Catastrophic Stocks (Panic)

[TechKim]

I would like to add RDN as a catastrophic stock. I believe we should have added some possible bounce plays off of the mortgage industry. Maybe call them temporary catastrophic bounce plays.

I believe we could actually have a list for such crisis. Whereas, at least we could most likely support.

[TechKim]

That is what we needed!

[Tina]

TK check out our new banner on top of the ibox. Cool, isn't it? lol

[Tina]

Trading Chaos by Bill Williams
An excellent book on trading and on the meaning of life! The basic approach is Elliot Wave but with plenty of trading tips and ideas to keep non-Ellioticians happy. The last few chapters on the psychology of trading are fascinating: I discovered that I am an Ectomorph body type for example. Definitely worth a read.

[Tina]

Energy market watching tropical wave in Atlantic
07.01.08, 2:12 PM ET


United States - (Updates with latest NHC report)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A strong tropical wave in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa could develop into a tropical cyclone over the next couple of days, meteorologists at the U.S. National Hurricane Center and AccuWeather.com said Tuesday.

The system is moving westward at about 15 to 20 miles per hour.

AccuWeather.com pointed to six tropical waves in the Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea but said the one near the west coast of Africa was the strongest and could possibly develop over the next couple of days.

The other waves were located near Central America, near the coast of Venezuela, north of French Guiana, north of eastern Brazil and between Brazil and West Africa.

AccuWeather.com said environmental conditions were not favorable for development of the other tropical waves.

Energy traders watch for storms that could enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten U.S. oil and gas production facilities.

Commodities traders also watch storms that could affect agricultural crops like citrus and cotton in Florida and other states along the Gulf Coast.

The NHC will name the next Atlantic tropical storm Bertha. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Jim Marshall)

Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction

[Tina]

yikes! that's scary tk!

[TechKim]

Egyptians clash with police in bread riot
Like much of the world, Egypt has been wracked by rising food prices

CAIRO, Egypt - Thousands of demonstrators fought with police after a protest over flour rations in a town on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, a security official and state media said Sunday.

The state-owned daily Al-Ahram said some 8,000 protesters sealed off the main Cairo-Mediterranean highway for seven hours Saturday and burnt tires to stop traffic. Police fired tear gas and arrested dozens to disperse the crowd,

A security official said police were questioning 87 suspects.

The protesters were angered by the decision of authorities in Burullus to stop distributing subsidized flour directly to residents and instead deliver it exclusively to bakeries, the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to give statements.

Fishermen in Burullus prefer to bake a type of bread suited to long fishing voyages instead of buying the standard subsidized bread from bakeries.

There have also been accusations by the government that people are selling the subsidized flour on the black market for a profit, leading to shortages.

Like much of the rest of the world, Egypt has been wracked by rising food prices and stagnant wages, resulting in protests and demonstrations.

There has also been a shortage of the subsidized bread relied on by vast segments of this impoverished country of 76.5 million.

Some 10 people were reported killed since the beginning of the year after scuffles in bread lines.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Tina]

Pressure from oil prices spreads
By Louis Uchitelle

Sunday, June 8, 2008
Rising oil prices are beginning to cut into the profits of a wide range of businesses, pushing many to raise prices and maneuver aggressively to offset the rising cost of merchandise made from petroleum.

Airlines, package shippers and car owners are no longer the only ones being squeezed by the ever-mounting price of oil, which shot up almost $11 a barrel Friday, to a record $138.54.

Companies that make hard goods using raw materials derived from oil, like tires, toiletries, plastic packaging and computer screens, are watching their costs skyrocket, and they find themselves forced into unpleasant choices: Should they raise prices, shift to less costly procedures, cut workers or all three?

In the United States, Goodyear Tire & Rubber is trying to adapt. Its raw material of choice now is natural rubber rather than synthetic rubber, made from oil. To sustain profits, it is making more high-end tires for consumers willing to pay upwards of $100 to replace each tire on their cars.

These steps have not been enough, however, particularly now that the cost of natural rubber is also rising sharply, along with that of many other commodities. So Goodyear has raised the prices of its tires by 15 percent in just four months.

"Our strategy is to raise prices and improve the mix to offset the cost of raw materials," said Keith Price, a Goodyear spokesman. "No one has predicted how long we can continue to do that."

The sense that many companies may be hitting a wall is palpable. U.S. corporate profits peaked last spring and have shrunk since then, Moody's Economy.com reports, drawing on U.S. Commerce Department data.

The housing crisis and the weakening U.S. economy are big reasons, but oil prices are adding greatly to the pressure on profits as U.S. retailers fail to pass along higher prices to consumers. That helps to explain why expensive oil has not yet pushed up the inflation rate.

So far this year, employers in the United States have been cutting jobs at an accelerating pace, particularly last month, when the unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent from 5 percent. But with the vise on corporate profits tightening and the price of oil continuing to climb, more dire action, including job cuts and higher prices, may be in store, economists say, although there is still room to avoid such steps.

"Companies came into this period with extraordinarily high profit margins," said Edward McKelvey, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs, "and some of the surge in raw material costs will be absorbed by lowering those profits."

Still, the prevailing attitude that the U.S. economy can just keep absorbing higher oil prices is being tested - for the first time in nearly 30 years. Adjusted for inflation, a barrel of crude is now more expensive than it was in 1980, the previous peak.

"The conventional wisdom a couple of years ago was that oil did not have that much leverage over the economy," said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "But now it plainly does. People are suddenly paying much more attention to their energy costs and trying to figure out how to manage them."

Goodyear has kept its head above water in part by passing along some of the higher prices to dealers. The dealers, however, have not been able to pass along all of those increases to consumers and are absorbing the difference in lower profits.

Since last spring, the average profits of U.S. businesses - from behemoths like Goodyear to small neighborhood retailers - have declined at an annual rate of nearly 6 percent, government data show.

Even companies that have been performing well in the economic downturn are sounding notes of caution. Take Costco, the discount retail chain, which offers a wide array of consumer goods, food, wine, furniture, appliances, beauty aids and much more.

Costco's profit was up in the first quarter, but its chief executive, James Sinegal, says he is "starting to be confronted with unprecedented price increases" for the merchandise that Costco buys to stock its stores. His first response has been to buy in extra large quantities so that he has stock on hand to carry him through subsequent price increases.

