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To: Alan Aronoff who wrote (12867)	12/3/1997 3:02:00 PM
From: Alan Aronoff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Box Hill (BXH) finally getting a bounce today on strong volume after heading straight Down Hill post-IPO. today's PR must be helping a bit... newsalert.com I know very little about the company but BXH does appear to have a very attractive valuation at this time. The one analyst covering has '98 earnings estimate at $0.77 giving BXH a forward PE of 14. Looking for consolidation in the $10-$11 range before a move back up. Definitely worth watching...

To: Alan Aronoff who wrote (12867)	12/3/1997 3:45:00 PM
From: JB	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

I just received a second confirmation that the top guys are still in a meeting.

To: Alan Aronoff who wrote (12867)	12/3/1997 11:23:00 PM
From: ed doell	Respond to of 29386

Totally off topic Alan, I knew there was some reason why I have hung around this thread so long! Now I know: It was to get that Blake bookmark! virtual.park.uga.edu Thanks. "The Eye Altering alters All" is one of my favorite "Blakes." I was once asked in an oral exam to trace the use of the word "imagination" from Blake to Wallace Stevens...now that was a lot of fun. Thanks again, Ed

To: Alan Aronoff who wrote (12867)	12/4/1997 12:46:00 PM
From: ed doell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Hi Alan, The following is taken from today's Westergaard Daily Interpreter. But first: (A Disclaimer: Mr. Westergaard, I have the utmost regard for your piece on Mr. Niederhoffer. I shared it here with Alan on this SI thread because I hope he (and others) might appreciate your writing and value the importance of your perspective in it. To me your article conveys a very important message which needs to be heard as widely as possible, IMHO, and I wanted to share it (perhaps to your greater glory). It is not my intention to make any use of your writing for my benefit financially or otherwise. If anything, I hope that it draws attention to your work and your online service in a positive light. Mr. Westergaard can be found at: Westergaard Online Daily Interpreter westergaard.com) >>"* The Demise of Victor Niederhoffer Last summer I started reading Victor Niederhoffer's "The Education of a Speculator" which appears to be an interesting exploration of the psychology and other aspects of investing. I say "appears to be" because the book is large and obscure so I did not get that far into it. It awaits me expectantly on my night table. I knew nothing about Niederhoffer -- 54, Harvard educated Phd in Economics, Brooklyn son of a cop, five time U.S. squash champion -- but his book certainly made him out to be an interesting person. As has been widely reported, this former Soros partner was wiped out in the recent market shakeout. Details were sketchy until this week's Washington Post Weekly which presents an analysis by staff writer David Segal. What we learn is: 1. A fund that was worth $130mm, mostly Niederfhoffer's own money, went to zero overnight. 2. The problem was that he went into the business of insuring other investors' portfolios by selling puts on the S&P several weeks prior to the market crack. 3. If the market had stayed calm, he would have made a large profit from selling these puts. But it didn't. It's as if he had sold earthquake insurance to the Japanese two weeks before the big quake a couple of years ago. 4. Niederhoffer needed to come with $50mm to cover his position which he couldn't. For a fund to lose all its net worth in one day may be unprecedented. 5. N's troubles began in August when he bet heavily that Thailand's stock and currency markets would rally. Wrong. They tanked. He lost 50% of asset value, partially recouped in September but which ended still down 35%. 6. Jim Cramer describes N's strategy as offering the worst possible risk/reward ratio -- limited profit from selling the puts, open ended exposure to loss. 7. N takes little blame, according to Segal, for wiping out himself and investors: "I believe it was a good trade. It was a one in 2,000 shot that the market would decline like that." 8. Whereas most commodity traders are trend followers, N is a contrarian who typically bets against the crowd. 9. He's got a wife and six daughters and is considering how to "remount". Hmmm. Remount!!! Interesting choice of a word. He certainly appears to have been on a high horse. In 1994 he was the top hedge fund manager up 60% despite at one point having been down 25% on a wrong bet on the yen. Sounds to me like he was an accident waiting to happen. Isn't it precisely the one-in-2000 chance that hedge fund managers are supposed to be protected against???"<<