TED Talks

TED = Technology, Entertainment, Design

These talks are recorded from the TED conference, a yearly event that brings together some of the greatest minds in tech, entertainment, and design.

These talks are truly worthwhile. Try this one by Hans Rosling, he shows us how wrong we are to assume countries can be broken down into only two groups -Industrialized and Developing. That's like saying there are only two types of wine -Red and White.

Cheney Proposed Smallpox Vaccination

I was reading and excerpt from “The Bush Tragedy” by Jacob Weisberg. This is scary stuff. I’ve re-written and condensed the story.

Soon after 9/11, during the time the government was shoring up defenses against terrorism, Dick Cheney was planning something a little crazy. The Bush administration was convinced that biological warfare would be the next means of terrorism in the United States – leading that fear was Cheney. After several anthrax outbreaks and a noticed attempt to target the White House, the administration began developing contingency plans for different types of biological attacks. Some intelligence suggested the smallpox would be one of the most terribly effective means of attack, and that stores of the disease were not as controlled as once believed. Cheney proposed a mass vaccination of the US population.

The smallpox vaccine has not been widely given since 1972 in this country, due to the horrible side affects that can occur. These includes scabs, lesions, pustules and even death. Despite the best medical advice the Bush administration sought, the order to give a mass-vaccination was moving forward – medical preparations has already begun. At the last moment, Bush overruled Cheney on this matter and it sank quietly away. Cheney himself chose not to vaccinated.

I don’t know about anyone else, but this scared the crap out of me. Can you imagine the military coming to your town to give small pox vaccinations to everyone? Can you imagine the mass-hysteria that would be caused, even though there was no outbreak! What the fuck was this guy thinking?

Staying Up-to-date on Iraq

-Iraq war total cost. $484,134,001,000 (That's just what congress has given) and this increases by 275 million per day.

-About 4,000 US Soldiers killed and 60,000 wounded.

-About 700,000 Iraqis killed

-The war is coming up on 5 years in March.

I wish we could have taken just a fraction of this money and invested in infrastructure...

The One Thing I Agree With Romney About

Romey has proposed to eliminate the Capital Gains tax for the middle class. I know there is much left unsaid here, who defines the middles class, etc. But this is a good idea.

This should encourage a good number of middle class to commit a bit more money to the market and start saving more money. Stock prices should see some upward pressure as well, there will be more money flowing into the mutual funds and othe average joe investment vehicles. If they start making money, it may not even affect consumption / spending too much.

Democrats, this is a good way to show some middle class support!

Prevent Lower Back Pain (from sitting all day)

My first old man post... Sad sad day.

I analyzed the ergonomics of my workspace and discovered why my back has been killing me. I sit all day long and haven't taken the proper care to adjust my chair and sit with the correct posture. I just assumed I was strong and healthy and that strength training and fitness would take care of me. Don't underestimate to detriment of sitting for 12 hours a day.

Quick Facts:
-Despite everything we know about back pain, ninety percent of us are going to have a disabling episode at some point in our lives. This often happens to people in their early 20s and above.
-Low back pain is the #2 reason that Americans see their doctor -- second only to colds and flus.

Recommendations:
-Adjust your seating position (See links below)
-If injured avoid a sedentary lifestyle, you need to get your blood moving to heal.
-Exercising daily (getting your heart rate up for at least 20 min) will help you heal.
-Move around often when you are at work, take little walks and stretch.

This is really common sense, but there is a lot of good information below. It's worth reading and acting on if you work in an office all day.

Good information.
http://www.spine-health.com/topics/cd/ergo/ergo05.html
http://www.drbookspan.com/SittingHealthy.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003108.htm

Obama's Iowa Victory Speech

This is a moving speech. It gives me hope for America.


It's only 13 min and worth your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZaq-YKCnE

Radiohead: Hour Long Private Taping

Radiohead's Scotch Mist, brought to you by Current TV. It's well worth your time.
http://current.com/items/88803042_radiohead_s_scotch_mist

Cyprus and Malta Adopt the Euro

It is interesting to see how the European Monetary Union continues to grow. I don't know that much about Cyprus or Malta, but I do know that the EMU has just added another 1.2 million participants (CIA). Which should bring it in the neighborhood of 316 million people total (World Bank). More on the Cyprus and Malta conversion here.

