Department of Justice press releases at the Press Room.

Feature Article :

Year-End Trading Considerations
By Chuck LeBeau

One of the primary requirements for successful technical trading is adequate liquidity. As much as possible we need to trade in markets where the price action is orderly and the flow of orders is substantial. This requirement is true regardless of the size of our personal transactions. We want to confine our trading to active markets where large transactions by other traders do not distort prices.

Most traders assume that if they are trading small positions then market liquidity doesn't matter. They fail to understand that they need to be concerned about the orders of the large traders who may make decisions based on a variety of factors that may have nothing to do with the current price action. If we are trading a small position we don't want our stops to be triggered by a large trader who suddenly decides to enter a market order or has a large stop order triggered.

Here are specific liquidity thresholds that I have found to be helpful over the years:

1) In futures markets there should be a minimum of 20,000 contracts of open interest and at least 5,000 contracts of average daily volume.
2) In securities there should be a minimum of 500,000 shares of average daily volume.

There are also important liquidity concerns over holidays, especially the period between Christmas and New Years. For many years I had a personal rule that I would not trade futures in the period between the last Friday before Christmas and the first business day after New Year's day. Then for a two-year period this policy seemed to cost some money in missed profits so I decided to abandon the policy the following year. This decision proved to be a big mistake.

The following year was 1994 and on December 28th I was holding hundreds of profitable currency positions on the CME. Suddenly, for no obvious reason, the direction of the currencies reversed sharply and our stops were hit and my orders were filled at unbelievably bad prices. I had positions in Yen, D-Marks and Swiss Francs and all of the stops got hit at the same time and the fills were just terrible. The worst was the Yen executions. I encountered 130 points of slippage on more than two-hundred Yen contracts. When I contacted the exchange to voice my outrage I was told that due to the holiday schedule most of the usual pit traders were on vacation. I was told that there were only seven traders in the Yen pit when my stops were hit. To make matters worse, the pit traders were unable to lay off their trades in the cash market because the bank traders were also "on holiday".

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Not only was it an expensive lesson but it was particularly painful because it was a lesson I had already learned from many years of experience. I had violated one of my own rules and I paid the price. Those bad currency trades on December 28th turned a slightly profitable year into a losing year.
Another lesson to be learned from this experience is the need for consistency. If I had traded over the holidays on a consistent basis year in and year out I would have made a little more profit in the years prior to 1994. However by changing tactics I encountered the worst possible out come. I missed the profits and experienced a nearly catastrophic loss in 1994. Had I followed either tactic consistently I would have been much better off.
Needless to say I have reverted to my previous policy of not carrying any open futures positions from the Friday before Christmas until the trading day after NewYears.

I'm not sure how important this rule might be to stock traders but I am inclined to think that the holiday period would be a good time to take a break and relax. Then we can return to the markets refreshed and with a clear head after the beginning of the year. Not only will we have more time to spend with our loved ones over the holidays, we will probably come out dollars ahead over the long run.

Chuck LeBeau is the co-author of Computer Analysis of the Futures Market, and the former co-editor of Technical Traders Bulletin. Chuck is the featured speaker at IITM's upcoming How to Develop a Winning Trading System That Fits You three-day workshop in Phoenix, January 2004. Chuck has 27 years experience in the markets and is widely known for his specialized knowledge of technical analysis. He also develops trading systems and currently runs a website devoted to trading topics; www.traderclub.com. This article is Bulletins #54 from the "forum" section of Chuck's informative site.

courthouseonline.com ...a better way to access public records.™ Website and Services Copyright ©2000 CourthouseOnline.Com, Inc. Copyright and ownership of courthouse data is held by each respective courthouse. All information provided on this site is believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. I AGREE that my use of this site is governed by the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Coal in the RIAA's Stocking

According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not authorize the issuance of subpoenas to Internet Service Provider for the purposes of identifying P2P file sharers. The decision is a blow to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which had mounted a major campaign of lawsuits against individual broadband subscribers who used P2P software to share music files. This tactic was forced by defeats in the RIAA's effort to hold the P2P software companies liable for piracy. Indeed, in a second setback on the same day, the Dutch supreme court (the highest legal body in Europe to yet consider a case on file-sharing software) ruled that the developers of Kazaa software cannot be held liable for how individuals use it.

E-Commerce Law Week summarizes legal and other developments affecting electronic commerce and security with special emphasis on Encryption, Digital Signatures, Computer Security, Privacy, and related issues.
To subscribe to E-Commerce Law Week click here
To unsubscribe, send the message 'Unsubscribe E-commerce Law Week' to cryptolist@steptoe.com.

© Copyright 2003 Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Steptoe & Johnson LLP grants permission for the contents of this publication to be reproduced and distributed in full free of charge, provided that: (i) such reproduction and distribution is limited to educational and professional non-profit use only (and not for advertising or other use); (ii) the reproductions or distributions make no edits or changes in this publication; and (iii) all reproductions and distributions include the name of the author(s) and the copyright notice(s) included in the original publication.

Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale, Plantation, Coral Springs, Hollywood, Aventura, Coconut Creek, Florida, private investigator, process server, detective, services, Palm Beach County, Broward County; Miami, Dade and Monroe CountyDetective, investigation, process server: "A 24 HOUR DIVORCE IS POSSIBLE
Click on here, http://www.offshore-manual.com/DominicanDivorce.html
KNOW THE NUMBER YOU ARE DAILING FROM
These are known as ANAC numbers, which are used by telephone repair people. Here are some national ones certainly reported. 800-444-4444, 888-324-8686, 800-444-3333, 800-727-5207, 800-555-1160."

Zimmerman's Research Guide - lexisONE.com: "Zimmerman's Research Guide
An Online Encyclopedia for Legal Researchers by Andrew Zimmerman
Please select a topic listed alphabetically to begin your research.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z
lexisONE SiteLegal FormsLegal Web Site DirectoryLegal Web Sites "

1750 share list: "1750 share list
A list of DVDs owned by people at 1750 who are willing to share with each other."

WHEN BEING A LAWYER IS A BIRTH DEFECT
Parents, Check for Warning Signs of Incipient Attorney-itis

BY THE RODENT

When the time comes, most people have the same compelling reason for applying to law school–college is almost over. Heck, what else are you going to do with a degree in sociology?

If you don’t believe me, go ask lawyers you know about why they are lawyers. The most common answer is likely to be, "Because I couldn’t get into medical school, not even one of those in the Caribbean."

Admittedly, there are other types of lawyers out there who had a bit more career direction than the rest of us. They are the born lawyers. The law is their life, and that’s the way they like it.

These individuals are easy to pick out of the crowd. They are the ones who will exclaim that they always wanted to be a lawyer. These are also the ones who always knew there was no other career path for them. They were on their way to court before they saw their first episode of Perry Mason, L.A. Law or The Practice.

Still not sure who I’m talking about? It’s that guy who sat in the front row of your college classes, neatly dressed, hand raised to answer or ask questions. His pastimes include hanging around professors’ offices in hopes of getting a good recommendation for law school and doing legal research on ways to sue Ivy League universities if they dare reject his application for admission.

Many parents are fearful of giving birth to a born lawyer. This is especially true of parents who are themselves attorneys and don’t want their child to grow up to be just like them. It is a true heartbreak when such parents learn during the child’s formative years that they have produced another member of the profession.

If you are concerned about your own children becoming lawyers (as opposed to sociology majors), here are some telltale signs that will give you pause:

• Michael Jackson is your child’s favorite entertainer–but only because of all the legal issues.


• Your child forces you, the parents, to sign a retainer agreement before the kid will do any chores.


• The child drafts a will for Mom and Dad to sign–in crayon.


• The child befriends the kids in the class who want to be judges and ambulance drivers when they grow up.


• Instead of playing house, the child plays in-house counsel.


• Instead of hide-and-seek, it’s discovery.


• Instead of kick the can, it’s "kick opposing counsel’s butt."

Finally, there’s no need to buy your little future lawyers G.I. Joe dolls, because they will prefer playing Homosexual G.I. Plaintiff vs. the U.S. Army, et. al.

©2003 ABA Journal

Money Can't Buy Concert

rtsp://demand1.stream.aol.com/aol/uk/aol/music/kylie/kylie_live_tv_bb.rm

Snow Globe!

Saddam captured

"And now, we get reaction from Ahmed Chalabi, head of something called the Iraqi National Congress...."

--Peter Jennings, "anchorman" from something called ABC News at someplace called New York.


http://www.blogjam.com/rabbit/

THE (IM)BALANCE OF JUSTICE

Neither a Borrower Nor a Borrower’s Lawyer Be

BY THE RODENT

Not all lawyers are alike. In fact, individual lawyers need to act differently; they cannot handle every matter in the same manner. Oftentimes, the approach you take and the way you posture are dictated by whom you represent.

