Saturday, January 3, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas
This year's Christmas was special in that the focus was re-centering and honoring gratefulness.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Archaeologizing 'Watchmen': An Interview With Dave Gibbons
The artist who created one of comics' most-influential series kept very detailed notes as he worked with writer Alan Moore on Watchmen. Now, Gibbons talks about the creative process and shares his scribbles and sketches in a new behind-the-scenes book, Watching the Watchmen.
Watchmen was the first series which introduced me to reading comics in the 1980s.
Watchmen was the first series which introduced me to reading comics in the 1980s.
Merry Christmas, You're Fired
As shell-shocked Americans look forward to the end of a horrible 2008, jobless claims jumped again to show that the New Year isn’t likely to bring any immediate respite for the economy.
With the jobless report moved up by a day because of Christmas, the Labor Department reported initial claims for jobless benefits rose to a Scroogely 26-year high. Claims for the week that ended December 20 popped by 30,000, to a seasonally adjusted 586,000.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected claims would rise by 6,000.
The Wall Street Journal added that the four-week average of new claims, which aims to smooth volatility in the data, also rose to a fresh 26-year high, climbing by 13,750, to 558,000.
The report wasn’t a surprise, but the toll the job losses will take in 2009 is looming large as economists gear up their expectations—especially in the housing and consumer-spending areas.
Rising unemployment could put a serious dent in the power of the voracious American consumers—who account for 70 percent of GDP. The Commerce Dept. reported today that personal consumption fell 0.6 percent, the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Americans did, however, boost savings yet again to prepare for continued weakness in 2009.
The pain isn’t just being felt in the manufacturing heartland or in the gloomy canyons of New York finance. Bloomberg News reported today that Silicon Valley faces its worst job cuts since the internet bubble burst in 2001.
According to the story, the Valley has a 7 percent unemployment rate—about 4,000 fewer jobs today than this time last year—and global spending on computers and software will slide 8 percent next year in the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan.
Looking Down
Comparing American and European Unemployment Insurance
Big Job Losses Early -- Good or Bad?
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Report: Elderly in Japan turning to crime
Beset by economic worries and loneliness, elderly Japanese are turning to petty crime in increasing numbers, the nation's Justice Ministry reports.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Saturday, December 23, 2006
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