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AFM 2011: Animetropolis And IDA Bringing TAILCHASER'S SONG To The Big Screen

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AFM 2011: Animetropolis And IDA Bringing TAILCHASER'S SONG To The Big Screen
American and Japanese forces are teaming up to bring Tad Williams' fantasy novel Tailchaser's Song to the big screen. It has just been announced that US production house Animetropolis is teaming with Japan's IDA - the animation studio responsible for the stellar Cat Shit One - to create a CG animated version of Williams' story. What you see above is the first concept art for the film by Matt Rhodes.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2011 -- AT AFM IN SANTA MONICA, CA -- Animetropolis is pleased to announce that it has engaged IDA (International Digital Artists) as production partner and lead animation unit for its highly anticipated debut film, the CG-animated feature adaptation of TAILCHASER'S SONG, the acclaimed best-selling fantasy novel by author Tad Williams.

Earlier this year, IDA became the first Japanese studio ever nominated for a U.S. VES (Visual Effects Society) Award for animation, recognized in the "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short" category for their ground-breaking CAT SHIT ONE*, which chronicles an intense hostage rescue mission by an intrepid (and adorable) pair of bunny rabbit commandos.

"We are thrilled and honored to be teaming up with IDA," said Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, producer and Animetropolis partner.  "We searched long and hard to find the perfect animation studio partner for this project, and IDA couldn't be a more ideal fit to fulfill our vision of producing a high-quality, family-friendly, CG-animated independent film as our first project."

"The quality of CG animal character animation that IDA achieved in CAT SHIT ONE made our entire industry take notice, and demonstrated how ideally suited they are for this project," commented Samantha Inoue-Harte, producer and Animetropolis partner.  "We're very excited to work with them to bring Tad Williams' beloved characters and story to life on the big screen."

"'We will do our best to produce a great animation by utilizing the techniques and creativity Japanese artists have built up through history from cel animation to CG animation," added Junya Okabe, producer and President of IDA.

Animetropolis partners Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Samantha Inoue-Harte are producing with Junya Okabe, President of IDA, in association with Fire Duck principals Chris Rydo and Bethany Rhoades, co-writers of the screenplay.  Author Tad Williams is creative consultant on the film.

*NOTE:  IDA's CAT SHIT ONE is screening Saturday, November 12, at 11:40am at the Chinese 6 Theatres at Hollywood & Highland as part of the L.A. EigaFest Animated Shorts Program.  (Admission is free, but seating is limited.  For more information visit

Hailed "as fully realized as Watership Down" by Publisher's Weekly and written by "the best author of epic fantasy not named Tolkein" according to The New Yorker, TAILCHASER'S SONG follows a young ginger tomcat named Fritti Tailchaser on a perilous quest to find his best friend, Hushpad, after she mysteriously vanishes.  This imaginative fantasy adventure takes us through a wondrous world of whiskery heroes and villains (and strange, furless creatures called M'an), culminating in an epic battle against an evil cat god.  [Over 3 million copies sold, and over 25 years in print.]

Animetropolis is a boutique transmedia studio that develops and produces compelling cross-cultural creative content on a low-budget, low-risk indie film scale, focusing on animation and companion mobile/social game apps.  We combine expertise in creative development and animation production supervision with robust international production partnerships, along with substantial licensing and merchandising opportunities.

Producer Paul Alvarado-Dykstra co-founded Fantastic Fest (the preeminent genre film festival in the U.S.; and Ain't It Cool, Inc. (publisher of, founded the Texas Film Festival (, and has worked with award-winning filmmakers including Oscar nominees Guillermo del Toro (PAN'S LABYRINTH) and Frances Reid (LONG NIGHT'S JOURNEY INTO DAY).

Producer Samantha Inoue-Harte apprenticed under Disney animator Sam Fleming (who in turn was mentored by Ollie Johnston of Disney's "Nine Old Men"), and is a long-time veteran of the Japanese and American animation industries.  As an animator she has worked with Disney,  Spike TV, Nickelodeon,  Warner Brothers,  and Cartoon Network, and has also worked with A.D. Vision Films, Funimation Entertainment and New Generation Pictures.

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Now that only three episodes are left in Doctor Who Season 7, speculation is at an all time high – as fans pour over the story so far in anticipation of the upcoming (and possibly controversial) finale. BBC has released official synopses and titles for the remaining episodes and, while week to week viewing is sure to shed light on a few secrets, where Steven Moffat (show runner and lead writer) intends to take the series in season 8 is becoming an increasingly frequent topic of discussion. Season finales are always a big deal but a trip to Trenzalore would mean major changes for the Doctor and the show – changes that would only be compounded by events in the 50th anniversary special.

As a result, it’s only appropriate that with so much uncertainty comes the news of another change in the series – as BBC has announced that Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Sarah Jane Adventures alum, Brian Minchin will serve as executive producer of the series in season 8 (and likely beyond).

Minchin will fill the executive producer chair vacated by Caroline Skinner (who departed just after season 7 part two began airing); that said, Minchin could have a slightly more active role in the future of Who than Skinner – since his resume includes work as script editor on earlier seasons of the show (along with Torchwood).

Additionally, given Minchin’s history with the franchise, it’s probable that he was selected to help take some of the pressure off Moffat – as a knowledgeable second in command, well-versed in Doctor Who lore, that can help support the increasingly busy show runner. Plenty of fans are still on-board with the direction Moffat has taken the series (though he has a vocal group of detractors too) but there’s no question that he’s been spread thin – overseeing too many elements of day-to-day production.

Given rumors that Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith might be planning to depart the series in the not-to-distant future, some fans will no doubt speculate that Minchin’s hiring could mean that Moffat is also looking to hand-over the reigns in a year or two. For now, there’s no reason to think Moffat will step down any time soon but it’s likely that BBC is looking at Minchin as a possible (though not guaranteed) show runner candidate – when that time does come.

After all, in the announcement of Minchin’s new role, Faith Penhale, BBC Head of Drama Wales, was keen to point out the new Executive Producer’s talent for story and passion for the Doctor Who franchise – both attributes that are key to Moffat’s success as show runner:

“I’ve no doubt Doctor Who will enjoy a very exciting time with Brian at the helm working alongside Steven. Since joining BBC Wales in 2005, he’s proved he has a fantastic eye for story and a sharp awareness of what makes a drama like Doctor Who unmissable.”

That said, Doctor Who fans that are eager to see Moffat leave the series shouldn’t hold their breath. For the time being it sounds as though Minchin’s efforts will be focused on working with the current show runner – not preparing to take over. In response to the new executive producer announcement, Moffat was excited by the choice for his new companion in Doctor Who:

“When I first took over Doctor Who, Brian was there as script editor, and in the most difficult time of a new Doctor and a new era, was completely brilliant. We lost him to producing The Sarah Jane Adventures at the end of our first run. Rising talent keeps rising, is how I comforted myself back then – but now I am beyond happy that Brian has risen all the way back to Doctor Who, in his new role of Executive Producer. I look forward to getting hopelessly lost in space and time with him.”

Like Skinner (whose first credit was The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe), Minchin will cut his teeth as a Doctor Who Executive Producer with the 2013 Christmas Special before working on season 8 of the series.

Speaking about his new role and the future of Doctor Who Minchin said:

“I’m thrilled and excited to be joining Steven Moffat on a show that has meant so much to me over the years. I’ve watched in awe as Steven has taken Doctor Who to wild and imaginative places and I can’t wait to get started on many more adventures with the Doctor.”

Moffat and his team have been tight-lipped about the finer details of what’s to come in the upcoming season 7 episodes, 50th Anniversary Special, 2013 Christmas Special, much less season 8 of the series – which will presumably debut, though nothing is official yet, in the same time frame as season 6 (with a premier in April 2014). Doctor Who seasons do not always stick to a standard release window and an April 2014 premiere isn’t confirmed – so it could be awhile before we hear any official season 8 story or release details.

In the meantime, check out our Doctor Who Viewing Guide: Tips, Suggestions & Complete Episode List!

Doctor Who airs Saturday @8pm on BBC America. The 50th Anniversary Special is set to air in late 2013.

Source: BBC

Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick for future updates on Doctor Who as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.

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Project Phases

Public Informational Meeting

April 22, 2009 from 6:30 - 8:30 PM at Seymour Center, UCSC Long Marine Lab, Santa Cruz  Representatives from the City of Santa Cruz, Soquel Creek Water District and CDM (Project Engineers) will make presentations on local water issues and present preliminary findings of the Desalination Pilot Plant Project. There will also be an opportunity for Q/A with the panel.

Schedule of Presentations and Q/A

6:30 PM

Laura Brown, General Manager, Soquel Creek Water District

Welcome and Introductions

6:35-6:55 PM

Integrated Water Plan and Desalination as a supplemental Supply

.PDF of Presentation

Heidi Luckenbach, P.E.,

City of Santa Cruz

What are the water supply issues for the City of Santa Cruz and Soquel Creek Water District and how desalination may be a viable supplemental supply source

6:55-7:15 PM

scwd2 Seawater Desalination Pilot Plant

.PDF of Presentation

.PDF of Pilot Plant Update

Erik Desormeaux, P.E., Pilot Plant Project Engineer, CDM

Overview of the  seawater desalination pilot plant investigations and preliminary test results

7:15-7:35 PM

Benefits and Challenges of Desalination

.PDF of Presentation

Todd Reynolds, P.E.,

Pilot Plant Project Engineer, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants

Addresses ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ related to desalination

7:35-7:45 PM

What’s Ahead

Heidi Luckenbach, P.E.,

City of Santa Cruz

Future studies and schedule for evaluating desalination

7:45-8:30 PM

Q/A Session with Panel

Heidi Luckenbach, P.E., City of Santa Cruz. As the Desalination Program Coordinator, Heidi is responsible for overseeing the various studies related to the potential 2.5 MGD desalination plant that the City of Santa Cruz and Soquel Creek Water District is evaluating as a supplemental supply source.  Heidi has worked for the City of Santa Cruz for almost 10 years and previously worked in Phoenix, Arizona, Illinois, and Southern California.

