Hennepin County > Permit To Carry A Handgun: "PERMIT TO CARRY A HANDGUN IN MINNESOTA
On May 24, 2005, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed legislation into law reinstating the 2003 Minnesota Personal Protection Act. Therefore, effective immediately, all Hennepin County residents who want to apply for a permit to carry a handgun must do so through the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office accepts applications Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Suite 815 of the Grain Exchange Building, located at 400 South Fourth Street in downtown Minneapolis.
Applicants must appear in person and must present the following to Sheriff?s Office personnel:
A completed application form, available under 'Related Links' on the right side of this page.
A copy of the certificate verifying the applicant?s completion of an authorized firearms training course within a year of the date of application.
A clear copy of the applicant?s Minnesota drivers license OR state identification card OR passport photo page.
$100 cash OR a $100 check payable to the Hennepin County Sheriff?s Office.
Applicants are reminded that the Sheriff?s Office has 30 days to process applications and issue or deny permits."

The Terry Seale Times: "The Terry Seale Times
Published by CRAYON - 'Terribly Tertiary Tribune Newspaper without the paper = just the 'news'! ' FREE"

Stock Trading Education - Trading Stocks Tactics: "Looking at the Big Picture


No one knows with any certainty the long-term direction or duration of the market. The longer the time frame, the less certain we can be. Even on a day-to-day basis, there is no certainty. We often look to certain patterns to reproduce themselves, but news events, earnings, company announcements, upgrades, and downgrades always make anticipating market moves a risky business.

So why do we study the pattern? What can be gained if all the study in the world still falls short of any kind of certainty? There are several reasons to keep an eye on the market direction, to use it as a guide in stock trading. "

GOOG Trading Gallery

GOOG TA Chart Momentum Indicators: "Detect Bullish or Bearish Direction
Page No. 3
Momentum Indicators

Stochastic Oscillator & Williams %R
20/40 DMA "

Technical analysis indicators tutorial.

Chart School

Looks like a good place to learn about technical analysis
Chart Analysis -- Chart School: "
You are here: Chart School > What is TA? > Chart Analysis


Chart Analysis

What are Charts?-What charts are, how to pick timeframe's, how charts are formed, and price scaling.
Introduction to Chart Patterns-A brief review of what chart patterns are, and how to recognize them.

Types of Patterns- Reversal Patterns:
Bump and Run
Double Top
Double Bottom
Head and Shoulders Top
Head and Shoulders Bottom
Falling Wedge
Rising Wedge
Rounding Bottom
Triple Top
Triple Bottom
Continuation Patterns:
Cup with Handle
Flag, Pennant
Symmetrical Triangle
Ascending Triangle
Descending Triangle
Price Channel
Rectangle
Measured (Bear) Move
Measured (Bull) Move

Gaps and Gap Analysis- An overview of the four major types of gaps and what they mean.
Introduction to Candlesticks- An overview of candlesticks, including history, formation, and key patterns.

Stock Market

Option Strategist
From Larry McMillan

Some volatility has appeared in the market over the last week, although you'd never know it by looking at the volatility index ($VIX). First, the market went down at the end of last week -- rather swiftly -- but then recovered with a big up day on Tuesday. After a waiting period to see what the Fed would do (they the same old thing they always do -- raised rates by 1/4%), the media was quick to point out that the market declined Thursday afternoon because it didn't like what the Fed had to say, but we offer an alternative viewpoint: the market was just "on hold" for the last couple of days, waiting for the Fed announcement to get out of the way (just in case there was a surprise, which there wasn't); then it resumed its natural course, which was to decline. Despite all of this movement, or perhaps because of it, there are mixed signals.

The major indices are not in agreement. The Dow, QQQQ, and $OEX all broke down below support by the end of last week and have not been able to recover above that level -- even with Tuesday's rally. However, perhaps the most important one -- $SPX -- has not joined its compatriots. It remains above support at 1190 (Figure 1). As long as that support holds, the bears won't be able to mount much of anything. However, if $SPX closes below 1190, that will usher in another round of selling and could augur for a lengthier decline ahead.

The selloff at the end of last week came just after the equity-only put-call ratios generated sell signals. These are usually longer-term averages (because they are 21-day average) and thus are more of an intermediate-term indicator, rather than an exact timing indicator. However, the last two times the market has reversed direction (the bottom in May and the top last week), these put-call ratios turned to a new signal on the exact day. Regardless, they are both on sell signals now and haven't really shown any signs that they might reverse to the bullish side.

Market breadth was ugly in last week's decline. However, this week, that has changed. Breadth has been more positive than the market. For example, when the market was down 100 points today (the Dow, anyway), NYSE breadth was barely negative. With breadth acting more positive in the last few days, we'd just grade this indicators as "neutral."

Finally, there is volatility. $VIX barely moved when the market dropped last week. From valley to peak, it rose a mere 1.5 points. Then it backed off. It is about 12 now, and that is still very low. We generally look for $VIX to be rising to confirm a market sell signal. Otherwise, any selling in the market is more of a correction than a sell signal. To be specific, if $VIX rises above 14, we'd classify it as being bearish. But as long as it's languishing down at these levels, it isn't offering any confirmation for the bears.
.

To receive the complete commentary plus reccomendations visit here:

Note: Use the following link to view this week's charts: Link

Gaffed Coins

Jamie Schoolcraft custom and highly crafted gaffed coins.

New Blog

MusingsFromTheLane
MusingsFromTheLane

Random thoughts from the country written by a recovering urbanite.

Buy GOOG. There is no stopping them!

New product feature

Personalized Search Help (Beta)

As a My Search History user, you've been storing a history of your searches and the search results you've clicked on. Personalized Search now uses that history and orders your search results based on what's most relevant to you. Early on, you may not notice a huge impact on your search results, but as you build up your search history, your personalized search results will continue to improve.

If you don’t want Personalized Search, click here to remove it entirely.

