Friday, January 7, 2011

Making Money on Line




I believe as a whole, Americans are a very compassionate and caring group of people. Along with that, I believe that most Americans would not willingly or knowingly allow someone to go hungry or uncared for. The amount of charitable contributions we make each year to organizations whose mission it is to help those in a time of need demonstrates the compassion of Americans.


There is however, a stark difference in freely giving to charity and being forced to serve another. When the government provides a service, no matter what that service is, where does the money come from to fund it?


Taxation.


The only way for government to give one American anything is to first, through the tax code, take money from another American. It must forcibly use one American to serve another American. In most literal terms, forcibly using one person to serve another is the definition of slavery.


So why do we continue to allow our government to enslave us?


Some would argue that our government should be there to provide a safety net, but how big does that net really need to be? Studies have shown that people change their behavior when the government provides welfare. With the “Great Society” programs of the 1960’s, came an increase in the number of unwed mothers and conversely when welfare programs were reformed in the mid 1990’s, the number dropped.


Big cities like San Francisco and New York have some of the most generous homeless programs in the country — they also have some of the largest homeless populations as well.


In Europe, where unemployment compensation benefits are very generous, people spend less time looking for jobs and in some countries, the dole is actually a career opportunity. Up until recently, unemployment benefits in the U.S. were modest and as a result, people took jobs that were available. Now, it seems to most that unemployment benefits will be extended indefinitely — giving little incentive to take a job that’s less than perfect.

Continued on the next page


Ross Douthat is right to say that worrying about what would happen if Ron Paul seized ultimate power and decreed America a minarchy probably isn't a good use of anyone's time. But where Douthat thinks that minarchy is used as a way to dismiss libertarians, in practice, I've tended to find it their first line of defense -- the right's version of "well, Marxism has never really been tried."



To some degree, you see it in Douthat's post, when he quotes Conor Friedersdorf lamenting "that libertarians hold very little power in this country." The reality is that the sort of incremental libertarianism that aligns with the interests of rich individuals and corporations has quite a lot of sway in Washington, but it routinely manages to escape the consequences of its ideas because, libertarians argue, the world we live in isn't the world they would've built, and so how can they be asked to answer for it? It's the "don't blame me. I voted for minarchy" defense.



But if the argument is that incremental libertarianism deserves more respect, then it also deserves more accountability. Desperate storytelling about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aside, the financial crisis was, in large part, the product of the idea that massive financial markets that we didn't understand would effectively regulate themselves. Alan Greenspan, perhaps the only man in America with the unilateral power to have prevented the blowup, has been quite clear on the flaw in his thinking: "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity — myself especially — are in a state of shocked disbelief."



To a first approximation, that was a failure of not just a crucial pillar of libertarian economic thought, but of libertarian practice: We spent the '90s not just deregulating, but much more dangerously, refusing to enact new regulations even as the financial system changed dramatically. One of the key players there was Sen. Phil Gramm, who certainly has his fans at the Cato Institute. His was the sort of libertarianism that is politically potent because it is backed by lots of money and lots of elites who combine to push it into the public discourse.

Taxes are another example. Plenty of libertarians have lined up for repeated tax cuts under the theory that they would stoke enough growth, and force enough compensatory budget cutting, to put the country on a more sustainable fiscal path. Plenty of wealthy individuals and firms have pumped a lot of money into propagating that theory and rewarding politicians who vote they way it asks them to. That theory, however, has been a disaster as a policy matter, even as the individuals and firms have made a lot of money.



And there's a lot of power, of course, lined up against anything that gets us close to single-payer health care. Most of the arguments made in that debate are fundamentally libertarian ones: that it will reduce freedom, or that government programs are inevitably bloated and wasteful ("Like going to the DMV? You'll love government health care!"). Cato's policy wonks spent much of 2009 on television arguing against reforms that would mean more government intrusion into the marketplace. Politicians and political organizations, meanwhile, received a lot of money and support in exchange for making those arguments. But it's of course true that America, being the developed country with the least nationalized health-care system, also spends the most and has the highest rate of uninsurance.



So when Douthat says that "a more-empowered libertarianism could have a salutary impact on debates over, say, the future of the entitlement system," it's worth asking what impact semi-empowered libertarianism has already had on debates over the entitlement system. That libertarian dreams of a privatized (or completely dismantled) Medicare system haven't come to pass is no more relevant than dreams of minarchy. What has come to pass is an aggressive and successful effort to stop America from following other countries' paths to national health-care systems. And the result can be seen here: If our costs had followed their costs, we'd have no budget deficit to speak of. Libertarians shouldn't have to answer for minarchy. But they do have to answer for that.



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YouTube - DESKTOP <b>NEWS</b>!!

WHHHAATTT?? The internet isn't woking here in the hotel, so today's show is all the news stories that I have saved on my desktop :) MY FACEBOOK: http://Faceb...

TCA: Discovery Networks <b>News</b> – Deadline.com

the Beth Melewski news was reported in December in Chicago press. will be interesting to see the Cash Cab in a different city. Comment by dylan — Thursday January 6, 2011 @ 3:10pm PST Reply to this post ...

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 1/7/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue coffee .. Horse Tracks!


Thursday, January 6, 2011

foreclosure help

RealtyTrac has just reported that even though the volume of foreclosed homes plunged by 25% from Q2 to Q3 and 31% from Q2 of 2009, the discount on foreclosed homes has hit a five year high, as interest in even ultra bargain properties has collapsed following the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, and confirming yesterday's bad Case Shiller (remember that one?) number. Per RealtyTrac: "foreclosure homes accounted for 25 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2010 and that the average sales price of properties that sold while in some stage of foreclosure was more than 32 percent below the average sales price of properties not in the foreclosure process — up from a 26 percent discount in the previous quarter and a 29 percent discount in the third quarter of 2009." Yet despite the major price drop, buying interest has evaporated as nobody there is no longer any purchasing power left in the lower and middle sections of the housing market: "a total of 188,748 U.S. properties in some stage of foreclosure — default, scheduled for auction or bank-owned (REO) — sold to third parties in the third quarter, a decrease of 25 percent from the previous quarter and a decrease of nearly 31 percent from the third quarter of 2009. The average sales price of properties in some stage of foreclosure was $169,523, down 2.46 percent from the previous quarter and down 0.44 percent from the third quarter of 2009." And while the average price of non-foreclosed homes posted a slight uptick in Q3, the volume drop was even worse: "The average sales price of properties not in foreclosure was $249,721, up 6.42 percent from the previous quarter and up 4.36 percent from the third quarter of 2009. Sales volume of non-foreclosure properties decreased 29 percent from the previous quarter and nearly 31 percent from the third quarter of 2009."

