Old and still drinking water and eating dry white toast.
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Bear Turns to Bull?
The S&P 500 closed the week 54.4% above the March 9th low, which is 33.3% below the peak in October 2007....
....Since inflation is a favorite topic on this website, I now regularly update a set of charts to facilitate a comparison of the nominal and real declines. See also my logarithmic scale view of the "Four Bad Bears" comparison.
These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current decline in relation to three familiar bears from history.
For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context, here's a long-term view of secular bull and bear markets in the S&P Composite since 1871.
Link:- http://dshort.com/articles/2009/bear-turns-to-bull.html
I've been around hanging the FX-fishbowl just using....
....my old GROUPIE NAME twk000jester to see how many silver fish are still in the FX-fishbowl.
Be a virtual TRUCKER by remote controlling the Iraq Truck from TEXAS.
No prior service time, but the compensation works out to a GS-13 - Step 5.
Currently the Government is the ONLY Game in Town. I was lucky and was able to land a job as a SUPPORT CONTRACTOR for the GROW THE FORCE Military Construction build-out which should keep be gainfully employed for the next three years....no sign of the worn.
No longer able to play at work - every move is monitored by BIG BROTHER.
Need to add some music in the background....
Deliverance Dueling Banjos Scene
These are just some of the events that happened on September 14th.
1752, The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days (the previous day was September 2).
1812, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte entered Moscow, Russia.
1814, The Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. It didn't become the national anthem until 1931.
1851, James Fennimore Cooper, author of The Last Of The Mohicans, died.
1852, The Duke of Wellington, who led the English to victory at Waterloo, died.
1901, President William McKinley died after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
1917, Russia was officially proclaimed a republic.
1927, American dancer Isadora Duncan died. She set off from Nice, France for a drive in a red Bugatti sports car when the fringe of her shawl was caught in the rear wheel. As the car pulled away, her neck was broken and she died instantly.
1959, The first spacecraft - Soviet Lunik II - landed on the moon.
1975, The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, was canonized by Pope Paul VI.
1982, Princess Grace of Monaco died when her car plunged off a mountain road between Monaco and Nice, France.
1987, German hackers successfully broke into the secret NASA network and other top-secret computers.
1994, The Major League Baseball season was canceled because of a strike.
1998, Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom completed their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
2001, A national prayer service was held at the Washington National Cathedral for the victims of the September 11th attacks.
2003, Yetunde Price, older half-sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, was shot to death in Compton, California.
2008, Bank of America announced its intention to acquire Merrill Lynch.
2009, Nothing happened with Miracor Dignostics MRDG
Health Care Bill Includes CLASS provisions to take over Long Term Care Insurance
In 2007, Senator Ted Kennedy introduced the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act (CLASS) into the Senate. The proposed bill was designed to provide Long Term Care related coverage to the American people.
The plan would provide coverage for nursing home, assisted living and home health care services not provided by Medicare, but expanded coverage beyond the senior population. The plan called for compulsory contributions via payroll for all Americans age 18 and over and services would be provided after 5 years of enrollment.
The bill died almost as fast as it was introduced. Republicans immediately opposed the bill which would was technically a form of nationalized, compulsory-based health care and blue-dog Democrats fearful of the costs, auto-enroll provisions, lack of benefits and devastating affect on the long-term care industry helped to prevent the legislation from moving forward.
In March of this year, with overwhelming Democratic majorities, the Kennedy CLASS act was reintroduced in the house and senate with hopes that Democratic leadership could now use their majorities and the popularity of President Obama to institute a government controlled long term care insurance program.
However, the passage of such legislation remained uncertain. Shortly after re-introduction, Democratic leadership was presented with a golden opportunity with the call for comprehensive Health Care Reform to abandon the CLASS act as stand-alone legislation and insert the provisions of the act into the overall Health Care Reform package.
Expecting a quick passage and a public focus on medical insurance, Democratic leadership hoped that the creation of the CLASS program would go overlooked. As a result, every Democratic version of health care reform in both the House and Senate has incorporated toned down provisions of the CLASS Act.
Within the President and Democrats health care proposals is the creation of a Community Living Assistance Services and Support program and agency. The program would develop a voluntary, guaranteed-issue government run long term care insurance program.
Under the program, Democrats abandoned the opt-out system in lieu of a opt-in enrollment procedure. In addition, the initial proposed premiums of no more than $65 per individual and as low as $5 per month for those under the poverty line were replaced with language that would allow the CLASS committee to determine premiums based upon a 70 year solvency of the program.
