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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)7/31/2003 10:09:37 PM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
VERY INTERESTING. THANK YOU->Zi and JKC Sign Definitive Agreement for Magic Lantern Acquisition

Calgary, AB, New York, NY (August 5, 2002) - Zi Corporation (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSE: ZIC), a leading provider of intelligent interface solutions, and JKC Group, Inc. ("JKC") (AMEX: JKC), a distributor and licensor, jointly announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Zi's sale of the Magic Lantern group of companies (the "Lantern Group") to JKC. The proposed sale is subject to a number of conditions, including approval by the shareholders of JKC and regulatory clearances. All figures released by the parties on the terms of the transaction are expressed in U.S. dollars.

Under the agreement, Zi will receive a 45% equity interest in JKC and a three-year promissory note of JKC in the amount of $3,000,000. Both the stock and cash consideration are subject to adjustment based on the Lantern Group's performance for the first year after the sale. Zi may receive additional consideration of up to $2,930,000, payable in cash and stock, if the Lantern Group's consolidated revenues for that period exceed $12,222,500. The purchase price will also be subject to reduction if Lantern Group revenues for that period are less than $5,000,000. In that event, the shortfall, up to $1,000,000, will be offset against the principal amount of the JKC promissory note.

The JKC shareholder meeting for approval of the transaction is scheduled for September 16, 2002. JKC's 85% shareholder, Alpha Omega Group (AOG), has indicated its support of the transaction. AOG is an affiliate of the Lancer Group and its related funds, which together own 9.7% of Zi's stock. Richard Siskind, President and 5% owner of JKC, remarked, "the size and growth rate of the education market in North America is generally believed to rank second only to healthcare. The acquisition of the Lantern Group by JKC is an exciting opportunity for us."

Michael Lobsinger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zi added, "this is an important step towards our goal of monetizing our e-learning investments - and through the JKC transaction Zi shareholders will have an opportunity to participate in the growth potential of the e-learning space".

About Magic Lantern

Founded in 1975, Magic Lantern is one of Canada's leading distributors of educational and learning content in video and other electronic formats. The company has exclusive distribution rights to over 300 film producers representing over 14,000 titles, and its customers include 9,000 out of 12,000 English speaking schools in Canada. The Magic Lantern library includes content from Disney Educational, Annenberg / CPB and CTV Television. Tutorbuddy Inc., a subsidiary of Magic Lantern to be acquired as part of the JKC transaction, is an internet-enabled provider of content and related educational services on-demand to students, teachers and parents. Sonoptic Technologies Inc., a 75% owned subsidiary of Magic Lantern, provides high-quality, state-of-the-art digital video encoding services and has developed a proprietary videobase indexing software that allows users to easily and quickly aggregate, bookmark, re-sort and add their own comment boxes to pre-existing content.

About Zi Corporation

Zi Corporation (www.zicorp.com) is a market-driven technology company delivering intelligent interface solutions to enhance the user experience of wireless and consumer technologies. The company's core technology product, eZiText, connects people to short messaging, e-mail, e-commerce, Web browsing and similar applications in almost any language. Zi supports its strategic partners from offices in Calgary, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and Stockholm. Its common stock is listed on the NASDAQ National Market (ZICA) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ZIC).

www.zicorp.com

Certain statements in this press release that involve expectations or intentions (such as those relating to future deployments or planned cooperation) may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The information in this press release is based on Zi Corporation's and JKC Group's current expectations and assumptions, and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such risks include, among others, general business and economic conditions, competitive actions, continued acceptance of Zi Corporation's and JKC Group's products and services and dependence on third party performance as well as the risks and uncertainties referred to in Zi Corporation's 20-F and JKC Group's 10-K for the most recent calendar year that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reader should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Zi Corporation and JKC Group do not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements.

