Category: News

The whole world felt the reverberations of China imposing leverage limits on its banks. Regulators there are clearly freaked out by the heat of its economy.

Meanwhile, Jim Chanos and Thomas Friedman are going back and forth about whether China is a bubble, and whether there’s money to be made shorting it.

So we thought we’d adjudicate the question.

Our answer is yes, China’s real estate is the most obvious bubble ever. More obvious than the Dubai bubble in fact.

Check out the evidence here — >

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See Also:

• China Sneezed And Brazil, Australia, The Commodities Industry, And The US Market All Just Caught A Cold
• Thomas Friedman Tries To Give Short-Selling Advice To Jim Chanos
• January 12, 2010: THE DAY BERNANKE GOT REPLACED

La seguridad en los coches, tanto la activa como la pasiva, ha mejorado notablemente, eso es algo que sabemos todos. Las sumas de dinero invertidas en que los tests de la EuroNCAP se superen con las 5 estrellas mejoran los coches y salvan las vidas de sus ocupantes.

Lo que resulta espectacular es ver la comparativa entre un coche de 2009 y uno de 1959. Chevrolet lo ha hecho para comparar la mejora en seguridad de su gama de vehículos enfrentando a un Chevrolet Bel Air de 1959 contra un Chevrolet Malibu de 2009. El vídeo, tras el salto.

Lo primero que hay que decir es que el Chevrolet Bel Air es precioso, que la nueva versión de 2009 es mucho más fea que esas clásicas barcazas elegantes americanas. Lo segundo es que si quieres conducir un coche precioso y sobrevivir a un accidente, lo llevas claro.

La sensación de tanque irrompible de los coches antiguos queda en segundo plano. Fíjense también en que la deformación del habitáculo es una de las cosas en las que más se ha trabajado: el capó se arruga pero el habitáculo permanece impasible

Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Alfa Romeo, Fiat

We were getting amped up for Alfa Romeo‘s return to the U.S. and the chance to drive Breras and Guilietta’s on our favorite roads, and then Fiat head Sergio Marchionne delivers what they call a “smackdown” at the Detroit Auto Show. According to Autocar, Marchionne says that Fiat has to show it can sell enough cars in America to make the enterprise worthwhile on its own, which we take to mean he’s not content with Alfa being a critically loved but money-losing division of a profitable conglomerate. If Alfa can’t prove the worth of flying to America, then it will stay grounded in Europe. We have but one word to say to this news: maledizione!

[Source: Autocar]

Report: Alfa Romeo’s U.S. launch delayed originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’ve written about this briefly last summer, and unfortunately the problem is still ongoing. Last weekend when we took down the Christmas lights from around the house, my husband found numerous little mounds of rocks in our side yard, each pile covering several dog poops.

Our own kids rarely play out front (it’s been too cold), so we’re not sure who’s actually covering these landmines. It could be other neighborhood kids who think it’s some kind of fun thing to do (ew!), but I’m betting it’s the rude neighbor that’s letting his dog run around in the first place, thinking his lazy self is doing enough just getting them out of sight.

We’re out of ideas on how to handle this, which isn’t saying much because we didn’t have many in the first place! However, it’s gotten to the point where it’s just downright disgusting knowing that we’ve got a side yard full of someone else’s dog’s poop, and nothing we can do about it.

What would you do? Have you ever had a neighbor that cared so little for anyone else around them that you had to deal with their dogs’ messes? Is it time to bite the bullet and try rigging up some kind of camera system to see exactly what’s going on and who’s doing this?

[image: amazon]

Post from: Blisstree

WWYD: Careless Neighbor, Pooping Dog

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] on Jan. 8 delivered the last of four KC-767 aerial refueling tankers to the Japan Ministry of Defense, completing one of the International Tanker team’s most significant milestones.Boeing’s partner on the Japan Tanker program, Itochu Corp., handed over the KC-767 advanced tanker to Japan Ministry of Defense officials.

Assigned to the 1st Airlift Wing of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at Komaki Air Base, it is the third consecutive KC-767 tanker to be delivered to Boeing’s Japan customer within the contracted schedule and budget.

