Holy cow!! Did AAPL take out GOOG? I just went to Google's "customized" site and noticed they are calling it "iGoogle"!!!

My gosh, someone other than AAPL actually thought of i<something>! Amazing!

iBlake

PS: One day my friends one day ... the ultimate ... I will sit on my iTOILET which will have my iPOD plugged into it, and it will be belting Clash's Cool Under Heat from their Album Cut the Crap while ... iCrap!


Rebels on the corner
Rebels to the core
Got a million dollar question
What is livin’ for?

Hey! man can scratch a livin’
In a fat man’s city class
The teacher is survival
But soon the present will be the past

So!
Be cool under heat
Be cool under heat
Be cool on the street
Be cool under heat

When you’re rockin’ down
On a cold hard night
Pitiless eyes of the cityless souls
Narrow in the lights

Sorrow upon sorrow
Go ganging up in your head
You can leave it till tomorrow
If you can balance on the edge

Hey!
Be cool under heat
Be cool under heat
Be cool on the street
Be cool under heat

When the baby and you got to fight
Go cool your love in the rain
When the match refuses to strike
Show that you really are in pain

I’m giving you a warning
Gonna burn those blue suede shoes
Swagger in the mornin’
Prints up front page news

Be cool under heat
Be cool under heat
Be cool on the street
Be cool under heat

Ultimate laugh.



So what is your point?
B.

A great laugh over that one. Though it is long in the tooth as most of those skids are - overall pretty well done - esp with the final product.

I needed a good chuckle.

Cheers!
B

(still waiting for the iToilet of course)

Japanese Housewives Win Right to Share of Ex-Husbands' Pensions

By Kiyori Ueno

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Middle-aged Japanese women in troubled marriages traditionally had two choices: stick it out or leave their financial security behind. That changed yesterday.

A new law gives women who file for divorce the right to as much as half of their husbands' monthly pensions. The measure offers a lifeline to unhappy housewives who want to end their marriages after staying home to raise their families.

``This law is a blessing for women who didn't dare divorce because of financial concerns,'' says Hiromi Ota, a Tokyo lawyer and author of the book ``On Divorce.'' ``Women who devoted their lives to husbands and children are hitting the point where they can't put up with the situation any longer.''

The legislation may trigger a burst of divorces. The government's Social Insurance Agency had received 24,500 inquiries about the law as of Feb. 28 and calculated pension splits for more than 6,000 people -- 86 percent of them women. For this reason alone, State Street, a leader in global ETF creation, will be starting a new ETF that represents the top 20 legal firms specializing in divorce, under the symbol GLJ.

Typically, divorced women have depended on their children or welfare payments for financial support. Most couldn't find jobs because they were judged too old and lacked qualifications. Weighed down by the world's biggest public debt, the government is trying to trim poverty-relief spending that swelled to 2.6 trillion yen ($22 billion) in fiscal 2005 from 1.5 trillion yen in 1997.

Gender Roles

The new law recognizes that a housewife shouldn't be victimized by a society that defined gender roles as breadwinner husband and homemaker wife, Ota says. About 11 million housewives -- a third of all adult Japanese women -- have little or no full-time work experience, according to the Social Insurance Agency.

That division of labor helped make Japan the world's second-largest economy by allowing men to dedicate themselves to work without having to worry about who would take care of their families, says Takako Sodei, professor emeritus of sociology at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo.

``A company could easily transfer any employee anywhere, anytime it wanted,'' Sodei says. ``That was a huge benefit.''

Now that the children of the post-war baby boom generation are grown, the divorce rate is rising because many husbands and wives discover they have little to talk about, Sodei says.

Retirement only makes things worse, as husbands hang around the house, demanding attention and robbing wives of the free time they previously enjoyed, says Yamato Kawai, 60, secretary- general of the Foundation for Senior Renaissance, a Tokyo group that advises retirees on ways to enjoy life.

More Divorces

``These guys never even dream they're imposing on their wives' freedom,'' Kawai says. ``I try to warn men to become more independent if they want to avoid a sudden demand for divorce.''

The divorce rate among couples aged 45 to 64 has increased 15-fold since 1960, Health Ministry data shows. Japan recorded 2.1 divorces per 1,000 people in 2005, the government Statistics Bureau says. That is the same rate as in the European Union in 2004, Eurostat data show.

The U.S. rate in 45 states and the District of Columbia was 3.6 per 1,000 in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The reasons include infidelity and spousal abuse, yet most say the workaholic culture is especially hard on marriages.

Kiyotaka Yamana, 47, learned his lesson the hard way when he was dumped by his ex-wife. That prompted him to start Japan Aisaika -- the Devoted Husband Organization -- to urge men to leave the office earlier and change the way they behave at home.

Occasional `I Love You'

``Japanese men remain workaholics even at home, making their wives and children miserable,'' Yamana says. ``They need to realize wives want some communication, an occasional `I love you' or even just a `Thank you' now and then.''

A woman receiving half of her ex-husband's pension would get about 110,000 yen ($930) a month if her spouse had worked for 40 years at a salary of 360,000 yen, according to a model case prepared by the Health Ministry, which drafted the law.

Japan isn't experimenting in social engineering, says Yoriko Madoka, a legislator from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. It just can't afford to keep covering the financial needs of women whose average life expectancy is the world's longest at almost 86 years.

``How can women divorced and in their 50s support themselves?'' says Madoka, who has led a support group for divorced women for almost 30 years. ``There are no jobs out there for them.''

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&refer=home&sid=alJHtBVJQRgY

B

(If you actually got this far - then a belated April Fool's to those that can spot the joke within this post - cheers!)

Anybody know of or own stock in a company called "Anooraq"? ARQ.V?


Toot toot!
blake

BW FEB 19: Stocks: It's All In The Timing

Sure, you could score big by riding the market's trends--but even the pros fail to do it regularly.

Here's an overwhelming argument for market timing (the legitimate sort, not the unseemly practice that got some mutual fund companies in serious trouble a few years ago). We asked Ibbotson Associates, the Chicago financial research firm, to see how much $1,000 invested in 1926 would be worth today if the money were always in a broad basket of stocks in months the market went up and in Treasury bills during the others, with dividends and interest reinvested. The answer: $30 trillion, vs. a mere $3 million if the $1,000 were invested in stocks and remained untouched. Far-fetched? Well, $1,000 placed in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index a decade ago would now be $2,244 for the buy-and-hold investor, but $14,561 for the prescient market timer.

It all sounds wonderful, in theory. These soothsayers are trying to pick the optimal entry and exit points by measuring data that are generated within the market itself, such as changes in prices and trading volume. They're not scrutinizing balance sheets or parsing economic fundamentals. They enact their trades in a variety of ways, using mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and stock-index futures. Scores of professional timers, most of them mom-and-pop businesses, hawk their get-in, get-out advice to individuals on the Internet, cable TV, and through direct mail.

But the gap between perfect timing and reality is huge. In fact, 2006 should have been a timer's dream since there were powerful trends to ride: up in the spring, down in the summer, up at yearend. Consider the 100 market-timing newsletters followed by Timer Digest. The top gun, Mark Leibovit of VRTrader.com, beat the S&P 500 by just 4.5 percentage points. William Ferree Jr., the next best, topped it by 3.4 points. Timothy Lutts, the 10th best, was a point behind the S&P 500. (The Digest's returns do not include dividends and interest.)

The top 10 Timer Digest numbers are a bit better over a five-year period. Leibovit placed second in that race (up 57%), bracketed by Dan Sullivan of The Chartist (91%) and Christopher Cadbury of Cadbury Timing Service (42%). The remaining seven on the list were mediocre to worse, relative to the S&P 500's 23% price gain during the same period.

That's before taking into account any taxes owed and trading costs. Since market timing can involve rapid shifts in portfolio positions, both costs can be high (although taxes aren't a problem in tax-sheltered retirement plans). Professional timers sell their prognostications largely through newsletters and online services priced between $200 and $1,000 a year. Many manage client money, too.

SHARP DROP-OFF
The data generated by longtime newsletter analyst Mark Hulbert of the Hulbert Financial Digest are different. But the result is much the same. Hulbert looked at the record of 103 market-timing strategies over the past 10 years. Several did quite well compared with the 8.3% average annual gain in the S&P 500. For instance, Bob Brinker's Marketimer recorded a 13.7% annualized return. But here again, the 10th best timing system only gets you slightly better than the S&P 500 return. Hulbert interprets the data as confirming his 80/20 rule: 80% of timers fail over any reasonable period of time. He adds that the performance numbers got a boost from a bear market in the early 2000s. "Bear markets make market timers look like geniuses because they have some money in cash," says Hulbert. Most mutual funds, for instance, stay nearly fully invested in stocks, so take a hit during bear markets.

What do the more accomplished timers have to say about the market now? Leibovit, for one, is guardedly optimistic. Based in Sedona, Ariz., the veteran timer uses a number of proprietary indicators. "I think 2007 will be an O.K. year with a lot of volatility, and on balance, the market will be up until the fall," he says. "I'm not too happy with the market after the fall and going into 2008. Be careful."

On the other hand, veteran market seer Joseph Granville, the eighth best in Timer Digest's five-year rankings, already is far more bearish. He confidently predicts the Dow Jones industrial average will plunge to 7,100 from its current 12,666. "It will completely surprise Wall Street," say Granville. The octogenarian, based in Kansas City, Mo., achieved celebrity status decades ago when he correctly pegged the 1977-78 bear market. His reputation suffered after wrongly predicting a 1982 market crash.

Interestingly enough, though individual timers can easily err, there is some merit to their collective wisdom. Timer Digest, for instance, gets recommendations from its 100 or so timers each week and draws a consensus--bullish, bearish or neutral--from the week's top 10. According to Hulbert's figures, one of Timer Digest's systems produced an 11.3%-a-year return over the past decade, besting the S&P 500 by a full three percentage points. The other was just a shade behind, at 11.1%. Most professional investment managers would kill for those kinds of long-term results.

