Even the pros are losing

A bear market gets everyone.

Yahoo Finance Tech Ticker video and article here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/132132/How-the-Mighty-Have-Fallen-Buffett-Other-Legends-Feel-Bear-Market-Bite?tickers=BRK-A,FMAGX,CGMFX,LMVTX,IEP,LM,GS

• Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway): -43%
• Ken Hebner (CMG Focus Fund) -56%
• Harry Lange (Fidelity Magellan): -59%
• Bill Miller (Legg Mason Value Trust) -50%
• Ken Griffin (Citadel): -44%
• Carl Icahn (Icahn Enterprises): -81%
• T. Boone Pickens: Down $2 billion since July
• Kirk Kerkorian: Down $693 million on his Ford shares alone

Tech Giants Eyeing Start-Ups Despite Downturn

Though the stagnating economy is causing businesses of all kinds to rein in their spending, top-name tech companies are still looking to fund, partner with or acquire compelling start-ups — especially if those smaller companies add to their bottom line.

“We’re investing to facilitate transactions. We’re doing deals to make money,” David Lawee, vice president of business development at Google, said at the event. Lawee also confirmed that Google will launch its own venture fund to back promising start-up companies.

http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/11/20/tech-giants-eyeing-start-ups-despite-downturn/?mod=djemTECH

Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street: Nov. 21

One of them is ungrateful. Hypocrite is another.

Bank of America(BAC Quote – Cramer on BAC – Stock Picks) CEO Ken Lewis slammed a potential auto-industry bailout this Tuesday. The banking bigwig made his remarks just as auto executives from GM (GM Quote – Cramer on GM – Stock Picks), Ford(F Quote – Cramer on F – Stock Picks) and Chrysler were on Capitol Hill begging for a $25 billion emergency bridge loan to avert a collapse of one or more of their companies.

“I think there’s one too many” automakers, Lewis said to the Detroit Economic Club during a meeting in Cobo Center, the downtown convention center that’s home to the North American International Auto Show each January.

“I think the American people are suspect of just giving more money and buying more time,” he told reporters following the speech, according to The Associated Press. “They want to see that the companies have, in fact, changed and the strategies have changed.”

Sorry Ken, but bankers in glass houses shouldn’t toss grenades.

Lewis shouldn’t balk at anyone getting a handout, after nine large banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo(WFC Quote – Cramer on WFC – Stock Picks), Citigroup(C Quote – Cramer on C – Stock Picks) and JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote – Cramer on JPM – Stock Picks), received $125 billion last month.

Oh, and what did Lewis do with the $25 billion of the government’s largesse that you said you didn’t need? Instead of lending it out to Americans being crushed by the credit crisis, like he was supposed to do, he announced this week that Bank of America is buying more shares of China Construction Bank, raising its stake to 19.1% of the company.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10449331/1/the-five-dumbest-things-on-wall-street-nov-21.html?puc=_tscrss

Google is Done Paying Silicon Valley’s Legal Bills

For most of the decade, Silicon Valley technology startups have assumed that Google would pay their legal bills. Not literally, mind you, but rather by taking on the big, high-profile cases about fair use, interoperability, and other digital intellectual property issues that would set precedents that all disruptive innovators could rely on.

Well, Google just put the Valley on notice that the free ride is over, which means more legal burdens for smaller technology companies that previously depended on Google clearing a path for them.

Late last month, Google announced a settlement in its lawsuit with book publishers and authors over its Google Book Search offering. At the heart of the dispute is the question of whether scanning copyrighted books in order to index them violates copyright law, as the publishers argued, or is permissible as a fair use, as Google argued. If approved by the court, the $125 million settlement would buy Google — and only Google — permission not just to scan books for indexing purposes, but also to expand Book Search to provide more access to the scanned books.

Google has consistently led the way on a number of cases paving the way for other companies to benefit from legal precendent.

