View from the rear

This is not a good attempt as the microphone setup caught a lot of wind noises and reverbs but I will be working on capturing better sound sometime next weekend when I get the time. You can actually see the rear retractable spoiler retracting once the car slowed down.

According to the factory manual, the spoiler automatically extends at about 75MPH/120KMH and retracts at 50MPH/80KMH

Visiting home

I will be going back home to Singapore in September to visit my family. It would have been 9 months since I was last home; one of the longest stretch so far. I've been good about visiting home at least twice a year except this time round. As I am trudging towards finishing my current engagement, I am looking forward to being with my family again.

Congrats to Slick Oof

Congrats to Oof for being released from the institution with a doctorate degree for fulfilling his sentence and exhibiting good behavior. I thought I will attach a picture of the ticket stub..a little flashback of the one and only rock concert Oof, Alaskan sausage and I went to watch...LIVE with opening from Slick Rick...haha

"you say slick, I say rick'

Housing loan defaults, stock market and mamba2 tragedy

Housing loan defaults are behind the volatile stock markets. I drew out a very simplistic diagram on the effects of discount rate on the stock market. This doesn't directly answer the question on why housing loan defaults affect stocks...but its has a similar effect. Defaults affect interest rates banks give to enterprises to make up for the financial loss of defaults PLUS huge market panic (which is the real culprit more than anything). Stock price is dependent on discounted future cash flows...future means uncertainty....panic and uncertainty don't go well together.

Okie now, just to make sure we understand the topic better..three questions to think about...

If federal rates are cut how does it affect the following?

1. Dow Jones; up or down?
2. Gold price; up or down? (assume oil trade, market demand and supply, etc. is consistent)
3. US currency exchange rate stronger or weaker?


BTW, a kid driving a chevy truck backed into my stationary mamba 2. My heart weeps.... :((((

A Marine Mischief

Today I was at JFK taking a flight back to LAX . I was at the lounge working on my laptop and watching cnn by the corner of my eye. A bizarre story was reported that a strange submarine was spotted besides Queen Mary.




On a very random topic (totally unrelated)...






The Turtle was made by David Bushnel, 1776 (USA). The Turtle attempted to attach its 150 lb gunpowder charge to the British flagship the Eagle, but failed.











I bet someone from the institute must be behind this.





P.S. OK; I lost the bet; there are many others outside the instituition who are equally loons..

Excerpt:

NEW YORK — In a bizarre case of "marine mischief," a Brooklyn artist manning a replica Revolutionary War submarine caused a scare Friday morning after police found the strange-looking vessel foundering in a security zone near the docked Queen Mary 2, authorities said.

The handmade wood and fiberglass vessel, at the end of a tow rope tied to an inflatable boat, was spotted by police near the luxury ocean liner docked at the cruise ship terminal in the Buttermilk Channel off Red Hook in Brooklyn.

"It was a strange sight," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Angelia Rorison.

Police held the artist, Philip "Duke" Riley, and two other men, both from Rhode Island, for questioning. But there was no indication the trio meant any harm with the replica of the 1776 "Turtle submarine."

One of the Rhode Island men claimed he was descendant of David Bushnell, the inventor of the original one-man vessel that inspired the replica, police said.

The makeshift sub "is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. "It does not pose any terrorist threat. ... We can best summarize today's incident as marine mischief."