Rickety

Mostly about Utah

Archives for November 2008

YadYap Peer-to-Peer Payday Loans

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YadYap website.
YadYap, payday spelled backward (how’s that for a rickety but innovative name), is the first people-to-people lending platform specifically for the payday loan industry. YadYap is looking forward to an official launch soon. It is interesting that I should hear about YadYap (thank you Jared) so soon after I wrote that “there will be many peer to peer lending websites.”

The Inspiration for YadYap

According to their website, YadYap was inspired by three characteristics of the payday loan industry:

  1. The significant need for short term loans.
  2. The controversy over lending rates charged.
  3. The lack of borrower representation in the market.

How do Borrowers Benefit from YadYap?

  • Instant loan approvals.
  • Funds quickly deposited to their bank account.
  • Lending rates determined by the free market through a competitive auction.
  • Good repayment performance is rewarded with lower interest rates and loan fees.

How do Lenders Benefit from YadYap?

  • Provided with pre-screened loan applicants.
  • Credit / payment history is tracked resulting in a YadYap risk rating.
  • YadYap handles all documentation, fund transfers and loan administration.
  • Lenders benefit from both monetary and social returns on their capital.
  • YadYap takes the inefficiencies out of the market.

The biggest advantage of YadYap is the almost instant liquidity that comes from offering short term 2-4 week payday loans. Unlike Prosper and Lending Club, no secondary market is needed to achieve liquidity for lenders. When YadYap opens, this may prove to be a significant advantage for them. And maybe there will be a few less “Payday Loans Here” signs on main street as business migrates to the web.

Updates

5 Mar 2009 I removed my instant liquidity link to YadYap’s blog. All it returns is a WordPress message that reads:

This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service.

Not a good sign. I wonder if they need a payday loan to tide them over?

12 Mar 2009 Restored my instant liquidity link to YadYap’s blog, which has changed location and is now called [link no longer works]. Set aside money for a payday loan to YadYap through their platform once they launch.
19 Oct 2010 Yadyap launched. In this first phase, all lending will be done by YadYap LLC, their affiliates, and other institutional lenders.
25 Feb 2012 ConnectFund link no longer works, replaced all references to it with this bracketeted phrase: [link to longer works].

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Kaysville Utah South Stake Conference

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Kaysville Utah South Stake Center.

Saturday Session

My wife and I enjoy the Saturday evening session of stake conference. Last night we attended with our two sons which made it even more special. The truth be told it was one of our sons, Jake, who reminded us of the meeting, which was very timely because with my rickety memory I had forgotten about it. Those 18 and over are invited to attend and the stake president mentioned at the start of his talk that many members tell him it is their favorite meeting of stake conference. He thought that maybe it was because the children are with baby sitters. My favorite part is when President Thredgold fires up his laptop and runs through his State of the Stake presentation. This is where he projects the stake’s statistics onto the chapel wall, using it as a screen. It might be interesting for you to see these numbers and compare them to your own stake. The figures shown here are not unusual for Davis County.

The Numbers

Figures are as of the third quarter of 2008.

Total Members — 3,506. Even though we have a very large Stake Center, Stake Conference on Sunday is divided into two sessions to accommodate the large numbers that want to attend.

Sacrament Meeting Attendance — 70% average.

Ward Size — The average size of the stake’s ten wards are from 285 to 500 members. Note that the Davis Park (YSA) Ward has 175 members. President Thredgold said that the number is dropping, which is good, for it is because of a number of marriages.

Families per Ward — 110.

Youth — 600 which is 17% of the stake (12 years of age to 18).

Children — 695 which is 20% of the stake (0 years of age to 11).

Missionaries — 100. Daniel is one of these.

Seminary Enrollment — 92%.

Institute Enrollment — The largest of any stake in Davis County.

Operating Expenses — A goal for 2009 is to save enough money from operating expenses to send a member from Africa on a mission. We should be able to save enough money from cutting back on our electricity consumption to pay the $400 a month cost of the mission.

