Ed Scanlan

 

Illinois could be worse off than Greece - And no one here seems to pay attention

I'm shocked that Illinois state and municipale debt crisis is not leading the local and national news every night. We are completly upside down and mortgaging the futures of our kids. Will they all leave Illinois due to the huge tax burden they will have to clean up our mess?

Below is a video from Cook County Treasurer talking about municipale debt from this summer. It is shocking.

Stunning Municipality Debt Brought to Light

Chicago, June 21, 2011– Cook County taxpayers are on the hook for a staggering amount of local debt, according to figures presented by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas today. Cook County’s numerous local governments face mounting debts totaling more than $108 billion. And, for the first time, specific figures have been collected for municipal unfunded pensions obligations totaling in excess of $25 billion, almost a quarter of debt countywide. The total figures translate into an average debt-per-household in the city of Chicago of $63,525, and $32,901 in the suburbs.

 

Another good read is 

Why Isn’t Illinois A Bigger Story Than Greece?

 

 

Posted February 12, 2012
 

Virtual Supermarket in a Subway Station

Media_httpwwwdesignbo_iewwa
via designboom.com

Not sure US subways are clean enough to think about even virtual groceries....
"South Koreans can do their grocery shopping while waiting for the subway at a virtual supermarket that lets users scan the QR codes of desired products, which are then delivered to their home."

Posted July 6, 2011
 

@SimonSinek 's video interview on WHY versus WHAT

via youtube.com

Simon Sinek interviewed at The Art of Management on November 15th 2010, created by TheBizMedia.

Posted June 3, 2011
 

Why IBM Watson Was Built for Jeopardy - Data Analytics & Natural Language Processing Computer

<br /><a href="http://video.yahoo.com/watch/8671330/23504206">Why IBM Watson Was Built for Jeopardy!

Posted December 15, 2010
 

What do Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Michael Jordan and my son have in common?

This post and a great Saturday morning.

Hanging with my son this morning and rocking out to some youtube together. Came across these two gems.

Say, Say, Say has always been one of my favorite Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney songs. I have never seen the video before. Classic.

 

The two Michaels of my childhood on one screen. How could I have missed this?

 

 

Posted December 11, 2010
 

Obama's India Visit - 'Double Rainbow' Style

I have enjoyed watching Obama's trip to India the last 3 days. From his speech to parliament today to celebrating Diwali. I have blogged about my experiences in India and I'm thrilled our nations appear to be straightening bonds.

While trying to watch as much footage as I could about Obama's visit to India I came across this gem. It is the 'Double Rainbow' of the trip!

Posted November 8, 2010
 

VIDEO: World Air Traffic 0-24 HRS. VIEW FROM SATELLITE

0-24 HRS. VIEW FROM SATELLITE -
The yellow dots are airplanes in the sky during a 24 hour period.
Stay with the picture. You will see the light of the day moving from the east to the west, as the Earth spins on it's axis.  Also you will see the aircraft flow of traffic leaving the North American continent and traveling at night to arrive in the UK in the morning.
 Then you will see the flow changing, leaving the UK in the morning and flying to the American continent in daylight. It is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to about 2 minutes. From space we look like a bee hive of activity.
 You can tell it was summer time in the north by the sun's foot print over the planet. You can see that it didn't quite set
 in the extreme north and it didn't quite rise in the extreme south.

Day is over Australia when it starts.  

(download)

Posted October 25, 2010