RE: a two story railcar containing bikeracks at the lower level and passenger seats at the upper level
Such a railcar already exists, so I can not take credit for dreaming it up. I have far too much formal education for such originality. ;-)
I rode one on the metro train line from San Francisco to Mountain View when I took my recumbent bike on the train to get to the Google shareholder meeting in May, 2007. I was so blown away by the train, the bikes on it, and the commuters themselves that I left the train feeling lightheaded as I left my favorite bike helmet with attached jerry-rigged LED lantern right up there in the rack.
For further info:
sfbike.org
RE: Varlen, short for "Various Lines" according to fundinguniverse.com [ah, how I miss LTV and the conglomerate years of the 60s ;-]
I spent an entire hour recently at my local small town public library searching in vain for a hardbound multi-volume corporate history collection I last came across in Pittsburgh, PA. What Fundinguniverse.com may lack in thoroughness is made up for in sheer convenience. Thanks for calling this valuable source to my attention.
RE: financial smoke and mirrors
I feel the undercurrent of pessimism here that the Obama economic team may be engaging in sleight-of-hand rather than genuine financial financial reform. Key proponents of this theory include our latest Nobel Prize winner in economics, Paul Krugman, who is not a big fan of mark-to-market reform or public-private partnership. I like Krugman, but don't agree with him in this particular case.
Interesting example of the debate was a CNBC segment aired 4.14.09 between banking analyst Dick Bove (always the optimist) and Chris Whalen, Sr. VP at Institutional Risk Analytics, with Whalen arguing that "Bank 4Q results are cooked ... they don't include results for Wachovia or WaMu". This important factual dispute was left unresolved with Bove asserting: "Of course they do. When the FDIC drops a bank from the listing they give u an indication it's been dropped. There was no indication it was dropped." And Whalen replying, "It's not in the numbers. Pull up the call."
RE: KG
I already own it. It's one of a very few health care companies in my portfolio.
RE: Rail Shipments
Do you know where I can get the long-term weekly data set, or, even better, a chart of same?
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