By Christopher Farrell



Full URL: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_08/b4022093.htm

Blake

Isn't it about time Roni that you change your handle? Hmm.. lets see.. something like.. iRoni?

LOL!

UR right.. WHAT....ever!

Cheers!
iBlake

LOL!

No no.

1) Zune is shit. The sharing of songs is BS. The fact they f***ed over customers with their decision to NOT make a player that would PLAY FOR SURE the music they bot before is quite criminal.
No question MSFT's development has stalled - but as I said they will be the first to 'adopt' iPHONE's features.

You can't hardly compare PDAs on the market to this. Hardly.

2) I am beyond the cell phone. WiMax is where things are going. Wireless non-cell roaming without paying the cell companies big money for little bandwidth/net usage.

3) I am actually surprised - seeing as they first developed the PDA (Newton) that they have never come back with a killer PDA themselves. Really! And that they should have done years ago.
(And I am 100% sure they would have never called it iPDA LOL!)

As I said I question who will buy this. It is years late. Period. Of course I wish them and all stock holders all the best.

Chuckle - Roni - Yous crazy!
B

No but you'd think they would have picked a better name than "iPhone" - no? Now they are being sued over trademark infraction by CSCO. You telling me there is no other creative gene in that place? Such a plane jane non-Apple-ish name.

On the stock - congrats to whoever owns it. On the concept - a few years off the mark I think. So everyone who owns an iPOD is going to throw it out and get this? No. Everyone with a phone now can celebrate and get one with a music player? NO - if they wanted music they would have got an iPOD or music player and/or a cell already with music. So who will? Questionable at best.

Nice product from what I read - will be nice when MSFT adopts their stuff in WM6 et al.

Now moving along this guy figures AAPL should either take out XM or SIRI - strike while the iron is hot. I hear the music via satellite radio, I then buy it directly off iTUNES. Now that has legs but -- an iPOD including a radio? Perish the thought!

http://blogs.business2.com/itguy/2006/11/why_apple_shoul.html

Cheerios!
B

Happy New Year Mostly Classical!!!

I want to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2007!

Being a presidential 3rd term, hopefully it will be a good year.

OT: My wife had recorded Oprah (not sure which day- but recent). Al Gore was on preaching to the masses to stop global warming. What struck me was his weight (mass) gain over the years. Cripes - if you look at his face you'd swear he is a younger Jackie Gleason!
At any rate, one wonders what both Al and Oprah are doing to help stop global warming - you know with huge homes, servants, limos and all. Bunch of Horse Hockey if you ask me. Shills in the audience asking questions to boot!

A couple of years ago I was getting about 42KwH/day in the summer and found not of a difference in the winter. Got hydro involved to check the meter - was fine. I suspected my fridge was on it's last legs - 20minutes on; 5-10 off. So I bot an energy saver fridge. Since then in the spring of last year I converted 2x40, 3x100 and 1x60W bulbs in our main living area alone to CFLs (if all lights are on - went from 440W to 91W!). Excluding the summer - we are around 26-28KwH. One step at a time - doing our part - but our main purpose was to save money.

Cheers and the best!
SoB

Life & Retail Store Report - from Sexy..

First Season's Greetings All. Life is chugging away for me. Not much time on the boards - I will be back like before - you can bet on that!

Over the summer I adopted the David Allen "Getting Things Done" system of organization. Most of the junk in my home has been filed and my basement (after 10 years) actually doesn't look like a fire hazard waiting to happen (and can you believe it - I actually HUNG up a fire extinguisher I bot years ago!!!!!) At any rate, the only filing left is how to figure out all the investment stuff. My Dec 1 deadline has passed on that - but still impressed with what I have done.

I ended up getting the Fundraising Chair position at our K-4 school this year. A few of us formed a subcommittee and sent out a fantastic 12 page document based on that meeting. The chair and her puppetmaster, shouted bloody murder - accused us of "secret meetings that are disrespectful to the council". Basically she has done NOTHING, and we have all the ideas - so out comes the (blow hard twice) the CONSTITUTION and the bylaws "12.1" and "8.1" were quoted - of course none of us have a copy nor has the chair herself followed it. All good fun. The "big" meeting is tomorrow night. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!! (Not bad eh - 50th Anniversary of the school too...) Mind the fact that this is a SCHOOL COUNCIL - not a municipal body nor are we paid a dime to do any of this stuff..

As for the holidays and holiday spending - interesting...
A) I am looking at maybe getting a PDA through Costco.ca (Dell Axim x51v). Super good deal for $600 includes shipping and the rock solid (say it everytime I can!) 6mth Costco no quibble return policy!

B) Would like to update our Gamecube with a Wii - if not for the kid - I want at those games like Baseball and Golf with the new controllers that are just wicked cool!

C) Bot about >$300 in Rokenbok toys for our kids. (Ok me too!)

