Category: News

As long as Americans perceive the economy to be weak, Obama will keep getting poll readings below 50%. It’s as simple as that.

Nate Silver:

What we have is a comparison of Barack Obama’s approval ratings on the economy to his approval ratings overall. It includes all polls in the Pollster.com database that asked about both approval of Obama on the economy and his overall job performance — a total of 109 polls dating back to the start of his term. I’ve then drawn in some LOESS curves to illustrate the trend.

The two lines track each other uncannily well. From the very start of Obama’s term, there’s been about a 5-6 point gap between approval of his performance on the economy and his performance overall, with the latter figure consistently being somewhat higher. Although Obama’s approval has declined in both departments (particularly during period between about April 1 and August 1; it may not be declining any further now), the magnitude of the gap has been exceptionally steady over time.

This is why a second stimulus is basically a sure thing. As a politician — actually, we suspect this applies to all Democratic politicians — there’s just no good reason for Obama not to try every measure avilable to pull demand forward and stimulate things right now.

It’s the reality of our system, that there’s no good reason to think long-term if you’re a politician that’s always running for re-election in some manner or other.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Second Stimulus Is Now A Done Deal
• Obama’s Approval Rating Dips Below 50%
• Obama Trying To Figure Out How To Extend Bank Bailout Without Triggering More Public Outrage

Personally, I’ve never read an entire book on my BlackBerry, but I might just give it a try. Viigo is a part of my daily reading habits and if the font size were right, and the interface was clean, I could see myself going through a full eBook on my BlackBerry.

If you want to try it out, or you’re looking for another book, Fictionwise are offering BlackBerry Cool readers 25% off with the coupon code “blackberrycool25″ (sans quotes). The coupon is good until the 30th of November.

Some instructions from Fictionwise:

For Fictionwise.com customers, every MultiFormat (unencrypted) eBook and every Secure eReader eBook will work on your BlackBerry. When you log in to your Fictionwise.com account from your BlackBerry, note that you will only see listed those eBooks that work with eReader for BlackBerry. You will not be shown eBooks that don’t work, such as Secure Microsoft Reader eBooks, etc. If you see it on your BlackBerry, you can download and read it.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009

Location services are becoming increasingly popular and, with the right devices and tools to take advantage of, they’re also becoming more useful. Twitter has been working on location features for a couple of months now and the microblogging service has finally enabled them, but for now, only for third-party developers, meaning there are no changes to Twitter.com.

“In August we announced that we were working on a new API that would provide developers with the ability to geotag tweets. Today, the Geotagging API is officially available,” Twitter Platform Director Ryan Sarver wrote.

“This release is unique in that it’s API-only which means you won’t see any changes on twitter.com, yet. Instead, Twitter applications like Birdfeed, Seesmic Web, Foursquare, Gowalla, Twidroid, Twittelator Pro and others are already supporting this new functionality (go try them out now!) in interesting ways that include geotagging your tweets and displaying the location from where a tweet was posted,” he added.

With geolocation, Twitter can attach location information to any tweet, information which could be used in any number of ways, like searching for tweets which are nearby or focusing on the information coming from an event location. The limit is really what the developers can come up with and already a… (read more)

When Glenn Beck started discussing the dollar carry trade, we figured that this seemingly-wonky notion had gone completely mainstream.

Here’s proof: Google Trends, via Pazzomundo, confirms that everyone wants to know what the hell it is. Amazing. (via @mickwe)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Asian Nations Threaten To Kill The Dollar Carry Trade
• Now Even Glenn Beck Is Freaking Out About The Dollar Carry Trade
• Bernanke Teams With Asian Banks To Rescue The Cratering Dollar

As various folks in the news business (and outside of it) continue to fret about how it could be possible to ever fund the production of news, some are taking more positive looks at the space. Jay Rosen has listed out 18 different sources of subsidies for funding journalism (or journalism-like) work. Some of them are better than others, but it’s a useful list to get you a thinking. Full disclosure: a part of our own business model is on the list. Along those lines, since people have been saying nice stuff about our business model, Jesse Hirsh has a way-too-nice writeup about our CwF+RtB experiment, which I still think is a bit short of a full business model, but is getting closer. Based on our experiences with it, we’re getting more and more ideas on how to fund not just journalism, but all sorts of content creation.

