Hambric's Curve Gets Round

View from the debates at NCS

2009-12-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

This is the view of Washington National Cathedral from the all-girls
National Cathedral School, where this week-end's middle school and
high school debates are taking place among DC's private and public
schools.

A total of 85 teams were fielded, which speaks highly of DC's ability
to educate people capable of arguing at least two sides of an issue.
These kids deserve to be recognized for working so hard to prepare for
this day, then spending their Saturday, from 8:30 to 4:30 in a
draining mental competition.

So from Hambric's Curve I extend a hearty "Well Done!"

Seriously, No Smoking

2009-12-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

I don't know if you can read it, but the sign says there is a $250
cleaning fee for smoking in this room. Man, New York has changed...,
for the better. I was at the Waldorf across the street last month, and
though the room was better, it smelled faintly of stale cigarette,
which I couldn't stand even when I was a smoker!

Georgetown MSB

2009-12-06T11:15:00.000-05:00

The view from the Hariri building, the new home of Georgetown's
business school, during last night's holiday party, complete with
falling snow.

Community Forklift

2009-07-18T23:26:00.000-04:00

Visited Community Forklift for the first of what I expect to be many
times. Fabulous

Mad Coping Skillz on Display

2009-07-18T23:24:00.000-04:00

Falun Gong on the March

2009-07-17T20:02:00.000-04:00

Parade permits were issued, obvs.

Falun Gong Bringing da Peace and a Truck to DC

2009-07-17T20:00:00.000-04:00

On my way into work this AM, noticed a huge-assed crowed of Falun Gong
on The Mall doing their thing, for which I do not begrudge them. It
was just a surprise for me - I'm used to seeing them in the little
park across from the Embassy of China in Kalorama. And in much smaller
numbers.

So this afternoon on my run, coming down 7th from Chinatown, I get to
Constitution (or is it Pennsylvania? No, that's totally Pennsylvania
Ave.) and there they were, marching in a parade!

I don't think they like China's communist overlords.

Awesome Wolf Bust

2009-07-16T20:44:00.000-04:00

While checking out the 'bargains' at AJ Wright, what should catch my
eye but this most righteous wolf sculpture. If only it were larger and
came with a t-shirt with the same image, I'd totes have to drop the
$12.99 needed to take this Awesome Wolf iconography home and display
it in a prominent place in the lair.

First the Kabobs, then the Hot Dogs

2009-07-04T16:36:00.000-04:00

The 4th of July cook out is officially under way at Hambric's Curve.

Hope all H's Curve readers (both of you) have as wonderful a 4th as
we're having here in DC.

The White House on todays run

2009-07-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July!!!

Safeway Signage FAIL

2009-07-03T18:15:00.001-04:00

July "3th"? Really? Where's the quality control, the attention to
detail?

Bad morning on U St

2009-06-14T07:12:00.000-04:00

Lone vehicle in the middle of U St on a Sunday morning. Looks like the
wheel is f'ing torn off!

DC's First Snow of the Season

2009-01-27T07:58:00.001-05:00

House Fire on N. Capital

2009-01-21T07:56:00.002-05:00

It always breaks my heart to see a house on fire because it usually
means a family's life has been changed forever, too often tragically so.

Under the new Administration

2009-01-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

Stepping Out

2009-01-20T08:23:00.000-05:00

It is COLD in DC this morning! I'm amazed at the number of people
already at The Mall this morning. Our little group will soon be there
in the mix.

Test

2009-01-20T07:49:00.001-05:00

Test for the Inauguration.

Hey, Ikea It's Been Awhile

2008-12-13T21:23:00.000-05:00

Took a trip out to Ikea today. It hasn't been quite a year since my last visit, but it certainly feels like it.

Weather you're a fan of clean Swedish styling or not, it's always a pleasure walking through the variously styled rooms.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Logan Circle

2008-12-07T15:38:00.000-05:00

Today was a bright, cold and crisp day here in the city. The kind of day that has me on my way back home from Whole Foods to, um, take a nap.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Georgetown Coffee Cup

2008-11-16T09:46:00.001-05:00

This is my coffee cup, and my first test of posting via email from my phone.

