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Chartnotes - Text Tool Update
I was advised by support (and I have tested it) that they have updated the treatment of "text boxes" so that like with other shapes, you can "SELECT" and "CTRL-D" to replicate the text box.
I wanted to show something and created a box with a big "A". However, you could not copy that and it took a bit of work to make a bunch of them.
So now you can create the text - size/color you want, then replicate it a bunch of times, followed by updating the text to read "B" "C" "D".
Excellent stuff! Great support and development team at Stock Charts.
Blake
FEI? What a bunch of junk!
Huge Improvement - Exclude GROUPS and FAVORITES!
I put in a request this past spring and they forwarded it to the programmers and on Aug 23rd they made a post in the What's New:
So I heard 450,000 iPADs were sold yesterday.
So I guess that means 450,000 previous iPOD owners now are the proud owners of an iPAD.
Bloody joke. (okay, pun intended)
Re: Sexton O Blake, Scan math functions etc…
Belated thank you for your last reply Quasi. I fell sick shortly after and was not able to reply.
Regarding the absolute - I saw the page at one point but somehow overlooked ABSVAL - but now I know.
Thanks for the other links as well. I like hearing Gary B. Saturday mornings on Bulls and Bears when they let him talk charts.
(though as we know most non-believers think charting is voodoo and most only want to hear if you [as the guest analyst] would buy the junk they are asking about, or not and why).
Also good to see my original question posted on the Blog - great education for everyone.
Cheers Quasi!
SoB
Re; Sexton O Blake, Scan for "close" near SMA50…
Crossing SMA
I am interested on how one might scan for stocks in which the close is at or near a SMA value (say 50d moving average).
The basic engine allows you to enter "X" to denote "crossing".
Advanced shows the following:
[daily sma(50,daily close) crosses daily close]
I ran this and it came up with stocks in which the range of the day crossed the SMA,50. (e.g. AAI). Crossing is not exactly what I am looking for.
Looking for two cases:
1) Where the CLOSE is within 50 cents - either ABOVE or BELOW the SMA,50.
(so if the SMA,50 is $20.00 - show me where the close is between $19.50 and $20.50)
2) Where the CLOSE is:
a) between X and Y "above" the SMA,50
ie Where the daily close is between 0 and 50 ABOVE the close
or
b) Between X and Y "below" the SMA,50
ie where the daily close is between 0 and 50 BELOW the close
I know the engine can't do high end math and the school doesn't seem to elaborate on these kinds of examples.
I am not interested where the stock traveled during the day.
Thanks in advance all!
blake
PS: I am unable to search the forum so I apologize if this has been posted already.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one here but us ghosts I guess. But I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2010!
Also, FWIW, on December 31, Paul Kangas, the great host for the past 30yrs of Nightly Business Report, retired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kangas
I especially enjoyed his Friday Market Monitor segments and had a smile with his nightly sign offs "I'm Paul Kangas, wishing all of you the best of good buys!".
Hopefully he will have a wonderful retirement, and that the show will continue to provide a great nightly wrap up as it had done with Paul as co-anchor.
Also in December, the deal for Bloomberg to buy Business Week Magazine from McGraw Hill completed. The editor in chief was changed as well as their tech guy (Steve Wildstrom).
At any rate, cheers to all of us!
iSoB
One word Frankie - Nanotechnology.
Well most of my shit is slowly moving toward where I bot it a few months ago (assuming it was as low as it could go). But overall it is a bunch of pushing rope and the winner it seems is the broker.
And still, the Caramel Macchiato's and "1/2 sweet" "decaf" Latte's are flowing at SBUX ... not much different than in the movie YOU GOT MAIL actually - like nothing has happened. And that is at a number of SBUX I frequent.
I spent some time reviewing their drinks previously, and learnt how to pronounce them. (I said "sid-a-mo" instead of "sidam-o" DOH!) My habits have changed from going with my buddy, Kastelco, to Tim's every day - to going to SBUX once every two days now typically. And I always just get a bold grande coffee. Otherwise I bring in my own swill from home and just warm it up.
Funny - yesterday (Apr 22) they had a "bring your coffee mug or tumbler and get a free Pikes Place". Based on Oith Day - the theory is you save a cup. If you go there (I hear Tim's is similar) and bring your tumbler you save $0.10 per drink. Well here is the short and sweet skinny:
1) Today the woman WARMED the tumbler first with hot water. That is a waste of money and defeats the entire purpose. But as I think about it - it is required. The tumbler isn't hot - and takes a bit to warm it up. Their coffee would be "cooled" down by the tumbler otherwise. ie paper cup is better for instant warmth but poor for sustained warmth in the winter
2) I measured what I would expect in a 16oz paper cup with their 16oz tumbler. Guess what? As soon as you put the lid down you lose a bunch. Therefore, you are actually not "saving 10 cents" but probably losing 20 or 30 cents on the lost coffee you are being short changed on.
I will stick with paper. And they ran out of Pike's Place - so I got Sumatra which I prefer anyways. (Since 1971 they have had "House" and for whatever reason, have removed that and now are selling Pike's Place. Akin to say MCD replacing Le Big Mac with something else. Insane!)
Meanwhile, MCD has a 2 week promotion. Apparently yet another new coffee and it is free - nope don't have to spend money to get a "breakfast this" plus a "medium that".
Roots had a 25% off everything coupon - and the wife used it.
Sams as I said went tits up - and of course, Wallymart on a Saturday night still has a full parking lot.
Still fear a giant meltdown in the credit card arena - which has been in the news lately.
