INTERESTING TIMES

Market traders make more money on days when their morning testosterone is higher. A great article entitled "What Traders’ Testosterone Tells Us About Markets" explains the details, or you can scan my notes behind the cut.

Market participants aren’t the rational automatons of most financial theory. They are biological organisms responding with a neural and physiological apparatus designed millions of years ago. If what happens in markets affects hormones, these in turn alter behavior and feed back into the markets.

( notes on the article )

CRISIS IMPLIES OPPORTUNITY
--old Chinese saying

I LOL'd and it's short:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20110710/NEWS/107109970/1237

Makes the case that as we age, we should get our ducks in a row for the possibility that we ourselves might not make the best decisions about money in our old age.

What Sort of Checklist Should You Be Using?
By Justin Fox | Tuesday, February 23, 2010
http://blogs.hbr.org/fox/2010/02/draftwhat-sort-of-checklist-sh.html
( article and links from David B. Schlosser's weekend reading email newsletter )

I've been using medscape to keep abreast of medical news...for a while now. They're good. Anyway, here's the swine flu alert center. I ran across an article that mentioned Medscape as possibly a good stock investment, too.

--4/28/09
--state and public health agencies authorized to widen the use of precise diagnostic test
--they want to find out for sure where this flu is and how fast it is spreading!
( more notes on swine influenza A (H1N1) )

The smart shopper of the household (not me) reports that prices went up by about a dime at Trader Joe's. Not on everything, but on a few items. Altoids, dog food, candles. Some things are the same price. Orange Juice didn't change. They have good OJ, not from concentrate and actually tastes like an orange. I sound like a commercial, don't I? Oh, the other thing that Trader Joe's is doing, is asking for your zip code every time you buy anything at any of their stores. They're doing the smart thing and studying up on who is shopping where, and how far people are coming to shop at each store. Things are changing. I wish I had invested in Trader Joe's instead of Whole Foods. But I don't know what they're doing. Does anybody out there shop at a Whole Foods, ever? Last I heard they had been renamed Whole Paycheck and I'd lost about half what I put into stock. But I haven't sold the stock. Either I'm a fool, or they're doing something smart too. I hope they're making a move. The businesses who think ahead and come into new times with new approaches may do well. I keep thinking of business ideas....molding them all into my big idea, my dream. I am grateful to one man who suggested one book who has colored my thinking. The book is called The Magic of Thinking Big.
( more )

I heard on the radio that the Dow set a new record yesterday. It wasn't the highest high, nor the lowest low, nor the biggest rise or fall. It was the largest range, ever. The DOW covered a range of 1,000 points, yesterday. Investors are wondering, is the market at its bottom? People are ready to swoop in and buy, because that's what you do when the market is down. But this may not be the bottom. I don't think it is. Nobody really knows.

Suzanne is on day 15 of no cigarettes, no nicotene, after having smoked for more years than many of my classmates have lived. She's been reading about the history and marketing of tobacco. Now it appears that the tobacco companies are planning ahead to HELP PEOPLE QUIT SMOKING while they perpetuate nicotene addiction by offering a variety of Nicotene Replacement Therapy options. Sounds medical, doesn't it? It's nicotene gum, lozenges and 24 hour patches. "How to use nicotine patches: Use a new patch every day! Don't skip a day. Be sure to buy more patches before you run out. " The trademark is Zyban®.
( Random thoughts and how to chew nicotene gum )