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Yes he did (apparently) and after I heard he had said that I seemed to see the rate of PRs picked up. There were 6 PRs from 30th March to May 1st, just over a month.
Then since then silence. Coinciding with word of deals on his desk and hints of NDAs and CAs. IMHO the CAs have possibly been beefed up as negotiations have progressed. Only my opinion of course but the silence is deafening. I'm getting a warm feeling inside!
Well said Mike.
Believe it or not even the Vietnamese do not trust the Chinese or their products, partly due to counterfeit issues. Believe it or not there was recently reports of a batch of fake Colgate (believe it or not) that had been traced back to China.
You're right that there is a big difference between our product and something like an iPad. Do I think we have anything to worry about regarding security? With Kim's seemingly paranoid, risk averse nature, I think we're golden.
I’m a little in the middle on this matter. I do believe that piracy/theft will be quite difficult however I am not in total agreement with Zincfinger in his ABSOLUTE belief that piracy/theft is damn near impossible or unthinkable.
With all due respect Zinc, I think you are being a little naïve in some of your opinions regarding the matter. I completely agree that as far as protection is concerned, KBLB has things pretty locked up tight. However I think you overestimate the significance/effectiveness of that protection outside of USA.
I’m speaking not simply from personal opinion but also from personal experience. In Vietnam, the interests of company’s outside of Vietnam are often considered insignificant when they are in conflict with the interests of the Vietnamese people. So regardless of what international laws/patents/trademarks or whatever are in place, if closing down a (pirated) monstersilk factory in South Vietnam for the benefit of KBLB and its protection means putting thousands of nationals out of work, it ain’t gonna happen (not at least without a long fight). I see it all the time, everything is copied and pirated here and for as long as it’s putting rice on people’s tables, it will continue.
In Vietnam, only one thing is important……………………Vietnam and its people. The culture is very similar to the culture in China (through being ruled by the Chinese for a thousand years) so I am pretty sure that
in China, the only important thing is……………………China and its people.
Thankfully, the situation should improve as the WTO becomes more involved but at the moment, piracy is a massive threat to many businesses’ bottom line.
The other side to this debate is obviously whether there would actually be a market for pirated monstersilk. One thing is for sure, we haven’t even created a market for genuine stuff so any market for pirated monstersilk will be many years away (if ever). Let’s not forget that this market would also be underground and likely non-existent in the West. People currently travel to Vietnam from around SE Asia to buy copied luxury goods. It isn’t doing too much damage to Louis Vuitton’s bottom line in the West. The threat from a pirated market would be damaging to the bottom line but certainly would never put us out of business. I see the threat of piracy as a threat but so far into the future, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves…………………….
I believe that one of the reasons for silence is due to Kim believing that the threat of theft is real and exists regardless of whatever patent protection he has to back it up. If he has deals on his table that he likes the look of then the only real benefit from being more public is to increase the share price in the short term. Being public at this time increases the threat of theft exponentially – fact.
I’m fine with the silence if my reasoning is anywhere close to the truth.
I agree that a bit of info would keep people happy but I honestly think there is a definitive reason for silence right now. Let's face it there are probably heaps of things that could be PR'd right now. There have been other times when we've received a bunch of semi-fluffy PRs with little tangible reason to PR. However things are quiet, VERY QUIET. I honestly believe it is completely intentional silence.
It is eerily quiet, he seems to be almost making an effort to keep us out of the public eye but can't for the life of me see a reason why unless it was for a really good reason!
Good post CM. I'm in agreement with you and believe that a lack of more info on the lab (as well as the current news blackout on everything) is due to a confidentiality agreement or possibly due to the trademarks etc not being 100% finalised.
Everything Kim does implies he is insanely paranoid. This is his baby, his legacy. He has always chosen to do things on the hush hush. I sincerely believe that when everything is locked up tight this will change and we will get to know MUCH MUCH more.
