HFT – Who is Stealing Your Money

HFT – Who is Stealing Your Money

High speed trading has been a very lucrative business for the pioneer companies and other financial giants who have invested in them. ATD was one of the pioneering startups that made some significant profits without actually taking any risk. On average, ATD made less than a penny on every share it traded, but it was trading hundreds of millions of shares a day.

In layman terms what they did was to create a algorithm that could predict which way a stock was headed and be able to buy or sell it prior to hand held stock bids or slower computer programs being able to complete a trade.  So in essence they were using speed  to beat the system and apparently the stock exchanges and regulators were alright with these huge financial giants taking a piece of the pie just by hiring computer geniuses and super fast computers.  So once again the rich get richer and guess who pays, anybody else who is investing in stocks.  Sounds almost like insider trading than good investing, only there is a computer involved.

The definition of High Frequency Trading varies, depending on who you ask and if they are making a profit from it or are one of those people being exploited by it.  Basically, it’s the use of automated strategies to churn through large volumes of orders in fractions of seconds. Some firms can trade in microseconds. (Usually, these shops are trading for themselves rather than clients.  Now you could ask yourself that if this is such a risk free investment why don’t they offer it to their clients?) And High Frequency Trading isn’t just for stocks: Speed traders have made inroads in futures, fixed income, and foreign currencies.

Kevin McPartland of the Tabb Group, which compiles information on the financial industry, projected that companies would spend $2.2 billion in 2010 on trading infrastructure—the high-speed servers that process trades and the fiber-optic cables that link them in a globe-spanning network. And that was before projects were launched to connect New York and London by a new transatlantic cable and London and Tokyo by way of the Arctic Ocean, all just to cut a few hundredths of a second off the time it takes to receive data or send an order.  In the New York stock exchange Traders pay to put their servers in the same building, and to make things fair, engineers will add extra lengths of cable to equalize the runs among all the servers. Yes, we are talking about a few feet plus or minus. At nearly the speed of light.

A new microwave network, Tradeworx Inc., says the 2.3 milliseconds it will save users are worth $1,350 a day for a trader trying to profit from some price differences between S&P 500 futures in Chicago and a corresponding security in New York.  Tradeworx says its New York-to-Chicago microwave network will be up and running by the end of the year. It plans to use it to execute trades on its own books and is offering a feed of Chicago futures-market data via microwave to outsiders for $250,000 a year.

After a five year wait The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has published a long-awaited discussion paper on computerized trading, a first step to what could become new rules for a sector often blamed for market disruptions. Seeking public comment on more than 100 topics, the derivatives regulator is working closely with the industry as it looks to adapt its rulebook to new technologies such as ultrafast trading. “Traditional risk controls and safeguards that relied on human judgment and speeds must be re-evaluated in light of new market structures,” the agency said Monday.  Apparently when there big money involved the US government still moves at a snail’s pace when any ruling may affect the lobbyists and their employers.

In Canada we can expect the status quo for any kind of regulations protecting the average investor, which is nothing.  That maybe due in part to the fact that unlike any other major federation, Canada does not have a securities regulatory authority at the federal government level.  Remember back during the Enron scandal the US SEC was hitting majority of Canadian Banks with healthy multi million dollar fines and nothing was ever done in Canada itself.  Funny, even Conrad Black did his jail time in the US.  Makes you think maybe we should sub contract majority of our regulatory responsibilities to the US.  Maybe have them overlook the Senate while we are at it, it seems like our current people are totally incompetent at protecting the taxpayer from people stealing our money.

Also we have a provincial and federal government who has both shut down parliament to avoid embarrassing questions about the Senate and moving a Gas Plant, and the misappropriation and wasting of government money.

Ozone Generators Consumer Alert

Ozone Generators Consumer Alert – Buyer Beware

Thinking about hiring the services of a “Ozone Generator” contractor to clean the new home your thinking about buying or had a fire or water leak that is creating odours that you need to have removed.  Read this article before committing your finances to this un-proven method.  Most of information was obtained from US EPA site and is readily available.

Ozone generators intentionally produce the toxic gas ozone and are sold as air cleaners for commercial and residential applications. Specifically, they are advertised to deodorize, disinfect, kill or remove dangerous or irritating airborne particles in indoor environments.