-30-

For more information:

Investor Inquiries:
Dale Kearns
Zi Corporation
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: 403 233 8875
Investor Inquiries:
Richard Siskind
JKC Group, Inc.
President
Phone: 212 840 0880


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)7/31/2003 11:07:06 PM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Author/s: Todd McCarthy
Issue: Sept 23, 2002

A Manhattan Pictures release (in U.S.) of a Holedigger Films presentation of a Ready Made Film. Produced by Campbell Scott, George VanBuskirk. Executive producers, Martin Garvey, David Newman, Bruce Cowen, Michael Lauer. Co-producer, Jonathan Filley.

Directed by Alan Rudolph. Screenplay, Craig Lucas, based on the novella "The Age of Grief" by Jane Smiley. Camera (Technicolor), Florian Ballhaus; editor, Andy Keir; music, Gary DeMichele; music supervisor, Jonathan McHugh; production designer, Ted Glass; art director, Anna Louizos; set decorator, Alyssa Winter; costume designer, Amy Westcott; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), William Sarokin; supervising sound editors, Marlena Grzaslewicz, Ira Spiegel; assistant director, Jan Sebastian Ballhaus; casting, Para Dixon Mickelson. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations), Sept. 9, 2002. Running time: 101 MIN.

David Hurst Campbell Scott
Dana Hurst Hope Davis
Slater Denis Leary
Laura Robin Tunney
Lizzie Hurst Gianna Beleno
Leah Hurst Cassidy Hinkle
Stephanie Hurst Lydia Jordan
Mark Jon Patrick Walker
Dr. Danny Kevin Carroll
Elaine Kate Clinton

A romantic comedy-drama about an endangered marriage, "The Secret Lives of Dentists" is a nicely played study of turbulence beneath the surface of quiet lives that eventually becomes bogged down by overplaying a literary conceit. Focusing on the intimate issues of a couple rather than on group dynamics for a change, director Alan Rudolph achieves flesh as well as humorous insights into family life and strategies for keeping a damaged relationship from expiring. But a tiresome final act proves trying even for viewers well disposed to what's come before, spelling a likely mixed critical reaction and an uphill struggle to carve out a niche on the specialized circuit.

Establishing a sly, understated tone at the outset that perfectly complements the droll reserve of leading actor and co-producer Campbell Scott, in his second outing with the director after "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," Rudolph punctuates the ordinary lives of married fellow dentists David and Dana Hurst (Scott and Hope Davis) with two disruptive events. First, a brash and impudent new patient named Slater (Denis Leafy), dissatisfied with some dental work, begins upbraiding David in public before becoming an uninvited alter ego who makes sarcastic comments about the conservative medic's timid behavior and proffers macho advice about how to deal with domestic crises.

Second, David catches a glimpse of his wife in the arms of another man, leaving him no choice but to conclude that she's having an affair. Dana's grouchy despondency and suspicious "errands" further David's conviction that he's arrived at "the age of grief" (the title of the Jane Smiley novella upon which playwright Craig Lucas based the screenplay). "I wish she would look at me with desire instead of regret," David laments of the wife with whom he shares both bed and office.

But rather than confront Dana about her emotional absence and apparent indiscretions, David decides to play a long game in an effort to keep his marriage together. Withstanding barbs from Slater about his wimpiness for not giving his wife the boot and enduring fantasies of Dana getting it on with multiple men, David patiently waits out her complaints and sulky moods in the hope that whatever is going on will eventually burn itself out, that she'll eventually come to her senses. This evolving, self-abnegating process is quite moving at moments and reps the film's most effective single element.

The device of Leary's Slater character neatly offsets any chance for all this to take on the air of noble self-sacrifice. Reminding by turns of Jimmy Stewart's rabbit friend Harvey and of Woody Allen's invisible pal Humphrey Bogart in "Play It Again, Sam," Slater keeps appearing at unexpected times, suggesting to David that he tell Dana "I could kill you" over dinner, which he does to very amusing effect, and generally representing a Mr. Cool who would as soon walk out on an errant wife as he would kiss off a tart after a drunken one-night stand.

