The Best Pre-College Primer I Have Ever Read

This is required reading that should be handed out with the Orientation Guide when you enroll in a new college.

And so, dear students, welcome back! Your generation is going to have dig its own way out of the hole my generation has dug for you (thanks for the Medicare, kids, and sorry about the deficit!), but here are a few tips that may help you get the best out of your college years.

The tips are outstanding and I especially like this one:

Creativity, integrity and entrepreneurial initiative will pay off; following the old rules and hoping for the old rewards is a road to frustration. You have to fight the tendency of the educational system to turn you into a timeserving baby bureaucrat, following the rules and waiting for the inevitable promotion.

As you go through college, think about ways you can fight the pressures of institutionalization. Work or volunteer — not just for money, but to keep your hand in the real world. Live off campus. Start a business. Shake things up.

Yup, if you run a small business selling stuff on Amazon you will already be ahead of most of your professors as well as the entire Obama White House. You will know the crushing burden of taxes and begin to figure out that if you run a business you don't pay taxes your customers do.

Hopefully, you will have to make a payroll, purchase inventory, or maybe just take a big risk in order to get your pay. You will have the ability to make money with your own two hands and your brain and not just wait for the next batch of grant money or for your public workers union to shake down your State House.

If you are lucky you will start the next Microsoft or Dell Computers and not need to finish college like Bill Gates or Michael Dell. This real world education will take you much farther than taking a hundred credits worth of ethnic studies or modern dance.

Location Based Sharing is Not as Popular As You Might Think

I guess people just don't want to hang a rob my house sign up every time they go on Foursquare or Facebook Places.

It seems like everyone's doing location these days in one form or another, but popular services like Foursquare or Facebook Places aren't just about using your location to find a good place to eat nearby. They're about sharing your location. The New York Times reports that despite all the attention these location sharing services are, most people still don't use them:

I guess this to me is the same thing as watching TV on your phone. An interesting technology that I wouldn't use in 100 years. The idea of sharing with potentially 100s of people your exact whereabouts is just too 1984 for my tastes.

I was watching a GPS sharing commercial for a cell phone that had these people dressed up as big dots and showing their location on some sort of tracking app. What reason would a non-CIA agent want to use such a thing? If I wanted to know where my friends are I would just ask them instead of tracking them like KGB assets. That is pretty much why I have ignored all of the location apps out there and will continue to ignore them in the future.

When Should you Buy Your Airline Tickets? Exactly 8 weeks Before Your Flight

That is according to this formula created by economist Makoto Watanabe.

Like any such rule, I'm sure you'll find plenty of exceptions, but if you don't enjoy spending a lot of time agonizing about when to buy an airline ticket, it's a good rule of thumb to have on hand. In addition to the eight-week rule, Watanabe's formula also suggests that tickets are cheapest in the afternoon, according to The Observer. We can't explain all the science to you [apparently the eight-week formula looks a little something like ∏^A = gU_G + min(k - g, (1 - g)(1 - r))], and the findings, which will be published in the Economic Journal, aren't yet available.

Also according to Watanabe the best time to buy the tickets is in the afternoon. I wonder why that is? I figure that the fare rate meetings at the Airlines occur in the morning and they update the servers after lunch. I guess this is so people coming home from work can book their non-business flights at 7 - 8 PM their time. I figure the selection is better in the afternoon because the fares have just been updated and all the seats are in play.

I Hope You Aren't a Home Builder in California: CalGreen Just Cost you Your Job

I thought the state was going bankrupt and needed construction jobs. This must be the dagger in its heart that will kill the building industry in California.

The level of detail specified by CALGreen is shocking. The new laws regulate every aspect of construction, far beyond what you might have thought possible. Mandates stipulate how builders handle storm water pollution prevention, bicycle parking, changing rooms, the paint used for marking parking stalls, "light pollution", grading and paving, all water use (including "multiple showerheads serving one shower" and all plumbing fixtures), irrigation design standards, handling of construction waste material, handling of excavated soil, fireplace design and testing, indoor moisture control, CO2 monitoring systems (not carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, which humans exhale), all HVAC standards (including required "ozone depletion and greenhouse gas reductions") and everything in between... including the kitchen sink.