Ozone is known scientifically as a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light. It differs from normal oxygen (O2) in having three atoms in its molecule (O3).

Long-term exposure to ozone has been shown to increase risk of death from respiratory illness. A study of 450,000 people living in United States cities showed a significant correlation between ozone levels and respiratory illness over the 18-year follow-up period. The study revealed that people living in cities with high ozone levels such as Houston or Los Angeles had an over 30% increased risk of dying from lung disease.

Ozone generators that are sold as air cleaners intentionally produce the gas ozone. Often the vendors of ozone generators make statements and distribute material that lead the public to believe that these devices are always safe and effective in controlling indoor air pollution. For almost a century, health professionals have refuted these claims (Sawyer, et. al 1913; Salls, 1927; Boeniger, 1995; American Lung Association, 1997; Al-Ahmady, 1997). The purpose of this document is to provide accurate information regarding the use of ozone-generating devices in indoor occupied spaces. This information is based on the most credible scientific evidence currently available.

The same chemical properties that allow high concentrations of ozone to react with organic material outside the body give it the ability to react with similar organic material that makes up the body, and potentially cause harmful health consequences. When inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs (see – “Ozone and Your Health”). Relatively low amounts can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, and, throat irritation. Ozone may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and compromise the ability of the body to fight respiratory infections. People vary widely in their susceptibility to ozone. Healthy people, as well as those with respiratory difficulty, can experience breathing problems when exposed to ozone. Exercise during exposure to ozone causes a greater amount of ozone to be inhaled, and increases the risk of harmful respiratory effects. Recovery from the harmful effects can occur following short-term exposure to low levels of ozone, but health effects may become more damaging and recovery less certain at higher levels or from longer exposures (US EPA, 1996a, 1996b).

Manufacturers and vendors of ozone devices often use misleading terms to describe ozone. Terms such as “energized oxygen” or “pure air” suggest that ozone is a healthy kind of oxygen. Ozone is a toxic gas with vastly different chemical and toxicological properties from oxygen. Several federal agencies have established health standards or recommendations to limit human exposure to ozone.

Some manufacturers or vendors suggest that ozone will render almost every chemical contaminant harmless by producing a chemical reaction whose only by-products are carbon dioxide, oxygen and water. This is misleading.

  • First, a review of scientific research shows that, for many of the chemicals commonly found in indoor environments, the reaction process with ozone may take months or years (Boeniger, 1995). For all practical purposes, ozone does not react at all with such chemicals. And contrary to specific claims by some vendors, ozone generators are not effective in removing carbon monoxide (Salls, 1927; Shaughnessy et al., 1994) or formaldehyde (Esswein and Boeniger, 1994).
  • Second, for many of the chemicals with which ozone does readily react, the reaction can form a variety of harmful or irritating by-products (Weschler et al., 1992a, 1992b, 1996; Zhang and Lioy, 1994). For example, in a laboratory experiment that mixed ozone with chemicals from new carpet, ozone reduced many of these chemicals, including those which can produce new carpet odor. However, in the process, the reaction produced a variety of aldehydes, and the total concentration of organic chemicals in the air increased rather than decreased after the introduction of ozone (Weschler, et. al., 1992b). In addition to aldehydes, ozone may also increase indoor concentrations of formic acid (Zhang and Lioy, 1994), both of which can irritate the lungs if produced in sufficient amounts. Some of the potential by-products produced by ozone’s reactions with other chemicals are themselves very reactive and capable of producing irritating and corrosive by-products (Weschler and Shields, 1996, 1997a, 1997b). Given the complexity of the chemical reactions that occur, additional research is needed to more completely understand the complex interactions of indoor chemicals in the presence of ozone.
  • Third, ozone does not remove particles (e.g., dust and pollen) from the air, including the particles that cause most allergies. However, some ozone generators are manufactured with an “ion generator” or “ionizer” in the same unit. An ionizer is a device that disperses negatively (and/or positively) charged ions into the air. These ions attach to particles in the air giving them a negative (or positive) charge so that the particles may attach to nearby surfaces such as walls or furniture, or attach to one another and settle out of the air. In recent experiments, ionizers were found to be less effective in removing particles of dust, tobacco smoke, pollen or fungal spores than either high efficiency particle filters or electrostatic precipitators. (Shaughnessy et al., 1994; Pierce, et al., 1996). However, it is apparent from other experiments that the effectiveness of particle air cleaners, including electrostatic precipitators, ion generators, or pleated filters varies widely (U.S. EPA, 1995).

