Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
OT:
Economist humor -
1) President Truman is reputed to have wanted a one handed economist.
2) If you lay all the Economists in the world end to end, they still won't reach a conclusion.
3) ... Results 1 - 10 of about 1,590,000 for economist jokes. (0.18 seconds)
There are a host of studies that show that screening - checking for non-emergent conditions - is only minimally useful in finding 'soon to be emergent' conditions.
The result isn't surprising when you consider how rarely people get 'freshly' sick, and when they do, they go to the Doc on a non-screening visit. As a consequence of the experience of rarely getting sick, younger people tend to not carry health care coverage, because it is seriously not cost effective. There's a 47 million uninsured number batted about, and while I don't remember what I found from CMS, a big chunk of them were 18-35 years old.
Regardless, I bet they bill LG for a screening visit anyhow
rr
O/T You do have alternatives:
- "No Hands Off" Policy
- Cherry 2000
- http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=8651
- from a distance ...
Back to our regularly scheduled paint drying / grass growing observation day.
rr
O/T I'm sure ... work with a local surgeon, who does a lot of prostate work, and his advice for maintaining prostate health is for men to have an orgasm as frequently as they can arrange. No, he wasn't kidding, either.
YMMV, as it were ...
rr
Actually on topic, I think, if the interest is in market psychology. It will require a 'scare the hell out of them' event, and that's usually a good buy point.
Now, for O/T, lets talk about trans fats in the food supply causing virtually all modern epidemic disease in the US.
Or, for another O/T, perhaps the lack of 'cure' verses 'treatment' for said diseases.
I'm not sure any more that The Matrix is fiction.
rr
aj,
You wrote:
"One should hope HFTOM prevails if we are to have any control over our economy during the next 5-years."
Perhaps. One side effect scenario has to do with health care costs. If US health care costs could be plausibly thought to be moving towards rest of world levels, there alone is a prospect of multi-hundred billion $US per year savings, that would be useful towards US balance of payments leveling, and maybe one or two other currency saving things.
If we could "lose control" enough to convince the politicians to scare the hell out of their constituents enough to get the legislative and regulatory work done for that savings, it might be worth it.
It might also be the event for the market heart attack in 2008/9.
Smaller scale savings likely is the spending on Iraq / Afganistan.
Just wishful thinking, maybe.
rr
Sorry, having issues with tables here ... hope this is easier / possible to digest.
Market return is bid/ask price change, NAV return is whatever the fund reports change.
Market Return % NAV Return % Market Return % NAV Return %
(as of 08/31/2007) (as of 08/31/2007) (as of 06/30/2007) (as of 06/30/2007)
1-Month 0.78% 0.47% -3.29% -3.22%
3-Month -4.36% -4.55% 2.78% -4.55%
6-Month 3.68% 3.41% 7.97% 8.07%
Year-to-date 6.78% 6.58% 7.97% 8.07%
1-Year 0.00% 0.00% -- --
3-Year 0.00% 0.00% -- --
5-Year 0.00% 0.00% -- --
10-Year 0.00% 0.00% -- --
Since Inception 19.41% 19.32% 20.74% 20.98%
The data comes from my TD Ameritrade account, XRO Performance Data.
Trailing Total Returns
Market Return %
(as of 08/31/2007) NAV Return %
(as of 08/31/2007) Market Return %
(as of 06/30/2007) NAV Return %
(as of 06/30/2007)
1-Month +0.78% +0.47% -3.29% -3.22%
3-Month -4.36% -4.55% +2.78% -4.55%
6-Month +3.68% +3.41% +7.97% +8.07%
Year-to-date +6.78% +6.58% +7.97% +8.07%
This doesn't look all that great ...
rr
It may very well be ... I just use / reuse screws that come out, and I've never really looked for anything specific.
Once I get my computer base life back in order, it's on my list of mysteries to work thru. But for now, I've got 325 email messages, and a TON of stuff to get re-installed so I can use it to deal with a mountain of paperwork ...
Not to mention $100 + of rebate bucks thru Newegg ...
Thanks,
rr
Semi-conscious among lots of reasons ...
I just took the floppy out - except for that Go&^%&^%ned F6 thing, I have zero reason to have it suck power. My working opinion is that: 1) Need a floppy? Hang it out the side 2) ALL my floppy drives work. Let's hope VISTA is a good idea before I need a floppy again !!!
I cannot try a different tray. I've probably got some drive braces I might try, but see reason #1.
Got to go deal with Nero 7 and it's 128MB 'update'.
Bruce, seriously, Thanks.
rr
oh, and by the way ... I put the floppy drive that worked back in the tray back in the bay and now, it doesn't work.
WTF about the tray / bay mount ...???
rr
Bruce,
Thanks. Newegg did REALLY well on this order -- and I mean great.50 hours, start to finish.
PC PitStop score: 3620
http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress.asp?id=8P8LHWBWZ7VSRAZV
Now, to get a whole bunch of apps reinstalled ...
rr
Took the tray out of the bay, then the drive out of the tray.
Drive 1: Brandy new Samsung floppy drive - didn't appear in drive listing, can't figure out how to read the POST discoveries, because the drives roll up off the top of the screen.
Drive 2: Umpteen year old Alps floppy, captured from an old WixXX machine. Still didn't appear in drive listing, but felt different in my hand. Fed it the BIOS update diskette, and the BIOS found the drive, read the files, updated itself. Yeah!!!
Started Windows installer, pressed F6, swore my allegiance to The Dark Side, fed it the RAID driver diskette, and it took it. Formatting now.
(*&^$%#^*&)($% computers.
More later, after I get back from Date Nite, and fight with this thing some more ...
Thanks,
rr
I'll keep Gremlins on the list until after I find another reason.
Another possibility - a subtle short between the floppy drive and the tray holding it. I do admit, my first thought when I start this again, is to take the floppy drive out of the tray, and just kind of let it hang over the side of the case.
For no other reason, than ease of swapping the cables 12 times ...
TGIFF,
rr
I need to verify, while awake, that the BIOS sees the floppy drive, and that it is enabled (I certainly enabled it, don't recall if I saw it in the POST screen).
I have at least 2 machines with floppy drives at home, and I'll make certain the disks can be read.
I have 3 floppy drives in my house that aren't in service. I intend to try them all.
I have at least 4 floppy drive cables, that are either new or have worked in the past, and I'll try all of them, across all of the drives, too.
Here's my list of "what the problem is" might be: bad drive, bad cable, upside down / twisted cable, bad floppy media, gremlins ...
That's all I can think of. I'll be home in a few hours, and will start to shoot at trouble.
Thank you for the help, and if you think of anything else, please pass it along.
rr
Floppy cables are center slotted, both ends, as are the drive and mobo connection.
I think it showed in the POST, but really, it was late by then, and I don't have a clear memory.
I'm thinking it's the case, and how the tray holds the drive (5 inch bay, floppy screwed to tray, tray into bay). Why that might be the problem, I dunno but ... clues needed, ya' know?
Thanks,
rr
Speaking of Gremlins ...
Bought this board ...
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
This floppy drive ...
SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LBL1
and a whole bunch of other stuff to replace a flaky Intel mobo 945GNT based machine. Among other things, I couldn't get the floppy drive (and I tried 2 mobo's, 3 cables, and 2 drives) to work.
All in a Lian Li V1100B case.
Anyhow, I put the Gigabyte system into the Lian Li case (NEW parts: mobo, cpu, memory, DVD-ROM, power supply, video card), powered it up, and it wouldn't post. Took out everything except the CPU, cleared / shorted out the CMOS, got 'no memory' beeps. Put the memory back in different slots (I'm worried about that) got 'no video card beeps. Put the video card back, got to BIOS setup. Yeah baby ...
Put the BIOS flash floppy in the floppy drive - can't access it. Put my backup floppy (I made 2) in - can't access it.
Ok, well, I'll flash BIOS later ...
Setup the BIOS to RAID the 2 SATA drives. No issues.
Boot from the WinMediaCenter CD1 installer, press F6 to have it load the SATA RAID drivers ... can't access the A: drive.
It's 1am, and I went to bed.
Floppy drive light goes on, there's a bit of a sound (unless that was my blood pressure mixed with whiskey), and it doesn't work.
Same case, 2 separate sets of guts, multiple floppy drives and cables ... I'm kind of looking for floppy drive troubleshooting clues.
Got any?
Thanks,
rr
I suggest you follow the steps and fix the BIOS EXACTLY as described.
That little plastic arm / clip on the Ethernet cable is probably not rated for constant use. I usually wind up busting it off if I plug/unplug too often. That's not good either.
Computers are interestingly designed mechanical things ...
rr
Bruce,
Thanks for what you do here.
My Gigabyte board, et al, arrive today ...
rr
People who trade have a host of technical systems to determine sell points. Some of them are extremely simple, some the opposite. All of them depend on the trader being in tune with the market and signal. Good luck with that.
Trailing stops are reassurance against great loss, but not much more. The Math: Invest $90, have it go up $10. Congratulations. How much of your gain would you give back depends on the size of the trailing stop. At 10%, you're out even. At much lower, you probably wouldn't have made the $10 to start with.