Distress, Talks, and Memories

President Thredgold went on to talk about the current distressing situation with demonstrations, retirement money gone, and a change in government. He mentioned President Packer’s talk that was circulated on blogs and that we need not be concerned about it. He finished with his memories of 2008, particularly mentioning the change in the stake relief society presidency now that Sister Staples is a member of the Relief Society General Board.

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Trading Loans on Lending Club

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Map of Lending Club fully funded loans in Utah.

Getting Ready To Trade Notes

I previously wrote about my experience with Lending Club. None of my loans have turned rickety and I have even signed up for FOLIOfn’s Note Trading Platform. Here is what Lending Club has to say about trading:

If you are a Lending Club lender and wish to sell some of your Notes, or buy Notes currently held by other lenders, you can now use the Note Trading Platform operated by FOLIOfn, member FINRA/SIPC. You will need to open an account with FOLIOfn, but you can use the funds available in your Lending Club account to buy Notes through the Trading Platform, and receive the proceeds of any sale of Notes (minus a 1% trading fee) directly into your Lending Club account. Only Notes that were issued after October 12, 2008 can be traded on the Trading Platform.

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Top Ten Open Source Applications

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Blender screenshot.
For years I labored with Microsoft Windows while my son Steven had long since adopted Linux. Now that Ubuntu has won me over, I was curious as to what Steven’s choice in open source software would be. Recently I sent him this email:

What would be your top ten open source software picks? Not including the ones that are already pre-loaded on Ubuntu.

He responded with the names of ten software applications. I list them below in alphabetical order.

Amarok

Amarok is the music player for Linux and Unix with an intuitive interface. Amarok makes playing the music you love easier than ever before — and looks good doing it. Amarok serves many functions rather than just playing music files. For example, Amarok can be used to organize a library of music into folders according to genre, artist, and album, can edit tags attached to most music formats, associate album art, attach lyrics, and automatically “score” music as it is played.

Blender

Blender is a 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems. It can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications.

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Five Missionaries, Five Flags, Five Countries

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Steven, Jake, Daniel, Paul, and Derek.

Five Flags

As you know, last week Daniel entered the MTC. Earlier that day my wife suggested that I take a photograph of all our missionaries together. No rickety young men here, all strong priesthood holders. These are my four sons and son-in-law (far right) and the flags of the countries where they served. Proceeding left to right in the photograph:

Steven
Chile Santiago North Mission, December 2001 to December 2003.

Jake
Mexico Mexico City North Mission, August 2006 to August 2008.

Daniel
Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission, Oct 2008.

Paul
California Oakland (Spanish Speaking) Mission, June 2004 to June 2006.

Derek
Guatemala Guatemala City Central Mission, July 2003 to May 2005.

Preach My Gospel

I am sure that numerous families could post a similar photograph. All these missionaries have worked hard to bring the truth to the world, making it a better place for all to live in. Now they are beginning to raise children of their own, who will in turn follow the Savior’s admonition to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28:19)

Update 24 Jan 2009

One of my commenters suggested that I have a photograph with the flags in the horizontal position as that would make a better picture. Good idea, I can do that.
Steven, Jake, Daniel, Paul, and Derek.
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Ballot Measures For Traditional Marriage

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President Barack Obama.I feel a little rickety this morning after staying up late and getting up early. Last night I was of course following the presidential polling but there was no real surprise at the result. I voted early and cast my ballot neither for Barack Obama nor John McCain. Like most of you I wish our new president well, especially as in January he will be my new boss. However I am more interested in the state ballot measures and especially those in favor of traditional marriage. Notice that all the measures passed which demonstrates a broad based support for traditional marriage. The Florida amendment 2 had to get 60% of the vote and it still passed. Here are the results from CNN of the pro-family ballot measures:

Arizona Proposition 102

Ban on Gay Marriage

This measure would amend the state constitution so that only a union between one man and one woman would be valid or recognized as a marriage in the state. A similar measure was on the ballot in 2006 but failed.

Yes 1,157,979 56%
No 900,185 44%

100% Reporting. PASSED.

