The Cramer Effect

Well, it HAS been a while since the last post. I've been watching a lot of internet stock trading the last few days. And one of the things I noticed and have been wondering about is what I have named the "Cramer Effect". The effect isn't unique to Cramer, that's just where I noticed it.

I noticed this today while watching the market and listening to Cramer at the same time: the "Cramer Effect" seems to be a good short-term (minute or two, tops) play. Two days in a row now, he's mentioned a stock (today it was ENER), and there was an immediate, huge volume and price spike. I watched ENER climb about $1.20 a share in 2-3 minutes, from roughly 27.33 to just over $28.50. Same thing yesterday with mention of CRXL (that might have been one of the other commentators, I forget his name at the moment = Neil Cavuto, I think). Again, the stock went immediately into overdrive.

Anyway, how would this be as a funny-but-serious trading strategy? Jump on something as soon as it's mentioned, buy at market, wait 2 minutes, and sell. There's got to be other people thinking like this. Any comments?

Missing glbAppVersion in DotNetNuke

I was upgrading a module the other day, and was doing so on one of the newer DNN versions (4.9). I got the following error:
error CS0117: 'DotNetNuke.Common.Globals' does not contain a definition for 'glbAppVersion'

It turns out that somewhere along the line (I didn't bother tracking down where), they moved this to the "DotNetNuke.Common.Assembly" namespace.

Hope this post saves somebody else some time.

Wish I knew why these geniuses moved a common global variable, especially one like this - now you can't even safely write code to check what version you're running to determine where you've got to check for something... grumble, grumble...

Partition Magic? Partition Nightmare is more like it!

Well, at least the election is over so I can grouse about other things for a while.

The job search continues, there are a lot of people who want Linux/Java out there, so I thought I'd repartition my hard disk and install Ubuntu. I had an older version of Partition Magic (hereafter "PM"), v.6, so I installed it and ran. It warned me, right up front, that that particular version had known issues with the NTFS file system on my drive. Well, after digging around a while longer through my CD ROM collection, I found v.8 (which is "current", apparently, even though it is 5 years old). SO, uninstall v.6, install v.8, and run. No warning. Great, they fixed the issue... (can you see this coming?)

I set three tasks for PM: 1. Resize my primary partion smaller. 2. Create a "Boot Magic" partition (a program that comes with PM, apparently allowing for easier navigation between boot partitions). 3. Create a Linux partition.

To apply these changes, the system reboots, then PM goes through the gyrations it thinks it needs. After ten minutes or so of resizing the first partition, it detected Error 1518: File Attribute doesn't fit, and it wants to abort. Well, OK I guess, something I read said that if things were aborted, you'd be restored to the original state. Not!

Subsequent reboots were met with the BSOD. OK, next step is to boot off the PM CD ROM - if you do that, you get a couple of options, one of them is to run the PM program. Sounds like a plan, so I select that. Get a warning message (from PM) telling me that one of the cylinder ending numbers is incorrect, should PM fix it? Yeah, I guess, since PM was probably the one who changed it in the first place (I had somehow forgotten to run my "GoChangeTheEndingCylinderToARandomNumber.exe" utility before starting this whole operation).

PM loaded after that, but showed that the primary partition was the original size (ie, pre-"fix"), and there didn't appear to be a whole lot more options available. OK, if something got fixed, perhaps we're good to go, so reboot. BSOD. Dang.

Options, we have options. Something on the Symantec site said boot to DOS and run CHKDSK. OK, fine. Done - except I need a different word there, perhaps "doing" fits better, it started off pretty well, but once it hit around 27% complete, it started crawling. I got online on a different computer. Symantec has 24x7 chat support - cool, let's try that. The suggestion I got was to let chkdsk run, then re-install windows. Whatever. This was about 1:30 in the morning, so I went to bed. chkdsk had completed by the time I got up.

This is a Dell desltop computer I purchased several years back, it didn't come with a for-real Windows disk (though there is a "genuine Microsoft" sticker on the side of the machine with the OS serial number); instead, I've got something called "Reinstallation CD Windows XP Pro..." etc. So I stick that in, boot from the CD, and it works for a little while, then aborts because it can't find the EULA.txt file. Perfect.

