Tom Faranda's Folly

Fascinating short 1968 documentary on the Irish and Inwood in Manhattan

The title is "Goodbye to Glocamorra" and I''m not sure who posted it on youtube. My friend Nancy sent it to me. When I opened it and saw it was 20 minutes long, I thought "I'm just going to watch the first two or three minutes." Of course ended up watching the whole thing. Inwood is just about the northernmost section of Manhattan and the demographics have changed dramatically in the last 25 years. It's now primarily Hispanic.

Note the reference to Connor Funeral Home. Is it still there?

 

High noon, as Hurricane Sandy closes in

Some pictures and a short video from Half Moon Bay. An interesting comparison with the pictures we took yesterday morning? Sunday morning before the storm - Half Moon Bay to Croton Landing

We could not go to the parking lot just north of Half Moon Bay; they had already closed the road. Brigid and I arrived here a few minutes before noon, and the weather was deteriorating rapidly; in the 15 minutes we were there it started to rain much harder and the wind picked up. You can even tell from the first and last pictures.

Senasqua Park - perhaps 1/2 mile north of us - with the telephoto at about 8X

Here's the tele at about 2X (I'm guessing)

And here's an even tighter picture of the tip of the park.

We moved down form the road to just off the Half Moon marina and took these shots. No walking onto town property north of Half Moon - shut for the duration of the storm.

These two pictures from the same spot, just seven minutes after I took the first two pictures. It's become noticeably darker and the rain had gone from a drizzle to moderate level. (all pictures taken with the camera in general purpose auto-exposeure mode and no manipulating of the photos digitally).

And this is the view from the same spot, looking south at Half Moon Bay.

Hope to do another posting tomorrow, depending on the storm. Below is the brief video -

Guest posting on the storm and why

From an occasional contributor - she wishes to remain anonymous.

East Coast Grinds to a Halt

Blame Bush!

Sunday morning before the storm - Half Moon Bay to Croton Landing

Yesterday morning Brigid and I decided to do a walk from the parking lot at the north end of Half Moon, to the end of Croton Landing and back. Usually about a 45 minute walk, unless you take along a camera at the last minute.

We thought it would be kind of neat to survey the situation on the Hudson, before we get smacked by "Frankenstorm".

The Hudson was calm at 9:30 am, but the tide was HIGH.

Looking north from the parking lot.

Brigid spotted what we think is a falcon.

Normally these concrete slabs near the boat landing are completely out of the water.

And these benches and tables are not in a foot of water.

On Croton Landing - that's Brigid of course.

Brigid says these are NOT ducks. Huh?

Still walking north on the Landing. The building is Skyview (aptly named) Nursing Home. Don't know the people ahead of us.

The northernmost point on Croton Landing, with the unfinished 9-11 Memorial. The beam is from the fallen towers. I don't think the rest of the plan - to put a statue of a person reaching up to the beam, is necessary. I think it should be left just as it is now. That's enough. 

Heading back south to the care. Pretty flat Hudson River, but dark clouds!

I'm sure we'll go down to the waterfront after the storm passes for some "after the storm" pictures.

Tim football; Stepinac JV finally lose one

Ugh, the last game of the regular season, by 23-28 against Iona Prep.

It was really an excellent game with good play by both teams. Stepinac had their chances to win - had the ball on Iona's 15 yard line with three minutes to play but couldn't get it in.

Tim said the locker room was very disappointed place (naturally) after the lose. He said there'd been a lot of trash talk online between the teams before the game, as well as in the game. In fact, there was some trash tlak in the stands, from one particular Iona supporter, who had some relative  (son?) playing. Pretty ridiculous, really.

The playoff's start next Saturday, and Stepinac will probably still be the #1 seed, with their 7-1 regular season record.

Here's Tim making a tackle on kickoff coverage. The Iona player returning the kick was probably their best player, a wide receiver and linebacker on defense. The Iona QB was also a good player - 6'6", and an excellent arm.

Here's #40, Tim vs. Iona #13 who's returning the kick.

 

 

Today's shocker (that's a joke of course): NY Times "enthusiastically" endorses Barack Obama

I guess they think he's done a great job. What planet is the editorial board on?

"Mr. Obama has impressive achievements..."

Bishop of Green Bay speaks out on voting with a "well-formed conscience"

Ahh, a good short article explaining conscience formation. It's not just a question of "following your conscience." ...

“A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program that contradicts fundamental contents of faith and morals,” Ricken said in the letter

"Soul in jeopardy". Hit the link.

 

NYT's Krugman says Obama will win; which means it's very unlikely

Krugman speaks -

Why? Jonathan Cohn singles out the auto bailout, and rightly so. I’d add, however, that the killing of Osama bin Laden mattered too.

 

Very amusing: "Deer crossing sign" - already 6 and a half million hits on youtube

Sent to me by humor consultant Ellen. This is legit. See the link to the follow-up interview if you doubt it. Here's the rest of the story: http://youtu.be/JB1yEcdomt0

Democratic consultant/operative Robert Shrum predicts a big Obama win

Writing on the Daily Beast website.

I report you decide.

Robert Shrum: Why Obama Will Win

A water resistant down material for the outdoors

If you are an outdoorsy type or not, but do like to stay warm in the rain, this is for you.

Down is a great lightweight insulator for clothes, with the significant caveat that if it gets wet it completely loses it's insulating properties.

Here's a new product by Sierra Designs - dridown - that in these practical tests (standing in the shower!) seem to maintain their insulating, and thus warming, properties.

Wet down without a treatment mashes and collapses, losing its loft and insulating traits. DriDown, new this year, aims to keep down loftier and insulating even if soaked in a storm.

Special Ops Lite Colonel calls Rush re: Benghazi

On the radio today. Very revealing as to what would be going on behind the scenes.

In a situation like Benghazi, it's easy to make mistakes. The real disgrace (my opinion) is the cover-up. Worse than Watergate.

 

NYC: The Iconic Gallagher's Steakhouse - going, going, gone.

A famous eatery that I never ate at.

Iconic NY Steakhouse "Gallagher's", Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing

The Department of Labor's WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) website may have been exempt from layoff notices related to the fiscal cliff, but it still provides a sufficiently (bleak) complete picture about the real nature of layoffs and business cycle in general in America's busiest city. Which is why it was precisely using the WARN website that we learned that one of New York's most historic steakhouses, "NY's Prime Steakhouse since 1927" Gallagher's, located on 52nd street, and which survive the great depression, is shutting down on January 16. Surely neither the surging price of meat, nor the ability of patrons to spend charge $46.95 for an 18 ounce sirloin, has had any impact on the decision to close this iconic restuarant which survived the Great Depression, but failed to survive Tim Geithner's "recovery".

The story of what happened in Benghazi is now out

I excerpted the first three paragraphs.  The story is 14 paragraphs - hit the link.

hindsight is always 20/20, and things could have been handled differently. But the coverup (not discussed in the article) is shameful.

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. consulate and subsequent attack several hours later was denied by U.S. officials -- who also told the CIA operators twice to "stand down" rather than help the ambassador's team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to "stand down," according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to "stand down." 

Woods and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight. 

A possible miracle in the cause of Bishop Fulton Sheen

The famous Catholic priest and Archbishop - especially famous if you are my age or older.

His cause for canonization is being considered - he's now entitled "Venerable".

Here's the possible miracle being evaluated. the standards for establishing a miraculous healing are incredibly high - who knows if this will make it? In the normal scheme of things, we would call this a miracle - but that may not be enough for the tribunal investigating.

James, 2, is too young to understand that his life — and his near death at birth — may play a role in advancing the cause for Archbishop Sheen’s canonization.

 

Self-exam for Alzheimer's - sent to me by a physician

Really

If you are over 45 yrs old, you SHOULD take this Alzheimer's Test

How fast can you guess these words and fill-in the blanks?

1. _ _NDOM


2. F_ _K


3. P_N_S


4. PU_S_


5. S_X


6. BOO_S





| | | | | | | | | |
Answers:

1. RANDOM

2. FORK

3. PANTS

4. PULSE

5. SIX

6. BOOKS

You got all 6 wrong....didn't you?


You do NOT have Alzheimer's


You are a Pervert

 

Ben Bernanke's early years

From my friend Joe.I suppose it could equally be labelled "Barack Obama's early years"

Killing 16 year old U.S. citizens with drone strikes is OK; but waterboarding is bad?

OK. I don't get that logic.

Team Obama's Justification For Killing A 16-Year-Old American In A Drone Strike Is Stunning

Now this is a pumpkin carving!

This is actually an ad for a knife company, but it's still a pretty cool minute and a half -

 

The "horses and bayonets" Obama comment

Taking a page from the Joe Biden debate handbook. I did not watch the debate but enjoy following the post debate spinners.

 

Reuter's polling projects Obama crushing Romney in the electoral college

According to them, close popular vote, but Obama at 332 in the electoral college. We'll see. 

Obama leads Romney by a point in the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll, 47-46. But results from Ipsos' tracking in key swing states leads to a projection of a much bigger Electoral College victory. The Ipsos projection has Obama winning the big three swing states of Florida, Ohio and Virginia.

On the other hand there's this 12 Hours Later, It's Clear That Romney Won The Debate  and this GALLUP: Mitt Romney Maintains A Big 5-Point Lead On Obama  on the same webstie - The Business Insider.

President Obama's email to me

Yes, I'm on his email list. And ... on a first name basis. Of course I'm on lots of email lists. The Democratic ones are thee most entertaining.

The Heading is:

Stick with me Tom

Tom --

I don't want to lose this election.

Not because of what losing would mean for me -- Michelle and I will be fine no matter what happens.

But because of what it would mean for our country and middle-class families.

This race is very close.

I'm not willing to watch the progress you and I worked so hard to achieve be undone.

Time is running out to make an impact -- please don't wait any longer. Donate $5 or more today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Two-Weeks

I believe in you. If you stick with me, and if we fight harder than ever for the next two weeks, I truly believe we can't lose.

Thank you,

Barack

P.S. -- I don't know what Election Night will hold, but I'd like you to be a part of the event here in Chicago. Any donation you make today automatically enters you for a chance to meet me -- airfare and hotel for you and a guest are covered.

The debate

I came in from a meeting shortly after it began and there was the President, looking INTENSE as he looked (glared?) into the camera.

It looked like a bore-fest, so I didn't watch, although followed the live blog of Ann Althouse, a little.

Brigid watched the whole thing! When I asked her how it was, she verbally shrugged her shoulders.

This morning Drudge has this up CBS undecided Ohio voters say Romney won. I suspect that Romney just had to avoid any blunders, and look Presidential, which he evidently did.

Why a wedding ring is important

Russell Means

The Native American rights activist, who played Mohican chief, Chingachgook in the 1992 version of The Last of the Mohicans one of Tom and Brigid's favorite movies.

Russell Means dies at 72; American Indian rights activist, actor

Russell Means, who gained international notoriety as one of the leaders of the 71-day armed occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1973 and continued to be an outspoken champion of American Indian rights after launching a career as an actor in films and television in the 1990s, has died. He was 72.

Means died Monday at his home in Porcupine, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Reservation, said Glenn Morris, his legal representative.

Diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2011 and told that it had spread too far for surgery, Means refused to undergo heavy doses of radiation and chemotherapy. Instead, he reportedly battled the disease with traditional native remedies and received treatments at an alternative cancer center in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"I'm not going to argue with the Great Mystery," he told the Rapid City Journal in August 2011. "Lakota belief is that death is a change of worlds. And I believe like my dad believed. When it's my time to go, it's my time to go."

Means had been declared cancer-free in April but suffered a recurrence of the disease in his lungs and died after contracting pneumonia, Morris said.

The nation's most visible American Indian activist, Means was a passionate militant leader who helped thrust the historic and ongoing plight of Native Americans into the national spotlight.

