Eventually I decided to act on my basic understanding of the problem and ultimately sold my home late in the mania phase (end of 2004--just a bit early, but no one can pick THE top), and made out quite well.

Later, though completely out of the housing ownership market and now renting, I continued on with my voracious research and gained a much better understanding of the myriad of complex economic issues that impacted this housing bubble. I eventually tried to pass my knowledge on to those around me, but to many, I was merely a gibbering lunatic who didn't know what the heck he was talking about. In due time, I became frustrated with my unsuccessful attempts in convincing these media-hyped & fed, brainwashed individuals, so I decided to take to the web--to possibly help others who were themselves trying to understand the developing situation.

FA Cup Fifth Round draw

The two league meeting saw the Baggies run out 4-0 winners at the Ricoh Arena before the Sky Blues turned the tables, winning 4-2 at The Hawthorns.

Scandal tarnishes academy program

One of the midshipmen and two civilian women who say they were unwittingly videotaped have hired an attorney who said he will file a lawsuit, which would likely examine the academy's oversight of the vast program, as well as a number of dark episodes in its past.

Whatever the outcome of either case, both will highlight what critics said they believe has long been apparent: Some sponsors have too cozy a relationship with midshipmen and have become too permissive.

"The sponsor program started out as a great program, and it was originally very limited to when you could visit," said W. Minor Carter, a 1962 graduate and Annapolis resident. "Now, it's obvious that a lot of midshipmen are allowed free access to liquor and privacy with the opposite sex. While the thought of the sex tapes is horrific, the fact that a guy was openly providing an opportunity for midshipmen to have sex at his house is outrageous."

Academy officials admit that they don't have the funding or staffing to closely monitor what happens in sponsor homes.

Gadgets Kodak Shows World's First 1.4 Micron 5MP Camera Chip

Kodak cut its teeth in the world of print photography and film based cameras with a history going back for decades. With the advent of the digital photography revolution, Kodak has been reinventing itself as a player in the digital photography industry rather than a maker of film and film-based cameras.

Kodak sees its new camera chip as making the camera portion of the phone one of the main features in the future. According to the Associated Press (AP) the new Kodak sensor is the world's first 1.4 micron, 5 megapixel camera chip.

Category: MySpace

But the expectations for Amazon's infrastructure service for uptime may be unrealistic. Amazon is not enterprise-ready–99.99 (52.6 minutes of downtime annually) or 99.999 (5.26 minutes of downtime annually). At least Amazon has a service level agreement. The SLA states that Amazon will "use commercially reasonable efforts to make Amazon S3 available with a Monthly Uptime Percentage (defined below) of at least 99.9% [8.76 hours of downtime per year] during any monthly billing cycle (the 'Service Commitment'). In the event Amazon S3 does not meet the Service Commitment, you will be eligible to receive a Service Credit as described below."

We also discuss the major management shuffle at Microsoft (Mary Jo Foley has the line up, complete with photos), the latest twist and turns in Microsoft's pursuit of Yahoo and the adoption of Enterprise 2.0 technologies in corporations.