Kodachrome processing is at an end.

Dwayne's Photo has officially ended accepting rolls of Kodachrome positive slide films for processing, marking the end of an era.  Around the world, Dwayne's was the last Kodachrome processor, and the end was expected, as Kodachrome was last sold in 2009.

But I have a roll in my freezer.

And I guess I should throw it out.

I thought about it for a day, and realized that though I could certainly pull my FE2 camera out and take photos in a day and then send it in to Dwayne's, I'm not so sure that a 17 year old roll of Kodachrome was worth it...the chemicals on the film are probably degraded.  But even if it were in perfect condition, rushing just to get film processed didn't make any sense.  I like to compose a theme in my head before I go out and shoot, and well, the thinking part of it all takes the longest.

And honestly, there's a reason why my freezer still has about two dozen rolls with B/W, Ektachrome, Infrared and color film...I love using digital.  I think I just keep the film there in the freezer, believing that one day, I'll get motivated and create entire themes worthy of shooting with film, just so that I can be authentic and publish it as such.

Anyway, au revoir Kodachrome, I still have your slides in my archives.

A moment of personal clarity.

There are four things I have always liked, and I think it may lead to simply opening up a work studio / retail space for the purposes of doing:

• photography
• furniture
• architectural / interior design
• graphics

Can one person do all that?  Well why not?  There is no real competition to design; rather, it is a challenge to find people that enjoy your work and are willing to pay - something - for it. On occasion I have found exactly those people, but without the formal definition of what I do, I hadn't really bothered to charge people for a lot of stuff that I provided.

A facsimile of this idea has been floating in my head for a very long time, now.  But tonight / this morning, I decided that I didn't have to play by anyone's rules to achieve my desires, and it was okay to combine those four distinctively different professions.

Today, I found my path.  Now I need to plan how to get there from here.

Do you ever keep stuff in your Amazon cart, just to track prices?

It wasn't intentional, but I've kept a whole bunch of stuff in the "saved items - to buy later" cart, and I've noticed that some things change prices daily.  For instance, this Nikon D3100 has changed price every day for the past several days, and at least 4 times a week for the past month, regardless if from the same seller.  Currently, Amazon is shipping it for $599.95, but it has fluctuated between that low price and $649 through December.

Even books directly shipped from Amazon change prices frequently, though not daily...maybe once a week or two, or less.

I used to use Gazaro, but they changed their website, making the job of tracking prices of specific products a lot more cumbersome.  Nowadays, I just pop stuff in my "saved items - to buy later" cart at Amazon, seeing as they've got a wider selection of items beyond electronics, and frequently the lowest prices.

The top 20 bowl games, by combined score, NCAA.

(rank) year-bowl	Winner	pts	Loser	pts	total
(1) 2001 GoDaddy	Marshall	64	E Carolina	61	125
(2) 1990 Mirage	Houston	62	Arizona St	45	107
(3) 2003 Hawaii	Hawaii	54	Houston	48	102
(4) 2003 Insight	California	52	Virginia Tech	49	101
(5) 2004 Hawaii	Hawaii	59	UAB	40	99
(5) 2007 Ltl Caesar	Purdue	51	C Michigan	48	99
(7) 2010 Hawaii	Tulsa	62	Hawaii	35	97
(7) 2005 Hawaii	Nevada	49	UCF	48	97
(9) 1995 Insight	Texas Tech	55	Air Force	41	96
(10) 1950 Pineapple	Stanford	74	Hawaii	20	94
(10) 1971 Boardwalk	Delaware	72	C.W. Post	22	94
(10) 1998 Aloha	Colorado	51	Oregon	43	94
(13) 1968 Capital One	Richmond	49	Ohio	42	91
(13) 1980 Holiday	BYU	46	SMU	45	91
(15) 1999 Insight	Colorado	62	Boston Col	28	90
(15) 2001 Holiday	Texas	47	Washington	43	90
(17) 1969 Capital One	Toledo	56	Davidson	33	89
(17) 1989 Holiday	Penn St	50	BYU	39	89
(19) 2005 Sun	UCLA	50	Northwestern	38	88
(20) 2004 GoDaddy	Bowling Green	52	Memphis	35	87
(20) 2000 Music City	West Virginia	49	Mississippi	38	87
(20) 1988 Mirage	Ok St	45	Texas Tech	42	87

So, where do you suppose Oregon - Auburn BCS NC game will end up? I'm definitely thinking top 20, but could it topple the top spot?

