| Showdowns and Stimuli
Paul Gigot: Coming up next on "The Journal Editorial Report," with South Carolina in the rearview mirror, the Democrats look ahead to Super Tuesday states. Will their war of words get nastier as Feb. 5 approaches? Plus the showdown in the Sunshine State. Is Tuesday's Florida primary a must-win for Rudy Giuliani? And the White House and Congress hammer out a deal on an economic stimulus package. But will it work? Our panel debates after these headlines. * * * Gigot: Welcome to "The Journal Editorial Report." I'm Paul Gigot. With South Carolina behind them, the Democratic presidential candidates can now turn their full attention to the Super Tuesday states, where the war of words between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is sure to continue. Tensions between the two campaigns erupted anew this week, with Bill Clinton reprising his role as attacker in chief, in a performance some Democratic officials are calling downright unpresidential.
Pick of the paperbacks
There are fascinating facts galore: our eyes are never still, for example. As well as entertaining, it's philosophically profound: showing how our eyes, far from simply absorbing the world, are tools with which we construct our own reality. Katie Owen Animal's People Indra Sinha Indra Sinha reads from Animal's PeopleIndra Sinha on his foul-mouthed protagonist 'I used to be human once,' says Animal, an Indian street-urchin who has gone around on all fours since a catastrophic explosion in an American-owned chemical factory. The parallels with the infamous Bhopal tragedy could not be clearer and give an angry edge to the writing. But there is humour as well as pathos in this elegantly written parable, shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize. Indra Sinha has found a convincingly plangent voice in which to tell his unusual tale.
Dr Venter's life-giving miracle
In keeping with his sinister reputation, he did not choose a friendly bacterium to copy; instead he copied Mycoplasma genitalium. M. genitalium lives, as its name suggests, in our genital tracts and it is easily transmitted during sex. Currently, it is assumed to be relatively harmless, but who knows what Dr Venter intends to do next with it, was the subtext of some news reports? On closer examination of Dr Venter's paper, the work is not as dramatic as some reports suggested. He selected M. genitalium not for malign reasons but simply because its DNA is shorter than that of most bacteria. Nonetheless, it still comprises 582,970 chemical units or "base pairs", strung along as a filament. And Dr Venter has not yet actually copied the bacterium itself. Instead, he has only synthesised its DNA in the test tube.
7 Earnings Previews: GOOG, ISRG, MA, ICE, VMW, AMZN, DLB
For this week, I focused on stocks that should show great volatility after earnings and earnings announcements that are of interest. Cross currents still move within the market tide, as the FOMC rate decision on Wednesday could keep speculation and pre-earnings moves down to a minimum until after the event. Risk aversion seems to be the theme going into the FOMC and earnings. You don't want to be caught on the wrong side when Mr. Market decides to move on either. Earnings have been very volatile so far. Diagonal spreads and straddles with short strangles with options have proved to be the best option strategy, so far, when directly playing these catalysts, because option premiums are so high due to volatility and high time value. Trading after earnings has also proved profitable, as volatility and volume have been present on most earnings catalysts after the fact, although, because of volatility, timing has been difficult.
Robert Crow gets the discussion started about everything Saluki.
Tied up near the top of the key with 33 seconds to play, Dane Watts forced a pass toward the baseline that went out of bounds to SIU.In the end, Creighton went 12:43 without a field goal at SIU Arena, and the Salukis finally got back to dominating a game without the basketball.SIU (10-10 overall and 5-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference) pulled into a three-way tie for third place in the league standings with a 48-44 win. Creighton (14-5, 5-4) fell for the seventh straight time at SIU Arena and fell into the three-way tie for third with Indiana State and the Salukis."We kept them making up another play," SIU senior forward Randal Falker said."We got a chance to grind 'em, and we've always been good at grinding people and grinding the clock, and really getting what we want in the end," SIU coach Chris Lowery said.Despite committing 14 turnovers to six assists, the Salukis were able to survive with a few quick hands and quicker feet.SIU trailed 37-27 with 12:56 to play, but climbed to within two after Matt Shaw's second consecutive 3-pointer.
Hannah Montana Contest Winner Apologizes For Fake Essay; Plus ...
The Hannah Montana tour is definitely one of the hottest tickets in town for tweens and their parents, but one woman admits she went a little overboard in trying to win tickets for her daughter. Texas mom Priscilla Ceballos apologized Friday (January 4) on NBC's "Today" show for writing an essay falsely claiming the girl's father had died in Iraq just so the girl could see Hannah (a.k.a. Miley Cyrus) in person. "I just wanted to help my daughter write a compelling story," she said. The fabricated essay won the contest's grand prize, which included airfare for four to Albany, New York, and four tickets to a sold-out Hannah Montana concert there, as well as a makeover that included a blond Hannah Montana wig. "Please accept my heartfelt apology and please do not punish my child for my mistake," Ceballos urged on the show.
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