The beer and wine report - new product from Guinness!

Troubles in Europe - not enough grapes. A quick mostly beer and wine survey.

Six things that have consumers buzzing in the world of beer, wine and spirits

Timeline for the attack on the Embassy

Worth a read - we did nothing for seven hours.

First, Aid the Living

On September 11, at about 10 p.m. Libyan time (4 p.m. in Washington), Ambassador Chris Stevens and a small staff were inside our consulate in Benghazi when terrorists attacked. The consulate staff immediately contacted Washington and our embassy in Tripoli. The White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and numerous military headquarters monitored the entire battle in real time via the phone calls from Benghazi and video from a drone overhead.

Our diplomats fought for seven hours without any aid from outside the country. Four Americans died while the Obama national-security team and our military passively watched and listened. The administration is being criticized for ignoring security needs before the attack and for falsely attributing the assault to a mob. But the most severe failure has gone unnoticed: namely, a failure to aid the living.

By 4:30 p.m. Washington time, the main consulate building was on fire and Ambassador Stevens was missing. In response, the embassy in Tripoli launched an aircraft carrying 22 men. Benghazi was 400 miles away.

At 5 p.m., President Obama met with Vice President Biden and Secretary of Defense Panetta in the Oval Office. The U.S. military base in Sigonella, Sicily, was 480 miles away from Benghazi. Stationed at Sigonella were Special Operations Forces, transport aircraft, and attack aircraft — a much more formidable force than 22 men from the embassy.

It's a short article; hit the link above for the whole thing.

Tim football; Stepinac JV go to 7-0!

UPDATE: I showed Tim the two pictures below and he said "Oh my God look at the size of my arms!" Very pleased with himself.

With a 27-6 win against Chaminade. Tim's team just has so much speed, on offense and defense. I am of course massively biased, but Tim is playing better and better each game, even though he's undersized on the defensive line. He made plenty of tackles - including the first one of the game on the opening kickoff, and the last one of the game.

Tim's almost two years now of lifting heavy in the gym has paid off!

A couple of late-in-the-game sideline shots of Tim - #40 -

And

for anyone interested, here's the first play of the game as Tim makes the tackle on the kickoff

http://youtu.be/eVOW7aqaH7A

And the last play, with Tim again in on the tackle

http://youtu.be/ri4Kd3xOBEU

Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native American Saint.

If you went to a Catholic school or were taught by nuns in NY, you know who Kateri Tekakwitha is. She was born in upstate NY in the indian village where ten years earlier St. Isaac Jogues - one of the eight North American Martyrs was martyred by indians.

Pope names 'Lily of the Mohawks' first Native American saint

Thousands of pilgrims from around the world converged on St. Peter's Square to witness the ceremony recognising the saints, who included Kateri Tekakwitha, a sixteenth-century convert known as "Lily of the Mohawks."

The crowd included hundreds of pilgrims from the United States' 2.5 million-strong Native American population, of whom 680,000 are estimated to be Catholic, a legacy of the success of early missionaries in converting indigenous people in America.

The link above has a pretty neat photo.

 

Cable news race

Two of the top eight on the Comedy Channel, and over a million people watched Sharpton. Think about that - explains a lot, doesn't it.

THURS OCT 18 2012

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,865,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,729,000
CMDY DAILY SHOW 2,806,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,753,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,567,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,355,000
FOXNEWS FIVE 2,242,000
CMDY COLBERT 1,912,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,839,000
MSNBC O'DONNELL 1,557,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 1,119,000
MSNBC SHARPTON 1,092,000
CNN PIERS 894,000
CNN COOPER 662,000

Here's how pseudo-tough guy Lawrence O'Donnell builds his audience.

Former NY Knick player Greg Anthony endorses Romney

"I voted for Barack Obama. I thought he'd be a centrist. ... I'm supporting Mitt Romney. He's a no-excuse kind of guy. And I think over the last four years we've heard enough excuses."

 

Wife want an iPod, iPhone, iPad? Surprise her with this!

