Monday, December 29, 2008

Backing up Hard Disk Partitions in Linux

To guard against disasterous hard disk failure or data loss, regular backup is very important. For Windows users, there's Norton Ghost which helps back up valuable data and settings in your hard disk. But for thrifty and savvy users, there's a nifty Linux tool called partimage. It's a simple console program but does its job great.

This tutorial guides you in backing up hard disk partitions in Linux. Let's assume you want to back up your Windows partition to a USB drive using partimage. If you are a Linux user, install partimage.

Otherwise, you can download and burn a System Rescue CD and boot with it. Connect your USB hard drive to your computer and mount it. If your USB drive has a FAT32 partition on /dev/sdb1, then the following command will mount it on /mnt:


mount -t vfat -o gid=100,dmask=2,fmask=113,shortname=winnt /dev/sdb1 /mnt

Make a folder called Backup and change to it:


cd /mnt

mkdir Backup

cd Backup

Save the partition table of your hard drive to a text file, assuming your hard drive is /dev/sda:


fdisk -l -u /dev/sda > hdptbl01.txt


Backing up with partclone


partclone is a new Linux tool for backing up and restoring hard disk partitions. The following command illustrates a situation where I back up the second partition, compress it on the fly and save the backup in 695M chunks.


partclone.ntfs -c -s /dev/sda2 | bzip2 -c | (cd /mnt/sdb1/Backup; split -d -b 695M - Backup-$(date +%F).partclone.bz2.)

Alternatively, you can use lzma to compress the backup.


partclone.ntfs -c -s /dev/sda2 | lzma -9c > Backup-$(date +%F).partclone.lzma

For quick backup, use lzop:


partclone.ntfs -c -s /dev/sda2 | lzop -c > backup-$(date +%F).partclone.lzo


Restoring Backups with Partclone


Here's a sample command:


cat Backup-2012-05-27.partclone.bz2.* | bzip2 -dc - | partclone.ntfs -r -o /dev/sda2


Backing up with Partimage


Assuming the partition to back up is /dev/sda1, the following command will back up /dev/sda1 in chunks of 695 MB so you can burn each piece on CD conveniently.


partimage -V 695 save /dev/sda1 backup01.pim

You'll be shown a number of options as seen below so you can tweak some settings. For example, if you want your computer to automatically power off after partimage finishes backup, check the Halt option. Press F5 to continue.


partimage save partition to image file options

Next, you will be given an option to enter description of the backup.


Partition Description

If the partition you're backing up is an NTFS partition (as most Windows partitions are), you'll be given the warning "The current NTFS support is experimental !". You can safely ignore it for now.


NTFS support is experimental

Next, you'll be shown NTFS information about the backup partition.


partimage NTFS information

After that, partimage will start backing up as per instruction. A handful progress window will appear with the time remaining and progress in percentage.


partimage save partition to image file backup progress

Restoring Partitions with Partimage


When something goes wrong with your computer, you can restore your hard disk partitions with the backup you've made with Partimage. First, make sure that you have a partition whose size is exactly the same as the partition the backup is made from. You can compare the current partition table with the contents of hdptbl01.txt file we've made earlier.

To restore the partition /dev/sda1 from a series of backup files starting with backup01.pim.000, open a console and type the following command:


partimage restore /dev/sda1 backup01.pim.000

Partimage restore partition from image file

Checking the Integrity of Partimage Backups


If you want to check partimage backups for integrity, specify the simulate option either on the command line or in the dialog, for example:


partimage --simulate restore /dev/sda1 backup01.pim.000


Related Posts


Saturday, December 27, 2008

Hacking WPA/WPA2 with Backtrack 3

WPA is an encryption scheme designed to secure the wireless network of your home or office from intruders and eavesdroppers. It is reportedly safer than WEP. There have been numerous attempts to break WEP and WPA encryption with mixed results. This tutorial discusses currently available techniques for testing the wireless network security. Be aware that breaking into your neighbor's network without permission is wrong.



What You Need


To test security of wireless networks, you can use the live CD Linux distribution called Backtrack. You can download its latest ISO image from Remote-Exploit.org and burn it with any CD burner program like InfraRecorder or CDBurnerXP. Alternatively, you can try the SliTaz Aircrack-NG distribution which is lighter and simpler than Backtrack.


Here's a list of what you need to crack WPA/WPA2:




Reboot your computer with a Backtrack CD and you'll be presented with the KDE environment.



Surveying Wireless Networks with Kismet


Launch Konsole which is located right next to the KDE Start menu. Open /usr/local/etc/kismet.conf in a text editor and edit the source= line to include your wireless device. For example, for Broadcom 43xx based card, put source=bcm43xx,eth1,bcm43xx. Refer to Kismet documentation section 12. Save kismet.conf and start kismet.


Once kismet starts detecting wireless networks around, press s and P to sort the network list by packet counts in descending order. Press Up or Down key to move to the target network and press i for network information or c for client list. Write down such information as:



  • ESSID (wireless network name)
  • BSSID (MAC address of access point)
  • channel of wireless network
  • MAC address of clients

Press x to close popup windows and Q to exit Kismet.

Brute-Force Dictionary Attack



This is the classic brute-force attack.


airmon-ng stop wlan0

airmon-ng start wlan0

The commands above put your wireless device in monitor mode. The monitor mode is the mode whereby your wireless card can listen to wireless traffic passively. Replace wlan0 with your wireless device name, such as eth1. Type iwconfig to make sure your card is in monitor mode.


airodump-ng -w test wlan0

Skip the step above if you used Kismet as in the previous section. Here airodump-ng is used to survey the wi-fi networks. Press Ctrl+C to stop airodump-ng. Copy BSSID (MAC address) of the target network.


airodump-ng -w logfile -c 3 --bssid A0:B1:C2:D3:E4:F5 wlan0

Sniff and log the target network (specified with --bssid option) on the specified channel (-c option) to the specified log file (-w option). Wait until WPA Handshake message appears on the screen. Then, stop airodump-ng by pressing Ctrl+C.


Optionally, if you see a client connected to the target network but no authentication handshake, then you can deauthenticate the client by running the following example command in a separate terminal:



aireplay-ng -0 5 -a 00:14:6C:7E:40:80 -c 00:0F:B5:FD:FB:C2 wlan0


where -a option specifies the access point and -c option specifies the client to deauthenticate. Hopefully, the command above will trick the client to renegotiate a 4-way authentication handshake with the access point. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until a handshake message shows up on airodump-ng outpout.

zcat /pentest/password/pico/cowpatty/final-wordlist.txt.gz > /tmp/wordlist.txt

aircrack-ng -a 2 -w /tmp/wordlist.txt logfile*.cap


Begin a brute-force dictionary attack using the saved log file(s) and the specified dictionary (-w option). Aircrack-ng will try every word in the dictionary until the correct passphrase is found. It may take hours or several days depending on the size of dictionary and the speed of your CPU to try every word in the dictionary. However, if the passphrase is not found in the dictionary or made up of random alphanumeric characters, then you are out of luck and just wasting your time. In this case, the dictionary attack won't be any good.



Finding a Good Dictionary


You need a good dictionary to crack WPA. Backtract 3 CD has wordlist files at the following locations:


/usr/local/john-1.7.2/password.lst

/pentest/fuzzers/spike/src/password.lst

/pentest/fuzzers/spike/src/wordlist

/pentest/password/pico/cowpatty/final-wordlist.txt.gz

/pentest/wireless/aircrack-ng/test/password.lst

/pentest/wireless/eapmd5pass/sample-wordlist.txt

/opt/windows-binaries/wordlist.txt.gz

Also, aircrack FAQ page has an extensive list of places where you can download good wordlists from. In addition, I found a good wordlist called 9-final-wordlist.zip here.



