Who's Making Money

The point behind this meeting, the TechCrunch founder says, was to talk about how the super-angels (some of whom may appear on these lists) could consolidate their power within the Valley ecosystem and win more market share away from the traditional Sand Hill Road VC firms. And are they planning to do this by offering better service to the entrepreneurs whose pain they claim to share? Not according to some of those in attendance at the meeting, who said that the topics discussed included how to blunt the competitive force of YCombinator, how to keep valuations down and how to convince startups not to use convertible notes for financings.

If these reports are true, that doesn’t sound very super at all. In fact, it sounds just like the traditional VC mentality that super-angels were supposed to be fighting against — the win-at-any-cost, anything-is-fine-if-I-get-my-cut attitude that startups have been up against for decades. What happened to the “sharing your pain” approach? What happened to the “act like a startup” motto that some have advocated?

This latest development, if true, is the continuation of a perverse trend in which everyone chooses to focus on the investors instead of on startups and what is good for them. After all, the entrepreneur is supposed to be the one at the heart of this whole process — who is looking out for his or her interests? No one, it seems. It’s ironic that the movie “Wall Street 2″ is going to be opening in theatres soon, and the atmosphere in the VC world seems to be very much like the one that Gordon Gekko raved about in the original.

Everyone knows the VC game is tough, even for super angels — especially when hundreds of them throng to a YCombinator event to see just a handful of promising startups. No one thinks it should just be one big Kumbaya singalong, by any means. But it’s one thing to run a business and another to be advocating that everyone gang up to drive valuations down, or to stop the use of convertible notes — which are a startup-friendly trend that many non-super angels and startup advisors have been promoting. It’s a little sad to hear that some of the same people who have been saying publicly that they were on the side of startups may be saying something completely different in private.

The last time professional investors spent so much time thinking about what they were getting out of the deal rather than focusing in building a healthy startup community, it was the late 1990s, and it didn’t end well. If the super-angels and traditional VCs alike spent a bit more time thinking about the entrepreneurs at the heart of this whole equation and a little less thinking about ways to line their own pockets at his or her expense, we would probably all be a lot better off.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):

Did We Really Learn Anything From the Dotcom Crash?

Lessons From Twitter: How to Play Nice With Ecosystem Partners

Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

Predictability is one of the most important attributes of any business. Owners, investors, and acquirers all want to be able to see a reliable stream of profits well into the future.

But almost by definition, predictability can be boring. Those same owners, investors, and acquirers want to see growth, which comes from selling new products and services and/or winning new customers.

So can you be predictable and innovative at the same time?

I put the question to Toronto-based Jeremy Gutsche, author of Exploiting Chaos and founder of TrendHunter.com, a business that tracks emerging trends for customers like Google, Pepsi, and Cadbury.

Based on my conversation with Gutsche, here are five ways to make sure your company doesn’t become boring on the journey to becoming valuable:

1. Set up a gambling fund.

Put aside some money to gamble on new ideas. When the BBC, the U.K.’s national broadcaster, was stuck in a programming rut, it set up a gambling fund for ideas that failed the usual new-program screening process. Producers could apply for gambling funds if their idea was cut, which is how The Office, one of the BBC’s most successful programs of all time, was funded.

2. Think like a portfolio manager.

Like a money manager, envision your business as a portfolio of investments balanced to generate the best risk-adjusted reward over the long term. Gutsche recommends having some areas of your business that are reliable and predictable while reserving part of your portfolio for trying new things.

3. Reward sound decisions.

Most companies pay their employees based on results and outcomes, which means the best employees want to work in the mature area of the business that is most likely to generate good results in a predictable way. It also means your best employees stop taking risks. Instead, Gutsche recommends you reward good decisions rather than outcomes. If you reward based on decisions, you can still incent employees to try things that may be risky as long as their decision-making is sound.

4. If you’re small, act big; if you’re big, act small.

Small companies often have lots of ideas, but customers can be hesitant to be the first one to try them. Gutsche recommends small companies merchandise their client list and media hits to build credibility. Gutsche himself projects a larger-than-life image. If you go to TrendHunter.com, you’ll see a “who’s who” list of marketers, from eBay to Microsoft, which Gutsche says gives visitors confidence to take a flyer on his business that’s only been around since 2006.

Likewise, Gutsche suggests the big guys act small by carving off new products into separate companies. Similar to the way RBC and BMO launched their credit card processing joint venture under the Moneris moniker, have a separate brand and stand-alone workspace to give your new business units an entrepreneurial feel.

5. Give your employees playtime.

Set aside some company time each week or month for employees to use to work on pet projects. 3M, of Post-It note fame, popularized this technique, which has since been adopted by companies like Google and Amazon, who give their engineers time to tinker.

By following Gutsche’s advice, you may just be able to create a predictable-growth company, which is the most valuable company of all.

John Warrillow is a writer, speaker, and angel investor in a number of start-up companies. He writes a blog about building a sellable company at http://www.BuiltToSell.com/blog. You can also follow him on Twitter at @JohnWarrillow.

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Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

bench craft company reviews

The point behind this meeting, the TechCrunch founder says, was to talk about how the super-angels (some of whom may appear on these lists) could consolidate their power within the Valley ecosystem and win more market share away from the traditional Sand Hill Road VC firms. And are they planning to do this by offering better service to the entrepreneurs whose pain they claim to share? Not according to some of those in attendance at the meeting, who said that the topics discussed included how to blunt the competitive force of YCombinator, how to keep valuations down and how to convince startups not to use convertible notes for financings.

If these reports are true, that doesn’t sound very super at all. In fact, it sounds just like the traditional VC mentality that super-angels were supposed to be fighting against — the win-at-any-cost, anything-is-fine-if-I-get-my-cut attitude that startups have been up against for decades. What happened to the “sharing your pain” approach? What happened to the “act like a startup” motto that some have advocated?

This latest development, if true, is the continuation of a perverse trend in which everyone chooses to focus on the investors instead of on startups and what is good for them. After all, the entrepreneur is supposed to be the one at the heart of this whole process — who is looking out for his or her interests? No one, it seems. It’s ironic that the movie “Wall Street 2″ is going to be opening in theatres soon, and the atmosphere in the VC world seems to be very much like the one that Gordon Gekko raved about in the original.

Everyone knows the VC game is tough, even for super angels — especially when hundreds of them throng to a YCombinator event to see just a handful of promising startups. No one thinks it should just be one big Kumbaya singalong, by any means. But it’s one thing to run a business and another to be advocating that everyone gang up to drive valuations down, or to stop the use of convertible notes — which are a startup-friendly trend that many non-super angels and startup advisors have been promoting. It’s a little sad to hear that some of the same people who have been saying publicly that they were on the side of startups may be saying something completely different in private.

