Earthquake Near LAX. Tonight at about 7:57pm.
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
There was just a small earthquake near LAX.
Tonight at 7:57PM.
Developing…
Archive for September, 2008
What kind of idiot would determine their mood based on a number on a computer screen?
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Q. What kind of idiot would determine their mood based on a number on a computer screen?
A. Good question. Maybe the person is not an idiot, but a person in search for a sign that their life is improving. Maybe they are placing all their hopes in one basket.
Hope. Hahaha …
Whenever you see hope in a quarterly report from a company, you SHORT that stock. Right?
So, why would someone give you hope that you could possibly avoid foreclosure? Why would someone hope that the market closes higher than the day before? 
Credit Derivatives Market Starts To Fall Out of Bed. *THUD* $924 Trillion Problem.
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
The credit derivatives market was created to help banks hedge their risk. However, people found ways to make money with credit derivatives and it became a “revenue stream” … now with $924 Trillion worth of derivatives are about to destroy the remnants of the shadow banking system.
In the Panic of 1907, J.P. Morgan bailed out Wall Street.
The person who bails out Wall Street will become a titan.
Hmmm … maybe it will be a country? Not a person.
Many Factories In China Will Not Re-Open After Golden Week Holiday
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Several people are on October holiday to celebrate the birth of the People’s Republic of China.
Many of the factories were not paid before they left for vacation.
Some Chinese workers will return to closed factories.
The risk-taking has ended for now and many banks are not loaning to ANYONE.
ANYONE.
Shortages Always Bring Out the Worst of Humanity
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Hoarding done by the person in front of you.
Loathing done by the person behind you.
Why Is Gasoline Still Over $3.00 Per Gallon? Why Is That Okay?
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Insert frog boiling in the cooking pot cliche goes here.
Remember your Bailout… err I mean Economic Stimulus Check? $300 *POOF*
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
So, now we have a more clearly defined direction this week.
We know the bailout is on its way. Oh, what’s that? No bailout.
If the bill had passed yesterday .. the first $250Billion will be injected immediately into the economy to unlock the credit markets (temporarily, hehe).
… The economic stimulus check was designed to do the exact same thing. We took the check and spent it all on $5 per gallon gasoline (petrol).
Great plan.
No really.
Fantastic stimulus.
The economy recovered.
Oh, it didn’t?
Well, why not?
Real Estate: Christmas Lights or Lack Thereof Will Expose Bottomless Vacant Housing Inventory
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Right now. Vacant houses that have been on the market for a very long time have a few noticeable characteristics: house lights are off at night, the trash can is never brought out to the curb, and that real estate sign post has been in the hard for more than 1 year.
Sheesh.
Well, after people start putting up Christmas nights, some neighborhoods are going to look like they don’t have the Christmas spirit. The Christmas spirit may be missing because several of the houses are actually vacant (or abandoned for foreclosure).
I foresee ghost towns springing up around the nation during Christmas.
Achewood Featured on NPR; XKCD Parodies Achewood.
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Chris Onstad was interviewed today on NPR on his creation Achewood.
XKCD “coincidentally” parodies Achewood this week. Funneh.
Federal Reserve and Congress Working Hard On Bailout Tonight. Yaaaa-right!
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
UCLA Discovers 13-million-digit prime number, a Mersenne prime
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
This is fantastic news! New Prime number found!! A Mersenne Prime, in fact. I absolutely love math and this new discovery gives us the 46th known Mersenne prime. Awesome!!
WaMu Fails, Bought By JP Morgan Because FDIC unable to handle it, Wachovia is Next!
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Washington Mutual FAILED.
JP Morgan is the new FDIC.
Wachovia is definitely next.
Paulson: Economic Bailout Is So Embarassing — Bernanke: Sheeeyut Up, Mugsy
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
It is becoming increasingly apparent that we are in some serious trouble. Hmm.
Bernanke, Paulson: Give Us 700 Billion Dollars And Nobody Gets Hurt
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
Hank Paulson: Give us the money now.
Ben Bernanke: Shut up, Mugsy. Give us the money now.
Ben Bernanke’s Theme Song, After All He Is The Chairman of the Board at the Fed
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Flushing the U.S. Dollar Down the Toilet Should Feel This Comfortable. Here’s How.
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Financial Sector Bailout Infomercial Video: $700Billion+ (Great Metaphor)
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Chinese Fake Food Problem Is Spreading As Olympic Spirit Fades, Girl Sick In Hong Kong
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
The feelings constructed during the Olympics with thousands of people singing “We Are Ready” fade as China is unable to control its fake food problem that dates back as far as the year 2000. (yup, 8 years)
Now, we are back to the reality in China.
Money talks and money kills.
In order to meet quotas, several food manufacturers add chemicals to food or liquids without any thought about public safety.
Hong Kong has lost its ability to produce its own food at a reasonable cost to the public.
It depends on mainland China for things as simple as MILK. (are you kidding me?) Now, understand this. Hong Kongers should need to drink milk powder from mainland China, but the economy has experienced dramatic inflation.
