Cold Fusion Guy

System D: "the second-largest economy on earth, after the United States"

2012-01-29T18:30:00.000-06:00

Why Black Market Entrepreneurs Matter to the World EconomyExcerpts:

There’s a French word for someone who’s self-reliant or ingenious: débrouillard. This got sort of mutated in the postcolonial areas of Africa and the Caribbean to refer to the street economy, which is called l’économie de la débrouillardise—the self-reliance economy, or the DIY economy, if you will. I decided to use this term myself—shortening it to System D—because it’s a less pejorative way of referring to what has traditionally been called the informal economy or black market or even underground economy. I’m basically using the term to refer to all the economic activity that flies under the radar of government. ...

The sheer scale of System D is mind-blowing. ... If you think of System D as having a collective GDP, it would be on the order of $10 trillion a year. That’s a very rough calculation, which is almost certainly on the low side. If System D were a country, it would have the second-largest economy on earth, after the United States....Half the workers of the world are part of System D. By 2020, that will be up to two-thirds. ...Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive: They sell lots of products through the little unregistered and unlicensed stores in the developing world. And they want their products in those stores, because that’s where the customers are. ...

Basically, they hire a middleman. Procter & Gamble, for instance, realized that although Walmart is its single largest customer, System D outposts, when you total them up, actually account for more business. So Procter & Gamble decided to get its products into those stores. In each country, P&G hires a local distributor—sometimes several layers of local distributors—to get the product from a legal, formal, tax-paying company to a company willing to deal with unlicensed vendors who don’t pay taxes. That’s how Procter & Gamble gets Downy fabric softener, Tide laundry detergent, and all manner of other goods into the squatter communities of the developing world. Today, in aggregate, these markets make up the largest percentage of the company’s sales worldwide....

A good example is UAC Foods, which is based in Nigeria but active throughout West Africa and traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It’s a highly formal company that was originally incorporated by the British more than 100 years ago. UAC Foods owns hotels and restaurants, but it also has this product called the Gala sausage roll. You never find Gala being sold in normal stores. It’s sold only by unlicensed roadside hawkers and at roadside kiosks. Basically, UAC recognized that this product wasn’t going to sell well in a normal store. But sausage rolls are in demand where people are on the go, when they need a quick snack on the side of the highway or in a traffic jam. So UAC relies on this informal phalanx of thousands of unregulated hawkers who sell Gala sausage rolls all over the streets of African cities. This is UAC’s distribution channel for this one product.

Comment: UAC foods. Image of Gala sausage roll above.

Canadians put man in space

2012-01-29T12:26:00.001-06:00

Teens send toy above the clouds

Excerpt:

It's very cool that two 17-year-old Canadians sent a flag-toting Lego figurine into the sky on a weather balloon, as part of a weekend project that cost less than $500. It's cooler still that they got back some fantastic video of the toy silhouetted against the backdrop of a curving Earth beneath a black sky. But let's not call it putting a "Lego man in space." Even though the balloon ascended to around 80,000 feet, that's only a quarter of the way to the boundary of outer space.
That distinction doesn't take anything away from the feat that Toronto teens Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad pulled off this month: The high-school students worked during four months' worth of free Saturdays to put together their balloon-borne experimental package, including four cameras, a cell phone with a GPS app, a home-sewn parachute and a Lego "minifig" holding a Canadian flag.
When the wind conditions were right, as determined by a website that calculates balloon trajectories, the teens headed out to a soccer field in Newmarket and sent their rig up on an $85 weather balloon. The data suggest that the balloon rose to somewhere around 80,000 feet over the course of 65 minutes, then blew apart. The Lego man and the cameras came back down to Earth, buoyed by the parachute and protected within a plastic-foam box during the half-hour descent. Eventually, the cell phone guided the kids to a field about 75 miles away from the launch point.

Comment: NASA is envious

Daily Commute: Freeway or side streets

2012-01-28T09:33:00.000-06:00

Interstates fastest during snowy commute -- or not

Excerpt:

Many commuters have different plans of attack for surviving the rush."I seem to experience less frustration on the side streets," said Tomasz Majewski, 32, of Richfield. "Side streets even after snow seem to move at the speed limit, as opposed to the freeways, where the speed seems to be cut in half."Naomi Miller, 32, commutes from Plymouth to work on the University of Minnesota East Bank campus every day. She claims that with ever-changing road closures around the U, the interstate is more reliable."Generally, for my commute, I stay on the freeway, because I would have to go through downtown," she said. "Because of construction, it is more congested to go through downtown."The average commute time in the Twin Cities is 22.9 minutes, according to Census figures. Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said that during a storm, it can take two to three times longer. Experts disagree on how exactly to speed that up.

Our 16 years of experience:

Our commute is to 255 2nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55479. We have contract parking at 100 S Washington Ave
We live on the East side of Plymouth near Old Rockford Road and Zachary.
The freeway route (map above) is 12.5 miles
With years of experimenting, we have found the side street route to be the consistently easiest route. Not always the fastest! But the easiest and I believe the safest. (see map below - 10.5 miles)
On the inbound it avoids the elevated I-394 which we have found to be treacherous when icy. This section of highway has a speed limit of 55 mph but drivers often drive 65 or more along that section.
One the outbound the side street option avoids the pinch point where I-394 commences
If we work late ... say until past 6:30 p.m., we've found the freeway the fastest route home
If we work on a weekend day, the freeway is the fastest as well

Webmin

2012-01-26T17:56:00.000-06:00

Webmin

Excerpt:

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any modern web browser, you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and much more. Webmin removes the need to manually edit Unix configuration files like /etc/passwd, and lets you manage a system from the console or remotely.

Comment: The new PC arrived today and is now unpacked and has Debian loaded. It's been some time since I've done anything with Linux so I feel I am back at the newbee stage. I found this very cool system administration tool.

That's what Thelma & Louise said!

2012-01-24T21:58:00.001-06:00

Comment: Thelma & Louise. Just give him another 4 years!

The 401K 59½ to IRA option

2012-01-24T17:53:00.000-06:00

Now investing gets scary! In my 401K I have 16 different investing options. I even find that complex! Now that I am past 59½ I can move funds from my 401K to an IRA and have thousands of investing options. I'm not sure how accurate this is but Googling this - there are:

2773 stocks that trade on the NYSE
2788 stocks listed on the Nasdaq
7691 mutual funds
700 ETFs available on the market
Plus untold # of bonds, options, etc

This month we are moving a portion of our 401Ks to IRAs with Wells Trade (100 free trades per year. We hope to beat the returns on the 401K. Target return would be 5%.

Gingrich Fizzle

2012-01-16T20:29:00.002-06:00

Romney's Rivals Fizzle in South CarolinaExcerpt:

Running for a Republican nomination as an anticapitalist is not the smartest politics. Doing it even as you acknowledge taking $1.6 million from taxpayer ward Freddie Mac is the opposite of smart.

Comment: Gingrich the anticapitalist ... A complete disappointment ....

I decided to get a new PC

2012-01-14T14:19:00.000-06:00

I had an epic fail on the disk formatting with the Debian install (see previous post). The HD is pre-SATA and it would not format.

This is about the cheapest new one (CybertronPC) I could find from Tiger Direct. Has 2 Gig of memory and 250 Gig hard drive.

Powered up an old Linux desktop

2012-01-14T13:01:00.000-06:00

I have a little project I am working on. Today I hope to install Debian Linux on an old tower PC. I have it set up on the dining room table for now. I just powered it on after it had been powered off for 5 and a half years. (It was gathering dust and cobwebs under the stairs in the basement). Suse Linux 9 came right up and believe it or not I remembered the password. (The last log on was 10/30/2006).

Target Funds miss

2012-01-14T09:01:00.001-06:00

Target Funds End Year Far From Bull's EyeExcerpt:

Often billed as the fund and brokerage industry's quick fix for retirement planning, so-called target-date funds took an unexpected turn for the worse in 2011, according to new data.
The funds, which have become an integral part of many Americans' 401(k) plans, are designed to protect investors by decreasing their exposure to stocks and increasing their bond holdings as people get closer to retirement, or their "target" year. But the average fund with about four years until its target date fell 0.4% in 2011

Comment: My own experience with a 2015 fund confirms this. This year I am taking a partial distribution of my 401K (using the 59½ rule) and managing it myself in a new IRA I set up. My 401K has 16 investing options ... the market thousands). I have a very modest investment objective which is 5% gain: 3% from dividends and 2% from market growth.

Strait of Hormuz: Flipper to the rescue

2012-01-13T22:10:00.002-06:00

The Navy Is Depending on Dolphins to Keep the Strait of Hormuz OpenExcerpt:

The invasion of Iraq was the last time the minesweeping capability of dolphins was widely-touted. "Dolphins - - which possess sonar so keen they can discern a quarter from a dime when blindfolded and spot a 3-inch metal sphere from 370 feet away -- are invaluable minesweepers," reported The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2010, the Seattle Times reported that the Navy has 80 bottlenose dolphins in the San Diego Bay alone. They are taught to hunt for mines and drop acoustic transponders nearby. The photo above shows a dolphin with a tracking device attached to its fin. According to a report in 2003, the dolphins only detect the mines. Destroying them is left up to the Navy's human divers.

Comment: Flipper

Bank of Some of America

2012-01-13T21:57:00.001-06:00

Bank of America Ponders Retreat

Excerpt:

Bank of America Corp. has told U.S. regulators that it is willing to retreat from some parts of the country if its financial problems deepen, according to people familiar with the situation.

Executives at the Charlotte, N.C., financial giant put the potential move on a list of emergency scenarios submitted to the Federal Reserve last year, these people said. While people close to Bank of America insist that no retreat is imminent, even the possibility of selling branches and losing customers it spent huge sums to lure underscores the depth of its problems.

Comment: Bank of America is one of three coast-to-coast banks. The others: JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. WSJ article has a nice graphic that shows history of Bank of America growth. Image: retro BankAmericaCard

Commendation - Mark at Rainbow

2012-01-13T17:11:00.000-06:00

I had a absolutely great experience at the Rainbow Foods in Plymouth this afternoon and I thought I would briefly blog about it to spread the word.

We are absolutely out of milk and out of OJ.

And we are having a guest for breakfast in the morning. I am working from home and Kathee is downtown. I didn't want to bother her to have to pick up items on the way home so at 4:00 today I set out to pick up these items. Because I walk with crutches, items like this are impossible to carry. I can carry a Coke can in my pocket or other small items; but a gallon of milk and a carton of juice are sadly beyond my ability.

I wasn't ever sure when I left the best place to go for these items. Because traffic was already getting gnarly I decided for the shortest drive and pulled into Rainbow. I went in the store and found the first person who looked like an employee and asked for help. That help was Mark the manager. He picked up the milk and juice for me, shepherded me through the checkout (really I never go grocery shopping .... even swiping the card was different than what I was familiar with!), bagged my items and carried them out to the car. It is about 15 degrees out which is not comfortable but this gentleman reached out and helped me.

I called the Rainbow customer support line just a couple of minutes ago to register my pleasure at excellent customer service but I am doubling up by recognizing him here too!

Smashing Moore's Law

2012-01-12T17:42:00.000-06:00

IBM smashes Moore's Law, cuts bit size to 12 atoms

Excerpt:

IBM announced Thursday that after five years of work, its researchers have been able to reduce from about one million to 12 the number of atoms required to create a bit of data.The breakthrough may someday allow data storage hardware manufacturers to produce products with capacities that are orders of magnitude greater than today's hard disk and flash drives."Looking at this conservatively ... instead of 1TB on a device you'd have 100TB to 150TB. Instead of being able to store all your songs on a drive, you'd be able to have all your videos on the device," said Andreas Heinrich, IBM Research Staff Member and lead investigator on this project.Today, storage devices use ferromagnetic materials where the spin of atoms are aligned or in the same direction. The IBM researchers used an unconventional form of magnetism called antiferromagnetism, where atoms spin in opposite directions, allowing scientists to create an experimental atomic-scale magnet memory that is at least 100 times denser than today's hard disk drives and solid-state memory chips.

