This'n'That; February Twenty-Fifth #2; Surprised!

I Was Impressed!
    Honestly?  I was sure the men in the Daytona field would invoke the "rubbin' rule" right-off-the-bat, introducing Danica Patrick to the phrase "if ya ain't rubbin,' ya ain't racin'" before the first lap was complete.  To their credit they didn't intentionally try to put her in garage!  I didn't think Ms Patrick would fare very well in The Daytona 500, given what I'd watched over the course of the past season.  Then, she always seemed to end up in the middle of the pack at best.  I'm now hopeful that she'll have a good showing at each of the upcoming races she enters.
Congrats to Ms Patrick as well as Jimmy Johnson!!
BTW:  Did ya hear James Franco announcing the start of the race; "Drivers, and Danica....."
What a disservice to Danica Patrick!!
The NASCAR fan-base should demand that Mr Franco have his tongue pad-locked to his lower jaw!!
Comments, anyone?
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; November Twenty-First #; Why Now?!?

Concert At barackingham Palace; Why Now?!?
    I'd be curious to know when this 'country music' concert was scheduled for next week at barackingham Palace?  Was it before or after Michelle was unceremoniously handed "her more-than-ample ass-on-a-platter" by NASCAR fans!!
    We all--the NASCAR fans among us--know that runnin' illegal whiskey is the backbone of NASCAR!! 
We all--the country music fans among us--know that country music is the backbone of the country folk who supported themselves for generations with the production and sale of illegal whiskey!!
We all--the great Charley Pride, aside--know that country music is not a favorite form with the negros among us.
    We all know that this sudden, star-studded country music concert in barackingham Palace, is nothing more than a blatant attempt to bring the countrified commoners--members of the serf class among us--into the socio-fascist fold!!  I'm kinda thinkin' the serfs among us--of which I am one--will see through this masquerade and put the 'ass-clown'-known-as-obama, on the ass ....err.... ash-heap of political history!!
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; November Twenty-first #1; Realization?!?

NASCAR Expresses It's 'Love!'
    Yesterday (Sunday, November 20th) during their introductions, the Homestead-Miami Speedway crowd expressed their 'love' for the pretend princess and the pretend doctor.  Michelle "Eat'cher Veggies" owe-bama and Jill "Dr of education" Biden are finally getting the message on how much their subjects actually love the vote-buying gimmicks they come up with!!  Depending on who you read, the pair were booed (American newspaper websites) or they were resoundingly booed (British newspaper websites)!!
     As with "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist," the wives' bullshit ain't going over as big as it did during the 'Campaign of Fluff!!'  The entire lot of fascists are beginning to realize how much the socio-fascist voter-base has deterioriated over the past two-years, plus!!  To that end--in order to preserved their 'permanent vacation' status--the wives are 'hitting the stump' harder than they've ever done before; in Miami, beating the drum to convert active and retired military and their dependents into "good lil' fascists"-ready to vote for the current "Clown!!"  The military--traditionally--overwhelmingly vote for the republicRATic candidate; the fascists must either have mass-conversions, or have the absentee ballots denied.  I don't see it going well for the socio-fascist side!!
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That, November 3rd[Stocks;Mutual Funds]