D) Need a car - found out my car (95 Sable) has had faulty springs since 92 model year (til the END!) and a secret 10 year warranty to replace them. Now I know why (after the 10 year period) when I took my car into the dealer to get my starter changed, they quoted me the cost to change the "broken front and rear springs" (and struts etc).

My initial desire was a car that was good on gas. After reading the much needed read "Phil Edmonston's Lemon-Aid Books" - we are leaning toward something like a Honda Odyssey or perhaps a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. We want reliable - safe and to ensure the repair costs are not outrageous or tied to a dealer til it's death. In the end - I may take public transit more - but our driving is not more than 20,000Km/year so gas is less of a factor than the other points.


Now I bring up the above since I have heard so much about retail spending this year not being too good. I remember back around the winter of 89, after I started my first job that year, I went out and bot a TV, VCR, DVD player and Cassette deck. My brother figured I was out there trying to prop up the Toronto economy. Ditto now?

We went to Fairview Mall last night. Got there around 730PM. Quite a nice night out - not too cold, little wind. No snow on the ground. I pulled up to the mall parking lot - I swear the first thing I said was "Are you sure it is open?" Wife replied "Of course, it is Christmas" "Yeah, but there are NO cars - as if they were here just to watch the movies!" I parked the car (you always take a lot longer when there are more spots to choose from) and had to walk to the door to verify the hours. They were open until 930pm!

2 MORE HORRIBLE HOURS to pay employees to sit around and do abscalutely nophing!! (as my 4 year old would say). I mean literally NO ONE in the mall. And this isn't an out of nowhere place. The tax payers paid BILLIONS to get a subway stop right there at the mall!!!

At any rate, we will be sure to go to other malls - but so far it is pretty sad out there. Funny though, if I, like other parents can even get a Wii - by the time you get the main unit $280, plus a second controller set $44 + 25 plus an extra game $60, and a memory card $40 (unless you use the Gamecube card), how much money left do you have to buy other stuff????

On Fox, Cavuto on Business, the quoted figure was the average family (I think-not individuals but I could be wrong) spends around $800US at Christmas - a new record.

NEW RECORD - is that based on an assumption they will be buying a PS3? or what? I can't see that out there. Anyone else seeing this? Gary B. Smith (technician) on Bulls & Bears says short Mastercard (MA).

Last but not least - Love my Sansa 4GB music player. Love it. Love it. Listen to it all the time when I am not home. Do regret not getting an iPOD in the early days that is for sure. But happy with the Sansa.

Cheers all!
Blake


(TOU I am, I hate green eggs and ham!!!!)

TD Waterhouse CANADA Commission Changes Oct 30th

Not sure if this was posted already (sorry if it was).
They are moving toward the Ameritrade US model -- 9.99 per order (no more grouping) EXCEPT they left out the best part -- you must have traded 30 times in the quarter to get that.

Anyways the commission schedule on the minimum trades is not what is new, but the no more grouping of trades.

http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=22984147

B

NBR: James Dines is this week's market monitor on Nightly Business Report - Nov 3rd.

Be there or be square! (If uranium isn't his "In the MOTHER OF ALL BULL MARKETS", then what will it be?)

B

Yeah doing well. Doing mostly family stuff these days - oldest (8) was in Soccer in the summer and if he didn't have fun, I sure did. Now he is in Skating; Swimming and Spanish; youngest (4) will start skating. (Yes unless the "s"port starts with "S"..

Otherwise very busy - trying to get my shit together. Read a good book (and methodology) from David Allen - Getting Things Done. Even found a half decent PHP app which I can use to keep track of things. Slowly putting the system together.

Going to be running (assumed on) the school council this year and a good chance I will run on the condo board too. Not to mention having to to get a new/used car by year's end. Haven't decided which part is hell and if any part is heaven - but having to deal with sales"people" is definitely as close to hell as one can get.

Investing - well up one day.. down a bunch the next - nothing too attractive lately. Been watching SBUX but dropped to 30s and perhaps a rebound - time will tell if it will hold. Now the energy trusts are dropping like a rock.

Whatever - about 20-40% cash across most accounts anyways - get through Sep/Oct and hopefully the fun will begin.

Haven't done much "board" reading - I hear the tech drum beats with MSFT releasing Vista - but is it a given people are going to run and buy tech? I hear consumers aren't buying the gadgets as before. I see DSL company getting people to sign up and giving them LCD monitors (or LCD TV) - implies as I have read for a few years now - so many out there and no one to buy.

The Cambridge House Resource show is Sunday Sep 24th/25th. Not so sure I can make it - I do enjoy the EOD round table - Grandich is always good for a hoot or two.

(Never finished reading your stuff Chary--but I will get back to it all in the weeks ahead).

cheers all!
B

Mark Twain's $4 Million Mistake

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06091608.htm

By Todd Wenning (TMF Phila)
09/16/2006

"October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February." -- Mark Twain, Pudd'nheadWilson (1894)

Mark Twain was bankrupt by the age of 59, which undoubtedly contributed to his cynical view of stock speculation. His most famous investing disaster was at least a $150,000 loss -- $4 million in today's dollars -- on the Paige Compositor, an automatic typesetting machine that Twain believed would revolutionize the publishing industry. Investing in a product that would make printing faster and more efficient seemed like a no-brainer. He wrote to his brother at the time, "The Paige Compositor marches alone & far in the lead of human inventions."

