Out of the Frying Pan...

IBL

2009-11-24T15:47:00.001-05:00

CIMG1626, originally uploaded by Kerphotography.

Finally getting around to uploading all of my Israel photos. Some, but not all, feature me in pretty heroic poses..

@Mom's

2009-11-15T21:51:00.001-05:00

@Mom's, originally uploaded by Kerphotography.

Mowed my first lawn in years, but took time to grab a couple shots of the fall scenery

Pongin'

2009-11-04T13:16:00.001-05:00

Pongin', originally uploaded by Kerphotography.

Grabbed some action shots the other night

Oakland Cemetery Halloween Tour

2009-10-27T09:43:00.001-04:00

Oakland Cemetery Halloween Tour, originally uploaded by Kerphotography.

Questionable Government Allocation of Resources

2009-10-26T20:39:00.003-04:00

I'm watching a grilling of NASA executives that will be pivotal in determining if our nation's space agency is to receive the necessary funding to move forward with the Ares launch.

It is simply appalling to me that our media and government applies such strict scrutiny and skepticim to something at the center of human progress, yet is willing to shell out billions to financial institutions that have played a part in destroying our economic system.

At its core, NASA exists to explore the unknown. If you follow the money, it appears that there is a question that this purpose isn't more crucial to the human race's progress and existence than the purpose of banks and other financial institutions. That disgusts me.

Irena Sendler

2009-10-16T11:50:00.001-04:00

Inspirational story, for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler

http://www.nysun.com/national/nobel-prize-is-sought-for-polish-heroine/47560

Convenient Truth?

2009-10-08T17:41:00.003-04:00

I've dabbled in climate change before, but never really taken it upon myself to do research and come to my own conclusions. After seeing An Inconvenient Truth, I was convinced.

However, there is an opposing viewpoint, and it should be taken seriously. This video pretty much sums it up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFK-UTGH1Zw

One interesting point worth.. um.. pointing out is that Al Gore cites the IPCC's opinion as the final word on the matter of scientific opinion. Is it not curious though, why he could cite the opinion of a governmental organization that was created to measure the effect of human activity on climate change?

If someone gave me funding and told me to find a relationship between eating chocolate and prevention of Swine Flu, I bet I could find one.

IMG_1049

2009-09-29T01:10:00.001-04:00

IMG_1049, originally uploaded by Kerphotography.

Went to Southern Fried Smackdown on Sunday to witness Nashville v. Atlanta.

Flickr

2009-09-15T00:06:00.001-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Courtesy of NASA...

2009-08-31T16:16:00.002-04:00

I found this photo to be quite post-worthy. (click on the image for full effect)

(Link)

Maybe this will be the cure for odd-hour calls from the parentals

2009-08-24T22:25:00.003-04:00

Don't get me wrong - I love helping out the awesome parents I have who endured 18 years of raising me. But... this is probably a win-win for everyone :)

(http://xkcd.com/627/)

1921 Recession

2009-08-24T11:40:00.003-04:00

All the time we hear about the Great Depression, how the government responded, and how badly we want to avoid that situation again. But the federal government is heading down the same path today, with respect to its attempts at stimulus.

Why don't we ever hear about the 1921 recession? Maybe because it never turned into a Depression, due in large part to President Harding's hands-off approach to letting the economy recover. Does our government pay attention to history?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_recession

Bloomberg Radio on your iPhone

2009-08-20T10:35:00.002-04:00

It took me way too long to figure this out, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else would find this useful.

To get live Bloomberg radio on your iPhone/iPod touch, download FStream (iTunes link)

Go to Favorites, hit Edit, Add new webradio, enter any name (doesn't matter), and enter this URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/streams/audio/radio_live_a.asx

I'm having trouble getting the stream to play on WiFi, but over the cellular network everything is up and running.

Phish returns tonight

2009-07-30T19:02:00.005-04:00

And now for something completely different -

After determining that a trip to the West Coast to see Phish was out of my budget (and vacation days remaining...) I am left wondering what unpredictable moments I'll be missing while Phish entertains the legions in the coming weeks. Thanks to Web 2.0 these moments will be delivered in near real-time, but it won't be the same.

A recently-started project is adding to fuel to the fire. In a massive archival undertaking, I am consolidating every concert amassed during the height of my Phish-obsessed days (anyone who knew me from 2000 to 2005 knows) onto a single hard drive for easy listening. This may not sound like a big deal until the details are revealed - over 600 CDs and DVDs worth of music data that had to be dug out of the depths of closet storage, containing approximately 1/2 concert each. This isn't an effort to boast - only to give context to the period in my life where there were three interests: baseball, class, and Phish.

I became a fan in high school during the band's first hiatus, and spent almost every day searching out audience recordings of their renowned live performances. Then, the magical weekend came and I had seen Phish live. Rather than satisfy my need for their musical output, it only served to accelerate the obsession. According to the list that I religiously maintained through the collection (though haven't updated since Dec '04), there are no less than 736 hours of live Phish in my possession. If you're asking yourself "Why?" at this point, you're normal.

Phish 2.0 describes the years 2003-2004, after which the band broke up "for good" as the band put it. As we know, they've gotten back together and Phish 3.0 is in high gear. My enthusiasm for the band has waned, helped no doubt by growing up a bit, but also by the band's relatively staid on-stage presence and playing. There have been highlights, no doubt, but the creativity that made them famous has largely given way to tension/release guitar solos and straight-forward playing of traditionally improvisational pieces.

Discouraged by the band's recent trend, I set out on the aforementioned crusade to remind myself why I fell in love with this goofy foursome. Hopefully this won't result in a self-inflicted seclusion from friends and society, but rather a welcome diversion from thinking about the economy-at-large.

Here's a cool interview-

Where we're headed

2009-07-30T11:34:00.008-04:00

I remain bearish in regards to the US economy, despite the recent stock market rally. I simply don't see how our economy can undergo a recovery with 10% unemployment. Our GDP was inflated by consumer credit and full employment. Now that the credit bubble has burst, and employment levels are lower, our country's production will remain suppressed for quite some time. Fewer people with jobs mean fewer people spending money, and fewer people spending money means less profits for companies - large corporations and small businesses alike. It appears to me that it is a vicious cycle, with each effect becoming the next cause. With lenders such as CIT having trouble staying afloat, many small businesses in America will struggle to maintain the financial strength to continue operating in an environment of lower sales. As we have seen, bailout money has certainly saved the "financial system" - take a look at Goldman Sachs' latest 10-Q. But did it save America? Ask small businesses.

Here is an update to the stock chart idea from a few months ago, comparing recent market action with that of the Great Depression.

First, a picture of the stock market from 1928 - 1932:

And now 2007 - today:

I am not simply saying that history will repeat itself here with regards to the stock market rallying, then completely collapsing. It would be rudimentary to say that because Chart A happened, Chart B will turn out the same way.
All I am presenting is evidence against those in the media that use the stock market rally as their own 'evidence' that an economic recovery is underway.

And, the greater point of all of this is that government has failed us by inflating a bubble that has now burst. If our elected officials would get out of the way by reducing or eliminating the income tax and cutting out all of the waste in all levels of government, our capitalistic economy could once again rise to occasion and better our standard of living.
By continuing its policy of deficit spending and increasing taxes (if you believe Obama's pledge not to increase taxes, you may want to read up on what economists are saying about his health care plan, or what his policies will do to the value of your US Dollar in savings), our government is damning us to a decreased standard of living.

January Stimulus Estimates were waaaay optimistic

2009-07-21T12:11:00.006-04:00

In January, the Obama administration-elect put forth this projection of the impact of its stimulus package. We are currently much worse than they had projected had no stimulus taken place.
I'm not saying that the White House has a crystal ball, but if they could not come any closer than this, do we really want them trying to allocate our tax dollars in an effort to 'fix' the economy?

Source - Google Stats, January report from the office of the Vice-President Elect/Council of Economic Advisors

The Future Point

2009-07-15T00:33:00.004-04:00

I just experienced a thought that I haven't had in a long time. While in the middle of something, usually an obstacle or anxiety-inducing event, I used to think about the point in the future when I would be finished and back to the state of 'normalcy'. The first time I can recall having this thought was when I was learning to wear contact lenses. The first two months or so were pretty awful - I have sensitive eyes, so the thought (and action) of inserting foreign objects into my oculars presented a pretty daunting situation. So, whenever I was having an especially bad time of it, I would just center my thoughts around the point in the future when contacts would be second-nature to me and there was nothing to worry about.

These thoughts picked up in frequency with the onset of college baseball, specifically the physical conditioning aspect of it. At the beginning of the 1.5 miles in 10 minutes run that players had to complete before admittance to the first practice at Young Harris, I found myself desperately looking forward to the day that I would attend practice for the first time as a fully-initiated player. Unfortunately, due to my lack of physical conditioning in high school, it took over a week for me to complete the test, with twice-a-day tries. So when that glorious day did finally come, it was all the more special because I could look back and think about the times that I had thought about the exact moment that I was now living.
There are more, but I think the idea has been conveyed.

