Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day

What to do? Dilemma is: you have 2 choices, only one is fair to you and only the other is fair to the other. What would you choose?

btw this has nothing to do with the Valentine! its general, could possibly happen about valentine as well.... just not my issue at the moment!

Nice Puzzle

The Monty Hall problem is a probability puzzle based on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal. The name comes from the show's host, Monty Hall. The problem is also called the Monty Hall paradox, as it is a veridical paradox in that the solution is counterintuitive.
A well-known statement of the problem was published in Parade magazine:

    Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

She's not.... but it was interesting add on my dashboard :)

AIM Spotlight

Is Hayden Panettiere the Main Reason You Watch 'Heroes'?

• Check Out Pics of Hayden

Be Greedy

To many observers, the big banks broke one of Wall Street's cardinal rules: Be greedy, but be greedy over the long term.

Citation: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/02/07/ap6022701.html?attache=

My notes :   I think the American law makers have decided they should move towards a culture that is more Iranian-like, the parents support their children for education, and helping them with a head start.

 

Gift Guide

Giving, The Tax-Free Way

Ashlea Ebeling, 01.19.09, 06:00 PM EST

There are smart ways to share your wealth now.

Even if you're not likely to have a taxable estate in the age of Obama, you may want to start passing some wealth to your children and grandchildren now. Fortunately, there are smart--and even simple--ways to do this.

[...]

Bryn Mawr, Pa., estate planning lawyer Stephan Leimberg says, "If you're not going to lose any sleep, why wait? They'll appreciate it, and you get the pleasure of seeing them enjoy it."

A common goal among affluent older folks is to help pay for their grandkids' schooling. You can pay anyone's college or private school tuition or medical bills (including, say, orthodontia) and so long as you send the check directly to the school or health care provider, that spending won't count against the $13,000 exclusion or your estate tax exemption.

Cite: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/19/coverdells-giving-gifttax-pf-in_ae_0119taxes_inl.html

Obamasize Your Portfolio: Seven Guru Buys

Nikhil Hutheesing, 01.19.09, 06:00 PM EST

Buy these securities while the capital gains tax rate is still favorable.

On Jan. 20, Barack Obama will become the 44th president of the U.S. Obama will inherit a great many challenges--among them leading the country out of the War in Iraq, improving the image of the U.S abroad and rescuing the economy from the worst financial crisis in 70 years.

While Obama has made it clear that the financial recovery will be lengthy, he does have plans to improve our infrastructure, to tap into sustainable energy sources and to provide more affordable health care.

Cite: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/17/nustar-meritage-charlesschwab-pf-in_nh0119gurupicks_inl.html

Small Banks Say 'No Thanks' to U.S. Bailout Money

Healthy small bankers would like the boost to lend more, but fear regulations and conditions attached to the Treasury Dept.'s rescue program

[...]


NewAlliance Bank (NAL) CEO Peyton R. Patterson didn't even bother to fill out the form. She didn't want to risk restrictions on the bank's share repurchases and dividend payouts. The New Haven bank, which maintained high lending standards during the boom, had the luxury of walking away. Unlike peers dealing with historic losses, NewAlliance's earnings almost doubled to $45.3 million last year, as lending increased 38.5%. Says Patterson: "We quickly understood that the money would not have any benefits to us."


Citation:  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_07/b4119000621367.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Jalali Calendar - تقویم جلالی

Online calendar:
http://alavi.us/jcal/

Gnome calendar:
http://home.gna.org/jalali-calendar/

Ryanair Tastes Red Ink

The Irish budget airline reported a quarterly loss for the first time, but expects a savvier fuel pricing strategy will lead to profits next year

Irish budget airline Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary at a press conference in Rome last year. ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images

By Kerry Capell

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2009/gb2009022_438388.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Recessions are opportunities or threats

Painful as recessions are, they offer great opportunities. New markets appear, new incentives appear, and buyers are willing to pay for services rendered. They will re-structure their monthly budgets to take advantage of these opportunities. There will be losers, of course: those businesses that fail to meet consumer demand under the new conditions. But there will be winners.

If the Federal Reserve System would stick to its guns and refuse to inflate in the next recession, the economy could adjust on a permanent basis. I don't think this is likely. The FED will inflate once again. This is what central banks do.

For the moment, the FED is not inflating. The yield curve is inverted. The recession is in the pipeline. You can prepare for it now or deal with it later.

Don't let it blindside you.

cite: http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north495.html

Rypple Introduction from Rypple on Vimeo.

Money isn't everything

"Our friends in Redmond, they spend over $5 billion in R&D, but these days they just try to copy Google and Apple. So I guess it's a good example of how money isn't everything."

Steve Jobs, speaking at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference

Gold

Buffett emphasized the non-productive aspect of gold in 1998 at Harvard: "It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head." In 1977 Buffett was also quoted as saying about stocks, gold, farmland, and inflation: "stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation - at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices."

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

P.S: I'm loving the man

Poor Guy! (Badbakht!)

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. The spry insurance veteran's shares of AIG were worth $2.6 billion in January. Today those shares are worth less than $100 million.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/16/billionaires-adelson-casino-biz-billies-cz_dg_1216biggestlosers.html?feed=rss_popstories