The scene was, at first, a bit out of character for Season 2.

(Season 1, however, especially the early episodes, had a lot of those "gotcha" moments designed to tune you into the fact that the early 1960s really were almost 50 years ago. The kids in the back seat not wearing seatbelts before the accident, the neighbor mom smoking and drinking while hugely pregnant, etc.)

As Season 2 developed, I think the scene started to make a lot... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:51 AM on November 17, 2008

Things to be aware of: (1) prepayment penalties are common; if you think you can take a high rate now and refinance or pay off the note to cut the pain, that may not be so. (2) the business model for some (but not all) car lenders to people with poor credit involves aggressive collection efforts -- the calls start if you're a day late, and repossession comes quickly thereafter.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 1:00 PM on November 8, 2008

Don't give up so soon. Shipping and raw materials costs are coming down. Way down. It may not have reached you yet -- but at the bottom of the food chain it is there in a big way, and it will reach you relatively soon. Oil is off more than 50%. Dry bulk shipping is off 90%. (Yes -- 90%! As if grain transportation were a second lien subprime mortgage securitization.) This will work its way up the feeding chain and find you soon enough.

And if... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:23 PM on November 7, 2008

Your facts are incorrect in part.

Many states have amended their Constitutions subsequent to Roemer v. Evans to prohibit gay marriage.

The gay marriage movement's legal strategy thus far has been not to challenge these amendments on U.S. Constitutional grounds -- either on a Roemer basis, a Lawrence basis, or some combination of the two, but rather to focus on getting... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 7:03 AM on November 6, 2008

Swing states would never convert: they only have special influence because they are winner take all. Who would ever seek the votes of a "swing" state when the delta between best performance and worst would be 3-4 Electoral College votes?

Solid states would likely no benefit from going Maine/Nebraska -- it simply diminishes their power to choose the President with an uncertain return. It's not like Democratic Presidents don't pay attention... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:11 AM on November 3, 2008

Somewhere between $2.00 and $4.50 a gallon.

We've already seen the demand destruction and non-exporter-country political turmoil that occurred when oil got to the $120s and above for sustained periods -- the crude prices that drive $4.50 or so a gallon in much of the U.S. No one can confidently say there's a ceiling, but there's certainly plenty of resistance there that would be hard to overcome in 2009 given recessionary conditions.

On low... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 3:40 PM on October 30, 2008

For what it's worth, there's no systemic bias.

Many prestigious universities confer the B.A. upon all undergraduates regardless of major, and most high ranking universities grant the B.A. to pure science graduates (physics, math, biology), while the B.S. goes to applied graduates (engineering, business, etc.)

However, employers and graduate programs are well aware of when programs at a particular school can culminate in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 1:03 PM on October 28, 2008

Your premise is bad.

Your creditors are perfectly able to collect on your American debts in South Korea, and sooner or later they will, if you ever obtain the resources (legitimate job, bank accounts, any kind of property or other visible assets) which makes collection worthwhile.

Staying poor as dirt indefinitely is a pretty poor trade off for frustrating your creditors...
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 9:43 AM on October 17, 2008

It's important to remember that Democratic Party views are not "idealism" for most people who vote Democrat.

It may seem that way if most of the Democrats you know are graduate-degree-educated private sector workers (trial lawyers excluded!), but most of the people who vote Democrat are simply voting for who they think best puts the bacon in their pans.

(And to editorialize, I think that's entirely for the best.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:11 AM on October 17, 2008

Things will be a bit rough, but Iceland will be just fine. Its ratio of resources (education, law and order, energy, minerals, sea food) to population will assure that. As with every crisis, true wealth will outlast issues in the capital markets.

By the way, while "deserved" applies more moral condemnation than business decisions merit, there is no one who can claim innocence -- not Iceland, not anyone. Whether it was financiers who made or bought CDOs about... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 5:11 AM on October 15, 2008

If you can swing it, resolve your divorce, child custody and child care arrangements fully before you start working. First impressions matter tremendously and you are unlikely to leave a positive first impression unless you can give a full emotional and practical focus to your work.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 9:27 AM on October 7, 2008

No reason from what you said why you couldn't become a cop.

Big city police forces seem to have very modest physical requirements for entry. It's a rare day that I don't see dozens of NYPD cops under 150 pounds (short and/or skinny). And that's assuming you're male -- the vast majority of female cops weigh under 150, of course.

There's typically a partial college education requirement -- 2 years of community college suffices.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 9:23 AM on October 7, 2008

Indexes are the intellectual property of their managers / sponsors. The "Dow Jones" of the Dow Jones 30 index and the "S&P" of the S&P 500 aren't just for show.

