nine months' hard labour

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Kylie Minogue's ancestors lived in Thornbury and worked on Bristol trams
Monday, February 01, 2010, 07:00

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue's roots have been traced all the way back to the town of Thornbury, but her relatives were not all quite so well behaved.

The ever-popular singer's great-great grandfather appeared at Thornbury Magistrates' Court 120 years ago on charges of indecent assault, reports in a national newspaper have claimed.

Morgan Riddiford lived in the village in the 1890s, with his widowed mother Sarah and two sisters, according to the genealogy website Findmypast.com.

Born in 1875, he was brought before the South Gloucestershire court when he was just 16 years old, along with 18-year-old co-defendant William Sainsbury.

Court records in the National Archives show the pair pleaded guilty to an indecent assault on 14-year-old Mary Ann Tandy.


They were charged with "beating, wounding, ill-treating and doing other wrongs to her".

Riddiford and Sainsbury appeared before Mr Justice Mathew at Gloucestershire Assizes in November 1890, who sentenced Miss Minogue's ancestor to nine months' hard labour in Gloucester prison.

The court was told that the pair had been out following a group of girls in Thornbury with a third boy, 14-year-old William Smart, one Sunday evening.

Mary, who was one of the three girls being followed, was in the service of local farmer John Clarke. When the boys set upon Mary, her father Lewis heard the screams and ran to investigate.

Smart fled the scene but later gave evidence about his two friends, the court records show.

After his release from prison, Riddiford moved to Bristol to work as a tram inspector, and married a local girl, also called Mary.

According to the 1901 census, he lived in Bristol when he was 26.

The Minogue dynasty moved to Australia when Kylie's grandmother Millie Jones emigrated from Maestag, South Wales, years later.

Millie's daughter Carol Jones married Ron Minogue and had three children.

Kylie would go on to star in the Australian soap Neighbours before selling 68 million records in her hugely successful pop career.

She was awarded the OBE for services to music in 2008.

Her sister Dannii is one of the judges on The X Factor talent show programme.

Read more about
Carol Jones,John Clarke,Kylie Minogue,Bristol,Thornbury,Australia,Gloucester Prison

Minogue sisters` convict past unveiled - Monsters and Critics

Minogue sisters` convict past unveiled

Minogue sisters` convict past unveiled - Monsters and Critics: "Minogue sisters` convict past unveiled

Aussie pop-princess, Kylie Minogue was pictured smiling for photographers as she left her West London apartment to go to a recording studio. - Earl/Clements/Splash NewsBy Philippa Bourke Jan 27, 2010, 1:15 GMT

The Minogue family tree came to light on January 26, Australia Day.

The lineage of the talented sisters who were discovered in Australia but have found fame and happiness in the UK was revealed to be a mix of both countries.

The Daily Telegraph in Sydney claims the discovery of a convict relative will have the British in a state of glee. A census from the year 1891 showed the sisters' great-grandfather Morgan Riddiford was a convict at HM Prison Gloucester in England.
The same search turned up the name of their mother, Carol Jones, on passenger lists from a 1950s emigration program. Jones was born in Wales and moved to Australia at age 12 with her parents. She sailed on a £10 ticket in 1955 to start a new life in the Antipodes.

Jones married Ron Minogue before settling down in Melbourne, Victoria. Kylie said: 'People come up to me and tell me they think I'm more British than the British. I've lived here [in the UK] for more than 10 years and I feel totally at home – though in my heart I'll always be an Aussie.'

The addition of another Minogue was recently revealed with the announcement of Dannii Minogue's pregnancy to British football player turned model Kris Smith. The child, she has already vowed, will be born Down Under."

S. Collins buy on GLD

Don't Miss the 2010 Gold Rush
by Sam Collins 01/11/10


SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) -- This exchange-traded fund (ETF) seeks to mirror the price of gold bullion.

As early as April 9, 2009, at $86.33, I put GLD's target at $125. On Dec. 3, GLD rose to a high of over $119.

Now, with gold trading at $1,139 an ounce, with an end-of-the-year target of $1,300 from S&P, our original target of $125 seems to be achievable.

Buying now could result in a healthy profit as buyers rotate back into gold.

Fair Use Day

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AALL's Washington Blawg

Coverage of First Annual World’s Fair Use Day
Posted: 14 Jan 2010 12:09 PM PST

The First Annual World’s Fair Use Day (WFUD) took place on January 12 here in Washington, D.C. in a free event produced by Public Knowledge. It included discussions with artists, documentary filmmakers, lawyers, activists and musicians interested in celebrating and supporting the concept of Fair Use for artistic and cultural expression. This was a unique way to hear about projects employing fair use topics from the people who created them. Examples of speakers include:

Irish artist Dan Walsh who created “Garfield Minus Garfield“, an almost existential reworking of the Garfield comic strip
Chris Burke, producer, This Spartan Life, which uses video content from video games like Halo for an entertaining talk show
Musician DJ Earworm who creates music mashups combining the top Billboard songs of the year, which also appear on his YouTube channel
In addition to talking to creators, the event highlighted legal and policy work in this area, such as the work of the Center for Social Media at American University and their efforts in various areas of best practices. At the lunch talk, Professors Peter Jaszi (American University) and Anthony Falzone (Stanford Center for Internet and Society) responded to audience questions surrounding fair use topics. Even in discussing failed defenses in a fair use case involving a Harry Potter Lexicon, Professor Jaszi sees positive developments. He called this a victory for fair use, saying that the federal court’s decision should help refine judicial tests for fair use factors, especially in the Second Circuit. For instance, he says that loss of licensing revenue is gone from the factor analysis here.