Todd Reynolds, P.E., Kennedy/Jenks Consultants. Todd is an environmental engineer specializing in membrane treatment processes including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and seawater and brackish water desalination with nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, and electrodialysis membrane systems. Todd currently acts as Technical Advisor for scwd2 Desalination Program and previously worked as the Project Engineer/Operator for the Marin Municipal Water District’s Desalination Pilot Study from 2005-2007.

Erik Desormeaux, P.E., CDM.  Erik is an environmental engineer with experience in brackish and seawater desalination, wastewater reclamation, and conventional water treatment.  His experience includes design and implementation of reverse osmosis pilot plant studies and design, optimization, and regulatory compliance for full-scale water treatment plants.  Erik previously worked for the Alameda County Water District as the project engineer for a Brackish Water Desalination Optimization Pilot Study and currently is the lead operator/engineer at the scwd2 Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Pilot Plant in Santa Cruz for CDM.

Panel for Q/A Session

Bill Kocher, Water Director, City of Santa Cruz

Laura Brown, General Manager, Soquel Creek Water District

Heidi Luckenbach, City of Santa Cruz

Erik Desormeaux, CDM

Todd Reynolds, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants

© 2008-2013 scwd2 Desalination Program, All rights reserved.


text:
Nicholas Clark > perl-5.8.6 > open

Annotate this POD

Module Version: 1.04   Source   Latest Release: perl-5.25.4

open - perl pragma to set default PerlIO layers for input and output

    use open IN  => ":crlf", OUT => ":bytes";
    use open OUT => ':utf8';
    use open IO  => ":encoding(iso-8859-7)";

    use open IO  => ':locale';

    use open ':utf8';
    use open ':locale';
    use open ':encoding(iso-8859-7)';

    use open ':std';

Full-fledged support for I/O layers is now implemented provided Perl is configured to use PerlIO as its IO system (which is now the default).

The open pragma serves as one of the interfaces to declare default "layers" (also known as "disciplines") for all I/O. Any two-argument open(), readpipe() (aka qx//) and similar operators found within the lexical scope of this pragma will use the declared defaults. Three-argument opens are not affected by this pragma since there you (can) explicitly specify the layers and are supposed to know what you are doing.

With the IN subpragma you can declare the default layers of input streams, and with the OUT subpragma you can declare the default layers of output streams. With the IO subpragma you can control both input and output streams simultaneously.

If you have a legacy encoding, you can use the :encoding(...) tag.

if you want to set your encoding layers based on your locale environment variables, you can use the :locale tag. For example:

    $ENV{LANG} = 'ru_RU.KOI8-R';
    # the :locale will probe the locale environment variables like LANG
    use open OUT => ':locale';
    open(O, ">koi8");
    print O chr(0x430); # Unicode CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER A = KOI8-R 0xc1
    close O;
    open(I, "<koi8");
    printf "%#x\n", ord(<I>), "\n"; # this should print 0xc1
    close I;

These are equivalent

    use open ':utf8';
    use open IO => ':utf8';

as are these

    use open ':locale';
    use open IO => ':locale';

and these

    use open ':encoding(iso-8859-7)';
    use open IO => ':encoding(iso-8859-7)';

The matching of encoding names is loose: case does not matter, and many encodings have several aliases. See Encode::Supported for details and the list of supported locales.

Note that :utf8 PerlIO layer must always be specified exactly like that, it is not subject to the loose matching of encoding names.

When open() is given an explicit list of layers they are appended to the list declared using this pragma.

The :std subpragma on its own has no effect, but if combined with the :utf8 or :encoding subpragmas, it converts the standard filehandles (STDIN, STDOUT, STDERR) to comply with encoding selected for input/output handles. For example, if both input and out are chosen to be :utf8, a :std will mean that STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR are also in :utf8. On the other hand, if only output is chosen to be in :encoding(koi8r), a :std will cause only the STDOUT and STDERR to be in koi8r. The :locale subpragma implicitly turns on :std.

The logic of :locale is described in full in "encoding", but in short it is first trying nl_langinfo(CODESET) and then guessing from the LC_ALL and LANG locale environment variables.

Directory handles may also support PerlIO layers in the future.

If Perl is not built to use PerlIO as its IO system then only the two pseudo-layers :bytes and :crlf are available.

The :bytes layer corresponds to "binary mode" and the :crlf layer corresponds to "text mode" on platforms that distinguish between the two modes when opening files (which is many DOS-like platforms, including Windows). These two layers are no-ops on platforms where binmode() is a no-op, but perform their functions everywhere if PerlIO is enabled.

There is a class method in PerlIO::Layer find which is implemented as XS code. It is called by import to validate the layers:

The return value (if defined) is a Perl object, of class PerlIO::Layer which is created by the C code in perlio.c. As yet there is nothing useful you can do with the object at the perl level.

"binmode" in perlfunc, "open" in perlfunc, perlunicode, PerlIO, encoding

syntax highlighting:


text:
Essential Guide

Building with modern data center design in mind

A comprehensive collection of articles, videos and more, hand-picked by our editors

Embracing chaos theory as part of enterprise IT strategy

Enterprise IT strategy has long been based on straight-line extrapolation, but the industry must learn to embrace chaos if it hopes to thrive.

This article can also be found in the Premium Editorial Download: Modern Infrastructure: Bracing yourself for big data:

When it comes to enterprise IT strategy, the basic model most shops have used to guide provisioning and operations is broken. It’s based on the ideal of straight-line extrapolation, which is belied every year by chaos theory and Moore’s Law, as well as less-obvious industry shifts and capriciousness in customer demand. But old habits die hard—especially habits so tied to our natural desire for rational, gradual change.

Both real and fictional situations are often breezily explained through chaos theory. Few are genuinely familiar with the gnarly math of complex systems, but something like the butterfly effect (“A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, and we get a hurricane off the coast of Florida”) captures the imagination. Chaos is now a staple of pop culture.

But people don’t really like chaos itself. We like things that are smooth, regular and symmetrical. Things that are orderly, straightforward and consistently play out in predictable ways.

But the world doesn’t work that way—at least, not for long, and not in general.

Euclid, Kepler and Newton built science on absolute ideals, but it only works as long as things can be approximated with simple, linear models. That hugely limits the situations, scale points and timeframes that can be simply modeled.

That’s where things break. It turns out that some things that should be straightforward are, in fact, impossible with simple models. And when things change—when metal wears out and snaps, when markets collapse or when customer expectations and demands suddenly shift—those are non-linear and chaotic phenomena. If you fail to systematically account for change because it’s exceptional, you’re not going to genuinely anticipate what’s ahead. Disruption is where fortunes are made or lost.

The IT-Chaos theory connection

Great, but what does this have to do with enterprise IT? Well, essentially all the interesting industry shifts of recent decades have been chaotic. The Internet. Virtualization. Smart mobile devices. Cloud. Sure, futurists and visionaries may have predicted such things would one day change everything. But saying real life will eventually be like Star Trek is the easy part. Accurately stating when it will happen, at what pace it will unfold and what specific things you need to buy, build or do to capitalize on it—you know, practical insight—is surprisingly hard.

We say something’s not ready for prime time -- then boom! It’s here, and everyone’s scrambling to figure out how to navigate. Two or three years later, everyone’s accommodated the shift—and forgotten how disrupted they were. We slip back to expecting a neat, linear future. Then we’re surprised again.

As Yogi Berra observed, “Prediction is very hard, especially about the future.” Chaos theory says it’s not just hard, but impossible. Small, seemingly random changes now can greatly change outcomes and completely reshape longer-term trends. So you can rationally extrapolate only over very short timeframes: a few months, or a few quarters. Beyond that, deltas accumulate, which completely change the shape and composition of events. Yet how often do we demand and depend on specific, quantitative predictions one to five years hence?

Current IT strategy use capacity planning, capital and project planning, and labor development techniques that assume the future will be pretty much like the past, plus a 2% to 20% annual change.

So how does one embrace chaos? The Agile development and cloud DevOps communities show the way forward.

Agile fundamentally rejects the notion that we can know what customers will want in the future, replacing it with an iterative model that constantly reexamines requirements and what to do next? Change, and a process to accommodate it, is built in.

DevOps similarly rejects the idea of static data centers and workloads, and doesn’t assume that systems are stable and reliable. Instead, it assumes that everything may change or break—so systems and other infrastructure had better be easily built and deployed in rapid, repeatable, ideally automated ways. It monitors what’s happening in real time, and seeks to provide intelligent automated responses—for example, automatically scaling apps up or down as circumstances change.

Many people pay lip service to the idea that change is the only constant, but do they really believe it? We’ve often built and invested in enterprise IT strategy in ways biased toward a static, stable world, when it demonstrably hasn’t been.

The good news is that we have a growing body of best practices for how to operate and invest in a change-dominated world. Here’s an exercise for you: Where along the continuum of embracing chaos, from lip service to genuine investment, do you fall? And is that where you want to be?

About the author
Jonathan Eunice is principal IT adviser at analyst firm Illuminata Inc.

This was first published in March 2013

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LTO-5 tape and LTFS position format for archiving

Get the specs on the LTO-5 tape format and learn about the implications for VARs of its support for IBM's Linear Tape File System (LTFS) media partitioning technology.