About Personalized Search

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why would I want to use Personalized Search?
2. How can I view my search history?
3. What is a Google Account?
4. How is my search history stored?
5. How do I get personalized search results from other computers?
6. How can I stop getting personalized search results?
7. How can I stop storing my search history?
8. How do I remove items from my search history?
9. What about my privacy?
10. Where's the "Sign in" or "Search History" link I used to see on the Google homepage?
11. Does Personalized Search work for other Google products like Google Image Search or Froogle?
12. Sometimes I see no result clicks in my history, wrong times associated with results and other unexpected behavior. Why is that?
13. Where can I send feedback?

About Personalized Search

Personalized Search is an improvement to Google search that orders your search results based on what's most relevant to you. The Search History feature of Personalized Search lets you view and manage your history of searches and search results you've clicked on; this information then personalizes your future search results by bringing results closer to the top when it's clear they're most relevant to you. Early on, you may not notice a huge impact on your search results, but as you build up your search history, your personalized search results will continue to improve.

Want to give it a try? Sign up for Personalized Search.
Frequently Asked Q

A Personal Note

South Beach Diet™ Online

We are about to start on the South Beach Diet. Have the book and have been beginning to study and track food items. In a simple calorie limitation diet, I have lost a few pounds and brought blood sugar levels way down.

My diet profile today:


Get ready to shed your extra pounds!
Current Weight: 237
Healthy weight range: 140 - 190
Current BMI: 31.3
Ideal BMI: 18.5 - 25

Richard in NY has been raving about the SBD (Sotuh Beach Diet) and how it eliminates the carborhydrate cravings. That is the hardest part to someone who has become addicted to carbs like me.



A calorie chart index is here to look up caloric values.

Cool National Security Blog

Outside the Beltway

Whereas, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, has vigorously supported the United States in the disarmament of Iraq;

Whereas, the United Kingdom is a strong and loyal ally to the United States;

Whereas, Prime Minister Tony Blair has committed substantial military forces of the United Kingdom to the current action in Iraq;

The American people extend their heartfelt thanks to Prime Minister Tony Blair for his courage and leadership; and

Extend their deep appreciation to the United Kingdom and the men and women of its armed forces.

Great filter for appellate material

How Appealing - Legal Affairs
The Web's first blog devoted to appellate litigation

"Justices Split on Decalogue Displays; Religious Intent Is Cited In Texas, Kentucky Cases Over Ten Commandments": Jess Bravin will have this article (pass-through link) Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.
Posted at 11:24 PM by Howard Bashman


"'Thou shalts' polarize court; 5-4 ruling, bitter words reflect rift among justices": This article will appear Tuesday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Posted at 10:28 PM by Howard Bashman


"Groups Gear Up for Supreme Court Battle": FOXNews.com provides this report, along with a related report headlined "No Retirement News."
Posted at 10:24 PM by Howard Bashman


"Divided Supreme Court splits Ten Commandments rulings": Jan Crawford Greenburg will have this article Tuesday in The Chicago Tribune.

And Tuesday in The Dallas Morning News, Allen Pusey will report that "Texas wins Ten Commandments case; Capitol marker OK, but framed copies in Kentucky are not."
Posted at 10:15 PM by Howard Bashman


In Tuesday's issue of The Washington Post: Charles Lane will have a front page article headlined "Justices Disallow Ten Commandments in Courthouses; In Separate Decision, Court Upholds Displays on Government Land."

And in other news, "Cable Firms Don't Have to Share Networks, Court Rules."
Posted at 10:10 PM by Howard Bashman


"Rehnquist still on the bench": Newsday provides this news update.
Posted at 10:05 PM by Howard Bashman


"Don't Stop Grokkin'; Apparent MGM v. Grokster slamdunk is really a mixed bag" Mike Godwin has this essay online today at Reason.
Posted at 09:55 PM by Howard Bashman


In Tuesday's edition of The New York Times: Linda Greenhouse will report that "Justices Allow a Commandments Display, Bar Others" and "Justices Rule Police Do Not Have a Constitutional Duty to Protect Someone."

Also, Todd S. Purdum will have an article headlined "Anticipation of a Vacancy, but Silence Says Not Yet."
Posted at 09:50 PM by Howard Bashman

The Cure for the Invisible Site

Adopt these five essential tactics for driving traffic to your Web site.
The Cure

recent studies have shown that the majority of searchers look only at the top results. In fact, sites that appear on the first page of results may attract as much as six times the traffic and double the sales compared with lower-ranking sites. Effective search engine optimization can help you achieve higher rankings and boost your site traffic. When MarketingSherpa surveyed 3,000 marketers, they said organic clicks increased an average of 73 percent in the six months following optimization.

To raise your rankings, increase your inbound links from high-ranking referrers and sprinkle important keywords (and keyword pairs) throughout your content, page titles and tags. This is essential since rankings are generally based on the number of prominent sites that link to yours and how well the content of your pages matches the keywords used in a search. If you're targeting local traffic, sprinkle local search terms throughout your pages, and include them in your title tags and "description" and "keywords" meta tags.

Nice paint job, de Groot!

Larry, Larry, Larry McMillan

The Option Strategist -? Online Seminars


McMillan's Favorite Systems - Disclosed

Learn McMillan’s favorite trading systems.
These are the systems
Mr. McMillan personally trades!

*

Definition:
"System: a method of trading with fixed rules for entry and exit and therefore no room for interpretation."

Three systems for day trading the S&P 500 futures (applicable to any other broad-based index as well, using options or futures)

The Previous Daily Range System (S&P day trading)

T-Bonds vs. Stocks (S&P day trading)

OOPS System (Larry Williams' day trading system)

Position trading the broad market ($OEX options)

A system based on the McMillan Oscillator

Two broad market seasonal systems with phenomenal track records.

Momentum trading index and futures options

The rules for operating each system will be clearly defined.

Track records, including cumulative profit graphs, will be shown.

Important system features such as average investment, maximum drawdown, and percent of winning trades will be disclosed.

This course is priced at just $500.
"The value of these systems is easily worth the price of this seminar"

Testimonials
"What an exciting and new seminar experience! I thoroughly enjoyed "attending" from the comfort of my home, very convenient. The information well presented and all questions answered as if I was attending in person. I look forward to taking other valuable online courses."
-F. Fox

"This was by far the best seminar I have attended. I can't wait to start using the systems and making money!"
-B. Stanton

"Larry as usual, you've provided practical and readily-understood information. Adds a lot of value to my trading process. "
-C. Johnston

*

* Cancellations
Due to the valuable nature of this seminar's visual portion, once you have enrolled and received the download links for this seminar, no refunds will be permitted. You may request NOT to receive the links to preview the seminar slides if you wish to enroll but are uncertain about your schedule for the upcoming date.