Let me qualify what I’m about to write by saying that I am limiting my comments to transactional lawyering. Based on what I know of litigators, their clients are always absolutely guilty or innocent. (At least that’s what I picked up watching the Michael Jackson coverage.) And the lawsuit they are currently working on is always the most open-and-shut—or the most frivolous—of their careers.

Transactional lawyers need to be a bit more adroit when positioning themselves on behalf of their clients. Perhaps the best example of this is when they are called upon to represent either the borrower or the lender in a loan.

Skillfully moving from one side to another requires a split personality. Almost everything about working on this deal is different, depending on what side of the money you find yourself.

1. Billing. Transactions involving the borrowing of money often call for the borrower to pay all legal expenses, including those incurred by the lender. Lawyers must therefore adjust accordingly. If you are representing the borrower, you will record every move you make in 6-minute increments. Your client will then scrutinize your legal bills—which may be cut back to what the client thinks is appropriate. On the lender’s side of things, it’s time for free-form billing. At the closing, you simply write down an amount of money you feel like having, scribble "for legal services rendered" next to it and send in your bill. It’s that easy. Allow 30 days for delivery of your check.

2. Location. Closings for loan transactions are typically held at the office of lender’s counsel. That means home-court advantage. Visitors will be relegated to begging unsympathetic office staff for access to the fax machine, the Internet and the restroom.

3. Attitude. Lawyers tune up or down their attitude depending on who is behind them. With the bank behind you, you can be as demanding and obnoxious as you like. Who’s going to say anything? But you’ll need to lose the attitude if you are at this transaction with hat in hand. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde existence that often confuses those you work with—or live with.

4. Work. Oh yeah, there’s also the work itself. If there is any grunt work to be done on the transaction, you know who is going to do it. Beggars, and beggars’ counsel, can’t be choosers. Forget Jekyll and Hyde. When it comes to putting in the hours and producing the product, it’s more of a master-servant relationship.

5. Negotiations. Lender versus borrower is a total mismatch when it comes to negotiating. If you’re borrower’s counsel and you spot an issue, you can raise it, but what are you going to do if the lawyer on the other side doesn’t see things your way? You’re going to say, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?" Knowing this, lender’s counsel will throw in bogus, unnecessary or totally ridiculous provisions, just because they can.
It’s the most fun you can ever have with your pinstripes on.

All of this can be quite distressing for lawyers on the less desirable side of the deal. But don’t despair! There is a good chance you’ll be on the top side at the next deal. Even better is when that opposing counsel is there on the opposite side from you.

You can contact the Rodent at TheRodent@aol.com.

©2003 ABA Journal

ON THE MEDIA

Love And Happiness

By William Powers, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Friday, Dec. 12, 2003

Everything really isn't rotten in the media. Sure, there's serial plagiarism, flagrant hypocrisy, fiction pretending to be fact, and all the other sins that keep people like me in business. But there's more to anyone's media life than kvetching and handing out citations. My own is full of excellent moments I generally don't get to mention here, because they haven't made me angry or indignant, aren't linked to Topic A, or, in some cases, aren't even journalism.

I can spend a good hour exploring the mysteries of SkyMall.

Another media year is ending, and it was chock-full of outrages. So I think it's time I came out on my secret joys. Here, in no particular order, is the media stuff that lately gives me pleasure:

1. Listmania! on Amazon.com. Lists compiled by Amazon users, with brief comments about what's so special, or awful, about each book, CD, DVD on the list. There are gasbags and numbskulls galore. But some lists are masterpieces of concision and wit. Last week, I found one called "Books I Read Instead of Chasing Women," by a Mark Hamann, whose pithy notes on such cerebral fare as Ontogeny and Phylogeny by Stephen Jay Gould had me doubled over at my keyboard. How can you not love a genre that includes the list, "Let's Read Japanese Science Fiction in English!!"

2. In-flight magazines. Have I become unspeakably dull, or have these things gotten much better in the last 10 years? I've actually torn out articles to save, and will occasionally take the whole issue home to finish later. And I can spend a good hour exploring the mysteries of SkyMall. My favorite is enRoute, from Air Canada. It's bilingual, it's full of gorgeous graphics, and it tries very hard to be hip, but in a totally inoffensive way. In short, Canada between two covers.

3. Reason magazine. The libertarian monthly. Redesigned under Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie and loaded with sharp content. Even manages to make deregulation unboring. The recent 35th anniversary issue named 35 Heroes of Freedom, "people who have made the world groovier and groovier since 1968," including William Burroughs, Barry Goldwater, Madonna, Richard Nixon, and Ted Turner. The same issue called Cindy Skrzycki, The Washington Post's regulatory columnist, "a modern-day Virgil." There is nothing remotely like this magazine. The prospect of a face-off between George W. Bush and Howard Dean -- each libertarian, in a way -- makes me think Reason's big moment could be coming.

4. BOLDFACE NAMES, the gossip/glitterati column by New York Times reporter Joyce Wadler. Runs inside the Metro section in New York, and deep in the A section in the Washington edition, and is always worth the dig. Wadler has created something new: a column that knows how to relish the spectacle of celebrity without joining it, and manages to turn fame into philosophy. Her breathtakingly terse style is built largely on ironic self-abasement -- the worm's-eye view. Nobody in newspaperdom describes the staging of celebrity, or walks the chalk line of meanness, with such finesse. "Diane Keaton... sort of fluttered by," she wrote of one recent movie opening, "like a low-flying Annie Hall balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, surrounded by handlers."

5. Us Weekly. The magazine that has no distance at all from celebrities. By not pretending to be anything but what it is, a besotted fanzine, Us winds up feeling unconflicted and weirdly honest. Seeing celebrities as they want to be seen, i.e., through the eyes of their publicists, can be more enlightening than seeing them through the eyes of actual journalists. At last, America has something that can stand next to Britain's glorious Hello!

6. Washington Monthly. The little neoliberal magazine that could is back, again. After a long moribund spell, the monthly entered a new age a few years ago under energetic Editor-in-Chief Paul Glastris. Every time you turn around lately, there's another article making trouble in the politico-media sandbox. The current issue has a Grade A filet by Nicholas Confessore, who argues that pundit and author James Glassman is using journalism as a kind of cover to promote the interests of a corporate lobby group. Feels like a glimpse of some dystopian media future, except it's already here.

7. The Week magazine. A sort of ultimate digest of the news. Drawn largely from other media coverage, The Week captures what you somehow missed, from Peruvian politics to all you need to know about that new Al Green album. Fun but never silly. Lots of Delta Shuttle types who abandoned the newsweeklies long ago are having a nice quiet affair with this magazine.

8. Real estate ads. Is it the mortgage-rate boom, the sense that this is where America is making all its money, that's made these so much fun? The best ads are in The New York Times Magazine -- home of the triple-mint 3BR for only $6 million! -- and The Wall Street Journal's Friday weekend section, where you can ogle fantasy houses from Maine to Maui. Not to mention Realtor.com, with those 360-degree virtual tours. Voyeurism has entered a whole new age.

9. TV Land, Nickelodeon's banquet of old TV shows. The best family gathering place on the tube. Turns out you can't predict which shows will hold up. "Get Smart" and "The Flying Nun" have aged like great wines. And the early, black-and-white episodes of "Bewitched," shot through with dark cultural commentary, have transcended mere television and become art. But "The Waltons" and "Mr. Ed"? I'm afraid not. Off you go, to the ash heap of media history. Even in a generous mood, a critic has to have standards.

William Powers is a staff correspondent for National Journal magazine, where "On The Media" appears.

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Word of the Day for Thursday December 11, 2003
gallimaufry \gal-uh-MAW-free\, noun:
A medley; a hodgepodge.

Today bilingual programs are conducted in a gallimaufry of around 80 tongues, ranging from Spanish to Lithuanian to Micronesian Yapese.
--Ezra Bowen, "For Learning or Ethnic Pride?" Time, July 8, 1985

Then the speech itself, and you have to feel sorry for TQMEM [The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty] having to read out this frightful drivel, this grim gallimaufry of cliches, jargon and outright lies.
--Simon Hoggart, "Grand tradition: Maltravers, Rouge, Garter, Skinner," The Guardian, November 27, 2003

Maran reports the daily jostlings and thrivings in a public school with 3,200 students, 185 teachers, 45 languages, a principal and five vice principals, five safety monitors, 62 sports teams and a gallimaufry of alternative programs, clubs and cliques.
--Colman McCarthy, "A Writer Goes Back to School," Washington Post, August 20, 2001


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Gallimaufry, originally meaning "a hash of various kinds of meats," comes from French galimafrée, from Old French, from galer, "to rejoice, to make merry" (source of English gala) + mafrer, "to eat much," from Medieval Dutch maffelen, "to open one's mouth wide."