Further Readings


Friday, December 26, 2008

SMPlayer, the Ultimate Movie Player



There are a good number of programs that allow you to play DVD's and movie files. For me, SMPlayer is a powerful movie player. SMPlayer is in fact just a GUI frontend for MPlayer. I prefer compiling MPlayer by myself and use it with SMPlayer. However, compiling MPlayer may be a daunting task for most people, so I recommend a SMPlayer installer containing precompiled MPlayer binary. I'll write about how to compile MPlayer some day.



*UPDATE* I finally wrote tutorials on compiling MPlayer for Windows. If you're not afraid of compiling programs from sources, read the following posts:




  1. Installing MinGW and Code::Blocks on Windows
  2. Preparing for MPlayer Compilation
  3. To Compile MPlayer for Windows


Setting up SMPlayer


Assuming that you've compiled MPlayer by youself, download the SMPlayer package without MPlayer. The filename is something like smplayer-0.6.6_without_mplayer.7z. Unpack it using 7zip, Tugzip or Peazip, for example, at "C:\Program Files\smplayer-0.6.6". Create a shortcut to smplayer.exe on your desktop and double-click it. When SMPlayer shows up, select Preferences from the Options menu. In the Paths area of the General section, specify the location of your MPlayer executable. Quit and restart SMPlayer. Open Preferences again and choose the Video tab. Select directx (fast) as the video driver. Click the Audio tab and select dsound as the output driver. Click OK. Test SMPlayer by playing a movie.

Box Office Results of Movies 2008

The numbers are final for the 2008 Yearly Box Office Results. Here are the final rankings:



  1. The Dark Knight
  2. Iron Man
  3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  4. Hancock
  5. WALL-E
  6. Kung Fu Panda
  7. Twilight
  8. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
  9. Quantum of Solace
  10. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!
  11. Sex and the City
  12. Mamma Mia!
  13. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
  14. The Incredible Hulk
  15. Wanted
  16. Get Smart
  17. Four Chrismases
  18. Marley and Me
  19. Tropic Thunder
  20. Bolt
  21. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
  22. Journey to the Center of the Earth
  23. Eagle Eye
  24. Step Brothers
  25. You Don't Mess with the Zohan
  26. 10,000 B.C.
  27. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
  28. High School Musical 3: Senior Year
  29. Bedtime Stories
  30. Pineapple Express
  31. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  32. Yes Man
  33. 21
  34. What Happens in Vegas
  35. Jumper
  36. Cloverfield
  37. 27 Dresses
  38. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
  39. The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
  40. Vantage Point
  41. The Spiderwick Chronicles
  42. Fool's Gold
  43. Role Models
  44. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
  45. Valkyrie
  46. The Happening
  47. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  48. Seven Pounds
  49. Baby Mama
  50. Burn After Reading
  51. Step Up 2 the Streets
  52. Saw V
  53. The Strangers
  54. The Forbidden Kingdom
  55. The House Bunny
  56. Nim's Island
  57. Australia
  58. Made of Honor
  59. College Road Trip
  60. The Tale of Despereaux
  61. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
  62. Speed Racer
  63. Prom Night (2008)
  64. Rambo
  65. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
  66. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
  67. Nights in Rodanthe
  68. Max Payne
  69. Righteous Kill
  70. Body of Lies
  71. Lakeview Terrace
  72. Meet the Spartans
  73. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
  74. First Sunday
  75. The Secret Life of Bees
  76. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys
  77. Death Race
  78. Changeling
  79. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
  80. Semi-Pro
  81. Fireproof
  82. Drillbit Taylor
  83. Definitely, Maybe
  84. The Love Guru
  85. Transporter 3
  86. Quarantine
  87. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
  88. The Eye
  89. Leatherheads
  90. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
  91. Mirrors
  92. Slumdog Millionaire
  93. Space Chimps
  94. The Bank Job
  95. Untraceable
  96. The Women (2008)
  97. One Missed Call
  98. The Other Boleyn Girl
  99. Street Kings
  100. Shutter

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Time for New Year's Resolution

The year 2008 is winding up. It's time to reflect on the last year and make a new year's resolution. The year 2008 has been a very tumultuous one both in the societal aspect and the personal aspect. However, it is said that a crisis can become an opportunity. Indeed, it is when we feel the most urgency that we embark on the most critical mission of our life.

I have about a week to think about the next year's plan. I have just a few thoughts:



  1. Get fit. A man's true strength lies in the brawn.
  2. Make money. Money is a measure of power in the modern.
  3. Master a foreign language, preferably Russian. Among my favorite languages, I believe Russian will be the next tongue of influences.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Fix Fonts in Vista Lite

Arial, Tahoma and Times New Roman are not displayed correctly when a CD edition of Windows Vista Home Premium is installed on your computer. To fix this problem, follow the following steps:



  1. Click the Start button to open the Start menu.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter. Registry Editor will appear on your screen.
  3. In the left pane, expand the registry tree to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes.
  4. In the right pane, remove Arial, Microsoft Sans Serif, MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24, MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24, Small Fonts, Tahoma and Times New Roman by selecting each one and pressing the Delete key. A dialog will pop up and ask you "Deleting certain registry values could cause system instability. Are you sure you want to permanently delete this value?" Answer Yes.
  5. Double-click Helv and replace its value with Arial.
  6. Double-click MS Sans Serif and replace its value with Microsoft Sans Serif.
  7. Replace the value of MS Serif, Times and Tms Rmn with Times New Roman.


Related Posts


Sunday, December 21, 2008

Applying an Fade-Out Effect to MP3 Using Audacity

When you download MP3's from the Internet, you occasionally get music files that have abrupt ending. These files occur because of incomplete downloads or CD's that have a track fading into another. In this case, you can use Audacity to fix the problematic music file. The following steps show how to apply an fade-out effect to such MP3 files that have abrupt ending.

Open the File menu and select Open... to open the audio file you want to work on. Audacity will display a popup window showing the progress of converting an MP3 to a wave file.

Once the conversion is done, click Zoom In multiple times until the units are in seconds. Select about 3 seconds at the end of the file.

Open the Effect menu and select Fade Out. Test the modified sound by clicking the Play button.

Save it back to an MP3 file. Open the File menu and select Export as MP3.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Audacity Installation

Audacity is a multi-platform audio editor. You can use Audacity to edit MP3's and add sound effects such as fade-out to your music files. To install Audacity on Windows, download Audacity installer. You also need lame_enc.dll to edit and save MP3 files. If you have installed Winamp, lame_enc.dll is located in Winamp Plugins (C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins) folder.

Friday, December 19, 2008

iAUDIO U5: My Next MP3 Player to Buy

MP3 players are getting ubiquitous these days. One of the best MP3 player brands is COWON. Its products simply reflect the best in design and craftsmanship. The sound quality and sound effects featured in its products are far superior to other competitor's. I already own iAUDIO U3 2GB and know how good it is by experience.

I am in search of the next MP3 player to buy. Certainly, it's not going to be an iPod. iPod can't play MP3's, AFAIK. I chose to buy a product by COWON because COWON's products are full of functions not found in others. Of COWON's portable media player, I found iAUDIO U5 to be most attractive.



Monday, December 15, 2008

How to install ndiswrapper on Linux

Question


Can someone break it down step by step and tell me how to install ndiswrapper on Linux?

I just can't focus enough to understand what they're telling me to do. Can someone tell me how to do it step by step?



My Answer


1. The Linux kernel must have ndiswrapper support.
You can type "/sbin/modinfo ndiswrapper" to check whether kernel has
ndiswrapper module. If not, install a new kernel with ndiswrapper
support. Most decent Linux distros come with ndiswrapper support.
Otherwise, you have to compile a kernel yourself.