Until now. By settling rather than taking the case all the way (many copyright experts thought Google had a good chance of winning), Google has solved its own copyright problem — but not anyone else’s. Without a legal precedent about the copyright status of book scanning, future innovators are left to defend their own copyright lawsuits. In essence, Google has left its former copyright adversaries to maul any competitors that want to follow its lead.

ok ok so this is a digression from the usual, but give me a break the dow is getting a little depressing right now…http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/further-thoughts-google-book-search-settlement

Chevy Volt: Is it just me or is this car symbolic of GM’s failure?

Great to look at.  But for over $30k?  Delayed?  This is the last thing people need right now.

Chevy Volt Plug-In Hybrid Car
The GM Volt plug-in hybrid was supposed to hit showrooms in 2010 for $30,000. Well, apparently it’s not that easy to redesign wipers, stereos and other electrical accessories so they drain as little juice as possible from the battery. GM has announced that the first generation Volt will be “closer to $35,000″. The good news is that the late 2010 deadline hasn’t been officially pushed back, though GM says that if it can’t make it, the car might be delayed until the Spring of 2011.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/chevrolet_gm_volt_price_goes_up_wipers_stereo.php

Dow down to 7500 and Oil below $50 per barrel

Stocks get hammered again today on news of Most Asian markets rebound after Wall Street rout; Hang Seng jumps 3.8 percent

Perhaps the confidence can now be expressed by confusion and meltdown?

On the bright side, stocks rallied in Asia:

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Most Asian markets rebounded Friday after days of sharp declines in stocks around the world as investors scooped up battered financial and technology shares.

Entire Article here:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081121/world_markets.html

Some great information from Seeking Alpha on when we might be able to predict a decline:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/106668-four-commonsense-clues-to-a-genuine-market-bottom?source=front_page_most_popular_articles

1. If Energy prices continued to slide lower Here they are now;

2. Stock prices reach book values (defined assets minus liabilities)

3. Unemployment levels stabilize

The last one makes no sense to me right now perhaps that means its time to sleep.  Regardless if we can recognize characterstics of a bottom, it is unclear when that bottom will actually happen, it does not look like anytime soon.

Paulson Credit-Card Bailout Draws Growing Criticism

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s latest plan for the $700 billion bailout fund has many economists responding like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi, “Next!” They say the idea of using funds approved by Congress in early October to stimulate credit card and auto lending is ill advised and unnecessary.

Entire story here: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1859381,00.html

Pakistan To Receive At Least $7.6 Billion As IMF Rescue Loan

Islamabad, Pakistan (AHN) – Pakistan is expected to receive at least $7.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilize its economy amid global financial turmoil.

Shaukat Tarin, adviser to the prime minister, told reporters Saturday that the country will get the loan to help avoid defaulting on its international debt as credit crisis widens on declining market value of the equities.

The announcement by the top official in Pakistan ahead of G20 summit in Washington, D.C., where the presidents and prime ministers of rich and emerging economies are going to develop a common approach to combating the global economic crisis.

Recently, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn urged leaders of the industrialized and developing economies to take measure to help counter the global economic slowdown.

He mentioned in his letter to the leaders on November 6 that emerging markets were now under great stress as the “capital flows that have sustained growth dry up across the board. The international community must take action.”

Tarin reportedly said that Pakistan would initially get $4 billion by the end of this year, which will be a part of 23-month deal with IMF, and it would start repaying the loan in 2011, according to AFP news agency.

The South Asian country has experienced a growth of up to 8 percent in the last few years, mainly led by consumer financing sector.

Under the IMF deal, the country will have to reduce the size of the government, slash its expenses on development and cutback on a few subsidies crucial for certain sectors.

Pakistan requires up to $4.5 billion to tackle with its debt payment crisis as its currency has lost value and its foreign-exchange reserves have contracted by as much as 75 percent in the last 12 months to $3.5 billion last week.

The Pirate Bay Traffic and Peers Surge

The site now tracks 25 million peers, which is more than the entire populations of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark combined.

http://thepiratebay.org/

At the time of publication, The Pirate Bay tracks 25.064.271 peers, divided over close to 1.856.243 torrent files. Quite an accomplishment when you consider that it is not even 2 months ago since they the 15 million mark. Coincidentally, the server that tracks the statistics crashed due to a hard drive failure, right around the time they reached the new milestone.