A reminder: religion is not some sort of badge of honor.

Just because you're Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. does not give you special moral authority; you're just as human as the next chump, and you have to WORK AT BEING MORAL AND GOOD, EVERY DAY.

For example, these two ethnic congregations at this Brooklyn, NY Methodist Church cannot get along, especially their pastors.

As noted by Moshin Hamid in the NYT earlier this month, distrust is high, and civility is rather fragile, barely held together by a covenant between individuals.

But instead of focusing on the spiritual needs of the self, people are wont to concern themselves of the moral failings of others.  Even the threat of being exposed of their hypocrisy is not enough to prevent people from acting or speaking out with their hate.

So I suggest, everyone watch an episode or two, of CBC's "Little Mosque on the Prairie."

Housing still going down - per S&P Case-Shiller Index.

Thought I'd overlay housing and unemployment rate, to see how the inverse relationship worked (if at all).  I noticed though, that Arizona's housing index is less than half of what its peak was, before the bursting of the bubble.  Click on the image to get the readable, full size image.

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter images.

These are awesome.  CNET has a spread of the LOLA satellite and its photos that have false color added to the images, showing height of ground levels.  Pretty neat.

Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas!

Watched the Midnight Christmas Mass at the Vatican in St. Peter's Basilica, and wondered if only the opportunity to visit once, would I rather make it to Easter Vigil or Midnight Christmas?  Difficult to decide one way or the other, as it reminds me of the conversation I once had with a friend: which is more important, Easter or Christmas?  While similar to the paradox of whether the chicken or the egg came first, in this case the Resurrection could not occur if the Virgin Mary had not borne Jesus.  Though as my friend pointed out, though Jesus may have been borne, were it not for his Resurrection, he would not ascend to the Right Hand of the Father...

So the question goes back again, if only to visit once, which of the two - Easter or Christmas - does one opportune to partake in?

In the meantime, enjoy your Christmas!

[Below picture has in no way any semblance of pertinence to Christmas, but I'm slowly adding photos from my collection, online.  This one is from the Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, BC.  Photoshop'd with filter, FYI.]

TSA's on the lookout for thermos and coffee cups.

Is it out of specific terror information, that the TSA is now looking specifically at thermos and coffee cups?

I tell you what I think: Al Qaeda is leaking information selectively to see who within their group is leaking information and/or where the weak points in their communication network are.  It's either that, or the TSA just doesn't get that they're caught in a cat and mouse game, and they're always one step behind, in a reactionary stance.

It feels like they need to have an adult conversation.  And speaking of an adult conversation (no, not this adult conversation), isn't that talking down to adults, if you're suggesting that it's about time to have that adult conversation?

Children Now has a great 10 tips list of how to have that difficult conversation with kids:

1. Start early.
2. Initiate conversations with your child.
3. ...Even about sex and sexuality.
4. Create an open environment.
5. Communicate your own values.
6. Listen to your child.
7. Try to be honest.
8. Be patient.
9. Use everyday opportunities to talk.
10. Talk about it again. And, again.

So I guess the problem with adults, is that they can't even communicate with children, let alone other adults, huh?

No need to worry about Iran: they're killing themselves.

Apparently because of the UN sanctions stemming from Iran's lack of cooperation with IAEA on nuclear inspections, Iran restarted its own gasoline refineries, and are now choking themselves to death via smog...literally.  3600 deaths in the first nine months of 2010, from the smog, according to the Tehran Journal section of the NYT.  Though one wonders if that's a big deal or not, because from March 2005 - March 2006, nearly 10,000 people died from the bad air in Iran with 3600 in one month alone, according to the BBC in January 2007.

It's so bad, the government has been on a smog holiday recently...take the day off (or die?)

Image via NYT (Vahid Salemi/Associated Press)

Google Docs Presentation makes others look bad.

Ngram -- 2004, Eugene Rausch and other investors sue Netflix.

Doing a search of the term, "netflix", Google's Ngram shows a continuous rise in written accounts of that term.  What's even more interesting, is that upon clicking on one of the articles dated from August 7, 2004 pulls up an article in Billboard Magazine, where investor Eugene Rausch filed a lawsuit that Netflix had misled investors on their subscriber base.

