S M I L E

Sniffle, sniffle.

Dug up YouTube video after watching story here.

Speculating in CDS is a good thing

Hahahahaha. Ahem. From Bloomberg:

The legislation Frank plans to release next week might disrupt the flow of capital to companies by making it costlier for investors to hedge their stakes, said Robert Pickel, chief executive officer of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a New York-based industry group that sets rules and guidelines for the market.

‘Liquidity and Depth’

“Having people who are in there speculating adds liquidity and depth to the market so that anybody who is a pure hedger, they can tap that market and know they have a deep and liquid market to turn to,” Pickel said in an interview yesterday.

Costlier for investors to hedge their stakes! Costlier? Does this moron mean costlier than the worlds financial system melting down?

You know, like a deep and liquid market back stopped by you & me the tax payers. Anyone remember Bear Sterns, Lehman Bros, AIG, Merril Lynch, yes they too were history without their private bailout, et al.

CDS at wikipedia.

In case you aren't aware of the problems CDS has caused, one example is how AIG wrote many, many, many of them. Basically without collateral backing them up, collecting premiums and "insuring" far more than they could ever dream of covering.

Sort of like you collecting premiums on insuring New Orleans in the event of a disaster without any way to pay the bill. Some believe this is fraud plan and simple.

President's Press Conference from July 22

This debate is not a game.

Whitehouse blog.

Ignore Everybody & 39 other keys to creativity

Reading the book from Gapingvoid.com.
Recommend getting or at least reading his story at his blog.
His back of business card cartoons are addictive.

Public Surplus auction site

From Public Surplus, a web based auction site for institutions to sell stuff & you to buy it. From their History page:

Intrigued, we decided to do some research in Utah, as well as other States. It would be important to asses the level of need other public agencies may have for a complete surplus inventory management system. Ninety-four agencies, (cities, counties, school districts and colleges), were contacted during this research. It was determined that none of these agencies were in full compliance with their State's regulations or policies. Problems were found relating to record keeping, reallocation and/or collusion avoidance. Moreover, the processes for managing surplus inventory operations were generally disorganized.

Simplenote for your iPhone

Simplenote rocks. More than worth the $1.99!

Crushes Apple's included Notepad, syncs over WiFi to their website. Just works. Beautiful.

Found the app thanks to DaringFireBall.net.

7 reasons why housing isn't bottoming yet & how it could affect you

From Ritholtz:

There are more reasons I expect the Real Estate market to remain punk for many years, but these are a good place to start when considering the question.

The Housing Boom & Bust, and the 2002-07 credit bubble created massive excesses. More than anything, it is going to take time to resolve them.

He details his ideas on Prices, Mean Reversion, Employment & Wages, Foreclosures, Inventory of which there is a substantial part of Shadow Inventory, Psychology, Debt Service/Down Payment & finally Deleveraging.

While planning on saving, investing, purchasing large items & evaluating risk vs. reward, it is clear the previous 20-40 years could be dangerous to extrapolate forward. His list is simply another example of the incredible challenges & opportunities that have been created recently. Extreme due diligence & caution will sooner or later rule the day.

Big money in gas

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Bernanke's op ed on how the Fed will not repeat history for the first time

From the Wall Street Journal:

My colleagues and I believe that accommodative policies will likely be warranted for an extended period. At some point, however, as economic recovery takes hold, we will need to tighten monetary policy to prevent the emergence of an inflation problem down the road. The Federal Open Market Committee, which is responsible for setting U.S. monetary policy, has devoted considerable time to issues relating to an exit strategy. We are confident we have the necessary tools to withdraw policy accommodation, when that becomes appropriate, in a smooth and timely manner.

Good luck with that red part.

Apollo 11 landing on TV as it aired 40 years ago

Super awesome cool from kottke:

...I've built a page where you can watch the CBS News coverage of Walter Cronkite reporting on the Moon landing and the first moon walk, 40 years to the second after it originally happened.

His post explaining it including "live schedule".

Crablike spiny orb weaver

4 pics in Flickr set.

Showed up yesterday with a huge web from one of our live oaks, to a statue, to our garden table.

Luckily the web had "little tufts of silk" so it was easier to see. I gently moved the web out of the path we had to work in. Link at Wikipedia. Unfortunately she was gone today.

Cycle for bike lanes on Shore Drive & Laskin Road Sunday July 26th

This coming Sunday July 26th be at Kokoamos by 8am to ride Tour de Virginia Beach.

More info at ShareShoreDriveDay.net.