Thanks for my friend Ellen sending me this -

The iRon!

 

MSNBC Lawrence O'Donnell - a real Tough Guy

You're so tough - that's why you're called "Lawrence" and not Larry?

What a dope. But he has to play to his MSNBC faithful.

Lawrence O’Donnell taunts Tagg Romney

At this point, O’Donnell got out of his chair and began walking around his set.

“You’re mad at President Obama for calling your dad a liar?” he continued. “Well, let’s get something straight, he didn’t call your father a liar. I did. The president just said that what your father said wasn’t true. I’ve been saying all year that your father is a liar. I’ve repeatedly said that your father lies and is trying to lie his way into the White House. So you want to take a swing at someone for calling your old man a liar? Take a swing at me. C’mon, C’mon. And don’t worry, there won’t be any Secret Service involved. And I’ll make it easy for you. I’ll come to you. Anytime. Anywhere. Go ahead, Taggart. Take your best shot.”

Yeah, his MSNBC audience would eat this up.

 

Lifelong Democrat Lee Iacocca endorses Romney

... in his statement endorsing Romney, he said “hope and speeches won’t get our people back to work.”

The blessings of the onetime Chrysler chairman are expected to help Romney in two highly competitive states: Pennsylvania, where the 88-year-old Iacocca was born and raised and is still widely respected, and in Michigan, where Iacocca rose to become a major figure in the auto industry and won international praise for cobbling together the government-backed loans that saved Chrysler in 1980.

Black Monday (22% stock market drop) was 25 years ago today.

I was in my office in Manhattan. Only got a couple of calls from clients (which is good; shows that everyone understood their assets and why they owned them) who were wondering how I was doing. Maybe they thought I was going to go out a window?

Here's a good article by a consultant which has plenty of wonkiness/inside baseball stuff, but is worth skimming. It's deeper than what you'll read today in the newspapers.

25 Years Later: Lessons From The Crash Of '87

Causes of the Crash

In October of 1987, there was an explosive mixture of an overvalued stock market, rampant and ill-advised program trading, and extreme over-confidence on the part of many investors. A growing trade deficit and falling dollar caused many to believe that higher interest rates were necessary. The spark seemed to occur on Friday, October 16th, 1987, with the effects rippling around the world over the weekend. Mutual funds had large sell orders on the morning of the 19th, necessary to meet redemptions.

I am sure that the paragraph above will sound to some just like a description of current conditions. I wrote it with that in mind. I suspect that you will see more than one article pursuing that theme. It is true that some problems seem to persist for decades, or to re-emerge in different forms. The exact causes of the Crash are still being debated. The combination of my academic curiosity and personal stake inspired me to study the subject very carefully. Here is a brief summary of my conclusions.

Romney and Obama at the Al Smith Dinner in NY

Romney went first, so here he is. And check what line got the most applause...

 

And here is the President - I report, you decide who was more amusing.

Health Update

Had my six month check-up/exam at Sloan Kettering with Dr. Zelenetz.

Boring ...

Which is good! We don't need any health excitement.

Everything looked fine. I was told when I started my chemo that it would treat the lymphoma but not eradicate. It. That within ten years there's 100% recurrence.

Well, I started my chemo in September, '05 - seven years ago.

And for the last couple of years, they've been hedging - maybe it won't come back.

We'll see.

 

Romney gains with women

Michael Barone in the NY Post. Thanks to my WOMAN friend Nancy for sending me this.

All the evidence suggests that the first debate made the difference. “In every poll we’ve seen a major surge in favorability for Romney,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told USA Today’s Susan Page.

“Women went into the debate actively disliking Romney,” she went on, “and they came out thinking he might understand their lives and might be able to get something done for them.”

That sounds a lot like what my e-mail friend’s wife said last winter.

Obama campaign strategists are pooh-poohing the notion that Romney could be making gains with women.

Why, he’s against “access to contraception,” they thunder. That was something we heard a lot about at the Democratic National Convention.