Note, he wasn't the first, and there was a series of individual investors who filed suit within months of each other, ending up in a consolidated class action lawsuit.  Just over a year later, a judgment was entered, dismissing the case against Netflix and its officers.

On August 9, 2004 (Monday after the report in Billboard), Netflix closed at 16.42.  Today, it's at 180.02.

So, what do you think is going on in the mind of those investors?  Do you think they were so incensed, that they bailed out of Netflix, and missed out on the meteoric rise?

Yes, Lisa Murkowski is moderate after all.

Voting for the Dream Act (which provides a pathway for children of illegal immigrants to gain their citizenship), Lisa Murkowski has made it a trifecta of votes against her Republican leadership on some core issues.  She's probably just gained a whole lot of power of influence and a major power broker in the senate for 2011, showing willingness to cross party lines.

The moderation of Lisa Murkowski is official.

Looks like she's really gone moderate for good.  Last month she joined Democrats in the Senate to vote for an overhaul of food regulations.  Now, she's announced that she'll vote with Democrats in support of the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell law.

If Republicans misbehave in the House, I suspect that the senate's moderate Republicans will be playing a key role in pushing a centrist agenda directly against the Tea Party's favorite goals.  Looks like 2011 might be filled with a lot of political theater.

Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google intro'd a very cool tool in their Google Labs: Google Books Ngram Viewer.  It allows you to search for terms within the 15+ million books and serials which Google has digitized.  Suddenly, term papers seem less onerous, don't you think?

Maybe I'll write a book, just so that I can conduct all my research from my netbook sitting in a coffee shop.

Maybe not.

via LA Times

So much for being "Fair and Balanced"

Media Matters received a leaked email from Fox's Washington bureau managing editor Bill Sammon to employees, insisting that journalists "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question." 1

Now, I can see if there was some validity to the counter-claim of a lack of proof, or that the scientific evidence was flawed, but what is really going on, is that climate skeptics are simply ignoring what scientists have to say, in lieu of believing that everything in this world is politically deterministic.

It follows the same tactic that Bill Sammon followed in an email over health care reform. In it, Sammons directed journalists to specifically use the term "government-run health insurance" or "government option", and to replace any references to the "public option" with, "the so-called public option." 2

"It's a pity those awful people were right about the environment." at The Cartoon Bank

1. Source: Media Matters
2. Source: Media Matters

Some random old photo I took, over a decade ago.

You know, back before digital cameras...I would use ektachrome and kodachrome slide film with the trusty ol Nikon FE2.

A sick America?

Reuters has a report titled, "Is America the sick man of the globe?"  In it, journalist Nick Carey's investigation suggests that there is a structural problem with America's unemployment, which is to say that there is a jobs mismatch, resulting largely from a lack of funding for retraining workers whose jobs are eliminated by overseas competition, primarily in manufacturing.

Probably a bit overstated, I think.  I would suspect that when the economy is this bad, all sorts of indicators might be pointing in the same direction, allowing one to pick and choose indicators to tell their version of the story.

Google Body Browser.

Google updated its Chrome browser beta channel to 9.0.597.19, and in doing so, enabled WebGL and providing us with a new, very cool tool: the Google Body Browser. You can - ahem - strip layers off the body, zoom in, rotate horizontally, and click to isolate specific parts. All in all, pretty cool.  Lots of room for improvement, but this is just more proof that Google's got some awesome products that forces others to catch up with.

Gawker compromised -- users registered with email address have their passwords in the open.

Gawker (Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin, Fleshbot) was compromised, exposing the entire database of people who used an email address to register with any of Gawker's sites. Those who accessed it via Facebook apparently aren't exposed, as their passwords aren't saved on Gawker's servers.

You can read about it directly here, and more obtusely being reported here, here and here.

Those who were exposed need to immediately log in and change their passwords, then go through the list of other sites that they've used the same email address and password, and change the passwords on those sites, ASAP. The reason why people need to do this immediately, is because the compromised data is on Pirate Bay as a torrent, and last I checked, with over 450 seeds, and probably thousands of people downloading it.

What is shocking, is that over 680 people used "qwerty" or a combination of that with other letters and numbers in their passwords, and another 1950+ people used "password" as their password, which just boggles the mind that people would do that. I'm guessing site administrators need to add a few lines of code to reject anyone that attempts to register with a password of "password" or "qwerty", or the also ubiquitous "1234567890".

