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Happy for us this morning. Watch for camels

Netflix did it. It beat its subscriber growth targets, adding 5.3 million during the third quarter. UNH also did well financially. It’s also out of the healthcare exchanges. Someone authoritative (I hope) says Facebook is going to $200. It closed last night at $174.52.

I’m happy for us this morning — especially if you have our portfolio — the one listed in the third column on the web site. Click here.

Another credit reporting center you need to freeze.

It’s Chex Systems . The banks use Chex Systems. A kindly reader told me about them yesterday.

Their website says “Chex Systems, Inc. (ChexSystems) is a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).”

To freeze your account with them, click here. 

To freeze your accounts with the four others, click here.

Be careful with your online bank

Another threat: North Korea. Apparently it has developed powerful hacking skills and uses hacking to finance its military, the great leader’s booze, and its other needs, which we are denying it through sanctions.

Yesterday I changed by userID, my password and instituted two factor authentication on my main bank account.

The New York Times writes The World Once Laughed at North Korean Cyberpower. No More. For the full story, click here.

When you download software

+ Be careful what you download. Many download web sites will entice you to download software you don’t want. Like disk “optimization” software.”

Don’t use public WiFi

+ Don’t use public WiFi — at an airport, a Starbucks, a McDonalds or a hotel. use the Personal Hotspot on your phone. Business Insider this morning writes, “There is a ‘devastating’ security flaw in Wi-Fi, and you’re likely at risk,”

Any attacker needs to be on the same Wi-Fi network as you to target you. However, if your website uses an additional level of encryption – HTTPS – that hasn’t been compromised. If your bank uses it to secure your financial data (JPMorgan Chase uses it), then, an attacker wouldn’t be able to hack in. Be safe. Use your phone’s Personal HotSpot.

For Business Insider’s story, click here.

Watch out for your web site contractor

They charge too much. They take too long. And they feed you a story that yours “is a very complex site.”

This nonsense is to “justify” their exorbitant bills.

Web sites are not complex these days. There’s plenty of free software, e.g. WordPress, that makes making web sites easy and fast.

One key: your web site needs to be mobile friendly, i.e. look good on an iPhone.

If you employ a designer, make sure they agree on fixed price, on a deadline, with penalties and incentives. And make sure they give you your URL, your UserID and password — so you’re not held hostage. Get that information up front.

I’m dealing with one web site where management is ignorant about computers and is being fed unmitigated nonsense by their web site contractor.

Stay away from non-iron cotton shirts.

Non-iron shirts are scratchy, hot and stinky. Hence I don’t like them. They are treated with formaldehyde, which destroys their nice cotton feel and makes them feel like sandpaper. Non-iron is hot marketing.

It’s hard to buy non-non-iron cotton shirts. Here’s one link. Click here.

Miracle below the East River

You can now make cell phone calls from 100 feet below the East River in New York City. The quality on the calls is crystal clear, too.  What more could we want?Roosevelt1Roosevelt2

You thought you had skills? Watch this short video.

The obliging camel

The army base commander noticed a tethered camel.

camel

He asked captain what the camel was doing on base?

The captain commented that there were no women around and the men had their “urges.”

One day the commander also had urges, mounted the ladder and the camel.

“Is that how it’s done?” he asked the captain.

“Actually no. The men ride the camel into town where the girls are.”

HarryNewton
Harry Newton, who is still investigating bitcoin. I’m finding a financial minefield. I’m not jumping into this feet-first. Remember this:

Tulipomania

9 Comments

  1. Paul Livingston says:

    Just took a $1,000 position in the Canadian ETF as my Bitcoin and blockchain play.

    GLOBAL BLOCKCHAIN TECHNO CORP COM BLKCF: OTC Pink

    I lost my last Bitcoin with the MtGOX hack a couple years ago.

  2. Lucky says:

    Wondering how to spend your Bitcoins? Check this out…they don’t happen to mention how the exchange takes place.
    http://nypost.com/2017/10/17/pay-for-pate-and-escargot-with-bitcoin-at-this-fancy-new-restaurant/

  3. Rick Shimrack says:

    Harry, if you were around back then (were you?) I’m pretty sure you would have recommended buying tulip bulbs on your blog.

    • harrynewton says:

      I wasn’t around then. But, I was wondering. What sort of pleasure do you get from being rude?

  4. Dave T says:

    Why do you even need online banking? Or to check your balances online? I see my bank balance when I get my statement in the mail or make a deposit or withdrawal. And, I’m happy to have made over $5 million in Bitcoin. REducing my exposure slightly.

    • harrynewton says:

      Excellent idea.

    • Pmurt says:

      By the time you get your statement via snail mail your balance could be wiped out to zero…if you check it every few days you have a much better chance to correct any bad goings on. Same with credit cards…your bank will alert you via email to any and every transaction over an amount you set . You know immediately if all transactions are yours and not those of bad guys. If you report credit card fraud immediately you are not held responsible.

  5. pop says:

    harry – why not adopt your junk email account philosophy to bitcoin? instead of a new email account each year for the marketers, set up a new checking account solely to fund your coinbase account – no overdraft protection, no link to other accounts, no debit card… just an account to park money for coinbase.

    • harrynewton says:

      This is an excellent idea. If I do buy some bitcoin, this is exactly what I’ll do — and what everybody else should do also. Brilliant.