My "co-chair" on council had a death in the family - (though when she found out the aunt was in critical condition) which forced her to cut short her trip to Montreal ... drove back to TO - picked up her brother, then they both hauled it lickety split to Atlanta. She happened to go to Myrtle Beach on the way back for a few days and then came home. My strong personal feelings for the US come from going down there every year with my family. Dad had a camper - so off we went for 3-4 weeks - up and down the eastern seaboard - and Myrtle Beach was one of the trips. My eldest, Sexton Jr., is 10 and yet to travel anywhere. After speaking with my co-chair, I made a firm put man on the moon decision. A haul to get my shit together and do it, but ... we are getting our passports, and taking that Hyundai Santa Fe (with 3 years left on the warranty) - on a trip to the US this summer.
PERIOD.
Recession ... depression or otherwise. There are times when you just have to forge ahead - regardless. And for us, that time is now. (Said another way ... as my good friend, the BSer would say "PARR SCHMARR... :O)")
Anyahoo - hopefully Frankie you will get to read this. I never post at SI (don't know why) and tend to only do so here - like doing it. I am going to miss your banter and the back and forth we have had over the years.
But I am sure, as Alan Freed once said, "it's not goodbye, just good night".
Cheerios Michael!
jeffrey sr.
VIX SchMIX. GM's New Secret Weapon!
I ass|u|me you all have seen the latest game changing vehicle from GM ...
Click 'errrrrrre!
iBlake
Late last week I tip toed into ELD.TO - stopped out under $9 and then yesterday/today it rocketed past what would have been a nice ST hold.
Tip toe my ass.
Blake
Was watching NBR tonight and two things that caught me eye were:
a) AMEX reported credit card default rates rose in February.
What is funny is that on another show a week or two ago, someone loved VISA and suggested basically that unlike regular loans VISA (and other credit card companies) are in a much better position - suggesting that their (short term) loans are somehow contained (or something). I thought it was Grade "A" Calgary Stampede Horse Shit - and AMEX proves this point. All I have been hearing since early 2000 is how much credit card debt people have. Can't people walk away or sell their CC debt to a collection agency who will just negotiate better terms? Utter folly.
Membership may have its privileges but it also comes with a bill that more and more can't afford. American Express, the credit card company that prides itself on steering clear of deadbeats, is seeing a higher percentage of its customers defaulting on their debt, according to numbers released Monday.
The company's net write-offs climbed to 8.7% in February, a big jump from the beginning of the year, when the number was 7.5%. Things may not get better soon: the portion of customers more than 30 days behind on their payments also jumped, to 5.3% from 4.7%.
Full Story
2) Rails Move uP
Bank of America / Merrill issued buy for Union Pacific - feel the volumes for the sector have bottomed out.
Rising volumes certainly is a good indicator of an improving (global) economy. I know Kevin O'Leary on BNN loves most of the shipping (boats) stocks. His feeling is that the credit crunch will prevent companies getting capital to build newer ships, thus keeping the demand for the existing fleet in high demand.
Blakey
... and you can drink coffee at your desk
All fixed in one day?
The BSer wrote:
I see SRS hit my upper 60s today... Gadzooks... amazing 25$ drop... real estate is fixed in the US I guess in just one day :O)
Deflation over... inflation starts tonight LOL
Either that or Pamela just woke up and finds Bobby in the shower - she realizes at that point that Bobby didn't die and pretty much for her part in the show, the entire 8th season never happened.
Oh how we love a good cliffhanger.
iSigh
Of course we have talked about this a bit already - also there is that weeeeeee thing called "supply and demand" that still is embedded in the pricing.
iSoB
Thanks.
I can see where the funds don't track 100% to the S&P assuming they are hedged to the CA$. But bear and bull should track (opposite direction) the same %. Actually based on the value of the bull and it's rise today, it is doing a lot better (up 10%) than the bear version (down more than 10%).
Mentioned to you about USO being a limited partnership. Form mailed to me (owned it in 2007) I have never seen before showing distributions I never received (unless embedded in the pricing - but that is odd). No idea what to do with it. Can't I just lose money in peace?
iSoBnightly
Betapro ETF (2 words chuckle)
SPY +3.75
HSD - HORIZONS BETAPRO S&P 500 BEAR DOWN 5.40
HSU - HORIZONS BETAPRO S&P 500 BULL UP 0.47
Suppose to be 2X the daily - yet why such a difference?
Also the volumes are not always great (too thin) for the direction you are betting on.
iBlake
Assume most know that the Mighty WMT couldn't deal with those cheapo Canucks - closed the Canadian Sams Clubs - most probably signed up in the fall (when it opened); no refunds on membership so they have run away with 1/2 year membership. Letter confirms we can go to the US Sam's Clubs.
Ahhhhhh PASS.
I stop reading for a couple of years and look what happens. LOL.
Hey Frank welcome back.
Well it is my last few hours on earth as "Slim, trim and thirty.". At 12:00am I become "Fat, flabby and forty." (except for the forty, I was already the other two in my teens). (KastelCo aka the Great BSer knows all too well) Consolation prize maybe: Born on Valentine's Day - I am made for lovvvvveeee ...
In Richmond Hill they built a Costco a couple of years ago and usually I go Friday nights after I drop the widdle ones at Spanish (6pm-830p). Since opening, up to about 8 months ago, the parking lot wasn't that full - compared to other Costcos. Then it started to become really busy - and now - went there a couple of weeks ago and same situation as it was 8 months ago. Places like that buying the quantity of fresh food - need the people to move that stuff. I have seen a VERY bad roll out from Sams - you can go there today and see 200 containers of Sour Cream with an expiry of Sunday.
I was at another Costco at 5pm the middle of the week - again I know the normal number of cars at that time, and boy I certainly was able to park real close. Wife has also noticed is it a ghost town out there at most stores.
