Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. What to do? This chat is presented as-is for anyone who wants to listen in. We discuss the market conditions with some unique insights.
More importantly we look at the current opportunities at the bottom. Things may get weird in this market.
The mobile calls, emails and website visits of every person in Britain will be stored for a year under sweeping new powers which come into force on Monday. Privacy campaigners warned last night that the information would be used by the Government to create a giant “Big Brother” super-database containing a map of everyone’s private life.
[…]
Although the new retention powers will not permit the storage of the content of emails or phone calls it will show details such as IP addresses, date, time and user telephone numbers. Under the terms of the EU directive, the Home Office has written to leading internet service providers and phone companies offering to compensate them for the costs incurred in retaining the data for a year.
[…]
Phil Booth of the civil rights campaign group, NOID, said: “Inch by inch, the Government’s plans to map and monitor everyone’s communications are creeping into place. Today it’s retention of data, soon it’ll be a giant database to suck it all up. And unless we speak out and stop this, what used to be private – details of your relationships and personal interests – will end up in the ever-widening control of the stalker state.”Last week the The Independent reported that millions of Britons who use social networking sites such as Facebook could soon have their every move monitored by the Government and saved on a “Big Brother” database.
 Click image to go to No Agenda. |
John and Adam discuss the news of the day from an international perspective
Queue / cue / Q the closing credits — We hope you enjoy the show!
No Agenda
Running time: approx. 90 mins.
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WalesOnline – Terrified musician targeted in armed anti-terror raid — This is a pathetic indictment of modern police work. A guy is there for 35 years. He’s 63. Someone gives the police a false tip, they go with it. Perhaps if they were out in the neighborhoods and did actual “policing” this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Oh, wait, they have cameras for that, right?
Victor Frederick, 63, was arrested and strip-searched just yards from his home, just moments after his partner Andrea Heath and their daughter had infra-red sights trained at them and were told they would be shot if they moved.
No charges were ever brought against Mr Frederick.
Yesterday, in a press conference at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood said South Wales Police had serious questions to answer about what she believes could easily have become a Welsh version of the Jean Charles de Menezes tragedy. The innocent Brazilian was shot dead on a London tube train in 2005 by police who wrongly thought he was a terrorist.
South Wales Police last night insisted its officers had acted “in good faith based on genuine concerns”.
But Mr Frederick, who has lived in Cardiff for 35 years and is originally from St Kitts in the West Indies, told how: police confiscated apparently suspicious items, which included a video of boxer Muhammad Ali and a ceramic urn containing a traditional West Indian drink; police interpreted soundproofing equipment and wiring from his musical studio as a potential sign of illicit activity; he was followed by a police helicopter flying just above him more than two weeks after last month’s raid on his house in Holmesdale Road, Grangetown.
Speaking at yesterday’s press conference, Mr Frederick, who has previously performed with his band at the local police ball, said: “This was a really terrifying experience. I can only think that the police received a malicious call suggesting there was some kind of a bomb factory in the recording studio I use with my band, the Cougars.
“Then there was a strange incident where on the Sunday one of the other guys who uses the studio thought there had been a break-in, but found a note from the police saying they had been in the building.
Found by Robert Tinsley.
Don’t forget Gary’s astonishingly accurate predictions page! I do wish it was updated with his predictions for 2004 to today and beyond. I want to know what the future holds. Oh, wait… I can pay the measly sum of $1.99 per minute to learn! Yippy!
And don’t even think about missing Gary’s YouTube collection that includes his meeting with pro wrestler, Mr. Wonderful!
1 in 3 British men would prefer to play video games than sleep with their partner, with 72% claiming they’d shun their missus for the night to play a new release.
From a study of 1130 British men, of those in relationships, 32% that said they would prefer to play video games gave reasons ranging from their “partner being hard to please” to the prospect being “not as much fun” as gaming.
Further cementing the sad truth about video game addiction in the British male, 41% said if they were given £50, they’d spend it on a video game.
The research was carried out by PlayStation3 site, www.PS3pricecompare.co.uk, a specialist independent price comparison website that claims it can help find the cheapest new consoles and games.
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Daylife/AP Photo
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| Click on the box! |
Nintendo’s new DSi handheld console launched in the UK and Europe on Friday, April 3. The new console builds on the success of the DS brand by adding a host of multimedia functions. [Launch in the U.S. is this Sunday]
For the moment, the DSi is available in black or white. The white is shiny and sleek to the touch, the matt black has a slightly rougher finish, which makes it more pleasingly tactile.