Unfortunately, the inventor of the machine, Mr. Paige himself, was a perfectionist who refused to let the machine go to market until it matched his vision. By the time Paige was ready (14 years later!) to let go of his baby, more efficient and less expensive competitors had entered the market and rendered the Compositor impractical.

Don't bet the farm
We can all relate to Twain's enthusiasm to invest in a potentially paradigm-shifting product or company. If it pans out, it's a surefire way to amass a sizable fortune. On the other hand, if it falls on hard times, the results can be devastating. Consider the following:

Company________________Price One Year After IPO__Recent Price_________Total Return
Starbucks(NASDAQ:SBUX)_________$1.52_____________$30.17____________ 1,885%
Palm(NASDAQ:PALM)______________$122.40___________$14.47____________ (88%)

Despite its inherent risks, speculation isn't altogether unhealthy. After all, had the Compositor succeeded, this article would be about Twain's investing genius, the universities he founded, the writing programs he endowed, and the charities he started.

Twain's biggest mistake was simply this: Investing more than he could afford to lose. It seems like a fairly obvious concept, but it is one that constantly gets overlooked by investors. We tend to focus so much on the riches that may await us that we refuse to consider the possibility of failure.

Smart speculation
No matter how revolutionary an idea may be or how great a company's management appears, it has to become reality in order to be profitable. Many obstacles can befall a company on the way to superstardom (e.g., FDA rejections, lawsuits, or SEC investigations), and some are more difficult to foresee than others.

To reduce the risk that unforeseen circumstances can have on your nest egg, hedge your speculative picks with some more conservative ones. For example, if your speculative pick is a tech company with a high beta, like JDS Uniphase(NASDAQ:JDSU) or Level 3 Communications(NASDAQ:LVLT), consider adding some dividend-paying blue chips such as McDonald's(NYSE:MCD), Novartis(NYSE:NVS), or Bank of America to your portfolio. These latter stocks are significantly less vulnerable to the market's whims or to zero-sum events.

Or, to instantly diversify your non-speculative equities, try an indexed mutual fund such as Vanguard 500 Index or an indexed exchange-traded fund such as SPDRs.

The Foolish bottom line
Your goal in investing (besides making money) should be to enjoy it -- and not risk so much that you get discouraged by crippling losses as Twain did. There's room in almost every portfolio for the great growth that paradigm-shifting companies can offer.

If you'd like some help finding a few ideas, let us help you select them wisely. Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner and his team at Rule Breakers specialize in finding growth companies that could fundamentally alter the frameworks of their industries.

You can see all the Rule Breakers recommendations and receive two new ideas each month with a free 30-day trial to Rule Breakers. Follow this link to learn more.
(http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/15/decide.asp?source=irbedilnk6801065)

This article was originally published on July 19, 2006. It has been updated.

Todd Wenning owns shares of Starbucks. Starbucks and Palm are Stock Advisor choices. Bank of America is an Income Investor pick. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

Cheers all!
B

Finally some sunshine... my only sunshine.. you make me happy when my golds and energy trusts go up.. oh please Fed don't make my sunshine go away..

S.

I love it when a good market falls apart.

Sick of stock charts? Here is a neat site I found (Baby Names) - but what is interesting is that they chart the use of the name over the years.

(Sexton doesn't exist as a first name so I used Blake)

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/search.php?g=1&t=1&s=blake

B

What a BE-U-TIFUL day in the market. Only a couple of junks are up today.. Cheers all!
B

No I don't but enjoy UR BRE-X while you can.

ROTFLMAO! That comment put a damper on watching porn? What a crock of seagulls!!

I was in Montreal, and they had some closed circuit broadcast within the motel (motel = dive = where is the easy button that says get me the hell out of this hole; but they made the best chicken club I have ever had) were running porno. Now this wasn't your average run of the mill stuff. Basically equivalent to the bins at WMT - where they sell movies for $6.99 - junk of porn. I had stayed there a few nights and one night I turned it on and there was a Lesbian scene. Not just any scene I must admit - two rather large >300LB lesbians!! That in itself is enough to make one laugh - but wait - it gets a lot better. One of the women was stimulating the other woman - and proceeded to lift "flaps of flesh". (this was late at night and nothing else on so what the hell right?) I am watching and waiting - and asking that question that burned in my mind "will rising this next flap hit pay dirt?" NO! "This one?" NO! .. "This one?" and on and on it went. Never got past the flaps and I moved on. HORRIBLE junk. Now that would cause most to be turned off porn for life. Anyways my constitution must be a bit stronger than yours I suppose.

At any rate perhaps today is a day of reckoning for you CD.
Harry Reems is alive and well. In fact he turned into a preacher for a short while and today is selling Real Estate - check out wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Reems .
This means of course, that comment no longer is valid and you can go back and watch as much porn as you want! You are free friend... FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

John Holmes died of AIDS though. (in the lounge the drummer goes.. badda bing..)

