1/13    Is Men's Wearhouse a good place to rent tuxedo? How about Jim's
        Formal Wear?
        \_ yes.  dunno.  I got a free tux rental because I had 4+  groomsmen.
        \_ Men's Wearhouse is mediocre, but adequate. Their customer service,
           at least in the SF store, is very good.

1/14    My buddy in Switzerland says there are no drug commercials there
        because it is not allowed. Is that really true? German John?
        \_ Don't know about Switzerland.  In Hong Kong, drug commercials are
           okay, but doctors and dentists are not allowed to run commercials
           or ads.
        \_ you are very young...  there was a time persperscription drugs are
           not allowed to air TV commercials in USA... the ban was lifted
           in the 1990s, coincide with raising in drug cost :)
           \_ Yeah you're right I was barely watching cartoons at the
              time. Are you serious about allowing drug commercials in
              those days? That really sucks. Why did it happen... under
              who's watch/administration did this happen? This is
              outrageous. Who is to blame, Bush or Clinton?
              \_ Republicans = drug commercial Deregulation,
                 Democrats = weed deregulation,
                 combined, Weed Commercials Deregulation.

1/13    Well whaddya know, TARP is working
           \_ thanks again for telling me about xmlstarlet.  this is
              wonderful and easy to use tool.
        http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/01/credit-crisis-indicators-ted-spread.html
        \_ it depends on what you mean by "working".  the trend lately has been
           away from using libor-ois or other inter-bank metrics as a measure
           of credit issues as it impacts real economies.
           \_ he means "working (for my personal benefit)", duh.

1/13    I want to extract a couple integer from an xml file, mainly,
        xml file from http://weather.com so I can put it on my xplanet marker
        file. has anyone done similar things (parse and extract data
        from xml) using shell script instead of python/perl?
        in the world of perl, it make sense to dump things into a hash
        which i can easily extract key/value pair.  can i achieve similar
        things with xmllint/xmlcatalog?  thanks
        \_ xmlstarlet lets you do xpath/xslt stuff via the command line
           \_ didn't know this existed... Thanks
           \_ thanks again for telling me about xmlstarlet.  this is
              wonderful and easy to use tool.

1/14    How is it that an APR can be lower than the interest rate?
        \_ if it's an ARM, initial rate(s) are higher than future adjusted
           rate(s).  I believe the quoted "interest rate" is for the year(s)
           before it starts adjusting.  APR is calculated over the life of the
           loan.
           rates, based on the reference index + spread.  I believe the quoted
           rates, based on the reference rate + spread.  I believe the quoted
           "interest rate" is for the year(s) before it starts adjusting.  APR
           is calculated over the life of the loan.
           \_ So if the rate is 6% but if the ref rate + spread = 5%, the APR
              is based on 5%+fees? Sounds like the APR is not very helpful
              wrt ARMs.
              \_ I agree.  Especially if you consider the ref rate is insanely
                 low today and can be something else in 1 to x years.  If the
                 ref rate goes insane in 2 years, you can re-fi yes, but you
                 just lost on all the fees, and the opportunity to get the
                 insanely low fixed rate.  Mr. Market loves you, then fucks
                 you in the ass.
                 \_ I know a few people whose ARMs are going flex but bc
                    LIBOR is so low, they get to keep their low rates. My
                    old roommate is about to refi to a 30 year fixed w/ Wells
                    for about 5%. Mortgage=$417k.
        \_ Another way: the mortgage company pays you points. For instance,
           if I want a 30 year fixed loan at 6.5% right now I am probably
           going to get points which will lower the APR to maybe 6.25%.

1/14    Pretty awesome - search for "Museo del Prado, Madrid" in Google Earth,
        then click on the white box in the center.  Browse the art and select
        "view super high resolution version."

1/14    Take the GISS global temperature data
        http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
        and put it into:
        http://www.wikichecks.com
        Looks like people have been monkeying with the data.
        \_ Looks like people have been monkeying with http://wikichecks.com.
           \_ the tubes are full of the lies of terror
           \_ SHOCKING
        \_ "RESULT: Passed, no management detected."

1/14    Why is there no anti-Cramer?  In an efficient market, shouldn't there
        be an equivalent dude who jumps up and down and waves stupid toys
        and makes oogely boogely eyes at the camera, but who pushes the
        stocks you should short?
        \_ hasn't Cramer been bearish last 1-2 months?

1/14    http://dutycycle.tumblr.com
        \_ remix my castlevania baybee lol

1/14    http://www.amazon.com/Appetite-Self-Destruction-Spectacular-Industry-Digital/dp/1416552154
        \_ where's that gonna go after
           http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10133425-38.html