Professional investors understand what they are doing and how the market will react to things. Armchair stock brokers don't. And they will panic for precisely the reason you state, they are relying on the market in some fashion for their retirement. Our culture has ceased to save money and begun to believe that they can't lose because the market will always go up. You can't honestly believe that if 50% of the people who are cluelessly investing sell of their stock all at once it won't make the market sag.
Agreed... however, the Armchair investors (not brokers) do not have as much of an impact as you might think. By this, I think we are agreed upon as your internet investor.
There are currently approximately 10 million online accounts out there right now. There are a little over 40 million accounts at full service brokerage firms... and where do you think the vast amount of the money is at as well?
Granted, an army of 5 million investors all wanting to sell their stocks off is a powerful army indeed. Hell, as much as 25 - 50% of the daily volume on a lot of large cap tech companies are from internet investors.
You are also correct that the self-fulfilling prophesy may force things to happen that would not have happened otherwise (too many people get online to check accounts and sites crash as a result... too many people call their banks or such and the phone lines go done, etc...). However these 5 million souls who may gert scared into selling are most likely going to get cut off. Yes, the SEC has all the blockers that will keep things from falling to fast, but you can't forget the internet brokerage firms themselves. If any of you have an online account, check the small print on the agreement (yes, I know it is about 60 pages... you suckers), somewhere in there is a line that informs you that they have the legal right to completely close off your account for up to 60 days. Welcome to the world of discount investing.:)
So if what you think might happens, happens... do you think the discount brokerages out there will be forced to shut things down? Hell yes!!! They do not have the support to even handle some of the small sell-offs we have seen in the past 4 years and have had to shut down accounts for up to a week at a time.
That handles the problem of the internet buffs in a very good way... it will actually be doing a service to them by not allowing them to access their accounts.
More danger lies with the investors in mutual funds. Perhaps a good amount of them are going to want their money back? Well, to a point, the same thing will happen to them. If you are in one of those no-load funds, there is the same clasuse: they can shut you out for up to 60 days... but they will not do that to the same degree, and will really be forced to sell off a lot of stock to make up for it if a great amount of people are leaving (though the vast majority of them have been saving up a lot of cash in the event of this). But there certainly is the possibility that the people holding on to these funds will be punished by any large amount of people who are leaving because the fund manager will be forced to realize capital gains and this could make a huge tax liablility on holders of the fund... even if the value of the fund goes down that year.. they will still owe a ton of capital gains. Just one reason why you should never invest in mutual funds, but do not get me going on that.
Anyways... a recession; possible. A depression; very, very very unlikely.
Other reasons: 1929---> Absolutely no safety nets in place.... today we have tons. The SEC did not even exist! People were buying so heavily on margin at that time... sometimes as someone else pointed out, with as little as 10% down. Today, that is 50%.
Today, the governemnt is responsible for over 20% of GDP... it was only a fraction of that in 1929. One benefit (not sure if there are many) of big government is that this keeps away depressions. The government does not lay off workers, or stop spending money in tough times.
Today, the work force is entirely different. Manufacturing jobs have always been the hardest hit traditionally. In the 1929, over 35% of the economy was employed in manufacturing jobs. Today that percentage is less than 15%. In fact, over the past 10 years, the economy has added over 20 million jobs, while in that same time period, manufacturing actually lost 500,000 jobs.
The majority of families nowadays have two wage earners... that also makes a huge difference.
So yes, we could have another depression... but it would have to be pretty incredible. Hell, our economy has been crash-tested by 9 recessions since WW II, and it has prevailed... avoiding a depression every time.
I am not too worried. We have a good system in place... and no matter how hard these idiot investors try, they are not going to be able to ruin it.
