Jennie Lin

California needs $7 billion to survive. Without it, film production will grind to a halt and technology innovation will cease to exist. The internet will likely stop working entirely. Nevada has already expressed interest in San Diego and Los Angeles, while San Francisco will go to Oregon. Sacramento will shutter its doors. The French will take our grapes for pennies on the vine. Indeed, the consequences of a California failure are too great to fathom. - Jennie Lin

Not the grapes! - Jim Norris

"California, much like its citizenry, has one of the worst credit ratings in the nation. It's the double-edged sword of that sunny optimism, which badly needs to be redirected and channeled toward the national interest and perhaps other pursuits like surfing." - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet

"the unique aesthetic responses of over 40 male artists when presented with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s map of the New York Cities subway system as a base upon which to create." Love it - wish I could see this exhibit at the Haven Arts Gallery. - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet

"This is like the advice you get from the doctor who says you should quit smoking. You know he's right. But if you don't, you're not going to die tomorrow, and you're not going to die next week. But at some time, it's probably going to get you." - Jennie Lin

"Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. " - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet

@Jennie: Lots of people consider themselves to be 'elite' and act in an arrogant fashion as a result. The difference is whether they're actually in a position to do anything about it. For people in gov't and bureaucracy to behave in an elitist fashion - the idea that they're part of a class of enlightened somebodies - is not good. The foundation of Palin's popularity is that she's an exceptional person who maintains enthusiastic membership in (relatively) low-prestige groups: that's humility. - Rob Sterling

good point about the difference between "elite" and "elitism". in a sense, it is harris' fault for mixing the two in the same paragraph. however, remove the lead-off sentence about "elitism", which has links to arrogance, and basically the rest of the paragraph stands on its own. what's worse is that it rings fairly true. IMHO this is a manifestation of the split personality of the US electorate, so our politicians are sort of a compromise between the ivy league and the average joe: not "too good". - Mike Massey

There is no nice way to say this, so I will be blunt: Our credit markets had contracted a hideous STD--a securitization transmitted disease--for which lowering the funds rate to negative real levels seemed to me to be not only an ineffective treatment, but a palliative and maybe even a stimulus that would only encourage further mischief. - Jennie Lin

The machinery that's pumped so much meat into our lives over the last half century was never built to last, and now it's breaking down big-time. Feed is more expensive. Gasoline is more expensive. Milk, rice, butter, corn -- it's all going through the roof. And for the foreseeable future, it's not coming back down. - Jennie Lin

Liking this just for the phrase "peak meat"! - Jim Norris

"You've seen the articles, right there on the front page next to equally uplifting stories about oil, the economy, and the war: The cost of food--of producing and procuring it--is soaring. In the restaurant world, it's all anyone can talk about. And the thing is, this is no temporary spike; it's actually a massive correction." - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet

Really excited for this to open in SF! - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet

"Spencer Ackerman and I get out our black nail polish and dust off our old high school days and join Ms. Ehrenreich on the pessimistic hangover train to mock the deluded assholes who actually got motivated by motivational speakers." - Jennie Lin

Free trade: Neutral Unfettered free trade: Bad Fair trade: Good Outsourcing: Evil Buying local produce: Divine - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet

Stimulus: Good. Bailout: Bad. - Jim Norris

"my second piece of career advice echoes the political advice offered by Benjamin Franklin: whenever you are faced with a choice between liberty and security, choose liberty. Otherwise you will end up with neither. People who sell their souls for the promise of a secure job and a secure salary are spat out as soon as they become dispensable. The more loyal to an institution you are, the more exploitable, and ultimately expendable, you become." - David Vasileff

I love Joel Stein! - Roshan Vyas

"Vogue editor Anna Wintour, whom I vaguely knew as the lady who wears Prada and is remarkably similar to the Devil, has two bodyguards — that's how serious fashion is." - Roshan Vyas

Hilarious: "[F]ashion shows are the most serious events in the entire world. Nobody in the audience smiles or talks; the models look like they're on the Bataan death march; and people slowly, lifelessly clap at the end. I've been to political panels, criminal trials, locker rooms of playoff losers, graduate English classes and the Ron Paul convention, and I've never seen people take themselves quite this seriously." - Jess Lee

Every time I go back to Taiwan, I come home a few pounds happier - err, I mean, heavier. - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet