Folks who couldn’t sleep nights because of market worries — and finally pulled out — no doubt wish they’d waited. Their next moves could help determine when the bull storms back.
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Archive for April 30th, 2009Chapter 11 is a last-resort attempt to revive the carmaker’s flagging fortunes. Here’s a quick look at how Chrysler’s employees, dealers, customers and creditors are affected. Plunging deep into debt may have staved off a global catastrophe, but that debt now threatens to hinder growth and reduce living standards for a generation.
Apr
30
2009
 
Mr. Know-It-All on Conspiracies, Crossword Protocol, Scared ChildrenPosted by: wiredtechbiz in Wired Tech BizMy brother swears that the twin towers were felled by explosives placed there by the FBI. I’ve presented him with reams of evidence to the contrary, but he hasn’t wavered. Will he ever see the light? There’s hope, but your cogent arguments are unlikely to hasten any shift in your brother’s thinking. In fact, your strenuous efforts at dissuasion could end up reinforcing his views. Some research suggests that when confronted with evidence that contradicts closely held beliefs, people tend to cling even more tightly to their convictions. The more you challenge him, the more your brother may suspect you’re hopelessly naive—or worse, actually participating in furthering the conspiracy, as either a dupe or an agent of a government out to stymie truth-seekers. Keep in mind that your brother’s belief in a large-scale conspiracy may be a coping mechanism. The human brain has evolved to find patterns, which is useful when avoiding saber-toothed tigers but less so when confronted with opaque and complex events. Patrick Leman, a psychologist at the University of London who specializes in conspiracy theories, says people tend to be terrified by the fact that a few bad apples can profoundly alter the course of history. We prefer to believe that we live in a stable world where major events have understandable causes. The whole “9/11 was an inside job” theory helps many people sleep at night. And so what? If your brother is wasting countless hours in his basement writing single-spaced, all-caps letters to the government, you obviously need to intervene. But if his 9/11 opinions aren’t causing him to neglect his kids, spouse, or personal hygiene, let him be. I recently noticed a week-old, half-finished crossword puzzle on my mother’s kitchen table. I filled in a few answers—no big deal. But Mom went ballistic. What’s the protocol on helping out on crosswords? Crossword diehards don’t view what you did as helping. Rather, they consider it an egregious invasion of privacy. Once the first box is filled in, a crossword is deemed the property of the person who started it. Those property rights never expire. Ever. Crossworders jealously guard their boxy turf because they believe that outside assistance, no matter how minor, will taint their achievements. “One of the reasons we like crosswords is that they let us have an intellectual triumph on a small scale,” says Amy Reynaldo, who runs the popular Diary of a Crossword Fiend blog. “For someone else to swoop in and rob you of that triumph—oh, it’s simply not done.” Reynaldo insists you apologize at once, groveling as much as possible. And the next time you have the urge to help out with a crossword, ask for permission—even if the puzzle dates back to the Hoover administration. I took my 6-year-old son to a magic show where a woman was sawed in half, then reassembled. The boy freaked out, and I can’t convince him that it was all an act. How do I calm him down? You can try to explain to your son that magic shows are akin to movies laden with special effects, and that the bifurcated woman experienced no more pain than a CG Harry Potter baddie. But kids tend to trust their eyes over the sensible words of adults, so a purely verbal approach may not be the way to go here. And therein lies an opportunity to do some world-class parenting. George Schindler, dean of the Society of American Magicians, recommends you swing by the library and pick up a primer on simple tricks (or check out this month’s How To). Learn a few sleights of hand, like making a coin disappear, and then teach them to your son. Once he realizes that anyone can “vanish” solid objects, he should begin to understand that illusion is a craft, not sorcery. Before you know it, he’ll be begging you to take him to another show. Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@wiredmag.com.
The automaker hopes the bankruptcy move will force a settlement on lenders opposed to its restructuring plan. Fiat will take a 20% stake. The S&P 500 has its best month in 9 years. MetLife and Hartford Financial losses may pressure stocks on Friday Disney is on the verge of acquiring a chunk of the wildly popular Hulu service and will use it to stream full episodes of ABC television shows. Disney apparently got a great deal, giving your local cable provider even more cause for concern.
The company hopes the courts will force a settlement on lenders who have resisted a restructuring plan. Fiat has agreed to take a 20% stake in the company. Stocks end basically flat, but the S&P 500 has its best month since March 2000. Exxon shares fall as profit tumbles. Income disparities can factor into relationships in surprising ways, whether you find yourself on the richer or poorer side of the equation.
Apr
30
2009
"Devil of Deflation Will Snuff Out Gold," Minyanville’s Harrison SaysPosted by: yahootechticker in Yahoo Tech TickerWith the Fed pulling out all stops to fight the financial crisis, the “spectre of inflation” is driving the financial markets currently, says Todd Harrison CEO of Minyanville.com.The Fed is
Apr
30
2009
More Short-Term Gains Likely, But Harrison Sees 5 Reasons for Caution AheadPosted by: yahootechticker in Yahoo Tech TickerThursday’s rally has the S&P 500 solidly above 875, a key level many traders have been watching. This technical “breakout” could propel the S&P toward 1000, says Todd Harrison CEO of Minyanville.com, confirming the With the U.S. military already space-based, war in the stars will inevitably move from the realm of science fiction and into reality later this century, says George Friedman, founder of STRATFOR.In his latest book, The Next 100 Years, Friedman explains ho
Anthony Feint has a great post today on how to launch a web startup with the minimum possible budget. He was writing in response to a ReadWriteWeb post on the same topic which suggests the minimum you can get by with is $47,500 – an amount Anthony says is laughably high. Kevin Rose apparently launched Digg for around $2000:
The full post is well worth a read, even if you have $50k+ to launch his thoughts will help. To bring out a couple of highlights:
One of the most common ways I have seen web startups get into trouble is not having a sufficient grip on the technical details of what their outsource partner is doing for them. The result: down the road performance problems and difficulty iterating/adding new functionality.
Product comes first (i.e. what does your service do for people, what is its utility?) but great UI is also very important. To get to any kind of scale people have got to enjoy using your site. All this is important because for many web concepts it is hard to know at the outset what the interest level will be. The cheaper you can test the better. |
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