TGIF
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I like it a lot!
"Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul."
--Douglas Macarthur
Good morning JYB!!
narrowing spread is a good sign of future share price
Covalon receives CE marking for Biostep from EU
2008-12-17 11:06 ET - News Release
Dr. Frank DiCosmo reports
COVALON AWARDED CE MARKING FOR COLLAGEN DRESSINGS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Covalon Technologies Ltd. has received CE marking for Biostep, collagen dressing.
Dr. Sonia Sanhueza, chief operations officer at Covalon, said: "Our award of CE marking reflects the organization's commitment to manufacture the best of the best in high-quality products for the advanced wound care market. Achieving this important milestone offers Covalon's customers a quality partner that has a demonstrated ability to help them achieve their business initiatives in the EU as well as North America."
CE marking on Biostep:
1. Covalon's declaration that the product complies with the requirements of the European Union's health, safety and environmental protection legislation established by the applicable European standard directives;
2. Indicates that Biostep may be legally placed on the market in the EU;
3. Ensures the free movement of Biostep within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) (with the exception of Switzerland) and EU single market (total 28 countries).
Dr. Frank DiCosmo, chief executive officer and president of Covalon, commented: "We are very pleased that the company has received CE marking for Biostep collagen wound dressings in the EU. The CE marking enhances the confidence in our advanced collagen wound dressings, improves our product portfolio and marketability. In addition, the CE marking allows our partner, Smith & Nephew, access to the EU marketplace."
Biostep and Biostep Ag are manufactured in the United States by Covalon Technologies, exclusively for Smith & Nephew.
well done!!!
well done!
thanks for heads up big bear!
good call!
Gold puzzles me lately. I can only surmise that all these fed Cuts are making some market investors VERY nervous.
Oil we definitely rebound soon and violently imo
Patrician (consolidated) plans a busy Sahtu spring
2008-12-10 17:46 ET - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
The shares of Robin Dow's Patrician Diamonds Inc. are bumbling along as low as they can go, yet the company hopes to spend up to $1-million on its Sahtu gem play next spring. Most of Patrician's rivals are suffering from rigor mortis, but Mr. Dow says he will stick with gems and has the money to drill more targets. The company is going to be one of the first in what will soon be a flood of TSX-V rollbacks, consolidating its almost 68 million shares 1-for-10 to become Diamond Exploration Inc. At its current price of one-half cent, a 1-for-50 rollback might be more appropriate. Patrician will focus its 2009 effort on Sahtu play, just east of the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories.
The plan
Patrician spent $1.4-million on exploration this year, with nearly all of the money going to a drill program at Doctor Lake on the Sahtu project. Mr. Dow said getting the drill to the site and back racked up a big part of the cost. Patrician had been expecting the drill and associated equipment would weigh in at 17,000 pounds, but the final number was 22,000 kilograms. The net result of the optimistic number and incorrect unit of measure was a tripling of the transportation charge.
Mr. Dow will be counting his pennies more carefully next year. Patrician will wait until March to move the drill to the Doctor Lake site, anticipating the cold weather will hold for several weeks more. The company still has about six targets to test, and Patrician wants to poke another hole or two into the Hillside kimberlite that provided Mr. Dow with his first microdiamonds last year.
As a result, Mr. Dow is contemplating a drill program of between six and eight holes, which is likely to cost about $500,000, he said. Added to that total are the associated costs for the camp and transportation, which are likely to cost at least a few hundred thousand dollars more, even with a miserly approach.
Mr. Dow, who left a career as a stockbroker in Calgary during the mid-1980s to start promoting his own junior explorers, will have to wring some more cash out of his backers at some point next year. A new share sale is not urgent, as Patrician still has $500,000 in cash, more than the company's market value and enough to get a drill turning next spring ahead of any new share sale.
The shares of rival gem hunters that jumped the consolidation gun this fall took just a few weeks to slump back to their preconsolidation share price. Patrician is holding off on its reorganization until the start of 2009. That should prevent shareholders from wiping out the mathematical boost of the consolidation on its lowly shares in a final frenzy of tax loss selling.
The encouragement
Several diamond explorers have been working the area north of Norman Wells and east of the Mackenzie River, but kimberlites have been harder to find than diamonds. Patrician was the first explorer to drill into a pipe in the area, but its first small batches of rock proved barren.