Owners of the existing DS Lite may be momentarily thrown by the changes to the volume and power buttons, but otherwise the DSi is pretty much business as usual. So, should you buy one? Here are [some of the] ten facts that may help influence your decision.
2. Although it looks remarkably similar to the existing DS Lite, the DSi represents a bigger jump forward than that from the chunky original DS to the DS Lite. The new machine is slimmer, with slightly bigger screens and a faster processor, and is packed with new features.
3. New feature one: the DSi has its own built-in operating system, modelled on the Wii system. The OS is stored on the DSi’s built-in memory. One of the practical upshots of this is that games are now “hot-swappable”, meaning you no longer need to power off and on your console when changing game cartridges.
4. New feature two: the DSi comes with two low-resolution cameras, one facing inwards and one outwards. The cameras are complemented by a built-in application that allows you to distort the photos you take for humorous effect. They can also be used for video-chatting.
5. New feature three: the DSi comes with an SD card slot, where photos, music and digital media can be stored. Don’t get too excited by the music playback. The DSi only plays AAC files, not the more popular MP3. Why? Read our interview with Nintendo’s UK boss to find out.
RTFA for all 10 points. Get in line for Sunday’s U.S. launch.
Two ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers have altered a photo of Israel’s new cabinet, removing two female ministers.
Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver were grouped with the rest of the 30-member cabinet for their inaugural photo.
But Yated Neeman newspaper digitally changed the picture by replacing them with two men. The Shaa Tova newspaper blacked the women out.
Publishing pictures of women is viewed by many ultra-orthodox Jews as a violation of female modesty.
Other Israeli papers reprinted the altered images next to the original photos, with one headlining it “Find the lady”.
These are called “newspapers”, right?
If there’s a bright spot in this gloomy economy, it’s a new place in Middletown where the motto is “To protect and serve … doughnuts.” Police Doughnuts — yes, that’s the business’s name — has “gone gangbusters” since opening about three weeks ago, said owner Ken Borders, a retired Louisville arson investigator and former state trooper.
Borders is unapologetic about the name.
“Being in police work for 32 years, it’s been a standing joke that cops and doughnuts, they go hand-in-hand,” he said. “I just figured that it would be a catchy name.” Borders said Police Doughnuts is meant to recall a time when officers really did hang out at doughnut shops, whereas today’s police “are all into this fitness crap.” Located in a strip center on Shelbyville Road near Juneau Drive, roughly across the highway from the Louisville Metro Police 8th Division headquarters, the doughnut shop is “decorated” as a sterile police bureau. There are no tables or chairs because Borders wants to avoid a requirement that he install handicapped-accessible restrooms.
Posters of Barney Fife and Wile E. Coyote adorn the walls, and Borders’ 1975 state police photo sits in a frame near the register. The store goes “on duty at 0700,” according a sign on the door, “and closes when we sell out.”
The shop’s best advertisement is a 2009 Ford E-250 van that Borders parks near Shelbyville Road. It’s painted with a big badge and a “Police Doughnuts” logo.
I’ll bet that’s one doughnut shop that won’t be robbed.
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Daylife/AP Photo
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| Nancy Robinson and Laura Fefchak, Gay advocates, celebrate |
Iowa has become the first state in the Midwest to approve same-sex marriage after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously decided that a 1998 law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was unconstitutional. The decision was the culmination of a four-year legal battle that began in the lower courts. The Supreme Court said same-sex marriages could begin in Iowa in as soon as 21 days.
The case here was being closely followed by advocates on both sides of the issue. While the same-sex marriage debate has played out on both coasts, the Midwest — where no states had permitted same-sex marriage — was seen as entirely different. In the past, at least six states in the Midwest were among those around the country that adopted amendments to their state constitutions banning same-sex marriage.
“The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution,” the justices said in a summary of their decision.
And later in the ruling, they said: “Equal protection under the Iowa Constitution is essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike. Since territorial times, Iowa has given meaning to this constitutional provision, striking blows to slavery and segregation, and recognizing women’s rights. The court found the issue of same-sex marriage comes to it with the same importance as the landmark cases of the past…”
Iowa has no residency requirement for getting a marriage license, which some suggest may mean a flurry of people from other states.
Overdue.
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
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