Posted May 13, 2012 at 5:47 pm
by J.D.Heyes
Bumbling TSA agents at the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., airport recently pulled an 18-month old girl, named Riyanna, and her parents off of a JetBlue flight as they tried to head home to New Jersey because – get this – the toddler appeared on the terrorist suspect “no-fly” list.
You can’t make this stuff up.
As the couple and their daughter eased into their seats minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off, an airline employee approached and asked them to disembark the aircraft because TSA agents wanted to speak with them.
“And I said, ‘For what?’” Riyanna’s mother told local ABC affiliate WPBF-TV. “And he said, ‘Well, it’s not you or your husband. Your daughter was flagged as no fly.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?”
Needless to say, little Riyanna’s father was as incredulous as he was angry.
“It’s absurd,” he said. “It made no sense. Why would an 18-month-old child be on a no-fly list?”
Good question. But apparently, no one at the TSA knows.
Eventually the TSA bureaucracy caught up to common sense and released the family, though they told the local ABC television affiliate that no one from the agency bothered to apologize or even explain what had happened and why (and, for that matter, if their daughter was removed from the no-fly list). Embarrassed, they refused to re-board the plane and left the airport.
But they still want to know what happened, and who could blame them?
[ Details / Source: Above is our hand-picked KEY excerpt(s) from this full article: "TSA flags 18-month-old baby as terrorist, forces family to disembark plane" ]
Filed Under: High Jinks
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Posted May 7, 2012 at 1:35 pm
by Barry Goss
Managing Editor & Publisher, The Wealth Vault
There’s not a day goes by that I don’t see a level of casualness, or downright pointlessness, to the ins and outs of gold chatter.
So, when I see Reuters deploying their editors to ask the wrong question — or, even more annoyingly, wasting their time wondering if something ONCE widely accepted can or should be accepted NOW — it just makes me wanna bring out my gold guns (er, maybe that’s my visual interpretation of quashing the nonsense via my provoking prose here) 
Anyway, when somebody writes an e-book with the title of ‘Is Gold a Currency?‘ (the reference to that is via the video on the Reuters page), one begins to scratch their head (er, I do) and ask back rhetorically: “Is Google’s stock a currency?’
The answer to that one is an obvious NO!
But, why do the words ‘currency‘ and ‘money‘ get so conflated around GOLD?
My bet is this: people like confusing and repositioning timelines — as in ‘history was like this’ so it ‘should be like this’ NOW.
You see, there is a long history of governments throughout the world pegging their currency value to gold.
As far as the U.S. goes, between a FIXED gold standard and a FLOATING fiat currency system (i.e., not linked to physical reserves), money has shifted back ‘n forth in about 10 different time-frames… ever since the first form of paper money was issued by The Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690.
There’s gold seen as “money” (like when you see coins tossed around in Old Western movies); there’s gold remembered as an asset to find and hide away; and there’s gold the inert metal, traded as a commodity 24 hours a day, that does not have much pragmatic use.
But, the raw modern reality is this: Even though I can easily convert GOOG shares to cash, it doesn’t mean that those GOOG shares are legal currency in the US (I’m pretty darned sure I’m not going to be able to take those share certificates and go out to a nice restaurant or buy a new car with them).
Gold bullion (in the form of coins, bars, ingots, jewelry, etc) is certainly more recognized and/or accepted for ‘exchange transactions’ than certifications of stock. Yet, the rub is still this:
Bullion is, by useful function in today’s modern world, a ‘monetary asset.’ Just like the shares of Google are an asset, and not a currency, neither is gold really currency. Not even useful money NOW! (Things like cowrey shells, arrowheads, and cacao beans were ONCE useful too, ya know)
Gold bullion is more a solid form of back-up money. Or, to be technically correct, a “currency of last resort,” as Greenspan has stated many times through the years. As in, “if the public one day decides not to have confidence in the USD, CAD, YEN, etc. — all derivatives of tangible and ideal money — maybe we can all feel good about resorting to lugging around heavy and obnoxiously impractical coins.”
Yes, gold CAN BE pure insurance against paper currency breakdown. Which, like California falling over into the Pacific Ocean, is not something I’ll expect to see in my lifetime.
The cries for “buy, buy, buy” gold (bullion, that is) can get so loud that the high priests of the metal (think Glenn Beck, Mike Maloney, or Howard Ruff) truly feel that using your hard-earned money for anything else is a crime.
News Flash to all Gold Bugs: there is ab-so-lute value in holding your cash [paper money] in dollars (or any other major currency based on where you live and conduct business).
In summary:
Money, as commonly understood, represents both a medium of exchange and a store of value. Ideal money (not a required ideal, either, to work) is both, and it’s important to acknowledge that the dollar HAS served in that capacity in living memory.
For reasons as to why it may not hold rein in that position at ALL TIMES, read this article…
Currency — a made up word that just means paper notes — can be an excellent stand-in for money, as long as something sustainable (doesn’t JUST have to be ‘tangible money’) always stands behind the currency.
Until the day comes when society-at-large no longer wants to have faith in using their debit cards and other digital forms of monetary transactions at WalMart, just accept the fact that GOLD (and even real estate) will probably make you look like the ever-so-wise one if you’re around to see a legit collapse of the current banking/currency system.
And, quite honestly, if you want to believe in the ultimate doomsday scenario — think Mad Max style — gold is the last thing people will clamor for… in that situation, if you have some mini bottles of liquor stored up, you’ll control the world
FOR MORE ANTI-GOLD-BUG THOUGHTS, click the links below:
Gold’s Scary Secrets [ Part 1 ]
The golden hedge – but, not against this
Gold is a defensive asset – bar none!
