February 19, 2010
Here are some interesting compliance related stories from the past two weeks. (I reserved last week for my blogoversary.) Details Emerge on SEC Office of Market Intelligence by Bruce Carton in Compliance Week One of the first tools that the Securities Exchange Commission launched after it ushered itself into the Internet era in the mid-1990s… Read more »
February 18, 2010 New York City Comptroller John C. Liu announced sweeping changes in the way New York City pension funds make investment decisions. Following the lead of New York state and several other states, New York City is changing how it deals with gifts, campaign contributions and placement agents. Ban on Campaign Contributions Comptroller Liu declines any campaign…Read more »
February 18, 2010 With the winter Olympics going full swing in Canada, I thought I would look to how that country is dealing with securities class actions. NERA Economic Consulting just released their 2009 Update on Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions. Some tidbits: Eight securities class actions were filed in 2009, compared with the 10 filings in 2008. There…Read more »
February 17, 2010 Leaking information to the media about bad financial controls is not protected by SOX whistleblower retaliation clause. Nicholas P. Tides and Matthew C. Neumann were working as “Audit IT SOX auditors” at The Boeing Company. They made several complaints about auditing deficiencies to their supervisors. They claimed “that Boeing’s auditing culture was unethical and that…Read more »
February 16, 2010 This week’s The Economist has an excellent special report: The Gods Strike Back. The title comes from Peter Bernstein’s Against the Gods: “The revolutionary idea that defines the boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk: the notion that the future is more than a whim of the gods and that men…Read more »
February 15, 2010 Washington’s Birthday, the federal holiday was originally implemented by the United States Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia (20 Stat. 277) and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices (23 Stat. 516). As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington’s…Read more »
February 14, 2010 It is only fitting that I am writing this book review on a Sunday. In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic starts off by telling about the importance of a few Sundays in 2008. In March, there was the Sunday when the Federal Reserve announced an unprecedented action to lend…Read more »
The Son has been highly interested in the LEGO Atlantis collection. Yesterday, when he got the LEGO Atlantis Turbo Typhoon Sub, I decided to film him assembling the kit.
With all of the non-traditional sport focus on the Olympics, I nearly missed the news that the America’s Cup sailing competition was happening in Valencia Spain. The BMW Oracle team triumphed over the Alinghi team. That means the US boat beat the Swiss boat.
Part of my family comes from Newport, Rhode Island, so I’ve had an interest in the America’s Cup. The sailing race was based in Newport starting in 1851. Then in 1983, an Australian boat won the cup and took it down under.
In 1983 the Australians won by using a radical design in the hull of their boat. The Australia II used a winged keel. They also made extensive use of kevlar and carbon fiber.
The BMW Oracle Racing boat, USA 17, was also a radical design. It is a tirmaran that is nearly 90 feet across. It also uses a rigid sail wing instead of a sail. The wing is almost twice as big as the wing of a 747.
Congratulations to Larry Ellison and BMW Oracle Racing.
There is no news on where the next America’s Cup race will be held.
I finally got The Son to listen to chapter books for bedtime reading. I had no success with the Harry Potter books. His babysitter recommended the Percy Jackson books.
The premise of the Percy Jackson stories is that Greek mythology is true. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and the rest of the gods are still with us. Percy’s full name is Perseus. Like him, he is also the child of Poseidon and a mortal woman.
The Son loves the books. They are more lighthearted than the Harry Potter books. Instead of taking place in a gloomy castle, the action takes place in more recognizable locations across the United States.
Last night, we finished the third book in the series: The Titan’s Curse.
The Son saw the trailer for movie adaptation for the first book: The Lightning Thief. It just opened this weekend and he wanted to see it.
I don’t have Olympic fever because I’m not that interested in the headline events. My tastes are a bit quirkier.
I hate ice skating. The downhill events are boring, except for the crashes. The snowboard halfpipe is fun, but I can’t tell when one person is doing better than the other.
