Grandfather Of Three Becomes The Oldest Person To Swim The English Channel

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Allsopp, wearing a pink swimming cap, trains for the big day in an interview with BBC.

At 70 years and four months, retired surgeon Roger Allsopp became the oldest person to swim the English Channel today.

Allsopp swam the Channel from Dover in northern France in 17 hours and 51 minutes, beating the previous record set in 2004 by George Brunstad, the uncle of Matt Damon.   

"I've never been one to sit on my laurels. Retirement has been wonderful but I know how important it is to keep active in mind and body to live a healthy retirement and so I set myself physical challenges to ensure that I keep as fit and healthy as I can. This record-breaking swim will hopefully raise a large proportion of the £750,000 that is needed to fund cancer research. The great thing about this money is that it will all go direct to purchasing this technology," said Allsopp (via The Independent). 

This isn't Allsopp's first time at the rodeo. The grandfather of three became the oldest Briton to swim the Channel in 2006, at the age of 65. 

Here's what the grueling 21 nautical mile swim looks like:

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July Factory Orders Rise 2.4%, Beat Expectations

July factory orders increased 2.4% in July compared to market estimates of +2%.

Last month's number was revised to -0.4%.

A majority of the growth came from civilian aircraft and auto which led to a 4% gain for durable goods last week.

New orders for manufactured goods in July, up two of the last three months, increased $10.5 billion or 2.4 percent to $453.2 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 0.4 percent June decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders
increased 0.9 percent. Shipments, up two consecutive months, increased $7.1 billion or 1.6 percent to $453.2 billion. This followed a 0.6 percent June increase.

Unfilled orders, up fifteen of the last sixteen months, increased $6.9 billion or 0.8 percent to $870.4 billion. This followed a 0.3 percent June increase. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.02, down from 6.05 in June.

Inventories, up twenty one of the last twenty two months, increased $2.9 billion or 0.5 percent to $598.0 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.4 percent June increase. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.32, down from 1.33 in June.

Expectations: A IFR survey expected 1.9% increase in factory orders for July, up from -0.8% in June.

Non-durable goods are expected to increase 0.2%. Durable goods, announced last week, increased 4.0% thanks to a big contribution from civilian airplanes and autos, with ex-transportation orders up 0.7%.

IFR notes: "August factory sentiment surveys have been weak so far, with only the Kansas City reading (+3) showing any sort of growth. Still, the real activity readings have been a bit more resilient than the surveys, so with orders growth continuing to trend upward, manufacturing may be able to dodge a significant contraction during the current soft patch.""

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Samsung Has Another New MacBook Air Clone

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Image: Samsung

We just got the specs on Samsung's latest super-thin laptop, the Series 7.

Like the Series 9, which we reviewed a few months ago, the Series 7 is designed to go head-to-head with Apple's MacBook Air. If you don't like Apple stuff, it's a great machine.

The Series 7 looks equally as impressive.

There are two models: 15-inch, and 14-inch. Both have a thin bezel, which should be great for watching video.

It makes us look forward to that rumored 15-inch model of the MacBook Air.

The price is right too. The maxed out Series 7 will cost you $1,300, but it starts as low as $999. The top of the line MacBook Air will cost you at least $1,600.

The Series 7 will go on sale October 2.

Check out the chart below for more details on specs.

Image: Samsung

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U.S. Household Incomes: A 42-Year Perspective

Doug Short is the vice president of research at Advisor Perspectives.

Earlier this year I had the privilege of speaking at the Spring Conference of the Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA). My presentation, The Retirement Puzzle in an Age of Uncertainty, featured a PowerPoint collection of about 40 slides elaborating on various aspects of the puzzle.

Yesterday's update on disposable personal incomes reminded me of some charts on household income that I prepared for the conference, ones that I'll also be discussing in my presentation at the RIIA Fall Conference in Boston coming up in early October (I hope to see some of you there).

My data source is the Census Bureau, which publishes a quintile breakdown of data from 1967 through 2009 (see Table H.3).

The pie chart here shows that the top fifth of households in 2009 took home 50% of the nation's income. The middle fifth received 15% and bottom fifth a mere 3%.

The charts below show income growth over the complete data series. In addition to the quintiles, the Census Bureau includes the mean income for the top five percent of households.

Most people think in nominal terms, so the first chart below illustrates the current dollar values across the 42-year period. (The phrase "current dollar" is econospeak for the nominal value of a dollar at the time received — not adjusted for inflation.)

The next chart adjusts for inflation in chained 2009 dollars based on the Consumer Price Index. In other words, the incomes in earlier years have been adjusted upward to the purchasing power of the most recent year in the series.

Two things are particularly striking (but not surprising) in the inflation-adjusted chart:

Income growth has been much higher for the top quintile and particularly the top 5% (the two lowest quintiles are essentially flat).The purchasing power of 2009 incomes had shrunk to about the same levels they were a decade or more before, depending on the segment.

The lack of sustained growth in household incomes is no doubt a major factor in the general decline in consumer confidence over the past decade.

For a closer inspection of the household income data, I've also prepared charts of the nominal and real percentage growth since 1967. Here is the real version.

Among the many subtle details evident in these charts, one that especially caught my attention was the fact that the bottom quintile has grown faster than the third and fourth quintiles. This curious fact is not apparent in the dollar charts above.

Also not evident in the dollar charts is the grim reality that (in real terms) households in the bottom quintile earned less in 2009 than they did in 1989 — twenty years earlier.

I'll be updating these charts when the 2010 household income report is released later in the third quarter. Meanwhile a look at the August update on real disposable personal incomes per capita from the BEA (the red line in the chart below) suggests that the Census Bureau's 2010 report won't show a significant reversal in the ongoing trend.

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Deadliest Month Ever For U.S. Troops In Afghanistan

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Talk of winding down U.S. forces in Afghanistan has done little to decrease American combat deaths in the decade long war.

According to a CNN poll, August 2011 has proven the deadliest month on record for U.S. soldiers with 66 fatalities -- nearly half of which came when insurgents took down a helicopter carrying Special Forces August 6.

The U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion in Afghanistan over the past 10 years and as troop drawdowns begin, many are saying the scheduled removal is too slow.

Senator Jeff Merkley spent three days in the war-torn country. "We are on a vast nation-building mission and every aspect of that mission is problematic," he told the Oregonian.

Merkeley says the corruption is too rampant. Only 16 percent of the police force can read and following the disappearance of $1 billion in U.S. cash we should get out as quickly as possible.

Fighting in Afghanistan has claimed 1,678 U.S. soldiers since it began in October 2001.

Track all U.S. casualties abroad at icasualties >

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Multi-Billion Dollar Plan To Scrap Street Signs Is Cancelled

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Eliminating 46 deadlines that would require communities to acquire bigger, better road signs, the Obama administration is instead allowing a reprieve.

According to The Detroit News, the 2018 deadline would have forced thousands of cities across the nation to spend money many of them don't have.

In Minnesota alone state officials estimate the switch would have cost them up to $76 million.

New York City was looking to replace 300,000 signs in a move that would've taken up to 16 years, well past the 2018 deadline.

The National Association of County Engineers says the costs could be in the billions of dollars.

Scott Assenmacher, an engineer with the Michigan Road Commission, told The Detroit News:.

"With these requirements in place, roads in Monroe County, Michigan will have... [the] brightest, shiniest, most readable and visible signs out there that read, 'Bridge Out' and 'Road Closed.'"

Instead communities will be allowed to replace roadsigns as they wear out.

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Only Eight NFL Players Have Ever Signed $100 Million Contracts: See Who Made The League's Most Exclusive Club

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