There is evidence to show that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone is not effective at removing many odor-causing chemicals.

  • In an experiment designed to produce formaldehyde concentrations representative of an embalming studio, where formaldehyde is the main odor producer, ozone showed no effect in reducing formaldehyde concentration (Esswein and Boeniger, 1994). Other experiments suggest that body odor may be masked by the smell of ozone but is not removed by ozone (Witheridge and Yaglou, 1939). Ozone is not considered useful for odor removal in building ventilation systems (ASHRAE, 1989).
  • While there are few scientific studies to support the claim that ozone effectively removes odors, it is plausible that some odorous chemicals will react with ozone. For example, in some experiments, ozone appeared to react readily with certain chemicals, including some chemicals that contribute to the smell of new carpet (Weschler, 1992b; Zhang and Lioy, 1994). Ozone is also believed to react with acrolein, one of the many odorous and irritating chemicals found in secondhand tobacco smoke (US EPA, 1995).

Every time there is something that hits the market place and offers an opportunity for a quick profit with very little outlay there are a myrad of people willing to market a product whose results maybe deemed as being very questionable.  As always the Barrie Home Inspector states; “Caveat Emptor”, Buyer Beware!

St Jacobs Market Burns to Ground

Fire at St Jacobs Market

St Jacobs Market Burns to Ground.  Around 2:30 Kitchener fire fighters were called out to a fire at St Jacob’s main building.  The two storey building has been totally destroyed with fire fighters remaining on scene to control and extinguish hot spots.  There has been no cause identified for the fire and police say the Ontario Fire Marshal has been called into investigate.

Over 200 years ago St Jacobs was known as Jakobstettel or “Jacobs settlement” after Jacob C. Snyder, the Mennonite farmer who pioneered the early development of the town. Although “Jakobstettel” was changed to “St Jacobs” with the opening of the first post office in 1852, old Mennonite family names still permeate the Village.

St Jacobs Farmers Market

Although the farmers market is a huge attraction for tourists St Jacobs is also known as the birth place of the Home Hardware chain and the Leaf’s Sittler used to spend his summers there as a boy.  Darryl’s father used to work at the St Jacobs creamery.

Tourists and locals will be waiting to see how this huge part of St Jacobs history and tourist destination will be restored.

Brought to you by the Barrie Home Inspector

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

The term “search engine friendly” may be used to describe website designs, menus, content management systems, images, videos, shopping carts, and other elements that have been optimized for the purpose of search engine exposure.

Early versions of search algorithms relied on webmaster-provided information such as the keyword meta tag, or index files in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags provide a guide to each page’s content. Using meta data to index pages was found to be less than reliable, however, because the webmaster’s choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site’s actual content.

White Hat SEO refers to the “legal” types of optimization that is allowed and even recommended by the different Search Engines. Google has many tips for Webmasters to improve their visibility and page rank position. What is white hat SEO (sometimes called ethical SEO) anyway? It’s not an easy concept to explain, but it’s important to understand what it means if you’re looking to create a stable, uninterrupted online business.

Black Hat SEO black practices will actually provide short-term gains in terms of rankings, but if you are discovered utilizing these spammy techniques on your Web site, you run the risk of being penalized by search engines. Black hat SEO basically is a short-sighted solution to a long-term problem, which is creating a Web site that provides both a great user experience and all that goes with that.

Sandbox and aging delay are similar in meaning and many SEO experts use them interchangeably. Aging delay is more self-explanatory – sites are “delayed” till they come of age. Well, unlike in legislation, with search engines this age is not defined and it differs. There are cases when several sites were launched in the same day, were indexed within a week from each other but the aging delay for each of them expired in different months.

Google constantly re-configures how they rank individual sites.  SEO people call this the “Google Dance” and it does make their work harder.  The last Penquin change to Google’s algorithm has affected many sites which may change for the better or worse in the future.

Communication Growth in 20th Century

Communication Growth in 20th Century.  Communication begins for all of us when we are too young to speak but convey our messages by facial expressions.  This method is known as pre-verbal communication.