My current approach is to buy markets, not individual company equities, and invest, not trade.
I've been wrong before, and I assure you, the next time will not be the last, either. YMMV.
rr
Invoice 28335299
Your Sales Order Number:88411527
Order Date:08/31/2007
Arrived today at 1:49pm ... and, the UPS guy left it at the wrong house.
I'm just sayin ...
rr
I've spent $$thousands$$ at Newegg, for lots of stuff, since they opened for business. It is my first place to shop, and almost always first choice to buy. Loved them yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
I'm by no means an unhappy customer. When I've had issues, they've been responsive and helpful. Sometimes, amazingly so.
Nonetheless, the time from click the form to clunk on my doorstep is sometimes longer than I'd prefer.
It is what it is.
rr
3 day delivery is how long it'll take the carrier to get it to you, once they decide to move it.
It takes NewEgg a business day, or two, to prep the order to ship. It takes the carrier three days, or so. If there's a weekend in there, or maybe a holiday, 2+3+3 = more than a week.
I order stuff Thu or Fri (East Coast delivery) and it's rarely on my doorstep before Wednesday next.
rr
It is important for AMD, very important, because they need SOMETHING competitive with Intel's lineup.
I guess AMD could give them away, but that doesn't really solve the issue.
Maybe they could package them in tranches and sell them as CBA (chip backed assets)?
rr
If my first born only cost me $300 I'd be SO far ahead of the game ...
Thanks. Why?
rr
It just doesn't seem to be my month. Woke up this moring, pressed the power button, and insetad of the XP startup screen, I got a chip on my Intel 945GNT mobo to glow an awesome shade of orange red, with acrid fumes to match. Flames ... cool !! Don't know of any other damage.
I'm considering 3 alternatives:
1) Find a mobo that'll take my 830D P4, and just fix what's fried.
2) Replace the mobo and CPU.
3) 2, with Vista as a kicker.
I'm inclined towards #3. Mobo's in question: Intel DQ35JO versus Asus Striker. Asus will cost me $300 more. Is it worth it?
Thanks,
rr
Please allow me to complain in public about HP service and support. My wife has a Compaq Presario notebook, and one day, the wireless radio just "quit". Front light = no radio, Dev Mgr = no BroadCom device, Event Log = "well, it was here, and now seems gone".
I have paid for "overnight service". Learning #1: They just mean shipping. Round trip was almost 3 weeks.
I called TechSupport #1. We had language issues. Mine is English, and his is ... well, not. He refused to set me up with hardware repair unless I first restored my hard drive to factory settings. This was after 4 shots at software / driver updates. Learning #2: Their techs don't want to get machines back.
I called TechSupport #2. Using my learnings, I badgered her into setting up the hardware repair. Learning #3: Be polite, persistent, and don't take "no" for an answer.
Box arrived, shipped it, waited. Got a letter a week later saying the 2 week delivery they expected wasn't going to happen. Why not call in and ask "When?". Learning #4: Don't actually expect a quick answer, to your call, from the Tech, or from HP.
It took them 4 days to get a delivery date, and another day after that to get it correct. Learning #5: They'll tell you a lot to get you off the phone.
Box arrived, opened it, and the radio was dead. But, they did say they replaced the mobo, LCD, and keyboard. Called TechSupport #3. He walked me thru re-seating the radio in the socket on the mobo. Worked as I got off the phone. Learning #6: Don't expect much help from HP.
Wife picked the laptop up off the table, carried it to the sofa, and the radio went dead. I haven't opened it up since, as life has been busy.
Learning #7: Do not buy HP stuff.
Good luck,
rr
Found a guilty party - IE trapped Flash Player, 9.0b I think, crashing and burning.
Took it out (along with the very persistent Google Toolbar) and updated it to 9.0d.
After a few minutes, no crashes.
rr
Well, lemme see ...
The price for Windows 2003 Server is lists for $1K - $3K, depending. The cost of the software is probably zero, and the service required may be expensive.
Windows Home Server is code-based on W2K+3S. It runs on the lowest end hardware you can imagine, and bottlenecks on I/O (Drives and network connection). Mine was running on the lowest end box I could buy from my whitebox supplier.
Then it stands to reason that RIMM can price the 'home server' however they'd like, because their marginal cost is like everyone else's - zero plus service / support.
rr
Interesting to see how it works with Windows Home Server. I think that concept has got a LOT of legs, and the software is already RTM, and available to system builders now.
rr
Ah, back to FireFox lockups.