And, really, that’s the idea. There are lots of different ideas and experiments going on — and many of them are showing early signs of success, and I’m sure more will come along at a later date that are even more successful. Really, the only ones complaining and demanding changes to the law are those who represent the old way of doing things, and don’t want to change. They talk up all sorts of horror stories and moral panics about how “journalism” or “music” or “movies” are going to go away — despite the fact that we actually have more of all three of those things happening today than at any time in history. Based on that faulty reasoning, they demand special protection not for “journalism” “music” or “movies” but for the old business models and old institutions that produced all three.

Eventually, as these new business models and new institutions work themselves out, it’ll suddenly seem “obvious” what the right answers were, and people will forget the hundreds if not thousands of different experiments — both good and bad — that went into developing the new model. It’s a time of upheaval, for sure, but there’s no indication that there’s any real risk to the production of content. Just a few businesses that got big and don’t want to change with the times.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Here are 5 “best of Craigslist” posts that have at least something to do with cars. Some important points before we continue:

1. There will not be any apologies for offensive language. If you read from this point forward and click on the links, you WILL see something offensive. Such is the beast.
2. None of the holier-than-thou “I ride a bicycle and I’m better than you” rants that are so popular on Craigslist made it on our list. Sorry. (OK, not really sorry. Screw those people.)
3. Keep the conversation going. Feel free to post a link to a best of Craigslist post that’s automotive in nature in the comments

Number 1: One BAD Personalized Plate

How can one person get 50 parking tickets, each one for a different car…the answer? They have a personalized plate that’s simply “NV.”

Number 2: Rant For Anyone Who Works In The Auto Business

If you work at a dealership, repair shop, or any sort of retail repair type business, this rant from an oven repairman will make you bust a gut. Best part:

We get 50 or more broken oven calls in the few days leading up to turkey day and santa day. We get one or two any other week. Ovens don’t collectively go on strike. Most people just admit their sh*t has been broken since the Clinton administration, but some of you think you can bullsh*t me.

Read it – seriously.

Number 3: Traffic Rants

There are dozens of rants about traffic, but a couple stand out. First, we have an introduction to rush hour traffic – “definitions and how to for beginners.” It’s profane, but it’s a nice warm up for the guide to driving in Phoenix (that’s FEE-NICKS).

Number 4: Cool Story About Redemption

Next time you think you’re having a bad day, read this story about a homeless guy getting back on his feet after a dealership took a chance on him and hired him to be a detailer.

Number 5: People Who Hate Annoying Car Ads

Craigslist is chock-full of classified ads for cars, and some of them are hilariously ridiculous. This list of the most irritating car ads hits a home run with this line:

3. The Detached-From-Reality Dipsh*t. “One owner 1986 Corolla. 234K miles. Needs a front bumper and headliner droops. Radiator leaks and needs alignment. $2300 FIRM.” Hey meatstick, one owner or 10 owners, your sh*t is old, worn-out, and worth $300.

Nice.

Finally, if you’re posting an ad on Craigslist trying to sell your car, give this list of classified car ad tips a gander (and remember a tacometer is a Mexican dish, not a gauge).

Any best of craigs ads we missed?

Read user reviews of Tundra Accessories.

Looks like Virgin Mobile Canada is ready to break its iPhone hymen. Yesterday they announced that they will be offering both the iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS in retail stores in “the coming months.” Oh Sir Richard, how we love thee. We suppose you want details, but we don’t have any — the press release is a blistering 31 words and 198 characters long, hell if they had been a bit more succinct they could have just tweeted it — as Virgin Canada’s website has yet to be updated with the news. We’ll continue to follow this one as it develops.

Read

The NYT brings us yet another lovely story about the FHA’s relentless drive to create a new bubble in housing, by returning to the worst of the pre-bust practices. This story takes place in San Francisco

In January, Mike Rowland was so broke that he had to raid his retirement savings to move here from Boston.

A week ago, he and a couple of buddies bought a two-unit apartment building for nearly a million dollars. They had only a little cash to bring to the table but, with the federal government insuring the transaction, a large down payment was not necessary.

“It was kind of crazy we could get this big a loan,” said Mr. Rowland, 27. “If a government official came out here, I would slap him a high-five.”