More from RealtyTrac's Jim Saccacio:


Mortgage Bankers Association Takes Stand Against Successful Foreclosure Prevention Programs


With foreclosures on pace to top one million this year, and federal programs designed to help troubled borrowers falling woefully short of their goals, a few states have stepped up and implemented their own programs aimed at stemming the foreclosure tide. Twenty states across the country are now offering what are known as mortgage mediation programs, which facilitate negotiations between lenders and borrowers before a foreclosure is finalized. In three states and two cities, these mediation sessions are required.


Such programs have been incredibly successful in keeping troubled borrowers in their homes, as the sessions require lenders to actively negotiate, instead of giving borrowers the run-around to which so many have been subjected. As Christopher Brecciano, a Connecticut attorney who represents borrowers in foreclosure, explained, mediation “requires the borrower to sit eye to eye with the bank’s attorney and means there is someone to hold accountable rather than just some service person on the telephone.” In Connecticut, which has an automatic mediation program, 62 percent of those entering mediation received a permanent loan modification. In Nevada, where the program is voluntary, the number is 74 percent.


But the mortgage lending industry is having a hard time getting on board with these successful efforts. In fact, the Mortgage Bankers Association, which represents many large mortgage lenders, opposes all such efforts to push banks into negotiating with borrowers:


John Mechem, a spokesman for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which represents the largest mortgage lenders, said the group is opposed to both mandatory and voluntary mediation programs. He argued that the programs are expensive and are often used by borrowers as a tactic to stall foreclosure. Mr. Mechem said the industry on its own has done almost 1.5 million mortgage modifications this year outside of mediation programs. If such programs must be implemented, he said, the MBA favors a voluntary system over mandatory meetings.


Of course, opposing smart efforts to help homeowners is nothing new for the MBA. Back in 2009, the MBA — with the help of Congressional Republicans — successfully lobbied against the adoption of mortgage cram-down legislation, which would have allowed judges to modify mortgages in bankruptcy court.


That legislation’s defeat, and the MBA’s subsequent celebrations, led Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to say that when it comes to the Senate, the banks, “frankly, own the place.” And now that a moderately successful alternative has been found, which is allowing borrowers to stay in their homes and prevent all the negative effects of a foreclosure for both the borrower and the wider community, the MBA is standing in opposition once again.





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<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

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PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

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Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


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<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

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Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


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<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters rock tops surface encounters macomb mi

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters rock tops
surface encounters macomb

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters noblesville
surface encounters macomb mi

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters michigan
surface encounters michigan

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters macomb mi
surface encounters noblesville

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters macomb
surface encounters rock tops

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters rock tops
surface encounters macomb mi
surface encounters

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters rock tops
surface encounters macomb mi

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters noblesville
surface encounters noblesville

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters michigan
surface encounters macomb

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters rock tops
surface encounters michigan

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters noblesville
surface encounters macomb

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters rock tops
surface encounters noblesville

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters macomb mi
surface encounters

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters noblesville
surface encounters macomb mi

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters macomb
surface encounters michigan

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters noblesville
surface encounters michigan

<b>News</b> - Khloe Kardashian Becomes a Redhead! - Style &amp; Beauty <b>...</b>

"I'm so tired of [my sisters] copying everything I do with my hair, so I wanted to go red," she says.

PHP: <b>News</b> Archive - 2011

Latest news. For the latest news, check the homepage, or our Atom feed. Archives by year. 1998 � 1999 � 2000 � 2001 � 2002 � 2003 ... News Archive - 2010. Here are the most important news items we have published in 2010 on PHP.net. ...

Helen Thomas Joins Falls Church <b>News</b>-Press | ARLnow.com

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to write a column for the Falls Church News-Press. Thomas was a.


surface encounters michigan

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

personal finance and budgeting

Sean Park is so excited about Betterment that he bought a stake in the company:


Betterment allows anyone to quickly, easily and without mystery manage asset allocation and risk budgeting using a simple, multi-asset class portfolio. No hassle, no time wasted, no blizzard of trade confirmations. The first time I saw it, I immediately wanted to be able to manage all my cash balances using their platform.


Except Sean Park is a sophisticated venture capitalist, and Betterment doesn’t manage cash balances. Instead, it manages investments. Basically, it provides an easy way of sweeping money out of your checking account and into your Betterment account, where it’s then invested across eight different ETFs. Betterment does most of the asset allocation; you just tell the company how much you want invested in Treasuries and how much in stocks, and they will do the rest.


This is a handy little service — but the amount that Betterment charges — 0.9% per year — is way too much, especially since it comes on top of the expense ratios of the underlying ETFs, which net out at 18.2bp for stocks and 17.5bp for bonds. In these days of ultra-low interest rates, buying a bond fund and then paying out 107.5bp per year in expenses is likely to leave you with a negative real return, and quite possibly could leave you with a negative nominal return as well. Or, to put it another way, right now it makes very little sense to have Betterment manage your bond funds and charge you a 90bp fee for the privilege: you might well be better off just keeping your money in a savings account, where there’s no risk of a nominal decline.


The idea behind Betterment — that investing should be very easy and simple at the front end, even if there’s lots of complicated stuff going on at the back end — is a good one. And I look forward to the time when banks offer Betterment-style services to their depositors, making it easy and painless to save money. I’m sure those banks could learn a lot from what Betterment is doing, and even maybe license some of their technology. But it only really becomes attractive when it’s free. And when, at the very least, it gives some kind of an option to invest internationally and in credit — two enormous asset classes that Betterment completely ignores. I’m pretty sure that Sean Park, for one, would never find it genuinely attractive in its current incarnation.


Update: Betterment’s CEO, Jon Stein, responds in the comments, and he sure knows the way to a blogger’s heart — by referencing an old blog entry which even I’d forgotten about:


I agree with you that we should offer our customers exposure to international stocks. Our users are all US-based, and so are naturally overweight US. We plan to add international exposure soon, and perhaps a real-estate component or credit component, as well. All of these asset classes are components of the “market portfolio” – and would be represented in the “everything bagel” that you talked about in a previous post. It’s that everything bagel that we’re working toward – it takes time to make it just right.



So thinking about starting 2011 with a new and fresh finance app for your new and fresh WP7 device?