Yet there is talk about CC spending in the US remaining robust. Is that just those out of work relying on the 30+ cards they have or true spending and paying off?
Meanwhile, I was blown away a few meetings ago at our other school's council meeting - my oldest Sexy Blake Jr., started in grade 5 and is at a 5-8 school, vs. my other Blake who is in grade 1 - and of which I am doing my 2nd run as Co-Chair of council. A vice principal was talking about syncing his new iPhone with Outlook. I said to myself - has EVERYONE gone fucking mad? Excluding the one time cost, and the fact that it is a 3 year contract [read: $400 cancel fee], you are paying north of $90/mth. Meanwhile I have ditched Ted (RIP) and went with Koodo in the hopes to get to about $35/mth.
So I dunno what to make of it - at my work the quantity of work was sufficient to keep me at peace - but they have lost a few major clients and now out of no where (with a $1K/mth car loan) I seriously think my hours will be cut or eliminated in the near future. Since the middle of last year I have been planning to cut my expenses - phone, internet, gas bills etc. Of course after you do that, they all start raising their rates.
The coup de grâce? The toll highway in Ontario, the Government leased to the private sector for 99 years, felt their toll increases were just not enough - now at about 18cents/km. No No - we must screw people over by charging them an additional $0.25/trip in addition to the tolls. Not big money on the surface, but based on my 2 exit short trips to and from work, that is about a 25% increase in my tolls. Good timing.
And one more POV, if that weren't enough. KastelCo and I saw a guy (lets say he is a nut) - who plays the air drums at the local Tims near work. We'd go in at lunch and see him there with a coffee playing away. A few weeks ago I saw the guy at Starbucks doing the same shtick. During the worst economic times in decades - and this is the time the guy moves up to Starbucks!
Gosh the whole world has gone crazy!
But hey, Frankie is back ... say no more, nudge nudge, wink wink.
iBlake
Apple boots $1,000 app from App Store
Posted by Marguerite Reardon
08/08/08
The $1,000 application on Apple's App Store, which lets people know how rich you are simply for buying it, has been removed without explanation, making some developers wonder what it takes for Apple to pull the plug.
The "I am Rich" application developed by Armin Heinrich, a German software developer, does nothing more than display a picture of a red ruby on the iPhone screen. After initially approving the $1,000 application, Apple removed it from the store this week. Eight people managed to dish out $1,000 to buy the useless application, generating about $5,600 in revenue for Heinrich and $2,400 for Apple, which collects 30 percent of each sale on the App Store, according to a blog on the Los Angeles Times Web site.
Developer Heirnrich told the LA Times in an e-mail that he had no idea why Apple had pulled his application, since he was not aware of violating any rules of the software store. He claims that Apple has not provided an explanation as to why the application was removed.
I suspect the application was removed because Apple was afraid of being sued. Some people had already complained on the Web that they had clicked on the "buy" button for the application accidently. Considering that major wireless carriers, such as AT&T, have started settling class action lawsuits with plaintiffs who say they were hoodwinked into signing up for recurring charges for ringtones and other content, it's not surprising that Apple would try minimize liability. The European Union is also cracking down on wireless operators that allow companies to sell bogus products via cell phones.
But even if Apple had a good reason for removing the application, developers are concerned by the lack of communication from Apple about how and why certain applications are allowed or denied access to the App Store and why some are removed.
(Credit: Apple)
When the App Store was first announced earlier this year, company CEO Steve Jobs said there would be limitations on what applications could be sold. Specifically, he stated that porn would not be allowed. And beyond that, he left it pretty open. Now these loosely defined criteria are frustrating some developers.
At least two other applications have been removed from the App Store in the past week with seemingly no explanation. Several blogs have reported that Box Office, a movie showtime resource, and NetShare, which let people use their iPhone 3G as a modem to connect their laptops to the Internet, have also been removed from the App Store. At least in the U.S., exclusive wireless provider AT&T has explicitly said it does not allow the iPhone to be used as a laptop modem.
Nullriver Software, the developer of the NetShare application told MacWorld that it had tried for several days to reach someone at Apple to get an explanation for why its application was removed. The company said it finally made contact, and now is working with Apple to get NetShare back on the App Store.
Cyrus Najmabadi, developer of BoxOffice, also told MacWorld that he had tried to contact Apple to find out why his application had been removed, but he said he got no response.
Apple also did not respond for comment on this story.
URL: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10011338-37.html?tag=rtcol;pop
iBlake
PS: And YES this is a good news story for AAPL -- why? Cuz as it says above " and $2,400 for Apple, which collects 30 percent of each sale on the App Store"
"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
Tuco (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
"An umbrella with holes is better than no umbrella at all."
Dr. Alexander Elder on using stops.
Love it especially the anti-virus DCS system.
Found out yesterday that MSFT has released Halo 2 on the PC finally except I need Vista BOO HOO! (guess I have to see if I can find an XP port)
Cheers mate!
iBlake
(Loved the David Lynch skit!)
LOL! Great one - especially with the woman clapping. Well if Apple did, it would be called the iWhine, ahem, I mean iWine.
BTW: I wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and to all of us a VERY VERY VERY PROSPEROUS New Year!
Cheers!
iBlake
AAPL-Has the unstoppable juggernaut met its match?
Google's New Cell-Phone Universe
Its Open Handset Alliance, including Intel, Motorola, and T-Mobile, could threaten Symbian and Microsoft—and redouble investments in mobile software
Building a better mobile phone is a costly, time-consuming business. Whether it's crafting the chips that power phones, the handsets that hold the pieces together, or the software that runs the features, companies around the world have been at it for decades, but few manage to get it right.
