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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

DOW passed 14,000 mark

The Dow Jones industrial average swept past 14,000 for the first time on Tuesday, July 17.

S&P and NASDAQ were also trading high. If you take a close look at today's stock market, stocks rallied on cyclical stocks, such as railroad stocks, industrial (CAT, GE, DE…), and technical stocks. AXP (American Express) is the one of few non-cyclical stocks gaining in the market.


What caused cyclical stock rallying? Oil prices have moved up tremendously and alternative energy is inevitable, especially ethanol fuel. Ethanol is produced by fermentation of sugar or starch. The main source of bio-ethanol fuel in the United States lies in corn. Corn has thus become a very profit commodity, this is a classical demand and supply scenario. When the farmer has excess money in hand, he will buy better and faster growing seeds from companies such as Monsanto (MON), fertilizer from Agrium (AGU), agriculture machinery from John Deer (DE) or Caterpillar (CAT). Furthermore, they need railroads to transport the products. In addition, most of the new ethanol plants dotting the Midwest are gas-fired. In the mean time, corn growers are using much more fertilizer, which is produced using natural gas; gas company XTO energy (XTO) was also participating in today's rally.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Health Information

SIGNS OF A STROKE (WITH 1 NEW ADDITION)

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters...S.T.R

My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks..

Seriously.. Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and that she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this... A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.

T * Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e.. . . It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

*NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately !! and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

Monday, January 08, 2007

First movie review - Six Degrees of Seperation

I recently watched the 1993 movie – “Six Degrees of Separation”. This is my New Year’s resolution; I want to learn new things. Watching movies will be a good starting point.

This story is based around the idea that everyone is connected to everyone else by a maximum of six other people; it's just finding those six that make the link. This is an extremely interesting story, told in a series of anecdotal discussions between the main characters and their friends and business partners at various different social occasions.

In New York, the art dealers John Flanders ('Flan') Kittredge and Louisa ('Ouisa') Kittredge are ready to have a business dinner with their South African friend and client Geoffrey Miller, when a wounded young black man comes to their fancy apartment asking for help, telling them that he had just been robbed in Central Park. He introduces himself as Paul (Will Smith), a friend of their son and daughter in Harvard and son of Sidney Poitier. The couple invites him to stay with them. During they night, they discover that Paul is not who he claims to be. When they investigate the life of Paul, they find the hidden truth, and their investigations are intriguing and lead them to re-evaluate their own lives.

This movie refreshed my memory; I almost forgot who Sydney Poitier was. He was the handsome actor in the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and the first African-American to win the Academy Award for best actor.

In the movie, the art dealer mentioned that he owns the double-sided Kandinsky painting. Kandinsky was a famous Russian abstract painter, usually regarded as the originator of abstract art. His artwork is well represented in the Guggenheim Museum, New York. Next time I am in New York, I will go to museum to see his artwork.
Did you know that wines from even numbered years are superior to odd numbered ones? Yes, that‘s what I learned from the movie.