Relief Effort

Japan Earthquake
Just a terrible and sad day. The pictures and reports are overwhelming. I can only offer best hopes at this point. At times like this I remember that man has limited dominion over the Earth. Very limited.

Market Commentary
I was thinking about making a few moves today while I was home but not much was looking good. Followed the Pelican crew over at iBankCoin and there are some really good intraday operators over there. It was fun to watch them work. Near days end I bought some GG (Goldcorp) and NGD (New Gold Inc) as they were near bases that I think will hold but both may be moved from the trading account to a more long term section of my portfolio.

If the earthquake news was not enough to move you over to the QE 3 camp, the words of FED member Bill Dudley should have sealed the deal. Trader Mark has this great summary up:

•Dudley faced persistent questions from the audience on food inflation. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said people forget that even as the price of food is rising, other prices are falling. He mentioned the price of the IPad 2, prompting guffaws from the audience.
•"While rising commodity prices may be giving some of you a bad headache, they are not likely to lead to a sustained rise in inflation to levels inconsistent with our dual mandate," Dudley said.
Yes Mr. Dudley - I am sure rising food and energy is giving a room full of business leaders making 6 or 7 figures a few headaches. It's a bit more of an issue for the average American however.

Freaking joker.

You have to understand that the FED cannot make anything happen, only influence things via blunt instruments of monetary policy. If you had Ben Bernanke in your car and the tire blew out, Bernanke could not change the tire. He would lower interest rates in an effort to get you to chase a return and then with your profits you could hire Triple A. Like a good little servant most are doing just that.

Markets have been called 'resilient', 'bullish', and 'strong' in the face of bad news. The line gets thin indeed between those descriptions and 'oblivious', 'lacking any understanding', and 'blindly optimistic'. I am convinced at this point the following news story could actually run in the near future (note this is sarcasm, it's free BTW):

Massive Asteroid to Hit Earth, Stocks Look Good
Market Watch
Confirmed data show that a 3 mile wide asteroid will hit Earth next Wednesday. While this event will return man to the stone ages, there is some hope to be found. Analyst Marky Zandii had the following advice for those concerned about the future:
"You need to be buying Apple Inc (AAPL) like now and in size. There has never been a better opportunity. Man was in the stone age before, right? And what happened? After a while he figured out how to make the IPad, that's what. It will happen again and think of the return you are going to get if you buy now". When it was pointed out that it may take a thousand years or more to get back to a technology era for man kind, Zandii quipped "What are you, a bond guy? Shut up".

Indeud.

Friday Night Entertainment
An attempt at some comic relief after a day of bad stuff.

Highlander Series Paris Location Guided Tour
Special treat this week for me! Writer David Batista is a monster "Highland the Series" fan. Readers know that I am also a huge fan of the greatest show in television history. David went to Paris on a few occasions and while he was there made a stunning and jealousy inducing picture tour of all the key Paris locations for the show! Two parts:
Part 1
Part 2
One sample but if you know the show take the tours!:

Good stuff.

Movie Reviews that Rock
I have no idea how I never found this site before, but a new favorite is BadMovies.org. I will warn you you can get lost reading about all the bad films and the hilarious reviews. I would say that not all the movies they say are bad are that bad, but in any case the reviews are the main attraction. Here is the summary for the film "Bloodsport":

Things I Learned From This Movie:
-By moaning like a zombie, one can regain their vision.
-Security on military bases are extremely sparse.
-Just about anyone can get into the Kumite, including Grace Jones lookalikes.
-There are fighting arenas in the middle of the Hong Kong slums. (Isn't there one in every slum?)
-Doing splits is a relaxing experience.
-Never hurt the feelings of a buff Chinese guy. Only bad things will occur.
-The best way to learn to learn focus is to be tied to trees and almost have your limbs ripped out of their sockets.
-Arab guys are not the ladies' men they are cracked up to be.

Too much fun.

How Big is a Blue Whale's Heart?
This big:

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle! (G.I. Joe!)

Clips
Well you knew a Highlander clip was sure to come!

In the episode "Comes a Horseman" Duncan Macleod learns that his dear friend Methos was once part of "The Four Horseman", a group of 4 immortals that were the incarnation of the Horseman of lore:

Excellent. Want more Methos? Click here ,with Ron Perlman.

When the TV movie "Failsafe" ran in 2000 I remember thinking it was amazing. Anyone remember this one?:


Rock Blogging
Music for the weekend.

My fellow Big Steel Keg user, Smoking in Peosta, was looking for The Doors and "The End":


I have a list of songs that I really cannot play while I am driving. You know the kind of tune that gets you in a zone, you look down and see the speedometer over 110mph and that's not so good. Here is one that makes the cut, "22 Acacia Avenue" by Iron Maiden with the greatest metal front man of all time, Bruce Dickinson:

One of my favorite tunes, but only live versions of it.

Get your lighters out for Cheap Trick's "The Flame":


How about "Crimson and Clover" by the lovely bad girl Joan Jett?:

Hi Joan! Call me, it is my birthday!

Two songs to go, does anyone even play this stuff? Well no matter, I have fun.

