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Non-Tech : Binary Hodgepodge -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (208)	7/27/2001 9:37:06 PM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 6763

Ten Rules For Investing In Gold 1. An investment in gold should be based on macroeconomic considerations. If one expects or fears rising inflation, destabilizing deflation, a bear market in stocks or bonds, or financial turmoil, gold should do well and exposure is warranted. 2. Understanding the internal dynamics of the gold market can be helpful as to investment timing issues. For example, the weekly position reports of commodity trading funds or sentiment indicators offer useful clues as to entry or exit points for active trading strategies. Reports on physical demand for jewelry, industrial, and other uses compiled by various sources also provide some perspective. However, none of these considerations, non monetary in nature, yield any insight as to the broad market trend. The same can be said for reports of central bank selling and lending activity. Central banks are bureaucratic institutions and in their judgements they are essentially market trend followers. 3. Excessive reliance on trading strategies to generate returns can be dangerous and counterproductive. Returns from a "buy and hold" strategy should be more than sufficient to compensate for the inherent volatility. Many who have tried to outsmart this market by hyperactive trading have under performed. Success is dependent in large part on the occurrence of "fat tail" events that lie outside the parameters of trading models. 4. A reasonable allocation in a conservative, diversified portfolio is 0 to 3% during a gold bear market and 5%-10% during a bull market. 5. Equities of gold mining companies offer greater leverage than direct ownership of the metal itself. Gold equities tend to appear expensive in comparison to those of conventional companies because they contain an imbedded option component for a possible rise in the gold price. The share price sensitivity to a hypothetical rise in metal price is related to the cash flow from current production as well as the valuation impact on proven and probable reserves. 6. The carnage of the last twenty years has simplified the task of individual stock selection because so few have survived the gold bear market. Although a rising tide may lift most boats, financial statements should be reviewed with special attention to hedging arrangements that could undermine participation in higher gold prices or even jeopardize financial stability. Individual stock selection is less important than identification of the primary trend. 7. Even though gold itself is a conservative investment, "gold fever" attracts a crowd of speculators, promoters, and charlatans who only want to separate investors from their money. Avoid offbeat "exploration" companies with little or no current production and gargantuan appetites for new money. 8. Bullion or coins are a more conservative way to invest in gold than through the equities. In addition, there is greater liquidity for large pools of capital. Investing in the physical metal requires scrutinizing the custodial arrangements and the creditworthiness of the financial institution. Do not mistake the promise of a financial institution to settle based on the gold price, for example, a "gold certificate" or a "structured note", (i.e. derivative), for the actual physical possession of the metal. Insist on possession in a segregated vault, subject to unscheduled audits, and inaccessible to the trading arrangements or financial interest of the financial institution. 9. Gold is a controversial, anti establishment investment. Therefore, do not rely on conventional financial media and brokerage house commentary. In this area, such commentary is even more misleading and ill informed than usual. 10. Don’t settle for too little. Should outlier events now deemed unimaginable by consensus thinking actually occur, the price target for gold would be several multiples of its current depressed price. Gold represents insurance against some sort of financial catastrophe. The magnitude of the upside is a function of the amount of paper assets that would be converted to gold irrespective of price. John Hathaway; July 2, 2001 tocqueville.com]

To: ~digs who wrote (208)	10/15/2001 2:51:41 AM
From: ~digs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6763

---Selected Harper's Index Stats--- Number of U.S. presidents who have held a Ph.D. : 1 Source: Center for Presidential Studies, Texas A&M University (College Station) Number of U.S. schools that use E-rater, a software program that reads and grades student essays : 95 Number of these schools that are colleges or universities : 9 Source: Educational Testing Service (Princeton, N.J.) Percentage change since 1999 in the number of U.S. public schools that are run by private companies : +111 Source: Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Ratio of the number of pupils per teacher in Michigan's schools to the number of inmates per guard in its prisons : 18:5 Source: Center for Educational Performance and Information (Lansing, Mich.)/Department of Corrections (Lansing) Number of American states that permit public-school teachers to inflict corporal punishment on students : 23 Source: U.S. Department of Education Number of states in which biology classes are a high-school graduation requirement : 8 Number in which foreign-language classes are required : 9 Source: Council of Chief State School Officers (Washington) Minimum number of baboons forced to smoke crack in a 1989 study testing the efficacy of cigarettes as a drug delivery device : 3 Source: American Lung Association (Grand Junction, Colo.) Endowment a tobacco company gave a U.K. university last year for a "corporate social responsibility" center : £3,800,000 Source: University of Nottingham (Nottingham, U.K.) Number of U.S. college students who were denied federal financial aid last year because of a prior drug conviction : 9,605 Source: U.S. Department of Education Chance that a Denver middle-school student was suspended at least once during the 1999-2000 school year : 1 in 4 Source: Colorado Department of Education (Denver) Chance that a U.S. sixth- to tenth-grader reports being bullied weekly : 1 in 11 Chance that a sixth- to tenth-grader reports bullying others : 1 in 12 Source: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Bethesda, Md.) Percentage of U.S. ninth-grade boys who say we should stop "outsiders" from influencing American traditions and cultures : 53 Percentage of ninth-grade girls who say this : 36 Source: National Center for Education Statistics (Washington) Amount the federal government paid Harvard researchers in the 1990s to help design Russian market reforms : $40,000,000 Source: Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) Amount the head researchers invested in Russian securities during this period, prompting a federal lawsuit : $1,300,000 Source: U.S. Attorney's Office (Boston) Number of Austrian skinheads who have attended college classes this year as an alternative to criminal prosecution : 33 Source: Johannes Kepler University (Linz, Austria) Minimum number of countries in which at least half the children are no longer in school by the age of eleven : 11 Number of these countries whose foreign debt exceeds half their GDP : 8 Source: Harper's research Price of Bob Dylan's high-school essay on The Grapes of Wrath, from a New York City collectibles dealer : $35,000 Source: Gotta Have It Collectibles (N.Y.C.) Percentage of Men's Health readers who say they have learned most of what they know about sex from television : 18 Source: Men's Health (Emmaus, Pa.) Chance that an eighty-year-old American is left-handed : 1 in 100 Chance that a ten-year-old is : 1 in 7 Source: Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children, Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, Calif.) Percentage of African-American children in the South attending majority-white schools in 1976 and 1996, respectively : 38, 35 Source: The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) Maximum fine in 1829 for teaching an African American living in Georgia to read or write : $500 Source: The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition (New Haven, Conn.) Amount the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, police began offering high-school students this year to inform on their classmates : $50 Source: Cedar Rapids Police Department (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Number of times the President has met with Miss America this year to discuss her interest in "character education" : 2 Source: Miss America Organization (Atlantic City) ------------- Figures cited have been adjusted for inflation and are the latest available as of July 2001. "Harper’s Index" is a registered trademark. harpers.org