Refinancin​g Student Loan Debt: A Modest Proposal

link here http://urlet.com/renowned.watching

The recent McKinleyville bond scam (the issuance of 40 year zero coupon bonds that will cost over $50 million to repay) brought to me an idea of how to refinance the crushing debt burden faced by our young people who actually believed the hype about the value of an education.  The McKinleyville School board calls these zero coupon bonds just a “tool” in the “financial toolkit” and I see what they mean now.

For instance, if we take $10,000 face value of student debt and swap it out with zero coupon debt maturing at 50 years at 1% interest (let’s give them a break on the interest, what the hey, they are our kids and right now the banksters are getting an interest free float from the feds of $80 billion  a month)  and you get a zero coupon debt paying back $16,446.31 in the year 2062.   Why 50 years?  Well they way they talk about pushing back the retirement age our 20 somethings are looking at 50 years of work.  Right?

So using the tool of zero coupon debt our young indebted people can re-fi their student loans, each $10,000 increment paid back with $16,446.31 in the year 2062.

If the tool fits, use it.

http://www.miniwebtool.com/zero-coupon-bond-calculator/?f=16446.31&r=1&t=50

have a peaceful day,

Bill

link here http://urlet.com/renowned.watching

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1,000 Songs, 1,000 Sigs

I will sing 1,000 songs.   I want 1,000 sigs. 

If you want me to sing you a song email me @ humboldt.organizer@gmail.com and put “sing me a song” in the subject.  Throughout the next several months, weather permitting, I will do a concert in an outdoor public venue in Eureka.  Most likely this will be Clarke Plaza but it could be anywhere in Eureka.  If you want a song I will add you to my music list and I will try to give you 24 hour notice of my next show.

While you are listening I will invite you to support the Eureka Fair Wage Act.  Everything I make playing music in the next several months I will devote to raising wages in Eureka.   If you support my music (which you can for free just by showing up) you will be doing your part in raising wages for Eureka’s hardest working people.

I am also available for musical appearances, acoustic/eclectic folk, rock, roots rock, americana, country with a bit of humor and pop.

This is my/our work with Jimmie Mandich:

http://www.myspace.com/twosmoothstones

I am available for Arts Alive Eureka Saturday Jan. 5.  I will  give you a professional level show email me humboldt.organizer@gmail.com

You can hire me also to sing you a song.  I can be hired to sing you a $1.00 song, a $10.00 song or a $100.00 song.  I promise that the free song will be just as good as the $1.00 song and  the $10.00 song and the $100.00 song, they are just more expensive.  If you want to hire me to sing a song email me humboldt.organizer@gmail.com and put “sing me a song” in the subject just like you would for a free song but in the body of the message offer to pay me 1, 10 or 100 dollars.  I’ll add you to my music list like above and keep you notified of my upcoming shows and you can come to one of them and hear me sing your song and you can pay me.

I expect that there will be six or seven nice days in January alone so you will have multiple chances to hear songs.

have a peaceful day,

Bill

~please forward~

Reserva Privada Colorado – Colorado Seedbank/Breeder

Out of the gate they are offering 10 crosses of various strains x L.A. Confidential male.  This is for FYI not an endorsement or criticism.

Reserva Privada Colorado

http://www.reservaprivadacolorado.com/

Reserva Privada Colorado is operated independently from DNA Genetics and Reserva Privada.  If you have questions regarding DNA Genetics or Reserva Privada strains please contact them directly as we will not be able to answer them for you.

Reserva Privada Colorado cannabis genetics are only available to Colorado registered medical cannabis patients and are only available at licensed Colorado medical marijuana centers.

Purple Confidential

Strain: Purple Confidential (Purps x LA Confidential)

Recommended experience level: Beginner to Intermediate

Female: Purps

About the mother:

Overview:

• True hybrid growth pattern, nice vigorous growth but not stretchy, plump full nuggets, and a purple hue that comes out during the flushing of the plants before harvest. The flavor is sweet and fruity with skunky undertones.

Yield: Medium High

• 300-700g / 1000W

Flowering time:

• 60-65 days.