You have the chance now! moBudget has just been released for Windows Phone 7.


moBudget is a user friendly budgeting and expense tracking application. It will help you drive and organize both your personal income and outcome budgeting. By doing so, moBudget will also hint you about possible budgeting and money saving opportunities. Its main screen features a summarized dashboard with a set of intelligent indicators which will tell you how you are doing depending on your budgets and on the current date.


Forget about grabbing a calculator each time you need to get any numbers or if worried about making it to the end of the month or not; moBudget will tell you all: what you have, what you will have, what you owe and more. It will either inform, alert or advice you when needed so you don’t need to worry.


By allowing stepping through months, allows you to whether look back to see how you did on previous months or how you will be doing in the upcoming months, so you can fine tune your budgets to the optimal.


Take it with you, record your data and you will see how money won’t cause you a headache anymore!


More after the break.



Key features



  • Today Hub featuring a main dashboard with intelligent indicators

  • Upcoming and overdue payments, incomes, bills

  • Color-based and snapshot styled budget bar graphs for easy reading

  • Easy and fast input for tracking either expenses, incomes or transfer between accounts

  • Budget adjustment helper

  • Actual balance and budget balance adhoc *

  • Accounts and credit cards usage recording *

  • Cash flow bar graphs and out of funds predictions *

  • Credit card payment estimations and warnings

  • Can create future operations and recurrent operations

  • Multi currency support

  • Easy month back and forth navigation

  • Account balances reconcilation

  • Password protection in two ways (partial and complete)

  • Encrypted backups

  • More…!


* Estimated. Does not pull your bank information, however you can sync balances up to a specific date and moBudget will estimate the current and future balance and cash flow according to the data you register day to day.


Screenshots



So give it a try! App has a 15 day free trial period and currently is at 50% sale for Christmas.

– or- direct download link for Zune.




without online reputation management

NY Christmas Day Parishioners Exposed to Hepatitis A - AOL <b>News</b>

Hundreds of people may have been exposed to hepatitis A when they received Christmas Day communion at a Catholic church on New York's Long Island. Nassau County Health Department officials say anyone who attended the 10:30 a.m. or noon ...

Unemployment <b>news</b> roundup | Michigan Messenger

Though Congress finally managed to pass an extension of federal unemployment benefits during the lame duck session before Christmas, there are still many other.

Jelly Belly Inventor Creates Anatomically Correct Gummy Heart

The man who invented Jelly Belly jelly beans hopes to strike candy gold again with a 2.5-pound anatomically correct gummy heart that oozes candy blood.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

about internet marketing



A couple of days ago Reddit user Jeff Ubelhor was talking to his friends about something or other and Space Jam, the movie starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan, came up (he swears they weren’t stoned). They checked on the website and realized that it hadn’t been touched since 1996. “From there I decided to post it on Reddit,” says Ubelhor “Because I thought it was hilarious, not only the design, but just how different Internet marketing was 14 years ago.”


The rest is Internet meme history. On December 29th, artist, professor and FAT Labs member Steve Lambert was given a link to the site by a student in his Hacking 101 class, posted it to the FAT Labs email list and tweeted it out as “The original Warner Brothers “Space Jam” movie website has been left untouched since 1996,“ his one time student, Buzzfeed founder and most viral human alive Jonah Peretti retweeted it, without giving him credit.


Both tweets were retweeted hundreds of times and the next thing you know Lambert was receiving emails like this:


From: “XXXXX”

Date: December 29, 2010 4:23:21 PM EST

To:


Subject: CBC News: SpaceJam tweet


Hi Steve,


I’m a reporter/anchor with CBC TV news in Toronto. Your SpaceJam tweet was trending locally for a couple of hours in Toronto, and was spread widely through our office. We’re going to a bit about it on our local supperhour newscast tonight.


Just wondering, do I credit you (through one of your students) as the originator of the tweet? Any comments on how many retweets you’ve generated?


Thanks,


XXXXX


And it wasn’t only Canadian TV stations that showed an interest. Since the Reddit post the site has been picked up by Buzzfeed (obviously), Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Geekosystem, Yahoo Sports, Slashfilm and countless others. Sister blog Urlesque, taking the phenomenon as evidence of a resurgence in interest in old movie sites, just published a post called “Old Official Movie Sites – Titanic, Air Bud, Event Horizon and More.” Sigh.


The original Reddit thread has over 2015 votes and 686 comments, including such meta and self-aware gems as “I wonder if we’re DDOSing a weakling 1996 server in an abandoned building somewhere right now” and “Browsing this on my droid x while moving 70mph. 1996 just shit their pants.”



Since Peretti and Lambert’s tweets, the bit.ly link has received over 57K total clicks, over 40K in one day. And that is just clicks on the link Peretti tweeted out which are nowhere near the traffic the site probably got all in all.  Peretti estimates that the Space Jam site could easily have garnered around 500K views since hitting the front page of Reddit shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, and gleaning from my web editorial experience I’m pretty sure that number is in the right ballpark. I’ve reached out to Warner Bros for the exact traffic stats.


A lot changes in 14 years and some things don’t. While the site’s original designer Jen Braun is “still working on the web,” Assistant to the Designer Andrew Stachler is now VP of Interactive Marketing at Warner Bros.


In 2010, computers are faster, monitors are thinner, social networking has exploded and we are now browsing the web on our mobile phones, among other things. But we’re all still staring at this silly looking website from 1996.


You could just chalk up this week’s explosion of the Space Jam site to an extremely slow holiday news cycle, but it’s much more than that. We’re now in the very last hours of the most fast-paced decade ever technology-wise, and that is a little scary. In this era of Word Lens and Self-Driving Cars, perhaps some of us are more than a little nostalgic for simpler times when “having a website, no matter how bad, was an achievement in itself.”



Canadian Tech Conferences to Attend in 2011


We’ve rounded-up some Canadian tech-related conferences happening in 2011 that we thought you might like to attend.


“My first observation was the opportunity in Canada is far bigger than I expected — and I expected it to be huge. I think there’s just an enormous amount of upside in terms of businesses catching up with consumers, and unleashing a little more creativity on the web” – Google Canada, Country Director Chris O’Neill


Mesh Conference


When: May 25th – 26th 2011

Where: Toronto, Ontario



Mesh was founded by 5 esteemed individuals including ME Consulting’s Mark Evens and Mathew Ingram from GigaOm. This web conference is a venue for people to “connect, share and inspire” and its focus is on anything related to the web. Mesh looks at the way the web is “affecting the media, marketing, business and society as a whole”. As of today, Mesh has not announced its keynote speakers for this year but you can be sure it will be filled with workshops, panels and thought provoking conversations and presentations. We’ve heard nothing but good things about Mesh and it’ll likely be a worthwhile experience.