You are not going to see a huge stock market collapse of any sort. Certainly, there are a few industry's that are way over-valued... and to my dismay, they are still climbing. But we are actually going through right now, what a lot of people call a Stealth Bear Market Sure the S & P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq are at all time highs right now... but this is only because of a small, eclectic group of stocks have enjoyed an incredible bull market. In the meantime, a majority of the high flying blue chips have really been crashing. Buy breaking it down... leads to a suprising find, which I will illustrate for you:
For year 1999:
NYSE 61% of stocks have declined by 20% or more 34% have dropped by 30% or more
NASDAQ 83% of stocks have eroded by 20% or more 63% have declined in excess of 30%
This would seem to imply something very different from what the surface tells us.
I agree that there will be a time when many of the bubbles formed (these are bubbles, there is no arguing that) will burst. It happened in 1972... remember the "Nifty 50"? This group of stocks (mainly consisting of tech stocks) lead the market to incredible highs... but in 1972, their incredible valuations were finally realized and the market stagnated for an entire decade. Well, things really were not that bad... because the market is not composed entirely of tech in reality. While tech stocks floundered, other industries flourished and there was still a lot of money to be made. Lesson learned: Do not buy at crazy valuation levels. Lesson for now: Do not buy at crazy valuation levels.
So the market is not as high as you think it is.
Some valuations are what I would call artificially high as well. Many of the larger companies out there have gone WAY over-budget in becoming Y2K compliant (this does not merely involve preparing software and the like, but in prepearing people and services for whatever might happen). Well, this is an expense, and that figures into their profits. But, this is a true case of a one-time expense if I have ever seen it, and we will find many valuations come down to a more reasonable level.
Also, people are not going to stop putting money into company sponsered profit sharing plans, 401k's and 403b's. They might stop their fooling around on E-Trade however.
We may see a recession soon... I am sure we will see one in the future. But another depression? That is far more unlikely (though certainly possible).
If anyone wants some help in figuring some of this out... go ahead and email me.
The moderaters can't decide what to do with this either. It has been moderated 14 times already... standing at 1: Off topic right now. Who knows what it will be when I finish this.
Pretty interesting. I think it deserves a 1 or a 2 myself. The comments underneath are interesting enough to warrant a few plusses.
It is just too expensive right now. I am curious if anyone on this site will actually get one. I would love to know how they work.
I wonder how autonomous they really are.
Right now, I do not have the time or location for a real pet. One that does not eat, shed and shit sounds pretty good to me. Hopefully I could do a better job of keeping an AIBO alive than my plants.
The idea of raising an abused and unloved AIBO that runs for its life at the site of a pink ball also makes me laugh. Sorry.
Or option number 3: they do nothing and continue to be teased/made fun of/beat on.
That would not resolve the conflict, and hence not be an option to what I was talking about now would it?
My point was that kids at that age resort to fighting very easily... that does not necesarily mean they are violent beings from horrible homes in need of help.
Well, you better start paying those lawyer fees soon because (with our current system,) from the instant your child starts school he is going to be profiled, and it will never stop.
This whole program is an attempt to create a universal system (that has been proved to work by the way) to serve as an aid for teachers and guidance coincilers when dealing with children. And believe it or not... it will help break down the stereotyping you are so afraid it will enforce.
Think about it, right now your children are being profiled based on their outward looks and actions. We have seen the affects of this method of "profiling" with all the Hellmouth letters. As goths and geeks are suspended, beaten up and viewed with even more prejudice than before. This is ased on the current (albeit, unofficial) system of profiling. A universal system will help teachers and councilers to realize that geek/goth/nerd/loner does not necesarily mean killer.
But go ahead and spout your "I'm going to sue dammnit" statements that the ignorant are so fond of spewing.
From my extremely limited knowledge (considered a minor in psychology in college), I believe the brain would adapt... and it would soon become like second nature for you.
The most simple example that stands out in my mind is the fact that if you wear glasses that essentially turns your vision upside down for a while... eventually, your brain will "flip" it right side again, even while you are still wearing the glasses.
While that is not a huge correlation I think it shows the ability of the brain to adapt and essentially "do the right thing" for you.