Synonyms: assortment, medley, miscellany, mishmash, potpourri. Find more at

Time is money

The National Law Journal is just out with its annual survey of law firms' billing rates, and by big-city standards, Philly firms weren't wildly out of line. The top tickets nationally were Miami's Greenberg Traurig and L.A.'s Greenberg Glusker, whose priciest partners each bill $850 an hour. Top rate in Philly was the $645 an hour charged by at least one senior partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. (The paper obtained the rate by scanning bankruptcy court filings.) The only other firm in the paper's vaunted $600 Club was Blank Rome, whose top billing was $600. Ceilings for other local firms: Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll ($575); Duane Morris ($565); Pepper Hamilton ($550); Saul Ewing ($505); and Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young and Cozen O'Connor (both $500).

At 15 seconds, the previous paragraph was worth about $2.69 to that Morgan Lewis senior partner. And to think you got the whole paper, plus store coupons, for a buck and a half.
Source:

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LLRX Buzz - The Latest on Legal Research By Tara Calishain
April 15, 2002
http://www.llrx.com/buzz/buzz104.htm
---------------------------------------------------------

**Legal Week

Legal Week (http://www.lwk.co.uk/default.asp?p=homepage.asp) is an
online publication from the United Kingdom. The current issue is
featured in the center column following breaking news headlines since
its release date. While article titles are links to full stories, a
brief description follows each title.

**The Lawyer.com

Another source of legal information from the United Kingdom is The
Lawyer.com, at http://www.thelawyer.com/. Tabs across the page top
list the available options for using this site. The first tab, Lawyer
News, starts with news headlines and continues by offering current
news about deals, features, comment and surveys. Comments include
editorials and opinions, while the current survey focuses on the
London legal offices of the top fifty US firms.


**LibraryLaw.com

Mary Minow's portal to Library Law opens like a book at
http://www.librarylaw.com/. The left page bookmarks legal issues while
the right page provides links to legal issues affecting libraries.

**AltaVista Launches AltaVista ParaPhrase, New Crawling Initiative

Seems like the new hot thing is providing suggestions to narrow a
search. Teoma trumpeted that in its new launch and now AltaVista is
touting their beta test of AltaVista Paraphrase. One percent of US-
based visitors to AltaVista.com will get to check out the tool.

Here's how it works. Enter a search query. The results will come with
a light orangish box on top. The box will contain suggestions for
keywords to refine your search. If you've used AlltheWeb.com, you'll
notice that it looks very similar to their Beta FAST Topics.

**Teoma the Search Engine

I finished digesting Teoma and here's my thoughts:
http://www.researchbuzz.com/articles/teoma0402.html.

TOP 10 WAYS THAT HANDGUNS ARE BETTER THAN WOMEN...
#10 - YOU CAN TRADE AN OLD 44 FOR A NEW 22.

#9 - YOU CAN KEEP ONE HANDGUN AT HOME, AND HAVE ANOTHER FOR WHEN YOU'RE ON THE ROAD.

#8 - IF YOU ADMIRE A FRIEND'S HANDGUN, AND TELL HIM SO, HE WILL PROBABLY LET YOU TRY IT OUT A FEW TIMES.

#7 - YOUR PRIMARY HANDGUN DOESN'T MIND IF YOU KEEP ANOTHER HANDGUN FOR A BACK UP.

#6 - YOUR HANDGUN WILL STAY WITH YOU EVEN IF YOU RUN OUT OF AMMO.

#5 - A HANDGUN DOESN'T TAKE UP A LOT OF CLOSET SPACE.


#4 - HANDGUNS FUNCTION NORMALLY EVERY DAY OF THE MONTH.


#3 - A HANDGUN DOESN'T ASK, "DO THESE NEW GRIPS MAKE ME LOOK FAT?"


#2 - A HANDGUN DOESN'T MIND IF YOU GO TO SLEEP AFTER YOU USE IT.

and, the number one way a handgun is better than a woman

#1 - YOU CAN BUY A SILENCER FOR A HANDGUN!

Research Connect
Research Connect™

Research Connect™ is an integrated research database connecting the media and investors with leading independent financial, business, economic, political, technical, legal, medical, scientific, and social research.

The Research Connect database was built with the goal of indexing the vast group of extraordinary minds that are conducting research throughout the world. Research that is free of bias and research that is shaping the world, the economies and the markets we live in.

Research Connect is an invaluable resource for the national media, independent research firms, university professors, students, institutional money managers, investors, public relations firms and countless others.

In January 2004 we will be releasing RC Research Wire. Research Wire is a daily research transcript delivered directly to subscribers of Research Connect. This automatically generated email report summarizes new research and comments that have been added to ResearchConnect.com over the last 24 hours. To view the layout of Research Wire please visit our Press Room.

Five Steps To Investing Better Than The Pros

By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, President, Investment U
(featured speaker at the Stock Mastery 101 Course, December 6-7.)

"Those investment guys at Citibank don't know anything... they just clock in and clock out, and never actually think for themselves."

This complainer is an Englishman working in Brazil. He's a hardworking entrepreneur, and he was an attendee of an International Institute of Trading Mastery (www.iitm.com) seminar I spoke at last week. This Englishman was at the conference to learn... to become a significantly better trader/investor.

I think he'll become a great investor... he's already following the five basic steps I outline below. And as you'll see, if you follow them as well, you'll not only beat the pros at their own game, you'll become a great investor... just like our English friend.

Why The "Pros" Don't Think For Themselves

The first thing that tipped me off about the Englishman being on the right track was that he'd already made an important discovery: The fact that someone works for a big firm does not mean they actually know anything about making money...

When you work for a big firm, like a Morgan Stanley, the truth is you're not really expected to think for yourself about the big picture. You're simply a cog in the wheel. And so is everybody else. It works... all the cogs rely on each other.

For example, a Morgan Stanley broker's job is not to think about the markets... That's what guys like Barton Biggs and Byron Wien at Morgan Stanley are paid to do.

You're not expected to pick stocks...
That's the research department's job.

You're not expected to fill orders...
That's the trading department's job.

You're not expected to fill out account forms and send 'em to the home office...
That's the operations department's job.

And you don't have to keep up with the regulators...
That's the compliance department's job.

Heck, what do you even do?

As a broker, your sole job is to be on the phone talking to clients. That's it. No thinking for yourself please... we have a department for that.

I'm confident that you can beat that guy (and all the rest of those guys) at investing. You've simply got to put it all together... something they're not allowed to do. And I've come up with five things that I believe it takes.

Let me preface this by saying that most people will not have the time nor the desire to go through with this. And let me also say that the five things below are not all earth-shattering... there's no substitute for hard work. But if you've got the time, and you stick to these five things, you can beat practically everyone.

The Five Keys To Beating Everyone At Investing

1) Commitment. I know that Englishman is more committed. He is not clocking in and clocking out. This is the primary thing consuming his brain. He'll be able to beat the guys who aren't expected to think in no time. Among two roughly equally skilled competitors, the one with deeper commitment usually wins.

2) Homework. You need to know more than the other guy - your competition. This means educating yourself (reading) and crunching numbers yourself. I recommend some resources to get educated at the bottom of this email.

3) Experience. Unless you're Tiger Woods, even with all the skills and commitment, you're not going to win big your first year. But at first, you at least need to be in the game. All the reading about golf in the world isn't going to make you a good golfer if you're not on the course. Keep paying your dues (by investing), take personal responsibility for your losses and try to learn from them, and the big profits will come.

4) Thinking for yourself. Along my investment education I've been amazed to find that there are only a couple of folks out there that think for themselves. These names include Jim Rogers, Bill Gross and Warren Buffett. But it is an amazingly short list. Remember, the employees of a brokerage firm are not paid to think for themselves. So you'll be able to beat the brokerage firms in no time. If you're simply copying their advice, you'll never beat 'em.

5) Avoiding major mistakes. The "catastrophic loss" is what kills you. You can't afford to lose it all. Cut your losses early. Use trailing stops. Do whatever it takes to keep your downside limited and your upside unlimited. Pretty soon, one day, that unlimited upside will show up in your account.

There are ways to do okay in 30 minutes a year. There are ways to do well in 30 minutes week. But I'm not talking about those ways. I'm talking about becoming a superstar - the best full-time investor/trader possible.

Bonus: Two More Ways To Become A Better Investor

In addition to the FIVE steps above, two great things you can do to become a smarter, wealthier investor are:

1) Learn how the great, individualist investors got great, and how they think...