Yesterday, I saw something while on my way to see a movie that made me think: "If I could post to my WordPress blog by email, I would so take photo of this and post it," but I can't.

This AM I remembered I do have a Blogger site to which I can post by email, and the rest is history. I do know that both sites have mobile apps to do this, but neither works for me on T-Mobile.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The Consumer's Need for an Equity Infusion (or

2008-10-26T13:10:00.001-04:00

Despite all the talk comparing our current economic situation to the Great Depression, the FT.com's Krishna Guha hits a bit closer to home when it states that the country is likely to plunge "...into what many experts believe will be its worst recession since 1982." Today, this comparison carries more weight psychologically because more people can relate to 1982 than they can to 1932.

The impact of the current credit market collapse on the banking and finance industries has been unexpectedly wide-spread and deep-rooted, no doubt, presenting our leaders with the opportunity to transfer more than $700 billion from the public coffers to the private sector. I say "more than" because there has yet to be a government program with an estimated cost in the "B" billions that has not just come in over budget, but rather astronomically above budget. But that's a different discussion. The one point that has been not totally absent but rather down-played from the high-minded talks about how best to spend US Treasury funds has the importance of the consumer. You and me (and Joe the Plumber, if he ever gets his business up and running.)

The US economy is driven by consumer consumption. How much of that $700 billion+ is being ear-marked for the consumer's pocket? Not enough, apparently, in light of falling consumer confidence coupled with rising unemployment that has reduced the consumer's propensity to spend. As reported in Guha's article, the unemployment rate is expected by some to jump from its 6.1% level to somewhere north of 8%. Ouch. In other words, people are thinking more about how to pay their bills and make sure there is enough cash set aside in the much maligned Emergency Fund. So despite the credible stories of tighter consumer credit lending standards (have the banks done too little too late?), I'm also curious about the metrics out there on the rate of consumer demand for such products. My logic tells me that the tighter lending standards were accompanied (if not preceded) by reduced demand for consumer loans in the face of rising uncertainty.

So if the credit markets do "thaw" and the lending spigots reopen, it is the institutional side of the market that will be back in play, but the consumer side is likely to take longer to come back to life. More important than the the consumer's access to credit is the state of the consumer's balance sheet, which is in pretty bad shape following the substantial decline in its equity account. In other words, the level of debt relative to equity has shot up because of the decline in value of real estate values (the major piece of equity on the balance sheet.)

For example, before the economy fell in the shitter, I owed $400,000 on my mortgage (my liabilities), but the market value of the my house (my equity) was $650,000 and my stock portfolio was valued at another $250,000 so I was feeling rather flush. I might have even considered taking out $100K in equity to buy stuff. But now, I still owe $400 large, but the market value of the property has declined to $400,000 and my equity portfolio is now worth a $1.49, so now I'm feeling like I just lost a shitload of money and not really in the mood to spend. In order to boost my confidence and get me back to spending, I'm gonna need my liabilities to decline, my equity to increase or some combination of the two. And in all honesty, at this point, I'd prefer that increase to be more liquid (like stocks) than not (property value). [This last point is for another post on the volitility of the equity markets - any gain in stock value will be quickly followed by people looking to cash out, which will then push down equity values. What a fucking see saw.]

Back to Basics - "Feel the aggregation leave your body. Deep breath!"

2006-03-02T10:56:00.000-05:00

Clicked into Bloglines this morning. Scanned the number of new goodies in My Feeds. Opened "Blogs - VCs". Expanded the content for A VC. Actually read the posted entitled The Reason I Prefer Browsing to Reading Feeds. Got to thinking.

You know what? That guy has a point. In an attempt to cover as much ground as I can through the use of an aggregator, I inadvertently stepped away from the process that led me to discover much of the content that I now aggregate - clicking on links that look like they might possibly maybe be interesting. And sometimes discovering that, in fact, they are!

