New York Still Investigating Trading on Early Access

By WILLIAM ALDEN

Mike Groll/Associated Press
“A new generation of market manipulators has emerged,” said Eric T. Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general.

The top law enforcer in New York State is not done scrutinizing high-speed trading based on early looks at sensitive data.

Eric T. Schneiderman, New York State’s attorney general, said on Tuesday that such trading – which he called “insider trading 2.0” – was still a focus of his office, which reached a settlement with Thomson Reuters over the issue in July.

In that case, Thomson Reuters had allowed a select group of high-frequency trading firms to see a closely watched index of consumer confidence two seconds before it was released to other clients. But the company agreed to end the practice after pressure from the attorney general.

That settlement covers only part of a continuing problem in the markets, Mr. Schneiderman said on Tuesday at the Bloomberg Markets 50 Summit in New York, calling the issue “far more insidious than traditional insider trading.”

 

“A new generation of market manipulators has emerged,” he said.

“Small but powerful groups within the market are able to use soon-to-be-public information combined with high-frequency trading to distort the markets in ways far worse than Ivan Boesky or Gordon Gekko could have imagined,” he said, referring to a convicted insider trader from the 1980s and a fictional character from the movie “Wall Street.”

It is debatable whether buying early access to market-moving information can be considered fraudulent, Peter J. Henning wrote in the White Collar Watch column in July. “Although it is natural to think that having access to information that influences the markets before others is always wrong, the laws on fraud do not go that far,” he wrote.

Still, Mr. Schneiderman used his broad powers under New York’s Martin Act to put pressure on Thomson Reuters. That antifraud law does not require proof of intentional misconduct.

At Tuesday’s conference – which was sponsored by a main rival of Thomson Reuters – Mr. Schneiderman emphasized that his inquiry into this matter was continuing. He cited concerns about the practice by investment banks of releasing analyst research to select clients.

The point of this inquiry, Mr. Schneiderman said, was to create a level playing field and restore public trust in the markets. “When blinding speed is coupled with early access to data, it gives people the power to suck value out of the markets before it even hits the Street,” he said.

Speaking to an audience of financial professionals, Mr. Schneiderman encouraged Wall Street to call his office hot line with any leads.

“I see little being done from the industry to address this clear and present danger,” he said. “I would urge you to get this on the agenda of any trade association group or at your own firm.”

OZ The Great and Powerful

This would have been a great movie if they have extended it to 3 hours. I feel like rushed the whole entire time, its like they are moving the movie along too fast. From the very beginning, OZ made a show, tornado came, he find himself in Oz, he went to castle, didn't even have a time to eat or go to restroom, he went on to find the witch, night time came, daytime came, he went to refuge camp, plan a attack, this is when it was really rushed, shot a few scene, gadget is made, traveled to emerald castle, night time again, then the finale, fireworks then end. Are you guys rush, ya that's pretty much what happen, I would say go watch Monster Inc.

Diablo

One of my great screenshot at the time. I love the cinematics.

TSA drops plan to allow small knives on planes

The Transportation Security Administration has abandoned a plan to let passengers carry small knives on planes, following a steady outcry from lawmakers and industry advocates.
The TSA announced on Wednesday that it would stick with its current policy on carry-on baggage. The agency said it "appreciates the varying points of view shared throughout the review process."
Those points of view were largely negative.
Skeptical lawmakers, airlines, labor unions and some law enforcement groups complained that the knives and other items in the hands of the wrong passengers could be used to injure or even kill passengers and crew.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., praised the decision to back off the policy change.
"It seemed obvious to most travelers and airline employees that the decision to allow knives on planes was wrong, and we're glad the TSA, after further review and input, has seen it our way," Schumer said.
The original proposal would have also allowed travelers to bring souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes.

Read More 



What were TSA thinking in the first place? As per many reports all over the web, TSA seems to be all over the place and trying to find ways for it to stay budgeted. Why don't they just cut the abusive program and stick to what works, trust the passengers to report all unusual behaviors, make the response time faster on all incident, put a Marshal on every flight and give the pilots their own door into the cockpit, rather than going through the fuselage. Once every country know that Americans watch each others back, they would think twice on messing with us again, rather than depending on a unreliable company, like TSA, that haven't prevented any incident since their inception.

