Monday, April 3, 2017
Ctrl BG A Shortcut to Financial News 10 10
Ctrl BG A Shortcut to Financial News 10 10
Wow, so much has been going on, I dont even know where to start! I guess to begin with, Id like to thank everyone for sharing your thoughts. It has been truly fascinating to read about your opinions on this issue. It is always good to be able to hear about the other side of the coin, as my posts will reflect my own bias and I obviously do not know everything, Im just interested.
Im happy to announce that nothing too dramatic happened last weekend and no banks collapsed this week- at least not any American banks- yet. On the other hand, we experienced a 8 day consecutive drop in the stock market (globally), like the market has never seen since 1933. The US stock market dropped nearly 18% this week, with the DOW breaking the 9000 mark (and very nearly the 8000 on too today). Asian and European benchmarks posted their worst week as well, while some countries, like Russia, Indonesia and Ukraine were hit so bad that they suspended trading. Basically the stock market dropped and financial journalists are starting to run out of words to describe "down." So how did this happen when the US congress just approved the bailout plan last Friday?
Ive pinpointed it down to fear. Fear that this bailout plan will not work or came too late. Fear that the economy is heading for loooong recession (if were not in one already). Fear that more companies will declare bankruptcy and they will loose all their wealth. And fear is nothing if not a self fulfilling prophecy. As a result, people have been selling off their assets or redeeming their investments in funds, forcing funds to sell off their assets to meet these redemption demands, further driving the market down. Everyone wants to get their hands on solid cash right now- just in case. Emotion is a powerful force. Logically, having just read "The Warren Buffet Way," I believe that as long as youve done your research and you believe that the firm is solid, then the market price of the firm will eventually match with the firms true value, despite market volatility. In which case, it sounds like there should be a lot of bargains out there right now- not that Im giving out investment advice. Just musing. Various experts in the field have been debating whether weve hit rock bottom or not and there has not been a general consensus.
So does this mean the bailout plan failed to do its job of stabilizing the economy, since the market actually got worse after it passed? Its far too early to tell (since it has not even been executed yet), but its comforting to know that something is being done to address the heart of the problem. If you caught a cold and it keeps getting worse, wouldnt you go see a doctor and take some medicine, even though theoretically the bodys immune system will naturally fight off the infection, just in case its something worse than a cold that the body cant fight off by itself?
Though of course, we must bare in mind that the bailout plan is not a cure all (or as Buffet puts it, a "panacea"). To that end, the government has come up with many other cures for the economy:
- On Tuesday, the government announced that it will lend directly to non-financial companies through the commercial paper markets- which are short term, unsecured loans, firms use to borrow money for operational needs i.e. stocking up inventories. This will help companies finance their operational costs easier, since credit is so hard to get these days
- The Fed will start paying interest on commercial banks reserves, which will expand the central banks resources and more leverage to battle the this credit market
- On Wednesday, central banks around the world, including US, Britain and China cut their interest rates, which, made together, is supposedly a more powerful move. This is aimed to lower the cost of borrowing and put more liquidity back into the market (and of course there are a host of other effects, but this is the gist). This is one of the most powerful weapon in the US governments arsenal, but at 1.5% (after a 0.5% cut), they dont have much further to go. Any further, and theyll end up like Japan with no more room to adjust their interest rates and a decade long recession. You know the song that goes, "catch a falling star and save it for a rainy day"? I hope there arent too many even more rainier days ahead, because it looks like were running out of stars
- Paulson and Bernanke met up with representatives from the rest of the G7 on Friday, to discuss the global economy and came out with a list of broad common goals. I thought those goals were a given, but I guess not.
- They also announced on Friday that the US government will be injecting money into financial firms in exchange for equity stakes, in an attempt to recapitalize firms. At least were getting something back. Maybe this will help Morgan Stanley, which has been under pressure this week with rumors that MUFG might be pulling out/demaind their stakes and what not.
