General Magic (fka GMGC)

[chisox pat]

Anyone know why this went to .50?

[v-man]

Fred --
Regarding keeping in touch with my "disposition," I am but your humble servant and always at your disposal, kind Sir.

Simply guide me to another realm, and I shall attempt to participate on a periodic basis.

In the meantime, should you wish to contact me directly, please call the Sunnyvale Mental Hospital. I'm in cell #420 North, but hope to be released in the not-too-distant future. The doctors say that I am doing much better now following the cattle-prod shock therapy . . . I've learned to stop screaming every time I hear the word "magic."


v

[Koikaze]

Oh, my goodness, V, I just learned the meaning of "anachronistic" (I think).

I still have "General Magic" selected as one of my "Favorites". I mean, hell, even in it's heyday, it wasn't one of my FAVORITES. If it weren't so crude, I'd tell you that I actually prefer the flusher I visit every morning. They both stink, but that one's not as expensive.

I hope to meet you ... and your cheerful, witty disposition ... on another board, another day.

Fred

[v-man]

Fred -- Good one!! eom & eoGMGC

[Koikaze]

Nahhhh, I can't do that

Falling
Assets
Make
Eenemies

Fred

[v-man]

Fred --
Very good move re RHAT . . . every little bit helps!!
"Fred's Advisory Management of Equities" (FAME).
Hey, I like the sound of that!!
Can I subscribe to your investment newsletter?
I need some help!

v

[Koikaze]

Yes, V, I know.

I hadn't the heart to send you a note. Linda persuaded me that 3-pennies was better than no pennies, so I'm no longer a participant in the game.

We took off a bit on the RHAT when it ran up and re-entered this morning. It's not much consolation, but any old port in a storm.

Fred

[v-man]

Fred --
End of an era . . . sad:

18-Sep-2002 09:01 RTRS -- General Magic to discontinue operations


v

[v-man]

Fred --

Not to worry! At least that's what the stock seems to be saying.

I'm sure the company is feverishly re-engineering itself (again) as we speak . . . I saw this sign outside their offices <g>:

http://www.ou.edu/student/spsweb/pics/conbar02.gif

Or is the crew simply putting the finishing touches on the burial tomb?

Stay tuned.

v

[Koikaze]

Well, V, what was today? Buy on the (bad) news?

Actually, I'd resigned myself to hunting the pink (sheets) panther some time back. Heck, man, that ain't so bad. It makes the shares harder to sell, except to denizens of the deep.

Where the heck is that idiot who told me to smile at adversity?

Hey! It could be worse. I could be not here to rue it.

Thank you very much for letting me know.

I'll have to ask Datek what happens if I hang on to these straws I have. It seems to me they announced some time back that you could trade "pennies". I didn't pay any attention at the time because I had no interest in messing around with penny stocks. Ah, well. Live and get taught.

Fred

[v-man]

Fred --

Perhaps not "doubling down" was fortuitous.
Doubling over (in agony) is more like it.

30-Aug-2002 15:05 *DJ "General Magic Receives Non-Compliance Notice From Nasdaq"

Hope you're doing well otherwise.

v (definitely lower case)

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

I used to always type "<grin>" and for me "<g>" is just shorthand for that.

[v-man]

OT: Bob --
You got it!! (But the way I write, it's gonna look a lot more like a rainstorm of <g's> than a sprinkling!!)

Which reminds me . . .

I'm relatively new to this whole posting thing (I'm a card-carrying computer illiterate), and thus not quite up to speed yet on all of the nomenclature, acronyms, symbols, etc., used by posters.

I'd often see <g>, <gg>, etc., at the end of sentences, and had no idea what it was. So a couple months ago I PM'd a buddy of mine (who's been an active poster on RB and SI for years) and asked him what it meant, figuring he'd know. Here's verbatim what he replied: "I think it's like clenching your teeth & going gurrr,.. (almost like growling) but not laughing."

Well, that confused me even more! But after reading enough posts recently, I finally figured it out. Sometimes we gotta walk before we can run . . . bear with me!!

Have a great weekend --
and try to get some sleep

v

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

Well, just a <g> sprinkled in here and there clues me in when my leg's being pulled. :)

[v-man]

Bob --
Yes, it was totally T-I-C, and I apologize profusely to you and any and all others who might have misinterpreted it as being an accurate statement (although I wish it were!).

Fred and I kid around a lot (helps to relieve the tensions of being a shareholder these days), and I knew he would get a kick out of it (since he's well aware that probably nobody in the universe, except he, I and you, read this board anymore!).

Nonetheless, your quick response was yet again another confirmation in my mind that you never sleep, but instead monitor goings-on at iHub 24/7 . . . don't know how you do it!!

Again, sorry, and I'll try to be more straightforward in the future with my comments, and confine the witty (or un-witty) banter to the PM venue.

Thanks for checking in and allowing me to clarify.

v
P.S. -- Perhaps a "hit" count would indeed be a cool stat of interest to some iHubbers. Just what you need is one more program to write, huh??!!

[Koikaze]

Nah, Bob. It's just a family joke.

Fred

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

In fact, I have it on the highest of authority that for the past three months this thread has more average daily hits (in more ways than one) than any other thread/board at iHub.


Is that tongue in cheek? Even I don't know what boards are read the most. And I'm the only person who possibly could. Just not a stat I've cared enough yet to do anything about.

[Koikaze]

Thanks, Lower-Case-Compadre

I'll try to find a little time to peek in on 'em sometime this weekend.

I hate to confess my cowardice, PaPa, but I've a few free pence begging to be put to work and I didn't have the nerve to double down on this sterling performer. Actually, I'm not even sure that I thought of it. It must have been a dream, or sumpin'

Ahhhh, ye of little faith ...

Fred

[v-man]

Fred -- Yes, yes, quite right!!

We're being watched!!
In fact, I have it on the highest of authority that for the past three months this thread has more average daily hits (in more ways than one) than any other thread/board at iHub.

Lurkers galore hang on our every word, just awaitin' for the next pearls of wisdom. Ours is a daunting task, but we handle it so well . . . many have tried, few have succeeded!!

On another note, the bashers/shorts are out in droves over at RB . . . seems they're gettin' real nervous watchin' good ol' GMGC amovin' on up (she's jumped 88% in the past week -- not too shabby), and fer the life of 'em, they just can't figure out why she's aheadin' up, even tho the answer is as plain as the noses (growing ever longer) on their faces. It's all very amusing watchin' 'em squirm and try'n as best they can to talk the stock down. Check it out!!

v

[Koikaze]

Call the guards!

Lock the gates!

Someone is reading our mail ... #msg-471138

Fred

[Koikaze]

nothing personal, v, nothing personal.

it's just that usn's all been reduced to lower case status ... ain't no capital among us.

bill miller! i know 'bout him. he was a lower case kinda guy, too ... bet his future on the vice presidency. that was like investing in gmgc. never did hear what happened to him. got into the mutual fund business, did he? fitting, i suppose. once a believer in legerdemain, always a believer.

and now comes fred, who, looking carefully in the mirror, proclaims, "the bottom is in." course he has no idea whether our illustrious government is going to invade a sovereign state, or what happens when the right honorable ms. kollar-kotelly decides that kissing away a slap on the wrist is an inadequate reward for a convicted felon, but he never lets such trivialities deter him. he merely shouts, "look north, young man, look north. ya know, up up up and away".

fred

[v-man]

OT: Hey, Fred!!

I'm curious!! Why the demotion from Big V to small v??

Is it perhaps an amazing display of your clairvoyancy in ascertaining that I have in fact lost 10 lbs in the past few weeks??

Or are you surreptitiously referring to 1) the obvious paucity of my investment acumen lately;
and/or 2) the fact that the stock market has whittled me down to size?

Or are you simply making an astute observation about the size of my retirement account?
LOL!!

(You'd be right on all counts.)

Anyway, on another irrelevant subject, I thought the quote below (from Bill Miller, a successful mutual fund manager who's outperformed the market for the past 11 years) was interesting:

. . . Miller offered an upbeat view of the overall market, citing a growing economy, rising earnings, strong consumer spending and low unemployment.

"Anyone who is now selling stocks at multi-year lows in the third year of a bear market after the worst period in 15 years might want to consider whether this is likely to constitute a successful investment strategy," he wrote.

