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Here you go, folks, the down and dirty walkthrough with Froyo — aka Android 2.2 — on the Nexus One. Remember that there’s a lot of back-end stuff that’s been optimized, and we’re really just starting to scratch the surface. But here’s a quick look at some of the highlights of the latest version of our favorite operating system. Have at it!

Filed under: Advice, Fitness, Ask a Fitness Expert

Dear Sarah,

I know that exercise is good for me, but here’s what happens when I go to the gym: On Monday I arrive determined, I jump on the treadmill and try and stay on for 30 minutes, but after 10 minutes I feel like I can’t go anymore, I do the … Read more

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From Sunday’s print edition:

160,000 homeowners forgo small rebates

Property-tax refunds, linked to parking meter sale, drew only
36,600 applications

More than 160,000 Chicago homeowners left money on the table — in
some cases, as much as $200 — by failing to apply for a property-tax
relief program that Mayor Richard Daley pushed to be included in this
year’s budget.

City Hall said about 200,000 homeowners could apply
for the money, but records show only 36,621 applications were filed by
the March 31 deadline.

That means the city stands to pay out less
than $4.5 million of the $35 million set aside for the payments, which
start at $25. There also will be promotional and administrative costs.
So far, less than $900,000 has been paid out to 6,991 homeowners,
officials said.

The money is coming from Daley’s much-criticized
$1.15 billion lease of the city parking meter system. When Daley
promoted the property-tax relief idea last fall, some aldermen
questioned the value of spending millions on a program they said would
do little, if anything, to help cash-strapped homeowners.

"It was a
political gimmick, and the voters saw it for what it was," said Ald.
Joe Moore, 49th. "Most people didn’t even see any value in taking the
time to apply for it."

Daley has been criticized by some aldermen
and budget watchdogs for relying too heavily on the parking meter
proceeds to balance recent budgets. Much of the one-time windfall was
supposed to be set aside. So, some aldermen aren’t lamenting the small
number of property-tax rebate applications.

"I guess the good news
is that we didn’t spend as much of our reserves on this gimmick," Moore
said. "The bad news is the mayor probably has more to raid for next
year."

The administration, however, is satisfied with the number
of applicants to the heavily promoted program, said a spokesman for the
Office of Budget and Management.

"You can’t expect everyone who is
potentially eligible to make an application, and we’re satisfied with
the results," spokesman Pete Scales said. "Thousands of people got
property-tax relief."

Aldermen initially balked at approving the
program, but the opposition withered after Daley suggested homeowners
could politically punish aldermen who voted against it.

Daley said
it is designed to blunt the impact of the phasing out of a state law
that limited property-tax increases caused, in part, by rising home
values.

That break, which ended this year in Chicago, was recently
reauthorized by the General Assembly, in an effort fraught with
political implications as November elections approach. It awaits the
signature of Gov. Pat Quinn.

From the Sunday print edition:

Inside Brady’s business deals

Governor hopeful has been through economic ups and downs

By David Heinzmann and Rick Pearson, Tribune reporters

On the southwest fringe of Champaign along Interstate Highway 57 stands
the Curtis Road interchange, its ornate limestone overpass and
decorative red-brick towers surrounded by acres of open farmland.





It was envisioned as the catalyst for a massive residential and retail
development that would start with new homes built by Bill Brady, the
state senator and Republican candidate for governor. Instead, it’s an
overpass to nowhere.





Brady, a developer for 25 years, underestimated the cost of his leading
role and then backed away when city officials refused to provide more
taxpayer money. The deal fell apart in 2007, stalling other development,
and the land remains vacant.





The interchange represents the crossroads of Brady’s political and
business careers. As the first part-time politician running for
governor in nearly 30 years, Brady contends that his experience running a
successful business will help him solve the state’s financial problems.





"I think people are looking for someone who understands the intricacies
of business, how you manage people, how you perform services," Brady
said.





But his family firm’s recent struggles and the failed Champaign
development offer voters a more complicated picture.





Public records and interviews with city officials show that Brady
mishandled the sewer project he promised to build, improvements that
other developers were counting on. In November, Brady sued the
engineering firm he hired. But last week he quietly dropped the lawsuit
and placed the blame on the city.