"We just made a big purchase of Tumi luggage," Sinegal said.

Procter & Gamble finds itself in a similar predicament. For its fiscal year that begins next month, it expects to spend an additional $2 billion on oil-based raw materials and commodities. That is double the increase last year, and it is carved from total revenue of just under $80 billion.

Price increases have helped to offset this cost. They have averaged nearly 5 percent for paper towels, bath tissues and diapers, all made with chemicals derived from oil, said Paul Fox, a company spokesman.

Natural oils have been substituted for ingredients made from petroleum; for example, palm oil now goes into a variety of laundry soaps. But like rubber, the cost of palm oil and other natural commodities is rising.

Trying to hold down raw material costs, Procter & Gamble has resorted to "compacting" a few laundry products, Fox said, so that the same amount of detergent fits into smaller and less costly containers made of plastic, which is derived from oil.

Still, the company's operating profit edged down to 20.1 percent of revenue in the first quarter, from 21.9 percent in each of the two previous quarters. "That 20.1 percent was down, but it was an improvement on the advance guidance we had given for that quarter," Fox said.

No business in the United States produces more of the oil-based ingredients that go into American products than the Dow Chemical Company, based in Michigan. From Dow's petrochemical operations come the basic ingredients of a wide variety of plastic bottles and packaging, including numerous containers once made of glass or tin.

Paint, computer and television screens, cellphones, light bulbs, cushions, paper, mattresses, car seats, carpets, steering wheels and polyesters are all made with ingredients that Dow and other chemical companies refine from oil and natural gas.

Dow normally raises prices piecemeal. Last month, though, the rising cost of oil and natural gas, the company's principal raw materials, produced a rare across-the-board price increase of as much as 20 percent.

"We have taken out head count, automated, been very diligent on cost control," said Andrew Liveris, Dow's chairman and chief executive, "but these surges in energy prices are just one surge too many."

Dow's sweeping price increases will probably have a domino effect, resulting in higher prices or, more likely, shrinking profits, analysts say.

Constrained by the weak U.S. economy and fewer wage earners among their customers, American retailers have so far not been able to pass on to consumers much of the rising cost of products that depend on oil.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index, minus food and energy, is barely rising.

"One of the surprises," said Patrick Jackman, a senior economist in the consumer price division of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "is that the oil price surges of the 1970s passed through fairly quickly into consumer prices, and this time that is not happening."

[GWMAN]

Wont cost the US anything because we wont do anything about!

Disgusting.

Our only hope for getting our thumbs out of our arses is if Dems get 60 seats in the senate. With as bad as things are going, it just might happen come November.

[TechKim]

$45 trillion needed to combat warming
Friday June 6, 7:06 am ET
By Joseph Coleman, Associated Press Writer
New study calls for $45 trillion to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050


TOKYO (AP) -- The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.


The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.

"Meeting this target of 50 percent cut in emissions represents a formidable challenge, and we would require immediate policy action and technological transition on an unprecedented scale," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said.

A U.N.-network of scientists concluded last year that emissions have to be cut by at least half by 2050 to avoid an increase in world temperatures of between 3.6 and 4.2 degrees above pre-18th century levels.

Scientists say temperature increases beyond that could trigger devastating effects, such as widespread loss of species, famines and droughts, and swamping of heavily populated coastal areas by rising oceans.

Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized countries and Russia backed the 50 percent target in a meeting in Japan last month and called for it to be officially endorsed at the G-8 summit in July.

The IEA report mapped out two main scenarios: one in which emissions are reduced to 2005 levels by 2050, and a second that would bring them to half of 2005 levels by mid-century.

The scenario for deeper cuts would require massive investment in energy technology development and deployment, a wide-ranging campaign to dramatically increase energy efficiency, and a wholesale shift to renewable sources of energy.

Assuming an average 3.3 percent global economic growth over the 2010-2050 period, governments and the private sector would have to make additional investments of $45 trillion in energy, or 1.1 percent of the world's gross domestic product, the report said.

That would be an investment more than three times the current size of the entire U.S. economy.

The second scenario also calls for an accelerated ramping up of development of so-called "carbon capture and storage" technology allowing coal-powered power plants to catch emissions and inject them underground.

The study said that an average of 35 coal-powered plants and 20 gas-powered power plants would have to be fitted with carbon capture and storage equipment each year between 2010 and 2050.

In addition, the world would have to construct 32 new nuclear power plants each year, and wind-power turbines would have to be increased by 17,000 units annually. Nations would have to achieve an eight-fold reduction in carbon intensity -- the amount of carbon needed to produce a unit of energy -- in the transport sector.

Such action would drastically reduce oil demand to 27 percent of 2005 demand. Failure to act would lead to a doubling of energy demand and a 130 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, IEA officials said.

"This development is clearly not sustainable," said Dolf Gielen, an IEA energy analyst and leader for the project.

Gielen said most of the $45 trillion forecast investment -- about $27 trillion -- would be borne by developing countries, which will be responsible for two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Most of the money would be in the commercialization of energy technologies developed by governments and the private sector.

"If industry is convinced there will be policy for serious, deep CO2 emission cuts, then these investments will be made by the private sector," Gielen said.

[TechKim]

Stillborn baby missing from St. Joseph's
Updated: 06/03/2008 01:59 PM


By: Web Staff
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse police are investigating the disappearance of a stillborn baby at St. Joseph's Hospital.



A 17-year-old girl gave birth to the baby over the weekend but it was later missing from the morgue. While police are investigating and have not released any specifics, they do not believe there was any foul play.



The hospital released a statement saying the St. Joseph's community deeply regrets the entire incident and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. The release goes on to say this matter is under intense investigation.

[Tina]

Foreclosures take an emotional toll on homeowners

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
On a brisk day last fall in Prineville, Ore., Raymond and Deanna Donaca faced the unthinkable: They were losing their home to foreclosure and had days to move out.
For more than two decades, the couple had lived in their three-level house, where the elms outside blazed with yellow shades of fall and their four golden retrievers slept in the yard. The town had always been home, with a lazy river and rolling hills dotted by gnarled juniper trees.