Jim Rogers: Read the book Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers (you can learn more about Jim at www.JimRogers.com).

Bill Gross: Read his monthly commentaries at the www.PIMCO.com website and learn what he's talking about.

Warren Buffett: Read and try to understand what Warren Buffett is talking about at: www.berkshirehathaway.com.

2) Learn to do great homework.

Two books of great homework are: The Research Driven Investor by Tim Hayes and Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig.

A few great books with great thinkers include all of the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager (particularly the first one), and the work done by the folks at the International Institute of Trading Mastery (www.iitm.com)

This e-Letter is often filled with tips and tricks - shortcuts to making you a better investor - a successful investor. But to truly be great, you can't get around the work. Today is not about tricks or shortcuts.

Along the way you may just find, like I have, that the learning and getting better at something is a lot of fun. You may even come to see investing as I do, more as an all-consuming game with a scoreboard, rather than work. And there is a scoreboard: It's your monthly account statement.

If you want to be great, and you've got the time and the inclination, I've given you the five keys to beating everyone, and a pile of books to get you started in the right direction... so get to it!

The holidays are here, which means you should have some extra reading time to get started. There is no downside to heading down this path... even if you can't give it the full commitment, you'll be a much better investor than you ever were. And that's worth it.

If you're interested in buying any of the books that I mentioned in this e-letter, you can find them on the "Recommended Reading" page of our web site at http://www. InvestmentU.com



Steve Sjuggerud, has a doctorate in finance and has been regarded as one of the best researchers on the stock market around. He is the editor of "Steve Sjuggerud's True Wealth," has been a member of the Oxford Club's Investment Advisory Panel for more than five years and is the co-founder and President of Investment U. Steve is a featured speaker at the IITM/Investment U Stock Mastery 101 Course, December 6-7.

Article # 293 reprinted with permission from The Investment U E-Letter. For a free offer and to learn more about Investment U and Steve Sjuggerud, visit their website http://www.investmentu.com/IITM. Learn how in just 20 minutes a week you can become more market savvy than 99% of investors

Trading Tips

Peak Performance Trading Tips

Tip# 95

Expertise
(Part V)
by D. R. Barton, Jr.

"The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." ~William Jennings Bryant

Our exploration of the subject of "trading expertise" is in its fifth week For the last four weeks, we've been discussing the concept of expertise as applied to a price discipline in trading. Last week we looked at the importance of practice in your journey toward developing expertise in your chosen price discipline. I left you with the thought that one has to develop a way to practice. I mentioned that when many folks think of "practice trading" they immediately think of "paper trading".

Paper trading involves writing your trades down on paper, but not actually placing the trade in the market. For me and many of the traders that I work with, paper trading is seen as a tool with very limited usefulness. The shortcomings of paper trading are many, but the bottom line is that nearly everyone paper trades well. As one friend says, I've known many paper trading "millionaires" who found a different reality when they put real money into the markets. While execution issues such as commission costs and slippage play a role in differentiating paper trading from real trading, the true distinction comes in the trader's psychology. There's a very real difference between a big profit or loss on paper and that same amount when seen in real dollars.

To illustrate this difference, think about placing a 2" x 4" board on your living room floor. Your goal is to walk across that board without falling off. It's a piece of cake, actually. After successfully traversing it once, you run, skip or dance across. "Pass the blindfold, this is easy!" might be your next statement. Now imagine that same narrow board stretched between the roofs of two buildings - 20 stories above the street. Crossing that very same board takes on a whole new level of complexity. The risk is infinitely higher. It's the difference between a little personal embarrassment (if you step off onto your living room floor) and serious personal injury (or worse) if you fall 20 stories. That gives you an idea about the magnitude of difference between paper trading and real trading. But don't despair! There are some great methods for practicing your price discipline that will not put you or your cash (at least not much of it) in harms way. We'll explore those methods in next week's "Trading Tip".


D. R. Barton, Jr. is a featured speaker at the upcoming Stock Mastery 101.

D. R. Barton, Jr. is a lead instructor for IITM courses. He is the Chief Operating Officer and Risk Manager for the Directional Research and Trading hedge fund group. D. R. has been actively involved in trading, researching and teaching in the markets since 1986. In 1999. D. R. has created extensive and innovative new training products and taught extensively in many investment areas including intra-day trading, swing trading, and cutting edge risk management techniques.

His writing credits include: Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp, D. R. Barton, Jr. and Steve Sjuggerud and cover articles for the trade newsletter Market Mastery where he also serves on the editorial advisory board. In addition, D. R. writes a stock screening newsletter for traders and investors called The 10-Minute Trader.

A site foreman had ten very lazy men working for him, so one day he decided to trick them into doing some work for a change.

"I've got a really easy job today for the laziest one among you," he announced. "Will the laziest man please put his hand up."

Nine hands went up.

"Why didn't you put your hand up?" he asked the tenth man.

"Too much trouble," came the reply.

Shelley Howells: The secret life of tattooed and bellydancing librarians
28.11.2003
- COMMENT

Librarians rock. That reputation they have involving buns, sensible shoes and shushing people is merely a cunning ruse, developed over centuries, to conceal their real lives as radicals, subversives and providers of extreme helpfulness.

Combine librarians and the net, and in no time they will rule the world.

One example of the potentially powerful web/librarian combo is that Michael Moore's book Stupid White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation might not have been released without big rewrites that the publishers were insisting on in the post-September 11 environment. But a quiet, vitriolic online campaign by librarians apparently forced the publishers the reassess the situation.

Librarians, Moore writes in the book's introduction, are "one terrorist group you don't want to mess with".

He also praises them in a Salon article: "Librarians see themselves as the guardians of the First Amendment. You've got a thousand Mother Joneses at the barricades! I love the librarians, and I am grateful for them."

Absolutely. Not only do they fast-track information searches that would take a civilian many hours, but I've seen them provide Panadol and Band-aids, too.

I've seen kids turn up at library counters empty-handed and facing major homework assignments - and leave with completed work after lots of librarian help, from paper and pens to books, websites and good ideas.

Recently, I've been investigating their secret lives online.

The Bellydancing Librarian spends her days info-seeking but at night, she writes, "our gal trades her Birkenstocks for beads and serves her adoring public's entertainment needs with the music and dance of the Middle East."

Lurking beneath the cardies of the many Modified Librarians are tattoos and piercings galore.

The site provides "a forum for the discussion of body modification in the context of librarianship", and lots of photos and "rants", including one by an expat kiwi.

There are naked librarians, a page created by someone with a fascination for "the juxtaposition of scant clothing and reading material", and anarchist librarians: "The revolution will be catalogued."

The Lipstick Librarian is for the glamorous librarians among us with "the ability to look fabulous while poking around a dot-matrix printer with a bent paperclip". Complete with handy - occasionally dangerous - beauty tips. The web log, or diary, of a library fashionista is a good'un.

Other good librarian web logs (dry humour and useful info-links) include the Laughing Librarian and New Zealand's own Valis (Vast Active Library and Information Science) blog by Simon Chamberlain - "Powered by Prozac, despair, rage and genius. Oh, and lots of coffee."

The Library Weblog has a good collection of other LibBlog links.

The Ska Librarian is a grumpy, gay New York modified music librarian and the Warrior Librarian Weekly calls itself the'zine for librarians who defy classification, and has links to much library humour.

Conan the Librarian reveals some of the bizarre questions he has been asked to find answers for, like How do you milk a cow? What do you call fear of the number 13? What do you call someone who dresses the hair of the dead? What is the magnetic declination of Maracaibo, Venezuela? Did Adolf Hitler wear his pants stuffed into his boots?

Just a taste of the challenges faced fearlessly by librarians everywhere.

A quick click through these websites proves that librarians are a mixed - often funny, sometimes scary - bunch. What they have in common is a passion for information, and the know-how to sort and find it.

Some people say that with screeds of information available on the net, we have less need for librarians. Fact is, we need them more than ever to help us sift through that mountain.

* Email Shelley Howells

Copyright 2003, NZ Herald

Computer Stupidities: "The following is a large collection of stories and anecdotes about clueless computer users. It's a baffling phenomenon that in today's society an individual, who might in other circumstances be considered smart and wise, can sit down in front of a computer screen and instantly lose every last shred of common sense he ever possessed. Complicate this phenomenon with a case of 'computerphobia,' and you end up with tech support personnel having phone conversations that are funny in retrospect but seem like perfectly valid motives for wild machine gun shooting sprees at the time. You will read stories in this file that will convince you that among the human race are human-shaped artichokes futilely attempting to break the highly regarded social convention that vegetables should not operate electronic equipment. And yet, amidst the vast, surging quantities of stupidity are perfectly excusable technological mishaps -- but that are amusing nonetheless. After all, even the best of us engages in a little brainless folly every once in a while."