The LTO consortium -- a trade association run by HP, IBM and Quantum -- continues its 10-plus-year succession of tape drive technology with the release of LTO-5. This latest generation of the Linear Tape-Open format offers the expected capacity increase and adequate performance, plus a very interesting new feature: It includes two data partitions on the tape that support a tape file system, allowing files to be written directly to a tape and read by another computer, independent of OS or application. IBM has made available at no cost the Linear Tape File System (LTFS), which it developed to take advantage of this functionality.

Feeds and speeds

LTO-5 provides 1.5 TB of uncompressed capacity at 140 MBps native throughput. This represents a capacity increase of about 2x but a speed increase of only 15% over LTO-4. When I asked IBM's Bruce Master, a member of the LTO Consortium, about this relatively small performance increase, he said it was intentional. First of all, the 2x capacity increase has been maintained between generations, but speed increases had slowed to 50%. LTO-3 was 80 MBps, and LTO-4 was 120 MBps. Master said that after LTO-4, the group "did a lot of research with end-user focus groups, analysts and manufacturers and determined that for most applications, users weren't saturating their LTO-4 drives. And while they did want more capacity on each tape, increasing speeds too much would just add unnecessary cost to the drive." In the future, the consortium expects users' throughput needs to increase and it plans subsequent LTO generations to resume these 50%-per-generation speed increases.

The LTO roadmap currently extends out through LTO-8. It lists LTO-6 at 3.2 TB of capacity and 210 MBps throughput, LTO-7 at 6.4 TB and 315 MBps and LTO-8 at 12.8 TB and 472 MBps; all specs uncompressed. According to Master, the current "disk-first-then-tape" backup strategy is more likely to drive performance requirements in the future than the traditional direct-to-tape model did with earlier generations. Although disk backup certainly isn't new, LTO-5 will see more and more use cases like writing snapshot copies to tape, as well as image backups common in VM environments, allowing users to catch up with current LTO performance levels. Applications for large-file reference data, like rich-media archiving, are also likely to push performance requirements.

LTO-5 supports media partitioning, in which the drive can write two variable-length partitions on each tape, which can be used by backup and other application developers to add features. The first major implementation of this is the LTFS, which IBM developed and has made available as a free download. LTFS runs on Mac OS and Linux (Windows support is expected in Q3 of this year) and uses the first partition to write an index and the second for data. This can greatly improve access times and overall data management but also make the tape a "self-describing" tape file system, meaning it can be read by any computer that runs the LTFS software. In a backup application, this means backups could be written to an LTFS tape and read anywhere, without requiring the backup software.

There are other interesting implementations of this file system as well. "One could imagine a 3 TB thumb drive," said Master, essentially a 3 TB file system, that's cross-platform and portable. Another option could be a "tape NAS," or an inexpensive file server that could be set up for reference data that doesn't need the immediacy of spinning disk.

Write once, read many (WORM) functionality and tape encryption were added to LTO-3 and LTO-4, respectively, and both are included in LTO-5. They aren't currently supported in the LTFS but are on the roadmap.

It's clear that archiving is a primary use case for LTO-5. In fact, LTO-5 and LTFS were announced at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show last month, to the delight of attendees. If you look at the data situation that the broadcast and imaging-based industries have to deal with, you can understand the reason for this positive reception. High-definition content and broadcasting, 3-D movies, and large overall increases in image resolution have exploded data sets by an order of magnitude or more. With significant cost advantages (with prices as low as 5% of the cost of D5 broadcast-format media)and its ability to support tape automation, LTO tape is making inroads into these industries and seems to be even better positioned to continue in that role. In fact, several hardware and software manufacturers have launched a consortium called Active Archive Alliance, to encourage the development of tape-based archive solutions for these industries and other more mainstream IT data archiving applications. LTFS would seem to support that objective nicely.

What LTO-5 means for VARs

  • The end of "tape is dead": It would certainly seem that tape's not going anywhere. While dedupe and off-site replication have reduced the role of tape as the primary target for backups, enterprises of all sizes continue to offload data to tape at some point in their data protection process. In fact, according to a survey conducted by the LTO Consortium in late 2008, 60% of managers operating disk-only systems said they intended to add tape back into their environments. This is probably due to a number of factors, such as power costs and availability, data center space, and the sheer economics of tape storage (especially with 3 TB LTO-5). Now, with LTFS and technology like file virtualization, a "tape tier" offers an easy way to store reference data and one more reason to look at tape. VARs have historically been moving away from backup in general and tape backup specifically, as a product category to lead with when they talk with prospects. While this may continue, to some extent, LTFS can give VARs something new to show customers.
  • Archive is alive: ILM and the nearline concept had a tough time in the mainstream IT market. The software needed to manage and move the data was complex and there generally weren't many sources. Also, the value proposition was based largely on the high price of disk, but disk storage's continual cost reduction made for a relatively unstable environment for the new products that were needed. Thanks to the explosion of data in the rich media and imaging industries, as well as the power, space and cost issues of even low-end disk arrays, tape is again positioned as the best technology for large archives. Now, with LTFS providing a simple solution to store reference data inexpensively, tape archiving may finally be ready for the more general storage market. VARs should keep on top of the developments of software vendors as they integrate this new technology into their offerings. They may also want to explore the possibility of selling archive solutions and get in touch with the Active Archive Alliance.

About the author

Eric Slack, a senior analyst for Storage Switzerland, has more than 20 years of experience in high-technology industries holding technical management and marketing/sales positions in the computer storage, instrumentation, digital imaging and test equipment fields. He's spent the past 15 years in the data storage field, with storage hardware manufacturers and as a national storage integrator, designing and implementing open systems storage solutions for companies in the Western United States. Find Storage Switzerland's disclosure statement here.

This was first published in May 2010

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May 2007

Fight cybercrime by understanding a hacker's mind and attack motive

While studying the air map on a recent flight, I started wondering whether this so-called small world -- which really doesn't appear to be so small from 38,000 feet -- can effectively deal with the growing problem of data theft and successfully fight sophisticated cybercrime through legal tools alone. There's little doubt laws are essential to fight cybercrime -- especially laws that are user-friendly enough for application and are dusted off occasionally to ensure continued usefulness. Such a dusting was done last year with the U.K.'s Computer Misuse Act, which now broadens "unauthorized misuse" and revamps definitions of computer abuse to apply to DDoS attacks. Policies are also necessary crime-fighting tools. For example, more organizations will make laptop encryption mandatory this year, according to SANS. But are legal tools enough? One of my students once argued, "Even the best laws and policies aren't going to stop people from computer abuse -- you've got to change people if you really want to see an impact." I agree. ...

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Features in this issue

  • Intellectual property protection do's and don'ts

    Theft of intellectual property is a growing problem but many companies are not prepared to deal with this security threat. Learn about the risk involved with trade secrets, why companies are failing to protect intellectual property and tips for data protection, including risk assessment, encryption, and corporate governance.

  • Product review: Watchfire's AppScan 7.0

    Product review of Watchfire's AppScan 7.0, an application security testing tool for developers, quality assurance teams and penetration testers. The security product runs on Windows XP, Vista or 2003 Server.

  • Bit9 Parity product review for endpoint security

    Product review of Bit9's Parity 3.5, a PC security tool designed to give enterprises control over what users can do on company computers and prevent executables in malware from running on desktops. Automatically installs SQL Server 2005 and Apache Web Server, which is used for remote administration.

  • Project Evros keeps laptops and data secure

    Project Evros is a 3G-enabled PCMCIA card from Alcatel-Lucent Ventures for laptop security. End user connectivity is controlled via 3G, WiFi or LAN VPN, depending on the circumstances.

  • Are you putting information at risk by using contractors?

    Contractors can become the source of a security breach. This feature looks at the risk management steps, including access control and policies, that organizations should take when hiring contractors. A sidebar examines how a health care company uses NAC to control contractor access.

Columns in this issue

  • Hacker demonstrates targeted attack

    Hacker Robert Hansen, also known as RSnake, demonstrates the pains cybercriminals take to target specific organizations and individuals through an exercise posted on his blog, which targeted the head of Google's spam team. Hansen's exercise underscores the threat companies face from today's organized and patient cybercriminals.

  • Fight cybercrime by understanding a hacker's mind and attack motive

    Computer crime laws and security policies aren't enough to combat increasingly sophisticated cybercrime. Understanding the criminal mind and a hacker's motive can help an organization determine what assets are most valuable and better distribute security resources.

  • Interview: PayPal CISO Michael Barrett

    PayPal's 133 million online customers are the biggest ocean for phishers to plunder. CISO Michael Barrett wants to make it safe to be in the water, and he's not going at it alone. Backed by PayPal's sophisticated fraud models and help from ISPs, Barrett is succeeding in protecting the most-spoofed brand on the Internet.


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Welcome to Seasons Cafe Bistro slideshow

cafe bistro

Seasons Cafe Bistro offers a genuine Cornish welcome with a great choice of homemade food, served all day.

Owners Jane and Paul and their team bake all their own Breads and Cakes daily, they use Fresh, Locally Grown Seasonal Vegetables and Herbs grown in their Home Gardens for their soup of the day, and locally sourced meats and fresh fish in their dishes.

There's a huge choice here - fresh local fish, Cornish-reared meats, traditional Homemade Cornish Pasties (they are founder members of the Cornish Pasty Association) and daily specials such as Fisherman's Lunch and Moules & Frites.

Seasons Cornish Cream Tea is a local favourite, served on fine bone china, and their Homemade Scones are considered some of the best in the area.

The little covered courtyard, with it's entrance in Bay Tree Hill, is dog friendly and blooms with geraniums, begonias and bougainvillea.

It's location makes Seasons Cafe Bistro a popular haven for visitors and holiday makers enjoying the scenic Liskeard to Looe railway as well as hungry cyclists taking the Land's End to John O'Groats challenge.