HOUSING PAIN ESCALATES: Foreclosures skyrocket 65% in April
Yet just before lunch on Oct. 23, the Donacas closed all their home's doors except the one to the garage and left their 1981 Cadillac Eldorado running. Toxic fumes filled the home. When sheriff's deputies arrived at about 1 p.m., they found the body of Raymond, 71, on the second floor along with three dead dogs. The body of Deanna, 69, was in an upstairs bedroom, close to another dead retriever.

"It is believed that the Donacas committed suicide after attempts to save their home following a foreclosure notice left them believing they had few options," the Crook County Sheriff's Office said in a report.

Their suicides were a tragic extreme, but the Donacas' case symbolizes how the housing crisis is wrenching the emotional lives of legions of homeowners. The escalating pace of foreclosures and rising fears among some homeowners about keeping up with their mortgages are creating a range of emotional problems, mental-health specialists say. Those include anxiety disorders, depression and addictive behaviors such as alcoholism and gambling. And, in a few cases, suicide.

Crisis hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from frantic homeowners. The American Psychological Association (APA) and other mental-health groups are publishing tips on how to handle the emotional stress triggered by the real estate meltdown. Psychologists say they're seeing more drinking, domestic violence and marital problems linked to mortgage concerns — as well as children trying to cope with extreme anxiety when their families are forced to move.

"They're depressed, anxious. It's affected marriages, relationships," says Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych, a Chicago-based employee-assistance firm that is counseling homeowners over mortgage fears. "People tend to catastrophize, and that leads to depression. Suicide rates go up. We see an increase in drinking, outbursts at work, violence toward kids. Before, their houses were like ATMs," as they rose in value. "Now, they feel trapped like a rat in a corner."

Foreclosure filings surged 65% in April compared with the same month last year, according to a report Wednesday by RealtyTrac. One in every 519 households received a foreclosure filing last month, and the number of homes with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing the report in January 2005.

Don Donaca, Raymond's brother, says it's hard to understand the suicide, but he thinks the pending foreclosure led to their deaths.

"He got so deep in debt he couldn't figure out what else to do," says Don, 74, a retired sawmill worker in Prineville. "I guess a guy would have to walk a few miles in his shoes to understand."

Financial concerns at the top

Many other homeowners are at risk of less-severe, but still significant, psychological distress: One in seven homeowners worry that they won't be able to make their mortgage payments on time over the next six months, according to an April Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance poll, and more than one-quarter fear their home will decline in value during the next two years.

ComPsych says financial concerns are now the top issue the firm's counselors are hearing in calls from clients. Calls about financial worries have surged 20% over last year; those related to mortgage problems have doubled.

"It's escalated to the No. 1 issue because of the housing crisis," Chaifetz says.

Half of Americans identify housing costs, such as rent or mortgage payments, as significant sources of stress, particularly on the East and West coasts, a 2007 survey by the APA says. Sixty-one percent in the West, and 55% in the East (compared with 47% in the Midwest and 43% in the South) reported housing costs as a very or somewhat significant source of stress.

"The problem affects the whole spectrum, not just people losing their homes," says LeslieBeth Wish, a psychologist and social worker in Sarasota, Fla. "The stress exacerbates what is already there. It brings to the surface problems that were often already there, like marital problems. There is so much blaming people for the situations they're in, and that adds to it."

One of Wish's patients was semiretired when she bought a home in 2005 in southwest Florida as an investment that she hoped to "flip," turning a profit. The woman now owes more than the house is worth and can't sell it.

Wish says her client has developed anxiety, dwelling on her financial situation from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep. Other clients, Wish says, are reporting physical symptoms such as headaches and stomach pains stemming from anxiety over their mortgage situation.

ComPsych's counselors are hearing similar stories of the mental-health toll caused by the housing slump. At the request of USA TODAY, ComPsych's spokeswoman Jennifer Hudson queried counselors to come up with examples of the types of employees they're helping. One couple were going through a divorce, and the wife told ComPsych counselors that financial stress was the final trigger. They had maxed out their credit cards and were living off credit in hopes that they could keep their house. Another woman called because she suspected her husband was gambling again, apparently hoping to win big so they could repair their financial mess. She was afraid they were going to have to move in with her parents, ComPsych says.

For Gary Sweredoski of Myrtle Beach, S.C., the threat of losing his home to foreclosure has taken both a physical and an emotional toll. In 2007, Sweredoski, who had no health insurance, underwent triple bypass surgery and wound up with more than $300,000 in medical bills. Then Sweredoski, 60, a real estate broker, saw his business suffer as the housing market crashed.

Today, he and his wife, Irene, struggle to make the mortgage payment on the dream home they built in Myrtle Beach and are trying to stave off foreclosure. Like many other homeowners struggling with the financial consequences of the housing slump, Gary says the emotional pain can be severe.

Standing on his deck overlooking a lake where ducks swim and bobbing pontoon boats drift by, he says such circumstances "shatter your pride and become very humiliating, even though the circumstances are not of our making.

"The situation keeps you up at night, preventing you from getting the rest you need. A lot of the depression that I feel, I do in private," he says.

"It angers you. It frustrates you. It has a large bearing on your emotional state. When the thought of losing a home looms, you lose more than a building. You lose what you worked for so many years, all of the equity that you have accumulated over the years. It's humbling. It affects us deeply."

Rising depression, suicide rates

Historically, research shows, rates of depression and suicide tend to climb during times of economic tumult.

In an article published in 2005 by Cambridge University Press, researchers compared suicide data in Australia from January 1968 through August 2002 with economic problems such as unemployment and mortgage interest rates. The study found that economic trends are closely associated with suicide risk, with men showing a heightened risk of suicide in the face of economic adversity.

"For some people, suicide is the rational option when they see no future," says Ken Siegel, a psychologist in Beverly Hills. "One's house is very much a projection of one's self. To have a home taken away is tantamount to having part of yourself taken away. There is embarrassment. For many, it's overwhelmingly unconquerable."

In the most severe cases, as with the Donacas, authorities have linked suicides with the financial stress of foreclosures. On Oct. 25, 2007, James Hahn, 39, a chemist in north Houston, was facing foreclosure and had to vacate his home. When deputies arrived with eviction papers, Hahn engaged them and a SWAT team in a standoff that lasted more than 10 hours. It ended in the early morning when Hahn shot himself inside his home, according to a Houston Police Department report.