Last year, Patrician drilled more holes into the pipe and sent 111.5 kilograms of rock off for processing. The material yielded six microdiamonds, but all were tiny. The market yawned, and Patrician's shares struggled to cling to their then seven-cent perch. Still, for Mr. Dow, the modest diamond parcel and Hillside's seven-hectare size are enough to warrant a few new holes next year.
There are several signs pointing to larger diamonds in the area. Diamondex Resources Ltd. spent well over $10-million working ground farther to the north. That company never found any pipes, but it recovered several macrodiamonds, including one that was at least three millimetres long. Other groups worked the area for years, including De Beers Canada Inc. They failed to hit kimberlite as well, but their preliminary work yielded abundant numbers of indicator grains.
Patrician closed down one-half cent to one-half cent Tuesday on 33,300 shares.
Be understanding to your perceived enemies.
Be loyal to your friends.
Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.
Be generous to those who need your help.
Be frugal with that you need yourself.
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles.
Be willing to share your joys.
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.
Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower when you are shrouded by the mists of uncertainty.
Be first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
Be last to criticize a colleague who fails.
Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not tumble.
Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way.
Be loving to those who love you..
Be loving to those who do not love you; they may change.
Above all, Be yourself.
Just Be Yourself.
KWG ... bloated POS but chance of a run at some point as has happened many times before. The only problem right now is the lack of mad money lying around for such specs.
GGN is on radar for me ... among others
Money in the bank, management, or properties or all of the above?
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Monday, December 15, 2008 -- 1:40 PM ET
-----
Caroline Kennedy to Seek Clinton's Senate Seat
Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of an American political
dynasty, has decided she will pursue the U.S. Senate seat
being vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a person told
of her decision said Monday.
SPQ on radar....
You too! Enjoy the holidays with family and friends!! Thanks for dropping by with your IEME gifts throughout the year!
very sweet!
lol
I can't agree more with you about the great people here!
on watch here
Patrician shareholders OK 1:10 rollback, name change
2008-12-01 14:17 ET - News Release
Mr. Robin Dow reports
PATRICIAN DIAMONDS INC.: CONSOLIDATION AND NAME CHANGE APPROVED
At the special meeting of shareholders held today, Dec. 1, 2008, Patrician Diamonds Inc.'s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the 1-to-10 share consolidation and to change the name of the corporation to Diamond Exploration Inc.
Of the 67,998,148 shares eligible to be voted, 47.68 per cent was voted at the meeting with only 1,857,103 shares or 6.28 per cent voted against the resolutions.
The company expects the consolidation and name change to take effect by the end of December and expects the consolidated shares to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the new symbol DIX on Friday, Jan. 2, 2009.
VRS churning nicely upwards
COV hitting new lows ... on watch
"It is my intention to make my entire life a rejection of and protest
against the crimes and injustices of war and political tyranny which
threaten to destroy the whole human race and the world with it. By my
monastic life and vows I am saying NO to all the concentration camps,
the aerial bombardments, the staged political trials, the judicial
murders, the racial injustices, the economic tyrannies, and the whole
socioeconomic apparatus which seems geared for nothing but global
destruction in spite of all its fair words in favor of peace."
--Thomas Merton, from "Honorable Reader"
Panic! by Jeff Abbott
The Last Goodbye by Reed Arvin
Persuader by Lee Child
Without Fail by Lee Child
Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg
The Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman
Tell No One by Harlan Coben (anything by this guy is EXCELLENT)
Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly (All his books are good!)
GM and Ford only down 10%
pretty much ...
Unions would not cut autoworker wages so Senate could not accept the bailout.
How could that $50B go on for 3 years without collusion of some sort?
It is possible for sure .... China just isn't consuming as much anymore.
Auto bailout fails
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
By John Crawley and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposed bailout of U.S. automakers failed in the Senate on Thursday night, raising the specter of an industry collapse that sent Asian markets reeling and sparked fears it could deepen the recession.
"It's over with," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said of congressional efforts this year just before the Democratic proposal to extend up to $14 billion to the stricken industry fell short in voting on a procedural motion.
