<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538</id><updated>2011-11-27T16:11:12.209-08:00</updated><category term='Globalization'/><category term='caffeine'/><category term='books.google.com'/><category term='Sun'/><category term='business'/><category term='recession'/><category term='book review'/><category term='Wealth'/><category term='Finance Loan'/><category term='network marketing'/><category term='Larry Ellison'/><category term='Navy Seal'/><category term='Useless'/><category term='Privacy Policy'/><category term='Palm'/><category term='NAS'/><category term='Apple'/><category term='Oracle'/><category term='book'/><category term='economic'/><category term='Finance'/><title type='text'>Useless space</title><subtitle type='html'>another useless space on the internet.  Blogging like everyone else about business related books and news.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>17</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-7166694604336445579</id><published>2010-05-09T00:08:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-06-14T20:14:20.642-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='business'/><title type='text'>The Rules of Business By Fast Company's Editors &amp; Writers</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;55 Essential Ideas to Help Smart People (and Organizations) Perform at Their Best&lt;br /&gt;By Fast Company's Editors &amp;amp; Writers&lt;br /&gt;Doubleday (A Division of Random House, Inc.)&lt;br /&gt;$19.95; hardcover; 246 pages; (2005).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;          This slim volume is filled with business ideas that you probably already know – but it never hurts to be reminded of them.  Most rules are accompanied by a short explanation and quotes from business leaders.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take #1 Rule, for instance:  The first rule of business is the same as the first rule of life: Adapt or die.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;          Nothing surprising here – but just think how often most people strive to resist change.  When we find something that works, we want to do it again and again – often oblivious to the fact that our original way of solving a problem or dealing with an issue is no longer effective.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;          Rule #2 reads:  Innovation is difficult and often painful.  But there is no alternative.  (See Rule 1.) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"The minute you get good at something, you get comfortable.  And that leads to stagnation.  People on my team have learned to embrace change."&lt;br /&gt;- Tamar Elkeles, Vice Preside of Learning,&lt;br /&gt;                      Qualcomm&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;          The book lists rules to follow in over 20 different areas of business, including: communication, customer service, technology, marketing, leadership, risk, speed, and the future.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My favorite?  Rule #55:  If you haven't had one spectacular failure in your life, you haven't tried hard enough.  My favorite quote:&lt;br /&gt;                   &lt;br /&gt;                      "If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room."&lt;br /&gt;                                  Dame Anita Roddick, founder,&lt;br /&gt;                                              The Body Shop&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you enjoy pithy reminders of everyday business principles, this book's for you.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-7166694604336445579?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/7166694604336445579/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/05/rules-of-business-by-fast-companys.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/7166694604336445579'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/7166694604336445579'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/05/rules-of-business-by-fast-companys.html' title='The Rules of Business By Fast Company&apos;s Editors &amp; Writers'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-4258340018815879798</id><published>2010-04-22T11:41:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-04-22T11:41:00.161-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Globalization'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='book review'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='business'/><title type='text'>The world is flat:  A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;Wake up now or we'll fall FLAT on our butt, or even worst FLAT on our face!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Title:  The world is flat:  A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Author:  Thomas L. Friedman&lt;br /&gt;Publication Year:  2006 (expanded and updated edition).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I agree with lot of basic argument can't say I love the book, because it's a little  s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d  ...seems to drag on.   But author gives a lot of examples, but if someone actually follow the current events your mind will start to wonder off. I think 300 pages is all the book need. Book did hit all the key buzzword.   I have found this link from &lt;a href="http://www.firstyearbook.umd.edu/theworldisflat/instructors.html"&gt;University of Maryland with definition of the buzzword&lt;/a&gt;, this book was selected as 2006  &lt;a href="http://www.firstyearbook.umd.edu/"&gt;first year book program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Friedman is obviously a very accomplished writer, but in this instance I think less is more. Friedman explores the idea that the world is flattening by the leveling of the playing fields connecting all areas of the world in a way never imagined mid-90's.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The three versions of globalization starting from the exploration of Christopher Columbus. From 1492 to about 1800, it was Globalization 1.0.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The second era, Globalization 2.0, lasted from 1800 to 2000. The key agent of change, and the dynamic force driving global integration was multinational companies, driven by first the falling transportation costs, and then by the falling telecommunication costs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Globalized 3.0 took off around 2000 and shrank the world from small to tiny, and flattening the playing field at the same time. With the movement of information improved so drastically that it empowered the individuals to participate in the globalization.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Author have inserted some of his view about Arab world into the book at the very end. Things get complicated when you fix in Muslims ... I think Muslims make more than 30% of Indian, and a little less in south Asia.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;perhaps he is trying to be controversial which sometimes helps to sell books.  now can we get on with globalization?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reference:&lt;br /&gt;I found this book review from mymoneyblog.com&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2007/03/the-world-is-flat-book-review-and-commentary.html"&gt;http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2007/03/the-world-is-flat-book-review-and-commentary.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-4258340018815879798?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/4258340018815879798/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/04/world-is-flat-brief-history-of-twenty.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/4258340018815879798'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/4258340018815879798'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/04/world-is-flat-brief-history-of-twenty.html' title='The world is flat:  A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-4779479445300438300</id><published>2010-03-22T16:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-03-22T16:21:08.008-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='caffeine'/><title type='text'>don't take my java away!