Over at the other side of the world on a small island of 300,000 people called Iceland, the government nationalized (or rescued) their three biggest banks and closed the stock market, while their currency plummeted (the last I checked it was by a 1/3). Having out grown its Icelands economy, the banks were struggling to stay afloat in this market with their heavy debts. Some citizens have even lost their life savings becase of this. The government is now currently waiting on a $5.4 billion loan from Russia, the only country who responded to their pleas, having been reluctant to accept anything from the IMF. Not that Russia is doing too well themselves...... I wonder if its possible for a country to go bankrupt. What happens then? On the otherhand, if anyone is interested in visiting Iceland any time soon (I heard the nature stuff is very pretty over there), Icelandair is offering a "Winter Madness" package for 3 nights staying at the Hilton, for only $549!
Available link for download
Darker Pro v2 4 2 Patched
Darker Pro v2 4 2 Patched
Darker Pro v2.4.2 Patched
Requirements: Varies with device
Overview: Darker can lower your screen brightness to extremely low levels, to help prevent eyestrain during the night.
Use the built-in color filter* to adjust the color of your display, perfect for filtering out harsh white backgrounds during the night.
*The color filter is similar to how the desktop version of f.lux works. Selecting a redder color will reduce more blue light emitted from the display.
Users can either upgrade the free version to Pro through in-app purchase, or directly purchase this version (for countries that dont support In-app purchases) - both are the same in terms of functionality.
Features only in the Pro version:
» Auto-On & Auto-Off
» Start at boot
» Lower brightness below 20%
» Darken navigation bar
» Customizable notification buttons
• Up to three buttons can be added for quick access.
• Buttons to increase and decrease the brightness (+5%, -5%, +10%, -10%)
• Buttons to set a specific brightness (@0%, @10%, @20%, ... , @90%, @100%)
• Quick toggles (stop, pause, reset)
Note: When manually installing APK files, Android blocks the "Install" button from being pressed when Darker is running. This is NOT a bug. Its a protective measure to prevent malicious apps from camouflaging the install button. Pausing Darker will solve this.
Tasker Support
Darker has Tasker support, use these intents to send commands to Darker:
darkerpro.STOP
darkerpro.PAUSE
darkerpro.INCREASE_5
darkerpro.INCREASE_10
darkerpro.DECREASE_5
darkerpro.DECREASE_10
darkerpro.SET_10
darkerpro.SET_20
darkerpro.SET_30
darkerpro.SET_40
darkerpro.SET_50
darkerpro.SET_60
darkerpro.SET_70
darkerpro.SET_80
darkerpro.SET_90
darkerpro.SET_100
darkerpro.TOGGLE_COLOR
darkerpro.ENABLE_COLOR
darkerpro.DISABLE_COLOR
Add the above intents to Tasker by going to Action Category?Misc?Send Intent?Action, leave the other fields default, and note that the intents are case sensitive.
These two intents below need an additional parameter in the "Extra" field
darkerpro.SETCOLOR "Extra" field: COLOR:1~16 (Colors are numbered left to right, top to bottom)
darkerpro.COLORSTRENGTH "Extra" field: STRENGTH:1~10
WHATS NEW
Nov. 7
? Fixed color filter not working when brightness is at 100% on some devices
This app has no advertisements
Google Play
Download Darker Pro v2.4.2 Patched Apk or Apk
Available link for download
Date Apple Shake
Date Apple Shake
Date & Apple Shake served with potato crispsFootball fever is hightening every day here in Germany. All possible things are being sold in the shape of a football - bread rolls, cakes and pastries & tarts with icing made to look like a football. You name it, they have it. Pizzerias are advertising that they are open all throughout the tournament and are also offering special deals for larger groups. Almost every pub has hung a board outside saying that the patrons can enjoy the tournament inside on their large screen (and buy bottles after bottles of the local Alt while watching the game). I am sure most of them are going to make so much business during that month, that they will afford to shut down the place for several weeks after the World Cup is over.