"Suicides are very much tied to the economy," says Kathleen Hall, founder and CEO of The Stress Institute in Atlanta. "It's a public-health issue."

In many cases, psychiatrists say, financial stresses, such as those caused by the mortgage crisis, tend to bring pre-existing mental-health issues to the surface. Studies also show a strong connection between financial distress and emotional stress, including anxiety, depression, insomnia and migraines.

"Often, there is a dilemma of not being able to afford private mental-health treatment in the midst of a financial crisis," says Joseph Weiner, a psychiatrist and chief of consultation psychiatry at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. "Children will likely feel the parents' tension around financial stress. This could cause feelings of helplessness and anxiety in the child. Sometimes, young children blame themselves for their parents' stressful situation."

Jennifer Paschal, 36, of Woodstock, Ga., has tried to ease the effect of the foreclosure of her home on her children, Bailey, 12, and Trent, 9. But she says they've been deeply pained. After 13 years of marriage, Paschal is going through a divorce. The divorce and medical bills led the family to lose its home to foreclosure in April. Paschal couldn't afford the $1,300 monthly mortgage payment on her $45,000 annual salary as a day care center director.

The home is a six-bedroom house on an acre of land, with a trampoline in the backyard, blooming pink azaleas and rose bushes, and a muddy creek where Trent and Bailey would catch frogs and play with their two dogs, a retriever and a Labrador.

Before they left, Paschal took the children to their rooms and told them to fill a box with whatever they wanted to take with them. They moved in July to a two-bedroom, $900-a-month apartment. The "for sale" sign on the house they lost to foreclosure went up this month. When she saw a picture of it, Paschal says, she cried.

The children are suffering, too. Trent worries about money. Recently, at the grocery store, he told his mother not to buy milk because it cost $4. He begs his mother to get a house again, saying that he's old enough now to cut the grass.

"It's hard," Paschal says. "I think they see things very differently now. My son asked me how much money I have, and I told him not to worry about it. We had to give away our Lab and our bird dog (because it seemed unfair to keep them in such a small apartment). That killed my son. That tore him apart, big time."

In the new apartment, Paschal doesn't sleep well. After she goes to bed, she hears Trent scurry out of his bed to make sure all the doors are locked. Then Trent comes to her room and quietly tells his mother she can sleep now because everything is safe.

[GWMAN]

Yes, I was bummed it broke below the 50-day recently. Was hoping it would hold above until the next news comes whenever that is. Still think their product is made to order for what is happening. Need for alternative fuel that is not depleting food crops and the ability to grow more food in less hospitable environments using a fraction of the water otherwise needed. If they have any business skill at all, this company should fly in the next 12 months. Guess we will see.

[VERITAS77]

http://stockcharts.com/charts/candleglance.php?vctpf

[GWMAN]

Cannot speak for their financial management, but given the food shortages and the growing chorus against food-based ethanol, I think VCTPF has some serious potential. Vertigro contracts for commercial production are expected by the company this summer. Following this, I believe the same vertical technology should be commercialized in the next year for producing algae oil for fuels. Worth keeping an eye on.

[TechKim]

VIFL note 10KSB for FOOD TECHNOLOGY SERVICE INC
Management attributes increased revenue to a growing customer base that requires irradiation of products on a regular basis. The majority of revenue growth is occurring in medical sterilization but strong interest has developed in food irradiation due to recent food recalls and illness outbreaks.

[TechKim]

VIFL : Management attributes increased revenue to a growing customer base that requires irradiation of products on a regular basis. The majority of revenue growth is occurring in medical sterilization strong interest has developed in food irradiation due to recent food recalls and illness outbreaks.

[Tina]

Most of the disaster plays look like they're bottoms right now

[Tina]

need to change the charts!

[Tina]

with world disasters currently going on, might be a time to think of some more cat stocks

[Rawnoc]

Or not this time.

[Rawnoc]

Stock symbol TAYD usually gets a pop when we get a headline like that FWIW.

[Rawnoc]

Series of quakes takes toll on rattled residents of Reno By MARTIN GRIFFITH, Associated Press Writer
Sun Apr 27, 6:27 PM ET



RENO, Nev. - Dozens of minor earthquakes shook Reno on Sunday as a series of temblors entered its third month and prompted some frazzled residents to leave their homes.

ADVERTISEMENT

More than 150 aftershocks have been recorded on the western edge of northern Nevada's largest city after a magnitude-4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake in a sequence that began Feb. 28. There were no reports of injuries or widespread damage.

Scientists have urged residents to prepare for worse, saying the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength.

After being awakened as many as four times a night by quakes, retiree Sandra Petty decided to spend nights 10 miles away at the Sparks home of her daughter, Stefanie McCaffrey.

"The quakes have sent her emotions and nerves into a tailspin," McCaffrey said Sunday. "She was exhausted, and she couldn't relax or unwind. She just needed to get away so she could have a good night's sleep."

Keith Phillips said he's going to live somewhere else, possibly with his children, until the activity settles down. He lives about a block from the epicenter of Friday night's quake, which cracked walls in his house and pushed one of his garages off its foundation.

"I grew up in the Bay Area and went through some major quakes down there," Phillips told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Since we're right on top of the epicenter, I've never felt anything like this."

The strongest aftershock Sunday measured 3 and was recorded shortly before 11 a.m.

Three other quakes larger than magnitude 3 have struck areas scattered hundreds of miles apart across northern Nevada since Friday night's 4.7 quake in Reno.

The quakes around Reno began a week after a magnitude 6 one in the northern Nevada town of Wells, near the Utah border. The Feb. 21 quake has been followed by hundreds of aftershocks.

Scientists said they're unsure whether the seismic activity across the state, unusual for its basin-and-range topography, is related.

"Not enough is known about the faults and their history and what their role is," said Ken Smith of the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The Reno temblors have prompted a flood of calls from homeowners to insurers about quake insurance.

MetLife placed a 30-day moratorium on new coverage after a 4.2 quake jolted Reno on Thursday. Until then, the strongest quake in the sequence had been 3.6 on April 16.

Other insurers were expected to follow suit.

"It probably will be extended, unfortunately, because of the one (Friday) night," MetLife agent Charlotte Eckmeyer said, adding that quake coverage just about doubles premiums.

Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the nation behind California and Alaska. Reno's last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914.

[GWMAN]

AEMD Work Continues; Now West Nile Virus.

With obvious global warming increases on insects, and now the deaths of millions of bats in New York from a yet unidentified illness (poarticulalry if this spreads), mosquitos could be particularly nasty problem in the years ahead.

Aethlon Medical Announces West Nile Research Collaboration
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2008--Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCBB:AEMD) announced today that it will initiate studies to test the in vitro effectiveness of the Aethlon Hemopurifier(R) to capture West Nile virus (WNV), an infectious disease presently untreatable with antiviral drug and vaccine therapy. The studies are designed to evaluate the potential of the Hemopurifier(R) to treat WNV, and to further demonstrate the broad-spectrum effectiveness of the Hemopurifier(R) to capture viral pathogens.

Therapies able to demonstrate broad-spectrum effectiveness against multiple pathogens have recently been mandated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be the focal point of government programs that support the commercialization of candidate countermeasures against bioterror and pandemic threats. Aethlon Medical considers the Hemopurifier(R) to be the leading broad-spectrum candidate as evidenced by its breadth of pre-clinical data and human treatment experience. Data resulting from the WNV study and other clinical programs will be included in a forthcoming submission to HHS and the newly established Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to advance the commercialization of the Hemopurifier(R) as a broad-spectrum countermeasure against bioterror and pandemic threats.

[GWMAN]

AEMD Update

This was posted by someone over on the Yahoo board but I agree with the list overall. I think if 2 or 3 of these come through, we double or triple from current price.

I expect that within the next 3 months we'll hear:
1) Results of second safety trial in India.
2) Demonstration of effectiveness against two or three other diseases or bio attacks.
3) Submission of grant request to BARDA
http://www.hhs.gov/aspr/barda
4) Final submission of FDA IDE request.
5) Initial units ordered to start India NIV's Dengue Fever program.
http://www.aethlonmedical.com/pdfs/Share...

[GWMAN]

British PM: Climate change a top threat By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 43 minutes ago



British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that climate change and pandemic disease threaten international security as much as terrorism and that Britain must radically improve its defenses.

Brown listed the greatest threats to Britain's peace as "war, terrorism and now climate change, disease and poverty — threats which redefine national security."

"The nature of the threats and the risks we face have — in recent decades — changed beyond recognition and confound all the old assumptions about national defense and international security," Brown told lawmakers in the House of Commons.

A classified list of threats to national security will be released to the public later this year, he said.

"Climate change is potentially the greatest challenge to global stability and security," a report commissioned by Brown to outline the new strategy said.

British officials estimate a flu-type pandemic in the U.K. could cost as many as 750,000 lives, the report said. It also claimed major coastal floods would likely need a military evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

Terrorism minister Adm. Alan West, a former head of defense intelligence, said a new focus on climate change and disease comes as the threat of terrorism in Britain eases somewhat.

"I can put my hand on my heart and say that in the last year, though the risk hasn't gone away, we are safer than we were a year ago," West told BBC radio.

But staff at MI5, Britain's domestic spy agency, will increase from 3,000 to 4,000, to help combat an estimated 2,000 potential terrorists in the United Kingdom, Brown said.

Resources and technology at the government's secret eavesdropping center also will be enhanced, in part to respond to a new threat from cyber attacks, he said.

[VERITAS77]

LOL...
I forgot about that!-V.

[Tina]

Thanks V

You're more than welcome to put the chart up in the ibox!

[VERITAS77]

AVNR-Birdflu play.
If this ever hits 50cents/share.
Might wanna tuck some of this away.
http://stockcharts.com/charts/gallery.html?AVNR
Getting really cheap.
Also- was about one year ago it rockkkkkkkkkkkketed.

[TechKim]

Afghanistan Terrorist School

[TechKim]

VIFL -- Irradication stock -- Huge beef recall news!


USDA Orders Nation's Largest Beef Recall
Sunday February 17, 8:18 pm ET
By Greg Risling, Associated Press Writer
USDA Orders 143 Million Pounds of Beef Recalled From Calif. Slaughterhouse Under Investigation


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs.
ADVERTISEMENT


Officials said it was the largest beef recall in the United States, surpassing a 1999 ban of 35 million pounds of ready-to-eat meats. No illnesses have been linked to the newly recalled meat, and officials said the health threat was likely small.

The recall will affect beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, that came from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., the federal agency said.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.

"Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall," Schafer said in a statement.

A phone message left for Westland president Steve Mendell was not immediately returned.

Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover Humane Society video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

Two former employees were charged Friday. Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager. Three misdemeanor counts -- illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal -- were filed against an employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.

Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said.

No charges have been filed against Westland, but an investigation by federal authorities continues.

Officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

"We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action," said Dr. Dick Raymond, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety.

Most of the beef was sent to distribution centers in bulk packages. The USDA said it will work with distributors to determine how much meat remains.

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

About 150 school districts around the nation have stopped using ground beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., which is associated with Westland. Two fast-food chains, Jack-In-the-Box and In-N-Out, said they would not use beef from Westland/Hallmark.

Jack in the Box, a San Diego-based company with restaurants in 18 states, told its meat suppliers not to use Hallmark until further notice, but it was unclear whether it had used any Hallmark meat. In-N-Out, an Irvine-based chain, also halted use of the Westland/Hallmark beef. Other chains such as McDonald's and Burger King said they do not buy beef from Westland.

Raymond countered a claim leveled by Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle, who said a USDA inspector was at the Westland plant for about two hours each day. USDA inspectors are there at slaughterhouses "continuously," Raymond said.

Federal lawmakers on Thursday had called for the Government Accountability Office to investigate the safety of meat in the National School Lunch Program.

Upon learning about the recall, some legislators criticized the USDA, saying the federal agency should conduct more thorough inspections to ensure tainted beef doesn't get to the public.

"Today marks the largest beef recall in U.S. history, and it involves the national school lunch program and other federal food and nutrition programs," said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. "This begs the question: how much longer will we continue to test our luck with weak enforcement of federal food safety regulations?"

Advocacy groups also weighed in, noting the problems at Westland wouldn't have been revealed had it not been for animal right activists.

"On the one hand, I'm glad that the recall is taking place. On the other, it's somewhat disturbing, given that obviously much of this food has already been eaten," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union. "It's really closing the barn door after the cows left."