Look to Rebecca Tushnet’s blog for a detailed summary of the entire event: Part One | Part Two. You can also read a Wrapup on TechDirt, and all recordings from the events will be online at WFUD.info.

Mark your calendars for January 2011 for next year’s event.

[Submitted by Roger Skalbeck, AALL Copyright Committee Vice Chair]

Collins call on NFLX

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Cozy Up to Netflix
by Sam Collins 01/04/10
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Free Trading Guides


Netflix (NFLX) -- This provider of online movie rental subscription services in the United States has been in a bull market since November 2008, when it double-bottomed below $19.

Since then, the stock broke through a double-top in January 2009, which launched it not only to a new high, but confirmed a long-term triple-top breakout.

Recent profit-taking has pulled it back from the high of $61.65, but any weakness should be viewed as a buying opportunity.

Investors may wish to take a half position now, and then a full position if NFLX pulls back below $50.

The target for traders is $67, but long-term investors could see much higher prices.

TT(VCM?) Recomendation - NG

The Technical Setup: Team Trading buy setup (VBS). NG has been in an uptrend most of this year. A sharp pullback at the beginning of December, after making a new daily high, tested the five dollar support area. The next rally rocketed to test the prior high, with a bullish wide range bar (+WRB). This pullback has four red bars, a 50% retracement, and is right to the rising 20 period moving average. Friday, the stock gapped bullishly over the prior small red bar, triggering the buy setup. We will look for follow through to that move.

The Play: Traders can buy NG as a swing trade over 6.17, with a protective stop under 5.80. We will look for targets of 6.79 and 7.49.

Sam Collins calls Buy on GDX

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Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) -- This exchange-traded fund (ETF), which attempts to replicate the price and yield performance of the Amex Gold Miners Index, is in a bull market with the bull market support line at $44 and the 200-day moving average at $42.



This has been a very successful trading stock for the "Trade of the Day." After initially recommending traders take a half position, our last comment on Nov. 4, with the stock trading at $46.64 was, "A full position could be initiated below $40. The trading target remains unchanged at $50 to $55."

The stock didn't pull back to $40, but did run to $55.40.

Now GDX appears to be in buying range again after a healthy round of profit-taking and a reversal off of its major bull market trendline, coupled with a stochastic buy signal.

The trading target, for GDX is $52, but crises or renewed inflation could result in much higher prices.

GOOG driving higher

Jump on the trend trade
B Jun10 570/630 call spread @ $36.70
s/l 27.52 (25%) target=

TXN trade

Based on Sam Collins calling a cup-and-handle breakout with a stochastic buy signal target $32.
B 2 TXN Apr10 28/31 call spread at .50
s/l .35

P Stock Play of the Week RIMM

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Industry: Computers Closing Price: 68.33 P/E: 15.4 Avg. Vol.: 18,033K

Company Profile: Research In Motion Limited (RIM) designs, manufactures, and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. The Company provides platforms and solutions for access to email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet, and Intranet-based applications.

Chart Setup: Buy Setup

Trading Strategy: We'll look to buy RIMM if it trades above 68.33 Place a stop under 67.24 Target 1: $71.50

STOPped out 12/30 at 67.21

Free FOREX signals

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From dozens of providers all over the world. Test and experiment for the best ones.

Velez Trade - VZ

Team Trading - Stock Pick of the Week - December 21st 2009 - oldfox@gmail.com - Gmail:

"Today's play is a possible long swing trade, from the daily charts, on VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. (VZ).

Sector: Technology – Telecom Services - Domestic

Next Earnings Date: January 26th

The Technical Setup: VCM buy setup (VBS). VZ set a bottom in late October (1) and quickly changed the trend to an uptrend, on a mid November breakout. Since the change of trend, VZ has been in what we refer to as a “Powertrend”. The price has held a strong uptrend that hasn’t returned to the 20 period moving average, until now. Powertrends are great, but often are hard to get entries, because of the constant aggressive buying. Since the high last week, (3), VZ is now offering the first daily VBS since the new uptrend began. Two days ago VZ formed a bottoming tail at the 20ma and in the area of minor support.

The Play: Traders can buy VZ as a swing trade over 33.12, with a protective stop under 32.28. We will look for targets of 34.94 and 39.44."

OTT B 100 vz fill @ $33.10 s/l 32.28 t1 34.94 t2 39.44

KYLIE LIVE IN NEW YORK - Kylie Minogue's MySpace Blog |

KYLIE LIVE IN NEW YORK - Kylie Minogue's MySpace Blog |

KYLIE LIVE IN NEW YORK

And that's not all, we're extremely excited to announce that fans will be able to listen to the first half of the New York concert pre-release, exclusively on YouTube from Midnight December 12 at http://www.youtube.com/kylieminogue!

