Archive for August, 2008
Enjoyment
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
I really enjoy watching the feminists of the democratic party attack Palin. She’s a woman right? (Apparently not, as she doesn’t have a ‘D’ to the right of her last name.) I also find it facinating how easy it is for democrats to abandon their core pincipals – apparently this election isn’t about what’s right or wrong, it’s about winning. I’ll not ding the blue state party for this though, but I do find it rather revealing.
East, West, or..
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
3br, 3ba, brick ranch built in 1997, barn off to the side, city water, 5 acres old growth forest, situated on a lake, secluded area.
$170,000.00.
Screw west or east, I’m headed north baby, early retirement here I come.
Channeling Obama
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
BRUSSELS, Belgium – NATO pulled its punches against Russia on Tuesday, suspending formal contacts as punishment for the Georgia invasion but bucking U.S. pressure for more severe penalties.
The Russian ambassador to NATO played down the impact of the emergency meeting of the Western alliance.
“The mountain gave birth to a mouse,” said Dmitry Rogozin.
For Sale
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
“Whether or not I’m right on the recession call ending, there’s going to be an extended period of economic weakness once it does, as post-bubble deleveragings are a multi-year adjustment process.”
In his view, that deleveraging has already begun – as seen in banks, such as Merrill itself, beginning to reduce balance sheets by selling off unwanted assets, while companies have begun to reduce stock levels based on the most recent data.
But more importantly, Rosenberg argues, is what must take place in the household sector – a sector already ravaged by rising fuel prices, a stagnant housing market and rising levels of unemployment.
In spite of all those problems, Americans are beginning to reduce their debt exposure – as seen in the savings rate, which rose from 0.3pc to 2.6pc in the last three months, the third steepest quarterly increase since the Second World War.
“I think that’s pretty big news,” he smiles. “This is going to be a painful but necessary surgery so that we can get out of the hospital and embark on the next bull market of economic expansion.”
But before the US economy can truly begin to expand again, Rosenberg believes the savings rate must rise to pre-bubble levels of 8pc, that the US housing stocks must fall to below eight months’ supply, and that the household interest coverage ratio must fall from 14pc to 10.5pc.
“It’s important to note what sort of surgery that is going to require. We will probably have to eliminate $2 trillion of household debt to get there,” he predicts, saying this will happen either through debt being written off, as major financial institutions continue to do, or for consumers themselves to shrink their own “balance sheets”.
“American households own more than $4 trillion of consumer durable goods. So something tells me that is going to be a venue for shrinking the household side of the balance sheet.
“We’re talking about the silverware, the old antique couch in the basement, unwanted or expensive art,” he goes on. “This is the future, the future is frugality.”
I find it interesting that as of late, I’ve seen a lot of for sale signs on things – nice cars, garage sales, furniture, second homes, etc..
Related – M3 expansion declines in July at the sharpest rate since the indicator was tracked. Inflation is not the problem.
Personal Savings Rate
Monday, August 18th, 2008
Apparently we do learn from our mistakes.
Related – Contrarian Indicators – an argument against higher inflation and oil prices.
Solar Geekery
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
Wattsun Solar Trackers – when fixed PV arrays simply aren’t acceptible. Neat. I’d probably have to do some customization of these so they could be lowered to the ground during storms. The last thing you want to see is your precious investment blow away on a windy day. 
Home Power Magazine
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
One of the main things I’ve learned about going solar is that it involves a lot of very complex issues – hardware, performance, weather / temperature, state law, federal law, local power company policies, etc. If you don’t plan things out and do your research, you’ll screw yourself. FYI, finding information, especially vendor related information online on solar power is a royal pain in the ars. I came across Home Power Magazine while doing my research and purchased a subscription. I recently received my first issue and was blown away – detailed articles on actual setups, wiring diagrams, hardware reviews, performance reviews of panels, and tons of vendor information search engines never turned up. Home Power will help clear up a lot of questions and illuminate all the issues. If you’re thinking of going solar, I highly recommend you pick up a subscription.
HTC Adds GPS To The Touch
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
If you own a Sprint Touch, go snag the newest ROM from HTC. There were rumors swirling for a while that the phone had GPS built-in, but no software support. HTC just released a new ROM including Windows Mobile 6.1 and GPS. It works great with Google Maps. The update also comes with a new Sprint Navigation app which is pretty cool. Unfortunately Sprint expects you to shell out monthly to use it. (No thanks Sprint, you money grubbing leaches!)
QOTD
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
We understand it might be beneath a worldwide celebrity of Barack Obama’s magnitude to appear at town hall meetings alongside John McCain and directly answer questions from the American people, but we hope he’ll reconsider.
Mozilla Summits
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
Finally home, after many hours of travel. Still, Mozilla summits rock in many ways.