As an investor, gold is dangerous
Gold’s bull run has hit a long-term brick wall
Filed Under: High Jinks
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Posted May 4, 2012 at 12:20 am
Yes, we realize the video below won’t mean much to you if you’re not a Kobe Bryant fan — but, it should, however, if you can appreciate the growth of greatness in action…
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Posted April 27, 2012 at 1:38 am
All the ergonomic challenges of sitting at a mass-produced desk should disappear when you settle into the custom-built Emperor 200 — or at least they better for $45,000.
Each scorpion-shaped workstation is hand-built to customer specifications with three monitors, 
touchscreen control panel, air filtration system, light therapy illumination, and electric powered leather seat.
Upon sitting in the Emperor 200, users tap on the touchscreen to lower the monitors and nestle themselves into a computing bubble worthy of a Bond villain.
Because each workstation is built to order, MWE labs can customize each installation to handle different computing platforms, even adding peripherals like iPhone docks. But this level of customization doesn’t come quickly.
After placing your order, it’ll take six months to build your Emperor 200 — just enough time to get the volcano hollowed out for your secret lair.
Filed Under: High Jinks
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Posted April 27, 2012 at 12:25 am
Nothing says second term like a Late Night slow jam.
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Posted April 26, 2012 at 2:43 am
Like all revolutions, this one will be disruptive. Digital technology has already rocked the media and retailing industries, just as cotton mills crushed hand looms and the Model T put farriers out of work. Many people will look at the factories of the future and shudder.
They will not be full of grimy machines manned by men in oily overalls. Many will be squeaky clean—and almost deserted. Some carmakers already produce twice as many vehicles per employee as they did only a decade or so ago. Most jobs will not be on the factory floor but in the offices nearby, which will be full of designers, engineers, IT specialists, logistics experts, marketing staff and other professionals.
Consumers will have little difficulty adapting to the new age of better products, swiftly delivered. Governments, however, may find it harder. Their instinct is to protect industries and companies that already exist, not the upstarts that would destroy them.
They shower old factories with subsidies and bully bosses who want to move production abroad. They spend billions backing the new technologies which they, in their wisdom, think will prevail. And they cling to a romantic belief that manufacturing is superior to services, let alone finance.
[ Details / Source: Above is our hand-picked KEY excerpt(s) from this full article: "The Third Industrial Revolution" ]
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Posted April 26, 2012 at 1:46 am
In an interview with “Clerks” director Kevin Smith, Jon Lovitz, a registered Democrat who voted for Obama in 2008, bashed the president for his class warfare rhetoric and the notion that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes.
“This whole thing with Obama saying the rich don’t pay their taxes is fucking bullshit, and I voted for the guy and I’m a Democrat. What a fucking asshole,” Lovitz said.
“First they say … ‘You can do anything you want. Go for it.’ So then you go for it, and then you make it, and everyone’s like, ‘Fuck you,’” Lovitz said. “[Obama] is the perfect example. He’s amazing. He had nothing … and the guy ends up being at Harvard. He’s the president of the United States. And now he’s like, ‘Fuck me and everybody who made it like me.’”
Actually, its worse than Lovitz imagines.
[ Details / Source: Above is our hand-picked KEY excerpt(s) from this full article: "Jon Lovitz for IRS Commissioner " ]
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Posted April 22, 2012 at 11:28 am
by Scott Bell
Your stockbroker, especially if that’s what they still call themselves, is probably a very nice person. Sweet, pleasant — or maybe just a character you enjoy listening to when they call with another idea. They may even be honest. That actually isn’t the problem. It’s the environment in which they exist that’s the problem.
Simply put, if you, the client, don’t do something (anything) transactional, they don’t get paid. And that’s a model that, rightfully so, is becoming the breeding ground for a species that is quickly becoming extinct. As such, your stockbroker is kind of a dinosaur.
That’s just the reality. And knowing that reality, why would you take advice from someone who ignores a secular trend so blatantly obvious?? A trend that has been happening (not quietly for 20-30 years).
Why would they, knowing these facts, perpetuate their career another day longer? Too hard to change? Maybe, but that’s not your problem.
[ Details / Source: Above is our hand-picked KEY excerpt(s) from this full article: "Reader Question: Is There Such A Thing As A Good Stockbroker? " ]
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Posted April 20, 2012 at 2:15 am
Can you get a job at Goldman Sachs if you don’t go to college? Or even Google? Probably not. But there’s at least 40 alternatives and probably thousands more.
And, after trying these alternatives you now have the grace and intelligence (and knowledge that you are comfortable with the massive debt load you will be taking on) then please go.
But I wish my father had sat me down and told me when I was 18 that I had choices in life. That life wasn’t one monochrome ladder from birth to death. He spent his last two years of life immobile on a hospital bed. College doesn’t prepare you for the suffering. And it’s very stressful along the way. It’s time to start now to live every moment to the fullest, every moment as if time itself were your canvas and your actions were the colors, the brush, the brilliant ideas.
When you’re 18 you have the chance to explore the world, to explore all of your interests, to explore yourself. You also have the chance to make a lot of money while your peers go into their debts. I’ve personally invested in companies started by 18 year olds who were making thousands of dollars in profits A DAY.
[ Details / Source: Above is our hand-picked KEY excerpt(s) from this full article: "40 Alternatives to College" ]
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Posted April 20, 2012 at 12:08 am
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to share a name with a superstar?
Here, we follow an ordinary man who has been saddled with a legendary name. It’s not crazy, it’s sports.
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