Not sure how long but I would bet it's not as long as the current battle on this board about probability King.
Safe to say it'll be for a long time!
Hello Mike,
Good info but a couple of corrections:
China is CN
CH is Switzerland
Also, east cupcake (country code EK) isn't included, shouldn't be a problem though as there is not much of a silk market in EK.
Regards,
DOD
Ha ha it's been a good while since the last time I heard that shout!
Tomorrow.
I'm a little in the middle on this point. If I could make a wish it'd be to have the ad edited and either the goat reference removed or even better, replaced with a silkworm one. Either way I think educating the masses on the investment potential is a good thing......
What I do like is further confirmation that investing in this field has so much potential. If I could find another company in this field that looked like it was further along the track and with more potential then I'd say sayonara to KBLB!
BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT AIN'T HAPPENING!! YOU LOT ARE STUCK WITH ME HA HAAAAAAA
An old one featuring "Bright Lights" Randy Lewis. It's been posted before but it's worth another watch......
Anybody reading and believing your last post would find a good reason not to buy (not going anywhere any time soon)
Good find Jose!
Nice to know!!
I've just re-added it as KBLB and it is now up to date. The previous ticker KBLB.PK was the one that has not updated since 28/05.
Not sure what it means but glad to be rid of the pink reference anywhoo!
KBLB's price hasn't updated in about a week on my Yahoo stocks iPhone app????
Hello EC,
Knowing how secretive and obsessively careful Kim is, this tells me that he may not release news of a deal until this process is complete. Either way, I don't think we have long to wait!
I can't wait either.
You've too much time on your hands. Go to bed ha ha!!
No seriously, interesting that, surprised you're the first to do it!
It'd be nice to see my investment in the green again. It's been a while even though I've managed to average down a touch!
Multiple kahundred-thudwam-bang-zooming-mazillionaires?
Hello folks,
I'm a bit of a dreamer and I'd love to think that one of the reasons for quiet is due to a master plan of Kim's.......
At today's prices we must have a market cap somewhere between $30-40 million. Kim's plan is to sign a monster deal(s) with plenty of upfront capital. Lets say $20 million for arguments sake. Kim uses $10 million(ish) for operations, capital outlay, rampup, R&D etc. The other $10 million he uses in a share buyback. He buys back 100 million shares(ish), retires them providing massive shareholder value to those still invested, increases his % holding through decreasing the o/s back to levels from a good few years prior.
I like the sound of that plan which would, in one fell swoop answer the long standing question of "why so secretive".
I told you I was a dreamer..........
Great post Beacham, welcome to the board (as an active member). Look forward to reading more of your posts.
Some more, didn't feel like doing any work today :)
Semi-related
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-silkworm-materials.html
Fame-whore Randy back in the thick of it:
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-untangling-mysteries-spider-silk.html
Not about spider-silk but about the structural qualities of regula silk cocoons:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/us-science-silkworms-idUSBRE8401OU20120502?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews
About us (although we don't get a mention):
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread793889/pg1
A few interesting related articles:
Silkworm Created with Spider’s Genes
A group of scientists from China and the U.S. has created a silkworm that can spin strong silk.
They achieved this by injecting spider's genes into the silk worms.
According to the researchers, the silk spun by the hybrid silkworm is five times stronger than steel and three times tougher than Kevlar.
The hybrid silkworm contains spider's silk protein which makes it more suitable for making bandages and bullet-proof vests.
"Silkworms are the current biological source of silk sutures, but spider silk fibres have superior mechanical properties that are ideal for procedures requiring finer sutures, such as ocular, neurological, and cosmetic surgeries." Professor Don Jarvis of the University of Wyoing was quoted as saying by the Mail Online.
Earlier, when they had found that the spider could give much stronger silk, the scientists implanted its silk genes into various living things like bacteria, tobacco plant and goats. However, they didn't get any good results.
