There are many unsettling things about yesterday’s brief and unseemly Bloomberg wire appearance, and then disappearance, of an obituary for Apple’s Steve Jobs -- not least of which is that he’s not dead yet -- but I was struck by this parenthetical instruction to reporters.

(IF STOCK DROPS): The decline is no surprise to investors and analysts, many of whom considered Jobs irreplaceable. Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis had said if Jobs left the company for any reason, Apples stock might plummet as much as 25%.

There is something about that “(IF STOCK DROPS)” instruction that seems plain wrong to me.

While the U.S. market is undeniably more linked than ever before, the following Bespoke chart does demonstrate the continuing big regional differences in the post-boom tumbling of various markets:

Some quick links others may find interesting:

• Sam Zell says newspaper are broken, subprime is in 8th inning and he's buying ... stuff (Bloomberg)
• Subprime is a pig in a python, and it's passing quickly (Bronte)
• Lots of whinging from wrong-footed bears wrt the high Q2 GDP numbers (Portfolio)
• Eye-popping set of photos from Rio de Janeiro (Boston Globe)

Gosh, apparently the automotive downturn is over already. General Motors chairman Robert Lutz told reporters that he is seeing a "resurgence" in demand for trucks and SUVs. Who would have thought?

Then again, here is a gentle math lesson: When a number drops to near zero -- like .... say, SUV sales -- any uptick in it creates, in relative terms, a percentage gain that tends toward infinity the closer the denominator of the new/old ratio is to zero. Me-thinks that might help explain things.

[via Bloomberg]

Last week Dean “Ultramarathon Man” Karnazes spoke last week at Google about life, ultramarathons and his outrageous feat of running 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days. His first book was harrowing but inspirational fun, and his new book sounds equally interesting.

As a semi-editorial aside, Karnazes' speaking may start somewhat clunky, but it gets better and more flowing as he goes along, so bear with it and just watch the video. It’s great stuff.

Btw, his resting heart rate is 38 bpm, and his body fat is 5%. Whoa!

Interesting graphic out from NOAA suggesting that, according to some models, soon-to-be Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna will join forces, sort of, over Florida in the coming days.

What’s next for Florida? A plague of locusts? Other?

[via Stormwatch]