http://mochasteak.com The personal blog of Brian Bishop Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:09:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Politics is interesting to talk about, but usually not very inspiring. Or, more accurately, looking back at some of my earlier political posts, it looks like politics inspires cynicism, incredulity, anger, and pit-of-your-stomach, world-is-going-to-hell depression. I've always believed that you have to be an egotistical asshole to be a politician, and ... http://mochasteak.com/2008/11/06/an-historic-election/ A couple of things drive me into a mental state of complete anger and anxiety: getting lost, George W Bush, religious crazies, and losing important travel documents. Let's examine that last one a bit more shall we? But first a little background. So I'm on a business trip in Germany. I'm out with ... http://mochasteak.com/2008/10/18/getting-a-new-passport/ Buskers in the New York City subway system are a double-edged sword. Some of them are great, entertaining, can carry a tune, have a decent voice, etc. Others are just winos and bums screeching or panting out a song between stops. More often than not I think people pay them ... http://mochasteak.com/2008/10/12/nyc-subway-musicians/ What the hell is goign on? Didn't every trader on Wall Street read the news. There's a bailout! Everything's alright. We can all sleep safe tonight. Why the hell are you depressing the value of my 401k 30 FREAKING PERCENT! Now that's just not very nice. I don't understand? Why do ... http://mochasteak.com/2008/10/07/worse-economics/ I'm no economist, but I play one in my mundane white-collar fantasies. My economist alter-ego is full of facts and figures, knows the names of economic principles and when they were articulated, can spout off long streams of financial vocabulary on command, and, of course, knows everything. In ... http://mochasteak.com/2008/09/27/bad-economics/