</title><content type='html'>I been using Starbucks Card Duetto Visa program to infused some extra caffeine into my body.  now it'll end by end of March, 2010.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;"the credit card partnership between Starbucks and Chase Bank USA, N.A.  has ended.  As a result, in April 2010 your Starbucks Card Duetto credit  card account will be replaced with the new Chase Freedom credit card." &lt;/blockquote&gt;Not sure which party decided to end this relationship.   I guess I'll found other ways to fill this gap.  In the mean time Starbucks sent me coupon book for 6 free drinks (1 each month).  Will come in handy when I am out and above.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reference:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/coffeecity/2011050289_starbucks_discontinues_duetto.html"&gt;Seattle Times&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2010/02/starbucks-discontinues-its-duetto-visa-card-program-after-7-years.html"&gt;Starbucks Gossip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-4779479445300438300?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/4779479445300438300/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-take-my-java-away.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/4779479445300438300'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/4779479445300438300'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-take-my-java-away.html' title='don&apos;t take my java away!'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-2465399470627253863</id><published>2010-02-05T22:09:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-02-21T18:38:07.229-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='network marketing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='business'/><title type='text'>scam or not, that is the question.  Market America</title><content type='html'>some background from their web site, &lt;a href="http://marketamerica.com/"&gt;Market America&lt;/a&gt; was founded in 1992. They are based out of Greensboro North Carolina. Market America is a product brokerage company that specializes in Internet marketing and more specifically, one to one marketing. Essentially their distributors earn commissions by getting their customers to shop through their websites. They have over 180,000 distributors worldwide in the US, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The more than 3 million preferred customers have generated over $3 billion in revenue since they started 17 years ago.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Basically, a distributor is able to sell products wholesale and also make commissions when their customers shop on their Web portals. This is called the Mall Without Walls. Corporate sees this industry booming as more people tend to shop online these days.  When distributors sign up, they are given a Unfranchise business.  I believe they call it this because you appear to be getting the benefits of a franchise without it being a franchise.  Okay, so now that we have pointed out the products and services that MarketAmerica provides we found that there is no Market America pryamid scheme, and certainly no Market America scam.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I had a difficult time learning about Market America’s compensation plan. Their official website discloses that is a Binomial Market System with a Management Performance Compensation Plan.This sounds confusing to me, but from what I understand distributors get paid when they sell product, when they recruit new distributors, and when customers use their web portal to purchase products online.  I prefer that the company list exactly how they pay their distributors. I tend to think that if they don’t list it, it’s probably not very good.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let's put some numbers into this...&lt;br /&gt;You need to keep your right and left sides balanced in order reach the optimum payout each week; thus you need to generate 1200 points on both the right and left sides of your first level. For the second level you need 2400 points and 3600 points on the third level. Each level will generate $300. However, for your fourth level, you need to generate 5000 points on both sides equaling $600. Therefore you will have three levels earning $300 each and one level earning $600 for a total payout of $1500 per cycle; whereas each week is a new cycle and resetting back to 0. The simplest way to keep your residual income is to balance 50 enrollees on both side totaling 100 people in your business model. Each enrollee needs to make at least 100 points; when translated your total revenue is $12,000 and a weekly payout of $1500.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Market America’s main product line is Isotonix.  These are vitamins, which as I’ve discussed in the past, are great products to market because they are consumable and people will need to purchase them again and again.  Of course, there are limitless products since you can shop for everything from groceries to appliances through the Web portal.  this is another reason why I have never personally joined Market America. There too many products for me to keep track of.  I actually have a family member currently involved with Market America, and while she likes the products, she is not making the income in her Market America MLM business that I think she had hoped for.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The company does offer annual meetings and training opportunities as well as a complete web portal available when you sign up as a distributor. From what I could see they do offer a system they consider to be duplicatible.  Again, I think this is dependent upon the individual and whether or not they really try to have success in their business.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So what’s next? Are you going to join Market America?  Whether you decide to or not, you want to be one of the people that has major success. How are you going to do this? Are you going to be like my family member and try to get other family members to join you? How about talking to people that “get” network marketing? How about using a system?  How about branding yourslef so that they want to join YOU in YOUR business, and not just start a Market America Business.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-2465399470627253863?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/2465399470627253863/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/02/scam-or-not-that-is-question-market.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/2465399470627253863'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/2465399470627253863'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/02/scam-or-not-that-is-question-market.html' title='scam or not, that is the question.  Market America'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-8006833162450453882</id><published>2010-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-02-21T16:37:57.682-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Finance Loan'/><title type='text'>Make a world a better place [microloan / micocredit / microfinance]</title><content type='html'>I started doing this back in 2005, start with just $50 I have in my PayPal account. Use&lt;a href="http://www.kiva.org/"&gt; kiva.org&lt;/a&gt; which featured in PBS show &lt;a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/"&gt;Frontline&lt;/a&gt; you can read the article &lt;a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/uganda601/video_index.html"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;kiva is great, people from 3rd world county would post their business plan and the amount they are asking for.     