The Curtis Road mess added to the hard times for a company that had made
Brady and his two brothers wealthy as they capitalized on a population
boom in Bloomington-Normal.

The Brady family has been well-known in Bloomington’s business community
for nearly a half century. Bill Brady Sr., the candidate’s father,
started building homes in the mid-1960s.





The company grew into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, but Brady’s
father overextended himself in the early 1980s. Years of losses and
sky-high interest rates pushed the company into bankruptcy in 1984 when
the elder Brady couldn’t keep up payments on about $2 million in debts
to banks and contractors, according to court records.





At the time, Bill Jr. was just out of college, married and working at
the family lumberyard. When the company emerged from bankruptcy in 1987,
young Bill was running the development side of the business, while his
father took a back seat running the lumberyard.





As Bloomington flourished in the late 1980s and 1990s, the family built
subdivisions with names like Waterford Estates and Fox Hollow. They
expanded their real estate sales business, developed a shopping center
to feed the new neighborhoods and created a bustling office park where
their own businesses are based.





"That time frame was just booming years for Bloomington," said Jesse
Smart, who was mayor from 1985 to 1997 as the area’s population was
heading from 80,000 to more than 120,000 today. "It was just the hot
spot of the state. Those were the heydays for developers."





Public records and interviews with downstate development professionals
paint a picture of a businessman who prospered from his deep roots in
the city. Known even to low-level city workers as "Billy," Brady became
the very public face of his family business, a member of
Bloomington-Normal’s civic and business elite. That success translated
into political capital for Brady, who was elected to the Illinois House
in 1992.





Ken Emmons, who retired as Bloomington’s city planner early last year,
said Brady was careful to maintain a solid public image.





"He doesn’t want to have a bad reputation, doesn’t want to alienate his
customers or the neighbors," Emmons said.





In fact, Brady has sometimes artfully avoided controversy.





When he bought a parcel zoned for industrial development near an area of
single-family homes, he planned to develop the land with apartments.
Instead of doing the work himself, he sold the land to an Indiana
developer who built subsidized housing in 2001. There was a rash of
opposition from nearby homeowners, but it was absorbed by the
out-of-town firm, Emmons said.





At its peak in 2006, Brady Homes had 34 employees and built nearly 200
homes, according to Brady. But in the recession that started in 2007,
Brady Homes, Pinehurst Development and a handful of related firms the
family operates have stumbled.





Brady’s personal tax returns, which he at first resisted disclosing,
showed that the company has lost enough money over the last two years
that he has not paid any income tax, even on his $78,000 salary from
the General Assembly.





In an interview last week with the Tribune, Brady said he started
re-examining the company’s future during his failed 2006 campaign for
governor. He said he looked at the firm’s fundamentals and reorganized
the business, with his brothers and partners laying off all but nine
workers who last year built nearly 100 homes.





As demand for new housing waned in McLean County over the last decade,
Brady has looked harder for new business in other downstate markets. He
built in Peoria and suburban Springfield. On the western border of
Champaign, Brady Homes started with a subdivision of houses and
townhomes called The Cove.





Brady’s next big project in town would be a more than 300-home
subdivision called Prairie Creek designed to capitalize on plans the
state announced in 2002 to build a new I-57 interchange at Curtis Road.
Planners and developers saw the Curtis Road corridor as the next wave of
expansion in Champaign. Brady saw the potential as well, and sought to
secure options on 120 acres of farmland adjacent to the interchange
site.





The homes Brady planned would lead the way for additional development
that would include shopping centers, restaurants and office buildings
the city had earmarked for the four quadrants surrounding the highway
intersection.





In 2003, the state legislature gave the local government authority to
take land for sewers along Curtis Road east of Brady’s property. A final
vote to enact the law occurred Nov. 4, as Brady was securing options on
the land he planned to develop. He voted for it.





Three years later, when the legislature re-authorized the sewer plans,
well after Brady began acquiring the land, he again voted in favor of
the measure. In 2007, Brady also voted for similar legislation allowing
Champaign and other local governments to seize property to build their
share of the interchange.