So SVM must have stalled and went down? What was the time period of the $10 and then later rise to $20?

NGX.WT is just junk shit. Load the boat and hope you sell enough of the lottery ticket to make life worth while. That is the biggest problem with those. Who in the halibut would have thought it would go north of 35? I've seen (HAD) penny stocks that were in trading ranges for over 20 years - and you figure ok it is 5-10c to 80-100 and then it comes back. But you did right selling half.. which is part of what I like. The other angle would be to sell less than 1/3 of your position - enough of it to cover the entire cost and let the rest ride. Then as it comes back - you haven't lost any capital - then if it comes back to say 22-25 - load up again.

Even on the big ones I am against the selling all theory. I like to sell 1/2-1/3 then more in another round - regardless of commish.

As per William O'Neil - he buys then waits for it to go up about 2% then buys more then another 2% buys again for the last time (I think the quantity diminishes over the next two of the three). The theory being that rising is very good - so instead of throwing the entire pool at the beginning - and potentially lose money if it drops, you add (at the beginning only! - remember my disaster with PMZ) on strength.

Funny as I have new perspectives over the past couple of years. You see so many holes in "expert's" theories. On Market Call the guest will say "yes we held that and have taken a loss but feel it will come back" or on Fox when someone is buying at the 52W high another says that is way over valued and you should BUY LOW SELL HIGH - Dines has no problems with the BUY HIGH SELL HIGHER theory. Besides, as with Newton - momentum as it hits a new high - it continues to hit new highs with nothing to cause it to stop.

My model going forward is to always make proper purchases - large quantities - and have about 10-20% cash for "sales". In the past I would make foolish buys - I had $1500 - so why not buy up to ## shares and that will be ok. Then that one moved well and I had so little a position it made no real sense.
Then again is the $$ v. %% problem. As with the DOW up 50 or down 199 - all noise. The % is far more important.

Thanks. I agree on the cash register stuff. Another failure wasn't just that I never sold but I never USED THE PROFITS OF THE SALE (outside RSP). Instead just throwing it back into the pot for the next one. Based on previous blunders I could have had more of the house paid off, new car, trips etc - material things. So part of my new strategy involves allocating gains - still about 1/2 would be put back into the pot but some for taxes; home; family etc.

Cheers!
B

Did someone mention Johnny Wadd? There was a movie about him (said title) on the movie channel. There is a scene between him and Chin the director of many of the Johnny Wadd films. John was saying how the director allowed him to do his own editing. Then Chin said, during that same interview, that wasn't true. What was funny was that same scene was in Boogie Nights between Dirk Diggler and The Bandit. (I can't remember if they ever said Boogie Nights was suppose to be based on John Holmes but pretty darn close). Such ashame a great tool went to waste like that.


At any rate, either you didn't read it right or I didn't write it right.

The logic was merely an absolute minimal profit. Not capping the gain.

Perhaps Frank and I are talking about two different things. But there are times when I have done "ok" but not great on a stock. Then it slowly meanders down with the odd jump up - the carrot to keep me thinking this has a chance before the next huge drop. Small profits just wash away. So the theory would be an absolute minimum. F everything and just get me out with that profit.

You buy XYZ for $20 and a stop loss of 5% at $19. You want a minimal 10% profit or sell at $22. You want a 5% trailing stop the way up. At $30 a stop loss of $28.50 - and say I will sell 1/2 if it drops that much.

The rest would be sold at the minimal profit mark.

The fear of course is that you sell it all and it takes off - a system to buy back is required. The other side is you always hold a bit and then perhaps near the bottom (where you bot it) you re-add to it. Lots of different things.

If ownly I set minimal profits in the past. Oi vey.


At any rate CD, that you persued it - care to share your general sell strategies?

Lets say you hypothetically owned 10,000 CKG at a purchase price of $2.00. Would you have sold any up to now? At $7.50? At $10? Lets say it starts to crater - from here - at what point do you start unloading?
(I picked this since we shared some pain -- but fully aware that it isn't that liquid - so for arguement sake lets just assume it is volatile and selling is never a problem).

Ever read John Kaiser (bottom fishing guide)? Typically at the resource shows. His guide spoke of "selling on the way up.. and selling on the way down". The bottom fishing concept was that you actually held a fair bit allowing to unload both ways (not like you had a single lot).

My new views have been to have a stop loss to get out once I buy. But if it makes a profit - say a 5-10% drop from the top. Sell all and wait for it to reloaad and/or move onto something else. There are times when it drops - but it then reverses -- at that moment in time, it is probably higher than I want to pay and thus would lose it.

Tough nookie.

S

Can't remember if it was Market Call or a Fox show, but they were saying put a stop "6% above your purchase price". I've always figured it was better to put a % below the price (that is reasonable) - say 10%-20%. This would be an extra level in my eyes - that when all else fails - sell-the-sh*t to lock in at least 6% or whatever % desired.

