Katia is getting stronger and could threaten the US

| August 31, 2011

Here we go again … Tropical Storm Katia expected to become a Hurricane and tracking toward the NW while it continues to pick up energy. Hopefully it will peel off to the north and dump its rain and wind  well offshore … but after Irene, and knowing we’re in the heat of the strong storm […]

Sprint ups the Early Termination Fee from $200 to $350

| August 31, 2011

Just as we thought consumers were getting a break with the U.S. DOJ blocking the AT&T and T-Mobile deal, Sprint looked to be increasing their ETF by a pretty healthy percentage. Ouch, if you’re thinking about switching carriers before your contract is over. Sprint today confirmed to Phone Scoop via email that the company plans […]

Is Gov Perry correct about Social Security?

| August 31, 2011

Probably more than most of us want to admit: Yes, It Is a Ponzi Scheme – Michael Tanner – National Review OnlinePosted via email from RichC’s posterous

HP says more touchpads on the way

| August 30, 2011

If I can pick up a Touchpad for $99 … I think I will. If any readers find out when and where, tweet me! (@richc) I finally have some solid news to share about TouchPad availability. Before I share, let me first say thank you for enthusiasm for this product. Since we announced the price […]

Enjoying a cool & clear evening, but reflecting on Irene’s impact

| August 29, 2011

Late August here in SW Ohio feels more like an autumn evening; the air has cooled and the late day sunset very still. I do like this time of year and am trying to enjoy the moment (photo over the house on Monday evening). Also I realize how fortunate we are not to have been […]

Good looking new Samsung Galaxy S2 coming to Sprint

| August 29, 2011

As the news from HP/Palm sinks in for me in regards to a webOS Pre3 option (although rumors persist), I’m keeping my eyes on what new Android models might interest me. One of the new release from Samsung coming to Sprint (my carrier) looks pretty interesting from the surface – Samsung Galaxy S2. It is […]

Archive: Understanding retirement Part 1

| August 28, 2011

I’ve been thinking about the big entitlement (negatively charged word?) issue when it comes to how the U.S. structured our senior citizen’s healthcare and retirement living expenses. Having never really fully understood the cost … and inching closer towards that eventual day … I do recognize while looking at my own health and insurance costs […]

Come on in and grab onto my tail, “I don’t want to eat you!”

| August 27, 2011

Sort of reminds me of the of the 1875 St. Nicholas tale with the Gingerbread Man which ends like this: … He ran till he came to a river. And next to the river was a fox. The fox said, "Hello little gingerbread man." The gingerbread man said, "HELLO! I ran away from the little […]

Hurricane Irene continues to track precisely as forecasted

| August 26, 2011

  Clouds from Hurricane Irene off the South Carolina beaches on Friday (click for larger) While most living near the east coast of the U.S. prepare for Irene, the rest of us watch and hope early warnings are being heeded and that preparations are/have been made for the wind, rain and surge heading north. It’s […]

What will the economic cost of Hurricane Irene be?

| August 26, 2011

As the east coast waits for hurricane Irene to unleash its torrent of wind, rain and surge, the financial markets are analyzing the cost to insurance companies, taxpayers and eventually insurers (in higher premiums). Some suggest that Irene could make it into the top five list due to the forecasted impact of heavily populated east […]

Hurricane warnings up the east coast as Irene churns north

| August 25, 2011

Intense Hurricane IRENE (AL09) is forecast to strike land to the following likelihood(s) at the given lead time(s): Red Alert Country(s) or Province(s)     the Bahamas         probability for CAT 1 or above is 100% currently         probability for TS is 100% currently     the United States         probability for CAT 1 or above is 50% in about 45 hours […]

Mercedes puts a diesel in their roadster: the SLK250 CDI

| August 25, 2011

My kind of diesel … well except for the 47,000 EUROs and “no word on U.S. availability or pricing” part. Mercedes’ newest SLK roadster combines thrilling performance, classic sportscar proportions, and (most relevant from our purposes) incredible fuel economy figures:  try 47 miles for each gallon of diesel! The SLK250 CDI is powered by Mercedes’ […]