FITC Toronto 2011 – The Design & Technology Festival


When: May 2 – 4th 2011

Where: Toronto, Ontario



The FITC conference began as a Flash Festival, but over the last few years, it has evolved and branched out gradually adding more creative and technical presentations. FITC aims to “educate, challenge and inspire”and they’ve previously held 20 events over the last nine years in five countries. At the event, Flash, motion design, Flex and Air are the types of subjects you’ll learn about in the presentations. FITC prides itself on the quality of its handpicked speakers and additionally claims its “parties are legendary”. Sounds very intriguing.


CeC (Canada -e- connect)


When: February 2-4

Where: Toronto Ontario



The CeC conference was created by the Canadian tourism industry and mainly focuses on e-marketing within that industry. Any tourism business or organization can use this conference as a tool to learn more about using technology to market and gain sales. It also takes a look at opportunities, web trends and online successful campaigns. I’d go just for the speakers. They’ve grabbed three internet celebs to present this year; Amber Mac, Tara Hunt and Scott Stratten. If you’re in the tourism industry, I’d say this one is a must-go.


Confoo


When: March 9th-11th

Where: Montreal, Quebec



The Confoo conference held in Montreal, Quebec will be kicking off another coding conference in 2011. This conference won’t interest you unless you’re a coder interested on learning more about Java, .Net, PHP, Python and Ruby. But, if


you are a code-monkey you’ll likely have a lot to take away. Presenters will be walking the developers through programming solutions, security, content management systems, frameworks and databases. Confoo also promises a management portion that includes project management, referencing (SEO), web marketing analysis and social networking. Overall, this sounds like a great conference to attend if you rawk the code.


StartupCamp Montreal 7


When: January 20th, 2011

Where: Montreal, Quebec



Later this month, StartupCamp Montreal will be holding the seventh edition of its event for startup companies. If you’re involved in a startup, this conference will put you in contact with investors, fellow companies and can assist you in working out things like your business pitch. It will also feature speakers such as successful native-Canadian entrepeneur Perry Evans.


Mobile Camp Montreal


When: May 14th, 2011

Where: Montreal, Quebec



This year will be the first ever Mobile Camp Montreal and will focus on all things mobile. It’s still in its infancy although we spoke with the organizers this evening and they tell us they’re confident the event will be a success. “The idea is essentially to act as a central point for mobile enthusiasts, whether they’re into devices, apps, OS or marketing. We’ll have people come talk to us about which devices are the best, what to expect from 2011, where is mobile going, how to properly target the mobile market, how to advertise, how to track, etc etc” the event founder said via email. They’re looking for sponsorship and presenters if you’re inclined to help them pull it off.


This is not a complete list of Canadian conferences, just a few you should think about attending in this coming year. And if you know of a great tech conference in Canada, please give us a shout in the comments.




robert shumake

Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>

The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...

Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>

South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.

Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger.


robert shumake detroit

Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>

The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...

Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>

South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.

Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger.


robert shumake


A couple of days ago Reddit user Jeff Ubelhor was talking to his friends about something or other and Space Jam, the movie starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan, came up (he swears they weren’t stoned). They checked on the website and realized that it hadn’t been touched since 1996. “From there I decided to post it on Reddit,” says Ubelhor “Because I thought it was hilarious, not only the design, but just how different Internet marketing was 14 years ago.”


The rest is Internet meme history. On December 29th, artist, professor and FAT Labs member Steve Lambert was given a link to the site by a student in his Hacking 101 class, posted it to the FAT Labs email list and tweeted it out as “The original Warner Brothers “Space Jam” movie website has been left untouched since 1996,“ his one time student, Buzzfeed founder and most viral human alive Jonah Peretti retweeted it, without giving him credit.


Both tweets were retweeted hundreds of times and the next thing you know Lambert was receiving emails like this:


From: “XXXXX”

Date: December 29, 2010 4:23:21 PM EST

To:


Subject: CBC News: SpaceJam tweet


Hi Steve,


I’m a reporter/anchor with CBC TV news in Toronto. Your SpaceJam tweet was trending locally for a couple of hours in Toronto, and was spread widely through our office. We’re going to a bit about it on our local supperhour newscast tonight.


Just wondering, do I credit you (through one of your students) as the originator of the tweet? Any comments on how many retweets you’ve generated?


Thanks,


XXXXX


And it wasn’t only Canadian TV stations that showed an interest. Since the Reddit post the site has been picked up by Buzzfeed (obviously), Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Geekosystem, Yahoo Sports, Slashfilm and countless others. Sister blog Urlesque, taking the phenomenon as evidence of a resurgence in interest in old movie sites, just published a post called “Old Official Movie Sites – Titanic, Air Bud, Event Horizon and More.” Sigh.


The original Reddit thread has over 2015 votes and 686 comments, including such meta and self-aware gems as “I wonder if we’re DDOSing a weakling 1996 server in an abandoned building somewhere right now” and “Browsing this on my droid x while moving 70mph. 1996 just shit their pants.”



Since Peretti and Lambert’s tweets, the bit.ly link has received over 57K total clicks, over 40K in one day. And that is just clicks on the link Peretti tweeted out which are nowhere near the traffic the site probably got all in all.  Peretti estimates that the Space Jam site could easily have garnered around 500K views since hitting the front page of Reddit shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, and gleaning from my web editorial experience I’m pretty sure that number is in the right ballpark. I’ve reached out to Warner Bros for the exact traffic stats.


A lot changes in 14 years and some things don’t. While the site’s original designer Jen Braun is “still working on the web,” Assistant to the Designer Andrew Stachler is now VP of Interactive Marketing at Warner Bros.


In 2010, computers are faster, monitors are thinner, social networking has exploded and we are now browsing the web on our mobile phones, among other things. But we’re all still staring at this silly looking website from 1996.


You could just chalk up this week’s explosion of the Space Jam site to an extremely slow holiday news cycle, but it’s much more than that. We’re now in the very last hours of the most fast-paced decade ever technology-wise, and that is a little scary. In this era of Word Lens and Self-Driving Cars, perhaps some of us are more than a little nostalgic for simpler times when “having a website, no matter how bad, was an achievement in itself.”