There is a screening process done by partners, the borrower usually ask for few hundred dollars, so you and other "investor" would pool the money and loan the money.   You can see the money getting repaid (an email alert is sent)!   BTW, this is NOT FOR PROFIT so your'll get the $50 back not a penny more ( you could loss money but it hasn't happen to me yet) the low interest that was paid goes toward the kiva and &lt;a href="http://www.kiva.org/about/partners"&gt;partners&lt;/a&gt; that help supporting &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit"&gt;microloan&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why doesn't these people go to the bank you ask?   Well, if you have gone to your local FDIC insurance bank you'll realize the interest rate is very high... and most of the 3rd world country entrepreneur&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;does not qualify.  hence the mico-loan.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If I can help someone's life just a little better cross the world $50 is a small price.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MXk4GUGXNTQ&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MXk4GUGXNTQ&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Update:&lt;br /&gt;Q: Is the loss of loan tax deductible?&lt;br /&gt;A: No it's not.    Only if you donate to kiva than it's tax-deductible&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;kiva.org's site answer alot of question and the community is very friendly feel free to post your question there.    More video can you found on &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/kivamicrofunds"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/user/kivamicrofunds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-8006833162450453882?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/8006833162450453882/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/make-world-better-place-microloan.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/8006833162450453882'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/8006833162450453882'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/make-world-better-place-microloan.html' title='Make a world a better place [microloan / micocredit / microfinance]'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-6274653998548789164</id><published>2010-01-07T10:07:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-03-07T11:08:40.165-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='recession'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='economic'/><title type='text'>It ain't over yet, fat lady hasn't even show up!</title><content type='html'>Happy New Years!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People likes to look back in the past year and reflect.  This process of looking back (history?) should be done more often.  There were alot of predication on the wire on how long or deep this recession will continue.  I figure this is a good time to take a quick peek what were said in 2009.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2009/bw20090416_103126.htm"&gt;Business Week April 2009&lt;/a&gt;, the article is a little bullish at the time but some it's prediecation is coming up.&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;the resets will begin to accelerate next spring (2010), rising from about $4 billion resetting in March 2010 to a peak of $14 billion in September 2011. The current level is about $1 billion. About $500 billion of option ARM loans are outstanding, according to the bank. "Things have gotten pushed out," says Chandrajit Bhattacharya, director in U.S. Mortgage Strategy for Credit Suisse. "Right now it looks like the big increase is probably going to be somewhere toward the middle of next year." &lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What BW didn't know at the time is the 1st time home buyer credit which happen to end in APRIL, hmmm maybe somebody saw the number ahead of time.   So I am guessing "the man". is trying to spread-out the possible money problem?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The perfect storm?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/05/reset-chart-image-for-blog.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 564px; height: 356px;" src="http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/05/reset-chart-image-for-blog.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The graph given above gives the expected interest rate resets in the coming months.   Can you see the increases in the mortgage rates all the way to July 2012 after which they are seen to be coming down. This increase in interest rates spells doom for the dubious loans given in the form of Alt-As and Option Arm mortgages. Credit Suisse estimates a total of about $1000 billion worth of these to be affected by these interest rate resets. These interest rate resets translate into higher monthly mortgage payments for the loan holders and coupled with the current recessionary trends of job cuts and retrenchment, one can hardly expect all of these obligations to be fulfilled. Increasing job losses and low prices in the real estate markets should see a lot many defaults, a trend that has already begun.  As of February job loss rat is &lt;a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf"&gt;9.7&lt;/a&gt; , for update you can see &lt;a href="http://www.bls.gov/bls/newsrels.htm"&gt;&lt;span id="footer-address"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bureau of Labor Statistics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; web site.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The outcome of all these unsecuritized lending sprees and now the interest rate resets is that, the second wave of the housing crisis is predicted to go well into the year 2012, is estimated to peak at higher heights and is forecast to last twice as long as the first wave.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let's fast forward to February 2010 Credit Susse (reported by &lt;a href="http://www.snl.com/interactivex/article.aspx?CDID=A-10770380-12086"&gt;SNL&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S5PyyVFWN6I/AAAAAAAABAo/0UiNC9zRNxw/s1600-h/9085247.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 358px; height: 255px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S5PyyVFWN6I/AAAAAAAABAo/0UiNC9zRNxw/s320/9085247.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445963320888014754" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S5PyyVFWN6I/AAAAAAAABAo/0UiNC9zRNxw/s1600-h/9085247.gif"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most of the resets are expected to occur through 2012. Between 2010 and 2012, the chart indicates that $253.25 billion of option ARMs will adjust, while Alt-A loans totaling $163.71 billion will reset over that time. Altogether, $1.010 trillion worth of ARMs will reset or recast during the three-year period.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Update:  February 2010 I found a few great graph from SNL.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-6274653998548789164?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/6274653998548789164/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/01/it-aint-over-yet-fat-lady-hasnt-even.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6274653998548789164'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6274653998548789164'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2010/01/it-aint-over-yet-fat-lady-hasnt-even.html' title='It ain&apos;t over yet, fat lady hasn&apos;t even show up!'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S5PyyVFWN6I/AAAAAAAABAo/0UiNC9zRNxw/s72-c/9085247.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-5936746904456341458</id><published>2009-12-05T22:17:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-02-06T09:51:59.255-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='network marketing'/><title type='text'>Mary Kay</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S22lAsXQX1I/AAAAAAAAA8k/eWjRd4KZ_lQ/s1600-h/Mary_Kay_Ash.