The last time professional investors spent so much time thinking about what they were getting out of the deal rather than focusing in building a healthy startup community, it was the late 1990s, and it didn’t end well. If the super-angels and traditional VCs alike spent a bit more time thinking about the entrepreneurs at the heart of this whole equation and a little less thinking about ways to line their own pockets at his or her expense, we would probably all be a lot better off.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):

Did We Really Learn Anything From the Dotcom Crash?

Lessons From Twitter: How to Play Nice With Ecosystem Partners

Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

Predictability is one of the most important attributes of any business. Owners, investors, and acquirers all want to be able to see a reliable stream of profits well into the future.

But almost by definition, predictability can be boring. Those same owners, investors, and acquirers want to see growth, which comes from selling new products and services and/or winning new customers.

So can you be predictable and innovative at the same time?

I put the question to Toronto-based Jeremy Gutsche, author of Exploiting Chaos and founder of TrendHunter.com, a business that tracks emerging trends for customers like Google, Pepsi, and Cadbury.

Based on my conversation with Gutsche, here are five ways to make sure your company doesn’t become boring on the journey to becoming valuable:

1. Set up a gambling fund.

Put aside some money to gamble on new ideas. When the BBC, the U.K.’s national broadcaster, was stuck in a programming rut, it set up a gambling fund for ideas that failed the usual new-program screening process. Producers could apply for gambling funds if their idea was cut, which is how The Office, one of the BBC’s most successful programs of all time, was funded.

2. Think like a portfolio manager.

Like a money manager, envision your business as a portfolio of investments balanced to generate the best risk-adjusted reward over the long term. Gutsche recommends having some areas of your business that are reliable and predictable while reserving part of your portfolio for trying new things.

3. Reward sound decisions.

Most companies pay their employees based on results and outcomes, which means the best employees want to work in the mature area of the business that is most likely to generate good results in a predictable way. It also means your best employees stop taking risks. Instead, Gutsche recommends you reward good decisions rather than outcomes. If you reward based on decisions, you can still incent employees to try things that may be risky as long as their decision-making is sound.

4. If you’re small, act big; if you’re big, act small.

Small companies often have lots of ideas, but customers can be hesitant to be the first one to try them. Gutsche recommends small companies merchandise their client list and media hits to build credibility. Gutsche himself projects a larger-than-life image. If you go to TrendHunter.com, you’ll see a “who’s who” list of marketers, from eBay to Microsoft, which Gutsche says gives visitors confidence to take a flyer on his business that’s only been around since 2006.

Likewise, Gutsche suggests the big guys act small by carving off new products into separate companies. Similar to the way RBC and BMO launched their credit card processing joint venture under the Moneris moniker, have a separate brand and stand-alone workspace to give your new business units an entrepreneurial feel.

5. Give your employees playtime.

Set aside some company time each week or month for employees to use to work on pet projects. 3M, of Post-It note fame, popularized this technique, which has since been adopted by companies like Google and Amazon, who give their engineers time to tinker.

By following Gutsche’s advice, you may just be able to create a predictable-growth company, which is the most valuable company of all.

John Warrillow is a writer, speaker, and angel investor in a number of start-up companies. He writes a blog about building a sellable company at http://www.BuiltToSell.com/blog. You can also follow him on Twitter at @JohnWarrillow.

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Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

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Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

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The point behind this meeting, the TechCrunch founder says, was to talk about how the super-angels (some of whom may appear on these lists) could consolidate their power within the Valley ecosystem and win more market share away from the traditional Sand Hill Road VC firms. And are they planning to do this by offering better service to the entrepreneurs whose pain they claim to share? Not according to some of those in attendance at the meeting, who said that the topics discussed included how to blunt the competitive force of YCombinator, how to keep valuations down and how to convince startups not to use convertible notes for financings.

If these reports are true, that doesn’t sound very super at all. In fact, it sounds just like the traditional VC mentality that super-angels were supposed to be fighting against — the win-at-any-cost, anything-is-fine-if-I-get-my-cut attitude that startups have been up against for decades. What happened to the “sharing your pain” approach? What happened to the “act like a startup” motto that some have advocated?

This latest development, if true, is the continuation of a perverse trend in which everyone chooses to focus on the investors instead of on startups and what is good for them. After all, the entrepreneur is supposed to be the one at the heart of this whole process — who is looking out for his or her interests? No one, it seems. It’s ironic that the movie “Wall Street 2″ is going to be opening in theatres soon, and the atmosphere in the VC world seems to be very much like the one that Gordon Gekko raved about in the original.

Everyone knows the VC game is tough, even for super angels — especially when hundreds of them throng to a YCombinator event to see just a handful of promising startups. No one thinks it should just be one big Kumbaya singalong, by any means. But it’s one thing to run a business and another to be advocating that everyone gang up to drive valuations down, or to stop the use of convertible notes — which are a startup-friendly trend that many non-super angels and startup advisors have been promoting. It’s a little sad to hear that some of the same people who have been saying publicly that they were on the side of startups may be saying something completely different in private.

The last time professional investors spent so much time thinking about what they were getting out of the deal rather than focusing in building a healthy startup community, it was the late 1990s, and it didn’t end well. If the super-angels and traditional VCs alike spent a bit more time thinking about the entrepreneurs at the heart of this whole equation and a little less thinking about ways to line their own pockets at his or her expense, we would probably all be a lot better off.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):

Did We Really Learn Anything From the Dotcom Crash?

Lessons From Twitter: How to Play Nice With Ecosystem Partners

Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

Predictability is one of the most important attributes of any business. Owners, investors, and acquirers all want to be able to see a reliable stream of profits well into the future.

But almost by definition, predictability can be boring. Those same owners, investors, and acquirers want to see growth, which comes from selling new products and services and/or winning new customers.

So can you be predictable and innovative at the same time?

I put the question to Toronto-based Jeremy Gutsche, author of Exploiting Chaos and founder of TrendHunter.com, a business that tracks emerging trends for customers like Google, Pepsi, and Cadbury.

Based on my conversation with Gutsche, here are five ways to make sure your company doesn’t become boring on the journey to becoming valuable:

1. Set up a gambling fund.

Put aside some money to gamble on new ideas. When the BBC, the U.K.’s national broadcaster, was stuck in a programming rut, it set up a gambling fund for ideas that failed the usual new-program screening process. Producers could apply for gambling funds if their idea was cut, which is how The Office, one of the BBC’s most successful programs of all time, was funded.

2. Think like a portfolio manager.

Like a money manager, envision your business as a portfolio of investments balanced to generate the best risk-adjusted reward over the long term. Gutsche recommends having some areas of your business that are reliable and predictable while reserving part of your portfolio for trying new things.

3. Reward sound decisions.

Most companies pay their employees based on results and outcomes, which means the best employees want to work in the mature area of the business that is most likely to generate good results in a predictable way. It also means your best employees stop taking risks. Instead, Gutsche recommends you reward good decisions rather than outcomes. If you reward based on decisions, you can still incent employees to try things that may be risky as long as their decision-making is sound.

