The fever's gone, so today is the day to stop the drugs and see what happens when the overlapping antihistamines, cough remedies and the like wash out of the system. So far a marginal headache and a few sniffles, but the brain cells are mostly firing again.
Also a dirty guy. Spend 20 minutes on this TED talk instead of another Discovery Channel rerun. It's well worth it.
Can you say moral hazard? Most of the AIG bailout money went right out again, to counter-parties to AIG's failed credit default swap trades. All made whole, and the bills passed on to the taxpayers and their future generations. Shouldn't these big banks be taught some lessons about counter-party risk? Instead the ones learning that lesson are the $1 / year guys. The country's in the very best of hands.
Another good source for bank information. This site pulls together TARP as well as conventional bank rating metrics.
The passing of the computer lab. One of those things that make you feel old. Who needs a computer lab when everyone already has one? I got into the racket when the 'computer lab' was a building, not a room; there was only one computer. The chokepoint was access to key punches, which is why I learned to fix the most common failures of IBM 026 and 029 punches: He who revived the machine got first use and didn't stand on line. Over time the prestige went from a big card deck, to a mag tape, and then just a listing, because you'd gotten 'interactive' privileges. Then you got to stand on line for a ASR 33 or 'glass TTY'. 'Home computing' meant you'd scored a gig that would give you an old terminal and an acoustic coupler so you could do more work. I like sitting here with a supercomputer on my lap a lot better, but occasionally the boggle factor kicks in.