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S22lAsXQX1I/AAAAAAAAA8k/eWjRd4KZ_lQ/s200/Mary_Kay_Ash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435181756633341778" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.marykay.com/"&gt;Mary Kay&lt;/a&gt; was founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash. Mary Kay Ash had been working in the direct selling business for 25 years and was tired of seeing men continually be promoted and paid higher rates than women. Because of this, she decided to make her own company which focused on women’s success. Her natural choice: women’s beauty products.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Mary Kay product line features a vast array of different products. They especially feature products for skin care, anti-aging and makeup. In addition there is sun care, perfumes and fragrances and a Men’s line.  Mary Kate is in over 35 countries all over the world with over 1.8 million people involved, including 36,000 Consultants and 500 Directors.  Mary Kay has had double-digit sales growth annually ever since their creation in 1963.  Dallas Texas is the location of the corporate headquarters, and they have two facilities in Dallas and in China. They do not test on animals and their scientists spend $1 million annually over 300,000 tests to perfect their products and maintain product integrity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even though Mary Kay rocks the direct selling world, they are not just about the money. They have many &lt;a href="http://www.mkacf.org/"&gt;charitable&lt;/a&gt; causes including an anti-violence program for women and children called Break The Cycle.  They also donate large sums of money towards finding a cure for many types of female cancers. Their green initiatives has them planting over 200,000 trees every year.&lt;br /&gt;Mary Kay’s compensation plan was a bit difficult to find. There are three levels straight with Independent Beauty Consultant, Sales Director and National Sales Director. Consultants are paid when they recruit new consultants and through product sales. They also receive bonuses on the wholesale of the amounts of themselves and their team members. One of the highest bonuses awarded is a highly sought-after new vehicle. This must be reasonably attainable goal as I have personally seen a number of these vehicles in my own town.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well-liked but Mary Kay is that they are well known company with amazing products. What you may not like, is that since most people have heard about this opportunity before the potential for growth for recruiting standpoint is not that great. My opinion is that movie were more difficult to sell the opportunity and much easier to sell products.&lt;br /&gt;Most women recruit into their Mary Kay business by hosting parties or shows where they showcase the products and also mention the opportunity involved.  This type of recruiting can be very easy for some but can be challenging for the person that doesn’t like to get up in front of people or perhaps doesn’t know that many people. It may not be duplicated below for that person who doesn’t like to present at meetings. This may limit the amount of income that can be made.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mary Kay is absolutely not an MLM scam. They are huge, successful company with many new recruits every year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-5936746904456341458?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/5936746904456341458/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/12/mary-kay.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/5936746904456341458'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/5936746904456341458'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/12/mary-kay.html' title='Mary Kay'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/S22lAsXQX1I/AAAAAAAAA8k/eWjRd4KZ_lQ/s72-c/Mary_Kay_Ash.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-6627812363753297438</id><published>2009-07-20T00:13:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-22T18:09:43.587-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='book review'/><title type='text'>Power Play</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By Joseph Finder&lt;br /&gt;St. Martin’s Press&lt;br /&gt;$24.95, hardback, 384 pages, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you liked the movie Die Hard, you’ll love this book. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jake Landry is a junior executive with California's Hammond Aerospace.  He’s a tough guy who knows all about airplane engineering, office politics, and a whole lot more.  The new female CEO believes someone in the company is corrupt and asks Jake to accompany her and the rest of the company’s top executives to a remote off-site location for a corporate retreat.  This place is so far in the boonies that communication with the outside world is very difficult – and it soon becomes nearly impossible.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just as in the movie, the executives are taken captive and the only one who can do anything at all to save them is Jake.  Their captors want $500 million from the company in order to free them.  Jake knows that if they get the money, everyone will be killed.  The time has come for action and Jake has hidden talents that make him more than a match for his brutal captors.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The heart-pounding suspense and clever plot twists are enough to feed the adrenaline junkie in any reader.  Sure the characters aren’t always fleshed out and Jake turns into a one-man army, but you’ll barely notice as you turn the pages late into the night.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-6627812363753297438?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/6627812363753297438/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/05/power-play.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6627812363753297438'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6627812363753297438'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/05/power-play.html' title='Power Play'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-1224708447777960740</id><published>2009-06-11T20:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-02-26T22:38:16.181-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='NAS'/><title type='text'>hard drive died, need to plan ahead.</title><content type='html'>After about 7 years the continues beating my 120 GB WD finally gave up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saturday morning press the power button thinking the computer is in sleep mode. Walk by kitchen to get a cup of coffee... still sleepy. WTF, blue background with deathly font froze on screen. I kick and scream but nothing will bring this coaster back.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I knew that my last backup was about 6 month ago... which would include 2 birthdays, 1 vacation and few other events. Work related file were amount the casualty, but most current project is always on my 2 GB USB drive.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;so I look online and realize there LOT of different options anything from docking station, enclosures to &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage"&gt;Network Attach Storage&lt;/a&gt; (NAS). I decided to come up with a backup plan for my home office.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course my plan will be limit by the cost.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1) Need to have access from more than one computer&lt;br /&gt;2) Security&lt;br /&gt;3) gotta go with &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID"&gt;RAID&lt;/a&gt; (I'll choose 1; mirror)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I like the idea of BYOD (bring your own disk) so it's possible to upgrade to larger size in the future.