Donation Button
Now do not panic! I do not need money and this site does not generate enough traffic to need a bigger host (I know, how can it not be bigger? LOL). I am as anti-ads as can be. So what's the deal?
I just figured that in case there is some millionaire out there that would like to make a donation why stand in the way? I also thought any donations I get can be used for the following:
-I donate across many of the sites I frequent, so I could pass it along that way
-I donate to charity quite a bit (ASPCA, American Cancer Society, VFW, others) so I could use any funds for that
-Grilling supplies like charcoal, meat, and a new camera to take pictures with
-Fishing supplies
-If I get enough, I will channel it to retiring more COMEX gold/silver delivery contracts
In reality I do not expect anything, but I thought I would give it a shot. The PayPal button is at the left.
Quote of the Day
It comes from Barry Ritholtz, see i can still be nice!
Via this post:
As a client of mine recently put it regarding flight to safety:Love it!
The U.S. is the best looking horse…at the glue factory
A Week to Remember?
The events of Thursday May 6, 2010 are still quite amorphous and I will need to think things over a bit. As of now I think this could be a game changer as it relates to psychology, which is almost 100% of the market. If we did a word cloud concerning the markets and the banks I think the following would come up plenty:
-Fraud, Scam, Ponzi, Fake, Rigged, Manipulation, Bubble
As in the above quote is bemuses me that when things get ugly everyone runs to the US bond/stock markets for safety. We export financial crap around the world, run up Trillions in deficits for years, and rig our markets, yet it's the best thing going!? Sounds like a serious lack of options. At least we do buy back all our garbage (via the FED balance sheet) so we have that going for us, which is nice.
This past week may be one that stands out in the future or it may just be an aberration quickly forgotten. In my mind I think some things were broken this week and it will take some time for the full meaning of that to sink in. Any system based on confidence is fragile and it is my opinion that the cage has been rattled one too many times.
The only thing that stands out to me right now is stuff like this via Calculated Risk (see I can be nice again):
1) On Europe: there is a reasonable chance of a major announcement this weekend. Earlier today there were rumors of a €600 billion loan facility for European banks. One key analyst thinks the Fed might re-open the dollar swap lines for Europe - one, or both, or something else could be announced on Sunday.This rumor included loans for banks in the EU at 1% for a year. I think you can guess that the metals gold and silver will enjoy this ginormous abuse of the printing press. Deflation will often bring about panic moves and these moves are what make a currency crisis. At some point all this free money going around will devalue all the money, after all, it does grow on trees it seems. For the banks anyway.
Friday Night Entertainment
After a long and heavy week, it's time to let loose and relax.
Picture Fun
Some visuals for the evening.
A scottish fold ear kitty looks for the tooth fairy gift:
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
AWEEEEEE!
Fitting for this week:
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Another round!
If you do not know what "Photobombing" is, allow we to show you:
See more at Photobomb.
Rock Blogging
It is time for the tunes as I am out of time!
One day at the pool in the Bahamas one song came on that got everyone all riled up and ready to go. It could have been the included mixed drinks or it could have been "The Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor:
I am ready to rock and roll!
Michigan native Bob Seger celebrated a birthday on May 6 and thus as a special request by a friend here is "Turn the Page":
Great song.
Reader Lurker would like 3 Dog Night's classic "Old Fashioned Love Song" and who am I to deny:
Nice.
Going old school with some Beastie Boys and "Fight for Your Right":
It's in the constitution I think, the party part.
P-A-R-T-why? Because I've got to mister!
My friend Mark from this blog makes fun of me because I repeat myself on material. If it's good then go with it! One of my favorites that I have had on a bit is "Joey" by Concrete Blonde so hit it again:
Two more because you all want more!!!!!!!!!!!
Heard this on the radio today and I forgot how much I liked it. Take a ride with Foreigner and "Jukebox Hero":
Not bad.
Time to close the show. What to do, what to do.
As a default I have to go with a favorite of mine. It is my blog after all. Still, so many to choose from.
One of my favorites is the song "Anybody Listening" by Queensryche. The words are haunting and the music speaks for itself. Try it out for me:
At the 4:10 mark - "There's a warm wind from the south, hoist the sail and we'll be gone; by morning this will all seem like a dream".
Have a good night.
Glad you had a great vacation. Good to see you back.
ReplyDeleteGlad you came back with a good song request!
ReplyDeleteI'll donate song requests.
ReplyDeleteGood deal!
ReplyDeleteGreat song choices this week! Especially Turn the Page, good Seger selection.