Although the actions would help move the interchange project along, and
affect the value of his land, Brady did not recuse himself.





"If I felt I had a conflict, I wouldn’t have done that," Brady said.
Later, in an e-mail, Brady said he believed the legislation had no
direct effect on his Champaign property.





Champaign officials were originally hesitant to allow developers into
the area because there was no sewer service. But when Brady offered to
build the pumping station and sewer connection to jump-start his
development, the city cut a deal with him with provisions to pay Brady
back a portion of the costs down the road.





But problems started early because Brady moved forward without an
accurate understanding of what the work would cost, said Bruce Knight,
Champaign’s planning director. Brady’s original $1.27 million cost
estimate was based on faulty assumptions, Knight said.





When proper bids were finally done, Brady’s share of the cost grew by
more than $1 million, and he balked at doing the work without getting
more money from taxpayers, public records show.





"We made a deal with Brady, in which clearly we were capping our
investment at (a certain) level," Knight said. More money from taxpayers
was not "justifiable," Knight said.





Brady contended Champaign officials were supposed to cover the higher
costs.





"Our attorney said the city had the right to nix the deal if they didn’t
like how the bids came in. The city nixed the deal," Brady said. "They
told us they didn’t have the money to pay it at the cost it came in. We
said, ‘That wasn’t our agreement. You agreed to reimburse us,’ and they
said ‘No.’"





Knight said Brady’s assertion is incorrect.





As Brady backed away from the plans, Champaign officials met with two
other developers who had planned to piggyback off the sewer system for
their own residential projects.





Soon, one of the other developers, Darren Rogers, was taking the lead in
trying to get the development back on track. In an e-mail to a city
engineer, he blamed Brady for the mess over pumping station costs.





"Engineering costs are too high primarily due to Brady changing the
design so many times. He needs to pay for a significant portion of those
costs," Rogers said to Roland White, Champaign city engineer.





In the end, no one could put a deal together to build the pumping
station, and as the bottom dropped out of the economy in 2008, the whole
project was put on a back burner.





Throughout the process, city officials said they had difficulty getting
Brady’s attention at critical times.





"He was often hard to reach because he was busy with other things,"
Knight said.

Android 2.2 Froyo Manual Update for Nexus was discovered! This is breaking news as the Android 2.2 Froyo Manual Update for Nexus was discovered in an effort and detective works of the guys at XDA-Developers.com. The safe way to have your Nexus One updated to Android 2.2 froyo is to wait for your phone to alert you that the over the air update is available, but if you just can’t bear to be without the latest and greatest, you can follow the instructions found on Android Central to apply the update manually.

See more of Android 2.2 Froyo Manual Update for Nexus!

Related posts:

1. Google Android 2.2 vs Apple iPhone and iPad performance
2. Meet Android: Amazing Google Campaign: Free Nexus One!
3. Nexus One could appear on global market

The recent announcement and presentation of ‘Google TV‘ may pose a significant turn for the TV industry. And no wonder considering that this new initiative of “Smart TV” could seriously threaten the traditional concept of television today.

Certainly, Google’s strategic moves always maintain a common goal. In addition to innovate and bring new services exploiting the available technological resources, is no doubt that with this new “evolutionary step,” Google aims to further strengthen its dominant position in the advertising market, plunged into the conquest of television advertising. A sector which currently maintains an investment of 70,000 million dollars.

During his presentation at a conference in San Francisco, made it clear the impact of this new television, referring to it as “new platform that will change the future of television.”

Recently we addressed this issue, stating that Internet advertising and absorb the future of television and so we came to the conclusion that “the Internet will be the means” and not the television will become an element of a digital media multi ”audiovisual” which also will join the rest of traditional media.

With Google TV, the concept of “television” will acquire a new dimension with the multiple applications and new capabilities that will have through this new platform built on the Android OS to “combine the best of television and the Internet” and from the which would be born “true video on demand.”

The success or failure of this new initiative could condition and determine the future market of traditional television advertising. And this new TV concept opens up new possibilities for brands and advertisers to reach audiences with new formats and viewers and advertising strategies and new business models related to the contents of payment. A new opportunity for the film industry and the producers that could offer viewers the opportunity to access all types of videos or on-demand content.