Language it the vehicle which allows people to communicated their thoughts and ideas to other people and through print to save those ideas and not only share them with their contemporaries but to pass them down to the generations to come.

The development of the electric telegraph in the 1840s and the telephone in the late 1870s made rapid long-distance communications possible. Both media began in local areas and then rapidly spread to connect large parts of the Nation and the world.

The 20th century brought the invention of  “radio” a form of wireless telegraphy which increased the mobility of communications and was used in point to point and multi-point communications.  Later with the invention of the amplifying vacuum tube the radio transatlantic communications became possible.

On the domestic front, the Radio Act of 1912 established a radio licensing regime within the Department of Commerce and required certain ships to carry radios for communications. Due to conflict between amateur radio operators and the U.S. Navy and corporations, the Radio Act further regulated private radio communications, thus setting the precedent for federal regulation of wireless communications. This act was just the first step in the many regulations that would be enacted to control the private use of communications.

The development of electronic surveillance for legitimate purposes such as intelligence and law enforcement investigation, as well as for illegitimate purposes, spurred enactment of a number of laws intended to comprehensively address such activities. Congress enacted the first federal wiretap statute as a temporary measure to prevent disclosure of domestic telephone or telegraph communications during the First World War.

The first experimental communications satellite was launched in 1962. It was the first satellite to receive, amplify, and simultaneously re-transmit signals from earth. The development of satellite communications available not only to governments but also the commercial sector and individuals led to even greater volumes of communications worldwide.

The Internet is a globally distributed network comprising many voluntarily interconnected autonomous networks. It operates without a central governing body. However, to maintain interoperability, all technical and policy aspects of the underlying core infrastructure and the principal name spaces are administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), headquartered in Marina del Rey, California. ICANN is the authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers for use on the Internet, including domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, application port numbers in the transport protocols, and many other parameters

Seniors and Strength Training

Seniors and Strength Training.  If you’re interested in feeling stronger, healthier, and more vital, this program is for you. This strength-training program was developed by experts at Tufts University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The common perception of the elderly is that they become weak and fragile due to an age induced muscle wasting. The clinical term for this condition is sarcopenia, and it has been shown to contribute to the reduction in muscle mass and strength associated with
aging. However, studies involving injury and disuse have clearly demonstrated that inactivity can also induce muscle wasting, and is a major factor in the loss of muscle mass.

A common characteristic of muscle from sedentary elderly subjects is a phenomenon called fiber type grouping. Muscles of young and middle-aged subjects contain a mix of fibers types, and therefore have a checkerboard appearance. In untrained elderly subjects clumps of muscle fibers have been observed and consist of predominantly slow twitch or type I fibers. This type of muscle fiber distribution has also been shown in patients with certain
neural diseases and it has been suggested that re-innervation is responsible for the effect.  The basic theory states that fast twitch motor neurons, which are connected to type II muscle fibers, atrophy and die by a process called apoptosis when they are not recruited over long periods of time. Therefore, extended periods of inactivity and a decrease in the recruitment of fast muscle fibers in the elderly may contribute to the apoptosis.

Your bones are alive and always changing according to the stress placed upon them. Without stress the effects of osteoporosis are accelerated with deterioration of the skeletal material.  Weight bearing activities are the key to keeping broken bones at bay. For the lower body to prevent weak ankles, hips and  pelvis. For the upper body to strengthen wrists, arms and ribs.

Warm up with ten minutes of aerobic exercise. This can be with treadmill walking or jogging, stationary bicycle, cross-trainer or stepper machines. Extend this to thirty minutes depending on requirements for fat loss. In any case, It is recommended that you perform at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise at moderate intensity three times each week for all weight trainers in order to promote aerobic fitness. It need not be done at the same time as the weights session.

If you have little experience of weight training and free weights, you may wish to start with the machine leg press instead of the squat, especially if you’re not accompanied by a trainer, helper or spotter.

The rest period between sets is variable according to your goals. For strength rather than muscle size (hypertrophy), longer rests are required – preferably about two minutes or more. For hypertrophy and elements of muscle endurance, shorter rest usually works best – around 45-90 seconds. Considering that this program is designed for a combination of strength and muscle building, you will rest for one minute if possible. Longer rests between sets are sometimes problematic in busy gyms but a longer interval than one minute is fine if that’s what you require to continue.