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;you can google to get all the updated &lt;a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;q=nas+review"&gt;review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;location=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref%255F%3Dnb%255Fss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dnas%2520storage%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&amp;amp;tag=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=390957"&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt; has full list of different type of NAS.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am split between 2 "diskless" NAS.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you want value NAS 2000 ( it was made by Linksys, now "by Cisco").&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;amp;bc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;t=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as1&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;f=ifr&amp;amp;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&amp;amp;asins=B000QGTNWY" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;D-Link's DNS -323, this has been around for a while, with lot of mod since it's running Linux.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;amp;bc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;t=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as1&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;f=ifr&amp;amp;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&amp;amp;asins=B000GK8LVE" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;for some reason &lt;a href="http://www.synology.com/us/index.php"&gt;Synology&lt;/a&gt; NAS cost a little more (~$100) but they do have nice to use interface and lot of feature bake into this little thing!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;amp;bc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;t=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as1&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;f=ifr&amp;amp;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&amp;amp;asins=B00275G0LO" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I went with Synology, because I really like their firmware that can do lot of things without me knowning my Linux commands.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-1224708447777960740?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/1224708447777960740/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/06/hard-drive-died-need-to-plan-ahead.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/1224708447777960740'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/1224708447777960740'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/06/hard-drive-died-need-to-plan-ahead.html' title='hard drive died, need to plan ahead.'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-6317442631007685451</id><published>2009-06-05T12:21:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-06T21:43:08.574-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Palm'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Apple'/><title type='text'>compare Apple to Palm</title><content type='html'>actually you can't compare Apple to banana.  Apple as a company really does kick butt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But I must say I just handle the Pre @ Best Buy, I must say... watchout iPhone!  I took some photo but my Treo 800w camera couldn't do this smart phone justification.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-6317442631007685451?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/6317442631007685451/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/06/compare-apple-to-palm.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6317442631007685451'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6317442631007685451'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/06/compare-apple-to-palm.html' title='compare Apple to Palm'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-5832268584999561420</id><published>2009-04-29T18:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-05-04T06:53:47.970-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='economic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='business'/><title type='text'>Lessons learned from Bird flu and now Swine flu</title><content type='html'>Some timeline on &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome"&gt;Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; 1st case was discovered in Winter 2002, &lt;a href="http://media.smays.com/blog/blogimages/sarsmasks.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 301px; HEIGHT: 173px" alt="" src="http://media.smays.com/blog/blogimages/sarsmasks.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;but nobody outside out Chinese government knew of outbreak. It's not until February 2003 &lt;a href="http://www.who.int/"&gt;http://www.who.int/&lt;/a&gt; was notified. The economic impact of this epidemic toll on Asia some estimated at $11 billion (&lt;a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/EASTASIAPACIFICEXT/EXTEAPREGTOPHEANUT/0,,contentMDK:20713527~pagePK:34004173~piPK:34003707~theSitePK:503048,00.html"&gt;World Bank&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I remember people were canceling trips to Asia (40% of flight were canceled). And I heard lot of comment on the street regard to the colorful surgical &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;facemask&lt;/span&gt; people wears in Asia. It comes in all kind of size and color...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Back to present day, I'm not making fun of those masks, now the outbreak of Swine flu (H1N1) is inside the &lt;a href="http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/"&gt;U.S&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href="http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/"&gt;CDC&lt;/a&gt;) boarder. I have heard &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;Home Depot&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;Walgreens&lt;/span&gt; in the effected area (see &lt;a href="http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/"&gt;google map&lt;/a&gt;) are selling out those surgical mask.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course the death toll of H1N1 has not reach the speed or the spread of H5N1 (media??) but if we do not taking a drastic step and react to this "outbreak" things may get even worst(by the media??). This will effect the already WEAKEN economic. Talk about "The Wold is Flat" (yes I'm reading Thomas Friedman's book, will have blog about it later).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The sales have plunged for pork producers around the world. Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs on Wednesday, even though no cases have been reported there. WHO says eating pork is safe, but Mexicans have even cut back on their beloved greasy pork tacos.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reference:&lt;br /&gt;An archive &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;article&lt;/span&gt; of &lt;a href="http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/apr2003/pi20030423_3167_pi031.htm"&gt;business week 2003&lt;/a&gt; on SARS&lt;br /&gt;Google's experimental Flu Trends for &lt;a href="http://www.google.org/flutrends/intl/en_mx/index.html"&gt;Mexico&lt;/a&gt; (there is also one for &lt;a href="http://www.google.org/flutrends/"&gt;United Stats&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'll return with more link soon... after I buy my mask from a local drug store.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-5832268584999561420?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/5832268584999561420/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/lesson-learned-from-bird-flu-and-now.