I've got another Windows XP disk, so I decide to reboot and try that. It putters around for a while, then tells me it's looking for the ASMS file, and also tells me where it's looking. Not having memorized the directory structure of the CD, I popped the disk out, and put it into another computer. Sure enough, the directory is right where it's supposed to be.

I don't have a clue, I guess. I'm probably six hours invested in this exercise so far. I just got back from Fry's with a new hard drive, I guess we'll try installing the XP OS onto that. The computer's rebooting right now (real time blogging!!), let's see...

Found XP Pro. It knows it's supposed to be installing Windows XP Pro. It's doing promising looking little changes on the screen...

But I still wouldn't give you two cents for the so-named "Magic" utilities.

Nobama

Two days until Election 2008 (if you ignore the as-much-as 35% who voted early).

Obama says he will bankrupt the coal industry by imposing [sic] cap-and-trade penalties on coal-fired plants - see this article, which also contains a link to a youtube audio. Guess where we get just under 50% of our power in this country? If you said coal, you win.

Obama wants to establish a national civilian security force "just as powerful strong and well-funded" as the military - watch him say it yourself. Which will cost what? More importantly, do what? Remeber the brown shirts?

He wants to redistribute wealth (see my post from October 27th).

He tolerated - accepted - embraced the rantings of Jeremiah Wright for TWENTY YEARS!

Tony Rezko. Father Pfleger. William Ayers.

Nobama.

Joe the Plumber and Character Assassination

OK, perhaps it happens on both (or all) sides, but this is the one currently in the news. Joe the Plumber, he of Obama's "spread-the-wealth" comment fame, had his background checked through state-managed computer systems back in Ohio.

According to this article in the Columbus Dispatch, Helen Jones-Kelley, Director of the Department of Family and Job Services (whose sytems were used to make the checks), indicated that it was "consistent with past departmental practice" to make such checks.

Considering how quickly we discovered that Joe doesn't have a plumber's license or a business license or a union membership, I'd say the only reason we don't know that he's involved in a child support case or have tax problems is because he isn't and doesn't.

Reality check: Redistributing Wealth

Joe the plumber. Instant iconic hero (well, for conservatives, anyway!) He managed to expose the Messiah with a simple question which Obama answered - and accidentally answered honestly, stating that everybody benefitted when the wealth was spread around. The invasion of Joe's private life is another story which I hope to get to.

This raised the obvious question: is Obama a socialist? A Marxist? Joe Biden tried to spin it away as meaning that there would be tax cuts.

Well, Uncle Joe - what about this interview with Obama done in 2001? Let's look at the important statements:

• (Referring to the success of the civil rights movement of the 1960's): But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society.
• One of the I think tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributed change and in some ways we still suffer from that.
• (A caller to the show asked:) is it too late for that kind of reparative work economically and is that that the appropriate place for reparative economic work to take place – the court – or would it be legislation at this point?
• I’m not optimistic about bringing about major redistributive change through the courts... The court’s just not very good at it and politically it’s very hard to legitimize opinions from the court in that regard. So I think that although you can craft theoretical justifications for it legally. Any three of us sitting here could come up with a rational for bringing about economic change through the courts.

So here we have the Democratic presidential candidate lamenting the fact that the Warren court had not gone far enough with regard to redistribution of wealth. According to Obama, we're "still suffering" from being too court-focused to have brought about redistribution (or have it the other way - that we're still suffering from not having brought about redistributed change). Finally, Obama asserts that bringing about this "redistributive change" is not likely to happen through the courts - leaving unsaid the alternative posed by the caller's question, that such change could be legislated. Of course, with at least two Supreme Court appointments available to the next president, and with a congressional supermajority, what's to stand in the way of judicial appointments (at every level) of judges who do believe in redistributive change, an Obama presidency could have its cake and eat it as well - court decisions in addition to legislation, with the enforcement capabilities of the executive branch (ie, the IRS, the FBI, the Justice department, and whatever new agency Obama was referring to establiching a couple months back).