In this sense, television advertising through this new platform would combine the traditional elements with the multimedia features of the medium internet. Imagine for example a cut advertising where ads require or suggest to our interaction and participation, or the opportunity to decide what kind of ads we want to see during commercial breaks.

So far we have to wait to see the evolution and developments but it is certain that the “intelligent television” could change the concept of traditional television advertising.

Related posts:

1. Google TV, the fusion of Internet and television
2. Android OS Now To Feature On TV – Sony, Intel, Logitech Partners
3. Nexus One could appear on global market

NASCAR All-Star race 2010 will take place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 22, 2010 at 9:00 EST. NASCAR All-Star race 2010 is held on the 1.5 mile superspeedway with drivers and the teams. And the winners of this match will take home $1millions.

The winner of NASCAR all-star 2009, Tony Stewart is included among the favorite of 2010 winner. The other five winners Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth have also chances to win the NASCAR all-star race. Jeff Gordon won three times whereas Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson each have won twice.

Related posts:

1. Finally Sunshine At Talladega
2. Daytona 500 Results: Atlanta Motor Speedway: Daytona 500 Danica Patrick
3. Amazing Race 16 Winners Leaked: Dan and Jordan Are the Winners?

Nesse final de semana o modelo foi flagrado fazendo testes nas ruas da Argentina. Como dizem as marcas, não é por que o modelo foi flagrado que ele vai ser lançado.

Mas nesse caso será o modelo deverá ser apresentado ao mercado argentino até o final do ano.

Segundo fontes, a GM ira colocar o modelo um degrau acima do Chevrolet Vectra, o mesmo fabricado no mercado brasileiro.

O plano da marca também é competir com o Peugeot 408 e o Renault Fluence, que serão suas principais concorrências no mercado argentino.

O modelo será oferecido com duas opções de motorização. A primeira opção é um motor de 1.8 litros que rende 140 cavalos de potencia, e a segunda opção é um motor 2.0 litros turbodiesel de 150 cavalos de potencia.

Fonte: Auto Esporte

Microsoft has an incredible Star Trek sculpture in the lobby of their Studio D office, an installation that continually gives the appearance that Kirk, Spock and the rest are just on the verge of materializing. But how’s it done? More »










Star Trek – Games – Video Games – Star Trek Games – Television and Movies

Koro is the unfounded fear that the genitals are retracting into the body or have disappeared. It is usually classified by Western psychiatry as a ‘culture bound syndrome‘ as it typically appears Asian or African cultures in various forms but an article in the Journal of Sexual Medicine notes that it has shown up in most cultures at one time or another.

Koro–the psychological disappearance of the penis.

Mattelaer JJ, Jilek W.

J Sex Med. 2007 Sep;4(5):1509-15.

The aim of this article is to present a summarizing overview on ethnomedical aspects of koro (in Chinese called suo-yang), the panic anxiety state in which affected males believe that the penis is shrinking and/or retracting, and perhaps disappearing. While reduction of penile volume occurs physiologically due to vasoconstriction in cold temperature and intense anxiety, it is believed in certain cultures that genital shrinking leads to impotence and sterility, and eventually to death. Traditional Chinese medicine treats suo-yang, the reduction of the male principle yang, as a dangerous disturbance of the life-sustaining yin-yang equilibrium of the organism. Koro has therefore been held to be a Chinese “culture-bound” condition. However , the koro phenomenon is also known among diverse ethnic and religious groups in Asia and Africa, typically in cultures in which reproductive ability is a major determinant of a young person’s worth. Koro epidemics of panic anxiety due to widespread fears of losing one’s genitals, procreative ability, and even one’s life, are triggered by rumors of genital disappearance supposedly caused in China by female fox spirits, in Singapore and Thailand by mass poisoning, and in Africa by sorcery, usually in the context of socioeconomic or political tension. Today, in contemporary Western societies, ideas of genital disappearance are not culturally endorsed. But historically, it should be remembered that in the late Middle Ages in Europe, a man could lose his membrum virile through magical attacks by witches. The conclusion is that the psychological disappearance of the penis is a universal syndrome that was described recently in Asia and Africa and already in Medieval Europe.

