Want to Double Your Money? Fold it in Half!

I am feeling a bit better today, but that is not saying much. I probably should have taken today off from work, but I thought it would be better to be up and about. Great idea.

In the Money?
Tonight in the Massachusetts Lotto game Mega Millions, the jackpot is around $315 Million dollars! When lotto jackpots get over $100 Million I always buy 20 quick picks just in case. When I win I will handle it very calmly.

I plan on blowing about a million in Vegas, handing out millions to my close friends (there are not many) and with the rest I would try and get either Josh Brown or chessNwine to manage for me. It's all planned out. Wish me luck.

JP Morgan and Silver - The Story Never Ends
I do not want to get all into this issue, either you believe JPM has silver games going or you don't. I do. For some interesting commentary I would point you to today's post over at The Golden Truth:
The COMEX goes "Extend and Pretend" on JP Morgan's Paper Silver Short
Whatever you think about the JPM/silver connection the move to allow JPM fast track access to silver storage (by the CME) cannot be dismissed as nothing.

Market Operations
I was ill most of the week, but I did open some positions:
-On Tuesday ,after something my wife said
put an idea in my head, I went long SHW (Sherman Williams) and RPM (RPM International). I also bought TAN (solar ETF) but that was a rip off of chessNwine.
-On Thursday as I waited for my doctor's appointment I went long YGE (a solar company) again ripping off sir Chess, and KCG (Knight Capital) which was a chart I liked before and I wonder if all the volatility and trading volume might just make it's way to their next earnings report.

As always, not investment advice. Just telling you what I am up to.

Friday Night Entertainment
Some non-financial related items for a change of pace.

Old but Weird
Somehow I do not think this was the original title for Mary Wollstonecraft's book "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman":

see more Historic LOL

Now I want to bowling after seeing this vintage ad:

see more Very Demotivational
Sometimes I get this feeling that the 1950's were more fun than people think.

Fishing Flu
I may be sick, but it is that time of year to get ready for fishing season! Time to buy a license and do that most sacred of all outdoors man ceremonies; cleaning your gear and buying new stuff!

It may be a bit before I can get out there, all the snow has raised the Merrimack River to dangerous levels for a Kayak and the cold meltwater may delay the fish waking up. Here are a few posts that show EonomicDisconnect out on the water. There is even a post with a real picture of me! I still am able to remain anonymous/mysterious/afraid to show my face:
Quabbin Reservoir 1
The Mighty Merrimack
The Kayak Rigged for War
Quabbin Reservoir 2
Can't wait to get back out there.

Film Clips
Well sort of.

I just got the new Star Wars book "Deceived" by Paul Kemp via Amazon. This novel covers the origins of the upcoming game "Star Wars: The Old Republic". If you have not seen the game trailer, well you should remedy that:

SICK! Better, clearer version here. Second trailer here.

One of my favorite scenes of all time: Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) embeds the mythical sword Excalibur into the stone (skip to 1:50 mark on):

That rocks I don't care who you are.

Rock Blogging
Low on energy, low on concentration, but EconomicDisconnect always delivers on Friday night.

The last time I had "Green River" by Creedence on, I also featured a DNA based puzzle in this post. Check out the puzzle and see if you would like more, and of course check out this tune:

Love that tune.

The yearly appearence of "Libera Me":

So nice.

Ok, for all you "Princess Bride" maniacs out there (I am one of many, 'My name is legion for we are many') here is "My Love is Like a Storybook Story" by Willy Deville:

Mega points for who can source the quote above.

Still going strong, Bon Jovi with "Who Says You Can't Go Home":


Two left and that's it.

Please enjoy Anthrax with "Black Lodge":

HA, you had no idea they could play that kind of tune!

Last call!

Closing up shop with Depeche Mode and "Wrong" with a great live show:

See I can stay off the heavy metal at times!

Have a good night.

Key Moment for Long Term Confidence

Stock Blocked
I had a few plays I was ready to run with this morning. As it turned out, the sector a couple of the ideas were in got red hot right at the open and I was "stock blocked" by a huge run up! I missed a huge move and I did not want to chase at that point. Ugh, so annoying.

I did open a position in KCG (Knight Capital) due to a nice reversal look on the chart and some interesting PPT screen results.

Key Moment for Long Term Confidence
News is breaking as I type of another explosion at reactor 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. I don't really have any details and the situation is fluid. This fits in with what I wanted to write tonight.

What is happening in Japan has major long term consequences for all developed nations going forward. I am not talking about economic plans or debt sales here. The bedrock of any system is confidence and how Japan handles the disaster will be important.

Looking back just a few years we were shown that the US government is totally incapable of handling a disaster (Katrina, Gulf Oil Spill) and is given over to saving the banking system instead of applying the rule of law (financial crisis, ongoing). While this clearly showed the true self of the US government, at least it could be argued that they were basically honest about their incompetence and up front about why they were saving the banking system.

The nuclear issues in Japan must be open and honest. I know things are a mess right now and Japanese officials may not have complete information. If nuclear reactor explosions are causing widespread contamination, this must be discussed and communicated to the public. If there is contamination and it is being kept quiet I think the damage to long term confidence in developed nation governments will be damaged beyond repair. This is not the old Soviet Union or North Korea.

Social Media Viewed from Science Fiction
For all you Facebook and Twitter lovers, here is an article worth a read:
How Social Media Is Science Fiction

Have a good night.