But it’s code language. “Access to contraception” turns out not to mean access to contraception. No one anywhere in the country is proposing to ban contraceptives. The Supreme Court ruled in 1965 — 47 years ago! — that states can’t do that.

The code language refers to the ObamaCare requirement that employers’ health insurance pay for contraception. So “access” means you won’t have to pay the $9-a-month contraceptives cost at Wal-Mart.

Big deal. That’s about the price of two pumpkin lattes at Starbucks.

Maybe it’s just possible that women voters are more concerned about an economy where 23 million people are out of work or have quit looking.

Or about a president who the day after the murder of a US ambassador flew off to a Las Vegas fund-raiser and for two weeks kept blaming it on a spontaneous response to a video, contrary to what his State Department knew on Day One.

Joe Biden tried to appeal to women by predicting that a Supreme Court with more Republican appointees might overturn Roe v. Wade and make abortion illegal.

One is reminded that Biden was near the bottom of his class at Syracuse Law School. A Roe reversal, which is highly unlikely no matter who is confirmed to the high court, would simply return the issue to the states. Abortion wouldn’t be banned anywhere except, maybe, in Utah, Louisiana and Guam.

******

Women tend to be more risk-averse than men, and the gender gap grew when Reagan Republicans were depicted as scaling back welfare-state protections.

Despite the president’s improved performance Tuesday, the debates may have shifted the perception of risk. The downcast Obama of the first debate and the cackling Biden of the second may have sounded dangerously risky.

With Detroit having swept the Yanks for the AL Pennant, I have the answer to Yankee woes.

Sent around by a Long Island correspondent ... A Mets fan, actually.

 

Very funny: Kimmel's in-the-street "Who won last night's debate" interviews

The interviews were conducted the afternoon before the debate, with the question "who won the debate" and follow-ups.

Remember, these people are allowed to vote ...

 

Wall Street Journal editorial: "A more spirited Obama, but he still has no agenda for the next four years."

Judging by Tuesday's debate, the President's argument for re-election is basically this: He's not as awful as Mitt Romney. Mr. Obama spent most of his time attacking either Mr. Romney himself (he invests in Chinese companies), his tax plan as a favor for the rich ("that's been his history") or this or that statement he has made over the last year ("the 47%," which Mr. Obama saved for the closing word of the entire debate).

The paucity of this promise, the difference between now and four years ago, was never clearer than in the President's response to the young man who said he'd voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 but is less optimistic now. Mr. Obama responded by reciting his achievements—ending the Iraq war, "health-care reform to make sure insurance companies can't jerk you around," more Wall Street regulation, the auto bailout and more jobs.

As for the next four years: He said he has a plan "for manufacturing and education and reducing our deficit in a sensible way, using the savings from ending wars to rebuild America" and pursuing "the energy of the future." Then he attacked Mr. Romney again.

The Republican followed by reciting the economic failings of the last four years, piling on fact after depressing fact. "I can tell you that if you were to elect President Obama, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get a repeat of the last four years. We just can't afford four more years like the last four years," Mr. Romney said.

It was his most effective argument of a generally good but not great night. It is also the fundamental choice that Americans face in this campaign.

******

No doubt much of the media attention will focus on the exchange over Benghazi, which we agree was Mr. Romney's weakest moment. He let the President get away with some scripted high dudgeon over politicizing the attack, without pointing clearly to the State Department testimony that a request for more security was denied.

We should point out, however, that he was more right than wrong about Mr. Obama's remarks the day after the attacks. Mr. Obama used the words "acts of terror" only at the end of his remarks that day and in passing, and well after he had made an indirect and defensive reference to the anti-Islamic video. Moderator Candy Crowley was wrong to put her thumb on the scales for Mr. Obama in this exchange.

Mr. Romney will have a chance to do better on foreign policy next week, but Mr. Obama seems out of ammunition for the next four years.

As if the world needs it; more Biden weirdness

Yesterday, after the debate where Romney mentioned he'd asked for binders with information on qualified women for positions in his administration, when he was Governor of Massachusetts.