Growth stature:  Medium to med/ tall

• Vigorous growth combined with a manageable height, only stretches about 12 inches once flipped to 12/12 light cycle. This strain yields best with multiple tops, but is versatile enough for just about any method.

Nugget type and density:

• Plump and fluffy nuggets with medium internodal spacing.

Unique strain traits and oddities of mother:

Purpling can be enhanced by the following:

• Begin flush 10-14 days before harvest, this will allow the chlorophyll time to breakdown and the natural purple pigments to come out
• Create a 20 degree F temperature swing between day and night cycle (i.e. if your flower room runs 85deg while lights are on, cool it during the night cycle to a temp of 65deg)

Why we chose her:

• True hybrid vigor, and purpling trait were the big factor aside from our usual criteria for selecting the Purps as a mother.

Traits to look for in ideal phenotype:

Desired traits from mother

• Purpling of leaves and calyxes during late flower
• Vigorous vegetative growth
• Low stretching
• High resin production
• High potency
• Disease resistance
• Stability, consistency, and repeatability
• High medicinal value

Desired traits from pollen donor (LA Confidential)

• Manageable height
• Tight dense buds
• Short flowering period
• High resin production
• High potency
• Disease resistance
• Stability, consistency, and repeatability
• High medicinal value

Undesirable traits potentially inherited from parents

• Lower than average yield (LA Confidential)
• Slow vegetative growth (LA Confidential)

Haole

Strain: Haole (Maui Wowie x LA Confidential)

Recommended experience level: Beginner Friendly

Female: Maui Wowie

About the mother: Maui Wowie

Overview:

• The Maui Wowie is a very grower friendly strain. Compact stature for a sativa, dense heavy nuggets, and she bounces back from some abuse quite well.

Yield: high

• 400-800g/ 1000W

Flowering time:

• 63-70 days.

Growth stature:  Medium

• Compact for a sativa, with nice tight internodal spacing. Very versatile in the grow room, does well as a single stalk in a sea of green, but also takes well to pinching to create several tops.

Nugget type and density:

• Super dense colas. Very heavy resin production.

Unique strain traits and oddities of mother:

• Compact for a sativa

Why we chose her:

• Ease of growing, versatility, and amazing finished product. The Maui is one of the most consistent producers we’ve found.

Traits to look for in ideal phenotype:

Desired traits from mother

• Vigorous vegetative growth
• Significant branching
• High resin production
• High potency
• Disease resistance
• Stability, consistency, and repeatability
• High medicinal value

Desired traits from pollen donor (LA Confidential)

• Manageable height
• Tight dense buds
• Short flowering period
• High resin production
• High potency
• Disease resistance
• Stability, consistency, and repeatability
• High medicinal value

Undesirable traits potentially inherited from parents

• Lower than average yield (LA Confidential)
• Slow vegetative growth (LA Confidential)

Secret Boy Scout Molestation Files Include Local, Regional Cases

Secret Boy Scout Molestation Files Include Cases from Ferndale, Crescent City, Fort Bragg, Ukiah, Philo, Willits, Red Bluff, Anderson, Yreka and Dorris.    Also Cave Junction, Ashland and Grants Pass Oregon.

http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/boyscouts-cases/

Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012 – 10:04 pm

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of previously unpublished Boy Scouts of America files that detail suspected sexual abuse by employees and volunteers have been posted online.

The Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/TiA546 ) published the database containing redacted victims’ names on Tuesday, including material that was released earlier by an Oregon Supreme Court judge’s ruling. The names of the alleged abusers – including doctors, teachers, priests – are included.

Music For New Years Parties

Available for New Years parties,

Friday Dec. 28 Saturday Dec. 29, Sunday Dec. 30 and Monday Dec. 31

Bill Holmes, formerly of Two Smooth Stones.

Solo acoustic/eclectic (amplified if needed) troubador/songwriter for your New Years party.

I will do a professional level 3 hour show (3 45 min sets..) on one of these nights for your party or event.  I have done lots of club dates, special shows, fund raisers and Farmers Markets right here in Eureka, Arcata and Humboldt for the last five years.

folk, rock, roots rock, americana, country, some humor a little pop and a little blues.