Serving to further David's decision to not act rashly are his three daughters, and the body of the film is dotted by lovely and true evocations of family life; particularly humorous is the youngest girl, a very demanding 2-year-old who wants nothing to do with Mommy and has a penchant for slapping adults.

But it's the family stuff that also comes to weigh the film down in the home stretch. Just when everything is on the line emotionally, one by one, everyone in the family gets sick, and the sight of David having to clean up waves of vomit and tend to a succession of sweating, feverish females is distinctly unedifying. Perhaps this "sickness" interlude worked on the page as a metaphor for the turmoil afflicting the entire family, but acted out onscreen it's an aggravating and vastly overextended turnoff.

Scott excels as the mild-mannered dentist who taps into a strain of impressive tenacity under duress. The always watchable Davis has the disadvantage here of playing a woman who's always sullen and uncommunicative, while Leary has good fun as David's gadfly and provocateur.

Tech contributions are smooth.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Reed Business Information

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group



To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)7/31/2003 11:17:34 PM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
Richard Geist director of Lancer Group is a fraud analyst BTW. Besides SEXI he also promoted these Jack Banks frauds all of which promoter Bobby Genovese promoted through his IR/pr company Investor Relations Group. Geist also promoter Bobby Genovese's "Neptune Society".

SEC continues to look the other way.

From: The Detective (detect@rcmp.stk.com)
Subject: Justice for alleged stock fraud?????
This is the only article in this thread
View: Original Format
Newsgroups: misc.invest.stocks
Date: 1996/06/21


controls three public companies that have very similar histories:
Gaming Lottery (NASDAQ GLCCF), Instant Publisher (NASDAQ TIPIF) and Warp 10 Technologies (NASDAQ WARPF).
These companies purport to be in the printing industry, they were all formed by an
amalgamation of a private company and a public shell company, they were all
heavily promoted by Richard Geist's newsletter and the Investor Relations
Group, and they all had very ambitious plans based on so called high-tech
proprietary technologies. But Warp 10, unlike Gaming Lottery and the
Instant Publisher is still trading at a substantial market capitalization of
$330 million.

Gaming Lottery, formerly Laser Friendly, had very ambitious plans when Jack
Banks founded it. The 1995 annual report boasted that "the explosive growth
of the gaming industry has created a wealth of new opportunities. With two
major strategic acquisitions behind it and a continuing commitment to an
aggressive acquisition program, Laser Friendly is in the right place at the
right time." Boasts like that helped the stock climb to $12.35 July 1995.

Unfortunately, the acquisitions referred to had to be unwound. The
Washington State Gaming Commission refused to grant licenses when Laser
Friendly would not reveal the names behind the Swiss banks who invested in
the $26 million private placement used to finance the transactions. In
their reasons for denial the commission stated that "there is the
possibility that these individuals have criminal backgrounds that the
investment funds were generated from criminal sources or that other factors
exist which would disqualify them from holding a gambling license."

As it turns out, the company itself may be subject to criminal charges. It
seems that Gaming Lottery continued to do business in the state without a
license, and the state is considering pressing felony charges. The
investors who provided the funding for the acquisitions were not happy when
they learned that the "completed" transactions were not actually completed.
They are suing Jack Banks and Gaming Lottery for Êfraudulently
misappropriating their funds" and "knowingly and recklessly misstating
material facts". They are asking for $39,000,000 US., more than amount of
cash currently on Gaming Lottery's balance sheet.

Gaming Lottery's troubles do not end there. A Swiss bank is suing the
company to release 2.5 million shares of Gaming Lottery so the bank can
cover a margin loan that it made. Gaming Lottery has taken the position
that the shares were never issued. Meanwhile the stock has fallen to $4.20
from its high of $12.35. The company has announced that is will divest of
all its printing assets and move to Bermuda with $50 million in cash.

