This election has left me feeling a wee bit hungover; no more John McCain to kick around. Or Hillary Clinton. Or Sean Hannity (Oh, wait. I can still kick him around). There are no more controversies. I can no longer make comments like: “Sarah Palin has more wardrobe issues than Janet Jackson.”  I know, it’s not even funny any more. Maybe it never was. I guess I will just have to concentrate on music, technology, alternative energy and all of the other things I am interested in. This blog is going to end up being incredibly boring. Well – I might as well get started.

☞I read in this morning’s newspapers that President-elect Obama was playing “Let’s Make a Deal with President Bush in yesterday’s White House meeting.” That really pissed me off. I was mad because it represents old-time politics: “I’ll give you this, if you give me that.” The horse trading that purportedly was taking place was President Bush was agreeing to an immediate Detroit bailout of the auto companies (which he is against) if Obama helped him get a free trade deal with Columbia through the Democratic Congress. Now, as I understand it, President Bush is furious that the details of his private chat became public because they were leaked by Obama’s aides. If all this is true, it would appear that either intentionally or inadvertently (Probably intentionally), the Obama team is trying to undermine Bush’s remaining time in office. What initially seemed like smooth transition may end up being a rocky one after all.  Watch this space.

☞Did you really think I wasn’t going to speak about politics?

☞This next item certainly falls under the category of “how-do-people-like-this-get-elected?” A Congressman from Georgia, Rep. Paul Broun, said yesterday that he fears President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship. He went on to say, “We can’t be lulled into complacency, you have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential.” This jackass was re-elected last Tuesday in a landslide. You have to read this story. Even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is calling him crazy. I have some other choice words for him. This kind of thing really pisses me off.

☞iPhone has quite a few really great apps but the best, especially if you love music, is Shazam. Here’s how Shazam works. Let’s say you are in your car listening to the radio. A new song comes on that you like but have never heard before and you want to know the name of the song and artist. You pick up your iPhone start Shazam (10 seconds) and hit the “tag” button. Within 12 more seconds of “listening” to the song, Shazam will tell you everything you need to know about the song, artist and album. If you want to buy the song on iTunes, that’s just a click away too. How cool is that? And it works everywhere, not just in your car. If you have an iPhone and love music get Shazam, for free.

☞Speaking of music, I have a new Aye Wonder song of the week for you today. The song, St James Infirmary has a fascinating history and is over 200 years old. Alternatively, the song has been known as The Whores of the City,” “The Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime,” “The Streets of Laredo,” “Dying Crapshooter’s Blues,” “The Dying Marine” among other variations. It has travelled from 18th Century Dublin to 20th Century Perth, Australia and many places in between. The St James Infirmary is generally thought to be the St James Hospital of London founded in the 11th century for leprous women. Other sites were thought to be the influence of the song. Some thought The St James of Cimmaron, New Mexico where Jesse James and his gang hung out was the influence for the song. Others knew the song as it came to be performed and adopted by the blues-men of the Mississippi Delta. New Orleans had it’s own St James Hotel that was used as a hospital in the Civil War. But none of these places were the influence. The song is all about where sinners go to be held accountable for their sins. This version is by the Triffids, an Australian group. The song was foretelling recorded just before the lead singer of the Triffids died of unknown causes in 1999.

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☞I am really getting tired from reading about the bailout of the financial institutions. Can anyone explain why we don’t know who the money went to and how much they got? What happened to transparency? George Bush and his crew cannot leave soon enough as far as I am concerned.

☞My friend Graham sends me the occasional gem from London that can be reprinted here. This is one of them. If you ever wondered how the stock market works, this may help.

Understanding Modern Day Complexities.

Once upon a time in a place overrun with monkeys, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.  The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, they became harder to catch, so the villagers stopped their effort.  The man then announced that he would now pay $20 for each one. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. But soon the supply diminished even further and they were ever harder to catch, so people started going back to their farms and forgot about monkey catching. The man increased his price to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so sparse that it was an effort to even see a monkey, much less catch one.  The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.  While the man was away the assistant told the villagers. ‘Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has bought.  I will sell them to you at $35 each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.’  The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys.  They never saw the man nor his assistant again and once again there were monkeys everywhere.

Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.

☞This week’s Aye Wonder Quote is my favorite stock market quote that isn’t AAPL.

October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February. ~Mark Twain

☞I’ll end this week’s AWT with a story I read two weeks ago. If you are pregnant or know someone who is, be sure to pass this story on. According to a recent study by University College London, light drinking during pregnancy may be good for baby boys. Who’d a thunk that? Further, boys born to mothers who drank lightly during pregnancy are better behaved and score more highly in tests at the age of three than the sons of women who abstained, according to the study. YAHOO! Well, I digress. But read the story here, it’s extemely interesting.

That, kids is that. Aye Wonder.

And if you got this far, you do too.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Time for an AWT Good News Edition
• A New Decade AWT – I Feel Better Already
• AWT is on the Record
• The Decade in Review – The AWT version
• An Old Year’s AWT. The New Decade on its Way.