LostBrain

This is a national archives image labeled as the back of a shack in Spencer, Iowa, in 1936.

Here’s my first experiment with Apple Motion. What a hoot!

From Digital Globe:

 
Click for the ultra-huge high res version.

Pentagon City mall.

Gizmodo and HD Guru have more on the Circuit City scam liquidation I mentioned yesterday. 

HD Guru put together an interesting pricecheck on the so-called deals being offered:

Make/Model         CC Old Price   10% Off            Pricegrabber

LG/42LG50            $999.99            $899.99            $849.95
Pan/TH42PZ80U    $949.99            $854.99            $869.00
Pan /TH42PZ85U   $1099.99          $989.99            $929.99
Pan/TH42PX80U    $799.99            $719.99            $709.00
Son/KDL46V4100  $1599.99          $1439.99          $1323.80
Pan/TC32LX85       $699.99            $629.99            $525.00
Son/KDL46XBR6   $2799.99          $2519.99          $1975.00
Sam/ HL67A750     $2199.99          $1979.99          $1646.00
Sam/ PN50A650     $1699.99          $1529.99          $1495.95
Son/KDL40S4100   $999.99            $899.99           $888.32
Sam/LN52A650      $2399.99           $2159.99        $1649.95
Sam/ LN46A650     $1799.99           $1619.99        $1477.00

When is a 30% off sale really a 10% off sale? I dropped into my local Circuit City, at Bailey’s Crossroads in Falls Church, VA today. There were sign wavers outside spinning huge “30% Total Liquidation!” signs in the parking lot. The place was frenzied. A checkout line 10 customers-wide wound through the store for close to 100 yards. The parking lot was a massive tangle of SUV’s and beefy guys carrying 42″ TVs on their backs.

But there was a catch. The sale was really only 10% off. “Everything will probably go to 30% next week,” said the security guy at the door. Plus, anything that already had a sale tag got no further reduction. And just about everything has a sale tag. So be forewarned, if you go to Circuit City today, the sale is only 10% off.

————

UPDATE: Reader Mike writes:

Mike Says:
January 18th, 2009 at 12:22 am

Are you a fucking idiot, or actually mentally handicapped?

The signs say “UP TO 30%”

Mike, thanks for your comments, and the image. I’ll go with fucking idiot, since I still can’t legally park in the handicapped spaces. But for the record, I scanned the store for a little over an hour and couldn’t find anything currently at a 30% markdown. I talked to three sales associates and the security dude and nobody knew of anything that was 30%.

I’m glad you cared about your job. I was actually a much bigger fan of circuit city than of any other bigbox electronics stores. I was just irritated, as were about 450 other shoppers today, that I had fought my way into the store only to find nothing at the discount advertised.

In this handout from the U.S. Navy, a parachute floats down to the MV Sirius Star after being dropped by a small aircraft January 9, 2009 in the Indian Ocean. The Saudi-owned crude carrier was hijacked by Somali pirates November 15, 2008 about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya and forced to proceed to anchorage near Harardhere, Somalia, According to reports Somali pirates have released the hijacked supertanker. (Photo by David B. Hudson /U.S. Navy)

Little did the Pirates know, JCVD was hiding inside the capsule…