Different indexes and news sources have different takes on what aspects are public domain, what are protected but subject to fair use exemption, and what cannot be used or possessed except under license and royalty.

Whenever a free or low-cost source has... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 8:59 AM on October 6, 2008 marked best answer

These Premises are right ... one squeaky wheel is to be ignored, but many are to be paid attention. 311 is a start but also your City Council member is very important; they are full-time politicians and (with 51 districts) they represent a modest-enough group of people that a few dozen calls on an issue really makes an impact.

For better or worse, the priority of quality of life enforcement in New York City is intensely political. As a rule, NYPD... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 5:55 AM on October 5, 2008

The GSEs are not without fault:

(1) Rapidly increased the conforming loan limit -- the maximum size of loan they would buy or guarantee. While we talk a lot about the more abusive mortgage product, the increasing size of the baseline 30-year-fixed-good-credit conforming mortgage was a significant factor in pushing up housing prices to unsustainable levels. The rapid increase in housing prices in turn supported (what turned out to be) the toxic appraisals and risk... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 7:01 AM on October 1, 2008

OP: serious people are (somewhat) seriously proposing an even more radical idea: buying the houses and then demolishing them. Permanently removing supply does wonders for the supply-demand price equilibrium (if you want prices higher). I think it's ridiculous, but OP's hardly alone.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 2:42 PM on September 27, 2008

Public transit doesn't need to be reinvented. We have all the tools and options we need. If the environment is correct people love their mass transit and use it enthusiastically -- at $1.50 a gallon of gas, to say the least of $4.00.

For the regional mass transit model -- people commuting to big city offices from their suburban houses -- what needs to be reinvented are the costs of doing business in the city. If it weren't far cheaper and more appealing on many... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 9:20 AM on September 27, 2008 marked best answer

You're missing one key fact. The bad assets were highly leveraged. People on Wall Street may well have been willing to take the loss for a while and build back, but in this case, they simply can't because it's not up to them: the people who lent them the money they used to buy the asset want to get paid, and the asset isn't good for the debt anymore.

By the way, there are many players in the market who bought bad assets on an unleveraged basis --... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 2:47 PM on September 26, 2008

The money is going to be used to buy from financial institutions mortgages and securities which derive their value directly and indirectly from mortgage cash flows, in which the market has lost confidence to buy other than by way of a government program.

This is believed to help the economy because (1) it will relieve the risk of snowballing defaults and failures from the inability to pay back the loans taken to buy those mortgages and mortgage related securities, which... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:32 AM on September 26, 2008

A not-for-profit trade association serves one master: its members. A for-profit trade association must always have divided loyalties: members and shareholders. Who gets to elect the Board of Directors? Who selects the Executive Director. Very hard to overcome this.

There is one well-established exception: a law firm which acts as an ad hoc or de facto trade association infrastructure for lobbying or litigation purposes. The split-loyalties problem is overcome by... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 11:41 AM on September 24, 2008

You need to get a better story from your sister as to exactly what the police said they would, and would not, do, and what happened if and when they did anything.

If the police really blew her off, that is completely unacceptable. These aren't roommate disputes or anonymous property crimes about which the police can do little, but are felony property crimes, including breaking and entering, with a known perpetrator.

Your sister needs to go... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 4:53 AM on September 24, 2008

The fundamental error is failing to learn from history. History teaches that all bubbles burst, and smart people limit their risk and cash out well before it is obvious that they should do so.

While I firmly believe that there is no "economic meltdown" coming, history teaches you what you need to know about them.

Meltdowns are always accompanied by mass unemployment. That dictates savings as a priority above all else. Meltdowns... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 8:05 AM on September 21, 2008

If you fear a disaster, being debt-free is the last thing you should be focused on. For worse-case planning cash is king. (For worst-case planning you want to have gold, weapons, and friends in foreign consulates, but that's another thread.)

You can always default on debt if you must, and you cannot buy food with lack-of-debt (credit availability on credit cards would vanish for non-high-earners in a true meltdown). Also, unlike... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 4:34 PM on September 18, 2008

It's entirely possible for the government to make $50 billion or more on the AIG deal. Indeed, at this very moment, the stock market values the government's 80% stake in AIG at around $24 billion, although that couldn't be easily realized. If it performs, the AIG loan may generate $10 billion or more in interest margin (interest paid by AIG less the government's cost of funds).

The Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac bailouts are a lot more sketchy, in part because their... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 12:33 PM on September 17, 2008

Say Anything..., as much as I love it, probably flunks both legs of the OP's test for protagonists: in Lloyd Dobler, Cusack pretty much created the slacker-struggling-with-growing-up template occupied by (among many others) Seth Rogen in Knocked Up, while Ione Skye's Diane was pretty clearly a bridezilla in training (assuming bridezilla = conventional beauty who struggles with her inclination to fold romance into a broader path towards mainstream overachievement and acclaim).
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 7:33 AM on September 16, 2008

Ask him to roll the clock back to mid 2007, when Hillary Clinton was steamrolling to the nomination and John McCain was coming in third or fourth in Republican polls. What did Clinton do wrong and what did McCain do right, or where they simply victims / beneficiaries of their opponents successes and failures.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 9:59 AM on September 14, 2008

Pretty weak stuff, that Times piece. The Times supports the Obama campaign not be directly influencing voters -- no swing voters actually read it -- but by trying to create pro-Obama story-lines for the television news that swing voters do see. Television news has already decided that their viewers like Palin. They could undecide that, of course, but it would take more than this sort of inside-baseball to make that move.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 6:23 AM on September 14, 2008

Speaking of TV, you'll know that Obama is well and truly toast if Oprah is forced to reverse herself and invite Palin onto the show before the election. Not saying that will happen, but Oprah didn't get as rich as she is by riding a losing horse all the way to the finish line.
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 6:26 AM on September 14, 2008

Eriko, I think I agree with you on your implicit point -- that a combination of factors has made the election a referendum on Obama, and that McCain himself won't be terrifically important in the outcome of that referundum.

However, it's a bit difficult to argue that "McCain is the weakest candidate the GOP has fielded in a long time" -- George H.W. Bush went from 90% approval ratings to 38% of the popular vote in 19 months, Bob Dole was wrong-footed from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 7:31 AM on September 14, 2008

I am not your bond analyst, and depending what you actually bought, these thoughts could be of very minimal use to you, but, with that said

June 2007 was an unlucky time to buy a bond -- it was when the credit bubble was just starting to burst and perceived risk (and demanded yields) about to skyrocket. When yields demanded in the market go up, prices go down.

Under ordinary circumstances, buying the bond at issue isn't a bad idea. Underwriters... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 2:21 PM on September 13, 2008 marked best answer

The frame that elects Democrats is "this guy is one of us." Just that simple. Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel sure as hell knew it, too, and that drove their candidate selection efforts and won them majorities in the House and Senate in 2006. Bill Clinton had it in his bones. Being a centrist certainly helps, but it isn't essential -- Sherrod Brown surely is not centrist, and most of the House members newly elected from Republican-leaning districts are voting with Pelosi down the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 8:15 PM on September 12, 2008

If you are awaiting your Bar results, as your timeline implies, relax -- it has always been difficult to circulate resumes in the calm between (unemployed) graduation and finding out you passed. This is true as much in good times as in bad. Find a volunteer internship, keep meeting people, and expect to get back into the game when you get your letter in November.

The kind of securities and real estate work which is really dried up these days is not likely the kind of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 10:55 AM on September 11, 2008

Obama's problem isn't narrative in general: his narrative for beating Hillary Clinton was strong in concept and was executed almost flawlessly.

His problem is that most nominees who are elected President have the luxury to have one narrative primary through general election. Obama's beat-Hillary narrative is totally unsuited to beating McCain. It's almost to the point of a 180 degree inversion -- he must now persuade people to vote for him... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 7:04 AM on September 9, 2008

New York is full of Fordham night school grads in great jobs -- private sector and public sector alike. The appeal is even better for someone who doesn't aspire to BIGLAW, which is somewhat harder to access.

While no school will say its night school "sucks" -- and Fordham doesn't have to say so -- their career offices will give you accurate information if you ask specific questions. Make an appointment, do your diligence!

Also, if... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 11:25 AM on September 8, 2008

Like everything in modern divorce, it's not about love, but money. Your sister-in-law is poorly advised if she is trying to use alienation law to keep her husband chaste. That said, where available alienation laws are part of the basic playbook for a wronged spouse's divorce litigation strategy, and especially so when the cheater's boyfriend / girlfriend has his/her own money, because technically the boyfriend / girlfriend is the defendant of an alienation claim, not the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 4:54 PM on September 3, 2008

A top school-JD and a Bar admission in a major jurisdiction are very portable: you can (and many do) immediately practice US law in many foreign capitals, and you can also qualify, with varying hoops to jump through, to practice law in many common law jurisdictions (but you seem to wish to rule those out).