Europe and the Euro are continuing to strengthen. 2008 may not look like a year for strong growth and Euro Market returns, but there's no generally accepted decline in their future economic strength --seemingly opposite of the US. Despite the price of the Euro in dollar terms, Europe still exports a considerable amount more products than the US. They also make up about 30% of the world economy, but most American portfolios don't have near that exposure. It seems like their years of slow growth while investing in infrastructure paired with low inflation might make for a stable environment, who ever would think that?...

Immigrants Leave Oklahoma

Oklahoma's new law to combat illegal immigration has had a significant affect on the immigrant populations in Oklahoma. The new law makes it a felony to harbor, transport or aid an illegal immigrant. This is having an affect on both legal and illegal immigrants.

Listen to the NPR report here.

Anti-Spyware Application Recommendations

Spyware is evolving. Just AdAware will no longer take care of your machine. Developers laugh at the common virus and go straight for more effective spyware and rootkits. These programs will help out:

AdAware (a standard)

PC Tools Spyware Doctor (Free as part of the Google Updater software pack).

AVG Spyware Detector

AVG Anti-RootKit

Helps my machine run smooth. I'm sure there's even more I could do...

iPhone Password Manager

Having one device for everything, and having all that info backed up on my computer makes me kind of excited. Phone / camera / music / podcasts / internet (you get the point). Now I want the connection with all of these products to be seamless and I want a guarantee that I won't lose all the hard work. 2 external hard drives for media is a must. I also use every feature on Google Mobile as well. (Search, Maps, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, News, Photos, Reader, Blogger, Notebook). Brilliant job Google.

The Password Manager
I often have problems remembering all of my passwords and login names and want to add this to the list of things my iPhone can do for me.

The most promising app is from eWallet.
See a good blog post on it here.

I feel comfortable enough with this app to upload my credit card and financial info. Unfortunately it is only in beta at this time, but I will keep an eye on its progress.

For now I found jkpassword.com. It is a nice web app and seems secure. I couldn't find any internet complaints on it, but I don't trust it as much as eWallet. One downside is that it only allows 8 free entries. I'm using it for now and just putting multiple passwords in each entry. It works quite well for your everyday password storage, and it loads like a breeze on a mobile device.

Now I know what the "Wintry Mix" is

I had heard people talk of this "wintry mix" that descends on the region, but didn't understand until last night what it really was. The conditions have to be just right for this little phenomenon.

It was raining, half the rain was frozen, the other half was wet. The ground was cold, and the mix of precipitation was forming several inches of slush. It's like that stuff around the chairlifts on a sunny day at the ski slopes. The slush has just enough body stack up like snow, but when you step on that layer it's like walking in a puddle. So walking back from the subway I got to walk in the rain and in a perpetual 2-3 inch puddle of slush. What Fun! So that's the wintery mix.

Paul Kedrosky's iGreed

My favorite blog lately has been Paul Kedrosky's blog Infectious Greed. There's a good mix of tech and business news, as well as interesting posts. And theres always lots of links to other media.

Jim Rogers Interview

I listened to a very good interview with Jim Rogers. Jim Rogers helped found the Quantum fund with George Soros.

Rogers talks about his investment strategy and his ideas about investing in China. Rogers sees China as being a new frontier in investing, much like the US was in the early 1900s.

The low down:

The dollar is going down, get out of dollar denominated assets. You can check out www.everbank.com for a bank account that will allow foreign currency trading. It's FDIC insured too.

Consinder investing in commodities (especially agriculture at the moment)

An easy way to play commodities is through ETFs and ETNs. Barclays has a number of these products. iShare.com.

I thought it was an enlightening interview, and it made me think a little deeper about my investment strategy and search for markets that were less correlated with the US market.

You can also find this on iTunes by looking for "dorsey wright & associates technical analysis podcast." There is a similar interview (text)in Forbes.

Underwithholding Your Taxes

Update: Thanks to my friend and his excellent investigative accounting skills, I've learned this is not such a good idea after all. Unless you are very productive with that money you withhold, you won't beat the tax they asses you. I appreciate the tax advice Tyler.

Why didn't I think of this before. You can gain interest on the money that is withheld from your paycheck to pay your taxes. Simply choose to withhold no money in the beginning of the tax season, and then greatly increase your withholding as tax season draws near. With a little bit of financial discipline and some buffer income you can put that money to good use --instead of giving the government and interest free loan. Mental math says at 50k per year, that money in a no risk investment will return at least $300. That's about $100 per hour of work that it takes to do the research and fill out a few W-4 forms.

And with that money in a trading account you have enough money to chase a more sizable return. Be careful of course, because the taxes will still be due at the end of the year.

More information