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Entries from January 31st, 2009

Deschutes Knows Their Hops

January 31st, 2009 · 3 Comments · Beer Releases, Beer Reviews, Oregon Breweries

First there was Deschutes Hop Trip a few months ago, and now that is quickly followed up by their Hop Henge Experimental IPA; these guys know their way around a hop field. As good as Hop Trip was, this year’s new “Experimental” Hop Henge IPA is absolutely sublime. The press release boasts that this year’s […]

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This Just In: Cascade Apricot Ale is Amazing

January 28th, 2009 · 5 Comments · Beer Reviews, Oregon Breweries

I’ve only tried the Cascade Apricot Ale once (thanks someone at that one tasting earlier this year…), but it was by far one of the most memorable sour fruit beers I have had sampled. The apricot flavor and aroma exploded from the glass, and the sweetness balanced the mild sourness resulting in a very drinkable […]

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News From Elysian

January 27th, 2009 · No Comments · Washington Breweries

For those of you that don’t get the Elysian newsletter, there is a lot of exciting stuff going on: E-Foam, Elysian Brewing Company¹s Online Newsletter January 27, 2009 HAPPY NEW YEAR In the world of beer we have a lot to look forward to this year. We have just brewed the first Collabeeration beer with […]

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Russian River Consecration and Pliny the Younger Coming to WA Soon

January 27th, 2009 · 8 Comments · Beer Releases

Here is an update from the Russian River blog, including a few notes about the much anticipated releases of Consecration (new BA sour) and Pliny the Younger (bigger than the Elder): Yes, it has been a while since we blogged, but I promise it is worth the wait! Vinnie and I are building our staff […]

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Chuckanut Brewery Continues to Impress

January 25th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Washington Breweries

Since Will & Mari Kemper of Chuckanut Brewery started sending their beers to the Seattle market down from Bellingham a few months ago, I think I’ve probably had the pleasure of trying about five or six of them now. While I’ve enjoyed every one of them, I was pretty floored with how good their Rauch […]

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Notes – January 22, 2009

January 23rd, 2009 · No Comments · Notes

A few quick notes: – First off, if you’re coming from the P-I welcome to the new blog. It will be the same old blog, but I also plan to keep an updated calendar of events and I’m going to try and put together my own brewery pages over time. It won’t be anything too […]

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Seattle Mama Doc

A blog by Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson.

A mom, a pediatrician, and her insights about keeping your kids healthy.

6 Ways To Help An Anxious Child

No question it’s tough to keep our cool when our children are unraveling. It’s especially a challenge when our children are rattled and over-run with anxiety. I partner with parents on a weekly basis who feel their children are anxious. All of us want support in knowing just what TO DO in helping our children thrive while also not letting them suffer.

I partnered with Dr. Kathy Melman on the podcast to review tips and strategies for parenting when children are anxious or when our children suffer from anxiety. Dr. Melman is wonderfully steady and clear in knowing what we can do when we find ourselves amid a sea of anxiety. Dr. Melman explains how to improve the environment for our children, what we can do for ourselves as parents to protect our children, and how to help our children not only cope but thrive in the face of anxiety, disruption, fear, and challenge. Listen in and read her 6 tips below. Number four is a BIGGIE…

6 ways to Help Your Anxious Child:

  1. Modeling Matters: If a parent struggles with anxiety—get evidence based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment with an adult anxiety specialist. Caring for your own anxiety will limit how your child models undesired behaviors.
  2. Intervene early and effectively! If your child shows signs of anxiety that is causing distress and/or interfering with functioning, seek CBT treatment with a child anxiety specialist. Don’t wait years for help because untreated anxiety can lead to problems including possible school refusal, lack of friends and opportunities to develop social skills, limited development of independence, healthy sleep patterns, lack of involvement in activities outside of the home, substance use and depression as one’s life shrinks with loneliness, low self esteem (“I can’t handle this”) and lack of building mastery. Anxious children often don’t get the help they need and when they do, they have often already suffered for years, other problems have developed, and they often don’t get the most effective, evidence based behavioral treatment.
  3. Acceptance and Empathy: Accept if your child is “wired together” to have more anxiety and be empathic, rather than invalidating, of their experience. Taking the moment to accept their feelings (even when they seem outlandish!) will allow you to both acknowledge and then support your child more effectively.
  4. Don’t Permit Avoidance: It is really hard to see your child suffer and parents often, meaning well, allow their child to escape and avoid anxiety provoking situations. As a parent, it is important to learn to tolerate this distress, remain calm and know that permitting escape and avoidance and providing excessive reassurance only strengthens anxiety, reinforces your child’s thoughts that the world is a scary place and the belief that they aren’t capable of coping effectively. This is an important dance parents often do with their anxious children and it is critical to change this pattern.
  5. Reward Brave Behavior: Instead of paying attention to anxious behavior, reward use of anxiety management skills (recognizing when anxious, which situations trigger anxiety, what happens in your body, what are your thoughts, calming your body, challenging unrealistic, catastrophic thinking with checking the facts to develop more realistic thinking along with coping and calming thoughts, and approach feared situations in a gradual, manageable, step by step fashion). We are asking our children to do what terrifies them so provide them with empathy, support, skills and coaching so they overcome anxiety by facing their fears and learning that they can, in fact, do this, nothing terrible will happen, and they can live a full life that is not limited by anxiety. Rewarding use of skills and facing fears (known as exposure) helps your child do what is challenging. Exposure is the most important ingredient in effective treatment of anxiety.
  6. Be Involved in your Child’s CBT Anxiety Treatment: Parental involvement is critical for many reasons including learning about anxiety disorders and their treatment, learning which parenting strategies increase and which decrease child anxiety, learning to coach your child in use of anxiety management skills in challenging moments, not permitting the dance of avoidance, modeling use of skills and brave behavior, learning to tolerate when your child is experiencing distress and responding with empathy and approach, providing many opportunities for exposures and rewarding brave behavior. Parents can also use their understanding of anxiety disorders and their effective treatment to communicate important information with schools, coaches, grandparents and other involved caregivers and settings.

Do You Have An Anxious Child?

No question, hands down, I get more requests from friends, family, and acquaintances for help finding support and and advice parenting anxious children than any other pediatric issue in the school years. So it’s my sincere DELIGHT to introduce and partner with Dr. Kathy Melman on my podcast. Dr Melman runs the outpatient psychiatry and behavioral health clinic and has decades of experience advising families and supporting anxious children. She helps translate the facts around what causes anxiety, how to discern anxious behavior from clinical anxiety, and helps parents understand just what we know and what we don’t. Her tips and advice below!

Where Does Anxiety Come From?

1. Anxiety is a normal emotion and a natural part of life. Fear exists in all of us and there are typical fears that are seen at different developmental stages such as Stranger Anxiety (clinging and crying) at 7-9 months of age. This happens as the child goes through developmental changes such as the stronger ability to differentiate familiar faces from those that are unfamiliar. Anxiety is a normal and important emotion that is adaptive and protective. For example, anxiety helps us stay away from dangerous situations such as leaving or not entering a building when we see smoke or fire or smell something burning. Imagine living at a time or in a place without grocery stores or restaurants for securing food, without homes with locking windows and doors. Imagine that we instead have to venture out to hunt and gather food with concern about dangerous animals or people lurking behind a bush. In this situation, concern about safety is warranted and being vigilant, scanning the environment to pick up on danger cues would help someone survive. The rush of adrenaline that occurs when highly anxious is called the “fight or flight” response and it helps someone escape or avoid dangerous situations.

2. Environmental Stress: Anxiety increases in more stressful situations. This can includes fear of safety, homelessness, instability with frequent moves or other important life changes, loss or death of caregivers or other important people, war, hearing or seeing disturbing news, economic difficulties, abuse, sexual assault, bullying at school, high pressure, expectations and demands in school, home and/or activities. Even in healthy, safe environments, all children experience some anxiety. For example, occasional or short lived worries occur when a child is faced with an especially stressful or new, unfamiliar situation. These are real issues with all that is going on in the world right now.

3. Environmental Learning: Dr. Melman reminds, “Children Learn What Children Live.” Modeling matters. Listen to what Dr. Melman shares in the podcast about overprotection and the risks of being over-involved.

4. Avoidance. Anxiety is maintained and strengthened by avoidance. Through avoidance, you don’t get to see that your worst fears will not happen and that you can, in fact, do it! Let’s look at an example of a child invited for a sleepover at a friend’s house. Perhaps this child is not experienced with sleeping away from home and struggles with sleeping in his own room and bed at home. The idea of a sleepover sounds fun and then reality hits as the time to go to sleep approaches. The child becomes panicked, maybe with physical symptoms such as heart racing and pounding and stomach aches. He has thoughts that he won’t be able to fall asleep or that something bad will happen like a robber breaking in, and calls his parents to pick him up which they do. The child starts to feel relieved and no longer anxious as soon as they learn that they can escape this feared situation by going home. The child’s fear and desire to escape and avoid is strengthened because of the strong relief is experienced when rescued and by the fact that parents agreed that there was a need to come home rather than an ability to cope, ride out this wave of distress, stay the night and see that nothing bad happened and that he could, in fact, be courageous!

5. Expecting Bad Things to Happen: Anxious thinking also plays a role in where anxiety comes from.

6. Genes: Anxiety Disorders runs in families. What can we do if our child has a genetic loading for anxiety disorders? While we can’t change genes, we can aim to reduce stress in our lives and change our own modeling and reactions. We can learn to understand and accept our child’s temperament/wiring and empathize with our child’s feelings while also teaching our children how to think more realistically about the world, to expect less danger in situations, and encourage our child to approach in a gradual and consistent manner the situations that he or she fears. We can give our children skills to cope more effectively with challenging situations.