Leave it to Google (GOOG) to try to speed things along. On Nov. 5 the owner of the world's largest search engine announced the creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 34 companies that will create a package of free software that includes everything needed to run a cell phone: an open-source, Linux-based operating system, a Web browser, and a slew of applications, including maps, e-mail, and video-sharing and -viewing tools.
...
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2007/tc2007115_446986.htm?campaign_id=yhoo
gBlake
PS: 111 GRUB - my old house number
iCar ?
If hundreds of millions will buy the iPhone, well heck, I am sure hundreds of billions will buy this.
iWhatever
PS: Happy Labor Day / Labour Day
Speaking of cars ... Sexy's new CUV ...
2007 Hyundai Santa Fe GL Premium 3.3 AWD 7 Seater
Color: Deep Water Blue (from a distance and according to Cute and Cuddly Blackie (regardless of distance), it's black but up close in fact is blue ...)
Not much in details - no running boards or "nose guards" but certainly a great bumper guard - er ah, as Sexy would only want - a phallic symbol
iBlake
PS: Lets hope she outlasts the Mercury Sable's 12 year run with only 150,000KM. Unlike that one, my new beauty should be heading south to the US in the years ahead on a few trips.
LOL! Chrysler Picks Ex-Home Depot Chief Nardelli to Lead Automaker
Ed: A 1:50AM LOL! When will they learn? Cripes, he is still pissed that Jeffrey took over at GE. Sort of reminds me of Chainsaw Al a bit. At any rate, good luck Chrysler - you's gonna need it!
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC named former Home Depot Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli as CEO, demoting Tom LaSorda, as new owner Cerberus Capital Management LP takes control of the automaker.
Nardelli, 59, a Cerberus adviser, also will become chairman, Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler said yesterday in a statement. LaSorda becomes president, while Chief Operating Officer Eric Ridenour will leave Chrysler and won't be replaced.
The leadership shift puts Cerberus's stamp on Chrysler as it begins operating the third-largest U.S.-based automaker as a private company. Nardelli will have to lead Chrysler back to profit while battling Asian rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp. that are grabbing U.S. sales and market share.
``This is a bit of a surprise,' David Healy, a Burnham Securities analyst in Sierra Vista, Arizona, said in an interview. ``But I think it shows that Cerberus is going to be tough because of Nardelli's tough reputation.'
... rest of the story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSG.fiyUpoew&refer=home
iCanyouhearmenow?OfcoursenotIamusinganiPhoneontheAT&Tnetwork!
IMO: The last two toy recalls due to Chinese companies not following their customer's specifications -- just the beginning mon ami
iBroke
An i what? Here is a jphone.
An i what? Apple has a phone now? Since when? I must be in the dark. What network? Are they in Canada? Hundreds of millions of people - who are these hundreds of millions of people? Are you referring to the Simpson's Movie on 07/27/07? Yes I might be one of those hundreds of millions that will watch that. Mind you once it is copied I am sure there will be at least a billion in CN that will be watching that movie.
Thanks amarksp for those lovey two ad parodies. The big ass table was definitely quite enjoyable. As for the Wii - they had a chance with me at Christmas - but there were none to be had. Still think I might get one to upgrade from our Gamecube but not till this Christmas I think. Kids are a bit too young and at least one more generation off for the MSFT game consoles.
cheers!
iBlake
A couple of years ago I was in Home Depot and saw a nite lite that was based on motion detection (the "dawn/dusk" crap never works in the home). Anyways, it has a wee 7W bulb incandescent (that normally would be used in those small nite lites).
We put the lite in the power room - and it has been GREAT! One of the most used rooms in the house (where we wash our hands the most) - and never have to worry about flicking on or off the ceiling light. It stays on for about 1 minute after you leave. Not a lot of lite of course, but enough to wash your hands. Never changed the bulb yet.
Mind you it was $20 but when you factor in having to use the 40W bulb all the time, and of course sometimes we come straight from the kitchen and don't want to use our fingers (or the kids to) to flick the switch - it saves cleaning and fidgeting.
I bot a similar "battery" powered light from Walmart but it never worked right - stayed on most of the time. You have to mount it somewhere. So I took it back.
Certainly like the motion detection stuff but not without it's problems. Using it to turn on the bathroom light and then to keep it on while having a shower would be a problem.
Anyways I agree with your point overall - I have changed the main floor lights to CFLs - the ones that are on most of the day solid. Not worth changing all of them.
cheers
iSOB
Greenpeace to the rescue!!!
I went to this URL:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/climate-and-energy
Scrolled down and wrote a letter to Mr. Harper:
http://write-a-letter.greenpeace.org/210
Changed it to read:
SUBJECT: STOP GREENPEACE IN THEIR TRACKS NOW!!!!!!!
BODY:
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
As a concerned Canadian, I am wondering why you listen to the likes of Greenpeace.ORG.
On their website there 12 Steps for Energy Efficiency they state in step 1 to replace our light bulbs with CFLs.
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/climate-and-energy/solutions/energy-efficiency/12-step...
These light bulbs are known to contain 5mg of MERCURY which is poisonous. If broken can create a hazardous waste dump in my home.
Why is Canada moving to support the likes of Greenpeace - adopting these kinds of bulbs, which will end up causing MASSIVE toxic waste dumps in our communites.
Mr. Harper, I plead you as a CONCERNED CANADIAN to stop listening to these fanatics.
---
It then after confirming the email address it was sent to
Stephen Harper, CC- Gilles Duceppe, CC- Jack Layton, CC- Stéphane Dion
iBlake
Help for Blake: Suggestions please!