Hollywood will probably not be too happy when they hear that the Swedish deviant has broken yet another record, but Peter and the other Pirate Bay founders couldn’t care less what they think. Peter has a message for them though: “Stop hating the future. Be smart and come over from the dark side.”

Read full story here: http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-sees-traffic-and-peers-surge-081115/

Auto Execs plead for bailout

US auto execs plead for Congress to fund bailout

U.S. auto executives warned Congress on Tuesday that their industry was teetering on the brink of disaster as they pleaded for a $25 billion aid package despite political opposition to another multibillion-dollar government bailout.

Obama and the Economy

President elect Obama.  After the dissapointment of the 2000 and 2004 elections, who would have expected a Democrat, not to mention an African American left leaning Senator from Illinois to take the White House.  Barack broke all previous spending records for campaign finance while refusing the take public finance  benefitted from private donations.  Will his victory lead to a victory for the US financial situation?

Now that the election is over, and Obama begins to assemble his team he is already alluding to his pending announcement of his economic aides and Treasury Secretary, the question at hand and seek to answer in future discussion is how an Obama victory will affect the “market.”

http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/retirement/2008/09/11/obama-and-your-retirement.aspx?terms=obama&vstest=search_042607_linkdefault

Here is an excerpt from Seeking Alpha noting areas to watch with the Obama victory. http://seekingalpha.com/article/104125-global-markets-meet-president-obama-now-what?source=wildcard

Industries at risk for higher taxes, growth limitations

• Integrated Oil companies: These are probably safe in the short term and at risk in the medium-term for windfall taxes, because of fewer tax breaks. Offshore production plans in the U.S. could be stalled or scrapped altogether.
• Energy E&P companies: There will be offshore drilling risks, and increased funding for alternative energy production.
• Big Pharma, Biotech: There will be tougher negotiations for lower drug prices via Medicare, and possible competition with lower-priced drugs from Canada.
• Airlines: They will experience higher labor costs.
• Leisure and other labor-intensive industries: There will be higher labor costs and an easier path to collective-bargaining agreements for workers.
• Media: Obama has expressed a desire to open up local markets and restrict the “cornering” of local markets by big media conglomerates. We can also expect fewer mergers as antitrust policies will be tougher under Obama.

Industries that could see tailwinds

• Autos: Obama has promised to “fast-track” money to the Big Autos – $25 billion was appropriated in late September but it still hasn’t been distributed. In previous statements, Obama has expressed desire to allocate $150 billion over 10 years to fund alternative energy and hybrid cars.
• Alternative Energy: Solar, Wind and Natural Gas should all see growth via tax credits and other incentives, as well as increased levels of private and government funding. The possible institution of a carbon cap and trade system would really catapult this group, but don’t expect to see anything for a couple of years.
• Industrial equipment and service providers: Obama will likely allocate capital towards infrastructure improvement projects like roads and bridges. Caterpillar (CAT) was mentioned in the Bloomberg article as a particular beneficiary.
• Technology: Obama generally wants to promote higher R&D funding, net-neutrality. A recent survey of tech executives found that over 60% felt Obama would be better choice for technology development.

Rahm Emanuel and Obama’s team http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122593241428003447.html

Obama advisers say the new president is likely to name a White House advisory board to oversee the remaking of the financial industry’s regulatory structure, which Mr. Volcker could serve as chairman of instead of Treasury Secretary despite advising Obama on the current crisis throughout the campaign.

While this blog will run the gamut of economic data, trends, news, similar to this post I look to incorporate political info when relevant.

Let’s get started.

Tye

Knock SOX off and Stocks I’m watchin’

Will Sarbanes Oxley be repealed?  Should it be?