Do you somehow think I believe it is a crime to run away? Well, in responce to you and our "insightful" Anonymous Coward who refers to those common 12-year old group beat-downs we see every day... you are missing my point.
Young children are not the best at resolving conflicts; they do not sit down and talk about it over coffee or a beer... instead they run and tell a teacher or parent or simply smack the hell out of each other. Fights at that age are a very common thing. Adults do not notice them often because usually no one gets hurt too bad. This does not mean these kids are violent or brought up in horrible environments because they get in fights at school. It just means they are kids.
Did anyone ever read the bogus article some Inquirer like news source (maybe some one can remember) on the web about an 8 year old boy Microsoft essentially purchased for the near amount of $10 million dollars. The kid was being kept on Redmond's campus and was working on "The Next Big Thing". According to the story, the kid developed a TV remote for his grandma (who was confined to a wheel chair) that relied on thought patterns.
The article was huge and the author included pictures as well as an interview with the boy (made to look like a spoiled brat). It was pretty funny... but even more humorous is a lot of people took it seriously and I had a number of friends forward me the address of the article (wish I remembered it).
Violence in it's primitive extends from things that society faults on that cause a break from being able to defend and win at. Homelessness, joblessness, dispair, crime, drug abuse, poverty, etc are all things that contribute to violence.
A simple fight is not nesecarily that violent. Really, who here did not get in tons of fights in elementary school!? There were two ways to resolve a conflict at that age: Fight, or run and tell an adult. A 7 year old does not have a reasonable disagreement. Generally, the worst that happens would be a few bruises and maybe a bloody nose... and then things would be alright again.
As you get older, you learn that other ways to solve your conflicts and that you might eventually really hurt someone (and be held liable for it) as you grow older. Even as an adult, a simple fight is not that bad... it happens between normal people, from normal families and does not often end violently (or at least in what I would consider violent).
But anyways, the kids fighting in the school yard are not the ones that need to be targetted. Most likely, the ones that are picked on and will NOT fight about it, and let it fester and fester and fester...
This could be a damn urban legend, so maybe someone can help me... but I remember a story of a student at Harvard that for his Senior Research Project decided to do an experiment based on Pavlov's beahvioral conditioning.
Essentially, for 2 months in the summer he got up early in the morning, donned a black and white shirt and walked over to the fields with a large bag of bird seed while blowing a whistle. Of course he was very well loved by the birds of Massachusetts. He stopped right before football season officially started.
So on the opening game of the year, the referees get on the field, blow the whistle and 100's of birds descend down onto the field. The game is delayed for around 20 minutes just to get all of them off.
Beautiful in its simplicity... "Wish I had thought of that"
In my dreams I obtain an early bootleg copy of the next Star Wars. Because the movie is going to be over 90% digitally-rendered, I am able to "edit" a few scenes.
As soon as Jar Jar steps out for his first scene and starts uttering "Meesa Jar Jar...", a meteorite comes crashing down on his bloated, snot-green head. From that point on, his presence and voice will be completely edited and brushed away. Yeah, it will be a little weird when anakin or someone utters, "That Jar Jar, he sure is a rascal" while staring off into empty space... but hey, it is the memory right!?
I then ditribute this copy without ever getting caught. Who wants one?
Yes, they are going to be encouraging people to take their money in the form of cashier's checks and traveler's checks. But I am sure that many people are not going to want to do that.
Consider, if they have reached the point where they are taking large amounts out of the bank, nothing less than cash (or gold dubloons) is going to satisfy them.
As far as I know, there is absolutely no Federal Law in place requiring a month for large withdrawals.
There is however, a law that a bank my hold a check from a customer for up to 10 days... just to make sure it clears and everything.
But this is left up to individual bank policies. While the FDIC is fully insurnig Y2K concerns for the banks. Banks and tellars are required to be open.
