Points to Ponder

Here's an easy way to get your pic on the internet. And most of the people I know are better looking, too, so maybe we could add some class to the website.

Happy New Year!

      The FBI may be watching you.

    News flash! Wonderful revelation! After six months in Kentucky, I made my first observation of a driver utilizing turn signals. Kudos to the guy in the white Suburban -- of course, his right blinker was on and he turned left, but here's an "A" for effort.


No, I didn't really have possum casserole last week, but I did have a dog cake. My sis-in-law spent 3 hours preparing an Italian Creme Cake, and placed it on the card table in the living room. Her visiting son brought along his two Irish Setters (indoor dogs) and you guessed it, one of the pigs found the icing to be to her taste. After some salvage work by my wife, a top view of the cake looked something like this:

It was quite good ... but afterwards I had a tendency to chase squirrels.

And speaking of dogs....
Anne's terrier kills Queen's corgi

While watching Brett Favre's Packers demolish Oakland last night, I observed yet another AutoTrader.com commercial, so I must sound off. Please follow along in another browser window --> (1) browse to autotrader.com     (2) like the guy last night, search for a car.     (3) now do a subsearch for a convertible, then (4) a red one. See a problem here?

The web page does not facilitate a search that is depicted on the commercials!

I discovered this little slip while purchasing a car via eBay this summer. I wanted a car under $4000 with less than 80,000 miles and I was not picky about the make and model. On eBay, one can do this; on Cars.com one can do this. But on AutoTrader, one must specify the make of the auto before doing anything.
To show the depth of my research and commitment to logical advertising, I will offer a month's supply of nothing to anyone who can show me how to duplicate any of the advertised searches on AutoTrader.com. Email me.

There now ... I feel better already.

Postlogue: I purchased a 1994 Olds Achieva with 45,000 miles for $3050.

Our tribe traveled south to see our old homies in Pulaski, TN, this weekend. It felt a bit strange seeking lodging there -- we were residents for 16 years. Aside from this weekend, I can only recall spending two nights in that county in any other bed other than our own. The exceptions? My wife was about 14 months pregnant with our second child and our water well self-destructed, necessitating one night in the motel. The other night was the one prior to the job interview that took us from Mississippi to Tennessee. Yep, Dave -- the Richland Inn.

Dave writes concerning the passing of a good neighbor in his blog. We're reaching that time in our lives when friends our age will be leaving this world at an increasing rate. It certainly should serve as a wakeup call to all of us for "keeping the main thing the main thing." Thanks for being a good neighbor, Dave.

It brings to mind the whirlwind that surrounds the family during the preparation for laying a body to rest -- where to inter the body, who needs to know, who will shine the kids shoes, what type of ceremony, etc. May I suggest that we all take a cue from a gradeschool pal of mine who passed away at the age of 29; make plans -- this death thing is rather certain. Mike (my pal) had no idea he'd die at an early age, but he had prepared for everything associated with his funeral -- what clothes he would wear, who would prepare the body, who would offer the words of comfort to his family, what songs would be played ..... the whole nine yards. That prep work on his part made it easy for the family to spend their thoughts that week mourning his loss, not choosing what make, model, and color of casket to buy. OBTW, I'm preaching to myself also, because I haven't done as Mike did.

Humor of the day: Jolene's Trailer Park White Trash Redneck Tshirt Pictures Funny Family Page     I'm guessing many readers of a redneck blog are familiar with Jolene's place, but here's the link -- just in case.

^5 to my high school chum, Tommy. I'm wondering if he still operates a nuclear power plant ... he prepared for that job by obtaining a music education degree. We suth'ners use strange logic.

2.2 Shopping days left til Christmas.
Thanks for listening,

        A smattering of tidbits today ...

A couple of interesting auctions on eBay:

This one by a colleague of mine is very interesting . It's real, and for a good cause.
The other is somewhat of a mystery ... Whazzup wif dat? LQ, if you're reading this, be aware that the seller is HotPocketGuy -- NOT Hotguy.