Associated Press writer Jacob Adelman contributed to this report.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080217/slaughterhouse_abuse.html
===============================================================

FOOD TECHNOLOGY SERV (NasdaqCM:VIFL)
Food Technology Service, Inc. engages in the ownership and operation of irradiation facility located in Mulberry, Florida. Its irradiation facility uses gamma radiation produced by Cobalt 60 to extend the shelf life of and/or disinfect fruits, vegetables, and meat products; and for the sterilization of medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, and packaging materials. The company provides contract sterilization services to the medical device, food, and consumer goods industries. In addition, the company irradiates packaging, cosmetic ingredients, horticultural items, and consumer goods. Food Technology Service was founded in 1985 and is based in Mulberry, Florida

[GWMAN]

I have started a small 2000 share position of AEMD at 0.66.

I just find its potential too intriguing to pass up.

The science behind its approach is not very complex, logical and should present little risk to patients.

[Tina]

Yes, I noticed a few days ago that the ticker changed

guess I need to update the chart :(

I didn't have any thank goodness!

[GWMAN]

WATR takes body blows.

Goes to pinks.

President resigns.

Sad day for the little water collector.

[GWMAN]

Uhhhh, WOW!

I cannot speak to the swing trade value of AEMD or what the technial analysis people would say about likely share price action but, on medical/pharmacological/toxicological terms, this company has some serious ass potential.

[TechKim]

Escalating ice loss found in Antarctica
Sheets melting in an area once thought to be unaffected by global warming


A blue iceberg towers out of the ice floe in the Southern Ocean in the Australian Antarctic Territory last March.


By Marc Kaufman

updated 3:18 a.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 14, 2008
WASHINGTON - Climatic changes appear to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of western Antarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from global warming, researchers reported yesterday, raising the prospect of faster sea-level rise than current estimates.

While the overall loss is a tiny fraction of the miles-deep ice that covers much of Antarctica, scientists said the new finding is important because the continent holds about 90 percent of Earth's ice, and until now, large-scale ice loss there had been limited to the peninsula that juts out toward the tip of South America. In addition, researchers found that the rate of ice loss in the affected areas has accelerated over the past 10 years -- as it has on most glaciers and ice sheets around the world.

"Without doubt, Antarctica as a whole is now losing ice yearly, and each year it's losing more," said Eric Rignot, lead author of a paper published online in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking despite land temperatures for the continent remaining essentially unchanged, except for the fast-warming peninsula.

The cause, Rignot said, may be changes in the flow of the warmer water of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that circles much of the continent. Because of changed wind patterns and less-well-understood dynamics of the submerged current, its water is coming closer to land in some sectors and melting the edges of glaciers deep underwater.

"Something must be changing the ocean to trigger such changes," said Rignot, a senior scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We believe it is related to global climate forcing."

Rignot said the tonnage of yearly ice loss in Antarctica is approaching that of Greenland, where ice sheets are known to be melting rapidly in some parts and where ancient glaciers have been in retreat. He said the change in Antarctica could become considerably more dramatic because the continent's western shelf, an expanse of ice and snow roughly the size of Texas, is largely below sea level and has broad and flat expanses of ice that could move quickly. Much of Greenland's ice flows through relatively narrow valleys in mountainous terrain, which slows its motion.

‘Frightening’ possibility
The new finding comes days after the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the group's next report should look at the "frightening" possibility that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica could melt rapidly at the same time.

"Both Greenland and the West Antarctic ice sheet are huge bodies of ice and snow, which are sitting on land," said Rajendra Pachauri, chief of the IPCC, the United Nations' scientific advisory group. "If, through a process of melting, they collapse and are submerged in the sea, then we really are talking about sea-level rises of several meters." (A meter is about a yard.) Last year, the IPCC tentatively estimated that sea levels would rise by eight inches to two feet by the end of the century, assuming no melting in West Antarctica.

The new Antarctic ice findings are based on mapping of 85 percent of the continent over the past decade using radar data from European, Japanese and Canadian weather satellites. Previous studies had detected the beginning of ice loss in West Antarctica and substantial loss along the peninsula, but the current research found significantly greater changes.

Rignot and his team found that East Antarctica, which holds a majority of the continent's ice, has not experienced the same kind of loss -- probably because most of the ice sits atop land rather than below sea level, as in the west. In several coastal areas of East Antarctica, however, small but similar losses have been detected, he said.

In all, snowfall and ice loss in East Antarctica have about equaled out over the past 10 years, leaving that part of the continent unchanged in terms of total ice. But in West Antarctica, the ice loss has increased by 59 percent over the past decade to about 132 billion metric tons a year, while the yearly loss along the peninsula has increased by 140 percent to 60 billion metric tons. Because the ice being lost is generally near the bottom of glaciers, the glacier moves faster into the water and thins further, as a result. Rignot said there has been evidence of ice loss going back as far as 40 years.

The new findings come as the Arctic is losing ice at a dramatic rate and glaciers are in retreat across the planet. At a recent annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Ohio State University professor Lonnie Thompson delivered a keynote lecture that described a significant speed-up in the melting of high-altitude glaciers in tropical regions, including Peru, Tibet and Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya.

Thompson, who has studied the Quelccaya glacier in the Peruvian Andes for 30 years, said that for the first half of that period, it retreated on average 20 feet per year. For the past 15 years, he said, it has retreated an average of nearly 200 feet per year.

"The information from Antarctica is consistent with what we are seeing in all other areas with glaciers -- a melting or retreat that is occurring faster than predicted," he said. "Glaciers, and especially the high-elevation tropical glaciers, are a real canary in the coal mine. They're telling us that major climatic changes are occurring."

While the phenomenon of ice loss worldwide is well documented, the dynamics in the Antarctic are probably the least understood. Glaciers and ice sheets are sometimes miles deep, and researchers do not know what might be happening at the bottom of the ice -- but it clearly is being lost along the peninsula and West Antarctic coast.

Rignot theorizes that the warmer water of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the cause. Douglas Martinson, a senior research scientist fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, has studied the issue and agrees.

Martinson said the current, which flows about 200 yards below the frigid surface water, began to warm significantly in the 1980s, and that warming in turn caused wind patterns to change in ways that ultimately brought more warm water to shore. The result has been an increased erosion of the glaciers and ice sheets.