The same investors who are suing Gaming Lottery are suing Instant Publisher,
another Jack Banks company. The investors claim that the defendants,
Instant Publisher, Jack Banks and others made "misrepresentations and
materially incomplete statements" and that these were made in "reckless and
negligent" manner while they were trying to sell 850,000 shares of Instant
Publisher to the investors. Like Gaming Lottery, TIPI was formed by merging
a shell company with Instant Publisher and was heavily touted by Richard
Geist's newsletters and the Investor Relations Group. Geist claimed that
the company's "proprietary hardware/software unit, the IPS950" would propel
earnings to $0.50 or $0.60 per share in 1996. He was quoted in Fortune
magazine as predicting sales of $50 million for 1996. Shortly thereafter
the stock ran up to $11 1/8 only to collapse back to $2.

And now there is Warp 10. It too was formed through an amalgamation of a
Jack Banks company and a public shell, and is heavily touted by Richard
Geist. WarpÉs president Marvin Igelman is a lawyer. MarvinÉs brother
Alex, also a lawyer, is WarpÉs secretary, and the Executive Vice-President,
David Wraxell was formerly a prepress system salesman. The auditors, Lipton
Wiseman, are also the auditors for Gaming Lottery and Instant Publisher.
Larry Weltman, President of Gaming Lottery, Executive Vice-President of
Instant Publisher, and Director of Warp 10, was formerly a chartered
accountant with Lipton Wiseman.

Warp came into existence in August 15, 1995 as a result of an amalgamation
of "Grand Empire Resources" and "Warp 10 Private". Grand Empire had assets
of $119,391 which combined with Warp 10 private assets produced $517,758 of
total assets upon the amalgamation. After a private placement some days
later on August 22, 1995 Warp 10 Technologies had total assets of $7.5
million, mostly cash.

Warp shares began trading on the Canadian Over the Counter network 2 days
later on August 24, 1995 at $10 per share. This share price implied a
market capitalization of over $200,000,000, quite high for company with $7.5
in assets and a R&D budget of $330,000 over the last 12 months. Apparently
Jack Banks thought so too. He filed an insider purchase of 1 million shares
of Warp at $0.25 per share on January 12, 1996 from an undisclosed seller on
a private trade. The shares were trading for 10 3/8 at the time. Two
months later Warp became listed on NASDAQ and Richard Geist was quoted in
business week as saying that the shares could double within one year. Geist
would continue to tout Warp 10 over the next few months along with the
controversial stock Solvex. Solvex is subject to an FBI probe into the
involvement of two notorious stock swindlers who may have been manipulating
its share price.

Warp also announced major alliances with Rogers Network Services and
Newbridge Networks. The Financial Post wrote a one page article, largely
quoting Richard Geist and Larry Weltman, President of the Print Three chain
of printer shops. Larry Weltman stated he loved Warp's technology and
wanted to use it for his stores. Print Three is also controlled by Jack
Banks and is Warp's largest shareholder. These events, combined with an
announcement of a successful first installation of Warp's system at a
reputable Toronto graphics shop propelled the shares to a high of $21.75 on
May 27, 1996, representing a market capitalization of almost $400,000,000.

Unfortunately, the controversy that follows Jack Banks and Richard Geist
seems to be affecting Warp 10. Command Post and Transfer Corp., the client
who allegedly purchased the first "successful installation" of "Warp 10's
Technology" has publicly reputed Warp 10's claims. Contrary to the press
releases by Warp 10, Command Post is not "running the company's support and
administrative systems" using Warp 10 Technology, nor did Command Post buy
any Warp 10 products. Instead, Command Post bought some Newbridge Network
hardware to connect to their existing network and Warp helped to install it.