4. If you’re small, act big; if you’re big, act small.

Small companies often have lots of ideas, but customers can be hesitant to be the first one to try them. Gutsche recommends small companies merchandise their client list and media hits to build credibility. Gutsche himself projects a larger-than-life image. If you go to TrendHunter.com, you’ll see a “who’s who” list of marketers, from eBay to Microsoft, which Gutsche says gives visitors confidence to take a flyer on his business that’s only been around since 2006.

Likewise, Gutsche suggests the big guys act small by carving off new products into separate companies. Similar to the way RBC and BMO launched their credit card processing joint venture under the Moneris moniker, have a separate brand and stand-alone workspace to give your new business units an entrepreneurial feel.

5. Give your employees playtime.

Set aside some company time each week or month for employees to use to work on pet projects. 3M, of Post-It note fame, popularized this technique, which has since been adopted by companies like Google and Amazon, who give their engineers time to tinker.

By following Gutsche’s advice, you may just be able to create a predictable-growth company, which is the most valuable company of all.

John Warrillow is a writer, speaker, and angel investor in a number of start-up companies. He writes a blog about building a sellable company at http://www.BuiltToSell.com/blog. You can also follow him on Twitter at @JohnWarrillow.

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Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

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benchcraft company portland or

Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

bench craft company reviews

Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

bench craft company reviews

Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

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Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

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Why don't Americans take responsibility for their own lives and their own choices? With ridiculous lawsuits regularly in US news, this week there's a new one and it involves a 51-year-old American guy who's suing the makers of online video game "Lineage II" because it made him "addicted". Craig Smallwood says playing the "Lineage II" continually, left him unable to communicate with family, dress and bathe himself, or do any of the daily activities the rest of us do, as he was so addicted to "Lineage II". So, just like the idiot who sued McDonalds when she spilled hot coffee in her crotch, this fool is suing NCSoft Corp, the makers of the game.

When I moved to the US years ago, one of the first things I figured out about American culture was it was one of "blame someone else for my problems". With Americans going to psychiatrists en masse, to talk about their current problems being because of something their parents did to them or a family friend, babysitter or person that stared at them funny 10 years before, that type of not taking responsibility for their own lives soon morphed into going the legal route.

Ridiculous lawsuits in America soon skyrocketed, with one woman suing McDonalds (and winning - which shows you how willing other Americans are to blame someone else for another person's problems), another guy sued Budweiser because he didn't get beautiful women (you know, the Budweiser commercials show that you can!), and one more fool, sued a dry cleaner for $65 million because they lost his pants.

So, it's not altogether surprising 51-year-old Craig Smallwood has seen his lawsuit opportunity. After playing the online video game "Lineage II' for six years, Smallwood has now decided its NCSoft Corp's fault he can't get off his ass, take a shower, eat some food and engage in conversation with his family members any more.

What's even worse than Craig Smallwood's stupidity is Judge Alan Kay who, after a law firm asked him to dismiss the case, ruled he was allowing the lawsuit against the "Lineage II' manufacturers to continue. So Craig Smallwood is suing NCSoft Corp for "negligence, gross negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress". As someone who should know better, Judge Kay should be ashamed of himself.

But hey, if I'd known it was this easy to make some money from the pitiful mistakes I've sometimes made in my life, I would have sued Dunkin' Donuts when we first moved to America, as I became addicted to their lunch of a bowl of thick pea soup, hunks of bread and two gorgeous donuts, and gained 10 lbs. Or how about suing the guy I side-swiped in my Honda CRX? After all, it was his fault I didn't look properly before I pulled out, he should have been driving a brighter colored car.

What absolutely infuriates me about these idiots who file frivolous lawsuits is, unlike the acts other idiots commit, this one actually affects me. As an avid video game player, and one who's played "Lineage II" on and off, I hate that I'll probably end up having to pay more money for online video game playing, simply so the company being sued by Craig Smallwood can pay what will likely be humongous legal costs.

And as for Craig Smallwood, well, really all you can say about somebody like that is "Grow up and start taking responsibility for your own actions. It's idiots like you that are a big cause of what's wrong with America today. The blame-anyone-but-me-for-my-actions syndrome" Sickening.

Sources:

Judge: Video Game Addiction Lawsuit Can Proceed - The Huffington Post

12 Most Ridiculous Lawsuits - Oddee


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Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

big seminar 14

Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim” « Oliver Willis

19 Responses to “Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: “All Terrorists Are Muslim””. Jay says: October 15, 2010 at 9:13 am. Of course, anybody with a rational mind could understand that Kilmeade was specifically talking about 9/11 and was saying ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/15 - Arrowhead Pride

Welcome to Friday boys and girls. Enjoy today's Kansas City Chiefs news!

Fox <b>News</b> Hits Ratings High With Rescue Coverage Of Chilean Miners <b>...</b>

Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel's largest audience in the hour this year but ...

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Making Money Scam

by Susana Polo | 4:09 pm, September 12th, 2010

There have been many effects of Eve Online’s decision to deal a large blow to the black market for their in-game currency by essentially making it purchasable for real money.  The one that we like the most, however, is that it is now really easy to quantify actions in Eve Online to people who don’t play the game.  Case in point:

In-game business machinations have lead to a player known as Bad Bobby walking away from a gutted in-game corporation with items worth $45,000.  And it was all game legal.

The plan was to set up an in-game business that turned a profit by selling copies of blueprints for Titan class starships.  90% of the profits would go to the shareholders who had bankrolled the founding of the company in the first place.  The location of the originals would be kept secret, but their ownership would be controlled by five trustees, ensuring that they could not be taken without all trustees in agreement.  Bad Bobby was a founding member of the company, Titans4U, and one of the trustees.

From Massively:

All of this security hinged on the fact that Bobby would not have access to over 50% of the company’s shares and so couldn’t vote to unlock the blueprints on his own. For over a year, this system worked amicably. In the background, however, Bobby was slowly scheming to get his hands on more shares.

To complete the scam, Bobby initiated a vote to create more shares under the guise of adding more trustees… the vote passed and more shares were created.

The other trustees presumably expected Bobby to hand over the shares when the new trustees were appointed. Instead, Bobby, with access to 50% of the shares, called for a vote to place the blueprints in his ownership at a time when only three of the other four trustees could log on to veto his request, stealing the blueprints.

According to Massively, the virtual goods were worth 850 billion Interstellar Kredits, which can be translated into a value of $45,000 US dollars, which can purchase 214 years of game time.

And yes, Eve Online is at heart an economic simulator as well as a space tactics simulator.  The game’s curators permit in-game thievery, smuggling, elaborate cons, pirates, market manipulation, bounty-hunting, corporate espionage, and racketeering; they simply warn their players to be aware of the risks and careful with their in-game possessions.  Bobby’s actions were all within the rules of the game.  The only thing he has sacrificed is his in-game reputation.

