My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 27, 2011

Earlier this year as 2010 rolled into 2011 many American though it might be safe to look at their IRA and 401K statements after the long recession … but as deficit and debt talks heated up and U.S. debt was downgraded due to continued Washington DC borrowing and spending this past summer … most of us grew pessimistic for 2011. Then in September our U.S. problem moved from the front burner and the Euro-crisis took its place as a yet another reason to question a recovery. Some are concerned which just keeping out heads above water and preventing another recession. Volatility has become the new buzz financial reporters use to describe the rocky up and down movements triggered by the news and rumors of the day.  Most of us are trying to make sense of the interconnected economies around the globe and are shocked that the tiny Greece economy is seen as the tipping domino threatening the overall health of the world economy.

Today the 17 countries of the European Union have come up with something the markets are positive about … although imagine the harder working Germans or those trying to run responsible banks in Europe are wondering why they are be asked to pay for those who have been irresponsible. I’m not so sure that a "voluntary" 50% reduction of Greece’s debt is going to save the day if those who aren’t being productive don’t change their ways (Greeks retiring at age 50?).

ATHENS — Vasia Veremi may be only 28, but as a hairdresser in Athens, she is keenly aware that, under a current law that treats her job as hazardous to her health, she has the right to retire with a full pension at age 50. (LINK)

Eventually those countries choosing government controlled and heavy entitlement policies need to recognized the need to change. Makers can only support the Takers for so long (2010 link — 2011 Labor Day post). 

Still, market in Europe and the U.S. are happy seeing some progress.

U.S. stocks soared in early trading, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average pushed back above 12000 in a global market rally as investors cheered an agreement reached by European leaders on a plan to resolve the euro-zone’s debt crisis.

The Dow surged 262 points, or 2.2%, to 12131 in early trading …

MORE

Category: Financial | No Comments »
Tags: 401k, economy, greece, ira, markets, stocks

Posted By RichC on October 26, 2011

Had an interesting conversation with one of my clients who handed me his new Sprint based iPhone 4s today … and he doesn’t like it. That’s a rarity for those who love all things Apple. To be fair, his gripe has more to do with the Sprint 3G service problems being reported than the iPhone itself, although it could be a hardware problem I suppose?

Still I did get a chance to play with his phone for a couple minutes and found that I am no longer itching to upgrade from my Palm Pre. Truth be told, the three big drawbacks below outweighed the benefits. (being a smooth Apple iOS 5, great camera, available apps and iCloud)

1. The connections are no faster than my Palm Pre 3G on Sprint — no 4G connections. (although might as well wait for the new LTE 4G in 2012)
2. Virtual keyboard is still not easy for me to “thumb” … it’s not a Treo, Pre or Blackberry with their portrait oriented physical keys.
3. Display size is small compared to what Android models are offering. With aging eyes and less scrolling, I think I’d rather have a bigger screen. Again, open a virtual keyboard and 1/3 of the display disappears.

Category: Cellphone | 1 Comment »
Tags: apple, iphone, sprint

Posted By RichC on October 25, 2011

Compression on all four cylinders is good after machining the head (photo with Kodak Zx5)

I’m still trying to figure out why I’m having a problem with the MGB idle and setting the carburetor. After finally calling Bob at Brit-tek, I thought I would send a video (below) which helps to describe my Weber carb is setting and what is happening.

Category: Automotive, MGB | No Comments »
Tags: carburetor, mgb, weber

Posted By RichC on October 25, 2011

Sunrise and sunset photos have always been favorites of mine … this one taken by astronaut Ron Garan from space and posted on G+ is no exception. His photos of meteors plunging through the earth’s atmosphere  were made even more interesting with the addition of sound … although kind of eery (video below).

Category: Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: astronaut, nasa, photography, space, sunrise

Posted By RichC on October 24, 2011

The loss of subscribers was not a surprise to those angry with the boneheaded decisions from Netflix management (2) … but I think even those who “modified” their plans are surprised at the shear numbers who left in the 3rd quarter – 810,000 subscribers! Ouch … a painful loss after hours Monday for those stock owners who continued to hold shares.

Netflix Inc. said it lost roughly 810,000 subscribers in its third-quarter and forecast fourth-quarter earnings below expectations following an exodus of users unhappy with a subscription pricing change in the summer.

The movie-rental company also projected that it will begin losing money for a few quarters starting in the first period, due to costs associated with an expansion in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Netflix said it ended the quarter with nearly 23.8 million U.S. subscribers, falling short of its own expectations of 24 million. The poor results spooked investors and led to a sell-off that chopped more than 27% off the share price, to $86.30 in after-hours trades.

Continue at WSJ

Category: Financial | 4 Comments »
Tags: netflix

Posted By RichC on October 24, 2011

This past weekend felt like I was spinning my wheels and wasting time. A little cleaning around the house, watching some football and rugby (below), some brief tinkering with the carburetor on the MGB (which is still not right) and finally assembled Brenda’s “inversion machine” – don’t ask.  The latter took most of Sunday afternoon … it contained more parts and require more assembly than I expected. Of course I had to test it when finished … an instant headache and queasy stomach. It is a good thing I’m not an aerobatic pilot or astronaut … maybe it takes some getting use to?