The story that the Times is getting at here is not just that the FHA is making bad loans, and it’s not just that the era of no-down payment is back, but that whereas in the past the agency’s mandate was to help the poor, now they’ll help just about anyone.

Old caps on the loans they would insure, basically kept the FHA in states like Texas, notes the times. San Francisco was unheard of. Now the FHA is doing six per week in SF, and expects to do many more.

Anyway, in the long-term this will end badly. We guarantee it. In the meantime, you have to remember that this is yet another asterisk to put on housing stats that already are pretty weak.

(Image is of Jordan Kurland, one of the buyers in the story, via his Facebook)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Bob Toll: FHA Lending Is A "Train Wreck"
• Audit: FHA Reserves Collapse Much Faster Than Feared
• Edward Pinto: Ending The FHA’s Continuing Nightmare Of Foreclosures

The psychological rollercoaster continues.  After reaching 8 month lows just a few weeks ago sentiment is swinging wildly in the opposite direction.  David Rosenberg notes the latest Barron’s Big Money Poll which found that the most bullish positions also highly correlate to the highest net speculative futures positions:

Chart 2 highlights the latest Barron’s consensus on the various asset classes — percent bullish and bearish. Equities followed by oil and credit would seem to be the most crowded trades right now. In fact, we can confirm that when it comes to the net speculative long positions on at least S&P 500 futures and oil, not to mention non-U.S. currencies, the specs are hugely long. This could lead to some reversal near-term if either the economy relapses or the U.S. dollar reverses course. It’s always hard to identify what the catalyst will be.

Rosenberg also notes the large net speculative position in gold, but points out that the position is not accompanied by overly bullish money managers:

Gold has a huge net speculative long position on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) but portfolio managers don’t seem too enamoured so that is at least good news from a contrary standpoint.  Only Treasuries are despised — the Barron’s fall 2009 poll showed 4% bulls and 65% bears, so it would stand to reason that this would be the asset class to be in if we were to see anything reverse the crowded pro-risk trade on so many tables right now.

A recent reading from the Investors Intelligence newsletter survey found that bearish sentiment has fallen the most since late 2003 after the sharp rally:

           This Week   Prior Week    Comments
Bullish      46.1%        44.4%      First gain in four weeks
Bearish      21.3%        26.7%      Steepest drop since 2003
Correction   32.6%        28.9%      Matched the highest since
                                     September 1997

     Note: When bullishness sank to 22.2 percent in October 2008, it was the lowest since
November 1988.The bearish reading of 54.4 percent that month was the highest since December 1994.

Finally, the latest AAII poll for stocks showed another sharp increase in bulls to 46.1%.  Bears fell at the fastest pace in 6 years to 21.3%.

 

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Global Fund Flows Sputter
• Fund Flows Continue To Flee Stocks
• Meredith Whitney: "I Haven’t Been This Bearish In A Year" (XLF)

Stocks have jumped 65% from the March lows.  They have also blasted past fair value, which is about 900 on the S&P 500 on a cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio (see professor Robert Shiller’s chart below).  So, unless it’s different this time, they’re now more than 20% overvalued.

(Jeremy Grantham puts fair value at 880 on the S&P 500.  That seems a bit precise.  Let’s call it 900).

Of course, today’s overvaluation doesn’t tell you much about what stocks will do next week, next year, or even the next 5-10 years.  As the chart above shows, before the 2007 market crash, stocks were overvalued for the better part of 20 years–and observing that didn’t help you make money.  On the contrary, it usually got you fired.

What today’s valuation does suggest is that stocks are priced to return a bit less than average over the next decade, perhaps 3%-4% real per year (inflation adjusted), as compared to the 6%-7% average.

Today’s valuations also suggest that stocks may have gotten way ahead of themselves, especially in light of the structural problems that will continue to bog down the economy.

As the chart above illustrates, every one of the prior mega-busts in the past century has been followed by a “trough” in which the cyclically adjusted PE ratio hit the high single-digits.  We didn’t quite make it there in March (the P/E bottomed around 12X), although we did get close.

This, combined with what is likely to be a decade of deleveraging, consumer retrenchment, and sluggish growth as we work off our debt binge, suggests that we still yet might hit that single-digit low before we take off on another secular bull market again.  This could be achieved either through another market crash, or a prolonged period of backing and filling as earnings growth gradually reduces the long-term PE ratio (this is what happened in the 1970s).

