Things point to another bad day for stocks

International markets opened on Monday with more than 4% points.

And when the US markets open tomorrow it has to worry about: Bear Sterns deal, Oil price at $111+, falling $ value and the panic.

No end in sight…

…for the credit crisis. In the latest of the bad news, JP Morgan to by Bear Sterns for $2 a share which totals to just $236 mil. Friday it closed at $30 which already lost 48% for the day. And it’s 52 week high is $159. That’s a loss of $157 in less than 12 months.

Crane Collapse and the Southwest Airlines

Crane collapse and Southwest Airlines are in the news.

So what’s common between the two?

Both will prompt for additional security measures from government. Adding complexity to the future developments. The companies could have avoided this disaster but when you start penny pinch that’s exactly what happens.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Even after 40 years this movie is still the best sci-fi ever made and can easily compete with any new movies.

This is an interesting:

Clarke noted that, contrary to popular rumor, it was a complete coincidence that each of the letters of HAL’s name immediately preceded those of IBM.

War and Oil

There is a nice article on Washington Post:

In the absence of Iraqi supplies, prices have soared three-and-a-half-fold since the U.S. invasion on March 20, 2003. (Last week, they shattered all previous records, even after adjusting for inflation.) The profits of the five biggest Western oil companies have jumped from $40 billion to $121 billion over the same period. While the United States has rid itself of Saddam Hussein and whatever threat he might have posed, oil revenues have filled the treasuries of petro-autocrats in Iran, Venezuela and Russia, emboldening those regimes and complicating U.S. diplomacy in new ways.

American consumers are paying for this turmoil at the pump. If the overthrow of Hussein was supposed to be a silver bullet for the American consumer, it turned out to be one that ricocheted and tore a hole through his wallet.

…….

In a sense, though, all Americans are part of that conspiracy. We have built a society that is profligate with its energy and relies on petroleum that happens to be pooled under some unstable or unfriendly regimes. We have frittered away energy resources with little regard for the strategic consequences. And now it's hard and expensive to change our ways.

Recently read:

Slaughterhouse-five or The Children’s Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut.

Another classic. Highly recommended.

The time-traveling protagonist is a WWII nobody, witness the horrible destruction on Dresden. Aliens and of course Kilgore Trout is there, who is writing away his sci-fis which no one seems to read.

Vonnegut calls the Bombing of the Dresden is the worst and had the casualties more than Hiroshima or Nagasaki. He also compares the fire bombing of Tokyo

From Wikipedia:

Kurt Vonnegut was a combat infantryman in the US 106th Infantry Division. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and sent to an underground POW camp in Dresden, where he witnessed the bombing and cleanup efforts first-hand. His novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) is based on his experiences.

Daylight Saving Time

DST (Daylight saving time ) falls on this weekend in US. Since the so called “Energy Policy Act of 2005”

But “Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy?” The research says no. HT: Marginal Revolution.

And in Time out of Mind:

Studies have shown the alarming extent of the problem: office workers are
no longer able to stay focused on one specific task for more than about three
minutes, which means a great loss of productivity. The misguided notion that
time is money actually costs us money.

And it costs us time. People in industrial nations lose more years from
disability and premature death due to stress-related illnesses like heart
disease and depression than from other ailments. In scrambling to use time to
the hilt, we wind up with less of it.

Get drunk without alcohol?

In a series of studies in the 1970s and ’80s, psychologists at the University of Washington put more than 300 students into a study room outfitted like a bar with mirrors, music and a stretch of polished pine. The researchers served alcoholic drinks, most often icy vodka tonics, to some of the students and nonalcoholic ones, usually icy tonic water, to others. The drinks looked and tasted the same, and the students typically drank five in an hour or two.
The studies found that people who thought they were drinking alcohol behaved exactly as aggressively, or as affectionately, or as merrily as they expected to when
drunk. “No significant difference between those who got alcohol and those who
didn’t,” Alan Marlatt, the senior author, said. “Their behavior was totally
determined by their expectations of how they would behave.”

More here.

Quote

The Texas primary results were much closer. The white male vote, which keeps shifting, was split. I’m beginning to suspect that the white males have realized that they’re either going to be accused of racism or sexism and have therefore made a secret pact to take turns.

Here is the full article

Recently Read

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

Another classic. It's my third Vonnegut. Like in Galapagos the humanity is in the verge of extinction. Lots of wit, smart and very easy to read.

Recently Read

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut.

Another of Kurt's classic. It's very easy to read. I've enjoyed so much. Maybe because that I believe in evolution.

He was unmarried and never have reproduced, and so was insignificant from an evolutionary point of view.

and:

We love you, you are not alone, everything is going to be all right

Awesome!. highly recommended.

I am going to read all Vonnegut now. I've already started Cat's Cradle!!!!!

DVD Rentals

I've been using the Redbox service at Longs Drugs store near my home. The daily rental is about $1 + local taxes.

Most movies I like to see them on the big screen at theaters. But for some movies I usually decide to wait to come into my local Library. Now I can rent those movies from Redbox when I can't wait to get them in my library. It doesn't have exhaustive collections like Netflix, but it does carry the most new releases.

Movie Info Graphic

This info graphic is awesome.

4. For some exceptions to the normal pattern, check out My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Juno, Dances With Wolves, Platoon, and Million Dollar Baby

HT: kottke.org.

Recently Watched Movies

Here is the recently watched movies:

1. No Country for Old Men: It's been about 3 weeks since I watched this movie. I am still not sure what to make of this movie. It's great and as well very disturbing!. And it's won 4 Oscar's.

2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Another of Oscar nominated movie. The photography and landscape were awesome. Watched on DVD.

3. Eastern Promises: Viggo Mortensen has been nominated for Best Actor for this one. He didn't win, obviously!...The Sauna fight which very intense also very creepy. Naomi Watts is awesome. Watched on DVD.

Timequake

by Kurt Vonnegut. I am half way through...and it's whole lot of fun.

It's my first Vonnegut book. And I can see myself reading whole lot of more in the near future.

Update: This is one of the great books I've read!.

You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do!.

How true!

Ads

Ok...so I was thinking (?) about this stuff for some time.

TV: what the people at the network/cable decide or choose what you suppose to see

News paper: Very similar to TV. But you have the choice to skip a particular story. Also there is feed back (not a great one but it's something).

Internet: What you want...when you want...how you want it. User controls the whole end-to-end communication. There is a lot of noice (junks, ads, etc...) but they can skip it.

Firefly/Serenity

Firefly: Arguably one of best TV series. Hopefully I will have a chance to write more about the series.

Serenity: The movie version of the series. Another awesome piece of work.

Now there is a novel based on the whole series written by Steven Brust. The novel is called My Kind of Freedom and it's free online.

If you have seen the TV serial or the movie you can quickly read the novel. It's whole lot of fun.

why?

On some news program on the TV, saw that the border security personnel go thru a daily drill in which the steps are deliberately exaggerated. Seems to be very painful for those who do it every day. I must be missing something, but why? What's the point?

Good news for Indian Students

The Hindu says:

Bank of Baroda has launched online educational loans.

.....

Students can log-in and post their educational loan application online and eligible applicants will receive an in-principle sanction letter through e-mail within 48 hours, says a release.

More of these needed. Hopefully the Banks will see mutual benefits of the education loans.

LiveMocha

The site says:

Livemocha blends self-paced lessons, a vibrant community, and interactive tools to help you talk to the world.

HT: NYT

And one of the HBR paper says that learning new languages make your brain more cognitive fitness.