If you're going to compile ndiswrapper yourself, download the latest 2.6 kernel from http://www.kernel.org and ndiswrapper from ndiswrapper sourceforge site. Instruction for compiling and installing kernel and ndiswrapper is included in the tarballs.

2. If you have the ndiswrapper module, chances are you also have the
ndiswrapper tools. If running "ndiswrapper -l" displays "command not
found", install ndiswrapper-utils package in Debian or something
similar in other distros. If you compiled ndiswrapper yourself,
ndiswrapper support binaries are built at the same time.

3. Check if your wireless card or USB dongle is supported by ndiswrapper at http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/jooml...
It's helpful to know your wireless device ID. If it's PCI, type "lspci
-nn" and look for numbers like 14E4:4312. If it's USB, lsusb will show
your device ID. Look for your device matching your device ID in the
Wiki. The wiki may also have helpful hints and links to download driver
files. Searching for "14E4:4312 ndiswrapper" at Yahoo! Search for example may give you helpful results.

4. Download and extract Windows driver for your Wireless gadget. If
you're lucky, ndiswrapper Wiki above has links to download Windows
driver. If not, get your driver CD that came with your gadget. If not,
mount your Windows partition and copy the files from
/Windows/System32/Drivers, /Windows/Inf, or
/Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileReposi... You typically need one .INF
file, one or more .SYS files for your device. You can use unzip,
cabextract or unshield to extract drivers from .EXE or .CAB files.

5. Once you extracted and have .INF, .SYS files ready, run "ndiswrapper
-i *.inf" against the INF file. This will copy the driver under
/etc/ndiswrapper folder.

6. Type "ndiswrapper -l" to make sure the driver is correctly installed.

zd1211u : driver installed

device (0ACE:1211) present (alternate driver: zd1211rw)


7. Now it's almost done. Run "modprobe ndiswrapper". iwconfig will
hopefully show your device as wlan0 or similar. Use iwconfig and
ifconfig to manually set up your device for wireless connection. There
may be GUI tools to automatically set up wireless networking for you.
For example:



iwconfig wlan0 key c9f8747de2f73d16816b3f828b restricted

iwconfig wlan0 essid linksys

ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.253 up

route add default gw 192.168.1.1



8. This is optional. In Debian, you can add ndiswrapper into
/etc/modules file to have ndiswrapper automatically loaded at boot time.


Source(s):


http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/jooml...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Installing Hangul 2007

Hangul 2007 is a fine word processor developed by the Korean software company, Haansoft. It still claims a large user base in the Korean market.


If your Windows is in English locale, don't install the Hangul 2007 companion templates CD because the additional Korean fonts and Chinese/Japanese dictionaries won't be working correctly on English versions of Windows.

This key is known to work with Hangul 2007 installation.



Hangul 2007 installs the following fonts:



  • ahn_b.ttf
  • ahn_l.ttf
  • ahn_m.ttf
  • FZSong_Super.TTF
  • HBATANG.TTF
  • HDOTUM.TTF
  • HYBDAL.TTF
  • HYBDAM.TTF
  • HYBSRB.TTF
  • HYCYSM.TTF
  • HYDNKB.TTF
  • HYDNKM.TTF
  • HYGPRM.TTF
  • HYGSRB.TTF
  • HYGTRE.TTF
  • HYHWPEQ.TTF
  • HYKANB.TTF
  • HYKANM.TTF
  • HYMJRE.TTF
  • HYMPRL.TTF
  • HYNAMB.TTF
  • HYNAML.TTF
  • HYNAMM.TTF
  • HYPORM.TTF
  • HYSANB.TTF
  • HYSNRL.TTF
  • HYSUPB.TTF
  • HYSUPM.TTF
  • HYTBRB.TTF
  • HYWULB.TTF
  • HYWULM.TTF
  • UNI_HSR.TTF


Hangul companion CD installs the following fonts:



  • Along.ttf
  • Art.ttf
  • Easop.ttf
  • Gaesung.ttf
  • Sol.ttf


Related Posts


Saturday, December 13, 2008

Additional Fonts For Windows

After installing a CD edition of Windows Vista, some fonts necessary for displaying international scripts are missing from the default installation. In order to correctly display foreign characters, the following fonts need to be installed.



  • Aegean.otf

    Covers Basic Latin, Greek and Coptic, Greek Extended, some Punctuation and other Symbols, Linear B Syllabary, Linear B Ideograms, Aegean Numbers, Ancient Greek Numbers, Ancient Symbols, Phaistos Disc, Lycian, Carian, Old Italic, Ugaritic, Old Persian, Cypriot Syllabary, Phoenician, Lydian, Archaic Greek Musical Notation.
  • TagDoc93.ttf for the Tagalog script which had been used in the ancient Philippines
  • cerg_chi.ttf

    Contains both traditional and simplified Chinese ideographs
  • damase_v.2.ttf

    Covers Armenian, Cherokee, Coptic (Bohairic subset), Cypriot Syllabary, Cyrillic (Russian and other Slavic languages), Deseret, Georgian (Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri but no Mkhedruli), Glagolitic, Gothic, Greek (including Coptic characters), Hebrew, Latin, Limbu, Linear B (partial coverage of ideograms and syllabary), Old Italic, Old Persian cuneiform, Osmanya, Phoenician, Shavian, Syloti Nagri (no conjuncts), Tai Le (no combining tone marks), Thaana, Tifinagh, Ugaritic, and Vietnamese.
  • dilyan.ttf for Glagolitic and Cyrillic (Old Church Slavonic) alphabets.
  • hapaxber.ttf for the Tifinagh script which is used to write Berber languages in North Africa.
  • ipagp.ttf to display the Japanese language.
  • malgun.ttf and malgunbd.ttf to display the Korean language.
  • mm3.ttf for the Burmese/Myanmar script.
  • newathu.ttf

    Covers English and Western European languages, polytonic Greek, Coptic, Old Italic, and Demotic Egyptian transliteration, as well as metrical symbols and other characters used by classical scholars.
  • tagbanwa.ttf for the Tagbanwa script which had been used in the ancient Philippines.
  • taileval.ttf for the Tai Le script.


OpenOffice.org 3.0 installs the DejaVu and Open Symbols fonts.

To see a list of fonts installed by Microsoft Office 2007, go here.

Related Posts


My Next Project: Assembling a USB Hard Drive

I need a huge storage device to store all my software and digital media. I shopped around for a USB hard drive. At CostCo, I found Maxtor OneTouch 750GB external hard drive for $99.99 which I think is a great deal. However, I found a bunch of bad reviews for this product. It seems that a lot of buyers found this product broken after using it for some time. Sorry, but it happens.