The researchers found it quite difficult to conduct research on spiders because of their aggressive and cannibalistic behaviour. And at last, a positive result has come in the form of the hybrid silkworm.
Source: International Business Times, Thu, 5 Jan 2012
Genetically Modified Silkworms Produce Super Spider Silk
Spider silk is one of the toughest materials and adaptable materials around. Spiders use this wonderfully flexible material to trap and crush prey and build durable webs. It's strong and elastic enough to stretch several times its original length.
Because of its enticing properties, spider silk could be used for a variety of practical applications like surgical sutures and body armor. Unfortunately producing mass amounts of the material that will make these spider-silk items is problematic. Farming spiders to produce silk isn't as easy as caring for sheep to produce wool. Spiders are territorial and cannibalism is a very serious concern. Spiders also don't produce enough silk to make spider farming a viable manufacturing approach. It would take 4 years and 1 million large spiders to make a piece of cloth that measures 11 feet by 4 feet.
The alternative is to make spider silk artificially. This method hasn't been successful as well. Scientists have cloned a number of spider silk proteins but they've only managed to create small amounts of the material. It's even harder turning the proteins into silk fibers. Now researchers have hit on one novel solution: use another animal that produces silk to produce spider silk.
Scientists from the University of Wyoming have genetically engineered some DNA with spider silk genes and injected them into the silk making glands of silkworms.
"Our hope was that by embedding spider-silk protein [gene] sequences within silkworm silk [gene] sequences, we could get those proteins to co-assemble ... into composite fibers and that is what happened," study co-author Don Jarvis, a molecular biologist, told National Geographic.
Silkworms are easy to farm and can be grown in bulk. Silkworms also have massive glands that turn silk proteins into fibers. While silkworms produce commercially appealing silk it doesn't have the strength and toughness of spider silk. The researchers inserted a hybrid DNA that had a central core from a spider silk protein with smaller fragments of a silk worm protein into silkworm eggs.
The process worked and the genetically modified silkworms produced silk that was 96 to 98 percent silkworm with 2 to 4 percent of fiber proteins coming from spiders. Even though the modified silkworms only produced a small percent of spider silk, the hybrid silk was still twice as tough as natural silkworm silk.
The team is working on taking the silkworm proteins out of the silk fibers. "The next step will be to produce silkworms that produce silk fibers consisting entirely of spider silk proteins," says Jarvis.
If the team succeeds, the stronger silkworm silk could be used in the medical sector for stronger sutures, implants and ligaments. The tougher silk could also be used as a substitute for toughened plastics.
Source: International Business Times, Thu, 5 Jan 2012
Item: 8OGE.03946DFB.AE19C0DB
The spider and the silkworm
There are silkworms right here in the U.S.A. that spin combo silk-spiderwebs. If you don't believe me, believe the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where this report appeared recently. Why it was not on the front page of this very newspaper is beyond me. Spiders! Worms! Silk! There's something for everybody.
Plus, you can alarm children by telling them about the mutant silkworms with little chunks of spider DNA that are now spinning silk "stronger than steel" in order to, what, capture bad guys? Or rob banks? Oh, it's a comic world that we live in.
The problem the worm-oriented scientists were trying to solve was this: Spiderwebs are ever so much stronger than silkworm silk, and yet attempts to harvest spiderwebs (for a nice spiderweb blouse, perhaps) have met with failure.
"Regrettably," said one researcher, "the spiders tended to eat each other." The article added: "To get spider silk without cannibalizing spiders, several research teams have engineered cells and even goats to produce spider silk proteins. But that leads to a problem: how to spin that protein into large quantities of silken threads."
So it could have been worse - it could been a goat-spider combo. That's really what you want - a hairy, eight-legged thing the size of an end table spinning traps to ensnare the unwary, which would certainly mean me and probably you ending up in the maw of the goatder.
So the scientists had to enlist the help of the reliable old spinner Mr. No-Threat-to-Anyone, the silkworm.