About the only person that will jump through all these hoops just to build a building in California are the Federal Government or the States. What is really hilarious is all the different California State groups that are going to get in on the act:

Among the interlocking agencies that must be satisfied in order to build: the State Department of Housing and Community Development, the Division of the State Architect, the California Building Standards Commission, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, CALBO (California Building Officials), local chapters of the International Code Council, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Building Industry Association.

That is a lot of people to bribe in order to grease the wheels. I guess all the builders put out a job can always be hired by one of these agencies to make sure no one builds anything anywhere in the state.

I wonder if they thought about how this will decimate the Hispanic workers in the construction sector as well? I mean what construction company will comply with this mess if they can somehow avoid it? Maybe by declaring CALGreen as racist and anti-immigrant they will ditch it.

Case in Point on Why the US Postal Service Lost $3.5 Billion in One Quarter

I have to agree that this picture sums up what is wrong with the US Postal Service and as an extension much of the government as a whole.



Now I just can't wait until they control our Health Care system as well.

The Slayer of the Land Line Telephone: Google Voice

You can make calls from your Gmail?

Yesterday, Google began rolling out the ability to text and make calls from within Gmail.

Google has been working on VOIP with Google Voice for a while now, but this puts calling features right in the face of millions of users, putting Google in direct competition with soon-to-be-public Skype.

What it will really kill is Land Line Phones. They have already been dealt a mortal blow by cell phones and if Google Voice becomes popular it will kill them dead. In fact the idea of an Android App that lets you to connect to Google Voice and suddenly you don't even need the calling or texting function on your cell anymore. Talk about Google getting revenge for the markets cold reception shown toward its own phone foray.

Intel CEO Blasts the White House

Well it seems that Cramer is no the only one to become disillusioned by the economic failure of the White House.

Take factories. "I can tell you definitively that it costs $1 billion more per factory for me to build, equip, and operate a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the United States," Otellini said.

The rub: Ninety percent of that additional cost of a $4 billion factory is not labor but the cost to comply with taxes and regulations that other nations don't impose. (Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers elaborated on this in an interview with CNET, saying the problem is not higher U.S. wages but antibusiness laws: "The killer factor in California for a manufacturer to create, say, a thousand blue-collar jobs is a hostile government that doesn't want you there and demonstrates it in thousands of ways.")

In other words those 1000s of high paying semiconductor jobs will instead go to Indians or Chinese and not to Americans. The bad part too is that these jobs are exactly the type that need to be created to raise our GDP for years to come. I think Otellini is finally saying publicly that Obama might be damaging businesses more then people realize. I could see the writing on the wall when he lumped venture capitalists in with hedge fund managers. They couldn't be more different in everything they do.

The bad part is that I would be willing to bet that Otellini has just been put on some enemies list in the White House. Instead of listening to his warnings they are hatching plans to get all of their machines with AMD processors or some other such nonsense. The government picks the winners and losers in the Obamaconomy and not marketplace or the company with the best product.

In any case I hope Otellini throws Intel's weight behind some pro-market GOP candidates to better block to job destruction coming out of the White House.

Cramer Finally Sours on Obama

It is about time Jim! Welcome to the club.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that there is almost a universal belief among all of the large firms -- mutual and hedge and research -- that if this president gets his way and the House and Senate stay Democrat we are going to decline precipitously. It is so palpable that it overrides any data that could come out, whether it be earnings, or inflation, or spending, or employment itself.

But no one will say it!

It is amazing to me that no one will break ranks and say out loud what they say to me 10 times a day: "This president hates business, hates successful business people, and hates the basic way business is done in this country!"

Believe me, not only is it unspoken but it is vehemently and viscerally mutual. I can't find a business person who, privately, will say a good word about this guy or his team. He is despised. Just not openly. Never will be. Too dangerous. Seditious even.

Well they big Wall Street firms got stabbed in the back by Obama even after giving millions to his campaign. He is totally anti-business and anti-success with his statement "eventually you have to say you have made enough money." Who is he to make that decision?

The Chrysler bailout told me all I needed to know about his economic ideology. They screwed the long term debt holders and gave an equity stake to the Unions. If he could do the same to every other company in America he would. I is as simple as that.

Plus, his team doesn't know how to make a private sector job to save their skins. As I point out over and over he doesn't have a single person that has run a lemonade stand anywhere in his administration. All he knows how to do is raise taxes and borrow trillions from the Red Chinese that he immediately flushes down the toilet and then blames Bush, the GOP, Rush Limbaugh, or whomever for screwing up.