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/5832268584999561420'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/5832268584999561420'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/lesson-learned-from-bird-flu-and-now.html' title='Lessons learned from Bird flu and now Swine flu'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-8198785605129927707</id><published>2009-04-26T09:23:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-04-26T09:34:15.424-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Privacy Policy'/><title type='text'>Privacy Policy for usefulbizbook.blogspot.com</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt; Privacy Policy for usefulbizbook.blogspot.com &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact me &lt;a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831"&gt;see my profile&lt;/a&gt;.   At usefulbizbook.blogspot.com , the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected byusefulbizbook.blogspot.com  and how it is used. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Log Files&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like many other Web sites, usefulbizbook.blogspot.com  makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Cookies and Web Beacons&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;iamnobanker.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on&lt;br /&gt;iamnobanker.blogspot.com.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to usefulbizbook.blogspot.com  and other sites on the Internet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - &lt;a href="http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html" target="_blank"&gt;Google ad and content network privacy policy&lt;/a&gt;.  Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;advertising partners include:&lt;br /&gt;Google Adsense&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on usefulbizbook.blogspot.com  send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see. &lt;/p&gt;usefulbizbook.blogspot.com  has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt; You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices.  usefulbizbook.blogspot.com 's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites. &lt;/p&gt;If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options.  More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Policy Modifications&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If/when changes are made to this privacy policy, we will email users who have given us permission to do so. We will post any changes here, so be sure to check back periodically.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;However, please be assured that if the Privacy Policy changes in the future, we will not use the personal information you have submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, without your prior consent.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.serprank.com/privacy-policy-generator/"&gt;Serp Rank&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-8198785605129927707?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/8198785605129927707/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/privacy-policy-for-usefulbizbookblogspo.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/8198785605129927707'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/8198785605129927707'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/privacy-policy-for-usefulbizbookblogspo.html' title='Privacy Policy for usefulbizbook.blogspot.com'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-4367770436777144501</id><published>2009-04-20T08:10:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-04-20T08:24:38.564-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Sun'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Oracle'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Larry Ellison'/><title type='text'>Larry vs the Sun</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/SeyTVCaXQvI/AAAAAAAAAcA/NcTmDk6mJPQ/s1600-h/Larry.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 108px; height: 61px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/SeyTVCaXQvI/AAAAAAAAAcA/NcTmDk6mJPQ/s320/Larry.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326794448906437362" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison"&gt;Larry Ellison&lt;/a&gt; has decided to&lt;a href="http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/20/technology/Oracle_Sun/?postversion=2009042010"&gt; take over&lt;/a&gt; the &lt;a href="http://www.sun.com/"&gt;Sun&lt;/a&gt;.  This is totally like the way ninja would execute this buyout, right under the big blue (IBM).  After weeks of speculation of IBM buying out Sun, which failed to produce a result, today Oracle have swept in and bought Sun. The deal is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt, with Oracle buying Sun at $9.50 per share.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;"The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system - applications to disk - where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up."&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Appearly, the Board of Directors of Sun Microsystems has unanimously approved the transaction.  I wonder what this means for Java developers. Are Oracle better owners of Sun than IBM? It's good for Solaris, does it have any effect on Java?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;this remind me to review numbers of book on/about Larry... so much to read in so little time.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-4367770436777144501?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/4367770436777144501/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/larry-vs-sun.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/4367770436777144501'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/4367770436777144501'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/larry-vs-sun.html' title='Larry vs the Sun'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/SeyTVCaXQvI/AAAAAAAAAcA/NcTmDk6mJPQ/s72-c/Larry.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-562636780134756168</id><published>2009-04-10T19:17:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-05-16T19:54:26.555-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='book review'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Navy Seal'/><title type='text'>Book Review:  Lone Survivor - The eyewitness account of operation redwing and the lost heroes of SEAL team 10</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"&gt;Taking a break from the biz related book. This book made me appreciate what our folks in the military do day in and day out for us. Also gives you great insight into how the media has changed the ways wars are fough and for the worse in my opinion. We need to hear more stories like this. I realize "human rights" and "rules of engagement," is senstive subject, but should the war time solider be held at same regard that on the battlefield? WE all owed a debt of gratitude from a nation who remains free because of their sacrifice.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Title: Lone Survivor - The eyewitness account of operation redwing and the lost heroes os SEAL team 10&lt;br /&gt;Author: Marcus Luttrell (Author), Patrick Robinson (Contributor)&lt;br /&gt;Publish Year: May 1, 2008&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don't want to give out too much plot, but WHAT'S UP with the communication when the team need extraction?! Some reviewer say the story was one-sided... so WHAT ....bad guys are shooting at them and there is no place to run (or take cover)! The store begin in SEAL training in Coronado, CA and some background on lone survivor, Marcus Luttrell. Once the action start you may not want to put the book down, it's one hell of the fight.