Pressure immediately shifted to the White House, with calls for President George W. Bush to consider intervening with emergency financing.
General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC sought billions in aid to see them through March and have warned of potential collapse if they did not receive a bailout.
"I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It's not going to be a pleasant sight," Reid said.
Markets across the Asia-Pacific region fell more than 3 percent on the development, with Japan's Nikkei average and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both down more than 5 percent. European and U.S. stocks were expected to fall about 5 percent.
Shares of Toyota Motor Corp were off 10 percent and Honda Motor Co fell 12.5 percent on worries about massive disruptions in the U.S. economy if one or more of its automakers collapse.
U.S. crude prices fell by more than $2 to $45.90 a barrel, while the yen hit a 13-year high against the U.S. dollar.
Because of their shared suppliers and vendors, industry observers fear the failure of one Detroit manufacturer could drag down the other two as well as other businesses.
Lawmakers have been among the industry's biggest critics. But Democrats and some Republicans -- and the White House in the end -- scrambled to put together a legislative lifeline because no one wanted to be blamed for a deepening U.S. recession if any of the companies went bankrupt.
Job losses hit a 34-year high in November and the unemployment rate reached a 15-year high.
GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler employ nearly 250,000 people directly, and 100,000 more jobs at parts suppliers could hang on their survival. The companies say one in 10 U.S. jobs are tied to the auto sector, which adds up to several million.
BANKRUPTCY CONCERN
GM and Chrysler both said that in the face of their cash crises, they had hired outside advisers to help them explore possible bankruptcy, which they found had too many drawbacks.
"It's going to be very difficult for them not to file for bankruptcy," Erich Merkle, consultant at Crowe Chizek in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said of the two if they did not get help.
"GM has probably got until January and I would suspect the next step would be that GM will provide a date and say that at this date we will file," Merkle said.
The White House called congressional inaction a breakdown and said it would evaluate its options.
"It has now fallen to the president to take action," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who has spearheaded efforts for a month to get help for Detroit.
Bush should "move now," said Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, adding, "The dominoes are already falling" throughout the United States."
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Bush to immediately explore short-term financial help, including tapping a $700 billion fund created in October for the Treasury Department to assist the financial services industry.
The Bush administration has so far resisted Democratic appeals to take that step.
A Treasury spokeswoman said after the bailout bid collapse on Thursday that its position remained that the funds were only intended to help the financial sector.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said it was possible Congress could take a "second crack" at a rescue in January when Democrats will have larger majorities in both houses. President-elect Barack Obama favors help for automakers.
'THREE WORDS AWAY FROM A DEAL'
The development followed intense discussions on a possible 11th-hour compromise that participants said fell apart over proposed wage concessions by the United Auto Workers union.
"We were three words away from a deal," said Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who proposed the alternative and led the talks.
Dodd said the main issue of disagreement was the date to require the Detroit autoworkers' pay parity with workers at foreign-owned U.S. auto plants.
The UAW could not immediately be reached for comment.
GM and Chrysler, which is owned by private equity group Cerberus Capital Management, sought billions in immediate aid to see them through March.
The industry's fortunes have plummeted in recent months as the credit crunch choked off corporate and consumer lending. Most car buyers finance their purchases. U.S. auto sales fell 36.7 percent in November and most analysts expect the downturn in sales to deepen in 2009 under the financial crisis.
GM said in a statement it would "assess all of its options to continue our restructuring" and to "obtain the means to weather the current economic crisis."
Chrysler said it would continue "to pursue a workable solution to help ensure" the company's future viability.
Ford, in a better cash position, had asked for a hefty line of credit. It had no immediate comment.
The three have been cutting thousands of salaried and hourly workers and closing plants in North America due to those market share losses, driven in part by slack demand for big gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles that had driven profits.
An industry that pioneered large-scale assembly line production and was the backbone of industrial America for most of the past century was unable to persuade enough senators to support the rescue effort. Republicans are concerned the companies were not restructuring fast enough and the bailout would become a bottomless pit for taxpayers.
SUPPORT COMES UP SHORT
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed its version of a Democratic-sponsored bailout that was virtually identical to the measure that fell in the Senate. Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate, which voted 52-35 in favor, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
"These companies could be saved. I've said I think they are bloated, their management is bloated. These companies either already failed or are fading and that is a shame," said Alabama Republican Richard Shelby, who has opposed any bailout.