I have been buying some US stocks of late (testing some new methods). Assuming about a 3.5% stop loss from the purchase. I still need to develop other stops once the security starts moving higher -- and then slips (to lock in profits).
The larger problem is that I have two headwinds. First the stock price itself, then the rising CDN (and declining greenback).
So a stock that is not moving up is declining along with the greenback. My stop needs to be based on extra calculations to account for the CDN conversion (i.e. I cannot just look at the price for the stop % alone).
I want to buy a US stock and actually make money and if I am losing dump it - but obviously looking at the stock price alone is a massive flaw.
I am not really sure on how to handle this so I thought it would be good to query you all.
Options include
a) Not buying US stocks (not really a good answer)
b) Handle both stops separately. ie tag the price as 3.5% and the currency with a difference %. If either drop their respective % then sell the stock.
A mild change in currency would not trigger a problem. But with what I had lately - a drop from 1.18 to 1.10 would have gotten me out sooner (that was about a >7% drop in currency alone).
(The stock price actually was about $4 higher yet I was losing money due to the decline in US$). So I sell the stock lately which declined back to its buy price, and I am out $400 - because of the currency.
c) Get into some kind of hedging - ie for each $1US invested, invest $1 in an offsetting security. (it rises as the US$ declines). (will add transaction costs and reduce profits overall but will reduce risk too - hopefully more risk taken away than profits).
If I believe that the US$ cannot decline anymore, than the flood gate can open and I should be ok. But who knows.
Anyways any help would be appreciated - looking for ideas.
thanks
iSoB
Junk Science: Light Bulb Lunacy
How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent lightbulb? About $4.28 for the bulb and labor — unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about $2,004.28, which doesn’t include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.
Sound crazy? Perhaps no more than the stampede to ban the incandescent light bulb in favor of compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) — a move already either adopted or being considered in California, Canada, the European Union and Australia.
According to an April 12 article in The Ellsworth American, Bridges had the misfortune of breaking a CFL during installation in her daughter’s bedroom: It dropped and shattered on the carpeted floor.
Aware that CFLs contain potentially hazardous substances, Bridges called her local Home Depot for advice. The store told her that the CFL contained mercury and that she should call the Poison Control hotline, which in turn directed her to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP sent a specialist to Bridges’ house to test for mercury contamination. The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state’s “safe” level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter.
The DEP specialist recommended that Bridges call an environmental cleanup firm, which reportedly gave her a “low-ball” estimate of $2,000 to clean up the room. The room then was sealed off with plastic and Bridges began “gathering finances” to pay for the $2,000 cleaning. Reportedly, her insurance company wouldn’t cover the cleanup costs because mercury is a pollutant.
Given that the replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFLs in the average U.S. household is touted as saving as much as $180 annually in energy costs — and assuming that Bridges doesn’t break any more CFLs — it will take her more than 11 years to recoup the cleanup costs in the form of energy savings.
Even if you don’t go for the full-scale panic of the $2,000 cleanup, the do-it-yourself approach is still somewhat intense, if not downright alarming.
Consider the procedure offered by the Maine DEP’s Web page entitled, “What if I accidentally break a fluorescent bulb in my home?”
Don’t vacuum bulb debris because a standard vacuum will spread mercury-containing dust throughout the area and contaminate the vacuum. Ventilate the area and reduce the temperature. Wear protective equipment like goggles, coveralls and a dust mask.
Collect the waste material into an airtight container. Pat the area with the sticky side of tape. Wipe with a damp cloth. Finally, check with local authorities to see where hazardous waste may be properly disposed.
The only step the Maine DEP left off was the final one: Hope that you did a good enough cleanup so that you, your family and pets aren’t poisoned by any mercury inadvertently dispersed or missed.
This, of course, assumes that people are even aware that breaking CFLs entails special cleanup procedures.
The potentially hazardous CFL is being pushed by companies such as Wal-Mart, which wants to sell 100 million CFLs at five times the cost of incandescent bulbs during 2007, and, surprisingly, environmentalists.
It’s quite odd that environmentalists have embraced the CFL, which cannot now and will not in the foreseeable future be made without mercury. Given that there are about 4 billion lightbulb sockets in American households, we’re looking at the possibility of creating billions of hazardous waste sites such as the Bridges’ bedroom.
Usually, environmentalists want hazardous materials out of, not in, our homes.
These are the same people who go berserk at the thought of mercury being emitted from power plants and the presence of mercury in seafood. Environmentalists have whipped up so much fear of mercury among the public that many local governments have even launched mercury thermometer exchange programs.
As the activist group Environmental Defense urges us to buy CFLs, it defines mercury on a separate part of its Web site as a “highly toxic heavy metal that can cause brain damage and learning disabilities in fetuses and children” and as “one of the most poisonous forms of pollution.”
Greenpeace also recommends CFLs while simultaneously bemoaning contamination caused by a mercury thermometer factory in India. But where are mercury-containing CFLs made? Not in the U.S., under strict environmental regulation. CFLs are made in India and China, where environmental standards are virtually non-existent.
And let’s not forget about the regulatory nightmare known as the Superfund law, the EPA regulatory program best known for requiring expensive but often needless cleanup of toxic waste sites, along with endless litigation over such cleanups.
We’ll eventually be disposing billions and billions of CFL mercury bombs. Much of the mercury from discarded and/or broken CFLs is bound to make its way into the environment and give rise to Superfund liability, which in the past has needlessly disrupted many lives, cost tens of billions of dollars and sent many businesses into bankruptcy.