Here is a Y2K policy being taken by a bank I deal with a lot:
Withdrawals over $200 require a picture ID.
$3,000 maximum withdrawal for the drive through. For larger withdrawals, you have to come in and sign a special notice stating you are informed of the dangers in carrying large amounts of cash around.
For withdrawals over $25,000 they are requesting 24 hours to insure all branches will have enough. People who need it immediately are welcome to go to their home office.
People wanting to withdraw their entire life's savings will be heavily dissauded... but there is not much they can do about it.
So what if Microsoft opens it's source code? Allowing the different tiers of their users the ability to use the "stock" version, or to customize it to their own likes and dislikes.
That will not make the "alternative" quite so alternative (or atractive) to new users anymore.
I work in the financial industry and I can tell you that of all sectors, the banking and financial industries are by far the best prepared out there. Our testing has been extensive, and just about every local and federal government has forced tests on us, as well as our own company, all major and minor stock exchanges and banks that we deal with.
What we and people in the banking industry are preparing for right now is the self-fulfilling prophesy; that people are going to run on the banks whether there are problems or not... just in case. So just about every bank is forbidding the majority of their employees from taking vacations at that time. The thought is also that a large number of people will be calling their banks, bokerages and checking ATM's right after midnight to just make sure everything is ok. If they have a lot difficulty getting through, that might cause a bit of a panic.
I believe Microsoft's punishment should be that Bill Gates should be forced to follow through with that wonderful chain letter I have received 125,349,423,239,279 times and annoyed countless friends and family with. Chain letters are my passion... everyone loves me.
What was it?...he would give $1,000 to everyone on the list using his brand new beta tracker Well, I am still waiting for my checks;)
Why do people care who Sarah Michelle Gellar is dating? Do they actually think they'd stand a chance with her otherwise?
This is totally true:
I have a friend who has a friend who went to Michigan State. Well, he went there with his girlfriend I guess, and they had been dating for a number of years in high school also. Well, I guess this girl is a total bitch! Yah know, the kind to keep the ol' ball and chain around his neck at all times. Well, this guy gets a great intern opportunity to work in L.A. (he wants to be an actor), so of course he takes it, depite his obviously upset girlfriend. So his job is not too exciting.. basically driving a cart around sets of various Television shows. BUT, he actually gets to cart around a lot of the actors and actresses. One time, eh was carting around Sara Michelle Gellar... and she was like, "you're really cute". Well, obviously he is pretty flattered and all... and then she actually ASKS HIM OUT. So he really wants to, but he fels bad because he still likes his girlfriend back home... yah know, the total bitch. so he tells her no. and he tells his girlfriend about it too, who of course gets pissed and real jealous. Well, then Sara persists.. you know those Hollywood types, always getting their way. So he actually goes out with her! And they have a great time, so he starts seeing her more often. Well, his girlfriend is starting to get a clue, because he si never around at night when she calls anymore... so she is being double bitchy. Then, one night she calls.. and I guess Sara Michelle Gellar actually picks up the phone!!!!!! Now you can imagine the fireworks that come from this! I guess the girl actually flies to LA to bitch her boyfriend out and all, and i think he actually made up with her and they are back together again still! Can you believe it! He actually gave up Sara Michelle Gellar! I could just die...
Slashdot Mirror
Professional investors understand what they are doing and how the market will react to things. Armchair stock brokers don't. And they will panic for precisely the reason you state, they are relying on the market in some fashion for their retirement. Our culture has ceased to save money and begun to believe that they can't lose because the market will always go up. You can't honestly believe that if 50% of the people who are cluelessly investing sell of their stock all at once it won't make the market sag.
:)
Agreed... however, the Armchair investors (not brokers) do not have as much of an impact as you might think. By this, I think we are agreed upon as your internet investor.
There are currently approximately 10 million online accounts out there right now. There are a little over 40 million accounts at full service brokerage firms... and where do you think the vast amount of the money is at as well?
