bkubahn

Character

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Whatever you do repeatedly will shape your character.

-BK
Sent from my iPhone

533,000

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:31:00 +0000

533,000.

Five hundred thirty-three thousand.

Half-a-million.

That's how many people lost their jobs last November according to this morning's unemployment report. Everyone knew this would not be a pretty report - but this was far worse than expected. (Analysts were predicting about 335,000.)

To top it off, it had been previously reported that 240,000 lost jobs in October and 284,000 were handed pink slips in September. Those numbers were revised to 320,000 and 403,000, respectively.

1.28 million jobs lost in the last three months, then.

Ouch.

Padibe Blog - SummerCamp08

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:39:00 +0000

Please check this out:

http://summercamp08.wordpress.com/

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:16:00 +0000

26 November 2008 Wednesday

Humpday

Alphabet soup time:

* TARP � Troubled Assets Relief Program
* TALF � Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility
* ABS � Asset-Backed Securities
* PCE � Personal Consumption Expenditures
* CPI � Consumer Price Index
* OMFG � Wow!

No real surprises today. Economic situation in USA � indeed the world � could be better. PCE for October is down 1.0%. Housing sales for October at the lowest levels in years. New unemployment claims for last week did go down compared to the week before, but the moving 4-week average is up about 55k. Continuing claims stands at 3.9 million. October durable goods orders are way down � 6.7%! Look at these and you might think that we're in a recession.

Citi is up today so far. Nearly $7. No real news about the company.

The President-Elect held a press conference today and announced that Paul Vollker, a prior chairman of the Fed, would head the White House's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Tomorrow is gobble gobble gobble day. Markets are closed.

Here I Come to Save The Day

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:55:00 +0000

Citibank is being �rescued.� The federal government is stepping in after Citi's dramatic stock price drops with a combination preferred stock purchases and guarantees against losses from $306 billion worth of troubled assets. The problem with the low stock prices has to do primarily with confidence � it made obtaining capital and financing a much more difficult prospect for Citi and it was having to fend off calls to break up the business. Stock at 5.91 at writing up from 3.77 close on Friday. I'd still like to do some more digging on this one. My hunch was that the stock price would create a confidence problem for Citi � and that appears to be incorrect. But it seems to me one of two things was the case: The US Government was forced to spend a lot of money to fend off the Bogeyman, or that there are real problems at Citi that have yet to see the light of day (this fear being the monster under the bed), or that the possibility of Citi being broken up was very real and deemed not beneficial to the country.

It more interesting when you consider the speed with which the government acted on committing cash to Citi and compare those outlays against the total loan requested by the entire US auto industry and the resistance the Big Three are encountering. Someone looking for a controversy might wonder if the fact that the UAW doesn't have a presence in the financial industry might have something to do with that. I doubt it. (But that's not to say that there are some who view GM's troubles as an effective way to further erode unions' strength.)

Dems will reportedly have a $500-700 billion economic stimulus package ready and waiting for president-elect Obama's signature on the say he take the oath of office.

Slightly bemused by the latest advertisements for Hummer's Red Tag events � new vehicles available for only $34,000.

Listening to press conference in which President-Elect Obama formally unveils his economic team. Timothy Geigner � Secretary Treasury. Lawrence Sumners. Christina Romer � Council of Economic Advisers. Melody Barnes � Domestic Policy Council.

Paraphrase on auto-industry bailout: Expressed surprise that Big Three didn't have a more detailed, thought-out, plan on hand during the recent hearings. Believes Congress took the right step in asking Big Three to come back with in a couple weeks with one. We should help the auto industry, but make sure that any help that we do provide will ensure a sustainable industry and are not just �kicking a can down the road�.

(Later). Interesting reading on Hawthorne Effect. One link: http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/hawth.html.

(Later) Second rally in a row among the major stock indices. Dow up 376 (4.68%), S&P up 49 (%6.14%), NASDAQ up 75.7 (5.47%). Time is 15:20 Eastern. Seems widespread: all major sectors are up, led by Financial and Basic Materials.

(Later) Injection into CITI is to the tune of $20b.

I don't get it

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:13:00 +0000

I need to learn a thing or two still. I wrote yesterday on the rumours
that Citi executives were open to selling the company as a result of
its stock's devaluation. The bank once had a market cap as high as
$274 billion. As recently as the last few months it was $165 billion.
On Friday, I watched it's vale slide $2 billion in the time it took me
to write about the rumours. It now stands at approximately $20 billion.*

Today there's the Federal Government stepping in to rescue the bank in
the wake of it's stock slide.

