The weather here in Austin is scheduled(like I set it up that way) to be sunny, cool – in the high 60’s and low 70’s and just about perfect.  I hope everyone enjoys the outdoors this weekend – and remember to turn your clocks forward Sunday.

From here.

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in  Detroit . She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans). Word gets around about Heidi’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in  Detroit .

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi’s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets.

Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar. He so informs Heidi.
Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.The suppliers of Heidi’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi’s bar.

Now do you understand?

Entire Echelon(click for street view)  9420 Research Blvd. building is on fire (Echelon I building) – entire front structure of the building is gone.  The building is a 7 story building. People have been evacuated and traffic has been re-routed. A Piper 150 Cherokee apparently hit the building. The location is across from the Best Buy/Container Store/Whole Foods etc in the Arboretum area.

Tucker Thurman was driving to work on the U.S. 183 flyover near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) when he said he saw a small plane, very low, flying over the highway. He said he saw it then bank heavily to the right before heading into the building.

“There was a huge fireball. It went right into the building,” Thurman said.

Live streaming cameras:

http://www.statesman.com/news/traffic-cameras-119369.html

Update: FBI has an office in the building according to @breakingnews (This is incorrect)

Update: Ustream link live

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/northwest-austin-plane-crash

Update: IRS may have a building in there

Update (10:48am) : Fox News Streaming Video:

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/generic/news/live_news/myfoxaustin_livestream_index

Update: The AFD is looking for victims -IRS, CIA have offices but FBI states they don’t believe they have an office in that building – but near the complex or buildings.

Update (1054am): Officials say Austin plane crash appears accidental; early reports are injuries, but no initial word of any fatalities.

Update: 10:59 more on location:

Update: 11:02 – eye witness states pilot dipped the left wing – was 100 yards or less away from the building – he noticed that the plane was too low – he was coming north to south and it was coming east to west. Still two people unaccounted for in the building.

Update:11:10: Fire Chief(Assistant Chief) 2 individuals have been transported and 1 is unaccounted for now- power is out so crews can work.  Crews are currently trying to put the fire out.  Heavy fire/destruction is on the 2nd floor – impact appears to be on the 2nd floor.  Police: streets in the area – jollyville, research closed. No electricity in immediate area.  Streets and power will be shut until they get more control. Police state there are Federal offices in the building hit – but are not confirming any.

Update: 11:17 the plane *could* be a private plane traveling from Waco. Plane appears to have come down from the north and was paralleling 183 and made erratic turns before going into the building.

Update 11:26: FoxNews: Pilot set fire to his home before crashing the plane into the office building.

National News picking up the story feed. The IRS has 199 employees in the building

Update: From the bad ad placement department CNN did this.  http://www.awholelotofnothin.com/?p=250

Update: Bad comments from chat channel: : Kevin Smith was on the plane. It was too heavy to pull up.

Update 12:49 – manifesto left by Joe Stack who flew the plane into the building. Here is the actual website that has the manifesto by Joe Stack.

Here isthe whois information for that site:

Registrant:
Embedded Art
925 E Hwy 80
287
San Marcos, TX 78666
US

Domain name: EMBEDDEDART.COM

Administrative Contact:
Stack, Joe  
925 E Hwy 80
287
San Marcos, TX 78666
US
1.3215649879
Technical Contact:
Stack, Joe  
925 E Hwy 80
287
San Marcos, TX 78666
US
1.3215649879

Registration Service Provider:
Everyones Internet, 

http://www.ev1servers.net

Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 16-Sep-2006.
Record expires on 05-Jun-2010.
Record created on 05-Jun-2003.

Registrar Domain Name Help Center:

http://domainhelp.tucows.com

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.T35.NET
NS2.T35.NET

Domain status: ok

Wow.

Update 1:15 his house was in Scofield Farms. Georgetown airport officials say federal officials have sealed the airport. A plane departed at 9:40am this morning from that airport.

Update: 2:15pm Some media is trying to pin this guy as a Tea-Party-Tea-Bag Right wing nut job.  If they bothered to read the manifesto they’ll see very anti-government and anti-religion hate speech and pro-communisit anti-capitolistic speech.  He was not some right-wing nut.

Update (2/19/10 8am) Reports coming in that everyone is accounted for now in the building.

Oh yeah. They went there. Check this out.:
http://gizmodo.com/5474614/school-spies-students-through-their-laptop-cameras

Oh yeah, pure awesomeness.

I’m not sure how I feel about repealing the property tax per say but her pro-2nd amendment stance and her stance on the strict constitutionalism makes me like her.  The thing is, she’s a nurse, she’s not a career politician, and she knows her stuff.

Seriously, ouch – she’s hammering Perry.

Generally they release more than one item when they have a big day like today.  So the question is what else aside from the tablet can we expect?

Coverage begins in 1 hour.