An ice cream purveyor from Staten Island has landed himself in a sticky Catch-22 after allegedly trying to "palm off" less-than-quality ice cream as Häagen-Dazs in his Bay Ridge shop. The ice cream giant is suing Steven Itkin for trademark infringement and breach of contract, and is seeking a minimum of $75,000 in damages and to shut down Itkin's Häagen-Dazs franchise. However, Itkin suggests maybe Häagen-Dazs should lay off, as their expensive ice cream made it "impossible to make money with the store."

Häagen-Dazs first caught wind of Itkin's scam when he tried to terminate his contract with the company. The contract was terminated, but Itkin was prohibited for two years from working in an ice-cream business within two miles of his store or any other Häagen-Dazs shop. Instead, he continued to operate his store, allegedly selling both Haagen-Dazs and non-Häagen-Dazs products, and used company signs to advertise a competitor's product. Itkin claims he had no choice, as times were tough and he couldn't pay the remaining $5,000 Häagen-Dazs needed. "Everybody loved the store but I was making no money," he said. "I had bills to pay."

Itkin is now giving away all the store equipment and hopes that the company will stop the suit. A judge issued a temporary restraining order on him, forbidding him to work in the ice-cream business within the boundaries in the franchise agreement. Let this be a lesson: Don't mess with the Dazs.

HMV: We&#39;re &quot;very excited&quot; about 3DS launch | <b>News</b>

HMV UK & Ireland CEO and MD, Simon Fox, has told GamesIndustry.biz that the retailer is.

BillBoard - Blogs - The Buffalo <b>News</b>

Buffalo Bills cornerback Terrence McGee had minor surgery Saturday to repair a pinched nerve affecting his left leg, an NFL source told the Buffalo News. The procedure was successful, but it could sideline McGee for up to four weeks. ...

<b>News</b> the Old Media Won&#39;t Tell You: More Trash at One Sparsely <b>...</b>

12774581 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbigjournalism.com%2Fmpleahy%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2Fnews-the-old-media-wont-tell-you-more-trash-at-one-sparsely-attended-left-wing-rally-than-at-all-the-tea-parties-around-the-country-in-a-year-and-a-half%2FNews ...

eric seiger eric seiger

by Susana Polo | 4:09 pm, September 12th, 2010

There have been many effects of Eve Online’s decision to deal a large blow to the black market for their in-game currency by essentially making it purchasable for real money.  The one that we like the most, however, is that it is now really easy to quantify actions in Eve Online to people who don’t play the game.  Case in point:

In-game business machinations have lead to a player known as Bad Bobby walking away from a gutted in-game corporation with items worth $45,000.  And it was all game legal.

The plan was to set up an in-game business that turned a profit by selling copies of blueprints for Titan class starships.  90% of the profits would go to the shareholders who had bankrolled the founding of the company in the first place.  The location of the originals would be kept secret, but their ownership would be controlled by five trustees, ensuring that they could not be taken without all trustees in agreement.  Bad Bobby was a founding member of the company, Titans4U, and one of the trustees.

From Massively:

All of this security hinged on the fact that Bobby would not have access to over 50% of the company’s shares and so couldn’t vote to unlock the blueprints on his own. For over a year, this system worked amicably. In the background, however, Bobby was slowly scheming to get his hands on more shares.

To complete the scam, Bobby initiated a vote to create more shares under the guise of adding more trustees… the vote passed and more shares were created.

The other trustees presumably expected Bobby to hand over the shares when the new trustees were appointed. Instead, Bobby, with access to 50% of the shares, called for a vote to place the blueprints in his ownership at a time when only three of the other four trustees could log on to veto his request, stealing the blueprints.

According to Massively, the virtual goods were worth 850 billion Interstellar Kredits, which can be translated into a value of $45,000 US dollars, which can purchase 214 years of game time.

And yes, Eve Online is at heart an economic simulator as well as a space tactics simulator.  The game’s curators permit in-game thievery, smuggling, elaborate cons, pirates, market manipulation, bounty-hunting, corporate espionage, and racketeering; they simply warn their players to be aware of the risks and careful with their in-game possessions.  Bobby’s actions were all within the rules of the game.  The only thing he has sacrificed is his in-game reputation.

An ice cream purveyor from Staten Island has landed himself in a sticky Catch-22 after allegedly trying to "palm off" less-than-quality ice cream as Häagen-Dazs in his Bay Ridge shop. The ice cream giant is suing Steven Itkin for trademark infringement and breach of contract, and is seeking a minimum of $75,000 in damages and to shut down Itkin's Häagen-Dazs franchise. However, Itkin suggests maybe Häagen-Dazs should lay off, as their expensive ice cream made it "impossible to make money with the store."

Häagen-Dazs first caught wind of Itkin's scam when he tried to terminate his contract with the company. The contract was terminated, but Itkin was prohibited for two years from working in an ice-cream business within two miles of his store or any other Häagen-Dazs shop. Instead, he continued to operate his store, allegedly selling both Haagen-Dazs and non-Häagen-Dazs products, and used company signs to advertise a competitor's product. Itkin claims he had no choice, as times were tough and he couldn't pay the remaining $5,000 Häagen-Dazs needed. "Everybody loved the store but I was making no money," he said. "I had bills to pay."

Itkin is now giving away all the store equipment and hopes that the company will stop the suit. A judge issued a temporary restraining order on him, forbidding him to work in the ice-cream business within the boundaries in the franchise agreement. Let this be a lesson: Don't mess with the Dazs.

HMV: We&#39;re &quot;very excited&quot; about 3DS launch | <b>News</b>

HMV UK & Ireland CEO and MD, Simon Fox, has told GamesIndustry.biz that the retailer is.

BillBoard - Blogs - The Buffalo <b>News</b>

Buffalo Bills cornerback Terrence McGee had minor surgery Saturday to repair a pinched nerve affecting his left leg, an NFL source told the Buffalo News. The procedure was successful, but it could sideline McGee for up to four weeks. ...

<b>News</b> the Old Media Won&#39;t Tell You: More Trash at One Sparsely <b>...</b>

12774581 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbigjournalism.com%2Fmpleahy%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2Fnews-the-old-media-wont-tell-you-more-trash-at-one-sparsely-attended-left-wing-rally-than-at-all-the-tea-parties-around-the-country-in-a-year-and-a-half%2FNews ...

eric seiger eric seiger

Making Money on Line

This is a Recap of Boardwalk Empire Episode 2, “The Ivory Tower”, originally airing September 26, 2010. If you thought the first episode was Olde Timey Gangstery, then hoo boy, you were correct in that evaluation.

