Portland Ignites. IP III

The third installment of Ignite Portland went off at the Bagdad Theather, one of many awesome venues in the McMenamins' empire or "the Kingdom", as they affectionately term it.

The line was much smoother this time, no waiting. At least that was the case for those who had pre-printed their tickets. I breezed right in and was getting beer and food from the killer buffet in not time. It also wasn't wall-to-wall geeks. It was all geeks but it wasn't standing room, bursting the doors off hinges, breaking freaking fire-codes, like Ignite II.

Ignite Portland is put on by the fine folks of Legion of Tech. And they did a great job. My only regret is that I am not a geek and so I miss out on the networking aspect of the event. This was made painfully clear while waiting for the presentations to begin.

I was sitting, scarfing some tasty, delectable buffet items, when the guy next to me starts quizzing me on who the various sponsors are. The only one I sort of knew was Intel Software Services. And that was only because Intel was in the name. Then he starts naming them and saying what he knows about them , Silicon Florist. He tells me oh that is Rick Turoczy's blog, as if I am in the know, as if this name means something-sorry Rick, I know who you are now. And then this dude, he is older with grey hair and bread, does the same with Strands and Toonlet. When I confess my profound ignorance regarding these companies, he turns to me and asks, "What then, do you expect to get out of this?"

Now I am use to being out of place, and being in places or events, that I don't quite fit into. For instance the WTO protests in Seattle. I keep ending up behind the police lines. Or the time I ended up in a Chinese Karaoke box, while some business men were bribing the judge sitting next to me, as I tried to hit on one of the girls sent in to "comfort' the judge. And this event at the Bagdad. I am not a geek, or a techie. I dont have a job in the "industry." But I like to go to eclectic events. And by going to Ignite Portland III I get to go to an event where smart and cool people are hanging out and I might just learn something.

And I did. I learned about buying a car for under a $1000 bucks. I learned how eggs are grown and labled. I learned about "jumping the rails" and I learned about cognative development and how it relates to robots' "learning." There were many other great presentations which should be up at the web site soon; if they are not up already. Some presentations were more polished than others, but they all did a great job and presented information on some great topics. So I salute the presentors of Ignite Portand III. I can't wait for Ignite Portland IV. I hope it takes place before my planned trip to China. I need to visit my girlfriend and her family.

Entertained. If you couldn't guess the answer. It was " I hope to be entertained." For me that is usually enought, for others I guess they need more.

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Air Guitar Championships in Portland

The US Air Guitar Association is having a contest in Portland on Tuesday night (June 24th) at Dante's on the corner of SW 3rd and Burnside. It should be a rocking time.

Dante's is a sick little joint full of hipsters, scenesters, wanna be's and suburban kids look for a kick. If you can't make it for the Air Guitar Championship, try to check it out on Monday nights. That is when they do Karaoke From Hell. You get up on a stage in front of the whole crowd and are backed by a live band. How cool is that!!!

So check out Dante's to get your jam on.

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Panorama Photos

Just checking out Magix Photo Clinic's panorama function. But instead of a making one picture I used it to layer two pictures of my girlfriend together. It is not that amazing, but I thought it was kind of cool. Plus, she looks really beautiful. Hope you like it, Fan bin.

Part II of Winning against Wall Street's New Weapons of Mass Manipulation

'Lazy' portfolios beat benchmarks again; here are top performers - MarketWatch

In the first part I talked about the term Behavioral Economics and how Wall Street is using math formulas to take advantage of investor irrationality.

In the second part I once again link to Paul Farrell-click above link-who writes on financial matters at MarketWatch.com Farrell in this article says the way to beat Wall Street rigging the game is to set up "Lazy Portfolios."

Farrell says Lazy Portfolios or "lazy investing is nothing more than the good old "Modern Portfolio Theory" put into action." He suggests investing in 3 to 11 no-load(that means no sales fee in English) index funds, either mutual funds or ETFs. Since Wall Street can't make enough money off of fees from these type of funds it doesn't push this "Nobel Prize-winning strategy" on to investors.

However, Farrell is tracking a few of these lazy portfolios. And they seem to be delivering excellent returns.

