Author: Serkadis

A loyal reader* suggested we launch a new feature: Ask Henry!

And so we have!

Instead of waiting around for a video-based You Ask, We Answer to come along, you are now hereby invited to bombard me with questions anytime via email. 

Please put “ASK HENRY!” in the subject line (goofy, I know, but much easier to find in the inbox) and send them to:

[email protected]

I’ll do my best to answer as many questions as I can on the site every few days.  I won’t be able to get to all of them, obviously, but I’ll do my best.

Thanks in advance.  Look forward to hearing from you!

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Here’s one to begin, from Jason Calacanis:

Henry, Ben Bernanke has presided over the worst financial crisis of our lifetime, and the second worst in our history. Since he has obviously failed epically, what exactly would he have to do in order to be fired in your estimation?

I’m not sure I agree that he “failed epically”–I think it’s fairer to say he ‘made some major mistakes’–but there would be one super-quick route to getting fired: Threaten the re-election campaigns of Congress-people.  He can do this by stating clearly that unemployment is not his concern and that he is only focused on protecting the value of our money.  If he does that, he’ll be fired immediately.

Of course the irony is that unemployment should NOT be his concern.  The Fed has an impossible “dual mandate” right now–protect the value of the currency AND make sure the economy is humming along at full employment.  Sometimes, these two mandates are mutually exclusive.  And because Congress only cares about the latter (inflation is a long-term problem that will only wreck the economy during someone else’s re-election campaign), the Fed inevitably gets pressured into running at a higher level of inflation than it should.

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* Jason Calacanis, Founder and CEO of Mahalo.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Amazing Life And Career Of Jamie Dimon (JPM)
• The Biggest Losers Of The Decade
• How To Make The World’s Easiest $1 Billion

In stark contrast to the European money pits traditionally featured, today’s FOTD is a 1991 GMC Syclone. Despite the fact that it’s probably older than your first born child and manufactured by a company not exactly renowned for its longevity (which I expect will be directly refuted by a barrage of GM forum trolls), both the Syclone and the Typhoon have left such an indelible legacy that they are granted a reprieve from my domestic scorn.

As a matter of fact, so enamored am I with arguably one of the best examples of superior engineering to ever leave Michigan, I’m even willing to overlook the ominously rebuilt title. According to the seller (and confirmed by Carfax), the truck was stolen in 2001 and recovered with damage severe enough to warrant a “salvage” branding, which still only resulted in a $2k price decrease. The slightly blurry photos paint a promising picture, though, and as long as you’re adept at maintaining a vehicle constructed almost entirely out of Bondo, this is definitely a piece worth investing in.

Source: eBay Motors

Montréal, Canada | Watery Wonders

When someone mentions surfing, the image that comes to mind is one of hot sun, sandy beaches, and palm trees swaying in the breeze. That’s the archetype, but it’s not the only environment where an adventure junkie can hang ten. What, for example, is a Canadian to do?

The standing wave adjacent to Mosche Safdie’s well-known Habitat ’67 housing complex has sprung up as a new location for urban surfing in recent years. The result of fast-flowing water making its way over and around large underwater boulders, the wave generated allows for a surfer to maintain a endless ride… that is, until the next surfer drops in. There’s no fast-approaching shore, only water. For those unsure of themselves on a surfboard, the wave can also be ridden in a kayak.

Habitat 67, the backdrop to the wave is quite curious in and of itself. Built by Safdie as part of the 1967 Montreal Expo, it was meant to be affordable housing with an distinct eye towards the future. Although originally intended to have 1,000 units, only 354 of the prefabricated concrete apartment modules were completed creating a total of only 158 apartments.

Part of the architectural vision of the future in which housing could be made more affordable by using prefab models, construction costs proved to be prohibitive. As a result of the limited number of units and the architectural uniqueness of the building, units in the ‘affordable’ tenant owned building are today, quite expensive.

The Spike TV Video Game Awards show happened this weekend. I would have watched it, but I frankly have enough women, cars, and Mountain Dew here at my fortress, and if that’s not good enough to get Jack Black over here, then so be it. Either way, a bunch of games got announced, including Green Day: Rock Band, from Harmonix and MTV Games.

Anyway, details about the game are scarce, but design director and notorious lothario Chris Foster of Harmonix posted on his twitter account that the game’s songs will be exportable for use in your other Rock Band games, unlike those found in The Beatles: Rock Band. He also says the game will be fun, and I’m going to agree with him, and totally not because I want a whole bunch of free crap from Harmonix. And, by the way, if you’re from Harmonix, you can ask my editor for my shipping address. I have no dignity and you can set my price.