On the other hand, it is possible that that enormous stimulus and zero interest rates over the past two years will produce that “v-shaped” recovery.   At this point, given the extent of the recent rally, it would presumably have to be one heck of a “V” to send stocks soaring from here.  But the last eight months have already made idiots out of almost everyone.

See: The Stock Market Rally That Turned Gurus Into Fools

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Stocks Back To Fair Value!
• DOW 5000, Revisited
• The Idiot-Maker Rally

The governments of India, South Korea, and Indonesia are threatening potential capital controls as a tool to limit ‘hot money’ entering their economies in search of higher returns and non-dollar currency appreciation.

While such actions may help keep a lid on Asian currency appreciation, they could be bad news for each nation’s local stock market.

Bloomberg: Officials from India, South Korea and Indonesia are among those expressing concern over overseas capital stoking stock and real estate prices. Indonesia’s central bank is “seriously” studying a limit on inflows to short-term bills, Senior Deputy Governor Darmin Nasution said yesterday. Taiwan last week banned international investors from placing funds in time deposits.

Read more here.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• JPMorgan: Keep Shorting The Dollar, And Keep Betting On High-Beta, Risky Stocks
• Now Even Glenn Beck Is Freaking Out About The Dollar Carry Trade
• Goldman Sachs: Roubini’s Dollar Carry Trade Theory Is WRONG

Morgan Stanley reads the tea-leaves post-Bernanke’s speech on Monday, and basically says there’s nothing to worry about.

Intervention not imminent.  We believe that a key reason why policymakers have not translated their talk into action is that the USD decline has been orderly and backed by fundamentals.  In Bernanke’s speech, he characterizes the USD moves as a ‘retracement’ from abnormal levels. Indeed, in the big picture, the USD’s current decline (15% from the March 2009 high) has not even offset the surge in the US TWI seen in late 2008 (25% from March 2008 to March 2009, see Exhibit 1).  As Bernanke suggests, that surge was largely sparked by the safe haven bid during the financial crisis.  Since then, USD depreciation has been persistent but orderly.  Amid shifting market dynamics, it is rare for policymakers to intervene unless moves become extreme or unjustified. 

According to our proprietary FX intervention model, the risk of intervention is still elevated at 28%, but has receded significantly since the start of the year when the reading was 53% (see Exhibit 2).  Also, the factor in our model that is contributing to the elevated  intervention risk stems from divergences in growth differentials. Importantly, the indicators of momentum and  positioning are not at extremes.

Despite the growing verbal pushback, our central case is that the USD trough is not in place yet.  Official jawboning may slow the downward momentum, but fundamentals warrant further currency weakness.  Until growth and rate differentials move in favor of the US, the USD will have difficulty putting in a bottom, in our view. Going into next year, we forecast another 4% depreciation in
the US TWI before a reversal in late 2010. 

This is consistent with 1.60 in EUR/USD and 1.01 in USD/CAD (see FX Forecasts on page 22).  Notably, we do not anticipate a USD crash and also judge the bulk of decline to be behind us.  In a
recent note, we outlined four factors that would make us bullish on the USD — (1) sooner than expected hikes by the Fed; (2) faltering in the global economy; (3) a rekindling of risk aversion; and (4) steps by the government to reduce future deficits (see USD: What Would Make Us Bullish? 1 October
2009).  We continue to monitor these risks but judge them to be low probability events for now.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• JPMorgan: Keep Shorting The Dollar, And Keep Betting On High-Beta, Risky Stocks
• Now Even Glenn Beck Is Freaking Out About The Dollar Carry Trade
• Goldman Sachs: Roubini’s Dollar Carry Trade Theory Is WRONG

	Greenlings: What’s the difference between kW and kWh? The h makes all the difference.		Japan EV Club creams Tesla range record with Tokyo to Osaka run How long will this one stand?
	Government bailout does not = EV mandates for GM, Chrysler Obama defers to management for product choices.	Other news: Smart ED production kicks off at Hambach plant Electric Rolls-Royce Phantom could arrive within a year Ecos Motors Harbinger debuts in Vegas, now taking orders

AutoblogGreen for 11.20.09 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Big Game is here.