Episode 2 of the ‘Walks picks up with Nucky getting a visit from the resident prohibition agent, the joyless, no-nonsense, no-sympathies, yes-hat Agent Van Alden:

Live-Action Rex Banner isn’t buying Nucky’s explanation that Hans Schroder, the baker’s assistant with one minor arrest 10 years ago, mastermined the previous week’s gangster mass-murder, and shrugs off Nucky’s shady offer to speak with the sheriff, Brother McIncahoots. We find out later that the agent isn’t just mad at Nucky but also generally joyless, evidenced when he writes this unromantic letter to his wife:

Van Alden returns to his supervisor with the series-establishing line that compared to Arnold Rothstein, Nucky Thompson is the “much bigger fish.” Congratulations – you watched the opening credits.

After the jump, Al Capone beats a reporter, then some not the most famous gangster ever gangsters do some other gangster stuff:

Meanwhile in Chicago, we open on the giant funeral procession for Big Jim Colosimo, the gangster who got shot in the face last episode for playing a record real loud. Press agents hound the pallbearers asking Johnny Torrio if he was involved in the murder, and I don’t know who he is because seriously this show has like ninety characters right now. But his companion, Al Capone — easy to remember! — shrugs the reporters off all Al-Caponelike.

Later, a reporter comes to Capone in a speakeasy asking him to give a statement about the murder, and Al gives him the statement “Hey I am hitting you with this bottle”:

Having Al Capone in the show really helps things, because he’s super famous and you never forget which character he is. Every character should be someone really famous. Jimmy? He should be Teddy Roosevelt. Rothstein should be Charlie Chaplin. And Margaret is Abe Lincoln. Not should be – she is Abe Lincoln. That’s the subtext I got from this episode. Just wait a few more weeks, it’ll be revealed.

Speaking of Rothstein, he’s surprisingly uncool with Nucky stealing his own liquor shipment and selling it to Chicago, and demands $100,000 to cover the damages, which in the 20s was literally 9 trillion dollars. Nucky’s like “Go buzz off like Ruth Buzzi!” That was the most vulgar insult back then.

Rothstein takes his frustration out by interrogating the guy who shot Big Jim with a really badass story about making a dude choke to death on a cue ball. But my guess is he’s gonna let the murder slide and let the 100 grand slide then go buy a slip n’ slide and slide down it.

Margaret is recovering in the hospital by reading Henry James’ The Ivory Tower — titular line! — and gets a visit from Nucky’s brother Eli, who shadily gives her money to ensure that she won’t deny her husband’s involvement in the gang shooting:

In other financial matters, Nucky demands that Jimmy pay him the $3,000 from his share that he was shorted. Sidenote: Gangsters are always shorting each other money, aren’t they? Here’s my impression of a gangster: “You shorted me, where’s my money, see? I’m a gangster!” That line was originally gonna be the title of this show.

Jimmy gets the money by selling his mother’s necklace that he was originally gonna give as a gift to a showgirl [Correction: That showgirl WAS his mother - thanks, commenters!] — seriously, so many humans filmed in this thing — and hands the cash to Nucky, who immediately loses the whole amount on one roulette spin. Burn! Gonna take Jimmy a lot of Fatty Arbuckle watching to get over that one.

Also, Jimmy and his wife are having sex and their kid is right next to them and wakes up. Zuh?

In general, pretty solid second episode of the ‘Walks (gonna keep calling it that because it sounds so uncool), even if it was basically a “react to stuff last week, set up stuff for coming weeks” transition episode, and not a traditional television “things happening” episode. I dealt with Lost for like 15 years, these things don’t bother me anymore; it’s like once you’ve been on a 14 hour flight, you no longer get restless on 5 hour flights. Especially if those flights crash and cause time mysteries.

Much has been made over Steve Buscemi’s role in this series — my colleague Alex Zalben called him the show’s central problem – but I’m still torn on the casting decision. On one hand, it’s a different role for Buscemi, and his alternately reserved and passionate demeanor is both unpredictable and interesting, if a bit uneven. On the other hand, though, part of me wishes HBO had gone with a semi-newcomer in the lead role, giving someone the chance to really inherit the role independently of their own notoriety, like James Gandolfini in The Sopranos, Ian McShane in Deadwood, or Mrs. Blankenship in Mad Men. Or just straight up given the role to Mrs. Blankenship.

That about wraps up the recap for this week. Oh also, some boardwalk guy was trying to sleep with a 19-year-old and she finally was giving him an HJ in the car and  a dying guy stumbled onto the road and scared them. Also, Nucky is giving Mickey Doyle’s business to Chalky White, because his name is even more olde timey. Also the prohibition agent stole Margaret’s ribbon and was sniffing it.

…The f*ck?

Boardwalk Empire episode thoughts? Series thoughts? Evaluations/predictions? Favorite/least favorite parts? Buscemi feedback? Leave it in the comments.

One of the great things about flying first class is that you often get to meet some interesting people. During the early eighties, I found myself on a flight from Los Angles to New York sitting next to an unknown, aspiring, young director named Oliver Stone, who was on his way to pitch a new film idea to potential investors.

Over six hours I enjoyed one of the most interesting conversations of my career, covering jungle combat in Vietnam, the ins and outs of movie making, and the harsh realities of Hollywood style accounting. The movie he was pitching turned out to be the 1987 industry cult classic, Wall Street.

The film sparked one of the greatest guessing games of all time, with everyone attempting to identify the real people behind the fictional characters. The villain, Gordon Gekko, was easy. That was Ivan Boesky, a risk arbitrageur who became the target of one of the first high profile insider trading case. Other links with reality were more obscure, and many real life traders on the floor of the NYSE simply played themselves as extras.

In the sequel, it is much easier to play who’s who, thanks to the financial crash that seems like was happening only yesterday. Gordon Gekko, released from federal prison, this time turns into legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose character turns $100 million into $1.2 billion in a matter of months through buying up cheap credit default swaps on subprime debt. Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner are easy to pick out in a crucial meeting at the New York Fed. The chairman of “Keller Zabel” (Bear Stearns), one “Louis Zabel” (Ace Greenberg), throws himself in front of a train on the Lexington line. Well, this is fiction, after all. The $2 dollar/share sale price gave it all away.

Many people played themselves. The whole CNBC crowd was there, their descriptions of the crash so realistic that I thought it might be archival footage. So were Warren Buffet, Nouriel Roubini, Jim Chanos, and other notables. In fact, Chanos managed to get Stone to change the original script, switching the bad guy role from a hedge fund to Goldman Sachs (GS), known as “Churchill Schwartz,” as it should be. They are easily identified as the Wall Street firm that took out a big short in housing debt just before the crash.

Shia Labeouf does an outstanding job playing Jake Moore, an aggressive, razor sharp, earnest young investment banker. I have known so many like him over the years, both working for me and at competitors, that his performance really rung true. Michael Douglas, who has aged dramatically, seemed to be simply replaying the same role that he has in countless earlier films. To understand their characters, several actors opened up online trading accounts and did quite well in the market, with Shia alone reportedly booking some $20,000 in profits.

