In spite of problems here in the USA it looks like things are working out pretty well in other places. Then again, I wonder how much better the picture would have been for China considering that a large chunk of their economic holdings ARE the United States?
China's Ag Bank confirms world's largest IPO
China's Agricultural Bank completes $22.1 bln IPO, world's largest despite market doldrums
Monday August 16, 2010, 7:04 am EDT by Associated Press
SHANGHAI (AP) -- The Agricultural Bank of China says it raised a world record $22.1 billion in its initial public offering last month, despite a tepid reception from investors, after exercising an overallotment option for its Shanghai share sale.
The bank, China's main rural lender, sold an additional 3.34 billion shares at the IPO price of 2.68 yuan ($0.39) per share as part of the overallotment, as expected, according to a notice Monday on the Web site of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The extra 8.94 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) raised pushed the dual Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO to $22.1 billion in total, surpassing the previous record set by the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China's $21.9 billion IPO in 2006.
Despite strong government backing for the IPO, the last by China's four biggest state-owned commercial banks, investors leery of the rural-oriented balance sheet and the market's overall outlook have shown lackluster interest in the shares.
In Hong Kong, whose market is open to foreign investors, the bank's shares rose a mere 2.2 percent on their July 16 debut, compared with double-digit gains in past years for high-profile IPOs. In Shanghai, where yuan-denominated shares are sold only to domestic buyers, the shares rose just 1 percent on their debut.
By midday Monday, the lender's shares were up 0.7 percent, at 2.71 yuan in Shanghai and down 1.5 percent, at 3.34 Hong Kong dollars a share, in Hong Kong.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Are others turning away from conventional economic indicators?
Maybe I am getting through to people. My Saunders Index seems to be on the money for a lot of folks as an accurate snapshot of where the economy really sits. Now it looks like others are turning to other indicators?
'Hindenburg Omen' Flashes
by Steven Russolillo and Tomi Kilgore
Monday, August 16, 2010
Forget about Friday the 13th. Many on Wall Street took to whispering about an even scarier phenomenon -- the "Hindenburg Omen."
'Hindenburg Omen' Flashes
by Steven Russolillo and Tomi Kilgore
Monday, August 16, 2010
Forget about Friday the 13th. Many on Wall Street took to whispering about an even scarier phenomenon -- the "Hindenburg Omen."
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The master plan to address the homeless problem is here!
Well .... sort of ... maybe .... well, errr ... uhhh .... here we go....
http://homelessinla.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/la-county-dpss-stragic-plan/
The link above will take you to the master plan.
Well, here we are with the strategic plan for the homeless for 2010-2013. Seems as if it has been somewhat hung up since 1999 in some ways. Maybe if they let a few capable folks develop the plan rather than an office building full of folks that have better things to do in their own mind a more effective and timely plan would be the result? Pass this task on to Andy Bales at Union Rescue Mission or one of the heads of one of the other missions with a great track record.
Read a bit of the plan, still have a bit of reading to do but ....
I have my doubts already. One of the first statements - Objective I.1.1 By June 2011, increase the number of licenses and users of Plain Language software by 400.
There we go again... licenses, complication and wondering how many "licenses" ...have already been purchased and for what amount and at what cost.
Objective I.1.3 By September 2010, implement a telephone recertification option for the Food Stamp and CalWORKs Programs. Lead – LaTanya Lee.
Was this objective pre or post the reduction of the food stamp program just announced two days ago ...in California?
I read more. OK ... I am confused now. I see many pages of objectives but must have missed objectives that would directly (or indirectly) help the homeless.
http://homelessinla.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/la-county-dpss-stragic-plan/
The link above will take you to the master plan.
Well, here we are with the strategic plan for the homeless for 2010-2013. Seems as if it has been somewhat hung up since 1999 in some ways. Maybe if they let a few capable folks develop the plan rather than an office building full of folks that have better things to do in their own mind a more effective and timely plan would be the result? Pass this task on to Andy Bales at Union Rescue Mission or one of the heads of one of the other missions with a great track record.
Read a bit of the plan, still have a bit of reading to do but ....
I have my doubts already. One of the first statements - Objective I.1.1 By June 2011, increase the number of licenses and users of Plain Language software by 400.
