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Drex Davis Recent Posts- Just amazing the resiliency of the human baby body
- The Edwards Affair
- Mr. T - “I’ve been pitying fools for 28 years”
- as a follow up to the story/part below, don’t miss the part
- somebody has to make a movie out of this
- When guppies eat their young . . .
- Love and Demands
- What is government doing to your money?
- Robotics - playing fetch has never been weirder
- Scathing, Lucid, Brilliant Dismemberment of the Obamessiah by “the Hammer”
Robotics - playing fetch has never been weirder
here’s to robot dogs/mules.
amazing.
Technorati Tags: Boston Dynamics, Robot, Big Dog
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Chuck Schumer fails IndyMac Bank
This is some choice info from the IndyMac story . . .
IndyMac, which once employed 10,000, fell prey to a classic run on the
bank, and regulators singled out Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) for
helping fuel massive withdrawals. On June 26, the Schumer said in
letters to the FDIC, the OTS and two other federal agencies that
IndyMac may have “serious problems” with its loan holdings.
Nice job there …
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IndyMac Bank fails
It won’t be the last. Sadly.
I’m having visions of the bank run in “It’s a Wonderful Life” only there’s no George Bailey at the helm.
Technorati Tags: bank failure, indymac bank, indymac
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Offense Taking is an Artform
And this woman is a master-class artist!
But maybe I’m just the pot calling the kettle black . . .
First step to being a master-class offense taker? Fail to understand language. Check.
Second step to being a master-class offense taker? See all communication through the prism of race (or gender, or political affiliation, etc.). Check.
Here’s a preview into the article:
In my talk, I included the time-honored saying, “the pot calls the kettle black.” Afterward, the African American woman who was the leader of the training program (a good friend of mine, incidentally), came to me in something of a dither. “Do you realize what you said?” she asked. “That is very offensive to black people.”
I said, “Look, Linda, the saying refers to a pot and a kettle hanging on hooks over a fire. That’s the way they cooked in medieval times. It means that both pot and kettle become blackened by the fire. The analogy is that when you criticize someone else while ignoring your own faults, this is like the “pot calling the kettle black.” Both pot and kettle are black. Of course, she simply responded that it doesn’t matter what the real meaning of the saying is . . .
(HT: The Corner)
Technorati Tags: race, offense taking, humor
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The misleading, but effective, meme you’ll be hearing for the next 5 months
In visual form (see the graphic below).
Politics is interesting, if for nothing else than the sinister way politicians imply that (1) some politicians are responsible for all bad in the world and (2) some politicians are responsible for all good in the world and (3) all politicians believe they’re in the second category while their political adversaries are in the first.
Most politicians are incompetent. They’re experts in (a) making outrageous promises that are incompatible with economic law and human nature in exchange for votes, (b) ingratiating themselves with special interests and (c) pressing the flesh at cocktail parties in order to carry out (a) and (b).
Oh yeah, and they’re good at voting themselves pay increases.
The skills you need to get elected are primarily a combination of charisma and the ability to look someone in the eye and tell them a falsehood. The skills to you need to run an organization are integrity and the ability to look someone in the eye and tell them the truth.
As to the graph below, long-tern inflation is a monetary phenomenon. Short-term inflation is a fixed-supply/rising-demand phenomenon that is usually short lived and usually remedies itself.
I have a belief that we’re in a commodity bubble (in the short term, but a rising trend in the long term). The price of crude oil will likely plummet at some point in the next 8 months. By more than half.
Technorati Tags: gas prices, politicans, politics, inflation, monetary policy
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Microfinance going Megaprofit
I’ve been a little obsessed with microfinance ever since I read Banker to the Poor a few years ago. It’s the story of how Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank used micro-finance (really, really small lonas) to help poor people (primarily woman) make a subsistence living in Bangladsh - they would lend to them when no one else would, allowing them to acquire the capital they needed to produce a good that could be exchanged for their necessities in life.
Very touching story and worth reading.
Today in the Economist I read about a publicly-traded for-profit company that is making a tidy sum doing micro-lending - ComportamosBanco. They’re criticized by some, but I actually come down on the side of this bank. By doing this for-profit, they’ll develop the market further, reaching more of the world’s poor, more quickly.
You can read the article here. Worth five minutes of your time.
Technorati Tags: muhammad yunus, grameen bank, microlending, microfinance, microcredit, banker to the poor
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Generating Extra Income using the Internet
(NOTE: Here’s an article I wrote for a recent panel I spoke on.)
Generating Extra Income using the Internet
By Drex Davis
March 5, 2006
It’s EASY to sell over the Internet. Precisely because it’s easy, it’s HARD! What do I mean? If there is an easy way to make money, a lot of people will be drawn to it. Because so many people are drawn to the ease of making sales over the internet, the sheer number of online businesses can make it hard for your business to get found. Without a good strategy, it’s HARD to get found by people who want to buy your products.
So that’s the key. You have to get found.
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The 13 Self-Inflicted Failures Business Owners Experience
(NOTE: This is a checklist I wrote for a recent panel I spoke on.)
This list was prepared from an interview I had with my father, Charles Davis, who owns the law firm Davis Miles. He indicated that just knowing these common mistakes before starting a business is the first step to overcoming them. The suggestions below are not legal advice. Moreover, they are my notes from an interview, so some concepts or meanings may have been “lost in translation.” Drex Davis
1. Failure to get an Accounting System set up
a. Find a good accountant to help you set up QuickBooks or some other small-business accounting program.
b. Outsource your accounting. Get a good accountant right from the get-go, one who will get your accounts structured in a way that will give you useful information. Use one who understands your business. Ask people in similar business to yours who they use for their accounting (i.e. if you have a plumbing business, ask building contractors for accountant recommendations). Doing your accounting yourself saves money in the short term and gives you more of a sense of your business strengths, but it takes away from time you should be selling and marketing.
c. Don’t run your business out of a personal account (don’t mix personal funds and business funds).
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