And this is where my confusion sets in: Why does it matter that the
stock price is down? The government may have problems redirecting
TARP moneys to Citi because they have enough cash reserves to be
called a healthy bank. They, as far as I know, can continue to do
business - even if they lost another $50 billion due to toxic assets.
I would think that the company's stock price would have no bearing on
their ability to succeed except on three fronts:

1. Raising capital by reselling share that the company previously
bought back isn't a good option right now.

2. I could see where they would be more attractive takeover target all
if a sudden.

3. Maybe other irrational players soul view the stock's performance as
evidence that the bank is fundementally flawed and this be reluctant I
conduct business with them, especially if extending credit.

As I said, I need to learn more. When I saw the price slide I found
myself wishing I'd set aside cash so that i could buy up a ton of citi
shares. I still think that we are seeing a fire sale on a fairly good
company and that if I were to buy and hold for a few years I'd be in a
sweet spot.

I'll be curious to see what my thinking is free I do some more research.

Now I am NOT saying anyone else should do the same. I am making Jo
recommndations whatsoever. These are just thoughts.

*(Market Capitalization, for anyone dying to know, is one measure of a
company's worth calculated by multiplying the number of shares issued
by the prices of the stock.)

----
Sent from my iPhone

Broken Car(maker) Blues

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:56:00 +0000

GM's outlook is dim. Not believed to have enough cash resources to last. Seems unlikely that the auto makers will get a bailout before the end of the year. Dems had scheduled a vote but cancelled in the face of stiff GOP opposition. GOP blames labour costs for troubles, says that GM should declare bankruptcy and thus free itself of �burdensome� labour pension agreements. GM chief executive says that labour is not the problem. Is this a cynical move on the GOP's part to break the unions? You decide.

Consider this: In the last two-and-a-half months, there have been only six gainers in the S&P 500. Conversely, 494 of 500 are down. Of those, at least half have lost more than 40%. This is a fire sale! I really wish I had a bundle of cash to put into the market right now. (Shame on me.)

Obama team (or sources inside the team) has over the last couple weeks made several cabinet and high-level positions: Chief of Staff, Secretary of State (still unconfirmed). Attorney General, and today Homeland Security.

Bush team, in the meantime, has been busy converting politically appointed positions to permanent civil service positions. Claim that this is not an attempt to thwart the Obama presidency. More GOP cynicism at a critical time? (To be fair, there only one president in the last fifty years, Jimmy Carter, has not done this.)

Joe the Plumber � the welfare recipient turned nanny-state critic whose real name is Steve - has a book coming out on 1 December. Turned down, he says, several �lucrative� offers from big-name publishers in order to �spread the wealth�. How? By co-writing with a little-known author of a little-known novel and go through a little-known publisher. The publisher in question has put out one book in its history - the aforementioned novel. Lucrative offers, huh?

Whoa. As of 2:51PM Central Standard Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 400 points to 7,577.

Cyberbullying � A 49-year-old woman poses as a teenage boy on MySpace and befriends a 13-year-old girl with a history of depression. The women proceeds to taunt and humiliate the girl. The girl ultimately kills herself. (She did this in concert with her daughter and an employee.) She is on trial. The charges: one count of conspiracy, and three of accessing computers without authorisation.

Back in Milwaukee we have the case of Christopher Thomas. A baby has a father in jail, and his mother abuses him. Child Welfare places him in foster care. His last foster mother � and aunt � tortures and kills him. Well, his funeral was yesterday. His biological parents were there. What happened there? The mother's and father's families break out in violence and you have a dishevelled funeral home, attendees fleeing the funeral home, witness reports of someone brandishing a gun, and someone having to stand over the child's casket to ensure it is not tipped over during the melee.

It's just a world of good news today.

BBC E-mail: Father snapped daughter's spine

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:59:00 +0000

Brian Kuhn saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

** Father snapped daughter's spine **
The father of a baby girl from Doncaster is found guilty of her murder by snapping her spine, a court hears.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7682771.stm >

** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/email >

** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

Money and Family Values - Part One

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:07:00 +0000

If the GOP wants to preach about Family Values, they would do well to consider this:

A family earning $25,000 per year is twice as likely to divorce as a family earning $50,000 per year.