Music for bunny rabbits...

Random kitty generator

http://www.blogjam.com/cute_little_kittens/

A good quote for librarians.
“Information's pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience.” –Clarence Day

Income layers.

Tip# 91

Expertise
Part Two
by D. R. Barton, Jr.

Information's pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience.
--Clarence Day, The Crow's Nest

In last week's tip, we discussed the importance of developing expertise as an essential part of the trading well over the long term. The expertise that I mean here is the kind learned by "time at task." This could be an expertise in the application of a certain class of technical indicators, of a price movement discipline like Market Profile or in classical "tape reading".

Two questions spring to mind. The first is this: "Can I succeed with just a good understanding of one or more of these areas?" This question is never even considered in any other field of endeavor, either professional or recreational. No one would consider trying to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer or accountant in a month or two. And while you can develop enough skill in a few months to enjoy participating in golf or tennis or playing the guitar or piano, you will by no means be proficient at any of them when just starting out. You don't need to be the Tiger Woods or Mark Knopfler of trading to be successful. But if you want to play golf well, you have to hit buckets of balls on the practice range. If you want to play the guitar beautifully, you have to strum some chords when no one is listening. And if you want to trade well, you need to develop a level of expertise in your chosen market and trading style.

Now for the second question: "Does this mean that a beginner has no chance in the markets?" The answer is both "yes" and "no". The average undercapitalized beginner with no expertise has about a three percent to 20 percent chance of making long-term money in the markets, depending on which studies you believe. BUT, a new trader who is properly capitalized and follows some simple rules including finding or developing a positive expectancy system, controlling risk exposure and managing their trading psychology can put themselves on the path where they manage their initial "marketplace tuition" (also known as draw downs) and move toward trading success.

A Quick Tour of opensecrets.org
Feeling overwhelmed? We can empathize. Campaign finance is a complicated subject, and can be confusing to the uninitiated.

So if you're new to the site, or new to the subject matter, allow us to suggest a few ways to approach opensecrets.org. This virtual tour will help give you an idea of the kinds of information available:

POLL POSITION

Bogus Poll Statistics

By Allan Rivlin
NationalJournal.com
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003

The past few weeks have given us several good examples of survey results becoming part of the collective political wisdom because they support one side's ideological beliefs -- despite failing to meet the standard of being well-reasoned conclusions from statistically valid surveys.

Perhaps you have read that recent polls have found:

-The Fox News Channel misinforms its viewers, causing them to flunk a test that gets aced by people who turn to public TV or radio for their news.

-Morale is so low among the ground forces in Iraq that as many as half of the troops say they do not expect to re-enlist.

-Iraqis want the United States to stay in their country until an American-style democracy is established.

All of these may be true, but none are proper interpretations of rigorous survey research.
Really they are just three new examples that demonstrate the proven academic theory that people tend to evaluate survey results based on whether they agree with the conclusion first, without ever really asking if the data in fact come from a valid survey. People hold onto poll statistics that support their positions regardless of the quality of the underlying research, or in one case, whether the underlying research actually supports the opposite conclusion.

Fair And Biased?
Left-leaners would love to have proof that the Fox News Channel isn't "fair and balanced," but instead just plain inferior. So naturally, they were interested in the findings from a study that showed people who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions than people who watch other networks -- especially PBS and NPR, whose viewers and listeners held the fewest misperceptions.

The finding comes from a new analysis of a series of surveys administered over the Internet throughout 2003 by Knowledge Networks for the Program on International Policy at the University of Maryland. The report and press release are fairly careful in how they describe the findings, but the further you follow the thread on left-leaning blogs, the more unfair the assertions become.

One typical headline: "It's proven: Fox News Makes You Dumb!" It is safe to guess that the person who wrote that was a little skeptical about the Fox News Channel even before reading the PIPA study.

But there are several reasons why the bloggers should be cautious about throwing these findings in Brit Hume's face.

-The fact that this is an Internet poll does not turn out to be the greatest cause for caution. Knowledge Networks builds its panel using random-digit telephone recruiting, and gives respondents the equipment to access the surveys, answering most of the concerns about Internet surveys.

-However, there is no clear way to know how many of the viewers who say they rely on Fox News ever watch the 24-hour cable network as opposed to watching the local news on their Fox affiliate. They just said they rely on Fox News instead of CBS, ABC, NPR, PBS and NBC (MSNBC, local news, the "Today Show"? We don't know.).

-With just 3 percent (fewer than 50 people) saying they rely on PBS or NPR, we can forget reliable proof of our, er, their superiority.
But the biggest problem is that the survey finds the political right was wrong about what the left considers to be the war's most important facts, and conservatives are more likely to watch Fox News. All of the "misperceptions" they track are correlated with political ideology, with support of the president on the "wrong" side.

It is possible that PBS viewers are less well-informed than the FNC crowd when it comes to facts about Saddam Hussein's torture practices. But if you believe Saddam had ties to al-Qaida, that the United States found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or that world public opinion backed U.S. action, you must be stupid or watching the wrong nightly news.

A secondary finding from this study about news sources caused it to get more attention than its primary findings about misperceptions and the correlation to support for the war. This is because some people are hungry for rigorous proof that FNC is unfair and unbalanced, but this is not that study.

Stars, Bars And Pie Charts
So you're reading the Washington Post and for the first time you can remember, it is giving you the results of a survey conducted by Stars and Stripes. First you read that "half those questioned describe their unit's morale as low and their training as insufficient, and said they do not plan to reenlist."

It is not until the middle of the third paragraph that you are told the results were not obtained through scientific methods. I am sure you stopped reading the article right away. In truth, if you had stopped you would have missed something of value. A bad survey can nonetheless be very good reporting.

Typically reporters talk to a handful of people to write a story. Stars and Stripes sent three teams of reporters who talked to large numbers of troops and passed out thousands of questionnaires. Nearly 2,000 were returned.

A lede paragraph that was faithful to the facts might have read something like: "Stars and Stripes reporters talked to nearly 1,000 service men and women in Iraq who described their morale as low and their training as inadequate. They also talked to similar numbers who said their training was strong and their morale high..."

Because this is not a scientific poll, the results cannot be projected onto the population, so it is inappropriate to report percentages. It is entirely possible that disgruntled soldiers are more likely to take a questionnaire and return it. Even if we have no basis to say they are in the majority, the sheer numbers of unhappy GIs the reporters met is certainly news that was worth reporting. But...

Cheney's Use Of Zogby Poll Disputed By Zogby
It is one thing to overdraw a survey's conclusions. It is something else to attempt to draw the opposite conclusions than the data suggest. That's what John Zogby says Vice President Dick Cheney has been doing with Zogby's poll of Iraqis.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sept. 14, Cheney said the Zogby International poll had "very positive news in it." He said that given five choices for a government to emulate, "the United States wins hands down." And that "asked how long they want the Americans to stay, over 60 percent say for at least a year."

The pollster had a quite different interpretation of his poll. "It is very difficult to find any good news for the United States in the poll," Zogby said this week, and he started to list the findings Cheney either failed to mention, glossed over or got wrong:

-By a 50 percent to 36 percent margin, Iraqis say the United States will hurt rather than help Iraq over the next five years. Majorities say the Saudis and the United Nations will help.

-By 51 percent to 39 percent, the Iraqis surveyed rejected the statement, "Democracy can work in Iraq," in favor of the statement, "Democracy is a Western way of doing things that will not work here."

-Given a choice of five countries for Iraq to model its government on, 23 percent chose the United States, 17 percent chose Saudi Arabia, followed by Syria (12 percent), Egypt (7 percent) and Iran (3 percent).

Zogby does not agree with Cheney's interpretation of 23 percent saying they think Iraq should emulate the United States. "When the vice president said on 'Meet the Press' 'they chose the United States hands down,' uh-uh." Zogby said. "No, they didn't choose the United States hands down."

Zogby also disputes Cheney's statement that the survey shows more than 60 percent want the United States to stay for at least a year. Here is the poll question and the results:

Given a choice would you like to see the American and British forces leave Iraq in six months (32 percent), one year (34 percent), or two years or more (25 percent). One could interpret these results as a broad mandate to stay one year or more, but it would be a mistaken interpretation.

And it would be hard to square that interpretation with the finding that only 32 percent say America and Britain should help make sure a fair government is set up in Iraq. Sixty percent say they should just let Iraqis work this out for themselves.

What all of these examples have in common is what psychologists call the theory of cognitive dissonance. We are all more welcoming of perceptions that fit our pre-existing views and critical of perceptions that do not. But this final example has consequences that are potentially even tragic.

