Author: Nate

Decline of the suburbs and exurbs?

Found via a post on the Flyertalk OMNI board:

04.28.08 | Chicago
Driven to the Brink
A new analysis shows that high gas prices are not only implicated in the bursting of the housing bubble, but that the higher cost of commuting has already re-shaped the landscape of real estate value between cities and suburbs. Housing values are falling fastest in distant suburban and exurban neighborhoods where affordability depended directly on cheap gas.
Read the press release here.
Download the full study here.

The full study is not super-long and is well worth a read.

“What D&D character are you?” (cool blogmeme)

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (4th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-13
Constitution-11
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-14
Charisma-11

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Hello Skynet!

Slashdot: “Killer Military Robot Arms Race Underway?”
(citing NetworkWorld):

We are beginning to see the first steps towards an international robot arms race and it may not be long before robots become a standard terrorist weapon to replace the suicide bomber, according to professor Noel Sharkey, from the Royal United Services Institute Department of Computer Science. […] Currently there is always a human in the loop to decide on the use of lethal force. However, this is set to change with the US giving priority to autonomous weapons – robots that will decide on where, when and who to kill, according to the professor.

Help support Feingold-Reid.

Join Russ Feingold to help end the war

Help Russ End The War
After years of the one nation foreign policy of this administration, it is time for Congress to use its constitutional ‘power of the purse’ authority to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq. Please sign on as a citizen co-sponsor if you agree that we need Congress to act.

OMG, they’re actually using the D-word.

Depression risk might force U.S. to buy assets

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fear that a hobbled banking sector may set off another Great Depression could force the U.S. government and Federal Reserve to take the unprecedented step of buying a broad range of assets, including stocks, according to one of the most bearish market analysts.

Aren’t the Washington types still insisting we’re not yet in a recession?