Blue Monday Strikes Financial Markets as Stocks Plummet on January 21, 2008

Blue Monday in January has hit again as world stock markets have fallen sharply.

Relax and take it easy. Do not be too concerned. The established news media are having a field day as they love nothing more than catastrophes, but Blue Monday happens every year, in a development which shows that mankind is human, but which also shows that the mass of men are not eagles but sheep.

As Dr. Cliff Arnal has calculated, depression peaks on about the third/fourth Monday in January;
see 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The probable solution - though we offer this without any guarantees and disclaim any liability for anyone following this solution - is to stop moaning, stop selling your stocks, swear never to get into a foolish panic again, and take a vacation somewhere where you will get some sun - or, in a pinch, get your body under those rays at your local solarium.

We were watching CNN showing people glued in expectant misery to TV screens watching the stock ticker showing dropping stock prices. Many, in panic, are selling their stocks. Men are sheep.

There are of course current well-known financial problems in the credit market, but there are ALWAYS financial problems in the world somewhere, yet the world economic system is quite sound and stable and the average man has nothing to fear, except his own foolishness and perhaps his own risky investing.

Just remember that when you sell your stocks at a loss, someone else is probably buying them at a profit.

Blogs for Schools and Colleges offered by Edublogs

As we have cross-posted to our education blog edu.edu, Edublogs has launched "Edublogs Campus", a blog service for schools and colleges. It looks good.

Edublogs writes:

"Edublogs Campus is the enterprise version of the free edublogs site.

As an Edublogs Campus customer you get your own installation of the edublogs software, at your own domain.

This means that you can create, manage, brand, and control blogs for your entire institution, without ever having to worry about the technology.

The set up you’ll get is packed with great teaching and learning features, as well as extra administrative functionality to save you time and keep you safe.

We’re absolutely fanatical about support and you’ll be able to contact us by email anytime to get help or have any difficulties. We also provide copious ‘how to’ videos and can even arrange webinars and other support material on demand.

And finally, you need never worry about any other costs, as we provide you with an unlimited amount of space, support and bandwidth all included within your annual fee.

Please feel free to get in touch for extra information, we’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

And thanks again for checking us out.

James Farmer, Andrew Billits and the team at Edublogs."

Wikia Search Launched

Wikia Search launched on January 7, 2008 but it still has a long way to go.

LOTS of criticism, e.g. by Seth Finkelstein.
and TechCrunch (Michael Arrington).

But there are also some positive voices, for example Skrentablog (Rich Skrenta).

Take a look.

Our own opinion is that the rankings feature is thus far a disaster and that Wikia Search should concentrate more on delivering information rather than on evaluating it by quantities. QUALITY is the key measure and quanitities just do not have what it takes. If masses had brains Einstein would have been a community, but he was not. Community effort - OK. Community judging - NO. They lack the competence. This is also a great fault with Google. Just because one million idiots view a page daily does not mean it is good. Quite the contrary, quantity generally means that the lowest common denominator is winning and that IQs of viewers do not break 100.

We also do not like the design and the coloring of the results - obviously copying Google with blue and green - with a blue that is too light and a green that is too pastel. For what reason green is used here at all is a mystery - it is one color feature of Google that we definitely dislike. To make an "alternative" search engine, it has to be an "alternative" and not just a poor copy.

The LawPundit Personality acc. to Myers-Briggs : ENTJ "The Chief"

These personality tests are interesting. Here are the results for LawPundit.

The LawPundit Personality : ENTJ "The Chief" - details
Temperament: NT (Intellectual)

Primary Function: Extraverted Thinking

Population: 3% (4.5% male, 1.5% female)

StickK Launches Contract Commitment Site : Achieve Your Personal Goals : Lose Weight : Quit Smoking : Save Money : Exercise Regularly : Hey, Why Not?

Here's a legal twist.

StickK has launched the ultimate contract commitment site - a place to make improvement contracts with yourself.


On Target Image linked from StickK - Copyright by StickK

Achieve Your Personal Goals : Lose Weight : Stop Smoking : Save Money : Exercise Regularly

• StickK writes:"stickK is designed to promote a healthier lifestyle for you by allowing you to create “Commitment Contracts.”

• A Commitment Contract is a contract that binds you into achieving a personal goal."
  

Curious?

Eric Posner at the University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog has posted about the StickK launch here.

But caveat emptor ! With this contract, you may be dealing with the ultimate most difficult contract negotiator of all time. YOU.

Project Vote Smart : The Voter's Speakeasy Blog : Voter's Self-Defense System Bus Tour

Project Vote Smart has a blog for voters on the Presidential Election (and others elections too) titled The Voter's Speakeasy. The Project is also conducting a nationwide bus tour to defend voters from campaign rhetoric and misinformation. The tour thus far is shown below by a map linked from the Project Vote Smart website:


As Project Vote Smart writes on their website:

"After 16 years of work by 6000 volunteers, at the cost of twelve million dollars, the Voter’s Self-Defense System is finally complete, and ready to be presented to American voters from across the nation. To deliver the system Project Vote Smart has acquired a 45′ bus that we will be using to tour the nation to teach voters how to defend themselves against the rhetoric and misinformation that come out of political campaigns today. The bus will be in a town near you over the coming year. We are constantly looking for places to bring the bus, if you have an event or place that you think we should bring the bus to please e-mail media@votesmart.org and tell us about it. We need to know where it is, what it is, how many people are expected to attend, contact information for the event or function, and any other information that will help us to bring the bus to your community, so that we can arm you and your neighbors with these essential tools to defend yourselves."

Their schedule up to February 13 is listed here.

It looks like a good idea to us. Help your voters to make an intelligent INFORMED decision.