For Thursday, June 23rd


This is a Portion of the FREE Weekly Commentary is a part of a comprehensive weekly posting for subscribers of The Option Strategist newsletter. Click here to receive the full commentary free via email. Click here for Testimonials.


Stock Market

The old adage is "never sell a dull market." Well, this market is about as dull as it gets. I was recently struck by the similarities among many charts: a strong advance in May and then a flat, tight range in June. The charts of the major averages look a little better than that, though, as $SPX, $OEX, and $DJX (the Dow) have all made new highs in the last week. We still expect them to challenge the yearly highs as long as the current indicator readings hold up (near 1230, basis $SPX, for example).

Equity-only put-call ratios (Figures 2 and 3) have remained uniformly bullish, as they have continued to decline. They are getting lower on the charts, which means they aren't in the favorable positions they previously were, but that's to be expected after such a long period of advance (the actual start of this rally was back in April, although the put-call ratio buy signals were generated at the May bottom -- almost exactly a month ago).

However, there is a new development, as the averages just began to curl upward. There are small circles on the charts that highlight this. Our computer projections are not saying that this slight curl upward is anything to worry about, and similar curls in the past few weeks have been meaningless. Still, we want to keep an eye on this because of the reliability of this sentiment indicator.

>: "Jack Abramoff: A Portrait of Corruption

The Yellow Line: Jack Abramoff: A Portrait of Corruption

Politics might not cause corruption but it sure can lead to some amazingly crooked behavior. The most recent tale of corruption is also one of the most shockingly heartless to come out in years. And it involves Republican power-player and lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business partner Michael Scanlon.

The tale of their alleged misdeeds is long and involved. But one of the most disgusting acts was reported last night on ABC's Nightline. Without getting into the nitty gritty, here are the details.

? Abramoff represented Indian tribe casino interests in Louisiana.

? The Louisiana tribe felt they were losing business to an El Paso, Texas tribe's casino. . ."

Good Humor invented ice cream on a stick and put the chocalatte coating on it.

Google text messages

What is Google SMS?

Been playing with this product and I am over the moon about it.
With this you can not only get stock quotes by return text message (with volume, hi, lo, last) but driving directions, pizza parlors, movie times, and more I have yet to discover.

The messages go to 46645 (GOOGL) which couldn't be easier!

This means that google is now a brand, a product that transends computer users. Anyone with a cellphone will find this essential in a short time, as we have found Google the search engine essential within three years of first using it.

It doesn't show any advertising yet and it will be interesting how they put advertising into the cellphone product. Will anyone click on something or bother to read an ad?

Perhaps they figure the pizza joint will take orders or the movie will sell tickets and pay GooG a spiff for the sale.

So the Old Fox says:

Buy Google

Words of Wisdom

source

"A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company." - Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) American Jurist,

Reference, Facts, News ... Free and Family-friendly Resources: "THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

'We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.' - Denis Diderot "

Good Humor tricycles

Worksman Ice Cream/Water Ice Tricycles

Built sturdy and tough, Worksman Ice Cream Tricycles have been the industry standard since the beginning of the 20th century. Our standard model Trikes shown below continue to be the most popular units both with the the local street vendor and corporate client.

V-ICT

* for pre-packaged novelties
* holds 30 dozen units
* built in dry ice shelf
* built in clean out drain
* tight seal locking snap shut door-a Worksman exclusive!!
* exterior cabinet dimensions 36" x 23" x 28"
* interior space: eight cubic feet

link

Google Information for Webmasters

Webmaster Guidelines

Following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site. Even if you choose not to implement any of these suggestions, we strongly encourage you to pay very close attention to the "Quality Guidelines," which outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index. Once a site has been removed, it will no longer show up in results on Google.com or on any of Google's partner sites.

Design and Content Guidelines:

* Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
* Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.
* Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
* Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.
* Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
* Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate.
* Check for broken links and correct HTML.
* If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
* Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).

Technical Guidelines:

* Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.
* Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site. These . . .

Read the full item here.

Paul Drake Updated

Logicube - High speed hard disk drive hardware duplication and diagnostics - Company Profile:

"Logicube is the fastest growing company in the hard drive duplication and computer forensics techologies today. The company was founded in 1993 and offers an extensive and innovative line of hardware and software products. With its corporate headquarters located in Chatsworth, CA, the company engineers, manufactures and distributes its products around the world. "

Doctor, should I remove my clothes?

Kylie Minogue: Kylie Minogue Thanks Fans For Saving Womens Lives:

June 19, 2005, 12:07:03

Australian beauty KYLIE MINOGUE has thanked fans for supporting her through her breast cancer battle and saving women's lives by raising awareness of the disease.

The SPINNING AROUND singer underwent surgery on 21 May (05) to remove a cancerous lump, and is currently undergoing radiotherapy at a hospital near her home in Melbourne, Australia.
And she's moved to discover her illness has prompted her admirers to purchase charity bracelets, donate money towards breast cancer research and support and have regular mammograms.

She writes on her official website KYLIE.COM, 'I would just like to take a moment to say that above and beyond all your good wishes that keep flowing in and lifting my spirits I was delighted to learn that some good things have come of all this.

'I've been informed that since my diagnosis thousands of women have become more aware than ever of the risk of breast cancer. By way of example, calls to BREASTSCREEN VICTORIA from concerned women have almost doubled.

'Being 'breast aware' plays a major role in early detection so I was especially pleased to hear that younger women in particular are being more proactive with breast examination and talking to their doctors.

'I know that many of my fans have purchased the pink bracelets or pink ribbons and have made donations towards breast cancer support and research, and even cashing in Showgirl concert tickets as a donation, and I thank you. I have been overwhelmed by your show of generosity and understanding. Just what the doctor(s) ordered.'

Google, shmoogle!