However, because the government-run long term care insurance program would not be self-sufficient the committee would be allowed to arbitrarily set premiums at artificially low levels and seek appropriations to subsidize the program. In other words, premiums would not be based upon sound actuarial practices, but rather the suggestion of Washington bureaucrats.
Just 12 years ago, nearly 500 insurance companies offered the sale of long term care insurance. However, the relatively new nature of the products, an aging population and lack of claims experienced created an environment whereas companies set premiums and benefits based upon marketing preferences. As a result, companies offering exorbitant benefits and artificially low premiums were forced to abandon the long term care marketplace due to losses and higher than expected claims payouts.
Today, less than 20% of those companies still offer long term care insurance for sale and the companies that have survived such as Genworth, John Hancock, State Farm and Mutual of Omaha are companies that priced their product properly and had extensive experience within the industry.
If the CLASS provisions are enacted in the health care reform package, these companies would now be forced to compete with a government run plan which offers guaranteed insurability, bureaucratically established and artificially low premiums, a plan subsidized by taxpayers and not required to have any regard to losses suffered under the plan.
The end result would mean a drastic decrease in the number of long term care insurance policies sold, a shrinking pool of policyholders and an aging pool of policyholders. Such companies would have no choice but to raise premiums which would inevitably result in fewer sales and the replacement of policies as policyholders replace private coverage with lower premium policies offered by the government. The end result would be the death of the private long term care insurance industry and the subsequent loss of thousands of jobs.
In addition, based upon our experience with Medicare, the CLASS program would eventually be forced, especially considering the lack of any underwriting, to implement cost containment measures to deal with a lack of premium revenue and increasing claims suffered under an aging population. Having driven private competition out of the marketplace the politically appointed bureaucrats would now have unheard of powers in regards to our nations long term health care.
As a result of a the public and media's misconception that Medicare currently covers long term care related costs, the CLASS provisions have been given no attention. Long Term Care insurers and related associations are the only organizations raising the alarm.
As stand-alone legislation, the CLASS act overwhelmingly failed despite Democratic majorities. Even with the re-introduction of the CLASS act this year, congressional leaders knew that the legislation was likely to fail passage. As a result of the comprehensive Health Care Reform movement, the American people may now forced to accept the implementation of a government takeover of the long term care industry that never would have passed on its own.
News Link - http://www.examiner.com/x-21037-Illinois-Statehouse-Examiner~y2009m9d11-Health-Care-Bill-Includes-CLASS-provisions-to-take-over-Long-Term-C
As Obama addresses Congress tonight, long-term care continues to weigh in on healthcare reform
September 09, 2009
Long-term care providers are likely to tune in tonight as President Barack Obama speaks about healthcare reform to a joint session of Congress.
The community has much at stake in the reform discussion. A provision in the House bill would eliminate the Medicare market basket, which gives nursing home cost-of-living increases. The American Health Care Association estimates that the provision, combined with a new regulation cutting Medicare funding to nursing homes would result in Medicare reductions of $44 billion over 10 years. Meanwhile, some providers are rooting for a Senate legislative provision known as the CLASS Act. This provision would create a long-term care disability fund that workers can draw from if they become disabled.
The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging has created a "Health Reform Hub" on its Web site to both clear up misconceptions about healthcare reform and bolster support for the CLASS Act.
In related news, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) on Tuesday issued a summary healthcare reform proposal. The proposal calls for reducing Medicare and Medicaid spending through annual update reductions to hospitals and other providers. It also would create an independent Medicare Commission to make policy recommendations to Congress. Baucus is involved in talks with five other senators to craft a healthcare reform proposal.
News Link - http://www.mcknights.com/As-Obama-addresses-Congress-tonight-long-term-care-continues-to-weigh-in-on-healthcare-reform/article/148391/
Greater Gains Ahead For Insurance Stocks
Joseph Hargett, Option Advisor, 09.11.09, 08:00 PM EDT
Shares of some big insurers have clocked triple-digit percentage returns in just six months, but the group is heading higher still.
Despite being a pariah on Wall Street during the worst of the market's collapse, the insurance sector has been on fire since the March bottom. Specifically, the S&P Insurance Index (IUX) has rocketed more than 116% since setting a low of 75.08 on March 6, nearly doubling the S&P 500 Index's (SPX) gain of about 55% during the same period. Sentiment and options clues tell us the insurance bull run will continue.