Canadian Tech Conferences to Attend in 2011


We’ve rounded-up some Canadian tech-related conferences happening in 2011 that we thought you might like to attend.


“My first observation was the opportunity in Canada is far bigger than I expected — and I expected it to be huge. I think there’s just an enormous amount of upside in terms of businesses catching up with consumers, and unleashing a little more creativity on the web” – Google Canada, Country Director Chris O’Neill


Mesh Conference


When: May 25th – 26th 2011

Where: Toronto, Ontario



Mesh was founded by 5 esteemed individuals including ME Consulting’s Mark Evens and Mathew Ingram from GigaOm. This web conference is a venue for people to “connect, share and inspire” and its focus is on anything related to the web. Mesh looks at the way the web is “affecting the media, marketing, business and society as a whole”. As of today, Mesh has not announced its keynote speakers for this year but you can be sure it will be filled with workshops, panels and thought provoking conversations and presentations. We’ve heard nothing but good things about Mesh and it’ll likely be a worthwhile experience.



FITC Toronto 2011 – The Design & Technology Festival


When: May 2 – 4th 2011

Where: Toronto, Ontario



The FITC conference began as a Flash Festival, but over the last few years, it has evolved and branched out gradually adding more creative and technical presentations. FITC aims to “educate, challenge and inspire”and they’ve previously held 20 events over the last nine years in five countries. At the event, Flash, motion design, Flex and Air are the types of subjects you’ll learn about in the presentations. FITC prides itself on the quality of its handpicked speakers and additionally claims its “parties are legendary”. Sounds very intriguing.


CeC (Canada -e- connect)


When: February 2-4

Where: Toronto Ontario



The CeC conference was created by the Canadian tourism industry and mainly focuses on e-marketing within that industry. Any tourism business or organization can use this conference as a tool to learn more about using technology to market and gain sales. It also takes a look at opportunities, web trends and online successful campaigns. I’d go just for the speakers. They’ve grabbed three internet celebs to present this year; Amber Mac, Tara Hunt and Scott Stratten. If you’re in the tourism industry, I’d say this one is a must-go.


Confoo


When: March 9th-11th

Where: Montreal, Quebec



The Confoo conference held in Montreal, Quebec will be kicking off another coding conference in 2011. This conference won’t interest you unless you’re a coder interested on learning more about Java, .Net, PHP, Python and Ruby. But, if


you are a code-monkey you’ll likely have a lot to take away. Presenters will be walking the developers through programming solutions, security, content management systems, frameworks and databases. Confoo also promises a management portion that includes project management, referencing (SEO), web marketing analysis and social networking. Overall, this sounds like a great conference to attend if you rawk the code.


StartupCamp Montreal 7


When: January 20th, 2011

Where: Montreal, Quebec



Later this month, StartupCamp Montreal will be holding the seventh edition of its event for startup companies. If you’re involved in a startup, this conference will put you in contact with investors, fellow companies and can assist you in working out things like your business pitch. It will also feature speakers such as successful native-Canadian entrepeneur Perry Evans.


Mobile Camp Montreal


When: May 14th, 2011

Where: Montreal, Quebec



This year will be the first ever Mobile Camp Montreal and will focus on all things mobile. It’s still in its infancy although we spoke with the organizers this evening and they tell us they’re confident the event will be a success. “The idea is essentially to act as a central point for mobile enthusiasts, whether they’re into devices, apps, OS or marketing. We’ll have people come talk to us about which devices are the best, what to expect from 2011, where is mobile going, how to properly target the mobile market, how to advertise, how to track, etc etc” the event founder said via email. They’re looking for sponsorship and presenters if you’re inclined to help them pull it off.


This is not a complete list of Canadian conferences, just a few you should think about attending in this coming year. And if you know of a great tech conference in Canada, please give us a shout in the comments.




robert shumake detroit

E-Business Workshop : Internet Marketing for Export by iWisdom


robert shumake

Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>

The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...

Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>

South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.

Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger.


robert shumake

Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>

The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...

Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>

South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.

Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger.


robert shumake

Internet Marketing is slowly becoming an integral part of any 21st Century business. Back in the 1990's many businesses could prosper without having any online presence. Times have certainly changed and the rapid rate of technology evolution means that a business of today can absolutely not afford to have an online presence.
A clear and well defined Internet Marketing Strategy is crucial for business success. The five tips covered below will help to improve your internet marketing and help drive your business forward online.

1.Embrace Social Media - It may seem that social media has no place within the world of business and is purely for keeping in contact with friends but this simply is not true. A business must not under-estimate the potential of sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Spark up conversations online and join the discussion, have an opinion and be interesting. Long gone are the days of the big businesses not communicating with their customers. Forums are also great places to spread the word about your services or products. Social Media is a must for Internet Marketing.

2.Get Blogging and Creating Copy - The key to a good blog is quality content. Write about your areas of expertise and always ensure you're using the most up to date information out there. An important internet marketing tip to remember is that the articles you write for your blog have great internet marketing potential. Post articles to online article submission sites, press-release sites, other peoples blogs, forums, twitter, facebook and anywhere else that would welcome a well written article. Make that article work for you and ensure all copies have a link back to your website.

3.The Infamous SEO - Search Engine Optimisation should definitely not to be over-looked. SEO forms the back-bone of all Internet Marketing. Ensure your website is clear, user friendly and is well optimised. Choose your Keywords well, carry out analysis with Google Adwords Keyword tool and generously spread them throughout all pages and articles. Review your Keyword throughout the year to ensure they are the best for your internet marketing campaign.

4.Main Website - Your website must give a great first impression because all your internet marketing efforts will lead back here. It is important to have a clear and memorable site. Ensure your website has a user friendly interface and will engage your audience. Take advantage of features such as videos, polls, learning resources, quiz's, social media button for users to share your information, comment areas and any other form of interactively which will benefit the user experience. All these features will improve your internet marketing influence.

5.Online Advertising -A major part of any marketing campaign comes down to building brand awareness. Very often a good method is through advertising. It is worthwhile looking at implementing banner ads. The click through rates are not the best but they will gain you more visibility. Think about the environment you place your adverts. If users like the environment they're are more likely to like the adverts. Facebook ads and the new promoted Tweets and both good examples of this.
To Improve your Internet Marketing, regularly evaluate your marketing campaign to allow for growth and change.


robert shumake

Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>

The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...

Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>

South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.

Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger.


robert shumake

E-Business Workshop : Internet Marketing for Export by iWisdom


robert shumake


A couple of days ago Reddit user Jeff Ubelhor was talking to his friends about something or other and Space Jam, the movie starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan, came up (he swears they weren’t stoned). They checked on the website and realized that it hadn’t been touched since 1996. “From there I decided to post it on Reddit,” says Ubelhor “Because I thought it was hilarious, not only the design, but just how different Internet marketing was 14 years ago.”


The rest is Internet meme history. On December 29th, artist, professor and FAT Labs member Steve Lambert was given a link to the site by a student in his Hacking 101 class, posted it to the FAT Labs email list and tweeted it out as “The original Warner Brothers “Space Jam” movie website has been left untouched since 1996,“ his one time student, Buzzfeed founder and most viral human alive Jonah Peretti retweeted it, without giving him credit.


Both tweets were retweeted hundreds of times and the next thing you know Lambert was receiving emails like this:


From: “XXXXX”

Date: December 29, 2010 4:23:21 PM EST

To:


Subject: CBC News: SpaceJam tweet


Hi Steve,


I’m a reporter/anchor with CBC TV news in Toronto. Your SpaceJam tweet was trending locally for a couple of hours in Toronto, and was spread widely through our office. We’re going to a bit about it on our local supperhour newscast tonight.


Just wondering, do I credit you (through one of your students) as the originator of the tweet? Any comments on how many retweets you’ve generated?


Thanks,


XXXXX


And it wasn’t only Canadian TV stations that showed an interest. Since the Reddit post the site has been picked up by Buzzfeed (obviously), Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Geekosystem, Yahoo Sports, Slashfilm and countless others. Sister blog Urlesque, taking the phenomenon as evidence of a resurgence in interest in old movie sites, just published a post called “Old Official Movie Sites – Titanic, Air Bud, Event Horizon and More.” Sigh.


The original Reddit thread has over 2015 votes and 686 comments, including such meta and self-aware gems as “I wonder if we’re DDOSing a weakling 1996 server in an abandoned building somewhere right now” and “Browsing this on my droid x while moving 70mph. 1996 just shit their pants.”



Since Peretti and Lambert’s tweets, the bit.ly link has received over 57K total clicks, over 40K in one day. And that is just clicks on the link Peretti tweeted out which are nowhere near the traffic the site probably got all in all.  Peretti estimates that the Space Jam site could easily have garnered around 500K views since hitting the front page of Reddit shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, and gleaning from my web editorial experience I’m pretty sure that number is in the right ballpark. I’ve reached out to Warner Bros for the exact traffic stats.


A lot changes in 14 years and some things don’t. While the site’s original designer Jen Braun is “still working on the web,” Assistant to the Designer Andrew Stachler is now VP of Interactive Marketing at Warner Bros.


In 2010, computers are faster, monitors are thinner, social networking has exploded and we are now browsing the web on our mobile phones, among other things. But we’re all still staring at this silly looking website from 1996.


You could just chalk up this week’s explosion of the Space Jam site to an extremely slow holiday news cycle, but it’s much more than that. We’re now in the very last hours of the most fast-paced decade ever technology-wise, and that is a little scary. In this era of Word Lens and Self-Driving Cars, perhaps some of us are more than a little nostalgic for simpler times when “having a website, no matter how bad, was an achievement in itself.”



Canadian Tech Conferences to Attend in 2011


We’ve rounded-up some Canadian tech-related conferences happening in 2011 that we thought you might like to attend.


“My first observation was the opportunity in Canada is far bigger than I expected — and I expected it to be huge. I think there’s just an enormous amount of upside in terms of businesses catching up with consumers, and unleashing a little more creativity on the web” – Google Canada, Country Director Chris O’Neill


Mesh Conference


When: May 25th – 26th 2011

Where: Toronto, Ontario



Mesh was founded by 5 esteemed individuals including ME Consulting’s Mark Evens and Mathew Ingram from GigaOm. This web conference is a venue for people to “connect, share and inspire” and its focus is on anything related to the web. Mesh looks at the way the web is “affecting the media, marketing, business and society as a whole”. As of today, Mesh has not announced its keynote speakers for this year but you can be sure it will be filled with workshops, panels and thought provoking conversations and presentations. We’ve heard nothing but good things about Mesh and it’ll likely be a worthwhile experience.



FITC Toronto 2011 – The Design & Technology Festival


When: May 2 – 4th 2011

Where: Toronto, Ontario



The FITC conference began as a Flash Festival, but over the last few years, it has evolved and branched out gradually adding more creative and technical presentations. FITC aims to “educate, challenge and inspire”and they’ve previously held 20 events over the last nine years in five countries. At the event, Flash, motion design, Flex and Air are the types of subjects you’ll learn about in the presentations. FITC prides itself on the quality of its handpicked speakers and additionally claims its “parties are legendary”. Sounds very intriguing.


CeC (Canada -e- connect)


When: February 2-4

Where: Toronto Ontario



The CeC conference was created by the Canadian tourism industry and mainly focuses on e-marketing within that industry. Any tourism business or organization can use this conference as a tool to learn more about using technology to market and gain sales. It also takes a look at opportunities, web trends and online successful campaigns. I’d go just for the speakers. They’ve grabbed three internet celebs to present this year; Amber Mac, Tara Hunt and Scott Stratten. If you’re in the tourism industry, I’d say this one is a must-go.


Confoo


When: March 9th-11th

Where: Montreal, Quebec



The Confoo conference held in Montreal, Quebec will be kicking off another coding conference in 2011. This conference won’t interest you unless you’re a coder interested on learning more about Java, .Net, PHP, Python and Ruby. But, if


you are a code-monkey you’ll likely have a lot to take away. Presenters will be walking the developers through programming solutions, security, content management systems, frameworks and databases. Confoo also promises a management portion that includes project management, referencing (SEO), web marketing analysis and social networking. Overall, this sounds like a great conference to attend if you rawk the code.


StartupCamp Montreal 7


When: January 20th, 2011

Where: Montreal, Quebec



Later this month, StartupCamp Montreal will be holding the seventh edition of its event for startup companies. If you’re involved in a startup, this conference will put you in contact with investors, fellow companies and can assist you in working out things like your business pitch. It will also feature speakers such as successful native-Canadian entrepeneur Perry Evans.