I switched to IExploder for browsing, and have had a remarkable few days without lockups.
Until tonight. When I had IE throw random exceptions and ask me if I wanted to go into the debugger (translation - it crashed, and like a good machine, wanted to know if it should run my software development environment debugger). Twice it happened ...
Sp, now, I've kept to IE, but I've turned the popup blocker off. CNN may soon have it's ass kicked out my door, as I do not want Netflix, or a new mortgage.
More as I guess it,
rr
O/T - And, I got it into a real post, on topic !!!
TGIFF,
rr
There's a new White Stripes CD (Icky Thump, recommended), and the last song on it is called Effect and Cause. From that ...
well you can't take the effect
and make it the cause
i didn't rob a bank
cos you made up the law
blame me for robbing peter
don't you blame paul
can't take the effect
and make it the cause
Why did BNP Paribas halt withdrawals (for three investment funds)?
"On August 7 BNP Paribas suspended the funds, which had made investments linked to risky US subprime home loans, because of difficulties in valuing them"
Oh, my, like it was possible to value them the day before? Week before? Month before?
But, now ...
French banking giant BNP Paribas said on Thursday it plans to unblock three of its investment funds, whose suspension earlier in the month sparked turmoil on global stock markets.
On August 7 BNP Paribas suspended the funds, which had made investments linked to risky US subprime home loans, because of difficulties in valuing them.
In a statement the bank said the "conditions had been met" for valuing them and that the funds would be unblocked on August 28 and 30.
"BNP Paribas Investment Partners has drawn up a methodology allowing, as it committed itself at the outset to do, to resume the process of subcriptions and redemptions," the subsidiary said in a statement.
here's the news link. There's lots of them, too
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070823181745.eb1luz9s.html
Now, I'm not a forensic accountant, but I played one at a big Corporation, but that's just BS.
And, while I haven't seen much about the ECB, all the Fed did was REPO's, and they've been pretty good about draining. Hell, M3, uncalculatable at an affordable cost, is pretty flat for a long time now.
I still think that I don't know what, if any, event caused all this to happen. All that sub-prime sludge is still around, just like it has been for a year or three, and just like it will be a year or three from now.
No news == real ripoff.
AIMHO,
rr
with all due respect to LG ...
Think like a criminal.
What particular event caused the credit markets to go into lockdown? None.
Where were the index numbers at the time of the lockdown? All (most) time highs.
How many hedge funds were REAL SHORT and needed to escape the trap? Lots - significant numbers.
How do you get inventory to come out at lower costs? Start a panic, maybe ...
I don't know, but I'm just sayn' ...
rr
Thank you for the response.
It seems to happen when FireFox is open, and with RoadRunner, that makes me on-line. Indeed, I'm rarely on the machine w/o a browser running.
I'm a paid / grandfathered iHub member, so I never see ad's here. I have tried Flash, 3rd party cookie, and popup blockers. I have my suspicions that all the crap people throw at me via the browser isn't being handled well by FireFox. OTOH, IE's been alive and well for me for 24 hours or so now.
As for Sony, my hatred of their products goes back a long time, AND I still got rootkitted from the first Velvet Revolver CD. That took a while to figure out, but I killed it.
So far, abstinence from FireFox is the only thing I've found that works.
The hunt continues.
rr
From my federal credit union
Term Minimum Balance
to Open and Obtain APY Dividend
Rate Annual
Percentage Yield
31 day $1,000 0.995% 1.000%
3 month $500 2.967% 3.000%
4 month $500 4.745% 4.830%
6 month - regular & variable $500 3.552% 3.600%
9 month $500 4.812% 4.900%
12 month $500 3.601% 3.650%
Just this AM I bought 4 and 9 month certificates in amounts big enough to pay next year's property taxes.
I've done the Google thing on many variants of FireFox lockup, and there are a LOT of them.
My current working opinion: There's something inherent to FireFox 2.00x that causes issues with either or both video and sound card drivers.
What I lack is, how the heck to unbug such a thing?
So, I've switched back to IE, and so far, so good. Well, so far, no crashes / lockups.
Thanks again for your willingness to help. If I have any success, I'll certainly let you know.
rr
No, it did not lockup after all that.
On the other hand, shortly after I did all that, and posted about it, it locked up.
I'm using IE now, cause I just don't trust FF. IE hasn't hung on me ... knock on something.
rr
OK, ran CCleaner, defrag'd and chkdsk. Nothing terribly interesting about any of that. It went quick, though.
rr
Ack, but that'll need to wait till I get home.
Damned income maintenance thing.
Later, and thank you,
rr