alexch's almanac: Archive

jQuery for JavaScript programmers → simonwillison.net

Mar 25, 2009

Problem: every since I upgraded to Safari 4 I’ve been annoyed that zooming in and out seems to confuse GMail and and Google Reader. When you zoom out, GMail refuses resize its panels, leaving a big…

Mar 24, 2009

free SQL database of IP geolocation with country, city, region, latitude and longitude (SQL and CSV formats)

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“When I turn on the television, it shows the same shows that I saw yesterday and I watch them and it doesn’t know that I watched them yesterday. What a foolish television. Why is it not smarter?” —Eric Schmidt

Mar 19, 2009

“As with everything in life, do it consciously and deliberately, but change your mind frequently.” —nick kallen - Better Javascript testing through ScrewUnit

Mar 19, 2009

“Geithner seems unable to imagine a banking system not run by its current leaders or owned by its current shareholders or engaged in the same arcane securitization practices that led to its collapse. An administration that is busily creating alternatives to our health-care system and our energy policies is being dragged down by a Treasury secretary who cannot conceive of an alternative to our catastrophic system of banking.” —Harold Meyerson - The Nationalization Option

Mar 18, 2009

Beyond mad at AIG...time for action.

clairecmc:

There will be a letter sent to the CEO of AIG from most, if not all, of the Democratic Senators momentarily. This letter will demand that any bonuses be withheld or repaid immediately. The letter goes on to explain that we will proceed to recover the bonuses through taxation if AIG fails to recover this money for taxpayers. We state the obvious in the letter, bonuses should not be given for failure.

Legislation wil be introduced in the next 48 hours or so that will tax these companies and the bonus recipients. The tax will be aimed at executives at companies that have recieved significant taxpayer assistance through the TARP funds and will recover almost all of these funds for taxpayers. The Finance Committee is drafting the legislation with the assistance of a number of Senators.

I feel better. We are taking action. It’s time we right this wrong on behalf of hard working Americans everywhere.

I will post the letter and the legislation on my senate web site as soon as they are available. www.mccaskill.senate.gov

Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions about this mess. Your input matters.

Mar 17, 200922 notes

“Chuck Schumer wants to tax “virtually all” of the bonuses being paid to AIG employees. The surtax being proposed by Gary Peters is 60%; presumably that comes on top of the regular federal income tax. But why stop there? If you set the surtax at, say, 150% of all bonus payments, then that would pretty much guarantee that the recipients would decline to receive them. Seems like an elegant solution to me.” —The Bonus Surtax - Finance Blog - Felix Salmon - Market Movers - Portfolio.com

Mar 17, 2009

“Psychologist Kim Johnson, who led the research, said: “Things that normally would be pleasurable for rats didn’t elicit the same degree of relish, which leads us to believe that a salt deficit and the craving associated with it can induce one of the key symptoms associated with depression.” —BBC NEWS | Health | Salt is ‘natural mood-booster’

Mar 16, 2009

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Mar 16, 2009

“Inequality, it seems, is an equal-opportunity disease, something that has a direct impact on everyone. But doesn’t that mean equality is no longer a matter of morality or altruism for the better off, but naked self-interest? There’s a brief hiatus before Pickett says, “I’m not sure that’s quite the message we’re trying to get across.” Then there’s another brief pause, before Wilkinson adds, “But it is still true.” — Almost every social problem stems from one root cause - inequality, argue two British academics | Society | The Guardian

Mar 16, 2009

“American taxpayers now own $80% of AIG after paying $173 billion to keep it afloat. White House economic advisor Larry Summers says the government simply can’t break the contracts that AIG had with executives, but nobody said that when Congress demanded that auto makers break union contracts and cut hourly wages for factory workers as a condition of receiving TARP funds.” —

Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake petition email

Want to know how the government can get companies to break contracts? It’s called BANKRUPTCY. Look it up.

Mar 16, 2009