Investors have yet to fully jump on the sector's bandwagon, as the KBW Insurance SPDR ( KIE - news - people ) exchange-traded fund's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.45 ranks in the upper half of its annual range. This reading indicates that there are still some bearish investors who could capitulate to the group's strong technical performance, thus providing additional buying pressure for the sector.
One particularly impressive member of the insurance sector is Genworth Financial ( GNW - news - people ). The stock has soared more than 265% in 2009, gaining an impressive 1,301% since early March. During this intense rally, GNW has blown past several levels of potential resistance, including its recent breach of the round-number $10 level. GNW should now be able to utilize this region as a springboard for additional gains going forward. Genworth's 10-day and 20-day moving averages have provided key support since mid-July, and are currently rising into the 10 region.
On the sentiment front, investors appear to be in denial. In the options pits, GNW's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.46 ranks above 76% of all those taken during the past year. This reading indicates that options traders have rarely been more bearish toward the shares during the prior 52 weeks.
At the peak of pessimism this year, you could have bought January 2010 calls at the $150 strike on Baidu.com for $20 apiece. They now trade at $205. That's better than a 10-bagger in five months!
Peak put open interest for September resides at the deep out-of-the-money 7.50 strike, totaling some 21,000 contracts. Peak call open interest for September, meanwhile, totals more than 14,000 contracts at the in-the-money 9 strike. This heavy attention to out-of-the-money puts and in-the-money calls means investors are not expecting an extended rally from GNW shares. However, it seems that sentiment could be shifting in the options pits. According to data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (SBOE), calls bought to open have more than quadrupled puts purchased during the prior two weeks. Such a change of heart could indicate that more sideline money is being brought to bear on GNW.
Wall Street analysts are also betting heavily against the insurance company. According to Zacks.com, all of the 11 brokerage firms following GNW rate the shares a "hold" or worse, with no "buy" ratings to be found. Should these bearish analysts begin to have second thoughts regarding their negative ratings, we could see upgrades begin to creep into the picture for GNW. Such a shift in sentiment could increase buying pressure on the equity, thus sending the stock sharply higher.
To benefit from a continued run higher in GNW shares, traders should consider a December 10 call.
News Link - http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/11/xl-capital-insurance-personal-finance-guru-insights-genworth-financial.html
Holding the stock within my 401k and Roth retirement accounts....
...I have all the time in the world to hold the stock till it starts to bear fruit again...
Holding out till $15
First time the ants attacked my peanut butter, I placed the PB jar overnight inside the refrigerator and the next day you just shake them out....
If I focus on her FEET, I can change the direction....thanks for the link to the other site.
Which way did you see the girl turn?
- If you see this lady turning clockwise you are using your right brain.
- If you see her turning anti-clockwise, you are using your left brain.
- Some people can see her turning both ways, but most people see her only one way.
- See if you can make her go one way and then the other by shifting the brain’s current.
- If you can switch between seeing her turn either way at will without shifting your gaze, your IQ is above 160 -which is almost at genius level!
- This was devised at Yale University for a 5 year study on the human brain and its functions.
- Only 14% of the US population can see her move both ways
It's a typical salary deferred contributions (401k) with a 2 percent COMPANY match on the first 4 percent of EMPLOYEE contribution. The COMPANY match is not fully vested until after five years of service, the first year it's 20%, the second it's 40%, the third it's 60%, etc.
Almost all of these salary deferred 401K have a BK clause that makes everybody fully vested, if a BK event takes place. For myself it's only $15K with an extra $1K on the unearned Company vesting match amount.
This Company has a high employee turnover rate, because it's a Construction Company and normally the younger employees do not stay around long enough to capture the full vesting.
The 401K assets are tangible and solvent, by LAW the 401K assets and accounting have to be available for viewing by the remaining people in the plan.
If the Company has 100 people within the 401K plan, and it's composed of 30 LONG-TERM employee and 70 SHORT-TERM employees than the UNCLAIMED vesting becomes a LARGE number.
Normally the UNCLAIMED match is rolled over to be used by the Company for future Company matching.
If thirty employees leave the Company with $30K of unearned vesting in the 401K retirement Plan and only two remain ( EMPLOYER and EMPLOYEE) than each person gets an extra $15K.
It's booty time....