You can listen to the Speakerphone Studio Remix now exclusively at http://links.emi.com/speakerphone

The full track listing for the album is:

1. Overture (Somewhere Over The Rainbow / The Sound of Music)
2. Light Years
3. Speakerphone
4. Come Into My World
5. In Your Eyes
6. Everything Taboo Medley (Shocked / What Do I Have To Do / Spinning Around / What Kind Of Fool / Do You Dare / It's No Secret / Keep On Pumpin' it Up / I'm Over Dreaming Over You / Ride on Time / Such A Good Feeling / Finally / The Real Slim Shady / Buffalo Girls)
7. Like A Drug
8. Boombox / Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head
9. Slow
10. 2 Hearts
11. Red Blooded Woman / Where The Wild Roses Grow
12. Heartbeat Rock
13. Wow
14. White Diamond Theme
15. White Diamond
16. Confide In Me
17. I Believe In You
18. Burning Up / Vogue
19. The Locomotion
20. Kids
21. In My Arms
22. Better The Devil You Know
23. The One
24. I Should Be So Lucky
25. Love At First Sight

iTunes customers will also receive 3 bonus tracks:

Light Years (Steve Anderson studio version)
Speakerphone (Steve Anderson studio version)
Come Into My World (Steve Anderson studio version)

The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West

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Dore Gold
About the Program
Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, talks about the threat posed by a future nuclear Iran. Mr. Gold, who argues that the West should take strong actions to stop Iran from getting the bomb, spoke at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC.

About the Author
Dore Gold
Dore Gold, who was Israel's ambassador to the UN from 1997 to 1999, is currently president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (jcpa.org). His books include "Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism" and "Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City."

Why Are Jews Liberals?

Norman Podhoretz
About the Program
Editor-in-chief of Commentary magazine attempts to answer the question he says he's been asked more often than any other during four decades in journalism: why are jews liberals? The event is at the Harvard Club.

About the Author
Norman Podhoretz

Norman Podhoretz is a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute where he studies, writes and speaks on social, cultural and international issues. Mr. Pohoretz also serves as editor-at-large of Commentary. He is the author of several books, including "My Love Affair with America: The Cautionary Tale of a Cheerful Conservative," and "Breaking Ranks: A Political Memoir."

Click here.

Spiritual Carnality

The Picnic
A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met at the town's annual 4th of July picnic.
Old friends, they began their usual banter.
"This baked ham is really delicious," the priest teased the rabbi. "You really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden! You don't
know what you're missing. You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Hall's prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?"
The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, "At your wedding."


The Usher
An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps, "Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely.
"The front row please," she answered.
"You really don't want to do that," the usher said "The pastor is really boring."
"Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired.
"No." he said.
"I'm the pastor's mother," she replied indignantly.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
"No." she said.
"Good," he answered.


Show and Tell
A kindergarten teacher gave her class a "show and tell" assignment. Each student was instructed to bring in an object to share with the class that represented their religion.
The first student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David."
The second student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is a Rosary."
The third student got in up front of the class and said, "My name is Tommy. I am Baptist, and this is a casserole."


The Best Way To Pray
A priest, a minister and a guru sat discussing the best positions for prayer, while a telephone repairman worked nearby.
"Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray," the priest said.
"No," said the minister. "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven."
"You're both wrong," the guru said. "The most effective prayer position is lying down on the floor."
The repairman could contain himself no longer.
"Hey, fellas," he interrupted. "The best prayin' I ever did was when I was hangin' upside down from a telephone pole."


The Twenty and the One
A well-worn one-dollar bill and a similarly distressed twenty-dollar bill arrived at a Federal Reserve Bank to be retired. As they moved along the conveyor belt to be burned, they struck up a conversation...

The twenty-dollar bill reminisced about its travels all over the country. "I've had a pretty good life," the twenty proclaimed. "Why I've been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City , the finest restaurants in New York, performances on Broadway, and even a cruise to the Caribbean "

"Wow!" said the one-dollar bill. "You've really had an exciting life!"

"So tell me," says the twenty, "where have you been throughout your lifetime?"

The one dollar bill replies, "Oh, I've been to the Methodist Church , the Baptist Church , the Lutheran Church ."

The twenty-dollar bill interrupts, "What's a church?"

Goat for Dinner
The young couple invited their elderly pastor for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having.
"Goat," the little boy replied.
"Goat?" replied the startled man of the cloth, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yep," said the youngster
"I heard Dad say to Mom, 'Today is just as good as any to have that old goat for dinner."

Lord, keep Your arm around my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth.