Comment: Literally very cool! "The experiment was performed at low temperature: about 1 degree Kelvin, which corresponds to about -272 °C (-458 °F). " | Wiki: Moore's Law (see interesting comparision between the Osborne Executive portable computer and an IPhone

Fun with MX Records

2012-01-11T17:41:00.000-06:00

Sometime today I was unable to receive mail at the jrpeet.com domain. Earlier I had sent an email to my wife (her home email at jrpeet.com) about some financial transactions I had made and that mail went through. Then this afternoon I sent Kathee a link to a Star Trbune article and that failed. The first image above shows the error (I tried it about 10 times) Here's the text (from my company email account):

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

*******@jrpeet.com

The recipient's e-mail address was not found in the recipient's e-mail system. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please check the e-mail address and try resending this message, or provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator. The following organization rejected your message: m1.dnsix.com.

It's been such a long time since I set up the Google Apps for jrpeet.com that I had nearly completely forgotten how it works.

The second image shows the Google mail settings for jrpeet.com. Note that m1.dnsix.com is listed first.

The next step was to go to Network solutions (my domain registrar) and modify the MX records.

The third image shows the modified MX records. I followed the Google standards (see link below).

It takes a while for the change to propagate across the Internet. So far it is beginning to work. An email sent from my corporate email goes through fine. Email sent from FastMail.FM is not yet going through .

More information on the MX Record is below. Followed by the Google Apps standard

MX record

Excerpt:

A mail exchanger record (MX record) is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System that specifies a mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a recipient's domain, and a preference value used to prioritize mail delivery if multiple mail servers are available. The set of MX records of a domain name specifies how email should be routed with the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

Comment: Google: Configuring Your MX Records: Network Solutions

"This is not something I ever thought I’d have to do"

2012-01-10T18:07:00.000-06:00

Oh, the humility. Pittsburgh Mayor pays off wager – “Tebows” in Broncos’ uniform Excerpt:

In a comment to news media, Ravensthal said: “This is not something I ever thought I’d have to do, and it’s certainly not something I’m looking forward to,”

Comment: Reminds me of Philippians 2:9-11

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

I once told a Christ-rejecter, that someday he would bow before and acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. His response was "never".

2012-01-10T17:43:00.000-06:00

California's High-Speed Rail Fibs

Excerpt:

Estimating the cost to build additional highway and airport capacity in the absence of the rail line requires estimating how many people would be attracted to the train from cars and planes. But that's not how they did the math, judging by the methodology the authority published. Proponents based their estimate on train capacity (including empty seats) of 1,000. Their rail plan calls for trains with only 500 seats, but this fictional doubling of capacity nicely boosts the amount of highway construction they can claim would be needed if the train line isn't built. The authority also assumed that more than twice as many trains would run as they now plan to run when the line is complete. They even include the cost of some highway expansions that would not be needed for hundreds of years at normal growth rates. All of this is absurd. Empty seats do not increase the demand for roads (or airports, for that matter). Yet inflating the amount of new highways that would have to be built is the name of this game. By imagining huge new demand for train travel and other false premises, for instance, rail planners concluded that it would be necessary to add three lanes to each adjacent highway segment to handle the same demand, whether in the busy Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan areas or the far lower-demand segments in the San Joaquin Valley. They also doubled the supposed cost of road construction by assuming that the state would need to build three lane expansions on both Interstate 5 and the parallel state Route 99 between places like Bakersfield and Fresno.

Comment: Image source: The famous Train wreck at Gare Montparnasse, Paris, France, 1895. Trains is a real Obama favorite project ... whether it makes financial sense or not!

The best game ending play I've seen ... perhaps ever!

2012-01-09T15:47:00.000-06:00

Tebow opens OT with TD; Broncos stun Steelers Excerpt:

Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime, and the Broncos defeated the stunned Steelers 29-23 in the AFC wild-card playoff game Sunday. The play took 11 seconds and was the quickest ending to an overtime in NFL history.

Comment: I didn't expect the Broncos to win ... I was able to watch the end of the game!

Update on my case

2012-01-06T11:58:00.000-06:00

I called the Plymouth MN City Attorney: Campbell Knutson Professional Association and talked with Nanette who is the Prosecution Legal Assistant for Plymouth cases.This is what I found out:

She has not received the paper work from the Plymouth police but she was able to verify that I was arrested.
I was arrested under the Gross misdemeanor cited earlier
The paperwork flow may take 2 months or more.
Ultimately I should receive a summons to appear in court. The summons may arrive as late as March or even later.
There are three levels of Misdemeanor: Gross Misdemeanor, Misdemeanor, and Petty Misdemeanor
Based on my driving record^*, this should get pled down to Misdemeanor with a fine.

^* Well this is good ... I don't think I've had a traffic ticket in over 15 years. I may have had 3 traffic tickets in my entire life of driving (46 years). Image source: Judge Roy Bean

A better Mr. District Attorney image

2012-01-04T13:25:00.001-06:00

Comment: All cover art for comic series. I'm feeling less stressed. Hopeful!

In the hands of "Mr District Attorney"

2012-01-04T12:14:00.002-06:00

I called the Hennepin County Court today and here is the process:

They do not show any charges against me (at this time)
She said that the Plymouth paperwork would go to the district attorney's office and there determination would be made whether to press charges. That process can take 3 weeks so I probably won't hear anything until towards the end of the month
If charges are filed, I will receive a summons from the court.

Comment: Maybe nothing will come of this ... or something little will come of this

Hennepin County Court

Attorney hired

2012-01-03T09:43:00.000-06:00

Stephen M. Goldfarb, Hennepin County Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment: 40 years of experience! Waiting for the court summons.

Is Manning's future tied to Polian's?

2012-01-02T22:29:00.001-06:00

Colts QB Peyton Manning 'surprised and shocked' at Bill Polian being firedExcerpt:

The Manning-Polian partnership began April 18, 1998, when Polian, in his first season as general manager, used the first pick in the draft on an All-America quarterback out of Tennessee.At the time, Manning conceded he knew little of Indianapolis, the Colts and their league-worst 3-13 record, or the players he would be joining. His father, Archie, offered reassurance."I just remember Dad telling me that Bill Polian will straighten Indianapolis around, that he was the top football guy out there," Manning said. "That excited me."I'd be the first to tell you that had Bill not been here when I was coming out for the draft, I'm not sure how I would have felt about coming to Indianapolis. He was just an unbelievable draw to come play for the Indianapolis Colts. To me, he defines loyalty. I'll be forever indebted for what he did for me and my career."The news of Polian's departure hit Manning like a pass rusher from his blind side. He never saw it coming.

Given Luck's availability, the Manning health questions and a looming $28 million option bonus, does Irsay keep Manning and try to work Luck into the lineup later on? Does he let Manning walk in free agency? Does he trade the first pick for a ransom and go into Win One For Peyton Mode?It's hard to cut ties to the most important athlete the city has ever known, but it's hard to pass up a quarterback who is generally viewed as one of the best prospects to come along in decades.I know what they should do, and have written it so often, Manning playfully mentioned my newfound role as "Luck's agent." (What's zero percent of mega-millions?)But I don't know what they're going to do on the Manning front. I'm not sure they know. They have 21/2 months to figure it out.

My conclusion: the Peyton Manning era is done.

Congress Ends Taxpayer Funding Of Ethanol Subsidies

2012-01-02T20:58:00.001-06:00

Overcharged

Excerpt:

.... two of the most wasteful subsidies ever to clutter the Internal Revenue Code went out with the old year. Congress declined to renew either the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit for corn-based ethanol or the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol, so both expired Dec. 31.Taxpayers will no longer have shell out roughly $6 billion per year for a program that badly distorted the global grain market, artificially raised the cost of agricultural land and did almost nothing to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A federal law requiring the use of 36 billion gallons of ethanol for fuel by 2022 still props up the industry, but the tax credit’s expiration is a victory for common sense just the same.

Comment: Image source: Congress Actually Ends Taxpayer Funding Of Ethanol Subsidies. Subsidies skew the free market and introduce inefficiencies. Other examples: the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit (mentioned in the Wash Post editorial) that brought the Volt to the market; cash for clunkers, mortgage interest rate deductions, public transportation subsidies, etc.

Basically what happened to me

2011-12-31T12:07:00.000-06:00

GOP figure arrested, fingerprinted over expired tabs

Excerpt:

In what an official for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is blaming on a state clerical error, a candidate to head Minnesota's Republican Party was arrested this week outside baggage claim, then fingerprinted and photographed -- for expired vehicle tabs.Brandon Sawalich, an executive with Starkey Hearing Technologies who a day later withdrew from the party race, said that airport police wanted to handcuff him Thursday afternoon on the gross-misdemeanor allegation but said they would reconsider "if I would cooperate.""I was stunned," said Sawalich, 36, who said his arrest came as he was being met by a Starkey assistant in his four-wheel-drive pickup truck, which he had just taken out of storage only to have police tow it to an impound lot.On Friday, Sawalich dropped out of the race to head Minnesota Republicans, saying in an e-mail to activists that the party "cannot afford distractions for the uphill battle our party has in store."Recounting his arrest, Sawalich said that "police were there [at one of the doors outside Terminal 1 baggage claim] waiting for me with one of my assistants" upon his return from a business trip to Portland, Ore. "They read me my rights. I apologized [for the expired tabs] and took full responsibility."On Friday morning, airport police at first declined to explain why this offense, "intent to escape tax," warranted booking Sawalich. By midday, the chief spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) said that Sawalich should not have been accused of a gross misdemeanor, blaming the mixup on a clerical error by the state's Driver and Vehicle Services."We do not believe he had any such intent," said MAC spokesman Patrick Hogan. "Mr. Sawalich will receive a citation for failure to have current registration for his vehicle, which is a petty misdemeanor."Hogan said that police were working on inaccurate information from the state that the pickup's tabs had been expired since June 2010, leading to a suspicion of intent.They later determined that the tabs expired in June 2011, which reflects "a simple oversight" by Sawalich, Hogan said.

Comment: My objective is to have mine reduced to a petty misdemeanon

Arrested!

2011-12-30T18:25:00.001-06:00

168.35 INTENT TO ESCAPE TAX; GROSS MISDEMEANOR

Excerpt:

Any person who shall, with intent to escape payment of any tax on a motor vehicle, as herein provided, delay or neglect to properly list and apply to register the same, or, with intent to prevent the payment or collection of the proper tax, fee, or lien thereon, violate or neglect to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

Comment: Turns out the license tabs on my truck were expired. I was picked up by the Plymouth police today at 1:00 p.m. After sitting in my car for about half an hour the policeman informed me that I was being arrested for the above Minnesota statute. I was handcuffed and frisked. Put in the back of a squad car and taken to police headquarters where I was finger printed and photographed. I had been on the way back from church after having lunch with our Pastor. I had to call someone for transportation (my truck was towed and the license plates were confiscated for evidence). Pastor Morrell's response - "you're kidding right!".

Pastor Morrell drove me down to the Hennepin County service center at Ridgedale (Minnetonka) and I bought new plates. Then to the Plymouth auto center where my truck had been towed. $ 100 for towing and fines and I was on my way and home by 5:15 p.m.

I called ARAG legal services and am engaging an attorney

Romney shows wit

2011-12-30T09:51:00.001-06:00

Newt Makes Romney Better

Excerpt:

The most memorable line of the first phase? There's "9-9-9" and "Oops," but the best came from Mitt Romney when he was asked about the Gingrich campaign's failure to qualify for the Virginia ballot. Mr. Gingrich had compared it to Pearl Harbor, a setback, but we'll recover. Mr. Romney, breezily, to a reporter: "I think it's more like Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory."

It made people laugh. It made them want to repeat it, which is the best free media of all, the line people can't resist saying in the office. And they laughed because it pinged off a truth: Gingrich is ad hoc, disorganized.

The put-down underscored Romney's polite little zinger of a week before, that Mr. Gingrich was "zany." And it was a multi-generationally effective: People who are 70-years-old remember "I Love Lucy," but so do people who are 30 and grew up with its reruns. Mr. Romney's known for being organized but not for being deft. This was deft. It's an old commonplace in politics that if you're explaining you're losing, but it's also true that if they're laughing you're losing. The campaign trail has been pretty much a wit-free zone. It's odd that people who care so much about politics rarely use one of politics' biggest tools, humor. Mr. Romney did and scored. More please, from everyone.

