TECHNOLOGY: Free public access for a month to 6.5 Million eBooks

Saturday, July 9, 2011

http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/64627

Millions of eBooks Available at the World eBook Fair
July 6, 2011 20:31

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The World eBook Fair runs from July 4 through August 4, 2011. Their goal is to provide Free public access for a month to 6.5 Million eBooks. Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive are both contributing organizations and will be presenting a number of items in other media this year, including music, movies and artwork, even dance choreography. The collections include light and heavy reading materials, more reference books, scientific items, etc., and about 50,000 music entries in addition to the 12,000 that debuted last year.

*** end quote ***

Wow, can one OD on content?

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RANT: Scapegoating criminals; not the real culprits

Saturday, July 9, 2011

FROM FACEBOOK

*** begin quote ***

Remember when teachers, cops, firemen, government employees, NPR, PBS, and Planned Parenthood blew up the stock market, wiped out most of our 401Ks, took trillions of dollars in taxpayer funded bailouts, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions of dollars in bonuses, and paid no taxes?

Yeah, me neither.

*** end quote ***

FJohn Reinke response:

Well, none of that litany is completely innocent. See “We, The Sheeple” allowed the politicians and bureaucrats to make a mess. And, Unions of Gooferment employees is by definition corrupt. (Union “negotiates” with politicians, with whom they give campaign cash, labor, and votes. Translation taxpayers get shafted.) Also, when these various frauds were being perpetrated, what did “We, The Sheeple” do? Nothing! So what’s the issue that will bring the folks to the streets. Then maybe something will change. Vote Ron Paul!

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Argh!

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INTERESTING: Copyright violation

Friday, July 8, 2011

I have a bunch of content. Commonly called LP33s, 45s, Cassettes, books, software, hardware. Paid list price for them.

Problem: I’d like to enjoy them on my laptop or my ipad.

Why should I have to pay for the content again?

If I download them via bit-torrent from a pirate, then how much trouble can I be in?

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: GOOGLE+ slugish start

Friday, July 8, 2011

GOOGLE+, Google’s version of FACEBOOK, is off to a slow start.

Somehow, not really sure how, I scored an invite.

Initial setup was trivial.

Added about forty folks whom I thought could benefit and enjoy this new “facebook”.

The big attraction to me was the ability to update, like “tweet”, to a specific subset of identities. My highschool mates versus my favorite headhunters versus my relatives.

Rumor hath it that adding someone to a circle triggered an invite.

So I loaded a dummy email (i.e., one of the many I have for various purposes) and about 12 hours later, it received an email update but no invite. So much for that myth.

It’s not very useful without participation. I could effect the same result with a big CC list.

Also, it appears that I can’t control the display name of the identity in my circle.

Also, it appears that there is a weak linkage to GMAIL’s contacts. With no “update”. I went to GMAIL’s contacts and I can’t figure out where the “name” for an identity is coming from. I loaded an email into GOOGLE+ and put in the name in the format I like. Poof, it gave it a different name that is not related to anything I have for it. Weird? And, I can’t fix it.

Finally, putting a post in the Google group for support, generates an email summary of a hundred or so messages, at semi random intervals.

Interesting?

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Jul-08 @ 06:26

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Posted by reinkefj

JOBFINDING: .Net Developer- Boston Contract

Friday, July 8, 2011

Location: Boston

Contract: 2 Months – option to extend or hire. Can start ASAP

Requirments: Can be flexible on on listed below C#.Net is most important.

Rate: Negotiable

Company: Asset Manager $22 Billion AUM

Position Overview

The primary responsibility of the Developer is to work with portfolio managers, analysts and traders on a daily basis to assist in enhancing the organization’s investment processes. The Portfolio Associate will report to the head of implementation for the stock selection products.