Update 1230 pm : It’s called the “iPad”.  Really? iPad? Why do I think of feminine products?

Steve Jobs and the iPad

Quote from Engadget:

Liberty

They still think its the Kennedy’s Seat.  It’s the peoples seat!

I want to ask for your personal help in the Special Election for my father’s seat taking place in just 4 days.

The latest polls show Democrat Martha Coakley in the lead, but her Republican opponent is right on her heels in a race that represents the critical 60th vote for health insurance reform and the rest of President Obama’s agenda.

Please help us by making calls at Democratic National Headquarters in DC between now and Election Day on Tuesday. Together we can make thousands of calls that will put this great candidate over the top.

Please sign up to volunteer in DC.

Thank you so much. Your efforts will make a big difference in this race!

Sincerely,

Rep. Patrick Kennedy

Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
430 South Capitol Street, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003
(202) 863-1500 – www.dccc.org
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Contributions or gifts to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are not tax deductible.

Then what about this? Bill Clinton says that his stumping for Coakley is his way of helping the Haitians? Seriously? Let’s tie a tragedy to a senate candidate..yeah that’ll work you tool.

Couldn’t have said it better myself:

And now Obama is going to visit Massachusetts to campaign for the idiot  Martha Coakley who makes blatant statements like “Terrorists are not in Afghanistan”.  She also supports Cap and Trade.

The progressives and unions are pulling out all the stops this weekend and last couple days to get an idot ellected who will vote exactly the way the president wants her to vote.  They don’t want to loose that 60 vote majority.  If you can, donate to Scott Brown.

That’s right, in stores now.  Pepsi throwback.  No more high-fructose corn syrup – which is why I love it.  But they are also now marketing it using the older logos and branding.  They brought it back a 2nd time because of so many people blogging or tweeting about it.  I for one am glad they brought it back but the interesting thing is they are only doing it until February 22nd.

I’m hoping that they are just testing the waters to determine if they should bring a product back to market fully again by doing this.  I think enough people are concerned about high fructose corn syrup that many are thinking about it.

Due to all the Throwback tweets, Facebook fan pages, videos, blog posts, pics & pleas, Pepsi Throwback is back for a limited time only! From December 28, 2009 to February 22, 2010, Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback will be available again with the same formula and real sugar, but this time with an even more rad vintage look!

I guess they got someone who is still stuck in the 80’s to write the copy for this..

Anyway they are also bringing back mountain dew original recipe but I can’t stand the stuff.  But anyone interested you should be able to find this in many major metropolitan areas that get pepsi distribution.

Obama and C-SPAN on Drudge

That’s right he said 8x he wanted the health care debate to be on C-Span for everyone to see. And what are they doing? They are doing the exact opposite. Not only that Nancy Pelosi acted suprised about it.  Check her reaction out here.

A reporter reminded the San Francisco Democrat that in 2008, then-candidate Obama opined that all such negotiations be open to C-SPAN cameras.

There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail,” quipped Pelosi, who has no intention of making the deliberations public.

Sad.  That she thinks we’re all that stupid.

That’s right you may have noticed a red banner at the top that says 10 years.  That’s because wetwired has been around for 10 years spreading joy and goodness sarcasm and badassery.  Over the course of this year you can expect 1.) The site to change  b.) Us to be lazy and the site not to change  thirdly.) more of the same.

From Gizmodo Best Buy’s computer optimization service is failing after being investigated by the consumerist.  We all know that business that sell “hardware” don’t make much money in the hardware now, they make money on the warranty and the services after the fact.  Finley is very much aware of their push to have them configure a newly purchased system.

That would be a slimy enough practice if the service was actually beneficial, but a new Consumerist investigation shows that the “service” is actually damaging, slowing down new computers by an average of 32%.

That doesn’t surprise me though.  My experiences with geek squad has been lack luster – in that they hire people for very little so you get what you pay for.

EDITOR’S NOTE FROM FINLEY: Pylorns doesn’t exaggerate when he speaks of my experience with this. I recently purchased a laptop from Best Buy for my parents, and the process was difficult in making sure that we received a non-optimized system. Additionally, I highly recommend reading Consumerist’s notes on how you can optimize your own system. Understand, I like Best Buy overall. I think it’s the best way to get some items. That being said, we here at Wetwired are vehemently opposed to anything that screws over the little guy like this, especially when all it takes is a small amount of time and the willingness not to be afraid of your own damn computer.

Merry Christmas to all from the wetwired family!  We hope you and yours find your own special happiness today and are able to spend time with family.  And if you happen to be in front of a TV – TBS has 24 hours of A Christmas Story….speaking of if you want to get me anything – full sized leg lamp would work.

Why would you put an ornament on the White House Christmas Holiday (forgot we have to be politically correct too..)Tree that featured the communist leader Mao Zedung and a drag queen?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/23/white-house-christmas-decor-featuring-mao-zedong-comes/

I’m disgusted.