Comment: Newt failing to secure enough write-ins for the Virginia ballot does reveal organizational weakness.

Rove's Political Predictions for 2012

2011-12-29T21:55:00.000-06:00

Political Predictions for 2012

Excerpt:

Republicans will keep the U.S. House, albeit with their 25-seat majority slightly reduced. In the 10 presidential re-elections since 1936, the party in control of the White House has added House seats in seven contests and lost them in three. The average gain has been 12 seats. The largest pickup was 24 seats in 1944—but President Barack Obama is no FDR, despite what he said in his recent "60 Minutes" interview.
Republicans will take the U.S. Senate. Of the 23 Democratic seats up in 2012, there are at least five vulnerable incumbents (Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania): The GOP takes two or three of these. With the announcement on Tuesday that Nebraska's Ben Nelson will retire, there are now seven open Democratic seats (Connecticut, Hawaii, North Dakota, New Mexico, Virginia, Wisconsin): The GOP takes three or four. Even if Republicans lose one of the 10 seats they have up, they will have a net pickup of four to six seats, for a majority of 51 to 53.

Comment: Rove's article is interesting. Here are several of mine

Romney will win the Republican nomination.
Possible Republican VP candidates: Tim Pawlenty; Condi Rice; Rick Santorum
Romney will be elected!
The SCOTUS will overturn Obamacare's health insurance mandate

More predictions for 2012:

Unemployment will briefly drop and then increase before the election
Eurozone crisis is far from resolved. The stock market will continue to be volatile
Iran will continue to be an issue. Things could heat up fast.

Comment ... take all of the above with a grain of salt!

New Hope K-Mart to close

2011-12-29T19:16:00.000-06:00

4 Minnesota Kmart stores slated to close

Excerpt:

A partial list shows four Minnesota Kmart stores are set to close as part of the store closings announced this week by the parent company of Sears and Kmart.

The four Kmarts are in Willmar, Duluth, New Hope and White Bear Lake. No Minnesota Sears stores are on the list.

Comment: map location. This would be a great site for a Wal-Mart! The K-Mart store is blighted. In 16 years I was only in it once.

Ten Brands That Will Disappear In 2012

2011-12-29T12:02:00.000-06:00

Ten Brands That Will Disappear In 2012

Brands that have stood the test of time for decades are falling by the wayside at an alarming rate. For instance, Pontiac – a major car brand since 1926 – is gone, shut down by a struggling GM. Blockbuster is in the process of dismantling, after it once controlled the VHS and DVD markets. House & Garden folded after 106 years. It succumbed to the advertising downturn, a lot of competition, and the cost of paper and postage. Its demise echoed the 1972 shutdown of what is probably the most famous magazine in history–Life. That was a long time ago, but it serves to demonstrate that no brand is too big to fail if it is overwhelmed by competition, new inventions, costs, or poor management.

This year’s list of The Ten Brands That Will Disappear takes a methodical approach in deciding which brands will walk the plank. The major criteria were as follows: (1) a rapid fall-off in sales and steep losses; (2) disclosures by the parent of the brand that it might go out of business; (3) rapidly rising costs that are extremely unlikely to be recouped through higher prices; (4) companies which are sold; (5) companies that go into bankruptcy; (6) firms that have lost the great majority of their customers; or (7) operations with rapidly withering market share. Each of the ten brands on the list suffer from one or more of these problems. Each of the ten will be gone, based on our definitions, within 18 months.

The list:

Sony Pictures
A&W
Saab
American Apparel
Sears
Sony Ericsson
Kellogg’s Corn Pops
MySpace
Soap Opera Digest
Nokia

Comments:

A&W will continue to exist as a DPS beverage
Kodak is close to extinction
The name "Baptist" (and I lament this) has been sorely tarnished by KJVonlism, legalism, shallow preaching, authoritarianism, and isolationism that I fear it will soon disappear as a brand in North America. Baptists today are far from their founding documents and history!

TI-2500 Calculator

2011-12-29T11:43:00.001-06:00

Comments:

Identical to my very first calculator (that I bought back in the early 70's ... probably 1974 or '73)
Received last week (a retro Christmas gift)
I didn't think it worked but I didn't know how to turn it on. Today under close inspection I found the on-off switch
Model is TI-2500B
I'm surprised this still works ... but it works like a champ
I love the clunkiness
See earlier post

Open Letter to the Jehovah's Witnesses

2011-12-26T19:08:00.000-06:00

Jehovah’s Witnesses
11525 73rd Avenue North
Maple Grove, MN 55369

Jehovah Witnesses’ Leadership,

Please put my residence on the do not call list.

I don’t know when Jesus was born (and it probably wasn’t December 25th … I get that!), but this is the day I have chosen to celebrate His birth.

I was extremely offended that as my family was gathered to celebrate the birth of my Savior, that JW representatives knocked on my door.

I have a very clear and large “no solicitation” sign on my front door.

Please respect my right to not be bothered and never visit my house again.

Comment: Is there a J/W do not call list!?

Be sure to spend your gift card

2011-12-25T12:38:00.000-06:00

Number of the Week: Billions in Gift Cards Go Unspent

Excerpt:

The retail industry also has many reasons to embrace them. Stores can’t count money received from the gift givers who purchase the cards as revenue until they’re redeemed, but this offers a number of benefits. First, it sets up a source of cashflow in the weeks after the holidays as recipients make their way to stores to spend the money on their cards.

Gift-card redemptions also often further add to retailers’ coffers. As anyone who’s used iTunes can attest, it’s awfully hard to spend exactly $15 or $25 on items that cost 99 cents or have sales tax added. Analyst Brian Riley of TowerGroup estimates that more than a third of gift-card purchases go over the face value of the card.

The vast majority of the money put on gift cards gets redeemed, but Riley estimates that since 2005 $41 billion in money on gift cards has been lost or is likely never to be cashed in. The lion’s share of money lost on gift cards from 2005-2009 came from fees and expiration dates. All that changed with the passage of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 that was signed into law last year. The Act largely forbids fees on cards sold by retailers (cards given away as promotional items can still charge fees), and it prohibits expiration dates less than 5 years after the card is purchased.

Comment: We gave some this year (Wells Fargo Visa gift cards). I received a $ 25 gift card to Outback steak house from my manager.

The "other" Eastman

2011-12-24T12:31:00.000-06:00

As Kodak struggles, Eastman Chemical thrives

Excerpt:

George Eastman is best known as the inventor of photographic film and founder of Eastman Kodak Co, but his century-old legacy of entrepreneurship now rides on the lesser-known Eastman Chemical Co.

That was hardly the case in 1994, when Eastman Kodak spun off its chemicals business to help pay down debt. At that time, Kodak was still a colossus in photography whereas Eastman Chemical was a small player very much in its parent's shadow.

But because of a sea change in digital technology and different approaches to business, Eastman Chemical's stock market value has since increased 71 percent to $5.5 billion today, while Kodak's has plummeted 99 percent to about $185 million.

Comments (his biography is interesting):

Noonan: "Our movie culture has descended into immaturity, deep and inhuman violence, a pervasive and flattened sexuality. It is an embarrassment"

2011-12-23T20:49:00.000-06:00

Noonan on today's movies

Excerpt:

We are at a point in our culture when we actually have to pull for grown-up movies, when we must try to encourage them and laud them when they come by. David Lean wouldn't be allowed to make movies today, John Ford would be forced to turn John Wayne into a 30-something failure-to-launch hipster whose big moment is missing the toilet in the vomit scene in Hangover Ten. Our movie culture has descended into immaturity, deep and inhuman violence, a pervasive and flattened sexuality. It is an embarrassment.

In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he'd come to believe about Americans in the years they'd been there. He thought. "You are a better people than your movies say." He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

And so he'd assumed we were disgusting.

Comment: Kathee and I watched Holiday Affair (1949) tonight. There's not an affair in it!

Myth-Building in North Korea

2011-12-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

Pyongyang Myth-Builders Step It Up

Excerpt:

The Official Line
Some of the regime-driven mythology surrounding North Korea's leaders

About Kim Il Sung, founder of North Korea: He once made a hand grenade from a pine cone to blow up an American tank.

About his son and successor, Kim Jong Il: When he was born, the sky was filled with lightning and thunder, and a rainbow.

About the new leader, Kim Jong Eun: He is 'an excellent general who displays the extraordinary talent of hitting the center of the target no matter how many times he fires.'

Comment: One wonders when North Korea will be free!

Closing up shop!

2011-12-23T14:18:00.000-06:00

I survived 2011
I am getting ready to leave the office - not to return until January 3rd.
I deleted all of my sent messages
I cleaned out my inbox
Out of office on
All items deleted out of my deleted items folder
I cleaned off my desk and workplaces.
I survived 2011 at work! I've seen co-workers die! I've seen co-workers laid off. God has been gracious to me! Hallelujah!

Phlogiston, Miasma, Orgone, and Alkahest

2011-12-23T06:28:00.000-06:00

Best Discredited Substances

Comment: Pick one ... work on the pronunciation ... attempt to use in a sentence at work ... report back.

Available wiki articles:

Occupy Darien CT

2011-12-22T21:23:00.000-06:00

First Day of Occupy Darien Draws Small Crowd

Comment: Now that gays are OK in the military this guy should apply!

If a boarding pass can be spoofed .... the TSA is a failure!

2011-12-22T13:36:00.000-06:00

Smoke Screening

Excerpt:

Not until I walked with Bruce Schneier toward the mass of people unloading their laptops did it occur to me that it might not be possible for us to hang around unnoticed near Reagan National Airport’s security line. Much as upscale restaurants hang mug shots of local food writers in their kitchens, I realized, the Transportation Security Administration might post photographs of Schneier, a 48-year-old cryptographer and security technologist who is probably its most relentless critic. In addition to writing books and articles, Schneier has a popular blog; a recent search for “TSA” in its archives elicited about 2,000 results, the vast majority of which refer to some aspect of the agency that he finds to be ineffective, invasive, incompetent, inexcusably costly, or all four.

As we came by the checkpoint line, Schneier described one of these aspects: the ease with which people can pass through airport security with fake boarding passes. First, scan an old boarding pass, he said—more loudly than necessary, it seemed to me. Alter it with Photoshop, then print the result with a laser printer. In his hand was an example, complete with the little squiggle the T.S.A. agent had drawn on it to indicate that it had been checked. “Feeling safer?” he asked.

...

“The only useful airport security measures since 9/11,” he says, “were locking and reinforcing the cockpit doors, so terrorists can’t break in, positive baggage matching”—ensuring that people can’t put luggage on planes, and then not board them —“and teaching the passengers to fight back. The rest is security theater.”

Comment: And it can! "security theater" indeed!

Congressional dithering messes with payroll systems

2011-12-22T08:17:00.000-06:00

Playing payroll tax roulette

Excerpt:

For payroll processors, the two-month option because of the $18,350 cap is the toughest to implement. Not impossible, just more complicated and costly to set up quickly, executives from the American Payroll Association and the National Payroll Reporting Consortium told CNNMoney.

Many payroll systems may not be able to make all the needed changes in January, the NPRC believes. And some may even struggle to get the job done by February.

There are two reasons why: The first pertains to high-income workers -- those who earn more than $110,100 a year. Since many of them will earn more than $18,350 in the first two months of the year, payroll systems will need to be programmed to withhold their Social Security taxes first at 4.2%, then at 6.2% for earnings above the $18,350 limit.

The second reason concerns the quarterly forms that payroll processors have to fill out for the IRS. A quarter is three months, but the extension would be for two months. So those forms would need to be redesigned and the systems would need to be programmed to reflect those adjustments. If all that can't be done by March 31, companies may later have to amend their returns.

Comment: Not sure whom to blame but I feel the President has not provided leadership on this

Boehner: Payroll Tax Grinch?

