Limerick of the Day #30

It's the start of the G-20 summit.
As a gesture, the Dow didn't plummet.
The cooperation
Of every nation
Might ease the pain, or at least numb it.

Limerick of the Day #29

In the land of the automobile,
All roads lead to a fed bailout deal.
Chrysler got 30 days
To restructure its ways,
And G.M. lost its biggest big wheel.

Egyptian Gods

Audio

Osiris and Anubis.
Ra, the god of golden sun.
Set, the bro of Osiris.
And creator god, Amun.
Bast, the fertile goddess cat.
Nut, the goddess of the sky.
Geb, the earth and all of that.
Which will bring us back to I - I - Isis.

Limerick of the Day #28

The problem with Afghanistan
Was attacking without any plan,
And then the sidetrack
Of Libya, Iraq,
Pakistan, North Korea, Iran.

Limerick of the Day #27

In case you get tired of TV,
There's a monster and alien spree.
Monsters, all on our side,
Joined by one giant bride,
Take on aliens in wide screen 3-D.

Limerick of the Day #26

It was Nicholas Kristof who said it:
We give online news too much credit.
The country's divided,
Our sources one-sided,
'Cause no one will objectively edit.

Limerick of the Day #25

The country is in such distress
The president took on the press.
He won't give up his prize,
But he will compromise
Just to help us get out of this mess.

Limerick of the Day #24

If you have been watching "Big Love,"
You'll know just what I'm speaking of
When I say that Bill
Both will not and will
Choose to have all of the above.

Limerick of the Day #23

If you think of the real estate bubble, you
Will see how we got into trouble. You
Will see no signs that
Our future's so bleak at
South by Southwest (or SXSW)

Limerick of the Day #22

The news outlets all want a scoop,
And they want to be kept in the loop.
Not much news to report.
The most popular sport
Is some college kids all shooting hoop.

Limerick of the Day #21

iPhone 3 will provide cut and paste,
Which news users have quickly embraced.
You can cut and reuse
Any text that you chose,
So those pixels will not go to waste.

Limerick of the Day #20

Obama is raising his voice
To protest A.I.G.'s foolish choice
To hand out the green.
It is really obscene,
Almost like something out of James Joyce.

(Sorry, I wanted to get some kind of Irish reference in there for St. Pat's day.)

Limerick of the Day #19

So the government took on the onus
Of restricting each A.I.G. bonus,
Lest it could not assuage
All the taxpayer rage
At financial recovery's slowness.

Limerick of the Day #18

Ok, another try:

The Internet universe shook
From the new design shown by Facebook.
This site, once for teens,
Now serves old farts, which means,
It's adopted a scatter-brained look.

Limerick of the Day #17

It's Friday the 13th. I'm tired,
And not feeling very inspired.
This pitiful rhyme
Must suffice for this time.
It's my blog, so I can't be fired.

Sorry.

Limerick of the Day #16

Bernie Madoff admits he's a felon.
For the moment, stocks seem to be sellin'.
If you want to invest
Then buy shares of the best
Of handbaskets we're going to Hell in.

Limerick of the Day #15

After two separate outbursts with guns
The news starts to look like reruns.
Many cultures instill
The impulse to kill.
After all, it worked for the Huns.

Limerick of the Day #14

Maybe Citigroup's quarterly tally
Shows their emergence from the blind alley.
When such news hits the street
Buyers vote with their feet.
That's what triggered today's market rally.

Limerick of the Day #13

Let's keep state separated from church.
Politicians then ought not besmirch
Any scientists dealing
With new ways of healing
Like those based on stem cell research.

Limerick of the Day #12

You may be considered a snob,
Or may just be part of the mob.
But either way
Be thankful today
If you happen to still have a job.

Limerick of the Day #11

For Republicans, life had been lush,
But the party got lost in the brush.
After losing elections
They seek new directions,
But must try avoiding the Rush.

Limerick of the Day #10

As book sales continue to dwindle,
Some say printed books are a swindle.
All you need is a feeder
For your e-book reader,
And books will be used just to (Kk)indle.

Limerick of the Day #9

When I'm feeling lonely and bitter,
And my life's lacking glamor and glitter,
I reach out for fame
Just by posting my name
And my every dumb idea on Twitter.

Limerick of the Day #8

The economy's on the wrong path,

And the stock market's taking a bath.

All these bright Wall Street chaps

Brought about this collapse.

Well, I'm sorry, but hey, do the math!

Mathematical Models

Audio

Mathematics lets you take some vague ideas like less or more
And make them more precise, like 7 or 3.14.
Suppose Jill has three marbles and you go take away two.
She'll have just one (unless she grabs the others back from you.)
And that's just why such models may not yield the right amount:
They fail to take human behavior fully in account.
Math deals well with abstractions that conform to certain laws,
But human beings are not so easily modeled with our flaws.
These models often are employed in problems quite substantial,
Like weather forecasts, bridge designs, or transactions financial.
We often use the model to predict the real event,
Which frequently will leave us wondering where the money went.
It's not that math is inexact, or that it's incomplete.
The model may be too abstract, when life is so concrete.