Doing Something New

FullSizeRender (7)Over the weekend I took a trapeze lesson. Like a real one — one where in a matter of minutes an instructor quickly details how to get the safety harness on, how to jump up to the bar, throw your legs over, arch your back and fly through the air. The goal is to learn (rapidly) how to accustom yourself not only to the environment and to the sport but to let go of the bar, fly through the air, and catch a partner’s arms who is simultaneously swinging on another trapeze. All this WAY up in the air.

Within a few moments of some ground instruction we were escalating into the air up a ladder some I don’t know, 20 to 30 to 40 feet in the air. You lose perspective of distance the faster your heart beats. The instructions came quickly, the rapid-fired commands kept thinking to a minimum while also maintaining transitions with necessary momentum. For the first time in a long time I was really doing something I’d never done before. I’d never met these instructors, I’d never been to this place, and I’d not swung upside down by my knees since middle school. At the same time that I was asking my mind to override a great fear of heights I was demanding that my body acquire a new set of muscle memories and choreography. It was oddly taxing. Because of that, I suppose, it was also wildly rewarding when I was successful. There truly was a moment when I thought I may not climb the ladder.

We ask our children to do this constantly. I mean…..constantly. We drag them to new places, we meet new people, we ask them to rapidly acquire new coordinations, new social situations, new goals. And all the while we expect them to do so without much anxiety, without much complaining, without much of a margin for TERROR. This is childhood, this constantly newness, and I would like to say today I think we’re out of touch.

Exhibit A: Over the very same weekend where I trapeze-d through the air I piled my boys into the car Saturday morning after I mentioned we’d drive to a new place, meet with a new man who would instruct them in a music lesson both on a known instrument and a on a new one. I didn’t think it would be such a challenge. But when I heard the instructor quickly explaining what it meant to transpose from the key of C to G and my the neurons in my own mind went into a pretzel I wondered just why the little dudes weren’t curling up on the floor saying, “there’s no way I can learn this so fast.”

Sunday we did things we’d done before.

But then WHAMMMO, on Monday morning, less than 48 hours after Exhibit A, we drove to another place my boys had never been, we walked into a room full of complete strangers (we truly didn’t know a soul), and I left my two boys to this group within about 10 minutes. This was just a summer camp they’d never tried before: Exhibit B. But if we zoom out to a fair perspective it was also a foreign country of experience a vast ocean away (new camp, new people, new place, new skill requirement).

I walked to the car, tears welling up in my eyes, after seeing the look on my 7 year-old’s face as I left the room. It perhaps perfectly captured his reality. It was something like this:

I’m terrified, Mom, to stay here and do this but I believe you that it will be fun and I believe I am capable and I believe over-riding the terror I feel will lend itself to something good. I know I will reap the colorful reward of accomplishment, connection, new friends, and fun. But I’m scared and I am asking a lot of myself every single time I do this

And the trapeze reminded me. We ask our sweet babies to learn and reach and stretch and grow and start things new constantly. Think of a new school year. This post just a reminder, after a quick lesson at 30 feet, we have to remember the herculean tasks we expect and the patience we can have for nurturing tremendous grit but also the compassion we must also embody as we acknowledge the enormity of the challenge in doing something new.

How To Talk To Boys & Girls About Sex

I haven’t felt like a pro in knowing how to talk about sex with my boys. No matter that I was a middle school science teacher, I’m now a pediatrician and an ever-evolving mom of two. It’s a tough topic even for me as a “talker.” So it was a TRUE JOY and huge relief (let’s be honest) to podcast with two international pros in talking-to-girls-and-boys-in-building-up-esteem-and-confidence-and-knowledge around puberty and sex…

This past month I spoke with Great Conversations co-founders, Julie Metzger and Dr. Rob Lehman. They share their profound expertise and compassion in talking to boys and girls about sex and sexuality and supporting children growing into adults. We broke these podcasts up by age — what to say to a 9-year-old versus what to say to 12 year-olds and what we can say to our teens. I learned so very much from these courageous, kind, and amazingly brave experts — about our connection to the success for our children — and how we meet soul-to-soul with our children in conversations as they traverse life and sex and growing up.

4 Quick Tips For Talking About Sex With Boys and Girls:

Here’s a few takeaways but really, it’s better if you listen to Julie and Rob explain in the podcasts. Really.

  1. “Don’t over speak!” advises Julie Metzger. It only takes 1 minute of courage! Our kids and teens don’t want long-winded, hour-long conversations when questions come up. Keep it short and simple and don’t freak out. Julie teaches girls to plant questions when there isn’t even time for a big response so we adults can get ourselves together to respond. And she reminds: swift, authentic answers when children ask questions are likely best. Phew… one minute of courage. I can do that.
  2. Happenstance helps: Some of the best conversations happen because of what is happening in the world (dogs mating, Janet Jackson’s top falling off, buying tampons and children asking about it). And this is a series of a bazillion conversations throughout a child’s lifetime, not one BIG SEX TALK. Let the nuance and randomness of life support your conversations over time about sex, sexuality, their bodies, and their opportunities.
  3. Everybody wants this to go so well: So many people want puberty and “the sex talk” to go well but even more so, everybody wants a child to do well in their teen years as they grow up. These children are literally flanked by those who want the best for them. From teachers, to parents, to coaches and pediatricians, relatives and neighbors. You have a network of people who want to help and support your child/teen through this time period — remind your teen.
  4. Lead with the positives and avoid conversations that involve “don’t.” You can express your values without closing doors. Opening lines for sharing your beliefs without shutting things down for your child: “What we hope for you is……” or “in our family we believe….” And the other thing — if and when the puberty talk comes up or the sex talk floats in the air, talk about the great things in puberty first (getting taller, gaining independence, more feelings of love and crushes and lust for others) before delving into the tough stuff that may seem a bit unsavory.

Helpful Resources

Falling In Love With Reading In The Morning

IMG_8510A couple of weeks ago I read a piece entitled, “The Right Way to Bribe Your Kids to Read.” I was raised by two parents that scoffed at the idea of paying for grades and certainly never used money as incentive for habits and behaviors that were “good” for me. So I suppose like all of us, I am a product of parental molding, and therefore lean into that belief. So when I opened up the article in my hands it was with skepticism. Sure, it turns out, lots of you believe in using allowance or money, even in tiny allotments, as reward for the lovely habit of learning to love to read. That extrinsic motivation isn’t wrong — and there’s a bit to it, incentive-wise. The article reviews how it can work and how it certainly does for some families with somewhat hesitant, young readers. And although it didn’t convert me into pushing quarters around the house to urge the boys, the article really has changed the last week and a half around here.

Not all babies come out great sleepers and not all babies come out eager readers. That being said, even those of us who don’t come out that way sometimes learn to love it (I’m exhibit A). We really should read to our babies the day they are born.

I’ve got one boy in my house who can’t get out of the books. Wormy and delicious, he’s constantly distracted by the stories of the pages. Two days ago he’d announced he was saving the new Harry Potter book for a ferry ride we have coming up and then last night, sitting on our front steps, he whispered to me, almost as an admission, that he’d finished it. Just couldn’t not open it up…

The other little boy around here is a lot more like I was. He’s drawn to the vivid emotion of human interactions; he’s buoyant and wild. In his loudness with life he gets jet fuel energy from playing with people and their ideas, humor, and emotion. He feeds off reciprocity. The characters and stories and prose of books haven’t yet snagged him in a way that he reaches for those characters like he reaches for his brother or for me in the morning. He loves to see how his emotions change ours. And the characters and ideas in his books haven’t yet started talking to him.

So the article about bribing and reading together got me thinking I could help. And a little voice rumbled around in me after reading it urging, “Wendy Sue, no matter how ‘busy,’ it can’t just be books at bedtime, you have to sit together and read at all times of the day.”

So for the last week and a half we’ve been reading together at unusual times. Snuggling up on my bed after getting home from work, on the couch with the coffee, in the corner of the room reading together or outside as the sun creeps up. Ten minutes here, 20 minutes there. Sometimes my little extrovert reader reads out loud to me or sometimes we each read our own. And this bounty with him came from realizing, of course, that I could show him that someone just as desperate for the people I love to share my moments and experiences, my laughter and hopes for the world can also find a bit of salvation in story and poetry. That over time I could live out the truths in front of him that there is safety and solace, intrigue and escape, hope and helium-heart courage, and essential camaraderie in these books. We can stumble upon an even bigger sense of self from words in a book. And sometimes it can take our breath away.

Like today. This morning as we sat together as the morning unfolded and the minutes poured out, I fell in love with a poem I’d never read before. Fell in love with the words so much that I ran my fingers over them after I found them. And I especially danced around in a few lines of it.

Even this middle-aged extrovert is finding newness in words in the morning. Thanks to my little 7 year-old reading partner.

It’s a hot and dusty world. Glimmering , and dangerous. ~Mary Oliver in Prose Poem: Are You Okay?

Yes, it certainly is. Thank goodness we have each other and thank goodness we have the prose of these books and these writers. Thankful for this new habit of togetherness with words with my little reader. Hopeful and knowing you’re also finding similar pockets of stillness this generous summer, too.

Infants Turning Blue And Other Scary Things

EVERY new parent worries about their newborn from how much they are eating, sleeping, peeing and pooping to ensuring they hit developmental milestones. We also worry about how they breathe and how they sound. It’s a stressful time period and most aren’t running on tons of sleep themselves — so we’re more emotional baseline. Occasionally, a terrifying thing happens where your infant turns bright red, or even blue or pauses their breathing. They may arch in a funny way or get stiff in their arms or legs. We may wonder if something serious is going on. If your infant (under 12 months of age) has an episode where they have pauses in breathing for less than 1 minute, they turn blue and then recover to normal…chances are…it’s normal. Normal? Turning pale or blue doesn’t seem normal nor does having your baby get stiff, nor does a second where they pause their breathing, but it can be, and there’s a name for it: Brief Resolved Unexplained Event (BRUE).