Some extra tidbits: not everyone's passwords have been decrypted (though there is no security in that, since obviously, it wouldn't take very long to decrypt them), but everyone's user name is exposed. Also, not everyone has their email address showing up in the database released, including mine...nonetheless, I changed my password. Which goes into my next point: always use separate email addresses to separate functions (I have five email addresses).

Also note, for some STUPID reason, some people used their work email address in the military and governemnt, and were separately culled and parsed, perhaps as a backdoor method for cyber attacks on the US military and local governments. From Tennessee to Kentucky state governments, NASA, Albuquerque NM city government, even the Bay Area Rapid Transit, and for goodness sakes, the Israeli government and the Department of Homeland Security?!? WTF? Australian government, Arlington Texas city government, Virginia state government, the Centers for Disease Control, National Institute of Health, Health and Human Services, the US Department of Education, Utah, California...the list is just astounding.

Let me be clear: DON'T EVER USE YOUR WORK EMAIL ADDRESS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE WORKING FOR A GOVERNMENT, AND SPECIFICALLY IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS! HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID?

Sigh...no wonder some stupid Private was able to get his hands on a treasure trove of sensitive data. We're all doomed...doomed I tell you!

I gave in.

I gave in -- I applied for the pilot program for Google's Cr-48 Chrome OS laptop. If I'm lucky, I figure eh...it would be like a Christmas toy to play with, and I'd have lots of fun with it, seeing how much I could migrate myself to the internet. I already primarily use Gmail, especially with its perfect coordination with my G1 Android phone.

Only thing is, I need a SketchUp app for Chrome. And Sumo Paint, too. Extra online storage would be nice, too...like 50GB. Hey, if any Google employee is reading this, pass the word up the stream?

Low heart beat rates and sore knees.

After coming out of a nap or in a very relaxed state, my heart rate is 48 bpm, but most of the time my heart rate is closer to 60~67 bpm.  I understand people who exercise to the extreme - professional bicyclists - can get their rates down to sub-30.  But then again, their hearts are much larger as a result of all that training, and nothing good ever comes from going to extremes -- I just walk.

Once upon a time, I used to run, but after 30 minutes of running my knees would get extremely sore and I'd usually have to stop; I never got past 5 miles.  I figure sore knees was not the good kind of pain (unlike muscles being exercised) so I switched to walking, and then comes an enjoyment that you never get when running: peace and the time to observe and capture photos of events or things you pass by along the process of walking...like this picture of lonely berries.

A stronger heart = efficiency in moving blood and fewer heart beats.  I once knew someone who said that a person only has so many heartbeats in  their life, and once you use them up, you die.  There is no way to prove or disprove that, but it was really her way of excusing herself from doing exercises.

Chrome OS Cr-48 laptops already out. NotionInk's Adam tablet is coming.

Note, I didn't apply to be a pilot tester, because well, I've got a bunch of native apps that I absolutely MUST use, and therefore this would only serve as a replacement for my netbook, of which I already tried running Hexxeh's Vanilla build of ChromeOS. If by some odd chance someone at Google decided to read this blog and send me a laptop anyway, I would not refuse, however!

Anyway, Engadget's got their Cr-48 laptop and have started going through it. You can read all about it here.

In similar news, NotionInk is taking pre-orders from invited persons, for their Android-based 10" tablet.  The base configuration has WiFi and a regular LCD screen for $375.33.  Add in the PixelQi daylight viewing transflective screen, and the price goes up to $499.45, but is probably something that will make iPad owners jealous.  In other words...worth getting, just so that you can read e-books in the daylight, and ask the person next to you with an iPad why they're not using their tablet in the direct sunlight.

Below, what a laptop looks like with PixelQi screen.  Big enough difference for the higher price to be worth it, I think.

Republicans choose millionaires over sick 9-11 workers.

Republicans voted against cloture in the Senate, preventing the Senate from taking up a vote on the bill that would have provided an additional $7.4B of economic compensation and continued health monitoring for 9/11 workers and NY residents who were sickened from the debris fallout.

And so yet again we see that Republicans have no trouble voting for $55B in tax cuts for the wealthy, but couldn't care less for $7.4B to help sick 9/11 workers and NY residents.

Self-Defense for a Stronger Nation, aka Dojo of Democracy.

Mark Fiore's got a great flash animation called, "Self-Defense for a Stronger Nation" on his website.
You can watch it here, too...via SFGate, that is. Yes, I said flash. Sorry if you're trying to see this on your iPad or whatever.

