Nathan Spear, California's first commercial salmon fisherman

After Captain Sutter had settled at Fort New Helvetia he was in the habit, at times, of sending fresh salmon to Yerba Buena. The fish were fresh-salted or smoked. Nathan Spear, who was an epicure, and lover of good things, appreciated these fish very highly. The idea suggested itself to his mind that something profitable might be done in salmon fishing on the Sacramento River. Not wishing to trespass upon Captain Sutter’s ground, although, of course, Sutter had no exclusive right to the fish in the river, Spear wrote to him on the subject and received encouragement to go up and engage in fishing there for salmon. He made several trips in 1840 and ‘41 in the schooner Isabella, camping on the bank of the Sacramento in a comfortable tent, and superintended the catching of the fish by the crew of his schooner and by Indians experienced in fishing, furnished by Captain Sutter. He took large quantities of salmon, filling the hold of the Isabella with fish packed in bulk, transported them to Yerba Buena, and disposed of them at satisfactory prices, packed in barrels and kegs of different sizes, to visiting vessels and to residents, making a good profit.

To Nathan Spear, therefore, is due the credit of having inaugurated the salmon fishery on this coast as a business, and of developing, to a considerable extent, an enterprise which has since grown to large proportions. On the last trip to the river in salmon catching Mrs. Spear accompanied her husband.

Land Grants in California

While under the Mexican system, any Californian desiring a land grant applied to the Governor, listing his or her name, age, country, vocation, quantity and description of the land, and a hand-drawn map, or diseño, of the boundaries and natural features of the desired land. After consulting local officials, the Governor would decide and, if he approved, issue a formal grant in writing to the applicant. This system resulted in extremely large land grants; most were for thousands -- or even tens of thousands -- of acres. Thus a small number of wealthy landowners ran ranchos that employed large numbers of people.

To iron out the confusion over land ownership in California, Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" in 1851. This legislation established the California Land Commission, which had responsibility for adjudicating the validity of claims to Spanish and Mexican land grants. The new law placed the burden of proof on the claimant. Because it provided for appeals of the Commission's decisions to the Federal courts, titles to these claims were often tied up in litigation for years. So, added to the conflict between the existing population and the increasing stream of new immigrants looking for places to live was uncertainty about ownership of large portions of land. Because litigation over land grants lasted years (and sometimes decades), squatting became widespread and sometimes resulted in violent clashes. Additionally, many claimants could not afford the lengthy litigation and, as a result, lost their lands.

Dana Point named after Richard Henry Dana, Jr

Dana authored the infamous "Two Years Before the Mast" describing his experience sailing from Boston to the coast of California and back in 1835-36.

During one experience, his ship was on a voyage to trade goods from the east for cow hides. Interestingly, the bluffs near Mission San Juan Capistrano presented an obstacle to taking the cow hides to the beach for subsequent loading onto the ship. So, Dana, along with others of the Pilgrim's crew, tossed the hides from the bluffs, while spinning them like a frisbee. Some hides got stuck part way down the cliff and Dana was lowered with ropes to retrieve them. Since that day, that point where the bluffs were located, took on Dana's name, and is today the city of Dana Point.

Winston Churchill said . . .

The United States always does the right thing . . . after all other possibilities have been exhausted.

How big is the amount of all gold ever mined??

Well, first let's think about how much gold India bought from the IMF recently . . . Meanwhile, the Buttonwood column of this week's Economist, titled Paper Promises, Golden Hordes, discusses the small quantity of gold that actually exists: "Two hundred metric tons of gold [that's what India bought] would occupy a cube of a little more than two meters on a side; it would fit into a small bedroom." And of course, all the gold that's ever been found would fit into two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Think about adding to your gold holdings!

How bad is unmemployment?

LAS VEGAS - In the latest sign of the economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.

Experts say the slow starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide.

"It's the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression," said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dimentia vs Alzheimer's Disease

Are you confused about how to distinguish between these two conditions? click here to learn more

China to the rescue???

Would someone please explain to me how China is going to come to the rescue of the West with their economic demand when the average income in China is $3000?

Tax cheaters are getting more nervous all the time . . .

Hong Kong hasn’t been the only tax jurisdiction implicated in the past year. UBS admitted in February that it helped U.S. clients create sham companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands, while hiding the true owners from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. UBS clients who pleaded guilty also implicated Singapore, Liechtenstein, Mexico and the Cayman Islands.

The IRS is analyzing a trove of information from more than 7,500 taxpayers who voluntarily disclosed their offshore accounts this year to avoid prosecution. To qualify, clients had to disclose everyone who handled their money overseas and everywhere it went.

This is going to get exciting!

Happiness

Happiness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open.

Video - Godfather clip

Who can forget this scene from the The Deer Hunter . . . . the reason is because it's all one take and the use of the mirror is really creative.

Acts of Kindness . . .

Small acts of kindness, performed consistently and with love make a huge difference.

Barbara Stone

Words of Wisdom

Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
Over prepare, then go with the flow.
Pay off your credit cards every month

and from Barbara Young . . . low expectations = high satisfaction

Taxpayer Fraud

Are you surprised to find out that people are cheating on the taxes? How about the first time buyer tax credit? What I thought would be a snoozer hearing in a House Ways and Means subcommittee this morning has incensed and amazed me. Testimony from the Hon. J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, reports hundreds of millions of dollars, yep, your and my tax dollars, have been paid out to scam artists and just plain cheater buyers through the housing tax credit.

click here

Is Gold Money?

On the subject of metals, the CME announced that it would allow gold to be used as collateral for trades on the exchange. While this is not going to impact the price of gold in any direct way in the short run, it's another sign of gold being re-recognized as money, as having been traded as "just another commodity" for 25 years or so.

Fishing the Lower Sacramento River

Off for two days of fly fishing on the lower Sacramento River, that's between Redding and Anderson. The upper Sacramento is above Shasta Lake.

Juan Rodrguez Cabrillo was the first reporter - in 1540

In 1540, an earthquake destroyed the city of Santiago, Guatemala where Cabrillo was living. Cabrillo's report to the Spanish crown on the earthquake's destruction is the first known piece of secular journalism written in the New World.

Dominic DiMaggio

Say what you will about the DiMaggios but they were a tour de force in major league baseball but my favorite was Dominic, who played with Ted Williams with the Boston Red Sox. During the season of '41 he said he had the bird's eye view of 4 amazing events : Joe's 56 game hitting streak, Ted William's dramatic homerun to drive in Joe Dimaggio and win the '41 All Star game (Dom was on deck) and be apart of Lefty Gomez's 300th pitching win (Dom caught the final out). Everyone remembers Joe (and a little about Vince) but Dom had an incredible career and wrote a great book about the season of '41 called "Real Grass, Real Heroes". Learn more about Dominic here

8" of rain during the storm

I couldn't believe my eyes as I looked at the bucket full of water outside yesterday morning after the skies cleared. I took my measuring tape and pulled out 12" or so and stuck it into the bucket and yep, 8" of rain had accumulated in the bucket. Now, the skeptic in me says that this isn't the way to measure rainfall but how else could this be explained? The bucket was not under a tree or an eve, the only way the bucket could have filled was by random raindrops. Then, this morning the paper revealed the confirmation . . . . San Luis Obispo did indeed receive 7.9" of rain during the storm. The real confirmation is that our lake rose about 4' . . . yes FOUR FEET. Last week the gangway to the dock was at a 45 degree angle and today it's around 20 degrees!

2010 Census Cautions

With the U.S. Census process beginning, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) advises people to be cooperative, but cautious, so as not to become a victim of fraud or identity theft. The first phase of the 2010 U.S. Census is under way as workers have begun verifying the addresses of households across the country. Eventually, more than 140,000 U.S. Census workers will count every person in the United States and will gather information about every person living at each address including name, age, gender, race, and other data. The big question is - how do you tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist? BBB offers the following advice:

** If a U.S. Census worker knocks on your door, they will have a badge, a handheld device, a Census Bureau canvas bag, and a confidentiality notice. Ask to see their identification and their badge before answering their questions. However, you should never invite anyone you don't know into your home.

** Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, it will not ask for Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers, nor will employees solicit donations.

Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail, or in person at home. However, they will not contact you by Email, so be on the lookout for Email scams impersonating the Census.

Never click on a link or open any attachments in an Email that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.

For more advice on avoiding identity theft and fraud, visit www.bbb.org

High Frequency Trading - is it bad for you?

Once again, our favorite John Stewart has settled the issue with this in depth report. The link to the video is through the Ritholz.com blog which is one of my favorites for understanding what's going on in the economy, markets and good investigative journalism . . . click here

Poco - Pickin' Up the Pieces

Such a great band then and their music is still great now . . . makes you appreciate how truly magical the Buffalo Springfield were . . . read this recent review of Poco's first LP click here

Yellowstone Caution

Several years while visiting Yellowstone, I found a tee shirt with language that poked fun at how foolish visitors to the park have been.

Divisive Media Blowhards

Steve Lopez at the LA Times has really summed it up in his recent op-ed piece on the craziness from Rush to Beck, et al. Stuart Spencer, who ran four successful campaigns for the late governor and president, laments the state of politics and punditry. The Republican California political guru who crafted four successful Ronald Reagan campaigns, two for governor and two for president, does not watch Fox News or its conservative bobblehead pundits. read it here

Healthcare around the world

Sick Around the World was presented on Frontline some time ago and is the result of research conducted by T. R. Reid. If you would like to see the comparisons, click here

Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch's last lecture is wonderful, you can find it on YouTube. Here's one of the pearls, "don't bail; the best gold is at the bottoms of crap."

annoying telephone calls?

go to this website and post the number and what type of call it was. this is also a good place to start if you want to know more about a caller that you suspect is not known to you

click here for CallFerret

Is the recession over? Bernanke thinks so . . . . who cares?

from Barry Ritholz - - -

Ben Bernanke has declared the recession over.

This leads to one simple question: Why should you care what his recession forecasts are?

Based on his track record as a forecaster and his acumen in identifying economic problems before they exploded, his views on starts and finishes of recessions are, to be blunt, irrelevant.

Recall it was Mr. Bernanke who described the sub-prime situation as “Contained;” it was he who believed Housing would not spill over to the broader economy; and it was he who somehow thought the Bear Stearns situation was a one-off.

I don’t wish to single out Mr. Bernanke; After all, he is an economist, and if you were paying attention, you will note that the entire profession missed the oncoming recession, credit crisis and market collapse. You may also find it helpful to ignore what the profession that cannot forecast yesterday thinks about tomorrow.

Even now, the Federal Reserve Chairman said the recession was “very likely over” as consumers showed some of the first tangible signs of spending again. Never mind that all this retail activity has been driven by government subsidies.

Now, as an investor, you do want to be mindful of the Fed Chief’s economic views, particularly how they pertain to his interest rate policies. The ed has made it clear rates are staying low for the foreseeable future, so this becomes a non-issue in this context.

But his economic forecasts? Don’t bother.

Note that I have not been a particularly harsh critic of the Fed Chair. While he may not be Paul Volcker, he is also (thankfully) not Alan Greenspan. And we could have done much worse than having a student of the Great Depression, who is also an out-of-the-box thinker as Fed Chief.

But as a prognosticator? He is no better than his predeccessor . . .

Libertarian or Conservative

I know what a Libertarian is . . . that's someone who believes that less government is better except for running services that benefit the greater good . . . . . like regulating water, air, highway systems, defense.

It’s a bit harder to define a conservative. Is it someone who atavistically just wants to conserve the existing order of things (either now, or perhaps as they perceived them 50, or 100, or 200, or however many years ago)? Or is a conservative someone who believes in limiting social freedoms (generally that means suppressing things like sex, drugs, outré clothing and customs, and bad- mouthing the government) while claiming to support economic freedoms (although with considerable caveats and exceptions)? It’s unclear to me what, if any, philosophical foundation conservatism, by whatever definition, rests on.

Insomnia explained

Psychiatrist Milton Erickson recognized that insomnia is basically a sleep slump. Once insomniacs start thinking and worrying about their lack of sleep, they can no longer relax and enter the frame of mind needed to naturally drift off. In one famous case, Erickson advised an insomniac to get out of bed when he couldn’t sleep and meticulously scrub his kitchen floor with a toothbrush. Willing to try almost anything, the patient followed the therapist’s advice and promptly became so dulled by the tedious task that he dragged himself to bed for a good night’s sleep. The task broke the cycle in which thinking about sleeping interfered with the process of falling asleep.

Some funnies

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

6. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

7. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

8. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

9. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to The other, 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

10. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

11. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When His grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

12. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large

13. A backward poet writes inverse.

14. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

15. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

Courage as described by Lance Armstrong

Things take place, there is a confluence of events and circumstances, and we can’t always know their purpose or even if there is one. But we can take responsibility for ourselves and be brave. We each cope differently with the specter of our deaths. Some people deny it. Some numb themselves with drugs or alcohol. We are tempted to do a little of each of those things. But I think we’re supposed to try to face it straightforwardly, armed with nothing but courage.

The definition of courage is: the quality of spirit that enables one to encounter danger with firmness and without fear.

Lance Armstrong . . . It’s Not About the Bike

Video - Bell, Book and Candle -

Another clip from the same film but this time with Jimmy Stewart and Ernie Kovacs . . .

Video - Bell, Book and Candle - Ernie Kovacs

Ernie Kovacs and Jack Lemmon . . . .

Legalizing Marijuana

Once again I heard another talk show host have a 3 hours debate over the legalization of marijuana. It's so ridiculous a topic because the discussion always focuses on leaf product of marijuana. I've never heard one of these discussions mention the real alternative which is Marinol, a legally produced available form of THC, the chemical that gives you the high. Make Marinol available to people who claim that only marijuana (THC) can help them with their medical condition and let's stop this debate about legalizing the leaf marijuana click here for more info on Marinol.

Over 60? Don't worry about Swine Flu

According to the Center for Disease Control - no one over 60 years of age has contracted swinw flu, they don't know but hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Confusing this with that

Too many people confuse knowledge with wealth. Just because someone is wealthy doesn't mean they are smart.

Fame

Fame should never be confused with accomplishment.

My new mandolin is ready

Tomorrow I get my new mandolin made by Craig Wilson, it's a beauty. You can see at Mandolin Cafe click here

The Scientific Method

One of the greatest legacies of the European Enlightenment is a scientific methodology that allows us to make increasingly accurate observations about the world around us. This methodology is based on the assumption that all we need in order to comprehend nature is a solid understand of the laws and processes that we can observe and test in the natural world. The supernatural does not enter the equation, because it does not rovide us with any explanations that can be test empirically.

This morning at 4:05:06

You probably weren't up when this happened but at 5 minutes and 6 seconds after 4 A.M. the time was: 04:05:06 07-08-09

THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN UNTIL THE YEAR 3009!!

The Southern Cross - The Constellation Crux

Because it is not visible from most latitudes in the Northern hemisphere, Crux is a modern constellation and has no Greek or Roman myths associated with it. Crux was used by explorers of the southern hemisphere to point south since, unlike the north celestial pole, the south celestial pole is not marked by any bright star.

Dolphins

from "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana . . . . 'there is nothing more beautiful than the dolphin when swimming a few feet below the surface, on a bright day. It is the most elegantly formed and also the quickest fish in salt water; and the rays of the sun striking upon it, in its rapid and changing motions, reflected from the water, made it look like a stray beam from a a rainbow.'

photo taken on a return trip from the Channel Islands

Shibboleth

I see this word a lot so I'm guessing that you all do too. What does it mean?

Shibboleth is any distinguishing practice which is indicative of one's social or regional origin. It usually refers to features of language, and particularly to a word whose pronunciation identifies its speaker as being a member or not a member of a particular group.

Psuedohistory and hyperdiffusion

A hyper-diffusionist theory is one that proposes that the greatest cultural achievements of one ancient civilization can be traced to another, higher civilization whose ideas were transmitted as a result of voyages or other forms of "diffusion" not recognized by mainstream scholars (usually because they never happened). . . . . . . This is a medieval way of thinking. Belief in hidden correspondences was almost universal before the Enlightenment, and it went hand in hand with a pre-modern methodology: first you decide what you believe, then you find the evidence, brushing aside anything that doesn't fit. from Damian Thompson's "Counterknowledge"

Don't cry . . .

Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened.

The importance of sound in a movie

The movie "Deer Hunter" took six months to shoot, and a further five months to mix the soundtrack. Since this was his first Dolby film, Michael Cimino was eager to exploit the technology to its fullest potential. A short battle sequence, for example, (200 feet of film) took five days to dub. For the re-creation of the American evacuation of Saigon, he accompanied composer Stanley Myers to the location and had him listen to the sounds of vehicles, tanks, and jeep horns as the sequence was being filmed. Myers then composed music for the sequence in the same key as the horns, so that it would blend with the images creating one truly bleak experience.

Truly Happy

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

How a tree is helping to cure AIDS

In September of 1987, Dr. John Burley, research botanist at the Arnold Arboretum, was exploring the tropical rain forests of northern Borneo, searching for new medicines from plants to fight cancer and AIDS. As he collected a sample of an unknown tree species for testing in the laboratories of the National Cancer Institute, he also created a herbarium specimen for the Arnold Arboretum. Four years later an extract from the sample was found to be effective in preventing the growth of the AIDS virus. When researchers returned to Borneo to collect more plant material, the forest had been cut down and the plant was gone.
Dr. Peter Stevens, a botanist at the Arnold Arboretum, studied the herbarium sheet and identified the specimen as the rare species Calophyllum lanigerum. With this identification, botanists have been able to locate trees of the same species growing in a botanical garden in Singapore. In 1993, scientists isolated the compound calanolide A, which inhibits the growth of AIDS virus and has now been synthesized in the laboratory. Consequently, calanolide A is in the preclinical drug development as a promising vaccine to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Your Computer according to Dr. Seuss

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort, and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse; then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk, and the macro code instructions is causing unnecessary risk, then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM, and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!

Well, that certainly clears things up for me. How about you?

Toni gives away her raffle winnings

Last Saturday, I dusted off my ES 335 to play some rock and roll at a fundraiser for Kathy Phillips at the Oddfellows Hall. During the evening, Toni found a childhood friend and he bought her 10 tickets for the raffle (50% of the money raised went to the Phillips family and the raffle winner gets the rest). A number was picked but no one claimed the prize ($450), so another number was picked and Toni won. She gave the whole amount to the family . . . that's my girl and I was proud of her for doing such a nice thing.

Not a good sign . . . insiders are selling!

Share sales by so-called company insiders are outstripping purchases so far this month by more than 22 times. TrimTabs, the investment research company, said insiders of S&P 500 listed companies have unloaded $2.6bn in shares in June, compared with $120m in purchases.

How precious is a day?

Good reminder of how precious each day is that we take for granted.

There is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out ALL OF IT, of course!!!!

Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.

Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back.There is no drawing against the "tomorrow." You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE-SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time. And remember that time waits for no one. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!!! Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their heart to us.

Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you have a circle of friends

Tiger Woods and Luck

Farmingdale, N.Y. – Tiger Woods, the player of this era who best knows how to control his own destiny, has often spoken of the importance of luck in many outcomes. Whether Woods and his fellow competitors in the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park feel lucky when the championship resumes at 7:30 a.m. Saturday is definitely out of their control. It’s all up to Mother Nature, really.

Inside the employment numbers

"What really struck us in the employment report of a few weeks ago was the fact that the only segment of the population that is gaining jobs is the 55+ age category. This group gained 224,000 net new jobs in May while the rest of the population lost 661,000. In fact, over the last year, those folks 55 and up garnered 630,000 jobs whereas the other age categories collectively lost over six million positions. This is epic. Moreover, the number of 55 year olds and up who have two jobs or more has risen 1.1% in the last year, the only age cohort to have managed to gain any multiple jobs at all. Remarkable. These folks have seen their wealth get destroyed by two bubble-busts less than seven years apart — the Nasdaq nest egg back in 2001 and the 5,000 square foot McMansion in 2007. Both bubbles ended in tears ... and so close together."

David Rosenberg, now with Gluskin Sheff

How important is spelling?

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the human mind deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Flame of Love Martini

Back in the day (before it closed in April, 1995) Chasen's was THE hip restaurant for the entertainment crowd. It was located on Beverly Blvd in Beverly Hills. They served the Flame of Love Martini :

Pepe Ruiz, Chasen's in Hollywood, created for Dean Martin who was a drinker among drinkers.

1/4 oz. Fino sherry
2 oz. vodka
Several peels of orange

Coat the inside of chilled martini glass with Fino sherry and toss out the excess. Flame several orange peels into glass. Chill Vodka and strain into seasoned glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Video - Year of Living Dangerously

A breakout role for Mel Gibson and an academy award performance by Linda Hunt. The movie tells the story about the uprising and overthrow of Sukarno in 1967.

Who's on the Euro and Who's not

There are 27 countries in the EU . . . guess which of the European Union countries haven't switched to the Euro : England, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Now, the real question is why?

What's the difference between a home owners, your auto policy and . . .

the airline's policy of insuring you against loss in the event of an accident??

When a homeowner has a burglary or a driver has a crash, all it normally takes is a call to the insurance company and a description of the loss to activate the policy. But aviation liability insurance is different. It is activated by a finding of negligence on the part of an airline. If there is no negligence, then arguably there is no liability, and no obligation to pay claims. Aviation insurance specialists said that an airline's liability insurer is not normally there for medical bills after a plane crash. Passengers' health insurance may indeed pay first -- for passengers who have it -- or workers' compensation for passengers traveling on business. Later, if liability is established, those insurers circle back and try to get reimbursed from the airline's liability insurer.

Surfin' Safari unmasked

Surfin' Safari, one of the best Beachboy's hit songs was contested by Chuck Berry, who claimed he wrote the music and won a lawsuit against Brian Wilson . . . . but read on about this great song

click here

Video - Vertigo

Great scene from the master, Alfred Hitchcock.

Funny profits in banking

Citigroup’s $1.6 billion in first-quarter profit would vanish if accounting were more stringent, says Martin Weiss of Weiss Research Inc. in Jupiter, Florida. “The big banks’ profits were totally bogus,” says Weiss, whose 38-year-old firm rates financial companies. “The new accounting rules, the stress tests: They’re all part of a major effort to put lipstick on a pig.”

$2.7 billion before taxes came from an accounting rule that lets a company record income when the value of its own debt falls. That reflects the possibility a company could buy back bonds at a discount, generating a profit. In reality, when a bank can’t fund such a transaction, the gain is an accounting quirk, Weiss says.

Citigroup also increased its loan loss reserves more slowly in the first quarter, adding $10 billion compared with $12 billion in the fourth quarter, even as more loans were going bad. Provisions for loan losses cut profits, so adding more to this reserve could have wiped out the quarterly earnings.

Happy Anniversary to us . . .

Yep, it was 33 years ago today that Toni and I were married on a cliff in Palos Verdes, CA.

Natural gas powered vehicles

Why is so much money and effort being spent to develop an electrical vehicle when we have abundant natural gas in this USA? Vehicles powered by natural gas are far more efficient and less expensive than electrical vehicles. Read more here

Sun protection - is spf 50 better than spf 30

Yes SPF 50 is better than SPF 30 because SPF 50 increases the time you can spend out in the sun without sun cream. SPF 50 increases the amount of time you can spend out in the sun by 50 i.e the amount of time you can spend in the sun normally x 50 = n

but 50 doesn't block out more UV than 30

read more here

Taxing health care benefits?

The democratic Congress is talking of adopting John McCain's plan to tax health-care benefits. While this would be a tax on the middle class (on everyone) that Obama said he would not do, he is clearly willing to sign a bill that has such a tax.

Understanding the left and right brain because of stroke

If you really want to know how your brain works, read this book "My Stroke of Insight" and spend some time on this website . . . click here

watch the video on TED

Video - Dillards - Old Home Place

One of my favorite bluegrass songs and also one of theirs . . . .

On the subject of Spain . . . from John Mauldin

"As we have repeatedly said, Spain is set for a long, painful deflation that will manifest itself via a spectacularly high unemployment level, a real estate collapse and general banking insolvencies. Consider this: the value of outstanding loans to Spanish developers has gone from just €33.5 billion in 2000 to €318 billion in 2008, a rise of 850% in 8 years. If you add in construction sector debts, the overall value of outstanding loans to developers and construction companies rises to €470 billion. That's almost 50% of Spanish GDP. Most of these loans will go bad.
"Spanish banks are now facing a very bleak outlook. Spain's unemployment rate reached over 17% last month; there are now four million unemployed Spaniards and over one million families with not a single person employed in the family. Spain and Ireland had the worst housing bubbles in the world and now Spain has as many unsold homes as the US, even though the US is about six times bigger.
"Why are Spanish banks not insolvent? Spanish banks are not marking their real estate loans to market. We've often wondered how it is that our thesis for Spanish real estate and industrial collapse has not created more victims. The answer is simple according to an article in Expansion, the Spanish equivalent of the Financial Times, from the 19th of April titled 'Spanish banks control half of all real estate appraisals.' You can't make this stuff up. We haven't even begun to see the worst in Spain yet."

remembering Alan Bohnhoff

On May 18, 2009 Alan Bohnhoff was killed by a deranged employee at his family's hardwood lumber yard in Los Angeles. Alan was the son of Charlie who was the son of the founder of Bohnhoff Lumber Co in 1918, C R Bohnhoff. The Bohnhoff family and the Taenzer family (my grandfather) have been friends for years as American Hardwood was next door to Bohnhoff on 15th St for over 50 years and I've sold lumber to Bohnhoff.

We watched and tried to help as each other's lumber yards burned to the ground in the 50's and 70's.

Charlie told me yesterday, "He died in my arms". That's not the way it supposed to end. Alan was a good man, father and son. We'll miss people like him, he was too young to die. Today, Alan will be laid to rest. For more information click here

Video - Geithner and Stress Tests and Financial System analysis

Tim Geithner was on Charlie Rose recently and I was impressed by how he explained the vital importance of restoring confidence to the financial system. here is a short portion of that video

Talk about smart kids . . .

Teach Elementary School of San Luis Obispo has a 4th grade class which created a film that won an award at a recent film festival. The film "San Luis Obispo Historical Buildings" was created in the school's digital media lab; the students used Adobe Premiere Elements movie editing software to combine images with narration record on a homemade soundstage. You can buy a DVD for $10 from the school directly. for more information click here

Oh by the way, Teach's API score is 990! For those of you who are not aware of API scores, 1000 is tops!

The Dillards

Back in the 60's I discovered the Dillards at the Ice House in Pasadena and fell in love with bluegrass music, was awed by Doug's banjo playing and entertained by Rodney's humor . . . .

Although the Dillards aren't single-handedly responsible for bluegrass' migration from Appalachia to California, there's no denying they provided vital transportation. Raised in Salem, Mo., brothers Rodney and Doug Dillard jammed in a string of outfits before forming their own in 1960. The newly christened Dillards soon relocated to Los Angeles, where they made several appearances as the Darlings on the Andy Griffith Show. More importantly, the group became a pillar of the burgeoning folk/country-rock scene, along with the Byrds, Gosdin Brothers, Clarence White, etc. In 1967 Doug jumped ship to team up with ex-Byrd Gene Clark in the now legendary Dillard and Clark.

Investing according to Doug Kass - Seabreeze Partners

Rather, I prefer to stick to the discipline of interpreting fundamentals, valuation and sentiment through a logically reasoned, objective and analytical process. This means that I maintain the self-control of sitting on my hands, selling and/or shorting when values are rich and buying (even recklessly sometimes) when values emerge as they did two months ago.

This is, however, easier said (or written) than done. It requires patience and, at times, a variant or contrarian view and strength of analytical conviction. It often also requires one to ignore the business media's staccato repeated sound bytes of bullish breathlessness. Their intentions might be honorable, but quite frankly, the media, with few exceptions, have no or little skin in the game. And it often requires market participants to ignore the delivery of the talking heads whose platform is the media and whom are too frequently theatrical and shallow in their "advice" rather than substantive in their analysis.

Longest insult in Shakespeare

"A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lilly-livered, action-taking whoreson glassgazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch, one whom I will beat into clamourous whining, if thou denyest the least syllable of the addition." King Lear Act II Scene II

thanks to Jim Cooper, a friend of my sister Sarah's who I met at the Parkfield Bluegrass Festival this past weekend.

Talk about strange accounting, did you hear about Citigroup

Citigroup said it made $1.6 billion in the last quarter. One of the ways Citigroup achieved this gain was booking a profit of $2.7 billion on the decline in Citi's own debt. Say what? Under accounting rules, Citi was allowed to book a one-time gain equivalent to the decline in its bonds because, in theory, it could buy back its debt cheaply and save $2.7 billion over time. Of course, Citi didn't actually do that. Even though more consumer loans went bad in the first quarter, Citi reduced its loan loss reserve from $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter to $2.1 billion in the first quarter, thereby picking up another $1.3 billion of 'earnings'. And the recent change in mark to market accounting enabled Citi to book an additional $413 million in 'profit' on impaired assets. Without theses one-time adjustments, Citi's $1.6 billion in first quarter profit becomes a $2.8 billion loss.

The Edge

Ever wonder what the guitarist for U2's real name is ? Well, he's David Evans and he's buying up Malibu to boot.

Universities overbuilt during the bubble too

Now, the vacant halls are reminders of the new math confounding U.S. colleges. Students, pummeled by scarce loans and savings plans that have fallen as much as 40 percent, are heading for less expensive schools. The perks designed to lure them during boom times -- from hot tubs to dorm-suite kitchenettes, to in-room cable TV -- are crushing universities with debt. Even projects like Simmons’s “green” management building (the $32 million School of Management building at Simmons College in Boston is all but deserted) with its rain-absorbing roof patio and toilets with two flushing modes, can turn into burdens as schools struggle with rising expenses, plummeting endowments and needier applicants.

“The spending binge by colleges and universities was part of the same trend that created the bubble in the rest of the economy,” says Ronald Ehrenberg, an economics professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and author of “Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much” (Harvard University Press, 2000). “Now we’re seeing it burst.”

From Harvard University to California’s 3 million-student community college network, the American system of higher education is in turmoil. The economic crash is upending each step in the equation that families use to determine where students will spend four of their most formative -- and expensive -- years. Today is the deadline that most schools set to receive a decision from accepted applicants.

from Bloomberg click here to read the whole story

Video - Tiger's Masterly Chip

The chip in on #16 at the Masters in 2005 was iconic for so many reasons but here's a new look at the shot . . . . it's amazing and only Tiger can do stuff like this!

Want to stop junk mail?

Here's a good place to start . . . . STOP JUNK MAIL click here

F*&% The Rating Agencies

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Ron Grassi says he thought he had retired five years ago after a 35-year career as a trial lawyer.

Now Grassi, 68, has set up a war room in his Tahoe City, California, home to single-handedly take on Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. He’s sued the three credit rating firms for negligence, fraud and deceit.

Grassi says the companies’ faulty debt analyses have been at the core of the global financial meltdown and the firms should be held accountable. Exhibit One is his own investment. He and his wife, Sally, held $40,000 in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bonds because all three credit raters gave them at least an A rating -- meaning they were a safe investment -- right until Sept. 15, the day Lehman filed for bankruptcy.

“They’re supposed to spot time bombs,” Grassi says. “The bombs exploded before the credit companies acted.”

read more here on Bloomberg

Remembering Clarence White

As many of you know, I play guitar and I write songs and I love bluegrass music. There have been many guitar influences in my life : Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, Doc Watson, James Burton, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Tony Rice and Robben Ford. But one of the foremost was Clarence White who was killed by a drunk driver at the age of 27. He influenced so many guitar enthusiasts and still continues to do so today despite the fact that there is very little video or instructional material from him. But I just discovered a rare DVD of him as a guest on "Bob Baxter's Guitar Workshop" TV show which was a staple of mine back in the early 70's on LA TV. click here to find it and other material from the producer's website

Video - Yankee Doodle Dandy

George M. Cohen played by James Cagney. The ultimate showman and composer, Cohen was everything an entertainer could be and Cagney won an Academy Award for his portrayal of him in the film.

Video - Thelma and Louise

The ending to the movie, Thelma and Louis is classic.

Video - Unsinkable Molly Brown

One of the great scenes from Debbie Reynolds amazing career.

Video - The Mask

This scene from The Mask really blew me away. It was a seminal moment in the history of film for me. To see a character transformed like this (think Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) was really new. And, of course, Jim Carry was so fresh and new at the time and funny in the role.

Video - Niagara Falls

Ever see Niagara Falls up close . . . . here's a video I made last year when we visited.

Frugality

Hey, everyone is cutting back and saving. Currently, there are dozens of Web sites and blogs devoted to celebrating conspicuous cutting, like Dollar Stretcher (www.stretcher.com), All Things Frugal (allthingsfrugal.com), Frugal Mom (www.frugalmom.net), and on and on. The Web site meetup.com, which helps people of like interests gather offline, lists 57 “frugal living” groups around the country, including eight formed in February and nine in March.

Los Angeles Homeless Court

Ever since Steve Lopez wrote The Soloist, the homeless mentally ill of Los Angeles have been receiving attention and no helps more than Judge Michael Tynan, he holds a special court for people accused of nonviolent offenses who have both a mental illness and an addiction. Most of the defendants have spent time on Skid Row and some call it home. click here to read more and listen to the interview

Video - Paths of Glory

In 1957, Stanley Kubrick directed Paths of Glory starring Kirk Douglas. It was a hell of a anti war film.

Equity withdrawal data

Quarter 1-2006 there was $223 billion in mortgage equity withdrawals. Quarter 2-2008 it was $9.5 billion! Now where did all that money go? Maybe to maintain an unsustainable lifestyle? Trade real estate? Flip houses?

Another good Blog

I know you really enjoy my blog but check this one out . . . . One Good Move

Sandbags, where do they go to die?

I see where they are adding more sandbags to the "levees" in Fargo, ND. If you've seen the existing mountains of sandbags you can imagine how much larger they are going to be before the Red River crests again but what about this?????? What happens to sandbags after the river falls back within it's banks? Where do sandbags go to die?

It's Masters Time and the Foreigners are here big

Last year, the field was still evenly split at the season’s first major tournament, but this time, the gap is wide, with the 96-player field comprising 41 Americans and 55 golfers from other countries, including the defending champion, Trevor Immelman of South Africa.

Housing costs and inflation

“In 1983, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began to use rental equivalence for homeowner-occupied units instead of direct home-ownership costs. Between 1983 and 1996, the price-to-rental ratio increased from 19.0 to 20.2, little effect on measured inflation: The CPI underestimated inflation by about 0.1 percentage point per year during this period. Between 1999 and 2006, the price-to-rent ratio shot up from 20.8 to 32.3.

With home price increases out of the CPI and the price-to-rent ratio rapidly increasing, an important component of inflation remained outside the index. In 2004 alone, the price-rent ratio increased 12.3%. Inflation for that year was underestimated by 2.9 percentage points (since “owners’ equivalent rent” is about 23% of the CPI). If home-ownership costs were included in the CPI, inflation would have been 6.2% instead of 3.3%.

With nominal interest rates around 6% and inflation around 6%, the real interest rate was near zero, so household borrowing took off. As measured by the Case-Shiller 10 city index, the accumulated inflation in home-ownership costs between January 1999 and June 2006 was 151%, but the CPI measured a mere 23% increase. As the Federal Reserve monitored inflation in the early part of this decade, home-price increases were no longer visible in the CPI, so the lax monetary policy continued. Even after the Fed began to slowly raise the fed-funds rate in May 2004, the average rate remained low and the bubble continued to inflate for two more years.”

WSJ - Steven Gjerstad and Nobel Laurelate Vernon Smith

Remembering Maurice Jarre

One of Hollywood's greatest composers has passed away. Jarre, the French-born composer won Oscars for "Lawrence of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago" and "A Passage to India". Jarre wrote more than 170 film and television scores including those for "The Longest Day", "The Year of Living Dangerously", "Ghost", "Witness", "Gorillas in the Mist", "Fatal Attraction" and "Dead Poets Society". He was a giant!

Way to go Golden One Credit Union

The Golden 1 Credit Union of Sacramento purchased $500 million of cash-flow notes on March 23 helping to alleviate a cash crunch the state was facing.

Kayaker comes to aid of sailors

Yesterday, Toni noticed the Lido 14 sailing on the lake then a few minutes later noticed they had flipped (about 300 yards from our dock). we knew how cold the water of Laguna Lake is and watched to see how fast they would right the boat . . . . minutes passed and they didn't right it and they weren't moving with the current so we decided to call 911 and I donned my wetsuit and rowed the kayak out to see if I could help. One of the toughest rowing experiences I've ever had as the current, chop and wind was in my face the whole time. The 3 high school kids were glad to see me and cold. I was able to tow them back to our dock where a fleet of fire engines and other trucks were waiting to help them. This morning there was a photo and caption in the local newspaper click here

Paul Cezanne - THE Impressionist

No one hard more influence on Impressionistic style of painting than Paul Cezanne. All of the masters, Braque, Matisse, Mondrian, Picasso, Johns, Marden et al looked at his work to guide them in their own. And now the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art has put together a great retrospective click here for more information