Thanks for the primer on tax assessments -- I learned something.

The investor-driven push for reassessments here in Atlanta targets particularly hard-hit neighborhoods, for which the frankly stunning drop in values would mean an immediate and significant change in property tax, I believe.

An example: recently, my brother-in-law asked me to find out what's happened to the first house he owned, a 2-bedroom house in south Atlanta. He bought it in 1986 for $54K and sold it in 1996 for $74K. The man who bought the house stayed for 10 years, and refinanced a few times, so it was easy to track the appreciation in value. His last refi, in 2004, was for $119K, and this loan was foreclosed on in 2006. The bank owned the property for about 18 months, before selling to what appears to be a speculator company for...$36K. They flipped to another company a few weeks later for $40K, and that company has owned the property for a year now.

So here's the story in a nutshell:

1986 -- $54K

1996 -- $74K

2004 -- $119K

2007 -- $40K

Is a common Hispanic girl's name.

About the workplace issue -- I admit to having been flummoxed a time or two when introduced to someone with an unusual name. In those situations, I've just stuck out my hand and said, "Hi, nice to meet you." Then I'll think to myself (to use one example), "Nadgelyn. Nadgelyn." Then I've got it, and hopefully we'll work well together. That's what professionalism and respect demand, and it's really not that hard to do.

There's some serious camp potential here, and I mean that as a compliment (potentially...). All the conventions in place. Two masters of scenery-chewing. Even the title has a sort of glorious lameness about it. Sounds like a future Hangover Theater mainstay!

many independents whose opinion on Iraq went from pro- to anti- changed their views not because they saw that it was a fraud, but because the war itself just didn't go well. And while they withhold (or vacillate) their judgment on Obama vs. McCain based on their determination as to who would make America a stronger country, their insecure enough to fall for the notion that the only strength possessed is that which is exercised. To many of them (and there's a good chance it's TOO many), the Dem view of the exercise of strength is "we'll go to war if we must, believe me", while the Repub view is "here, let me show you".

It is not an understatement to call the current crisis one of the most devastating challenges modern capitalism has faced in living memory.

Actually, most of us are hoping that to be an overstatement. But it might not be.

for both Roth and Chabon. Roth's self-seriousness can grind me into submission sometimes, which is why I gave up on anything Zuckerman -- but The Plot Against America showed he can still drill down to a young protagonist's viewpoint on the big questions and deliver a helluva story in the meantime. So I'll be picking this up soon.

Explorations of Jewish-American identity either interest you, or they don't. I'm interested, so I read. That's not all Roth writes about, but it's a lot of it.

As for humor, Our Gang and Portnoy are two of the funniest books I've ever read.

That said, Paul Ehrlich is completely cracked. In "The Population Bomb" he predicted that humanity would live in a gigantic 200-story building, the bottom 100 floors of which would be the boiler room! He can distance himself from aspects of that book all he wants, but he'll always be the guy capable of saying that.

has to be a Red Sox fan bemoaning the amount of media coverage given to the Yankees...

It's inspiring to hear about someone whose wretched lot in life was decided for her using her freedom to help others out of similarly horrifying situations. No honor has yet been devised that is worthy of Somaly Mam and Mukhtaran Bibi.

I enjoy a good pop culture deconstruction, and Klosterman definitely brings the goods. He's encyclopedic, insightful, and funny. But the hyper-assertiveness that can inform his opinions actually serves to undercut them at times -- there's an undercurrent of disdain even (or especially) in his most ardent praise.

Disdain works if you can discern the battle lines -- liberal/conservative, Hollywood/indie, etc. But Klosterman is so all over the map that the disdain can come across as nothing more than an exercise in style. I'm always aware that I'm not only reading Chuck Klosterman, I'm reading about Chuck Klosterman -- even when he's writing about somebody else.

As the story goes, though, eventually the wolf shows up. Why so many people think a crashing economy somehow won't affect them is beyond me. The class warfare aspect of this thing is a secondary concern. Try to override your limbic systems, people.

Look on the bright side -- you beat out one of the two football players on the list.

The McDonalds latte story is a joke waiting to be made, but keep in mind that the assembly, delivery, and installation of these machines is performed by actual people, who would like to be paid to do it. The McDonalds latte story is the credit crunch meeting the road.