Any money I make playing music in December and January will go towards our effort to pass the Eureka Fair Wage Act, a $12 an hour minimum wage for large employers, so not only can you enjoy my music but your money will go to a great cause, and it will be recycled back to the community in a positive way.

contact me humboldt.organizer@gmail.com put “music” in the subject.

have a peaceful day, Bill

It’s Time to Tax Empty Storefronts in Eureka

The economy is cratering in Eureka.   How many empty storefronts in Eureka?  Anyone keeping tabs?

Its time to tax empty storefronts.   How about a monthly 25 cent per square foot tax on empty storefronts?  That would cost the landlord (many of them absentee landlords) of an empty 1,000 square foot shoppe about $250 per month and would incentify them to reduce their rents and rent to entrepreneurs.

This would bring needed revenue to the city and it would stimulate the local economy.

Any landlord who failed to pay the tax would have a lien slapped on and the city could take the property and sell it on the open market to someone who is serious about renting the property.

What do you all think?

have a peaceful day, Bill

PS Anyone who might want to talk about an initiative campaign to pass this ordinance in Eureka please contact me humboldt.organizer@gmail.com

Thanks to Fred Mangels for spreading the word on this proposal http://humboldtlib.blogspot.com/2012/12/tax-eurekas-empty-storefronts.html

If we can get about 10 people we can form a committee, firm up the proposal and present it to the city council for starters.  If they refuse to act and we still believe in it then we can pursue the initiative process.  It will take about 10 people.

The Governement Bubble – National, State, Local…

Here are a couple of reposts from HighBoldtage Mar. 2010:

The Government Bubble:

It turns out that the bubbles that we have recently experienced – housing, derivatives, banking, insurance, stockes and so on were not just economic bubbles.  It appears that there was also a bubble in government at the same time, and this bubble is now bursting.

California is the poster child for this, with recent furloughs and i.o.u.s for state payments, but this week Los Angeles is starting to lay off 4,000 employees.  Cities all over California are beginning to downsize, along with school districts and transportation systems.  It looks like before it is over a hundred thousand or more government workers in California will soon be unemployed and the ripple effects of that will be immense, particularly in Sacramento.  Also heavily impacted will be the small rural counties like Humboldt where government payrolls account for 30% or more of the local economy.

The Federal government has its own bubble to deal with, with out of control deficit spending it will be unable to bail out the states.  The states will be unable to bail out the cities and counties.  You are on your own.  The Bubble Government is bursting.

have a peaceful day,

Bill

The Government Bubble in Humboldt County

There is one trend that is unmistakable in Humboldt County government:  It has gotten more expensive very quickly, at least as quickly as those dastardly insurance rates.  In just four years, county expenditures have gone up 41%, more than 10% per year.  How does that stack up to your personal experience, Joe Six Pack?

To put this nicely, if the county government increase had been limited to roughly the official inflation rate (lets say around 3%) then the county expenditures exceed that now by some $60,000,000 per year, and rising.  It is possible that Humboldt County residents are getting $60,000,000 worth of services now from their county government  that they didn’t get in 2004.  If so please inform us.  It is also possible that we are paying a lot more for the same thing we were getting in 2004.

http://co.humboldt.ca.us/portal/budget/2009-10/A.pdf

Why the Greek rescue isn’t going to plan

By Mohamed El-Erian

Published: April 7 2010 15:53 | Last updated: April 7 2010 15:53

It should be apparent to all by now: despite the rhetoric out of some European capitals, the Greek rescue package is not going according to plan.

Buoyed by a cyclical recovery, markets around the world have yet to recognise the complexity of this situation. When they do, it will also become apparent that Greece is part of a wider, and historically unfamiliar phenomenon – that of a simultaneous and large disruption to the balance sheet of many industrial countries. Tighten your seat belts.

Mohamed El-Erian is chief executive and co-chief investment officer of Pimco

Copyright The Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c2709314-4252-11df-9ac4-00144feabdc0.html