I have to admit, I stopped watching TV except for sports (we do watch movies on DVD or on demand) about a year and a half ago. I don't miss it at all. The last time I watched American Idol (Kid Dynamites favorite show for what it's worth??) I got to see Chris Daughtry be the best the show has ever had on and still lose. Here is his version of "Hemorrhage" (skip to 1:00 mark):

Wow. What idiot ended up winning that year, I do not even remember. So stupid.

Last song.

I lied, two. One great and the other my all time favorite song. It is my birthday after all.

Van Halen's masterpiece, "Atomic Punk":

Best ever from them.

The best song ever recorded? You should know by now:

I still get goosebumps.

Have a good night.

That Was Some Week

Glad this one is over!

Reader Submission
I was going to write about a few things tonight but I am tired and the week has had enough written on it. All I can say is I already see serious discussion about how and when QE 3.0 will happen and I know that I will be proven right that the FED is now a permanent part of our markets. Here is a picture for you to think over:

see more Very Demotivational

Alas, a reader left a sharp comment the other night in the post on 11/1/2010. I am including it here because I think it has real value when thinking about how far we are going to go to attain the old levels of blow off top spending after a huge bubble collapse. From reader Watchtower:

Could the US have a currency crisis?

I say yes, and all the fallout that goes with it.
This is my main thought when I think of things financial.
On the surface it seems ludicrous to think the US won't continue in it's 'Pax Americana' tradition but even Rome finally crapped out.

Personally I don't think the US will have hundreds of years to wind down like Rome.
Why?
Everything is going faster at this point in history, we now have instant global communication for one.
Who would have ever believed such a thing as the internet for example, or that ordinary people from most western civilizations (and elsewhere) would have access to it?

It appears that mankind has made huge strides in the past 100 - 150 years, but one thing that never changes is human nature.
And a part of human nature is greed.
And out of greed usually comes deceit.
And to my way of thinking that is where we are at, living in a stinking sarcophagus of fraud.
Not a house of cards as some say, but a burial tomb in which the first stone was laid around the turn of the last century for our nation.
Some say that they won't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, but it's just human nature to do so, whether they want to or not.

There was a program on 60 Minutes that showed a movie crew filming in San Francisco just a few days before the big earthquake in 1906.
http://tinyurl.com/2eyvshc

People were going along their merry way, no thought of imminent disaster or that their world was about to be violently shaken.
I sometimes get that feeling when going about my daily routine of meeting and greeting this person and that.
Sure they know that things have changed, but do they really have a concept of the precipice that we are on?
Not in my opinion.
I would love to believe that everything is going to turn out OK but I just can't.
I've been raised to believe that the piper has to be paid, and to my reckoning there is one hell of a bill coming due.
It's coming.
"...and the wind began to howl"

A thoughtful comment that I am thankful for.

Friday Night Entertainment
I know I need some distractions, how about you?

Jack Finney
I do believe that Jack Finney's special novel "Time and Again" has a new fan! Who wants to go ice skating in front of the Dakota Hotel?:

One of my favorite novels.

Win or Fail, it is Funny
Some selections from Failblog.org?

Looks like fun:

see more funny videos
Yup.

We usually went to the zoo or the Lowell Library for field trips but this would have worked:

see more funny videos
Nice.

Star Wars Travel Posters
Amazing and original work by Steve Thomas! Check them all out but here was my favorite:

That is so going on my wall in the den.

Clips and Stuff
Some items worth a look.

It seems ALL of the episodes of the series "The Highlander" are now full length on YouTube. Yes, I know I am an addict. This show was what really great TV could be, I only wish it was an HBO series with a proper budget. Oh well.

In any case, take a few minutes and watch this clip from the episode "Finale part I" and the scene I love starts at the 12:17 mark. Follow through to the 19:50mark and tell me it was not special:

Great stuff.

Speaking of HBO series, No more "Rome" and no more "Carnivale". At least "True Blood" looks like it will be on forever....

Chilling.

Rock Blogging
Time for the tunes. With no requests I am on my own. You have been warned!

I like this song and I guess I have no idea why, but lets go back to 1965 with Billy Joe Royal and "Down in the Boondocks":

Old music is wonderful.

From old to new, here is Pink's new song "Glitter in the Air":

I like that one.

Set aside the theatrics and the make up! Alice Cooper's "I'm 18" is a great tune:

WISH I was 18 again. Thought I knew everything. Such a waste.

On a lighter note, try Primus and "Winona has a Big Brown Beaver"; sure to get a chuckle:

So very wrong, but strangely funny.

In case you missed the million times I played it, here it is again! "Two of the Lucky Ones" by Droge and Summers Blend (with lyrics):

What a special song.

Two left! Unlike some bloggers (Hi Jake of EconomPic!) I deliver the tunes. I also have nothing else to do so I have that going for me. Which is nice.

A little romance song for you all! Take a ride back with Whitesnake and "Is this Love":

The song is good too!

Last call! Last tune, last chance for what? Redemption? Absolution? Revelation? Who can say.

All I can say is if you leave me with no requests, you get a live Randy Rhoads tune to close! Rock out with "Children of the Grave" and I triple dog dare you to listen to the whole thing and not get a little amped up. I dare ya!:

That is just moving to the very core.

Have a good night.