People might be using the tainted powder milk in every level of food preparation.
Oh geez.
Don’t worry about trillion. Start practicing “Quadrillion” … Say it with me: “Quadrillion”
Friday, September 19th, 2008
This financial crisis has provided us a chance to practice a word: Quadrillion.
Quadrillion.
Quadrillion!!!
Quadrillion!!!!! $1,000,000,000,000,000 <— Quadrillion
Financial Crisis and Regulation: Really? Are you Sure? Are you sure sure?
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Securities and Exchange Commission. Why do they even exist?
Really.
C’mon.
Let’s just go free-for-all. No rules.
What da ya say?
Large-TypeFont Chinese Dictionary from Primezero Back By Popular Demand
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
During the Beijing Olympics, I provided a limited re-release of Primezero Chinese Tools 2008, a Large Type English Chinese Dictionary search tool.
Feedback from users showed me that I need to maintain more versions of the dictionary tools for more users.
So, I plan to release several types of dictionaries in the next few months, including re-designs of Primezero Aulenti and Primezero Soleri Picture Dictionary systems.
For now you only have two choices: Primezero Chinese Tools 2008 and Primezero i18n Terminal
WaMu Not Too Big To Fail, But Failure Will Be Too Big for FDIC To Handle.
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
If Washington Mutual does not find a willing buyer soon, they will need to get some help from the FDIC, after which time, a “spirited” bank run may ensue. Washington Mutual’s deposits amount to 3 times the amount in the FDIC budget right now.
FDIC Not Ready For WaMu Failure
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
FDIC only has $43Billion left.
WaMu as $120Billion+ in deposits.
Hanzi To Pinyin Converter Gets Speed Boost, Retouch on iPhone
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Hanzi To Pinyin Converter: http://www.hanzitopinyin.com/
There is a faster algorithm for converting your Hanzi into Pinyin.
Mobile Hanzi To Pinyin Converter: http://m.hanzitopinyin.com/
Easier on the eyes on your iPhone.
Hey!!! The sky is not falling. It’s the earth opening up beneath you.
Monday, September 15th, 2008
Can you believe what happened today? …
I don’t even have any idea how to explain what I just saw.
Wow!!
中秋节快乐 Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
Hope you eat a lot of mooncake! Have fun!
Asian Countries Planning To Dump U.S. Debt Next Week. Holy Shit!
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
The sovereign wealth funds are all freaked out about the U.S. debt and the precedent set by Bear Stearns and Fannie/Freddie.
The memory of the Asian currency crisis is still fresh and the banks in Asia are trying to find ways to settle transactions quickly.
If Singapore, China, Korea, Japan, and Thailand cannot be persuaded that everything is under control by the time the markets open on Monday, they still have a fiduciary to protect their own national security.
They may not dump all of it, but they still need to dump some of the U.S. Debt early next week.
What an interesting situation.
List of Browsers Better Than Google Chrome: Firefox, HotJava, NCSA Mosaic, Netscape…
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
List of Browsers Better Than Google Chrome: Firefox, HotJava (yeah, I said it), NCSA Mosaic, Netscape, iCab, Safari, Netscape, Shiira, Opera, Camino, Mozilla, Opera Mini, you get the point …
Sorry but I don’t understand how Google Chrome is a Beta..
Google Chrome should be an alpha release.
Here are my thoughts in a nutshell.
Upon the heap this garbage came,
Fix the security,
Then clear your name.
Hackers Penetrate Hadron Collider Network
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
Hackers were able to get into Hadron Collider Network. Wow. Funny.
Primezero Chinese Tools 2008 Aims To Be Most Flexible English Chinese Translation Tool
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
Primezero Chinese Tools 2008 is being tweaked here and there.
I am trying to provide a more complete learning experience for users. Here is a complete list of features.
Adostrans Creator Releases Fast-Paced, Flexible Learning Approach To Mandarin Chinese, Students Love It
Friday, September 12th, 2008
Popupchinese.com is different.
You will notice the quick start feel when you are simply asked to give your email to get started.
David, creator of Adostrans, wants to bring Chinese learning to a fast, learn-it-now (at your own special) pace.
At this objective, he is doing a great job. The content is fresh, the layout is clean and he is responsive to student requests.
Students are excited about this new site.
More later…
WaMu and Lehman Are Wobbling, Maybe Wachovia Next …
Friday, September 12th, 2008
Washington Mutual has been warned by FDIC that they do not have enough reserves. Lehman has been bitchsmacked by the market losing enough to be in midst of something that used to be called … a bank run. Wachovia is cooperating with investigators, but even that may not be enough to shield them from all the bad paper floating around after the Freddie and Fannie collapse.
The people who caused this drive really expensive cars and live in really big houses.
The people who will suffer may lose their retirement and their homes.
Enron? Again? Wait .. nope. That’s not their roles.
That role is for Blackstone Group.
Get ready.
This is sad.