There we go again... licenses, complication and wondering how many "licenses" ...have already been purchased and for what amount and at what cost.
Objective I.1.3 By September 2010, implement a telephone recertification option for the Food Stamp and CalWORKs Programs. Lead – LaTanya Lee.
Was this objective pre or post the reduction of the food stamp program just announced two days ago ...in California?
I read more. OK ... I am confused now. I see many pages of objectives but must have missed objectives that would directly (or indirectly) help the homeless.
Seems I called it once again - a few days ahead of time
Yesterday I posted a little about the Saunders Index. Seems as if I am saying that things are not really improving much with our economy even though news stories and the market may paint a more objective picture at times.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A piece from my friend Natsukashii です ね
Preface from my friend: If you haven't already read this article from the Wall Street Journal I though you would appreciate it. I lived through the Japanese "Bubble Economy" and saw us make these same mistakes here which if we would have only paid attention to the Japanese model (the Japanese has been dealing with a horrible economy for nearly 20 years now). This article I thought spelled it out quite clearly.
A bit of response to his writing above: I had good friends that were the founders of Matchless Amplifier Company fail due to the crash of the Japanese economy.
A bit of response to his writing above: I had good friends that were the founders of Matchless Amplifier Company fail due to the crash of the Japanese economy.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Music related question on the GT 5751M - smoke and mirrors?
As I say in the description of this blog; Helping the hungry in the late hours of the night and helping guitar players sound better one amp at a time. This blog entry is one of those music related posts which had its root in a simple question.
Update / dialog addition to this entry:
This has always been an ongoing offer but I thought I would mention it here again: If there are any folks in the So Cal area that have any of the GT 12AX7M or GT 5751 tubes and would like to have them tested and traced I would be happy to do this at no charge. Drop me a note via email or send me a note on facebook if you are on facebook and we can set up an appointment. I do not mail things back and forth so you would have to be local enough to North Hollywood to bring the tubes into the shop. This would be done while you wait (and watch).
Neal Logdahl, a friend on facebook asked me: What's your take on the GT 5751M? Neil is the man behind HipKitty Products. He is the owner and chief engineer of http://www.hipkittyproducts.com/ in Nashville, Tennessee.
Here is a bit of info that may be of interest to a few folks.
Above is the Groove Tubes 5751M. The tube has moderate large plates. This is not what any original 5751 tube employed. This design aspect is contraindicated in the real 5751.
The above is from the Tung Sol 5751 data sheet. The 5751 was intended to be a direct 12AX7 replacement of slightly lower gain (less noise). It also had to withstand extreme vibration tests so it would be less microphonic. Short plates reject physical microphonics more easily than long plates generally speaking. There are no original 5751 tubes that were constructed with long plates as a side note.
The original 5751 was also intended for phase inverter use and also had a requirement that the two sides of the dual triode be within close match.
The GT (Groove Tubes) 5751M was developed during my tenure as tech support and tube development engineer during my six plus years in this position at Groove Tubes. Without going into too much detail and just hitting the bottom line, the GT-5751M bears no relationship to a 5751 from the past. The tube was put on the marked after the GT-12AX7M Mullard Reissue was released by Groove Tubes. The 12AX7M was the lowest gain tube of any 12AX7 tube on the market including any NOS offerings as well. The plate resistance was generally less than half of the 62.5K design spec at 250 volts with a 2 volt bias.
This made the tube crosstalk between the A and B side in many amplifier designs. The tube would act more like a capacitor than a tube. It would click and sputter during warmup and in many cases the noise would not go away. Tubes that were initially quiet would become noisy in a short time in many amps. The tube was a failure in every way except one. Their plate current was way too high generally but this factor is what I look for when I pick phase inverters for certain amps. Most 12AX7 production tubes made today are down 30% and more on plate current. The 12AX7M was too high. Current is what I look for in tubes that push the output set not gain so in this case the 12AX7M was a great tube.
I have two data sheets for real 5751 tubes. One is the RCA data sheet and one is the Tung Sol data sheet:
http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Tube/5751.pdf - RCA
http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Tube/5751WA.pdf - Tung Sol
The data sheet below from Groove Tubes:
What is that little * above where it says Specifications?