So I decided it's a better idea to assemble a USB Hard Drive for myself. The first thing I need to buy is an hard drive enclosure. I found a few:



The next thing to buy is a SATA hard drive, hopefully 1 or 1.5 TB one. The question is the price. Hopefully, I'll find a deal when there's a holiday sale.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Business Law Contents


Business Law



  1. Part One: Introduction to the Law and the Legal Environment of Business

    1. Critical Thinking and Legal Reasoning
    2. Introduction to Law and the Legal Environment of Business
    3. The American Legal System
    4. Alternative Tools of Dispute Resolution
    5. Constitutional Principals
    6. Cyberlaw and Business
    7. White-Collar Crime and the Business Community
    8. Ethics, Social Responsibility, and the Business Manager
    9. The International Legal Environment of Business

  2. Part Two: Private Law and the Legal Environment of Business

    1. The Law of Contracts and Sales I
    2. The Law of Contracts and Sales II
    3. The Law of Torts
    4. Product and Service Liability Law
    5. Law of Property: Real, Personal, and Intellectual
    6. Agency Law
    7. Law and Business Associations

  3. Part Three: Public Law and the Legal Environment of Business

    1. The Law of Administrative Agencies
    2. The Employment Relationship
    3. Laws Governing Labor; Management Relations
    4. Employment Discrimination
    5. Environmental Law
    6. Rules Governing the Issuance and Trading of Securities
    7. Antitrust Laws
    8. Laws of Debtor-Creditor Relations and Consumer Protection




  • Appendix A: The Constitution of the United States
  • Appendix B: Uniform Commercial Code (2000 Official Text), Article 2

Over-Blog

I signed up with Over-Blog. So far, I like the service. Its interface is clean and user-friendly. Its composition page features user-friendly WYSIWYG interface. Over-Blog allows you to write non-chronological pages and newsletters as well as blog posts. And, it allows you to save pictures and documents right on your blog. Well, it'll take some time for me to get used to Over-Blog. I'll post more as I learn more about Over-Blog.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Windows Vista Home Premium Lite CD

You want to try Windows Vista but you can't try it because your computer doesn't have a DVD drive. In this case, you can download a CD edition of Windows Vista with eMule or aMule. Burn the ISO file with InfraRecorder, CDBurnerXP or any other cd-burning tool. It takes less space to install and runs slightly quicker than a DVD version.

Compared to the full DVD edition, the CD edition lacks some major features. For example, it doesn't have many drivers so you'll hassle with driver installation from the start. It also lack international language support, Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery Viewer among other things. Yet, all this lack of functions makes Vista leaner and faster.

There's one critical flaw with this edition whereby you can't rename a folder. No fix or workaround has been found yet.

Once you've installed Vista, you can activate Windows Vista with Vista Loader

Related Posts


Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Free Blog Services

There are many services on the Web that offer free blogs. Blogger is the most popular blogging service in the world. According to Alexa, popular blog services among the top 500 global sites include:



  1. Blogger
  2. WordPress
  3. LiveJournal
  4. Xanga
  5. OverBlog

Some social networks also provide blogging service, but they are not included here.

The Art of Internet Search

The Internet has brought us vast amount of information at our fingertips. However, finding information on the Internet can be tricky sometimes. Luckily, various search engines help us find what we want. The most popular search engine is Google. Yahoo! Search is equally capable as Google. The following is a list of search engines in the order of popularity in U.S.




  1. Google
  2. Yahoo! Search
  3. Microsoft Live Search
  4. Ask
  5. AOL Search


There are also social bookmarking sites that allow you to share and search bookmarks. The following is a list of popular social bookmarking sites.



  1. Del.icio.us
  2. StumbleUpon
  3. Furl
  4. Ma.gnolia
  5. Yahoo! MyWeb


Social news sites allow you to share news stories and interesting articles. They allow you to see which news and blogs are popular everyday.



  1. Yahoo! Buzz
  2. Digg
  3. reddit.com
  4. FARK
  5. Newsvine
  6. Current
  7. Mixx

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Demand for ERP professionals rising

Many big corporations use an ERP system to manage their business. ERP, short for enterprise resource planning, is computer software that manages nearly every aspect of a manufacturing or merchandising business. ERP covers everything from order fulfillment, manufacturing, supply chain management, warehouse management, accounting, billing, human resources, to customer resource management. Proficiency in ERP imply being knowledgeable in overall flow of the entire enterprise. Therefore, nowadays new top-level corporate managers are often required to have proficiency in an ERP system. In fact, some MBA courses require you to take an ERP course such as SAP.

At the core of an ERP system is an enterprise-level database. Several companies compete for the ERP software market, namely SAP and Oracle. Being the software that controls fortune 500 companies, it's hard to get your hands on a copy of ERP. But, fortunately there are open-source ERP software, such as Compiere and Adempiere.

A modern business requires computerized information system to manage the business. Small businesses can do well with Microsoft Office and Quickbooks. But when the business expands and grows bigger, it needs an integrated information system such as ERP. Well, if you are interested in building integrated IT system for your business, you might as well get started with ERP such as Adempiere.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Wal-Mart Thrives On Bad Economy

It's Black Friday, and, as usual, people rushed to Wal-mart since the early morning to grab bargains on Black Friday sale. It's really amazing to see the crowd at Wal-mart. To the contrary, other stores are seeing few customers.

Wal-mart may be providing local people with el cheapo goods, but it doesn't do any good for local businesses who suffer a lot from the bad economy. Well, there's not much legal protection for small local retailers against big-box stores.

Of course, who wouldn't like buying stuffs at a bargain price? Holiday shopping season is just beginning and it's all about sales. People would expect nearly every store to have a holiday sale. But we are in the midst of credit crunch and both consumers and small businesses are low in cash and have hard time getting loans. In this crisis, only those with deep pockets will do well. It is a pity to see local bussinesses hurt in this bad economy while Wal-mart thrives.


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Usages of Accounting

Accounting is the information system that measures business activity, processes the data into reports, and communicates the results to decision makers. Accountants produce financial statements to report on a business in monetary terms. Financial statements help decision makers answer financial questions such as whether a business is profitable, or whether a business should expand.


Decision Makers: The Users of Accounting Information


Individuals use accounting information to manage bank accounts, evaluate a new job, and decide whether they can afford a new car.

Business owners use accounting information to set financial goals, evaluate progress toward those goals and take corrective action if necessary.

Investors use accounting information to measure profitability of a business and decide whether to invest in it. They analyze the financial statements and keep up with the company. For financial information on public companies, go to the Internet sites such as finance.yahoo.com, www.hoovers.com (click on Companies), and the SEC's EDGAR database.

Creditors such as banks evaluate income statement and other financial statements of the debtor before lending money.

Local, state, and federal governments levy taxes. Income tax is figured using accounting information. Sales tax depends upon a company's sales.

Financial Accounting and Management Accounting


Accounting can be divided into financial accounting and management accounting. Financial accounting provides financial statements for outside investors and lenders who are not part of company management. Management accounting focuses on information for internal decision making by the company's managers.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Importance of Attachment in Child-Parent Relationship and Child Behavior

Kazakh mother and baby

Developing a warm, responsive, reciprocal relationship between children and caregivers is considered as a goal in and of itself, and is deemed important to emotional development of children. An important aspect of studying the relationship between children and their caregivers is the attachment security of children. Various studies were conducted on many sample groups of child-mother dyads to address many questions regarding attachment theories. Some studies take longitudinal approach to find the relation of early child attachment to emotionally congruent dialog (Oppenheim, Koren-Karie, & Sagi-Schwartz, 2007) or child social behavior (Burgess, Marshall, Rubin, & Fox, 2003). Other studies take concurrent approach to study attachment security and temperament of children in different groups such as divorced families and intact families (Nair and Murray, 2005). Some researchers like Berlin and Cassidy (2001) research the adult attachment theory and suggest its implications in psychotherapeutic applications dealing with family relationship problems. These studies are briefly reviewed and analyzed as follows.


A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the relations between attachment of infants at 12 months and their capacity to engage in dialogs discussing various emotional themes with their mother at age 4.5 and 7.5 (Oppenheim, Koren-Karie, & Sagi-Schwartz, 2007). In this study, two tests were given to a diverse sample group of mother-child dyads consisting of securely attached children, insecure-ambivalent children, and insecure-disorganized children. One of the two tests was Autobiographical Emotional Event Dialog (AEED) test in which each mother-child dyad talked about past events evoking four feelings: happiness, sadness, anger and fear. The other test given to the sample group was Separation-Reunion Narrative Co-Construction (SRNCC) test in which each dyad talked about the child’s past emotional experience involving separation and reunion with the parents.