The researchers came up with the notion "How about if we put some of that zesty spider DNA in with the silkworm? Then perhaps we will produce a new wonder apparel product." Or, of course, a silkworm that suddenly decides to weave traps instead of cocoons. This is where all the testing and the computing and suspicious lab fires and the disappearance of the town of Crawford, Neb., come in - perfecting the mutant worms while inadvertently doing annoying things to the mutant spiders.
According to the website Live Science, " 'All of those platforms allow for protein production, but then they have to find a way to transform those proteins to fibers,' said Donald Jarvis, a biologist at the University of Wyoming who led the research on the silkworm-spider blend."
Anyway, now it is done. Test garments have been woven from test threads. It's only 5 percent spiderweb, but it's still 48 percent stronger than silk. You can't buy it yet, because, I suspect, the developers are coping with scaling up the project so it can produce more T-shirts than China.
This reminds me of a fable by Aesop called "The Silkworm and the Spider." It goes like this, as related by somebody on the Internet:
"Having received an order for twenty yards of silk from Princess Lioness, the Silkworm sat down at her loom and worked away with zeal. A Spider soon came around and asked to hire a web-room nearby. The Silkworm acceded, and the Spider commenced her task and worked so rapidly that in a short time the web was finished. 'Just look at it,' she said, 'and see how grand and delicate it is. You cannot but acknowledge that I'm a much better worker than you. See how quickly I perform my labors.' 'Yes,' answered the Silkworm, 'but hush up, for you bother me. Your labors are designed only as base traps, and are destroyed whenever they are seen, and brushed away as useless dirt; while mine are stored away, as ornaments of Royalty.' "
Well, I think I'm feeling sorry for the spider right now. If I didn't know she had a tendency to eat other spiders, I might think that this was a tale about bullying, and in the end a goatder would come and make the silkworm see reason.
And since when is ornamental better than useful? Isn't Aesop the champion of the common man, of the ant who methodically engages in utilitarian tasks his entire life? How does that square with "ornaments of royalty" and all that hoorah? Is that how we are to be judged, on our ability to produce baubles for rich people?
Never mind; don't answer that question.
I can't wait to be the first person on my block with a silk-spider blend. I worry about the stickiness factor. Maybe you'd walk through a room and every piece of lint would suddenly adhere to your shirt. But I'm sure they've thought of that. They did, after all, create the famous goatder.
The terrible tale of the cannibal, the Wyoming scientist, the miracle fabric and goats.
(C) San Francisco Chronicle 2012
Some DD on spider silk....................
Not so new:
http://www.infoworlds.net/spidergoat-popsci-article/
Not about us but about a bunch of people that wishes they had never bothered undertaking this project:
http://www.ispyanimals.com/2012/05/move-over-silkworms-spiders-coming.html
http://thecarbonworks.com/blog/?p=1104
Somebody is in for a shock,
You mean WHEN KBLB does that? :)
Unfortunately with the wonders of the Internet, PRs get so far and wide that there is no way to recall them. I'm sure if Kim could make it disappear he would. The only thing he could now do is to issue another PR to correct the info. I think the time has now passed and for one reason or another he chose not to.
It may well be that he is still involved but more 'hush hush' to prevent him being bombarded like before. I think ZF has recently speculated as such, that he is probably involved but on an ad-hoc consultancy basis. The way I see it, It is in Kaplan's interests as much as KBLB's for him to be involved in some capacity......
Not directors, Board of Scientific Advisors and no, by his words he is not on the board. This topic was done to death probably over 6 months ago.
To cut a long story short, somebody emailed and got confirmation that he was not. KBLB has gone silent on the issue. Nobody really knows the reason as of yet. Blue Murder was shouted over the issue by people who have no idea of the reasoning.
GLTY
I may be wrong but I don't remember reading this statement in earlier 10Qs:
"Management believes that actions presently being taken to obtain additional funding and implement its strategic plans provide the opportunity for the Company to continue as a going concern."