Remember, President Bush has made it clear that he does not typically read the news but rather relies on advisers to provide him with an "unbiased" account. If this is an example of Cheney's critical reading skills, then America's path into this war becomes a little easier to understand.

Allan Rivlin, a NationalJournal.com contributing editor, is a senior vice president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, a Democratic polling firm. His e-mail address is arivlin@nationaljournal.com.

HOW TO LOCATE CERTAIN MISTAKES IN CORPORATE SEC FILINGS
by Michael Ravnitzky , mikerav@mindspring.com

Corporate SEC filings frequently contain a shorthand signal or admission
that there was an error in the previous edition corporate document.

This signal is usually one of the following words:

inadvertent
inadvertently

or the misspelled versions

inadvertant (sic)
inadvertantly (sic)

By searching in any major compilation of SEC filings, such as Lexis or
Westlaw SEC filings database, or in 10K Wizard or Edgar or LiveEdgar, you
can locate examples of this phenomenon.

Certain companies exhibit regular and frequent examples of this signal;
others show it only infrequently.

• Greenberg Traurig has added Daniel Walsh to its lobbying team. Walsh joins the firm from Williams Mullen Strategies, where his clients included News Corp., the Interactive Gaming Council and Viacom. Previously, he served as legislative director for Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.).

> Great news... "real-time" currentness of Supreme Court Petitions!
> SCT-PETITION is one of the hottest databases on Westlaw with an
> astounding 80% increase in traffic month over month in the last three
> months. Last week we made the content even hotter by loading new
> petitions to Westlaw within 5 days of filing at the U.S. Supreme Court
> (content was previously around 4 months behind filing).
> Benefits: Over 8000 petitions for certiorari are written and filed per
> year, and there is an entire industry of litigants who see the
> "petition-stage" as the first opportunity to influence the Court's
> direction on a particular case. Westlaw offers two main benefits:
> 1) provides a repository of searchable and integrated petitions for review
> and analysis;
> 2) provides nearly real-time notice of new petitions filed.
> Contents: SCT-PETITION contains petitions for writs of certiorari to the
> U.S. Supreme Court and related documents, such as briefs in opposition and
> support of the petitions and amicus briefs. Coverage begins with 1990.
>

Information Today
Cover Story
Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services
by Darlene Fichter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Librarians have had to learn how to do a lot with just a little in order to promote awareness of their programs and services. They have seized the opportunities to market libraries in the real world via traditional media: newspapers, corporate newsletters, radio, and TV. Many libraries produce brochures, pathfinders, and their own newsletters. So it is no surprise to see librarians stepping up to the plate and spreading the word online with blogs. Savvy librarians have identified blogs as another means to market libraries and their services.
Exactly What Is a Blog, Anyway?

If "blog" is a term that's new to you, don't be concerned. You've probably encountered lots of blogs while using the Web for work or recreation. In fact, blogs existed long before the term was coined. NCSA's What's New1 page from back in June 1993 is credited as being one of the earliest blogs. In the library sphere, Jenny Levine's Librarians' Site du Jour2 is considered the original library blog. ...

Upbeat and Downstairs - Jack in the Box French Fries: "Jack in the Box French Fries
Here's Jack (Nicholson) in his finest performance ever. I can't quite figure out how to embed a Windows Media file in a Web page, so this link will have to suffice.
Jack in the Box Windows Media Player file"

Germans elect Dracula to council
From AFP
October 28, 2003
Voters in a district southeast of Berlin chose a self-proclaimed descendant of Count Dracula Sunday to represent them in a local council, election officials said Monday.

Ottomar Berbig, known as Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco, won 726 votes in the Dahme-Spreewald local elections, standing for the liberal Free Democrats. His name appeared as Vlad Dracula Kretzulesco on the ballot.

Kretzulesco is not a blood relative of the infamous fictional Romanian noble but was adopted by a direct descendant of Transylvania-born Vlad the Impaler in 1987.

Vlad was notorious for impaling Turkish prisoners on wooden stakes and was the inspiration for author Bram Stoker's villain Count Dracula.
...

Score one for the good guys:
The Australian: 'Nigerian fraudster' syndicate smashed [October 31, 2003]: "
'Nigerian fraudster' syndicate smashed
By Ian Gerard
October 31, 2003
It starts with a request for $2000 and the promise of untold wealth, but for many gullible victims it ends with the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In what is thought to be a world first, NSW police have cracked what they allege was a multi-million-dollar international 'Nigerian fraud' syndicate operating out of Sydney. Officers seized nine houses in two countries, five cars, several bank accounts and arrested a 39-year-old man suspected of tricking hundreds of people from Australia and overseas out of millions.
The commander of the NSW police Assets Confiscation Unit, Jennifer Thommeny, said the alleged scam was no different to 'Nigerian' emails, which have been circulated for years. "

LawForKids.org LawToons: "Kirk and Marco are at school. Marco decides to phone in a fake threat against the school just to get out of a test. WHile the students are evacuating the school, the principal finds a knife in Kirk's backpack. Both Kirk and Marco face very harsh penalties for their crimes at school. Did you know that crimes at school carry increased penalties? Read more on LawForKids.org about school offenses and your rights at school..."

Milk High Cross-Dressers Busted In Robberies

Nov 7, 2003 1:30 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) Five students at Harvey Milk High School were arrested on charges that they dressed up as female prostitutes and then impersonated undercover police officers to rob men in Greenwich Village, authorities said.

The five suspects, Gerald "Kimberly" Howard, Kevin "Keva" Williams, Brian "Whoopi" Gonzalez, Keenan "Chanel" Oliver and Kelvin "Keesha" Howell all attend the special school for gay, lesbian and transgendered students.

Police said the teenagers are implicated in six robberies between Oct. 5 and Nov. 6. They are accused of handcuffing men and taking their wallets, stealing amounts ranging from $85 to $1,200, police said.

In at least one case, the teenagers produced a "police-like badge" before robbing a 33-year-old man, police said.

The five were arrested on Thursday after plainclothes officers with a description of the suspects in the string of robberies saw one of the teenagers and took him into custody.

Police said they were charging the teenagers with robbery and criminal impersonation. An investigation was continuing, said Detective Carolyn Chew, a police spokeswoman.

(© MMIII Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

I've already checked out the following on www.snopes.com --- they have it
listed as true. If you want to see it for yourself, go to www.snopes.com
and put "Will Ross" (including the quotation marks) on the search line.

******************************************************

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope that you will spare me a few minutes of your time to tell you about
something that I saw on Monday, October 27.

I had been attending a conference in Annapolis and was coming home on
Sunday. As you may recall, Los Angeles International Airport was closed on
Sunday, October 26, because of the fires that affected air traffic control.
Accordingly, my flight, and many others, were canceled and I wound up
spending a night in Baltimore.

My story begins the next day. When I went to check in at the United counter
Monday morning I saw a lot of soldiers home from Iraq. Most were very young
and all had on their desert camouflage uniforms. This was as change from
earlier, when they had to buy civilian clothes in Kuwait to fly home. It was
a visible reminder that we are in a war. It probably was pretty close to
what train terminals were like in World War II.

Many people were stopping the troops to talk to them, asking them questions
in the Starbucks line or just saying "Welcome Home." In addition to all the
flights that had been canceled on Sunday, the weather was terrible in
Baltimore and the flights were backed up. So, there were a lot of unhappy
people in the terminal trying to get home, but nobody that I saw gave the
soldiers a bad time.

By the afternoon, one plane to Denver had been delayed several hours. United
personnel kept asking for volunteers to give up their seats and take another
flight. They weren't getting many takers. Finally, a United spokeswoman got
on the PA and said this, "Folks. As you can see, there are a lot of soldiers
in the waiting area. They only have 14 days of leave and we're trying to get
them where they need to go without spending any more time in an airport then
they have to. We sold them all tickets, knowing we would oversell the
flight. If we can, we want to get them all on this flight. We want all the
soldiers to know that we respect what you're doing, we are here for you and
we love you."

At that, the entire terminal of cranky, tired, travel-weary people, a
cross-section of America, broke into sustained and heart-felt applause. The
soldiers looked surprised and very modest. Most of them just looked at their
boots. Many of us were wiping away tears.

And, yes, people lined up to take the later flight and all the soldiers went
to Denver on that flight.

That little moment made me proud to be an American, and also told me why we
will win this war.

If you want to send my little story on to your friends and family, feel
free. This is not some urban legend. I was there, I was part of it, I saw it
happen.

