Finally, some real innovation

You see, guys, what have I always been telling you? If we really want to get some real innovation in this country to get us out of our economic doldrums, we just have to start taking our cues from Russia. Wait, that can't be right...

In October, design practice Y/N studio caused a stir by designing a blueprint for a swimming lane along Regent's canal in London, so that people could swim to work. Now, the Estonian architecture studio Salto has built an equally inventive solution to the boredom of the morning commute – a 51m (170ft) -long trampoline, so that you can bounce to your destination. 

 

The trampoline, called Fast Track, has been built and installed at arts festival Archstoyanie, and has been a hit since it was opened at the end of November in the Nikola-Lenivets forest, in south-west Russia. Made of black rubber, it is, according to Salto "an attempt to create [an] intelligent infrastructure that is emotional and corresponds to the local context, giving the user a different experience of moving and perceiving the environment".

Hey, that's a fantastic idea! It's green, it gets us off our butts and exercising a little bit, it encourages our long-lost love of nature... what could possibly go wrong? Oh... right.

David Einhorn on the Fed and The Simpsons

I don't always agree with hedge fund manager David Einhorn, but the piece that he wrote for The Huffington Post regarding Fed policy is one of the better pieces I've read this year.

It's not easy to take a complex subject and make it easy to understand (not to mention entertaining), but I think Einhorn's pulled it off here. And the fact that he brings The Simpsons into it just makes it all that more appealing to me. I'm easy.

I'll excerpt a couple of sections of it here (basically the beginning and the end), but I seriously suggest that you take a few minutes and read the whole thing. At the very least, it'll help you understand just why the economy can't seem to get out of its own way.

A Jelly Donut is a yummy mid-afternoon energy boost. 

Two Jelly Donuts are an indulgent breakfast. 

Three Jelly Donuts may induce a tummy ache. 

Six Jelly Donuts -- that's an eating disorder. 

Twelve Jelly Donuts is fraternity pledge hazing. 

My point is that you can have too much of a good thing and overdoses are destructive. Chairman Bernanke is presently force-feeding us what seems like the 36th Jelly Donut of easy money and wondering why it isn't giving us energy or making us feel better. Instead of a robust recovery, the economy continues to be sluggish. Last year, when asked why his measures weren't working, he suggested it was "bad luck." 

I don't think luck has anything to do with it. The blame lies in his misunderstanding of human nature. The textbooks presume that easier money will always result in a stronger economy, but that's a bad assumption... 

I think we've reached the point where even Homer can see that the last thing he needs is another Jelly Donut, but the Fed Chairman is oblivious. 

We can all say "D'oh!"

Since I left out the entire guts of the argument, you'll have to go to the full article to see what he's saying. I like the analogy, and I definitely agree with Einhorn's conclusions. The Fed needs to get out of the way, allow the market's price mechanism to work properly (even if that means significant short-term pain), and let the economy begin to heal itself. Doing otherwise will only prolong the pain, and could even create the next crisis--I might in fact argue that it already has.

[Huffington Post]

Welcome March Madness (from The Simpsons)

It's March (already?), and that of course means that March Madness officially kicks off this week with Championship Week--plenty of teams have already clinched their NCAA berths, the Big East tournament has been underway for about a week now, and the ACC just started theirs today. I couldn't be more excited.

In honor of the ACC tournament and my Cavaliers (who earned a first round bye and start tourney play tomorrow), I thought I'd share my personal take on the ACC, as viewed through the all-knowing lens of The Simpsons. Enjoy. (Click on the pic to blow it up full size, for the full effect).

Woo-hoo!

It might have gone unnoticed in some circles (and I neglected to mention it here), but a very long and illustrious era nearly came to a very unceremonious end last week.

After more than 20 years, the curtain could finally be coming down on "The Simpsons."

A standoff is reportedly underway between the studio and the show's actors over their multimillion dollar salaries. And if an agreement isn't reached, the show could be canceled for good, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.

The show holds the record as the longest-running sitcom in the history of broadcasting. But after 23 seasons and nearly 500 episodes, the very future of "The Simpsons" may hang in the balance over a reported pay dispute between Twentieth Century Fox and the actors that provide the voices of the show's beloved characters.

"Basically, the studio would like to see the voice actors take a pretty huge pay cut in order to justify the increasingly skyrocketing expense of doing a show that's been on the air for 23 years," Andrew Wallenstein, TV editor for Variety magazine, tells CBS News.

Nooooooooooooo!!! Oh... thank God.

Fans of “The Simpsons” can breathe a “d’oh!” of relief: The animated series was renewed Friday for two more seasons.

A contract dispute with the show’s voice cast had threatened to end the series, but Fox announced it will air through seasons 24 and 25.

The animated series about the Simpson family, including dad Homer and his familiar “D’oh!” is TV’s longest-running scripted nighttime series.

Negotiations over the future of “The Simpsons,” which began its 23rd season last month, spilled out into the public. Twentieth Century Fox Television, which makes the show, said it couldn’t continue without cutting costs and targeted the salaries of voice actors Harry Shearer, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria.

So, I'll admit I'm not exactly an unbiased observer in this situation, because I love The Simpsons. I've clearly watched too much of the show in my life (like, the majority of my four years in college), so much so that I regularly quote it in my daily life ("I am so smart, S-M-R-T"... "the goggles, they do nothing"... "inflammable means flammable? What a country!), some of the songs from the show are deeply and irreparably ingrained in my head ("Can I Borrow A Feeling", "Dr. Zaius Dr. Zaius", "Yvan eht Nioj", and so forth), and that I've seriously considered naming my first-born son "Max", because yeah... Max Powers.

So while the Simpsons may have lost its fastball a few seasons ago, it's still worth a watch, and I'm just not ready for it to be out of my life just yet. And if nothing else, Hank Azaria just amuses the hell out of me. Glad they're still gonna be around.

[CBS News]
[Chicago Sun-Times]

Happy Fourth

I'll be off doing my thing for the 4th, and I assume you all will be, too... so I leave you, as I don't do nearly often enough, with my best wishes from The Simpsons.

Clip of the Week

Not a lot of great stuff out there this week (except this video of the flooding in Australia, which gets me to shake my head every time), so I'll just post one of the videos that's been keeping me (ahem) busy today.

It's a series of clips from the cast of The Simpsons on "Inside the Actors Studio", which cracks me up. There's something about seeing real people speak in the voices of characters we know only as cartoons that just never gets old. I'm a particular fan of Hank Azaria, who in addition to creating some classic characters is also great on his feet and hysterically funny. Enjoy.

Clip of the Week

Alright, time to end this Thursday on the proper note...with a cartoon. Yup, it's Clip of the Week time, and this time around it's not Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. I know you're shocked.

I gave some serious thought to posting the entire "It's a Jersey Thing" episode of South Park from last night (an instant classic), but I'm going to stick to my guns and post my original choice. Given my obsession with China lately, I think it's particularly apt.

The Simpsons enlisted the help of underground street artist Banksy to draw up this week's couch gag. It was dark, incisive, and basically amazing. I give credit to Fox and the producers of The Simpsons for airing it (it's not exactly friendly to them), and credit to Banksy for awesomeness. Bravo.