The City has posted a useful address search to help find your polling place, here.
Dane County residents can find their polling place here.
The State Elections Board has a useful page of links around the state here.
Early Voting
I voted early – Monday. There was a short line at the city clerk’s office. No ID checks (I don’t think this is required in WI, but it’s easy to see how this could be a real problem). I do applaud the City’s decision to extend the clerk’s office hours, BUT it should be consistently open into the evening, rather than just tonight…. Megan Costello WSJ Editorial (this link will likely not work shortly)
Nearly half of Americans are Going Online for Political News
Latest Pew Internet Life Study:
Nearly half of Americans online have used the web to get information about the upcoming US presidential election.
That is double the number who used the net during the 2000 campaign according to research group, the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Americans are increasingly going online for political news and commentary, its report found.
It suggests that the web is playing a positive role in democratic debate on a wide range of issues.
Hardly a surprise. The internet provides vastly deeper and more accessible information than traditional tv, radio and print media types. I’ve posted some candidate information here. Visit Wisconsinvote.org for additional data.
Senate Stock Trading – or Why they outperform the rest of us…
A study suggests that U.S. senators possess stock-picking skills that even the most seasoned money manager would envy. During the boom years of the 1990s, senators’ stock picks beat the market by 12 percentage points a year on average, according to the study. Corporate insiders, meanwhile, beat the market by about six percentage points a year, while U.S. households underperformed the market by 1.4 percentage points a year on average, according to separate studies. The final details of the study will be published in the December issue of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
The study’s authors, relying on financial-disclosure forms from 1993 to 1998, looked at about 6,000 common-stock transactions of about a third of the senators each year. The researchers then mimicked the senators’ transactions, buying the stocks the senators bought and selling the shares they sold. Over a six-year period, that “superportfolio” essentially beat the market by about one percentage point a month, or 12 percentage points a year.
…….
Looking at the timing of cumulative returns, the senators also appeared to know exactly when to buy or sell their holdings. Senators would buy stocks just before the shares suddenly would outperform the market by more than 25%. Conversely, senators would sell stocks that had been beating the market by about 25% for the past year just when the shares would fall back in line with the market’s performance.
Amar Bose Interview
Amar Bose, founder and chairman of the Bose Corporation, is interviewed by Brad Lemley in the October Discover Magazine:
?Research in this country is going down . . . The quickest way to save your bottom line is to cut research?
Verizon is starting to install fiber to the home
Still lagging Japan & Korea (price & performanc), Verizon is starting to offer fiber internet access to the home. Speeds range from 5MB to 30MB down and 2 to 5MB up (the difference makes no sense, it should be identical). Once again, Wisconsin lags significantly behind…
$3500 Designer Cats
Allerca lifestyle pets announces he world’s first hypoallergenic cats:
… we expect the birth of these first special kittens in early 2007.
The cat allergen is a potent protein secreted by the cat?s skin and salivary glands. Removal of the allergen will not harm the cats in any way. The resulting hypoallergenic cats will improve the health and quality of life for millions of cat-allergy sufferers.
Investing: A chat with Vanguard’s Gus Sauter
Q: What is your favorite part of the stock market today?
Sauter: I think you should have some international investments. I think we are going to see foreign economies start to pick up. International funds have risks that U.S. investments don’t have. I wouldn’t throw caution to the wind. I would use them as a diversifier. I would include emerging markets.
Q: If you could buy only one fund, what would it be?
Sauter: Vanguard Total Stock Market Index.
For first-time investors who want one complete investment, we’ve got our Balanced Index fund, which is 60 percent Total Stock Market Index and 40 percent Total Bond Market Index.
Japanese/American Hybrid Cars
Robert Collier continues his three part series, Energy and America’s Future; with an article on hybrid cars. He also discusses Detroit’s lagging position in this market (with implications for its manufacturing base).
Sinucleanse
Thinking about sinus relief?
I’ve been (happily) using Madison based Sinucleanse for several months. The process seems rather strange, at first, but the results have been excellent. I no longer take any prescription allergy medications! Check it out (they have a very nicely done video that explains the process).
Well worth checking out.