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Pastimes : ISOMAN AND HIS CAVE OF SOLITUDE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ISOMAN who wrote (94)	1/23/1999 6:47:00 AM
From: ISOMAN	Respond to of 539

Love And The Cabbie I was in New York the other day and rode with a friend in a taxi. When we got out, my friend said to the driver, "Thank you for the ride. You did a superb job of driving." The taxi driver was stunned for a second. Then he said, "Are you a wise guy or something?" "No, my dear man, and I'm not putting you on. I admire the way you keep cool in heavy traffic." "Yeah," the driver said and drove off. "What was that all about?" I asked. I am trying to bring love back to New York," he said. "I believe it's the only thing that can save the city." "How can one man save New York?" "It's not one man. I believe I have made that taxi driver's day. Suppose he has 20 fares. He's going to be nice to those 20 fares because someone was nice to him. Those fares in turn will be kinder to their employees or shopkeepers or waiters or even their own families. Eventually the goodwill could spread to at least 1,000 people. Now that isn't bad, is it?" "But you're depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwill to others." "I'm not depending on it," my friend said. "I'm aware that the system isn't foolproof so I might deal with ten different people today. If out of ten I can make three happy, then eventually I can indirectly influence the attitudes of 3,000 more." "It sounds good on paper," I admitted, "but I'm not sure it words in practice." "Nothing is lost if it doesn't. It didn't take any of my time to tell that man he was doing a good job. He neither received a larger tip nor a smaller tip. If it fell on deaf ears, so what? Tomorrow there will be another taxi driver I can try to make happy." "You're some kind of a nut," I said. "That shows how cynical you have become. I have made a study of this. The thing that seems to be lacking, besides money of course, for our postal employees, is that no one tells people who work for the post office what a good job they're doing." "But they're not doing a good job." "They're not doing a good job because they feel no one cares if they do or not. Why shouldn't someone say a kind word to them?" We were walking past a structure in the process of being built and passed five workmen eating their lunch. My friend stopped. "That's a magnificent job you men have done. It must be difficult and dangerous work." The workmen eyed my friend suspiciously. "When will it be finished?" "June, a man grunted. "Ah. That really is impressive. You must all be very proud." We walked away. I said to him, "I haven't seen anyone like you since The Man From LaMancha." "When those men digest my words, they will feel better for it. Somehow the city will benefit from their happiness." "But you can't do this all alone!" I protested. "You're just one man." "The most important thing is not to get discouraged. Making people in the city become kind again is not an easy job, but if I can enlist other people in my campaign. . ." You just winked at a very plain-looking woman," I said. "Yes, I know," he replied. "And if she's a schoolteacher, her class will be in for a fantastic day." By Art Buchwald

To: ISOMAN who wrote (94)	1/23/1999 6:50:00 AM
From: ISOMAN	Respond to of 539

Big Tipper Joe Park Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme BY ALEX WILLIAMS A former lawyer for Hyundai and the ex-proprietor of the California Burrito and Tokyo Joe's burrito chains, Joe Park emerged this year as a widely followed stock-picker in the only place a refried entrepreneur could -- the Internet. The 40-year-old Manhattanite has a zealous cult following of 800 traders, each of whom pays $600 a year to scope Park's mainly small-cap picks, weigh in on pet stocks, and natter about rate cuts on Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme, a subscribers-only Website. But the main attraction is the Lord High Tipster himself. In December, Park gave the thumbs up to Infoseek, a buy at $33. Within a week, the stock was at $49. "Anyone can do this," Park says passionately -- and often. Thumbing his nose at Wall Street's buy-and-hold bromides, Park is a proud "momentum" investor, a stock-market Lothario who loves 'em and leaves 'em while encouraging his followers to do the same. "Whenever there's a profit, or a loss of five percent, we bail out," says Park, bluntly. "We're not married to any stocks." A disclaimer on the site states (none too convincingly) that his and the picks of others "are not investment advice." It also points out that Park could be selling his stock as others are buying it. This circus of speculation sounds perilous to some. But others swear by Joe's juice. Park claims he pulled down $1.4 million last year alone. He also got rid of of his last Tokyo Joe's, on East 53rd Street. He didn't sell it. He gave it away -- to his longtime cook Maria Guillermo. "I was making enough money," he says, coolly. Living dangerously: As Park's profile has grown, so has his gaggle of critics, who believe Park is a "pump-and-dump" Barnum. Says one, "Buying a 75-cent stock and then getting all your sheep to run after it a few days later isn't investing." This skeptic claims he's made money shorting Park-puffed stocks. Moneymaking mantra: "People who buy long are suckers," says Park. "That's where the angst comes in." Where he's headed in '99: "I still like Onsale," says Park. "It's a Net-based discount auction house that has bigger customer base than eBay or uBid combined. I also still like AOL, which I bought at 853Ž4, and I think it has more room to go. En Pointe Technologies is an online distributor of computer-related stuff. They do almost half a billion a year and the book value is greater than the stock price, which I predict will rise 400 percent in '99."