 

Great column on NRO: " A Presidency Squandered"

Yes, four years wasted.

A five minute read by Victor Davis Hanson. Too good to excerpt, hit the link and read the whole short column.

"A Presidency Squandered"

In January 2009, the future seemed to be all Barack Obama’s.

 

The Town Hall debate - here's the Candy Crowley Obama/Libya rescue effort

I thought Romney did well; at times he exhibited almost encyclopedic knowledge - seemed to know more about Obama's Adminstration than Obama did. Obama had too much faux intensity and was more fact-challenged then Romney. But Obama wasn't bad - I'm sure his supporters are relieved.

Ann Althouse (Univ. of Wisconsin Law Prof. and voted for Obama in '08) live blogged the debate - you can go here Live-blogging the second Obama vs. Romney Debate to see it.

Before the debate was over she'd posted on the situation where the moderator Candy Crowley jumped in to rescue Obama on the Libya fiasco. No question who Crowley will be voting for - emphasis (bold) below is by me, not Althouse -

9:19: Romney, in command, questions Obama about what he said the day after the attack in the Rose Garden. "You said it was an act of terror?" Romney asks twice. After the first time, Obama says "That's what I said." After the second time, Romney gives him a penetrating look. There's a pause. Romney raises his eyebrows in a way that seems to repeat the question again. "It was not a spontaneous demonstration? Is that what your saying?" Obama bows his head. His eyes are closed. Obama looks up and with a little smile says: "Please proceed Governor." Romney gestures with his hand. "I wanted to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the President 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi and act of terror." Obama says "Get the transcript," and Crowley helps Obama by saying "He did in fact, sir... He did in fact call it an act of terror. It did as well take 2 weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out, you're correct about that." Jeez, Crowley is way overparticipating! And the audience applauds her!

9:20: Romney got tripped up on a little detail there, so his theatrical presentation fizzled in the end. He stuttered a bit. He should have had the preparation for that moment nailed. Obama lucked out. [ADDED: We're checking the transcript on the Rose Garden speech and the word "terror" (or "terrorist" or "terrorism") is not in it! Am I wrong? That really tripped up Romney, so if he wasn't wrong, I condemn Crowley.][AND: He said "outrageous attack," but certainly nothing like "act of terror."]

9:21: Gun control. Obama's talking about the Aurora shootings. He wants "a comprehensive strategy" that includes getting "into these communities and making sure we catch violent impulses before they occur."

9:22: Romney stresses the 2-parent family in response to the gun control question, then shifts to a Fast & Furious presentation. He'd "like to understand" what happened.

9:44: I've gotten behind in the recording after getting distracted by that "act of terror" business. And now, I'm so outraged at Crowley's intrusion to make an incorrect assertion to side with Obama that I can barely pay attention to the rest of this. (But I will keep going and get to the remainder of the material.)

Yes a disgrace. This will be all over the media tonight and tomorrow. How will CNN and Candy Crowley defend this? Ho hum, they won't have to defend it.

UPDATE: Here is another transcript - Obama must have spoken twice on September 12th, and in this he says " No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation..." Is that calling the incident an act of terrorism?

Transcript of Sept. 12th remarks

UPDATE: #2: After the debate, Crowley seems to admit she was wrong

Rugby: Fiji vs. New Zealand final in first of season's World 7-a-side tournaments

Played in Australia. Finals in 7's tournaments have 10 minute halves.

 

Kimmel covers the sky dive/space jump

Here it is here - Highest sky dive/space jump ever - a quick look

And here is the Jimmy Kimmel version (spoofing several movies?).

 

Scotland to vote on independence in 2014; leave United Kingdom?

Very, very interesting and the comments from the Prime Minister of of the UK, David Cameron, also noteworthy. "I always wanted to show respect to the people of Scotland - they voted for a party that wanted to have a referendum, I've made that referendum possible and made sure that it is decisive, it is legal and it is fair."

The article is from the BBC.

Mr Salmond said the deal, which he described as the "Edinburgh Agreement", paved the way for the most important political decision Scotland had made in several hundred years.