Commercial Real Estate Market Set To Capitulate — at least in Arizona
Thursday, September 11th, 2008
The bankruptcy rate his moving along fast.
Big box stores are emptying out right now.
Selling their inventories and fixtures. Fast.
First it was Krispy Kreme. (Dunkin Donuts think they have really fill in the void.)
Then it was K-mart.
Then it was CompUSA.
Then it was Linens and Things.
Now it is Mervyn’s.
Gas stations closing because of the sudden drop in the gas prices.
The micro-economies are failing.
Fast.
Commercial real estate can cover its tracks for only so long, there are islands of commercial office space that are still unused and the Fannie and Freddie Bailout has exposed something ugly to people who were not listening before.
This whole economy is failing fast.
Mobile Chinese Dictionary Search on Your Mobile Phone
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Try this mobile Chinese dictionary on your Nokia phone using Opera Mini. You will find it is different than most dictionary tools. Every character is clickable and you have links to Flickr, YoutTube and Google..
m.primezero.com
iTunes 8 Download Frenzy Causes Server Crash
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
iTunes 8 Download Frenzy Causes Server Crash. Observe.
Google AdSense: “Books Drive yoiur book sales.”
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
Google AdSense says “Books Drive yoiur book sales.” I was expecting to see “did you mean books drive your book sales?”
Mr. Paulson: When You Fire The Bazooka, Remember to Say “Booyaaah!”. Now. Hurry! Asian Markets Open Soon.
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
This CNN story about setbacks in pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong at first do not appear to be related.
However, when you stop and think about what it symbolizes, your eyes will widen and you will experience a tingle on the front of your forehead.
Don’t worry. It’s called nervous twitch.
Hong Kongers are voting to return to the days before everything was “improved”… the days before life was “more interesting”.
They are voting in symbolic “flight to quality” where they feel safer about wages, inflation and a system where who you know matters. Yup.
The problem is Hong Kongers don’t know who Fannie and Freddie are now. And the HKMA will feel more political pressure to follow the lead of the Chinese mainland take advice to liquidate– not reduce their stakes, not re-allocate their positions — liquidate anything rhyming with Fannie and Freddie from their financial system.
So, Mr. Paulson, when you bring out the bazooka as Bill Gross recommended, remember to bend your knees and when you fire, don’t forget to say “Booyaaah!!”
You have 5 hours to complete the Fannie and Freddie takeover before Asian Markets open.
Semantically Interesting: Mr. Jalopy 4100 search results in Google
Saturday, September 6th, 2008
Search for “Mr. Jalopy gets the Maker Movement up and running” on Google. In 2 days, people replicated the story over and over and over again … almost like a mental software update …
Google may need to acquire Adobe in order to ensure Google Chrome interoperability .. think I’m kidding?.
Saturday, September 6th, 2008
There was once a small company named Macromedia that developed. They developed something called Future Splash. Many people thought it was much cooler than their other larger product called Director.
Future Splash morphed Flash.
The web was changed forever. Macromedia Flash! Huzzaah!!
Macromedia Flash WAS media. Horraah! 99% adoption rate.
As for print, there was Adobe. Adobe wanted to be more media. So, they thought they would just buy out Macromedia. Tadaa!!!! Adobe Flash. Huzzaaah!!! Wooooohoooooo!!!! Haaa!!!
Adobe wanted to control its destiny as a web-print media company who can “seamlessly” provide print/desktop and web solutions. Failed. Well, sorta.
Now, cometh Google (with Google Chrome) who wants to provide a seamless connection between desktop and the web.
It looks like Google needs to acquire Adobe.
Google would benefit because it can buy out Adobe then re-purpose the software development team to focus on desktop-web-hybrid applications. Google Photoshop. Bwwwahahahahah!!! Adobe will benefit because it will not be left behind in the new frontier of cloud computing.
Wait.
* panic attack*
English-Chinese Talking Dictionary Works in Google Chrome
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
English-Chinese Talking Dictionary Working in Google Chrome. So, JavaScript sound support maybe not too shabby …too early to say …
Hanzi To Pinyin Converter + Chinese Perapera-kun Work So Happy Together
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Step 1: Download Justin’s Chinese Perapera-kun: Chinese Popup Translator 1.02 for Firefox. Install.
Step 2: Visit Primezero’s Hanzi To Pinyin Converter. Convert and download the conversion if you choose.
Step 3: Use Perapera-kun. Oohh. That’s look coool!!
Hanzi To Pinyin Conversion Feature In NJStar Chinese WP 5.2 for Windows
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Very neat. This is the inspiration for the Primezero Hanzi To Pinyin Converter.
You can see it below in NJStar Chinese WP 5.2. You need to choose Big5 or GB.
Mine is UTF-8.
Mobile Hanzi To Pinyin Converter Available for Testing
Monday, September 1st, 2008
Here is the Mobile Hanzi To Pinyin Converter. I hope this will be useful to people reading Chinese newspaper articles and other interesting things.
