Archive for February, 2009
GDP in 60 seconds or less
Any conversation at any get together you attend this weekend is bound to include talk of our miserable economy. The latest “woe is us” news involves a 6.2% drop in GDP for the fourth quarter of 2008. Throw that number out there and include that it’s the worst quarterly decline for the U.S. economy since [...]
Jimmy Fallon Era and the Late Night Glut
Last Friday night, Conan O’Brien completed his last “Late Night” show. Jimmy Fallon, former Saturday Night Live regular, takes over the “Late Night” gig starting Monday night (03/02/09). Fallon promises a younger-skewing type of show, with more focus on gadgets, blogs, the internet, and video chats, along with the typical celebrity interviews. Conan takes over [...]
Gold In Them Thar Hills!
1 kilo gold bar The barrel price of oil has been a hot topic the past few years, but now gold prices are the talk of the financial town. Why? “Investors generally buy gold as a hedge or safe haven against any economic, political, social, or currency-based crises. These crises include investment market declines, inflation, [...]
Paczki Day
In certain Midwest cities around the U.S., today is not only called Fat Tuesday but Paczki Day (pronounced “ponch-key” or “poonch-key”). As a result of the large amounts of Polish immigrants in some cities such as Chicago, a newer tradition has spawned in which people of all nationalities line up outside bakeries on the Tuesday [...]
Green Tea and Black Tea: One Leaf United
Last week’s Chicago Tribune had one of those “list” articles – you know the kind, where a few of the things are no brainers, a few of the things are filler, and a few of the things are uninteresting. This one, however, was about tea (yes, the fascinating world of tea) and maybe I’m a [...]
And the Oscar Goes To…
A quick rundown of the winners for the categories you’ll be talking about from tonight’s Academy Awards: Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire Best Director – Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) Best Actor – Sean Penn (Milk) Best Actress – Kate Winslet (The Reader) Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) Best Supporting Actress – [...]
Rihanna, Chris Brown Fiasco
A quick update on Chris Brown and Rihanna for those like me who aren’t in their teens or 20s and don’t have any kids in their teens or 20s: Chris Brown is an R&B artist who hit it big with his first album (self-titles) at the young age of 16. He was known to have a [...]
Dow(n) Jones Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed today at its lowest level since October, 2002. You frequently hear that phrase, or simply “the Dow” on the news, but what does it really mean? Dow Jones publishes many indexes, but the most popular and easiest to reference is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (or DJIA). The DJIA [...]