2011-12-21T21:33:00.000-06:00

My view: The payroll tax cut was a mistake a year ago (my comments last year). Social security has its own problems and underfunding it is not wise. We did appreciate the 2% cut and we did save it. The 2% payroll tax cut was intended to be temporary. I doubt it did much to stimulate the economy but the reality is that letting the payroll tax cut expire is in effect a tax increase for every American worker. The Wall Street Journal opinions that Boehner has misplayed this: "Republicans ... failed to put together a unified House and Senate strategy." The New York Times reports that "the House Republicans’ attempts to seize the political high ground by advocating for a full-year payroll tax cut are undercut by their shifting stands in the months leading up to the showdown". Politico sees that the Republicans lack a "carefully scripted drama" and asks "has John Boehner lost control?"

Businesses don't like short term tax fixes: Payroll Executives Complain About Lawmakers' Penchant for Brief Fixes and Small Employers Fret Over Payroll-Tax Uncertainty. For the average worker payroll tax means thousands in savings

Conclusion: Advantage Obama! For another advantage to Obama consider George Will's comments:

Atop the Republican ticket, Gingrich would guarantee Barack Obama’s reelection, would probably doom Republicans’ hopes of capturing the Senate and might cost them control of the House. If so, Gingrich would at last have achieved something — wreckage, but something — proportional to his swollen sense of himself.

Canceling a Credit Card

2011-12-21T14:11:00.001-06:00

We are simplifying our financial lives by canceling our Discover card. We've had this card for almost 22 years. We are canceling it because our Wells Fargo and Chase cards offered better rewards and we only wanted to have two cards.

Thursday, December 15, 2011
Customer Service Department
Discover Financial Services
P.O. Box 30943
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0943

Re: Closing the account ending in _____

Dear Sir or Madam:

This letter is our formal request of closure of Discover credit card account ending in _______. Please close our account with your company and notify us by mail at the address below that this action has been taken.

In addition, please include on our credit report that the account was closed at our own request and that the account was in good standing at the time it was closed.

The reason we are closing this account is that we have two other credit cards that are our preferred cards. We have had great customer service from Discover and are in no way dissatisfied with Discover. We simply wish to have one less credit card.

If you have any questions, you can reach us at the address below.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Best regards,

Two relevant articles:

How to cancel a credit card

How to cancel a credit card

Kim Jong Il: a number of dubious "firsts"

2011-12-21T12:41:00.000-06:00

The Bizarre, Twisted Cult Known as the ‘Democratic’ People’s Republic of Korea

Excerpt:

Kim Jong Il’s reign was a bizarre, hypocritical, Stalinistic empire. An estimated 20,000 political prisoners languished in re-education camps, and children starved in out-of-sight areas while the communist dictator annually imported $650,000 worth of Hennessy’s finest Cognac, and flew in chefs from Tokyo and Italy. His regime was a cardboard, papier-mâché empire that only allowed the free world an extremely limited glimpse of staged city areas of Pyongyang, the forbidden city, while the rest of the country was rumored to be in poverty and ruins.

Kim Jong Il: Road to ruin - The North Korean strongman led his nation through stagnation into misery

Excerpt:

The career of Kim Jong Il, North Korea's "Dear Leader," was marked by a series of historical firsts — most of them dubious at best. He was, to begin, the first ruler of a Marxist-Leninist state to inherit absolute power through hereditary succession from his father, "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung, founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

He was also the first ruler of an urbanized, literate society to preside over a mass famine in peacetime: The Great North Korean Famine of the 1990s, which erupted shortly after his father's death, is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of his subjects, and perhaps more. (Outsiders cannot know the precise toll; that figure remains a state secret.)

Since the very late 1990s, when North Korea's famine apparently subsided, the food situation in the country has remained desperately precarious: Resumption of famine has been forestalled only by humanitarian food aid, Western economic assistance and Chinese largesse. Thus Kim Jong Il also earned the lifetime achievement award for overseeing the first industrialized economy ever to lose the capacity to feed itself.

Comment: We need to pray for this country that the Gospel doors would open!

Is the Volt an "electric Edsel"?

2011-12-21T12:22:00.000-06:00

Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle

Excerpt:

The Volt subsidies flow through multiple companies involed in production. The analysis includes adding up the amount of government subsidies via tax credits and direct funding for not only General Motors, but other companies supplying parts for the vehicle. For example, the Department of Energy awarded a $105.9 million grant to the GM Brownstown plant that assembles the batteries. The company was also awarded approximately $106 million for its Hamtramck assembly plant in state credits to retain jobs. The company that supplies the Volt’s batteries, Compact Power, was awarded up to $100 million in refundable battery credits (combination tax breaks and cash subsidies). These are among many of the subsidies and tax credits for the vehicle.

It’s unlikely that all the companies involved in Volt production will ever receive all the $3 billion in incentives, Hohman said, because many of them are linked to meeting various employment and other milestones. But the analysis looks at the total value that has been offered to the Volt in different aspects of production – from the assembly line to the dealerships to the battery manufacturers. Some tax credits and subsidies are offered for periods up to 20 years, though most have a much shorter time frame.

GM has estimated they’ve sold 6,000 Volts so far. That would mean each of the 6,000 Volts sold would be subsidized between $50,000 and $250,000, depending on how many government subsidy milestones are realized.

If battery manufacturers awarded incentives to produce batteries the Volt may use are included in the analysis, the potential government subsidy per Volt increases to $256,824. For example, A123 Systems has received extensive state and federal support, and bid to be a supplier to the Volt, but the deal instead went to Compact Power. The $256,824 figure includes adding up the subsidies to both companies.

Comment: Even if it is only the $ 7,500 Federal tax rebate per vehical ... it is too much!

The core concept of economic freedom: "The right to rise."

2011-12-19T21:09:00.000-06:00

Capitalism and the Right to Rise - In freedom lies the risk of failure. But in statism lies the certainty of stagnation

Excerpts:

We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise. We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck.

That is what economic freedom looks like. Freedom to succeed as well as to fail, freedom to do something or nothing. People understand this. Freedom of speech, for example, means that we put up with a lot of verbal and visual garbage in order to make sure that individuals have the right to say what needs to be said, even when it is inconvenient or unpopular. We forgive the sacrifices of free speech because we value its blessings.

...

Increasingly, we have let our elected officials abridge our own economic freedoms through the annual passage of thousands of laws and their associated regulations. We see human tragedy and we demand a regulation to prevent it. We see a criminal fraud and we demand more laws. We see an industry dying and we demand it be saved. Each time, we demand "Do something . . . anything."

...

The right to rise does not require a libertarian utopia to exist. Rather, it requires fewer, simpler and more outcome-oriented rules. Rules for which an honest cost-benefit analysis is done before their imposition. Rules that sunset so they can be eliminated or adjusted as conditions change. Rules that have disputes resolved faster and less expensively through arbitration than litigation.

Comment: Good read!

Fondly remembering [sarcastic!] Kim Jong-Il

2011-12-19T14:58:00.001-06:00

Cigars, cognac and mass starvation: 10 facts that divide North Korea from the world

The Golfer:

Kim Jong Il piloted jet fighters, according to the country's propaganda machine, even though he traveled by land for his infrequent trips abroad, reputedly because he was nervous about flying. He penned operas, had a photographic memory, produced movies and accomplished a feat unmatched in the annals of professional golf, shooting 11 holes-in-one on the first round he ever played — if North Korea is to be believed.

Kim Jong Il remembered as 'Team America' star

Comment: Image capture above. I didn't see the movie (for a number of reasons ... one is that it looked stupid! I watched 2 clips in the article. One has a profanity (I listened to it very low here at work so it wasn't completely clear to me!)

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) appears to have no doubt where deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il may have ended up in the afterlife.

Excerpt:

“I can only express satisfaction that the Dear Leader is joining the likes of Qaddafi, Bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin in a warm corner of hell,”

Comment: And from a year ago on this blog: Kim impersonator

Congress ignores reality of Systems development life-cycle (SDLC)

2011-12-19T14:21:00.000-06:00

Two-Month Payroll Tax Holiday Passed By Senate, Pushed By President, Cannot Be Implemented Properly, Experts Say

Excerpt:

Isberg wrote that “many payroll systems are not likely to be able to make such a substantial programming change before January or even February. The systems affected tend to be highly complex, normally requiring at least ninety days for a change of this magnitude for software testing alone; not to mention analysis, design, coding and implementation.”

Comment: SDLC.

Obama's GIANT EGO

2011-12-18T21:20:00.000-06:00

What CBS left on the cutting room floor in Obama '60 Minutes' interview

Excerpt:

KROFT: Tell me, what do you consider your major accomplishments? If this is your last speech. What have you accomplished?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, we're not done yet. I've got five more years of stuff to do. But not only saving this country from a great depression. Not only saving the auto industry. But putting in place a system in which we're gonna start lowering health care costs and you're never gonna go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. Making sure that we have reformed the financial system, so we never again have taxpayer-funded bailouts, and the system is more stable and secure. Making sure that we've got millions of kids out here who are able to go to college because we've expanded student loans and made college more affordable. Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Decimating al Qaeda, including Bin Laden being taken off the field. Restoring America's respect around the world.

The issue here is not gonna be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president -- with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln -- just in terms of what we've gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we've got a lot more work to do. And we're gonna keep on at it.

Comment: Commentator's view (which I share): "But to be so egotistical to compare yourself to Abe Lincoln is to take flight from reality. CBS probably realized this which is why they strategically cut the remarks from their final edit of the interview"

Sophisticated ATM Skimmer

2011-12-18T21:15:00.001-06:00

Pro Grade (3D Printer-Made?) ATM Skimmer

Excerpt:

In July 2011, a customer at a Chase Bank branch in West Hills, Calif. noticed something odd about the ATM he was using and reported it to police. Authorities who responded to the incident discovered a sophisticated, professional-grade ATM skimmer that they believe was made with the help of a 3D printer.

Comment: Check out detailed images associated with the article

Illinois: "Imagine California without the sunshine, New York without the cultural elan"

2011-12-18T20:28:00.000-06:00

The Chicago Expulsion Act of 2011

Excerpt:

Chicago pols control almost all seats of power in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Secretary of State Jesse White are all Democrats from Chicago. So was former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who this month was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, including trying to sell President Obama's vacated seat in the U.S. Senate. Consequently, as Mr. Wooters says, a lot "of the money that we have down here goes up there to bail out Chicago."

In 2008, lawmakers in Springfield cobbled together a $530 million rescue package for Chicago's transit system, which was on the brink of collapse because of sky-high labor and legacy costs. Just this week they pushed through $300 million of tax credits for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange and Sears to prevent the businesses from fleeing to lower-tax climes. Both Indiana and Ohio have been aggressively poaching Illinois businesses, especially since January, when lawmakers raised the state income tax to a flat 5% from 3% and the corporate tax to 9.5% from 7.3%.

Comment: I basically hate the state. I hate driving in Chicago and avoid it the best I can. There is not one region of the state that I find appealing. You couldn't pay me to live there.

"Earned Any Dividends Lately?"

2011-12-18T19:55:00.000-06:00

Dividend Stocks Become the Heroes

Excerpts:

Urging investors toward dividend-paying shares has been an easy sell. This year, the 100 stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index with the highest dividend yields are up an average of 3.7% before dividend payouts, according to Birinyi Associates. The 100 lowest-yielding stocks are down an average of 10%.

...

Investors hungry for stock-price gains have been barreling into dividend-paying shares, long regarded as "widow-and-orphan stocks" because of their steady but stodgy performance. Some analysts say such stocks are the most "crowded" trade around these days. Investors have been dazzled by dividend yields of more than 4% on many utilities, household-goods manufacturers and telecommunications companies. That is twice as much as recent paltry yields on 10-year Treasurys.

Dividend-stock fans say the unusually strong performance is likely to last as long as volatility driven by Europe's debt crisis and the global economic fits and starts continues to grip financial markets. Stocks that pay steady dividends tend to fall less than others when times are tough.

Comment: We only buy stocks where we know something about the company. We ask ourselves these questions:

What does this company do? What do they produce (product or service)?
Do we have any experience with the company?
Who are their competitors?
Are they currently paying a dividend? Are they able to afford that dividend (the payout ratio)? Are they likely to continue to earn enough to pay a dividend?