Tags:
exportable tracks,
green day rock band,
harmonix,
rock band,

For oil-free compressed air
Renner GmbH offers a wide range of oil-free compressors in the lower and medium capacity range. The new SCROLL_line SL range is based on a scroll compressor system with absolute oil-free operation. The compression process occurs by means of a fixed and an eccentric rotating spiral, with no mechanical contact. The SCROLL_line SL range offers compressors with power outputs of 1.5 to 16,5 kW (1.890 lit/min – 67cfm) and 8 or 10 bar allowable working pressures. Various types of SCROLL_line compressors are available:
– as an automatic base-plate unit (also for OEM- installation),
– mounted on pressure vessels,
– on pressure vessels with attached refrigeration dryer as well as
– multiple units where 2 or 3 compressors operate independently on a common air-receiver

Heol Design offers now an effective solution against surge protection for its GPS systems.
The Citel surge protectors have been selected to solve surge protection issues when GPS antennas are located outside buildings.
These surge protectors must be mounted directly on antenna cables of GPS clocks / Time servers T100, T101, T103 and T116.

Fabula Nova Crystallis, Crystal Chronicles, Crystal Bearers, Crystal Meth. Totally kidding about that last one, but you get the idea Square Enix loves crystals…possibly more than their other favorite word, “chaos”. At any rate, the crystal-lovin’

Google is always updating its products but it has seen a flurry of activity lately as engineers are working on finishing their work before the holidays. Google Docs is no exception and the team has introduced a couple of new features, the co-editor presence notification for presentations being one of them, and a bunch of holiday-related themes and templates.

“Today, we launched real time presence to Google Docs presentations as well. Now, when editing a presentation with a co-editor, you can see which slides he is editing, and if he is editing the same slide, then you can see which element — text box, shape, image, video, etc. — he is editing,” Roshni Malani, software engineer at Google Docs, wrote.

The new feature is rather self-evident and certainly welcomed as the Docs bills itself as a collaboration suite and touts this as one of its main selling points. The feature had been available for the spreadsheet editor in Docs, where it was crucial to ensure that users didn’t write over each other. Now presentations get the same treatment allowing users to work together remotely without interfering with each other’s work.

“The Google Docs team is celebrating the holiday season with holiday themes in Google forms and holiday templates in the Google Docs template gallery,” Eric Bogs and Bob Rose, software engineer… (read more)

Filed under: Budget, Japan, Hatchback, Mitsubishi, Electric, Quick Spin

We’re looking at a long, nearly straight, almost totally traffic-free downhill. We’d climbed up to the base of the Palm Springs to Idyllwild Ariel Tramway. Our goal was to see how fast Mitsubishi’s tiny i could go. We’re on the gas, and the teensy, turbocharged 660cc three-banger is giving us all its got. The speedometer ticks upwards, now cresting 100. In front of us is nothing but inviting tarmac. Deeper and harder we push and the numbers keep ticking up. 119, 120, 121 and then finally hitting 122. We felt we left a little on the table and could have probably achieved a terminal velocity of around 130. Maybe. 125 for sure.

Before you crime and punishment types climb upon your soapboxes, we should mention that the right-hand drive, JDM-only i reads out in kilometers per hour. Meaning that our top speed was almost 76 mph. And we stand by our assertion that we totally could have hit 80 mph.

Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2009 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Quick Spin: Mitsubishi i is a good car with a bad name

Quick Spin: Mitsubishi i is a good car with a bad name originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony has filed a fresh new FCC report that gives me visions of Terminator’s whole Skynet saga. For those of you who don’t recall, Skynet was an artificially intelligent system which became self-aware and revolted against its creators. Perhaps things aren’t that dramatic (for now), but with a name like “Home Information Device,” aka HID-C10, what would you think? Regardless, this is a new device that Sony is bringing to the market sometime in 2010. We don’t have a lot of information yet, but we believe this product is connected to TV as the Television Engineering Group in Sony are handling the FCC filing. It has 801.11b/g, but its Wi-Fi certification lists it in the category of “Display Device (eg. television, monitor, picture frame).” Wha? How can this be a Display Device? Maybe they label accessories like that, but if it was just a router I believe it would say so.

I’m confused. One theory I have is that this could possibly be some sort of emitter that works in conjunction with 3D active shutter glasses. If that was the case though, why would it be a seperate adapter? Is this the accessory that will come with Sony 3D TV’s? It’s possible because the confidentiality agreement on several key elements in the FCC report is labeled for May 31st, 2010. So this may or may not be at CES – perhaps a tease, or totally nonexistent. Another plausible theory is that this could just be another Wi-Fi adapter for a television somehow, perhaps one that would work with a broader range of TV’s so they can connect to the Sony Online Service, which we explored previously in a rather in depth article.