So, strangely enough, I had this same thought process just 15 minutes ago as I picked up my toothbrush and began brushing away the day's meals. A pretty basic task, brushing is... not usually worth much thought or mention. Yet, for some reason, tonight I was really peeved by the interruption in the Tonight Show (now with Conan O'Brien, to my joy) that it presented. I found myself envisioning... myself... plopped on the bed watching everyone's favorite 6'4" Irish Late-Night host deliver the goods before I hibernate in preparation for Wednesday.

What does mean?

My conclusion is that there has been a distinct drop-off in the number of challenges or obstacles in my life since graduating. While dreading something is never fun, and a difficult task can be an unpleasant opponent, these things yield a life worth telling someone about. I miss that.

So, with that, I've decided to pack up and move to Pakistan to train to climb K2. There, I should have plenty of opportunities to look to the future point.

Just kidding.....
maybe

Even IF a recovery is coming...

2009-07-02T10:20:00.001-04:00

This stock market rally is premature

Employment Data from ADP, stock index prices from Yahoo

The "Useful Links" Post

2009-06-25T13:27:00.008-04:00

This is an ongoing list of links that I find useful, and you may too

Google Calendar Text Wrap - your G-Cal event titles will display sans clipping
S&P 500 Earnings Estimates - issued by Standard & Poors analysts. Keep tabs on US corporate profits as a way to gauge the economy
Wall Street Journal Crossword - weekly crossword that I struggle to get 20% complete... weekly
Live Bloomberg TV - drag this link into your bookmarks bar and click to have a new window open playing live Bloomberg TV
Live CNBC TV - this is an mms:// link, so you may have to do some tinkering with your media player to get it to work. I have successfully used it in Windows Media Player and in VLC

Foreshadowing?

2009-06-16T16:11:00.004-04:00

This is meant in no way to be scientific, but it is pretty interesting. Below are two charts of the S&P 500 Index - on top, the past 14 hours, and on bottom, the past 3 years. It's creepy how similar the patterns are, and suggests that it's not at all out of the realm of possibilities for this market to revisit the lows. (I personally think it will breach the March low)

Traffic

2009-05-26T12:19:00.011-04:00

The purpose of this post is to provide me with the traffic cameras I need before heading out the door. But, feel free to bookmark it yourself if you find yourself constantly curious about Atlanta traffic conditions

Twitter

2009-04-30T15:59:00.005-04:00

A common question I hear from friends when talking about Twitter is, "What exactly is Twitter? What's the point??" I think anyone that puts 5 minutes into actually seeking an answer to that question will find that Twitter is simply a quick way to keep people up to speed on what you're doing. You're limited to 140 characters per 'tweet' and can update your status from any computer (twitter.com), phone (sms text), or hybrid thereof (smartphone application, etc).

www.twitter.com/mk32

Oh.. and I brought home a Macbook the other day. I guess I've done a 180 from a year ago - just call me the US Republican Party.

Edit - added a gadget to the left, hooray for technology

A song good enough to put you in a good mood...

2009-04-17T19:41:00.004-04:00

...all by itself

(well, there used to be a Youtube video embedded here, but it was taken down due to a copyright claim. The song was "Call of the Wild")

I stumbled upon this band, Nightwish, while cruising wimp.com the other day and they've become my taste-of-the-week. It's a blend of heavy metal (just lost a few people), classical, and even a little Irish traditional.

Just goes to show that while one may think that all the possible music has been listened to, there's plenty out there yet to be discovered.

Marketing gets personal

2009-04-08T11:02:00.002-04:00

EA Sports has always been a pretty 'cool' company, but even for them this is pretty un-corporate. Check it out-

Someone on Youtube finds a glitch in EA Sports' Tiger Woods 2008 (I was personally addicted to the 2002 version of the game on Playstation 2 while at Young Harris and UT)

And EA responds with this funny clip

I like where the internet is taking business, even if only for a few companies so far.

Which is worse: Being cliche, or going out of your way to not be cliche?

2009-03-12T09:44:00.005-04:00

I ordered a refurbished iPod shuffle (now that the new model has come out, the old ones are deeply discounted) and started pondering... I surely don't want to be one of the millions of white-earbud wearing Apple loyalists, do I? Yet, if I go out of my way to find other headphones to use with it, is that any better?

I guess we'll find out when it arrives in a couple days.

I remember there was a time that I said I would never buy an Apple product. My tune has certainly changed, now that I use an iPhone and have a Shuffle on the way. I still despise the Apple culture though... me and elitism don't mix.

(photo credit)