Shmoogle: Randomizing Google Results To Show Good Stuff Beyond Top 10
Thanks to Philipp over at Google Blogoscoped for pointing out a new site called Shmoogle.
This new service takes Google results and shows them in a random order. Why? The sites creator, Tasila Hassine, is trying to make a point. She writes:

This tool touches upon several crucial issues on the web such as Search Engine Optimization. Shmoogle instantly neutralizes Page rank and the whole SEO industry induced by it. Yet it addresses other fundamental issues such as retrievability vs. visibility. While all pages on the net are equally retrievable, they are certainly not equally visible.

Hassine has a good point and one that I make quite a bit in my presentations and classes to both librarians and the general public.

Just because it's 'on the web' and has been crawled by a web engine doesn't mean that it's easily retrievable/visible. As I've said before, the Invisible or Deep Web in 2005 is every result beyond number 6 or 7. (-:

Why is this an issue? Here are just a few reasons that come to mind:

++ Keywords Selected
You use the term 'pop' but the perfect result uses the word 'soda.'

++ Number of Keywords Used by the Searcher

++ Effort and Time
Searcher takes what they find during the first search and does nothing else to possibly improve their results. They also want it 'all' in just a few seconds.

++ Lack of Searching Skills
Like I've said many times, people don't use most of the tools engines offer to create more precise results. I'm not just talking about advanced search resources but also the fact that many of the large engines offer specialty tools like image, news, and discussion search. Most of the engines will tell you t. . .

nOT gOOD

40 million credit cards exposed

McMillan

Stock Market
The stock market continues to work its way higher, albeit at a maddeningly slow pace. Our technical indicators remain bullish, though, so we continue to go with the bullish flow. The charts of the major indices have all improved, and that is good. $SPX, $DJX (the Dow), and $OEX (barely) have all made new highs for this move and are thus trading at their highest prices since March. We continue to feel that they will assault the yearly highs soon.

Equity-only put-call ratios have continued to remain strongly on buy signals. Yet, they really aren't overbought. You can see from Figures 2 and 3 that the ratios have room to move lower before encountering the bottom of the chart -- at which point one might judge them overbought. But at their current levels, they are just fine -- and bullish.

During this past week, especially, breadth has been very positive. To a large extent, it's reflective of the strength in the small-cap indices, such as Value Line ($VLE).which is already approaching its yearly highs. When the small cap indices do well, breadth is always expansive (i.e., advances lead declines by a wide margin), since there are so many stocks in these small-cap indices.

Finally, volatility has continued to decline. $VXO, the index that measures the implied volatility of $OEX options, closed at its lowest level since December, 1995 -- nine and half years ago. $VIX wasn't far behind, as the next day (today), it too closed at a 9-1/2 year low. As long as $VIX languishes at these low levels, it's supportive of the bullish case. We would become concerned if $VIX rose more than 3 points from these levels -- which would be slightly above 14. But with the way the market is acting, it appears that volatility is on track to make a low sometime in early July -- in line with its historic seasonal low. Hence the market should be able to continue rising during that time, at least. Overall, we have no sell signals from our indicators and thus we remain bullish.

To receive the complete commentary plus reccomendations visit here: http://www.optionstrategist.com/offers/strategist.htm

Note: Use the following link to view this week's charts: http://www.optionstrategist.com/products/advisories/hotline/charts.asp

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

Pretty Cool Site

SearchViews: LexisNexis Launches Taxonomy Initiative: "SearchViews
Dispatches and Discussions on the Search Engine Industry. Brought to you by Reprise Media"

LexisNexis Launches Taxonomy Initiative


LexisNexis not only has all the data you need, it can help you organize it too.

Earlier this week the news and business information services provider announced the launch of a taxonomy program aimed at helping companies organize unstructured content. Teams of "expert consultants" will be on hand to help firms "centralize, classify, and organize" their information.

The firm estimates that poor classification of enterprise data can cost a 10,000 member organization approximately $10 million annually, while security experts say that storing identity data with LexisNexis could cost significantly more (just kidding guys).

Seriously though, this is an example a company realizing of the enormous monetary potential in tagging and taxonomy creation, even if it is more corporate and structured than free form and user-controlled.


Posted by RM at June 9, 2005 10:57 AM

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Friday, June 10, 2005
Baker & McKenzie's KM Report Card

Part 1 (Part 2 in tomorrow's blog)

In this month's Managing Partner issue, Jason Marty, Global Director of KM at Baker & McKenzie, discusses his firm's unmet and miscalculated KM goals. Marty admits that some of Bakers' KM goals were either too ambitious or too limited.

Marty admits candidly: "we had not fully demonstrated to the firm that our investment in KM at the global level was yielding positive results. Simply put, our lawyers did not, on the whole, feel that their work was being directly supported by our knowledge initiatives. . . .

Stock Market
In a market that is becoming ever duller as each day passes, the bulls remain in charge. Declines have been minor and there has been a steady plethora of advances over declines on most days. Consider the $SPX chart in Figure 1. It has now moved above 1200 for the first time since March. The other major indices also stand at their highest levels in nearly three months. There really isn't much resistance between these levels and the yearly highs (above 1220 for $SPX). These charts will retain a positive picture unless they violate the weekly lows -- about 1190 as far as $SPX is concerned.

The charts are not the only positive indicators, however. Equity- only put-call ratios have remained steadfastly bullish since rolling over to buy signals a few weeks ago. Figures 2 and 3 show the steep decline in these ratios. They are bullish as long as that line is declining. It is also worth noting that these ratios have plenty of room to move lower before they would be considered 'overbought.'

Market breadth has perhaps been the most impressive bullish indicator recently. On this past Tuesday -- the first day after a 3-day weekend -- the major averages suffered something of a setback, with the Dow losing 75 points, although $SPX only lost 7. While that was happening, NYSE breadth was actually positive -- a most unusual occurrence, although it was aided by a strong bond market (as you should know, there are many interest-rate sensitive issues listed on the NYSE -- issues that are not stocks). Perhaps just as impressive, though, was the fact that 'stocks only' breadth was only modestly negative that day. The next day saw a rather strong rally, as a Fed governor inferred that the Fed's interest rate increases might be coming to an end. Breadth was superlative, but is now overbought. It is bullish for breadth to be overbought while the market is making new relative highs, especially for the intermediate term (although these overbought conditions do make the market subject to sharp, but short-lived, corrections).

