Category: Personal

AOL first big winner in write-off sweeps

bst fav biz writer Christopher Byron pops up on MSNBC with the article AOL plays the blame game, in which he dismantles the AOL conference call of yesterday, but also points out that the company is using the new rules on goodwill to write off $60 billion from the Time Warner merger. Damn, that was fast! First up to the plate and we get the largest single write-off in corporate history. One third of shareholder equity down the drain. I suppose the accountants are just recognizing reality and trying to take every last bit of the hit in one shot. Wall Street cheered at first, driving the stock up 70 cents at the open but reality has set in and know the stock is down 23 cents. So they didn’t get much out of it, unles you consider that the book value of the company in comparison to the market cap is vastly less and yet investors still value the company at the same level.

We do not appreciate political correctness

In yesterday’s Washington Post (and today’s SJ Mercury News), reporters Dan Eggen and Cheryl W. Thompson reported that U.S. Seeks Thousands Of Fugitive Deportees. Normally I would have read this article, been peeved that the main quotes used come from only one side (representing the aggreived people, naturally), and passed on to the next article. However, my brain jammed up at the article’s use of the phrase undocumented immigrants. Further research (i.e., comparing the Post and Mercury News versions of the story) showed me that the Merc changed the story; in the Post the phrase was undocumented aliens.

What a phrase! This country, like any other, has arrogated to itself the ability to determine who may and may not reside or visit within its borders. To use the phrase undocumented immigrants implies that our country has abrogated that function to individuals to determine for themselves. We have not done so and these people, whose reasons for being here are not in question, are in the United States illegally. Further, the phrase rises to previously unnoticed (and undesirable) heights of political correctness for a major newspaper such as the Post.

Ziff-Davis: really feeling the pinch

eWeek, the former PCWeek, magazine used to be one of the most important publications in computerdom. Everyone wanted that free subscription but only a few were chosen. Then the Web came along and blew away the need for most print news publications, particularly those focused on computers. The Spencer F. Katt gossip column was one of the most enjoyable reads each week but lately it’s totally fallen off. This week’s effort, Microsoft Leaks Another Glum Valentine, isn’t even original. As I wrote to the author in complaint:

Gee, nice of you to rerun week old Register stories:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23518.html

Heck I even wrote about in my weblog a week ago:

http://www.billsaysthis.com/blog/blogarch.phtml?archdate=2001_12_30_blog_archive.phtml#8352401

Another personal illusion sadly bites the dust.

Gone: Wendy’s Dave Thomas

And he really was Wendy’s, not just the food chain he built but a daughter who loved him. Lovable Dave Thomas died today at 69 after battling liver cancer. For the last 12 years he’s made those lighthearted TV commercials even though he’d retired seven years before from the company. But he really was one of the good guys even if he couldn’t choose between the sourdough bacon jack burger and the ham and chicken sandwich. His ad campaign has been running so long, I wonder if the company will try and use the new digital tech to make new commercials. Dave was adopted and about 10 years ago founded the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to support adoptive families and organizations working to help them. Bye Dave, thanks for the value meals!

Strange dreams

I will tell you that I’ve had some strange dreams lately. Some people in a chat room I frequent have been talking about going to Las Vegas in May. So the last few nights I have had dreams where I am in a casino but not nice ones like they have in Vegas. And each night something strange happens that wouldn’t in a real casino. Like last night, I was playing craps and instead of paying me off on a small bet, like $20, the casino workers took me and my buddy (not Byron, oddly enough) and dragged us out into the middle of nowhere, punched us a little, and then left us there. We had to struggle to find our way back to the city and then confront them, which is when I woke up. The previous night I met a beautiful woman at the casino bar, a different casino, and she asked if I wanted to play (gamble!) with her. I said sure and she took me over to a section where they dealt out cards and then played some kind of bingo-like game, where players sat in tall chairs with no table in front of them. Very odd, eh?

The words “oh” and “bugger” seem appropriate

No, not the old school whisky. I recorded Blackadder Back and Forth a few nights ago and got a great reminder of why Rowan Atkinson can be so funny. Except, of course when he plays the idiotic Mr. Bean. “A dung ball in a dress.” “As thick as clotted cream.” What great villainous language. Imagine Baldrick inventing a working time machine. If the PBS station or BBC America is broadcasting one of the four Blackadder series or one of the specials, catch it and laugh.

Miami, Miami, Miami

Just to wrap up the college bowl season, I point you to the College BCS News for the wrap up. The University of Miami Hurricanes were so impressive that you have to think they could give the Raiders and 49ers a good game. What speed on both sides of the line! Just a little embarassing for Nebraska, eh what? Oregon were certainly impressive in wiping out Colorado but Mike Belotti protests or not, they don’t match up to the ‘Canes. As a Nebraska player said when asked what he saw in the Miami films, “Nine first round NFL picks.”

Microsoft: No dividend so BillG doesn’t get slammed with taxes?