Originally, when I was at GT, part of my job was to test tubes and produce REAL data and not just reproduce spec sheets based on design spec from the past. I used to publish actual numbers. When I left this practice stopped. Perhaps GT no longer had the tools to do this type of testing as I took them with me as they were my tools. It seems as if these days GT is just reproducing design spec to produce their own data sheets.
Reality: The GT-5751M is a re-labeled GT-12AX7M tube with even lower gain than a 5751. It is sold on the basis of being a low gain 12AX7 but misses the mark when it comes being anywhere close (or usable) in regard to transconductance, plate resistance or plate current. It runs very hot, has curves that do not resemble anything close to a 12AX7, 5751, 12AY7, 12AT7 or 12AU7.
*SPECIFICATION MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES (below is from current GT data sheets)
The measurements on this sheet are actual test results of current production tubes made in a neutral and consistent manner for the purpose of fair comparisons. We decided not to use just reprinted “target specs” from an old RCA book like most, if not all, current production spec sheets released today. If these specs do not meet the old RCA or GE published spec sheets, do not be alarmed. In fact, NO tubes made today meet all these original specs, and only a few come even close in the critical areas of Transconductance and/or Gain.
We believe it is more important to provide our customers a meaningful standard by which ALL tubes made today can be compared. So beginning with our 2007 spec sheets, our first ever published, ALL the tubes we manufacture and/or made in other factories and/or other tubes that are in our catalog will reflect actual test results and averaged over at least 10 samples. As production quality rises and falls (frequently) we reserve the right to make these results subject to change as and performance rises, or falls. Current data sheets reflecting latest productions can be found on the GT website at www.groovetubes.com.
I was at GT from 2002-2008. The 2007 date above was describing one of my job functions at GT, a function which I developed. I was the one who came up with the concept of being the industry watchdog to assure all tube vendors had some degree of quality. I would publish my test results on various music forums and on my own GAB website on all vendors, not only GT. The current data sheets on the GT website are not my work and may be little more than editing of past data sheets. The tubes I test these days are just as awful as those in the past.
The 5751M is born: Aspen Pittman is a master of marketing. He was described by Richie Fliegler (please excuse spelling as it is probably wrong) as a mix of P.T. Barnum and Billy Graham the Evangelist. When the gain was found to be so low on the 12AX7M that it was something of a tragic selling point GT's founder and President decided to market the rejects as a lower gain tube, a new product.
Aspen was always coming out with new products. The SAG (special applications group) products of high gain kits, soft touch kits and matched phase inverters were all items I had been offering my clients at Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting for years. Aspen felt these products could be marketed by GT and sold by GT. That is what happened. People like Rick Benson (now at 65 Amps) can attest to how many thousands of dollars of these products were sold every week at GT. Did I receive anything for development of this product or from the sales of the product? No. But I digress. To use a crude old phrase, Aspen "polished a turd". He took the 12AX7M gain rejects and sold them as the 5751M. To repeat myself; the 12AX7M was also a low gain tube, generally somewhere between the gain of a 12AT7 and 12AY7 at best.
From the current GT website - 5751M description:
This is a lower gain 12AX7 tube type. Stevie Ray Vaughn used these to change his front end distortion to back end distortion ratio to have more of the touch sensitive output tube distortion.
These test as per 5751 spec with the proper transconductance and current output.
The slightly lower gain quiets many amps down and these are a very smooth front end tube but are also quite amazing in the phase inverter position.
In the Fender Hot Rod series these are really the rage these days with many of GT's folks that use these amps.
The 5751 is slight variation of the popular 12AX7. It is interchangeable in all circuits calling for a 12AX7. It can be effectively used to “customize” the amp's preamp stage to reduce gain when placed in the V1 position (first gain stage in the signal path). This will also allow for more clean headroom before distortion and soften the dynamics as well. Stevie Ray Vaughan used NOS 5751 preamp tubes in many of his Fender amps for this purpose.