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From the book:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Four US Navy SEALS departed one clear night in early July, 2005 for the &lt;a href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6972390"&gt;mountainous Afghanistan&lt;/a&gt;-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their task was to document the activity of an al Qaeda leader rumored to have a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, only one of those Navy SEALS made it out alive. Marcus Luttrell. This is his story. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell joined the United States Navy in March of 1999 and became a combat-trained Navy SEAL in January, 2002. After serving in Baghdad, he was deployed to Afghanistan in the Spring of 2005. He was awarded the Navy Cross for combat heroism in 2006 by President Bush. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as1&amp;amp;asins=0316067601&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;lt1=_blank&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;bc1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;f=ifr" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/SeAPCDJdUKI/AAAAAAAAAb4/SQpbcqCtMsI/s1600-h/LONE_SURVIVOR_KonarProvinceAerial.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323271287431057570" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 288px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/SeAPCDJdUKI/AAAAAAAAAb4/SQpbcqCtMsI/s320/LONE_SURVIVOR_KonarProvinceAerial.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The main characters:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.navyseals.com/michael-p-murphy"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lt.Michael P. Murphy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, USN, 29, of Patchogue, second in command of a platoon from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 (SDVT-1), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class &lt;a href="http://www.navyseals.com/danny-p-dietz"&gt;Danny P. Dietz&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, 25, of Littleton, Colorado from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2 (SDVT-2), Virginia Beach, Virginia.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;Sonar Technician&lt;/span&gt; (Surface) 2nd Class &lt;a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" href="http://www.navyseals.com/matthew-g-axelson"&gt;Matthew G. Axelson&lt;/a&gt;, 29, of Cupertino, California from SDVT-1, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Known to his colleagues as "Axel."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class &lt;a href="http://www.navyseals.com/marcus-luttrell"&gt;Marcus Luttrell&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, USN, from SEAL Team 10 (ST-10), Virginia Beach, Virginia&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table class="dataTable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;span class="style1"&gt;RESCUERS KILLED ON CHINOOK HELICOPTER&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hometown&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;29&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Danville, Ohio.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;35&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Clarks Grove, Minn.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;21&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Pompano Beach, Fla.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;33&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Shelbyville, Ind.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;36&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Franklin, Tenn.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Maj. Stephen C. Reich&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;34&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Washington Depot, Conn.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;31&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Stafford, Va.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;40&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Jacksonville, Fla.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Navy Seals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;36&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;New Orleans &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel R. Healy&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;36 &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Exeter, N.H.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;33&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;San Diego&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffery A. Lucas&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;33&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Corbett, Ore.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Lt. Michael M. McGreevy Jr.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;30&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Portville, N.Y.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric S. Patton&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;22 &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Boulder City, Nev.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;28 &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Deerfield Beach, Fla.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey S. Taylor&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;30&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Midway, W.Va.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;SOURCE: Department of Defense&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I salute these guys for their amazing courage and will power.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VQebS8WUYuA&amp;amp;hl=" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&amp;amp;border=" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-562636780134756168?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/562636780134756168/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-review-lone-survivor-eyewitness.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/562636780134756168'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/562636780134756168'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-review-lone-survivor-eyewitness.html' title='Book Review:  Lone Survivor - The eyewitness account of operation redwing and the lost heroes of SEAL team 10'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zIrl9uG_skg/SeAPCDJdUKI/AAAAAAAAAb4/SQpbcqCtMsI/s72-c/LONE_SURVIVOR_KonarProvinceAerial.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-6242816127206465047</id><published>2009-04-07T17:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-04-30T18:13:21.734-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Finance'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Wealth'/><title type='text'>Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence</title><content type='html'>Title:   Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence&lt;br /&gt;Author:  Michael Masterson&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;/span&gt;Publication Year: 2006&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most (good) books on wealth-building will advocate spending less than you earn and investing the difference from a young age. This is tried-and-true advice, and many of the people who follow this advice are comfortably well-off.  Personally I think it's safe way to live... nothing wrong but little boring.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Michael Masterson’s Automatic Wealth also advocates saving, but beyond this he makes a bold claim: It doesn’t take 30 years of scrimping to be financially independent; he can teach you how to do it in 7 to 15 years!   Michael's time table is reasonable... not sure about buying one rental property per year sounds too much like the "&lt;a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dollarcostaveraging.asp"&gt;dollar cost average&lt;/a&gt;".   Also I'm not sure if I want to keep lot'O cash at home or keep gold!  I guess if this was 1930's I would.   And "flipping" real estate is probably a no no in 2009.