Some interesting ideas on the matter as Newt Gingrich’s argues that it has hurt more than helped:

• It didn’t prevent insolvencies and accounting shortfalls in companies such as Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, American International Group (AIG) and Merrill Lynch.
• The average company will now take 12 years before it can successfully issue an initial public offering (IPO) (up from 5 years pre-Sarbanes-Oxley) because they do not have enough capital to cover the estimated $4.36 million hidden tax in yearly compliance costs (The initial estimate from the Securities and Exchange Commission was approximately $91,000 per company on average).
• Smaller public companies went private or merged: “In 2006, the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP conducted a survey of 114 public companies on the effects of Sarbanes-Oxley. Twenty-one percent of companies were considering going private, 10 percent were considering selling the company, and 8 percent were considering merging with another company”
• U.S. companies are going public on foreign exchanges to avoid the Act: “In 2005, a report by the London Stock Exchange cited that about 38 percent of the international companies surveyed said they had considered issuing securities in the United States. Of those, 90 percent said the onerous demands of the new Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance law had made London listing more attractive.”
• They also quote Representative Michael Oxley, one of the original sponsors of the bill, who said “Frankly, I would have written it differently…Everyone felt like Rome was burning.”

STOCKS TO WATCH:

The Market was hammered again today.  Here are some opinions offered on stocks in a post W world with Obama at the helm: http://seekingalpha.com/article/104364-with-election-behind-us-where-should-we-invest?source=yahoo

Here are some on my radar that I have been advised on and also located that I think might be worth watching:

Almost Family, Inc. and its subsidiaries provide home health care services in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, the United States.

AFAM up over 2% on a bad day for stocks in general

49.43 0.74 (1.52%) 4:50PM ET

52wk Range:16.60 – 51.68

GE

Warren Buffet invested $3 billion, need I say more?

52wk Range:17.27 – 39.95 After Hours: 19.90 0.03 (0.15%) 7:58PM ET

Cresud, Inc., an agricultural company, engages in crop production, cattle raising, and milk production in Argentina

CRESY After Hours: 5.93 0.03 (0.51%) 4:01PM ET

I think solid ag companies will be a more lucrative economy as ag land becomes more scarce, but we shall see.

Archer Daniels Midland Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities and products primarily in the United States

ADM After Hours: 23.71 0.00 (0.00%) 5:37PM ET

Off to find some other deals out there…

Until next time.

T

Bailout Auto industry?

House leaders Pelosi and Reid are making a push for the Treasury to offer assistance to GM and Ford. After their earnings were announced and another quarter of huge losses were reported,it looks like a bill could be put forth by Congress shortly. Should the US bailout Detroit?

What would the bailout cost?
How many companies would it include? Just the US big three?
What conditions would be placed on the bailout?
What rate of return could taxpayers expect on this in return?
Would it adversely effect proposed stimulus packages rumored to be in the works for the end of this year and the first quarter of 2009?

One of the most often claimed rebuttals for the idea of “bailing out” the big three is that where would the federal assistance end? What key industry would we finally not provide substantial financial assistance?

Allowing over 100,000 people to go jobless and a key piece of US industry to fail and attempt to rebuild seems unlikely to me. Ben Stein’s article today in the Business section of the New York Times briefly and convincingly supported the proposed bailout. Perhaps part of the appeal of his message lay in the fact that he was making other sound recommendations in response to the economic crisis.

GM reported that October auto sales relative to the population were at their lowest level since 1945.

Bailout or not? I see no alternative. I think it needs to be done, but with strong conditions.  They need to agree to certain benchmarks and deliver on a extremely fuel efficient vehicle such as the Volt, but instead of offering it at the bargain price of $30,000 they need to pull their heads out of their ass.  Additional cost cutting measures such as executive pay and bonuses need to be agreed upon prior to assistance.  The Chrysler bailout of 79-80 was different and relatively smaller.  Within 4 years, the struggling auto maker created the minivan, marketed the SUV and enjoyed its burgeoning popularity, paid off the loan, and Lee Iaccoca helped steer them toward profitability allowing the US to actually earn a profit from the bailout.

Some interesting points in response to the September proposed bailout of the big three from US News and World Report:

Not sure how they differ but I thought this would provide some good points for discussion.  Specifically I find it an interesting to note that Chrysler is no longer a public company, so should they be eligible for federal funds.

