- Bonds are relativley less attractive.
- Lower interest rates means lower cost of debt.
- Stronger spending from consumers because of the lower cost of debt should lead to better growth.
June 15, 2007
3 Reasons why low interest rates are good for stocks
Starting your own business and social security in Ireland.
Interesting information here on starting your own business in Ireland if you are unempolyed
“The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Scheme encourages those receiving certain social welfare payments in Ireland to become self-employed. If you take part in the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme, you retain a percentage of your social welfare payment for 4 years. If you are starting a business, you may get extra supports, for example grants for training, market research, business plans and access to loans to buy equipment. You may also get assistance in paying for public liability insurance – see “Where to apply” below.”
However according to this if you are self employed, you don’t qualify for welfare in Ireland if you go out of business:
“To qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit you must:
As far as I can see what a supplementary welfare allowance means is that if you try to start your own business and go bankrupt, you have to lose the shirt off your back, go through a convoluted and presumably long means test to prove it in order to get the same pitance as a normal Dole fiend.
“The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Scheme encourages those receiving certain social welfare payments in Ireland to become self-employed. If you take part in the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme, you retain a percentage of your social welfare payment for 4 years. If you are starting a business, you may get extra supports, for example grants for training, market research, business plans and access to loans to buy equipment. You may also get assistance in paying for public liability insurance – see “Where to apply” below.”
However according to this if you are self employed, you don’t qualify for welfare in Ireland if you go out of business:
“To qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit you must:
- Be unemployed,
- Be aged under 66,
- Be capable of work,
- Be available for/genuinely seeking seek work,
- Have sufficient PRSI contributions and
- Have sustained a loss of employment in any period of six consecutive days.
As far as I can see what a supplementary welfare allowance means is that if you try to start your own business and go bankrupt, you have to lose the shirt off your back, go through a convoluted and presumably long means test to prove it in order to get the same pitance as a normal Dole fiend.
How do you buy stock in the USA without a ssn?
Answer, you need to get an IRS individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), how do you get that? Well you need to fill out a w7 form and mail it off with a notarized passport or driving licence. I sent mine off today via registered post ($5), getting stuff notarized via UPS costs $20. I will post when I get a response and follow up with my experiences setting up with either a scotrade or an etrade account.
Another random VISA related fact, if you are in the USA for more than 180 days you technically have to file a tax return. I didn’t know that, I was debating for a few months whether I should buy stocks or not. I reasoned that if I didn’t get an ITIN I wouldn’t have to deal with tax forms till I started OPT but now seeing as I have to I may as well go through with it.
Another random VISA related fact, if you are in the USA for more than 180 days you technically have to file a tax return. I didn’t know that, I was debating for a few months whether I should buy stocks or not. I reasoned that if I didn’t get an ITIN I wouldn’t have to deal with tax forms till I started OPT but now seeing as I have to I may as well go through with it.
Japanesse boy gets rabbit in 1948
I found this site full of wonderfull army photos by accident while cruising round google image search.
MP Platoon Security Detail giving a rabbit to a Japanese boy in Tokyo about 1948.
Why did the boy get a rabbit?
“This young GI is in serious trouble. Stopped by a 545th MP Co motorized patrol, it was discovered that the truck was stolen, the trooper operating it had no trip ticket, no ID, no pass, no shirt, headgear, flack vest, weapon or ammo (as was required by division reg’s) and he had in the truck 4 sand bags full of Cambodian Gold and Thai Stick, two cases of Jack Daniels with no receipt or proof of ownership, a case of Morphine syringes, and about 100 cartons of assorted American cigarettes also with no proof of ownership or receipt of purchase. That DR must have taken a while to write up! OH the paperwork!!!”
Sounds like some one was having a great time.
MP Platoon Security Detail giving a rabbit to a Japanese boy in Tokyo about 1948.
Why did the boy get a rabbit?