Wow! I feel much better now!!
The Bear market is dead . . . long live the Bull!!
("Bull" being something that Wall Street has long been known for producing in copious quantities.)

v (formerly aka V)

[Koikaze]

Hi, v (note: No longer "Big-V")

I really wanted to beg for some kind of insight when I saw yesterday's big slip toward the eternal abyss.

August is half gone, and not an encouraging word is heard. I reckon that means General Electric wasn't all that thrilled with their use of "voice" for internal management tasks. Darn, another good idea bit the dust.

Well, in my never-ending search for a silver lining, I guess I'll have to take comfort in the fact that I'm finally coming to understand the concept of fatalism.

Fred

[v-man]

Another repeat message. EOM

[v-man]

Repeat message deleted. EOM

[v-man]

Fred --

Well, speaking of laughing matters (altho in GMGC's case, it's no laughing matter), the 10-Q reads pretty badly, with all kinds of caveats to keep the lawyers happy.

But if there's any glimmer of hope, it would appear to be found in the following paragraph:

"On August 2, 2002, the Company signed a non-binding term sheet with an institutional investor that specializes in investing in high risk companies (a "Potential Investor"), providing that the Potential Investor will invest $5,000,000 in exchange for preferred stock and warrants if and only if the Company is able to find additional investors that will invest an additional $5,000,000 in capital (the "Additional Investors") in a $10,000,000 round."

The upside is that if (and admittedly it's a big IF) they can raise the other $5 mil., then the company is probably in good shape to continue operating as is for quite awhile longer as they await some new business coming in the door (the downside being more potential dilution, of course). If not, well, things look bleak indeed.

Ahhh-h, will this teasing never stop??

v

[Koikaze]

oheso ka cha wakasu ...

... is what my wife would say, if she saw me in these circumstances.

It means (approximately) my belly-button is shaking like boiling water.

Fred

[v-man]

OT -- Fred:

Well, things ain't really so bad . . .

As I reflect back about my life, I started out with nothing . . .
And by golly, after all that's happened since, I've still got most of it left!!

v

[Koikaze]

OT: And his hair grew longer, and longer ...

Fred

[Koikaze]

OT: Writ by a genius, sitting on the sidelines, with nothing better to do with his time until the market turns up!!!

Fred

[v-man]

OT? -- Fred, guess what?!

I no longer have to type . . .

Fed up with that archaic method of communication, I finally broke down two weeks ago and went out and bought my first IBM "VVR" (Virtual Voice Response) Personal Computer (with "General Magic inside").

I simply talk and watch my words instantly appear across the screen, with General Magic's "On-the-fly Grammatical/Spell-check Feature" being a real aid to accurate sentence structure and spelling, and even word-selection choices.

For example, when I was entering an order for a stock the other day, Mary's sweet voice said to me, "Do you mean buy, b-u-y, or do you really mean bye, b-y-e, as in say bye-bye to your money?" She got me to thinking, "What the heck am I doing?" So I said, "Thanks, Mary, I meant bye." And immediately I was disconnected from my discount broker. Is that cool, or what??!! That one question from her saved me enough money to pay for my new PC several times over.

The entire voice-recognition/response system really works quite splendidly, and it also saves me much mental anguish over the possibility of carpal tunnel troubles down the road.

You really ought to get one and try it out, Fred . . . you'll never go back to the old-fashioned weigh of doing things again. (Mary, I said way, as in w-a-y, not weigh . . . please change the word, Mary . . . No, I don't mean change the word to Mary, Mary. No, I'm not merry, Mary, and no, Mary, I don't want to marry you. Hello? Mary? Mary, are you there? Come back!! I didn't mean to offend you!!)

Ahhh-h, the miracles of modern science.
Where's my typewriter?

v

[Koikaze]

Oh, but it was so beautifully done in these trying times. Trying to keep my head above water.

I gather your hand has recovered ... how else could you type such penetrating comments.

Fred

[v-man]

OT -- Fred:
Sorry about all the alliteration last nite . . .
I was in an "H" of a mood!! Ha!!


v

[Koikaze]

Oh, V, Yo' da Man!!!!

What the hell did you do? Sleep with the dictionary under your pillow? I ain't never even seed some of dem words afore. And, yet, for all your obfuscation, I get your drift.

