Friday, May 9, 2014

Jim Kelly Makes Video For Fans

Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly made a short video for his fans last week,which was posted to Facebook.The Buffalo Bills legend was halfway through his treatment regimen for oral cancer that had recurred following surgery last June.His wife Jill said it was a stretch for Jim to make the video,but he wanted to thank everyone for their support.
Jim asked for their continued prayers because he still needs them.Without the prayers,he couldn't make it through his ordeal.As of last week,he had been through 19 radiation treatments and two rounds of chemotherapy for the spreading squamous cell carcinoma.His eyes were alert and his voice sounded fairly strong,although his speech was slightly slurred.
Jim's been following the NFL draft very closely and watched it with his family tonight.He correctly predicted that the Buffalo Bills would trade up and select Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
Jim's former teammate Thurman Thomas has been visiting him regularly now he is at home in Buffalo being treated on an outpatient basis since Easter.Thomas said Jim is doing much better than when he was in a New York City hospital.Still,there are bad days along with the good,and the challenge is by no means over.This blog intends to stay on the case and keep the support rolling.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Tuesday Tidbits:Spider-Man;ISM Report;U-2 Spy Plane

This is the housing sell season,said CNBC host Jim Cramer.There's no inventory.Prices are being bid up,I know in the tristate area.It's too hot.*
I like 2:45 for a stock market rally.A great rally takes place at 2:45 and runs till 3:15.That's the sort of rally you want to trust.*
Though topping the May 2-4 box office,Sony Pictures' The Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn't do quite as well at bragging rights over its opening as Disney's Captain America:The Winter Soldier did in its April debut.Spider-Man,starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone,brought in 92 million dollars,while Captain America had earned 95 million.It's all Disney right now,the popular analyst Jim Cramer pointed out.
About 40% of the year's box office is made over the summer cinema season,which begins the first weekend in May.*
The Institute for Supply Management's April service sector report came in stronger than expected at 55.2.Over 50 indicates expansion.There was a big jump in new orders from 53.4 to 58.2.Employment in the sector held basically steady at 51.3,versus March's 51.6 reading.Inventory backlog fell,while traffic and sales were up due to a break in the weather.*
A U-2 spy plane on a mission over the Los Angeles Basin overwhelmed the region's primary air traffic control center,the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center in Palmdale last Wednesday,causing up to 500 delays for a one hour period at LAX Airport,the FAA said.The secret aircraft apparently had to input a lot of waypoints,confusing the system that safely spaces airline flights.The U-2 was actually flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet,far above the airliners.Mitigation measures were put in place and engineers are making software changes to prevent a reoccurrence of the incident.
The U-2s are known to fly out of Edwards Air Force Base,California.The US Air Force is phasing out its fleet of about 36 of the 1980s version of the Cold War era spy plane.*
Sony(SNY),Disney(DIS)

Monday, May 5, 2014

Monday Newsline:Portugal's Better;China PMI;Langer Wins

Portugal will end its three-year,78 billion euro bailout from the EU and IMF on May 17,as it says it has financial reserves for one year and no longer needs an emergency line of credit.Portugal's exports and austerity measures have strengthened the economy to this level.The country's unemployment rate is at 15.3% and its debt to GDP is 129%.*
Australian bank Westpac showed a profit increase of 8%,while ANZ Bank's profit rose 11%.Westpac said the improvement was due to loan growth and wealth management fees.*
China National Nuclear Corporation is to be publicly listed in Shanghai.The IPO aims to raise 2.6 billion dollars.CNNC is China's second largest nuclear plant operator.*
The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI came in at 48.1,the fourth straight monthly decline.Below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.Deflationary pressure is still there in China,said Yao Wei,China economist at Societe Generale.We think the economy will remain relatively weak.A hard landing for China would be 5% growth.It's all about reform at the end of the day,Ms.Wei noted.*
Most Asian markets were lower Monday on the contraction of Chinese manufacturing.US stock futures were also lower on fears that the Ukraine crisis is getting out of hand,with large demonstrations and a deadly fire in Odessa,while the price of safe haven gold rose.*
In Champions Tour golf,German Bernhard Langer won the Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands,Texas by one stroke.It was his third win at the tournament,and with it he consolidated his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.American Fred Couples took second,and Colin Montgomerie of Scotland came in third.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Selena Gomez - Slow Down (Official Video)

The Rolling Stones - Bitch (Live) - Official

The Rolling Stones - Happy - Live On Copacabana Beach

Windows XP:The OS That Will Not Die

Microsoft,facing a new round of criticism for abandoning users of the Windows XP operating system and its Internet Explorer browser in light of a recently discovered security threat,has changed its mind-at least this once.In a Thursday blog post,Microsoft's General Manager of Trustworthy Computing,Adrienne Hall,wrote that we take a huge amount of pride that,among widely used browsers,Internet Explorer is the safest in the world due to its secure development and the ability to protect customers,even in the face of cybercriminals who want to break it.This means that when we saw the first reports about this vulnerability,we said fix it,fix it fast,and fix it for all our customers.So we did.
We made this exception based on the proximity to the end of support for Windows XP.Just because this update is out now doesn't mean you should stop thinking about getting off Windows XP and moving to a newer version of Windows and the latest version of Internet Explorer,Ms.Hall added.
The threat,posed by the hacker team "Operation Clandestine Fox," was discovered last weekend by FireEye,a cybersecurity firm and Microsoft Partner.The hackers targeted the latest IE versions,IE 9-IE 11.Microsoft said it wouldn't be supplying a fix to most Windows XP users because it had ended support on April 8,but critics argued Microsoft was ethically obligated to provide a patch for the new problem as it had made a ton of money off its Windows XP customers.
The patch was rolled out Friday at 10 am and will be sent to Windows XP customers who have the automatic update feature on.An estimated 27% of the world's computers still run Windows XP,despite Microsoft's best efforts to wean them off the popular OS.Those who can afford to are paying Microsoft for extended support.
Jim Kelly update:On Tuesday April 29,Jill Kelly tweeted the following:
Week 4,Day 2 of radiation
Round 2 of Chemo...getting pumped up and ready RIGHT NOW
Jim's fans have been tweeting pictures of themselves wearing their "#12 Kelly Tough" wristbands.Support for the Buffalo Bills football legend in his struggle with head and neck cancer has never been stronger.