Tax cuts for the rich, or a $250 check for senior citizens...which costs more?

This year is the second year that Social Security will have no cost of living allowance (COLA), so House Democrats put forth a proposal to give senior citizens a one-time $250 check - a senior stimulus bill, aka pay your electricity bills.  But Republicans said the $14B price tag was too expensive and prevented it from being fast-tracked, which in all likelihood means that it is dead come next year.

Republicans - unaware of what hypocrisy means - have been pushing all year to either extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, or make them permanent, to the tune of $55B a year.

So while Democrats would like to take from the rich to give to the poor, Republicans would like to take from the poor and give it to the rich, then blame Democrats for the growing federal debt.

Google's Chrome Web Store and Chrome OS news.

Lots of new stuff coming out of Google today, following yesterday's big announcements.

Today, the Chrome Web Store was introduced.  Though you can view the store from other browsers, you won't be able to install any of the apps, and well, let's just say that the apps do not disappoint.

The Chrome web apps are the intermediary GUI that makes a netbook or tablet quite useful...almost iPad-like, actually.  Try the NY Times web app -- it's really good with all sorts of options for layout.

When you add apps to your Chrome browser, they show up on your Chrome new tab window, making for easy access.

Also intro'd today, was the first ChromeOS notebook, the Cr48. It's not available for sale, but it will be beta-tested in a pilot program from a pool of people who want to apply for it online, here.

And if that's not enough, Google announced that every ChromeOS netbook will have 100MB free data from Verizon, for the first 24 months of usage. But of course, 100MB is not a lot of data -- just streaming music for one hour at 128kbps = 56MB. They have paid plans, obviously (see below), so if you're prolific and use it for business, it could most definitely work.  With WiFi, one could simply live off the free 100MB of 3G by switching, even if it was a pain.

Plan	Price
100MB of data per month1	Free
Limitless day pass2	$9.99 per day
Additional 1GB of data3	$20 per month
Additional 3GB of data3	$35 per month
Additional 5GB of data3	$50 per month

1. Free data available for two years from the time you first activate your 3G service
2. A day pass offers unlimited data access for 24 hours from the time of data purchase
3. Any purchase of additional data expires after 30 days from the date of data purchase

Quite a busy two-day stretch for Google.

An interesting piece on Cam Newton and Auburn.

Just about everyone that cares about college football knows about Cam Newton and Auburn and the hogwash that the NCAA pulled the other week.  It's just about impossible to know what in the world the NCAA's Committee on Infractions was thinking, but on the surface, it sure does appear that they've been incredibly two-faced about how they're treating Auburn as opposed to USC.

Today, an AP story on ESPN reports that Julie Roe Lach, the NCAA's new vice-president on enforcement, believes that the NCAA is protecting student athletes by taking their welfare into consideration of punishment.  That is to say, they still maintain that they believe Cam never knew that his father was pimping him around.  Of course, others say that he was selling his son around, but let's be honest, he was pimping to any john willing to pay for his son's services, and most everyone believes he found one: Auburn.  Except of course, there is no evidence that the NCAA has found, to implicate Auburn.

Well, it turns out a comment in the message boards points to a very interesting link, and one that pulls together very compelling stories from over the past decade, about the state of Auburn's pay-to-play scheme.  It's a condemning judgement on Auburn athletics and its boosters, which is to say, Auburn could be in some serious trouble, a la SMU death penalty.  This is in fact more serious than SMU's case dating back to the 80s, as the boosters involved here, are at the heart of Auburn's administrative control as trustees, and are implicated in various criminal investigations outside of the university.

Go read it.  Then after you're done reading it, ask yourself, what's the NCAA doing, going after USC?

Big day for Google -- Nexus S phone and eBooks intro'd.

It's getting to be a lot like Apple's announcements, when Google schedules press conferences or a confab, you know something exciting is about to be shown.

First off, the announcement of the first phone to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Nexus S with a 4" curved AMOLED display face.  It comes with Near Field Communication (NFC) that allows your phone to receive information from objects designed to communicate when you wave your phone near it.

What is glaringly absent from the phone however, is that it is designed for HSDPA and HSUPA but not for HSPA+, meaning that the phone is stuck at a maximum 7.2Mbps wireless data download speed, while other T-Mobile Android phones like the G2 and Mytouch 4G are both capable of running at 14.4Mbps.  Also missing: external microSD card slot; comes with only 16GB of internal memory.