Granted, an army of 5 million investors all wanting to sell their stocks off is a powerful army indeed. Hell, as much as 25 - 50% of the daily volume on a lot of large cap tech companies are from internet investors.
You are also correct that the self-fulfilling prophesy may force things to happen that would not have happened otherwise (too many people get online to check accounts and sites crash as a result... too many people call their banks or such and the phone lines go done, etc...). However these 5 million souls who may gert scared into selling are most likely going to get cut off. Yes, the SEC has all the blockers that will keep things from falling to fast, but you can't forget the internet brokerage firms themselves. If any of you have an online account, check the small print on the agreement (yes, I know it is about 60 pages... you suckers), somewhere in there is a line that informs you that they have the legal right to completely close off your account for up to 60 days. Welcome to the world of discount investing.
So if what you think might happens, happens... do you think the discount brokerages out there will be forced to shut things down? Hell yes!!! They do not have the support to even handle some of the small sell-offs we have seen in the past 4 years and have had to shut down accounts for up to a week at a time.
That handles the problem of the internet buffs in a very good way... it will actually be doing a service to them by not allowing them to access their accounts.
More danger lies with the investors in mutual funds. Perhaps a good amount of them are going to want their money back? Well, to a point, the same thing will happen to them. If you are in one of those no-load funds, there is the same clasuse: they can shut you out for up to 60 days... but they will not do that to the same degree, and will really be forced to sell off a lot of stock to make up for it if a great amount of people are leaving (though the vast majority of them have been saving up a lot of cash in the event of this). But there certainly is the possibility that the people holding on to these funds will be punished by any large amount of people who are leaving because the fund manager will be forced to realize capital gains and this could make a huge tax liablility on holders of the fund... even if the value of the fund goes down that year.. they will still owe a ton of capital gains. Just one reason why you should never invest in mutual funds, but do not get me going on that.
Anyways... a recession; possible. A depression; very, very very unlikely.
Other reasons:
1929---> Absolutely no safety nets in place.... today we have tons. The SEC did not even exist! People were buying so heavily on margin at that time... sometimes as someone else pointed out, with as little as 10% down. Today, that is 50%.
Today, the governemnt is responsible for over 20% of GDP... it was only a fraction of that in 1929. One benefit (not sure if there are many) of big government is that this keeps away depressions. The government does not lay off workers, or stop spending money in tough times.
Today, the work force is entirely different. Manufacturing jobs have always been the hardest hit traditionally. In the 1929, over 35% of the economy was employed in manufacturing jobs. Today that percentage is less than 15%. In fact, over the past 10 years, the economy has added over 20 million jobs, while in that same time period, manufacturing actually lost 500,000 jobs.
The majority of families nowadays have two wage earners... that also makes a huge difference.
So yes, we could have another depression... but it would have to be pretty incredible. Hell, our economy has been crash-tested by 9 recessions since WW II, and it has prevailed... avoiding a depression every time.
I am not too worried. We have a good system in place... and no matter how hard these idiot investors try, they are not going to be able to ruin it.
Well I certainly disagree.
You are not going to see a huge stock market collapse of any sort. Certainly, there are a few industry's that are way over-valued... and to my dismay, they are still climbing. But we are actually going through right now, what a lot of people call a Stealth Bear Market Sure the S & P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq are at all time highs right now... but this is only because of a small, eclectic group of stocks have enjoyed an incredible bull market. In the meantime, a majority of the high flying blue chips have really been crashing. Buy breaking it down... leads to a suprising find, which I will illustrate for you:
For year 1999:
NYSE
61% of stocks have declined by 20% or more
34% have dropped by 30% or more
NASDAQ
83% of stocks have eroded by 20% or more
63% have declined in excess of 30%
This would seem to imply something very different from what the surface tells us.