Is Bin Laden is simply fond of killing? Intelligence from recent Turkish bombings tells me that his comrades want to just bomb something -- anything.

I've found the ultimate application for a digital camera. Maybe I'll begin a wallet gallery in the future .... and then again, maybe not. Kandy in Nyawlins, I hope the retaliation is light.

I tried re-establishing my archives today ... BLogger still doesn't produce a November archive. I'll try again next month.

Thank goodness for small miracles.

I have a new mission in life ...
If you haven't read yesterday's posting, read this: Unless you hold stock certificates, the stock you think you own is probably owned by Cede & Co., the street name for Depository Trust Corporation. You are merely the "beneficial" owner.

I've done my research. Here's what I see:

A virtually unknown Depository Trust Company owns in excess of $19 Trillion dollars of OUR stock.
The DTC is a private bank that processes every stock and bond (paper securities) for all U.S. banks and brokerage houses.
Most people don't realize that when they open a brokerage account, they have entered into an contractural agreement allowing the broker to assign the stocks and bonds to an undisclosed creditor, the DTC.

A snippet from the above site:

The truth is, the securities you purchased and paid for with your hard earned money is collateral for the United Nations which is backed by the Federal Reserve System and it's associated agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund. Is it any wonder that the UN can operate year after year with increasing budgets, but without sufficient funds? The UN has nearly $19 Trillion of backing and reserves, thanks to millions of duped Americans. We are financing the New World Dis-Order with our stocks and bonds.

Here's a report from a broker who tried to withdraw from this arrangement.

You will receive the soft-sell from financial institutions, such as this one from CitiCorp. I've got news for you ... CitiCorp is no angel operation itself. I just closed out a home mortgage with them this summer. I'll spare you the details, but they lie, delay, and use your money for as long as they can.

I encourage readers to study all the document. Remember Black Friday? There is evidence that DTC caused it as an experiment in stock transactions. Me? I'm taking the advice to begin selling my stocks/bonds that are "book-entry" only, or where I am the "beneficial owner". Mutal funds? I haven't established a plan yet, but you can believe this ole boy wants something solid -- not simply electrons.

Fire up a search engine ...cede ... dtc ... depository trust corporation. Check it out for yourself.

Sigh ... The more I read, the less I know.

I don't "play" the stock market, but a few years back, I was the beneficiary of a whopping 12 shares of stock in a former employer (also my electric power company) that was held in trust by the state because they couldn't find me. That's the good news. Since loading up the truck and moving to Kentucky, I haven't done a decent job of tracking 401K's, IRA's, and other miscellaneous investments.

GET TO THE POINT, Bubba. Ok, I just found a statement that tells me my 12 shares of stock in ENTERGY is now 0.5 shares of stock. A call to the financial administrative firm Mellon Investor Services reveals that in March of this year, the certificates were transferred to Cede & Company. The conversation went something like this:

micsdube = Mellon Investment customer service dude using broken English
Bubba = Bubba

Bubba: Who is this Cede & Company? I don't have no broker!
micsdube: I don't know ... it's the broker that received the transferred certificates
Bubba: Ok, let's pull up the records and see who requested the transfer
micsdube: I'll be glad to put in that request
Bubba: Great! I'll hold.
90 seconds later
micsdube: Mr. Bubba, I've exhausted all available resources and I cannot provide that info.
Bubba: So, when a customer calls and requests a transfer, you have no record of who made the request?
micsdube: Yessir, that seems to be the case.
Bubba: Ok, then pull some account number with lots of shares and lets transfer it to me! I mean, if you have no record, WHO WILL KNOW?
micsdube: Mr. Bubba, I will send you in the mail all the information I have on this transaction.
Bubba: Sir, this is 2003 ... you're telling me that this transaction is not in digital form ANYWHERE?
micsdube: Yes, this Cede & Company, also known as the Depository Trust Corporation, can be reached at the following street address [#include snail mail].
Bubba: Do you have a phone number for these guys?
20 sec pause
micsdube: No, I do not have a number.
Bubba: So you have transferred my stock to a broker I don't know, that appears to have no telephone in its office?
micsdube: Mr. Bubba, I've exhausted all available resources .... ad naseum

congenial end of conversation ..."have a nice weekend"

