Animated Google Map Overlaid With Geotagged Photos

(click to view the animated google map / photo slideshow)

Here’s how to geotag your pics and make an animated map of your own:

1. Get a GPS tracker (or other device) and learn how to use it.  I have, and like, the Columbus V-900 GPS Data Logger.  Here it is on Amazon.com and here are some review links from Google. I especially found this review, and it’s comments, helpful and interesting.
2. Take pictures with your digital camera. Make sure the clock on your camera is set accurately (as close as you can get to the exact correct time). And, make sure the camera and the format is compatible with your software (just use JPG format and you should be fine).
3. Upload your GPS log file and pictures to your computer.
4. Use the software that came with your device (or other software) to geotag your pics.  The software matches your pics to your data points using the time (that’s why you need to make sure your camera clock is set as accurately as possible).
5. Upload everything to EveryTrail.com or one of the other free sites (there are others, right?).

That’s it. Use the documentation that came with your GPS, Google, and trial-and-error to perfect your workflow. Cheers!

Multimedia Graphic & Article (US Debt)

It’s been like watching a slow motion train wreak build momentum these past eight years. And now we’re past the event horizon. Click the graphic and read the article for details. Also see Krugman’s 2009-11-22 article: “The Phantom Menace” and this time-lapse map showing the unemployment rate from January 2007 to September 2009.

PAYBACK TIME
Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government
By Edmund L. Andrews
2009-11-23
NY Times

WASHINGTON — The United States government is financing its more than trillion-dollar-a-year borrowing with i.o.u.’s on terms that seem too good to be true. But that happy situation, aided by ultralow interest rates, may not last much longer. Treasury officials now face a trifecta of headaches: a mountain of new debt, a balloon of short-term borrowings that come due in the months ahead, and interest rates that are sure to climb back to normal as soon as the Federal Reserve decides that the emergency has passed.

Quick Market Update: NASDAQ and USD Charts

Just time for a quick update on the action that began last month (see previous blog or TwitPic):

• See annotations on the above and below chart for today’s updates.
• My short position this time is double what it was last time (reinvesting profit), but I’ll keep it on a short leash.

FT: “Mother of All Carry Trades Faces Bust”

I consider this a must read article. It’s basically analogous to Roubini’s February 2008 article “The Twelve Steps to Financial Disaster,” which I posted back then (you can download the PDF from the first link here).

Excerpt: So the combined effect of the Fed policy of a zero Fed funds rate, quantitative easing and massive purchase of long-term debt instruments is seemingly making the world safe – for now – for the mother of all carry trades and mother of all highly leveraged global asset bubbles.

“Mother of all carry trades faces an inevitable bust”
By Nouriel Roubini
2009-11-1
Financial Times (original)

Since March there has been a massive rally in all sorts of risky assets – equities, oil, energy and commodity prices – a narrowing of high-yield and high-grade credit spreads, and an even bigger rally in emerging market asset classes (their stocks, bonds and currencies). At the same time, the dollar has weakened sharply , while government bond yields have gently increased but stayed low and stable.

Quick Market Update / NASDAQ Chart

2009-10-29 UPDATE: Updated NASDAQ chart and comments.

Just time quick post. The annotations on the chart are self explanatory. Coming after a 7-month, 73% rally, they represent a yellow flag (caution). See also this weekly chart I posted last month, when we were at this same level, the one I posted yesterday, and the one shown below:

1) Chart of the Day; 2) Chuck Norris + Downturn

(click for larger version of this image)

1a) The image above (except for my comments) came from Mary Meeker’s “Economy + Internet Trends” report (PDF). It’s is pretty much the same stuff her and her interns have been pumping out since the ’90s. Check it out for a regurgitation and updating of conventional “wisdom.”

1b) Comparing Rallies: 2009 vs. 1974-75 vs. 1938-39: Click to view.

2) Now on to the fun stuff: Chuck Norris on the downturn (finance humor):

• Chuck Norris has killed black swans with his bare hands.
• Chuck Norris rubs the VIX into his chest.
• Chuck Norris continues to short the Aussie market.

Last Batch of My New Orleans Pics

Took six months, but here are the rest of my New Orleans pics. The first batch of them, along with some narrative, is here.

Norway/Sweden Canoe, Camp, Fish, Schroom Pics

Good times with Andreas, Calle, Heiko, JP, Lars, Martin, and Ola. Some pics and a video clip from last year’s trip is here.

Stockholm and Riga Trip and Pics

(click for larger version of this image)

(click for larger version of this image)

Back our 3-year anniversary trip to Riga, Latvia, via Stockholm, Sweden. Great trip, great weather, great food, people!

It was a nice surprise to be in Riga for the 20th anniversary of the Baltic Chain, a protest where 2 million people held hands over 600 kilometers (373 miles) spanning three countries (Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR). Imagine that! I had know idea.

By the way, while we’re on the topic of protests and before I forget, here’s Larry Flint’s (yes, that Larry Flint) call for mass protest on HuffPo: “Common Sense 2009.”  What will cause the sheeple to reject the lies, reject their selfishness (and the selfishness of the politicians and mega corporations), and standup for each other (“we, not me”)?  Apparently a lot, since it’s not happened yet.  Sigh.  Now back to regularly scheduled blog post.

More about the Baltic Chain and its 20th anniversary:

Skåne Getaway Pics

Skåne is a huge area of southern Sweden.  This is the part where we were: Google Map.