Will Ross
Administrative Judge
United States Department of Defense

**********************************************

From the Washington Times, November 5th. Please forward this and also send
an email expressing your opinion, whatever that may be, to
president@whitehouse.gov

With the clock ticking toward a scheduled Nov. 10 investigative hearing
for Lt. Col. Allen B. West - on charges of mistreating an Iraqi prisoner in
a successful effort to thwart a guerrilla attack on U.S. troops - it's time
for the military to rethink the ill-considered decision to go forward with
his prosecution.

Col. West said last week that his soldiers faced almost daily attacks as
they worked to impose security near Tikrit, a stronghold of Saddam Hussein
supporters. In August, an informant told soldiers in Col. West's unit that
there was an assassination plot against him and that one of the plotters was
an Iraqi policeman. The policeman was brought in for questioning. Initially,
he failed to provide any information.

That changed after Col. West entered the picture. He took the detainee
outside and fired a 9 mm pistol twice to scare him into talking. The
prisoner then provided the names of two accomplices and told of another
sniper attack planned for the following day. Col. West admits that he made a
mistake by discharging his weapon during an interrogation session. But he
emphasizes that, following the interrogation, there were no more attacks
from that town. In short, his actions very likely saved the lives of many
American soldiers.

Col. West was relieved of his battalion command, effectively ending his
military career. Then a military prosecutor offered him an ultimatum: Resign
immediately and forfeit retirement benefits, or face criminal proceedings
that could lead to a trial and prison term.
Were he to have quit the military before last Saturday, when he became
eligible to retire, Col. West would have lost more than $1 million in pay
and health benefits over his life expectancy. His wife is a cancer survivor,
something which would have made the cost of obtaining medical insurance
prohibitive.
The rules of engagement are proper in times of warfare. But there's also
an important place for prosecutorial discretion in dealing with certain
actions that occur in the heat of combat. Anyone who has talked to their
father or grandfather about service in World War II or World War I at some
length realizes that these conflicts were not waged with strict adherence to
the Marquis of Queensbury rules. It's wrong to send men like Col. West into
battle in a violent place like Iraq, then destroy their lives and humiliate
them for taking action to protect their men. The charges against Col. West
should be dropped, and he should be honorably discharged with full pay and
benefits.

The "Titanic Video" and The "Clinton Video"

Alas, which one to buy???

TITANIC VIDEO: $9.99 on Internet
CLINTON VIDEO: $9.99 on Internet

TITANIC VIDEO: Over 3 hours long
CLINTON VIDEO: Over 3 hours long

TITANIC VIDEO: The story of Jack and Rose, their forbidden love and subsequent catastrophe
CLINTON VIDEO: The story of Bill and Monica, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe

TITANIC VIDEO: Jack is a starving artist
CLINTON VIDEO: Bill is a bullshit artist

TITANIC VIDEO: In one scene, Jack enjoys a good cigar
CLINTON VIDEO: Ditto for Bill

TITANIC VIDEO: During ordeal, Rose's dress gets ruined
CLINTON VIDEO: Ditto for Monica

TITANIC VIDEO: Jack teaches Rose to spit
CLINTON VIDEO: Let's not go there

TITANIC VIDEO: Rose gets to keep her jewelry
CLINTON VIDEO: Monica's forced to return her gifts

TITANIC VIDEO: Rose remembers Jack for the rest of her life
CLINTON VIDEO: Clinton doesn't remember Jack

TITANIC VIDEO: Rose goes down on a vessel full of seamen
CLINTON VIDEO: Monica...uh, never mind

TITANIC VIDEO: Jack surrenders to an icy death
CLINTON VIDEO: Bill goes home to Hillary ... basically the same thing.
|

This album is terrific. The new sound is electro, r&b, dance all rolled
into one. Standout tracks are Still Standing, Secret, Promises, Chocolate -
and a nod to all you IP junkies are the tracks Loving Days and Slo Motion.
Check out the music for yourself at www.kyliebodylanguage.com - full
versions of each song are now online.

Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 1:30 p.m. EST
Ashtrays – the New Contraband

Getting caught with an unregistered gun can get you busted in New York City - and so can possession of a new form of contraband.

Brooklyn video store owner Marty Arno learned that lesson the hard way - he's facing a whopping $6,000 in fines after two of Mayor Bloomberg's anti-smoking goon squad storm troopers caught him harboring one of these deadly items.

Today's New York Post reveals that city inspectors M. Dundas and S. Holloway gave Arno, owner of Brooklyn Heights Video, a ticket last month charging that they had uncovered not explosives, not guns, not knives, but "One (1) ashtray with cigarette butt, and ashes," which was "seen on the counter of the establishment."

For this criminal offense Arno faces a hefty $2,000 fine plus two other similar fines because the -inspectors discovered he did not have "No Smoking" signs and had not put up a sign displaying his store's official nonsmoking policy.

All of these crimes violate the city's politically correct Smoke-Free Air Act, a brainchild of New York's Mayor Bloomberg.

Said a perplexed Arno: "I'm a tiny video store - it's just me and a girl who comes in part-time," he said. "She knows smoking policy: We don't smoke in the store - it's bad for the videos." He explained to the Post that the illegal ashtray is a case of mistaken identity.

"What happened was that a customer came into the store with a cigarette and rather than make her go all the way back outside, I just let her snuff it out in the ashtray," he told the Post.

"How can they take an inanimate object and make it illegal?" he asked. "During Prohibition, alcohol was illegal, but they didn't make the shot glasses illegal. Does anyone even know that this is the law?"

It is the law, said Health Department spokesman Andrew Tucker, who told the Post that the city outlawed ashtrays so that "there is not an invitation to smoke in the establishment."

The law provides that ashtrays "shall not be used or provided for use" and that "No Smoking" signs must be "conspicuously posted so that they are clearly visible." Moreover, "every employer shall establish and/or update a written smoking policy."

And they're serious about enforcing this law, as Arno is learning. The inspectors now have him in their sights. He told the Post that since receiving his initial summonses, the same inspectors have come around snooping twice. Both times, Arno notes, he was in compliance.

"The guy was crawling under the counter looking for the damn ashtray," Arno said. "I said, 'Do you think I'm such a schmuck that I'd leave it out again?'"

Mayflower 1620 : A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage
1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI--the Untold Story
The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, the FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
Off with Their Heads : Traitors, Crooks & Obstructionists in American Politics, Media & Business

http://govsolutions.monster.com/

FPDS Contractor Search Shows contacts by vendor for 2002. Still looking for a site that show older and newer contracts.

EIU Business Forum

03 Nov 2003

CFO: Flood of corporate data overwhelms business managers
Key points:

- Despite—or perhaps partly because of—a sizable drop in the cost of storing and retrieving information, many corporations are in danger of being swamped by information

-Experts estimate that anywhere from 10% to 30% of the data flowing through corporate systems are bad—inaccurate, inconsistent, formatted incorrectly, entered in the wrong field, out of a value range and so on

-To clean up the problem, some companies have turned to what's known as ETL (extract, transform and load) software

-With Sarbox approaching, finance managers will likely be fielding tough questions about data—particularly from audit committees

A flood of corporate data, intensified by Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, threatens to overwhelm business managers, says CFO

Recently, a major technology vendor sent out questionnaires to senior business managers about data and decision-making. A number of them came back with additional comments, most of them variations on a theme: "Data are buried in a sea of noise." "Swamped in information." "I'm drowning." Despite—or perhaps partly because of—a sizable drop in the cost of storing and retrieving information, many corporations are in danger of being swamped by information. Software applications from ERP to CRM to SCM may generate great efficiencies, but they also generate great floods of data. So great, in fact, that nowadays CIOs speak of petabytes (quadrillions of bytes) of storage rather than mere terabytes (trillions), a trend that must surely worry the branding heads at Dayton-based Teradata, a subsidiary of NCR Corp. But not just the sales heads: in a survey released by the technology company in September, more than half of 158 corporate executives said their businesses have two or three times the amount of information available to them as they had last year.

What's more, a lot of these data are useless, or worse. Experts estimate that anywhere from 10% to 30% of the data flowing through corporate systems are bad—inaccurate, inconsistent, formatted incorrectly, entered in the wrong field, out of a value range and so on. In its most recent study of corporate data integrity, the Seattle-based Data Warehousing Institute found that nearly half the surveyed companies had suffered "losses, problems or costs" due to poor data. The estimated cost of the mistakes? More than US$600bn.
. . .

http://wires.news.com.au/special/mm/030811-hubble.htm

Supreme Court Discussion - Powered by Infopop: "The source for discussions of all aspects of the Supreme Court: the cases, the Justices, retirements, and Supreme Court litigation.