Background:
http://www.research401k.com/salary-deferral-contributions.html
My last company just informed me yesterday that due to the COMPANY ceasing operations and closing out the business, that it would be terminating the 401K retirement plan.
The good news is that my 40% vesting will be accelerated to 100% vesting regardless of the years of service.
The bad news for some people is that ALL LOANS will be due and payable Sept 11, and if you do not pay off any outstanding loans, your account balance will be reduced by the outstanding principal amount of your account and the principal will be reported as taxable income to the IRS.
I'm keeping my 401K money till the end so that I can capture any extra UNVESTED pocket change from the other people who have pulled their money since last FISCAL year.
4 hour BEER chart
Time to open up a can of CREAM of SPAM....
...how's your babies doing?
Time for the FX-Homie roll-call....
...today's payday
Hanging with the IHub Homies was the FX-attaction...
...now we have to hang with Engineering Homies
Takes a little time but anything for a little laugh.
...around the water cooler
You need a BIG STICK to KEEP them little BEARS away...
...or better yet you need to HANG with BETTER bears.
Being in the right place at the right time, I was able to catch the OBAMA wave in San Diego.
Military buildup booming
Local construction industry benefiting from profusion of stimulus projects - News Link - http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/26/1b26construc013453-military-buildup-booming/
Thank - You
OBAMA for the 30 percent pay raise, FREE House, and three years worth of EMPLOYMENT.
I started working about two weeks ago and I'm no longer able to access certain part of the WEB because I'm working from a Government computer and every place I visit is recorded by the BIG Brother.
...but it's a PAYCHECK and the Government is the only game in TOWN if you want to WORK.
...looking at mobile phone trading to maintain the Other BROTHERS freedom.
and a select few went to San Diego....
....as part of the OBAMA Federal Stimulus package.
A passive pirate maybe, I'm starting to think your pirate ship may have sunk....IMHO
....all of the RATS have left the ship...
No pirate life for me....
...my Electrical Engineering job has been funded by the Obama San Diego stimulus package and now I'm being forced to go back to work for $100K per year.
The Home remodel is taking long than planned with construction funds being limited.
Hopefully that will be resolved once my construction loan are approved.
The repairs and upgrades are never ending on this 62 year old house.
The wife does not like the second house, so at this point I'm turning it into rental property with a project completion around March 2010.
Californians Wrestle With Legalizing Marijuana Play Video ABC News – Californians Wrestle With Legalizing Marijuana
By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jul 15, 9:14 pm ET
SAN FRANCISCO – A bill to tax and regulate marijuana in California like alcohol would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue for the cash-strapped state, according to an official analysis released Wednesday by tax officials.
The State Board of Equalization report estimates marijuana retail sales would bring $990 million from a $50-per-ounce fee and $392 million in sales taxes.
The bill introduced by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano in February would allow adults 21 and older to legally possess, grow and sell marijuana.
Ammiano has promoted the bill as a way to help bridge the state's $26.3 billion budget shortfall.
"It defies reason to propose closing parks and eliminating vital services for the poor while this potential revenue is available," Ammiano said in a statement.
The way the bill is written, the state could not begin collecting taxes until the federal government legalizes marijuana. A spokesman says Ammiano plans to amend the bill to remove that provision.
The legislation requires all revenue generated by the $50-per-ounce fee to be used for drug education and rehabilitation programs. The state's 9 percent sales tax would be applied to retail sales, while the fee would likely be charged at the wholesale level and built into the retail price.
The Equalization Board used law enforcement and academic studies to calculate that about 16 million ounces — or 500 tons — of marijuana are consumed in California each year.
Marijuana use would likely increase by about 30 percent once the law took effect because legalization would lead to falling prices, the board said.
Estimates of marijuana use, cultivation and sales are notoriously difficult to come by because of the drug's status as a black-market substance. Calculations by marijuana advocates and law enforcement officials often differ widely.
"That's one reason why we look at multiple reports from multiple sources — so that no one agenda is considered to be the deciding or determining data," said board spokeswoman Anita Gore.
Advocates and opponents do agree that California is by far the country's top pot-producing state. Last year law enforcement agencies in California seized nearly 5.3 million plants.
If passed, Ammiano's bill could increase the tension between the state and the U.S. government over marijuana, which is banned outright under federal law. The two sides have clashed often since state voters passed a ballot measure in 1996 legalizing marijuana for medical use.
At the same time, some medical marijuana dispensary operators in the state have said they are less fearful of federal raids since U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department would defer to state marijuana regulations.