Many of the stocks we buy are not exactly exciting: We have stock in Kimberly-Clark. We buy their products: Kleenex and Scott's. We reason that their products are superior (who buys check tissues?!) And it pays a dividend. Other examples are McDonalds, P&G, Heinz. Companies that we have a bad opinion of .... we don't buy (example ... airlines). Every stock except one in our portfolio pays a dividend. The average dividend rate is currently 3.4%

A Primer: Understanding Derivatives / trading in securities

2011-12-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Halifax ...

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 Halifax and probably in Nova Scotia .

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 because 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.

These "securities" then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as "AAA Secured Bonds" really are 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 still are 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 Heidi's 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%.

The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank's 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 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 multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, nondrinkers who have never been in Heidi's bar.

Now do you understand?

Comment: Sent to me by a relative (in Wisconsin!). Also found on the web (when I Googled Heidi's bar) here

B-52 design: slide rules, balsa wood, glue, carving tools and silver paint

2011-12-17T17:11:00.000-06:00

Holden Withington, Last Living B-52 Designer, Dies at 94

Excerpt:

On a Friday in 1948, six aeronautical designers from the Boeing Company holed up in a hotel suite in Dayton, Ohio. They stayed put until Monday morning, except for the one who left to visit a hobby shop and returned with balsa wood, glue, carving tools and silver paint.

The group emerged with a neatly bound 33-page proposal and an impressive 14-inch scale model of an airplane on a stand. Col. Pete Warden, the Air Force chief of bomber development, studied the result and pronounced, “This is the B-52.”

One of those six was Holden Withington, and on Dec. 9, at age 94, he became the last of the B-52 designers to die. His daughter, Victoria Withington, said he died at his home on Mercer Island, Wash. He had Alzheimer’s disease.

...

A debate raged in the service and beyond over the merits of a jet engine versus those of a turbo prop, which would use less fuel but sacrifice speed. The RAND Corporation, the research group, favored the turbo prop.

But the turbo prop approach “just wasn’t coming together,” Mr. Withington told The Times of Shreveport, La., in 2002. “The program was at risk of being canceled,” he said.

A meeting was held at Wright Field in Dayton to address what Mr. Withington said was now viewed as a crisis. Colonel Warden decreed that the turbo prop idea should be dropped in favor of jet engines, then ordered the group back to their hotel room for their weekend of frenzied work. They used slide rules for calculations.

Comment: Image source Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. I have a collection of slide rules (which I used back in college.

Peyton Manning NFL MVP

2011-12-17T08:11:00.001-06:00

Has Peyton Manning played his last game for the Colts?

Excerpt:

Manning, the Hall of Fame-worthy 35-year-old quarterback, firmly established himself as the most irreplaceable player in the game this season, and did it without taking a single snap. Some have even suggested he deserves Most Valuable Player consideration: With him, the Colts are a perennial Super Bowl contender, without him they're a laughingstock.

One player can have this kind of understandable impact in the NBA, where a LeBron James can leave Cleveland Cavaliers and reduce them from a 60-win team to the worst team in the league. In the NBA, you're talking about five players on the court at a time.

Nobody could have imagined this would happen in football, where Manning is one of 11 players, and doesn't play defense or special teams.

When the New England Patriots lost Tom Brady for the 2008 season, they still went 11-5.

The Colts, who two years ago were in the middle of a debate over whether an undefeated season was possible, are now wondering if they will win a single game. We've always known Manning is he face of the franchise (and, to a certain extent, the entire NFL). Now we're finding out he's the heart, the soul, the brains ... everything.

The Colts aren't just losing this season; they're barely competitive, enduring a season that included a nationally televised, 62-7 shellacking by the Saints in New Orleans.

...

Turns out the Colts picked the perfect year to stink.

If they get the first pick in the draft -- and they have a two-game lead on Minnesota and St. Louis with three games remaining -- they will be in position to pick Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck , by most accounts the best quarterback prospect to come out of college since Hall of Famer John Elway left Stanford and joined the Denver Broncos in 1983.

Not a bad deal: The Colts get 13 years of elite quarterbacking from Manning, suffer for one season, then get Luck for another decade or more of elite quarterbacking.

Comment: Lucky them! Image source

Netgear N900 Wireless router install

2011-12-16T13:08:00.001-06:00

Kathee and I installed our new Netgear N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router this morning.

We replaced a first generation Apple AirPort Extreme that I would guess was 4 ½ years old. We replaced it because it was running very hot and because we have had a very difficult time consistently printing with our HP Officejet 6000 Wireless Printer.

I have some final tuning but the router itself was a very easy setup.

What's working and not:

We have three wireless networks: a 2.4GHz that is password protected, a 5GHz that is password protected, and a guest network that is isolated and open
Kathee rearranged the devices and the cables in the den
The NetGear router has a nice web interface that does not require a CD for set up
We cannot get the printer to printer wirelessly but we had that issue before
The printer works flawlessly connected to the router
I had to reset the Pogoplug Classic (connected to a 500 gig drive). The Chumby had to be connected wirelessly with the new password.
We use OpenDNS.com and the settings for that carried over to the new router (I'm not sure why that happend but I am not complaining).

Senior citizens' favorite cars

2011-12-15T17:30:00.000-06:00

These are American senior citizens' favorite cars

Comment: Well I've got # 2 on the list: 2007 Lucerne

Czechs stay out of Euro mix

2011-12-15T09:37:00.000-06:00

Debt crisis scares Czechs away from adopting euro

Czech financial officials say they do not recommend setting a date for the country to adopt the troubled euro currency because of potential costs associated with the debt crisis.

The finance ministry and central bank say the Czech Republic would face extra costs if it were to join the euro because it would have to contribute to the eurozone's bailout fund

In a joint statement released Thursday, the two institutions also said the country still has not met necessary financial criteria, including a low deficit, to join the euro.

The Czechs say it will be "vital" to monitor how the eurozone deals with its financial problems.

All non-euro countries in the EU, except Britain and Denmark, are officially committed to join the euro, though in practice they can defer that decision indefinitely."

Comment: Smart Czecks!

Facebook Luddites

2011-12-14T08:54:00.000-06:00

The Facebook Resisters

Excerpts:

One of Facebook’s main selling points is that it builds closer ties among friends and colleagues. But some who steer clear of the site say it can have the opposite effect of making them feel more, not less, alienated.

“I wasn’t calling my friends anymore,” said Ashleigh Elser, 24, who is in graduate school in Charlottesville, Va. “I was just seeing their pictures and updates and felt like that was really connecting to them.”

To be sure, the Facebook-free life has its disadvantages in an era when people announce all kinds of major life milestones on the Web. Ms. Elser has missed engagements and pictures of newborn babies. But none of that hurt as much as the gap she said her Facebook account had created between her and her closest friends. So she shut it down.

Many of the holdouts mention concerns about privacy. Those who study social networking say this issue boils down to trust. Amanda Lenhart, who directs research on teenagers, children and families at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said that people who use Facebook tend to have “a general sense of trust in others and trust in institutions.” She added: “Some people make the decision not to use it because they are afraid of what might happen.”

...

Erika Gable, 29, who lives in Brooklyn and does public relations for restaurants, never understood the appeal of Facebook in the first place. She says the daily chatter that flows through the site — updates about bad hair days and pictures from dinner — is virtual clutter she doesn’t need in her life.

“If I want to see my fifth cousin’s second baby, I’ll call them,” she said with a laugh.

Ms. Gable is not a Luddite. She has an iPhone and sometimes uses Twitter. But when it comes to creating a profile on the world’s biggest social network, her tolerance reaches its limits.

Comment: I am conflicted about Facebook. Yes I am "on it". I do see value to it (Like seeing Bike Bubba make bread with his daughter!). I am concerned about the privacy issues. My wife has given up on it. Image above: The Leader of the Luddites from Wikipedia

Gay Cruises: Word Morph

2011-12-13T22:25:00.000-06:00

Retro Ad (above):

2012 Cruise Ad (below):

atlantisevents.com

Comment: Obviously I am not promoting this! Shows how the word "gay" has morphed.

Facebook: Your very own "War and Peace"

2011-12-13T20:30:00.000-06:00

Twenty Something Asks Facebook For His File And Gets It - All 1,200 Pages

Excerpt:

Be careful of what you ask for. That's a lesson that Max Schrems of Vienna, Austria, learned the hard way when he sent a formal request to Facebook citing European law and asking for a copy of every piece of personal information that the world’s largest social network had collected on him.

After a wait, the 24 year-old law student got what he was seeking: a CD with all his data stored on it - 1,222 files in all. The collection of PDF format documents was roughly the length Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace but told a more mundane story: a record of Schrems' years-long relationship with the world's largest social network.

Collected together were records of when Schrems logged in and out of the social network, the times and content of sent and received messages and an accounting of every person and thing he’s ever liked, posted, poked, friended or recorded. The archive captured friend requests, former or alternative names and email addresses, employment and relationship statuses and photos, in some cases with their GPS locations included, to name a few. To Schrems' dismay, much of the data he received from the network was information he thought he had deleted. Facebook, it seems, doesn't think much of the Delete key and continued to hold copies of the data on its servers.

Comment: Makes one wonder whether one should Facebook!

NTSB Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers

2011-12-13T18:12:00.000-06:00

NTSB Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers

Excerpt:

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday that it had voted to recommend the ban on the use of mobile devices by drivers, citing what it said were the risks of distracted driving.

The recommended ban applies to hands-free devices, a recommendation that goes further than any state law to date. The agency said it is recommending that drivers be allowed to use their phones for emergency purposes.

“No call, no text, no update is worth a human life,” said Deborah A. P. Hersman, chairman of the N.T.S.B., an independent federal agency that is responsible for promoting traffic safety and investigating accidents and their causes. It will be up to the states to decide whether they want to follow the agency’s recommendation.

She said the decision was a hard one because such a ban would be unpopular among some people. But she said its time had come, given what she said were growing distractions in the car and the spread of increasingly powerful mobile devices.

“This is a difficult recommendation, but it’s the right recommendation and it’s time,” she said.

Comment: Should be the law!

Dividend Stocks: the best place to invest

2011-12-13T13:57:00.000-06:00

Fed killing bonds? Buy dividend stocks

Excerpts:

Now is a great time to buy blue chip companies with steady payouts. Forget about Treasury bonds, the dollar, gold or other so-called safe haven bets. Dividends are the place to be.

Ford (F, Fortune 500) just reinstated its quarterly payout after five years without one. The yield will be a respectable 1.8% -- not much lower than the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury.

Earlier this year, tech giant Cisco Systems (CSCO, Fortune 500) finally decided to put some of its "caysh" to work and started paying a dividend. It yields 1.3%.

And companies that are dividend stalwarts, such as Dow components Walt Disney (DIS, Fortune 500), General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500), have all recently said they are boosting their dividends.

...

So why on Earth would anyone looking for safety in income buy a bond when they could a blue chip company with an even higher yield instead?

"There's a lot of risk in longer-term bonds. Treasuries will only do well if the world comes to an end," said Rex Macey, chief investment officer with Wilmington Trust in Atlanta. "You can't buy a 10-year with the yield at 2% and expect a real return. Quality dividend stocks are bargains compared to Treasuries."

Comment: Of the above mentioned stocks we have F, CSCO (in IRA), GE, and PFE (in IRA). I almost sold F this year. Decided to keep it (we only have 100 shares).

Tim Tebow's comeback wins

2011-12-13T11:50:00.000-06:00

Full of fancy featwork: List of Denver Broncos' comeback wins worthy of closer look

Excerpts:

In Tim Tebow's first start of the season, became the first NFL team to overcome a 15-point deficit with less than three minutes remaining.

...

Broncos 18, Dolphins 15, overtime, in Miami, Oct. 23.

By rallying to win this one, the Broncos had confidence the next time they were behind late. For this one, the Broncos and Tebow were on their own. Not only did the Broncos need two touchdowns and a two-point conversion to tie it, there was so little time left that they needed to recover an onside kick in between.