Finally, volatility ($VIX) has remained subdued and that is bullish as well. As long as $VIX stays below 14 (it is nearly down to 12 now), that should remain a positive influence for the market. Only if $VIX were to rise sharply for three or more days would we become concerned about what it is 'saying.'

Overall, then, we remain bullish. Those with profits in existing long positions might want to take some partial profits, just in case there is a short-lived correction, but intermediate-term traders can stay long unless actual sell signals arise from our indicators.


To receive the complete commentary plus reccomendations visit here: http://www.optionstrategist.com/offers/strategist.htm

Hospital rejects Kylie criticism

By Danny Rose
June 03, 2005
CABRINI Hospital has rejected criticism over its accommodation of pop princess Kylie Minogue, and says tight security was needed given the "underhand tactics" of the international media.

The private hospital in Melbourne, where Minogue had surgery to remove a breast tumour last month, said no patients were moved from their rooms to accommodate the Australian-born star.

Calling the claims a "disappointing attack on the integrity of our hospital and staff", Cabrini chief executive Roger Greenman also said today that Minogue's admission was not the cause of a diversion of emergency-case ambulances from the hospital.

It comes after families of Cabrini patients complained publicly this week of being turned away from loved ones by Minogue's security, and of areas of the hospital being sealed off with black plastic.

Concerns also were raised by an unnamed doctor, and some staff, over Minogue's admission, saying its had unduly affected the hospital's day-to-day operations.









Mr Greenman said that security had been tightened for the star's treatment, but he said it was necessary and he rejected claims it had hindered hospital staff.

"Extra security measures were put in place to protect our patients and staff," he said.

He said the measures were necessary to protect Minogue " ... from the intrusive attention of international media representatives, many of whom used underhand tactics to attempt to get access to the hospital during Ms Minogue's stay".

Mr Greenman would not be drawn on the tactics but it is understood, in at least one case, a reporter called the hospital posing as a diagnostic expert seeking a routine transfer of Minogue's files.

Staff also were offered cash to provide photographs of Minogue in her room, it is understood.

"We are happy that out staff and patients were fully protected at all times, and we do not believe that they were hindered of inconvenienced by the extra security," Mr Greenman said.

He also confirmed today that Minogue's stay had used a number of rooms in the hospital's Coronary Care Unit which, he said, had "spare capacity".

"The only patients who were moved at this time were either booked to be discharged or transferred to another ward in the normal manner because of their improving condition," Mr Greenman said.

He said Minogue's visit had also coincided with his hospital's busiest period for emergency cases so far this year – a point also confirmed by the ambulance service.

"Ambulance bypass was necessary to ensure that the ED (emergency department) could appropriately treat patients who had already presented," Mr Greenman said.

"If the rooms occupied by Ms Minogue had been available, they would not have alleviated the pressure on our ED staff."

Mr Greenman also rejected media claims that Minogue's room had been painted pink, reportedly to boost her recovery, and that staff treating her were asked to sign confidentiality agreements.

© The Australian

Google Financial Information: GOOG

AP
Google Shares Rise on New Price Target
Wednesday June 1, 5:34 pm ET
By Lauren Villagran, AP Business Writer
Google Jumps on Highest-Ever Price Target, Investors Speculate Google May Make S&P 500

NEW YORK (AP) -- Google Inc. shares gained nearly 4 percent Wednesday after Credit Suisse First Boston lifted its price target on the stock to $350.

There was also speculation that Google may soon be included in the S&P 500.

CSFB analyst Heath Terry raised Google's target price to $350 from $275 after the company exceeded that level on Tuesday. Thinkequity Partners had set an earlier target ceiling of $330.

In a research note, Terry said the valuation is not out of step with other Internet stocks such as eBay Inc. or Yahoo Inc. -- Google is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 42, while Yahoo is trading at 55 times earnings and eBay at a ratio of 37.

Shares of Google rose $10.38, or 3.7 percent, to $287.65 on the Nasdaq. Yahoo also was higher by $1.24, or 3.3 percent, at $38.44 and shares of eBay climbed $1.11, or 2.9 percent, to $39.11 on the Nasdaq.

"We believe shares have further to go given the momentum in the company's core advertising business, the growing impact of new business like Gmail, Froogle and Local and a valuation that -- relative to the company's growth rate -- is far from stretched," Terry said of Google in the note.

The new, higher price target may not be Google's only booster, said Janco Partners analyst Martin Pyykkonen. There is talk that Standard & Poor's may include Google in its 500 index, he said.

"I think a lot of the real momentum is related to the S&P 500 speculation," he said. "Once it's in, you have a multitude of index funds that literally have to buy the stock. I think it's a foregone conclusion. It will go in."

It may just be a matter of when.

But Standard & Poor's isn't saying.

The S&P requires companies in its 500-index to meet certain criteria: The company must be based in the United States, post positive earnings for four consecutive quarters, trade with adequate liquidity and have a market capitalization of $4 billion, among other characteristics.

S&P Index Committee Chairman David Blitzer said Google meets all of the requirements but he declined to say whether the company would be included.

Google went public in August and by November its shares were trading just shy of $200. In May, Google shares opened the month trading at about $180 and closed Tuesday at $277.21 for a monthly gain of 54 percent.

Derek Brown, an analyst with Pacific Growth Equities, said Google's success may be due to larger marketing trends that favor online advertising companies.

Brown cited a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an online-advertising industry trade group, that put total advertising revenue for 2004 at $9.6 billion -- up 33 percent from $7.3 billion in 2003.

Pyykkonen cautioned that although some analysts see Google as an even better value than Yahoo, the next-year earnings guidance for the company varies widely.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect earnings per share of $6.59, but that is the median of a range of $5.67 to $7.44.

"Google's entire business today is based on you and me and millions of others clicking on those right-of-the-page ads," Pyykkonen said. "Putting all your eggs in one basket is great when things are rocking, but it's risky."