No, dammit, I don't think you're wrong. I couldn't believe today's sell-off. It had to be one of those "Sell On The News" things. I lack whats-his-names' penetrating vision into these types of things, but damn it I was pleased with the report. As you recall, one of my big worries was that GM would dump the whole project. That didn't happen, and by itself, that's a vote of confidence. We still have the prospect of a positive report from General Electric ... after they finish illuminating their books.

Ok, I've got to hit the books. Maybe by morning I can understand your excursion beyond my ken.

Fred

[v-man]

Fred -- A Harbinger of Hope?

For those headstrong hangers-on and humbled (hapless?) Horatio Algers hunting for hopeful hooks upon which to hang their hats (or even for those heinous hangmen who are hastily -- but perhaps prematurely -- heating up a hearty helping of hasenpfeffer), here are half a handful of halcyon happenings:

" . . . accelerating our strategy to partner with top companies in our space . . .

. . . taken significant cost-cutting measures . . .

. . . working with OnStar to transition the Virtual Advisor to J2EE and the magicTalk Enterprise Platform . . . an important proof point for our strategy . . . opening up opportunities for adoption for General Magic software in other OnStar applications . . .

. . . we were able to achieve an increase in rates, which is expected to make the contract more profitable . . .

. . . we currently have a non-binding term sheet under negotiation . . . we hope to announce something shortly."


Okay, so perhaps I'm just a hallucinating harlequin (or hebephrenic) harping hopelessly about haruspication; i.e, all of the above happenings may simply be hoodwinks, hokum and hooey and, in any event, hardly enough to help the patient's health at this hideously late hour. Hey, hand me the hemlock!!

v

[Koikaze]

Thanks very much, V. We may be gasping, but we ain't daid, yet.

Fred

[v-man]

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
General Magic, Inc. (Nasdaq: GMGC), a pioneer in voice application software
and services, today announced operating results for the second quarter ended
June 30, 2002.
Revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, 2002, was $2.1 million,
compared with $2.5 million reported in the first quarter of 2002 and with $1.0
million reported in the second quarter of 2001.
Net loss applicable to common shareholders for the second quarter of 2002
was $5.4 million or a loss of $0.04 per diluted share, compared with $5.3
million or a loss of $0.06 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2002 and
with $7.8 million or a loss of $0.11 per diluted share in the second quarter a
year ago. At June 30, 2002, there were 127.3 million shares of common stock
outstanding.
Operating expenses for the second quarter were $7.9 million, including a
restructuring charge of approximately $513,000. This compares with $7.7
million in the first quarter of 2002 and with $8.9 million for the second
quarter of 2001. Cash and short-term investments totaled $6.5 million as of
June 30, 2002, compared with $12.1 million at March 31, 2002. The second
quarter cash burn was $5.5 million.

Management Qualitative Comments
"The second quarter was a mixed quarter for General Magic," said Kathie
Layton, president and chief executive officer. "Revenue came in lower than we
expected, due primarily to difficult market conditions and tight controls on
IT spending, resulting in a more complex decision process and longer sales
cycles.
"We have responded to the current climate by taking the appropriate
measures to expedite our sales process and bring our expenses down. As we
announced earlier this month, we are accelerating our strategy to partner with
top companies in our space in order to extend our sales capabilities, shorten
the sales cycle and offer a more complete solution. We have embarked on this
path with our partnership with IntervoiceBrite, announced in April, and with
our more recent partnership announcement with Voice Genie.
"We have also taken significant cost-cutting measures, including a
reduction in our workforce and compensation reductions for our senior level
management.
"We were pleased to be able to announce our new one-year contract with
OnStar, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, valued at $2.4 million.
This new contract is in addition to our hosting agreement and extends the
prior agreement to develop and maintain the Virtual Advisor. Under the new
contract, General Magic will be working with OnStar to transition the Virtual
Advisor to J2EE and the magicTalk Enterprise Platform. This is an important
proof point for our strategy. OnStar will now have a site license to the
magicTalk Enterprise Platform, opening up opportunities for adoption for
General Magic software in other OnStar applications.
"While the revenue value of the contract is lower than our previous
contract, we were able to achieve an increase in rates, which is expected to
make the contract more profitable for General Magic. Furthermore, in order to
bring our current staffing for OnStar in line with the expected revenue level
and reduced support requirements, we have reduced the size of our team
dedicated to OnStar by approximately 60 percent. We believe that the new
agreement with OnStar represents a very positive step for both our companies.
"Finally, the completion of our reverse split not only brings us closer to
compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements, it also allows us to make
significant progress in our efforts to secure funding. We currently have a
non-binding term sheet under negotiation and, while the outcome is uncertain,
we hope to announce something shortly."