“Providing Japan with the fourth and final KC-767 tanker on-schedule and on-cost, as we did the previous two KC-767s, means a great deal to our company and our relationship with this important customer,” said Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

“Because of these tankers, Japan now has the capability to perform vital self-defense, refueling and airlift missions. Also, when necessary, it possesses the capability to perform critical humanitarian and disaster-relief missions across the Pacific region and beyond using the KC-767.”

“We are proud to have been a partner in the successful delivery and implementation of the KC-767 aerial refueling tanker into the Japan Air Self-Defense Force,” said Greg Kasagawa, executive officer and COO of the Aerospace and Industrial Systems Division of Itochu Corp.

“The fleet of tankers is playing a significant and key role in the strategic self-defense needs of Japan.”

The fourth tanker flew to Japan on Dec. 20 from Boeing’s tanker modification facility in Wichita, Kan. The KC-767 is a military derivative of the proven 767-200ER commercial widebody airplane built at Boeing’s commercial production facilities in Everett, Wash.

Boeing delivered the first three KC-767 tankers to Japan in February 2008, March 2008 and March 2009.

The Japan KC-767 fleet is currently undergoing Operational Evaluation by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, a process that should be completed early this year. The fleet achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in March 2009.

The tanker has an open architecture cockpit and is configured with the advanced Boeing air refueling boom and the associated Remote Aerial Refueling Operator (RARO) II system.

Japan selected the convertible freighter configuration, allowing it to carry cargo or passengers while maintaining its primary role as an aerial tanker. With a convertible freighter interior, the Japan tanker can be rapidly converted from all-passenger to all-cargo configurations.

Boeing also is on contract to deliver four KC-767s to the Italian Air Force. Three of the four tankers are in flight test, with the fourth airplane still being modified.

About Boeing Defense, Space & Security

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $32 billion business with 70,000 employees worldwide.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Felix Sanchez, 562-593-0106
Boeing International Tanker Programs
[email protected]

Mitsuko Takahashi, +813-5223-2025
BDS Japan Communications
[email protected]

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If you missed our “Obama at One Year” webcast series, an archive is available for you to explore at your leisure. Our webcast archive page includes full-length videos, individual opening remarks, and a link to a still photo gallery. Click over to www.ombwatch.org/webcastarchive today!

Remember Craig “Lazie” Lynch, the British criminal who escaped prison last September, and then spent months taunting the police via Facebook? The assclown has been caught by Scotland Yard. [Fox News]

If you haven’t yet purchased Valve’s Orange Box (which any semi-serious gamer should own just out of principle), now’s probably a good time to do so. It’s available for $12.90 until Friday.

The collection comes on DVD and features Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode One, Half Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. The Orange Box normally sells for around $30 and up. If anything, just buy it and keep it on your bookshelf or desk so when other computer people come over, nobody will steal your stuff.

That’s the code between Orange Box owners: No stealing other Orange Box owners’ stuff.

Half-Life 2- The Orange Box for PC [GoGamer.com via FatWallet]

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

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According to 24/7 Wall St., shares sold short in Citigroup (C) spiked 36% to 381 million from December 15th to December 31st. Short interest in Apple (AAPL) soared 34%.

Apple shares have annhilated their share of shorts in the past, while Citi is a complete rollercoaster that could either make you rich or destitute in a week. These are some bold bets.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Apple's App Store Has Lost $450 Million To Piracy
• Citi: Market Panic Is Finally Dead And Gone
• Echoes Of Dubai As Saudi Prince Shifts Citi Shares To Prop Up Kingdom Holdings

As fears rise this morning of a German led European double dip recession, Greece and Portugal are on the path to an economic “slow death,” according to Moody’s Investors Service. The troubled countries have already had pressure on them for economic reform, with Greece being under near constant scrutiny from the European Central Bank.

Difficult lending terms for the troubled economies and increasingly negative outlooks on each country’s sovereign debt are forcing dramatic fiscal changes for each government.

Moody’s was more confident that Portugal could find its way out of its economic mess saying that its window of opportunity for reform was much wider than that of its Mediterranean counterpart.