So I would say that was similar to your stop profit. Prudent.

B

The FB link failed. Here is another version...

http://grandich.com/barbera.htm

Newest is June 3rd.

B

Jeez what does AAPL and DIS have in common?

I heard AXP is a better bet than MA.

B

I will make an obtuse comment -- what does GST stand for? Oddly I cannot find much on him/site etc.

At any rate printed it out and will take a gander.

Looks like he will offer a good price shortly as well as another sample or two.

FYI:
http://www.grandich.com/barbera.htm
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/barbera/main.html
http://kitco.com/ind/Barbera/feb282005.html
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/barbera/2005/0603.html
http://a02.moneycentral.msn-ppe.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/Dispatches/P116712.asp

Most are stale.. however, you can at least go back in time and see how well his calls/pred were.

OT: Commodity channel
http://www.streetiq.com/dir/MVTVCOMM.shtml

Speaking of obtuse..
Venus: This is WKRP in Cincinnati, with more music and Les Nessman.

Cheers Chary
B

Sorry, cannot PM you unless you are on SI as well.

(EDIT: Read the URL below)

Regarding this Yahoo problem - by chance have you used their Widget app (use to be called Konfabulator and now is called Yahoo Widgets or something there abouts).

Just non stop asking me. I am emailing them today since their "24 hours before asking you again" does not work.

My home machine uses the widgets - I am wondering if I turn it off at home if the password stuff will end - hence why I ask you.

Thanks Andy
B

EDIT
We are not alone.. others are complaining - around the 24th of last week is about right. I am surprised others aren't affected. At home I added AIROBOFORM and it helps because I just press YAHOO and it posts and submits. Funny they sell a USB key for about $10US - price sounds right. May look into that.

URL:
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.thunderbird/browse_thread/thread/53be40ccbc426518/505...

Americanos /eom

Nice webpage I will say, Roni. Esp like the "old school" type bending picture backgrounds (aka the MISC PHOTOS).

Well we share totally opposite interests. As I share with my wife, there is zero chance in hell (unless you believe the movie The Day After - then again where I am, we are all dead) in ever stepping foot in Mexico. Now Cuba, as communist as it is, has a far better chance. But our interests are somwhere between (A) Las Vegas or (B) Caribbean - Cayman et al. I suppose the closest I'd ever get to Mexico would be to stop off and give some cold drinks to the minute men.

"Experts" (those on Fox et al) seem to be all pro Apple. My MP3 player could have gone either way and price was absolutely last on my list. But when I walk into an Apple store - though I do cause a hazard (with my drool and people walking behind me), there are just more important purchases to be made - in otherwords, if I had to buy a computer tomorrow, that is a no brainer. But to step up to Apple, I could not justify it.

But it is funny - if you read everything, it suggests that with rising interest rates and high energy - that everyone is still doing everything as they use to. Some suggest caution going forward that the consumer will stop spending, but just not seeing it. One even went so far as to think that the next FED will be the last and then down the rates will come and back to 6% mortgage rates. Hard to believe that one.

Will people have to make a choice between a tank of gas and Starbucks fancy drink? We shall see.

Congrats and good luck on your plans!
B

FP - I want some mad cow diseased meat.. ok well maybe just the stock MCD.

In May 15 BW, they talked about the huge makeover the golden arches are under taking. About 3-4 years ago they did some sprucing but this is on a much larger scale - all restaurants - with arm chairs; stools; LCD TVs; wifi and different areas within the restaurant to appeal to different ages (kids; teens; adults).

Franchisees are balking at the costs. Talking about 30000 locations.

Goes along with the premium subs and coffee. (Yup - premium coffee + wifi = direct competition with Starbucks).

Been watching a while - they haven't gone too far since their CEO died unexpectedly - and have been down sharply lately (since high of $36).

Thoughts? What does IBD think?

S

Saw something about that. I am waiting for the iPOD and toilet tie in -- er ah.. called (yup you guess it) iCRAP.

I have officially entered the world of a digital audio player. Ended up being the SANDISK Sansa m260 (url below). Comes with 4GB flash; removable AAA battery; supports resume; acts as a standard MSD. Cost $210C. I will post a review at Epinions within the month. The unit satisfied my basic criteria. Costco sells the 1GB version for $99C, so at the price the 4GB was excellent value. (so I have elevated myself from bottom of the heap to rather high in the DAP world).

512MB is downright pitiful. 1GB is for those that like a finite set of current tracks. At 4GB it more than covers my current and any "in the mood for.." needs plus can share with the wife. Most of the time in the car I will listen to classical; techno or audio books.

[Funny story, I listen to FLO 93.5 (Urban) and Classical FM (96.5) on the way home. The traffic reporter is BART MURPHY on both stations; and talks with both "hosts" as he should - classical/urban. The odds of someone listening to both stations and knowing the fact he is on both is so remote. I just have to chuckle.]