Advocates pounced on the analysis as ammunition for their claim that the ban on marijuana is obsolete.
"We can't borrow or slash our way out of this deficit," said Stephen Gutwillig, California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "The legislature must consider innovative sources of new revenue, and marijuana should be at the top of that list."
Ammiano's bill is still in committee. Hearings on the legislation are expected this fall.
Also Wednesday, three Los Angeles City Council members proposed taxing medical marijuana to help close the city's budget gap.
Council members Janice Hahn, Dennis Zine and Bill Rosendahl backed a motion asking city finance officials to explore taxing the drug.
Hahn said that with more than 400 dispensaries operating in the city, the tax could generate significant revenue. The motion pointed out that a proposed tax increase on medical marijuana in Oakland, which has only four dispensaries, was projected to bring in more than $300,000 in 2010.
Meanwhile, marijuana supporters have taken the first official step toward putting the legalization question directly to California voters.
A trio of Northern California criminal defense attorneys on Wednesday submitted a pot legalization measure to the state attorney general's office, which must provide an official summary before supporters can begin gathering signatures.
About 443,000 signatures are necessary to place The Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act on the November 2010 ballot. The measure would repeal all state and local laws that criminalize marijuana.
FALAFEL GOODFORYA
* 2 Cups fresh ground hempseeds
* 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
* 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
* 1 Tbsp minced garlic
* 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
* 1/4 cup good olive oil
* 1 beaten egg (optional)
* water (1-3 Tbsp)
* flour, salt, pepper
* Louisiana Hot Sauce
* oil for frying
Mix hemp seeds with peppers, onion, garlic, parsley and toss in olive oil. Add hot sauce to taste. Add egg and/or water until mixture is wet enough to shape into balls. Squeeze together. The egg may keep mixture together better but is not necessary. Roll in flour with salt and pepper to taste. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Gently brown hempseed balls on all sides for 8 to ten minutes. Serve alone with dip, or in pita pockets with garlic yogurt sauce and a little sliced onion, cucumber, lettuce.
SILVIA’S HEMP SEED TREATS
* 2 tbsp sucanat (organic cane sugar)
* 1 tbsp water
* 1/8 cup maple syrup
* 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
* 1 cup hemp seeds
* 1 cup sesame seeds
* 1 cup sunflower seeds
* 1/4 cup chopped cashew nuts
Use a double boiler. In top pot mix first three ingredients until sucanat has dissolved Add brown rice syrup, seeds and nuts Mix well until seeds are coated with sweetener Pour into baking pan and press flat Refrigerate overnight Cut into squares before serving.
More Assistants added to the MRDG Tea Party
Aussie set-pieces shatter England
England failed to cope with Australia's set-piece routines as they suffered a 4-0 defeat at the women's Champions Trophy tournament in Sydney.
The Hockeyroos went ahead through Susie Gilbert's 13th minute penalty corner and Casey Eastham forced home a rebound to double the lead.
Gilbert netted her second after England's Kate Walsh had to go off for treatment for a cut above her left eye.
And as rain poured down, Hope Munro added a fourth to cap a decisive win.
England, ranked eighth in the world, began the tournament with an encouraging 2-2 draw against Olympic gold medallists the Netherlands but then suffered 3-1 defeats by Germany and Argentina.
They were looking to bounce back against a young Australia squad but although Gilbert was only just off target in the first half, they were unable to create sufficient chances to put the hosts on the back foot.
"We haven't played that well here. Our core skills are nowehere near where they need to be, and Australia rolled us over," coach Danny Kerry admitted.
Walsh, who returned in the second half despite needing three stitches, said the players were "really, really gutted" by the result.
"We need to go home and work hard - today was a bit of a kick up the backside," she added.
England have two games remaining - a final pool match against China on Saturday and then the fifth-sixth place play-off against the same opponents the following day.
Regardless of England's final placing in this tournament, participation in the 2010 tournament has already been guaranteed.
This is an old news report, I remember seeing the KELCO harvest boats when I was a commercial fisherman in San Diego during the 80's.
RONI GALGANO / Union-Tribune
Paul Freitas transported a craneload of kelp from a harvestor to a mill at ISP's plant in Barrio Logan. The plant, which harvests 30,000 to 40,000 tons of kelp annually, will close next year after 76 years in San Diego.
Managers from ISP told the plant's 135 employees this week that operations will be moved early next year to Scotland, where ISP has another production facility.