On 2 year contract via T-Mobile, it's $199 / off contract it's $529.  Is it worth $199 if it is stuck at 7.2Mbps and no external card slot?  Tough to say.



Then there's the announcement of Google's long awaited eBookstore.  You're now able to get to all of those old books whose copyrights have long expired, for free and easily on all sorts of devices, as well as shop for contemporaneous titles from a number of parters like Powells.

I think I'm more excited by this announcement than the Nexus S phone, in truth.  How awesome is it, to be a kid and told to read Huck Finn?  Now you can grab your netbook, desktop, e-reader or smart phone and just start reading the classic story for free!  Jane Austen, Tom Sawyer...free.



Only thing missing from today's announcements: ChromeOS devices.  Maybe tomorrow?

Republicans ready to stay true to their hypocrisy.

Why, it was but a week ago that Republicans were insisting that any unemployment extensions should be offset by cuts elsewhere:

"Make no mistake, I agree that they need help, but I look at it as: Are we going to do it from the bank account, or are we going to put it on the credit card?" -- Senator Scott Brown (R-MA)

"If it's paid for by cutting other items in the budget, I will be a yes vote. If it's added to further debts of the United States, no." -- Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL)

So, word is, the Obama Administration and Republican leaders may have a compromise ready, where Bush tax cuts are extended for all groups, and unemployment benefits are extended. And in one fell swoop, Republicans have yet again ignored the principles of Paygo. That shouldn't surprise anyone, because it was under a Republican-controlled Senate, House and White House that allowed Paygo to expire, then rejigger the rules to allow for increased deficit spending.

I'm not for Paygo, because I believe government needs the flexibility to grow deficits when necessary, and subsequently create surpluses when economic growth is strong.  But I find it amazing at how quick Republicans are to revert to their hypocrisy.

USC pwn UCLA...streak is safe.

Must really suck to be a Bruin, finishing the season with four wins, twice under Rick Neuheisel, and losing yet again to the Trojans.

Redshirt senior Allen Bradford (#21) rushed for 212 yards and caught a pass for another 47 yards with two touchdowns, to finish his career at USC. This AP photo via ESPN says everything about the game and Bradford, who carried the team on his back...as well as UCLA defenders, when they actually caught up with him.

via ESPN / AP photo

Death panels are back! Quick, grab the children!

But wait, it's not Obama's health care reform where these death panels have sprung up -- it's Arizona.  Yes, Republican Arizona, folks.  Facing a budget shortfall, Arizona decided to cut money from their state-federal Medicaid program, preventing poor people from receiving organ transplants.

Actually, it's quite bad PR for Arizona -- they relied on cherry-picked data that falsely showed poor prognosis for transplant recipients, and therefore Arizona's legislature determined that organ transplants were not cost-effective.

But worse, in at least a handful of cases, people who had previously been qualified by the state-run Medicaid program and had been waiting for a transplant, were suddenly denied their transplant when an organ became available.

And therein is the truth: Republicans have created Death Panels.  Want to live?  Bring your cash!

Feds reveal the depth and breadth of companies that needed TARP.

Via a NYT article, Feds revealed today the activities of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), which helped many companies besides banks. This wasn't a bailout of companies, but providing short-term loans for the purpose of such things as payroll -- you know, the stuff that revolving credit is used for. It mirrors what many people already knew, namely that credit had tightened so much that companies simply didn't have access to operating capital in order to do business.

The recent rhetoric from the Right, has been to say that TARP was a waste of money; only gullible people fall for this. Turns out, a heck of a lot of companies needed help with short term loans:

• Verizon
  
• Wisconsin Corporate Credit Union
  
• Toyota
• National Rural Utilities Cooperative
  
• Members United Corporate Credit Union
• McDonald's
• Metlife
• Harley-Davidson
• Georgia Transmission Corp
• General Electric Co
• Ford Credit
• Caterpillar
• BMW

Imagine the broad panic and ensuing, immediate shutdown of companies one by one, if the Feds had not extended short term loans directly to companies?  I shudder to think, what happens if Republicans attempt to take the US back to 2008, as they have threatened to do so on regulation, spending and health care laws.

Android robot for Winter.

Dyzplastic's Android Snowman looks to be a hot commodity for holiday gifts.  Though, I think instead of black, red would have been better for a holiday scarf and top hat?