When citing the difficulty of this comeback, there's no sense overlooking the obvious. The 15 points appeared impossible given the way Tebow was playing in his first start. When the Broncos got the ball at their 20 with 5:23 remaining, Tebow was 4-of-14 for a mere 40 yards while taking five sacks for 27 yards of losses. Suddenly, magically, Tebow started throwing with accuracy. He threw two touchdown passes and ran in the two-point conversion.

In overtime, Denver needed Matt Prater, who had missed two field goals earlier in the game, to come through from 52 yards. He did. Tebow Time was officially on the clock.

Comment: Image source: Author Jeffrey Beall. All he does is win!

How'd the refs miss this?

2011-12-11T20:07:00.000-06:00

Lions barely beat Vikings 34-28 on final play

Excerpt:

DeAndre Levy had a fist full of Joe Webb's facemask, got away with it, and wasn't apologizing for Detroit's good fortune in a 34-28 win over Minnesota on Sunday.

"We get a lot of calls called against us," the Lions linebacker said. "So, they owed us one if I did."

Detroit (8-5) is still in prime position in the NFC wild-card race. Barely.

Webb had the Vikings a yard away from a potential winning touchdown on the game's final snap, but the backup quarterback fumbled just before Levy's right hand tugged his facemask, and a penalty wasn't called.

Comment: Not that it matters ... the seasons been over for a while!

Small investors: "never put in a market order"

2011-12-10T21:31:00.000-06:00

How Small Investors Can Get Stomped

Excerpt:

First, avoid open-ended buy and sell orders. The UAL trade was a market order, or an instruction to sell at the best available price. "Rule No. 1 for the small investor is never, ever put in a market order," says Joe Saluzzi, a partner at Themis Trading in Chatham, N.J. Instead, use a limit order that stipulates either the price below which you won't sell or above which you won't buy.

Comment: I haven't used Limit orders and have not been burned by a "flash crash". Going forward to protect myself I will be using Limit orders

Nearly a quarter of the potential workforce unemployed

2011-12-10T14:53:00.000-06:00

Is the Real Unemployment Rate 22.6%?

Excerpt:

But if all discouraged workers are included, the 8.6% figure rises. Including “marginally attached workers” – those who are discouraged – was 15.6% in November, according to government data. John Williams, a statistician and economist, says the real unemployment figure including all discouraged workers who stopped looking for work is closer to a staggering 22.6% — nearly a quarter of the potential workforce. Since 1994, the government data defines discouraged workers as those who have been looking for work within the last year. Williams includes all discouraged workers. “I know plenty of people who have been discouraged for more than a year,” he says.

...

The employment rate – those with jobs as a percentage of the population – gives a more accurate picture, says Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at J.H. Cohn consultants in Roseland, N.J. It was 58.5% in November,

Comment: I know half a dozen who basically have given up

WebOS goes open source

2011-12-09T13:00:00.000-06:00

Hewlett-Packard Gets Zilch for WebOS

Excerpt:

Hewlett-Packard bought Palm last year in a $1.8 billion deal. And now, H-P is making the guts of Palm free for the world. Hooray for the world! Bad for H-P.

Comment: My daughter had a WebOS Palm phone. Strikes me that it outshines Apple's iOS. Because of this misstep and others (exit the PC business) (never mind) Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) is not on my investing radar.

Newt's Baggage: "a walk on the wild side"

2011-12-09T08:41:00.000-06:00

Gingrich Is Inspiring—and Disturbing - The first potential president about whom there is too much information

Excerpts:

I had a friend once who amused herself thinking up bumper stickers for states. The one she made up for California was brilliant. "California: It's All True." It is so vast and sprawling a place, so rich and various, that whatever you've heard about its wildness, weirdness and wonders, it's true.

That's the problem with Newt Gingrich: It's all true. It's part of the reason so many of those who know him are anxious about the thought of his becoming president. It's also why people are looking at him, thinking about him, considering him as president.

Ethically dubious? True. Intelligent and accomplished? True. Has he known breathtaking success and contributed to real reforms in government? Yes. Presided over disasters? Absolutely. Can he lead? Yes. Is he erratic and unreliable as a leader? Yes. Egomaniacal? True. Original and focused, harebrained and impulsive—all true.

...

Sen. Lindsey Graham told a reporter that Mr. Gingrich could be a historic president if he has "matured as a person and is, for lack of a better word, calmed down." That is as close as most of those who've worked with him get to a compliment.

...

Republicans on the ground who view Mr. Gingrich from afar, who neither know nor have worked with him, are more likely to see him this way: "Who was the last person to actually cut government? Who was the last person who actually led a movement that balanced the federal budget? . . . The last time there was true welfare reform, the last time government was cut, Gingrich did it." That is Rush Limbaugh, who has also criticized Mr. Gingrich.

...

There are many good things to say about Newt Gingrich. He is compelling and unique, and, as Margaret Thatcher once said, he has "tons of guts."

But this is a walk on the wild side.

Comment: Newt's not my choice but he would offer a clear alternative to Obama. My wife says ... everyone knows about Newt's baggage.

Thinking Wrongly About Money

2011-12-09T08:32:00.000-06:00

Thinking Wrongly About Money

Excerpts:

Debt: We live in a debt-based economy. A strange fact about this economy ...

Instant Gratification: We want things and we want them now. ...

We Are Materialists: We have an intrinsic drive toward materialism. Materialism is a way of looking at life through what is material ...

Asceticism: We could call it spiritualism or asceticism and it can have a bit of a grip on some Christians. Martin Luther said that humanity is like a drunk guy who gets onto a horse and falls off one side, then climbs back on and falls off the other side. In other words, we tend to go too far in one direction and if we don’t like that, too far in the other. Asceticism is the very opposite of materialism, but it’s still wrong.

Comments: A very good article. Follow the link above and read the whole thing. I don't see many who struggle with asceticism. I could add two more but I'm not really sure if they are categories that fit the author's fine article:

Entitlement mentality. Something is owed me by (fill in the blank: my parents, my church, the government)
A failure to plan for the future which results in a failure to save.

On "college education makes for a 'well-rounded' person"

2011-12-08T16:38:00.000-06:00

George Mason University economist Alex Tabarrok on college education

Excerpt:

In Germany, far fewer kids go to college than in the United States. Instead, most German high school students opt for apprenticeships and on-the-job training. These students are given high-skill, technical training that motivates theory with practice, and the students are paid! Moreover, on-the-job training promotes acculturation into the adult world instead of walling off 16- to 18-year-olds in their own, sometimes dangerous, world.

By the way, when I make these arguments I am sometimes accused of not appreciating that college education makes for a "well-rounded" person. What a load of rot. Basically, these critics define well-rounded as someone who can quote Plato! Rather self-serving. Well-rounded should also mean being able to replace a light fixture, a challenge to many Platonists!

More seriously, take a look at students in Finland, Sweden, or Germany. In these countries, more than half the students enter apprenticeship programs instead of going to college, but these students are very well-educated and well-rounded.

Comment: More

Forty percent of students don't graduate within six years (and probably never will), many more graduate with degrees that won't help them much in the labor force, and even the ones that do graduate often do so with student debt that will follow them for decades.

"Consumer advocate" spends big on eve of bankruptcy

2011-12-07T16:21:00.001-06:00

Credit card company comes after infuriated Tom Martino

Excerpt:

Bank of America, says in a filing made Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver that Martino charged $13,049 on two credit cards just prior to filing bankruptcy on Sept. 2 and hasn't paid.

Although not at issue, the charges listed in court records show Martino was actually in New York City when his bankruptcy was filed Sept. 2, eating at some of the city's toniest restaurants racking up tabs totaling more than $2,000 in just four days.

Comment: And you know who gets "stuck with bill" for his foolishness ... the very consumers he pretends to protect.

Andrew Peterson (Behold the Lamb of God) interviewed

2011-12-07T11:40:00.000-06:00

Andrew Peterson: Christmas, Children, and 'Hutchmoot'

Excerpt:

Q: What was the inspiration behind your Christmas album?

A: It came in Bible college in the mid-'90s when I took this Old Testament survey class. It was the first time I realized that the whole Bible was about Jesus; I never realized that the Old Testament was as much about him as the New. It just lit up my imagination, and that eventually turned into this idea: What if we could convey that through a cycle of songs about the coming of Jesus into the world?

Andrew Peterson website

Comment: I highly recommend this album. We have 4 in hand that we are prayfully using this season to introduce friends to the Savior.

Christmas shopping completed

2011-12-05T22:33:00.000-06:00

Exclusive: Many Americans already done with holiday shopping

Excerpt:

More than a third of U.S. shoppers are already done with most of their holiday shopping, a survey showed on Monday, signaling that retailers need to offer bigger incentives to win sales in the few weeks before Christmas.

The findings underscore the fragility of the U.S. recovery, since consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the nation's economy.

About 32 percent of people surveyed by America's Research Group said they finished a majority of their Christmas shopping in November. Last month included Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores pulled out all the stops on discounts to woo shoppers during their biggest season of the year.

More than 6 percent completed most of their holiday shopping in the first weekend of December.

Comment: All shopping completed. All on-line. Not one visit to a mall! We cut the budget in half this year. Thankfully all paid for. No debt!

Christmas gift for the wife

2011-12-05T16:07:00.000-06:00

Neiko Patented Heavy-Duty All-Angle Super-Power Plunger

Comment: We have 4 toilets and only 1 plunger. It's a practical gift!

Credit card use stages a comeback

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000-06:00

Credit card use stages a comeback

Excerpt:

At the end of 2008, more consumers were using debit cards than credit cards but now that trend has reversed, said Silvio Tavares, senior vice president at First Data, which processes card transactions for 4.1 million merchant locations.

"Credit is back in favor," he said. "Consumers have spent the last couple of years de-leveraging and reducing credit card use, but during the past month -- and since April [of this year] -- they've been using their credit cards more and are starting to return to pre-recession buying habits."

Purchases made with credit cards rose 8.2% in the first quarter of 2011, 9% in the second quarter and 10.6% in the third quarter, according to First Data. That compares with gains in debit card use of 9.6%, 8.3% and 5.9% for the same quarters.

And a growing number of holiday shoppers are already opting for credit this year. Payments made with credit cards on Black Friday jumped 7.4% from the same day a year earlier, while debit card use only rose 3.4%.

Comment: We are credit card exclusively. Never use the debit card and rarely use cash (except the pop machine at work)

Dying in Debt

2011-12-04T20:39:00.000-06:00

For the Families of Some Debtors, Death Offers No Respite

Excerpt:

Debt among Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 is growing faster than for any other age group, according to the Federal Reserve. As of 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, the median debt level of that age group was $40,130, up from $27,458 in 2004. Research group Strategic Business Insights' Macromonitor conducted a separate survey and found that households headed by Americans 75 and older carried an average of $7,200 in credit-card debt in 2010, more than triple the 2008 level.

...

Collecting the debts of the dead is often easier than other collection work, says Mark Russell, a director at debt-collection advisory firm Kaulkin Ginsberg in Rockville, Md. Most borrowers behind on their bills have little or no money. Successfully collecting death debts takes just one relative who is willing to pay, he says.

Comment: WSJ article. I feel sorry for the debt collectors. Article has 2 associated voice conversations

Ditch the Penny!

2011-12-03T15:51:00.003-06:00

Once a Great Airline

2011-12-03T12:32:00.000-06:00

Once on Top, American Now Fights to Keep Up

Excerpt:

Most airlines found a way back to profitability in the last few years by shedding costs through bankruptcy, reducing capacity and merging with one another. But American lost passengers to newly merged carriers like Delta Air Lines and United Airlines as well as low-cost competitors like Southwest Airlines. It retrenched around fewer hub airports. It struggled with older, jet fuel-guzzling planes and delayed renewing its fleet.

So American’s decision to file for bankruptcy this week highlighted both the industry’s remarkable transformation over the last decade and the distance now separating this airline from its peers. While other airlines have found ways to remain profitable even with elevated fuel prices and slowing passenger demand, American has been losing about $100 million each month. American was once the nation’s leading domestic and international carrier; now it is a distant third.