As each CFL contains 5 milligrams of mercury, at the Maine “safety” standard of 300 nanograms per cubic meter, it would take 16,667 cubic meters of soil to “safely” contain all the mercury in a single CFL. While CFL vendors and environmentalists tout the energy cost savings of CFLs, they conveniently omit the personal and societal costs of CFL disposal.
Not only are CFLs much more expensive than incandescent bulbs and emit light that many regard as inferior to incandescent bulbs, they pose a nightmare if they break and require special disposal procedures. Should government (egged on by environmentalists and the Wal-Marts of the world) impose on us such higher costs, denial of lighting choice, disposal hassles and breakage risks in the name of saving a few dollars every year on the electric bill?
Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and CSRWatch.com. He is a junk science expert, and advocate of free enterprise and an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
URL: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268747,00.html
iSoB
Clean Coal: Eureka! Coal-fired elation in Bells Corners
Neil Reynolds
Friday, May 11, 2007
OTTAWA — In mid-January, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, with Environment Minister John Baird at his side, spoke - discreetly - of an imminent scientific breakthrough in clean-coal technology.
In comments at the federal government's secluded Canmet (Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology) research compound in Ottawa's suburban Bells Corners, Mr. Lunn said scientists had discovered, right there in the nation's enclave of world-class laboratories, "exciting promise in clean coal."
He spoke of zero pollution. He spoke of the capture and storage of greenhouse gases. He spoke of breakthroughs. Without naming it, he spoke of an advanced clean-coal technology code-named TIPS - for Thermo-energy Integrated Power System. It's a technology that promises to turn coal, the most abundant fossil fuel in the world, from pure black to pure green.
Invented and patented by Alex Fassbender, a U.S. chemical engineer, TIPS makes coal behave itself - by keeping it under extreme, constant pressure. It strips coal of virtually 100 per cent of pollutants. It emits nothing into the atmosphere. It captures coal's heavier-than-air greenhouse gas emissions essentially for free. It uses off-the-shelf turbines to produce electricity, reducing capital costs and delivering power at a bargain price. And it does all this in plants one-tenth the size of conventional coal-fired plants - now gargantuan structures that rival high-rise apartment buildings in scale.
Says Bruce Clements, the Canmet research scientist who has spent months evaluating the TIPS technology: "This is huge. This is a step change."
It was Mr. Fassbender who discovered and patented the technology - but it was Mr. Clements who discovered Mr. Fassbender. Five years ago, intrigued by the technology but skeptical of it, Mr. Clements began - independently, on his own initiative - to check out the science. He tried first to disprove the technological advances asserted by Mr. Fassbender. He couldn't. A year ago, the Canadian scientist and the American inventor formally joined forces. Mr. Clements had found an intellectual challenge. Mr. Fassbender had found one of the few labs in the world capable of doing the precise testing that his technology needed. Following the model for public-private research that Natural Resources Canada favours, they became partners.
Mr. Clements and his small team (engineers Richard Pomalis and Ligang Zheng) finished their test of TIPS just before Christmas last year. As they approached the end, they found themselves growing more and more confident of the technology.
"[The TIPS capabilities] had never been quantified before," Mr. Clements says. "Therefore, the significance had been underestimated." The researchers identified advances that Mr. Fassbender himself had never claimed - nor imagined.
"We started to get excited," Mr. Clements says. "We hadn't realized what we were sitting on." It was only at the very last moment that they realized that a TIPS furnace could be physically downsized - making it fit industrial sites in large cities.
Piling into a car, the three men drove to Boston - taking eight hours but saving travel money - where they joined Mr. Fassbender for a day-long "final exam" of their research conclusions. The examiners were scientists with international reputations; one of them - Gregory McRae, a professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - was a member of the MIT science panel that published in February a definitive study of the use of coal in the 21st century. ("Coal use will increase under any foreseeable scenario," the panel determined, "because it is cheap and it is abundant.") The scientists interrogated the TIPS researchers for a day - then gave them a thumbs-up pass.
Mr. Clements' report on TIPS technology runs 200 pages. He and his partner are ready to start the next phase - the construction in Bells Corners of a prototype TIPS furnace. If approved, the model plant will cost $12-million, a pittance in alternative-energy research; final judgment will take four years. But it's the only way to prove or disprove the technology.
The entire process takes place under extreme pressure - as much as 3,700 pounds per square inch. (Pressure in a car tire is 30 psi.) It's this pressure that produces, as Mr. Fassbender calls it, "the magic." Think of a CO{-2} cartridge for an air gun, Mr. Fassbender says. Then think of a garbage can. The cartridge holds the same volume of gas as the garbage can. Call this process the micro-management of coal.
Mr. Clements is a native of Ottawa who used to play piano and sax in his own band. Mr. Fassbender is a chemical engineer who began his career at a U.S. national research lab near Seattle. He is now executive vice-president of ThermoEnergy Corp., based in the Massachusetts town of Hudson.
The two men await Mr. Lunn's funding decision - whether to confirm TIPS as a Canadian-based technology or to let "the magic," its potential to change the world now technically confirmed, slip away.
Wednesday: The technology of TIPS
Full Story:
http://globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070511.wrreynolds11/GIStory/
iRun + iJump + iFall + iCry = iSoB
Cripes - not sure about 20M -- but Blakey is close to his 1000th cherry!
The secret stock market: Dark-Pools
'Dark pools' and other new-age exchanges rewrite the rules, under the radar
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Fourteen floors above Seventh Avenue, in an office more than a mile from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, a trumpet sounds reveille over a loudspeaker.
Liquidnet Holdings Inc., an alternative trading system used by institutions, has just executed a block trade of a million shares or more.