Disney is not the happiest place on earth

The day is June 1st 2013, it's a beautiful day, I was up at 4 am to get my family ready for a big day. My daughter is heading to L.A. with her orchestra to compete. We are all packed and head out to the competition. After we arrived, we scope up the competition to see how good they are and they are very good. My daughters group have their work cut out for them. Now is their turn, entrance was perfect, positioning are on the spot, the music is excellent, no mistake, no inconsistency, and flawless performance.

Onto Disneyland for the ceremony, this is where bad things began. The notion or the promotion of Disney that they are the happiest place on earth are exaggerated. Although the characters that put on the show are friendly and sweet, the staff, on the other hand, are quiet the opposite. The STAFF, let's talk about them, are the most power tripping, inconsiderate, self centered, annoying, humiliating bunch of people I met.

Let me tell you about the power tripping first, so there we are at Big Thunder Ranch at around 6 pm, getting ready to go in for the ceremony, a couple of staff was pulling and pushing students to get them in line to go in, I ask the staff why is he doing that, and he said, to get them in quicker, we all know they shouldn't be doing that. Now we are heading in to the stage area and they have these green tape lined up and different area, there are no chairs for student to sit and they are expected to sit on the ground ( a multi billion dollar company that can't even provide seats to students to have a proper ceremony ), many of the parent are there for their student, and many of the student are there for the first time, and almost all of those students and family only going to have this celebration once in their lifetime. Now with that in mind, lets dive in the problem. There I was taking video of one of the most important event in my daughters life, if you have children, you know what this means to you and your family, and I was beside the authoritative green line, not in it but beside it, the only spot where I can get a proper video without heads on them. First a staff approach me telling me to get in to the green line, I did not respond, she left, then another came, a different staff, telling me to get in to the green line, I did not respond, then a lady in a tacky clothes, trying to look professional approach me and tell me a whole spill that we have to be inside the green line for protection and safety ( protection for what? and safety for what? ), I ignored her. Then there is guy that approach me telling me to get into the green line, I ask him, why do I have to be in the green line? Here is his answer " we need you in the green line because for safety issue, in case of emergency and its for fire safety" , in my mind I said , emergency crew are about 5-10 minutes away and in case for fire, those tape on the floor won't stop 300 + student from rampaging out the gate, is this guy's delusional?.

There again in the ceremony, I was trying to get as much video as I can to keep some memories for my daughters achievements, and I was standing just a step away from the green line, there a lady approach me again and told me to step in the green line, then I ask her " how many times in a persons life are they going to have this kind of event?" then I told here " this is a once in a lifetime event for my daughter and she's ruining it by interrupting my video, and the video is all over the place because of her", then she left, again this trying to look professional lady comes explaining all the stuff about me standing one inches away from their green line, I ignored her. I am about to the end of my temper after she approach so I stop video taping and went with my wife outside to cool off. Outside, I encounter this guy staff member, with his heavy chubby build, white shirt, black pants, spike hair, wired up self, kept asking me if I was staring at him. First time he ask, I said no, then he ask again, a bit more aggressive, I said no, then he ask for the third time, with a full notion of " I see that no one is here and your staring at me, do you have a problem with me?", then I said, "I'm not staring at you, and why would I stare at you?" , if my son hadn't come and made me smile, I would have express all my steam out of him in a very uncomfortable way, he is a very lucky person at that time. When I looked back at his direction, he had left. That conclude that first problem.

Inconsideration is very bad for your business especially if your in a customer service business. The staff saw me as an adult and yet treat me like a little kid. Get in that green line, get in that green line, you must be in the green line, we need you to be in that green line, what is with this green line that would protect everyone in that place? The answer is, NOTHING. Just the feeling for the staff to tell other people what to do and making them obey it or else, you know, that feeling of supremacy. As the supervisor of that event, he/she should have consider not only the safety but also the feelings of these family that travelled a long distance just to be in their kids performance and ceremony. Most of these parents and students came all the way from Oregon and Texas, most of these families have these event once in their life, most of these families can only record these events once and would like it to be memorable and most of these families would like a little consideration. NONE was given at that time, NONE, the staff at Big Thunder Ranch are cold and bitter, no compassion, no consideration, no empathy. They should all be replace or retrained or reprimand.

