Odds ‘n Sods:

The Chartist Gnome chided me in a recent e-mail, after I had mentioned that after having dropped decisively through the 80 level: “Some analysts suggest 75 or perhaps even 72 as the next support level for the US Dollar Index.” He said that I was being overly optimistic. By his calculations, “the next logical support level for the USD Index is 72 and then if that fails to hold, we can expect a step off the cliff with no support until 42.” Lest you think that this is some wild-eyed exaggeration, Jordan Roy-Byrne (editor of The Trendsman) came up with almost identical numbers. (Namely, 72 and 40 support levels.) Gulp! A USD Index level of 42 would equate to around $2.75 to buy a Euro and $4.02 to buy a British pound. As The Memsahib is fond of saying: “Good thing that there’s no inflation.”

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The next frontier for battery technology: betavoltaics: Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery 

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The folks at Ready Made Resources report that their home biodiesel production systems are now shipping. How about a cost of just 67 cents per gallon to produce biodiesel?

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RBS recommended this free e-book on the 1929 stock market crash and its aftermath: The Greatest Bull Market In History