The Stanford-Cal rivalry commenced with the first Big Game on March 19, 1892 in San Francisco’s Haight Street Grounds. Stanford holds a slight lead in the series, 55-45-11. In recent years, however, the rivalry has been dominated by Cal: the Golden Bears have won six of the past seven Big Games, including a resounding 37-16 win last year.

This year’s Stanford team, however, is not the Stanford team of years past.

No. 14 Stanford (7-3, 6-2 Pac-10) is bowl eligible and ranked in the top 15 for the first time since 2001. Additionally, the team is coming off a trio of huge wins: against Arizona State, following a pair of momentum-halting losses against Oregon State and Arizona; against then-No. 7 Oregon, making Stanford bowl-eligible for the first time since 2001 and keeping the Cardinal in the race for a Rose Bowl appearance; and finally, against then-No. 11 USC, racking up the most points ever scored against the Trojans in a 55-21 massacre at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Stanford, however, is not ready to bask in its past achievements.

“We know who we are,” said Head Coach Jim Harbaugh at Monday’s pre-Big Game press conference. “We’re a blue collar team that’s gotta prepare, gotta study, gotta practice with great intensity . . . [O]ur guys, they have the ability to handle tough times and they have the ability to handle more rewarding times . . . We’re already back to work.”

The Cardinal will need to be on its game, as Cal has been gaining some momentum of its own. Cal (7-3, 4-3 Pac-10) was ranked No. 12 in both the AP and USA Today polls in the preseason, and after starting off the season with a series of decisive wins, jumped to No. 6 in both polls. A pair of losses to Oregon and USC in the following weeks dropped the Golden Bears out of the top 25 in both polls, but they have recovered, winning four of their past five games.

Last week, the Golden Bears defeated then-No. 18 Arizona, 24-16. Shane Vereen, playing in place of star tailback Jahvid Best, who is recovering from a serious concussion he sustained against Oregon State, posted a career-high 159 rushing yards on 30 carries and a touchdown. The Cal defense held the Wildcats to 274 yards of total offense, an average of only four yards per play and intercepted Arizona sophomore quarterback Nick Foles twice.

Overall, Cal is ranked first in the Pac-10 in rush defense, allowing only 3.1 yards per carry. Junior linebacker Mike Mohamed leads the conference in tackles.

“Right now it looks like we’re gonna have our hands full and a great challenge with this Cal team,” Harbaugh said. “They have an identity on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, special teams, they’re very impressive to watch. It will be a big challenge for our offense.”

“I think Cal has got the best defensive front that we’ve faced all year,” he added. “Tyson Alualu is the best defensive lineman in the Pac-10, they’ve got great linebackers, [Devin] Bishop, [Mike] Mohamed, [Mychal] Kendrix — all those guys, they’ve got an identity defensively.”

The Cal defense will have a tough test when it faces Stanford’s prolific offense, which leads the Pac-10 with almost 450 total yards per game. Much of that success is due to senior tailback Toby Gerhart, who is currently third in the nation in rushing yards with 1,395 yards in 10 games. He averages 5.3 yards per carry and leads all running backs with 19 rushing touchdowns.

“I personally think that not only should he be in the [Heisman] discussion,” Harbaugh said, “but based on what he’s accomplishing and what he’s accomplished up until this point, he should win it.”

Luck is ranked 13th in the nation in passing efficiency with a rating of 151.84 and fourth in the nation in yards per attempt with 9.3. On top of that, he’s Stanford’s second-leading rusher with 288 rushing yards, 5.6 yards per carry and 2 rushing touchdowns.

“There have been some really good quarterbacks at Stanford since John Elway,” ESPN broadcaster David Norrie told the San Jose Mercury News. “But this is the first Stanford quarterback since Elway where you go, ‘Wow.’”

A win would keep the Cardinal alive in the race for the Pac-10 title and a Rose Bowl berth, not to mention bringing the Axe back to Stanford. The Cardinal knows the Golden Bears will provide a steep challenge, though.

“In a rivalry game,” Gerhart warns, “teams bring their A-game. Everything’s above and beyond records, or what’s happened in the past. For that one weekend, anything goes.”

“This week, this game, is huge.”