Unlike the bulk of trading in stocks, this trade was made anonymously and was executed outside of the market where retail investors and institutions meet. And unlike a trade on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, no one will ever know who put a million shares up for sale and who just bought them.
Liquidnet is one of dozens of new private trading networks that -- in just two years' time -- have ushered in a sea change that challenges Wall Street's top institutions while posing vexing questions for regulators and investors alike.
Driven by the boom in electronic trading and other technological advances, a range of upstart entrepreneurs now are doing the kind of bulk trading that up until a few years ago was practiced exclusively in upstairs trading rooms at big brokerages like Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.
"We're in the middle of a revolution," said Tim Mahoney, chief executive of BIDS, a trading system launched by a consortium of top-tier Wall Street firms.
These so-called alternative trading systems are propagating rapidly, are often labeled "dark pools" because of their nebulous and murky nature. Estimated to handle about 1 out 10 shares traded each day in the U.S., dark pools are meeting a need by institutions to grab or dump stocks quietly -- and anonymously. Like Liquidnet, many of them sport imaginative brand names in a nod to science fiction, such as Sigma X, VortEx and Block Alert.
In the harsh light of a public marketplace like the floor of the NYSE, an institution trying to pull off a massive trade runs the risk of making a big splash that will move the market. But in a dark pool, a big fish can jump in without so much as a ripple.
See full story:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid={11EB6EC9-6D71-43C9-ADD2-59C6B9E3C5D1}
iBlake
Not an iBRATOR but heck very close!!
A whole new way to plug 'n play!
Simply plug OhMiBod into your iPod® or any music player and it automatically vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music. Let your body feel the vibrations as you get down with your favorite tunes
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OhMiBod is a sleek, sophisticated new generation of vibrator that combines elegance of design with the excitement of your favorite music. The audio enabled integrated microchip allows the OhMiBod to vibrate to the beat and rhythm of your music while you listen. Measures 5 1/2" long (insertable) and 1 1/8" in diameter. OhMiBod comes with an additional multi-speed endcap for use without an iPod or music player. It really is 2 products in one! Our motor provides strong yet quiet, intense rhythmic vibrations. With polished chrome detail and pearl white body this product is the ultimate iPod acsexsory!
Why is the music component so important? Listening to your favorite sexy music and actually feeling the corresponding vibes quickly transports you to a place where music, mind and body truly "come" together. The range and intensity of the vibrations are endless, creating a dynamically sensational experience never felt before!
Included:
43-foot freedom cord
4Additional multi-speed end cap for use without a music player
4Universal headphone connector
4Velvet privacy pouch
4Invitation to share your favorite playlists on Club Vibe via the iTunes iMix section
Requires 2 AA batteries (not included). Optimized for iPod® products and other MP3 players. Also works with laptops, home stereos, portable CD players, microphones, electric guitars - virtually any electronic audio output source with a 3.5mm jack.
Care and Cleaning: Clean after every use with adult toy cleaner, alcohol or mild soap and water. Dry thoroughly. When cleaning, keep motor, end cap and batteries away from liquids to prevent corrosion of electronic parts.
What our customers have to say:
I recently had a run-in with the OhMiBod...
and I'm ashamed to say (blush)...that I liked it..........A LOT! (blush)
I can't help when I listen to my iPod nowadays to think, "how will the OhMiBod interpret that? And will I like that? Is this song suitable for the pairing?" And then I will turn red and those around me will look at me strangely....then I will turn more red. But the point is, the OhMiBod will revolutionize the way you look at your music. NO, SERIOUSLY. =p
Gosh darn it! iTerlet Paper Roll Holder!
The iTOILET is REAL!!!!!!
...
STEP 3: Restart your iToilet by inserting a straightened paperclip into the restart pin-hole. This is located in a hard to reach place at the back of the iToilet. The paperclip will break and get stuck in the pin-hole, invalidating your warranty. Proceed to step 4.
...
LOL! Well done site: http://www.electric-chicken.co.uk/itoilet.html
BONUS: Oldie but a goodie - for those that haven't seen the iBrator:
http://www.flamingmailbox.com/maccomedy/movies/ibrator.html
iBlake
BW: What's Wrong With ETFs?
(Ed: Read the bottom of this)
They encourage frequent trading, which helps Wall Street more than investors, says the father of the index fund
Since he founded Vanguard Group Inc. in 1974, John C. "Jack" Bogle has used his position as a bully pulpit for low-cost investing. But in the decade since he retired as chairman and chief executive officer, the 77-year-old Bogle has emerged as the mutual fund industry's most outspoken critic, railing hardest against funds with high fees and cruddy performance.
In his latest volume, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (John Wiley & Sons Inc., $19.95), Bogle continues to press his case for investing in index funds because of their low costs, minimal taxes, and predictable returns—that is, investors should earn whatever the market earns. In the edited chapter excerpted below, Bogle argues that many of the newly popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are presented as index funds, are in fact gimmicks with dangerous implications for investors.
Traditional indexing is under challenge by a sort of wolf in sheep's clothing, the exchange-traded fund. Simply put, an ETF is a fund designed to facilitate trading in its shares, dressed in the guise of a traditional index fund. But the differences between a classic index fund and the index fund nouveau are stark. ETFs march to a different tune than the original, and I'm left to wonder, in the words of the old song, "What have they done to my song, ma?"
The first ETF, created in 1992, was named "Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts" (SPDRs) and quickly dubbed "Spider." It was a brilliant idea. Investing in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, operated at low cost with high tax efficiency (since it doesn't trade stocks, taxable distributions are minimal or nonexistent), and held for the long term, it appeared to be a ferocious new competitor to the traditional S&P 500 index mutual fund. (Brokerage commissions, however, made it less suitable for investors making small investments regularly.)