Our exclusive GT5751M tube design, like its close sister the 12AX7M, is an exact replica of the original British built Mullard ECC82/12AX7 dual triode preamp tube, but with slightly lower 5751 Gain and TC specs. This famous Mullard dual triode design from the late ‘60s has a unique four (different) mica spacer design that reduces tube hum and microphonics by suspending the Cathode in a complex mica layered structure which acts like a shock mount. It is unlike any other preamp tube ever made (most all preamp tubes use just a single mica design!). This same Mullard design was licensed by other tube factories, such as Amperex, who used this design for its legendary Bugle Boy series of preamp tubes.
The GT 5751M has the same great rich classic sound of the GT12AX7M; a distinct tone along with high definition no other currently produced preamp tube can match. It is Aspen’s (our founder’s) personal favorite in ALL his modern high gain amps for adding that softer vintage touch and tone.
We highly recommended this tube for the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amps to fatten up the tone and “tame” the higher gain preamp stage. You will get more natural power tube distortion that will be controlled more so by the player’s touch, than the Gain and Volume settings.
The above reminds me of the old story where P.T. Barnum purchased many boxcars of canned salmon without first seeing what he was buying. Upon inspection he found the salmon did not have the expected color of the canned salmon of the day, the nice rich pink color. It seemed that it was a washed out pale white color. He realized nobody would buy his product. So, he developed a marketing campaing "The highest grade salmon available - guaranteed not to turn pink".
Update 8/10/10 - Over on one of the music forums somebody asked what they should do when they needed to replace the Groove Tubes 5751M or 12AX7M when they failed or needed replacement in the future. This was my reply:
When you need to replace try a real NOS 5751. Less gain generally equates to less noise and this is one cool aspect of a 5751. You might find an NOS 5751 will give you the tone you like but they will last decades and be reliable with less worry. NOS 5751s are available and not all that pricy.
As a bit of a guideline, most of the GT 5751s actually spec out gain wise as a 12AY7 (gain about 40 rather than 60-70 of a 5751) The 12AY7 was the front end tube in the Fender tweed bassman, tweed deluxe, bandmaster and super. The average 12AX7M in the runs over the last two or so years at GT had gain of a 12AT7 at best on average. This is about 70. Many tubes are in the 60 range. When the tube fell below 60 they were screened as a 5751M but the plate current is off the map (generally three times or more than spec) and the plate resistance and other factors are nowhere close to spec.
It may have been better to market the GT 5751M as something like a 12UJ7. Some number that does not exist. Then it would not be compared. It could be said that it was a possible replacement for a 12AX7 type tube that just sounds different. That may have been the most honest approach.
Well Neil, here is the answer to your simple question. I am not a man of few words. Feel free to repost this wherever you wish including music forums.
Myles
Update / dialog addition to this entry:
This has always been an ongoing offer but I thought I would mention it here again: If there are any folks in the So Cal area that have any of the GT 12AX7M or GT 5751 tubes and would like to have them tested and traced I would be happy to do this at no charge. Drop me a note via email or send me a note on facebook if you are on facebook and we can set up an appointment. I do not mail things back and forth so you would have to be local enough to North Hollywood to bring the tubes into the shop. This would be done while you wait (and watch).
Neal Logdahl, a friend on facebook asked me: What's your take on the GT 5751M? Neil is the man behind HipKitty Products. He is the owner and chief engineer of http://www.hipkittyproducts.com/ in Nashville, Tennessee.
Here is a bit of info that may be of interest to a few folks.
The original 5751 was also intended for phase inverter use and also had a requirement that the two sides of the dual triode be within close match.
The GT (Groove Tubes) 5751M was developed during my tenure as tech support and tube development engineer during my six plus years in this position at Groove Tubes. Without going into too much detail and just hitting the bottom line, the GT-5751M bears no relationship to a 5751 from the past. The tube was put on the marked after the GT-12AX7M Mullard Reissue was released by Groove Tubes. The 12AX7M was the lowest gain tube of any 12AX7 tube on the market including any NOS offerings as well. The plate resistance was generally less than half of the 62.5K design spec at 250 volts with a 2 volt bias.
This made the tube crosstalk between the A and B side in many amplifier designs. The tube would act more like a capacitor than a tube. It would click and sputter during warmup and in many cases the noise would not go away. Tubes that were initially quiet would become noisy in a short time in many amps. The tube was a failure in every way except one. Their plate current was way too high generally but this factor is what I look for when I pick phase inverters for certain amps. Most 12AX7 production tubes made today are down 30% and more on plate current. The 12AX7M was too high. Current is what I look for in tubes that push the output set not gain so in this case the 12AX7M was a great tube.