Link to PubMed entry for article.
Link to Wikipedia page on the ‘koro’ belief.

Once I heard the Nexus One could manually get Android 2.2 (Froyo) update I installed it immediately! Here’s a list of new feature enhancements in addition to those from announcement for Android 2.2.

Featured Enhancements

• No Flash initially installed however you download it from the Android Market.
• Wi-Fi tethering and Portable Hotspot!!!
• Updated Google Search bar to include dropdown for All, Web, Apps or Contacts search. Plus choose which items are searchable… not just those previously mentioned yet specific apps; Messaging, Twitter, Music, etc.

System, Hardware and Settings

• There are now different color highlights for the trackball. Initially it would either do white or blue when using Bluetooth. Now any color can be used, typically set within apps if the feature is available.
• I’m not sure what to call this memory, but usually when I kill apps using apps like Taskiller there is between 30-75MB of memory that can be freed up. Now it’s up to 218MB.
• Phone and Browser quick launch are along side the app launcher.
• Personalized search results saved to your Gmail profile.
• Can allow offensive words in voice recognition settings.

Core Apps: Gmail, Contacts, Messaging, Facebook, Market, Talk, Car Home

• Updated Market with auto-update settings, update all apps feature, and updated layout.
• Updated Gmail app to finally include Previous/Next buttons when reading emails (shame that simple feature was just now implemented). Plus jump between accounts by tapping the email address in header versus pressing Menu button then tap Accounts.
• Finally no dark theme in Messaging & Google Talk apps, slight face lift.
• Contacts with multiple similar calls grouped together which can be toggled to show more detail.
• More Settings in Camera app; Focus Mode, Store location in photo metadata, White Balance options, toggle Flash, Zoom options. For Video; Color effects (Mono, Sepia, Negative, Posterize, etc), White Balance, toggle Flash, toggle Video Quality (even a custom setting for high quality for YouTube capped at 10 minutes).
• New Car Home design.

Everywhere there are arguments that we are in a “V”-shaped recovery. And there are signs that in fact that is the case. Today we will look at some of those, and then take up the topic of when the Fed will raise rates. We open the case and look at the evidence. Is there enough to come to a real conviction? I think there is. (And at the end of the letter I mention two conferences I am speaking at in the next few months, in Vancouver and San Francisco.)

Employment Is Turning the Corner

There is a little-known employment report that the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) releases late in the month that is a summary of the employment reports from the 50 states. Of late, this number has been higher than the federal government survey. Adding the states together, we find that 412,200 jobs (non-seasonally adjusted) were created in April, higher than the establishment survey (which for whatever reason gets the headlines) and more in line with the household survey, which showed an employment gain of 550,000 (seasonally adjusted).

I think it is well established by now that I am not a fan of the birth/death employment estimates in the establishment survey. That is where the BLS estimates the number of new jobs created by the birth or death of new businesses. It is often a significant portion of the jobs survey and it is a seasonally adjusted guess. There really is no alternative but to make this estimate, but at the beginnings of recessions it always overestimates the number of jobs, and at the beginnings of recoveries it will underestimate them.

Remember the “jobless recovery” of 2002-2004? Eventually (several years later) the BLS gets hard data from tax and other sources and goes back and revises the employment numbers. No one cares, because it is “old news.” But we can now look back and see the jobless recovery we thought we were in was not all that bad. The birth/death estimates decidedly understated the growth that was going on at the time.

That may be the case now, too. The much stronger state and household surveys suggest that we *may* be at the beginning of a labor recovery that will be understated by the establishment survey, as the birth/death model just won’t catch that growth. If this pattern continues for the next few months, I think we should begin to pay more attention to the state and households surveys. Let’s hope it does.

That being said, the level of reported increases is not showing up in the income tax reports. There may be several reasons for that, one of which is that people are going back to work for less money and thus paying less taxes. And that would make sense, as there are now five out of work people seeking jobs for every job opening. The employers have the negotiating power.