ReplyDeleteSince you like fishing, you should check out this organization, it sounds so cool:
http://www.reelingandhealing.org/
Is it football season yet? I'm trying to ignore Tim Tebow's religious zeal and focus on his incredible athleticism. I think he's going to be like a pinball - put it in play and watch it light up the board.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the rib pics. Just moved to an apt w/a balcony (broke up w/my babe) and I'm BBQ-less for the first time in 18 years. Looking into one of those green egg grills for my balcony.
Well, I certainly agree that something got broken, or was revealed to be broken, this week. The entire freaking system.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to highly recommend reading Yves Smith's ECONned. It is utterly fascinating. Smith goes into great detail on the degree of rot that pervades the economic system, if what we have today can even be called that. It's not just in the banks, financial and accounting firms. It's in the economic departments of universities, the courts, political bodies at all levels of government, regulatory agencies, ratings agencies, trading floors. Hell, it's everywhere.
Smith demonstrates how certain false assumptions about markets, flawed theories and failed models of economics, took hold over the last fify years and metastasized like a malignant cancer throughout the entire economy. Now the symptoms of the disease are manifesting themselves with marked severity.
It took decades for us to get to this point, and it may take even longer to repair the damage, if that is even possible. Falsehoods have a way of perpetuating themselves for centuries.
One of my favorite books is Inventing the Flat Earth, by Jeffery Burton Russell. Did you know that no one ever really believed the earth was flat? The whole idea that they once did is a complete fabrication, created as a propaganda ploy in the great science vs. religion debate of the 1800s. Yet today it is considered an unquestionable fact.
This is what I'm talking about. The only way to become educated is to educate yourself. If you want to understand what is going on today, how it all started and the extent to which falsehoods, flawed theories and failed models are firmly entrenched, perhaps irrevocably so, read ECONned.
Soleil,
ReplyDeleteglad you liked the tunes. I will check that site out. I can fly fish but usually do regular spinning rod fishing. Thanks for stopping in!
Dave,
I know this off season for the NFL already seems like years! You never know, Tebow could be pretty good. Sorry about the lady situation. I hope you are doing ok.
Gawains,
I wanted to get that book for vacation but figured it would get me mad so I went with "Hands of Stone" by Christian Giudice. Great read on Roberto Duran.
I will be busy all day but I should have pictures up tomorrow of the cook I am doing today.
Well, this book won't make you angry as much as it will astounded. The foibles and folly of men, I got to tell you.
ReplyDeleteLook, the thing is this. People like anything with the word "free" attached to it, as in free markets. But nothing is ever really free, there is always a price to be paid.
Now, I believe in freedom, free people, free markets, and free enterprise. But I'm not so stupid as to assume that any of that is truly "free." You cannot have freedom without responsibility. You cannot have free people without morality. You cannot have free makets without rules and regulations. And you cannot have free enterprise without transparency and accountability.
But we have none of that today. I mean, what can you truly believe? Everything is upside down. True is false, right is wrong, profit is loss, money is debt. It's insane!
I think everything in life can be compared to football. There must be boundaries, rules and referees. Only then can men use the game as a vehicle for personal excellence.
The only way I see out of this mess is to clearly establish the boundaries, write simple rules and empower referees to enforce them. And then let the players play.
Naturally, as a libertarian, I think government should be limited. But I am hardly an anarchist. Without boundaries, rules and referees, the playing field cannot be level and the game becomes nothing more than a street fight. Players then are only out to hurt each other, and no one really wins. Which is where we are today.
So, in my humble opinion, what we need to do is start over and get real. But I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. I think the entire system has to collapse before it can be rebuilt.
There will be much pain and suffering in that process, however the inevitable is, well, inevitable.
Enjoy your barbeque, GYC. While you can.
>See I can be nice again.
ReplyDeleteThe correct word is 'reasonable', meaning agreeable to reason or sound judgment AND being partial to truth without letting petty emotions derail your thinking.
This category encompasses about 2% of the populous in my experience. Tops.
Gawians,
ReplyDeletegreat comment.
Anon,
I can be nice, until its time to not be nice (Roadhouse). I hope I am reasonable!
Rain is really coming down today but the cook is going. Cross your fingers!
If you want to see how today's cook came out here is the thread:
ReplyDeletehttp://bubbakeg.com/bboard/index.php?topic=1079.0
or
http://tinyurl.com/287yatn
Good stuff!
NYTimes front page headline today
ReplyDelete>For BP, a History of Spills and Safety Lapses.
Well at least they were nice enough to show us all those pictures of windmills in their pr releases of the last half decade. Sure made us feel warm and fuzzy. Thanks BP!
Oh, and what is an oil producer using pictures of windmills in their pr for anyway? Perhaps it's a good idea to get the warm and fuzzy good-will points from the idiots, and also support a alternative system that will never work (or take market share away from oil). Hugh.
>Everything is upside down. True is false, right is wrong, profit is loss, money is debt.
Indeed.