He added: "It is in that sense a historic day for Scotland and I think a major step forward in Scotland's home rule journey.

"The Edinburgh Agreement means that we will have a referendum in two years' time which will be built and made in the Scottish Parliament on behalf of the Scottish people. I think that is a substantial and important step forward."

Mr Salmond said the respective campaigns could now move on from discussion over process and "get on with the substantive arguments".

He went on: "Do I believe that independence will win this campaign? Yes I do. And I believe we will win it by setting out a positive vision for a better future for our country, both economically and, crucially, also socially.

"It is that vision of a prosperous and compassionate society, a confident society moving forward in Scotland, which will carry the day."

Yes, historic. Will have to talk with a few people in England about this. My feeling is that it will be a very close referendum.

Breast cancer in Britain - fourfold increase by 2040

This is from the Telegraph (UK). A revealing brief interview. The oncologist speaking says that "We know that the UK is not as good as other countries in managing older people with breast cancer."

Why might that be? Here's an older posting of mine which reveals that if you have virtually ANY cancer Cancer, politics, and pundits, you get better treatment in the USA then virtually anywhere else.

 

Stepinac varsity upsets previously unbeaten St. Joe's

Having posted about Tim and the Stepinac JV Tim football: Stepinac JV now 6-0, here's a little bit about the varsity. They've had a tough season, but this was a good win.

A short article.

Last-second field goal ends St. Joseph by-the-Sea's undefeated season

An interesting article about ETF's (exchange traded funds)

Ok, this is a wonky article. But it does explain why infrequently traded ETF's are still highly liquid and stick closely to the underlying value of their holdings.

And in explaining, it gives an view on how ETF's work. As well as give an insight into "arbitrage" which is also crucial to hedge funds.

I'm excerpting the important bits -

Although ETFs have begun to surge in popularity over the past few years, there are still a few misconceptions about how the products work. While mistakes are often made when it comes to how to utilize leveraged and inverse funds or commodity and volatility products in a portfolio, another key aspect of ETF investing afflicts nearly all investors no matter the product type; volume.

Volume, or the number of shares trading in a particular period, is regarded by many as the basis for liquidity in the stock world. The more shares that trade in a particular security, the easier it will be to move in and out of it, keeping bid ask spreads tight for popular stocks (see the Three Biggest Mistakes of ETF Investing).

When investors apply this logic to ETFs, the resulting thinking is that high volume funds are extremely liquid while low volume ones, much like thinly traded stocks, should be avoided by most. After all, it is only natural to assume that ETFs are like stocks in this regard as both are exchange-traded and many ETFs are just baskets of stocks anyway.

However, this isn't always true as, unlike a regular stock, an ETF doesn't rely on its actual volume to generate liquidity. Instead, an ETF's volume is dependent on its underlying holdings for its actual liquidity.

Say What?

The above statement is true because of how ETFs are structured and how new shares are created in a fund. Basically, what is called an Authorized Participant (AP) can step in and buy up securities in order to create a new basket of ETF shares, or trade in ETF shares for underlying securities as need be.

Due to this feature, ETFs often trade quite close to their net asset value (NAV), since when prices deviate too far-either high or low-the Authorized Participant can step in to balance the process out. Thus, when ETF prices are too high compared to the NAV, the AP creates more ETF baskets while when the ETF prices are below the NAV, the shares are traded in by the AP for the underlying securities.

The AP profits from the spread differential in this arbitrage-like move, which also helps to keep ETF prices in line with their NAV so that everyone wins in this creation and redemption process (read ETFs vs. Mutual Funds).

Why is this important?

This is key because many investors in ETFs were stock buyers first who are now beginning to see the promise of using exchange-traded funds in their portfolios. Due to being conditioned to apply stock logic to ETFs, many may be unfamiliar with the creation and redemption process and assume that if a low volume ETF isn't trading frequently that it will be unable to be bought and sold regularly and easily throughout the day.

There's more (hit the link if you wish), but that's really worthwhile.