Bob Morris @ 23:04 Category: Unfiled;
If you run Windows go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and install their latest security patch.
The always reliable WindowsSecrets explains why. This is the first time in 18 months that Microsoft has released an out-of-cycle patch. Do it now.
Server 2003, 2000, and XP are more vulnerable. Vista and Server 2008 less so. But everyone needs to install the patch.
Bob Morris @ 21:30 Category: Credit crisis;
(That’s the Department of Treasury seal on the boat.)
Weird scenes inside the gold mine today, both in treasuries and in the stock market
Treasury securities at “historic levels of fail”
Work with me here. This is not intuitively obvious. The delivery of treasuries is cratering, with the fail rate now at 20%. This is because holders are hoarding them or it’s cheaper not to deliver for those doing naked shorting. I don’t claim to understand this totally except that something appears to be seriously out of whack.
Note the wide spreads between indexes and their tracking stocks
Normally, the spread on the %Chg between the DJI and its tracking stock DIA is just a tenth of point or so, because they’re both essentially measuring the same thing. True, the DIA is a synthetic security that attempts to follow the DJI extremely closely and it usually does just that. But not today. The SPX / SPY spread was more than a full point off and the NDX / QQQQ was also out of whack.
(Note: for those unfamiliar with these tracking stocks, they can be bought and sold as a way to play the index itself. The QQQQ, for example, is one of the most widely traded securities and routinely trades 100-300 million shares a day.)
What these anomalies ultimately mean I don’t know except that I’ll venture a guess that the current market turbulence is causing all manner of dislocations, is increasing, and that things may be about to get seriously bumpy.
Bob Morris @ 18:30 Category: Unfiled;
Frog Design has created a LED light bulb that screws into regular sockets, uses less power than CFLs (with no toxic ballast), has a desirable light quality - and will last for thirty years.
Tip. Clean Technica
Bob Morris @ 16:08 Category: Election 2008;
McCain will skip his own election-night party due to “space limitations.”
Which is about the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.
George Packer in the New Yorker
As for Palin, the incarnation of red-meat, know-nothing Christian nationalism, she turns out to be McCain’s single biggest mistake. The Republican Party’s immediate post-election future will be a bloody struggle over Palinism. It’s already started at National Review online, where the growing hysteria of the posts signals that the roof is falling in on conservatism. Everything that worked for forty years has suddenly not just stopped working, it has become self-defeating. Republican candidates, strategists, and pundits are like witchdoctors who keep repeating the old incantations over and over, their voices rising in furious shock, to no effect. That’s the sound of an era ending.
PS While it may be over, like Obama says, let’s sprint across that finish line, not letting up until 8 pm on Nov. 4.
Bob Morris @ 13:04 Category: Unfiled;
Vote No on Prop 8. Marriage should be for all.
If you live out of state, please make a contribution. Those on the other side sure have been.
An L.A. Times poll released yesterday has the race at 52% No / 44% Yes, with Yes gaining sharply since their September poll.
Bob Morris @ 09:15 Category: Election 2008;
There have been long lines in multiple states for early voting, and the voting trend appears to be heavily Democratic.
“We have a very good chance of beating the 64 percent turnout in the 1960 election,” McDonald said. “We really could be looking at a historic election in modern American history.”
A 90 year old African-American woman voted early in Indiana. When she left the polling booth, she collapsed sobbing in a chair.
When we rushed over to help we realized that she wasn’t in trouble at all but she had not truly believed, until she left the booth, that she would ever live long enough to cast a vote for an African-American for president.
For those who think this election is between Tweedledum and Tweedledee, try telling that to her. It seems a given that African-American voter turnout will be massive, in historic numbers, and overwhelmingly for Obama.
Bob Morris @ 09:14 Category: Election 2008;
As the race for the White House enters its final days, the Big Ten Battleground Poll shows Barack Obama holds significant leads over John McCain in eight crucial Midwest states.
This includes Ohio and Indiana. All Obama percentages are outside the margin of error.
The poll was conducted by a consortium of eight universities, so it can be assumed the questions were neutrally worded and the sample genuinely random.
Firedoglake: Another undecided breaks for Obama. Heh.
Bob Morris @ 05:22 Category: Credit crisis;
Nouriel Roubini says we’re heading for a severe recession, probably two years long, with unemployment rising to 8.5%. We could also see stagdeflation, a sluggish economy and falling prices. Hundreds of hedge funds will go out of business, and dump their holdings on the market, driving stock prices down even more. Just a regular, Mr. Sunshine, isn’t he? However, he’s been correct and early on what the financial crisis will bring.
Bureau of Labor Statistics report on September 2008 layoffs.
Layoff events reached their highest level since September 2001, a month that experienced substantial layoff activity due to the September 11 attacks.
Even the California Lottery is getting hit by the slowing economy. Sales dropped 8% for the fiscal year ending June 30 (and are probably even lower now.)
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