I agree that there will be a time when many of the bubbles formed (these are bubbles, there is no arguing that) will burst. It happened in 1972... remember the "Nifty 50"? This group of stocks (mainly consisting of tech stocks) lead the market to incredible highs... but in 1972, their incredible valuations were finally realized and the market stagnated for an entire decade. Well, things really were not that bad... because the market is not composed entirely of tech in reality. While tech stocks floundered, other industries flourished and there was still a lot of money to be made. Lesson learned: Do not buy at crazy valuation levels. Lesson for now: Do not buy at crazy valuation levels.
So the market is not as high as you think it is.
Some valuations are what I would call artificially high as well. Many of the larger companies out there have gone WAY over-budget in becoming Y2K compliant (this does not merely involve preparing software and the like, but in prepearing people and services for whatever might happen). Well, this is an expense, and that figures into their profits. But, this is a true case of a one-time expense if I have ever seen it, and we will find many valuations come down to a more reasonable level.
Also, people are not going to stop putting money into company sponsered profit sharing plans, 401k's and 403b's. They might stop their fooling around on E-Trade however.
We may see a recession soon... I am sure we will see one in the future. But another depression? That is far more unlikely (though certainly possible).
If anyone wants some help in figuring some of this out... go ahead and email me.
Werd
HaHa that's a good idea.
I've had sex with a few gals, they seemed to enjoy it... so I might start "volunteering" women in the future.
Oh wait, that would be rape.
Don't worry, I do not take you seriously.
The moderaters can't decide what to do with this either. It has been moderated 14 times already... standing at 1: Off topic right now. Who knows what it will be when I finish this.
Pretty interesting. I think it deserves a 1 or a 2 myself. The comments underneath are interesting enough to warrant a few plusses.
Well, I put it on my Christmas Wish List.
It is just too expensive right now. I am curious if anyone on this site will actually get one. I would love to know how they work.
I wonder how autonomous they really are.
Right now, I do not have the time or location for a real pet. One that does not eat, shed and shit sounds pretty good to me. Hopefully I could do a better job of keeping an AIBO alive than my plants.
The idea of raising an abused and unloved AIBO that runs for its life at the site of a pink ball also makes me laugh. Sorry.
Or option number 3: they do nothing and continue to be teased/made fun of/beat on.
That would not resolve the conflict, and hence not be an option to what I was talking about now would it?
My point was that kids at that age resort to fighting very easily... that does not necesarily mean they are violent beings from horrible homes in need of help.
Something y2k compliant!?
As if people will actually be wearing these in the next month!
Well, you better start paying those lawyer fees soon because (with our current system,) from the instant your child starts school he is going to be profiled, and it will never stop.
This whole program is an attempt to create a universal system (that has been proved to work by the way) to serve as an aid for teachers and guidance coincilers when dealing with children. And believe it or not... it will help break down the stereotyping you are so afraid it will enforce.
Think about it, right now your children are being profiled based on their outward looks and actions. We have seen the affects of this method of "profiling" with all the Hellmouth letters. As goths and geeks are suspended, beaten up and viewed with even more prejudice than before. This is ased on the current (albeit, unofficial) system of profiling. A universal system will help teachers and councilers to realize that geek/goth/nerd/loner does not necesarily mean killer.
But go ahead and spout your "I'm going to sue dammnit" statements that the ignorant are so fond of spewing.
From my extremely limited knowledge (considered a minor in psychology in college), I believe the brain would adapt... and it would soon become like second nature for you.
The most simple example that stands out in my mind is the fact that if you wear glasses that essentially turns your vision upside down for a while... eventually, your brain will "flip" it right side again, even while you are still wearing the glasses.
While that is not a huge correlation I think it shows the ability of the brain to adapt and essentially "do the right thing" for you.
Only because now it's suburban white kids being shot.
How true.
If I had not commented to this story, I would have moderated that up.
Why is it suddently a crime to be afraid?
What the hell are you talking about?
Do you somehow think I believe it is a crime to run away? Well, in responce to you and our "insightful" Anonymous Coward who refers to those common 12-year old group beat-downs we see every day... you are missing my point.