Mobile Camp Montreal


When: May 14th, 2011

Where: Montreal, Quebec



This year will be the first ever Mobile Camp Montreal and will focus on all things mobile. It’s still in its infancy although we spoke with the organizers this evening and they tell us they’re confident the event will be a success. “The idea is essentially to act as a central point for mobile enthusiasts, whether they’re into devices, apps, OS or marketing. We’ll have people come talk to us about which devices are the best, what to expect from 2011, where is mobile going, how to properly target the mobile market, how to advertise, how to track, etc etc” the event founder said via email. They’re looking for sponsorship and presenters if you’re inclined to help them pull it off.


This is not a complete list of Canadian conferences, just a few you should think about attending in this coming year. And if you know of a great tech conference in Canada, please give us a shout in the comments.




robert shumake detroit

Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>

The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...

Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>

South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.

Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Moore: EA not backing away from Tiger.


robert shumake

E-Business Workshop : Internet Marketing for Export by iWisdom


robert shumake










Thursday, December 30, 2010

Ways of Making Money

Theory has it that Canadian banks are in far better shape than their US counterparts. If so, it's primarily because the Canadian Central Bank (Bank of Canada) has assumed nearly all the default risk on Canada's massive property bubble.

Is that supposed to make everyone stand up and salute the Loonie?

One key point that has recently come into the spotlight is Canadian citizens are not in better shape than their US counterparts. All those going "rah rah" over the Loonie, might be advised to consider some of the following articles.

Canadians warned to rein in borrowing on cheap money before it's too late


Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney issued a staunch warning to Canadians about the perils of cheap borrowing Monday, just as fresh data suggested household debt-to-income ratios have jumped to record highs.

"Household debt levels are at unprecedented levels relative to income — the level of vulnerability of households remains high," Carney told a news conference after a speech in Toronto.

Statistics Canada said Monday the ratio of debt to disposable income rose to 148.1 per cent in Canada in the third quarter — a close to five point jump — slightly ahead of the U.S. ratio of 147.2 per cent.

TD Bank chief economist Craig Alexander said it was natural that the government would explore ways to constrain borrowing, but said he also does not believe the situation has reached a crisis.


Apparently TD Bank chief economist Craig Alexander thinks it's best to wait until there is a crisis to do anything about it.

No doubt Alexander is a big believer in the Greenspan methodology of dealing with bubbles after they burst even though we have already seen the disastrous results of such complaisance.

Here's another good one from up North: Consumers warned: 'brutal reckoning' ahead


Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney issued another stern warning Monday on Canadians' appetite to take on record levels of household debt, which some analysts took as a signal he is set to raise interest rates as soon as the economy improves.

"Cheap money is not a long-term growth strategy," Carney said. "Low rates today do not necessarily mean low rates tomorrow. Risk reversals when they happen can be fierce: the greater the complacency, the more brutal the reckoning."

In Ottawa, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said his government could tighten mortgage eligibility rules for a third time, if required, to keep credit growth in check.

Based on conversations he's had with banking executives, "there is no reason for extreme concern right now," Flaherty said. "But there is a reason for concern. So if it is necessary, we will toughen up the mortgage rules some more."


What's with this "no reason for extreme concern right now" nonsense? The Canadian property bubble is of epic proportion.

Flaherty too, appears to be a proponent of the Greenspan theory that bubbles can only be recognized in hindsight.

Blue Ribbon Complacency Awards

The blue ribbon for complacency goes to the Bank of Montreal for Debt picture not so bleak


Statistics Canada released data Monday showing that Canadian household debt has risen to 148 per cent of disposable income. The eye-popping figure is all the more alarming considering it's the first time since the 1990s that Canada's ratio has been higher than that of the U.S.

Alarm bells rang everywhere from the Bank of Canada to the Finance Department on Monday, and Canadians were urged to tighten their belts and prepare for a time of austerity.

But a closer look at the numbers indicates the picture might not be so bleak.

"The continued laser-like focus on debt overshadows the other half of the balance sheet," BMO chief economist Doug Porter said Monday.

Namely, Canadians are borrowing. But they're also saving, and they're worth more than they used to be.


Balance Sheet Theory Madness

Porter's statements are exactly the same kind of silliness we heard in the US regarding the central belief "massive debt is OK because it's supported by rising asset prices".

It was bad enough that anyone believed such nonsense a few years ago before the US property bubble blew sky high. That such beliefs still have proponents at the highest level of Canadian banks now seems rather amazing.

It just goes to show just how firm the belief "It's different here" is in Canada.

When housing prices crash, and especially if the stock market goes with it, what's left of Porter's "Balance Sheet Theory" will look something like a moldy slice of 3-year-old Swiss cheese.

Banks Won' Lead The Way

Toronto-Dominion Bank chief executive officer Ed Clark says Banks won't lead way on fixing debt problem.


If policy makers want Canadians to stop borrowing too much, it’s up to Ottawa, not financial institutions, to force a change in behaviour, says one of Bay Street’s longest-serving senior bankers.

Toronto-Dominion Bank chief executive officer Ed Clark acknowledged Canadians’ alarming debt levels, but said the issue is a matter of public policy and would be best resolved by a tighter government rules on residential mortgages.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Clark said that no bank wants to be the first to impose stricter requirements on borrowers out of fear that it will suffer a major loss of customers to rivals. Personal banking “is a highly competitive industry,” Mr. Clark said. “If we said ‘Look, we’re going to be heroes and save Canada from itself, and we’ll impose a whole new [mortgage] regime on everyone else,’ the other four [large] banks would say ‘Let’s carve them up.’ ”

Mr. Clark said it is impossible to expect any bank to crack the whip on borrowers because “market share loss is perceived as a strategic loss, not just a numerical or dollar loss.”


Dance Until The Music Stops

Clark sounds like he's a big believer in the Chuck Price Music Theory best described in retrospect as "Keep dancing until you dance out the door".

Flashback July 10, 2007: Quotes of the Day / Top Call


Chuck Prince - Citigroup CEO

No End Soon to Buyout Boom: “When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing".


Mish reply.

If ever there was market arrogance, the statements by Chuck Prince says it all.



In an interview with the newspaper, Prince said the boom will eventually end, but will continue for now because markets have plenty of liquidity, despite turmoil in the U.S. subprime mortgage market. He denied Citigroup was pulling back, the newspaper said. "When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated," he said. "But as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing.

Prince added: "The depth of the pools of liquidity is so much larger than it used to be that a disruptive event now needs to be much more disruptive than it used to be. At some point, the disruptive event will be so significant that, instead of liquidity filling in, the liquidity will go the other way. I don't think we're at that point.