Also recaps the general fiscal urgency all three companies face: “GM and Ford could start to run out of cash by the second half of 2009, a precursor to declaring bankruptcy. Chrysler’s finances are now private, but its sales are down even more than at Ford and GM, and it may be starting to bleed its corporate parent, Cerberus.”  Entire article here: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2008/09/24/a-25-billion-lifeline-for-gm-ford-and-chrysler.html

For the interest of employees of the GM Chrysler and Ford, their local dealerships, and their many related businesses, consumser benefits to more legitamate options, and the general health of the US economy, let’s hope that happens.

Since began writing this post, some not so positive perspective from the Detroit Free Press:

Entire article here:

http://www.freep.com/article/20081108/BUSINESS01/811080332/1002

Confidence is very sexy

The October 30 Fool.com article quotes Tampa Bay Devil Rays coach Joe Madden. He says: “Confidence is really a wondrous thing in regard to us humans”? Referencing his team’s run this baseball season as AL Champions.

Confidence is defined: full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing: We have every confidence in their ability to succeed.

There is little trust in the power and reliability of the market.  As a result demand is down, prices are down and we have some buying opportunities

Chuck Akre’s FBR Focus Fund (FBRVX) is down more than 36% year-to-date, with holdings in American Tower (NYSE: AMT), Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN) and CarMax (NYSE: KMX) having taken particularly hard hits.  Could this be a mutual fund to look at?

Yet when Chuck stopped by our offices last week, he put aside his recent performance and said with a smile that times like these are “nirvana for the value investor.” That’s because good companies are on sale across the board for reasons that have nothing to do with their long-term intrinsic value.

Here’s why
Chuck noted that there are three groups that might normally be buying stocks but for a variety of reasons are either sitting this market out or pulling money from the market. They are:

1. Individual investors, because they’re scared witless.
2. Corporations, who aren’t repurchasing cheap shares because they need to hoard cash to survive the credit crunch.
3. Hedge funds, which are going to cash, to meet demand for year-end redemptions.

That creates across-the-board artificial downward pressure on stocks, and it’s the reason cash-rich names such as Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) were selling earlier this week for less than 10 times this year’s free cash flow.

Again, that’s nirvana for the value investor.

Here is the entire article:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/30/the-best-investing-opportunity-in-35-years.aspx

Here is some additional cautionary information to counter this argument generally (depending) on your perspective:

[Don Coxe interview in Nov 10 Barron’s] “Stocks are cheap but they can get cheaper; we know that. We got back to the Dow having a multiple of 5.9 in December of ‘74, which was the foundation of Warren Buffett’s wealth because he started buying at that level. The Dow isn’t anywhere near 5.9 (its multiple last week was 11), but some of my favorite stocks are trading at lower P/Es than that. I can tell you they are the fertilizer, oil and agricultural companies.”

“When I came back from a trip two years ago, I said the biggest commodity story is going to be food, bigger than the other ones. It is high-protein food. The way to play that is through the fertilizer stocks, the genetically modified seed stocks and the farm-equipment stocks.”

This provides some support for my interest in ADM and other CRESY:

Things really looked good on Friday, but I don’t expect that to last things will be down again this week:

ADM up 11% to 22.58

CRESY up 10% to 6.58

Perhaps we need to embrace the attitude of current NY Yankee first baseman Jason Giambi.  Here is some Q&A from an interview with the NY Post referring to his infamous statement that he likes to feel sexy at homplate to be at his best.

Q: Describe what you feel like when you feel “sexy” at the plate.

A: As soon as you step in the box, it’s like when you enter a bar. Maybe a woman would feel the same way, that she knows she’s gonna get picked up on (chuckles). You know you’re gonna hit the ball hard. It’s just having that feeling of confidence, but not arrogance.

Maybe some of us scared investors need to channel some confidence and sexiness to get some deals in the market.

World Meets but what now?

Emergency economic summit brings promises of action, cooperation, leaves details for later

WASHINGTON (AP) — World leaders battling a dire and deepening economic crisis vowed Saturday to cooperate more closely, keep a sharper eye out for red-flag problems and give bigger roles to fast-rising nations — but kicked many hard details down the road for their next summit after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

Perhaps as important as the modest concrete steps they took, the leaders of the planet’s richest nations — and some of the fastest-developing — made clear their recognition of the world’s increasingly interconnected financial architecture and the responsibilities that go along with it.