Beatles

Click on any title and see the video of the original song, in addition to the lyrics.�  � The Beatles!�  � Videos organized by the Beatles; all original songs! A Day in the Life A Hard Day’s Night A Taste of Honey Across The Universe Act Naturally All I’ve got to Do All My Loving All Together Now All You Need Is Love And I Love Her And Your Bird Can Sing Anna (Go To Him) Another Girl Any Time At All Ask Me Why Baby It’s You Baby You’re A Rich Man Bad Boy Because Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! Birthday Blackbird Blue Jay Way Boys Can’t Buy Me Love Carry That Weight Chains Come Together Cry Baby Cry Day Tripper Dear Prudence Devil In Her Heart Dig A Pony Dig It Dizzy Miss Lizzie Do You Want to Know a Secret Doctor Robert Don’t Bother Me Don’t Let Me Down Don’t Pass Me By Drive My Car Eight Days a Week Eleanor Rigby Every Little Thing Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey Everybody’s Trying to be My Baby Fixing a Hole Flying (instrumental) For No One For You Blue Free As A Bird From Me To You Get Back Getting Better Girl Glass Onion Golden Slumbers Good Day Sunshine Good Morning, Good Morning Good Night Got To Get You Into My Life Happiness is a Warm Gun Hello, Goodbye Help Helter Skelter Her Majesty Here Comes The Sun Here, There And Everywhere Hey Bulldog Hey Jude Hold Me Tight Honey Don’t Honey Pie I Am the Walrus I Call Your Name I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party I Feel Fine I Me Mine I Need You I Saw Her Standing There I Should Have Known Better I Wanna Be Your Man I Want To Hold Your Hand I Want To Tell You I Want You (She’s So Heavy) I Will I’ll Be Back I’ll Cry Instead I’ll Follow the Sun I’ll Get You I’m a Loser I’m Down I’m Just Happy to Dance with You I’m Looking Through You I’m Only Sleeping I’m so tired I’ve Got A Feeling I’ve Just Seen a Face If I Fell If I Needed Someone In My Life It Won’t Be Long It’s All Too Much It’s Only Love Julia Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand Lady Madonna Let it Be Little Child Long Tall Sally Long, Long, Long Love Me Do Love You To Lovely Rita Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Maggie Mae Magical Mystery Tour Martha My Dear Matchbox Maxwell’s Silver Hammer Mean Mr. Mustard Michelle Misery Money (That’s What I Want) Mother Nature’s Son Mr. Moonlight No Reply Norwegian Wood Not a Second Time Nowhere Man Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Octopus’s Garden Oh! Darling Old Brown Shoe One After 909 Only A Northern Song P.S.. I Love You Paperback Writer Penny Lane Piggies Please Mister Postman Please Please Me Polythene Pam Rain Real Love Revolution 1 Revolution 9 Rock and Roll Music Rocky Raccoon Roll Over Beethoven Run For Your Life Savoy Truffle Sexy Sadie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) She Came In Through The Bathroom Window She Loves You She Said, She Said She’s A Woman She’s Leaving Home Sie Liebt Dich Slow Down Something Strawberry Fields Forever Sun King Taxman Tell Me What You See Tell Me Why Thank You Girl The Ballad of John And Yoko The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill The End The Fool On The Hill The Inner Light The Long And Winding Road The Night Before The Word There’s A Place Things We Said Today Think For Yourself This Boy Ticket to Ride Till There was You Tomorrow Never Knows Twist and Shout Two of Us Wait We Can Work It Out What Goes On What You’re Doing When I Get Home When I’m Sixty-Four While My Guitar Gently Weeps Why don’t we do it in the road Wild Honey Pie With a Little Help From My Friends Within You Without You Words of Love Yellow Submarine Yer Blues Yes It Is Yesterday You Can’t Do That You Know My Name You Like Me Too Much You Never Give Me Your Money You Really Got a Hold on Me You Won’t See Me You’re Going to Lose That Girl You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away Your Mother Should Know The Beatles video from Albums:� Please Please Me With The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night Beatles For Sale Help! Rubber Soul Revolver Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Magical Mystery Tour The Beatles - White Album Yellow Submarine Abbey Road Let It Be Past Masters Volume 1 Past Masters Volume 2

Contraband light bulbs...

AddThis - Sharing http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=...

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Puppy love

Kylie's car, driver, and street in London

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NRA Commentary

By Wayne LaPierre
link

Challenge 25
You know the saying, "If you make something idiot-proof, someone will just build a better idiot"? I have a feeling some of those "better idiots" are now in charge of the War on Knives in England.

Of course these are some of the same people that brought us England's "War on Guns," which led to the banning of semi-automatic firearms and a complete ban on handguns more than a decade ago. Since then, England's crime rate has continued to spiral out of control, and illegal gun use has increased as well. Since guns are already banned, however, the Brits needed to ban a new item. They came up with pizza cutters.

Okay, they came up with a war on knives, but since pizza cutters have a blade, they're covered under the tough anti-knife laws in place. That's why when 28-year-old Jenny Palmer recently tried to buy a pizza cutter from the department store Marks and Spencer, she was asked for ID. A spokesman for Marks and Spencer told the Telegraph newspaper, "Our policy is not to sell knives or bladed articles to persons under 18, and a pizza wheel fits into to that category. We are a responsible retailer, and our customers expect us to be vigilant in providing blades if people appear to be underage."

Meanwhile, a government report indicates that homicides involving blades actually increased in the ten cities targeted for a crackdown on knife crime. It looks like the War on Knives has been as successful as the War on Guns. No wonder the Guardian newspaper calls the new report a "severe embarrassment." I'm guessing Jenny Palmer would agree.

Fun with kitty...

Hey! I'm walking here.

testing 1, 2, 3 ...