There are a few minor flaws in the film. It could have used more editing. There is a mention of “50% leverage” of subprime debt, when the correct figure was 50 times. The Chinese government investor doesn’t act like a real person from the People’s Republic, but as an American with a bad accent. No one has yet figures out the true meaning of Eli Wallach’s repeated bird calls.

In this incredibly target rich environment, Stone seems to take aim at so many enemies, That even an insider myself got confused. However, these are trivial complaints. If you want to have a hoot, go see the film, but expect to provide a simultaneous translation about all of the different instruments and strategies if you bring any non financial types with you.

Not wanting to spoil the ending, I’ll say no more, except that you can buy the original wall Street movie from Amazon by clicking here at http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Charlie-Sheen/dp/B00003CXDB/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1285432060&sr=1-2

And thanks to Oliver’s advice, I never got involved in financially backing a film project, despite countless invitations to do. It was the best trade I never did.

To see the data, charts, and graphs that support this research piece, as well as more iconoclastic and out-of-consensus analysis, please visit me at www.madhedgefundtrader.com . There, you will find the conventional wisdom mercilessly flailed and tortured daily, and my last two years of research reports available for free. You can also listen to me on Hedge Fund Radio by clicking on “This Week on Hedge Fund Radio” in the upper right corner of my home page.

<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>

The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report

Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!

Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101

Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.

bench craft company rip off
bench craft company rip off

<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>

The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report

Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!

Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101

Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

This is a Recap of Boardwalk Empire Episode 2, “The Ivory Tower”, originally airing September 26, 2010. If you thought the first episode was Olde Timey Gangstery, then hoo boy, you were correct in that evaluation.

Episode 2 of the ‘Walks picks up with Nucky getting a visit from the resident prohibition agent, the joyless, no-nonsense, no-sympathies, yes-hat Agent Van Alden:

Live-Action Rex Banner isn’t buying Nucky’s explanation that Hans Schroder, the baker’s assistant with one minor arrest 10 years ago, mastermined the previous week’s gangster mass-murder, and shrugs off Nucky’s shady offer to speak with the sheriff, Brother McIncahoots. We find out later that the agent isn’t just mad at Nucky but also generally joyless, evidenced when he writes this unromantic letter to his wife:

Van Alden returns to his supervisor with the series-establishing line that compared to Arnold Rothstein, Nucky Thompson is the “much bigger fish.” Congratulations – you watched the opening credits.

After the jump, Al Capone beats a reporter, then some not the most famous gangster ever gangsters do some other gangster stuff:

Meanwhile in Chicago, we open on the giant funeral procession for Big Jim Colosimo, the gangster who got shot in the face last episode for playing a record real loud. Press agents hound the pallbearers asking Johnny Torrio if he was involved in the murder, and I don’t know who he is because seriously this show has like ninety characters right now. But his companion, Al Capone — easy to remember! — shrugs the reporters off all Al-Caponelike.

Later, a reporter comes to Capone in a speakeasy asking him to give a statement about the murder, and Al gives him the statement “Hey I am hitting you with this bottle”:

Having Al Capone in the show really helps things, because he’s super famous and you never forget which character he is. Every character should be someone really famous. Jimmy? He should be Teddy Roosevelt. Rothstein should be Charlie Chaplin. And Margaret is Abe Lincoln. Not should be – she is Abe Lincoln. That’s the subtext I got from this episode. Just wait a few more weeks, it’ll be revealed.

Speaking of Rothstein, he’s surprisingly uncool with Nucky stealing his own liquor shipment and selling it to Chicago, and demands $100,000 to cover the damages, which in the 20s was literally 9 trillion dollars. Nucky’s like “Go buzz off like Ruth Buzzi!” That was the most vulgar insult back then.

Rothstein takes his frustration out by interrogating the guy who shot Big Jim with a really badass story about making a dude choke to death on a cue ball. But my guess is he’s gonna let the murder slide and let the 100 grand slide then go buy a slip n’ slide and slide down it.

Margaret is recovering in the hospital by reading Henry James’ The Ivory Tower — titular line! — and gets a visit from Nucky’s brother Eli, who shadily gives her money to ensure that she won’t deny her husband’s involvement in the gang shooting:

In other financial matters, Nucky demands that Jimmy pay him the $3,000 from his share that he was shorted. Sidenote: Gangsters are always shorting each other money, aren’t they? Here’s my impression of a gangster: “You shorted me, where’s my money, see? I’m a gangster!” That line was originally gonna be the title of this show.

Jimmy gets the money by selling his mother’s necklace that he was originally gonna give as a gift to a showgirl [Correction: That showgirl WAS his mother - thanks, commenters!] — seriously, so many humans filmed in this thing — and hands the cash to Nucky, who immediately loses the whole amount on one roulette spin. Burn! Gonna take Jimmy a lot of Fatty Arbuckle watching to get over that one.

Also, Jimmy and his wife are having sex and their kid is right next to them and wakes up. Zuh?

In general, pretty solid second episode of the ‘Walks (gonna keep calling it that because it sounds so uncool), even if it was basically a “react to stuff last week, set up stuff for coming weeks” transition episode, and not a traditional television “things happening” episode. I dealt with Lost for like 15 years, these things don’t bother me anymore; it’s like once you’ve been on a 14 hour flight, you no longer get restless on 5 hour flights. Especially if those flights crash and cause time mysteries.

Much has been made over Steve Buscemi’s role in this series — my colleague Alex Zalben called him the show’s central problem – but I’m still torn on the casting decision. On one hand, it’s a different role for Buscemi, and his alternately reserved and passionate demeanor is both unpredictable and interesting, if a bit uneven. On the other hand, though, part of me wishes HBO had gone with a semi-newcomer in the lead role, giving someone the chance to really inherit the role independently of their own notoriety, like James Gandolfini in The Sopranos, Ian McShane in Deadwood, or Mrs. Blankenship in Mad Men. Or just straight up given the role to Mrs. Blankenship.

That about wraps up the recap for this week. Oh also, some boardwalk guy was trying to sleep with a 19-year-old and she finally was giving him an HJ in the car and  a dying guy stumbled onto the road and scared them. Also, Nucky is giving Mickey Doyle’s business to Chalky White, because his name is even more olde timey. Also the prohibition agent stole Margaret’s ribbon and was sniffing it.

…The f*ck?

Boardwalk Empire episode thoughts? Series thoughts? Evaluations/predictions? Favorite/least favorite parts? Buscemi feedback? Leave it in the comments.

One of the great things about flying first class is that you often get to meet some interesting people. During the early eighties, I found myself on a flight from Los Angles to New York sitting next to an unknown, aspiring, young director named Oliver Stone, who was on his way to pitch a new film idea to potential investors.