I have two data sheets for real 5751 tubes. One is the RCA data sheet and one is the Tung Sol data sheet:
http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Tube/5751.pdf - RCA
http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Tube/5751WA.pdf - Tung Sol
The data sheet below from Groove Tubes:
What is that little * above where it says Specifications?
Originally, when I was at GT, part of my job was to test tubes and produce REAL data and not just reproduce spec sheets based on design spec from the past. I used to publish actual numbers. When I left this practice stopped. Perhaps GT no longer had the tools to do this type of testing as I took them with me as they were my tools. It seems as if these days GT is just reproducing design spec to produce their own data sheets.
Reality: The GT-5751M is a re-labeled GT-12AX7M tube with even lower gain than a 5751. It is sold on the basis of being a low gain 12AX7 but misses the mark when it comes being anywhere close (or usable) in regard to transconductance, plate resistance or plate current. It runs very hot, has curves that do not resemble anything close to a 12AX7, 5751, 12AY7, 12AT7 or 12AU7.
*SPECIFICATION MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES (below is from current GT data sheets)
The measurements on this sheet are actual test results of current production tubes made in a neutral and consistent manner for the purpose of fair comparisons. We decided not to use just reprinted “target specs” from an old RCA book like most, if not all, current production spec sheets released today. If these specs do not meet the old RCA or GE published spec sheets, do not be alarmed. In fact, NO tubes made today meet all these original specs, and only a few come even close in the critical areas of Transconductance and/or Gain.
We believe it is more important to provide our customers a meaningful standard by which ALL tubes made today can be compared. So beginning with our 2007 spec sheets, our first ever published, ALL the tubes we manufacture and/or made in other factories and/or other tubes that are in our catalog will reflect actual test results and averaged over at least 10 samples. As production quality rises and falls (frequently) we reserve the right to make these results subject to change as and performance rises, or falls. Current data sheets reflecting latest productions can be found on the GT website at www.groovetubes.com.
I was at GT from 2002-2008. The 2007 date above was describing one of my job functions at GT, a function which I developed. I was the one who came up with the concept of being the industry watchdog to assure all tube vendors had some degree of quality. I would publish my test results on various music forums and on my own GAB website on all vendors, not only GT. The current data sheets on the GT website are not my work and may be little more than editing of past data sheets. The tubes I test these days are just as awful as those in the past.
The 5751M is born: Aspen Pittman is a master of marketing. He was described by Richie Fliegler (please excuse spelling as it is probably wrong) as a mix of P.T. Barnum and Billy Graham the Evangelist. When the gain was found to be so low on the 12AX7M that it was something of a tragic selling point GT's founder and President decided to market the rejects as a lower gain tube, a new product.
Aspen was always coming out with new products. The SAG (special applications group) products of high gain kits, soft touch kits and matched phase inverters were all items I had been offering my clients at Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting for years. Aspen felt these products could be marketed by GT and sold by GT. That is what happened. People like Rick Benson (now at 65 Amps) can attest to how many thousands of dollars of these products were sold every week at GT. Did I receive anything for development of this product or from the sales of the product? No. But I digress. To use a crude old phrase, Aspen "polished a turd". He took the 12AX7M gain rejects and sold them as the 5751M. To repeat myself; the 12AX7M was also a low gain tube, generally somewhere between the gain of a 12AT7 and 12AY7 at best.
From the current GT website - 5751M description:
This is a lower gain 12AX7 tube type. Stevie Ray Vaughn used these to change his front end distortion to back end distortion ratio to have more of the touch sensitive output tube distortion.
These test as per 5751 spec with the proper transconductance and current output.
The slightly lower gain quiets many amps down and these are a very smooth front end tube but are also quite amazing in the phase inverter position.
In the Fender Hot Rod series these are really the rage these days with many of GT's folks that use these amps.