Businesses are cautiously building inventories and bringing people back to work. Sales-to-inventory levels are not out of line and suggest we may see more inventory building this quarter, which will directly help boost GDP. Retail sales growth is modest by previous recovery standards, but there is at least growth.

The Headwinds of Money Supply

 But (and you knew there would be a but coming), there are some headwinds we need to deal with before we can sound the all-clear horn. First, growth in the money supply is slowing. Let’s look at the measure of money supply called MZM, or Money of Zero Maturity. Notice it was flat for well over a year and actually down the last two months.

A broader measure of money is M2.  Notice that it too has flat-lined for well over a year. If we look at the last 30 years, there is nothing you can see in the chart that even comes close to this.

I don’t have access to a graph of M3, though it is still produced by several groups (the Fed stopped several years ago), but that chart would show that even M3 has gone negative. Remember the conspiracy guys who thought the Fed stopped reporting M3 because they thought the Fed wanted to hide the fat that it was going to increase the money supply by large amounts and destroy the dollar? Hardly. The economists at the Fed simply felt for a number of very public reasons that M3 doesn’t have any real meaning any more. They have a strong case, although I never understood why they just didn’t go ahead and keep publishing it anyway. It was just a few computers programs. But what do I know?

Now, notice that with both graphs you see a large increase beginning in the middle of 2008 as the Fed pumped the money supply in order to inject liquidity into the system. This was basically the $1.25 trillion purchase of mortgages, but toward the end even that was not boosting the money supply as much as it did in the beginning. Why? Partially, because of the following graph.

This shows total commercial lending at US banks. It is down almost 25% in less than a year and a half. Notice that in the last recession commercial lending dropped by “only” 18% in 3.5 years.

Lending to consumers is also down in a similar fashion. Notice that money supply begins to go flat in 2009, just a little after bank lending dried up.

Remember our old friend the equation that GDP is equal to the money supply times the velocity of money (GDP=MV)? If GDP is growing and the money supply is slowing, that means the velocity of money is starting to turn back up. That would be a good thing, but we must be somewhat cautious, in that the velocity of money is mean reverting over time, and it is still well above its mean. If it started to once again slow down, as it has for several years now with the current slow or no growth in the money supply, that would not be good for GDP growth.

As a practical matter, that means the Fed will not be reducing its mortgage holdings any time soon. They will wait until it is obvious that a recovery is firmly entrenched. I don’t see how they can risk reducing the money supply any more than they already have, especially given the next few charts.

Who Stole the Inflation?

Inflation just isn’t what it used to be. Core inflation is basically flat over the last year. We haven’t seen that since the ’50s. Since the beginning of 2009 it is only up around 0.1%.

About five years ago, the Dallas Fed developed a new methodology for measuring inflation, called the Trimmed Mean PCE. It was developed by Dallas Fed economist Jim Dolmas.

Dolmas notes (quite correctly, I think) that to exclude food and energy, just because they are volatile, ignores that other quite volatile measures of inflation are still left in. Further, energy and food inflation do have meaning in the real world.

What Dolmas does is use a statistical device called “trimming.” From the field of statistics, trim analysis borrows the idea of ignoring a few “outliers.” A trimmed mean, for example, is calculated by discarding a certain number of lowest and highest values and then computing the mean of those that remain.

How accurate is his measure? Dolmas suggests it is a lot more accurate: “That is to say, compared to the usual … measure, on average the monthly Trimmed mean measure would be expected to come closer to true monthly core inflation by roughly .75 of a percentage point, when the inflation rates are expressed in annual terms.” That is huge, at least in my book, especially when we look at how great the difference is with the Fed’s favorite methodology.

In 2006, the trimmed-inflation methodology suggested the core inflation was understating inflation. Today, the same methodology suggests that core inflation is overstating inflation. Look at the tables below, which were last updated in March. The trends in inflation are clearly down, and when the April data comes out it will be down again.

