Once she has reached the Equator, she will head southeast towards the South American west coast. But first, she has to cross the Equator and her team predicts that it will be on, or about, the 18th of November 2009.
As with any vessel dependent on the wind, she has had some great days with speeds reaching 10-12 knors, and bad days, where she was stuck at only 1 or 2 knots. But, according to her blog and her family, she is holding strong, and loving every moment of her adventure.
She still keeps in contact with her family and friends daily via radio and internet, so that is undoubtedly helping to keep her on an even keel. But still, being so far from home with only a radio and a computer to talk to people must be a bit tough on her.
Or, maybe not. Most teenagers her age(16) mainly use cellphones and computers to chat with friends and family anyway. So she's probably feeling right at home.
All joking aside, this young woman will go far, I believe. Already circling the globe in a sailing yacht? If she's able to pull this off, she may be in for great things. She will have already proven herself to her family, friends, country, and to the world as a whole. After this, everything will be open to her. She will only have to apply herself as she is doing now, and she will do great things.
Until next time...
-Wil
Once she has reached the Equator, she will head southeast towards the South American west coast. But first, she has to cross the Equator and her team predicts that it will be on, or about, the 18th of November 2009.
As with any vessel dependent on the wind, she has had some great days with speeds reaching 10-12 knors, and bad days, where she was stuck at only 1 or 2 knots. But, according to her blog and her family, she is holding strong, and loving every moment of her adventure.
She still keeps in contact with her family and friends daily via radio and internet, so that is undoubtedly helping to keep her on an even keel. But still, being so far from home with only a radio and a computer to talk to people must be a bit tough on her.
Or, maybe not. Most teenagers her age(16) mainly use cellphones and computers to chat with friends and family anyway. So she's probably feeling right at home.
All joking aside, this young woman will go far, I believe. Already circling the globe in a sailing yacht? If she's able to pull this off, she may be in for great things. She will have already proven herself to her family, friends, country, and to the world as a whole. After this, everything will be open to her. She will only have to apply herself as she is doing now, and she will do great things.
Until next time...
-Wil
by Ellen Brown
“Regular people know that they got done in by excesses on Wall Street, and they see a Democratic administration shoveling trillions of dollars to the same Wall Street banks that caused the mess. . . . What is overdue is a little bit of populist retribution against the people who brought down the system — and will bring it down again if the hegemony of the traders is not constrained.” --Economist Robert Kuttner arguing for a “Tobin tax”
In the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, Goldman Sachs is having a banner year. According to an October 16 article by Colin Barr on CNNMoney.com:
“While Goldman churned out $3 billion in profits in the third quarter, the economy shed 768,000 jobs, and home foreclosures set a new record. More than a million Americans have filed for bankruptcy this year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. A September survey of state finances by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank found that state governments faced a collective $168 billion budget shortfall for fiscal 2010. Goldman, by contrast, is sitting on $167 billion in cash . . . .”
Barr writes that Goldman’s “eye-popping profit”
resulted “as revenue from trading rose fourfold from a year ago.”
Really. Revenue from trading? Didn’t we bail out Goldman and the other
Wall Street banks so they could make loans, take deposits, and keep our
money safe?
...
Speeding Tickets to Slow Day Traders?
The fact that Wall Street’s speculative trades remain untaxed suggests a tidy way taxpayers could recover some of their billions in bailout money. The idea of taxing speculative trades was first proposed by Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin in the 1970s. But he acknowledged that the tax was unlikely to be implemented, because of the massive accounting problems involved. Today, however, modern technology has caught up to the challenge, and proposals for a “Tobin tax” are gaining traction. The proposals are very modest, ranging from .005% to 1% per trade, far less than you would pay in sales tax on a pair of shoes. For ordinary investors, who buy and sell stock only occasionally, the tax would hardly be felt. But high-speed speculative trades could be slowed up considerably. Wall Street traders compete to design trading programs that can move many shares in microseconds, allowing them to beat ordinary investors to the “buy” button and to manipulate markets for private gain.
Goldman Sachs admitted to this sort of market manipulation in a notorious incident last summer, in which the bank sued an ex-Goldman computer programmer for stealing its proprietary trading software. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti was quoted by Bloomberg as saying of the case:
“The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways.”
The obvious implication was that Goldman has a program that allows it to manipulate markets in unfair ways. Bloomberg went on:
“The proprietary code lets the firm do ‘sophisticated, high-speed and high-volume trades on various stock and commodities markets,’ prosecutors said in court papers. The trades generate ‘many millions of dollars’ each year.”
Those many millions of dollars are coming out of the
pockets of ordinary investors, who are being beaten to the punch by
sophisticated computer programs. As one blogger mused:
Gambling is an addiction, and the addicted need help. A tax on these microsecond trades could sober up Wall Street addicts and return them to productive labor, and transform Wall Street from an out-of-control casino back into a place where investors pledge their capital for the development of useful products.“Why do we have a financial system? I mean, much of its activity looks an awful lot like gambling, and gambling is not exactly a constructive endeavor. In fact, many people would call gambling destructive, which is why it is generally illegal. . . .