Statistical analyses of the study found attachment in infancy to be a significant predictor of emotionally congruent dialogs (Oppenheim, Koren-Karie, & Sagi-Schwartz, 2007). Children securely attached at infancy would, consistently throughout childhood, display the capability to coherently construct stable, emotional dialogs and also conclude dialogs involving negative emotions in a positive way. The study also showed that securely attached children scored higher in vocabulary tests than insecurely attached children and delivered fluent and balanced conversation.

This study (Oppenheim, et al, 2007) suggests that securely attached children who were consistently given prompt and appropriate responses to their needs from their caregiver in infancy will freely explore their emotional world, knowing and trusting their caregiver as their secure base. In contrast, insecurely attached children often have difficulty expressing their emotions and resolving their negative emotions.

Another longitudinal study was conducted to find relations among child attachment at 14 months, behavioral inhibition at 24 months, and social behaviors with unfamiliar peers at the age of 4 years (Burgess, Marshall, Rubin, & Fox, 2003). Behavioral inhibition was observed and measured by bringing a child to an unfamiliar playroom, and then having the child encounter new toys, a stranger, an inflated tunnel (through which the child was encouraged to crawl), and a clown in that sequence.

Children with insecure-avoidant attachment tend to have uninhibited behavior (Burgess, et al, 2003). Behaviorally uninhibited children show little fear of novelty and readily approach unfamiliar peers. They are likely to grow up to become extrovert, outgoing and sociable when their temperament is balanced. However, when their temperament is left dysregulated, uninhibited children with avoidant attachment in infancy tend to show frustration, anger or even aggression toward situations beyond their control.

Statistical analyses (ANOVA) of Colorado Child Temperament Inventory test and Child Behavior Checklists given to parents of the study sample revealed that avoidant children had higher aggression scores, and that low-inhibition children had higher activity and lower withdrawal scores (Burgess, Marshall, Rubin, & Fox, 2003).

In contrast, children with secure or ambivalent attachment tend to have inhibited behavior in the face of novelty (Burgess, et al, 2003). In a novel situation, behaviorally inhibited children display more reticent behaviors among unfamiliar peers.

On the other hand, Nair and Murray (2005) found that authoritative parenting style made significant contribution to attachment security in preschool children. Authoritative parenting style may be analogous to warm, responsive, and cooperative parenting style that nurtures security in children.

Nair and Murray (2005) recruited 58 dyads of children and mothers from preschools to survey the difference between intact families and divorced families in attachment security of children. Although children in divorced families had lower attachment security scores than those in intact families, divorce is not found to be a cause of insecurity in children, but it is rather stress, depression, spousal conflict, and lack of social support after the divorce that may result in less optimal parenting style toward children, thus resulting in attachment insecurity in children.

The study (Nair & Murray, 2005) also found that children in divorced families had difficult temperament, compared to counterparts in intact families. Children with difficult temperament tend to have irregular eating and sleeping routines, withdraw from new experiences, adapt slowly to changes, and have intense reactions of a negative nature.

Understanding parents’ internal working model of attachment is also considered critical in enhancing early parent-child relationships (Berlin & Cassidy, 2001). Internal working model refers to an individual's expectation of how others are trustworthy and supportive of one's needs, and how one is worthy of kind treatment and likely to receive care when needed. According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment, a parent’s internal working model of attachment plays a critical role in socioemotional development of children.

The primary measure of internal working model of attachment is measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) in which the interviewee is asked to tell early childhood experiences and their impact on current relationships. Adult attachment has been found to have direct link with attachment security of children. It has been hypothesized that adult attachment would influence parenting behavior, consequently shaping child attachment toward parents and child behaviors (Berlin & Cassidy, 2001).

As children grow up, meet new people and explore new environment, they have emotional needs to turn to their parents in times of distress and uncertainty. When children’s needs for security and comfort are met, parents become both a safe haven (to which children return for comfort in times of distress) and a secure base (from which children set out to explore new world) for children. In this reciprocal relationship between parents and children, adult attachment influences and shapes attachment security and behaviors of children (Berlin & Cassidy, 2001).

Adult attachments are theoretically classified into 4 attachment styles: secure adult attachment, insecure/dismissing adult attachment, insecure/preoccupied adult attachment, and insecure/unresolved adult attachment. This adult attachment theory has provided new ways for psychotherapists to analyze and address parent-child relationship issues (Berlin & Cassidy, 2001).

Securely attached parents value close relationships with their children. They acknowledge a child's needs and consistently meet the needs of children to seek comfort and closeness. They encourage children to explore new environment.

Insecure/dismissing parents avoid or minimize attachment from children and often reject children's needs to seek empathy, comfort and closeness. They overly encourage their children's exploration, competence, and independence. They may also be strict disciplinarian. Children with dismissing parents tend to become overwhelmed by their parent's demand for strength and independence. They may display avoidant behaviors. They may feel emotionally insecure and show aggression toward peers.

In contrast, insecure/preoccupied parents want to maximize attachment from their children in order to fill the void left by past relationships. Preoccupied parents treat their children as immature, demanding and dependent. They often maintain restless, tense and emotional interaction with their children. Their interactions with children encourage children's dependency and discourage children's autonomy and independent exploration.

On the other hand, insecure/unresolved parents show helplessness toward their children and assume weak parental role. They typically have past experience of a loss or trauma. They often show frightened or frightening behavior, instilling fear into their children. Unresolved parents may have role reversal with their children, letting the children take care of parents. Children of unresolved parents may be demanding and controlling.

In summary, the studies of attachment relationship between children and parents have revealed that parent-child relationship is a reciprocal one whereby interaction between children and parents enriches and nourishes psychological well-being of each other. A caregiver’s prompt and sensitive care strengthens children’s sense of security and enables children to explore both emotional world and social environment in a more positive and healthy way. In developing parent-child relationship, it is also important to understand parents’ state of adult attachment since adult attachment affects the parenting style. In addition, divorce has been found to have an indirect effect on child insecurity. However, genuine parental affection and authoritative parenting style have been found to strengthen attachment security of children and nurture child emotional development.

I am fond of children and would like to form a family and have my own children some day. Studying child attachment has broadened my understanding of child psychology and taught me the desirable ways to nurture children emotionally. I gained better insight into my attachment toward my parents and also my state of adult attachment. It is hard to classify my own attachment, but I will try to actively engage in frequent emotional conversations and interactions to improve my current and future relationships, knowing that attachment is influenced by parenting style and reciprocal interaction.

References:


Sunday, November 23, 2008

Feds In League With Fraudulent Mortgage Lenders?

Ever wondered why we still haven't seen major arrests against big mortgage lenders? In the olden days, we saw perp walks of Enron executives when federal agents dragged handcuffed executives before national media for everyone to see and to set example. However, so far, we haven't seen such arrests except for individual small-town mortgage lenders.

Don't expect a scapegoat for the financial crisis because there'll be no arrest against big corporate lenders. In case you didn't know, the feds were encouraging subprime lending. Well, some call it subprime lending. Others call it mortgage frauds. William Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and a former federal regulator says:


Making a loan knowingly with misrepresentations is illegal, and not revealing it in your public reports is securities fraud, and selling it to other parties without telling them about the fact that the loans will never be repaid, that's fraud.

As early as 2004, the FBI knew of fraud incidence of 50% at major subprime lenders like IndyMac and Countrywide. But, the FBI made a strategic alliance with the Mortgage Bankers Association instead of going for prosecution.

Well, facing criticism, the feds are going after the wrong guys like Mark Cuban.