Google has just revealed its most ambitious undertaking to date, Chrome OS, a new operating system which intends to push the concept in a new direction by moving everything to the cloud. While this game-changing approach is very exciting and raises a lot of questions about the future of operating systems, the web and convergence of the two, the fact is that the first thing most people wanted to know is what it looks like and how has Google tackled the challenge of just having a browser and no other native app.

When the company first announced the project it claimed that everything would be done inside the browser. This was such a radical approach, to have a complete desktop environment inside the Chrome browser, that most people didn’t think it was possible. Now that Google has shown the world what’s been working on we can safely say that it made true on its promise.

The first actual footage and screenshots of the new operating system were actually a bit disappointing. Chrome is Chrome OS so the new operating system looks just like the browser that some 50 million people are now using monthly as their main browser. Aside from a few subtle cues, Chrome OS looks just like a maximized Chrome window, so if you have been using the Google browser you’re not missing out on much.

This was a conscious decision b… (read more)

The No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer team may be playing in the national championship tournament, but tonight’s Sweet Sixteen match will be a local affair, as the Card takes on Peninsula rival Santa Clara University for a spot in the national quarterfinals.

The game is a rematch of this season’s earlier South Bay derby, which took place at Santa Clara’s Buck Shaw Stadium back on Oct. 1. Although the Broncos took the lead early in that game, the Cardinal ended up with a dominating 6-2 victory, with forwards Kelley O’Hara and Christen Press each notching two goals and an assist. The rout was eerily similar to the 2008 matchup between the two teams, also at Buck Shaw Stadium, in which Stanford stormed to a 5-0 win.

Despite his team’s recent success against SCU, however, Stanford Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe knows that this will be a completely new challenge.

“I’ve seen them play [since the match in October], and I think, like us, they’ve grown as a team,” Ratcliffe said. “[Santa Clara Head Coach] Jerry Smith is a good coach, and they’re playing good soccer, so it should be a really competitive match”

The Cardinal (22-0-0, 9-0-0 Pac-10) comes into the match on the strength of back-to-back 2-0 victories, although neither match in the first two rounds was easy. Last Thursday, Stanford beat Northern Arizona despite a frustrating first half in which it did not score. On Saturday, it faced a nervous second half against a physical BYU team before finally putting the game away in the 89th minute.

BYU in particular seemed to knock Stanford off its usual rhythm, with the Card struggling to keep possession and resorting to long ball tactics. While Ratcliffe and the players emphasized how important it was to be able to win in a different style, it is clear that they would like to be able to use the game plan they have relied upon throughout the season and in seasons past.

“We definitely want to play possession soccer,” Ratcliffe said. “The BYU [match] was a real physical battle . . . I think in the playoffs things get a little tense, so we’ve got to settle down, play with confidence and enjoy it and open up the game.”

Santa Clara (14-6-2) — the four-seed in Stanford’s region — by no means had an easy road to the Sweet Sixteen either. After a 0-0 draw for 90 minutes against Michigan State, it took an overtime goal to get the Broncos out of the first round, and their second round matchup with Oklahoma State saw them go through on penalty kicks after regulation and two overtimes failed to separate the teams at one goal apiece.

Still, Santa Clara can be very tough to beat; in a narrow 1-0 loss to No. 2 Portland at the beginning of November, SCU actually outshot the Pilots 14-7. Interestingly, Portland is the only team averaging more goals per game than Stanford this year, so the Bronco backline certainly seems to have improved since the 6-2 thrashing by the Cardinal.

Stanford’s defense has also improved immensely throughout the year and could get another boost this weekend. Senior fullback Ali Riley, who missed last weekend’s matches with an ankle injury, and sophomore defensive midfielder/utility player Cami Levin, who had to leave the BYU game after a crunching tackle, could both be ready for tonight’s clash.

“They’re both talented players, but [on game day we have to ask] are they healthy enough and physically prepared?” Ratcliffe said. “And if they’re not, we have other great options.”

The Cardinal does indeed have great depth, and all of those players must be ready to play a role during this do-or-die stretch run. Even so, Ratcliffe says he does not believe his team is feeling the pressure as it prepares to put its season on the line once again.

“We’re just excited to be able to continue to train,” he said. “We’re working hard to just take care of business and have fun.”

The match is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. at Cagan Stadium.

On a freezing-cold night at Cagan Stadium, Stanford beat Saint Mary’s in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in its first appearance since 2002.