Mad About Options: Keep Taking Bites Out of This Apple! DELL, IBM, MSFT, HPQ, AAPL - TheStreet TV

Mad About Options: Keep Taking Bites Out of This Apple! DELL, IBM, MSFT, HPQ, AAPL - TheStreet TV

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Gary Kaltbaum on Trading Gaps

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gary k on trading gaps

Make The Girl Dance "Baby Baby Baby" ( official video )

Make The Girl Dance "Baby Baby Baby" ( official video )
Video sent by placeblancherec

EN VENTE SUR WWW.BEATPORT.COM et ITUNES
www.myspace.com/makethegirldance
Voix sur le morceau: www.myspace.com/musubi_paris

FOREX Chart

eToro Forex Trading

FADER TV: Gerlan Jeans At NY Fashion Week 2009

FADER TV: Gerlan Jeans At NY Fashion Week 2009
Video sent by thefader

nice girl. cute work. future star?

Obama Girl plays Wii Fit and Wii Sports

Obama Girl plays Wii Fit and Wii Sports
Video sent by BarelyPolitical

What happens when politics and Obama Girl collide? "W" and Hillary featured.

Automated Intraday FOREX Program

link

Well, we're finally ready to officially release the Gomega
Trader FX Autotrader. In the last 11 days, we've turned a
$3,671 account into $12,230

Fair Use or Unfair Use?

UPDATE: Google, Book Publishers Reach Settlement

By David B. Wilkerson

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -- Google Inc. and five major book publishers have reached an agreement that will allow the search-engine titan to make millions of in- copyright books and other written materials available online.

The publishers -- Simon & Schuster (CBS), McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP), Pearson Education Inc. and Penguin Group (PSO) and John Wiley & Sons Inc. (JWA)(JWB) -- had sued Google in 2005 to stop the company from scanning millions of library books. They contended that Google (GOOG) was violating copyright law.

Under the settlement, Google will make payments totaling $125 million. The money will be used to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees.

The funds will also go toward the establishment of an independent, not-for- profit entity called the Book Rights Registry, which will locate rights-holders, collect and maintain accurate information about them, and allow them to participate or opt out of Google's scanning project.

The settlement, which is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, will allow U.S. readers to search through millions of written works and preview them online.

It will also greatly expand the electronic market for copyrighted books and provide greater library access to the entire texts of books that had not been previously available online.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-28-081115ET
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Message on Short Sales

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The SEC using its powers under 12(k)(2) of the Exchange Act has prohibited any person from effecting any short sale, as defined by Rule 200 of Regulation SHO, in the publicly traded securities of the financial institutions specified in the Order ("Included Financial Firm"). The Included Financial Firms are a significantly larger group than those included in the initial July 15, 2008 Emergency Order found at Exchange Act Release 58166 and subsequently amended and extended by subsequent Orders. (See Exchange Act Releases 58190 and 58572).

There are limited exceptions from the prohibition provided for bona fide market makers and block positioners in the securities as well as short sales that occur as a result of automatic exercise or assignment of an equity option held prior to the effectiveness of the Order due to expiration of the option. Option Market Makers are exempted from the prohibition completely until 11:59 PM September 19, 2008 in order to accommodate the expirations of options on September 20, 2008.

The Order is effective as of 12:01 EDT September 19, 2008 and extends to October 2, 2008 unless extended by the Commission. A copy of the Order with the list of Included Financial Firms is attached.

Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free

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September 15, 2008
By NOAM COHEN
SQUINT hard, and textbook publishers can look a lot like drug makers. They both make money from doing obvious good — healing, educating — and they both have customers who may be willing to sacrifice their last pennies to buy what these companies are selling.

It is that fact that can suddenly turn the good guys into bad guys, especially when the prices they charge are compared with generic drugs or ordinary books. A final similarity, in the words of R. Preston McAfee, an economics professor at Cal Tech, is that both textbook publishers and drug makers benefit from the problem of “moral hazards” — that is, the doctor who prescribes medication and the professor who requires a textbook don’t have to bear the cost and thus usually don’t think twice about it.

“The person who pays for the book, the parent or the student, doesn’t choose it,” he said. “There is this sort of creep. It’s always O.K. to add $5.”

In protest of what he says are textbooks’ intolerably high prices — and the dumbing down of their content to appeal to the widest possible market — Professor McAfee has put his introductory economics textbook online free. He says he most likely could have earned a $100,000 advance on the book had he gone the traditional publishing route, and it would have had a list price approaching $200.

“This market is not working very well — except for the shareholders in the textbook publishers,” he said. “We have lots of knowledge, but we are not getting it out.”

•

While still on the periphery of the academic world, his volume, “Introduction to Economic Analysis,” is being used at some colleges, including Harvard and Claremont-McKenna, a private liberal arts college in Claremont, Calif..

And that, in a nutshell, is a big difference between textbook publishers and the drug makers. Sure, there have been scientists with Professor McAfee’s attitude — Jonas Salk was asked who owned the patent to the polio vaccine and scoffed: “Could you patent the sun?”

For the textbook makers, however, it is a different story. Professor McAfee allows anyone to download a Word file or PDF of his book, while also taking advantage of the growing marketplace for print on demand.