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Government Report Predicts 20 Years Ahead

Well, I feel silly to write about this, but if you ever thought 9/11 was even a self-inflicted fabricated conspiracy, why not read a 120-page report by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) predicting the next 20 years? It may stimulate your brain further into paranoia. I am sure it'll be as interesting as reading George Orwell's 1984.

Remember, the key things to note when you read this kind of government report are:


  1. Read between the lines. Look for hidden clues and implications in the passages.
  2. What does the government want the public to believe?
  3. What would be the best policies of the government based on the report's predictions?
  4. What are the real intentions behind this work?
  5. Government reports can be inaccurate and misleading like the preceding reports.

With the advent of supercomputers, advanced pseudosciences and high-end predictable statistics, it may be within our human capabilities to compute the possibilities of future events with reasonable accuracy, given the current variables of economic and political data.

Some of the predictions made by the report are:


  • New multipolar world with the rise of Russia, Brazil, China and India.
  • Economic power will switch from the West to the East.
  • Scarcity of resources, especially energy, food and water will far surpass the demand of ever increasing global population.
  • Potential conflicts in the Middle East due to political instability.

Related readings:


Layoff at Stillwater Mining Co., Montana

As the nation heads deeper into recession, layoffs are seen more frequently. Layoffs at big companies such as Boeing and Circuit City are given good coverage in newspapers, but layoffs at smaller, local ones are not given much attention from national media. However, layoffs at local companies affect both the local economy and livelihood of common people, and deserve equal concerns as given to big companies.

As seen in the enclosed news clip, hundreds of people are laid off by Stillwater Mining Co., based in Montana. Most people affected are miners who don't have high education nor specialized skills. One of them is Dan Buckley who left a well-paying construction job in Washington and came home to live with his fiancée. Unfortunately, he was only four hours short of being off probation.

Some laid-off miners are worried about health insurance and retirement as Jess Larson is. Larson is also a union member of United Steelworkers Union Local 11-0001. The union will hold a talk with the company about the job cuts and restructuring plans. In the meantime, terminated workers have to find another job to make the ends meet at the cost of giving up seniority, multiple weeks of vacation and up to $4,000 in attendance bonus, as well as taking a pay cut. Still, there are jobs offers at a railroad project at the Signal Peak Energy coal mine and Nevada gold mines for miners terminated by Stillwater. State officials and University faculties also offer them help such as unemployment benefits and college courses.

The problems faced by terminated workers are compounded by seasonal unemployment in industries like residential and highway construction. As slow season for these industries are well under way, more people will come and use Montana Job Services for unemployment insurance, job searches and networking.

As the country enters deeper into recession and the economy meltdown continues, we will see more stories like these in our neighborhood. As the state, university, and local community help each other to relieve problems associated with layoffs, people out of jobs will find help getting through the bad economy.

Friday, November 21, 2008

OpenOffice.org Writer: Setting Up Pages with Different Column Layouts

OpenOffice.org stores information about column layouts in page styles. Thus, to set up different column layouts for different pages, you should assign different page styles to different sections of your document and apply column layouts to the appropriate section. The following steps show you how to do this:


  1. Insert a page break. Open Insert menu and select Manual Break. In the Insert Break dialog, select Page Break. Click OK.
  2. Move to the page that you want to change the column layout of. Press F11 to bring up Styles and Formatting diaglog.
  3. In the Styles and Formatting dialog, click Page Styles icon. Right-click Default style and click New... in the context menu.
  4. Type a new name in the Name box. Click Column tab and make desirable changes to the column layout. Click OK.
  5. Double-click on the new page style you just created to apply the new page style to the current page.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Attachment Security in Divorced Families

Nair and Murray (2005) found that authoritative parenting style made significant contribution to attachment security in preschool children. Authoritative parenting style may be analogous to warm, responsive, and cooperative parenting style that nurtures security in children.

Nair and Murray recruited 58 dyads of children and mothers from preschools to survey the difference between intact families and divorced families in attachment security of children. Although children in divorced families had lower attachment security scores than those in intact families, divorce is not found to be a cause of insecurity in children, but rather stress, depression, spousal conflict and lack of social support after the divorce may result in less optimal parenting style toward children, thus resulting in attachment insecurity in children.

Mothers from divorced families were found to be younger, have lower annual income, and less education level than mothers from intact families. Also, divorced mothers have more stress from daily hassles, are more likely to be depressed, in need of social support, and experience more conflicts with their former spouse, compared to mothers from intact families. However, according to regression analyses, maternal demographic and psychological variables did not have relation with the measure of attachment security in children.

The study also found that children in divorced families had difficult temperament, compared to counterparts in intact families. Children with difficult temperament tend to have irregular eating and sleeping routines, withdraw from new experiences, adapt slowly to changes, and have intense reactions
of a negative nature.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Adult Attachment in Parent-Child Relationship

Understanding parents' internal working model of attachment is considered critical in enhancing early parent-child relationships (Berlin & Cassidy, 2001). Internal working model refers to an individual's expectation of how others are trustworthy and supportive of one's needs, and how one is worthy of kind treatment and likely to receive care when needed. According to Bowlby's theory of attachment, a parent's internal working model of attachment plays a critical role in socioemotional development of children.

The primary measure of internal working model of attachment is measured by the adult attachment interview (AAI) in which the interviewee is asked to tell early childhood experiences and their impact on current relationships. Adult attachment has been found to have direct link with attachment security of children. It has been hypothesized that adult attachment will influence parenting behavior, consequently shaping child attachment toward parents and child behaviors.

As children grow up, meet new people and explore new environment, they have emotional needs to turn to their parents in times of distress and uncertainty. When children's needs for security and comfort are met, parents become both a safe haven (to which children return for comfort in times of distress) and a secure base (from which children set out to explore new world) for children. In this reciprocal relationship between parents and children, adult attachment influences and shapes attachment security and behaviors of children.

Adult attachments are theoretically classified into 4 attachment styles: secure adult attachment, insecure/dismissing adult attachment, insecure/preoccupied adult attachment, and insecure/unresolved adult attachment. This adult attachment theory has provided new ways for psychotherapists to analyze and address parent-child relationship issues.

Securely attached parents value close relationships with their children. They acknowledge a child's needs and consistently meet the needs of children to seek comfort and closeness. They encourage children to explore new environment.

Insecure/dismissing parents avoid or minimize attachment from children and often reject children's needs to seek empathy, comfort and closeness. They overly encourage their children's exploration, competence, and independence. They may also be strict disciplinarian. Children with dismissing parents tend to become overwhelmed by their parent's demand for strength and independence. They may display avoidant behaviors. They may feel emotionally insecure and show aggression toward peers.

Insecure/preoccupied parents want to maximize attachment from their children in order to fill the void left by past relationships. Preoccupied parents treat their children as immature, demanding and dependent. They often maintain restless, tense and emotional interaction with their children. Their interactions with children encourage children's dependency and discourage children's autonomy and independent exploration.

Insecure/unresolved parents show helplessness toward their children and assume weak parental role. They typically have past experience of a loss or trauma. They often show frightened or frightening behavior, instilling fear into their children. Unresolved parents may have role reversal with their children, letting the children take care of parents. Children of unresolved parents may be demanding and controlling.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Child Attachment and Temperament

A longitudinal study was conducted to find relations among child attachment at 14 months, behavioral inhibition at 24 months, and social behaviors with unfamiliar peers at the age of 4 years (Burgess, Marshall, Rubin, & Fox, 2003). Behavioral inhibition was observed and measured by bringing a child to an unfamiliar playroom, and then having the child encounter new toys, a stranger, an inflated tunnel, and a clown in a sequence.

