All, all I think it is??

In a post to an internet discussion group while I am at work?

No, that is not all, but it certainly accounts for a proportion of the variance in the price of gold and silver. What proportion, you might ask? Hell, I don't know, lacking a statistical model for those prices - and I suspect error would be the value in the formula that would have the largest absolute value.

I-

Profits are......good, yes? EOM

re: OT: roni's basement

It has been a good year, but not quite that good :).

I have fbe and sfme and baldrick to thank for my first investigation of precious metals back in the 2001-02 time frame. That lead to base metals and other commodities. JimisJim put me onto the oil services sector and natural gas.

Several of you provided other ideas that made some money in the short term.......

Thanks to all of you

Bootz: Stay long and strong

Don't forget to consider a judicious but not too tight stop-loss order covering at least some of your position.

Can do wonders for capital preservation.

CSFB also upped its stock price target for Apple (AAPL:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) to $82 from $56 while also raising first-quarter estimates. CSFB raised its estimate of iPod shipments to 11 million from 9.45 million as it believes shipments will exceed initial expectations for the first quarter of 2006. On Instinet, Apple was up 66 cents, or 0.9%, to $74.99

from a street.com article linked to off of yahoo finance

Gold is freaking flying, up 7.20 to 533.50

Expect it to back up some, but can provide for pleasant Sunday night dreams

OT: Gold goes over $531 in the international spot market.

Was ~325 when I fist invested in miners.

Copper ~2.10 in the spot market - was around .72 when I first invested in miners

To quote Frank Zappa -

Zowie Wowie baby I love you :)

extra credit points to anyone with the next line - without looking it up.

retail report

I have been at the new Apple store at Bridgeport Village several times in the past 2 weeks. I asked how they were doing and the salesman said as more people are learning about the store, sales are picking up.

Everytime I have been there it seems there has been at least one person at the Genius bar receiving help transferring files from an old Mac to a new one. Yesterday morning there was a man there with a Bondi Blue iMac. I was there within 15 minutes of opening and there were several customers in the store.

On December 2nd, when I bought the iMac - again soon after they opened, a woman was buying 3 nanos and a some accessories.

I don't like futzing with them, but

I like answering questions. I also will like to see if the erstwhile geniuses can answer them.

The ultimate would be to get a good, accurate answer from the Bar and then walk out with the AE :)

submitted from the G4, where the web is impeccable

degackz and bootz

I will probably end up buying a wireless thingie - will probably be an Air Express from Apple for airtunes. But, you know, when I read Blue's post I had to try it.

I am going to pay another visit to the geniuses before I do - the Apple store is just a mile and a half away.

Bootz, mice on thighs - I think I'll pass :).

The iMac G5 is the base station. I did not buy a router. It is plugged into the cable modem. There are no products other than the iMac G5 and the iMac G4

Yofal,

All I want to do is to be able to use the email client on the G4. I can when the firewall is turned off on the G5. I cannot when the firewall is turned on.

That leads me to suspect that it has something to do with the firewall settings on the G5. I don't know which ones, I don't know what the magic key is, which port I need to open, or what I need to do.

I don't really want to connect to the other machine. I want to check email using Mail on the G4 that is connnected wirelessly to the internet. I can use the browser all right, but the email program does not work unless the firewall on the G5 is turned off.

There, I said it twice in the same message :).

I may want to do what you so kindly gave me instructions to do. I used to do that with our old G3 after we bought the G4. It is how I transferred files - but they were connected with a cable.

Ron

email settings and all that jazz are fine

and work just fine with the firewall turned off.

Ron

The geniuses at the Apple store suggested

That since both machines have the same IP address (since the G5 is hard-wired to the net and the G4 is sharing via the G5 as base station), that I should try port 998. But, that did not work.

Ron

dilleet, I did that with these results

I created a new thingie for port 25, called it email.

No go, no email.

If I turn off the firewall on the G5, I get email on the G4 just fine. If I turn it back on, even with the new firewall thingie allowing port 25 traffic, no email on the G4.