My good friend David Rosenberg pointed out this morning a new study by the Cleveland Fed on inflation, which concludes that: (i) the decline in recent months has transcended the housing effect; and, (ii) the principal risk is for a further slowing. Treasury yields are likely headed even lower. The title of the report is Are Some Prices in the CPI More Forward Looking Than Others? We Think So, by Michael F. Bryan and Brent Meyer. It’s well worth a read. ( http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/commentary/2010/2010-2.cfm)

“Abstract: Some of the items that make up the Consumer Price Index change prices frequently, while others are slow to change. We explored whether these two sets of prices – sticky and flexible – provide insight on different aspects of the inflation process. We found that sticky prices appear to incorporate expectations about future inflation to a greater degree than prices that change on a frequent basis, while flexible prices respond more powerfully to economic conditions-economic slack. Importantly, our sticky-price measure seems to contain a component of inflation expectations, and that component may be useful when trying to gauge where inflation is heading.

“Conclusion: Where is inflation heading? Well, the last FOMC statement held the view that ‘inflation is likely to be subdued for some time.’ We certainly don’t have reason to question that outlook. Indeed, while the recent trend in the core flexible CPI has risen some recently (it’s up 3.3 percent over the past 12 months ending in March) the trend in the core sticky-price CPI continues to decline. Even excluding shelter, the 12-month growth rate in the core sticky CPI has fallen 1.1 percentage points since December 2008, down to 1.8 percent in March. So on the basis of these cuts of the CPI, we think ‘subdued for some time’ sums up the price trends nicely.”

And speaking of the latest minutes from the last Fed meeting, which came out this week, let’s review a paragraph.

“In light of stable longer-term inflation expectations and the likely continuation of substantial resource slack, policymakers anticipated that both overall and core inflation would remain subdued through 2012, with measured inflation somewhat below rates that policymakers considered to be consistent over the longer run with the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate.”

The Fed Is On Hold

Let’s review. Economists tell us it will take GDP growth rates of 3.5% or more to have any real impact on employment. As I have noted elsewhere, that is 300,000 jobs a month for five years to get us back to where we were in 2007. Losing 8 million jobs is a big hole. What are the prospects for 3.5% GDP growth, with high unemployment and large tax increases coming in 2011 from not only the Fed but state and local governments? My thought is, not so great.

The trend in inflation is down. Unemployment is way too high. The money supply is somnolent.

The Fed is on hold for the rest of the year and well into 2011.

Case closed.

An Inverted Yield Curve?

A quick thought on inverted yield curves. As long-time readers know, I have written extensively about research done on the inverted yield curve, that condition where short-term rates are higher than long-term rates. It is the best single indicator of recessions, and following it allowed me to “predict” the last two recessions a year in advance. We won’t go now into why it seems to work, but it is useful, or has been in the past.

Clearly, if the Fed is on hold for at least another year, it will be impossible for quite some time to get an inverted yield curve. Obviously, long-term rates will not go below zero. Yet long-term rates are headed down of late, and are lower than they were when we last had an inverted yield curve in 2006. What would the yield curve look like without the Fed massively intervening? Is there a way to “normalize” the short-term rates that would give us a proxy for short-term rates without active Fed intervention? Would it matter? If you have any thoughts on that topic, feel free to share.

LA, Vancouver, San Francisco, and a First
Often Wrong, Seldom in Doubt

I am off to LA tomorrow with son-in-law Ryan to meet with the team at Fahrenheit Studios that is helping us design the new websites. Then home for ten days, and then it’s some much-needed vacation time with the family (kids and spouses and grandbabies – a total of 12 of us), to Italy.

I will be speaking at the Agora Financial Investment Symposium in Vancouver July 20-23rd. There are some really great speakers and this is a fun crowd. I got them to knock off $200 for my readers if you use the link and order form below. You can find a link to the list of speakers a little ways into the link. Hope to see you there!
http://agorafinancial.com/reports/vancouver/2010/vancouver2010_2.php?pub=C2010AFVAN&code=E400L5NC

I will also be speaking at the San Francisco Money Show August 19-21. I will have more on that show in the coming weeks, and links for registration.

And a big thanks to Greg Buoncontri and his team at Pitney Bowes. I spoke there last Wednesday and was made to feel quite special. It was a very upbeat conference with great speakers on how the world is changing. I learned a lot.