So what is Warp 10's Technology? Prior to going public in August of 1995
Warp 10 has spent $330,000 over 12 months developing four "ATM networking
solutions". Not bad since other networking companies such as Newbridge have
annual R&D budgets in the tens of millions.
Since then, most of their energy seems to have been spent reselling
Newbridge hardware and Rogers Network cable. The major alliances with
Newbridge and Rogers have proven to be distribution agreements allowing Warp
to buy network products developed by these companies and resell them to
Warp's customers. Warp has yet to sell anything they have developed to
anyone, despite press releases to the contrary. Warp's best skill, like its
sister companies, seems to be self promotion.



To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)7/31/2003 11:19:56 PM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
Here is Geist recommending Lancer Funds World Wireless Communications, Inc "an old favorite"
Highlighted Stocks

This month we are returning to an old favorite that we've been following for several years - World Wireless Communications, Inc. The company is focused on their newly developed X-tra Web.

Richard Geist's Strategic Investing
Richard Geist's Strategic Investing Home | Back Issues

Volume 5, Issue 11 - November 1999 Format issue for printing

Dear Colleague
If you have saved some cash, there are now a plethora of small cap companies with good prospects available to investors. We suggest that you buy only half of your position because this market could easily retreat some before turning upward again.

Fantasy, Reality and the Market
While this is a stock picker's market, we still want to act like the chickadee rather than the migratory birds. The first market frost has sent some investors scurrying, but we are now approaching the strongest months of the year.

Highlighted Stocks
This month we are returning to an old favorite that we've been following for several years - World Wireless Communications, Inc. The company is focused on their newly developed X-tra Web.


Model Portfolio
A review of our small cap core portfolio; current recommendations for high yield, growth, foreign and speculative stocks, mutual funds and small cap funds.

Portfolio Notes & Update
A round-up of important events on stocks we currently hold in our portfolio, including Zi-Corp, Modem Medial and Styleclick.com.

Outside The Portfolio
We discuss compelling investment opportunities and provide updates on stocks, including Bio-logic Systems, EPL Technologies and Universal Display Corporation.



To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)7/31/2003 11:21:01 PM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
Richard Geist's Strategic Investing re-iterates strong buy on Solv-Ex in wake of Dorfman's attempt to destroy company credibility.

In one of the more malicious and irresponsible cases of financial journalism witnessed in many years, Dan Dorfman used his CNBC bully pulpit in an extraordinary attempt to destroy Solv-Ex and its management's credibility. Citing an unnamed 'Wall Street Pro' he proclaimed that the SEC was investigating trading in SOLV's stock. He also said that Fahnestock & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit believed the company is a 'typical hype, pie-in-the-sky' story and that SOLV's stock is worth less than $5.
Dorfman was not without the facts on SOLV. He had in his possession copies of Strategic Investing's November 1995 recommendation on the Company and energy analyst Charlie Maxwell's letter to his clients stating that if all went well with Solv-Ex, the company could become the world's leading oil producing company by the year 2008.

Dorfman could also have had access to David Snow's detailed analysis of SOLV in which Solv-Ex's stock could be at $200 within two years and at $1000 within a decade. If Dorfman had bothered to inquire, he could have studied an independent technology consultant's report (Pace Consultants, Inc. Houston, Texas) on the positive viability of both SOLV's technology and their marketing plan. He could have discussed his concerns with the Company rather than telephoning them at lunch time shortly before the show when no one was available and then never following up. He also could have revealed that the so called expert analyst -- Fadel Gheit -- worked for a firm that allegedly has been shorting the stock and that the analyst had had no contact with the Company for two years, and to our knowledge has not issued a report on the Company.