Bloomberg: While the two countries can still avoid such a scenario, their window of opportunity ’’will not be open indefinitely,’’ Moody’s said in a report today from London. Portugal, with a negative outlook on its Aa2 rating, has more time “to reverse this trend” while Greece “has significantly less time.”

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Scared Of An Auction, Greece Wants To Negotiate Interest Rates Behind Closed Doors
• Desperate Greek Minister Tries Instilling Confidence On CNBC, Doesn’t Get Interrupted By News Of A Governor And Prostitute
• Gartman: Greece’s Prime Minister Doesn’t Realize How Much Trouble He’s In

I like teaching and I like poker, although I’ve rarely tried to combine the two. This week, I’m going to give it a shot. I run a meetup group here in Peoria for single people. I have wanted to host some poker games for the group for some time. I finally decided to go ahead and host one this week. It wouldn’t simply be a poker tournament, it would first be a one hour lesson in the basics of Texas Hold’em tournaments. And then we would do an actual one table tournament with me dealing.

I’ve always thought teaching poker to beginners would be a fun thing to do. My goal with the class portion is simple, demonstrate the basics of the game like how the cards are dealt, how betting works, and how the winner is determined for each hand (and for the tournament). I also want them to understand the rules of betting, and various quirks of how poker is typically dealt, so that if they ever want to play in a casino run tournament, they will be able to sit down and play without asking too many questions. If we have time we will also go over some basic strategy ideas.

As a way to prepare, I thought I would write down here a plan for how I might approach the lesson.

I’m assuming that the people who are going to come will be familiar with card games in general, and the 52 card deck. Most if not all, will have a basic understanding of poker. Most will probably need a cheat sheet to keep track of what hands beat what. I’m pretty sure none of them will have played any hold’em tournaments.

I think the way to begin is probably at the end of a hand. The first thing I would do is deal out two cards to each person and deal the five cards in the middle and show each person how they would determine their hand (and who would win). I think it’s good to start here, so that people can see where the hand will end up. We will do this a few times, at least until a few of the bigger hands like flushes or straights show up. I’ll stress how important it is for the cards in your hand to match up with the board. I’ll also stress how important it is to look at the board and know what the best possible hands would be.

At this point I would talk about two very important rules that some players may not know if they have only played casual poker:

• Cards speak – the player with the best hand wins. If they turn over their hand at the end, they do not have to declare what they have. It doesn’t matter if they know what they have, as long as someone at the table sees the cards and recognizes what hand they have (this is the dealer’s job primarily).
• You must show both cards to claim the pot.

Next we will go through the betting rounds to get to that point. First I’ll deal everyone two cards face up, we will talk about which hands have some value and which hands do not. We will speculate who might stay in with the two cards they are dealt and who might drop out. Then we will deal the flop (the first three cards on the board) and talk about how the flop matches their hole cards. Again we will speculate (without betting) who might stick around and who might not. Then we will do the turn and the river. Again we will determine who won. I’ll want to do this a few times too, to show that sometimes hands that drop out might have won.

After they get a feel for that, we will break out the chips. We will start with the dealer button and the blinds and show how that first round of betting works. Then we will work our way through a few hands. I’ll talk a bit about pot size and the purpose of betting and raising. I’ll explain why it’s important to put your chips in front of you, but not into the pot during the betting round. Also, it’s important to not make change until the betting is over. If there is a dealer, let the dealer handle it.

Next we will talk about what table stakes means and what it means to go all in. I’ll set up some examples, first with one player allin against another player. Then another hand with a side pot (1 player allin but two other players still competing for the side pot). And finally I’ll show them a situation with more than one side pot.

I think that poker like many things is taught by starting at the beginning. Everyone is dealt two cards and then they talk about the blinds and what might be a good hand to start with. But I have a hunch that this will work better. I’ll start at the end of the hand and show them where they will end up. It might be easier to understand what’s happening in the early rounds when they can see the end game.

I suspect this must be true for improv too. It’s easier to teach a Harold to someone who has seen one.

Apple tablet, schablet. Who needs a stand-alone tablet when you can turn your existing MacBook into one? Inklet is a cool program which lets you draw on your trackpad, turning your scribbles into Photoshop masterpieces.

