1/8     http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary?utm_source=embedded_video
        Apple Introduces a new revolutionary laptop!    -onion news

1/8     camera discussion deleted. crap.  hey i want to buy digital camera,
        small enough to keep with me all of the time so i can get off some
        great holub quality shots.  suggestions?  thanks.
        \_ How small is small enough?  Basically it doesn't matter very much,
           just look at the usual suspects from Canon, Fuji, Panasonic...
           look at the newest ones, compare size and zoom/aperture range
        \_ I purchased the Canon G9 for simmilar reasons and have been happy.
           It's not super small, but it travels easily and has all the bells
           and whistles (12.1mpix, antivibration on ccd).  -scottyg

1/8     today is the 174th anniversary of the US National Debt being 0!
        \_ And look how much worse off we are than 174 years ago!

1/8     Stock market isn't going anywhere... and I haven't made a penny
        for a few weeks. It's been dry, but not unexpected.  -week trader
        \_ I am up over 10% since Dec 1. -buy and holder

1/8     "Protests over BART shooting turn violent"
        http://www.csua.org/u/n80 (http://www.sfgate.com
        "Yet the demonstrators were often indiscriminate, frequently targeting
        the businesses and prized possessions of people of color."
        "The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th
        Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms."
        \_ It's the same idiots who set fire to the city when the Raiders
           win big: out of town troublemakers.
           \_ Apparently from SF: "I feel like the night is going great," said
              Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, one of the demonstrators.
           \- The person who had her Toyota Corilla smashed is a former
              aquaitance of mine. Ironically, she's one of those pro-agitation,
              make some noise, fight the power types.
              \_ I don't know the person you speak of, but you can be a
                 "make some noise" type without supporting vandalism.
                 \- trust me on this: knowing this person, her getting
                    her getting her car bashed up at an oakland street
                    riot is ironic.
           \_ At least 37 of those arrested were found to be from Oakland.
              Five were from Berkeley, and another five were from San Francisco.
              Others came from cities all over the map: Fremont, Kensington,
              Pinole, Hayward, San Leandro, Fairfax, Santa Cruz and even as
              far away as Santa Clarita in Southern California. One man told
              police he was from Indianapolis, officials said.
              Five were from Berkeley, and another five were from San
              Francisco. Others came from cities all over the map: Fremont,
              Kensington, Pinole, Hayward, San Leandro, Fairfax, Santa Cruz
              and even as far away as Santa Clarita in Southern California.
              One man told police he was from Indianapolis, officials said.
              http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_11405848
              \_ 37+ out of 120 arrests breaks down to 1 in 4 being from
                 Oakland. I stand by my earlier statement about out of town
                 hooliganism.
                 \_ Indiana Anarchists.
                    I hate Indiana Anarchists.

1/8     Macy's closing 11 stores:
        http://preview.tinyurl.com/9f6576 [newsday]
        \_ I wish I had saved this graph that compared retail space per
           capita between Britain, Sweden and the United States.  We had
           something like 20x-30x more retail space per capita which suggests
           there are a lot more store closings coming up.
           \_ Not necessarily. The US has a lot more land and our cities
              are spread far apart so there are a lot more locations per
              capita than in a more dense nation.
           \_ 20X? That seems unbelievable to me. -skeptic
           \_ Found the chart:

              http://www.oftwominds.com/photos07/retail-sq-ft.png

              US: 20.2 sf/person
              Sweden: 3.3 sf/person (Sweden has more land per person than the
              US).
              \_ Yes, but the population is not spread out much.
              UK: 2.5
              France: 2.3
              Italy: 1.1

              Note that according to http://tinyurl.com/6j2gtq US sf/person
              grew to 38 sf/person in 2005, but that same article claims
              European countries have 10 sf/person.  So the gap is anywhere
              from 4x to almost 20x depending on the source.

              -pp
              from 4x to almost 20x depending on the source. -pp
              \_ Where's the source data?
               \_ From the looks of that graph it is somewhere on
                  http://www.icsc.org/sct/index.php

1/8     Financial services industry appears to have been ripping off states
        and cities for years in the municipal bond business
        http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/business/09insure.html
        \- say it with me, "clawback".