Both teams came into this match looking strikingly similar in their statistics. They had each notched 10 wins over the regular season, had scored some important wins over highly ranked opposition, and their head coaches, Bret Simon for the Cardinal and Adam Cooper for the Gaels, had won Coach of the Year in their respective conferences, the Pac-10 and the West Coast Conference.

But perhaps most importantly, both Stanford (11-5-2, 4-4-2 Pac-10, 1-0 NCAA) and Saint Mary’s (10-4-5, 6-3-3 WCC) were playing their first-ever games in the NCAAs.

Yes, Stanford has been here before, and yes, Simon even took the Cardinal to the College Cup six years ago, but not one single player on either squad has made it this far before. The Gaels were obviously pleased, and perhaps a little nervous, to make it to the first NCAA game in their history, but even the experienced coaching staff of the Cardinal approached this as a new proposition.

“We weren’t sure how we would react as a group,” Simon said. “We were trying to look for things in the last training sessions and the warm-up and the pre-game meal to gauge whether the team was nervous or was approaching it in a different way.”

Perhaps this explains the first few minutes of the game. Neither team took any hold on the match, with scrappy passes that hung in the air, allowing possession to change constantly.

High, long balls do not suit the style of Stanford’s players, and once the nerves had begun to settle, they started passing quickly and accurately along the ground, keeping possession and eventually out-shooting the Gaels 12-3 in the first half.

Recently nominated to national first team all-rookie by TopDrawerSoccer.com, freshman Adam Jahn was the first on the score sheet with a stunning left-footed volley, and further made his mark on the match by setting up junior Dominique Yahyavi for the second. True to the team ethic, though, he refused to take the credit.

“We just work for each other,” Jahn said. “No one’s more important than the other, and we will not succeed if we don’t stay as a team.”

The final score line, which included sophomore Adoni Levine’s first goal this year in the 81st minute, shows how far the Cardinal has come this year. In fact, the game itself offers a snapshot of the season so far: a slightly shaky start gave way to a steady progress and now a prospect for future success.

“We had a little rocky start, pre-season,” Jahn said. “I think we all just bounced back and we just realized we had the potential to be a great team, and once we started getting wins the confidence kept going up.

“We’re peaking right at the right time now,” he added.

Saint Mary’s battled hard, especially after the first goal, but could not wrestle itself back into the game. Although the Card deserves credit for keeping the Gaels out of contention for much of the match, playing without the experience and leadership of possibly their best player, junior Jordan Rider, WCC Defensive Player of the Year, certainly had an impact on Saint Mary’s.

“Technically, we weren’t as sharp on the ball as we have been,” Cooper said. “Part of that was some nerves, part of that was Stanford doing a good job disrupting our rhythm.”

After a strong year, the Gaels can return home with their heads held high.

“Even though we didn’t win today, it gave all of our guys a taste of the tournament and a hunger for them to get back next year.”

Meanwhile, the Cardinal now must look forward to Sunday’s game against No. 16 seed UC-Irvine in Irvine. A win there would put them through to face undefeated, No. 1 seed Akron in the third round. But Irvine will not be a pushover.

In their last regular season game, the Anteaters defeated UC-Santa Barbara, ranked No. 10 by the NSCAA, 4-1 on the road to take the Big West Tournament title.

Sunday’s game will kick off at 6 p.m.

Honestly, we’re not sure how an economy that’s been in a near-constant deflationary slide since the early 90s can ever have a double-dip recession. Octuple-dip sounds more like it.

But, Japanese leaders are out with a fresh warning that deflation is still causing new problems, and that despite some recent good economic growth (though we flagged it for being deflationary, mainly) a backslide is still possible.

WSJ: Weak domestic demand has caused the world’s second largest economy to enter “a mild deflationary phase”, the government said in its November monthly economic report released Friday.

This is the first time since mid-2006 that the authorities said Japan is beset by persistent price falls, which can hurt the economy by pushing down corporate profits, increasing firms’ debt burdens, and prompting company managers to reduce workforce and hold off on new investments. The declaration in its official report suggests Tokyo is worried about whether the price downturn will lead to a double-dip recession.

The government also said it needs to watch whether the economy is depressed by a further worsening of the jobs market, concern over a slowdown in overseas economies, and damage from deflation and volatility in markets.