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as1&amp;amp;asins=0471757667&amp;amp;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;lt1=_blank&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;bc1=000000&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;f=ifr&amp;amp;nou=1" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I skipped part of 2-3 mostly for newbies, chapter 5 I skipped on picking the stocks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are the 6 steps:&lt;br /&gt;1. Recognizing reality - you won't get rich saving 10% or more in your pension plan or getting measly salary increases.&lt;br /&gt;2. Plan to become wealthy - This is occurs one step at a time and requires planning.&lt;br /&gt;3. Develop specific wealthy habits  - basic stuff&lt;br /&gt;4. Radically increase your income - Rental should yield 10%&lt;br /&gt;5. Get rich while you sleep - by receiving passive income&lt;br /&gt;6. Retire early - to live the lifestyle you want&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Masterson believes one's primary goal is to accumulate enough capital to generate passive income to pay for life's necessities.... start with side-business, than move onto bigger things.&lt;br /&gt;I forgot which chapter when Masterson talks about "pay your self first" I was smiling and thinking of the same thing.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-6242816127206465047?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/6242816127206465047/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/automatic-wealth-six-steps-to-financial.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6242816127206465047'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/6242816127206465047'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/04/automatic-wealth-six-steps-to-financial.html' title='Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-9088968558303125543</id><published>2009-03-27T18:24:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-04-07T20:26:40.258-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='books.google.com'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='business'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='book'/><title type='text'>BOOK REVIW:  Rich Dad, Poor Dad aka. My Daddy is richer than your Dad</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Book Title:  Rich Dad, Poor Dad: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span id="btAsinTitle" style=""&gt;What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;Author:  Robert &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"  &gt;Kiyosaki&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt; &amp;amp; Sharon &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"  &gt;Lechter&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;Publication Year: 2000&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whether Rich Dad Poor Dad is fiction or not, there are valuable business principles can learn and apply.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The book is pretty easy to read and understand.  The "story" begins &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"  &gt;Kiyosaki's&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt; childhood and how he and his best friend start to make money (wish I was that smart).  It wasn't that simple of course =)   The book highlights the attitudes toward money, work and life of the two adult male he admirer  (the two dads).  The attitude surrounding  YOU does make a big difference, one of the key Robert stress is  the importance of teaching a child &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"  &gt;positive&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt; thinking related money... rich is not (all) evil.   Too bad the educational system does not teach financial literacy at a young agr.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I really enjoy the simplicity Robert brings to light of liability vs asset.  I'm guess the author means until you paid off the bank it's a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"  &gt;liability&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt; to you...    I love the fact there are many opposition against Robert's thinking.  Which is another reason why I love this book.  It give you that fresh air, a perspective that the "expert" big-shot firm financial adviser don't (or don't want you to have?).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=usefulbizbook-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as1&amp;amp;asins=0446677450&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;lt1=_blank&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;bc1=000000&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;f=ifr" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;some of the quotes from the book:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The poor and middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.&lt;/em&gt;"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Pay yourself first"&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt; --Robert quote from another book "The Richest Man in Babylon" (I'll review this later).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Where is the "plan"?   Some reader were disappoint by lack of workable plan in the book, but I kind of like the idea that YOU come up with your own action plans.   Everyone has and see different opportunity for example Robert found success in real estate.  Does this mean that you should go and stand outside of the courthouse?    it's up to you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I took away some financial IQ and going off to  found this Cashflow board game, LOL.  It'll be a big hit @ my next party!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Update:  Thanks to books.google.com you can read Rich dad, poor dad &lt;a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5iIqi_OIKSAC"&gt;preview here.&lt;/a&gt; Enjoy&lt;br /&gt;Here is &lt;a href="http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html"&gt;John T Reed's&lt;/a&gt; take on Kiyosaki.  You gotta read both side of the story :-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-9088968558303125543?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/9088968558303125543/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-daddy-is-richer-than-your-dad.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/9088968558303125543'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/9088968558303125543'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-daddy-is-richer-than-your-dad.html' title='BOOK REVIW:  Rich Dad, Poor Dad aka. My Daddy is richer than your Dad'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338733958118759538.post-8882001311629489460</id><published>2009-03-27T18:13:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-03-28T12:34:28.013-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Useless'/><title type='text'>Reading is fun!</title><content type='html'>I'll use this useless space to blog about things I read.   I ain't into spelling or grammar hell this ain't no English class!  But I sure like to read.   I'll start writing about business related books since I enjoy them the most and later move into non-fiction.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8338733958118759538-8882001311629489460?l=usefulbizbook.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/feeds/8882001311629489460/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/reading-is-fun.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/8882001311629489460'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8338733958118759538/posts/default/8882001311629489460'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://usefulbizbook.blogspot.com/2009/03/reading-is-fun.html' title='Reading is fun!'/><author><name>Useless space</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03499252773006659831</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