Martinson said researchers do not have enough data to say for certain that the process was set in motion by global warming, but "that is clearly the most logical answer."

Pachauri, the IPCC's chief of climate science, will visit Antarctica this week with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to get a firsthand view of the situation.

"You can read as much as you want on these subjects, but it doesn't really enter your system. You don't really appreciate the enormity of what you have," Pachauri said.

© 2008 The Washington Post Company
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22643132/

[Tina]

hey badgirl

post a chart and I'll stick it up in the ibox and track it

[Monksdream]

I suppose any company currently making a drug to counteract the current avian flu virus.

Other than that, companies in the development stage level that focus on developing a novel drug therapy.

The frightening prosepct of the avian virus is when it mutates to a point where humans transmit it to each other.

Then it will spread like wildfire before running its course (by mutating again) as happened in the 1918 pandemic.

In the worst case scenario, when one learns of an outbreak that is most likely to spread aroun the planet within a week's, then one moves one's family to a place of isolation, already prepared with adequate shelter and food and water, far removed from all human contact.

One would then reenter a vastly different world -- perhaps a world that one would simply choose to turn one's back on and go back into isolation and simply try to survive there.

[Tina]

any stock plays associated with it?

[Monksdream]

The current avian flu virus is similar to the virus that caused a pandemic in 1918. It is horrible virus that affects the lungs to a point they simply melt. The patient is dead in a few hours.

In a worst scenario, the virus quickly spreads worldwide and affects untold millions before it runs its course.

This means a total breakdown in social order. Power failures, no commerce (shipping and refining fuels for transporation and the shipment of goods). People on life support systems die in a few days because back up systems fail.

It is indeed a frightening prospect. The planet today is a lot more complicated compared to conditions in 1918. We may consider ourselves more mobile and therefore more independent, but the reality is we are more interdependent than ever before.

[GWMAN]

Early ability to identify in impending spread to humans, may equally help the early eye in identifying the right stocks to purchase


Scientists discover new key to flu transmission By Julie Steenhuysen
Mon Jan 7, 8:25 AM ET



Flu viruses must be able to pick a very specific type of lock before entering human respiratory cells, U.S. researchers said on Sunday, offering a new understanding of how flu viruses work.

The discovery may help scientists better monitor changes in the H5N1 bird flu virus that could trigger a deadly pandemic in humans. And it may lead to better ways to fight it, they said.

The scientists found that a flu virus must be able to attach itself to an umbrella-shaped receptor coating human respiratory cells before it can infect cells in the upper airways.

"What the lock needs is the right key. It opens the door," said Ram Sasisekharan, a professor of biological engineering and health sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

The H5N1 avian flu virus now almost exclusively infects birds. But it can occasionally pass to a person.

Experts have feared that the bird flu virus would evolve slightly into a form that people can easily catch and pass to one another, triggering an epidemic.

"We now know what to look for," said Sasisekharan, whose study appears in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Before a flu virus can enter a human respiratory cell, a protein on the surface of the virus must bind with chains of sugars called glycans that sit on the outside of the cells.

Scientists have classified these chains according to how they are linked together chemically. In birds, the virus binds with alpha 2-3 receptors; in humans, it binds with alpha 2-6 receptors.

To infect humans, scientists thought the H5N1 bird flu virus would need to simply mutate so it could bind with alpha 2-6 receptors. But it turns out not all alpha 2-6 receptors are the same. Some are short and cone-shaped and some are long and umbrella-shaped.

"Defining human and bird receptors just by linkage forgets to take shape into account," Sasisekharan said in a telephone interview.

VIRUS SURVEILLANCE

Shape difference may explain why humans can get bird flu from a bird and not pass it along easily to other humans, he said.

So far, the bird flu virus has found a way to bind only to the cone-shaped structures in human upper airways. The virus has already killed 216 people and infected 348 people in 14 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

But the study found that the most infectious human flu viruses bind with the umbrella-shaped receptors in the upper respiratory tract. The researchers believe the H5N1 bird flu virus would need to adapt so it could latch on to these umbrella-shaped receptors before it could be spread readily from human to human.

Understanding this mechanism could lead to better surveillance of changes in the virus and may lead to the development of new and better drugs to treat flu viruses.

"It opens up ways for people to bring in different kinds of small molecule approaches for new drug development," Sasisekharan said, adding the work could help seasonal flu sufferers as well.

[badgirl]

http://www.artec-inc.net/

[VERITAS77]

Truth matters.
It affects us all.
The truth is that the bible warns us of evil things on the horizon. The mark of the beast and so forth.
That being a literal mark in your hand or forehead.

The thing is... they already are inching very close and a bit too close for comfort.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,249900,00.html
FOXNEWS.COM HOME > FOX FAN CENTRAL

The Real ID Act
...the one you’ll be required to get starting in 2008
===============
http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php GLOBAL MAP LIVE UPDATES
Hurricanes/birdflu/terrorism/earthquakes and more.

[GWMAN]

May be too long for your posting, but here are the bullets I have compiled from various CCs, info from the company web site, etc.

1. Evergreen has unveiled a clear plan to reduce production cost down to $1.50 per watt in its plants coming online in 2010. For comparison, I listened to the CC of another company recently (either Suntech or Sunpower if I remember correctly) and the CEO indicated he thought some company would get down to $2 per watt in the 2010-2012 timeframe.

2. ESLR’s String Ribbon technology with quad furnace will allow ESLR to use approximately 2.5 grams of Si per watt, while competitors will not likely get down to less than 65. grams of Si per watt produced.

3. Broke ground on their first large scale (75MW), solely owned plant here in the US in September. This plant is in Mass. They selected the state because they got millions of incentives to build there and have a formal collaboration with a utility supplier there to streamline the process and reduce costs of solar installation.

4. The Mass plant will produce first panels next summer and be at full capacity at end of 2008 or early 2009. (This event alone will make ESLR profitable) Earnings for 2009 should be at least $0.50. The Mass plant is being constructed with the capability to be expanded to 150 MW.

5. In August, ESLR announced that their quad furnace is ready for prime time and will be used in their Mass plant. Allows them to simultaneously grow 4 strings of Si product instead of 2, doubling their production in a given amount of time.

