Guy Berger

You're right on target there. I'd rather forget that character. The whole raison d'etre behind Lwaxana was that she was SUPPOSED to be just SO annoying...har, har. Yeah, I get it, but she wasn't annoying/funny but annoying/tiresome. And the weird part is that they kept bringing her back OVER and OVER... she even had 3 guest appearances on DS9. Did the character really have that much of a following? I recently rewatched an episode with both her and Alexander Rozhenko. It was a weak episode, but not quite the trainwreck one might expect given that combination. Guy

I was not a fan of the Lwaxana Troi character - annoying and unfunny. Guy

Yes, they are good choices, Handy is a very fine player, in my opinion, and the Columbia recordings in the Mosaic set are some of his best recordings. The reunion of the Monterey concert band is not as exciting as the original concert, but it is still worthwhile. The Monterey concert is one of my favorite live jazz recordings, and one that retains interest after many listenings. Seconded. I haven't heard the reunion but the Monterey concert, as well as the studio album that followed, are both more than worthwhile. Guy

There was another 0.000% treasury bill auction today. Furthermore, we hit another milestone as the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond, one day after blowing past 3.00%, fell below 2.75%. I remember a distant era of the past (October) when people expressed shock at the long bond yield falling below 4.00%. We are a very lucky country to be facing record low borrowing costs at a time of record high funding needs. Also, this was an amusing story that I don't think I've posted here:

http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/200...-on-mattresses/

The experts also didn't expect that the world would enter its most severe economic downturn since the 1930s... Once the global economy recovers, energy prices will be high again. Guy

Shrug- not sure when the last time I read a daily newspaper hard copy. Guy

This list was more troubling to me than its predecessor. Looks like I will have to go back to amazon. Ding dong the CD is dead. Guy

I've only heard his string quartets, but my superficial assessment is "dull". I suppose that is the point though. Guy

Not "good riddance" more like "shrug". I haven't bought music in a brick and mortar location for at least 5 years. I don't give it much thought. Guy

Haven't read the article, but "revenues" would suggest cash flow rather than profits. In other words, if your logic is correct (and I am inclined to think it is), this means that 51% of profits preceded the current milestone. Guy

I recently listened to this album for the first time. Very enjoyable. I am a Lloyd fan, but the star of this album is Jason Moran who is just as great as you would imagine. Guy

In general I think the article contained a mishmash of good and bad points. To correct one common misconception - the stock market crash of 1929 was a key catalyst of the recession which evolved into the Great Depression, but it was not a cause in the fundamental sense. If it hadn't been for the Fed's foolish adherence to the gold standard and a series of catastrophic banking panics during 1930-33, it might have been simply a harsh but brief recession. Guy

While there was a conflict of interest which may on the margin have caused some assets to be rated better than they should have been, I think the problems with asset ratings were much, much more fundamental. They used assumptions that in retrospect were clearly absurd, but that plenty of knowledgeable people that should have known better never questioned at the time. Guy

Stock brokers and car salesmen are chump change compared to what the article describes, though cut from the same cloth. Good article though I think K Marx would say the CDO is just a symptom, not the disease. (The disease being a toxic combination of human nature, global imbalances and the principal/agent problem. Maybe throw general stupidity in there.) Guy

Neither of these have made my collection yet so now is probably the time if at all. I'm a Jackie fan, should I be without either of these? You want both. Right Now is essential, among the best Jackie I've heard. I would put Jacknife in the second tier of JM recordings, but it's still very good. Guy

My recollection of CS, which I haven't listened to in a while, was that the first tune was awesome and the rest was somewhat unremarkable relative to benchmark JM recordings. Guy

Yes, definitely. Also on Cannonball's "Domination" - not my fave Cannonball, but for someone who is inherently (perhaps unfairly) wary of Oliver Nelson arrangements from the mid 60s, I was very pleasantly surprised. Also, "Experience in E" is definitely worth hearing for those fond of early jazz rock. Not entirely successful but a fun listen. Guy

I like it. A little sloppy if that bothers you, but the music itself is enjoyable. Would have been interesting if it had featured an A-list saxophonist. Guy

You're wrong in relating the lowering of tariffs and barriers to the increasing inequality in Britain and the US. You can have one without the other. And having increasing inequality is no reason to have trade barriers. My view as well. Globalization is giving us a bigger pie, we are just doing a terrible job of slicing it in an equitable way. Unfortunately, many of the people who've been pushing for a larger pie don't really seem to care about that second half of the equation, so we're risking a return to small-pie policies. Guy

In the midst of reading: "Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises" (by Charles P. Kindleberger) - highly recommended. I only wish I had read this 18, 12 or even 3 months ago. "Essays on the Great Depression" (by Ben Bernanke) - Only started, but it's quite interesting. Probably too dry and academic for casual readers, but those with a solid grounding in economics may find it useful. I'd be interested in any recommendations for a more generalist but economically-literate history book on the Great Depression. "War and Peace" - about 2/3 of the way through.

Dan, there is lots of other interesting discussion on this thread, but John L's sentence is 99% sufficient to answer your question. Guy

Two doublers who haven't been mentioned are Charles Lloyd and Yusef Lateef. I enjoy flute work by both. But my favorites are Dolphy and James Newton. Guy

From a liberal who doesn't object to spendiing gov't money but does object to wasting it - The best policy would be to give current Big 3 employees a guarantee for their current salary up to $60K over the next 2-3 years, regardless of whatever happens to the company. In addition, offer $15K a year for retraining, education, whatever. After that, the salary payment goes down by $20K a year. I'd rather have these guys sitting idle collecting a paycheck rather than wasting valuable resources producing cr@ppy products. Screw shareholders, bondholders, executives. Unfortunately that is not on the table... Second-best would be to subsidize companies that actually turn a profit to hire the laid off workers, with workers paid to relocate out of their current location if necessary. And unfortunately that is not on the table either. Guy

And Woody Allen was the best Bond villain. (For that matter, I saw a TV edit of Austin Powers that changed Ms. fffagina's name to Alotta Cleavahgeh. As far as this thread - can't be bothered to think this much about an action movie. Craig is an excellent bond, but this movie was so-so. CR, on the other hand, was superb. I liked Strawberry Fields better than the Russian. Guy