My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 16, 2010

I don’t want to be too critical about the ‘difficult for me to understand’ banking reform legislation, but after hearing comments on a WSJ podcast (below), the politically one-sided rush to reform does leave me concerned; it sure would be nice to have bi-partisan support for a banking oversight bill. My concern: If the Fed chairman is appointed to oversee the nations banking health, yet legislators are still permitted to bypass this federal oversight and set up yet more government (a Systemic Risk Council and the like), do we just have more government bureaucrats on the payroll?  If congress can still put pressure on the banking industry to make high risk loans to their constituents, be they to businesses or individual borrowers, are we really addressing the root cause of our banking problem? I have no problem shoring up the way the Federal Reserve monitors and enforces the way big banks take risk and protect their holdings, be it through higher capital levels, giving regulators more power to close loopholes and monitor derivatives contracts, but still see it critical to keep congressionally elected politicians from having additional leverage in the banking industry.

Pod – Wsjtmit by © Dow Jones And Company.
Download now or listen on posterous

bankingreform_wsj100316.mp3 (2079 KB)

Posted via email from richc’s posterous

Category: Audio, Business, Financial, Misc, Politics | 4 Comments »
Tags: banking, lending, posterous

Posted By RichC on March 13, 2010

Since we’ve had rain for a couple of days while on vacation, I picked up a book off the coffee table and started reading it here at the condo … before finishing the other ones I brought along I might as well add. It’s a book I’ve been curious about, but not willing to buy just yet — Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue. 

To be truthful, I like Sarah Palin as a person and even as an Alaskan politician. I find her story interesting from a genuine, middleclass, down to earth American point of view. She, and her family, appeals to heartland America in particular and a lot of working class people seeing her story similar to those who expanded our country. Her respect for, and appreciation of our freedoms and our independent spirit are more than talk — she lives it (in part thanks to her parents).

From the early days of her dad moving the family from the lower 48 to “make it in Alaska,” to her firm foundation and deep appreciation for self-motivation, hard work and neighbor helping neighbor principles (without government oversight) are all part of her background. Her family work ethic taught her to worked hard and focused her on earning scholarships in order to put herself though college at a lesser known Idaho state college that many in public service look down their nose at. In fact I’ve heard comment to the effect that it took her 5 years, without recognizing that many who pay their own way spend a few extra semesters earning the tuition and living expenses.

Sarah Palin also rose through Alaskan politics without being beholding to any group or organization, something candidates from political parties rarely do. These attributes made her, and perhaps make her, a poster politician for Americans seeking “change in Washington.”  It is interesting that the politician who ran on “changing” the way Washington works, now President Obama, may now be remembered as being exactly the opposite and is now looking more like the political operative he rallied against in order to get elected. It is sad so many were hoodwinked.

Unfortunately my admiration for Sarah Palin ends here as I reflect on the the breath of fresh air she brought to the 2008 Presidential campaign. There were times I worried about her really being prepared for the position of Vice-President or heaven forbid President. I didn’t see her ready – of course I didn’t see the liberal junior senator from Illinois ready either!

All in all, the book so far is excellent and I’ve enjoyed reading it. Dare I comment that “it’s an easy read” without my comment sounding offensive?

Category: Books, Politics | 2 Comments »
Tags: book, Politics, sarah palin

Posted By RichC on March 12, 2010

Since the weather has been wet and windy here in Florida, we decided to take a road trip north from Delray Beach towards Fort Pierce.  Our plan was to putter along and check on a couple sailboats. We opted to drive the A-1-A route along the shore and stopped at several of the pull-offs along Hutchinson Island. Before grabbing lunch, we spent 30 minutes in the wind along the jetty at Fort Pierce Inlet (below). The pier fishermen were out and the boats contemplating venturing out into the Atlantic all turned back; it was a bit rough. All in all we had a nice day and enjoyed both the drive and looking at boats for sale – AND ‘no’ … we didn’t buy one … YET.
😉

click photos for larger views

Category: Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: florida, fort pierce, hutchinson island

Posted By RichC on March 12, 2010

It’s hard to do much better than grab 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at what many consider to be the toughest race on the planet: The Dakar Rally. This impressive and resounding victory marks another important step on the road to dispelling the myths that still linger around what TDI clean diesel technology can do. Congrats to Team Volkswagen and the individual winners who took their respective Touareg TDIs all the way to the podium. Check this gizmag post for in-depth coverage of the race, as well as some great photos from this year’s Dakar Rally.

via tdi.vw.com

Posted via web from richc’s posterous

Category: Automotive, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: dakar 2010, diesel, tdi, volkswagen, vw

Posted By RichC on March 11, 2010

One of the noticeable economic signs for average Americans that our economy might be in recovery is the rise of fuel prices. An article in this mornings Wall Street Journal stated that “Gasoline prices are throttling toward $3 a gallon”  and that “gasoline futures have rallied 21% since hitting a low in February to close Wednesday at $2.2851 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.”