Ralph Nader and Merrill Lynch & Co. technology strategist Steve Milunovich have both posted reports recently calling for Microsoft to use its $36 billion cash hoard to start paying dividends. One clear difficulty is that Bill Gates would get 12% of any payout, which would more than likely then be subject to income tax at a rate of 39.1%; a $5.39 billion payout (25 cents per share per quarter) would pay BG nearly $647 million of which he would send the IRS nearly $253 million. OTOH he has transferred a large amount of MS stock to his foundation, which presumably could always use a few more million dollars to disburse to good causes. The only other comparable tech company, Intel, pays a small (8 cents/share) dividend. MS claims that tech companies need cash for various reasons but their pile always seems to be going up. As a small MS shareholder, I’m not sure which way to lean, to be honest, but this is a very interesting question.

Vaxgen: more good news

The company furthest along in releasing an AIDS vaccine has released more good news: the HIV/AIDS vaccine, AIDSVAX B/B, induces antibodies to the five most common HIV subtypes according to an article published today in the journal Vaccine. “Once again we see evidence that AIDSVAX induces a more robust immune response than we originally anticipated,” said Donald P. Francis, M.D., D.Sc., president and co-founder of VaxGen. The stock is up 30 cents on the report. Now if they could just get some analyst coverage to bring in the insitutional investors.

Tonight’s TV: The Prisoner

Have you ever watched this short British series from the ’60s? Only 17 episodes but still widely loved today. Patrick McGoohan stars as Number 6, a man who was once a top secret agent but handed in his resignation only to be drugged and transported to The Village. This is a mysterious place where each episode features McGoohan trying to find out where he is, how he came to be there, or how to get out and each week there is a new local boss or Number 2.

One of the local public TV stations is currently running the show on Sunday nights and tonight broadcast Many Happy Returns. In this episode, McGoohan awakes to find The Village empty, the water and electric turned off. After exploring and taking some snapshots (with a camera borrowed from the store), he makes a primitive boat and sets sail. After 25 days at sea, he has a run in with a boat but ends up ashore in England. Returning to London, he meets a kindly old woman who has taken posession of his flat and sports car and confronts his former employers with his photos. They finally believe him and provide a jet to search for The Village. Finding it, the pilot ejects McGoohan, who returns to his Village home to find the kind old woman is actually this week’s Number 2.

The preceeding paragraph seems simple and straightforward but it in no way captures the psychedelic nature of the show. From the color schemes, clothing, furnishings to the pseudo-druggy behavior of the supporting players. Let me say that I’ve never taken LSD or mushrooms but when watching The Prisoner often feel I have an inkling of what that would be like.

Kipp Teague has a wonderful site dedicated to the show with plenty of detail and photographs. There is also a considerable fan club, Six of One. Allegedly Simon West (director of Tomb Raider) is preparing a new major motion picture version, but there have been efforts to do this in the past which never came to fruition.

All your piggy bank are belong to us

David McCusker, writing on the Hack the Planet discussion board, posts an impressive analysis of Microsoft’s Hailstorm whitepaper. The title I used for this entry is lifted from his remarks on the whitepaper section entitled The HailStorm Business. Let’s just say that his overall take is not terribly favorable to MS. McCusker wrote his post as answer to Robb Beal’s urgent request to “Break it Down.”

More Internet troubles for Bill

Poor me. If the Giants losing to the Packers wasn’t bad enough, now I am have weird problems with MS Internet Explorer. For several reasons I’m still using that software (Ev, are you listening?) rather than Opera and now I can’t access any web sites even though email and other Internet tools (like TextRouter and Opera) work fine. ATT Broadband support says there is a problem with the Winsock files on my computer but they can’t help fix it, I need MS support for that. But the support line there isn’t open on Sundays. Uck-fay!

Last night’s restaurant: House of Prime Rib

Are you in the SF area and in the mood for the best prime rib you’ll ever eat? Fortunately for me, my buddy persisted and after a couple of years finally got me to eat at the classic House of Prime Rib. The place has been on Van Ness for 50 years now and the food is still tops. As long as you want prime rib since that’s the only thing on the menu. I asked the waiter and he said they cooked 720 portions for the night (they had reservations for 560!). The meat just melts in your mouth. Vegetarians stay home but anyone else can enjoy this.

Tonight’s movie: In the Bedroom

This film has been getting tons of great publicity and awards already, so we decided to give it a shot. Besides, not much else left to see just now (Ali, The Majestic, Beautiful Mind all leave me a little wanting) so we went to the very nice Camera One in downtown San Jose and saw In the Bedroom. Much has been made about Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of the mother and she is touted as the frontrunner for Best Actress at the Oscars. But to me, this was Tom Wilkinson’s film far more than Spacek; he does a marvel as a man who must control his emotions in the face of tragedy.