May be time to go see the genius :). I notice that Tiger has an email connection doctor, but the G4 is 10.3 and it does not have such a doctor.

Ron

Commercial Short Positions

What is going to happen with these. What is the potential impact in a rising price environment?

Ron

12/10] Apple's iPods Also Hot at Sam's Club: Yesterday, we noted that Apple's iPods are THE hot item at Radio Shack. Well, reader John Keahey wrote that the same is true for Sam's Club:

After seeing your news piece on iPods at Radio Shack this morning, I thought I should mention that this is not an isolated phenomena. I work at Sam's Club here in Huntsville, AL and we have been out of iPod Nanos ($234 for 4GB black) since before Thanksgiving. iPod Shuffles ($92.76 for the 512 version) are selling at about 3-5 per day and I have several people anxiously awaiting our first shipment of iPod Videos ($344 for the 60 GB black).

I have about 10-15 requests per day for the Nano. I expect that if we get more before Christmas, we will sell out as fast as they come in. The power of Apple indeed!

http://www.macsonly.com/index.html#_101

Well, in dinking around in help, I learned that the email port is 25, but there is no setting in the firewall that refers to port 25 that I could find.

I'll dink with it more tomorrow

Web is the only thing working on the G4. Mail is not and chat is not. Don't see settings in the firewall thingie that seem specific to those. Confused now, guess I need a smart person to respond to this post, or I need to find the right stuff to read.

Wireless, Blue's way

Got home, Ms roni had picked up the airport card(dilleet, went that way, she had already gotten it). Unscrewed the 4 screws, installed the card, and powered up.

On the G5, set up the netword using WEP with a 5 character password. Didn't work at first, so I figured out how to activate Airport on the G5. So far so good. G4 detected the network - and another one. Tried to connect to the other one, but it required a password.

Got connected to the network, but the browser and email client could not find anything. Went to the G5 and enabled personal web sharing. While I am not sure that is what did it, the G4's programs could find the internet after I did that. So far that and a couple lf bonjour things that were on by default are the only things I have allowed via the firewall.

Being a rookie, I don't know if I am safe. Did not do the stealth mode thing or anything else. That was it.

I likey so far

US National Public Radio had a gold story tonight, on All Things Considered - its premier drive time evening news show. All things considered, it wasn't too bad of a story. Here is the link where you can listen to it

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?<b>...

54G WEP, what is that stuff

WPA I know, it was a public works program during the depression :)

file sharing on - off

I see I have some things to learn. Can I enable file sharing between our two computers but not between any others?

I know on a friends network that permission to be on the network can be linked to the serial number of the ethernet/network "card" on each individual computer. He went to the terminal window at one time to find out what it was on my G4 iMac.

Anyone doing much in the terminal window is more unixy than I am :)

Thanks Blue

Actually I am going to using the wireless for the internet connection on the other desktop - and a laptop is the next on our list.

Ron

Using Mac as the base station.

I assume you could that with the G5 iMac as well - it would not have to be the iLamp, right? What kind of range does the wireless network have running off a desktop?

Security settings - a wireless network was detected when we first turned on the new iMac, I ignored it. Guess I need to turn on Security - the default is off?

Will look at it when I get home.

Gammon Lake (AMEX: GRS or GAM on that Canadian exchange, I think :)

up over 4% on over 3.5 times average daily volume on the US side. Volume big on Toronto also.

Wireless network

Ms. Roni is picking up an Airport card for the iLamp from a Mac place that still has a couple in stock. Later we plan to get an Airport Express and this weekend I will take my first stab at setting up a wireless network.

Easy as falling off a log? I have done zero reading or practicing in this area. Our broadband provider is comcast. Any hints or tips appreciated.

Ron

I consider it just kind of sleazy.

I consider it marketing :).

I find it amazing that anyone would worship a human being. Feel good about one, yeah. Be glad that they got a 10-bagger on the stock and be grateful - well, duh. Worship - hell we humanists don't even worship a deity *grin*

Oh the axes, how they grind.