The 5751 is slight variation of the popular 12AX7. It is interchangeable in all circuits calling for a 12AX7. It can be effectively used to “customize” the amp's preamp stage to reduce gain when placed in the V1 position (first gain stage in the signal path). This will also allow for more clean headroom before distortion and soften the dynamics as well. Stevie Ray Vaughan used NOS 5751 preamp tubes in many of his Fender amps for this purpose.
Our exclusive GT5751M tube design, like its close sister the 12AX7M, is an exact replica of the original British built Mullard ECC82/12AX7 dual triode preamp tube, but with slightly lower 5751 Gain and TC specs. This famous Mullard dual triode design from the late ‘60s has a unique four (different) mica spacer design that reduces tube hum and microphonics by suspending the Cathode in a complex mica layered structure which acts like a shock mount. It is unlike any other preamp tube ever made (most all preamp tubes use just a single mica design!). This same Mullard design was licensed by other tube factories, such as Amperex, who used this design for its legendary Bugle Boy series of preamp tubes.
The GT 5751M has the same great rich classic sound of the GT12AX7M; a distinct tone along with high definition no other currently produced preamp tube can match. It is Aspen’s (our founder’s) personal favorite in ALL his modern high gain amps for adding that softer vintage touch and tone.
We highly recommended this tube for the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amps to fatten up the tone and “tame” the higher gain preamp stage. You will get more natural power tube distortion that will be controlled more so by the player’s touch, than the Gain and Volume settings.
The above reminds me of the old story where P.T. Barnum purchased many boxcars of canned salmon without first seeing what he was buying. Upon inspection he found the salmon did not have the expected color of the canned salmon of the day, the nice rich pink color. It seemed that it was a washed out pale white color. He realized nobody would buy his product. So, he developed a marketing campaing "The highest grade salmon available - guaranteed not to turn pink".
Update 8/10/10 - Over on one of the music forums somebody asked what they should do when they needed to replace the Groove Tubes 5751M or 12AX7M when they failed or needed replacement in the future. This was my reply:
When you need to replace try a real NOS 5751. Less gain generally equates to less noise and this is one cool aspect of a 5751. You might find an NOS 5751 will give you the tone you like but they will last decades and be reliable with less worry. NOS 5751s are available and not all that pricy.
As a bit of a guideline, most of the GT 5751s actually spec out gain wise as a 12AY7 (gain about 40 rather than 60-70 of a 5751) The 12AY7 was the front end tube in the Fender tweed bassman, tweed deluxe, bandmaster and super. The average 12AX7M in the runs over the last two or so years at GT had gain of a 12AT7 at best on average. This is about 70. Many tubes are in the 60 range. When the tube fell below 60 they were screened as a 5751M but the plate current is off the map (generally three times or more than spec) and the plate resistance and other factors are nowhere close to spec.
It may have been better to market the GT 5751M as something like a 12UJ7. Some number that does not exist. Then it would not be compared. It could be said that it was a possible replacement for a 12AX7 type tube that just sounds different. That may have been the most honest approach.
Well Neil, here is the answer to your simple question. I am not a man of few words. Feel free to repost this wherever you wish including music forums.
Myles
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The Utimate Coffee Table Book Collection has been updated
September 2, 2010 Updated. 1,231 photos now in the collection.
August 22, 2010. Just updated with food shots on the taco quest, a stage shot of the Whispering Pines rig at the Redondo Beerfest yesterday from Joe on the road, a terrific retro sign at Atomic Records, and a heart stopping shot of a couple shopping at Ikea for doors!
1,164 photos now in this emotionally draining slideshow which mixes art, whimsey, low production values, a general lack of composition, sexual tension, nausea and the feeling of foolishness you have if you can watch the entire show from beginning to end.
The Ultimate Coffee Table Book slideshow. Some cell phone shots from Joe Bourdet on the road and Mark Horne out there on the actual road. The slideshow now shows the most current shots first so folks get to see the lastest and greatest. Feel free to send me any of your own cell shots for consideration for album submission. I want to attempt to put these all into print sometime in 2010.
August 22, 2010. Just updated with food shots on the taco quest, a stage shot of the Whispering Pines rig at the Redondo Beerfest yesterday from Joe on the road, a terrific retro sign at Atomic Records, and a heart stopping shot of a couple shopping at Ikea for doors!