Guidance
The following guidance for the third quarter is based on the company's
current beliefs and expectations.
-- Revenue in the third quarter of 2002 is anticipated to be in the range
of $1.4 to $2.2 million.
-- Cost of revenues and operating expenses for the third quarter of 2002
are expected to be between $6.4 and $7.0 million. Included in this
projection is approximately $600,000 in depreciation and amortization
expense. This reduction in expenses reflects much of the cost-cutting
measures announced earlier in the quarter.
-- Net cash burn prior to any financings is expected to be between $3.8
and $4.1 million for the third quarter of 2002. This includes
severance payments of approximately $400,000.

Conference Call Information
General Magic will be holding a conference call to discuss these results
today, Wednesday, July 31, 2002 at 1:30 p.m. PDT. The live call-in telephone
number is 415-228-4943, passcode "General Magic." A replay will be available
by calling 402-998-1283. A webcast of the call will be available through the
investor relations portion of the company's website at www.generalmagic.com.

About General Magic
General Magic is a leading voice infrastructure software company that
provides enterprise-class software and supporting voice dialog design and
hosting services that enable companies to quickly and efficiently provide
anytime, anywhere access to information and services over the telephone.
General Magic's VoiceXML & J2EE(TM)-based solutions enable enterprises to
easily integrate voice access into enterprise applications using a broad
selection of speech recognition technologies and telephony interfaces. These
solutions make voice a strategic tool in helping businesses improve the
customer experience, reduce transaction costs, and provide high quality, voice
branded access to content and services. General Magic is headquartered in
Sunnyvale, Calif. For additional information, visit www.generalmagic.com.

[Koikaze]

"Mauled and appalled", indeed!

I yield!

You have described my psyche ... there's no way I can top that.

Fred

[v-man]

Fred --

They say "Money talks."

It's true . . .
In fact, I just heard mine whisper "Goodbye!!"

(Hopefully it's just taking a vacation, rather than leaving me for good . . .
divorce can be such an ugly thing.)

And Bears can be such brutal, unsympathetic animals.

Mauled and Appalled,
v

[Koikaze]

Knock, Knock

Who Dat?

SumDum

SumDum Who?

Sum Dum Bunny, who bet against hissownsef

(Writ by a Luddite who despises voice response.)

Fred

[Koikaze]

Hey, Lower Case v

I ain't sure what happened. Perhaps, in the throes of desperation, I clicked on your message while thinking ... THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY!

In any case, I failed to respond. I deserve to have my fingers slapped.

I believe this will bring a smile to your face:

1) I went to Raging Bull this morning (haven't been there in months).
2) I went there to find out what's happening with General Magic.
3) My reaction when I saw that Dave Gurgel was still posting was ... pleasure!

I've said this before, but since it was probably colored by my aversion to his need to denigrate others, I'll repeat it, now. The man writes informative posts. The first ones that caught my attention were in the March-April, 2000 time frame. At that time, everything was sweetness and light, and virtually everyone complained about Dave's posts. I thought what he said made sense, but I wasn't thrilled with the way he said it.

Perhaps I should have been more concerned with his message and less concerned with his manner.

Fred

[v-man]

Fred --

New 12-month low on the Dow -- ouch!
New 12-month low on the S&P 500 -- double ouch!!
New 12-month low on the NAS -- strike three!!!
I'm out (of money . . . not my stocks, unfortunately!!!!)

v

[Koikaze]

And, now, with a note of encouragement for embattled General Magic investors, here's a tidbit from Yahoo/Briefing:

"6:10PM Public Service NM warns for Q, full year (PNM) 22.42 -0.61: Sees Y02 (Dec) $1.90-2.10 vs Multex consensus $2.65; also expects Q2 in $0.25 range vs Multex consensus $0.61."

I guess our "voice response" thingy didn't cut their costs enough.

Wait 'til next year!

Fred
iHUB is my hub!
(by adoption)

[Koikaze]

Hey, if a few moving bodies gets us all the way to 10-cents, whaddaya think a real business deal would get us???

