From NPR.org:

Meet The Bailout Boss

The $700 billion man.

Chris Taylor, U.S. Treasury Department/AP Photo

The great big Wall Street bailout now has a boss, and guess where they found him? Neel Kashkari works with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson now, as assistant secretary for International Economics and Development. Kashkari, 35, came to the Treasury through the same route as Paulson, which is to say through Goldman Sachs.

He’ll oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program and the Office of Financial Stability.

The Wall Street Journal runs down his curriculum vitae, with this note about Paulson:

Paulson likes to surround himself with people he’s comfortable with: people, mostly, from Goldman Sachs. Paulson’s inner circle already includes former Goldmanites Dan Jester, a financial institutions banker, and retired banker Steve Shafran, who focused on corporate restructuring at Goldman. It also included Robert Steel, who has since left Treasury to become CEO of Wachovia.

– Laura Conaway

I have lived in 13 different apartments within the past 7.5 years since I moved to New Orleans. I think that is a considerable accomplishment, or a statement on my ability to co-habitate (is that a word?) with others. My career as a shady gypsy began when I moved here to go to college and has since morphed into the average vagabond, noncommittal lifestyle of most twentysomethings these days. During this time, I’ve rented from slum landlords with 100s of properties throughout the city, to a sweet middle-aged man with an interest in gardening letting the other side of his vacation-home double. I’ve lived in an apartment where mold grew halfway up the walls, to a swank, newly renovated single suite in on-campus housing. I’ve lived in Uptown, the LGD, Irish Channel, Central City, Treme, Bywater and the Marigny.  Within my demographic, emotional and financial limits, I feel as though I’ve done it all. I’ve lived with best friends and strangers, one roommate and as many as nine!

Now that I’m in the middle of purchasing my very own first home in Holy Cross, I’ve begun to implement “best practices in homeownership” in my current apartment to prepare myself for the coming responsibilities. I’ve been taking stock of what I’ve learned in the past 13 apartments, and I recently made a new discovery.

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I was forwarded this by a friend; it contains instructions to re-post everywhere possible. I’m doing my part… only in New Orleans. I’ll be a ninja, in case you’re wondering.

If you don’t already subscribe to the twice-monthly Phoenix Recycling curbside pick-up service for a nominal $15 a month, you need to:

Mark Oct 4th  on your calendar, stop throwing recyclables in your trash for one week, and bring them to the drop off event next Saturday.

The drop off event is one of several once-quarterly-now-monthly drop off events sponsored by the City of New Orleans to attempt to placate those who want to see a real citywide curbside recycling program implemented.

It is a good thing though, so you should do it.

Materials that will be accepted include plastic containers, cardboard, paperboard, shredded paper in bags, newspaper, and metal containers such as aluminum, tin and steel. The ARC of New Orleans will also accept Mardi Gras beads and throws.

The event goes from 9 am until noon. On the East Bank recyclables from residents will be collected under the overpass at N. Claiborne Ave and St. Peters Street; on the West Bank they will be collected at the public library at General DeGaulle and Holiday Ave.

Future dates for drives include November 15th and December 6th. For more info see the City’s web site.

This goes out to all the peeps who wish the West Wing administration was real.

Livestock animals dragged by chains hyperextending their legs behind bobcat tractors. Shoved and stabbed by forklifts. Shocked repeatedly. Sprayed with high-pressure hoses to simulate drowning. Calves kicked repeatedly in the head. Calves with broken legs. Downed cattle, animals too weak, sick and injured to stand up, beaten and shocked repeatedly…

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Um… did I understand this correctly?

After an exhaustive (debateably) and expensive search for non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the initiation of a war in Afghanistan and a war in Iraq, the Republican administration wants to sell nuclear technology to India for billions of dollars? AND, if they are allowed to do so, they want to waive the requirement that India at least sign a non-proliferation agreement– a faith-based contract at best?

Thoughts on what is wrong with these people?

Did you know that 40 percent of the electricity used by your appliances and electronics is consumed while they’re turned off? I didn’t know that until I was watching HGTV this weekend and saw an ad for their Change the World campaign. The Change the World campaign offers green homebuilding, renovation and decorating tips to manage and improve your household in responsible, eco-friendly ways.

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… a blog favorite from a friend of mine. Check out Sarah Haskins’ latest and even funnier (but apparently not embeddable) video on Cleaning Ads Targeted Toward Women.

If you’re paying attention to the current economic crises facing our country, you probably have a lot of questions. I know I do. My go-to source is typically the New York Times, easy to read, appealing to my demographic, more so than the Wall Street Journal I think. So if you haven’t had time to tune into NPR, also going to great lengths to explain WTF’s going on, Steven Levitt breaks it down on his Freakonomics blog with a FAQ guest posting by Doug Diamond and Anil Kashyap.