Apple CEO Steve Jobs steps down, but remains positive

| August 25, 2011

"I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it, and I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.” — Steve Jobs (56), resigning CEO continuing Chairman of the Board Although for the most part, my Apple loving days are probably in the past, I’m saddened to […]

The big switch: Gold now down and stocks trading up?

| August 24, 2011

I sure would like it if I could accurately predict the volatile markets. After opening down on the opening bell, the equity indices were up by the end of the day. This news is good for most long term investors and retirement plans, but not so good for those who have moved to precious metals […]

Sprint to Get Apple iPhone 5 – WSJ.com

| August 24, 2011

Married to Sprint but envious of the iPhone? Hold on … looks like it might finally be available. Sprint Nextel Corp. will begin selling the new version of the Apple iPhone in mid-October, people familiar with the matter said, filling a huge hole in the No. 3 U.S. carrier’s lineup and giving Apple Inc. another […]

Volkswagen challenging Toyota: The new Passat vs. new Camry?

| August 24, 2011

What is it going to take to make VW the “new people’s car?” With a larger size and lower price, the American built Passat could give domestics and the favored Toyota Camry a run for its money. While the current fuel saving hybrid is not in VW’s powertrain, the interstate frugal TDI diesel is sure […]

Is student loan debt the next home mortgage meltdown?

| August 23, 2011

Hopefully this will be the last year we’ll be paying for college expenses. This may make me a bit more in-tune to the high cost of college. Unfortunately for many students planning or going to college, the continual rise in tuition and living expenses has made it impossible without taking on significant debt. Some financial […]

Hurricane Irene soaks Puerto Rico and takes aim on the U.S.

| August 22, 2011

The U.S east coast and Bahamas look to be in the crosshairs of a strengthening hurricane Irene. The storm finished with Puerto Rico leaving more than half the island without electricity and a quarter of the population without running water. No deaths or injuries have been reported at this time. Hurricane Irene’s winds remained at […]

A little Sunday humor

| August 21, 2011

Saw this photo on a friends G+ “Things that make you go hmmm!” post. Too funny.

Is there a way to financially plan for the future and sleep at night?

| August 20, 2011

For those wondering what politicians should focus on (jobs) and what individuals should be doing in order to plan for a few years down the road, Jim Mccaughan of Principal Financial Group has a few ideas:   James Mccaughan: His thoughts on Friday – 8/19/2011 Brief Biography Mr. James P. McCaughan is President – Principal […]

Financial markets down again, continuing the summer of pain

| August 19, 2011

The Dow closes at the low of the day noting that few want to stay long for the weekend. Moving the market down was the misguided management at HP after their announcement yesterday (traded down 20% today and yanking the DJIA with it). Hard to believe an iconic American company with such deep pockets and […]

Tech Friday and QR codes for smartphones and tablets

| August 19, 2011

I’m getting pretty geeky with this post, but then again it this is a Tech Friday post. Having recently installed a QR (Quick Response) code reader on my Palm Pre, I’ve been trying to figure out just how to use them effectively. Obviously people sitting on a computer don’t need to use their smart-phone to […]

A sad day for the future of HP/Palm webOS devices

| August 19, 2011

I was disappointed to hear that HP lost its way as a productive technology company in this economic downturn and was caught off-guard in their decision to say “so long” to webOS. (business story LINK) As a longtime webOS Palm Pre user (a “longtime” is a relative term for smartphones), I’ve been wondering just what […]

Financial markets shaken: Stagflation or a double-dip recession?

| August 18, 2011

The talk in financial circles has some pretty negative commentary on growing our economy. Traders and fund manager ran for low yielding safety today as the stock market was down and down big at over 500 points on the Dow just before the close. As the trading day ended, the stock indices were all red. […]