“What makes Goldman Sachs et. al. so evil is that they offer vast wealth to our society’s best and brightest in exchange for spending their lives being non-productive. I want our geniuses to be proving theorems and curing cancer and developing fusion reactors, not designing algorithms to flip billions of shares in microseconds.”
...
Read the whole article.
What was your favorite class in high school? (And no, lunch doesn't count.)
The last one on a Friday.
- 21:01 1st email: Your request for free tickets for Serious Man was successful 2nd email, next day: We made a mistake and over allocated. Typical. #
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Marc Mutty - the picture to the left - reported to the Police Department in Yarmouth that his campaign headquarters recieved a threat via phone message Monday morning. One woman left a message: "You will be dead. Maybe not today, not tomorrow. But soon you'll be dead." And that was just one such call.
Another in Augusta - Maine's capitol city - was left with Michael Heath, former leader of the Christian Civic League of Maine and its successor the Maine Family Policy Council. Someone who wasn't even in the campaign against Gay Marriage here in Maine. It was targeted simply for the organizations he once lead, the fact that he was a Christian, and was involved in three previous campaigns against Gay Marriage, and probably because of his religious convictions.
Marc Mutty said that they had received threats before, but not as direct as this one was.
It should be noted, however, that not all Gay Marriage supporters are like the examples above. In the article it says that there have were also civil, and peaceful, protests infront of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Portland - who's bishop urged his church members to vote against Gay Marriage.
Too bad all protests couldn't have been like the one above. Calling and threatening someone based on their opposition/support of a particular referendum just isn't right. There is no justification to threatening to kill someone because their religious convictions are different.
The idea that someone would do this is disturbing. I'm no Christian, not by a long shot. Honestly, I think it's done more harm that good throughout human history, but everyone has the right to believe as they wish here. To pray to whichever God or Goddess they wish. Or, as in my case, not to pray to a God or Goddess.
To threaten someone just because your side didn't win this time around doesn't help your cause any, it just helps the otherside who can just point to your dumbass phone-call/threat as an example of why not to allow equal under Maine's Marriage Laws. Not to forget that threatening an opponent of a referendum you support/oppose is just assinine.
Grow to hell up people. Gay Marriage Supporters lost this time. Get over it already and lets work towards passage next time. These antics just hurt the Cause.
Until next time...
-Wil
I loved the Twilight film. It made me read the books which I devoured and shamelessly enjoyed but ultimately left me feeling a little cross with Stephanie Meyer*.
New Moon is probably the most interesting and has a scene in it which haunted me for a long time. It had me looking forward for the film.
But having seen one of the trailers some time back I'm not sure it is going to live up to expectation. Firstly they give so much away it seems barely worth parting with hard earned cash. (Why do they do that?)
And secondly the scene seems to have been messed with and the essence of what moved me to tears when I read seems to be missing.
I could be wrong but I'm sure the problems lie in the fact that the books are told through Bella's eye's and, therefore, a lot of the narrative is in her head which is difficult to translate to film. In that scene it is what isn't said that makes it.
But what isn't disappointing is the soundtrack. It has some cracking tracks on it, as did the Twilight soundtrack. I'm glad they've released it before the film comes out because it sets an interesting tone to the film which has made me curious and want to see it.
Particularly love this one from Thom Yorke.
Looks like I'm going to get the chance to be on the same stage as Ben Whishaw after all...
Thank you for booking to see Cock here at the Royal Court.
As you may know, the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs is an adaptable studio space that can be configured in many different ways. At the time of going on sale we had not agreed the design for this production, so were unaware of the exact seating arrangements. We can now confirm the seating layout for Cock. As always we have endeavoured to make the seating as comfortable as possible, however the unique design of this production has meant that a proportion of the seats are without back rests. There is also no space underneath the seating for coats and bags. We would therefore ask that you deposit all such items, free of charge, in the theatre’s Cloakroom, which is located downstairs in the Stalls foyer area.
Rehearsals are going well, with a current running time of 1 hour, 45 minutes without interval. The production’s design means that all seating is accessed by crossing the stage. We are therefore not able to admit latecomers or readmit anyone who leaves during the performance. We would kindly ask that you arrive in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in good time before the performance is due to start in order to deposit bags at the cloakroom and make your way to the auditorium.
If you have any concerns with the above information, please do feel free to contact our team who will be happy to discuss these with you. We are contactable on 020 7565 5050, or via email at boxoffice@royalcourttheatre.com.
I do hope you enjoy the performance of Cock and we look forward to welcoming you to the Royal Court.
Best wishes
Dan Alicandro
Deputy Sales Manager
There are some of us who still remember the sacrifices made by those who gave their today for us to have our tomorrows.
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