The press reaction to all this? Here's one ostrich, which tries to bury the currency of Obama's beliefs by positing the statement of an Obama spokesman, Bill Burton, that the statements in question were "seven years old". (And while we're passing by, let's look at liberal bias: Burton :said", but the so-called news article alleges that "Both Boehner and John McCain have been trying to pin the 'socialist' label on Obama ".

Seven years? Is that really so long? I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday.

Grow up. Vote against Obama by voting for McCain.

Searching for a job

My previous employer and I parted ways about 5 weeks ago (long story, not here). So I've been doing a variety of things - back surgery, consulting, job hunting. And that's the source of this post.

I went to a job fair a few weeks back, and left a copy of my resume with the sponsor, who farmed it out to whoever was interested. So I got a call last week from a local agency, they'd seen my resume, and could I come in and talk to their "Sr. Vice President". Well, that's one possible way to get a job, so I set the appointment.

When I got there, it was an hour early (my mistake, but didn't realize it until ten minutes later). They had made a point to emphasize that I should be prompt. All I said at the front desk was that I was here to see Mr . so-and-so, and I was invited to sit down, he'd be with me in a couple of minutes. Although the receptionist was older, there was bubble-gum music playing on a portable radio. Obnoxious bubble-gum music. There were also a couple of dinosaurs wandering around (and I don't like the age discrimination when I'm looking for a job, but these dudes were seriously mid-70's, minimum).

About five minutes into the waiting, the first faint alarms started going off. If they're so doggoned busy, where was everybody? More to the point, I was supposed to respect their busy schedule, but they didn't need to respect my time? Oh, yeah - that's right, I'm not employed, my time's not important...

I was just about to walk out when this younger guy comes into the room, extends his hand, and says "Hi, Mr. Smith" (not me!), and I said "No, I'm Jones", the receptionist looks up and says "Your appointment is at 10:30", and the dude turns to her and says "I don't have any 10:30 appointment scheduled". Clue #2 and 3: Disorganized. Not busy. Anyway, they set my appointment to "10:00". I guess the ten-minutes-late thing is ingrained, because 10:10 is about when I got into the dude's office.

The dude proceeds to ask some "personal" questions "Employers can't ask these, you understand, but we're not an employer, we're here to help". Yeah, sure, move along. "Married?" "Kids?" and here's what I think they're really after: "How much staying power? That is, how long can you afford to continue a job search?" In other words, how sure can we be that if we charge you $10,000 up front, can we expect to see the money?

He then proceeds to tell me how very selective they are, that only about "one in seven" of the people they interview get "accepted" as clients (at the pace people were pouring in through the door for their interviews, I'd guess they pick up maybe one client a week at that rate), that they have an office meeting every afternoon to decide who they were going to select to be their chosen, and that they'd get back to me on Monday if I were selected (I guarantee you I'll be "selected") to set up a second interview to which I would bring my wife, and that they'd expect me to make a decision before I left. More alarm bells going off. And would I fax them a copy of my resume? Sure, I'll email a softcopy. "No, fax is better - we're getting deluged with email". Yeah, right, your last appointment stood you up, you spent most of an hour with me, and there's nobody in the lobby - you must be incredibly busy, dude.

When I got home, I googled the company. No luck. Same with the recruiter. Then I tried the Better Business Bureau. Not there either, but what's this? A listing for a similar name, same address. Click on the record, they dissolved in December 2005. "BH Careers International". Obviously not the same company (right?? ) so nothing I say here could possibly have anything to do with this same agency located in the same office space, could it?

And that linked me to the website ripoffreports.com, and page after page of complaints about Bernard Haldane (BH??) I think the tie-in was actually the addess, they had the same address listed. Anyway, many common themes running through the complaints: you could be one of the select few we decide to represent... our committee meets this afternoon... we'll schedule another appointment, bring your wife...

I guess you wouldn't expect to find a bunch of satisfied customers on a website called "ripoffreports", but it confirmed my gut's reaction. I don't need anything more.