I'll delve more into this later, but in the mean time, please read this article from the Economic Policy Institute (and keep in mind that costs have gone up since it was written four years ago)

Basic family budgets: Working families' incomes often fail to meet living expenses around the U.S.

Living Paycheck to Paycheck?

noreply@blogger.com (MKEBrian) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:50:00 +0000

I hate to say it, but I am. �There's no excuse for that in my case. �So this caught my eye:

http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2006/06/paycheck.html

Monkey Man Says

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:47:00 +0000

"Submit!"

Amen!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:02:00 +0000

I agree entirely

Oops

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Gave my presentation at the conference.

Forgot two basic rules:

1. Ignore the ladies up front making ugly faces and focus on the
people who actually care.

2. s-l-o-w d-o-w-n

3. Practice practice practice. When you're done, practice some more.

4. Get some good sleep the night before.

Even so, there were some people with questions and positive
feedback . That makes thing easier.

That is all.

----
Sent from my iPhone

MobileMe Won't Sync on Tiger (OSX 10.4) - Solution

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:40:00 +0000

When I bought my iPhone, I decided to get a MobileMe account from Apple so that I could have a synchronized view of my Calendar, Contacts and Mail.

Had a devil of a time getting Synchronization to work on my Tiger MacBook, though.

Apple says you have to have OSX 10.4.11 - which I do. When I would go into the .mac settings, I entered my credentials, and got a response that they were valid. But when I would go to the Sync tab, a couple of wierd things happened:

1. When I clicked the "Synchronize" checkbox, the check mark would appear briefly, and then just disappear.

2. Eventually, I would get an error message saying "There was a problem with the sync operation .mac login failed".

Frustrating.

I found the solution here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=520400

Testing the mobile waters

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:10:00 +0000

There's really nothing important. To say in this entry. Just trying to
see if I can send a post via email on my mobile.

Sent from my iPhone

I'm Guessing These Parents...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:20:00 +0000

...had to clean their shorts

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,564890,00.html

How do your rights rank?

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:40:00 +0000

YouTube has been ordered to hand over the viewing habits of *every* user. Video watched, user id, IP address from which you watched it, and more.

Interestingly, Viacom had demanded the source code for YouTube, but the court said that handing over Trade Secrest was unwarrented.

Nice to see where We the People's priorities are.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7488009.stm

It's crap like this that makes me think that big media companies need to ... switch off.

self-inflicted torture

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:58:00 +0000

log into myspace. "you have new friends". click the notice. wait 3 minutes. "cannot find page".

gargh! how can you people stand myspace? and why do i even go there?

I did NOT just ask that, did I?

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:24:00 +0000

"Hey, that's Kurt Vonnegut. Wonder why he's got a cameo in this?"

That was me, yesterday, while watching watching "Mother Night" (1996, starring Nick Nolte).

Thank god I was alone.

(Yet Another Brit-Rock) iTunes Free Download

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:51:00 +0000

For those who like the Wombat's "Let's Dance to Joy Division" - it's the free download of the week at iTunes USA

We Ain't Hicks

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:28:00 +0000

I can't tell you how many times I've been taken aback when I'd see Milwaukee -- or more accurately, it's people -- depicted in the movies as a bunch of backwater hicks. ("Love Actually" being one example.) It does not mesh with what I see every day. Granted, we're no Paris or Berlin, but surely we're not that bad, are we? How did we get that image? What did the outsiders see? I think I figured it out. And I have a new rule: *NEVER* take visitors to the Cactus Club in Bay View. I think I'd find less facial hair at a ZZ Top show in the Appalachians.

Crazy Eights

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:55:00 +0000

If you use a Mac, you use Apple's Pages, and you have to export your document to PDF, then here's a little tidbit for you:

Futura 8-point font will come out U-G-L-Y on the PDF, with decidedly jagged text. Increase your size to 9 points and your letters will be smooth as silk.

You Can Pay, But It'll Cost You

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:11:00 +0000

I've wondered about Hillary's campaign advisor. Why have Clinton stick it out until the bitter end? She's only looking more and more rediculous as the days go by. Why the problem with ending the campaign a little early? Now I get it...

Holy Squeezebox, Batman!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Wow...

This is hard enough to play on an organ...

(If you can't see the video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBmajjf5WKE)

Padibe Essay

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:19:00 +0000

http://www.berkeleyprize.org/essay/2007/essays.cfm?winners=815