Arkansas Initiative 1

Ban on Gay Couples Adopting Children

This measure would prohibit unmarried “sexual partner[s]” from adopting children or from serving as foster parents. The measure specifies that the prohibition applies to both opposite-sex as well as same-sex couples.

Yes 579,695 57%
No 437,720 43%

100% Reporting. PASSED.

California Proposition 8

Ban on Gay Marriage

This measure would amend the state constitution to specify that only marriages between one man and one woman would be recognized as valid in the state. If passed, the measure would trump a May 2008 ruling by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.

Yes
7,001,084
 52%
No 6,401,483 48%

100% Reporting. PASSED.

Florida Amendment 2

Ban on Gay Marriage

This measure would amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. In order to amend the Florida constitution, 60 percent of voters must vote in favor of the amendment.

Yes 4,755,789 62%
No 2,913,740 38%

100% Reporting. PASSED.

Update

I have been asked where Barack Obama stands on marriage. He has said on a radio program in his 2004 race for Senate:

I’m a Christian and so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman. (“Hopefuls Differ as They Reject Gay Marriage“, The New York Times October 31, 2008)

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My Work at the Department of Defense

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Terrorizing drug runners in the Caribbean.
I don’t normally write about my work but on finding some old rickety photographs over the week-end I thought you would be interested in the stories behind them. Back in 1995 drug runners were getting the upper hand. They even had navigational charts with the current locations of United States Navy and Coast Guard patrol boats. The Department of Defense decided a new approach was needed. A secret program to inject a little terror into the drug runners and disrupt their operations was begun. I was chosen to lead the program because as a federal civilian employee with a lot of “use or lose” annual leave it would just be assumed that I was on vacation if I was not at my desk.

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Pot Luck Dinner and The Beaux’ Stratagem

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Trent and Michelle at the Allred Theater box office.

The Potluck Dinner

Trent and Michelle, good friends of ours, invited us to a potluck dinner at their home on Saturday. Now potlucks can be a little rickety — you never know what food is going to turn up. But Michelle orchestrated the dishes so that the meal came together wonderfully. We were joined by five other couples and had a pleasant time learning about their backgrounds over Michelle’s tasty lasagna. But soon we were scurrying off to Weber State University to watch our play.

The Play

The Beaux’ Stratagem was being presented at the Allred Theater in the Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts. And yes, you are right, Val Browning was the noted Utah industrialist, philanthropist, and third generation gun innovator.

Larry Dooley, director of The Beaux’ Stratagem, wrote:

I waited a long time to direct this play. The time period, the early 1700s, is a particular interest of mine for many reasons, not the least of which is the central position of the theater in London society. People attended plays regularly. They were not just the higher-status audience members of the Restoration period; they were the middle-class merchants as well. People knew the plays and they knew the actors and playwrights. The crowd was vocal and knowledgeable. Old favorite pieces were brought back time and again, but new playwrights were also welcomed. George Farquhar, an Irishman by birth, was one such playwright. (The Beaux’ Stratagem program)

Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts.
The Beaux’ Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London, in March 1707. The play begins at a country inn with the arrival of Mr. Aimwell from London and his friend Archer masquerading as his servant. They plan to travel through small towns and entrap young heiresses so they can repair their fortunes. In the first town, Lichfield, they set their sights on the beautiful Dorinda. Aimwell falls truly in love with her while Archer strikes up an extremely worldly friendship with Dorinda’s sister-in-law — Mrs Sullen is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man she despises. The play is lively, entertaining and, as the saying is, a romp in every sense of the word. But be assured that love will win out in the end with the help of a little disguise and trickery.

Epilogue

I really enjoyed the evening’s activities. I would never have thought to have a potluck dinner before the play. That went over very well and when you think about it, who wants to watch a play on an empty stomach? This was the first play I have attended that had sign language available — via two young ladies to the right of the stage. The whole cast was dressed in white, I’m not sure why — maybe to assist those who are color blind? Anyway, a big thank you to Trent and Michelle for inviting us to their home and organizing our attendance at The Beaux’ Stratagem.

Related Posts

Cyrano de Bergerac
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Othello

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