Over six hours I enjoyed one of the most interesting conversations of my career, covering jungle combat in Vietnam, the ins and outs of movie making, and the harsh realities of Hollywood style accounting. The movie he was pitching turned out to be the 1987 industry cult classic, Wall Street.

The film sparked one of the greatest guessing games of all time, with everyone attempting to identify the real people behind the fictional characters. The villain, Gordon Gekko, was easy. That was Ivan Boesky, a risk arbitrageur who became the target of one of the first high profile insider trading case. Other links with reality were more obscure, and many real life traders on the floor of the NYSE simply played themselves as extras.

In the sequel, it is much easier to play who’s who, thanks to the financial crash that seems like was happening only yesterday. Gordon Gekko, released from federal prison, this time turns into legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose character turns $100 million into $1.2 billion in a matter of months through buying up cheap credit default swaps on subprime debt. Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner are easy to pick out in a crucial meeting at the New York Fed. The chairman of “Keller Zabel” (Bear Stearns), one “Louis Zabel” (Ace Greenberg), throws himself in front of a train on the Lexington line. Well, this is fiction, after all. The $2 dollar/share sale price gave it all away.

Many people played themselves. The whole CNBC crowd was there, their descriptions of the crash so realistic that I thought it might be archival footage. So were Warren Buffet, Nouriel Roubini, Jim Chanos, and other notables. In fact, Chanos managed to get Stone to change the original script, switching the bad guy role from a hedge fund to Goldman Sachs (GS), known as “Churchill Schwartz,” as it should be. They are easily identified as the Wall Street firm that took out a big short in housing debt just before the crash.

Shia Labeouf does an outstanding job playing Jake Moore, an aggressive, razor sharp, earnest young investment banker. I have known so many like him over the years, both working for me and at competitors, that his performance really rung true. Michael Douglas, who has aged dramatically, seemed to be simply replaying the same role that he has in countless earlier films. To understand their characters, several actors opened up online trading accounts and did quite well in the market, with Shia alone reportedly booking some $20,000 in profits.

There are a few minor flaws in the film. It could have used more editing. There is a mention of “50% leverage” of subprime debt, when the correct figure was 50 times. The Chinese government investor doesn’t act like a real person from the People’s Republic, but as an American with a bad accent. No one has yet figures out the true meaning of Eli Wallach’s repeated bird calls.

In this incredibly target rich environment, Stone seems to take aim at so many enemies, That even an insider myself got confused. However, these are trivial complaints. If you want to have a hoot, go see the film, but expect to provide a simultaneous translation about all of the different instruments and strategies if you bring any non financial types with you.

Not wanting to spoil the ending, I’ll say no more, except that you can buy the original wall Street movie from Amazon by clicking here at http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Charlie-Sheen/dp/B00003CXDB/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1285432060&sr=1-2

And thanks to Oliver’s advice, I never got involved in financially backing a film project, despite countless invitations to do. It was the best trade I never did.

To see the data, charts, and graphs that support this research piece, as well as more iconoclastic and out-of-consensus analysis, please visit me at www.madhedgefundtrader.com . There, you will find the conventional wisdom mercilessly flailed and tortured daily, and my last two years of research reports available for free. You can also listen to me on Hedge Fund Radio by clicking on “This Week on Hedge Fund Radio” in the upper right corner of my home page.

bench craft company rip off

<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>

The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report

Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!

Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101

Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>

The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report

Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!

Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101

Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>

The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report

Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!

Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101

Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

Being Right or Making Money

Shopping platform Shwowp aspires to be“a Tripit plus Blippy plus Mint for shopping.” Founded by Internet marketer Tara Hunt, Shwowp (in the same space as RightCliq) attempts to grapple with the issue of all our purchase data being siloed across multiple retailers like Amazon, Bluefly, etc by trying to corral our diverse shopping history into one place.

Shwowp users can make a purchase, forward the receipt or order information to wow@shwowp.com and the service will synch that info to their account. Once there a user can change their own data, view their buying patterns and share information about the shopping experience like how long it took to get to the store, availability, how influenced they were by what their friends were buying and so on and so forth.

Of course the end of goal of this is a serving up a personal RFP in order make shopping data more useful, i.e. provide customers with targeted discounts based on their buying history.

Founder Hunt asserts that currently data is “one sided” and hopes that the fully portable Shwowp platform will make sure that customers really take advantage of their own data and get the shopping experience they needed.

Currently in the friends and family stage of funding, Shwowp plans on making money through affiliate advertising, coupons, opt-in vendor deals, data reporting as well as API usage.  They’re targeting the female market primarily, at $37 million dollars a year.

A: We’re not like Blippy, we’re not a sharing platform in way More interested in signaling part and data portability part. Have an export button on the website.

LL: Leaves me with idea that we want to share what we buy.

A: Our target market is women, because they control 4.3 trillion of spending. And they often shop online and share about products.

JS: I wouldn’t mind sharing my data online as long as I was getting economic benefit.

A: Biggest part is data portability…

JH: Love that you’re thinking big. Practical point, I feel like if you have opportunity to streamline what you’re asking users..

A: We have a lot of steps currently because we’re optimizing for privacy.

DD: I think this idea is deeper than you could convey in six minutes. Data portability, that sort of thing. I think it’s pretty powerful. Getting offers to come to you based on your interests. Would suggest your data is already being shared anyway, you just don’t know it.

JS: Reminds me of end-of-year American Express summary, the thought I could turn that around and get paid for it is compelling.

Like many other supporters of the pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street, I was disappointed to read last week the news that George Soros has been a major financial supporter of the group. To be clear, I wasn't disappointed that the group is receiving support from Soros, just that they hadn't been up front about it.

For the rodeo clowns of the American right, George Soros has become the 00's version of the UN's black helicopters, a symbol of dark conspiracies that help conservatives explain to themselves why the world isn't as they desperately wish it were. For his critics, his generous support of democratic reform in former Communist Eastern Europe counts for little when he brings those same values to bear on his giving here in the United States. The organization I work for, the Center for American Progress, is one of many that have benefited financially from Soros' devotion to a more just, progressive, and open society.

Soros' criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its reflexive support for Israel's worst excesses have also made him a deeply suspect figure among many in the conservative pro-Israel community. This suspicion arises as much out of concern that AIPAC's prerogatives in Congress might be constrained by greater scrutiny (as former AIPAC official Steven Rosen put it before he was indicted, "A lobby is like a night flower. It thrives in the dark and withers in the light") as out of genuine concern for Israel's well-being.

That the indignation over George Soros is overblown is demonstrated by the fact that some of those attacking J Street have had no problem making use of his money. For example, former Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb, one of J Street's most obsessive critics, is now a vice-president at the lobbying firm Orion Strategies. As Salon's Justin Elliott discovered last week, Orion Strategies has received funds from Soros' Open Society Policy Center.