Oooooo, it makes my heart palpitate, just thinking about it.

Fred
iHUB is my hub!
(by adoption)

[v-man]

Fred:
Apparently there are still some life-forms moving about at 420 North Mary Avenue:


SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 2002--

New Series Examines How Voice Self-Service Capabilities Can Solve Real
Business Problems Now; Follows Successful Webinar Series
on Critical IT and Software Development Issues

General Magic, Inc. (Nasdaq:GMGC), a pioneer in enterprise voice
infrastructure software, today announced a series of online Executive
Briefings on the business benefits of extending existing Web-based
enterprise infrastructure and applications to everyone with a
telephone. Aimed at business unit general managers and executives with
responsibility for anticipating and responding to demand for anytime,
anywhere access to services, the Webinar series will examine how voice
self-service capabilities can solve real business problems now,
reducing costs while increasing revenues, customer satisfaction, and
workforce productivity. The Executive Series presented by General
Magic executives and guest speakers from the industry will air monthly
beginning July 25, 2002.

"Customers, suppliers, partners and employees are demanding access
to business software applications and executives are under tremendous
competitive pressure to devise and implement programs to anticipate
and respond to those needs," said Kathie Layton, General Magic's CEO.

"These Executive Briefings will provide insight for the executives who
must develop the business initiatives that capitalize on voice user
interfaces."

The Executive Briefings are an extension of General Magic's
earlier "Voice Enabling the Enterprise" educational program, which
attracted more than 350 IT executives and developers. Conducted over a
five-week period in May and June of this year, the Webinar series
helped clarify how voice user interfaces can extend existing Web-based
enterprise infrastructure and applications over the telephone to
customers, suppliers, partners and employees.

Each Executive Briefing offers an interactive forum on how
integrated Web and voice self-service can be applied to solve real
business problems today. For more information or to register for any
of the General Magic Executive Briefings, please register online at
http://www.genmagic.com/solutions/execbriefings.shtml.

About General Magic

General Magic is a leading voice infrastructure software company
that provides enterprise-class software and supporting voice dialog
design and hosting services that enable companies to quickly and
efficiently provide anytime, anywhere access to information and
services over the telephone. General Magic's VoiceXML & J2EE(TM)-based
solutions enable enterprises to easily integrate voice access into
enterprise applications using a broad selection of speech recognition
technologies and telephony interfaces. These solutions make voice a
strategic tool in helping businesses improve the customer experience,
reduce transaction costs, and provide high quality, voice branded
access to content and services. General Magic is headquartered in
Sunnyvale, Calif. For additional information, visit
www.generalmagic.com.

[Koikaze]

OT: They're coming at me from every angle. Who (whom) can I trust? It's those corporate villians who learned their accounting in a swiss cheese factory.

One of my favorite lunches is a grilled cheese sandwich (OK, maybe ham and swiss). Now, I can't even be sure a cheese is a cheese. It's getting so I don't know Edam thing.

If age has dulled my wife's ultra-sensitive olfactory nerves, maybe I could go back to Limburger. That's a hard one to take ... ooops, I mean fake.

Still, why should I worry? I can relax, safe in the knowledge that our government of the people by the congress for big business has protecting my well-being somewhere on it's To Do list. Do you suppose they'll pass a "Truth In Cheese" law? Isn't something with the effectiveness of our "Truth In Advertising" and "Truth in Lending" laws indicated here?

OT: (In this case, it means, "On Topic")
Please stop saying things like, "I wish I had a nickel for every share of GMGC I've bought." You need to find a new method of expressing large numbers.

(My abject apologies for the delay in my response to your message. I wouldn't want you to imagine that I don't enjoy your humor. When that guy with the pitchfork gets here, I want him to find me laughing.)

Fred
iHUB is my hub!

[v-man]

OT -- Yo, Fred!!

Glad you enjoyed.

And you're right about the next number possibly being lower (it sure is today!). Could just as easily be 7 again, as in 7,11,7,11,7,11 . . . an ad nauseam redundancy potentially benefitting only skilled traders at the expense of long-range investors (if there are any left these days).

Re your Bluetoothbrush, I'm not sure about WCOM, but MOT and MSFT are no doubt involved in the hardware/software. In any event, you need not worry about "death by deception" . . . electrocution is more likely.