No wonder then that my goals have changed temporarily. I am thinking football and thinking of eating football all the time. (Eating football?) What I mean is that I often find myself thinking of making something innovative for the Monthly Mingle organised by Meeta. I prepared something a few weeks back, but could not sit quiet after that. So, what innovative thing did I make? Well, nothing. And that is because whatever I thought of making is being sold here in the shops anyway. For example, I thought of making a pastry with a football icing. But they are selling it now in shops, as I have already mentioned. (Copy-cats!) What I could have done is that I could have just photgraphed a readymade pastry and posted it as mine. (They are never gonna know about this in the US and in India, are they?) But hey, what about integrity? Ah, those darn values!
The moral of the story is that I made only a milk shake to wash down my pizza. Well, its just a milk shake, but then you can always have it, even well after the football season is over. Moreover, its nutritious and tasty. Good enough to make your son the next David Beckham. (Thats of course, if you are ready to accept somebody like Posh yuk! Spice as your daughter-in-law!)
Anyway, heres the recipe for Date & Apple Shake based on one by Tarla Dalal
Ingredients:
4 cups Low Fat Milk
1 large apple
10 black dates, deseeded and finely chopped
a few drops vanilla extract/essence or 2 tsp readymade/homemade vanilla sugar
3 to 4 ice-cubes (optional)
Clockwise from top left: vanilla bean, milk, apple, datesMethod:
1. Soak the dates in 1 cup warm water for about half an hour.
2. Chop the apple. You could peel it, if you like. But please dont forget, that there is a lot of nutrition right under the peel!
3. Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend them till you get a fairly smooth and frothy shake.
4. Garnish them with any chopped nuts or pieces of a bright-coloured fruit e.g. strawberries. My garnish were the special football glasses. ;-)
A few Notes:
1. In case using readymade vanilla sugar in sachets, just empty one of those into the blender without bothering to measure. The quantity in those sachets is normally 8 grams here in Europe. Hopefully it is the same in the US.
2. You can make vanilla sugar at home like this: Buy a vanilla bean as shown in the earlier picture, use the pulp in a cake or in any recipe that asks for it, and then insert the remaining outer cover in a jar filled with sugar. You’ll get wonderfully aromatic vanilla sugar in about a week.
3. You could use a banana instead of the apple, if you like.
4. This shake tastes equally good, when made without ice-cubes. On the other hand, if you want it really chilled, you could use vanilla ice-cream instead of the milk (barring that used for soaking dates), vanilla essence and ice-cubes. Visit here for another great recipe for a similar milk shake.
Enjoy the shake! Enjoy the game!! And may Brazil Germany win!!!
Available link for download
Curry Sweet Potato Fries
Curry Sweet Potato Fries
Heres some snapshots from our second encounter when I was on my way to the park...
By the way, while Im in no way claiming to be a mind-reader of these creatures with wings, I will however claim that these curry sweet potato fries Ive been making will mostly likely have you hooked!
They have graced my dinner table at least a dozen times as there seems to be an overflowing supply of sweet potatoes in the fridge lately. And this is now one of our favourite ways to indulge this vitamin-A rich food in my home. Crunchy, spicy, sweet...yum!
Oh and learn from that silly lorikeet - dont forget to enjoy your food with your loved ones this week!
- 1 plump sweet potato/yam/orange-fleshed potato, peeled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large egg white (I omitted this and used another tbsp of olive oil)
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. Peel sweet potato and slice off the top and bottom points of the potato. With potato positioned north to south, use a large knife to slice potato into 1/3-inch potato planks. Stack planks in two piles, and slice, north to south, into 1/3-inch sticks.
4. Place potato sticks onto prepared baking sheet and toss with olive oil. Set aside.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk egg white until foamy and frothy (if using egg whites). Add curry powder, cumin, turmeric, and crushed red pepper flakes and whisk to incorporate. Pour the egg white mixture over the potato sticks and gentle toss to coat the potatoes.
6. Place in the oven and bake to desired doneness and crispiness, my fries took about 40 minutes. While the fries bake, stir together yogurt, cumin, olive oil and salt. Place in a small serving dish.
7. Remove fries from the oven and serve immediately.
Available link for download
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Dangal 2016
Dangal 2016
Dangal (2016) Full Movie Online HD
Initial release: December 21, 2016 (USA)
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Music composed by: Pritam Chakraborty
Available link for download