I’m probably not the only one who has “excessively” followed people on Twitter over the past few years … so I am trying to clean up my tweetstream with TwitCleaner. So far so good.
Twit Cleaner [web] (free)
If you follow a large number of people and are looking to clean up your timeline, Twit Cleaner can help you out. Twit Cleaner is a great web app that recommends people you should unfollow on Twitter based on a number of things such as how often they tweet, how often they post links, their follower/following ratio, etc.
I appreciate high profile Meniere’s Disease sufferers commenting on how debilitating it is to deal with abrupt attacks and ongoing balance/sickness issues, especially when they are as tough as UFC’s Dana White. He commented that he is “not a normal patient” while in an interview about his struggle – although I don’t think he exhibits any traits of “being patient” = capable of calmly awaiting an outcome or result; not hasty or impulsive. It will be interesting to follow what treatment path he eventually takes or how quickly he recovers from a Vestibular Nerve Section.
Of course … it is also an election year. Hmm?
How much will the market move when Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke speaks this afternoon?
Operation Twist, in which the central bank sells short-term securities and buys the same amount of longer-term debt to lengthen the average maturity of its holdings and keep borrowing costs low, is set to expire this month. The difference in yield between two- and 30-year securities was 249 basis points. It has narrowed from 304 basis points on Sept. 20, the day before the central bank announced the plan.“No one can say with any degree of certainty what the Fed might do,” said Christopher Sullivan, who oversees $1.9 billion as chief investment officer at United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York. “Given the pace of growth in the U.S. and the failure of the U.S. economy to generate sufficient jobs to bring down the unemployment rate and inflation easing, one might feel the Fed is obligated to do more. But growth is continuing in a modest way, and the risk of contagion in Europe has eased some, so the Fed might hold some policy in reserve against a further flair up later down the road.”
I may have started a trend the last couple days in posting the shark and ocean photos … so here are a couple more from a link forwarded by a friend. Hmm, how fast can you swim … or below a meeting between a not so friendly Bull Shark and a diver doing her best to discourage him … yikes!
There's way too much speculation in the thought the Federal Reserve will again "try" to prime the economy when serious regulation and tax changes are what we need from Washington DC. If Bernanke and crew sit quietly on their hands or even suggest the economy doesn't need additional stimulus, we'll most likely see another stock sell-off.
The Dow tacked on 114 points, or 0.9%, to 12855 in late Tuesday trading, pacing for what would be the third rise of more than 100 points in four sessions.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 15 points, or 1.1%, to 1359, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 37 points, or 1.3%, to 2932. Both benchmarks were on pace to notch four-session streaks of gains. For the technology-heavy Nasdaq, it would be longest winning streak since February.
After conversing back and forth with a VW TDI friend of mine in a Google+ thread about the 30-40% increase in new car prices, we sort of concluded in a “maybe we’ll buy a used car?” Of course with the higher priced used cars recently (particularly diesels), I’m not so sure that is a good idea either? To that end, I did just read Phil LeBeau’s article in a CNBC blog that Used Car Prices Starting To Fall. It must be that Americans getting a bit more comfortable with the idea of financing a new car or they are just getting desperate to replace their aging ride. Who here is old enough to remember Junior? –>
After three years with used car prices surging to levels where it often made more sense to buy new instead of used, the price pendulum for pre-owned cars is swinging the other way.
It’s not a huge pull back so far, but dealers are increasingly looking for used car prices to moderate.
The latest data comes from ADESA Wholesale Vehicle Auctions. ADESA is one of the larger firms auto dealers use to buy and sell used cars and trucks. In May , the numbers continued falling from earlier this year.
I’m either too busy or too lazy to add a post for Monday … as both Sunday night and Monday morning have disappeared. Instead, I’ll reshare a couple interesting oceans of the world photos. (Sharks with schools of fish and a large “Batoidea” migration.)
I was glad be able to stop in to visit with both “dads” in my life this week — took a couple of detours in my weekly travel schedule. The stops doubled as a way to hand deliver Father’s Day cards and a couple printed photos which are becoming rare around our house. Brenda and I knew the updated photos (and one of Katelyn and her fiancé Drew) would be appreciated — grandparents love photos of their grandkids. Thankfully both dads are reasonably healthy this summer, considering that they aren’t getting any younger.
Another note of interest was the #8 US News and World Report ranking for my daughter’s pediatric hospital, Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. It is good to know she is training at such a well respected hospital … of course it is also nice to see Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center near the top as well (thanks for the link Drew).
A friend posted this on his Facebook page after the tank collapsed and since today is a busy chore day followed by a graduation party I’ll still to just a photo.