And speaking of "Is nothing sacred?", you can't even trust what you're eating nowadays:


Andrew Osborn in Brussels
Wednesday June 26, 2002
The Guardian

The Parmesan war ended in victory for aficionados of the hard salty cheese yesterday when the European court of justice ruled that other grated cheeses sold in European supermarkets can no longer be passed off as the real thing.

In a final judgment, it said that only Parmesan made according to the traditional recipe, matured for two years and without additives, can be labelled as genuine parmigiano reggiano.

The guild of Parmesan makers in Parma have been locked in a legal battle with an exporter for the past three years, since the Italian police, acting on its complaint, raided a warehouse where "Parmesan" produced by a company called Nuovo Castelli was stored.

It turned out to be a blended mixture of dried pasteurised cheeses of different origins, but was sold as genuine Parmesan in the UK and France, although not in Italy, where the law is stricter.

The guild took criminal proceedings against the company for misleading customers and bringing Parmesan's reputation into disrepute.

The court said it agreed with the guild and set an important precedent that will allow other prestige food producers to see off cheap imitations.

"For reasons of consumer protection and fair competition 'imitation' Parmesan manufactured in Italy is not eligible for protection," the court said.

The Italian agriculture minister, Gianni Alemannom, said: "This is an important decision that will help protect the consumer and typical national products."

The European commission is setting up a global registry of protected products with geographic connections.

[Koikaze]

Good Morning, "V". Going to sleep with a smile on your face must be one of the most rewarding experiences known to man.

Thanks.

Now, I must get down to the serious business of responding to your message.

First of all, I'm amazed that you were taken in by that obviously spurious publicity release about General Magic. You should know, by now, that General Magic NEVER releases important news on a Tuesday. We've been told, by no less an authority than Dave Gurgel himself, that General Magic releases news on THURSDAYS, not Tuesdays. How could you be deceived by such an obvious flim-flam job?

I must also point out that when you suggest the next number in the series is 18, or 21, or 22, or even 15, you are ignoring a fact you MUST have learned in your years in this business: We have a stock that went UP 57% IN ONE DAY! To imagine it is going to follow that up with ANOTHER leap of even 36% is allowing your enthusiasm to get the better part of your judgment. As you are fully aware, we must go through a period of consolidation ... we must build a base ... before we can carry on to higher levels. Oh, sure, there may be little spikes here and there, but the wise investor will wait for the stock to come to him.

Still, you and I should congratulate ourselves. We hold shares in a company where there is no threat of accounting misdeeds. The fact that it's because there's nothing to account does not detract from the honour of our management.

One part of your message wasn't clear to me. Is my Bluetoothbrush a part of the WCOM empire? Am I in danger of death by deception?

And, since I'm on the topic, how did you like the timely news that such stalwarts of integrity as Citibank and JPMorgan are being accused of encouraging creative accounting techniques. Ohhhh. Is nothing sacred?

Fred
iHUB is my hub!

[Koikaze]

Hey, Big-V

I'm back home and I'm worn out. I thought I'd respond tomorrow. Then I read it!!!!!!!!

Man ... I'm jiggling like the proverbial bowl of jelly. That's a wonderful way for me to end my day. Thanks.

I'll try to respond in the morning.

Fred
iHUB is my hub!

[v-man]

Fred, re Seven come Eleven, you called it!!

Re "what's next?" I had a similar question on an IQ-type test, restated below to fit your question:

What number comes next in this series?
7, 11, ...

I'd be tempted to say 15, but that seems far too easy and obvious (and such tests are usually surreptitiously tricky). So perhaps it's 21 to fit with the lucky number theme. Or maybe it's 18 (with the next being 22). Not sure what the answer really is, if indeed there is a correct one. Like GMGC, it appears that there aren't sufficient data points to reach a firm conclusion. But I would guess that the next couple weeks or so will provide enough clues (i.e., company developments) to figure out what comes next.

Re "a little stirring under the blankets," I don't think I'll touch that one.

Re "have my home telephone removed," that probably won't do you any good . . . their "push" might be strong enough to find you no matter what you do (your Bluetooth-brush might start ringing while you're brushing . . . talk about garbled speech!!).

And re "I wouldn't need to talk to anyone, anyway," hey, don't forget your banker . . . he'll be happy to hear from you.

v