanation for this perplexing disorder.

So distressing to have myself and my face-blind peers around the world referred to as “[T]hese individuals”, and have our brains presented in stark contrast to “normal brains”.

On the other hand, you’d have to say that normal people, when picking up their son at school, wouldn’t have to stare into the crowd on Day 3,000 and wonder if that kid was the one. And really, on balance, it’s a relief to know that there’s a real physical reason for it, and not me just being goofy.

Read the full article in Science Daily.
November 28, 2008

As well, here’s something that made me laugh out loud when I saw it used recently on a forum: someone had posted a message about some subject (as it might be, face blindness), and someone else had posted a reply, asking for a link to more information on the topic. In short order, a link had been posted in a reply, along these lines:

“Sure, it’s here.”

Oh, that made me laugh and laugh.

So, there we were, about 17 minutes through tonight’s episode of The Big Bang Theory, and suddenly, the closed captioning diverted radically from what the characters were actually saying.

Closed captions: [...going along normally, matching the acting, and suddenly:]

“…but if you think about it, it kind of makes sense, because her mouth is on her face, but she talks out of her ass!
I’m kidding.
I’m kidding!
I love Ann Coulter!”

…and then no more captions for the rest of the show!

She does talk out of her ass, though.

See the vanity card for this episode:
Chuck Lorre Productions #240

Industry Figure Bruce Lieberman sent me this link, and I have to say, I totally did not expect what happened half-way through:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

It’s a Groundhog Day’s surprise!