This information is a Sony Insider exclusive, brought to you here first.

We’re not sure how much stock to put into correlations such as this one — especially since LOTS of charts have this dual-hump pattern over the last several years — but this is still some interesting commentary from Gluskin-Sheff’s David Rosenberg on the connection between monetary velocity and the stock market.

————

Chart 1 maps out the S&P 500 with money velocity (GDP/M1 ratio).  There is a
90% correlation between the two.  It is one thing to have the Fed pump liquidity
into the system but it is quite another for the liquidity to be re-leveraged into credit
and recycled into the economy.   

The Fed’s easing program is over two years old and the rampant Fed balance
sheet expansion 15 months old, and still to this day, what the commercial banks
have done (to Obama’s wrath) with all that liquidity is to keep it as cash on their
balance sheet to the tune of $1.2 trillion.  We’re not sure why Obama is as rankled
as he is because the banks are in fact lending out a good chunk of that Fed-
induced liquidity — right back to Uncle Sam (the banks now own a record $1.3
trillion of government securities).  

Back to the chart — there is obviously a close connection between money turnover
and the stock market.  But we can get periodic divergences as we did in the first
leg of the rally in 2003.  But the carry-through from 2004 to 2007 hinged critically
on that multi-year acceleration in money velocity.  If we don’t see the banks begin
to extend credit in 2010, it is hard to see the 2009 bounce from oversold lows as
being sustained in the coming year.   

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Rosenberg: We’ve Barely Begun The Deleveraging Process
• David Rosenberg’s Outlook For 2010
• Rosenberg: The Manufacturing Collapse Has Resumed

Earlier this year, we wrote about how outdoor clothing firm North Face was seriously overreacting in threatening a small parody clothing manufacturer run by an 18-year-old student creating clothing under the “South Butt” brand name. At the time, we were amused by the boy’s lawyer noting:

“I did try to explain with a great deal of candor to counsel for the North Face that the general public is aware of the difference between a face and a butt.”

Well, now he may get the chance to explain that in court as well. Despite all of the publicity around those original threats, which resulted in many people trashing North Face for threatening this parody operation, North Face has apparently decided to still move forward with a lawsuit against the kid (thanks Jackie). Apparently, North Face has no sense of humor whatsoever. It’s really amazing that no one at North Face paid much attention to what was being said online about the company even in bringing the threat of a lawsuit. Now that it’s actually filed, the backlash may be an even bigger deal. While it is true that companies need to police misuses of their trademark, this was an opportunity for North Face to act cool about it (and, hell, why not just grant the kid a license). It would have made them look cool. Instead, they look like big corporate bullies, beating up on a kid who was having fun selling a parody line of clothing.

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In this morning’s Gartman Letter, analyst Dennis Gartman addresses the ongoing fiscal crisis that revolves around Greece:

The Gartman Letter: Moving to Europe, Greece is in trouble and the speech made yesterday by the rather overtly leftward leaning Prime Minister, Mr. Papandreou, was disconcerting to say the very least. At every turn, when the Prime Minister might have drifted toward the economic centre, he drifted farther and farther to the Left instead. Where Ireland seems intent upon dealing properly with its budgetary problems by cutting spending materially and raising taxes marginally, Greece instead is cutting spending hardly at all and is raising taxes almost solely upon the nation’s wealthy to confiscatory levels. This really is utter economic nonsense.

Speaking to the Parliament, Mr.Papandreou … whose family has literally “run” Greece as a fiefdom any number of times in the past…said that there shall be resistance to what he has called “tough and painful measures” to restore Greece’ position within the EU but he insisted the country’s international credibility depended on it. He said, unleashing a tirade of leftward leaning ideas,

There is pressure from our European partners, which is an opportunity for us to tackle problems that have been festering for decades…We are a government of reform, not a government that manages the status quo…We need to take tough and painful decisions, which will face opposition, but we will bring meritocracy and restore credibility.