There is the Aronson Lazy fund, set up by Ted Aronson fo AJO Partners-they manage about $28 billion-according to Farrel. And his 5-year annualized return of %13.30 is pretty amazing.

Farrell also points to the portfolio set up by Dr. William Bernstein, who has written two books on investing, "Intelligent Asset Allocator" and "The Four Pillars of Investing."

And then notes the portfolio run by Bill Schultheis, who wrote the book "The Coffeehouse Investor."

I am not sure which one is the better portfolio, you should check with your financial adviser. I like these because they run automatically once they are set up, have decent returns, and don't cost alot in terms of sales fees, set up fees, and any other fee Wall Street and its brokers can dream up. Though, I am sure they are dreaming up ways around this. Get educated or get an honest broker.

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Winning against Wall Street's New Weapon Part I

Wall Street unleashes its 'weapons of mass manipulation' on you - Market Watch
If anyone wants to handle their own investing, I suggest they learn the term BEHAVIORAL FINANCE. It is also known as behavioral econ, or quant trading, or neuro investing. It has been around awhile but as Paul Farrell points out in the article linked to above, there is a new component to the the study of investor behavioral. A component which focuses on the "irrationality" behind investor buying, holding and selling.

The science of this studying has been "dominated by psychologists studying irrational human behavior.' However, Farrell says the field is now becoming dominated by mathematicians, chiefly, "University of Chicago finance professor Richard Thaler."

In his article Farrell explains that "unlike psychologists Thaler and the quant mathematicians are not interested in WHY investors are irrational." Instead they assume ". . . . financial markets and investors are irrational and always will be" [Emphasis mine].

According to Farrell the quants-as he refers to them-want to take advantage of investors' irrationality as the market goes through its up and down cycle, through use of "sophisticated quant math programs." Only investment banks, institutional investors and wealthy individuals with the resources can afford to implement these "quant programs." And so most of us smaller investors are once again left out in the investment hinterlands.

Part II looks at "Lazy Portfolios" which are Farrell's solution to the game being rigged

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Get to Know Oodle

In a June 3rd article on slate.com Chadwick Matlin claims Oodle and its platform together with Wal-Mart may save local newspapers and take on the juggernaut that is Craigslist.

Wal-Mart Classifieds opened last month. Matlin contends that this set-up will open up the playing field when it comes to classifieds. Right now Craigslist is a closed system, "you need to go through its site and manually input your wares for sale. You can't graft your own database into the Craigslist architecture."

However with Oodle, Matlin writes one can see any listing on the Oodle network. "[A]ccording to the CEO [Oodle] partners with 80,000 different sites." So anything posted at the Wal-Mart site is visible on any of the other sites and vis-versa. That my friends is A LOT of shopping.

It will be interesting to see how craigslist responds to this development.

Portland Ignites

Check out Ignite Portland on June 18th at the Bagdad Theather on SE 37th and Hawthorne. It should ignite ideas or passion in all who attend.

The idea is that a presenter gets 5 minutes and 20 slides which rotate automatically. They can present on topics ranging from 'Why Deutschland Loves David Hasselhoff,' 'How to Live Like a Japanese in Portland,' and 'The Complete and Utter History of the Numa Numa Dance.'

There is also a chance to win great swag. At Ignite 2 I won a pull over golf jacket, a UBS flash drive and a computer bag. It made the wait out in the cold worth it.

The organizers have set it up so that it is possible to register, download and print out tickets. So only those who haven't pre-register have to stand outside and wait. I wouldn't advise this, as they had a really good spread of hors d'oeuvres set up last time, and I suspect there will be some goodies set out for those of us who show.

Doors open at 5:30pm. Those without pre-printed tickets get in after 6:15pm until there are no more seats. The presentations start around 7pm. See you there.

Traditional Chinese Music and Instruments

Check out traditional Chinese music and instruments. Here in Oregon you can go to the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. They have an ensemble on Thursdays from 11am till 2 pm, as well as, on Sundays from 2:30pm till 4:30pm. Listen to a luiqin-a small guitar like instrument shaped like a tennis racket. One of my favorites is the er hu-a two string instrument which i thing sounds very sad.

While there enjoy traditional Chinese tea or cha as it is known in China. If they have Tie Guan Yin give it a try. It is a green tea but light and refreshing.