In true economist fashion, he has allowed two companies, Lulu and Flat World Knowledge, to sell print versions of his textbook, with Lulu charging $11 and Flat World anywhere from $19.95 to $59.95. As he said on his Web site, he is keeping the multiple options to “further constrain their ability to engage in monopoly pricing.”

A broader effort to publish free textbooks is called Connexions, which was the brainchild of Richard G. Baraniuk, an engineering professor at Rice University, which has received $6 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In addition to being a repository for textbooks covering a wide range of subjects and educational levels, its ethic is taken from the digital music world, he said — rip, burn and mash.

Unlike other projects that share course materials, notably OpenCourseWare at M.I.T., Connexions uses broader Creative Commons license allowing students and teachers to rewrite and edit material as long as the originator is credited. Teachers put up material, called “modules,” and then mix and match their work with others’ to create a collection of material for students. “We are changing textbook publishing from a pipeline to an ecosystem,” he said.

Like Professor McAfee, Professor Baraniuk says he decided to share his material while writing a textbook.

“If I had finished my own book, I would have finished a couple years ago,” he said. “It would have taken five years. It would have spent five years in print and sold 2,000 copies.” Instead, he said, he posted it on the Web site and there have been 2.8 million page views of his textbook, “Signals and Systems,” including a translation into Spanish.

Connexions is strongest in statistics and electrical engineering — areas with technologically advanced students and a greater need to update material than, say, works on medieval history. He said there were 850,000 unique users a month, with more than 50 percent of the traffic originating from outside the United States.

“It’s anyone’s guess as to when we will break through,” he said.

One of the most popular Connexions contributors is Sunil Kumar Singh, a production engineer from New Delhi who works for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India. He explains physics for precollege students, using the feedback from readers who e-mail from all over the world.

“It is a two-way process,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “I, for one, have experienced difficulty during my formal study years with the best of textbooks around.” He said the new system “gives me opportunity to respond to the editing needs all the time.”

•

While these open-source projects slowly grow, the textbook publishers have entered the online publishing field with CourseSmart, a service owned by five publishers. In service for only a year, CourseSmart allows students to subscribe to a textbook and read it online, with the option of highlighting and printing out portions of it at a time.

The price is generally half of what a print book costs, a sum that can still appear staggering — an introductory economics textbook costs around $90 online. (This semester, a student has the option of downloading a book as well — but it is an either-or choice: read online or download to a computer.)

Frank Lyman, executive vice president at CourseSmart, said that the company was created in response to changing times. “There wasn’t a lot of content and it was in a bunch of formats,” he said of past efforts by publishers. “There never was any momentum.”

There are 4,000 textbooks currently available — about a third of the market — but the goal is to cover “50 percent of the backpack.” Without being specific, he said that tens of thousands of textbooks have been read online and that 1,240 separate institutions have a student who has made at least one e-textbook purchase.

While conceding that open-source textbooks would take hold in a few subject areas, Mr. Lyman stressed that the current system would still prevail and that collaborative works online would have a hard time winning an audience.

“Of all the things that are changing, one thing is consistent — the authorship model,” he said.

“What doesn’t worry me is that leading experts will say I will write my own damn book and people will read it.”

Infallible News Media

Google News Alert for: kylie minogue
Kylie Minogue’s 1m show
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‘2 Hearts’ singer Kylie Minogue is to be paid £1 million for a private performance at a hotel launch in Dubai. Kylie Minogue is to be paid £1 million for a ...

The Wiggles and Kylie Minogue Top Aussie Rich List
Undercover Music News - Australia
Kylie Minogue added another $40 million to her vast fortune. BRW has announced the top 10 rich list for Australian entertainers and there were a few ...

KYLIE MINOGUE - MINOGUE SET FOR $1 MILLION DUBAI GIG
Contactmusic.com - Ilkley,England,UK
Pop star KYLIE MINOGUE will reportedly pick up $1 million (GBP540,540) to play a one-off concert in Dubai. The Australian singer is set to be the star ...

Kylie Minogue To Earn £2 Million By Performing At A Private Party
AngryApe - Manchester,UK
Kylie Minogue is to be paid a whopping £2 million for just one concert at a private party, say new reports. The Aussie star will scoop the huge wage if she ...

Kylie Minogue paid $4.4 milion to sing at Dubai hotel's opening
NEWS.com.au - Australia
KYLIE Minogue, who is estimated to have earned $40 million in the past year, will be paid a staggering $73000 a minute to perform at a private party in the ...

Kylie Minogue Set For $1 Million Dubai Gig
Post Chronicle - USA
by Staff Pop star Kylie Minogue will reportedly pick up $1 million (£540540) to play a one-off concert in Dubai. The Australian singer is set to be the ...