No question we have to trust our instincts if we think something isn’t going well for our babies and I always suggest seeing your pediatrician or family physician or nurse practitioner if you worry about your infant’s health, for reassurance. No question! Go in, get reassurance and learn. Don’t ever feel bad if everything checks out — this is why your pediatric team is there for you and your family. However, when you do go in for an evaluation from a nurse practitioner or physician,  even if your baby has unusual breathing at times, or tenses, or even has a change in color, you may not need a lot of testing. Sometimes it’s normal.

Some Information About Breathing Patterns In Infants:

  • Periodic Breathing: Newborns breath less regularly than older infants, children or adults. This is in part because of their immature brain stem (the part our brain that regulates the drive to breathe). The majority of newborns experience some periodic breathing in first couple weeks of life and most infants don’t have periodic breathing after 4 or 5 months of age. The term “periodic breathing” captures behaviors where babies breathe rapidly for a few moments, then pause for a few, then breath rapidly again. Most of the time periodic breathing happens with pauses that last no more than 10 seconds. It can appear really unusual to a new parent or relative. The Academy of Pediatrics defines it this way: “Breathing is often irregular and may stop for 5 to 10 seconds—a condition called normal periodic breathing of infancy—then start again with a burst of rapid breathing at the rate of 50 to 60 breaths a minute for 10 to 15 seconds, followed by regular breathing until the cycle repeats itself. The baby’s skin color does not change with the pauses in breathing and there is no cause for concern.”
  • Color Change: babies can change color with crying, eating, fatigue or movement. Most of the time parents notice that babies will get bright red or ruddy while other times parents worry their baby looks pale or even a bit blue. It’s true that color change can represent underlying heart or breathing problems so if ever sustained over 1-minute it needs to be evaluated promptly. However, color change in infants over 2 months of age that resolves within 1 minutes may not need any work-up after you check in with a clinician. Sometimes color change can come from things like gastroesophageal reflux, coughing or choking, too. If any concern about your baby’s color it’s worth checking in with the pediatrician for a physical exam. While in the office, a pediatrician will do a full physical exam and ask lots of questions, and they can also check a spot oximetry for oxygen levels (pulse oximetry is standardly obtained in first 24 hours after birth to check blood oxygen levels to screen for underlying heart problems), do a electrocardiogram (EKG), and have observation.
  • Noises: babies make all sorts of terrifying sounds! Gagging sounds, choking, gurgling, sneezing, and coughing. Most of these during infancy fall in the range of typical and normal if they don’t interfere with eating, breathing, and sleep. Sneezing is fairly common in the first couple months, again because of immaturity of reflexes. Some parents worry about babies who spit up and sound like they can’t breathe and want to put babies on their tummies. No evidence that is recommended and to lower risk of SIDS, we always recommend babies are put on their back in bare crib for sleep.

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Super Basic Reminders For Summer

Summer is upon us and we all want to do our best to keep our families safe and healthy. Some of the summer reminders can seem obvious. You’ve likely even heard the reports out last week warning against using a blanket to shade a baby in a stroller (those enclosed spaces can heat up like greenhouses). Heat waves, sun, vacation, time away from routine, summer is a time of typical increasing adventure and exploration. The product of exploration are bumps and bruises and scrapes and sometimes, even burns. Quick reminders here for why to use effective prevention medicines and how. Pretty obvious advice, but here’s 3 items you should have readily available all the time: sunscreen, insect repellent and maybe even antibiotic ointment — although bandages are a start. You can reach for the ointment once you get home!

1. Protecting Children From The Sun

  1. Use broad spectrum sunscreen that covers UVA and UVB rays with an SPF over 30. As a reminder UVA are rays that cause aging to the skin and UVB rays cause burns. Both are bad news, especially during childhood.
  2. Sunscreen isn’t the BEST protector for our skin– shade is. But being outdoors in the sunshine is the essesnce of childhood. Consider sun protective clothing like rash guards, hats and sunglasses – always better to use things that can’t be absorbed in the skin! And plan activities in direct sun to avoid the most intense sunshine of the day (between 10am and 4pm) when you can.
  3. Choose an SPF over 30 (SPF refers to the amount of protection the sunscreen provides against UVB rays), anything over that doesn’t make much difference. More than what kind of sunscreen is how you use it. Apply 20 minutes prior to sun and every 1-2 hours while in the water or high activity.
  4. Look for sunscreens that include zinc or titanium and avobenzone — these are physical barriers rather than chemical ones — that are less likely to be absorbed in the skin.

2. Preventing Insect Bites

  1. Summer brings out bugs including mosquitoes, wasps and flies. No question we’ve all been thinking more about mosquitoes than ever before with Zika in the news. Here’s a clear and easy-to-read resource on what repellents to use if you live in an area with Zika transmission.
  2. Children should wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants if in areas with lots of insects as that will help protect from bites more than anything else. On areas exposed outside the clothes, you can use repellent.
  3. Use Environmental Protection Agency repellents. All EPA-registered insect repellents are evaluated for safety and effectiveness.Reapply insect repellent every few hours as directed on the bottle
  4. Do not spray repellent on the skin under clothing and don’t use products that are a sunscreen and insect repellent mixed together — dosing intervals are different and areas they are needed often are, too. If you need both products, apply sunscreen first and then insect repellent over it.
  5. It is safe to use EPA–registered insect repellents if pregnant and/or nursing!

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The Penis Podcast

This is a podcast episode about one thing…the penis. Guest on the podcast Dr. Rob Lehman, the co-founder of Great Conversations and leader of the For Boys Only classes at Seattle Children’s hospital joins me to discuss what’s “normal”  and all the examples of “normal but different.” We dive into what parents need to know about care of uncircumcised/circumcised penis, thoughts on erections (they begin in utero!), boys with their hands down their pants, appropriate touching and ways to help boys deal with a culture focus on size. I often say that when I’m in clinic, I get the most attention from parents when I’m talking to them about their child’s genitals and many families are nervous to ask about concerns. It’s something everyone wants to know about, but a lot of people are shy or embarrassed to bring it up — do hope this podcast helps. Don’t hesitate to ask concerns you have from the very beginning — most often you’ll likely get A LOT of reassurance.

I am a mom to two boys and like every other mom I know was surprised from the beginning with the amount of “hands down the pants” moments that start even in infancy. A treat to have Dr. Lehman provides great tips to normalize and set appropriate boundaries for touching and clear up ideas for better understandings of normal development.

Possible Allergy Protection From Thumb-Sucking And Nail-Biting

We do have to pick our battles at home. As a pediatrician I’ve never gotten too excited about advising parents to spend a lot of energy trying to rid your child of the thumb-sucking or nail biting habit. In general parents aren’t successful — peers are. Often it’s when friends or peers bring the habits up that children are motivated to stop. We can help support them by reminding them when hands are in their mouth or even having them place socks on their hands while watching television as that’s a common time for the behavior. Although many parents worry about their children sucking their thumbs and fingers, it’s a common habit, with some studies finding almost 25% of children do. Much time is spent thinking about ways to help our children quit, worrying whether germs on their hands will translate to illness and hoping it doesn’t affect their teeth. A new study today this week in Pediatrics highlights perhaps a positive effect of thumb sucking. It’s worth a mention.

Allergy Protection From Thumb-Sucking And Nail-Biting?

The study evaluated children between age 5 and 11 and their later diagnoses of hay fever, allergy skin prick testing and asthma. The premise of the study builds off the somewhat controversial concept of the hygiene hypothesis. The basic premise of the hypothesis is that germ exposure early in life can contribute to how our immune system responds as we grow and develop. We may build up tolerances and immunity that conform us into less allergic people if we have different bacteria and germs around. Basically, living in a sterile environment may not be “safer” as some believe lots of dirt, bacteria, and germs early and maybe not so many sensitivities later…

In the past theories for the hygiene hypothesis have supported a decrease risk of asthma (dirt and germs coming in from and on pets may decrease allergies or asthma later) and a small 2013 study a couple years back found those children who had parents who “cleaned” the pacifier with their own mouth may be less likely to develop allergies (theory was the bacteria transfer from mom/dad’s spit to baby changed their pattern of exposure to bacteria and possibly a tendency away from allergies and asthma later). So some researchers looked a the effects of children who have their hands in their mouths more to see if any protection comes of it — they evaluated data spanning from childhood to adulthood. Read full post »

Getting Your Children To Eat Vegetables

girl and vegetablesThis post is written in partnership with a Seattle Children’s parent, Beverly Emerson, who wanted to give back to our efforts. She’s a mom, food marketing, and R& D executive who has been thinking about how to get healthy food choices out to children for over 2 decades.

My two boys eat veggies pretty well. But that’s like saying Tuesdays are always good days. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it isn’t, of course because I’m raising humans on the planet and every day is something a little new. I think the reminders from Beverly may trigger some change in us. Beverly answers this:

“How can I get my child to eat two cups of vegetables a day?”

According to government recommendations, our kids need between 1 and 3 cups per day depending on their age. Does it feel like that is a dream? Like one of those stretch-goals that will never be hit? There are some tricks to make it easier, and none of them involve hiding vegetables, but actually encourage kids to embrace the fresh flavors and textures of vegetables in their natural state. Yes, it really is possible!