“There shall be no blind spots,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared. “There is here a great common will to ensure that such a crisis is not repeated.”

Underscoring how bad things have gotten this time, President George W. Bush, the summit host, said he had agreed to the recent $700 billion rescue plan for U.S. financial institutions only after being told the nation was at risk of falling into “a depression greater than the Great Depression.”

Also significant at the summit: the inclusion of a far broader range of countries than the elite, old-guard group that usually holds such summit meetings.

“Emerging market countries were not the cause of this crisis, but they are amongst its worst affected victims,” declared Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Leaders from 21 nations and four international organizations attended the emergency summit that was held as Washington was blanketed in a gray mist and which took on a workaday feel appropriate to the grim crisis that drew them together. At the conclusion of talks that took place over two days, they released a joint communique that was modest in scope but high in hopes.

Covering eight pages and 47 action items, the document’s overarching focus is to establish a series of new safeguards for the fragile and opaque global financial system. Nearly all the efforts are aimed in some way at better flagging risky investment patterns and regulatory weak spots before they bring down companies and then ripple dangerously through entire economies, as has happened in recent months.

To that end, the leaders called for such mundane things as “supervisory colleges” where financial regulators can compare market notes across countries, better cooperation between nations on regulations, the eventual standardization of accounting rules governing how companies can value potentially tricky assets, and new attention to credit-rating agencies.

The leaders also supported expanding the membership of the Financial Stability Forum, a group that has been examining the causes of the financial crisis and crafting ways to prevent future problems. And the group called for broadening the financial police work of the 63-year-old International Monetary Fund as well as modernizing the institution to better keep pace with the changing economic environment.

Read the entire article here:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081115/meltdown_summit.html

Apparently we will have to wait until Jan 20 and an Obama administration for some more concrete “solutions.”

Learning from Buffett

Learning from Buffett
Instead of buying what Buffett is buying, we should look to what his strategy has to teach us. So what can we learn from Buffett’s shopping spree? Two things:

• Invest for a lifetime.
• Compile a watch list of attractive companies.

To wit: Here’s a screen of companies that are trading at less than 50% of their 52-week highs, and are still above a market capitalization of $5 billion.

Company	% of 52-week high	P/E Ratio
Toyota (NYSE: TM)	49%	7.7
Western Union (NYSE: WU)	48%	10.5
Merck (NYSE: MRK)	46%	12.8
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN)	46%	28.5
MasterCard (NYSE: MA)	46%	N/M
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS)	37%	N/M
PotashCorp (NYSE: POT)	31%	7.3

You’ve probably heard of most of these companies, and find their discounts tantalizing. A lot more great companies sell for half off in this market, too. How should you proceed?

One prudent way to take emotion out of the equation: Compile a list of companies you’d love to own for the long term, and the prices you’d love to pay for them. When one of your favorite companies goes on sale, you can revisit your list, ensure your investing thesis is still intact, and bend it like Buffett.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/11/15/buy-it-like-buffett.aspx

Japanese Prime Minister Dollar still key currency

4:18 PM “There is a voice questioning if it’s stable for the U.S. dollar, of the world’s largest debt country, to continue to be a key currency. But our prime minister stressed that no currency but the dollar can be used as a key currency,” Japanese official quoting PM Taro Aso

“We pledge to strengthen our regulatory regimes, prudential oversight, and risk management, and ensure that  all financial markets, products and participants are regulated or subject to oversight…” – G-20 President Robert Zoellick

Apple iPhone v. Blackberry Storm

BlackBerry Storm vs. Apple iPhone: 8 reasons pro and con

Who says you can’t have it both ways?

With RIM’s (RIMM) touchscreen BlackBerry Storm set to be released in the United States next Friday, CIO.com has published eight reasons to choose the Storm over Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone.

The same day, it published eight reasons to pick the iPhone over the Storm.

Both pieces are by Al Sacco, who probably doesn’t pay for the phones he reviews.