Kelco, as it was once called, grew up alongside San Diego's tuna industry in the late 1920s, harvesting brown seaweed, or kelp, and extracting the algin that is used in countless pharmaceutical, household and food products.
"I feel like this is one more piece of a really nice community unraveling," said Paul Dayton, a professor of marine ecology, specializing in kelp at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dayton said he was "profoundly saddened" to hear that the San Diego plant was closing.
Workers at the plant seemed stunned yesterday.
"I'm sad that this is happening," said Dale Glantz, a marine biologist who started as a diver for the company 27 years ago. "This has been my life."
Another worker compared it with the death of an old friend.
"I started here as a deck hand," ship captain Jack Sickler said. "Been here for 37 years."
Kelp is harvested by ships that comb the waters off Point Loma and La Jolla. Giant conveyor belts stretch from the stern of the ships into the water, threshing the kelp that lies within four feet of the ocean's surface.
EARLY 1930S
Workers off the coast of Point Loma hand harvested kelp during the Depression in the early 1930s. Point Loma has a "kelp forest" that stretches for 10 miles.
In recent years, the kelp-harvesting business has been hurt by a rise in the cost of fuel, labor and raw materials, site manager Paul Altamirano said. The biggest blow came in recent months with rate increases for the company's water and sewage service. ISP's sewage fees rose from $1.3 million to roughly $2.8 million after new rates were introduced in 2004, Altamirano said.
"Our Scotland facility pays one-20th of the costs we pay," Altamirano said. "We're competing with manufacturing facilities in places that don't have the same environmental regulations we have, and they have lower cost structures."
The water and sewer rate hikes were mandated by the state, said Michael Scahill, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Wastewater Department. The San Diego City Council approved new rate rules in 2004, which apportioned bills according to usage and the treatments required to clean a company's wastewater.
1940S
Technology improved in the 1940s, when kelp collection was done mechanically. Still, conveyor belts on the bow slowed the boat's speed. This ship, El Rey, was donated to the state of California as the first vessel in Mission Beach's "Wreck Alley" diving site.
"This is not something where could give a discount to one person and not to another," Scahill said. "We're following the letter of the law."
Labor costs at other kelp-harvesting facilities – primarily in China and Japan – pale in comparison, Altamirano said.
The majority of the company's employees are union workers whose average wages range from $40,000 to $50,000 a year. Pay for salaried professionals, including marine biologists, food scientists and quality control specialists, starts at roughly $65,000 a year.
Union workers and salaried employees will meet with the company next week to discuss severance packages, outplacement services, and transferring jobs to other ISP facilities, Altamirano said.
The company said it will abandon the expansive kelp beds in the ocean off San Diego, which it leases from state of California.
"What happens to the kelp beds now is up to Mother Nature, it's not up to us any more," Glantz said.
1960S
By the 1960s Kelco, as it was then called, put conveyor belts on the stern of the ship allowing for quicker kelp collecting. The Kelmar can harvest 100 tons of kelp in less than one hour. It can carry 400 tons of kelp in its bin.
Kelp is the world's fastest growing marine plant. Like bamboo, it grows two feet every day and is considered highly sustainable. Kelp sprouts from the sea floor and grows from 25 to 70 feet through the water. It entangles itself at the ocean's surface to form dense canopies, or beds that can stretch out 200 feet.
Algin is sold as a powder and added to products including Velveeta cheese, Corona beer, Eclipse breath strips and Mrs. Fields cookies.
Algin makes ice cream's texture feel less like ice crystals and more like cream. It keeps spice suspended in salad dressings. It coats paper to block ink from sinking through. It removes the brush strokes in a fresh coat of paint.
The Kelp Co. began harvesting kelp and extracting algin in National City in 1929. In the 1930s, San Diego State football players did much of the harvesting, using the laborious work as a form of summer training.
The company's plant moved to Barrio Logan in the early 1940s as the country prepared for the second World War and the Navy wanted its National City real estate.
More than 90 percent of the kelp harvested off the shores of California is handled by ISP, which processes 30,000 to 40,000 tons of kelp off San Diego County annually.
"They were very environmentally aware," said Dayton, the Scripps researcher. "This is one of the few businesses that harvests a wild marine resource and hasn't destroyed it. They have sustainably harvested it. They do it right."
In the earliest years of kelp harvesting, algin was used as a fertilizer and in explosive powder. During World War I, there were 1,500 kelp companies operating off the California coast. But after the war ended in 1918 and the explosives contracts ran out, most of those companies shut down.