This is the first time directing for Todd Fields, who is somewhat better known as an actor (Twister, Eyes Wide Shut, and a bunch of indie pictures), and even though the National Board of Review named him best director, I have a few bones to pick with his work. The pacing is too loose, the film runs 130 minutes and could have been cut to 110-115 easily. There is far too much use of foreshadowing, starting with the title and not leaving out the quaint wait at the bridge. And what’s with the girl’s chorus Spacek directs? That never gets tied in to the plot and seems to be included only to make her role meatier. Fields does a good job and in a year with somewhat meager pickings maybe he does get nominated for some of these awards but best director? I don’t think he gets the Oscar and he wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe.

Marisa Tomei really has a chance to act here and does well; she got a Golden Globe supporting actress nomination. William Mapother plays the bad guy as if he was born to it; Mapother is Tom Cruise’s cousin and his credits show it (Mapother is Cruise’s real last name, Cruise is his middle name). A lot of juicy smaler roles here for Celia Weston, William Wise, Karen Allen, and a few more.

This film is all about faces, the dialog is minimalist (there’s a reason this is playing at an art film house). No explosions, much blood, and a lot of sadness. This is not a Hollywood movie but I enjoyed it.

Read my lips, part two

Some years ago we had a president who said very publicly and emphatically “Read my lips, no new taxes.” Then he had to take those big words back when it was obvious that taxes needed to be raised. Now his son has made a painfully similar vow: over my dead body will he allow new taxes or tax hikes. Will GWB end up on the same trash heap as GHWB?

Today’s horoscope

Typically, I don’t give much creedence to the idea that the stars and planets directly influence my life. But today’s horoscope as printed in the unlinkable San Jose Mercury News is so believable that I can’t help but think it must be correct. I am fated to be hired as a fashion consultant and for those of you who know me well, you must be wondering what took so long. My friend Viv says I will be the next Versace, whoever he is. But I know! Seems so obvious. Glad that my dream will finally come true!

Online jonesing for coffee

Turns out there are coffee equivalents of oenophiles and they have taken to the web. Reuters reports on Mark Prince, who runs the site http://www.coffeegeek.com and http://www.coffeekid.com, and a $400 espresso machine made by Italy’s Rancilio that is recommended for its ability to pump water through the grinds at the level of pressure required for real espresso. Then there is the additional $200-400 for a decent grinder. But hey, at least you get great espresso.

Coaching wheel keeps turning

Notre Dame started things off, really, by firing Bob Davies, goofing with The Liar, then stealing Tyrone Willingham away from Stanford. Speculation began mounting about Denny Green in Minnesota and now he’s out. Then, after a fabulous win over Maryland Wednesday night, Steve Spurrier resigned as Florida head coach saying he’d done enough at the college level and wants an NFL job. Herbstreit speculates that Broncos coach Mike Shanahan migh welcome this change but points out that the new UF coach will face sky high expectations for the 2002 season.

SJ Mercury News (to which I prefer not to link) columnist Skip Bayless speculated this morning that Stanford University and 49ers coach Steve Marriuci would be a great match for each other. I could easily see Spurrier coming in to replace Marriuci except that he’s so used to being in total control of the program that he might not accept less than a combined coach/GM job, which isn’t going to be available with the Niners.

Other possible NFL changes (the league averages seven head coaching changes a year): George Seifert is looking mighty weary in Carolina and Jim Mora had a bad season in Indy (could his son, 49ers defensive coordinator Jim Mora, replace him?); even the great Tony Dungy needs to do some damage in the post-season to be invited back (note that Spurrier almost left UF in 1995 to take this job). LSU’s Nick Saban is mentioned as a possible replacement in Indinapolis but his current bosses want to give him a bigtime extension after winning the SEC and walloping Illinois. Mike Riley was fired by the Chargers Monday and is meeting with college ADs (he came to the NFL after a good stint at Oregon).

Pooling of interests will no longer be driving the bus

The Financial Times reports on one of the biggest changes to come along with the calendar change, the elimination of pooling of interests accounting in mergers and acquisitions. This accounting method allowed companies to to minimize the effect of so-called goodwill on their books by effectively treating the deals as mergers and not acquisitions. Goodwill, for the accounting-challenged, is the difference between the purchase price of a company and the book value; that is, if a company is being acquired for $100 million but has real assets of only $50 million, the acquiring company must book the goodwill for $50 million. For example, when Sun acquired NetDynamics (clearly a whale swallowing a minnow), Sun marked it up this way even though to any objective observer this was an acquisition and not a merger.

In deals not treated this way, companies had to charge off the goodwill against income over 40 years, thus reducing earnings and profits and looking not quite as good to Wall St. Fortunately, the accounting authorities also changed that aspect of their rules but I’m not as clear how the new standard will impact stock prices.

Searchers: Rex Grossman is not Jewish

Every so often I will look at the referrers list for my website. One recurring item is someone searching to find out whether University of Florida Rex Grossman is Jewish or not. Well, according to JewishSports.com’s Fall 2000 News, he isn’t. But because I have a previous weblog entry mentioning him and another with the word Jewish in it, both on the same archive page, I show up high in Google searches. Anyway, hopefully this entry will answer the question for you.

I also show up near the top on a search for sexy Better Bill sites but that seems more reasonable to me. Of course.