Though nearly three dozen senators rejected the rescue, some of the most vocal opponents were senators with foreign auto plants in their states, including Alabama and Tennessee.
Years of market share losses to Japanese rivals such as Toyota and Honda have weakened the Detroit companies.
Polls show Americans split on bailing out Detroit, widely criticized for fighting tougher fuel efficiency standards and poor model designs that have left the companies gasping with a stable of products losing popularity with consumers.
The lack of a bailout also leaves vulnerable U.S. auto parts suppliers with deep exposure to the "Detroit Three" such as American Axle and Visteon Corp.
(Additional reporting by Ross Colvin, Matt Spetalnick, Kevin Drawbaugh, Kevin Krolicki, Julie Vorman, Tom Ferraro, Jeremy Pelofsky, David Bailey, Donna Smith; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Copyright 2008 © Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Auto bailout fails
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
By John Crawley and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposed bailout of U.S. automakers failed in the Senate on Thursday night, raising the specter of an industry collapse that sent Asian markets reeling and sparked fears it could deepen the recession.
"It's over with," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said of congressional efforts this year just before the Democratic proposal to extend up to $14 billion to the stricken industry fell short in voting on a procedural motion.
Pressure immediately shifted to the White House, with calls for President George W. Bush to consider intervening with emergency financing.
General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC sought billions in aid to see them through March and have warned of potential collapse if they did not receive a bailout.
"I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It's not going to be a pleasant sight," Reid said.
Markets across the Asia-Pacific region fell more than 3 percent on the development, with Japan's Nikkei average and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both down more than 5 percent. European and U.S. stocks were expected to fall about 5 percent.
Shares of Toyota Motor Corp were off 10 percent and Honda Motor Co fell 12.5 percent on worries about massive disruptions in the U.S. economy if one or more of its automakers collapse.
U.S. crude prices fell by more than $2 to $45.90 a barrel, while the yen hit a 13-year high against the U.S. dollar.
Because of their shared suppliers and vendors, industry observers fear the failure of one Detroit manufacturer could drag down the other two as well as other businesses.
Lawmakers have been among the industry's biggest critics. But Democrats and some Republicans -- and the White House in the end -- scrambled to put together a legislative lifeline because no one wanted to be blamed for a deepening U.S. recession if any of the companies went bankrupt.
Job losses hit a 34-year high in November and the unemployment rate reached a 15-year high.
GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler employ nearly 250,000 people directly, and 100,000 more jobs at parts suppliers could hang on their survival. The companies say one in 10 U.S. jobs are tied to the auto sector, which adds up to several million.
BANKRUPTCY CONCERN
GM and Chrysler both said that in the face of their cash crises, they had hired outside advisers to help them explore possible bankruptcy, which they found had too many drawbacks.
"It's going to be very difficult for them not to file for bankruptcy," Erich Merkle, consultant at Crowe Chizek in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said of the two if they did not get help.
"GM has probably got until January and I would suspect the next step would be that GM will provide a date and say that at this date we will file," Merkle said.
The White House called congressional inaction a breakdown and said it would evaluate its options.
"It has now fallen to the president to take action," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who has spearheaded efforts for a month to get help for Detroit.
Bush should "move now," said Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, adding, "The dominoes are already falling" throughout the United States."
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Bush to immediately explore short-term financial help, including tapping a $700 billion fund created in October for the Treasury Department to assist the financial services industry.
The Bush administration has so far resisted Democratic appeals to take that step.
A Treasury spokeswoman said after the bailout bid collapse on Thursday that its position remained that the funds were only intended to help the financial sector.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said it was possible Congress could take a "second crack" at a rescue in January when Democrats will have larger majorities in both houses. President-elect Barack Obama favors help for automakers.
'THREE WORDS AWAY FROM A DEAL'
The development followed intense discussions on a possible 11th-hour compromise that participants said fell apart over proposed wage concessions by the United Auto Workers union.
"We were three words away from a deal," said Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who proposed the alternative and led the talks.
Dodd said the main issue of disagreement was the date to require the Detroit autoworkers' pay parity with workers at foreign-owned U.S. auto plants.