To download, you’ll need to give up $24.95 (though there’s also a free demo that’s worth checking out), and will obviously need a MacBook with multitouch, along with Snow Leopard. Inklet works best with a stylus, so better scratch around for your old DS one if you can. The familiar multitouch gestures work well with Inklet, so if you’re at all art-inclined, the video below is worth checking out for a demo. [Inklet]

LG is expecting Android to help boost sales and grow their smart phone numbers for the coming year.  Although not quite as heavily as Motorola, LG is betting on Android to get them into a double-digit share of the smart phones sold worldwide this year. 

LG is slated to unveil roughly 20 smartphones this year, with better than half of them based on Android.  Oddly enough, this contradicts the deal signed last year where LG said Windows Mobile would be the primary OS for smartphones.  Not that we’re complaining.

Source: Reuters

Ok. Let’s get this out of the way. Jaron Lanier, Wired coverboy of the early years for his virtual reality work (which was often more hype than reality anyway), has written a book. And it’s one of those books that helps prove Douglas Adams’ famous statement (paraphrased…) that every tech around by the time you’re born is “normal,” new technology that is invented before you’re thirty is cool and new and anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is “against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it.” It’s worth pointing out that Lanier turned 30 in 1990, just before the web came about. And, boy, does he hate the web. And the book is all about how much he really hates the web because it’s new and different and against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it. And since he’s Jaron Lanier and since he hates the internet (even though he’s published ridiculous essays making these same points that were debunked ages ago), the press is writing about him and have been for the last month or so, meaning that lots of people keep submitting stories, like the recent NY Times article all about Lanier’s hatred for the internet.

Honestly, it’s difficult to see why it’s worthwhile to waste too much time responding to arguments that were debunked ages ago, but just to run through a few of them quickly:

• Lanier falsely believes in the idea of “lock-in” with technology (the claim that the VCR beat Betamax despite being worse and that QWERTY beat Dvorak despite being worse due to “lock-in”) is why the internet is so screwed up today. Except, of course the classic examples of lock-in were shown years ago to be false. The VCR beat Betamax because it was better at what people wanted (the ability to record a lot on a single tape). QWERTY is no worse than Dvorak.
• Lanier pulls out Nick Carr’s tired and silly claim that people doing user-generated content are “sharecroppers.” This ignores that the whole reason they use those sites is that they get value in return. It fails to realize the non-monetary reasons why people use those sites.
• Lanier thinks that the “answer” to file sharing online is to rearchitect the internet for micropayments. Again, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of both economics and psychology. People hate micropayments and they’re incredibly inefficient from an economic standpoint. It also shrinks the market of ideas and holds back communication.
• Lanier argues that the market for “creative people” is shrinking. Apparently he hasn’t read any of the recent studies that have shown that every aspect of the music business has grown — except for the business selling plastic discs.
• Most amusing of all, he argues that “artificial scarcities… allow the economy to function.” He even admits that they are artificial scarcities, but still thinks they’re a good thing. Again, this seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. It’s hard to talk logically to someone who thinks that having less of a resource is somehow good for the economy.

The list goes on, but at some point it’s just not worth bothering with responding point by point. Lanier’s trying to sell a book, and it’s yet another in a long line of people who don’t like the newfangled thing the kids are using because he doesn’t understand it. The fact is, it doesn’t matter. The internet is a huge success because people actually like the way it works and they get tons of value out of it, even if it’s not the value Lanier wanted. No one’s going to change the architecture of the internet. No one’s going to suddenly figure out a way to make micropayments work where they don’t make sense. So consider this my post on Lanier’s book, and let’s just move on and ignore all the other silly news stories about it, and they’ll fade away quickly just like his book.

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from corporate media, 13 January 2010: “Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare… In 10 to 15 years, one-third of Israel’s military machines will be unmanned, predicts Giora Katz, vice president of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., one of Israel’s leading weapons manufacturers…”  more

from corporate media, 13 January 2010: “Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare… In 10 to 15 years, one-third of Israel’s military machines will be unmanned, predicts Giora Katz, vice president of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., one of Israel’s leading weapons manufacturers…”  more