Young children are not the best at resolving conflicts; they do not sit down and talk about it over coffee or a beer... instead they run and tell a teacher or parent or simply smack the hell out of each other. Fights at that age are a very common thing. Adults do not notice them often because usually no one gets hurt too bad. This does not mean these kids are violent or brought up in horrible environments because they get in fights at school. It just means they are kids.
Did anyone ever read the bogus article some Inquirer like news source (maybe some one can remember) on the web about an 8 year old boy Microsoft essentially purchased for the near amount of $10 million dollars. The kid was being kept on Redmond's campus and was working on "The Next Big Thing". According to the story, the kid developed a TV remote for his grandma (who was confined to a wheel chair) that relied on thought patterns.
The article was huge and the author included pictures as well as an interview with the boy (made to look like a spoiled brat). It was pretty funny... but even more humorous is a lot of people took it seriously and I had a number of friends forward me the address of the article (wish I remembered it).
Violence in it's primitive extends from things that society faults on that cause a break from being able to defend and win at. Homelessness, joblessness, dispair, crime, drug abuse, poverty, etc are all things that contribute to violence.
A simple fight is not nesecarily that violent. Really, who here did not get in tons of fights in elementary school!? There were two ways to resolve a conflict at that age: Fight, or run and tell an adult. A 7 year old does not have a reasonable disagreement. Generally, the worst that happens would be a few bruises and maybe a bloody nose... and then things would be alright again.
As you get older, you learn that other ways to solve your conflicts and that you might eventually really hurt someone (and be held liable for it) as you grow older. Even as an adult, a simple fight is not that bad... it happens between normal people, from normal families and does not often end violently (or at least in what I would consider violent).
But anyways, the kids fighting in the school yard are not the ones that need to be targetted. Most likely, the ones that are picked on and will NOT fight about it, and let it fester and fester and fester...
I would just like to point out that violent juvenile crime is down about 30% since 1994. In fact, this is the 12th straight year it has declined.
This is a statistic by the Justice Department which tracks murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
Also, firearm deaths in general are down more than 21% from 1993
Now, the crimes are just receiving a lot more attention and sensationalism.
Pisses me off when I hear all "These kids are unbelievable nowadays" attitudes. There are just more of them... bound to be bad apples in the mix.
I can't believe no one has suggested that yet (or maybe they have and I missed it).
Despite all the myths, that most likely really did happen, and would have to go down as one of the greatest hacks of all time.
This could be a damn urban legend, so maybe someone can help me... but I remember a story of a student at Harvard that for his Senior Research Project decided to do an experiment based on Pavlov's beahvioral conditioning.
Essentially, for 2 months in the summer he got up early in the morning, donned a black and white shirt and walked over to the fields with a large bag of bird seed while blowing a whistle. Of course he was very well loved by the birds of Massachusetts. He stopped right before football season officially started.
So on the opening game of the year, the referees get on the field, blow the whistle and 100's of birds descend down onto the field. The game is delayed for around 20 minutes just to get all of them off.
Beautiful in its simplicity... "Wish I had thought of that"
If it ever really happened.
In my dreams I obtain an early bootleg copy of the next Star Wars. Because the movie is going to be over 90% digitally-rendered, I am able to "edit" a few scenes.
As soon as Jar Jar steps out for his first scene and starts uttering "Meesa Jar Jar...", a meteorite comes crashing down on his bloated, snot-green head. From that point on, his presence and voice will be completely edited and brushed away. Yeah, it will be a little weird when anakin or someone utters, "That Jar Jar, he sure is a rascal" while staring off into empty space... but hey, it is the memory right!?
I then ditribute this copy without ever getting caught. Who wants one?
Where's the written gurantee?
We do put it in writing... our clients are insured up to $25 million in each account.
And since when is a publicly held firm an "authority"?