Worth Considering

From the Pocket MBA at PLI

Term of the Week: Option ARM

Mortgage that permits the borrower to choose from among several types of repayment arrangements.
Read More


Option ARM In The Real World:

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. That was the tagline from advertisements for the sequel to the movie Jaws in the way-back time. But it could just as easily apply to the current credit/mortgage situation/crisis. Every time someone gets on television to say that the housing market has bottomed, the eerie Jaws theme music seems to start playing in Pocket MBA's ear. Da Dum...Da Dum...Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum...Aaaaarghhhhhhhh, my arm! And the shark bites again. The newsletter has previously covered subprime mortgages (Jaws) and Alt-A (Jaws 2); we seem to have weathered the threat of the first, and the second may not be as bad as originally thought, although who knows? And now comes Jaws 3-D, the ticking bomb that some say is represented by the resets in option ARM rates scheduled for next spring. Some finance people believe that to the extent the economy has avoided full-on recession this year, the option ARM problem could sink it next. That's because option ARMs represent a larger percentage of mortgages than subprime and Alt-A, and the homebuyers that took out option ARMs tended to be solid denizens of the middle class, including people who refinanced out of standard 30-year fixed mortgages. If they start to go bust, well you do the math. Da Dum...

So what is an option ARM, and how can it be the straw that breaks the camel's back, or the dangling leg (arm?) that tempts the Great White? You can Google the subject and get in-depth explanations with calculations and all that, but, simply put, an option ARM is an adjustable rate mortgage that gives the borrower up to four choices as to how much he will pay each month--that is, it gives payment options. Each of those options impacts the amount which the borrower will repay every month.

The most straightforward options are that a borrower can choose to pay the mortgage as if it were a standard 15- or 30-year mortgage. Pocket MBA imagines those who have chosen either of these two routes are probably doing just fine. After all, those are the options standard borrowers decide between when taking out a mortgage. It's the remaining two options that are problematic, although they didn't start out that way. So first, a little history.

Options ARMS are a creature of the 1980s, and as implied above, they were originally marketed to relatively high-end borrowers, many of whom had incomes that were stacked toward the end of the year, either via bonuses or self-employment arrangements. The options that attracted these borrowers were the ability to pay less than a standard fixed mortgage in certain months of the year, and then at the end of the year, when the borrowers had more income, they would make, in essence, a balloon payment to make up the difference and get back on the track they would be on with a standard mortgage. As option ARMs began being offered to those with less income, or standard earners (15th and 30th of the month, etc.), the option part of the payback started to become problematic. Dum-Dum.

The first of the non-standard options in an option ARM is to pay the mortgage as if it were an interest-only loan. Thus the borrower pays only the monthly interest on the loan (which can be fixed, but is often adjustable on a monthly basis), and the principal on the loan remains steady for whatever term the interest-only part of the loan occupies. At the end of that period, the borrower has to play catch-up. Again, this can work for a higher-end borrower who can invest the amount saved on the monthly payments and make up more than what he would have paid on the mortgage. Of course, if your investments don't work out, you're left holding the bag of a mortgage that must be paid off by the end of the mortgage term, and now you have interest and principal to pay in that amount of time. Da-Dum. Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum...

The second of the non-standard options for option ARM borrowers is the "minimum payment" or negative amortization option. This is the real killer, and again, it made sense for borrowers who had a certain threshold financial wherewithal. Under this option, the borrower pays an amount "X," that is predetermined and is less than even the accruing interest. An amount equal to the difference between X and the monthly interest owed on the loan gets tacked on to the principal balance. Thus, with the minimum payment option, the borrower owes more every month, and owns nothing, that is, his equity doesn't grow. This goes on for a year, at which point the interest rate is usually readjusted upward, but usually the monthly minimum is still relatively low. But, after a certain number of years (five or ten) or when the balance grows to a certain percentage above the original balance (say 115% or 120%), the loan gets "recast," so that it is fully amortizing. Then, no matter how much a person owes on a monthly basis to make up the negative amortization during the remainder of the loan term, that amount becomes the monthly payment, and the sky is the limit. For a slew of option ARMS on which borrowers have been paying the minimum option (and there are reports that the number of these is as high as 80% of all option ARMs), that date of reckoning is sometime next year. Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum, Dum-Dum...

So how did a loan that was meant for relatively well-off earners end up being marketed to everyday borrowers? Of course, it's the story of the credit/mortgage crisis writ large: falling interest rates create housing boom; more and more people enter the market; housing prices soar, thereby excluding the same people from the market unless banks come up with creative ways to enable affordability. Bing bang boom, you end up with a mismatch between lending product and borrower, and a potential foreclosure problem.

The funny thing is these minimum payment arrangements haven't hurt the lenders, at least until now. First, under GAAP, the banks are allowed to record as revenue the amount that would have been paid had the borrower chosen to pay at the fully amortized 30-year option. Thus the banks' bottom line looks great...at least until the borrower defaults. Then all those revenues have to be discounted. Also, as with subprime, many of these loans have been sold to investors via the securitizations that were the subject of this newsletter earlier in the year. The question is whether that will start a new round of financial institution stress. Tune in next spring to find out. Until then, it's definitely not safe to go back into the water.

Watch out below!

Famous Last Words

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"The judge can drop dead in his black robes," Quill shouted just before he was taken away. "We will not call off the strike. We'll defy the injunction and go to jail. I don't care if I rot in jail."

Two hours after his arrest, Quill collapsed in prison and was taken to Bellvue Hospital.

"Michael Quill, Transit Union Chief, Is Dead." St. Petersburg Times, v. 82, n. 189, January 29, 1966. 1-2.