Hot inflation data sets up a grim morning for stocks

| August 18, 2011

The news from Wall Street pre-market is not positive … although some suggest the possible morning downturn it an opportunity for those with cash to buy stocks of “cash rich companies” paying decent dividends? U.S. stock futures slipped further into the red, setting up the market for a sharply lower open, after rising inflation and […]

Drinking and driving (driving an actual beer case or cooler)

| August 18, 2011

After hearing and seeing reports of an Australian man arrested for driving his beer cooler scooter, I wondered just how popular motorized coolers or cases of beer might be – they’re not as rare as you might think. A few years ago in Germany this cellphone video of this shirtless guy was uploaded to YouTube… […]

HP showing me the “Roadway Ends Here” sign

| August 17, 2011

From the start, it wasn’t that hard to predict a slow go for HP in releasing their Touchpad. As a Palm Pre webOS user and sometimes enthusiast, the slow-motion releases in handset, webOS and tablet products have left existing users wanting and contemplating buyers asking “Why?” Couple that with the largest users base (Sprint) feeling […]

Smartmoney article: 10 Things Twitter Won’t Tell You

| August 17, 2011

From “10 percent of users create 90 percent of Twitter‘s content” to “ICanStalkU.com” … there are a few good reason to read Sara Germano’s SmartMoney article. WSJThisMorning Sara Germano on Twitter Here’s a tip on paying attention when uploading photos from your smartphone: “… smartphone pics are embedded with GPS data, making it so easy […]

The economy of Germany while waiting on the Merkozy meeting

| August 16, 2011

While listening for updates from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris today, a CNBC guest analyst made the observation that “If all countries were like Germany, Germany would not survive. Germany needs the weaker European countries to export to in order to prosper.” (paraphrased) BTW, no news from the […]

Look who continues to receive taxpayer (and borrowed) dollars

| August 16, 2011

With the Obama administration failing to lead in the area we expect, liberal politicians (might as well say “all politicians”) have little problem taking a leadership role when it comes to telling the industry how to run their businesses. The Department of Energy distributes our taxes as gifts grants as a way to warp free […]

Jim Thome Hits 600th Home Run Monday night

| August 15, 2011

Minnesota slugger Jim Thome become the eighth player in major league history to hit 600 home runs, connecting twice against the Detroit Tigers on Monday night. NYTimes AP article

Recovering losses after politically triggered market meltdown

| August 15, 2011

We’ve started off the week in a more upbeat fashion as the expectations are high for some kind of deal on Tuesday from the Europeans. Hopefully they’ll be able to sooth the jitters many are having over banking and Eurozone’s socialist mentality. I’m not holding my breath that they’ll be able the make the social […]

B-E-A-UTIFUL anchorage photo from the Chagos

| August 15, 2011

Couldn’t resist dreaming of exotic ports of call and far away anchorages … this one is from the Chagos in the Indian Ocean (he archipelago has the largest expanse of undisturbed coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, as well as rare and endangered species of birds and other wildlife. There are strict conservation rules, which […]

Our military, energy efficiency and alternative fuels

| August 15, 2011

I’m archiving a bit from Jackalyne Pfannenstiel’s letter to the WSJ editor that was in the paper this past weekend which reflects my point of view when it comes to alternatives and efficiency in the U.S. military. Most of us know that all branches of the armed forces are making strides to lessen their dependency on […]

Stop the Washington DC gimmickry when it comes to taxes

| August 14, 2011

I’ve been reading a few of the ideas being toss around by congress as a way  to stimulate the economy and “create jobs” (as I recall that was job #1 about three years ago?) The school of thought for most Republicans (at least the last couple years) is to lower tax rates and cut both […]

The U.S. Navy’s Carrier F-14s have been retired for 5 years

| August 13, 2011

Every once in a while I look at the right hand column of my blog to see what interested me in previous years. I noticed The Navy catapults the last F-14 Tomcat post from back in the summer of 2006. Has it been 5 years?