GOOG

Last Net Change % Change Open Prev Close High Low Bid Ask Volume
277.27 11.27 4.24% 269.56 266.00 278.40 269.37 277.14 277.30 21,803,200

SchaeffersResearch.com - Daily Stock Market Sentiment & Contrarian Thinking: "Schaeffer's Daily Contrarian

Schaeffer's Daily Contrarian

"When everyone thinks alike, everyone is likely to be wrong."
~ Humphrey Neill, The Art of Contrary Thinking

The above quote has been reiterated numerous times in our publications because of its ability to succinctly capture the essence of contrarian thinking. While simple in theory, the task of capturing the prevailing sentiment can be as elusive as defining the boundaries of a cloud. The closer you get to it, the harder it is to see.(More)

Posted
5/31/2005 3:38 PM
Everybody's Talking 'Bout Google
CNN/Money
"Bowling for Google"
Published: 5/25/2005

Brief Summary:
The article looks at the prospects of Google (GOOG: sentiment, chart, options) hitting $300 a share and the stock's potential inclusion in the S&P 500. The usual items are included: valuation, price-to-earnings ratio (current and forward), and comparisons with Yahoo!.

Contrarian Takeaway:

There is no denying that GOOG has been on fire since going public last August. However, what was once a "wall of worry" constructed with analyst opinion and the negative media take is now positively skewed. The current analyst ratings show 16 "buy" ratings, four "hold" ratings, and zero "sell" ratings. The equity's short-interest ratio is a paltry 0.80, meaning that the number of shares sold short could be covered in less than one day of typical volume.

The speculation that GOOG will be added to the S&P 500 Index has fueled the most recent rally, and that decision will probably come about sooner rather than later, but that may be the final crescendo for the stock. The buying pressure that would occur with news that the stock was being added to the SPX could be the last big volume spike, given that a short-covering rally isn't going to occur. I am thinking that an announcement with this news might present the perfect shorting opportunity.

Rick Pendergraft (rpendergraft@sir-inc.com)

April 18 - Minnesota

The Tax Foundation - America Celebrates Tax Freedom Day

Tax Freedom Day

Telegraph | Money | Why 'tax freedom day' gets later and later every year

Why 'tax freedom day' gets later and later every year
By Malcolm Moore (Filed: 30/05/2005)


Tomorrow is tax freedom day - the day taxpayers stop working for the Government and start working for themselves - and it's three days later than last year.

Until tomorrow, every penny earned by the average Briton has been needed to pay for the Chancellor's spending. Now, your money is your own. The date falls six days later than when Labour came to power in 1997.

Dr Eamonn Butler, the director of the Adam Smith Institute, which calculates when the day falls, said: "Nobody has the faintest idea how much tax they are paying."

He added that Gordon Brown had perfected Jean-Baptiste Colbert's definition of the art of taxation. "He is getting the maximum amount of feathers with the minimum of squawking because the goose does not know it is being plucked," he said.

"It is three days later than last year and five days later than the year before. It will be two days later next year and by 2020, the Government will be taking half our income in taxes," he said. The reason for the extra three days this year is mostly because of the latest National Insurance rises. Higher council taxes also had an effect.

The institute calculates the day by comparing Mr Brown's Budget predictions of national income against total taxes.

The Chancellor plans to take £450billion in taxes and excise duties this year, including VAT and council tax. However, he may not collect it if the economy does not grow as quickly as he expects.

The Treasury has been consistently incorrect on its fiscal forecasts. Last year, the Adam Smith Institute had to revise back the date of Tax Freedom day because the Revenue failed to collect as much as the Treasury wanted.

If the same thing happens again this year, the Chancellor will have to "countenance raising tax rates or cutting spending on the things which he has committed to", said Mike Warburton, a partner at Grant Thornton, the accountants.

However, Mr Warburton said Mr Brown had hit his targets by leaving tax thresholds at their old levels, while national income grows.

The Chancellor expects to raise 11pc more tax this year than last, without any changes to the tax structure. "That is 9pc higher than inflation," said Mr Warburton. "Income tax is also going to rise at 9pc above inflation," he added.

David Kilshaw, head of private client work at KPMG, said his clients were concerned at the system's complexity. "Just go back to a more simple system," he urged.

Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see link

Stock Market

.The final piece of the bullish puzzle was the market's breaking out over resistance ($SPX over 1182, for example). This also included penetration of the 50-day moving average, which had contained all previous rallies since the March top. Since then, the push upward has continued with only a minor pause. Further resistance (at 1190, basis $SPX) was overcome, and now it appears that there is very little standing in the way of a challenge of the yearly highs at 1220 or above ($SPX).

The equity-only put-call ratios turned bullish at literally the exact bottom. While they were the only indicator to be bullish at that time, they were joined by the others within days. These powerful sentiment- based indicators continue to remain bullish, as can be seen from Figures 2 and 3. As long as the line on the put-call ratio chart is declining, it is on a buy signal. Furthermore, these latest buy signals came from an extreme level (high on the chart), which often indicates a stronger-than-usual signal.

Market breadth has been flighty, at best. Oscillating back and forth with nearly every market move, there have been a series of buy and sell signals that have not been particularly helpful. Recently, breadth slipped again and gave sell signals. We are not terribly worried by these sell signals, as long as they are the only ones.

Volatility ($VIX) has continued to make new relative lows. We don't expect to see it go all the way back down to 11, but this downward trend is bullish. In fact, it penetrated what had looked to be a budding uptrend in volatility, returning things to the low-volatility, bullish scenario.

Before summarizing, I'd like to discuss the "conventional" wisdom that says this market is so overbought, it is due for a major correction. I don't agree. Let's examine the indicators in this light. Breadth was overbought, true, but certainly not extremely overbought. Meanwhile, it is no longer overbought after two mild days of pullback in the market. Equity-only put-call ratios are not overbought; they'd have to be at the bottom of their charts for that to be true. In fact, they were extremely oversold and haven't reached anywhere near an overbought state yet. Next, consider volatility ($VIX). It is near 13, which is about the average for this year. If it fell to 11, it would then be overbought, but it's not there and hasn't been. So, since none of these indicators is or was overbought, what these traders must be talking about is the action of the major indices themselves. In other words, the fact that the market rose so strongly and uniformly for about a week and a half has produced this "overbought" talk. Frankly, $SPX was up much more strongly than this just a few short months ago -- October and November last year. Note the circled portion of the $SPX chart in Figure 1. So, there is really no reason why the market can't continue on upward at this time.