It is very difficult to obtain admission to either Columbia or NYU -- a career plan which involves only an application to those schools is at best half a plan, unless... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:26 PM on September 2, 2008

Just because they don't usually (which is the case) doesn't mean they can't. Please read any contracts you may have signed, and take extra care if your department runs an (unfunded) MA program in parallel with its PhD program. If people are regularly paying for MAs out of pocket or with loans, the department is going to have precautions to keep people from getting them for free by way of doing PhD coursework and dropping out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:22 AM on September 2, 2008

Font: Times New Roman please -- 11 pts or 12 pts. The point of all resume formating is not to be noticed as formating but instead to emphasize the points you are trying to make as organic truths.

Paper: ordinary laser printer paper is fine. A slightly heavier stock is okay too -- but white as snow in all cases.

Envelope: run it through the printer if you can.

Stamp: a tasteful,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 4:54 PM on August 28, 2008

Call the Secretary of State's office. New corporate filings are public records and are likely to be available at a nominal or modest charge in bulk from them. However, what they give may well be in an antiquated mainframe database format and on some nasty mainframe storage medium. A couple of years ago a friend ordered a public-records data set from a different state and got it in reel-to-reel magnetic tape!
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 7:49 AM on August 27, 2008 marked best answer

Deposits, deposits, deposits.

Deposits are incredibly profitable for banks. Better yet: not only do branches attract lots of local deposits (iminurmefi suggests), they also attract the most profitable deposits: people who value convenience more than interest rate or fees.

And your town has much, much more cash than you think. A town of 20,000 can easily amount to $1 billion in deposits; if it has a healthy business... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 12:43 PM on August 22, 2008

If you don't believe me about deposit volume, check out the FDIC site. Be sure to enter each of your town's zip codes if it has more than one.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 12:51 PM on August 22, 2008

JLowen, maybe I'm cynical, but your post strikes me as a lot of euphemisms for a very common situation: some schools are so hard-pressed by defective parenting that they cannot educate competently-parented children to their full potential.

If that's so, you know what you have to do, and no, it won't make you into a Republican if you do it -- just a realistic and responsible parent.

If my cynicism is out of place, and it's not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 4:41 PM on August 21, 2008

DIY with Nolo isn't a bad way to start a business, but rolling an existing sole proprietorship business into an LLC is a quite a bit more complicated if it is to be effective in eliminating your personal liability to vendors, customers, employees, etc. (Lenders presumably will require you to make personal guarantees, so no issue there.) Lawyer and accountant are strongly recommended, and absolutely worthwhile.

By... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 4:55 PM on August 20, 2008

Krinklyfig -- that's not the RIAA enforcing the rules on bars -- it's ASCAP and BMI -- who are a bit more benevolent a force, in that the performance royalties they collect provide a living to a many songwriters and supplement the living of many more, inlcluding quite a few indie titans who wouldn't be caught dead with an RIAA-member major label.
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 8:48 PM on August 19, 2008

I don't want to pile on, except to note that how weird it is to assume that the world is coming to end as a result of road-to-hell behaviors which were themselves quick adaptations to new conditions, and then not to assume that the new challenges will meet quick and most likely successful adaptation.
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 7:38 PM on August 19, 2008

A great answer from dhartung, and, to add to it: the point of training for crisis reactions is to enable people to react in real crises with the calm and focus with which they react to (known as such) exercises and simulations. This how you get soldiers who will advance towards the enemy who is shooting at them, doctors who will treat a ward full of highly-contagious patients, compliance officers who will bring down the hammer on popular, high-powered executives whom they suspect of wrong-doing,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 6:45 PM on August 19, 2008

Given that Fortune 500 companies regularly flop out on protecting personal information, do you really want to give literally every piece of your personal information to some web-based company?

Name change on marriage is one of the easiest things you can do.

(1) Use your marriage license to change your name with Social Security and get a new card.

(2) Use your marriage license and new Social Security... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 5:36 AM on August 19, 2008

It's really important to recognize that most of the people who advocate lots of exercise as an immediate component of a weight loss regime are presuming that someone is basically healthy.

It could well be that you're too heavy, particularly given your underlying poor health, to take on a challenging exercise program -- to say the least of one which is (as you seem to make it) the principal component of a weight loss program.

Why don't you ask... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 3:46 PM on August 17, 2008

For everyone who rains contempt upon all the bad, stupid, pathetic scam attempts out there, please remember that they serve a very important auxiliary function: they create marks for the good scams. Good scams rely upon your confidence, and what better way to create confidence than to have a pool people conditioned by checklists of what is, and is not, reliable.

Good scammers are also multi-disciplinary.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 9:14 PM on August 13, 2008

i.e. was supposed to be e.g.

what a terrible kind of topic to make such an error!
posted to Ask Metafilter by MattD at 11:13 PM on August 11, 2008