I have already made my preparations, thank you. The champagne and whiskey is already bought!
Duh.
Yes, they are going to be encouraging people to take their money in the form of cashier's checks and traveler's checks. But I am sure that many people are not going to want to do that.
Consider, if they have reached the point where they are taking large amounts out of the bank, nothing less than cash (or gold dubloons) is going to satisfy them.
As far as I know, there is absolutely no Federal Law in place requiring a month for large withdrawals.
There is however, a law that a bank my hold a check from a customer for up to 10 days... just to make sure it clears and everything.
But this is left up to individual bank policies. While the FDIC is fully insurnig Y2K concerns for the banks. Banks and tellars are required to be open.
Here is a Y2K policy being taken by a bank I deal with a lot:
Withdrawals over $200 require a picture ID.
$3,000 maximum withdrawal for the drive through. For larger withdrawals, you have to come in and sign a special notice stating you are informed of the dangers in carrying large amounts of cash around.
For withdrawals over $25,000 they are requesting 24 hours to insure all branches will have enough. People who need it immediately are welcome to go to their home office.
People wanting to withdraw their entire life's savings will be heavily dissauded... but there is not much they can do about it.
So what if Microsoft opens it's source code?
Allowing the different tiers of their users the ability to use the "stock" version, or to customize it to their own likes and dislikes.
That will not make the "alternative" quite so alternative (or atractive) to new users anymore.
I work in the financial industry and I can tell you that of all sectors, the banking and financial industries are by far the best prepared out there. Our testing has been extensive, and just about every local and federal government has forced tests on us, as well as our own company, all major and minor stock exchanges and banks that we deal with.
What we and people in the banking industry are preparing for right now is the self-fulfilling prophesy; that people are going to run on the banks whether there are problems or not... just in case. So just about every bank is forbidding the majority of their employees from taking vacations at that time. The thought is also that a large number of people will be calling their banks, bokerages and checking ATM's right after midnight to just make sure everything is ok.
If they have a lot difficulty getting through, that might cause a bit of a panic.
I believe Microsoft's punishment should be that Bill Gates should be forced to follow through with that wonderful chain letter I have received 125,349,423,239,279 times and annoyed countless friends and family with. Chain letters are my passion... everyone loves me.
...he would give $1,000 to everyone on the list using his brand new beta tracker ;)
What was it?
Well, I am still waiting for my checks
Why do people care who Sarah Michelle Gellar is dating? Do they actually think they'd stand a chance with her otherwise?
This is totally true:
I have a friend who has a friend who went to Michigan State. Well, he went there with his girlfriend I guess, and they had been dating for a number of years in high school also. Well, I guess this girl is a total bitch! Yah know, the kind to keep the ol' ball and chain around his neck at all times. Well, this guy gets a great intern opportunity to work in L.A. (he wants to be an actor), so of course he takes it, depite his obviously upset girlfriend.
So his job is not too exciting.. basically driving a cart around sets of various Television shows. BUT, he actually gets to cart around a lot of the actors and actresses. One time, eh was carting around Sara Michelle Gellar... and she was like, "you're really cute". Well, obviously he is pretty flattered and all... and then she actually ASKS HIM OUT. So he really wants to, but he fels bad because he still likes his girlfriend back home... yah know, the total bitch. so he tells her no. and he tells his girlfriend about it too, who of course gets pissed and real jealous.
Well, then Sara persists.. you know those Hollywood types, always getting their way. So he actually goes out with her! And they have a great time, so he starts seeing her more often. Well, his girlfriend is starting to get a clue, because he si never around at night when she calls anymore... so she is being double bitchy. Then, one night she calls.. and I guess Sara Michelle Gellar actually picks up the phone!!!!!! Now you can imagine the fireworks that come from this! I guess the girl actually flies to LA to bitch her boyfriend out and all, and i think he actually made up with her and they are back together again still! Can you believe it! He actually gave up Sara Michelle Gellar! I could just die...