Comment: I worked for American for 2 years as a Campus Sales Representative at the University of Cincinnati. Pay was $ 50 per month plus I received 2 round trips anywhere ever year. The second year I received three. Once I flew from Cincinnati to New York and then flew first class on a 747 to LA.

Chrome # 2

2011-12-02T21:21:00.000-06:00

New No. 2 in Browser Battle

Excerpt:

Chrome moved past Firefox, an offering by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation that Google has helped support, according to the website analytics company StatCounter.

Google's success with Chrome, aided by the product's speed, underscores the shake-up in the browser market—once considered all but locked up by Microsoft, which includes Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system. It also has added to the company's clout because as a browser maker it can help define the kinds of new graphical features that can be used by sites across the Web as well as helping Google funnel Web surfers to its dominant Internet-search engine, the top driver of Google's revenue.

"People have discovered there is a difference in browsers," said Brad Mitchell Smith, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc.

Browsers have become more important as more software development shifts to the Web and away from applications anchored to personal computers and their operating systems, like Windows. Google has used Chrome to push new Web technologies such as HTML5 that help websites have richer graphics, in hopes of spurring greater usage of the Web—as well as Google's own websites and online software.

Google CEO Larry Page said earlier this year that while it might not be clear how Google can make money from Chrome, "emerging high-usage products can generate huge new businesses for Google in the long run, just like search."

Google's effort to build a new browser, which started in 2006, was partly born out of concerns existing browsers would fail to support its Web services or steer users away from its search engine. Today, for instance, Microsoft uses Internet Explorer to channel people to its Bing search engine.

Comment: Chrome homepage

Handel's Messiah ... two versions

2011-12-02T16:14:00.001-06:00

Retirement: The 80% rule?

2011-12-02T09:16:00.000-06:00

Are You Saving Too Much for Retirement?

Excerpt:

Retirement planning almost always starts with one number: A guesstimate of the percentage of pre-retirement income you're expected to need after you retire. That's called the "replacement rate" and is often pegged by industry experts at around 80 percent of a household's earnings.

For example, a recent paper from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College titled "How much to save for a secure retirement," relies on that 80 percent figure. "Households with earnings of $50,000 and over needed about 80 percent of pre-retirement earnings to maintain the same level of consumption," writes Alicia Munnell, author of the study.

She goes on to say that high earners need to save extremely high percentages of their income -- as much as 77 percent for the 45-year-old just starting to save for retirement at age 62 -- to produce that 80 percent.

The concept underlying Munnell's paper, and a lot of other retirement planning advice, is that you can figure out how much you need to save once you have a number for that 80 percent replacement rate.

But there's reason to believe that oft-quoted 80 percent figure is wildly on the high side. That, in turn, makes the retirement calculations based upon it also wildly off. And that means if you're trying to save enough money to produce that 80 percent figure, you may be putting away too much, or skimping unnecessarily on the early years of retirement.

Comment: Our story. We did not even think about retirement until 20 years ago. Well I thought about it for a long time (I have a degree in finance!) but we really did not begin to seriously save for it until 20 years ago when Kathee was hired by Norwest and she began to save in a 401K. There is no way we will come close to the 80%.

The best plan: start saving right out of college. Maybe: give 10% and save 10% (my Pastor recently suggested this).

Ever heard of Nanpa?

2011-12-01T17:42:00.000-06:00

Wrong Number? Blame Companies' Recycling

Excerpt:

Almost 37 million phone numbers get recycled each year, a 16% increase since 2007, according to the most recent figures from the Federal Communications Commission. That means with more and more people going cellular, it is increasingly common to get calls intended for previous subscribers.

It's mostly because of a quirky bureaucratic process designed to stave off the day when the nation runs out of 10-digit phone numbers.

On the second floor of a building in Sterling, Va., is a little-known, administrative body called the North American Numbering Plan Administration (Nanpa). This group of 12 people oversees the nation's phone numbers.

Until 2002, Nanpa issued carriers 10,000-number blocks. But as mobile-phone use became pervasive, carriers quickly snapped up more blocks, accelerating the race toward what the industry calls "number exhaustion"—the day when every possible number is taken. Now, Nanpa doles out numbers in blocks of 1,000, and telecommunications experts estimate North America won't run out of phone numbers until 2040. (There's no plan yet for what happens after that, though Nanpa says it's studying options.)

Nanpa releases as many as 30 million never-before-used numbers each year, but carriers can only get them after they have assigned 75% of their inventory and are six months away from exhausting their supply. As a result, many carriers end up assigning recycled numbers before the standard waiting period (90 days for personal numbers, one year for businesses) has passed.

"The one constant among all the innovation in telecom is the numbering plan," says Nanpa Senior Director John Manning, a tall, graying baby boomer and former switch engineer who spends many Friday nights announcing high school football games. "It's used the same way today as it was in the 1950s."

As the number of recycled numbers has grown, it has generated some high-profile cases of mistaken phone identity. National Guard Sgt. Craig McComsey was answering calls from people asking for A C Wharton, the mayor of Memphis. And for a while, rapper Lil' Jon received texts from friends of teen sensation Miley Cyrus after he inherited her old phone number.

Since Nanpa is largely anonymous, phone carriers are stuck fielding complaints when overlaps occur. Scott Freiermuth, government affairs counsel at Sprint Nextel, says that it is the carriers' responsibility to iron out problems involving recycled numbers. Subscribers can ask carriers for a different number, but since the numbers are computer-generated, the carriers say they have no way of determining whether a "new" number is actually a recently recycled one.

Complicating the numbers crunch: The demand for certain area codes has outstripped supply.

"Phone numbers have taken on a social connotation that people want to retain," says Lisa Hook, CEO of Neustar, the company that holds the federal contract to operate Nanpa. Even Ms. Hook, who lives in Washington, D.C., has kept her 212 (New York) and 415 (San Francisco) phone numbers, saying a bicoastal identity is much more appealing than a number that screams that she works in the nation's capital.

Comment: Phone number recycling was the subject of a Seinfeld episode

Pork prices and McRib sightings

2011-12-01T17:35:00.000-06:00

The Marginal Cost of The McRib

Excerpt:

Mickey D’s assumes there is some best price for the McRib and compares it to the marginal cost, exactly as in our introductory textbooks. When the marginal cost drops sufficiently (and presumably the price of pork is the most variable item in costs), back comes the McRib.

A Conspiracy of Hogs: The McRib as Arbitrage

Excerpt:

Arbitrage is a risk-free way of making money by exploiting the difference between the price of a given good on two different markets—it’s the proverbial free lunch you were told doesn’t exist. In this equation, the undervalued good in question is hog meat, and McDonald’s exploits the value differential between pork’s cash price on the commodities market and in the Quick-Service Restaurant market. If you ignore the fact that this is, by definition, not arbitrage because the McRib is a value-added product, and that there is risk all over the place, this can lead to some interesting conclusions. (If you don’t want to do something so reckless, then stop here.)

The theory that the McRib’s elusiveness is a direct result of the vagaries of the cash price for hog meat in the States is simple: in this thinking, the product is only introduced when pork prices are low enough to ensure McDonald’s can turn a profit on the product. The theory is especially convincing given the McRib's status as the only non-breakfast fast food pork item: why wouldn't there be a pork sandwich in every chain, if it were profitable?

Fast food involves both hideously violent economies of scale and sad, sad end users who volunteer to be taken advantage of. What makes the McRib different from this everyday horror is that a) McDonald’s is huge to the point that it’s more useful to think of it as a company trading in commodities than it is to think of it as a chain of restaurants b) it is made of pork, which makes it a unique product in the QSR world and c) it is only available sometimes, but refuses to go away entirely.

If you can demonstrate that McDonald’s only introduces the sandwich when pork prices are lower than usual, then you’re but a couple logical steps from concluding that McDonald’s is essentially exploiting a market imbalance between what normal food producers are willing to pay for hog meat at certain times of the year, and what Americans are willing to pay for it once it is processed, molded into illogically anatomical shapes, and slathered in HFCS-rich BBQ sauce.

Comment: McRib locator

American Airlines: Another bankruptcy due to labor costs

2011-12-01T07:36:00.001-06:00

The AMR Union Warning

Excerpt:

GM. Chrysler. For that matter, Greece. Now add AMR Corp., the holding company that runs American Airlines and filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, to the growing roll of union-induced failures.

...

American has been negotiating since 2006 with its major unions representing pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and baggage handlers, but the talks stalled this month when the pilots union refused to allow he rank and file to vote on a management proposal for a 3.2% pay raise followed by 1% annual increases. The pilots demanded 10% upfront and 7% for each of the next three years, among other la dolce vita demands.

American's wages, benefits, work rules and pensions are the most costly in the industry, a disadvantage that it puts at $800 million compared to its peers. The company is the last major U.S. legacy carrier to file for Chapter 11, which has allowed its profitable competitors like United and Delta to rationalize their labor obligations and extract union concessions. Perhaps those unions understood that sooner or later one of these airlines won't muddle through but instead go into Chapter 7 liquidation. The wonder is that it takes a strategic bankruptcy to underline this reality.

Around the world, we are hearing the death knell for the expansive benefit systems that were built in and for other era, whether union compensation or government entitlements. The numbers simply don't add up. American's bankruptcy is merely the latest omen.

Comment: My sister has 28 or 29 years of service with American Airlines

He fell off the curb

2011-12-01T07:27:00.001-06:00

Comment: Click on the image and read the article carefully.

Illustrates Ecclesiastes 10:1

2011-11-30T16:08:00.000-06:00

Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor ( Ecclesiastes 10:1)

Colorado Sheriff Pat Sullivan (1989) (Hero)

Colorado Man Kills 2 Women, Then Himself

Excerpt:

''All he said was, 'Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, he shot me,' and then went upstairs and shot himself,'' Sheriff Pat Sullivan of Arapahoe County quoted the hostage, Jake Carper, as saying.

A police assault team rescued the wounded officers, lobbed flash grenades into the house and found the hostage and Mr. Thompson, Sheriff Sullivan said. The gunman died at 5:56 P.M. at Swedish Medical Center, said a hospital spokeswoman, Beverly Jacobsen. Hostage in Critical Condition

Comment: While I cannot find the relevant article, we lived just blocks away. Sheriff Pat Sullivan crashed his police vehicle through a fence and lead the assault!

Former Colorado Sheriff Pat Sullivan (2011) (Chump)

Former Colorado Sheriff Accused of Trying to Trade Drugs for Sex

Excerpt:

Patrick Sullivan was the kind of lawman Coloradoans loved: a straight-shooting, Republican sheriff who once crashed a Jeep through a fence to rescue two deputies from a deranged gun-toting man and pleaded with legislators to keep assault weapons off the street lest any more citizens get shot.

On Tuesday afternoon, though, investigators from the same sheriff’s department he oversaw for nearly two decades found themselves monitoring a home near Denver that Mr. Sullivan was seen entering.

Soon after, the police arrested Mr. Sullivan, now 68 and long retired from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, on charges that he had been trying to exchange methamphetamines for sex with a man. He was booked that night at a local county jail that proudly bears his name.

“The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is saddened, and this is a sad time for our community,” said Grayson Robinson, the current sheriff, who served under Mr. Sullivan. “But we have a greater purpose, to serve our community with integrity and professionalism, and that’s exactly what we’ve done with this investigation.”

Comment: Sad for Mr. Sullivan and sad for the community

5% Returns Will Be 'Upper Echelon'

2011-11-29T12:32:00.000-06:00

5% Returns Will Be 'Upper Echelon' for Years

Excerpt:

Most investors for the next several years will be lucky to get a 5 percent return in their portfolios thanks to the growth-constricting debt problems in the U.S. and Europe, Pimco's Bill Gross said.

Europe's "dysfunctional family" of disparate nations will make a long-term debt solution elusive and cause the crisis to spread to other countries, said Gross, who as co-CEO at Pimco helps run the world's largest bond fund.

In his monthly commentary, Gross paints a grim picture of Europe's future and advises investors to avoid the region and focus on other parts of the world such as Brazil and Asia.