Mark my words, you will see a multi-month rally as soon as the GOP retakes Congress because businesses know that Obama's job killing agenda will be blocked.

Court Rules that the Feds can Put a GPS on Your Car when it is Sitting in your Driveway

Hmm, I wonder if this means that electric fence sales will start to go up?

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.

Also they ruled that the Feds can keep the GPS device on your car indefinitely without a warrant. That part is still up in the air and the Supreme Court will probably have to rule on it eventually. I wonder if the Feds still have their 4th Amendment rights in place if someone put a GPS device on their car?

48% of Americans Now Think Obama's Views are Extreme

Hmm, I think Americans are starting to wish they had Hillary as Pres instead of Obama.

Forty-eight percent (48%) of U.S. voters now regard President Obama’s political views as extreme. Forty-two percent (42%) place his views in the mainstream, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

By comparison, 51% see the views of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as mainstream. Thirty-five percent (35%) think Clinton’s views are extreme. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.

I think supporting the 9/11 Mosque (then recanting soon afterward) right after bungling the oil spill has damaged the Presidency to the core. I think vacationing and keeping himself out of the public eye while waiting for some kind of good economic news is all he can do right now.

Who Coined the Term Nerd?

It seems it was Dr. Suess according to this:

The first documented use of the word Nerd is in the 1950 Dr. Seuss story, If I Ran the Zoo, in which a boy named Gerald McGrew made a large number of delightfully extravagant claims as to what he would do, if he were in charge at the zoo. Among these was that he would bring a creature known as a Nerd from the land of Ka-Troo. The accompanying illustration showed a grumpy humanoid with unruly hair and sideburns, wearing a black T-shirt. A fitting image, these days, for a nerd.

Actually the creature looks more like a Dweeb to me.

New Solar System Found

Now this is a pretty interesting find.

The planets and their own sun-like star are about 127 light-years from Earth, astronomers with the European Southern Observatory said. It is one of just 15 planetary systems known to have more than three worlds.

The five planets circle their parent star, HD 10180, in a regular pattern like the planets of our solar system, only in a more compact arrangement, the researchers said.

Of the two potential additional planets that may be present, one may have a mass that is the closest to the Earth's yet seen, if it is confirmed, they added.

Now we need to train our radio telescopes that way to see if that earth-like planet actually has aliens on it that are able to create communication technology. The idea that it is only 127 light years away would make my idea of space travel possible.

Sorry Fibromyalgia Sufferers Addicts Took your Drug

Well I guess it all came down to the *potential* of people to abuse the drug once it is sold to a larger population.

A panel of experts voted 20-2 that the Food and Drug Administration should not approve a powerful sedative to treat fibromyalgia, a type of chronic pain. The news is a blow to maker Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

I think this might be a new era in risk-mitigation form the FDA. This REMS is now as important (or in this case much more important) than the efficacy data:

The panel vote is more confirmation of what I wrote this morning (see: The FDA’s New Power): That risk management programs, known as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies or REMS, are becoming one of the pivotal issues when it comes to the approval of new drugs. These have resulted in delays for Johnson & Johnson, Theravance, and Amgen, and are increasingly the major factor in FDA drug approvals. REMS are one of the most important factors for biotechnology investors to track.

I guess the fear of lawsuits and having to pull the drug off the market is just too great now. Oh well, I guess fibromyalgia sufferers have that much longer to wait for their relief.

An Idea for the New WAC

After hearing the news that Nevada and Fresno betrayed the WAC and jumped ship to the MWC I came up with some creative ways for the WAC to jump into the BCS. This is what I propose:

12 New WAC League I would call it the Pan-American Conference or the American Athletic Conference:

Western Conference:

Hawaii

Utah State

San Jose State

Idaho

Texas State

UT San Antonio

Eastern Conference:

New Mexico

North Texas

Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Lafayatte

Louisiana Monroe

Sam Houston State

Then you would have 3 Bowl Games:

Hawaii Bowl: Aloha Stadium
Sam Houston Memorial Bowl: Alamo Dome
Cajun Classic: New Orleans Super Dome

Aloha Bowl will stay the same, Hawaii against CUSA team. The Sam Houston Memorial Bowl would pit the winner of the Western division against a Big 12 team. The Cajun Classic would be the winner of the Eastern Division against a MAC team. The Conference Champion is put in the running for a BCS bowl birth. You would also have a Texas State Cup that goes to the Texas team with the best record and a Louisiana Governors Trophy that goes to the best Louisiana Team. In other non-football sports BYU joins the Western Conference.