My comment at the time was "I leave it to you to decide whether or not this is the 'last dance'".

Flashback November 02, 2007: Music Stops for Chuck Prince


The party is over and the music has stopped for Chuck Prince. His last dance is a two-step out the door. Citi's Prince Plans to Resign.


Moral-Hazard Position of Bank of Canada

Toronto-Dominion's CEO does not give a damn about fundamentals, about acting on their clients' interests, or for that matter acting on shareholder interests. Clark's only concern is in not losing market share to the other Canadian banks until the whole mess blows sky high.

Canada's banks clearly don't care what happens as long as they can pass the trash to the Bank of Canada, the Canadian equivalent of Fannie Mae.

Clark's statements, as well as statements made by the chief economists of BMO and Toronto-Dominion, put a spotlight on the decidedly stupid moral-hazard mess the Bank of Canada has gotten itself into by backstopping mortgages of Canadian borrowers.

But hey, look on the bright side. The music is still playing. In memory of Chuck Prince, Keep on Dancin'

Addendum:

I said Bank of Canada in a couple of places where I should have said CMHC.

Here are a couple of corrections from Canadian readers.

"RP" Writes ....


Quick corrections here Mish. Mortgages in Canada are guaranteed by the CMHC, which is a crown corporation equivalent to Fannie Mae. Anything less than 20% down requires this insurance, so that's the source of the Canadian banks' "health". The loose lending standards were set by the current "Conservative" government, a few months after they came in office. We had 0 down, 40 year mortgages insured by the government for a couple of years. Now it's officially 5% down and 35 years, but every bank will lend you the downpayment. The government also insures mortgages for rental properties.


Similarly, "MS" writes ....


Hey Mish,

One inaccuracy that should be corrected. It's the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) that serves as the equivalent to Fannie and Freddie, not the BoC. The CMHC insures mortgages for below market rates, and the major banks pass along their loans to them.

The Conservative government ordered the CMHC (a crown corporation) to insure some $300 Billion in additional mortgages during the crisis - nearly double their previous holdings. It is this that has buoyed the Canadian R/E market since then. Banks don't worry about credit worthiness, because the CMHC will take it anyway in order to meet their quota.


"Moi" Writes ....


Mish you are one of the few Americans that seem to "Get It". So many of the other US financial writers talk glowingly about how sound Canada is financially and how the Canadian banks did not take part in the risky lending practices that the US banks have taken part in. This is complete and utter BS!! The Canadian banks are doing the same sort of zero down or variable rate mortgages it's just they have none of the risk to worry about. 600 Billion dollars worth of that mortgage risk is held by the government of Canada thanks to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). There are cash back mortgages every where in this country. In other words come up with your measly 5% down payment and the bank will give you 5% back. So here in Canada we proudly brag about how we do not have zero down mortgages, we just call them by a different name. Also, if you do not have 5% to put down no problem. All of the banks will loan you money to by an RRSP (IRA), you can than cash that RRSP to be paid back later and use that as your 5% down payment. Voila, zero down mortgages.

The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals came out last month with their "Good News" annual report last month. Just like the Real Estate Industry, all news is good news. Take a look at the numbers. At these absolutely rock bottom interest rates:

100,000 mortgage holders would be in trouble with any rate move.
350,000 mortgage holders would be in trouble if rates only go up less than 1 percent.
250,000 mortgage holders would be in trouble if rates went up between 1 and 1.5 percent.

So, if interest rates which are at Century lows went up a measly 1.5 percent, 700,000 mortgage holders in Canada would be in trouble. What if they went up 2 or 3%? It would be mortgage Armageddon in Canada. This is how precarious our housing market. The following link gives you just one tiny example of why Canadian housing is a house of cards that could topple at the slightest touch.
http://whispersfromtheedgeoftherainforest.blogspot.com/2010/05/pardon.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canadian-mortgage-debt-tops-1-trillion-for-first-time/article1789172/

5% or more cash back mortgage:

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/mortgages/5_cashback.jsp
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/mortgages/cash-back-mortgage.html


Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Maybe I’ve been wrong all along. Maybe it really is time for a third party.


Though Mr. Kirk and other Republicans thundered against pork-barrel spending and lawmakers’ practice of designating money for special projects through earmarks, they have not shied from using a less-well-known process called lettermarking to try to direct money to projects in their home districts…


Lettermarking, which takes place outside the Congressional appropriations process, is one of the many ways that legislators who support a ban on earmarks try to direct money back home.


In phonemarking, a lawmaker calls an agency to request financing for a project. More indirectly, members of Congress make use of what are known as soft earmarks, which involve making suggestions about where money should be directed, instead of explicitly instructing agencies to finance a project. Members also push for increases in financing of certain accounts in a federal agency’s budget and then forcefully request that the agency spend the money on the members’ pet project…


[A] New York Times review of letters and e-mail to government agencies from members of Congress shows that the practice is widespread despite the fact that both President George W. Bush and President Obama have issued executive orders instructing agencies not to finance projects based on communications from Congress.


According to the Times, there’s basically no way to track these requests short of using FOIA to demand correspondence between Congress and various agencies. Another fun fact: Both Obama and Bush issued executive orders instructing agencies not to fund projects based on requests from individual congressmen — and yet, oddly enough, the Times claims the practice is “widespread.” Why do you suppose that is? Why might an agency head, whose budget depends on congressional appropriations, feel compelled to comply with “requests” from individual representatives for a few million dollars of pork here and there?


What’s most depressing about this, I think, isn’t the betrayal of transparency or even the hypocrisy of being loudly anti-earmark yet quietly pro-lettermark, it’s that it’s yet another example of government trying to do an end-around recently imposed limits on its own power. In this case, that limit was self-imposed by the GOP’s pledge to end earmarks; in the case of last night’s post about countermeasures to executive regulations, that limit was imposed on the White House by voters who chose divided government in November. And yet the GOP presses ahead with lettermarks and Obama presses ahead with pursuing his agenda by ignoring Congress to whatever extent he can. Nothing illegal about either, but they’re proof that not even a giant midterm landslide is enough of a signal to convince some pols to change their ways. Some “representation.”


Incidentally, since we’ve been arguing lately about whether the House of Representatives should be expanded, take a minute to read this smart Jay Cost post about how a bigger House could also mean more pork. The more districts we have, the smaller and more parochial they’ll get, which could be a huge benefit to incumbents who are willing and able to deliver lucrative earmarks back home.






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