Probably the best part of the unit - is that they use the ID3 tags and slot accordingly automagically. So yes I can hear the same song if I pick "R&B" "2005" or "Alica Keys". I mention this because a lot of crappy (non Apple) units just give you folders. (albeit why anyone would want to listen to all songs from 2005 is beyond me; but hey what do I know)

I was actually toying with the idea of the iPOD Nano (about $287C for the 4GB model) except I was discouraged with the poor quality of the coating (as you know the class action suit).

Again the whole issue revolving the battery still stuck in my craw. The Nano could have been designed with a battery - like a NOKIA - where it is part of the back and clips off. But nooooooooo that would never do.

http://sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1161)-SanDisk_Sansa_m200_Series_MP3_Players.aspx

B

(BTW: Roni -- except for the 26th you haven't posted much here - mostly on AAPL; seeing as FP thinks we are all weird, I had to see what would get you to post. Cheers mate!)

OT: I hope Cars does well at the box office. Disney had to take out Pixar - but as a bad trader - overpaid. On Friday a Disney exec said he wanted a movie a year from Pixar. John Lasseter said "we roll them out when we are ready". Dunno -- that is a tough marriage. John isn't in it for the money - he wants a GREAT FAMILY FILM. That doesn't translate to big money, automatically.

If I look back at all the movies, only The Incredibles could have several sequels - a la James Bond. That would help Disney get a pict a year since most of the work is designing the first one. Though I am sure there is a Finding Leonard Nimoy 2, Monsters 2, and perhaps Ants 2 -- if Disney has its way.

Outside of the Incredibles, Toy Story 2 is my favorite. Heck anything with Kelsey Grammer is great.

FYI: Cliff (Ratzenberger) is in Cars - and all other Pixar flicks.

Though I might follow Roni to the AAPL forum (I love shameless pumpers) I wouldn't be following FP to the Bible or Tour de France.. but thats just me.

B

Pay? No. I do intend to pay for Stockcharts but still all over the place myself.

As for this pic, no I save the PNG then annotate in PAINT. I have a fastmail.fm account and they offer WEBDAV support for their files. So off "My Computer" I have my FASTMAIL file storage - so I save within a folder then paste the link. Pretty cool.

I do run apache (a rock) on my P3 (XP) except it is mostly just for my shopping list which I access with my phone (yeah while shopping!) When doing "my own stuff" I prefer my own server. But when posting pics and links for those "that adhere to different time zones" I prefer Fastmail (247).

(Fastmail.fm has $5 off some of their packages until May 31 - refer by "soblake").

I really don't have time to spend reading and reading and reading posts. So this is my only place I ever visit for now.

Besides, FP always is a hoot.

B

FP you's crazy!



Kastelco? In a funk as usual...

B

Cheers and Enjoy! (Well it rhymes!)

B

One thing that is pissing me off ......

I use to be able to configure all the display options (within a portfolio). If anyone knows where that is, advise.

The options allowed you to use "ARROWS" instead of "SIGNS"; use "FRACTIONS" instead of "DECIMALS".

All configuration gone. Now it shows ARROWS in the portfolio.
The best I can do is adjust the header to show the indicies and symbols.

I was always showing THE LAST news release instead of many - now it shows multiple stories (clutter).

Seems spotty - I asked others and they haven't complained either. Perhaps a narrow beta test.

Thanks Andy and welcome.
B

(BTW: Though many think I am insane don't believe them. I am just plain crazy).

Well yes, this was a legacy holding and it has done well for me. Don't own much. I am not getting into low volume stuff any more. I want to get in and out quickly. Avg daily should be north of about 250-300K a la minimum average 90d volume.

I know there are lots of folks on SI that own more than the daily volumes.

Good stuff.. after you listen to that you know why the Rolling Stones adopted Blues for their music. (simple tune that I could listen to all day)

On the side, BusinessWeek had an article on YouTube. Smacks of copyright infringement all over the place. Their success has caused many eyes to focus on them. The new Napster?

Now a cable company (Cablevision I believe) is renting out PVRs without harddrives. So they have giant server at the main office; you can still record up to 50 hours but it is served to you instead of on the local PVR HD. It will save them CAP-X / unit but now the TV/Movie studios cry foul - it is Video on Demand (VOD) and they want their cut.

Local music station said "the world is changing, if you miss your favorite show, the next day you will be able to watch that episode and it will ONLY cost you 99 cents! What a great thing!" What BULLSHIT. The world is changing - instead of us paying the cable company $50-100/mth the TV studios want us to pay THEM 99 cents a show? F-THAT! People are so stupid.

And to all a great weekend..
Blathers & Slathers O My..

Little over a week? Enough to be taken out the index.

All good fun..

(Tune of Gabriel: Here comes the Flood)
LORD.. CKG trades again.. and it is only down... under 10(c)..
and then, with a crash and cry we all dance around..
we cannot believe our fortune as the world spins again...
Oh hail, hail the marrrrrrrkeeeettttttttttt...

B

Well it "is" happening mostly at home so I will take your advice (perhaps a cookie issue). However, if you or anyone sees weird things, please let me know.

B