If you're still with me, it gets better. Did a search for Depository Trust Corporation ... nice web site. Rather boring, but nice. Of course, finding a phone number required my investigative skills ... I did a site search for "phone" and found a customer service number buried in an Adobe file authored by some peon looking for accolades on his latest technical triumph ... sumthin' along the lines of a consolidated, user friendly database. A likely story. Anyway, I called this number (212 area code) and spoke with a friendly person, Tina. I gave Tina the story, but she said I had to give a participant number. Huh? It appears this DTC is a service for brokers only. Cool. She took my info.... even called me back while I was writing this note wanting a bit more info.

Back to Google. It appears this organization is rife with conspiracy theories. And some of these could have valid bases. Have you noticed how in this day and age we rarely hold stock certificates for stock we "own"? From what I can read, we don't own them ... we are merely "beneficiaries." If you've read this far and have an interest see Flemming Funch's page. Follow any search engine and find about 7000 more like this one. Even found the definition of Cede & Co. -> The nominee for Depository Trust Company, the principal central clearing corporation for stock trades.

Just for kicks, here's an example where the City of Shreveport issued bonds thusly:
The Bonds will be issued as fully registered bonds in "book-entry only" form and registered in the name of Cede & Co., as nominee of The Depository Trust Company, New York, New York ("DTC"). DTC will act as securities depository for the Bonds, and purchasers of the Bonds will not receive certificates representing their interest in the Bonds purchased.
What is this firm doing in the video poker business?

It's all downright depressing.

My $600 in stock remains in limbo. Think I'll go home and get some chow.

It's aviation day here on ye ole blog .... Next week marks the 100th anniversary of manned flight. Some links:
First Flight Society
U. S. Centennial of Flight Commission's media files
How about some pics of checks written by the Wright Brothers?


Other notable news:
Thanks to us smog-driving humans, we have staved off a regularly-scheduled ice age. If ya don't have one, get you a freebie NY Times subscription ... even a guy from the South can acquire one in 30 seconds or less.

Gotta run ... thanks for listening.

For the uninitiated, I don't post every day ... you can thank me for sparing you the gory details of a redneck's life.

Update from the homefront >>>> we now have a countertop on our kitchen cabinets! Running water -- no! Countertop -- yes! And it's that time of year when we rearrange the furniture in the house for the ideal placement of the artificial Christmas tree. At least I can now sit on a couch in our bedroom and watch Monday Night Football.

Speaking of NFL, now I'm not a huge Tennessee Titans fan, and I'm not especially tolerant of the behavior of those millionaire players, but a $5000 fine for giving a team-mate a high-five? (4th paragraph).GIMME-A-BREAK. OBTW, I don't understand the significance of the throat-slash gesture, so I'll pass on commenting on that one.

The Oregon Daily Herald launches a tardy response to the L.A. Master/Slave debacle.

You east-coasters have a fine snowy weekend ... I'm off to the home improvement store for supplies associated with getting running water into the kitchen.

It's been on the top of my Christmas list for years now.

I'm a sucker for ocean sunset photos ... or sunrise ocean pics for the east coast crowd.

Hey, Dave! With your cushy job, do ya have time for some experimenting? We all know Bar-B-Q and computers mix, but how about breakfast?

High 5 to jlb....or is it jlq ...jbq?

Don't you just love it when a blogger talks shop? I'm confused about archiving. At the bottom of the column at the left, there are index entries for December and November. The December one looks great, but Blogger doesn't index my November? Any guidance from the throng?

Here's help in decoding those cryptic laundering symbols.

And why didn't I think of it first?