Goldstein & Howe, P.C. Supreme Court Discussion "

Recruiters, a Taxonomy: "A Taxonomy of Recruiters

Harmful/Nusiance recruiter Species:

Burgerflippingmajorus:
This particular creature can be recognized by its total lack of knowledge in both the technical material they are representing, the fact that they haven't read your resume, and their exceptionally brilliant conversation. They are fond of using 'On a scale of 1 to 10, please rate yourself in each of the following areas.' They can't read, since many of them will ask you to do jobs you have no experience in, even though you have sent them your resume. They are typically from 24-36 years of age, either studied: Physical Education, Sociology, English Lit, or Psychology, and are tired for working for $4.25/hr at McDonalds. Being a recruiter is what can be called the 'later' pupal stage of this creature. Adult specimens are sometimes found on used car lots, trying to sell old Pintos. "
. . . more

The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Kylie Hub: "This guide assumes that you run some version of windows. If you are on a Mac OS, try the clients available at NeoModus site. For Linux clients, look here (middle of the page). I am not to be held responsible for any damage you may cause your computer by following this guide.
If you already know what Direct Connect is, here's the hub address: kyliehub.mine.nu:4012"

NoodleTools - Smart Tools, Smart Research: "Smart Tools. Smart Research.
NoodleTools is a suite of interactive tools designed to aid students and professionals with their online research. From selecting a search engine and finding some relevant sources, to citing those sources in MLA or APA style, NoodleTools makes online research easier! "

I don't know if Google is God,
but Google is certainly one of the very best way to comminicate with God.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=269669

Kylie's love notes
KYLIE MINOGUE sings a slushy love song she wrote about French lover OLIVIER MARTINEZ on her new album.


The track, called Loving Days, tells how she has fallen head over heels for the handsome Hollywood actor.

The Aussie singer’s lyrics also reveal she treasures time they spend together — often cut short by their hectic work schedules.

It is clear Kylie’s new album — Body Language — is a very personal affair. She uses another track called Someday to blast her love rat ex-boyfriend JAMES GOODING.

The lyrics tell how she was “used and abused” by him when he cheated on her and then told all about their relationship.

But it is the fact that she has opened her heart about Olivier that will surprise fans.

The opening line in Loving Days says: “I have fallen all the way/ Happily there’s no escape/ Surrender to your heart.”

The chorus gets across her deep feelings for Olivier — and how she wishes they could spend more time together.

She sings: “Precious time with you doesn’t end the blues/ We are running all the way/ These are loving days, loving days, with you.” Kylie and Olivier, who is dubbed the French BRAD PITT, have been dating since March after meeting in LA.

At first they appeared inseparable during a string of romantic holidays. But they have been forced to spend a lot of time apart because of their heavy workloads.

But being with Olivier has clearly had an effect on the singer who has chosen not to talk about him publicly.

She learnt the hard way about the benefits of privacy after James spilled the beans on their two-and-a-half-year affair.

And she lets him know exactly what she thinks of him in Someday.

She sings: “Life goes on. You have abused and used me, now I’m going home.

“I want my records back/ To get my heart on track/ You think I can’t be alone/ Well, this woman is here to show you all.”

James showed his true colours when he admitted he had slept with MARTINE McCUTCHEON and SOPHIE DAHL while he was still dating Kylie.

Kylie, whose album is out on November 17, certainly seems to know how to get her own back.

Her single, Slow, is out next Monday.

New on LLRX.com for September 29, 2003:
http://www.llrx.com


**How Dewey Classify OCLC's Lawsuit
http://www.llrx.com/features/deweyoclc.htm


**Knowledge Management is a Business Imperative
http://www.llrx.com/features/kmsmarter.htm


**The Future of RSS - Is E-Mail Publishing Dead?
http://www.llrx.com/features/rss.htm


**WTO/GATT Research
http://www.llrx.com/features/wto2.htm


**Update to Introduction to the Swiss Legal System: A Guide for Foreign
Researchers
http://www.llrx.com/features/swiss2.htm


**Lexis and Westlaw Changes and Wishlist
http://www.llrx.com/columns/notes62.htm


**FOIA Facts: Inside the Process of Preparing a Vaughn Index
http://www.llrx.com/columns/foia2.htm


**A Little Bit of "This," a Little Bit of "That"
http://www.llrx.com/columns/grammar3.htm


**Display-to-Go Adaptor, NTI Backup Now, BackUp MyPC and Retrospect
http://www.llrx.com/columns/legaltech15.htm


**Latest Links
http://www.llrx.com/links/092903.htm


**LLRX.com Bookstore - new recommendations
http://www.llrx.com/bookstore/


**After Hours: Bakers Best
http://www.llrx.com/columns/afterhours3.htm

Exotic words in the OED - September 2003 newsletter - Oxford English Dictionary
September 2003 newsletter

Exotic words in the OED

---------------------------------------------------------------
Sarah Ogilvie, Senior Assistant Editor, Oxford English Dictionary, and Joanna Tulloch, Associate Editor, Oxford English Dictionary

As you sit on the sofa in your pyjamas stirring sugar into your coffee or cocoa, puzzling over the Scrabble board and searching through your mind for one of those useful exotic words like qi, mu, or xebec, do you ever stop to wonder where they originated? And does it ever occur to you that for some of us this isn't just a game, but the stuff of our working day?

We are a small team of people at the OED, backed up by a large number of specialist language consultants throughout the world, who work on words which have come into English directly or indirectly from outside the core area of Germanic, Romance, Classical, and Celtic languages. We call ourselves the non-European group because most of the words we edit come from the indigenous languages of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific, but we also cover some European languages such as Russian, Yiddish, and Romani.

Foreign words enter English either directly from their source language or via other European languages. The most common route into English for early exotic words was via explorers and missionaries who spoke Germanic or Romance languages. Most of these words have been part of our language for so long now that we forget they were once from exotic languages. For example, the word chocolate came from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, in 1604 via the famous Spanish missionary José de Acosta. Sugar (1299) and magazine (1583) came from Arabic via Romance languages, and coffee (1598) came from Arabic via Germanic languages. The word potato came from Haitian and was first introduced into English via the Spanish of Columbus in 1492. Haitian gave us other words such as canoe (1555) and barbecue, which was brought directly into English by the British explorer William Dampier in 1697.

Read more...

Bloggers make cash from Blogads

Kylie charms gendarmes
« Thread started on: Sep 9th, 2003, 7:18pm »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KYLIE Minogue turned on her famous charm with police after her driver was pulled over during a holiday in St Tropez.

Minogue and her boyfriend Olivier Martinez must now find themselves another driver after they discovered their chauffeur was driving unlicensed.
The incident occurred on a busy street in the seaside resort town and gathered a crowd of curious and amused onlookers.

Apparently police noticed the black Mercedes and pulled it over because it was speeding. They were pleasantly surprised when they realised who the famous passengers were and engaged the couple in conversation.

Photographer Frank Griffin said police seemed more concerned with getting Minogue's autograph than booking the driver. Minogue smiled, laughed and flirted a little with the star struck police officers, while Martinez looked on.


Once the police were satisfied with their inquiries, they let Minogue and Martinez go, but not the driver.

Martinez had to get behind the wheel and drive away.

The pair, who have been dating for more than seven months, are on a romantic holiday on the French Riviera after being apart for a short period because of work commitments.
---------
I 've seen something similar on the forum, just can't find the post to add to .
http://lalala.conforums.com/index.cgi?action=login&user=oldfox

Herald and Weekly Times

Lyrics

I knew you'd be here tonight
So I put my best dress on
Boy I was so right

Our eyes connected
Now nothing's how it used to be
Don't second guess it

Track in on this feeling
Pull focus close up you and me
Nobody's leaving

Got me affected
Spun me one-eighty degrees
It's so electric

Slow down and dance with me
Yeah
Slow

Skip a beat and move with my body
Yeah
Slow

Come on and dance with me
Yeah
Slow

Skip a beat and move with my body
Yeah
Slow

Don't wanna rush it
Let the rhythm pull you in
It's here so touch it, oh

You know what I'm saying
And I haven't said a thing
Keep the record playing, oh

Slow down and dance with me
Yeah
Slow

Skip a beat and move with my body
Yeah
Slow

Come on and dance with me
Yeah
Slow

Skip a beat and move with my body
Yeah
Slow

Oh
Oh
Read my
Body language
Take it down, down

Slow down and dance with me
Yeah
Slow

Skip a beat and move with my body
Yeah
Slow

Come on and dance with me
Yeah
Slow

(Come down and dance with me)

Skip a beat and move with my body
Yeah
Slow

(Come down and dance with me)

Skip a beat and move with my body
Skip a beat and move with my body
Skip a beat and move with my body
Slow
________________________

Credits

Written By: Kylie Minogue / Emiliana Torrini / Dan Carey

Produced By: Sunnyroads (Emiliana Torrini and Dan Carey)

Mixed By: Mr Dan at Dog Studios