Here are three keys in getting kids to eat (and LIKE) their vegetables:

1. Start Early & Keep Going

Research shows that if a pregnant woman eats vegetables regularly in pregnancy, her infant will be more accepting of the flavors as well during the transition from milk-based diet to introduction of complementary foods. But acceptance begins to decrease as kids move into toddlerhood and preschool years. Humans are biologically wired to dislike bitter foods, and so we need to work at continuously exposing our children to the flavors.  Susan B. Roberts, a Tufts University nutritionist and co-author of the book “Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health,” suggests putting a food on the table at least 15 times to see if a child will accept it. At our house, we use a “thank you bite” model. We insist that our children have one tiny “thank you” bite of a new food simply to expose them. I know that she won’t like it the first time, and maybe not the fifth time. But suddenly, she’s reaching for a full helping! Until that happens, you can prepare dishes that YOU will eat so you don’t feel like you’re wasting food. Read full post »


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Trinidad & Tobago Video

Another video; this time we feature Trinidad and Tobago. This was filmed during my second time in Trinidad and Tobago, in April 2010. Mostly just a lot of driving around, but the scenery is beautiful there. Enjoy!

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BoJ Asset Purchases: Is Japan Sowing Seeds Of Next Asset Bubble?

 |  Includes: EWJ
by: CFA Institute Contributors

by Ron Rimkus, CFA

Japan's Nikkei index is on fire. In just the past six months, the benchmark is up 55% as of this writing. Why? Pretty simple: New Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has announced that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will begin purchasing approximately ¥7 trillion worth of bonds annually in a major new quantitative easing program. In short, Japan will be printing gobs of money and all of this money has to go somewhere. That may look like great news for investors who hold Japanese equities, but from where I sit, this has all of the classic makings of one big investment bubble.

Nikkei 225 Index
Click to enlarge

Sources: CFA Institute, Dow Jones.

Even though Japan has been providing monetary stimulus for many years, the new policy represents a major expansion of the country's existing response to deflationary pressures in the economy. Moreover, this expansion comes on the heels of an already massive stimulus programs launched by U.S. and European Union policymakers. The impact has been immediate: The Yen is depreciating (and the G-20 has provided its blessing). The Nikkei is surging. Japanese real estate indices are skyrocketing.

This is how bubbles are made. First comes reflation. Then comes buy-in from market participants, followed by buy-in from the real economy. Then comes malinvestment. Then comes the inevitable decoupling of valuations from underlying fundamentals — and then, finally, bust and ruin. Japan is now in the "buy-in from market participants" phase.

The scale of stimulus is massive. Japan is now printing enough yen to pay for about 16% of its GDP each year. Note that, by way of comparison, the United States is (currently) printing "only" about 6% of annual GDP. The graph below charts the change in money supply (M2) in Japan versus the United States relative to each country's respective GDP levels historically. The graph uses changes in M2 for the historical data and in each case uses the announced money printing relative to expected GDP for 2013. Although expansion of the monetary base does not perfectly translate into expansion of money supply, in the long run it is a relatively good measure.

United States vs. Japan (δM2 % GDP)
Click to enlarge

Sources: CFA Institute, St. Louis Fed, World Bank.

To put these events into context, it is instructive to look at the economic history of Japan. As I have previously written, economic pressures have been building in Japan for some time, making change from the status quo inevitable. Japan's citizens, through Abe's election and his appointment of Kuroda to the BOJ in late 2012, have simply chosen to act now with massive money printing. Naturally, this ultra-loose policy has lit the currency markets on fire. In fact, the new QE program ranks as one of the most notable events in Japan's economic history, on par with the Plaza Accord in 1985, which triggered a 50% appreciation in the yen in the following two years, and the Reverse Plaza Accord in 1995, which sparked a more than 40% depreciation in the yen in the following three years or so.

Japan: ¥/$ 1971–2013 (Inverted Scale)

Click to enlarge

Sources: CFA Institute, St. Louis Fed.

Thus far, the Yen has declined against the dollar by 22% from its market peak six months ago. A closer look at recent history shows the decline more clearly.

Japan: ¥/$ 2008–2013 (Inverted Scale)
Click to enlarge

Sources: CFA Institute, St. Louis Fed.

The tool that the BOJ uses to execute this policy is the purchase of bonds in the secondary market, a move that creates an artificial, if massive, incremental demand for JGBs. This policy is forcing Japanese asset managers to reconsider their risk positions. Already, Japanese asset managers are ramping up their exposure to the Japanese stock market. Additionally, the weak yen is reigniting the yen-carry trade, in which investors (from all over the globe) borrow in a declining Yen and purchase higher risk assets to earn the difference. Of course, this wave of liquidity need not stay in Japan. New money is like water: It flows freely, filling voids. So Japan's easy money will find its way to already bubbly markets — perhaps U.S. high yield assets or emerging market stocks, to name but a few possibilities.

A declining yen will help delay Japan's economic decline. Many export-oriented companies will benefit from stimulated demand and Japan's trade deficit will improve. In addition, the country's massive foreign asset portfolio will benefit from a falling yen as the foreign-denominated income streams produced by these assets are converted into larger numbers of yen over time. But that won't save Japan. The problems are structural: a declining population, loss of leadership in many industries, a crowding out of research spending in favor of transfer payments, loss of the nuclear power fleet due to the Fukushima disaster, and the escalation of energy imports at ever-higher prices as the yen declines. In order for Japan to turn things around, they will have to manufacture major productivity gains, which seems very unlikely.

In the near term, monetary policy will buy Japan some time. Apparently, time enough to create a bubble — which incidentally should have legs over the next year or two — supporting both the equity markets and real estate in the near term. However, Japan does not appear to be solving any of its structural problems. In the inevitable bust, each of the structural problems will likely end up more severe. Perhaps more troublesome, in the aftermath of a popped bubble, the banking system will weaken further and there won't be enough money circulating through Japan to maintain the status quo. The country will be forced to look abroad for more support for high JGB prices (and low yields).

In other words, Japan's JGB funding mechanism won't survive the next bust.

Then what?


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Bitcoin 2.0 Will Be A Virtual Casino Chip, Gift Card Or Swiss Bank Account

 |  Includes: COIN, FXE, UDN, UUP
by: Robert Wagner

I've written many articles about the Bitcoin, and the question I struggle with most is "why?" I just don't see how the benefits of the Bitcoin outweigh the costs and risks. The main drawback I see is the volatility. If there is anything you don't want a currency to be, it is volatile, and Bitcoin is volatility on steroids. In this highly entertaining article about the struggles involved in just buying a Bitcoin, the Bitcoin broker explains that the first time he purchased a Bitcoin it appreciated from $6 to $15 during the time it took to just set up his Bitcoin accounts. That may sound great, but what that means is that when the transaction was finalized he only got 6/15 of the original amount of Bitcoin he had intended to purchase, and if he had signed a contract to be paid in Bitcoins when he started the process, that cost of that contract was now 15/6 of what he had intended to pay. Had he signed a Bitcoin contract to buy a $60,000 house priced in Bitcoins, by the time he got everything set up to pay, he would owe the seller $150,000 worth of Bitcoins.

That weekend when I tried to buy it, the price was $6. But by the time I got my money into Mt. Gox, it was $15."

The main selling point about the Bitcoin is that it is virtual "cash," as opposed to a virtual bank account. The best way to think about Bitcoin is the money in your wallet, not your bank account. The benefits of cash over a bank account is that it is anonymous. This is where I've struggled with the Bitcoin. I've studied economics, monetary systems and currencies my entire adult life, and never once have I read something identifying anonymity as being a critical aspect of a currency. Almost every text book lists the same 3 to 5 characteristics of a currency and none that I've ever read state anonymity as one of them.

The closest thing I can identify as being similar to the Bitcoin is an internet Swiss Bank account. I'm not one of the rich and famous, deal in drugs or prostitutes, evade paying taxes or engage in illegal activities so I never really had a reason to fully understand the value of anonymity when it comes to a monetary system. I just didn't get it, but Bitcoin forced me to adjust my understanding of the functions of money. The movie "Wolf of Wall Street" does a great job highlighting why anonymity is so important, and how Swiss Bank accounts facilitate that role. Bitcoins are essentially an attempt to bring Swiss Bank accounts to the masses, but it fails miserably.

Watching "Wolf of Wall Street" however also provides the real solution to the cryptocurrency issue. As I've written in past articles, the Bitcoin is designed with a fatal intentional libertarian inspired flaw, it is inelastic, and will therefore always be highly volatile. That volatility is a high price to pay for anonymity, especially considering I can't think of a single transaction that I've engaged in where I would need anonymity. That does not mean however that the need or desire for anonymity isn't a real benefit to a currency. If I walk up to a stranger at a yard sale, it is nice to be able to give them cash instead of a credit card, and I always worry when I give the waiter my credit card and he disappears behind those swinging doors. Bitcoin basically turns every transaction into a yard sale transaction, where the only necessary information exchanged is the item being purchased and the amount to be exchanged. No personal information is needed, but unlike using cash, the value of your Bitcoin may change dramatically from the time you place the transaction to the time it is completed, and that is why cash is far superior to the Bitcoin.

The solution to this however is obvious. The Bitcoin needs to be convertible. Yes, the Bitcoin can be exchanged for US Dollars, but that does not make it convertible. One day a Bitcoin can be exchanged for $50, the next $500, the next $1,000 and then $500. That isn't a viable currency, and you could never base a business on it, especially an illegal business. Try paying a drug dealer or pimp with something worth $1,000 at the time of transaction, and have that value be worth $500 when it gets converted back to US Dollars. I'm pretty sure the drug dealer or pimp won't be the one taking the loss, and even if they do, you won't ever feel safe going outside again. When people accept cash, they expect a US Dollar to be worth the same today as tomorrow, Bitcoin doesn't even attempt to satisfy that objective, and that is why it isn't truly an alternative to cash, it is an entirely different beast. It is more like a virtual ounce of highly leveraged gold, not cash.

