Bearish News

“How to live before you die” via TED.com. Worth a watch. RIP, Mr. Jobs.

Reuters:

Maine legalizing switchblades for one-armed people

Maine lawmakers on Wednesday approved legalizing switchblades for people with one arm, moving close to becoming the first state to make such an exception to laws that ban use of the spring-action knives.

Backers of the measure say legalizing switchblades would eliminate a need for one-armed people to be forced to open folding knives with their teeth in emergencies.

The Bangor Daily News gives us more details:

The measure, requested by an amputee in western Maine who rides horses, received final House approval Tuesday and faces a final Senate vote before being sent to the governor. The bill limits the blades to 3 inches in length.

Paul Dumas Jr. requested the bill. Dumas says that with only one arm, he can’t react quickly enough in emergencies when he needs to cut a piece of rope. Dumas, a lawyer, says he’s tired of opening knives with his teeth and the bill would remedy that.

Maine is not alone in carrying the torch of justice. Lawmakers everywhere are making headway in the battle against our society’s most serious problems.

Why, just last week Barry Bonds’ girlfriend testified about the testicular shrinkage he allegedly experienced as a side effect of steroid use. In a federal case. Yes, let’s raise taxes to pay for bs like this.

By the way, I’m 99% sure non-spring-powered knives like the one below are legal everywhere in the states. I’ve owned a dozen of them over the years, and they’re extremely simple to open with one hand. Assuming they aren’t rusted shut.

Came across this headline in a Google News search for “silver prices”.

I guess the (very modest) pullback in gold and silver on Friday was due to all the positive news we’ve had recently, not due to another CME margin hike on silver, or simply profit-taking after a huge run.

No real concern for precious-metal-longs, as the CME probably should be raising margin-reqs as prices spike. But a short-term pullback is not unexpected after such a move (note: the margin requirements do apply to both long and short positions, but I suspect the short-positions have, let’s say, superior funding options.)

So why is a vacuous splog like Planet Insane is included in Google News results, while Zero Hedge isn’t? Can’t say. But whether a site is included in Google News is an editorial decision made by Google staff.

This isn’t meant to be disrespectful to the author or site. IP has a business model that involves churning out a lot of content, cheaply, and that’s fine. It’s meant more as a critique about the editorial standards employed by Google News.

Anyone who’s visited Google Finance realizes they have some cleanup to do. Their news feeds are horrific, absolutely full of spam-blogs (splogs). Almost no stories with any real value.

This piece, not looking so bad almost two years later.

Recall the golden rule: Good news is good, but bad news is much better. Besides, there are more interesting investments out there than shorting equities. Oil, metals, some stocks (I like GOOG), and eventually – the treasury bond short (which I am already in small).

By John Lohman, via ZH.