Monday, September 15, 2008

How is it over there?

When I was in Long Island, I found out that different parts of the country have different squirrels. They are not all reddish-brown. New York has the coolest dark grey squirrels... I was just wondering this weekend...

1. What kind of squirrels do you have?

2. Do you have a lot of willow trees?

3. Do you have sea gulls in your parking lots?

4. Anything else you can think of?

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This morning I watched the "Today" show. They don't have to spin much hyperbole with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and the collapse of Lehman Brothers... The one really scary thing: They had Scott Cramer as a guest and he was totally calm and rational.

I removed the link to the video of Scott Cramer ranting... Here's a funny ninja cat video instead. : )

UPDATE: You know what? I'll find that video later. I want to discuss emotions and effective arguing with my teenager...

UPDATE: Z did watch it with me. He said "Wow, that guy could see the future."
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Mashup I am not going to make: "Pink Houses" and "Into the Black"

5 comments:

sgreerpitt said...

We have light grey squirrels in Kentucky. Though I don't see too many of them near our home. Squirrels don't seem to like the dense woods, but prefer more parkland like areas, so we're more likely to see them when we go to the lake.
We do have willow trees here and there, usually along streams -- "do wild willows weep?" was a great line in someone's poem for One Single Impression.
We do not have seagulls, being very far away from the ocean or any large body of water, but we do have pigeons and ducks -- mallards by the dozens -- in our parking lots. In the spring during mating season, ducks lose all track of everything but the mating and can block roads and be generally a hazard to driving.
We have cardinals. I saw one just this morning, sitting in a big green bush, so bright and cheerfully red.
___________
Scott Cramer was not alone in forseeing this mess, unfortunately they went even less noticed than he did.

I know this is long, but it came in an e-mail today, and I thought you'd appreciate it:
Quote of the Day
September 17, 2008

'Suppose somebody wants to make a bet with me that the
San Francisco 49ers will win the next two Super Bowls.
He gives me $100 today, and I have to give him $100
million in case he's right. The chances of this
happening are very small, but just in case the
impossible happens I want some backup. I buy insurance
from my next-door neighbor. I offer to give him a
nickel every week in return for his promise to cover my
bet.

'My neighbor sees that he has a good thing going -
getting money for nothing. After a while he takes on
more and more bets until others follow in his
footsteps. Soon, a market develops. In effect, people
can bet on bets. Eventually, the total potential amount
of money builds up into the billions and trillions of
dollars.

'Unexpectedly, the San Francisco 49ers win two Super
Bowls in a row. My neighbor does not have $100 million
on hand to cover my loss. The nickels I have been
giving him have been wasted. I don't have $100 million
either.

'Suddenly everybody in the market is worried about
people's ability to back up their bets. The Federal
Reserve steps in and takes over the market. The free
world is saved.'

Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University

September 17, 2008

http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/

Qaro said...

Grey squirrels, cool. That's my favorite spelling of grey.

That is a cool line!

I don't see ducks in parking lots but they're at the parks and the hospital with the pond. Cardinals are beautiful, especially against a snowy backdrop. I like the red-wing blackbirds of SE Michigan.
___________
That's certainly putting it in layman's terms. Thanks for the link.

sgreerpitt said...

I haven't seen a redwing blackbird in years and years. As a child we spent summers with my grandfather in coastal Virginia, and you'd see dozens of them. I think they like open fields rather than woods like we have here.

Qaro said...

My husband's friend says they love ditches.

Qaro said...

Oh, I told my friends how Matt Lauer mentioned the "D" word.

And what really scared me was how calm Scott Cramer was.

"Oh course he is. He's on sedatives!"