Position Responsibilities

• Assist analysts with:

o Developing new systems to enhance the process of optimizing portfolios

o Creating tools to assist in analyzing performance attribution

o Reviewing and enhancing quality control and risk management reports

• Assist traders with:

o Enhancing the reconciliation process

o Creating proprietary transaction cost analysis tools

• Create tools and reports which effectively communicate key investment positions and risks to team

Education and Work Experience

• BA or BS degree required: major in finance, computer sciences, operations management, mathematics or similar discipline is preferred

• Superior undergraduate record

• Prior work experience in the financial industry with firm understanding of basic equity concepts, where applicable, is a plus

• Excellent computer skills, including working knowledge of C#, S+, SQL or similar

• Team player; willingness to work with people at all levels to promote the common interest, willingness to work tirelessly toward the achievement of both departmental and personal goals

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Price support and price ceilings are just hidden taxes on a free market

Friday, July 8, 2011

FROM FACEBOOK

*** begin quote ***

Seems to me that it’s a spectacular leap of illogic to assume that allowing employers to pay subsistence (or worse) wages to all would somehow help with the problem of youth unemployment.

*** end quote ***

Well, I’m just a fat old white guy injineer, but Austrian economists don’t seem to see it as such a big leap. If all labor rates have a floor, then the inexperienced, who can’t present a value equation greater than the artificial floor, will go unemployed. If I’m a shop owner and have a dirty floor that is worth 4$ to clean, I can hire the local kid to sweep it without falling a foul of the Gooferment diktat. The work goes undone, or the shopkeeper does it himself. And, the local kid loses an opportunity to learn critical skills — show up on time, do a good job, and be polite to all. And, that’s how you get 40% minority unemployment. A diktat precludes a free marketplace for labor. If you’re still unconvinced I can tell you about my cousin the elevator operator.

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Anytime the Gooferment creates a “price support” (i.e., minimum wage, milk prices, sugar tariff, tobacco subsidy) or a “price ceiling” (i.e., rent control, financial interest rates, ATM fees) they are screwing the little people and enriching their political contributors. Support for milk farmers means that poor people pay more than they have to. Why is a gallon of milk cost as much as a gallon of gas? Just visualize the effort into gas versus the effort for milk. Rent control ensures that rental units are in short supply and “hogged” by politician like Rangal who had 4 rent controlled apartments. Why do people get to inherit a rent controlled apartment? Guess poor people don’t need good affordable housing. Argh! The politicians and bureaucrats have done a great job fooling “We, The Sheeple”.

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Price support translate to being forced to pay more than you should have to. It’s a transfer of wealth from the buyer to the seller. The seller can sell as many units as they would with out interference. The buyers have less to spend. And, at the margins, there are people who can’t afford the product at the higher price.

Price ceiling translate to being unable to buy what you want (i.e., shortages). Rent controlled apartments are NOT offered as they would in a free market because the owner can’t recover their true costs.

Seems obvious in both Keynesian or Austrian economics.

We have prosperity because of capitalism, the division of labor, and the free markets. The invisible hand of the market assures tht everyone gets an equal amount of “happiness” with the minimum of overhead (i.e., Buyers and sellers don’t trade unless both are better off. Non-buyers and non-sellers don’t trade because neither would feel better off. The free market is an immense calculator that uses price to balance supply and demand. It’s a beautiful “thing” that makes us cooperate to everyone’s betterment. Until the Gooferment gets in and messes things up.)

Argh! Sigh!

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MONEY: Rollover 401Ks and carefully consider being in one today

Thursday, July 7, 2011

http://www.doughroller.net/investing/rollover-401k-to-ira

Should You Rollover a 401(k) to an IRA

by DR
in INVESTING

*** begin quote ***

I quit my job last month. After more than six years investigating the financial audits of public companies, I’ve decided to go back to the private practice of law. So after a summer sabbatical, I’ll be returning to my old firm in August. And that raises one important question—should I rollover my 401k to an IRA.

*** end quote ***

I’d suggest that the GENERAL rule of thumb is ROLLOVER. The SPECIFIC rule is you better have a superior reason for not doing it.

Rationale:

(1) 401Ks have sponsors (your old employer) and providers (e.g., Fidelity; Vangard; others) rarely does this relationship not have its conflicts. The literature is replete with examples of often illegal activities. You have to be very skeptical of what decisions are being made for you.

(2) Fees. You don’t know all the fees and guess who pays them.

(3) Investment options. Always limited by comparison. I’m a perma bear! (Have you seen what the US Gooferment has done to the money, the debt, the deficit, the spending, and the entitlements? And, you think this is going to be good!) Try and put your retirement money into gold. You can in certain IRAs.

(4) As a bear, I am interested if my retirement savings retain their value. A nice account denominated in Swiss Francs or Chinese Yuan would be comforting. How sure are you that you’re going to keep your wealth?