Five Years, 30,000 Lawsuits, and Counting

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A moment of MP3 silence, please, as we observe the fifth anniversary of the Recording Industry Association of America's massive litigation campaign against peer-to-peer sharing of copyrighted songs. It was five years ago today that the RIAA filed its first round of lawsuits against 261 defendants, observes David Kravets of Wired's Threat Level blog. Today, the number of lawsuits has soared to 30,000 and shows no sign of abating. "We're just barely scratching the surface of the legal issues," Ray Beckerman, the New York lawyer who defends -- and blogs about -- RIAA cases, tells Kravets. "They're extorting people -- and for what purpose?"

Because many of the people the RIAA sues cannot afford to hire a lawyer and defend themselves, many of the cases settle for a few thousand dollars. So common are these settlements that the RIAA has set up a Web site to accept and process settlement payments, much in the same way one would pay a phone or credit card bill. But Kravets' post raises the question of whether the RIAA's campaign has accomplished anything or "shaped up as an utter failure." The RIAA's only jury-trial win, the case against Minnesota mother Jammie Thomas, is expected to be declared a mistrial any day now due to the judge's second thoughts on whether copyright law requires proof of an actual transfer of files, as opposed to simply making them available. In two other cases, the RIAA has lost on the "making available" issue, although it won damages in one of those cases due to the defendant's tampering with his hard drive.

Litigation outcomes aside, the RIAA says the campaign has been successful as a public relations effort, having spawned a "general sense of awareness" that file sharing of copyright music is illegal. But critics condemn the RIAA for both the way it litigates these cases and the way it investigates them. Washington state lawyer Lory Lybeck is leading a prospective class action against RIAA over its "sham" litigation tactics. She tells Kravets that RIAA is setting the price of settlement at a point where defendants can't afford to fight. And Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Fred von Lohmann questions whether the campaign has led to any reduction in file sharing. "If the goal is to reduce file sharing," he said, "it's a failure." Failure or not, the RIAA litigation has yet to download its swan song.

Exercise

See if this link works for JAMA video
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STUDY FINDS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MAY HELP IMPROVE COGNITIVE FUNCTION

INTRO:
With so many people living longer these days, it is estimated that the number of older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease worldwide will increase from about twenty-six million today to about one hundred and six million by the year 2050. Researchers are looking for ways to help delay the onset of dementia. A new study finds increasing physical activity may make a difference. Jennifer Mitchell explains in this week's JAMA Report.

Ms Dewey is Pretty Cool

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Fewer or Less

Tesco to ditch 'ten items or less' sign after good grammar campaign
By Tom Peterkin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 01/09/2008

From now on, signs in new stores are to say "up to 10 items" after a long running argument with those who have objected to the use of the word "less" in that context.

Many have argued that the signs ought to read "ten items or fewer" instead of "ten items or less".

Their argument is that the word 'fewer' should be used when it refers to quantities that can be counted.

'Less', they say, should refer to quantities that cannot be counted. The new form of words comes from a suggestion by the Plain English Campaign.

"There is a debate about whether the word should be 'less' or 'fewer'," a campaign spokesman said.

"Saying 'up to ten items' is easy to understand and avoids any debate."

Guidance from Oxford University Press says: "Less means 'not as much'. Fewer means 'not as many'. This can be tricky when referring to quantities. For example, we say less than six weeks, not fewer than six weeks, because we are not referring to six individual weeks, but to a single period of time lasting six weeks."

Hopes that changing the wording would provide a satisfactory solution to the knotty problem appear premature with some critics claiming that the new signs are themselves ambiguous.

Some would argue that "up to ten items" could mean "ten items and no more" or "nine items or fewer".

A Tesco spokesman said: "The debate about what is right has been going on for years now, and I still don't think we know if 'less' or 'fewer' is correct.

"The new signs will be in the rolling out of new stores. We are not going to see any new ones in existing shops so shoppers in those will not see the change."

West Headnote of the Day

110k406(6) k. Admissions as to Commission of or Participation in Commission of Crime.

Defendant's statement to codefendant that "this was stupidest robbery they'd ever done" was admissible in robbery prosecution as admission of guilt.
People v. Oquendo, 232 A.D.2d 881 (1996)

Subjects or Citizens

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Householders face £70 fines for putting wrong waste in green bins

By Tom Peterkin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 29/08/2008

The fines, which are more severe than those imposed on many shoplifters, drug users and dangerous drivers, were criticised by campaigners who said they would criminalise ordinary people and be used as an excuse to raise more money from families on the bread line.

Exeter City Council has become the first local authority to start fining, but others are expected to follow suit.

Anyone putting inappropriate waste into a green bin will be sent a fixed-penalty notice to compensate the council for cleaning it.

Those who refuse to pay will be taken to court and prosecuted for non-payment. . . .

West Headnote of the Day

237 Libel and Slander
237I Words and Acts Actionable, and Liability Therefor
237k9 Words Tending to Injure in Profession or Business
237k9(3) k. Attorneys at Law

It is slanderous per se to call a lawyer a knave.
McMillan v. Birch, 1806 WL 1003 (1806)