Michael Gracie 

Doris “Tanta” Dungey of the venerable Calculated Risk blog has passed after a valiant struggle with cancer. In my humble opinion, Tanta is responsible for educating more people about the housing crisis and related issues than any other person in the media, blogosphere, mainstream, or otherwise. I never met Ms. Dungey, but I always respected [...]

After personally mulling around Friday and finding shops in general dead, dead, dead (as well as not buying a single gift myself knowing everything will be marked down another 50% two weeks hence), the National Retail Federation is claiming traffic was up big time. Some ‘analytics firm’ called ShopperTrak is complicit in the claim, along [...]

A list not worth saving I’m thankful one of my guests yesterday was an attorney.  He’s already threatened to sue me over my cooking and I need a good lawsuit to keep my mind off work this holiday season. US investors should be thankful for the SEC. They’re keeping their priorities straight. The fishing industry [...]

The Wall Street Journal struggles for answers, but I suspect the reason is pirates got organized.

We’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, and the gathering is going to be a little more intimate than in years past. Hence, out goes the 23+ pounder and in comes the 15′er… Shrinkage is not so much a result of the number of mouths being fed as the host’s ongoing propensity to hoard leftovers. I’d [...]

Forbes: You can pick up after your pooch and make sure he plays nice, but it’s your dog’s breed that truly speaks volumes about what kind of owner you are. So this dog… …says I’m a diehard rabbit hunter?

The Jan ’09 contract hit a high of $148.35 on July 11th. Just quoted at $48.60, it’s making new lows everyday. Love thy Barchart Over the summer the media was SCREAMING about high gas prices, and auto dealers were flooded with oversized trade-ins at rock bottom prices. Oil executives were marched into Congress at gunpoint [...]

Creating flowcharts from written use cases leads to more written use cases. Diagramming tools are supposed to make life easier. In my “case” they just create more work.

The credit markets are unfriendly, even to the big guys. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Management just had its counterparty rating cut by S&P: The ratings were cut to BBB from BBB+ on the Kensington Global and Wellington funds, which tumbled about 40 percent this year. Further reductions are possible if the funds, which oversee $13 [...]

Even though the summer driving season (and the better part of the fly fishing season) is over, I’m happy with gas prices where they are. Damn pirates could screw that up. UPDATE: More. Traders don’t seem to be worried about it though – January ’09 crude hit a year low of $50.21 as of update [...]