Congressional insanity: a dramatic proposal - TEDChris: The untweetable

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the
United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or
Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the
Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the
citizens of the United States ". 

via tedchris.posterous.com

Posted via web from Mike's Lifestream

40 Stunning Examples of High Speed Photography @ SmashingApps

via smashingapps.com

Some really cool looking high speed photography captures. The "boxer" looks like my nose after getting it broken in high school.

Posted via web from Mike's Lifestream

The death of the URL | FactoryCity

Everyday, when you fire up your browser and type in some arbitrary URL in the browser’s address bar, you are taking the red pill.

via factoryjoe.com

I am not as paranoid, but an interesting take on the situation nonetheless.

Posted via web from Mike's Lifestream

Philip Greenspun’s Weblog » How Wall Street is making its billions

Wall Street banks have had profitable quarters. JPMorgan Chase reported $3.6 billion in profit (more than $1 billion per month). Goldman Sachs was only slightly behind, at $3.2 billion. These profits supposedly came from “trading.” I asked a friend who has worked in the money business how this was possible. “For someone to make money trading, there has to be someone on the other side of every trade who is losing money. Where does each bank find someone who can lose $1 billion every month?”

He explained that “carry trade” would be a more accurate description of what they’re doing. Because of the Collapse of 2008 financial reforms, the big investment banks are able to borrow money from the U.S. government at 0 percent interest. Then they can turn around and buy short-term bonds that pay 2 or 3 percent annual interest. Now they’re making 2 percent on whatever they borrowed. They can use leverage to increase this number, by pledging some of the bonds that they’ve already bought as collateral on additional bonds.

I asked if they were taking any risk in order to earn this return. “If interest rates went up to 20 percent, even though the bonds are short-term, the price of the bond could fall enough to make the trade a money-loser.” (Though since the banks are too big to fail, they would simply be bailed out with additional taxpayer funds.)

What kind of bonds are they buying? Are they investing the money in American business? “No, they are mostly buying Treasuries.” So the money is just being shuffled from one Federal bank account to another, with each Wall Street bank skimming off $1 billion per month for itself? “Pretty much.”

[An more old-fashioned way of making supranormal returns is insider trading, which was perfectly legal until the Crash of 1929 (history). The New York Times ran a story yesterday on Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund manager who invested heavily in inside information. Rolling Stone published "Wall Street's Naked Swindle" on October 14. The story is much more sensational and entertaining than anything from the Times. It covers a guy who spent $1.7 million on out-of-the-money put options on Bear Stearns on March 11, 2008. The options would become worthless on March 20, just 9 days later, unless Bear Stearns basically went bust. Bear Stearns collapsed the next day and the guy made a $270 million profit. He has never been identified by the SEC.]

via blogs.law.harvard.edu

Dear President Obama and Congress, can I have this deal too? I believe that in borrowing money from the government for 0% interest, I too could help the economy recover. I could become "too big to fail" at some point, and would strive to do so as soon as possible.

Posted via web from Mike's Lifestream

Cartoonists Respond to Obama’s Nobel Prize Win | Cartoon News

via blog.cagle.com

Nice collection of cartoonist reactions to Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize

Posted via web from Mike's Lifestream

More Technology Groups in Columbus, Ohio

My original post of technology groups in Columbus, Ohio has been updated a couple of times since initially published. More groups have formed since then too so I wanted to try to highlight these for others with similar interests.

Developer groups:
Columbus Javascript User Group (CBUSJS)
Columbus iPhone Developers User Group (CIDUG)

Security focused groups:
Central Ohio ISSA
ISACA Central Ohio Chapter
Central Ohio InfraGard Chapter

Finally, an important group has formed since my initial post that contains links to many of these groups and the meeting schedules. Columbus Tech Life is a wiki with information on bloggers, technology focused people, companies, groups, events, and more happening in or around Columbus.

Technology Groups in Columbus, Ohio

I have been trying to collect information for all of the technology related groups in Columbus and Central Ohio. The lists below are what I have so far and I will continue to add to this post as I discover others:

Languages and Developers:
Central Ohio .NET Developers Group
Central Ohio Java Users Group
Columbus PHP Developers
Columbus Ruby Brigade
Central Ohio Python mailing list
PyOhio
Rethink Columbus
Central Ohio Chapter of the Extreme Programming Users Group
Columbus MySQL Users
Central Ohio SQL Server Special Interest Group

Operating Systems:
Central Ohio Linux User Group
Buckeye Mac Group
MacForum
Central Ohio VMware Users Group

Applications:
Columbus Digital: Adobe Users Group
Central Ohio Sharepoint Users Group
Columbus Ohio Rational Users Group
Central Ohio Drupal Group

Co-working:
CoSpace Columbus
Corkboard

Social:
Columbus Social Media Cafe
Twitter tracking for Columbus
cSUDs: Columbus Startup Drinks
Columbus Startup Weekend
Columbus IT Martini
Podcamp Ohio

Other:
Columbus Tech Life
Columbus Architecture Group
Central Ohio Application Lifecycle Management Group

Association of IT Professionals - Columbus Chapter
Web Analytics Wednesday (Tuesday)
Columbus Ohio Usability Professionals Association
TechColumbus
Technology for Ohio's Tomorrow
Columbus Robotics Society
Dorkbot Columbus
Columbus Computer Society
BarCampOhio
Convergence Columbus
The Fuse Factory
Freegeek Columbus

What am I missing? Add in comments or mail me and I will add to the post. Thanks.