Well, Tomorrow Is The Big Day As they say in Chicago [and adopted by ACORN]: "Vote early-Vote OFTEN!!! Retirement Funds As with almost everyone else, my IRA is down, WAY DOWN!! Since the first of the year, mine has dropped 47%!! Dropped so far that I'm considering changing fund families. The account is currently in a family that I've dealt with for probably twenty years. I'm considering changing to another family that I've previously dealt with, although not for as long nor with as much money. The Stock Market And Stocks My active [non-retirement] stock account is down about 65%. I don't expect a very quick recovery so I'm planning on selling the bulk of the losers prior to December 31st. The sale[s] will generate a deduction from my taxable earnings. I have some that the proceeds of a sale WILL NOT cover the cost of the transaction!! These I'll hold, only because it would be a net expense to sell them. At my on-line trading site, I've established several "watch lists." Each list is separated by objective, like dividend paying, penny stocks, depressed blue chips. Anyone who knows me very well has heard about my greatest investing coup; that of buying Siris Satellite Radio [SIRI] @ $0.60 and selling @ $7.75, a nearly 1,300% gain!! Well, SIRI has caught my eye once again. Last Friday it closed at $0.338. Siris Satellite Radio recently merged with XM Satellite Radio, making the new company [SIRI] THE ONLY PROVIDER of satellite radio informtion and entertainment. One can set a vehicle satellite radio to a particular channel and drive from "beach-to-beach" and "border-to-border" and NEVER LOSE THE SIGNAL!! I guess the best definition of my investing philosophy is that I'm a "purchase-price driven investor." As a long-haul trucker, I always had XM Radio in my trucks, but invested in Siris due to the stock's price. At the time of my sixty-cent purchase, XM stock was in the 12-dollar range. In the "Blue Chip" sector, one I'm watching is General Motors [GM]. Last Friday GM closed at $5.79. Just about a year ago [11/01/07] the stock closed at $38.80. Given recent activities involving Chrysler, it's hard to tell how long GM will take to return to a positive financial path. Nevertheless, GM is still considered a blue chip stock and as such, should be considered a sound investment. Another automotive stock to consider is Ford Motor Co [F]. Last Friday F closed at $2.19. A year before [11/05/07] it closed at $8.99. Five years ago, Ford was in the $15.50 range. Ford seems to have a lot of room for advancement once the general economy sorts itself out. As a sometime NASCAR fan, I'm continually searching for racetrack and race team stocks. NASCAR itself, is what's called a "closely-held" corporation. The France family and possibly a few close friends own all the stock in the organization. I suspect that there's one of those "sell it to me, first" agreements amongst the current stockholders. NEVER do shares of NASCAR come available to "commoners" like you and me. Sofar, I've been able to find the following three racetrack stocks. Dover Motorsports, Inc [DVD] has racing venues in Dover, Del., Memphis, Tn., Nashville, Tn., and St Louis, Mo. Last Friday DVD closed at $2.14. Earlier this year [01/29/08], DVD closed at $7.68. DVD pays a quarterly dividend [annual rate: 2.8%]. Speedway Motorsports, Inc [TRK], closed last Friday at $15.95. A year ago [11/06/07], it closed at $38.77. TRK pays an annual dividend at the rate of 2.13%. International Speedway Corp [ISCA] closed last Friday at $31.39; a year ago [11/13/07] at $45.31. ISCA pays an annual dividend at the [dismal] rate of 0.38%. Remember: Due Diligence!! Ji cuz I like a stock certainly don't make it a good investment!! One has to do his/her due diligence, researcing all the "nooks and crannies" to find any and all information concerning an interesting stock. Some metrics the investor should know and search out during the research process are: ***Net Profit Margin [net pretax profit divided by revenue]: The bottom line-the amount the company has left over after every other expense is taken out. ***Gross Profit Margin [gross profit divided by revenue]: It's the company's revenue minus what it costs to make the product/produce the service. ***EBITDA Margin [EBITA divided by revenue]: This is used by companies as a shorthand measure of cash flow. EBITDA is Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization. ***Return on Equity [net income divided by total equity]: The return investors [shareholders] are realizing on their investment. ***Return On Assets [net income divided by total assets]: The net income generated for each dollar of assets. Especially relevent for capital-intensive industries, like manufacturing. ***Interest Coverate Ratio [EBITDA divided by interest expense]: This rougly shows how easily a company can repay it's debts. ***Debt To Equity Ratio [total liabilities divided by total equity]: What the company owes compared with what it owns. ***Inventory Days [inventory divided by cost of goods sold, multiplied by 365]: The amount of time it takes to convert inventory into sales. ***Accounts Payable Days [accouts payable divided by the cost of goods sold, multiplied by 365]: The average number of days a company takes to pay it's bills. ***Accounts Receivable Days [accouts receivable divided by sales, multiplied by 365]: The aerage number of days a company's customers take to pay them. ***Current Ratio [total current assets divided by total current liabilities]: The amount of cash [or assets easily converted to cash] on hand. ***Quick Ratio [cash+accounts receivable divided by total current liabilities]: Similar to the "current ratio," this is a good measure of a company's short-term cash position. The Jeep Compass Has anyone driven one of these? We got rear-ended in our 2007 Honda Accord a coupla weeks ago. The car "was admitted" into the repair shop this morning. The other guy's insurance provided for a rental car. We were unlucky enough to get a 2009 Jeep Compass. Man, I DO NOT LIKE this vehicle!! It has an automatic transmission [naturally!!] and the way it shifts is kinda funky. Ya hafta push the floor-mounted shift lever sideways to advance "up" the drive range; like from D-1 through D-6. G-O-O-F-Y!!!! If I was given one of these today, I'd sell/trade it "before the sun went down!!!" Til Nex-time........