Bottom line question: Does Apple lose computer sales due to decisions re: Firewire/USB2?

I don't think it amounts to a bucketful of warm spit when it comes to sales, but I could be wrong.

Ron

Another AAPL concern

That I have written of before is the cost of home heating this winter. Still projected to be up around 50% if one heats with natural gas. Gasoline prices have dropped, which is helpful, but, if one subracts the cost of heating from disposable income, such income for much of the US over the next 2-3 months will be down.

Ron

Not worried about Apple and Sirius at this point

I have more concern about bumps along the transition to Intel. Those bumps, should they occur (and it seems like they could be somewhere between likely and inevitable) could provide a buying opp or two. Just cause the Osborne effect has not shown up yet (that we know of), does not mean it won't during the next 6-12 months - and Apple still makes a wee bit of green from computers, ya know.

Uh????

Hugedick1, hot tip, what the heck is going on here? :)

I hear they do exist.

"i just ordered the canon A520 for my daughter for xmas."

I guess she has plenty of iPods :).

I'm glad you guys are having fun with all this

Steve can come over and make popcorn at my house after he gains control of the world. He can even bring over a coaxial firewire cable or two

In the meantime, Mr. Market is being very nice to the Roni household during this year. I am feeling post-Thanksgiving gratitude and pre-Christmas cheer, and hope all of you are feeling a good measure of both as well.

But from time to time, some big players may actually buy or deliver physical gold at a COMEX warehouse. Something surprising has been happening recently: long speculators are taking delivery in much larger numbers than in the past. Warehouse supplies of gold bullion are still large, but deliveries show a different character of the investors.

The delivery period for gold is the last month that a particular a contract trades. The most recent contract to expire was October, and the December contract is now in its delivery period.

Since the beginning of December, there has been a big jump in delivery notices by long speculators. They now have 17,528 contracts (or 1,752,800 ounces) of gold called upon—and 6,307 contracts (or 31,535,000 ounces) of silver called upon. This represents 38% of the registered gold in COMEX warehouses and 48% of all COMEX physically registered silver. A daily report of warehouse stocks is available from at the COMEX at www.nymex.com/GC_wareho.aspx.



http://www.kitcocasey.com/displayArticle.php?id=428

My boat is floating pretty well.

Ron

Research Alert: Bear Stearns, Neff: Video iPod demand matching Nano

Got around to raising the trailing stop

on on bushel of Apple shares to $67.50 this morning. The smaller bushel is nekkid at this time.

The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Dec. 8, edition that employees at precious-metals dealer Kitco were scrambling Wednesday. The Globe's Wendy Stueck writes that Kitco workers were fielding hundreds of calls on one of the busiest days in the firm's history. Customers clamoured to buy everything from bars of gold to certificates for precious metal stored at an Australian mint. Jon Nadler, Kitco's investment products manager, said Wednesday's near 25-year high for gold -- after its recent breakthrough to the psychologically important $500 (U.S.) an ounce mark -- shows the public is waking up to gold's allure. Gold is back. Firms such as Kitco are on the front lines of a global trend that some say could see gold emerge as a "fourth global currency" that could challenge the dominance of the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen and the euro on the world financial stage. Analysts say a supply-demand crunch is driving gold prices. Analysts say a ballooning United States government deficit is lessening confidence in the American dollar. Mined-gold production has fallen by an average 2 per cent a year between 2001 and 2004, Newmont Mining said Wednesday.

http://new.stockwatch.com/swnet/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=B-507036-C:NMC&symbol=NMC&news...

gold over 518 now and

Bloomberg: Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Gold prices in New York rose to a 24- year high, climbing for the seventh time in eight sessions, as fund managers seek to diversify from currencies, stocks and bonds.

Funds tracking commodity indexes attracted $15 billion more cash in the past five months, partly on demand for a hedge against inflation, Barclays Capital said Dec. 2. Some investors buy gold in times of rising consumer prices, which erode the value of fixed- income assets, such as bonds. Gold climbed 18 percent this year, outpacing a 4 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ac.XOv6He8Gs&refer=top_world_news