These are the events I want to see:
Women’s Biathalon
7.5km Sprint
Sat, Feb 13
Men’s Biathalon
10km Sprint
Sun, Feb 14
Snowboard Cross
Men’s Qualifier
Mon, Feb 15
Snowboard Cross
Men’s Medal Round
Mon, Feb 15
Snowboard Cross
Women’s Qualifier
Tue, Feb 16
Snowboard Cross
Women’s Medal Round
Tue, Feb 16
Women’s Biathalon
10km Pursuit
Tue, Feb 16
Men’s Biathalon
12.5km Pursuit
Tue, Feb 16
Women’s Biathalon
4 x 6km Relay
Tue, Feb 23
Men’s Biathalon
4 x 7.5km Relay
Fri, Feb 26
Women’s Curling
Bronze Medal Game
Fri, Feb 26
Women’s Curling
Gold Medal Game
Fri, Feb 26
Men’s Curling
Bronze Medal Game
Sat, Feb 27
Men’s Curling
Gold Medal Game
Sat, Feb 27
All images are blatantly stolen from the NBC Olympics webpage.
During an April storm in 1934, a wind gust of 231 miles per hour (372 kilometers per hour) threw itself across the summit of Mount Washington. That stood as a record for the all-time surface wind speed observed by man.
Until two weeks ago.
On January 22, 2010, the World Meteorological Organization released a report stating that a new world record wind speed was recorded on April 10, 1996 in Barrow Island, Australia during Typhoon Olivia. The new record stands at 253 mph.
Mount Washington can still call itself the home of the windiest place in the Northern Hemisphere.
It can still claim its title for the all-time surface wind speed observed by man. The 1996 speed was recorded by a machine.
Several GeekDad writers will host a panel at PAX East. The panel, titled “Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks,” will include Dave Banks, Natania Barron, Matt Blum, John Booth, Doug Cornelius (that’s me), Michael Harrison, and Corrina Lawson. We described the session as:
How young is too young for The Hobbit? What should my kids’ first LEGO set be? How can I control my disgust if my child tells me he likes Jar Jar and the Ewoks? When should I buy my kids their first non-six-sided dice? These questions and many more will be discussed by writers for Wired.com’s GeekDad blog and other geek parents. Come share your stories and advice for how to make sure our kids grow up to be geeks like us! Don’t have kids? Show up and find out what may be in store for you if you ever do!
“PAX East is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we’ve got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers.”
It’s happening March 26th to 28th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The three-day pre-registration rate is $50. You should register soon, because they’re expecting a sellout)
New York City Comptroller John C. Liu announced sweeping changes in the way New York City pension funds make investment decisions. Following the lead of New York state and several other states, New York City is changing how it deals with gifts, campaign contributions and placement agents. Ban on Campaign Contributions Comptroller Liu declines any campaign…Read more »
With the winter Olympics going full swing in Canada, I thought I would look to how that country is dealing with securities class actions. NERA Economic Consulting just released their 2009 Update on Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions. Some tidbits: Eight securities class actions were filed in 2009, compared with the 10 filings in 2008. There…Read more »
Leaking information to the media about bad financial controls is not protected by SOX whistleblower retaliation clause. Nicholas P. Tides and Matthew C. Neumann were working as “Audit IT SOX auditors” at The Boeing Company. They made several complaints about auditing deficiencies to their supervisors. They claimed “that Boeing’s auditing culture was unethical and that…Read more »
This week’s The Economist has an excellent special report: The Gods Strike Back. The title comes from Peter Bernstein’s Against the Gods: “The revolutionary idea that defines the boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk: the notion that the future is more than a whim of the gods and that men…Read more »
Washington’s Birthday, the federal holiday was originally implemented by the United States Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia (20 Stat. 277) and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices (23 Stat. 516). As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington’s…Read more »
It is only fitting that I am writing this book review on a Sunday. In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic starts off by telling about the importance of a few Sundays in 2008. In March, there was the Sunday when the Federal Reserve announced an unprecedented action to lend…Read more »
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