6. Note the string ribbon is automated, with laser cutting to reduce waste and uses approximately 1/2 the average of Si consumption of its competitors. These factors will continue to help ESLR control production costs and remain competitive and work costs down to parity with other forms of power. This "lights out" process is and will be licensable and implementable anywhere around the world. I personally you will see ESLR license the technology to another party beyond the EverQ JV by early 2009.

7. ESLR has an expansion plan to reach 500 MW capacity in the US by 2012. Note in a shortly after they announced the Mass plant, they indicated several states were competing and that they would expect to be starting the process in another state by Spring 2008.

8. In their equal joint venture with REC and Q Cells in Germany, they have 2 plants up and running with a nameplate capacity of 100 MW. EverQ1 has a name plate of 30-35MW and has been running at full capacity for more than a year. EverQ2, 60-65MW, should just about be at full capacity now.

9. EverQ2 will be operating at breakeven until next summer because they are getting Si from REC at spot market prices until then. This was part of their agreement to build EverQ up at the fast rate they have. By next summer REC's additional capacity comes on line and EverQ2 will begin getting SI based on long-term contract pricing, increasing profitability of EverQ2 by summer.

10. Originally the partners planned to expand to 300MW by end of 2010. Recently announced that the three companies agreed to increase that expansion rate to 600 MW by end of 2012. This shows the other two companies are on board and buy-in to the quad furnace marketability, which will certainly be used in EverQ3. If I remember correctly, they will break ground on EverQ3 by next summer and the first panels will be coming out of the plant by end of Q1 2009.

11. Another big announcement at the same time was that the three partners plan to IPO EverQ. This is very big for a small company like ESLR because they will not need to do ESLR equity offerings to fund EverQ expansion after EverQ3 (possibly not even for EverQ3). IPO will probably not happen until first Q of 2009. By that time, EVERQ revenue will be comparable to where FSLR is now.

12. Note that ESLR gets a royalty for EverQ use of ESLR technology. The royalty for the quad furnace will be based on how much it saves the JV, which is better than the royalty set-up for EverQ1/EverQ2.

13. ESLR has over a billion of signed contracts for solar panels and will be signing more as their production capabilities come on line. If I remember correctly, they are sold out for the next 2 years.

14. ESLR has signed long-term Si supply contracts required for its projected growth for both itself and the EverQ JV through until 2012. Expect more details on their Si supply contracts in Feb.

****************

Consider that they were only in the red by 4 cents in the 3rd quarter and are projecting only 4 cents this quarter. Not a steep deficit to overcome considering the following steady growth:

DEC 2007 - EverQ2 is running at full capacity

JULY 2008 - Costs for Si at EverQ2 are cut by more than half at EverQ2 (I believe based on my understanding of prices, noting ESLR is cryptic on this so other companies do not know the long-term prices they are getting from specific companies)

SPRING 2008 - Likely to find out next location/state for next ESLR plant.

JAN 2009 - 75MW Mass. Plant running at full capacity

MARCH 2009 - EverQ3 starts ramping up

SUMMER 2009 - Approx 80MW EVERQ3 plant running at full capacity.

Noting that this pattern will continue, as it has been ELSR's long-stated plan and pattern to break ground on a new plant every 9 months and to go from breaking ground to running at full capacity within approx 15 months.

Last thought, consider what Yahoo shows on analyst coverage (this is about a month old):

Current Month
Strong Buy 6
Buy 8
Hold 10
Sell 1
Strong Sell 0

Given the price of oil and the growing market interest and tax incentives, we should get lots of upgrades as the additional revenue and cost reductions take effect every 6 months.

Note the multiples of FSLR and STP are in the 80-180 range. Even using the low range, the share price for ESLR should be $40 at some point in 2008 based on 2009 estimates (0.50 x 80).

My prediction: ESLR is at least a $45 stock by end of 2008 and a $160 stock by end of 2009.

[Tina]

please feel free to post your DD here

I'll add a section on the ibox.

thanks!

[GWMAN]

Alternative Energy will probably be one of the best sectors.

If anyone wants a 10-bagger in 24 months, the simple answer is ESLR.

If anyone interested as to why, happy to provide a list.

Peace

[Tina]

Remington Outdraws the Competition

http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2007/12/28/remington-outdraws-the-competition.aspx

Rich Smith (TMFDitty)
December 28, 2007


"Don't bring a knife to a gunfight," goes the old saying. Well, Remington Arms isn't making that mistake. In a firearms industry that seems to get more concentrated by the day, Remington has decided it's a good idea to bring two guns.

The nearly century-old gunsmith announced yesterday that it will acquire long-guns maker Marlin Firearms for an undisclosed amount, in a move that mirrors Smith & Wesson's (Nasdaq: SWHC) decision to buy Thomson/Center Arms around about this time last year. The terms of that deal, by the way, were disclosed: S&W paid $102 million cash to bring Thomson's $70 million in annual sales in-house.

You can't shoot what you can't see





A look in the chamber
So what are we to make of the above? Of primary importance is that we now know Remington is king of the hill, with a machine-gun nest planted at the crest. Its annual sales of nearly half a billion dollars through such distributors as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Big 5 Sporting Goods (Nasdaq: BGFV) dwarf those its next biggest rival in the firearms sphere -- and that divide is only going to get wider as Remington incorporates Marlin into its portfolio.

Turning to profitability, we see that Ruger sports a profit margin about 80 basis points higher than S&W's. Then again, with so many of the biggest names in guns being privately owned, it's difficult to say whether Glock, Beretta, or even Marlin has an edge over Ruger.

One thing's for sure, though: The bigger Remington gets, the easier it should be for this gunsmith to turn the economies of scale to its advantage. Remington could then pressure its rivals -- and, most important to us, its publicly traded rivals -- on margins, should it be so inclined. And judging from what S&W told us about price competition in the industry earlier this month, I suspect that Remington just might be so inclined.

[Tina]

"weekly chart" by dumbas

[Tina]

RGR is involved in the sale of firearms and precision investment casting within the U.S. Sturm Ruger has $65 million in cash and zero debt. Insiders have bought back roughly $300,000 worth of stock since the beginning of November. Sturm Ruger also has a short position of 20%.

[Tina]

SWHC Chart (bigger by MrBigLoser)