Friday, November 21, 2008

MLB Network channel to Time Warner

Still no Orioles for Nationals, but the Triangle area will get the new MLB Network.

Failure to Deliver Unwanted Junk Mail

This Raleigh Postal worker decided to stow away flyers (AKA junk mail) and lost his job because of it:

Steven Padgett, 58, leaves the federal courthouse after receiving a probationary sentence from a sympathetic judge for failing to deliver years worth of junk mail on his Apex route.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Mark Cuban says he is not a Mamma Insider

Its always the big names that get charged with insider trading with the Securities Exchange. Martha Stewart was a name that recently was made an example of. Mark Cuban is the latest to be charged in the civil proceeding.

Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks who made his fortunes selling his Broadcast.com to Yahoo. He maintains an online presence and is open about his opinion and views.

The day he was charged you could go straight to his blog and see the post about being charged with the insider trading where he denied charges, but said he could not speak about it now.

However, the next day was a reversal where he gives you a transcript portion of Guy Faure being questioned about Mark Cuban where he says he does not remember what Cuban said in response to hearing that the PIPE (reduced shares offering) funding was going to be happening. Mr. Faure's response sure puts a whole in the SEC's case, where he is the one who delivered the news of alleged insider information. But, Mr. Clark claims that Cuban was never an insider.

It seems Mark Cuban has been harassed recently by SEC's persecutor Jeffrey Norris because Cuban's criticism of George Bush's policies.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Additional Bailout for Jobs and Cars

The recently passed Bailout Bill (H.R. 1424) known as Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was said to to save the banking industry. Now, there is an additional bailout being proposed which calls for 6 billion for unemployment benefits, and 25 billion for the auto industry.

The technology industry continues to drop jobs left and right. With Sun Microsystems dropping 15%, that is a huge number.

This will be a rough period over the next few months, and possibly years. It couldn't have come at a worse time with the holiday season approaching.

Are the Bailouts the answer?

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Cutbacks Continue In Raleigh Area

In what appears to be a sign of the down turn in the market in North Carolina, here are some recent employers with reductions:
I thought the early 2000s would be the worst volatility we would ever experience in the job market place. It is not looking to promising with the jobless numbers at worst level since 2001, when I was termed redundant.

Three Questions on GWT

  1. Where can I find an overview of the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) ? URL #1
  2. Where can I find a tutorial on the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) ? URL #2
  3. Where can I find out what a Google Web Toolkit (GWT) module is? URL #3

Public or Private Schools for the Celebs

One thing in the news is the President-elect Obama checking out the D.C. area, the place he will call home for at least the next four years starting in January. We already know they will be picking out a dog they would like to adopt, but another decision amongst the family is will they put the kids in private or public schools. Jimmy Carter was one who preferred the public schools with his daughter Amy. However, the Clintons' chose private schools for Chelsea. The Obama children are at a young enough ages that making the move to a new school should go pretty seemless. Though, I am sure they will sure miss their schoolkid friends in Illinois at first. I for one think they could find a good public school out there. I can understand Carter's preference. But, the world is a different place that it was in the late 1970s. As children of a celebrity type status as in the President, I think private schools might be the better choice.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fantasy Sports Is Not Gambling, Or Is It

It seems that the outgoing regime is trying to crack down on online gambling. Or, at least they're trying to finalize legislation that does so. It seems in 2006 they created a bill that disallowed financial institutions from accepting payment to settle wagers. However, they did not define online gambling clearly enough. The enforcement of online gambling they are trying to push through does not include fantasy sports. Thank you:
Betting on fantasy sports is not viewed by law enforcement as illegal gambling and the NFL has supported Congress' ban
Rep Steve Cohen believes there is a conflict of interest here because Bush aide (Deputy Director of Public Liason) William Wichterman previously served at D.C. law firm Covington & Burling representing the NFL. They lobbied in support of the white house ban on internet gambling, and viewed fantasy football being something that does not fall under a form of internet gambling. Here are the details:

In a November 7 letter to Mr. Fielding, Rep. Cohen said he had been told that Mr. Wichterman "has been a source of considerable political pressure to speed this regulation through." The letter further stated, "The National Football League has been among the most vocal advocates for the proposed rule and the underlying law. I am sure you will agree that, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest is undeniable."
As recently as March 2008, Mr. Wichterman was a paid lobbyist for the NFL, which has been a strong opponent of all forms of Internet gambling except for fantasy sports - an activity that generates more than $1 billion a year in revenues. Mr. Wichterman recently left the law firm of Covington and Burling, which represents the NFL, to serve as a political appointee in the few remaining months of the Bush Administration.

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veterans Day Holiday

It wasn't until yesterday that I figured out that today (Veterans Day) was a holiday for state employees. I noticed last night when I was walking the dog, that some of the neighbors had really decorated with their red-white-and-blue.

My wife suggested doing something something fun with the day off. The style she has is get your chores done early and then have the afternoon off to be free. The Veterans Day where one spouse works and the other spouse has off is known as a perfect opportunity for the one at home to get some house work done. Luckily, for me she didn't ask me to scrub floors or anything. Just that I vacuum up some dirt I tracked in from some weekend yard work.

Thus, in morning I did some catchup on a few things. I caught the movie Pride and Glory.

When, I got home i did the work she wanted me to do before she got home.

Welcome to My Blog

I have been blogging for years on sports related topics. This will be my place to write about just about anything. I have a whole lot of interests and different ideas on things, so this will serve as my place to capture my daily musings through life. If you stop by, give me a shout!