“This young GI is in serious trouble. Stopped by a 545th MP Co motorized patrol, it was discovered that the truck was stolen, the trooper operating it had no trip ticket, no ID, no pass, no shirt, headgear, flack vest, weapon or ammo (as was required by division reg’s) and he had in the truck 4 sand bags full of Cambodian Gold and Thai Stick, two cases of Jack Daniels with no receipt or proof of ownership, a case of Morphine syringes, and about 100 cartons of assorted American cigarettes also with no proof of ownership or receipt of purchase. That DR must have taken a while to write up! OH the paperwork!!!”
Sounds like some one was having a great time.
Japanesse War Tubas
This is Brilliant:
From The kitcher society:“Acoustic locators were later widely used to pick up the distant rumble of aircraft engines — until the invention of radar during World War II rendered them all but obsolete. Below is a photograph of Emperor Hirohito touring Japanese war tubas. These images come from a terrific page dedicated to acoustic location and sound mirrors.”
And a description of how this device works:
” We can locate objects with our ears, using the difference in volume between our left and right ear, but more important is the time delay between the sound hitting one ear and then hitting the other. This is possible because sound travels so incredibly slowly, only 330 metres (or 1000 feet) per second. Thinking out loud, that means sound travels one foot in one millisecond, so if your ears are about six inches apart, the sound coming from your right will hit your right ear about half a millisecond before it hits your left ear. A millisecond is quite a long time: in a piece of music, for example, you can spot notes that are only a few milliseconds out as being in the wrong place.
So these devices amplify the incoming sounds, but also, because the collection horns are placed much wider apart than your ears are (on either side of your head) they also increase the difference in arrival time between each ear. This, as well as the amplified volume, would help you to become more accurate in locating far off objects. “
Here is another site containg more brilliant acustic locators from around the world.
From The kitcher society:“Acoustic locators were later widely used to pick up the distant rumble of aircraft engines — until the invention of radar during World War II rendered them all but obsolete. Below is a photograph of Emperor Hirohito touring Japanese war tubas. These images come from a terrific page dedicated to acoustic location and sound mirrors.”
And a description of how this device works:
” We can locate objects with our ears, using the difference in volume between our left and right ear, but more important is the time delay between the sound hitting one ear and then hitting the other. This is possible because sound travels so incredibly slowly, only 330 metres (or 1000 feet) per second. Thinking out loud, that means sound travels one foot in one millisecond, so if your ears are about six inches apart, the sound coming from your right will hit your right ear about half a millisecond before it hits your left ear. A millisecond is quite a long time: in a piece of music, for example, you can spot notes that are only a few milliseconds out as being in the wrong place.
So these devices amplify the incoming sounds, but also, because the collection horns are placed much wider apart than your ears are (on either side of your head) they also increase the difference in arrival time between each ear. This, as well as the amplified volume, would help you to become more accurate in locating far off objects. “
Here is another site containg more brilliant acustic locators from around the world.
June 11, 2007
Leben der Anderen, Das
I just went to see this film in Berkeley. In brief, its about a relationship between an actress, married to a writer who’s forced to have an affair with a politician who abuses his power as a party official to have his way with her. The film is set in East Berlin before the fall of the wall, the story is told through the ears and eyes of the main protagonist a STASI officer tasked with keeping the couple under surveillance.
This film is probably the most depressing thing I’ve seen all year, I can’t really go into much detail without ruining the plot but its fantastic the way the characters are tortured. No violence is used to extract torture, everything is purely psychological save for a sleep deprivation scene near the start (again no violence, the character just is not permitted to sleep). The film really reminded me of darkness at noon by Arthur koestler. Man, the Russians really destroyed East Germany, what a horrible place to live. Any way, for more see the imdb.
This film is probably the most depressing thing I’ve seen all year, I can’t really go into much detail without ruining the plot but its fantastic the way the characters are tortured. No violence is used to extract torture, everything is purely psychological save for a sleep deprivation scene near the start (again no violence, the character just is not permitted to sleep). The film really reminded me of darkness at noon by Arthur koestler. Man, the Russians really destroyed East Germany, what a horrible place to live. Any way, for more see the imdb.