Overall, we want to continue to view this market as bullish until it either falls back below 1180 (basis $SPX) or some of the other indicators turn bearish. None of those conditions is at hand, so expect higher prices.


To receive the complete commentary plus reccomendations visit here: http://www.optionstrategist.com/offers/strategist.htm

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Media Framing or media frame up?

"Back to you, Dan."

Storming Media

Public Opinion and Media Coverage During the Iraq War: An Examination of Media Framing and Priming

Authors: Khalid J. Cannon;
AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSONAFB OH

Abstract: Media frames are vital to peoples' understanding of issues and events, but this study's findings highlight the importance of internal frames, or primary frameworks, in shaping public opinion. A rally 'round the flag effect did occur at the outset of the Iraq War, which caused Republicans, Democrats and Independents to support the war. Both party affiliation and news attentiveness explained a significant amount of variability in a person's opinion of the war in 2003. The party affiliation framework is much more vital in determining support for the war when media content is negative. Viewers support media frames that reflect their belief system, and this explains why in 2004 Republicans were supportive of the war yet Democrats and Independents were not.

Limitations: APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

Description: Master's thesis

Pages: 90

Report Date: 2005

Report number: A142134

Price: $27.95 - Shipping terms

Keywords: : IRAQ, PUBLIC OPINION, THESES, MILITARY OPERATIONS, VISUAL AIDS, PUBLIC RELATIONS,
MASS MEDIA

TALKING HEADS

Numbing Numbers

By Vaughn Ververs, NationalJournal.com
© National Journal Group Inc.
Friday, May 27, 2005

If anyone thinks this ongoing debate and hand-wringing over the state of the nation's press is another concocted or overblown controversy, two recent surveys should help convince them otherwise.

According to the results, the disconnect between members of the media and the general public makes the red state/blue state divide look like an exchange of pleasantries. The journalistic community should be more than just disheartened by the numbers -- they should be downright frightened.


The public may see journalists as more ethical than politicians, but they don't appear to trust them with a free rein.






Just how large is the perception gap between the press and the public? That's what the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania set out to discover in a recent survey. The Center conducted two separate surveys, one encompassing 673 journalists working in some capacity for a news organization and one that polled 1,500 members of the general public. Putting the results side by side, it seems as though the surveys were conducted on two different planets.

Since media bias is the most heated part of the discussion, let's start there. The Annenberg survey shows why conservatives have for years complained of a liberal bias in the news. Among the media sample, 29 percent described themselves as "liberal," 49 percent said they were "moderate" and just 9 percent claimed to be "conservative." The public broke down along these lines: Twenty-four percent liberal, 33 percent moderate and 38 percent conservative. To further drive home the point, 58 percent of those in the public familiar with the CBS story on President Bush and the National Guard said the network did a good job of correcting it. However, 69 percent said that liberal bias was at least part of the reason the story ran in the first place. Among the media, 54 percent said it played no part.

Social attitudes of the press were probed, as well. Asked if they favor legislation in their state to allow same-sex marriage, 59 percent of journalists said they did. The same question was not asked of the public, but most previous polling has shown wide majorities against such legislation. Both groups were asked how often they attend religious services, and 40 percent of the public said they attend at least once a week compared to 17 percent of journalists.

Liberal complaints about the media were bolstered, too. The public clearly believes corporate or business interests intrude on news judgement. Among the public sample, 79 percent agreed that a media organization "that receives substantial advertising revenue from a company would hesitate to report negative stories about that company." Asked whether media outlets "either intentionally or unintentionally" avoided stories "unfavorable" to advertisers, 63 percent said that happens either to a "small extent" or "not at all."

Let's turn to the issue of credibility. It's not surprising that 86 percent of journalists believe their profession gets the "facts straight," but it might surprise them that 48 percent of the public thinks the media is "often inaccurate." More disturbing, 65 percent of the public believes that when mistakes are made, the media either tries to "ignore" them or cover them up. In the press sample, 74 percent say mistakes are quickly reported. And while the ethical practices of journalists rank far ahead of lawyers and politicians in the public view, is that really a feather in the media's cap?

Now comes the most disturbing finding, one that's echoed in a similar survey conducted recently for the University of Connecticut. In the Annenberg study, 51 percent of the public agreed that the government either sometimes or always has a "right to limit" the right of the press to report a story. In the Connecticut survey, 43 percent said there is "too much" freedom of the press. Additionally, that study found that 89 percent said the accuracy of a story that relies on an unnamed source should be questioned. The public may see journalists as more ethical than politicians, but they don't appear to trust them with a free rein.

These findings should be discouraging to anyone involved in the "mainstream media," especially the wide gap in perception. Some of these numbers suggest a level of denial among the press, which would help explain why there's so much navel-gazing in the wake of a media "scandal," but very little change. The public sees fundamental institutional flaws where the press sees cosmetic impurities.

Distrust of the press is disturbing, but not an entirely unhealthy attitude. What's downright frightening are the attitudes toward freedom of the press. When a majority of the public believes that the government has a right to limit the media's freedom to report a story, that should send shivers down the spine of any First Amendment lover. It's one thing to argue that each press outlet should consider the broader consequences and public good in publishing individual stories, but to suggest that the government ought to have that power is censorship, pure and simple.

So much of this debate over the state of the media and its future direction has been driven by the ideological and political divide in the country. Sometimes the complaints and arguments are important and serious. Sometimes the whole discussion devolves into absurdity. But these surveys show how precarious of a position the press is in. And they show how critically important it is to fix the problems if we want to maintain a free press -- and a free nation.

-- Vaughn Ververs is a NationalJournal.com contributing editor as well as editor of The Hotline. His e-mail address is vververs@nationaljournal.com.

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New Clout for Compliance Lawyers

Article published on May 20, 2005

Years of scandal have given compliance lawyers tremendous new clout on Wall Street, The New York Times reports.
Though considered something of a dead-end job a few years ago, the compliance lawyer is now hotly sought after, industry people tell the paper.

From 2001 to 2003, securities industry jobs dealing with corporate oversight rose 30%, compared to an industrywide decrease of 8%, according to Securities Industry Association data cited by the Times.