Children with insecure-avoidant attachment tend to have uninhibited behavior. Behaviorally uninhibited children show little fear of novelty and readily approach unfamiliar peers. They are likely to grow up to become extrovert, outgoing and sociable when their temperament is balanced. However, when their temperament is left dysregulated, uninhibited children with avoidant attachment in infancy tend to show frustration, anger or even aggression toward situations beyond their control.

The study also found that avoidant children often have lower heart rate and decreased cardiac arousal. This finding suggests that parenting style based on detachment and indifference may influence the development of an underaroused physiological profile.

In contrast, children with secure or ambivalent attachment tend to have inhibited behavior in the face of novelty (Burgess, Marshall, Rubin, & Fox, 2003). In a novel situation, behaviorally inhibited children display more reticent behaviors among unfamiliar peers.

Statistical analyses (ANOVA) of Colorado Child Temperament Inventory test and Child Behavior Checklists given to parents of the study sample revealed that avoidant children had higher aggression scores, and that low-inhibition children had higher activity and lower withdrawal scores (Burgess, Marshall, Rubin, & Fox, 2003).

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Netbooks On The Rise

This year, we see some new trends in the computer industry. The growth of notebook sales has surpassed desktop PC sales for the first time. In the notebook segment, Macbook sales were remarkable. However, we see a new trend in the notebook market. A new breed of notebooks, called netbooks, are growing in popularity.

Indeed, Windows Vista sales have suffered from the rise of netbooks. Netbooks are typically smaller than regular laptops. They are good for surfing the Web, writing email, and chat. They are cheap, usually around $300. They run a trimmed version of Windows XP or Linux.

The first netbook I spotted was Asus Eee PC. This week at Costco, I saw an 8.9" Acer Aspire One which I think was a netbook. Anyway, I think we're going to see more netbooks around as people prefer smaller, lighter gadgets and wireless connection becomes increasingly available.




Related:


Thursday, November 6, 2008

Internationalism Entrapping the World in Economic Crisis

When the US economy goes down, why does the rest of the world have to be dragged down into its mess? The world is so intricately interdependent economically because of the capitalist propaganda that free trade based on comparative advantage benefits every country involved. Such internationalism indeed has a downside as well as its advertised advantages. If one major economic power collapses, the rest of the world goes down with it. We're witnessing this happening today. The United States which produces one fourth of the world's total output certainly has huge impact on the world economy (According to IMF data as of 2007, US GDP is $13.8 trillion whereas the world total GDP is $54.6 trillion).

Internationalism also forces countries to open up their financial market. This makes it easy for money to cross borders and brings potential risks along. Many resourceful investors in advanced countries invest heavily in developing countries. When there is a crisis, foreign investors withdraw their investment abruptly from the developing countries, critically destabilizing stock markets in the developing countries.

On the other hand, international financial organization such as IMF plays a powerful, sometimes abused role in the global economy. IMF is a world organization that regulates monetary policies between nations, assesses credit ratings of countries, and facilitates loans to developing countries. However, IMF was occasionally accused of being abused by western powers to control and manipulate the economies of weak nations to the advantage of western powers.

All things considered, internationalism or world federalism does more harm than good for individual nations in the sense that concentration of power leads to abuse and instability. The world divided into several trade blocs with controlled financial exchange is more desirable in my opinion.

In recent years, there were moves to form trade blocs around the world. If nations had been successful in forming trade blocs and containing economic activities mainly in the blocs, the current US economic crisis wouldn't have affected the global economy so seriously. Perhaps, it's time for the world to wise up.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Lobbying in the K Street

Considered as bribery elsewhere in the world, lobbying is legitimate in the United States as long as lobbyists register themselves and report the purpose and amount of lobbying. To influence legislators and policymakers, it takes huge sums of money in the range from several thousands to millions of dollars. Hence, those with most money will have most influence to sway politicians.

American politics is heavily influenced by lobbying, slanted in favor of affluent elitists. Lobbying has influenced many aspects of American legal system and policies. For example, the tax system is full of corporate loopholes and US foreign policies are in favor of defending Israel largely because of heavy lobbying by special interest groups.

To look at lobbying statistics, go to opensecrets.org.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Taken the Internet Political Quiz Yet?

If you haven't, why don't you take the World's Smallest Political Quiz? You may be surprised to see where you fit on the political map.

World's Smallest Political Quiz


Other Political Tests


Democratic Economic Platform 2008

Now that the Democrats have won the presidency and both houses, it will be easy for Democrats to implement their agenda. However, it'll be very interesting to see if the Democrats can keep all their promises as set forth in the 2008 Democratic Platform. Indeed, the proposed ideas in the Democratic Platform are so grand that only sheer ingenuity and extraordinary endeavors can achieve. Huge government spending will be used to turn around the struggling economy with astronomical national debts.



Energy



  • Issue energy rebates to American families struggling with high gas price.
  • Achieve energy independence and create jobs through developing and deploying new sustainable energy technologies
  • Promote domestic production of clean and renewable energy
  • Pay for new energy development by dedicating a portion of the revenues generated by an economy-wide cap and trade program
  • Vigorously investigate and prosecute market manipulation in oil futures


Business



  • Create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to turn around the manufacturing sector
  • Provide assistance to automakers and parts companies to encourage retooling of facilities in this country to produce advanced technology vehicles and their key components
  • Stem the loss of manufacturing jobs
  • Support the right to organize unions and strengthen collective bargaining rights of workers. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
  • Raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation.
  • Exempt all start-up companies from capital gains taxes and provide them a tax credit for health insurance


health care



  • Provide to all American citizens universal health care that's affordable and comprehensive


retirement savings



  • Automatically enroll every worker in a workplace pension plan that can be carried from job to job. Match savings for working families who need the help.
  • Create automatic workplace pensions. People can add to their pension, or can opt out at any time; the savings account will be easily transferred between jobs; and people can control it themselves if they become self-employed


Infrastructure



  • Replenish the highway trust fund, invest in road and bridge maintenance and fund new, fast-tracked projects to repair schools
  • Start a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that can leverage private investment in infrastructure improvements, and create nearly two million new good jobs.
  • Modernize our power grid
  • A national transportation policy, including high-speed rail and light rail


Technology



  • Build a world-class communications infrastructure
  • Implement a national broadband strategy to ensure every American has access to highspeed broadband
  • Establish a Chief Technology Officer for the nation, to ensure we use technology to enhance the functioning, transparency, and expertise of government


Media



  • Encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation’s spectrum


Taxation



  • Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit
  • Shut down the corporate loopholes and tax havens and use the money so that we can
    provide an immediate middle-class tax cut that will offer relief to workers and their families
  • Eliminate federal income taxes for millions of retirees making less than $50,000, because all seniors deserve to live out their lives with dignity and respect
  • Don't raise taxes on people making less than $250,000


Housing



  • Reform bankruptcy laws to restore balance between lender and homeowner rights
  • Crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders and invest in financial literacy
  • Pass a Homebuyers Bill of Rights to protect homebuyers
  • Ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies
  • Crack down on predatory lenders and make it easier for low-income families to buy homes


Trade



  • Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement
  • End tax breaks for companies that ship American jobs overseas

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Economic Proposals of McCain and Obama

Yahoo! Finance wrote a nice article comparing key economic proposals from McCain and Obama. The following is some of the economic proposals from McCain and Obama:







McCainObama


  • Slow growth in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending.
  • Eliminate funds for pet projects, known as earmarks.
  • Help pay for tax cuts by creating new jobs in the clean energy sector and developing new automotive technologies, which in turn will boost economic growth.
  • Tax withdrawals of up to $50,000 from IRAs and 401(k)s at 10% in 2008 and 2009.
  • Reduce capital gains tax to 7.5% from 15% for two years.
  • Buy bad mortgages and renegotiate loan terms based on current value of home. Convert failing mortgages into low-interest, FHA-insured loans.
  • Increase capital requirements on financial institutions.
  • Increase transparency of complex financial instruments.
  • Wants to clarify and unify regulatory authority of financial institutions, including the mortgage insurers.
  • Spur economy and job growth by cutting corporate tax rate and temporarily lowering current rates on dividends and capital gains.
  • Require companies to automatically enroll their employees in retirement plans they offer.
  • Speed introduction of "flex-fuel vehicles" that can run on ethanol blends and gasoline.
  • Eliminate a current tax break for oil companies, but lower corporate taxes across the board.
  • Permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax, the so-called "wealth tax" that threatens the middle class.
  • Reduce corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%.