None of the facts or projections we have made in our November or December issues has changed. The SEC has not contacted Solv-Ex, and any investigation of share manipulation would probably focus on the short sellers. Permits for a co-production plant to produce oil, and later, alumina from oil sands on the Company's Bitumount Lease in Alberta's Athabasca region were received on Dec. 12, 1995. A week later the Company received formal approval to proceed with construction and operation of a plant to process oil sands tailings for production of minerals and metals. Financing is imminent and will include a combination of 50% debt and 50% equity. The Company has access to 4 billion barrels of oil and is sitting on 10% of the world's alumina supply -- hardly a $5 per share company. Plant construction will be under way soon, and the potential for the alumina cell to revolutionize how and at what costs this mineral is produced remains extremely positive. A secondary offering with a major investment banking firm is likely in the near future. If Dorfman wanted to rationally question the rise in SOLV's stock price, which was probably motivated by anticipation of financing rather than a short squeeze, he could have legitimately questioned whether the technology would work in real life, and then checked to see that there had been outside verification of the technology as performed in the Company's pilot plant. It is certainly legitimate to debate the technology, but not if one failed to take the time to learn about it.

For whatever reason, Dorfman decided to side with the short sellers. Although we know that rumor and innuendo is Dorfman's trademark, the idea that his glib speculation and negative hype probably caused small investors to experience margin calls and potentially large losses of capital reminds us of some one who would yell fire in a crowded theater and then take pleasure when folks get trampled as they headed for the exits. The more important question in this scenario, however, is not Dorfman's motives or character or CNBC's rationale for supporting this three ring circus (all of which many have questioned). It is, rather, why do investors take seriously such bombastic and unsubstantiated rhetoric?

Solv-Ex has a lab-proven and independently verified technology, extremely honest and forthright management, and a workable business plan. The stock was pushed back to the mid $20 range -- our initial short term target for the stock -- from the mid $30 range. It is a strong buy at these levels, and once the financing is in place we look for the stock to begin moving toward the $50 range. Solv-Ex is a strong buy for aggressive investors.



To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)7/31/2003 11:32:06 PM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
Victims of Lancer Group can get help from Lancer Director Richard Geist;
======================

Portfolios Depressed, Traders Seek Therapy

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

For full story:
nytimes.com

Picture a Wall Street trader striding through the doctor's waiting
room and flopping down on the couch. He rages about the collapse of
WorldCom, then falls silent.

His therapist leans forward and asks quietly, "And how did that make
you invest?"

Psychologists are not new to company boardrooms or trading floors. In
the 1990's, the science of market psychology became an industry as
financial institutions, and especially hedge funds, hired
psychologists to hone their competitive edge — be it analyzing
investor choices, coaching money managers or revealing clients'
unconscious desires.

The use of psychotherapy by market professionals to find their inner
trader, however, is something else.

"I had a client who grew anxious every time he had to sell a holding,
he kept saying `I can't seem to let go,' " Richard A. Geist, president
of the Institute of Psychology and Investing in Newton, Mass., said.
Dr. Geist, who teaches at the Harvard Medical School, is both a
psychotherapist and a financial adviser. "I asked him what that
reminded him of," Dr. Geist said. "He remembered that as a child he
had trouble letting go of his mother when it was time to go to
school."

For such patients, the classic Freudian disorder carries a new economy
twist: divestiture anxiety.

It is hardly surprising that in the current economy, financiers are
seeking psychological counseling or pharmaceutical solace.



To: Brad Davies who wrote (11927)8/1/2003 12:00:50 AM
From: StockDung  Respond to of 19428
 
BRUCE D. COWEN OF LANCER GROUP HAD HIS ACCOUNT AT RAFI KHANS BROKERAGE FIRM AT ONE TIME SHAMROCK PARTNERS LTD . BEFORE SHAMROCK RAFI WAS THE TOP BROKER AT H. J. MEYERS

IRATA
IRATA INC -CL A


Notices of Proposed Sale Reported on Form 144 of COWEN BRUCE D Description

Click on the column header links to resort ascending () or descending ().


Company
Select a company below for more information. Relation File Date Shares Broker
IRATA INC -CL A N 2/6/1995 13,657
SHAMROCK PARTNERS LTD

IRATA INC -CL A N 10/24/1994 34,143
SHAMROCK PARTNERS LTD

IRATA INC -CL A N 9/6/1994 9,491
SHAMROCK PARTNERS LTD