The problem is that most of his program resolves around raising taxes on Greek wealth and Greek entrepreneurs. His program will play well to the public; it will play havoc with the Greek economy however {Ed. Note: Prime Minister Papandreou is the President of the Socialist International, and has been since ’06. His father was Prime Minister as was his grandfather, and they too were ranking members of the Socialist International for many years.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Abu Dhabi Will Use Its Bailout To Crush Dubai’s Leadership
• Desperate Greece May Pull Argentina’s "Kitchen-Sink" Move To Break Out Of Its Death Loop
• The Euro Breakup Will Be THE Story Of 2010, As Analyst Expects Ireland And Greece To Leave The Union

A health care experiment in Duncan, Oklahoma shows how small changes to behavior can elicit large cost savings when it comes to health care.

MedEncentive has been developing a web-based cost containment program that claims to have already achieved substantial results.

What's most interesting about this program is that it doesn't force anyone to do anything.

Health Care Blog: There the City of Duncan has put its employees (and their providers) into a system that incents (but doesn’t mandate) physicians to practice according to accepted guidelines, and incents (but doesn’t mandate) patients to read information prescribed by their physicians about their treatments (and tests them about it). The system then asks each party to rate the other.

It sounds simple and frankly, compared to much in health care, it is. The system is supplied by MedEncentive, an Oklahoma City firm led by the charming and engaging Jeff Greene. While I remain fascinated by MedEncentive’s program (and FD MedEncentive has sponsored the Health 2.0 Conference in the past), it’s perhaps grown a little more slowly than Jeff and other fans might have liked—given the scope of the problem.

But the results have been impressive in reducing costs (mostly by reducing hospitalizations) and increasing patient involvement. Yesterday MedEncentive released a five year retrospective. The key finding?:

City of Duncan costs for the most recent year was 8.6% less than five years ago prior to implementing the Program, which is 34.9% less than the projected costs. The resultant four year savings equates to an 8:1 return on investment. (emphasis added)

Read more at Health Care Blog.

Check out how this cost containment program works via MedEncentive's report here.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• How Health Care Reform Opponents Take Advantage Of Silly Facebook Games
• How Health Insurers Are Using Facebook Games To Block Healthcare Reform
• Health Insurers Caught Paying Facebook Gamers Virtual Currency To Oppose Reform Bill

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Bugatti, Misc. Auto Shows, Middle East, Design/Style, Luxury

As with any other business, in the automotive sphere, it’s mission critical to recognize on which side your bread is buttered – particularly in lean times like these. Bugatti may be losing money on each Veyron it builds, but that doesn’t mean that company strategists don’t know how to earn a crust. Need proof? This month’s Dubai Motor Show finds the supercar builder unveiling a trio of special edition models in one of its most important markets.

The Middle East triumvirate will consist of the Veyron Nocturne, which features “galvanized side windows” that add continuity to the polished aluminum body panel accents, and there are also polished wheels and a “black nanocoated magnesium dashboard” with a center console rendered in galvanized platinum. Just five examples will be built.

Bugatti will also show its Veyron “Sang d’Argent” and a topless Grand Sport “Soliel de Nuit” model for those that like a little sun and sand in their hair. The former of which employs a silver metallic finish and alloys nicked from the Grand Sport and the latter incorporates “country coded” colors that include a silver metallic lower and an impossibly deep upper blue finish and a Havanna interior with quilted seats.

If you’re interested, well, have your accountant’s accountant ring up Bugatti, and summon your garage keeper to ensure you’ve got some extra room available in the first quarter of 2010 for when you take delivery. Oh, and you’ll have to liberate anywhere from 1.45 million euro ($2.1M USD) to 1.65 million euro ($2.5M) from your chaise lounge cushions for the privilege. Not up for it? Well, you can at least check out our high-res images below and the official press release after the jump.

[Source: Bugatti]

Continue reading Bugatti honors Dubai with three special editions Veyrons

Bugatti honors Dubai with three special editions Veyrons originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google is enhancing its recently introduced Fusion Tables data management tool, which is labeled as a Labs project, with the release of a dedicated API. The API will enable users with dynamic data sets to update them without having to log into the Fusion Tables site or having to manually add the new data. This way the various visualizations and tables the users have created will always have the latest data available.

“In Fusion Tables, you can share all or part of a table with other people… By merging your data with other people’s shared tables, you can see the whole picture in one place, discuss the data in embedded comments, and mark up the data with your collaborators,” Anno Langen, Jayant Madhavan and Rebecca Shapley from the Google Fusion Tables Team wrote.

“With the new Fusion Tables API, you can update and query your dataset in Fusion Tables programmatically, without ever logging in to the Fusion Tables website. The API means you can import data from whatever data source you may have, whether a text file or a full-powered data base,” they added.

Google launched Fusion Tables as a cloud-based tool for visualizing, merging and collaborating on data regardless of its origins. It originally enabled users to upload tabular data sets o… (read more)