1,164 photos now in this emotionally draining slideshow which mixes art, whimsey, low production values, a general lack of composition, sexual tension, nausea and the feeling of foolishness you have if you can watch the entire show from beginning to end.
The Ultimate Coffee Table Book slideshow. Some cell phone shots from Joe Bourdet on the road and Mark Horne out there on the actual road. The slideshow now shows the most current shots first so folks get to see the lastest and greatest. Feel free to send me any of your own cell shots for consideration for album submission. I want to attempt to put these all into print sometime in 2010.
Photos from Union Rescue Mission - Andy Bales
Below are some shots from August 7, 2010 from the cellphone of Andy Bales of Union Rescue Mission. This was an event on the roof of Union Rescue Mission.
When you click on the thumbnail you will be redirected to Andy Bales photo page on twitter where there is a short explanation of each photo.
If you wish to learn more about URM and what they accomplish every day just cick on the title of this blog post and you will be directed to the Union Rescue Mission website.
When you click on the thumbnail you will be redirected to Andy Bales photo page on twitter where there is a short explanation of each photo.
If you wish to learn more about URM and what they accomplish every day just cick on the title of this blog post and you will be directed to the Union Rescue Mission website.
- the end -
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Welcome to the Recovery - sent to me by a good friend
A friend sent this to me and said ....
The FULL stats totally support what you've been saying all along..
The information below was sent to me by a good friend. Below are some of his thoughts on what Mr. Geithner had to say:The title sort of says it all, but just by skimming over it my immediate conclusion is that Mr. Geithner is either outright insane or a total liar. Neither of those are welcome realizations, though I doubt they are news to anyone with a working brain. However, for the sake of manners, I'll simply assume Mr Geithner is outright insane, in which case I am indeed, quite honored to be invited to his recovery... I only wish he'd mentioned the planet where it was taking place.
Let’s have a look at some data points on Earth, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
WRONG.
These are the only data points that show any improvement. To get the word “recovery” out of this, means ignoring a whole slew of data that is downright ugly including:
•The 900,000 who stopped being employed in the last year
•The 3.1 million people who somehow mysteriously vanished from the workforce but are not unemployed (?!?!)
•The 2.3 million MORE people who have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks
•The 407,000 more people who have simply given up even looking for a job because they don’t think they could find one.
Hard to find the word “recovery” from that mess. “Disaster” or “soon to be disaster when the unemployment benefits run out” seem more fitting descriptions. But then again, I am suffering the handicap of being on earth. Perhaps things are better on Mars?
It’s not as though the rest of the economic data looks much better. The following data points range from “not as bad but still bad” on the positive side to “absolutely horrendous” on the negative side.
Well, the number of mortgages underwater has dropped off. That’s largely due to the fact home prices bounced a bit year over year courtesy of the tax credits. But the jump in foreclosure filings, and personal bankruptcies shows doesn’t exactly spell economic strength. As for food stamp usage… no comment needed.
I don’t know about you, but I fully intend to take Mr Geithner up on his welcome invitation to the recovery. I only wish he’d tell me what planet it’s taking place on so I can move there, cause it sure ain’t earth.
Thank you to my good friend Joe for his take on this and sending me this in an email.
Tag experiment: "vacuum tube made of cheese" "mister wacko"
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Here we go again - unemployment claims nonsense
There were two stories I saw today out of many that are out there.
Stocks fall after spike in jobless benefits claims - NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks fell Thursday after first-time claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week.
Unexpectedly?
The high unemployment rate in the U.S. remains one of the biggest worries for investors. The surprise jump in claims last week suggests that employers are still reluctant to create jobs, which could keep a damper on economic growth the coming months.
Surprise?
Comforting to know that our government little clue on the pulse of our economy. Don't forget those that have recently run out of benefits are and no longer being counted.
The story can be viewed at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-fall-after-spike-in-apf-2317341206.html?x=0 if you want the full smoke and mirrors verson.
_____
The other story that caught my eye: New claims for jobless benefits rise
The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance rose by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 479,000. Analysts had expected a small drop. Claims have risen twice in the past three weeks.
Some of the increase in claims stemmed from difficulties the government has in adjusting for seasonal factors.