"Investors should recognize that Euroland's problems are global and secular in nature, reflecting worldwide delevering and growth dynamics that began in 2008," he wrote. "It will be years before Euroland, the United States, Japan and developed nations in total can constructively escape from their straightjacket of high debt and low growth."

Until then, he said, investors should get used to low rates, slow growth and weak returns from their portfolios.

"If you can get long-term returns of 5 percent from either stocks or bonds, you should consider yourself or your portfolio in the upper echelon of competitors," Gross wrote.

Comment: I aim for 3.4% dividend yield. It's conservative but obtainable.

Santa's beard

2011-11-26T13:25:00.000-06:00

Santa Hat. Beard at 8 weeks

CatEye LD-500 Tractor light

2011-11-26T13:10:00.002-06:00

Roger (my son pictured above) mounted a CatEye LD-500 flashing bike light on the back of my tractor. We used the CatEye read rack mount bracket (SKU 534-2250 ) and some small parts from the hardware store (stainless steel screws, etc) to attach the bracket to the back of the tractor. CatEye tech support in Boulder was particularly helpful in suggesting the correct bracket.

Costs:

Light (purchased at a local bike shop):	$ 18.23
Bracket from CatEye:	$ 8.00
Batteries and small parts:	$ 6.03
Total:	$ 32.26

I also had to pay the son .... Jimmy Johns for 3 - $ 20. (Roger returning from Jimmy Johns bags in hand!)

I could have saved $ 5.00 had a bought the light from Amazon.

Superbug fragments in drinking water?

2011-11-23T09:20:00.000-06:00

Superbug fragments found in state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant; study done in Duluth

Excerpt:

The best-known superbug is MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which even has been found in the locker room of a National Football League team but usually picked up in hospitals. It is sometimes defeated by massive doses of multiple antibiotics, but not always.

A new superbug, Clostridium difficile, which can cause a fatal colon inflammation, now is on the rise. Two antibiotics work for that bug most — but not all — of the time. A quarter of patients relapse and some will die.

While there has been some progress in reducing outbreaks by better practices, such as careful hand washing in hospitals, the situation remains serious. Alcohol-based hand rinsers kill Clostridium difficile, but not its spores.

The increase in superbugs is usually blamed on the extensive use of antibiotics in agriculture, especially chicken and meat, and the over-prescription of antibiotics by physicians. A study released this week from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in Washington, D.C. reported an increased overuse of antibiotics in the United States, particularly in the Southeast.

The resistance problem is exacerbated by people who do not follow directions and quit taking their pills too soon.

LaPara did not look for any particular bacteria; he was searching for genes of bacteria that would have superbug attributes. The genes LaPara found came from bacteria formed in the digestive system, excreted and then sent through the sewer systems to municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Comment: Clostridium difficile pretty much defined my year up until October.

Project Compass

2011-11-22T10:45:00.000-06:00

Wells Fargo Plans Layoffs

Excerpt:

Wells Fargo & Company ( WFC ) is mulling over retrenching technology and operations workers as part of its cost containment measures, according to Reuters . The company will take this initiative with an aim to reduce about $1.5 billion quarterly operating expenses.

Moreover, according to sources, the bank is planning to layoff approximately 25 staff and removed 30 unfilled positions. Wells Fargo plans to reduce quarterly expenses for technology and staff by $188 million, and therefore more number of headcounts can be reduced in this area.

The ongoing Project Compass, the efficiency program of Wells Fargo, which was initiated at the end of 2010, aims at eliminating jobs to reduce expenses. Under the project, Wells Fargo targets to trim down quarterly expenses to $11 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 from $11.7 billion in the third quarter of 2011. Apart from reducing jobs, the company plans to achieve its target through loss alleviation and foreclosing assets. These initiatives will be executed in the upcoming quarters.

Wells Fargo remains committed to expense management, but not at the cost of any negative impact on its revenue. Project Compass is a company-wide initiative focused on removing unnecessary complexity while eliminating duplication as a way to improve the customer experience along with the work process of its team members.

Comment: There's a certain tension and uncertainty around the office. I have certainty! Trusting the Lord.

Another "flash mob" w video

2011-11-22T08:47:00.000-06:00

Flash Mob Shoplifts at Silver Spring 7-Eleven

Excerpt:

About 50 people simultaneously shoplifted from a Silver Spring, Md., 7-Eleven Saturday night.

Officers arriving at the store in the 12200 block of Tech Road after 11:20 p.m. saw several people gathered in surrounding parking lots and on side streets, police said. They began to disperse when police arrived.

The shoplifters -- described as teens and young adults -- took items including snacks and drinks, police said

Police stopped a group of six people ages 16-18 near Tech Road and Broadbirch Drive. Each had items from the 7-Eleven but no receipts, police said.

Comment: OK .. this is going to sound racist but every flash mob video I've seen has been black youth. Thoughts.

Facebook's “small world” findings

2011-11-21T20:28:00.000-06:00

Separating You and Me? 4.74 Degrees

Excerpt:

The original “six degrees” finding, published in 1967 by the psychologist Stanley Milgram, was drawn from 296 volunteers who were asked to send a message by postcard, through friends and then friends of friends, to a specific person in a Boston suburb.

The new research used a slightly bigger cohort: 721 million Facebook users, more than one-tenth of the world’s population. The findings were posted on Facebook’s Web site Monday night.

The experiment took one month. The researchers used a set of algorithms developed at the University of Milan to calculate the average distance between any two people by computing a vast number of sample paths among Facebook users. They found that the average number of links from one arbitrarily selected person to another was 4.74. In the United States, where more than half of people over 13 are on Facebook, it was just 4.37.

“When considering even the most distant Facebook user in the Siberian tundra or the Peruvian rain forest,” the company wrote on its blog, “a friend of your friend probably knows a friend of their friend.”

Comment: See Yahoo, Facebook to test ‘six degrees of separation’ theory . Disney knew it was a Small World some time ago.

Occupy Wall Street: Tents and sleeping bags free speech?

2011-11-21T18:13:00.000-06:00

ACLU sues Hennepin County over Occupy Minn. rules

Excerpt:

The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued Hennepin County officials Monday on behalf of anti-Wall Street protesters, claiming rules including a ban on tents and electricity are violating the demonstrators' rights to free speech.

Protesters have been at the Hennepin County Government Center Plaza since Oct. 7 as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protesters have never been allowed to have structures like tents. But last week, new rules went into effect saying they could no longer tape signs on county property or sleep on the grounds.

The lawsuit asks that rules restricting the use of chalk, electricity and tents be declared unconstitutional. The plaintiffs are also seeking an injunction to keep the rules from being enforced, and they want the county to provide electricity to the protesters.

Plaintiffs' attorney Justin Perl said the rules are troubling because they were created specifically for the protest. "They were not based on any previous ordinances," Perl said. "The Constitution does not allow the government to just make up new rules as you go along in order to target a particular group."

Are Tent Cities Free Speech? The First Amendment does not protect behavior that threatens health and safety.

Excerpt:

One lesson of Occupy Wall Street is that if local authorities permit campouts, people will camp out. This permissive approach created a false impression of the strength of the movement. The crowds dispersed once the authorities applied typical time, place and manner rules.

Occupy Wall Street is suing to bring their tents and sleeping bags back to the park, but in Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984), the Supreme Court held that the National Park Service could enforce its rules against sleeping in tents at Washington's Lafayette park and National Mall, even for a symbolic protest about homelessness. The tents in Zuccotti Park were shelter, not symbolic speech. As First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams told Reuters, it's a "real stretch to maintain that sleeping in a designated area itself is anything more than what it appears to be."

Comment: 1st article is Minneapolis related; 2nd is New York. But the free speech issue is the same

Occupy Wall Street: Bathe, Reality check on 1st Amendment, and the W

2011-11-20T16:22:00.000-06:00

The Brain-Dead Left

Excerpts:

It is true that constitutional "speech" goes beyond the exercise of the vocal function and includes symbolic actions. Perhaps the most famous example is the burning of an American flag, which the Supreme Court in 1989 held to be "symbolic" speech. But it is not the act of burning that is protected by the First Amendment. Texas v. Johnson did not strike down fire codes, or even set out an exception to them for expressive purposes. It said the government may not penalize the specific act of burning a flag because of that act's symbolic meaning.

Similarly, if, say, the New York City Police Department allowed Tea Partiers but not Obamavillians to camp out for months at Zuccotti Park, that would be a First Amendment problem. But the law, in all its majestic equality, forbids the right, as well as the left, from sleeping in a publicly accessible park. Breaking the law may be an effective way to call attention to one's ideas, but that motive does not confer a right to do so.

...

Occupy Wall Street protesters stay at $700-a-night hotel

Excerpt:

A key Occupy Wall Street leader and another protester who leads a double life as a businessman ditched fetid tents and church basements for rooms at a luxurious hotel that promises guests can “unleash [their] inner Gordon Gekko,” The Post has learned.

The $700-per-night W Hotel Downtown last week hosted both Peter Dutro, one of a select few OWS members on the powerful finance committee, and Brad Spitzer, a California-based analyst who not only secretly took part in protests during a week-long business trip but offered shelter to protesters in his swanky platinum-card room.

The land the Pilgrims left

2011-11-20T15:41:00.000-06:00

In the Pilgrims’ Footsteps, Through England and the Netherlands

Excerpt:

The 102 passengers who sailed on the Mayflower in September 1620 came from all over England (and not all of them were religiously motivated), but the leaders of the separatist movement came from just a handful of farming villages in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and southern Yorkshire, most within walking distance of one another. This is not the touristy, thatched-cottage part of England, but it is beautiful nonetheless, and last spring my wife and I visited to see what we could learn about her ancestors, who in so many ways are forefathers to us all.

...

The most important of the Pilgrim villages, and probably the epicenter of the whole separatist movement, is Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, where William Brewster, the local postmaster and later a Pilgrim leader, lived and held clandestine religious services in a large manor house. Scrooby today is a bit of a backwater and most of the house (which is now in private hands) was demolished in 1636.

Comment: My sister and mother are members of the Mayflower society

"Stupidity writ large"

2011-11-19T21:01:00.000-06:00

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

Excerpts:

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

...

Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.

“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”

Comment: One would think this would be from "The Onion"

Government borrows 36 cents for every dollar it spends

2011-11-18T16:22:00.000-06:00

House Says No to Mandating Balanced Federal Budget

Excerpt:

The first House vote in 16 years on making federal deficits unconstitutional came as the separate bipartisan "supercommittee" appeared to be sputtering in its attempt to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions to head off major automatic cuts. The lead Republican on that panel said members were "painfully, painfully aware" of its Wednesday deadline for action and would work through the weekend.

The House voted 261-165 in favor of the measure to require annual balanced budgets, but that was 23 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment.

Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the proposal, arguing that such a requirement would force Congress to make devastating cuts to social programs.

...

With the national debt now topping $15 trillion and the deficit for the just-ended fiscal year passing $1 trillion, supporters of the constitutional amendment declared it the only way to stop out-of-control spending. The government now must borrow 36 cents for every dollar it spends.

Comment: An amazing statistic - government borrows 36 cents for every dollar it spends! How long can this possibly go on?

"The Geico caveman has a right to be angry"

2011-11-18T16:17:00.000-06:00

Neanderthals doomed by breeding with humans, CU study finds

Excerpts:

Humans didn't kill off Neanderthals by outsmarting them or outfighting them.

Humans wiped out the prehuman race by sleeping with them. Often. And across most of Eurasia, apparently.

A new study co-written by a University of Colorado Denver researcher used computer modeling of how Neanderthals moved around to pose new claims that prehumans were not subhuman.

...

The computer modeling comes after a study last year revealed 1 to 4 percent of modern human genes in Eurasian peoples are leftovers from Neanderthals. Scientists consider that proof of breeding between the two distinct species before Neanderthals died out roughly 30,000 years ago.

...

"It shows you don't need to depend on the old cliches to explain the disappearance of Neanderthals," Riel-Salvatore said. "You don't need to make assumptions about them being stupid or less flexible."

The Geico caveman has a right to be angry, he added.

"They'll have to make a more equal-opportunity commercial — 'So easy, anyone can do it,' " he said.

Comment: Image source