Self centered, annoying, and humiliating is the best way to describe all the person I encounter at that event. They enjoy interrupting people and making a scene which make them the so called hero. Hero of what? Hero of their self indulgence, hero of their pride or hero of nothing?

Here's a thought, the facade is awesome and people dig it, the place look happy and entertaining, but the place would be loosing hell of allot of money because the inside workers are rotten to the core. Disney need to take a retraining, anger management and customer service pill to these bunch or people moving forward. The rides are awesome and place are awesome, but the experience is disappointing. Spending a lot of money to have this once in a lifetime experience is very disheartening because it was not worth it. I could have bought a whole year pass on Sea World, Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, Science Museum and Birch Aquarium for a family of FIVE on the money I spent just to be in Disney Park. With that I could have enjoyed with my family and help the charity at the same time, not only that, Sea World, Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, Science Museum and Birch Aquarium have outstanding customer service and helpful staff.

How to integrate Java ME SDK 3.2 with NetBeans

How to integrate Java ME SDK 3.2 with NetBeans

By SungmoonCho on Sep 25, 2012

Many people like to use Java ME SDK with IDEs. We provided instructions on how to integrate the SDK with NetBeans through the download page, and also through the release note, however, let me explain it here once again with some screen shots.
1. Download Java ME SDK and NetBeans plugin from here.
2. Install Java ME SDK first. You will have the emulator and the runtime on your machine. Also please unarchive the NetBeans plugin somewhere.
3. Launch NetBeans.
4. Go to "Tools" - "Plugins".
5. Check out the "Installed" tab. Check "Show details". If you see the previous version of Java ME SDK Tools installed already. Check those to uninstall them.

6. Go to "Settings" tab.
7. Click "Add", and provide the location of NetBeans plugin. In my case, it is "file:/C:/Users/sungcho/Downloads/nb-me-sdk-plugins-uc/updates.xml". Don't forget to add "updates.xml" at the end.

8. Click "Okay"
9. Click "Available Plugins" tab.
10. If you scroll down, you will see three Java ME SDK Tools. Check "Java ME SDK Tools" plugin. Also check others as you desire.

11. Follow the instruction and install them.
12. Restart NetBeans
13. That is it. Done. Now you will see Oracle Java ME SDK 3.2 in your Java Platform list.

Its 2 Diva Judges Gone, ‘American Idol’ Continues to Revamp

Fox’s grand — and expensive — experiment in using music superstars to revive its flagging “American Idol” franchise was officially shut down Thursday night when the two contemporary divas brought in this season, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj, both confirmed recent rumors that they would be leaving the show.

That brings to three the total of departing judges, with Randy Jackson, who has been with the show since its first season, already declaring that he would not return; a fourth judge, Keith Urban, who had a mostly quiet first season, is the only potential holdover on “Idol” (other than the host, Ryan Seacrest, who is definitely expected back next season). Read More

China’s Pork Deal May Hinge on the Risk for an Uproar

Who knew that pork could be a national security problem?
That may be the case with the $4.7 billion offer from Shuanghui International of China for Smithfield Foods. The deal will be subject to a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius. There are important implications not just for pork but for how Washington looks at Chinese investment.

Shuanghui’s proposed purchase would be the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company, so it is bound to receive intense scrutiny. Shuanghui was not required to submit to a review, but that would have been foolhardy given the size of the deal and the money at stake. The decision also means that the United States government cannot come back later and undo the transaction once the committee approves it.

To understand what will happen next, it is important to understand the sometimes dry history of the national security review. Read More

Feeling the Awesome

It was a long day yesterday and there are alot of things going on and were running late on my daughters assembly. It was set at 6pm and were barely heading there. So during the way there we were talking about awesomeness of different things, then my daughter said " we are late", then I said " you know what would be awesome? If you get there and they call your name as you are walking into the door".
Finally we arrive, picked up the camera, and head on to the stadium. We can hear a teacher speaking of someone in particular and explaining how great this kid is, then as we enter the door, the teacher called on her.
 Daze and confuse on where you to go and what to do my daughter ran to the stage to accept the award, and there I am staggering to turn on the camera to video the event, I caught some of what happen but not all, so I ask the videographer to send me a copy.
After the event ended and were on our way home, my daughter told me that that was awesome, and I told her to remember that feeling and that moment, because that's how it fill being in an awesome place at an awesome time.