Here’s why he prefers the Storm:

1. Stereo Bluetooth capability
2. Removable battery
3. Expandable memory
4. Video recording
5. Works as a tethered modem
6. Tactile feedback
7. Copy and paste
8. Multitasking

Here’s why he prefers the iPhone

1. It’s now second-generation
2. Built-in memory
3. iTunes App Store
4. iTunes integration
5. Full QWERY (virtual) keyboard
6. Wi-Fi support
7. iPod media player
8. Safari browser

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/15/blackberry-storm-vs-apple-iphone-8-reasons-pro-and-con/

Food, Farming, Global warming and National Security?

Too much US land being used for fuel and not for food.  Ethanol is one of the biggest drains on energy if you calculate all the carbon required to produce it.  He notes in a recent NPR audio interview on Fresh Air that the US farms chickens then ships them to China to be cut to take advantage of cheap labor and then ship them back.

Pallon argues that the era of cheap and abundant food appears to over soon.  Food is so critical that is effects national security, climate change, energy independence and health care.

You can listen to the National Security argument here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95896389

Eat your veggies…

Michael Pollan

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?ei=5090&en=a18a7f35515014c7&ex=1327640400&pagewanted=all

http://www.michaelpollan.com/

How is the independent American farmer faring these days?
This is an amazing thing to say, but it’s absolutely true: All the farmers I photographed seemed genuinely happy with their life; a remarkable notion given the unprecedented struggles they’re facing today. For many, these are the toughest times they’ve ever hadbut you’d never know it. They’re too proud. I know they all worry about the future, about the well-being of the next generation, but another day is a good day to them. They simply take whatever the world gives them, and they give back as much as they possibly can. No rain? We’ll scrape by. Too much rain? We’ll replant. Never once did I get the feeling that they would ever consider doing anything else. They love what they doand it’s the purest love you can imagine. No matter the conditions that test their mettle, they never give up or doubt their purpose. Retirement is almost unheard of, because for the farmer life is work. I remember a farmer telling me his philosophy on life: The harder I work the luckier I get.
There’s a growing movement among non-farming Americanslet’s say the Michael Pollan-itesto know where our food comes from, and many aren’t pleased when they learn about the corporate food industry. Were your ranchers and farmers seeing the interest?
I know that most are aware of the growing interest, and certainly some of the organic and younger farmers I met are more involved in the evolving politics of food, but I think for the majority of farmers, it has very little impact on the way they farm. They all feel they do the very best they can to produce the highest quality product possible; that’s what they’ve always done and will continue to do. They definitely believe that what they farm is of much higher quality than what the corporate guys churn out. But I think that the public conversation that’s been taking place about the way we should be thinking of and consuming food, is largely seen by the farmers as something that’s happening out therein the cities and among those who’ve never lived or worked on a farm. Most farmers I met are far more concerned with how they’re going to scrape up the money to pay for repairs to a broken tractor before the fall harvest, or outlast the worst drought they’ve ever been through without having to sell off some landa prospect akin to cutting of a limb for them. In other words, they are struggling, day in and day out, just to surviveanything outside of that is a minor concern in comparison.
Which feels more American to you, the wide open spaces or the big cities?
I love the big city, but I miss the wide open spaces. Over the past four years venturing from one farm to the next, I had the ultimate sense of freedom. My worries and anxieties would fly out the car window every time I hit the road. If I didn’t answer the cell phone, who cared? If I got myself lost taking a back road detour, so what? Those small, but monopolizing, city concerns were irrelevant on my rural journeys. Though every homecoming was a very happy reunion with family and friends, I’d soon find myself itching for the next trip into the cornfields, the pastures, the vast horizons. It’s a different way of life out there. Is either one more American? I don’t think so. But in my opinion, you’ll find the very best of America in those wide open spaces.
What comes next?
I’m not sure what comes next. I’m still riding the euphoria of my four-year journey. I’m back to my commercial work, touring for the book, and promoting farming during my breaks. I’ve become very fond of the elderly while working on American Farmer. Maybe a project on growing older would be interesting. A celebration of life and wisdom. In the meantime, I still have over 300 farmers to reminisce about. It feels good.