I've also kicked of the process of updating my blogroll only to discover that I need to get browsing to discover more links to add to my blogroll. So point me to some interesting pages.

Breath, you bastard, breath!

Hambric's Curve Has Moved - Click Above

2006-01-19T22:51:00.000-05:00

FYI, I am in the middle of updating the new location of Hambric's Curve. Future posts will be made at the new location, http://hambric.net/blog/ I'm still trying to get the feeds over there to work properly, and the attempts are seriously cutting into my writing time! My box of draft posts is starting to build.

Math-It Does A Body (of data) Good: or How Cold Calculations Can Craft A Kingdom

2006-01-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

Earlier this evening, while walking the aisles of Home Depot in search of a replacement part for my toilet, I was listening to the Business Week podcast about its cover story, Math Will Rock Your World. As far as the business world is concerned, the mathematician is the new MBA. After all, Google is basically a company built on the the stuff. In fact, they can start a new campaign, inspired by Julie:

"Google, Where the [algo]Rithm Method Really Works!"

But I digress. Listening to the podcast, I'd like to relate something that came to my mind after hearing one particular tidbit from the interview with the author.

In speaking about the current two most important languages in the world, English and math, the comment was made that in America, since we are absolutely fluent in English, that we as a society have allowed ourselves to slack off of the other language, math. Instead, we 'outsource' the need to understand higher math to foreigners. I find that premise to be a fairly true measure of America's education system - coast to coast. Of course, it also depends on what is meant by "fluent", but that's a discussion for another time (and another person).

In Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, if I am not mistaken, there is one section in which he writes about the danger of a leader relying too heavily on mercenaries to do one's fighting. The reason being that the time may come when the hired hands realize just how vulnerable the employer is to being overthrown, whether it be done so that the mercenary can take power, or has simply been paid more by someone else. (Click here to visit the free Project Gutenberg Etext of The Prince.) Please don't misinterpret my remarks evoking Machiavelli's words as a direct comparison of 16th century mercenary soldiers with foreign mathematicians in the US! In this case, the 'foreigner' is the one who understands the higher mathematics, be s/he from the US or not. Why shouldn't those who 'get it' simply refuse to drag along those who don't?

(Now, before you finish your 'tut tuts' and lip clicking, let me remind you that I come from a liberal arts background with a more than necessary (read: unhealthy) amount of time spent studying literature. As such, I feel completely at ease with the process of attaching my own meanings to words. If you don't get it, well, why should I help?)

You laugh, but maybe 42 really is the answer! Did you get the question?

BBC News Story on (sp)iTunes Fails to Mention Omniture

2006-01-13T20:30:00.000-05:00

BBC has put up a story on the controversy surrounding the latest release of iTunes (BBC NEWS | Technology | Snooping fears plague new iTunes.) They respectfully credit the blogs of Marc Garrett, since1988 , and Kirkville's very own Kirk McElhearn (Kirkville).

The article mentions the Gracenotes and iTunes 6.0 connection, but for some odd reason fails to mention the connection between Omniture and iTunes 6.0.2 that has so many up in arms.

Apple's collection of data via a third party, Omniture, seems sneaky to the point of being nefariously Microsoftish because it is not mentioned in any of the software's litterature or agreements. I use iTunes 6.0, and when I connect to the Music Store, there is a consenting exchange of information and services. When I close that connection, the exchange of information ceases (I believe...). The point is, I have consented to and am aware that I am providing Apple with my private information. The consenting nature of the transaction was broken in the initial release of iTunes 6.0.2. I say initial because I will give Apple the benefit of the doubt and trust them to do the right thing for its customers

Apples very weak, yet semantically correct response that it "does not save or store any information used to create recommendations for the MiniStore" is allowed to stand unchallenged in the article. The omission of the Omniture angle leaves a gap in the story's information quotient. Although it's true Omniture is not Apple, but it is doing Apple's bidding. If not, then Apple needs to fix its product, because it is sending information about Apple's customers to someone else!

Also, there's no mention of Boing Boing! Shocking!