TIME October 5, 2009 - the difference between stocks and bonds

Before we get into the details, it's worth going over the difference between stocks and bonds. When you buy stock, you get part ownership of a company. If it does well, you share in the gains. If it flounders, you lose money. Bonds, on the other hand, represent a promise from a company or government or other borrower to pay you back, with interest. When you buy a bond, you're making a loan. Sometimes bond issuers (a.k.a. borrowers) renege on their promises. The financial crisis originated with a rash of defaults on subprime mortgages that had been packaged into bonds. But the bond risks that vex Atteberry have little to do with that default risk — Uncle Sam will make the payments. The worry is over rising interest rates.

Thought Bonds Were Safe? Think Again - TIME

Intermovie n. - A film within a film, a technique used by directors such as Joel and Ethan Cohen

Usage: "Intermovies have long been a way for filmmakers to offer wry asides on the industry. In Burn After Reading, the Cohen brothers featured a rancid-looking cookie-cutter romcom called Pushing Up Daisy."
- Guardian, Sept 15, 2009

$148
Cost of an MIT student project to send a camera 17 miles into the sky--high enough enough to capture a glimpse of space--using a hardware-store parts.

Letter:
Shame on Joe Klein for playing the race card to make his point about healthcare reform [Sept 21]. Is his implication that white people lack "character" if they oppose legislation that may or may not disproportionately favor minorities? I am a reasonable American with a bunch of formal education and life experience, and I am opposed to the current plan solely because I do not believe there is a way to pay for it, either individually or collectively. Wait until you see the premium you will be charged to cover your existing serious illness--and everyone else's--no matter what it costs. Simply legislating something doesn't make it work.
Michael Babbit, HUDSON, OHIO

Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

Some "strategic" organic foods. Excerpted from the October 22, 2007 article by Tara Parker-Pope.

1. Milk
One recent United States Department of Agriculture survey found certain pesticides in about 30 percent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample. The level is relatively low compared to some other foods, but many kids consume milk in large quantities.
(Commercials cows are given antibiotics and artificial hormones that make it into the milk.)

2. Potatoes
. . .commercially-farmed potatoes are some of the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables. A 2006 U.S.D.A. test found 81 percent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested, according to the Environmental Working Group.

3. Peanut Butter
More acres are devoted to growing peanuts than any other fruits, vegetable or nut, according to the U.S.D.A. More than 99 percent of peanut farms use conventional farming practices, including the use of fungicide to treat mold, a common problem in peanut crops.

4. Ketchup
. . .recent research has shown organic ketchup has about double the antioxidants of conventional ketchup.

5. Apples
Apples are the second most commonly eaten fresh fruit, after bananas. . .But apples are also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits

A Complete list of Dr. Green's strategic organic choices

Five Easy Ways to Go Organic - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Macworld July 2009

Macworld July 2009

DVD Copying Goes to Court--Why You Should Care
- RealNetworks and the MPAA

Newsweek wrote about how the U.S. Military is extensively using the iPod touch.
macworld.com/4831

LaCie offers iamaKey USB flash drives that look like keys.
4GB, $27 ; 8GB, $37.

Anti Mosquito app for iphone/ipod
High frequency sounds generated by Anti Mosquito stop mosquitos flying around you.
macworld.com/4802

CUPS-PDF 2.4.6.1
Free
It's a virtual printer driver that lets you create a "printer" that will save documents as PDF files. Choose it and click on Print to create a CUPS-PDF folder on your desktop. If, like me, you save to PDF more than you print to paper, you can set your virtual printer as the default through the Print & Fax preferences pane; this makes saving documents as PDF files as easy as pressing Command-P and then return.

The biggest drawback to CUPS-PDF is that the PDF files it creates are larger than thse than OS X's built-in Save as PDF feature creates--sometimes twice as big.

iClip Lyrics 1.3.3
Free
For each track that plays, iClip Lyrics shows the lyrics if they exist in iTunes; otherwise, it uses the track and artist names to search LyricWiki.org. If it finds them, iClip Lyrics displays them and adds them to the current track's ID3 tags.


Troubleshoot Like a Genius

Quick Fixes
- Restart
- Repair Your Disk.
- Make Sure Things Are Up-to-Date
- Reinstall (misbehaving software)
- Do a Safe Boot (hold the shift key at startup)

Problems You Usually Solve Yourself
- Root Out Corrupted Preferences Files
- Dump Corrupted Cache Files
- Purge Problematic Plugins
- Rebuild the Program's Database


Mini Media Hub
Turn your mac mini into your entertainment headquarters

WPA is useful in a mixed-platform network, because Windows, OS X, and iPhones can all use the same passphrase.

Gmail Power Tools
- Tasks
- Canned responses. (helpful for removal from mailing lists.)
- Forgotten attachment detector
- Quote Selected Text

Because Tasks is web-based, you can view, add, and edit your to-do list from your iPhone.

Access a Mac When You Don't Know the Password

"The State of American Broadband"

Daily Roundup: Supreme Court Decision, MT minimum wage

Justices Say Child’s Rights Violated by Strip Search [New York Times]

Pursuant to State Statute, Montana's minimum wage will increase to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.
There are a bunch of low-paying jobs, $7.50/hour low, that want people with skills to work at their hotels, but people with better skills and professionalism are going to look elsewhere.

Air Force Rank Insignia [Wikipedia]

The Baloney Detection Kit