Judge orders Paris Hilton back to jail

See Paris Hilton Sex Scandal Out of Control

Hours after Paris Hilton was sent home under house arrest Thursday, the judge who put her in jail for violating her reckless-driving probation ordered her into court to determine whether she should be put back behind bars.

D eputy city attorney, David Bozanich, who declared, “This is a simple case. There was a court order. The Sheriff’s Department chose to violate that order. There is no ambiguity.”

Hilton’s twisted jailhouse saga began Sept. 7, when she failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a street in her Mercedes-Benz on what she said was a late-night hamburger run.

She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines. In the months that followed she was stopped twice while driving on a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer’s courtroom.

Back before Sauer on Friday, Hilton’s entire body trembled as the final pitch was made for her further incarceration. She clutched a ball of tissue and tears ran down her face.

Seconds later, the judge announced his decision: “The defendant is remanded to county jail to serve the remainder of her 45-day sentence. This order is forthwith.”

Hilton screamed.

Eight deputies immediately ordered all spectators out of the courtroom. Hilton’s mother, Kathy, threw her arms around her husband, Rick, and sobbed uncontrollably.

Deputies escorted Hilton out of the room, holding each of her arms as she looked back.

Paris Hilton Sex Scandal Out of Control

The Big Mac index

The Big Mac Index is an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and provides a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. As stated in the Economist, it "seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible".

The Economist's Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), according to which exchange rates should adjust to equalise the price of a basket of goods and services around the world. Our basket is a burger: a McDonald’s Big Mac.

The table below shows by how much, in Big Mac PPP terms, selected currencies were over- or undervalued at the end of January. Broadly, the pattern is such as it was last spring, the previous time this table was compiled (see article). The most overvalued currency is the Icelandic krona: the exchange rate that would equalise the price of an Icelandic Big Mac with an American one is 158 kronur to the dollar; the actual rate is 68.4, making the krona 131% too dear. The most undervalued currency is the Chinese yuan, at 56% below its PPP rate; several other Asian currencies also appear to be 40-50% undervalued.

The index is supposed to give a guide to the direction in which currencies should, in theory, head in the long run. It is only a rough guide, because its price reflects non-tradable elements—such as rent and labour. For that reason, it is probably least rough when comparing countries at roughly the same stage of development. Perhaps the most telling numbers in this table are therefore those for the Japanese yen, which is 28% undervalued against the dollar, and the euro, which is 19% overvalued. Hence European finance ministers’ beef with the low level of the yen.



For example, suppose the price of a Big Mac is $2.50 in the United States and £2.00 in the United Kingdom; thus, the PPP rate is 2.50/2.00 = 1.25. If, in fact, the US dollar buys £0.50 (or £1 = $2.01), then it is under-valued (1.25 < style="font-weight: bold;">Deductions
6:44 PM 2/20/2007

Measuring Income between countries

The Economist's Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), according to which exchange rates should adjust to equalise the price of a basket of goods and services around the world. Our basket is a burger: a McDonald’s Big Mac.

1000 South Korean won = 1.64 SGD
1 Malaysian ringgits = 0.44 SGD
1 Australian Dollars = 1.19 SGD

Big Mac Singapore Sin$3.60
Big mac South Korea Sin$4.75
Big Mac Malaysia Sin$2.41
Big mac Australia Sin$4.092843

Malaysia to Singapore Ratio

2.41
/ 3.6
= 0.669444444444444
* 100
= 66.9444444444444

67%

Therfore income of e.g. Sin$3000 should in purchasing power parity for a person be getting in Malaysia an income of
4 579.89954 Malaysian ringgits (Sin$2010)


South Korea to Singapore Ratio
------
4.75
/ 3.6
= 1.31944444444444
* 100
= 131.944444444444

132%

Therefore income of e.g. Sin$3000 should in PPP for a person be getting in South Korea an income of 2.41836676 million South Korean won(3 960 Singapore dollars)

Australia to Singapore
------
4.09
/ 3.6
= 1.13611111111111
* 100
= 113.611111111111

114%

Therefore income of e.g. Sin#3000 should inPPP for a person be getting Australia an income of 2 842.4835 Australian dollars(3 420 Singapore dollars)

10 things you didn't know about the currency markets

Deutsche Bank unveils 10 things you didn't know about the currency markets

# Since 1980 investing in FX carry trades has delivered the same returns as equities, but with less than two-thirds of the volatility. ('Currencies: Portfolio Saviour", June 2007),/li>

# Turnover in the Canadian Dollar is eight times that of the Chinese Renminbi. (BIS Survey, 2007)


# Japanese FX margin traders are most active between 10pm - 1am (Tokyo Time). (Mini-Blueprint for 2007 Q4, Sep 07)


# The share of allocated central bank reserves in US Dollars was larger in 2006 than in 1996. (IMF Cofer)


# The New Zealand Dollar is the third most undervalued currency in G10 using the OECD's measure of purchasing-power parity (PPP).


# Technical analysts or chartists are more present in large fund management companies than small ones. ("Technical analysis in Foreign Exchange - The Workhouse Gains Further Ground", Gehrig and Menkhoff, 2003)


# "Macroeconomic models of exchange rates perform poorly at frequencies higher than one year. Indeed, the explanatory power of these models is essentially zero." (Meese and Rogoff 1983, "Currency Fluctuations in the post-Bretton Woods Era", Meese 1990)


# Switzerland is home to more currency turnover than either Singapore or Japan. (BIS Survey 2007)


# EUR/JPY has risen on a total return basis every year this decade.


# "Carry trade" has been mentioned in 376 web-based news articles so far in 2007, compared to 1,900 in 2006. (Google)

Aaron Wall on SEO Tracking Software

Aaron Wall, the Author of SEO Book, talked with WebProNews about SEO tracking software. He gives special insights to several free or inexpensive SEO tracking software programs that he recommends. Wall says the software needs to have a way to track items such as analytics, page rankings, back links, and the number of indexed pages. He also offers advice on which tools to use.

Helpful Programs Include:
* Google Analytics
* Mint Site Tracking Software
* Digital Point Forums
* SEO for Firefox
* Compete.com
* SEO Digger

Building Links Like an Expert

Are you trying to increase your traffic to your site? Or are you looking for simple techniques to gain more links? WebProNews talked with holistic link developer and content publicity strategist, Eric Ward from EricWard.com as well as blogger Brandon Hopkins about technique’s and tips to use when trying to increase your inbound linking