To all those Call of Duty fanboys out there...

Props to my friend Andre for finding this >

Greeks in American Politics

Sorry for the momentary hold on my posts of lately; this past week being formal RUSH week for UL's fraternities, coupled with an already intense semester, has been keeping me rather busy. So with fraternal organizations on my mind - greeks in particular - I stumbled across a piece on Google books (click the title of this blog to redirect to the corresponding article) which mentions the percent of Democrats/ Republicans/ Independents, who in addition to holding high political offices, are also greek. While the article pertains to the 70's and 80's, such information is still useful in raising a few questions - do greek organizations inspire potential leaders (early while in undergrad or graduate studies) to pursue a more professional career, namely one which involves high office? Also, additional information as it pertains to the percent of U.S. Presidents who were also greek would be similarly interesting.

The New Face of Espionage

While browsing the net earlier, I came across two articles that caught my attention. The first hailing from The Council on Foreign Relations, addresses the current legal debacle facing the CIA; namely a demand for greater transparency in the American Intelligence Community. Sanford V. Levinson's article notes that upon entering office, President Obama promised to investigate the intelligence gathering technics utilized by the Bush Administration (i.e. torturing), yet has seemed reluctant to follow through. And then I realized, why reform the intelligence community when conventional espionage has become a thing of the past? The recent global recession has highlighted better than ever the new playing field for government hosted black ops - national economies. As with the situation facing Prague (Czech public), this article by the International Relations and Securities Network notes intrusions into Czech's economic sector by Russian government officials ("economic hitmen") in a maneuver to takeover state owned holdings of resources. Parallel this with US holdings of oil in Iraq, and we can see the overall picture - why bother with the inconveniences of geopolitics such as traditional borders? Or even in the case of the CIA, why risk being accused of torturing when a state government can just as easily cripple a country's economic sector from the inside - only to simultaneously profit from such actions?

Lagniappe

Tip of the hat to my friend Mal for coming across this. Labeled "The best fight scene of all time," this YouTube video is guaranteed to please>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkr4wS7XqY

Arrrrrr...

Earlier while visiting the porcelain throne, I happened to come across an article in The Economist relating to software piracy. Apparently when the citizens of Georgia aren't fighting Putin for independence, they're busy utilizing the fruits of Kazaa >

Only the weak fear the bear

Currently investors are facing a bear market, i.e. stocks are on the downturn and investors are being cautious. Yet this isn't necessarily a bad thing - while hard times on the market means many companies are merging with each other, striking deals for survival, it simultaneously presents investment opportunities that wouldn't normally arise under the status quo. One such oppurtunity is a company I've been monitoring - Yasheng Eco Trade Corp. NYSE: YASH, Yasheng Eco Trade specializes "on the acquisition, exploration, and development of undervalued assets. The company is focused on financial services, mergers and acquisitions, accounting, real estate development, and natural resources exploration." Sounds promising enough, yet the interesting part is that this company has just made a move to buy another company - diluting their stock pool, thus lowering the IPO of their common stock. Here's a 6 month chart on their stock prices:













Currently YASH's stocks are @ .10 a share...that's right - only 10 cents. Yasheng recently acquired several other companies, resulting in this swift drop in their share pricing. But if we look back a year, let's see what YASH's IPO used to be >













Yep - over $100 a share. So while a bear market means most companies are on the decline, it also can open up a great opportunity to invest (at least for those who enjoy taking risks)

Wireless Electricity

It's 2:07 AM... I should be sleeping but instead I am having a social gathering with some friends. Needless to say, my friend Michael here has informed me of an advanced median of transport for electrical energy - wirelessly. John Joannopolous Nicknamed such "Witricity," check it > http://plooms.com/witricity-wireless-electricity/