Changed our NetFlix plan

| August 13, 2011

After noting the increase from Netflix back in June and being pretty frustrated at the “percentage” increase in price, we’ve still opted to stick with Netflix as a streaming only service. If the need arrives to see a new release, we’ll pick it up a Redbox or a local video store … perhaps encourage some […]

Financial Markets: The roller coaster week that was

| August 12, 2011

The week of August 7 – 12th I shouldn’t have spent the day in my office watching the markets, but I did and thankfully it was a semi-relief to not see a selloff at the end of the day. For those who’s job it is to manage their client’s money (and handle their phone calls), […]

Feisty Republican debate in Iowa Thursday night – 8/11/2011

| August 12, 2011

Without too much expectation we watched the presidential hopefuls in the Republican debate last night and came away surprised. Several of the candidates in Iowa avoided the canned talking points and went out on a limb in presenting fresh and thoughtful ideas; almost all candidates convinced me that the field is far more qualified than […]

Chucking at the perception of “4G”

| August 12, 2011

In the tech and gadget world, few devices are attracting buyers like smartphones and their grown-up counterparts the “touchscreen” tablets. Besides deciding on which carrier offers the best price/service, consumers chose a mobile OS and the manufacturer of their device. One of the most confusing decisions we make is “4G” — a loosely defined higher […]

Maiden Flight for SubSonex from EAA News

| August 11, 2011

Great news for aviation experimenters — the personal jet experimental protype known as the SubSonex made its first flight. Way to go! August 11, 2011 – A little yellow jet was spotted over Oshkosh Wednesday morning (August 10) and soon it was confirmed that John Monnett’s SubSonex had made its first flight. Jet sailplane pilot […]

Have investors gone too pessimistic and oversold stocks?

| August 11, 2011

I listened and nodded in agreement to a little optimism this morning in a CNBC interview which paints a slightly different picture as it pertains to the financial health of consumers, US bank and companies. So far today (Dow about 11000 over the lunch hour) this might be making some sense to those who may […]

French banking concerns continue pessimistic view for markets

| August 10, 2011

Maybe it just that we’re looking to point fingers or for a reason to remain pessimistic in our interconnected economies, but most reports I’ve been reading are now looking at the possible downgrade of French banks … and government. This spilled over to US markets (particularly banking) and started the day negatively. After some regrouping […]

Sea trials to begin for China’s first aircraft carrier

| August 10, 2011

Perhaps China adding their first aircraft carrier is just a sign of the times, but I see the modernization of China’s military as an unsettling long term move; call me distrustful considering their original statements and China’s questionable authoritarian government’s history.  A Chinese company purchased the empty hull of a carrier called the Varyag from […]

Financial markets down after Fed, but up in the last hour

| August 9, 2011

Although I’m tiring of watching the fickle up and down action of the stock market … as are those who might stumble across my blog these couple of weeks … it is better to be able to say that the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished near session highs today. The 429.92 points – 3.98% gain […]

U.S. Stocks Gyrate in Post-Fed Chaos – WSJ.com

| August 9, 2011

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recently rose 4 points, or 0.04%, to 10813 points. The index, which gained as much as 243 points at its morning high, saw its rally fade ahead of the Fed decision and then turned negative after the statement was released. It briefly recaptured some of the gains before falling sharply […]

U.S. Stock Futures Climb after a day of heavy selling

| August 9, 2011

Trying to be an optimist as equity markets near their 9:30 opening. Who knows how raucous the trading day will be after such a bit down day yesterday (see below).  According to “watchers,” we are the the most oversold in stocks in decades — odd considering the fundamentals for most companies and banks aren’t that […]

Dow closes down over 600 pts after S&P US credit downgrade

| August 8, 2011

Oh to have had the wisdom of a Glenn Beck … and have listened to his analysis of how foolish it was to have believed in an economic recovery? He continued to recommend investing in gold as a safe haven from the upcoming financial meltdown. Of course one would think that as someone who watched […]