I like the sound of it anyways.....
Steve Jobs was a micro manager of the highest order by all accounts Stowe. He was a control freak too. I believe he wasn't quite at the genius level Kim is at though :)
Nice work TEC.
DD such as this simply reinforce my belief that this stock is one mighty fine pick for the long haul.
I know some on here are questioning the CEO's ability to go commercial (which I find quite funny) but on the assumption that he has the ability, as has been said plenty of times before; the possibilities are ENDLESS
Come on Carry you're better than that. It got to 0.21 on the back of some news and a pump. It was there for a day. We had been trading post-Sigma around 0.14. We had volume and plenty of interest. SInce then the company has gone pretty quiet unless it's had something tangible to report.
We are where we are because we have no revs and in the absence of revs, people don't get excited without news. For a company with no revs and one employee we still have a market cap that wanders between $35-50M. That shows you in itself that we have something worth waiting for.
I'm amazed that the latest (apparent) CSC dump went without a pump but glad at the same time. I'm a long term shareholder who has never traded more than 10% of his shares. Until we have revs and substantial news, I couldn't care less whether we are at 0.05 or 0.1 or 0.15 0r 0.2 as I ain't planning on selling my core at any of those prices.
For the other 10% (that I have traded with) it makes no real difference whether they're at 0.05 or 0.2. A dip is a dip.
All in all the longer than expected time to commercialisation has simply given me the opportunity to increase my core holding which in the long run I know I will be grateful for.
In the long run I believe that quicker commercialisation would have been a double negative for me. Firstly I wouldn't have been given the opportunity to have a holding as large as I do and secondly I am 100% certain that the deals and everything about them would have been inferior to the slow and steady (but proper) route that Kim is taking. He likes everything water tight to the extreme, who am I to argue with that wisdom? I always like to remind myself that the man wants 100% the same outcome that I do. I'm certainly glad the responsibility is on his shoulders and not mine.
GLTY
No it was a year from now and 'now' was around the end of January. Either way, it's semantics and if you are a man of his word, the charity of my choice will be enjoying your $100 well before that date.
Do you still seriously believe there will be no news of a deal before that date? Really?
I think it was the end of Jan to be honest and there's 8 pay days till then, not that that is relevant. Don't worry, I'll be in touch much sooner than January.
I thought I did well grabbing a few 'cheapies' at 0.0625. Jeez if I'd have stayed awake! I'm wiring every last penny from my account on Monday!
Great post Ray, I think your last sentence nailed it. I'm as disappointed as the next person that we haven't commercialised yet but to be honest my disappointment pales into insignificance when compared to the continual excitement I have about OUR future. It's cancelled out in a heartbeat.
I must admit the way Randy Lewis seems to be attempting to take some of the credit for what the game-changing KBLB is doing, is a little annoying however it does help get word out.
The way he seems to be so media hungry sort of endears me to Sir (soon to be) Malcolm Fraser. The guy seems as humble and as genial as can be and obviously knows that the credit he truly deserves will come his way through the publication of further peer reviewed articles and the scientific breakthroughs that we look to be close to achieving.
Fraser for president!
I've already convinced my Wife that we are calling our next child Malcolm no exceptions. The hope is that we have a boy.
GLTA & have a good weekend all!
dadofducknmalcolm
Ha ha you took the words right out of my mouth es1.
Media whore indeed good old Randy
Ha ha it would and marketing wise it'd probably work wonders. I've heard Lewis referred to as the spider-goat guy..........
Hi Silk,
Not sure if you misunderstood some of my post but I'm not taking anything hard. I was just making the point that now that he is no longer invested, there is no reason why KC10 would stick around here any longer. Regardless, I could lay money down that he will stick around. Provided he keeps to being truthful and posts accurately then he would be more than welcome to stick around.
GLTY buddy