Intel Buys Out McAfee for $7.7B

I guess the chip business is just not lucrative enough for them.

The all-cash deal announced Thursday marks the biggest acquisition in Intel's 42-year history, an expensive example of Intel's commitment to sell more than chips for personal computers and servers. It is the sixth biggest deal globally between two technology companies over the past 3 1/2 years, according to Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

I'm wondering if this might usher in the world of having the security suite on a computer run off of a chip. I like the idea of running the AV scan and the anti-spyware program directly off of the motherboard. That way they will be even harder to attack since there is no vulnerable OS to add surface area to said attack. I wonder if they will go after a cloud vendor or even a hard-drive company next.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Fibromyalgia drug Moves One Step Closer to Approval

Well it seems that the FDA panel is fairly positive about the drug, Rekinla according to this article.

Investors are all jazzed up about Jazz Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: JAZZ) after the Food and Drug Administration posted on its website fairly positive documents on the company's fibromyalgia drug, JZP-6. A panel of experts will make a recommendation to the agency at Friday's advisory committee meeting. Investors boosted shares as much as 16% before mellowing later in the day.

The drug that treats debilitating pain seems to be on the right path. The documents conclude that the company "provided sufficient evidence to support the efficacy" of the drug. It doesn't get much better than that.

Here is a link to the FDA briefing document on the drug. I think one thing the drug has going for it is that it has already been used for 8 years to treat narcolepsy. The fibromyalgia use of the drug would have the same side effects and Schedule III controlled substance status as that drug. I guess the only bad part is that quite a few more people suffer from fibromyalgia than from narcolepsy so the drug would be more widely available.

College Football Stunner: BYU to Go Independent in Football and Join the WAC in other Sports

Now this is some very interesting news and fits BYUs plans according to this article.

BYU will become an independent in football and put its basketball and non-revenue sports in the Western Athletic Conference starting in 2011 according to the Salt Lake City Tribune. It’s similar to the arrangement Notre Dame has with the Big East

They did this so that they could expand their BYU-TV network which is mostly made up of Mormon-related content. With the addition of football they could expand their message to football fans as well as Mormons. It makes quite a bit of sense and it renews rivalries with University of Hawaii from ages ago. They also don't have to worry about money since they are bankrolled by the Mormon church already.

Obama's Disapproval Rating Dips Below 50% for the First Time

I think that whole supporting the 9/11 Mosque thing is what drove him to all time lows.

Don’t look now, but the Gallup daily presidential approval tracker has a clean majority of Americans disapproving of Obama’s policies for the first time ever:

Bill Introduced to Bail out the Teamsters Pension Fund

So the Teamsters mismanaged their own pension fund and they want us to pick up the tab?

Sen. Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are pushing legislation that would commit taxpayers’ dollars to bailing out the Teamsters’ retirement pension fund. The financial crisis and the Great Recession may have upset your retirement plans, but that’s not reason that politically connected union thugs have to share the pain.

I mean they gave a piece of the Chrysler Bailout to the United Autoworkers so I don't see how this is the a stretch for the Dems. They look at tax payer money as theirs so they can dole it out to their Union cronies whenever they see fit.

I would be willing to bet that the next bailout will be directed at the Public Worker Pension Funds which are facing record shortfalls as well. The article points out that the shortfall in California's Pension Fund is bigger that the GDP of Saudi Arabia. If go on the hook for that money there is no telling how bigger our debt can go.

Harry Reid Grasps for Straws: Says he is Against 9/11 Mosque

I think he is really battling for his political life coming out against Obama on this issue.

Locked in a tight race, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid became the highest profile Democrat to respond to Obama, who last week backed the right for the developers to build a mosque near ground zero. Since his comments Friday, the Democratic president and his aides have worked to explain the statement, which drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion," said Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman. "Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else."

I have to agree that the First Amendment protects the building of the mosque but Reid jumping on this issue that has nothing to do with Nevada is just a politically motivated joke. I have to say that this is a New York matter and only they should have a real say in putting the mosque in or not.