The film that killed the duke
I watched the Conqueror once upon a weekend late in 2006. The film has John Wayne, a six foot 4 inch Texan with blue eyes, famous for his westerns, playing Genghis Khan, a Mongolian warlord from the 12th century who was probably about five feet tall and almost certainly looked nothing like a Texan. Just in case you need some help understanding why this was a bad idea:
This is John Wayne:
This is a portrait of Genghis Khan:
This is what John Wayne looked like playing Genghis Khan:
The film is hilariously bad in an ed wood sort of way. The dialog is beyond description and the acting is so wooden it makes Pinocchio look like a real boy. The thing that makes this film really interesting however is the fact that for some reason, the producer thought it would be a brilliant idea to shoot it near a nuclear test site:
Filmed near the site of contemporaneous nuclear testing grounds, the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout. After location shooting, much dirt from the location was transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Scores of cast and crew members developed forms of cancer over the next two decades, many more than the normal percentage of a random group of this size. Quite a few died from cancer or cancer-related problems, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz (who shot himself to death soon after learning he had terminal cancer), Agnes Moorehead, Thomas Gomez, John Hoyt and director Dick Powell. People magazine researched the subsequent health of the cast and crew, which it published in November 1980. By the time of the article’s publication, 91 of the 220 members of the film’s cast and crew had contracted cancer, and half of these had died from the disease. The figures did not include several hundred local American Indians who served as extras on the set. Nor did it include relatives who had visited cast and crew members on the set, such as the Duke’s son Michael Wayne. The People article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon’s Defense Nuclear Agency to the news: “Please, God, don’t let us have killed John Wayne”.
What on earth were they thinking? I can’t believe that this terrible film is probably the reason why John Wayne died of cancer. Ah well that’s life.. I think I’m going to make this line my new motto:
She is a woman – much woman. Should her perfidy be less than that of other women? .
Close your eyes and picture a texan saying that. Oh Yeah; Howard hughes funded the film and payed for the 60 tons of radioactive dust to be shipped back to hollywood so extras could role around in the radioactive goodness. 91 out of 220 cast members who worked on this film contracted cancer.. 91…
This is John Wayne:
This is a portrait of Genghis Khan:
This is what John Wayne looked like playing Genghis Khan:
The film is hilariously bad in an ed wood sort of way. The dialog is beyond description and the acting is so wooden it makes Pinocchio look like a real boy. The thing that makes this film really interesting however is the fact that for some reason, the producer thought it would be a brilliant idea to shoot it near a nuclear test site:
Filmed near the site of contemporaneous nuclear testing grounds, the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout. After location shooting, much dirt from the location was transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Scores of cast and crew members developed forms of cancer over the next two decades, many more than the normal percentage of a random group of this size. Quite a few died from cancer or cancer-related problems, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz (who shot himself to death soon after learning he had terminal cancer), Agnes Moorehead, Thomas Gomez, John Hoyt and director Dick Powell. People magazine researched the subsequent health of the cast and crew, which it published in November 1980. By the time of the article’s publication, 91 of the 220 members of the film’s cast and crew had contracted cancer, and half of these had died from the disease. The figures did not include several hundred local American Indians who served as extras on the set. Nor did it include relatives who had visited cast and crew members on the set, such as the Duke’s son Michael Wayne. The People article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon’s Defense Nuclear Agency to the news: “Please, God, don’t let us have killed John Wayne”.
What on earth were they thinking? I can’t believe that this terrible film is probably the reason why John Wayne died of cancer. Ah well that’s life.. I think I’m going to make this line my new motto:
She is a woman – much woman. Should her perfidy be less than that of other women? .
Close your eyes and picture a texan saying that. Oh Yeah; Howard hughes funded the film and payed for the 60 tons of radioactive dust to be shipped back to hollywood so extras could role around in the radioactive goodness. 91 out of 220 cast members who worked on this film contracted cancer.. 91…