Naturally, pay has risen with demand.

Lawyers and recruiters interviewed by the Times say that many lawyers experienced in compliance issues can pull down salaries of around $300,000 for a mid-level associate position, while those heading compliance at major firms could expect up to seven figures. Fueling the trend further, hedge funds have started seeking out compliance experts ahead of new regulations requiring them to register with the SEC starting next year.

One place that big firms are looking is in government, seeking out staff lawyers from the SEC and former prosecutors with expertise in corporate fraud cases, the Times adds.

Two lawyers from Eliot Spitzer's office are among those who've been recruited from government positions to Wall Street compliance posts. Last year, Beth Golden, Spitzer's deputy for special projects, went to Bear Stearns as global head of compliance. And in 2003, Morgan Stanley hired Spitzer aide Eric Dinallo as its regulatory chief.

Along with more pay, meanwhile, comes more power. Compliance chiefs used to report to their company's deputy chief counsel. But in many cases they now report directly to the CEO, according to the Times.

(News summaries based on original reports in other publications are prepared by the IGNITES.com staff and are not created, sponsored, approved or endorsed by the publications to which the original reports are attributed.)

From Ignites.com

It takes us 10min 17sec to decide that we are late

By Becky Barrow
(Filed: 27/05/2005)

You are stuck in traffic and there is clearly no chance of getting to your friend's dinner party on time. At what point do you call to offer apologies? The answer: 10mins 17secs, says research into Britain's 'lateness threshold' which is the point at which people feel it necessary to telephone and admit they are going to be late.
During that time, 12 babies will be born in England and Wales, there will be eight road accidents, 3,804 people will board an aeroplane and 590 million e-mails will be sent worldwide. About 10 per cent of people would not consider calling until at least 30 minutes beyond the 'agreed appointment time,' says the study, conducted by the motorists' website GetMeThere.co.uk.

More than 80 per cent of people in their 50s claim they are never late for anything because they are gripped by 'bus fuss' - the anxiety about being late for crucial events. But almost 70 per cent of young women believe it is 'acceptable, if not fashionable' to be late on a first date because it makes them feel that they would appear 'less desperate'.

On one subject, both men and women agree - they 'wouldn't care' if they were late for their mother-in-law's birthday party.

Which Sabrina?

[Great stuff!]

New on LLRX.com for May, 2005:
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**Researching Medical Literature on the Internet -- 2005 Update
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**Dockets Update
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**The Problem of Orphan Works
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**Bibliography of Employment Resources for Law Librarians
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**The Federal Civil Code of Mexico
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**The Government Domain: New Tools For Government Research
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**After Hours: Taste of the Nation Comes to Brooklyn / Meet Cuke Skywalker / Mail Order Wine
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**Burney's Gadgets for Legal Pros: Making Use of an Idle Laptop / Expand your Laptop's Horizons / Put your Desktop on Laptop
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Review the new entries on topics that include: marketing, business blogs, the Supreme court, economics, web browsers, and of course...food.

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Source

Scholarly Publishers Protest Google's Online Library Project

By Michael Liedtke The Associated Press
Published: May 23, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A group of academic publishers is challenging Google Inc.'s plan to scan millions of library books into its Internet search engine index, highlighting fears that the ambitious project will violate copyrights and stifle future sales.

In a letter scheduled to be delivered to Google Monday, the Association of American University Presses described the online search engine's library project as a troubling financial threat to its membership - 125 nonprofit publishers of academic journals and scholarly books.

The plan "appears to involve systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale," wrote Peter Givler, the executive director for the New York-based trade group.

The association asked Google to respond to a list of 16 questions seeking more information about how the company plans to protect copyrights.

Two unnamed publishers already asked Google to withhold its copyrighted material from the scanners, but the company hasn't complied with the requests, Givler wrote.

Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages left Monday.

The association of nonprofit publishers is upset because Google has indicated it will scan copyright-protected books from three university libraries - Harvard, Michigan and Stanford.

Those three universities also operate publishing arms represented by the group complaining about Google's 5-month-old "Libraries for Print" project. That means the chances of the association suing Google are "extremely remote," Givler said in an interview Monday.

Still, Givler said the association is very worried about Google's scanning project.

"The more we talked about it with our lawyers, the more questions bubbled up," he said. "And so far Google hasn't provided us with any good answers."

Google also is scanning books stored in the New York Public Library and Oxford in England, but those two libraries so far are only providing Google with "public domain" works - material no longer protected by copyrights.

Federal law considers the free distribution of some copyrighted material to be permissible "fair use." The company has told the nonprofit publishers that its library program meets this criteria.

Some for-profit publishers also are taking a closer look at Google's library-scanning project.

"We are exploring issues and opportunities with Google, including the potential impact of this program on our authors, our customers and our business," said John Wiley & Sons Inc. spokeswoman Susan Spilka.

Copyright concerns aren't the only issue casting a cloud over Google's library-scanning project. The project also has drawn criticism in Europe for placing too much emphasis on material from the United States.

One of Google's most popular features - a section that compiles news stories posted on thousands of Web sites - already has triggered claims of copyright infringement. Agence France-Presse, a French news agency, is suing for damages of at least $17.5 million, alleging "Google News" is illegally capitalizing on its copyrighted material.

The latest complaints about Google are being driven by university-backed publishers who fear there will be little reason to buy their books if Google succeeds in its effort to create a virtual reading room.

The university presses depend on books sales and other licensing agreements for most of their revenue, making copyright protections essential to their survival.

Google has turned its search engine into a moneymaking machine, generating a $369 million profit during the first three months of this year alone. The company is counting on its library scanning project to attract even more visitors to its site so it can display more ads and potentially boost its earnings even more.

Investors already adore Google. The company's shares surged $13.84, or 5.7 percent, to close Monday at $255.45 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Earlier in the session, the shares traded as high as $258.10 - a new peak since the company went public nine months ago at $85.

AP-ES-05-23-05 1937EDT

-------------------------------
If Google becomes the "library" then they can sell advertising and pay for copyright. Preferbly Google has the economic power to finally define "fair use" once and for all so we can put this ridiculous vagueness behind us.