Category: Personal

Ahmed Zimran/Ed Gilmartin – Microsoft’s cash hoard: It’s better to be a star than a cow

Working together, local, state, and federal politicians led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, environmental groups (Sierra Club, Save the Bay), private foundations, and Cargill Corporation have made a deal to purchase over 16,500 acres of southern bay coastal lands (for $100 million, from Cargill) and restore them over the next 20 to 40 years to something close to their original state as tidal marshes. This is a very major positive development; we’re talking about several pieces of wetlands that total an area approximately the size of Manhattan.

“Over the past 150 years nearly 95 percent of San Francisco Bay’s historic tidal wetlands have been destroyed by diking, draining, and filling-in of these extremely productive habitats, resulting in wildlife losses, water quality reductions, and decreased natural flood control. Many remaining wetlands continue to be threatened by pollutant runoff and diverted freshwater flows,” according to a recent Save The Bay press release.

Private foundations, including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, will put up $35 million of the purchase price. The State of California, using money from recent bond issues and other previously legislated dollars, will put up $57 million; the Feds are putting in $8 million. No mention of where the money to perform the restoration work–estimates run from $200 million up to $1 billion–will come from.

Gary Suson posted an amazing photo essay on 9/11 starting with the events of the first few minutes and continuing through the clean up. I got to this 11 year old’s handwritten note and just broke down again. I can’t even look at all the pictures, the emotion is so overwhelming. I couldn’t watch the HBO documentary Sunday night either. [via garret and the NY Times]

What’s particularly scary about Thieves Steal Homeowners’ Identities and Their Equity is that you don’t know about the crime until after its happened, too late to do any good. I think. But if someone fraudulently sells or mortgages your house, how can you be held responsible? By responsible, in the case of a fraudulent sale, I mean wouldn’t the transaction simply be reversed and title restored?

Short summary: a ring of identity thieves in Michigan went beyond just stealing people’s social security numbers and such to set up fake credit cards or similar. They actually found elderly people who own homes free and clear and either took out big mortgages or sold the home (to another identity thief). An unusually cooperative team of police, FBI, prosecutors, and bankers uncovered the details, then arrested and charged the criminals.

Because Friends is a successful TV show, the six stars get to make movies. David Schwimmer got to make The Pallbearer and somehow convinced not only Gwynneth Paltrow but also Barbara Hershey and Carol Kane to sign on. He gets to sleep with Gwynneth and Barbara. And while he’s still living at home with Mommy and unable to get a job yet. I mean, can you imagine a schlub like Schwimmer sleeping with such women? I can’t but that’s the magic of Hollywood I guess. Do I have to say it? Not recommended

Has it been a year since Shrek came out?

That’s the story after searching through NBA.com for historical information and not finding it. Specifically we were looking for a listing of previous champions and not only was there no accessible list, I couldn’t find anything about previous seasons there. ESPN has the last two seasons but no overall data. Yahoo! Sports came up snakeyes. The Sporting News website won’t even come up for me. Oddly, even using some reasonable search terms I couldn’t find the info via Google. Suckage!

Build your own PVR – Let Your PC Turbocharge Your TV

John Lim’s HOWTO on Optimizing PHP with tips and methodologies

Jimmy Breslin has written about New York for nearly 50 years now, mainly in newspaper columns and occasionally in novels as well. His most famous novel was a comic tale of mobsters, “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” that was funny and entertaining. I came across “World Without End, Amen” in a second hand shop for $1.50 and figured I’d check it out. The problem is that Breslin has no story here, no real plot, he just follows a drunken Irish New York beat cop through some troubles and then onto a trip to the Old Country. Which is really a completely separate story that Breslin mainly uses as a showcase to display how terrible conditions are for Catholics in Northern Ireland, or at least how bad they were 30-odd years ago when the novel came out. He goes nowhere plotwise and even the most significant event takes place offstage. Not recommended

1988 Australia, a drunken backup singer finds herself unemployed and stranded in a backwater town where she runs across her daughter in Gillian Anderson’s High Tide. Judy Davis, who’s also done some work over here (last year she got an Emmy nomination for playing Judy Garland on Showtime), stars as the women who has to come to terms with her cowardice. Anderson has also directed some notable films–My Beautiful Career, Little Women, and last year’s Charlotte Gray–but this one doesn’t do much. The ending especially is a disappointment. Not recommended

Am I Right: Misheard Bruce Springsteen Lyrics – “Well if James Dean threw up, Wouldn’t that be nice!” “Baby this town rips the balls from your back”

“You have a divine animal right to protect your own life and the life of your offspring.” Of course, a slutty waitress (played by Juliette Lewis) knows the philosophical laws of life, right? Anyway, Enough is a decent movie, especially for the female viewers–the women in the audience I saw it with applauded when J. Lo finally struck back. Given the epidemic of violence by idiotic (moronic) men against women in this country and others, I’m not at all surprised that this film was finally made and Jennifer Lopez was a good choice for the lead. Though I don’t get why so many people think she’s so sexy. Billy Campbell has no problem being the big, bad scary dude. And, yeah, once again we did not get into About a Boy. Recommended.

Dinner: $40	Movie: $18	All night fun: Priceless

Clint Mathis: America’s Best Shot at the World Cup

About a Boy was sold out so we switched around the schedule and saw Insomnia instead. Make no mistake, this is an Al Pacino acting showcase. Hilary Swank is alright but has a fairly small role; Robin Williams’ part is bigger and he does a superb job, very understated and quite the opposite of his work in, for example, Death to Smoochy. But Pacino is the man here, in every scene, making every important move. His eyes, burdened with the weight of being awake, seem like they weigh half a ton by the end. Director Christopher Nolan (Memento) makes excellent use of the round the clock sunlight in Alaskan summers. And maybe it was just me but I thought the ending was ambiguous enough to give one some hope for Pacino’s detective. Recommended

Give Mitch Albom a pat on the back: Terror, Mideast and hypocrisy

Reading this NY Times review of Insomnia, I’m not sure if the author liked the movie or not, is recommending it or not. We may see it this weekend either way, Pacino and Williams together are too much to pass up.

garret asks if anyone is still interested in enlisting after reading about Navy nerve gas tests in the ’50s and ’60s but he missed yesterday’s biggest sports story: Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman turned down a five-year, $9 million offer last summer to enlist in the Army for a three year tour along with his younger brother Kevin, a minor league baseball player. The Tillmans expect to serve in the elite Ranger unit and Pat was looking at the age limit (he would have been passed it by the time his next contract was finished) so it was either now or never. He hopes to return to the NFL when his service is over.