  • Help pay for new proposals by drawing down troops in Iraq war, raising taxes on high-income filers and cutting certain corporate loopholes.
  • Give temporary tax credit of $3,000 in 2009 and 2010 to companies for each new full-time employee it hires in the United States.
  • Require financial institutions participating in bailout to put a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners "acting in good faith."
  • Impose liquidity and capital requirements on investment banks.
  • Either nationalize or privatize giant mortgage companies.
  • Establish a database of censured or debarred mortgage professionals, so borrowers can easily check the credentials of lenders.
  • Raise minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011 and tie future rises to inflation.
  • Set up $60 billion infrastructure investment bank to help fund public works. Also, create a $25 billion emergency Jobs and Growth Fund to fund other infrastructure projects.
  • Give a temporary tax credit of $3,000 in 2009 and 2010 to companies for each new full-time employee it hires in the United States.
  • Require companies to automatically enroll their employees in 401(k)s or IRAs.
  • Provide a federally funded match on retirement savings for families earning below $75,000.
  • Tax oil profits and use the money to help fund $1,000 rebate checks for consumers hit by high energy costs.
  • Allow troubled homeowners to refinance to a loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
  • Create a $10 billion fund to help victims of predatory loans.
  • Provide $1,000 tax cut for working couples making less than $250,000.

Conservatism in Economic Perspective

Neoconservatism


The majority of the Republican Party today are neoconservatives who support the free market, limited welfare, and traditional cultural values, but also support a greater role of US in the international affair through strong military intervention. Their policies are based on supply-side economics and social conservatism.

Conservative Republicans believe that the society is better off with minimum intervention by the government. Conservatives support market economy and opposes high tax rates on corporations since corporations are the ones who create jobs and wealth for the society. They believe that low tax rates on corporations result in increased production and economic growth, which will in turn pass the wealth on to the working class and bring the same or more revenue for the government. This belief is known as supply-side economics.

Republicans generally oppose minimum wage increases, believing that such increases will hurt many businesses and result in job loss and inflation.

Conservatives also believe that individuals should be responsible for their own wealth and welfare without much governmental assistance. They support small government spending on unemployment benefits, health care and other welfare programs. Instead, Republicans prefer funding religious charities and other private charitable organizations to supplant government welfare spending.

Compassionate Conservatism


President Bush popularized the catch phrase compassionate conservatism since his presidential campaign to attract swing voters. Although compassionate conservatism is rather considered an empty slogan, the underlying idea of applying compassion in conservative policies may have influenced the Bush government to expand the Medicare program, give government grants to Christian charities and increase overall government spending.

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Modern Democratic Ideology in Economic Perspective

American Liberalism


Before understanding the economic agenda of the Democratic Party, it is important to first understand the political ideology of the Democratic Party. Traditionally, Democrats believe in social liberalism.


Liberalism is a political ideology that seeks to maximize individual liberty. Liberalism in the United States is known as social liberalism which should not to be confused with classic liberalism, as referred to in the rest of the world.

Social liberals believe in moral values such as empathy, compassion, trust, and cooperation. Generally, they believe that the State must provide the necessary socioeconomic support such as education and welfare for the poor and the helpless in order to achieve positive freedom and social justice. Such beliefs lead American liberals to support progressive income taxes, regulation of society, and more state enterprises. They support:



  • Government spending on education, health care, child care, and often many state enterprises.
  • National health insurance or universal health care in a variety of forms to address the rising costs of modern health insurance
  • Regulatory bodies over private enterprise in the interests of workers, consumers and fair competition.
  • Spending on social security.
  • A moderate or heavy level of taxation.
  • Decentralized decision-making.
  • Internationalism.

Centrism, The Third Way


However, as the Democratic base traditionally dominated by labor unions and working class became more diverse to include the intelligentsia and college-educated professionals, the Democratic base today includes a significant number of conservatives in addition to liberals. In recent decades, the Democratic Party has adopted a centrist economic and more socially progressive agenda.

Today, Democrats advocate more social freedoms, affirmative action, balanced budget, and mixed economy. The party believes that government should play a role in alleviating poverty and social injustice, even if such requires a larger role for government and progressive taxation.


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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

American Economy Turning Into Socialism?

If you have paid attention to the news or radio lately, you most likely heard the term socialism a lot over the last couple of weeks. You may be wondering what socialism has got to do with America. My understanding is that people are concerned with the recent intervention by the US government seen by many as socialist measures.


The US government is planning to buy up large stakes in major banks across America. In the traditional American economic system, that was unthinkable. Yet, the economy has gotten so bad that the government has no choice but to take drastic measures.


In socialism, the ruling regime takes ownerships of core capital infrastructure of the economy. The banking system is vital to the economy and can be regarded as economic infrastructure. If the US government takes over major financial institutions, would it be the end of American capitalism? Apparently, the US economy is already disintegrating.


In fact, many economy professors would happily tell you that the American economic system is not perfect capitalism, but indeed a hybrid system of capitalism and socialism. In the current crisis, it may seem that the US economy is shifting toward socialism.



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Friday, October 24, 2008

Investment Tips: Weathering the Financial Crisis

Washington Post has a good discussion section where you can find enlightening discussions on various topics and read helpful advices from experts. I found an interesting business discussion in which Tim Hanson of The Motley Fool answered investment questions dealing with the financial crisis. Some of the key points are as follows:



  1. The stock market is a crazy and irrational place that fluctuates violently according to news and rumors. However, in the long term, stocks are much more predictable. If you focus on diversification, smart allocation, and companies with strong brands, balance sheets, and good management teams, you can be a successful long-term investor. Good companies will attain to their intrinsic/fundamental values over the long term.


  2. In times of financial instability, do some asset reallocation. Move your funds from small cap funds to large cap funds or bonds.


  3. If you are relatively young, it's okay to invest more in stocks. But if you are nearing retirement, invest in high cap stocks or bonds.


    If you're more than 10 years from retirement, you want to be 80% to 90% in stocks. If you're 3 to 10 years from retirement, you want to be 60% to 70% in stocks. And if you're nearing or in retirement, you want to be about 50% in stocks and 50% in principal-protecting bonds and treasuries.


  4. When the market crash causes every stock value to plummet, it creates opportunities for long-term investors to buy normally high stocks at a bargain and diversify their portfolio. Also diversify your investment outside the US. Foreign stocks in China, Brazil, India, Europe and the like provide good value/growth opportunities.


  5. Use dollar-cost averaging technique for investments such as Roth IRA. You can get more bang for your buck as the market drops. Make sure you invest in chunks that are big enough to keep transaction costs to less than 1% or 2% of your investment.


  6. Generally speaking, if you own an index fund, that's going to be so broadly diversified that owners have no reason to panic. They're generally low-cost, broadly diversified, and offer returns that most well-paid active mutual fund managers can't beat.


Check out the full read: The Financial Crisis And You: Impact on Your Investments

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