I just found an iPhone application for editing for Movable Type.

This technology is evolving rapidly…

This is just in its infancy, but I wanted a visual picture of the economic crisis and the affected banks. Using the Google Maps API and the FDIC’s failed bank list, I created this:

Right now, it is very basic - it just shows the points where the failed banks exist. As I learn how to manipulate this, the markers will each show the name of the failed bank and the date which they failed. My next step will be to add all of the banks which accepted money from the TARP and all the banks which refused money from the TARP.

I’m going to throw in a plug for Google Reader. For the past several years I have been using rss2email, which is a wonderful tool but not perfect. I love the fact that I can get feeds in my email - to a point. I now am watching over 20 financial feeds (what can I say, I’m hooked) - which is cool, but overwhelming my email box. I can easily see 50+ emails a day - and I don’t have time to process them all.

I have now mastered the art of buying high and selling low!

I have also noted several observations:

• The leveraged funds lose value over time due to high expense ratios and the simple math that 10% and 10% up doesn't mean you're in the same position. These need to be day-traded, not held - and you need a stomach for big market moves.
• Futures tend to overreact; while they may predict the outcome for the day, buying pre-market or post-market exacerbates the sentiment. I think this can be taken advantage of by being "anti-sentiment".
• Don't count your chickens before they've hatched. If you feel that giddy about your position, take the profit now.

I’ve also learned that my experiment with day-trading has reduced my average amount of sleep from 8 to 5 hours a night. It has very quickly become an obsession with very little (if any) personal gain. While there is an unrealized (!) potential for monetary gain, a different obsession would be a better investment of my time. Nontheless, I am not abandoning this obsession just yet…

This is a sick perversion of the holiday spirit.

A man died because people were so desperate to save a few percentage points on the latest imported junk. No one even bothered to help him.

I’m disgusted.

Isilon and Jerry… I’ve been on several trips recently - to Atlanta, Austin, and soon Los Angeles. Jerry keeps me really busy, from the moment I get home until the moment I leave the next door. We’ve been having a ball.

He made two verbal slips that were pretty funny recently - we were talking about fruits and donuts and he accidentally said “banut” (banana donut). As soon as the word came out, we both started laughing. There was a look of surprise on his face. Today, the same thing happened - he wanted to watch Bee Movie and instead said “Boomie”. He’s has become a very effective communicator, very fast.