WhoWantsARiskFreeWorld

Public interest watchdog Judicial Watch says it has obtained FDA records documenting 28 Gardasil-related deaths in 2008, up from 19 in 2007. Overall, FDA documented 6,723 'adverse events,' of which 1,061 were considered 'serious,' and 142 considered 'life threatening.' Merck (MRK -0.1%) is moving lower.

Just a warning to readers: Calling Judicial Watch a "public interest watchdog" does not truly reflect their obviously partisan political agenda. Without being able to comment the completeness or veracity of this particular report, it's a good idea to be wary of such overall bias when you're investing real money.

Mac Pricing: Value Is in the Eye of the Buyer

Your first sentence tells the story: I agree that Apple makes a great quality machine, but you'd have to be pretty naive to think that's all you're paying for. Over time, it's inevitable that the "cool factor" will fade and Mac's will be priced much more like commodity items, great quality or not. Maybe *then* Windows will be in trouble.

So Long, LCD Displays

> I still use a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television because it is better.

Sorry, but this is laugh-out-loud funny.

Why Isn't Microsoft's Strategy Working Anymore?

People underestimate the important ways in which MS's products were actually better than the competition, and how that competition kept falling on its face. That includes the Apple of the time. As an example, MS Word was a decent word processor that offered wysiwyg. While Wordperfect stubbornly clung to DOS text mode and F-keys, MSFT kept improving Word until Wordperfect had no way back. Similar tales can be told of Lotus, Apple, Ashton-Tate, etc etc.

The business model of MSFT used to be Adapt, Adopt, and Improve, but they've turned their back on what made them successful. Word is no better today than it was in 1997. Vista & Windows 7 are *worse* in many ways than XP. Their business plan now seems to be to trick people into adopting standards that they can't get out of. No thanks.

Sony: At Least It Understands the Problems

> “A crisis is also an opportunity.” This is brilliantly incisive.

You really must be joking. This is more like a candidate for Feeble Platitude of the Year Award.

G20 Protest: Financial Fools on Parade

At this point in time, none of us in the financial industry should be calling anyone else a "financial fool".

Clawing back the AIG (AIG) bonuses could lead to months of distraction, at a time when all eyes should be trained on keeping the world credit system from collapsing and causing global depression. "There’s real work to do. Get on with it."

The financial community is telling me the AIG bonuses aren't a big deal. I wonder why I'm having difficulty trusting them on this...

In your dreams: AIG exec to Senators: resign or commit suicide. "In all candor, I don't know why they're so exercised by some bonuses. These pathetic excuses for politicians cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars and, worst of all, they're still in power."

The humor is one of my favorite parts of SA, but this is way way below the usual standard. Oh well, to each his/her own.


On Mar 18 01:13 PM Eli Hoffmann wrote:

> Alain,
>
> You're right. Hope that's clear now.
>
> WhoWantsARiskFreeWorld - bit of comic relief. Too much doom and gloom.
>

In your dreams: AIG exec to Senators: resign or commit suicide. "In all candor, I don't know why they're so exercised by some bonuses. These pathetic excuses for politicians cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars and, worst of all, they're still in power."

SA: Why waste our time with such a moronic link?

Apple's Upsell: The iTunes Pass

More like, "if the record labels are going to survive, they're going to have to find ways to get by on a lot less than a buck a transaction."

Kindle 2: Still Expensive

Until the Kindle handles industry-standard formats like pdf, people like myself won't be even slightly interested, at *any* price. There is a huge opportunity for someone (Apple?) to re-think the whole DRM nonsense.

Tech vs. Credit Bubble Bursts

Is it just me, or are you missing an obvious visual difference between the two graphs? i.e. the financial graph hasn't bottomed out yet.

That's apart from the whole apples/oranges thing...

Risk Management, Or Risk Manipulation

VAR critics often use vacuous terms like "competent management teams and good corporate governance" as an intellectual crutch. Oh the brilliance of hindsight.