(5) If you have multiple accounts, and you have multiple mutual funds labeled GROWTH and or VALUE, how in heaven’s name will you diversify. They could be investing in the same stuff wildly increasing your risk. They could be even taking opposite sides of the same bet. So you’re paying fees to bet both red and black.

(6) Underlying the whole proposition is the trustworthiness of the “casino”. At least with an IRA, you’re picking your poison.

As a bear, I think the days of “invest in anything cause it all appreciates” are over. I remember the Sixties bear, and have grandfolks who lived through the Great Depression. They were scared. And so should we be.

BTW did I mention I like the Tea Party and “vote the bums out” strategy. Cutting Gooferment drastically is the only way to save the economy and our retirement money. We need more producers and less drones / vampires in DC.

imho ymmv fwiw

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Maybe you shouldn’t be in a 401K in the first place? Heresy!

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RANT: Israel, “terror sponsor”?

Thursday, July 7, 2011

http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/obama-admin-lists-israel-as-terror-sponsor/

OBAMA ADMIN LISTS ISRAEL AS TERROR SPONSOR
By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann 06.30.2011

*** begin quote ***

Israel? Yes Israel is one of the thirty-six SDCs that “promote, produce, or protect” terrorists, according to the Obama Administration. With splendid equality, they manage to list the world’s biggest victim alongside the globe’s leading perpetrators of terrorism. Israelis coming into America get the same high level of scrutiny that Iranians do!

*** end quote ***

You have to be kidding me?

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MONEY: $278,000 per job, all at taxpayer expense

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/get-your-hands-on-the-governments-playbook

GET YOUR HANDS ON THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAYBOOK
by SIMON BLACK

*** begin quote ***

Sure enough, in the “Seventh Quarterly Report” that President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors released on Friday (right before a long weekend, naturally), the numbers show that the administration’s Keynesian stimulus spending has saved 2.4 million jobs at a cost of $666 billion. That’s a total of $278,000 per job, all at taxpayer expense.

In the world of Keynes where debt does matter and inflation doesn’t exist, this number is completely acceptable, right comrades? In the real world, it’s further evidence of how horrific misallocations of capital are bankrupting the economy.

*** end quote ***

When does the insanity end?

Stop the Gooferment from spending future generations into poverty.

It’s all funny money!!!

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MONEY: Think about “guarantied” in one’s 401k

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

http://dailyreckoning.com/bear-traps-in-the-bond-market

Bear Traps in the Bond Market
By Bill Bonner

*** begin quote ***

This is probably the trap Mr. Market is setting. The Great Correction will prove to be more bad news for investors – except for those who have put their money in ‘safe’ US dollars…and US treasury debt. Gradually, investors will move more and more of their money out of ‘risky’ assets and into bonds. Then, Mr. Market can spring his trap. As Lindsey warns, that is when they will stop worrying about debt ceilings and Congressional budget talks. That is when they will realize that it is too late. That is when bond yields shoot up and bond prices fall. That is when investors regret having lent money to Washington.

How far ahead will that be? We wish we knew. But Bill Gross, who famously sold US bonds, could turn out to be years early.

Then, Mr. Market – the joker – will have such a laugh. All those people who tried to get away from risk…by moving to the dollar and US Treasury bonds…will get whacked.

*** end quote ***

Bonds are the “guaranteed option” in 401ks. A bear trap can make it a 201k real quick. With the current climate, you have to question if one should be in a 401k in the first place.

401Ks have SIGNIFICANT risks in today’s climate imho.

(1) “Your” 401K really isn’t yours. There are a few hands in it. Some that you might not even be aware of. The company and the plan provider have an interesting relationship to your money. Some of “yours” will become theirs in the process.

(2) Open and supposedly above board, there are fees and commissions in “placing” your investment into the 401K.

(3) Under the table, and possibly, illegal things happen around your 401K. Read about front running, shadowing, and past posting. Just a few of the things that can happen.

Add to the mix: inflation, or maybe hyperinflation, changing tax laws, tax rates, … etc.

And, throw in the wild card trial balloon that keeps coming up out of DC: the exchange of 401Ks and IRAs for an “enhanced social security benefit”. (Would that bring folks out into the street?)

So after all that, I’m no longer sure that automatically recommending 401K participation is such good advice.

Maybe a silver round per week is a better choice.

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