Is the economy heading down again or is it just panic selling?

| August 8, 2011

Double dip or not? That is the question investors are facing, especially if they are holding stocks and bonds. After lunch today the markets are still seeing heavy selling … panic selling perhaps … after the S&P downgrade this weekend. Realistically though, companies and even banks are much stronger than they were back in 2008 […]

What will the week after a credit downgrade bring?

| August 7, 2011

Panic … it is going to be the big issue for financial markets come Monday morning. It won’t be pretty. Is there really a difference between where we were last week (after the debt ceiling increase) and where we will be on Monday morning?  No, not really, but unfortunately Standard and Poor’s downgrade (PDF) of […]

Coming up with a new idea from an old Pardey book

| August 6, 2011

I started trying to make my own J-hook fitting in order to create a quick release/connect attachment point for the forestay on Encore. My 3/8” thick blank of 6061 aluminum proved to be too much for my bandsaw blade (hopefully due to age) last night so I’ll need to order a replacement. Every once in […]

Markets continue downtrend – NASA prepares for Mars launch

| August 5, 2011

While checking the stock market over lunch, it was again another depressing day. The Dow continues to march down as does the Nasdaq even on relatively positive news that we did have some private sector job grow and a slightly backed off unemployment claims rate of one tenth. It now stands at a high national […]

Another even bigger down day on Wall Street – Dow – 512.61

| August 4, 2011

After the agonizing debates in order to come to a half solution to control our deficit, debt and raising the President’s ability to borrow these past several weeks, the debt ceiling agreement did little to help the world’s financial markets – Europe’s banking problem does little to help. Today Wall Street returned the largest lost […]

Bothersome school bus video clip

| August 4, 2011

This is really just a filler post from a few weeks ago since I’m busy traveling today … but I saw a short clip of a school bus driving down the street with a pull down screen in the front window. Huh?

Investors and traders were sweating; It wasn’t the heat.

| August 3, 2011

Close call. Blue-chip stocks reversed a steep morning drop to snap an eight-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 29.82 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 11896.44. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained 6.29 points, or 0.5%, to 1260.34, while the Nasdaq Composite added 23.83 points, or 0.9%, to 2693.07, after falling […]

Shifting from Google for web searching

| August 3, 2011

I’ve recently made a switch to a new search engine after reading Google’s Terms of Service Agreement a little more closely. The wording of the TOS along with my security conscious friend’s regular reminders regarding web privacy and information security triggered a search for a better search engine. DuckDuckGo.com offers a free, lean webpage search […]

Financial markets: “from a soft patch to the mud pit”

| August 2, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Economists say the debt ceiling debate has already damaged the U.S. economy, and many worry that a deadlock could send the country hurtling into a double-dip recession. LINK Although the US Senate voted to pass the debt ceiling legislation and President Obama quickly signed it, the worries on Wall Street harkened […]

Time to watch the weather IF you’re in the forecast zone

| August 2, 2011

As if the financial news from our country and from around the world isn’t creating enough waves, tropical storm and hurricane watchers are forecasting Emily. This is the first named tropical storm of 2011 to target the islands of the Caribbean, Bahamas and possibly east coast of Florida. Hmm … did I prepare appropriately?

Walgreens will have EV charging station in 425 locations

| August 2, 2011

Although EV only vehicles are the best fit for many of us, some might be a bit more comfortable if they knew where they could get a 20 minute charge. Personally don’t think we’ll see wide acceptance until universal wireless charging system are adopted widely available AND re-charging is offered as an incentive (discount). Perhaps […]

Theatrics in Washington DC continues to wag Wall Street’s tail

| August 1, 2011

As I watch the talking heads on CNBC blabber back and forth, their premarket guest politicians covered their bases for the “lite” deal which in reality kicks the can down the road. It is expected that there will be enough votes to pass the small bill … enough to keep the government functioning and bills […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog