I wanted to give a shout out to my high school buddy, SoldAtTheTop, for the launch of the newest version of his Data Analysis website, Blytic.  I poke around there from time to time and he's made some great changes that benefits data modelers, tinkerers, and students of economics.  He has created a rich repository of economic data that can now be easily downloaded in an Excel spreadsheet, create dazzling charts that can mash up data and display it, easy embedding of your charts into websites, and a host of other things.

I highly recommend his site and urge you check it out!  Great job SoldAtTheTop (not his real name, duh)!

Long time linker (and reader hopefully) Max Dama maintains a great blog on automated trading and provides lots of great examples on how to do this.  I recently discovered that he has quite a few Python programming examples as well.  I'll have to spend more time there again digging through his posts and I suggest my readers do too.

These are my links for January 12th through January 13th:

• http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/186786/google_attack_part_of_widespread_spying_effort.html – Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world's largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. – MUST PROTECT INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL FROM CHINA. THEY JUST STEAL AND COPY.
• Google, Citing Attack, Threatens to Exit China – NYTimes.com – “Unless they turn themselves into a Chinese company, Google could not win,” she said. “The company has clearly put its foot down and said enough is enough.”
• http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/186786/google_attack_part_of_widespread_spying_effort.html – Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world's largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. – MUST PROTECT INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL FROM CHINA. THEY JUST STEAL AND COPY.
• Google, Citing Attack, Threatens to Exit China – NYTimes.com – “Unless they turn themselves into a Chinese company, Google could not win,” she said. “The company has clearly put its foot down and said enough is enough.”
• Haitians Confront Devastation of Quake – NYTimes.com – The quake, with a magnitude estimated at 7.0, caused the collapse of the National Palace, leveled countless shantytown dwellings and brought more suffering to a nation that was already the hemisphere’s poorest and most disaster-prone. – WOW. I FEEL BAD FOR THE HAITIANS
• Official Google Blog: A new approach to China – We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China. – WOW GOOGLE TAKING ON CHINA

These are my links for January 11th:

• LaHood: Auto bailouts were a good investment – MarketWatch – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off the Detroit auto show on Monday by telling reporters that the government's commitment to the car industry was "a good investment of taxpayer dollars." – UM, YEAH, RIGHT.
• Geithner Has Support of Obama, Democratic Lawmakers, Aides Say – Bloomberg.com – Asked yesterday for comment, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he stood by his earlier statements that the president had full confidence in Geithner. Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said “Secretary Geithner enjoys the strong support of the Senate Democratic caucus.” – ATROCIOUS!
• Stocks, Commodities Advance as China Imports Soar; Dollar Falls – Bloomberg.com – “The market doesn’t actually care if more or less Americans have jobs, it’s watching for rate hike signals,” Bill Blain, the joint head of fixed income at Matrix Corporate Capital in London, wrote in a research note. “Other aspects, such as U.S. retail sales or this morning’s dramatic growth in China’s exports, are equally valid indicators of just how strongly the global economy is recovering.” – YES, THE MARKETS DON'T CARE ABOUT THE USA, IT JUST CARES ABOUT $$$$, LIKE IT SHOULD!
• Chavez Devalues Bolivar 50%, First Time Since 2005 (Update1) – Bloomberg.com – Chavez said the bolivar will be devalued to 4.3 per dollar from 2.15 per dollar for most imports. A second, subsidized peg of 2.60 bolivars per dollar will be used for importing food, medicine and machinery intended to boost the economy’s competitiveness. – HA! SOCIALISM = SUCKS.
• New York Seeks National Effort to Curb Salt in Food – NYTimes.com – The plan, for which the city claims support from health agencies in other cities and states, sets a goal of reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food by 25 percent over the next five years. – FOR A PALEO TYPE PERSON, TOO MUCH SALT IS DEADLY. I'M SURPRISED BY HOW MUCH SALT IS IN PROCESSED FOODS>
• Pimco move to sell gilts raises spectre of a UK sovereign debt crisis – Telegraph – The American investment group said it will be a net seller of UK Government bonds this year, at the very point when the Bank of England brings its £200bn programme of purchases to and end and the Treasury attempts to raise unprecedented sums through the capital markets. – I THINK WE'LL SEE EITHER A DEFAULT IN THE POUND STERLING OR THE USD.

These are my links for January 8th:

• http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/01/07/1425242/8-of-Your-DNA-Comes-From-a-Virus?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+Slashdot&utm_content=Google+Reader – A recent study on the 8 percent of human DNA that is derived from viruses may show a cause of cell mutation and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, according to an article by The University of Texas at Arlington biology professor Cédric Feschotte published in the Jan. 7, 2010, issue of Nature magazine.
• Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz Gives Herself B-Minus Grade in First Year – Bloomberg.com – Bartz, who marks her one-year anniversary as CEO next week, is striving to keep Yahoo’s 15-year-old site relevant in an era of Twitter and Facebook. Yahoo’s sales have fallen for four straight quarters, and its stock trailed the Nasdaq Composite Index in the past year. Bartz expects Yahoo’s sales and profit to grow in 2010 as it makes acquisitions and improves products. – DO THEY EVER GIVE THEMSELVES A "D" OR AN "F"?

These are my links for January 7th through January 8th:

• As Goldman Thrives, Some Say an Ethos Has Faded – NYTimes.com – Even so, many Goldman employees are stunned by the public resentment directed at the bank in general and Mr. Blankfein in particular, who, after first steadfastly defending Goldman’s profits and pay, recently offered a vague apology for “mistakes” that led to the financial crisis. – LET THEM EAT CAKE!
• Countdown to January 18: Goldman’s Bonus Day « The Baseline Scenario – Goldman’s management should come to its senses and pay no bonuses of any kind to anyone; no good people would leave. Fortunately, while the executives who run Goldman are smart, they are not that smart. The bonuses they announce on January 18 and pay in early February will become the rallying point for real reform.
• Contrarian Investor Predicts Economic Crash in China – NYTimes.com – He even suspects that Beijing is cooking its books, faking, among other things, its eye-popping growth rates of more than 8 percent. – OF COURSE THEY ARE. CHINA WANTS TO MAINTAIN THE HARMONIOUS SOCIETY.
• Fed Advice to A.I.G. Scrutinized – NYTimes.com – The e-mail messages dealt with one of the most controversial aspects of A.I.G.’s bailout: that the Fed was paying the insurer’s trading partners 100 cents on the dollar for their soured investments. A.I.G. cited this fact, but the lawyer crossed the reference out. The Fed also struck a paragraph about other investments that could not be unwound. – GOLDMAN SACHS AND SOCIETE GENERAL. SCUMBAGS TO THE BONE>
• In New York Commercial Real Estate, News Is Bad (or Worse) – NYTimes.com – “We’re projecting the biggest value losses in the nation,” said Aaron Jodka, a senior real estate economist at Property and Portfolio Research, a Boston-based independent real estate research and advisory firm. He predicts that by 2011, the value of New York metropolitan area office buildings will decline by 58 percent from its late 2007 peak. It is already down 40 percent. – CONFIRMED BY THE MARKETDOCTOR OVER BEERS LAST NIGHT.
• Contrarian Investor Predicts Economic Crash in China – NYTimes.com – He even suspects that Beijing is cooking its books, faking, among other things, its eye-popping growth rates of more than 8 percent. – OF COURSE THEY ARE. CHINA WANTS TO MAINTAIN THE HARMONIOUS SOCIETY.
• Fed Advice to A.I.G. Scrutinized – NYTimes.com – The e-mail messages dealt with one of the most controversial aspects of A.I.G.’s bailout: that the Fed was paying the insurer’s trading partners 100 cents on the dollar for their soured investments. A.I.G. cited this fact, but the lawyer crossed the reference out. The Fed also struck a paragraph about other investments that could not be unwound. – GOLDMAN SACHS AND SOCIETE GENERAL. SCUMBAGS TO THE BONE>
• In New York Commercial Real Estate, News Is Bad (or Worse) – NYTimes.com – “We’re projecting the biggest value losses in the nation,” said Aaron Jodka, a senior real estate economist at Property and Portfolio Research, a Boston-based independent real estate research and advisory firm. He predicts that by 2011, the value of New York metropolitan area office buildings will decline by 58 percent from its late 2007 peak. It is already down 40 percent. – CONFIRMED BY THE MARKETDOCTOR OVER BEERS LAST NIGHT.
• Maybe You’re the Reason Your Job Is Boring – Wake yourself up by renewing your leadership agenda. Re-engage by mentally firing yourself and spending the next few weeks acting as if you just joined the company. This entails assessing the current situation anew with the help of key stakeholders. Make it a disciplined process. – LOL. YES AND CORPORATE LOYALTY IS STILL IN EFFECT. SUCKERS. CEO'S LIVE IN A WORLD DIVORCED FROM REALITY.
• SFO Magazine Article – Lately, when a stock makes an important new high, it will inch even higher until a seller finally refuses to lift for higher ground. Immediately, the sell-the-new-high program will sell much lower than you bought. The longs are trapped and squeezed out of their positions. – I'VE NOTICED THIS ON MY POSITION IN V. MUST ADAPT TO HFT AND ADJUST RISK.
• HFT Market Making Will Lead to a Crash – Computerized algorithmic market making works in any type of oscillating market, as the computer can keep flipping out of it’s longs, and covering it’s shorts. It works in a trending market, as long as there is some type of choppy trade. The problem lies, when the computer system can’t flip out of the position. Most algorithmic systems are programmed with some type of risk parameter. If this risk parameter is breached, the computer will dump it’s position and cut it’s losses. This is what may have happened in RMBS today. An algorithmic system making markets on the long side, got too long, and was unable to wiggle out of the position because of the follow-through in selling pressure. Once it was down so much in the position (the risk parameter was breached), it dumped. This simply added fuel to the fire. That is why the sudden plunge to $16 happened. – OK FINE, ITS DANGEROUS BUT HOW DO I MAKE MONEY FROM IT?
• NJ Airport Video Shows Guard Leaving Post – NYTimes.com – The video shows the guard leaving his podium for several seconds. The woman then comes from inside a secure, passengers-only area and motions to the man, who ducks under a rope. The couple embraces and walks arm-in-arm past the vacant podium. – DUMBASSES
• Jamie Gritton’s MI Backtester – This is a tool for backtesting stock screens, as defined and used by the Mechanical Investing (MI) message board at The Motley Fool. While it's quite handy (if I do say so myself), it is by no means an introduction to (or even a description of) mechanical investing. – VERY INTERESTING SITE, MUST SPEND SOME TIME HERE DIGGING ABOUT!
• Chinese Decision on Rates Seen as ‘Turning Point’ – NYTimes.com – “It is a turning point,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist in the Hong Kong offices of Royal Bank of Scotland. “There is a convergence of events that will lead to higher rates.” – MAYBE
• The Way We Live Now – Walk Away From Your Mortgage! – NYTimes.com – Time was, Americans would do anything to pay their mortgage — forgo a new car or a vacation, even put a younger family member to work. But the housing collapse left 10.7 million families owing more than their homes are worth. So some of them are making a calculated decision to hang onto their money and let their homes go. Is this irresponsible? – NO, ITS SMART BUSINESS SAVVY. ITS PLAYING BY THE RULES THAT PLAY BY.
• Chinese Decision on Rates Seen as ‘Turning Point’ – NYTimes.com – “It is a turning point,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist in the Hong Kong offices of Royal Bank of Scotland. “There is a convergence of events that will lead to higher rates.” – MAYBE
• The Way We Live Now – Walk Away From Your Mortgage! – NYTimes.com – Time was, Americans would do anything to pay their mortgage — forgo a new car or a vacation, even put a younger family member to work. But the housing collapse left 10.7 million families owing more than their homes are worth. So some of them are making a calculated decision to hang onto their money and let their homes go. Is this irresponsible? – NO, ITS SMART BUSINESS SAVVY. ITS PLAYING BY THE RULES THAT PLAY BY.
• Retail Stores Report Modest Gains in December – NYTimes.com – Retailing groups calculated in recent days that sales for the combined months of November and December rose 1 to 2 percent from a year ago. Industry professionals were pleased Thursday that the results were at the high end of estimates and that retailers were not forced to discount as dramatically as they did in 2008. – LAUGH, 1% ABOVE SHIT SALES IS STILL SHITTY SALES

These are my links for January 6th through January 7th:

• Geithner’s New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure – Bloomberg.com – “It appears that the New York Fed deliberately pressured AIG to restrict and delay the disclosure of important information,” said Issa, a California Republican. Taxpayers “deserve full and complete disclosure under our nation’s securities laws, not the withholding of politically inconvenient information.” President Barack Obama selected Geithner as Treasury secretary, a post he took last year. – GOES TO SHOW YOU, THEY'RE ALL SNEAKY
• Geithner’s New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure – Bloomberg.com – “It appears that the New York Fed deliberately pressured AIG to restrict and delay the disclosure of important information,” said Issa, a California Republican. Taxpayers “deserve full and complete disclosure under our nation’s securities laws, not the withholding of politically inconvenient information.” President Barack Obama selected Geithner as Treasury secretary, a post he took last year. – GOES TO SHOW YOU, THEY'RE ALL SNEAKY
• Deflation in Japan: To lose one decade may be misfortune… | The Economist – What effect has this steady erosion of value had on the psychology of Japanese people? The bust did not lay waste to Japan, after all, as the Depression did to America in the 1930s. Homelessness and suicide have risen, and life has got much harder for young people seeking good jobs. But Japan still has ¥1,500 trillion ($16.3 trillion) of savings, its exporters are world-class, and many of its citizens dress, shop and eat lavishly. As a senior civil servant puts it: “Japanese people have never really felt that they are in crisis, even though the economy is slowly withering away.” – WELL WE JUST HAD A LOST DECADE OF OUR OWN.
• Off the Charts – For Stocks in the Developed World, It Was a Decade of Zeros – NYTimes.com – The United States stock market lagged even that modest return. According to the MSCI indexes, which measure virtually all stock markets using consistent criteria, an investor in the American market who reinvested all dividends — and who somehow avoided all taxes and transaction costs for the decade — would have ended 2009 with 12 percent fewer dollars than when the decade began. That is an annual return of negative 1.3 percent. – NOT IF YOU'VE BEEN TREND FOLLOWING.
• Gold Outshines All Other Assets For Past Decade – Knowing about the 18 year cycle between commodities and equities, this isn’t surprising. In fact, thanks to this long term historical pattern, we can look forward to almost another decade of the same type of outperformance. – I WONDER FOR HOW LONG REALLY?

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These are my links for July 28th through July 29th:

• COULD YOU SURVIVE WITHOUT MONEY?MEET THE GUY WHO DOES: DETAILS Article on men.style.com men.style.com: Fashion and Lifestyle News from the Online Home of GQ and Details – His dwelling, hidden high in a canyon lined with waterfalls, is an hour by foot from the desert town of Moab, Utah, where people who know him are of two minds: He's either a latter-day prophet or an irredeemable hobo.
• Foreign Policy: Jay-Z Schools Us In U.S. Hegemony : NPR – But the limits on his ability to use this power recalls the debates about U.S. primacy. Should he use this power to its fullest extent, as neo-conservatives would advise, imposing his will to reshape the world, forcing others to adapt to his values and leadership? Or should he fear a backlash against the unilateral use of power, as realists such as my colleague Steve Walt or liberals such as John Ikenberry would warn, and instead exercise self-restraint?

These are my links for July 27th:

• The End Of Fossil Fuel – Forbes.com – Americans, who constitute 4% of the world population but consume 25% of its energy, will have radically different lifestyles. Production of everything will have to be re-localized. Instead of our food traveling an average 1,500 miles before it reaches us, it will have to come from nearby and use organic methods instead of requiring 10 calories of fossil fuel inputs for every calorie of food we eat.
• Traders Profit With Computers Set at High Speed – NYTimes.com – “This is where all the money is getting made,” said William H. Donaldson, former chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange and today an adviser to a big hedge fund. “If an individual investor doesn’t have the means to keep up, they’re at a huge disadvantage.”
• The End Of Fossil Fuel – Forbes.com – Americans, who constitute 4% of the world population but consume 25% of its energy, will have radically different lifestyles. Production of everything will have to be re-localized. Instead of our food traveling an average 1,500 miles before it reaches us, it will have to come from nearby and use organic methods instead of requiring 10 calories of fossil fuel inputs for every calorie of food we eat.
• Traders Profit With Computers Set at High Speed – NYTimes.com – “This is where all the money is getting made,” said William H. Donaldson, former chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange and today an adviser to a big hedge fund. “If an individual investor doesn’t have the means to keep up, they’re at a huge disadvantage.”
• Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man – NYTimes.com – The Kurzweil version of technological utopia has captured imaginations in Silicon Valley. This summer an organization called the Singularity University began offering courses to prepare a “cadre” to shape the advances and help society cope with the ramifications. THE CULT CONTINUES!

These are my links for July 27th:

• Chinese-American Children Sent to Live With Kin Abroad Face Tough Return – NYTimes.com – “I advise all Chinese families, do not send your kids away, no matter how hard, because that loss cannot be made up,” she said. “Money is not so important. Nothing can make up for the sensation of love between parents and children.”

These are my links for July 25th:

• NASWA WWW Shortwave Listening Guide –