Most Spider investors, however, were not long-term investors. They were active money managers, hedgers, and professional traders. Currently, some 65 million shares of Spiders ($8.8 billion worth) are traded every day.
From that single fund, ETFs have grown to be a huge part—$410 billion—of the $1 trillion index fund asset base, a 41% share, up from just 9% as 2000 began and only 3% a decade ago. Their amazing growth certainly says something about the energy of Wall Street's financial entrepreneurs, the focus of money managers on gathering assets, the marketing power of brokerage firms, and the willingnessonay, eagerness—of investors to favor complexity over simplicity, continuing to believe, against all odds, that they can beat the market.
The growth of ETFs has approached a stampede, not only in number but in diversity. There are now nearly 340 ETFs available, including 122 formed during 2006, and the range of the investment choices is remarkable. (Early in 2007, 343 more ETFs were on the drawing board.) There are 12 stock market index funds (U.S. and international) with the Spider still the largest segment in terms of assets, 68 focused on investment styles, 173 based on stock market sectors, and 58 concentrating on particular foreign countries. There are also a handful of bond ETFs and a scattering that utilize high leverage (doubling the swings in the stock market), tracking commodity prices and currencies, and using other high-risk strategies.
Broad-based ETFs are the only ones that can replicate, and possibly even improve on, the classic index fund. Their annual expense ratios are usually—but not always—slightly lower than their mutual fund counterparts, though commissions on purchases erode any advantage and may even overwhelm it. While their tax efficiency should be higher, actual practice so far has failed to confirm theory, and investors who trade them are subject to their own taxes. Their use by long-term investors is minimal. Spiders are, in fact, marketed to day traders. As the advertisements say: "Now you can trade the S&P 500 all day long, in real time." I can't help likening the ETF to the renowned Purdey shotgun, supposedly the world's best. It's great for big-game hunting. But it's also excellent for suicide.
I suspect that too many ETFs will prove, if not suicidal to their owners in financial terms, at least wealth-depleting. We know that ETFs are largely used by traders because the turnover of Spider shares is running at a 3,600% annual rate. The turnover for the NASDAQ Qube (QQQQ )s (an ETF based on the NASDAQ 100 stock index) is even higher: 6,000% per year. It is only guesswork, but long-term investors hold perhaps 20% of the $100 billion assets of these Spider-like broadly diversified ETFs. The remaining assets, I presume, are held by market makers and arbitrageurs making heavy use of short-selling and hedging strategies.
A VAST DEPARTURE
Trading in the major-sector ETFs is also remarkably high. The shares typically turn over at an average annual rate of 200% per year (an average holding period of just six months), with the most popular ETFs recently running turnover rates from 578% to 735%, all the way up to 7,100% (Russell 2000 iShares (IWM ), a small-cap stock index) and 8,500% (SPDR Energy shares (XLE )). In all, some $390 billion of the current $410 billion ETF base represents a vast departure from the beneficial attributes of the original index fund. Could there be speculation going on here?
Yes, these specialized ETFs are diversified, but only within their narrow arenas. Owning the semiconductor industry is not diversification in any usual sense, nor is owning the South Korean stock market. And while sector ETFs frequently have the lowest expense ratios in their fields, they can run three to six times the level of the lowest-cost, broad-based index funds.
The net result of these differences is that sector ETFs as a group are virtually certain to earn returns that fall well short of those delivered by the stock market. Perhaps 1% to 3% a year is a fair estimate of these all-in costs, many times the 0.1%-to-0.2% cost of the best classic index funds. It is not a trivial difference.
Whatever returns each sector ETF may earn, the investors in those very ETFs will likely, if not certainly, earn returns that fall well behind them. There is abundant evidence that the most popular sector funds of the day are those that have recently enjoyed the most spectacular recent performance and that investing in them after the fact is a recipe for disappointment. One lesson I've learned over the years is that mutual fund investors almost always do significantly worse than the funds they own, and that lesson is likely to be repeated in ETFs.
Let me now address what I noted at the outset of this chapter: "What have they done to my song, ma?" As the creator of the world's first index mutual fund all those years ago, I can only answer: "They've tied it up in a plastic bag and turned it upside down, ma, that's what they've done to my song."
In short, the exchange-traded fund is a traitor to the cause of classic indexing. I urge intelligent investors to stay the course with the proven strategy. While I can't say that classic indexing is the best strategy ever devised, our common sense should reassure you that the number of strategies that are worse is infinite.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_18/b4032089.htm
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If you go to the site, there are some good comments from users on this article.
Here are a couple:
Nickname: Tom
Review: I like Jack and think he has done a great service for the average investor, but this is the equivalent of Communism taking over Wall Street - everybody gets the same mediocre returns. Capitalism works because smart people figure how to make more money (or lose less) than dumber people. It is economic Darwanism, and it works!
Date reviewed: May 4, 2007 2:07 PM
Nickname: Rick
Review: I'm tired of the same old investing conventional wisdom. If few people can beat index funds then why don't all the investment houses shut down and professional money managers get new jobs? Someone out there is beating the market or they wouldn't be selling Manhattan penthouses and homes in the Hamptons. How many index funds does Buffet own? Current investing advice only serves to promote mediocrity. Blame the ignorant investor and not the ETF tool.
Date reviewed: Apr 28, 2007 2:53 PM
iSoB
A woman said "I will give you tit for tat", and Benny Hill, with his cheeky smile looking at the camera replied "Tat".
Chuckle. Here is a good one from the Letterman show when Billy "Bath" Gates decided to retire.
http://soblake.sent.com/ihub/Letterman.Gates.wmv
iSexton