The current round of attacks on J Street, then, are about what the attacks on J Street have always been about: The arrogant presumption of hawkish pro-Israel conservatives that there can be only one acceptable pro-Israel position in Washington, a rubber stamp for whatever the Israeli government wants at any given moment, regardless of the actual consequences for the Palestinians, for the region, or for U.S. interests. The individuals and organizations mounting and funding these attacks make no secret of their hostility to the peace process, or of their antipathy toward Palestinian rights. (The neoconservative Emergency Committee for Israel, an organization created specifically to fight J Street, only recently endorsed the two-state solution after being shamed into it by J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami.)

This is a critical moment for Israel, for the Palestinians, and for U.S. leadership in the Middle East. As I noted in a recent report on the difficult political issues at play in the negotiations, there is a growing belief among both Israelis and Palestinians that the possibility of a two-state solution is slipping away. It's easy -- and, given the state of negotiations, on a knife's edge over Israel's refusal to extend its settlement moratorium and amid some of the worst unrest in East Jerusalem in years, probably not incorrect -- to be pessimistic about the prospects for a peace deal in the near future. But it's a testament to the centrality of this conflict to a number of other U.S. challenges in the region, and the strong national security consensus around the reality of those linkages, that President Obama has chosen to put his political and diplomatic capital, and America's, behind such an effort right now.

J Street was created to ensure that this effort receives the American political support required to succeed. They have been and will continue to be, denounced by those who mistakenly believe that the Middle East status quo is sustainable. But for those of us who know that it is not, and who believe that an agreement leading to the creation of an independent Palestinian state living alongside a safe and secure Israel is in the best interests of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, J Street has been, and will continue to be, an indispensable voice.

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Shopping platform Shwowp aspires to be“a Tripit plus Blippy plus Mint for shopping.” Founded by Internet marketer Tara Hunt, Shwowp (in the same space as RightCliq) attempts to grapple with the issue of all our purchase data being siloed across multiple retailers like Amazon, Bluefly, etc by trying to corral our diverse shopping history into one place.

Shwowp users can make a purchase, forward the receipt or order information to wow@shwowp.com and the service will synch that info to their account. Once there a user can change their own data, view their buying patterns and share information about the shopping experience like how long it took to get to the store, availability, how influenced they were by what their friends were buying and so on and so forth.

Of course the end of goal of this is a serving up a personal RFP in order make shopping data more useful, i.e. provide customers with targeted discounts based on their buying history.

Founder Hunt asserts that currently data is “one sided” and hopes that the fully portable Shwowp platform will make sure that customers really take advantage of their own data and get the shopping experience they needed.

Currently in the friends and family stage of funding, Shwowp plans on making money through affiliate advertising, coupons, opt-in vendor deals, data reporting as well as API usage.  They’re targeting the female market primarily, at $37 million dollars a year.

A: We’re not like Blippy, we’re not a sharing platform in way More interested in signaling part and data portability part. Have an export button on the website.

LL: Leaves me with idea that we want to share what we buy.

A: Our target market is women, because they control 4.3 trillion of spending. And they often shop online and share about products.

JS: I wouldn’t mind sharing my data online as long as I was getting economic benefit.

A: Biggest part is data portability…

JH: Love that you’re thinking big. Practical point, I feel like if you have opportunity to streamline what you’re asking users..

A: We have a lot of steps currently because we’re optimizing for privacy.

DD: I think this idea is deeper than you could convey in six minutes. Data portability, that sort of thing. I think it’s pretty powerful. Getting offers to come to you based on your interests. Would suggest your data is already being shared anyway, you just don’t know it.

JS: Reminds me of end-of-year American Express summary, the thought I could turn that around and get paid for it is compelling.

Like many other supporters of the pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street, I was disappointed to read last week the news that George Soros has been a major financial supporter of the group. To be clear, I wasn't disappointed that the group is receiving support from Soros, just that they hadn't been up front about it.

For the rodeo clowns of the American right, George Soros has become the 00's version of the UN's black helicopters, a symbol of dark conspiracies that help conservatives explain to themselves why the world isn't as they desperately wish it were. For his critics, his generous support of democratic reform in former Communist Eastern Europe counts for little when he brings those same values to bear on his giving here in the United States. The organization I work for, the Center for American Progress, is one of many that have benefited financially from Soros' devotion to a more just, progressive, and open society.

Soros' criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its reflexive support for Israel's worst excesses have also made him a deeply suspect figure among many in the conservative pro-Israel community. This suspicion arises as much out of concern that AIPAC's prerogatives in Congress might be constrained by greater scrutiny (as former AIPAC official Steven Rosen put it before he was indicted, "A lobby is like a night flower. It thrives in the dark and withers in the light") as out of genuine concern for Israel's well-being.

That the indignation over George Soros is overblown is demonstrated by the fact that some of those attacking J Street have had no problem making use of his money. For example, former Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb, one of J Street's most obsessive critics, is now a vice-president at the lobbying firm Orion Strategies. As Salon's Justin Elliott discovered last week, Orion Strategies has received funds from Soros' Open Society Policy Center.

The current round of attacks on J Street, then, are about what the attacks on J Street have always been about: The arrogant presumption of hawkish pro-Israel conservatives that there can be only one acceptable pro-Israel position in Washington, a rubber stamp for whatever the Israeli government wants at any given moment, regardless of the actual consequences for the Palestinians, for the region, or for U.S. interests. The individuals and organizations mounting and funding these attacks make no secret of their hostility to the peace process, or of their antipathy toward Palestinian rights. (The neoconservative Emergency Committee for Israel, an organization created specifically to fight J Street, only recently endorsed the two-state solution after being shamed into it by J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami.)

This is a critical moment for Israel, for the Palestinians, and for U.S. leadership in the Middle East. As I noted in a recent report on the difficult political issues at play in the negotiations, there is a growing belief among both Israelis and Palestinians that the possibility of a two-state solution is slipping away. It's easy -- and, given the state of negotiations, on a knife's edge over Israel's refusal to extend its settlement moratorium and amid some of the worst unrest in East Jerusalem in years, probably not incorrect -- to be pessimistic about the prospects for a peace deal in the near future. But it's a testament to the centrality of this conflict to a number of other U.S. challenges in the region, and the strong national security consensus around the reality of those linkages, that President Obama has chosen to put his political and diplomatic capital, and America's, behind such an effort right now.

J Street was created to ensure that this effort receives the American political support required to succeed. They have been and will continue to be, denounced by those who mistakenly believe that the Middle East status quo is sustainable. But for those of us who know that it is not, and who believe that an agreement leading to the creation of an independent Palestinian state living alongside a safe and secure Israel is in the best interests of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, J Street has been, and will continue to be, an indispensable voice.

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