Our government would need way fewer poeple to count who is unemployed if they followed a formula that I just developed for them:
1. "Seasonally adjusted". Drop this. No such thing. When somebody is out of work they are out of work, period. No June or December, night or day, rain or shine.
2. If benefits were being paid to somebody last month and not this month because the recipient ran out of benefits, and if they are still not working, count them. Yes... these people still count.
3. To simplify: Ignore step 1 and step 2 and try this. Keep a list that counts everybody that had a job, lost their job, wants a jobs whether they are collecting unemployment benefits or not. Count each and every one of them. Do not remove them from the list until you have some indication from THEM that they are working.
The complete story from behind the curtain can be seen at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-economy-20100805,0,1167941.story
I do not have any issue with the story or the Los Angeles Times. The factors I am drawn to are the statements from our government that this story reports.
I have a number of issues with our government and have had issues in trusting them and having faith in them ever since I was right in the middle of the Vietnam era of this country.
In any case, it took more than one administration to destroy the country and to outsource our jobs.
America was not lost overnight. We used to produce the finest computers, rockets, aircraft, and cars in the world. RCA, General Electric, IBM all meant something. The "telephone company" provided service in the past but today we are left with people like ATT who has a customer service reputation that is even lower than the reputation of British Petroleum.
I posted the above video before but I am posting again as a reminder.
Destroying America did not happen overnight and it will take much longer to climb out of the hole than our government is going to report to the public. The country is going to need to go through a major shift and adjustment that will take many years. In the meantime, I personally feel our government is obligated to report proper and accurate numbers of those who are out of work, unemployed, who have lost jobs or whatever label one puts on the situation.
Don't print pointless numbers which are not true one week and reverse the slant with a nice set of numbers the next just to keep the stock market moving all over the place so the few people in the country who do have money can keep playing the most expensive and exclusive game that has ever been developed.
Stocks fall after spike in jobless benefits claims - NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks fell Thursday after first-time claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week.
Unexpectedly?
The high unemployment rate in the U.S. remains one of the biggest worries for investors. The surprise jump in claims last week suggests that employers are still reluctant to create jobs, which could keep a damper on economic growth the coming months.
Surprise?
Comforting to know that our government little clue on the pulse of our economy. Don't forget those that have recently run out of benefits are and no longer being counted.
The story can be viewed at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-fall-after-spike-in-apf-2317341206.html?x=0 if you want the full smoke and mirrors verson.
_____
The other story that caught my eye: New claims for jobless benefits rise
The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance rose by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 479,000. Analysts had expected a small drop. Claims have risen twice in the past three weeks.
Some of the increase in claims stemmed from difficulties the government has in adjusting for seasonal factors.
Our government would need way fewer poeple to count who is unemployed if they followed a formula that I just developed for them:
1. "Seasonally adjusted". Drop this. No such thing. When somebody is out of work they are out of work, period. No June or December, night or day, rain or shine.
2. If benefits were being paid to somebody last month and not this month because the recipient ran out of benefits, and if they are still not working, count them. Yes... these people still count.
3. To simplify: Ignore step 1 and step 2 and try this. Keep a list that counts everybody that had a job, lost their job, wants a jobs whether they are collecting unemployment benefits or not. Count each and every one of them. Do not remove them from the list until you have some indication from THEM that they are working.
The complete story from behind the curtain can be seen at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-economy-20100805,0,1167941.story
I do not have any issue with the story or the Los Angeles Times. The factors I am drawn to are the statements from our government that this story reports.
I have a number of issues with our government and have had issues in trusting them and having faith in them ever since I was right in the middle of the Vietnam era of this country.
In any case, it took more than one administration to destroy the country and to outsource our jobs.
I posted the above video before but I am posting again as a reminder.
Destroying America did not happen overnight and it will take much longer to climb out of the hole than our government is going to report to the public. The country is going to need to go through a major shift and adjustment that will take many years. In the meantime, I personally feel our government is obligated to report proper and accurate numbers of those who are out of work, unemployed, who have lost jobs or whatever label one puts on the situation.
Don't print pointless numbers which are not true one week and reverse the slant with a nice set of numbers the next just to keep the stock market moving all over the place so the few people in the country who do have money can keep playing the most expensive and exclusive game that has ever been developed.
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