Open Thread – 10/23/2010

Yesterday I was tied up with appointments.  I expected to be done with my morning appointment by noon, but did not finish until two.  By the time I completed the rest of my errands, the day was gone, so I have an extra day of comments needing replies and visits needing returns.  I think I can manage that today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:38.  I nailed it.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Lefty Bloggers Plus:

Players, remember to set your lineups.

Short Takes:

From NY Times: After nearly three weeks of debate and a series of national strikes, the French Senate voted Friday evening to pass President Nicolas Sarkozy’s bill to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60 and the age for a full pension to 67 from 65.

The vote, 177 to 153, all but seals passage of the measure.

I would not advise traveling to France in the immediate future. 🙄

From Bloomberg: A U.S. government program aimed at reviving the mortgage-backed securities market returned more than triple what stocks or bonds gained in the past year.

The eight funds created under the Public-Private Investment Program, or PPIP, reported net internal rates of return averaging 36 percent through Sept. 30, the Treasury Department said in a report this week.

Not bad.  PPIP was the Democrats’ response to Republican mismanagement of TARP, purchasing toxic assets at a discount as TARP was supposed to do, albeit much smaller, because Republicans had already given the TARP money to the banksters.

From RepubliCorp:

I love it.  Visit the site!

Cartoon:

We’re changing the day-name to Caturday!