The UAW could not immediately be reached for comment.
GM and Chrysler, which is owned by private equity group Cerberus Capital Management, sought billions in immediate aid to see them through March.
The industry's fortunes have plummeted in recent months as the credit crunch choked off corporate and consumer lending. Most car buyers finance their purchases. U.S. auto sales fell 36.7 percent in November and most analysts expect the downturn in sales to deepen in 2009 under the financial crisis.
GM said in a statement it would "assess all of its options to continue our restructuring" and to "obtain the means to weather the current economic crisis."
Chrysler said it would continue "to pursue a workable solution to help ensure" the company's future viability.
Ford, in a better cash position, had asked for a hefty line of credit. It had no immediate comment.
The three have been cutting thousands of salaried and hourly workers and closing plants in North America due to those market share losses, driven in part by slack demand for big gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles that had driven profits.
An industry that pioneered large-scale assembly line production and was the backbone of industrial America for most of the past century was unable to persuade enough senators to support the rescue effort. Republicans are concerned the companies were not restructuring fast enough and the bailout would become a bottomless pit for taxpayers.
SUPPORT COMES UP SHORT
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed its version of a Democratic-sponsored bailout that was virtually identical to the measure that fell in the Senate. Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate, which voted 52-35 in favor, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
"These companies could be saved. I've said I think they are bloated, their management is bloated. These companies either already failed or are fading and that is a shame," said Alabama Republican Richard Shelby, who has opposed any bailout.
Though nearly three dozen senators rejected the rescue, some of the most vocal opponents were senators with foreign auto plants in their states, including Alabama and Tennessee.
Years of market share losses to Japanese rivals such as Toyota and Honda have weakened the Detroit companies.
Polls show Americans split on bailing out Detroit, widely criticized for fighting tougher fuel efficiency standards and poor model designs that have left the companies gasping with a stable of products losing popularity with consumers.
The lack of a bailout also leaves vulnerable U.S. auto parts suppliers with deep exposure to the "Detroit Three" such as American Axle and Visteon Corp.
(Additional reporting by Ross Colvin, Matt Spetalnick, Kevin Drawbaugh, Kevin Krolicki, Julie Vorman, Tom Ferraro, Jeremy Pelofsky, David Bailey, Donna Smith; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Copyright 2008 © Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
No comeback for OxyContin, despite bust: St. John's police
Fri Dec 12, 2:25 AM
A massive seizure of OxyContin this week in St. John's is not an indication that the prescription drug is making a comeback in the city's drug trade, police say.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary seized cocaine and OxyContin on Wednesday night, during a routine car stop on Blackmarsh Road. Police estimated the drugs had a street value of $114,000.
Michael Dunn, 22, was charged Thursday in St. John's provincial court with two counts under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.
As well as almost a kilogram of cocaine, police seized 761 tablets of OxyContin in the bust.
OxyContin had become such a prevalent problem in the city and other areas that the provincial government struck a task force to look at ways to curb its use. The task force's report, released in 2004, led to significant changes, including tamper-proof prescription pads, a methadone-replacement program, and better monitoring of how narcotics are dispensed and to whom.
Const. Paul Davis said while the bust involved a large amount of OxyContin, the public should not jump to conclusions that use of the drug is on the rise again.
"I think it is a single incident and it wouldn't be prudent to try to reach any solid conclusion why this is," said Davis, adding that illegal use of OxyContin peaked in 2004 and 2005.
"We have seen a decrease in certain crimes we are relating to drug activity ... and those numbers have stayed stable since then," said Davis.
However, Davis added that OxyContin is still in use, and that addictions can lead to crime.
"I know from my own experiences as a police officer from people I've met in the past who are addicted to OxyContin, and they will tell you, quite openly, that when they have an addiction OxyContin, they feel there is no other choice but to service that addiction," he said.
Dunn was remanded to custody. He is expected to appear in court for a bail hearing on Friday.
Copyright © 2008 CBC
Copyright 2008 © Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Any long gold ETF might be a good bet!
Maybe
Great post .. just came across ubuntu yesterday -- a friend was raving about it!!
Some juniors may start to move if gold goes back up enough
GGN and GNG on my short list
VRS still on watch for potential spike again ....