Enough Already

May 31

Enough already with my seemingly open complaints about government not doing (barely) anything to spur the growth of alternative energy and energy saving measures that we need here in the U.S.

As I was thinking of ways for government to strongly encourage private, corporate entities, and individuals to do the right things on their own, I started thinking tax incentives. Since there are so many tax deductions for big business and the rich, why not for the regular guy/gal?

Then today as I was pouring over the Financial Times; in the Thursday edition I spotted an article with the header: Solar energy investor presses for extension of US tax credit
In summary, a leading US private equity group last November said it would team up with Lockheed Martin, the defense company, to develop solar energy fields in the southern U.S. They figure the solar market could be worth $30bn in 10 years but the deal hinges on the extension of a 30 percent tax credit for solar investments.

Again, why can't our government take lessons from Germany who has been doing so since the middle of the 1990's? Why can't it be a semi permanent part of the taxation policy until our country is well entrenched in solar and other alternative energy solutions? This week, Germany announced it would peel back a small percentage of incentives. Far from eliminating or severely curtailing the incentives. Why is it so hard to do the very same thing here? Is it the overly generous salaries and pensions paid to our government leaders? Is it some ridiculous program that we are funding? Is it just the war and the billions/trillion we are wasting in the name of "national security" over-seas because a handful of men and a woman have some sort of twisted plan to play out?

Why is it we don't offer complete tax deductions for putting energy saving light bulbs in our homes, meaningful deductions for going to hybrid vehicles over our 100lbs. per week carbon producing gasoline powered vehicles. Why should property owners pay higher taxes for erecting wind energy mills on their property and feeding electric back onto the power grid? It seems in this last example that the savings are reduced greatly through additional taxes. Where is the logic in that???

Enough already...

Who Killed the Electric Car? parts 1 - 9

May 30

I have been telling people about this for a couple years now and for some reason, people don't believe me and won't even rent it from Netflix (NFLX)to see for themselves. Yeah! what the frack! its a SciFi film. WHAT?!!?

NOTE: if you find that the videos sound funny, scroll down to the next article "You Gotta Love 42 MPG With Today's Gas Prices and click the stop button on the video in that article. Also you can hit the pause button on the video and wait for the whole thing to get downloaded to your computer's cache before playing.

from FreeGlobalEnergy:
The GM EV1 had a $4000.00 incentive to buy this car forced to build by congress yet (GM) gave $100,000.00 tax incentive to buy the largest most gas guzzling vehicle on the road, the Hummer, otherwise this would have been merely impossible to sell such a rediculous concept.
An electric car is 35% - 97% cleaner than a comparable gas car, including the pollution generated by the electric power plant. The 35% number applies to states using a lot of "dirty" power, such as coal-fired plants. The 97% number applies to states like California that use a lot of "clean" power, including hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar.
Also, there is ongoing research to make flywheel energy storage systems that can replace conventional chemical batteries for mobile applications, such as for electric vehicles. Proposed flywheel systems would eliminate many of the disadvantages of existing battery power systems.

They started out with defective Delco batteries when they already had access to better batteries, after many complaints they switched to the better batteries, everyone who leased them loved them, GM almost always builds superior American cars and built this one too good, it was definitely a threat to oil as a solar charging infrastructure was already being built. When GM pulled the plug so did Toyota's Rav-4 EV which gets equivalent to 154MPG comparing grid KW to gas at 2005 prices.

Also check out this supporting site from Sony (SNE). It gives the whole time line and data seen in the film for more ponderous reading and exploration. Click Here

You Gotta Love 42 MPG With Today's Gas Prices

May 30

I went from a Chrysler New Yorker to a Toyota Echo, the one all gasoline car from the same company that competes with the Toyota Prius (TM) which gets somewhere between 52 - 60 MPG depending on who you talk to. I'd love a Toyota Prius if it were not for the $25,000 plus price tag. I'll keep my $10,500 42 MPG Toyota Echo for the time being. Its no wonder that Toyota discontinued the Echo for the heavier, more expensive, lower MPG replacement.

Little did I know that in North Carolina, a company of a little over 300? employees is making all electric vehicles. Perhaps we should start focusing on them and also put them on our watch list or in our stock portfolio.

Hybrid Technologies Inc OTC BB:(HYBR)

This company just announced it is working on a new supercar using a gas-electric hybrid engine and that should hit 220 mpg. Hybrid Technologies is aiming for a 150 to 180-mi. range per charge from the all-electric model, while its lithium-ion model meets gas hybrid needs to hit 220 mpg—minimum.

You will be able to purchase this car the company says in either late 2009 or early 2010. We can't wait!

HT1

HT2

Indiana Wind Farm Set To Be Largest In the Nation

May 30

At 462 wind turbines; the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in Fowler, Indiana may be the largest in the nation when completed by 2011. That is unless the 667 turbines of the Pampa Wind Farm in Texas get there first.

The Pampa Wind Farm is just a first phase in the T. Boone Pickens saga. When all four phases are completed, it may be the largest in the world. However I hope that everyone else doesn't just sit back and watch.

The Texas project is a (GE) and Mesa Power one whereas the Indiana project is a (BP) and Dominion Power one. It is great to see projects now on the road or in the field so-to-speak. Just yesterday we wrote about the John Deere (DE) projects in Missouri. And lets not forget the solar farm project in the Mohave Desert. If our own government is too greedy and stubborn to do the right thing, at least we have our big business who now have the blinders off and are leading the pack. Sad though, for if our government would take the lead when it should, we would have had this activity long ago. Look at Germany for example, by far one of the world's leaders in alternative energy usage. To think that Germany was a country we defeated in war and now they are one of the clear winners in this race for a better world. Is the U.S.A. only good for making war and depressing innovation and technologies now?

e2 energy — Harvesting the Wind with Suzlon..one of the big players today

As BP North America President Robert Malone pointed out: "the United States has 5 percent of the world's population but uses 25 percent of its oil." It costs our government and every tax paying citizen far more than it should for our energy. The government refuses to implement effective mass transportation while Europe, Japan, and now China lead by example. The company claims: If 10% of the world’s energy was generated by wind it would be equivalent of replacing all cars in the world with hybrids. Wind is an abundant domestic resource and is among the most cost competitive sources of low-carbon power. The company also thinks that it can develop 100 wind energy sites in the U.S. alone but it does not give a time frame. It too has a project in the great state of Texas, some 80 miles southwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. It expects the project to be completed in the second half of this year.

Its a long time over-due; our leaders must step out from their comfort zone and make positive and substantial steps for our future. Run, don't walk or stop on GO! says both the Chance and Community cards...

Good for the community, Good for the Farmers

Germany teaches...will the U.S. learn??

Deere Rides the Wind to Beat Boone

May 29th

Make no mistake. We're still swooning over T. Boone Pickens and his great Texas project (see the May 15th article), the largest wind energy project in the world. But on a smaller scale John Deere & Company (DE) is working to affect more communities across the country. As a result, more U.S. citizens will be able to spot the tall but small footprint wind energy mills across the country.

Two such projects have been completed in King City, and Rock Port, Missouri and soon in Kansas, City.

And just completed outside of Missouri this month is a utility-scale 52 or 53-megawatt project in Huron County, Michigan. One of the project partners and general contractors is a division of Alliant Energy (LNT) on which 32 wind turbines were erected. This project is also owned and developed by John Deere & Company (DE). Generally, the role of John Deere Wind Energy is that of both a debt and an equity investor. John Deere enters into agreements with local developers and landowners to facilitate the development and operation of wind energy projects.

So we hope that T. Boone Pickens is able to complete his worlds largest wind energy project soon. Meanwhile companies like John Deere are working to develop and complete smaller projects which will be seen around the country. This work increases employment and spurs the economies of the towns these projects are close to.

Just yesterday, Market Club calls a BUY for (DE). Market Club is one of my worthwhile indulgences. It is a tool that we greatly rely upon to help us choose good entry and exit points on the stocks that we're interested in. Market Club helps us trade with little to no emotion which greatly adds to our profit taking. We've written about INO TV twice here this week and Market Club is its partner site. One day soon, we will write an article to tell you more about the Market Club tool that we use in our daily trading.

Future1investor’s Indulgences

May 28th from my Vox page

There are very few things out here on the internet that I am genuinely excited about. My Father taught me about the importance of value for your money or in other words "bang for the buck". With that in mind, there is quite a lot to disappoint you. You'll waste hundreds and likely thousands of dollars because giving this trading system, that trading system, an online seminar here, a hotel seminar there, books, lots of books, CDs, DVDs, a try.. is like going to a casino.

You get to put down your money for a chance to win some knowledge. A chance to beat the house, or a chance to do better than the average guy/gal. A chance, just a chance and no guarantees either. Its all just a crap shoot!

Then every once in a blue moon, you might come across a site that delivers all those things, and has value to boot! One such a site is INO TV. I wrote about it a couple days ago here when I talked about Linda Raschke. Hers was one of the totally free video seminars that you can watch on the site even before plunking down even a dollar.

Then if like me you decide to plunk down some cash, you'll find that it is a most reasonable offer. And what do you get? YOU GET A LOT !!!!

For one, you'll find that this is universal training. It isn't tied to just our market here in the good ole U.S. of A. You'll find that it works for people in the U.K., Canada, Germany, China, Australia, simply everywhere.

And if you've ever taken an online course at a college, you know how expensive that can be. And you know that you are limited on time and the course will soon end. So you better have your entire schedule clear so that you can concentrate on your studies and nothing but. Otherwise the money will be gone before you know it and so will the training. INO TV gives you an Ivy League education and you can train at your own pace w/o the fear that it will be gone if you happen to get tied up with real life for a few weeks.

Huge Library!
Thats right, you aren't limited to a small selection of seminars. One price gives you access to this whole huge library of trading seminars. When you were in college, did you ever have a teacher that you just didn't get? That no matter how hard you tried you just weren't going to benefit from attending his/her class? Well my friends, that can happen at a seminar too! But with INO TV, if you find that you just don't "get" a particular trainer, guess what? You can search for another trainer on the same topic! They have a functioning search engine that helps you find exactly what you want. And if you aren't the type to use online search tools, the seminars are laid out in a very logical index as well. So you'll be sure to find the education that you want and need!

Real Life Experience
Unlike some college professors who just learn how to teach and the subject they are teaching in college before they themselves start regurgitating it back onto you; the trainers at INO TV are professionals with real life experience. They are some of the most well known traders in the world and they're available to teach you when you are part of INO TV. There are literally experts on every topic!

Eleven Channels
If you are a beginner, this is the best channel to start with. As you wish to learn more specific topics then move onto such channels as Charts & Analysis, Day Trading, Futures/Commodities, Options Trading, and more.

Great Way To Learn About Trading Systems!
Rather than waste lots of money trying this system or that system, you can find out all about trading systems at INO TV. It will help you choose the system that is right for you and eliminate the random chance. Discard all those trading systems spam emails. Go here first, find out about them on INO TV and decide which one is right for you. You could be saving yourself a huge chunk of change in this area alone! Again, that is what my Father calls value.

Help From Real People
This is the first of five promises you get as an INO TV subscriber. It isn't just a web site that is put up there for you to take down information and then have no support system should you need it. It is run and maintained by real people who are accessible to you either by email (the very most other sites ever offer you) or by phone from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST Monday thru Friday.

He Rested On the 7th Day
As you can tell, when I believe in something, I can be pretty passionate about it in my writing. Zig Ziglar once taught me that you can not truly convince others how good a product/service is unless you yourself use it on a daily basis. I use MarketClub and INO TV six days a week (Mon-Fri, Sun). Unlike God who rested on the 7th day, I do my R&R on Saturdays. Sunday, I'm preparing for the market on Monday.

Have you ever known you can trust someone just by the way they talk? There are those who you know are not selling you something but showing you common sense. Watch this short video and you decide. You'll meet Adam Hewison one of the co-founders of INO TV. Listen closely to his voice and you'll know and hear exactly what I mean.

Take it from me, one of the normal folks out there. If you tend to have a few indulgences in life, you'll not find a more invaluable indulgence than this one!

Most Discussed S&P 500 Companies

May 27th

Sentiment on S&P 500 Companies

The embedded widget below helps traders/investors to understand who is driving opinions about the top S&P 500 companies. Quickly learn who the opinion holders are that lead conversations versus those that follow.

About Jodange Inc.

Leveraging off the significant investment in sentiment analytics to date by Cornell University, co-founders Larry Levy and Claire Cardie established Jodange in early 2007. The goal was to develop business applications that drive tangible value by allowing knowledge workers to better understand who is influencing their customers, competitors and marketplace in an environment where information continues to originate from an exploding number of information sources.

Linda Raschke Is One Smart Gal

May 27th

I have not had the pleasure of meeting as many professional traders as Adam Hewison from INO has. The good thing is that with the free version of INO TV, you can meet four of the world's top traders and have a front row seat to their seminars for free.

As a regular user of the INO TV service, I am a huge fan of professional trader, Linda Raschke. Honestly, I don't know why I put her in a class of her own among the other many amazing seminar authors.

It could be that she has had continued success in the trading arena for over two decades. It it could be that I am drawn to her superior presentation skills. It could also be that she is a great role model for young women pursuing a career in finance and/or business.

Ok, ok... I won't play the gender card. I am completely aware that over 91% of you individual traders out there are men. However, no matter what gender you may be you can recognize Linda's trading intellect and appreciate the tips and strategies in her seminar presented in the complimentary version of INO TV.

LindaRaschke

"Classic Indicators - Back to the Future"

About Ms. Raschke:
Besides lecturing to thousands of individual traders in over 18 countries, Linda is a principal trader for several hedge funds and is president of LBR Group, Inc. She was profiled in Jack Schwager's book, "The New Market Wizards," and frequently is featured trader in numerous financial publications and on national radio/television programs. Currently she is the vice president of the American Association of Professional Technical Analysts.

Self-directed traders have spent big bucks to learn from Linda, but INO TV is offering one of her lectures for absolutely no cost.

She is one of my INO TV personal favorite trading experts and I hope you will become fond of her as well.

Watch her seminar, "Classic Indicators - Back to the Future" today at no cost on INO TV.

Enjoy Linda's Seminar,

Future1investor

The Recession Question

May 26 on my Vox site

Warren Buffett says we are in a recession. The financial media will not say so as they do not want your dollars to stop flowing in to the markets. The question may be better put: Is there are recession in your area?

A drive out to Kings Island Amusement Park just north of Cincinnati, Ohio would indicate a big NO! But there could be other factors involved. We went to the park just last Saturday to find that no matter what vehicle entrance you entered, the park was wall-to-wall cars. You would have been directed to the far end of the property which is a green zone of grass just before the property ends. One reason may have been that part of the truck/bus parking lot was closed for the Robbie Knievel event (see below). But this lot is seldom seen by most park goers. Still, maybe this was the reason.

Then as we approached the park entrance we saw a continuous line of people that stretched 1,068 feet. I say

Goldpass

continuous because this line existed for no less than four hours! It could have been longer but we did not arrive before then. This line was for season ticket holders to get their picture taken. It ended inside a building that is only used for taking season pass holder pictures. Many of us were in awe. There did not seem to be a recession in the greater Cincinnati area. Adults gold passes for instance cost almost $100 each.

The park is owned by Cedar Fair (FUN) and is only one of eleven parks across the U.S. and Canada. Its chart looks like one of its famed roller coasters but if we are in a recession, then maybe this is the answer. With fuel prices going up steadily, people may be choosing to stay close to home and give the family season passes to amusement parks like those owned by Cedar Fair instead.

If you have not been to an amusement park in several years, you'll should not be surprised at the cost of games and souvenirs. Most carnie type games cost $5 a pop. Course any parent would let their children know ahead of arrival that games and souvenirs are off limits if they want to reap the value of a close to home family outing. Parks easily recoup any special discounts to draw them to the park when these same people start playing games.

If amusement parks are the answer to recession, perhaps FUN would be a stock to trade for the summer season. Not only does it operate the mass of roller coasters and stage shows but it also has six water parks.

The Goldman Sachs Manipulation

May 23rd on Vox

Just as I said, it is a great time to get into solar especially now since G.S. turned the solar sector inside out with that negative rating yesterday! What do you wanna BET! that their clients have now bought into solar????????

Did you get in yesterday or today as I suggested? You're sitting pretty about now if you have!

The news has been so good for most of the companies that they have been running hot for the past week giving traders some much appreciated action.

It just makes me say "What the FRACK!" when a company like Goldman does something like this. Even though I'm making money, it isn't right that a big company can easily get away with market manipulation but the little guy gets the big fly swatter.

In fact, when we were in Cabo, a new buddy said that the rich paid for the majority of the tax base in this country.
I laughed so hard inside that my brain almost squeezed fruit loops out my ears! Ain't that right Brian? I love ya man but what the frack are you talking about?

Goldman Sachs Manipulating Market?

May 22 on Vox

DARTS! DARTS! DARTS!
-To Goldman Sachs for downgrading Solarfun (SOLF) to a sell.

Despite few analyst reports and ratings, this company's stock has been a solar trader's playmate since middle of last year. And now that the solar sector is back in the light for all to see due to the high price of oil, Goldman downgrades the stock? This sent the entire sector down because people tend to listen to G.S., a company whose own managed funds are not all that stellar. Well some have been good but that's not good enough for bragging rights and certainly not good enough to command swaying the market with negative comments when the whole sector is kick'in ass no matter what solar stock you are looking at!!!

Goldman said "the premium valuation of (SOLF) is unwarranted given muted top-line growth and looming margin and cash flow pressure."

I agree totally with the StreetInsider.com who recently said today: "Why follow Goldman's advice on the stock now? Goldman, considered the ax in many stocks they follow, completely missed the run-up in Solarfun Power. Goldman had a Neutral rating on the stock since June 2007, meanwhile SOLF moved up over 100% since that time." And when nearly every one of the solar companies is reporting excellant earnings and/or new sales and supply agreement contracts.

That guy got arrested in Europe for making comments which hurt a stock so I think Goldman should be equally punished for this comment today given their apparent influence on the markets. Though the actual statement could be correct, it turned the whole sector inside out. Wanna bet they're going to BUY Solarfun now??? Huh? Huh? Giving them a nice entry point and as a way to settle the rift with its investors who rightfully don't know why the company was staying away from solar for so long?

If you want to make some money, get into solar and you won't be disappointed. Now the time is ripe for an infusion of cash into the sector due to this G.S. upset today. It has turned a recently too hot to handle market into a limitless buffet line of offerings at a very cheap price. Remember, the China market which is one of the largest for solar stocks, has gotten its due correction already and prices have been reset which is a plus for traders. And again with the stupid move by G.S., the stocks are value priced just for you! Just remember to do your homework first! Fundamentals then the technicals. Honestly though, it will be hard to loose in this market with proper money management stops.

DO NOT LISTEN TO Goldman except to give you a boost on your entry, exit, and re-entry points!

Failure and Success

May 20 from My Vox site

I've heard it, I've read it and I've experienced it. To be a stock trader you have to be comfortable with failure as much as you are with success. In other words, accept that there will be losses. There is no perfect system, no analyst, consultant, fund manager, or individual who is going to be right 100% of the time. You will probably loose money more times than you make it. The key is loosing less money than you make.

Losses are a hard hard pill to swallow but as long as you've done your homework on the sector, the stock, the trend, etc. if you have a loss you just have to learn to wash it down and move on. You need to find out if possible why it failed, or if it was you that failed to enter and exit properly or that you didn't do enough homework before jumping on a the leaking ship in the first place. We must learn from our failures so that they help us make better moves in the near future.

The government will only allow you to take a $3,000 investment loss. The rest is on you to learn from bad trades so that you don't make it a recurring action. Failure goes hand in hand with success. Lady luck is great but she is spread too thin as it is. Be accountable for every action both in your private life and in your career. The ultimate opportunity is to learn from your failures so as to continually improve the process so that we can reap the benefit of experience.

When DJ Slips, Sale Signs Pop!

May 20th from Vox

DOW JONES INDU AVERAGE NDX

When the Dow slips like this, many people stick their head in the sand. But for the predator traders out there, this may be the best time to pick favorite stocks with strong fundamentals and technicals up for a nice discount from previous days action trading.

Thursday and Friday were great trading days and up until Monday afternoon, the trading action was fantastic. Then things started slipping and today (Tuesday) the Dow was down firmly between 60 and 199 points. Which translates to stock prices dropping. This was a perfect day to sit back and diversify your holdings with a number of stocks at a better buy point.

Stock Sale

Discount Stock Price

This is why some advise that you do not take part in pre-hours trading in order to see where the market is heading. This can prevent a trader from buying only to see their stock price drop after the opening. However, if the Dow will be moving up that day; pre-hour trading can get you into a stock before the heavy volume buying begins. Its considered a crap shoot by many, so the best you can do is to go with your gut. Jump in early for high risk/reward or patiently wait to see were the market is heading before buying and catch a better deal.

Still others will rely on their systems to tell them when to buy. Systems can provide better educated guesses, still however systems will have bad signals and you'll loose some percentage of the time, so be prepared to take a bath now and then. The market has history and history has spawned systems which are plentiful and come with a nice price tag. The market holds experiences along with history and those who have time to watch, study, and gain experience of their own will use this and their gut to make buy/sell decisions. The rest is up to lady luck!

Willing to Risk Failure and Learning All the Way

May 16 from Vox

Much of our every day lives has to do with the failures and successes of the little person. People like you and I who make our opinions known, others who see a business opportunity and are willing to stick out their neck and give it a go. Tonight I was watching The BIG IDEA and was reminded we desperately need to promote and encourage peoples ideas and business attempts so that we as a nation can get back to what made our country a power house.

So much of our former glory has been lost and I feel it is because many have lost the vision, the drive, and desire to create, innovate, improve, and celebrate the uniqueness of our minds. This is what we once called the American Dream.

Cw1

It can be as little as a bit of underwear err excuse me, lingerie' . Take for instance the story of a girl who shared a living space with Christina Applegate (Kelly Bundy). The girl Robin Antin was a choreography of music videos, who wanted to do something different. She invited over some friends (music video dancers) to play around with various types of music and choreography. Applegate suggested they do their thing in public at the Viper Room on the Sunset Strip. That was the birth of the Pussycat Dolls.

Then over the years they had celebrities guest sing/dance in the group and it became ever more famous. Now on the CW network we see Antin riding the coat tails of Coyote Ugly with her own version called Girlicious.

Cw2

It seems like now there is no end in sight to the increasing success that Antin could achieve.

She recently came out with her own line of lingerie' to play up the strength of women, the girl next door, and sexual attractiveness
that almost any woman can have if they don't already have it in their lives.

Pcd1

Almost every person has the potential to create and those who don't can give their opinion to help shape an idea or existing product. Some people create by experiencing failure and discovering a side benefit. Others create through food and offering comfort. More others bring excitement to our lives with a huge variety of products and services.

Still others have perhaps a bit more stuffy services but are nonetheless very important to someone like me who for example is trying to make a living in the stock market.

Whatever the case, these people take an interest, a passion, a need and make it happen by giving it a go despite the high risk of failure.

Pcd3

Pcd2

Whatever your passion, please let it be known to others or step out of your comfort zone and try to make it a business. You never know what you could have done unless you try! Above all, learn from your experiences and accept critique of your work to learn from others then continually improve! Even if you aren't the creative or business type, you can still do this in your job and make that job better, easier on you, and more productive.

Social Networking Power Seeps Into Applications

May 16

I have been letting my views and opinions out onto the vast WorldWideWeb now since before most of you readers were even born! I organized the largest number of System Operators (Sysops) ever to meet in one place. Now that says quite a lot as my learned scholarly and entrepreneurial business friends would say.

It would be nice to know that some of my rants and raves such as the one which took out every point of

Bill

Microsoft's first online published ROI white paper was read and understood. That an intelligent person or team of individuals would find great value in my quality assurance background and position as a consumer advocate.

Facebook

Well years later, it seems that Microsoft is now attempting to be a little more consumer caring. And it looks like possibly my rant on the uselessness of FaceBook but promotion of social networking sites is being heard.

There are many who are against the internet and use of the web as a way to meet others and collaborate without being able to physically touch or sit in the same office. Some of those concerns are quite valid BUT there are too many positives as well as practical needs for it not to be pursued and developed. No matter how much we wish to prevent Pervs, stalkers, and other negative people in our physical and online life we will never be rid of them no matter what is done. In fact trying to do so online may prevent great productivities from being achieved.

Today we have help (sometimes questionable) from telecenters in India, we have distant learning of which I participated in one of the few way back in the '80s. Do you remember the early online virtual worlds?

Sony's Virtual World

I was also part of those early renditions which were exciting but clunky attempts to bring people together online. Well today, Sony and a couple handfuls of other companies have gotten behind the dream to develop this further. And we will eventually see truly productive applications linking people together in both a purely social as well as purely business, educational, and entertaining ways. One of my Canadian friends turned me onto BlogTV. This is a social networking site that has been around awhile and allows anyone to use their web cam to host a show and even have a co-host on with you from anywhere else in the world! Granted some of the blogTV hosts are quite lame but it gives them an outlet for social interaction which can be for pure fun or for other things. I plan on using blogTV as a way for my online neighbors and friends to chime in on my interest for trading/investing and all things technology. Of course there are other ways but this is simple and fun!

BlogTV

You can have audio, draw on the screen, kick people out for inappropriate behavior and build a network of followers. Unlike Facebook you don't have a zillion widgets wanting your attention. It is purely an audio/visual world where the host creates whatever kind of show he/she chooses.

Since technology is constantly improving and people wish to further push the limits of possibility; social networking will become a key feature in more and more applications to come. I for one look forward to the next pipe dream becoming reality. Perhaps you'll play an integral part and have your fifteen minutes of fame!

Obama on blogTV

Swooning Over Boone!

May 15, 2008

Boone

My new favorite person is former oil man Boone Pickens!

My man is going to spend some $10 billion dollars on a wind farm the world's largest.

Today the news reported that he has just ordered some 667 wind turbines from GE for his wind farm in Texas. This order alone is worth $2 billion dollars.

Rather than wait on the incredibly stubborn, selfish, and morally corrupt top U.S. leaders to lead us on the right path, this successful businessman has stepped up to the challenge.

The scale of this project is the equivalent to building one to two nuclear power plants!

One way I'm looking to play the green market is with a company called Woodward Governor (WGOV) they not only provide products and services for electrical power generation but also for diesel, gas, steam engine systems; aircraft and gas turbine systems as well. This company has just the right volatility for trading the way we do.

China Quake May Shake Stocks

May 14, 2008

With the exception of solar stocks, we are tip toeing around China stocks until we can see what the affects of the quake are on investing.

Below is a video showing some of the disaster from a June 2007 quake. Watch and observe how we in the U.S.A. with all our government's power and money takes a back seat to China when it comes to disaster relief. When I saw this, I felt again for the victims of Katrina and those who are still awaiting government assistance as promised.

Here is something of this week's quake that just occurred.
A powerful earthquake struck southwestern China on Monday, toppling thousands of homes, factories and offices, trapping students in schools, and killing a feared 50,000 people, the country's worst natural disaster in three decades.

The quake, which was estimated preliminarily to have had a magnitude of 7.9, ravaged a mountainous region outside Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, just after lunchtime Monday, destroying 80 percent of structures in some of the towns and small cities near its epicenter, Chinese officials said. Its tremors were felt as far away as Vietnam and set off another, smaller quake in the outskirts of Beijing, 900 miles away.

Manna From the Heavens

May 14th, 2008

This week so far has been like receiving manna from the heavens. Everyone made money in our stock pics. It was trader's nirvana. Especially fruitful were the solar stocks. Even the dogs came out to play and we watched harvesting at its finest as percentages went up like plants on some really good fertilizer enriched water. The charts were oozing green and this was a sure sign that spring was here. The only thing dampening the spirit of the day was the rain outside and that made me wish that I was back in Cabo.

By the way, more pictures are on the way but I've been fighting a long lingering cold and I just don't feel like doing much beyond cultivating my stock garden and sipping on a nice glass of Sangria which makes a great hot tottie. I know, hot totties aren't made with wine but mine are! There are several recipes for the drink that cures all that ails ya but it depends if you like wine, whiskey, or something non-alcoholic.

Something else that has had my interest this week is social networking. Most of you know that I think that Facebook is useless, but there are other sites that seem to have done the social part very well. One of them is HouseValues, Inc (SOLD). HouseValues, Inc. provides real estate professionals with the tools and services they need to manage and grow their real estate businesses. HouseValues's subscription software products include RealtyGenerator, a turnkey lead generation and lead management system for real estate brokerage companies, and MarketLeader, a customer relationship management and lead management solution for real estate agents. The Company also provides real estate

ActiveRain

professionals with access to media buying and lead generation services to help them attract clients and promote themselves throughout their community. Additionally, HouseValues provides consumers with free access to the information and tools they need throughout the home buying and selling process.

HouseValues tools include Coaching & Community - Through a wide range of networking, professional training and personalized coaching opportunities subscribers refine their sales skills, learn new productivity techniques, define business goals and strategies, and share best practices. The company has invested nearly $3 million dollars to help further a product called ActiveRain.

Rather than focus on home builders as an investment, I'd would prefer a company such as HouseValues which focuses on the broker agents who sell the homes out there. (SOLD) is one such investment that may pay off nicely and it has a price that is too irresistible to pass up. At under $3 you can build up a nice position in this stock. And because the price is so low, so low in fact the market doesn't think its worth anything, but Cantor Fitzgerald is rating this stock as a buy right now according to Barron's. And at under $3 most of us can afford to gamble a few grand to see where it can go from here.

I think that any company that is trying to help agents and buyers alike is on the right track. I told my buddies a few years ago that despite the low interest rates the cost of housing was too high and that they were foolish to buy. Well many have lost their homes and others are struggling to hang on. I hate moving too! Still others are setting fire to their homes thinking that the insurance will pay. Now that is what I call desperate and foolish!

Everything has its true value. No one should ever talk you into what you can't afford and couples shouldn't have to struggle just to have a decent home.