Ambush Interview Defense

Was just listening to an On The Media segment about the history and  uses of the "Ambush Interview" and believe that I've come up with the perfect defense to them. The goal of most modern ambush interviews is not to actually get an interview, but to get the spectacle of someone you've already established to your audience as being the Bad Guy in the narrative being off guard and flustered and not being able to muster coherent responses to your questions. The interviewer wants to see you angry or swearing or running down the block to get away, and if you blow your cool enough to actually attack the camera or the host, well that's just teaser gold. What you need to do when confronted with an ambush interview is give them none of that. Stare as blankly as you can manage straight into the camera. Do not speak and look around as little as possible. Utterly ignore the host, their questions, and anything else. A person staring into a camera with a completely disinterested look on their face is not good video (unless you're Magibon). You turn the confrontation of the interview into a literal staring contest. And as long as you can outlast them, you will win.

Housing Bubble Made Real

We're considering buying the house we live in from our landed lords, so I swung over to the assessor's web site to see what it was appraised at. See if you can spot the where the housing bubble began in this table of valuations:

	Year	Assessed Value
	2009	$146,900
	2008	$160,000
	2007	$151,900
	2006	$123,800
	2005	$109,300
	2004	$103,400
	2003	$84,500
	2002	$81,000
	2001	$78,600
	2000	$70,300