Debian Etch, which is the current release, has the Bacula 2.x packages. I needed to upgrade to the Bacula 3.x packages, which are located in debian/testing, also known as the forthcoming Debian Squeeze release. In addition, since PostgreSQL 8.3 is packaged in Etch, and PostgreSQL 8.4 is packaged in Squeeze/testing, a database migration is also required. Continue reading "Migrating Bacula 2.x on Debian Etch to 3.x on..." »
Friday, January 29. 2010
Migrating Bacula 2.x on Debian Etch to 3.x on Squeeze
Sunday, January 17. 2010
Option Trading Scenarios
Most option trading books discuss the mechanics and mathematics of option trading. Rarely do they offer up any sort of in-the-trenches useful guidelines for doing what when and how. Some recent reading has enlightened me on some useful option trading scenarios.
The first one provides the dual mechanism of obtaining income and optionally paying for protection on an underlying which is already in one's portfolio. The process involves selling a kind of straddle: selling an out of the money call and an out of the money put. For example, with TSL, as of Friday's close, is at $49.50. The Feb 55 Call is at $1.75 and the Feb 48 Put is at $3.25. Selling this results in $5.00 premium. If TSL stays within the range of $48 and $55 till Feb 19, the full premium is kept. If the price goes above $55, the underlying will probably be exercised to result in a $5.50 profit, which is the premium plus the amount the underlying goes to get to the strike price. If the price goes below $48, the Put will go into the money, most likely causing it to be exercised, and you'll end up buying the underlying at the Put strike price, which may be a good thing if you are expecting the price to rebound. On the protection side, the premium earned on the put and call sale could be use to purchase twice the number of puts at the next out-of-the money price, which in this case would be Feb 45 Put. This provides protection on the original underlying plus the shares gained when the buyer exercised the puts.
Another strategy requires maintenance of no underlying. For a stock that you think will go up due to some upcoming good news, such as an earnings announcement, one could sell an out of the money put and use the funds to buy and out of the money call. By careful selection of put and call strikes, the money gained by selling the put may fully cover the price of buying the call. The downside of this is if the price of the underlying goes below the put strike price. You may end up owning the underlying in this case, but at least it was obtained at a lower price.
They Who Have The Money
Sometime this last week, someone made the observation of the fact that there was a 'hidden buyer' buying a large amount of treasuries during the weekly US Treasury auctions. There was speculation it might be the Chinese operating through private proxy parties.
The US government has a problem with all the money they are spending. Some one has to loan it to them. Hence the regular treasury auctions.
A couple figures came to mind. I believe I recall seeing that the Chinese have over one trillion US dollars due to trade imbalance between the US and China. Another figure has to do do with the fact that the US government has added over a trillion dollars to their defict through recent spending.
If you put those two numbers together, and tie them together with the 'hidden buyer' observation, perhaps it could be said that the Chinese are converting their US dollar currency holdings into US Treasury holdings. That way, not only have they made money through their exports, but they make additional revenue through the yields on the treasuries purchased.
Short Interest, Solar, Lithium
Many commenters have been discussing Peak Oil, with Peak Oil being the fact that we've found all the easy supplies of oil, most of which has been pumped, and that our supplies, regardless of type, are dwindling... the peak has come and gone. To be more specific, the supply of oil, of which we only have a finite supply, is decreasing, while world demand for oil is increasing. The first day of Economics 100 teaches us the supply / demand curve and the effect on pricing. Oil prices can only go up, and up until the last dropped is supplied and consumed. Continue reading "Short Interest, Solar, Lithium" »
Thursday, January 14. 2010
Definition of a Banana Republic
In a missive from Contrarian Profits newsletter today, they drew nice intimated an interesting parallel between a Banana Republic and a certain relatively large, very well known country. The recipe for a Banana Republic, as described by Justice Litle, Editorial Director, Taipan Publishing Group.
Wikipedia defines "Banana Republic" as a pejorative term for a country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g. bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique.
Ingredients:
- out-of-control printing presses
- currency restrictions and controls
- strangling regulation and red tape
- aggressive nationalization of private assets
- extravagant social programs (bribing the poor)
- deeply corrupt financial structures (bribing the connected)
- crushing pressures on small business (extorting the middle class)
Directions:
- Combine fervent promises of "hope," "change" and "revolution" in demagogue crockpot. Bring mixture to a slow rolling boil.
- As mixture firms, stir in aggressive spending plans and "revolutionary" public adjustments. Sprinkle liberally with insider connections and oligarchic financial loopholes to maintain smooth consistency. Let simmer for a full election cycle on low-heat propaganda flame.
- Pour filling into flaky self-righteous crust. Top with blatant corruption, repressed scandal and outright nationalization. Bake in fiscal suicide oven until inflation thermometer registers 30%+ and insider cronies are sufficiently enriched.*
*As with a delicate souffle, the middle class must not experience complete collapse during this phase. If this happens, you have inadvertently followed the recipe for a coup.
Tuesday, January 12. 2010
Creating a Cold Standby FreeBSD Machine
I have a FreeBSD machine for which I don't have original installation files, thus rebuilding the machine and reinstalling software from the ground up on new hardware could be a problem. Continue reading "Creating a Cold Standby FreeBSD Machine" »