While rising retail prices for gasoline is expected to continue as demand increases during the vacation and travel season, the recession has been keeping people closer to home and spending their money on necessities … if they have money. Currently gasoline is averaging $2.75/gallon which is up 5.5% and 42% higher than last spring. The Energy Information Administration also released a report this week saying that gasoline “will likely exceed $3 a gallon at times.”

BUT … just to be a contrarian, China is experiencing inflationary pressures which could trigger weak demand for oil keeping crude prices from rising as demand in the United States returns – LINK.

Category: Automotive, Financial | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, economy, gasoline, oil

Posted By RichC on March 10, 2010

Murphy’s Law enacted itself today while I was enjoying continued R & R; a work related issue came up requiring me to access information with my computer. Unfortunately this was  information that I didn’t properly back up during my recently Windows 7 reformat and updated notebook computer. I of course have a backup, but it is at home on my Hammer NAS N1200 and there is even a copy on my Passport 320GB hard drive. Unfortunately I don’t have the HD with me (who really wants to carry more gadgets on a plane?) and I didn’t set up the ability to FTP to the NAS. Frustrating to depend on my client for information on a previous project. (BTW, I’m including my son’s Palm Centro photo on the right for today’s personal vacation photo)

While pondering the thought of correcting the problem when I return, I wondered just how my current connection was going to work anyway … so I ran a DSLReports speed test on my Sprint Palm Pre and MyTether app tonight – passable.

Category: Cellphone, Computer, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: backup, mytether, NAS, palm, sprint

Posted By RichC on March 9, 2010

While I do enjoy a routine that includes focusing what’s going on in the world, it’s nice to escape and check out for a few days.

After a perfect ‘beach Monday,’ our day Tuesday was cloudy and smattered with sprinkles, although temps were in the 70’s. We spent the morning hiding from the rain, but still on the beach. Taylor and I headed to Panera for lunch and to be able to check email and return a couple phone calls for work. Gma and Gpa took us to Duffys for ribs and I had to agree that they neared my memory of our old favorite, Tom’s Ribs, from a decade ago; wow has time flown by?

Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: delray beach, florida, vacation

Posted By RichC on March 8, 2010

We’re enjoying a relaxing spring day listening to the wind and waves in the Florida sunshine. It is a welcome change from the 2009 – 2010 winter that seemed to have lasted long enough, at least in our corner of Ohio. Hopefully we will return in a couple days feeling regenerated … I’m sensing my batteries recharging already.

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: beach, break, delray, dunes, florida, sand, spring, vacation

Posted By RichC on March 7, 2010

We had a slow start to the day after a frustrating delayed flight out of Cincinnati — we were switched to a smaller plane. I was sardined into the just in front of the lavatory seat behind two babies (with full diapers) and a 3-4 year old (really a very good kid). Thankfully things got better once on the ground and we’re now comfortably enjoying my mother and father-in-laws hospitality. I’ll make tonight’s post a quick and post a Palm Pre 13 second test of Facebook’s video embed feature for the appreciation of a couple of my son’s friends … here you go Mike and Aaron – Mmm.
  😀

Facebook embed failure

Category: Personal, Travel, Video | No Comments »
Tags: comair, delta, facebook, Travel

Posted By RichC on March 6, 2010

I’m a couple days late in commenting on the newly released Facebook application for the Palm webOS smartphones, but wanted to mention that it has been significantly improved. If you are a Facebook user, or even a newbie, the enhancements available for the Pre and Pixi make the popular social networking site almost worth using. Currently I avoid using FB since my college age children and their friends could be sharing things I really don’t want to know – although I’m sure they are spending all their free time studying in the library.

The updated Facebook application has an entirely new interface of six buttons and a quick update bubble. The free application can be downloaded directly to the phone from the Palm app catalog and now includes a helpful datebook EVENT button – great for remembering birthdays and social events that are being shared.

Posting “What’s on your mind?” is as easy as pie and pops up as the default or by selecting the NEWS button; it also includes a camera button for those using the Pre or Pixi’s excellent camera or internal photo storage (also the new webOS 1.4 update now includes video camcorder features with a direct upload to Facebook – sample here). The PHOTOS button itself offers access to galleries of shared photos which is really slick.  This was a favorite feature for sharing photos … although it was very good in the previous version. The INBOX button includes a friends avatar, name and first line from your friends messages, along with approximate date (ex. 1 week ago). An easy to use SEARCH button pulls up access to your friends in a list format and it can be searched by ‘flick’ scrolling or by typing a first, second, third letter in order to drill down and find the correct person’s Facebook “wall” (options then include “Wall, Info or Pics”). Finally the ME button brings up one’s own “Wall” (Info or Pics) as well as a place to post. Everything works exceptionally fast and without lag.

All in all, this a significantly improved application for the Palm webOS platform … and almost enough to get me using Facebook.

Category: Cellphone, How-To, Productivity, Social Media, Technology | 2 Comments »
Tags: facebook, palm, pixi, Social Networking, webos