It just does not end there. This is like one of those nightmares that lasts all through the night, even if you wake up several times in between, you can’t shake it.

But, it may be better than taking severe pain right off the bat, which is what we’ve chosen to do.

See why we’re headed down the Japan route here >>

(Image via Flickr user Gustty)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Actually Japan Isn’t Growing At All — It’s Just Deflating
• Japan Blasts Out Of Recession With Big GDP Gains
• You Should Be VERY Concerned About Our Parallels With Japan

After yesterday’s selloff, Asian markets are down again. The Nikkei is riding a 5-day losing streak. Europe, however, has rebounded a little, and US futures are roughly flat.

——-

BANGKOK (AP) — Asia’s stock markets mostly retreated Friday following a glum session on Wall Street as evidence of a weak economic recovery continued to pile up. European shares rose.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Sydney and Hong Kong fell half a percent or more while oil lingered under $78 a barrel following a big tumble overnight. Technology stocks were weak after Sony’s turnaround plans failed to inspire confidence and Dell Inc. warned that sales of its computers to big businesses remain sluggish.

Reports on the U.S. economy gave investors little reason to hold on to stocks. Figures from the Labor Department indicated that employers are still shedding jobs, and the Mortgage Bankers Association reported a surge in foreclosures.

Markets, especially in Asia, have rallied hard since their nadir in March as investors anticipated the global economy would rebound quickly from its worst recession in decades.

Major economies are growing again, according to the latest figures, but the rebound is moderate and many economists expect growth rates in Asia and the West to fall short of pre-crisis levels for several years.

That’s made investors increasingly nervous about driving markets even higher as company earnings — temporarily bostered by massive cost cutting and layoffs — could be disappointing.

As trading got underway in Europe, benchmarks in Germany, Britain and France were each up 0.6 percent but stock futures pointed to a lackluster start for Wall Street. Dow futures were off 3 points at 10,324 and S&P futures slipped 0.1 point to 1,094.20.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average lost 51.79, or 0.5 percent, to 9,497.68 despite the central bank upgrading its assessment of the world’s No. 2 economy.

More tellingly, the Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged at a super low 0.1 percent — a sign of how fragile the economic recovery is — while top officials warned of the dangers posed by months of falling consumer prices.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 187.32, or 0.8 percent, to 22,455.84 and Australia’s benchmark fell 1.3 percent as mining behemoths like BHP Billiton declined.

South Korea’s Kospi was flat while China’s Shanghai index shed 0.4 percent. India’s Sensex reversed course to gain 1 percent.

In Tokyo trade, Sony Corp. slid 2.4 percent as investors remained unconvinced by CEO Howard Stringer’s plans to turnaround the loss-making electronics giant. Sony is headed for a back-to-back billion dollar loss in the fiscal year ending March, 2010.

In the U.S. Thursday, the Dow fell 93.87, or 0.9 percent, to 10,332.44, after being down as much as 170. It was the Dow’s biggest point drop since Oct. 30.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 14.90, or 1.3 percent, to 1,094.90, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 36.32, or 1.7 percent, to 2,156.82.

Oil prices hovered below $78 a barrel in Asia as investors eyed a volatile U.S. dollar and mixed economic data.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 24 cents to $77.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract, which expires later on Friday, gave up $2.12 to settle at $77.46 on Thursday.

In currencies, the dollar fell to 88.85 yen from 88.98 yen. The euro slipped to $1.4907 from $1.4922.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Today Was A Win For The Bulls!
• Roach: China’s Market Will Crumble
• CHART OF THE DAY: How The Old Gold Bugs Lost Control Of Gold (GLD)

Today Google has announced operating system Google Chromium OS. It still not ready to end users as is under deep development but now everyone can see its concepts, benefits and nature. Astonishing news as for me. There were a lot of rumors about Google OS (gos) before it was presented to the public in real. Now it’s clear that the most promising OS these days is based on Linux kernel. Let’s see what Google just have presented in details:

1. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.

2. Because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code.

3. We are obsessed with speed. We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many operations and running everything possible in parallel. This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds.

4. Chromium OS User Interface Concepts (video)



5. Design Documents: Software Architecture, Security Overview

VMware Virtual Machine with Chromium OS can be found here (torrent).