Today, ISP is one of the leading producers of algin products. Headquartered in New Jersey, ISP operates plants around the world. After shutting down the San Diego plant – which it acquired in 1999 – it will focus its algin processing in Scotland.
It will import several species of kelp as a dry product from subcontractors or through joint-ventures in kelp-rich countries such as Chile, Tasmania, Iceland and South Africa.
Not me, I was out in the garden picking strawberries
Fast-growing kelp invades San Francisco Bay
AP – Steve Lonhart, senior scientist of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary removes a strand of Undaria, … By JASON DEAREN, Associated Press Writer Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jul 11, 3:04 am ET
SAN FRANCISCO – A fast-growing kelp from the Far East has spread along the California coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco Bay, worrying marine scientists and outpacing eradication efforts.
In May, scientists for the first time found the invasive seaweed called Undaria pinnatifida clinging to docks at a yacht harbor in San Francisco Bay, fouling boat hulls and pier pilings.
"I was walking in San Francisco Marina, and that's when I saw the kelp attached to a boat," said Chela Zabin, a biologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Tiburon, Calif.
"It was 6-foot long, and there is nothing here in the bay that gets to that size," Zabin said. "I didn't want to believe what it was, it's depressing."
Before Zabin's discovery, ocean scientists believed the northward spread of the invasive kelp had been stopped at Monterey Bay. But last year, federal funding used to buy equipment for volunteer divers dried up, reducing the number of people working on eradication.
The seaweed — known as wakame by Japanese food lovers and used in miso soup — was first discovered in Los Angeles Harbor in 2000.
A year later, the kelp, which can grow an inch a day as it creates dense underwater forests, showed up at Catalina Island, off the Los Angeles coastline, and Monterey Bay.
Studies have concluded the kelp was likely introduced to California by accidental transport on shipments of oysters, vessel hulls and people who cultivated it in the region for cooking.
On Thursday, four divers spent hours at Pier 40 on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf peeling pieces of kelp off of the docks, yachts and pier pilings. But few believe the effort removed all traces of the seaweed. Scientists will be checking monthly for signs of further spread.
"On any invasion, the window of opportunity to successfully eradicate that species is usually narrow," said Steve Lonhart, one of the divers and a senior scientist with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
"You want to do it as soon as it becomes established. The longer you wait, the less chance for success," he said.
The seaweed concerns marine biologists because it can damage fragile ocean ecosystems by choking off the sunlight needed by native kelps. The native kelp forests provide key habitat for otters, fish and other marine life.
The seaweed spreads by releasing millions of spores that can be dispersed by currents in the open ocean, but in a protected marina lighter currents could slow its reach. While it is native to Japan, China and Korea, studies have found the kelp in the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Coast of Europe, New Zealand and Argentina.
"If it's restricted to two docks in the marinas in San Francisco Bay, we'll have a chance," Zabin said. "If it's spread beyond those places, it may be a lost cause."
Because of its wide range, it has been nominated as among 100 of the world's worst invaders, according to the Global Invasive Species Database.
Though Thursday's dive may remove the immediate threat to the bay, Lonhart believes they are fighting a losing battle against a persistent pest.
"In 10 years I'm guessing Undaria is going to be all over the place. It's not a problem getting smaller in scope, it's getting worse and worse," he said.
Scientists say the waters from Baja California to British Columbia are the perfect temperature for Undaria to spread even further up the Pacific Coast of the United States.
For about six years, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration had organized monthly volunteer diving efforts to yank the stubborn kelp out of Monterey harbor to help root out the kelp.
The program helped, but it failed to stop the kelp from entering San Francisco Bay, scientists say.
"This is not well studied enough, and we're really quite nervous about it getting out in the ecosystem," Zabin said. "It will attach to about anything."
It's nice to see Cliff....
....still watching the Trainwreck.
Nice job on the patent...
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080210632
Good luck, should your last post be corrected to Linn Energy, LLC (LINE)?
MRDGE came up as half the cost of MRDG on my search yesterday, than when I started looking the SEC documents and notice preferred stock issue. Looking for the codes to see the meaning of (E), could just be a SEC failure to FILE Code.
I'm sure the TRANSFER AGENT would know how many preferred shares have been converted into common shares.
The LaSalle Play would be to buy the preferred shares prior to 2010 conversion.