Finally, after ten years of writing this letter, I had a first tonight. At 9:30 I realized what I was writing was just not ready for prime time. You can’t take the cake out of the oven until it is fully baked. I have had some half-baked ideas before, but never knowingly. As I say, I am often wrong but seldom in doubt. I really thought I knew where I was going, but the longer I thought and the more I wrote the more I kept disagreeing with myself. I still think there is some meat in the topic, but I need to think some more on it. You, gentle reader, deserve nothing less. I take this letter seriously.

I had to stop, pour myself some scotch, take a deep breath, and start over with a brand new topic. And since I haven’t written about Fed policy for some time, a letter on it was due. It is now 1 AM and past time to hit the send button. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen for another ten years.

Your ready to begin to slow down (at least for tonight) analyst,

John Mauldin
[email protected]

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Onset introduces wireless sensing hubs that communicate with centralized monitoring to understand energy use and environmental conditions in buildings.  …

…   “HOBO ZW Series data nodes reduce the cost and complexity of data collection by measuring, recording and transmitting real-time energy use and environmental data – from dozens of points – to a central PC. Different from traditional data loggers, HOBO data nodes work together in a self-healing wireless network to transmit logged data to a PC at regular intervals.

This eliminates the need of having to spend time retrieving collected data from individual data loggers deployed throughout a facility.  The wireless nodes can measure temperature, relatively humidity, kilowatt hours, CO2, AC voltage, amps, gauge pressure, and a variety of other parameters. ”   …

Via Onset: Wireless data nodes.

Filed under: Aftermarket, Concept Cars

Given the level of dedication we’ve seen from the dead when it comes to their motorcycles, it comes as no surprise that somebody has given one the Munsters treatment and created the world’s first motorcycle hearse. Built in Auckland, New Zealand by an automotive engineer, the bike can carry up to 440 lbs in an underbelly cradle. Push a button and the rig slides out to let the pallbearers do their thing. A complex system of hydraulics helps stabilize everything, and two riders are needed to get the deceased from place to place.

Power comes courtesy of a 1,350 cc Harley-Davidson engine, and the motorcycle hearse’s inventor, Mike Price, says that he originally wanted to partner with them on the project. Harley wanted Price to sign a lengthy contract before they’d even look at his design, however, so he politely told them where they could stick that dotted line and built the bike himself after work. Are there classier ways to get to your final resting place? Sure, but few are any cooler. Hit the jump for a check out a few videos.

[Source: Papakura Courier, YouTube]

Continue reading World’s first motorcycle hearse? [w/video]

World’s first motorcycle hearse? [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 22 May 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you already understand what’s happening with the Venter Institute synthetic genome announcement, and just want to see my response, here’s the money quote from the end of the previous post:

One suggestion that we know is possible, because a variation appeared in the Venter announcement: all synthetic genomes should be signed. According to Wired:

“They rebuilt a natural sequence and they put in some poetry,” said University of California at San Francisco synthetic biologist Chris Voigt. “They recreated some quotes in the genome sequence as watermarks.”

What Voigt refers to as a “watermark” should instead be thought of as a “DNA signature.” We should require that all synthetic genomes include something like this, unique sequences following a designated pattern, identifying the organization behind the genome, the lab responsible, the date, and any other useful bits of information. Multiple copies should appear throughout the synthetic genome, so it doesn’t get mutated away.

That way, if something unexpected happens, we know whom to talk to.

State government generates too much paperwork.

And both Jerry Farrell Jr., who won the Republican party’s endorsement for secretary of the state, and Mark Boughton, the convention’s choice lieutenant governor, pledged to reduce it.

By Jon Lender

Republican delegates endorsed  Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele’s chosen running-mate, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, for lieutenant governor. They gave him 687 votes to defeat Simsbury businesswoman Lisa Wilson-Foley, whose 258 votes qualified her for an August primary, and former state Rep. Lenny Winkler of Groton, who got  90 votes and didn’t qualify.  The results reflected the delegates’ dwindling numbers near the convention’s end; the lieutenant governor’s contest was the last on the schedule.