I also have to admit that I’m finally tuned into the World Series after thinking 2011 may go by without watching a single game. I tuned in thinking that St. Louis might take another game and found myself cheering for the Texas Rangers … they won game four, 4 – 0 and go into game five tied at 2 games apiece.

As for rugby, I watch the beat up, tired and injured New Zealand All Blacks struggle to defeat the solid play by France. In the end, the All Black won 8-7. (enjoyed texting back and forth with my rugby playing son all the while … and reminiscing!)

All Blacks edge France 8-7 in final, end New Zealand’s 24-year wait for World Cup victory

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The wait is over. New Zealand is back on top at the Rugby World Cup.

The All Blacks survived the last in a string of flyhalf injuries and beat France 8-7 in a gripping final Sunday to become the third two-time champion.

Despite being the perennial favorite, New Zealand hadn’t won the World Cup since hosting and winning the inaugural tournament in 1987. Two of its biggest losses in knockout matches in the intervening 24 years were to France.

This time, the All Blacks held on.

“It’s something we’ve dreamed of for a while,” New Zealand coach Graham Henry said. Now, “we can rest in peace.”

The French had been written off after an inconsistent tournament, but produced one of their finest World Cup performances.

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Category: MGB, Misc, Sports | No Comments »
Tags: inversion, rugby, world series

Posted By RichC on October 23, 2011

The new CPI numbers (Consumer Price Index) released by the government verify what most balancing family budgets already know … inflation is taking a bigger bite out of incomes. Most private sector workers feel fortunate just to be employed and have seen their take-home pay and benefits stagnate or retreat. Everyone I know has had their out of pocket healthcare cost go up significantly along with the cost of a post secondary education for their children. Those who work for the government seem to have been insulated from the downturn and are actually capitalizing on better salaries along with their generous healthcare benefits and pension plans (not to mention excessive vacation days and potential for earlier retirements).

The changing balance in compensation between the private sector and public sector has been a target of criticism this past year and is rearing its head once again as the Occupy Wall Street crowd rails over the high pay and control bankers have in our economy (among other incoherent issues). I have wondered why the focus is on those on Wall Street instead of on those who actually “bailed” out the banks and select companies? One would think that the real anger would be directed towards those who leech lucratively off the taxpayer, take the campaign contributions from the fat cats and divvy out loans, incentives and tax breaks based on lobby clout? Unfortunately the anger from protestors seems misguided.

For my fault in pointing out the public vs private worker warfare, this  isn’t good for the country either. The continuing divide isn’t helpful in bringing back our economy or gaining control in our addition to borrowing and spending – both personal and government.  I do think that all agree that the problem improves with a growing economy … unfortunately few agree with what the government can or should do to expedite our economic recovery.

Inflationdata.com chart showing inflation in the past decade (click for larger)

For now, we are faced with the real issue of rising prices. Some suggest that price increases are a sign that the demand is up and that the economy is improving. Other say that we aren’t on a growth path and that this is more than likely stagflation and based on placing a higher value on commodities than the U.S. dollar. Frankly, I’m not the only one pointing to our heavy borrowing (40 cents of every dollar the government spends) as a reason to be concerned. That said, if you haven’t noticed that fuel prices remain well above $3 gallon for gasoline and most necessities in the grocery store are much higher than last year while salaries and wages in the private sector remain flat, take closer look. (FBN/CPI Food inflation numbers in illustrations below).

Category: Financial, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: cpi, food, inflation, occupy, Politics, wall street

Posted By RichC on October 22, 2011

Since I go back a few years in photography (pre-digital by a few years) and did my share of dodging, burning and sandwiching with film and paper in the darkroom, I’m well aware of what photographers did to enhance photos … but here was one I must not have remembered.

The Life Magazine photo during the height of the Vietnam War protests at Kent State University in 1970 is iconic. What most didn’t know was that it was manipulated for artistic clarity … the fence post behind Mary Ann Vecchio head was removed before printing (correcting a major faux pas in photographic composition). (Link to a few more)

Category: Photography, Photos | 2 Comments »
Tags: kent state, photography, photoshopped

Posted By RichC on October 21, 2011

A Redondo Beach California diver/kayaker posted some YouTube footage from his GoPro camera earlier in the week … and although I’m hesitant to see people get too close to an animal’s habitat, these close up images are pretty impressive.

Category: Environment, Video | No Comments »
Tags: blue whale, kayak

Posted By RichC on October 20, 2011

While traveling this week, (and watching out for wild, exotic animals) … I stopped to visit with a car friend I met online and to see his 1966 MGB. He has been sitting on his little British car since the 1980s and wondered what I thought it would take to get it back on the road. I think he really would like to sell it, but may also think it is worth more that it really is? It was in halfway decent shape, but knowing what I now know, his project is going to require quite a bit of work. Still it was nice finally meeting another MGB guy and the chance to see his car.

Category: Automotive, MGB | No Comments »
Tags: mgb, ohio