It is only a matter of time before someone decides to fix the fatal flaw of the Bitcoin, and that is why I write these articles. The Bitcoin bubble will eventually pop and a lot of people will be hurt, I'm simply trying to make everyone aware of the likely outcome of the Bitcoin so they can prepare accordingly. What is likely to happen is that a Swiss Bank account/money market/gift card Bitcoin model will develop. A Swiss Bank account is anonymous, but the value of it remains fixed. If you have $100,000 deposited in a Swiss Bank account today, you will have $100,000 deposited in that account 1 week, 1 year, 10 years in the future if you don't touch it (ignoring any fees or interest). It is impossible to know what a Bitcoin will be worth minute to minute, let alone weeks and years in the future. Try making a pro-forma proposal valued in Bitcoins and you will see why the Bitcoin will never be a viable currency. Tell your boss you have calculated out the costs involved in building an oil field and refinery over the next 15 years in Bitcoins and watch how fast you get fired.

The likely replacement of the Bitcoin will be a convertible virtual currency, where a credible Swiss Bank or major retailer like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), sells SwissCoins or Amazoins. The Swiss Bank would then sell a SwissCoin for a fixed $ amount, and ensure its convertibility. The Swiss Bank would then have an account that holds all the revenues from the sale of SwissCoins. Like a money market account, the holder of the SwissCoin would be able to sell the SwissCoin back to the Swiss Bank for the exact amount of money they paid for it, but unlike a money market, there isn't an account set up for every SwissCoin owner. The funds from the sale of SwissCoins are comingled into one account that backs the convertibility of the SwissCoin, much like an old fashion gold standard or a gift card.

The Swiss Bank would invest the collateral money into interest bearing assets, and because there aren't any expenses associated with maintaining individual accounts or involved in settling transactions, it is possible that this system would be low or no fee, just like the current Bitcoin. The Swiss Bank would essentially function as the "miner" of the SwissCoin, but unlike the current Bitcoin where the "miner" pockets the money, under this system the money used to purchase a SwissCoin would be used to back its convertibility.

The key point here is that because the SwissCoin was convertible, there would be no need to convert it to US Dollars. Right now smart merchants will only accept Bitcoin if they immediately get converted to US Dollars. The currency risk inherent in a Bitcoin is simply too great for a merchant that wants to stay in business long to accept. As this video points out, Bitcoin is a "brilliant first step," but how many people are willing to risk their saving, incomes and livelihoods on a "first step?" Not many, even early adapters like Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, Overstock, Casinos and other major players that accept Bitcoin immediately convert the Bitcoin to local currency. They understand that it is simply too risky to hold for any period of time. Even casinos won't gamble on Bitcoin that should tell you everything you need to know.

Watching the above linked videos, it is obvious to me that the "second step" will eventually be discovered, in fact I find it shocking that it already hasn't. The video of the casino operator accepting Bitcoin is about as ironic as they come. Talk about not seeing the forest through the trees. Casinos already have a form of alternative currency, it is called a "Casino Chip." A Casino Chip" has a stable value, is used anonymously like cash, is accepted as currency, AND IS CONVERTIBLE!!! Hello McFly, anyone home, Think McFly Think!!!?

A virtual "Casino Chip" would be far superior to the highly volatile Bitcoin. The casinos, retailers and banks shouldn't be looking for ways to accept the Bitcoin, they should be spending their time and effort towards developing a Bitcoin that works with their current system, doesn't force their consumers to take unnecessary risks, doesn't require a complete accounting and infrastructure upgrade, isn't legally ambiguous and will save or even make them money. Gift cards, money markets and casino chips already exist, and combining select characteristics from each of them will create a far superior alternative to the current Bitcoin. There are over 140 different Bitcoin "Copycats" in existence, but unless they address the convertibility feature, they are doomed to die with the Bitcoin. Converting a Bitcoin to a US Dollar is difficult enough, imagine the headache a merchant would have trying to track the value of 140 different virtual currencies. Start to see the picture? A virtual currency convertible to US Dollars solves almost every problem I can identify with the current Bitcoin.

One last alternative to replace the current Bitcoin would be a Bitcoin convertible to gold. Each Bitcoin would represent an ownership share of an ounce of gold. The price of the Bitcoin would still fluctuate, but it would be far less than the current Bitcoin. This would have real appeal to the gold bugs, and people that favor "hard money." The administration of it would be much like the old gold note or certificate system, where an entity would store the gold and give owners a "note" detailing ownership. The gold would be comingled, but the gold vault manager would ensure that the note bearer would always be able to convert the note back into gold.

The biggest problem a major corporation faces with issuing their own Bitcoins is the tax liability that they would generate and the issue of comingling client assets. When a store sells a gift card, they have to pay tax on that sale. When a money market is opened an individual account must be established with accurate accounting of the assets deposited. Taxing the sale of a Bitcoin and individual accounts would defeat its purpose. The system established would have to be similar to how a casino deals with chips. When I go to the casino and exchange cash for chips, no tax is charged on the transaction. When I leave and exchange the chips back to cash, no tax is charged on the transaction. The casino doesn't record that I purchased a chip, and they don't record that I turned the chips back in. It is completely anonymous and void of taxes. Basically what the casino did was make me an interest free anonymous loan in the form of a casino chip. That casino chip allowed me to freely use their facilities, anonymously, securely and at no cost.

Another analogy would be an anonymous, interest free, collateralized inverse pawn loan. I give a pawn broker $100, they give me a $100 bearer pawn token and the pawn broker stands willing to exchange that $100 bearer pawn token back into $100 when it is presented for exchange. The pawn broker doesn't care who returns the $100 bearer pawn token, there is no name on it, they just stand ready to exchange it back into a $100 bill.

In conclusion, at its very heart, the Bitcoin is a libertarian, anti-Government and anti-Banking System political statement founded in a misunderstanding of Austrian Economics on an epic scale and developed as an interesting computer science problem. Not that many people are willing to accept the extreme volatility of the Bitcoin just to make a misguided political statement. Most people, and especially merchants don't want to participate in an effort to undermine the US Banking System or facilitate money laundering and/or illegal trade. To most people, the Great Depression and 2008 are periods we want to forget, not repeat and crime is to be prevented, not assisted.

The intent of these articles isn't to undermine the Bitcoin, it is to warn people of its flaws and demonstrate that a far better alternative isn't difficult to construct. The Bitcoin is either intentionally or accidentally designed to fail, and it will. Yes I know the computer scientists behind it are extremely smart, and the Bitcoin is very secure, but those things simply don't matter when it comes to money. Most people don't hate and fear banks, they rely on them, trust them and succeed because of them, especially merchants. Merchants can either let the tail wag the dog, or they can take control of the situation before it gets out of hand. I would expect that most merchants, banks, casinos and others that run businesses would rather have a convertible Bitcoin designed to facilitate low to no fee anonymous global transaction centered around their needs and existing accounting system, and aren't really interested in promoting some misguided political agenda.

Once the issues discussed in this article get resolved, and corporations get into issuing convertible Bitcoins, I would imagine that the current Bitcoin will become nothing but an obsolete memory, much like a floppy disk or dial up modem. The importance of the Bitcoin is that it is a first step, not a final destination. The people that created the Bitcoin work in computer labs, they are well aware of the product lifecycle of any cutting edge technology product, and they know it has a very short expected lifespan. Unlike Netscape, dial-up modems and floppy disks, when those items became obsolete owners of them didn't lose their life savings. When the Bitcoin becomes obsolete, and the "new new thing" hits the market, some people will lose fortunes.

Disclaimer: This article is not an investment recommendation or solicitation. Any analysis presented in this article is illustrative in nature, is based on an incomplete set of information and has limitations to its accuracy, and is not meant to be relied upon for investment decisions. Please consult a qualified investment advisor. The information upon which this material is based was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but has not been independently verified. Therefore, the author cannot guarantee its accuracy. Any opinions or estimates constitute the author's best judgment as of the date of publication, and are subject to change without notice. Full Disclaimer and Disclosure Click Here.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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Microsoft: An Even More Compelling Buy After Recent Events

Sep.22.11 | About: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

It appears the market is on its way to give back its 5% gain from last week and we will soon retest support levels on the S&P of 1120 to 1125. One stock that has held up well in the market turbulence of the last few months is Microsoft. Its low valuation, solid growth prospects and promising catalysts should let it continue to outperform the market for the near and medium term. I believe it should be a core holding in any portfolio to help navigate this volatile market.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) – “Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products and services for various computing devices worldwide”. (Business Description from Yahoo Finance)

1. Microsoft just announced it is raising its dividend payment 25% and stock will now yields a little over 3% at current price levels. While this disappointed some investors given the size of Microsoft’s cash hoard and operating cash flow; it’s a positive development nonetheless.

2. It is Google’s turn to go under the congressional microscope. Given the regulatory scrutiny Google is facing in the U.S. and Europe, more of its management focus will be on compliance, regulation and litigation; and not growing or producing new products. This cannot but help its competitors.

3. Microsoft is experiencing stellar growth in its Xbox, Sharepoint and healthcare product lines.

4. Windows 8 seems to be well received in the developer community, and chances are good that it will be a very successful product for Microsoft when it is released.

5. Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility was a nice gift to Microsoft and should allow Microsoft to gain market share in the smart phone arena with manufacturers that will be leery of partnering with a new competitor on their OS.

1. Microsoft has significantly outperformed the S&P over the last three months and should continue to do so (See Chart)

Click to enlarge
(Click to enlarge)

2. MSFT has over $50B in net cash and sells at just over 7 times this year’s expected earnings after you take out the cash on its balance sheet.

3. Microsoft has beat quarterly earnings estimates each of the last 6 quarters. The average beat over analysts’ consensus has been 12%.

4. Microsoft is one of four U.S. companies with a triple AAA rated balance sheet and its five year projected PEG of under 1, which is a 25% discount under its five year average.

5. MSFT is around 40% under a whole slew of Analysts’ price targets. Barclays and S&P have price targets of $35 on Microsoft and Credit Suisse is at $36 on MSFT.

Disclosure: I am long MSFT.