AOK future centers are starting

The Association of Knowledgework is moving into a new phase of existence and is going to start with cafés held around the world.  Here is one in Phoenix that is open to anyone interested in reshaping AOK as a Future Center.  Please contact Jack Ring, as directed below, for more information.

You are invited — to engage in knowledge exchange for a few hours on 20 November, 2007 from 4:30 PM – 8:00 PM. Knowledge exchange occurs by lively inquiry among interesting people. Your return on investment will always exceed your investment and can be amplified by knowing that you have been in service to others.

This café-style event, motivated by the Association of Knowledge Work (AOK), is one of a number of face-to-face meetings happening around the world this November. AOK is an online community that has been sharing ideas and experiences on the role of knowledge and learning in organizations. Recently, a wave of enthusiasm arose for reinventing the community as something more than an online forum. Founder, Jerry Ash, quickly responded by inviting us all to help determine and design the future AOK.

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A large shareholder in Penn Treaty American
(NYSE:PTA) demanded that the company immediately hire an investment
banker in order to explore strategic alternatives including a possible
sale of the company, according to a Schedule 13D filing with the SEC. Shareholders are hoping that the company will heed this advice and unlock value in the troubled company.

Monarch
Activist Partners, which owns less than a five percent stake in the
company, believes that the company’s shares are worth upwards of $10
per share and the only way for investors to realize this value is
through a sale of the company. In conversations with other shareholders
and professionals, they believe that the company is current in its
statutory filings, a sale of the company would not be dependent on GAAP
financials.

“We believe PTA’s Directors are in breach of their
fiduciary responsibility by letting the financial reporting issues
persist indefinitely without pursuing strategic alternatives,” said
Monarch’s James Chadwick. ”If PTA does not hire an investment banking
firm to pursue alternatives and add shareholder representatives to the
board immediately we intend to take action to unseat the board in the
next shareholders’ meeting.”

All in all, this is great news for
shareholders as it means that PTA shares may finally come to value. The
activist hedge fund is likely to see support from other institutional
investors too - making their campaign for changes likely to result in
something. Combined, these factors make PTA a stock worth watching!

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The Crane Building Wins Design Award

The Crane Building historic rehabilitation in Portland’s Pearl District was honored with the award for the best Oregon interior design for 2007 by the American Institute of Architects. The award, also given to Emmons Architects, was the International Interior Design Association’s (IIDA) Jurors’ Award at the IIDA Oregon Chapter and the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Portland Chapter Design Awards, held October 12.

The Crane Building project was developed by Guardian Management LLC, a Portland, Ore.-based real estate investment and management firm specializing in multifamily housing investment opportunities and property management services.

Emmons Architects was recognized for their design work for Guardian’s corporate headquarters in the Crane Building, a 1909 historic building restored by Guardian in 2006 for residential, office and retail use. Guardian occupies the second and third floors.

“Our corporate offices are a great source of pride within our company,” said Tom Brenneke, owner and president of Guardian Management LLC. “This achievement speaks to Emmons level of talent and commitment, and we are fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them.”

The IIDA and the AIA Design Awards recognize Interior Design of exceptional quality. By bringing together Interior, Architectural, and Industrial Designers, the awards address the wide array of design elements necessary to create a successful interior environment.

About Guardian Management LLC
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Portland, Ore., Guardian Management LLC is a third generation real estate management and investment firm. Specializing in multifamily housing investment opportunities and property management services. Guardian’s diverse real estate experience offers property owners and investors a valuable combination of market expertise and contacts. Currently Guardian has approximately 150 properties (13,000 units) in its management portfolio and 500 employees in seven states. For more information, visit www.guardianapartments.com.

About Emmons Architects
Emmons Architects is a ten-year-old, design-focused, nine-person firm located in Portland’s Central Eastside. The firm specializes in commercial interiors, commercial buildings, affordable housing and higher education. Emmons Architects also planned several high profile urban design projects in Portland, namely South Waterfront and the Downtown Waterfront. Emmons projects consistently win IIDA and AIA awards for design excellence.

Today, Josh Roberts (owner of ComicSpace and Onlinecomics.net) and I are excited to announce that we have signed a Letter of Intent to merge our businesses into one corporate entity. We will be working with E-Line Ventures, a New Jersey-based ‘double bottom line’ early-stage investment firm (they look at both the financial and social impact of their investments) to secure the necessary funding and support for us to effectively merge and run the combined business.

It’s been obvious to me, and to anybody else paying attention, that my websites are too ambitious, and have grown much too quickly, for one person to manage properly. As some of you know, I’ve spent the better part of two years looking for the right partners to help me step my efforts up. A lot of people and companies have come calling during that time, but nothing felt quite right, for one reason or another.

A few months ago, Josh and I were corresponding on a technical issue, and our conversation sort of veered into this territory. Turned out he was in the same position I was in — and had turned down a lot of the same offers I had turned down, for the same reasons. Josh’s skillsets are quite different from mine, but his goals and plans are very, very similar. Each of us fills a gap in the other’s area of expertise. After brainstorming for a while, we realized that we would make a great team, that each of us would be stronger with the other at his side, and we decided, way back then, to merge our businesses — but only if we could find investors, and get the funding to build out the kind of stable business infrastructure we’ve both been lacking.

E-Line has provided a blueprint for making that dream come true, without our having to sell out our core beliefs. We’ve been working with them for what seems like a year or two now (but has really only been a few months), to bring our vision for offering the most useful, empowering and engaging services for digital comic creators and readers to life. The folks at E-Line not only understood and support this vision, they have complimentary skills to help us make it happen. Those guys rock. You’ll be meeting some of them – as well as some of our own new co-employees — over time.

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After long journey, Saif gets his due in Bollywood

What a long journey it has been for Saif Ali Khan! From the over-pampered scion of a nawab family to one of Bollywood’s most versatile actors and a serious contender for the No.1 spot, he has truly emerged triumphant at the turnstiles.

One still remembers the harsh comments that accompanied Saif’s debut in Umesh Mehra’s Aashiq Awara in 1993. Acidic comments about his looks and appearance were the order of the Friday. A well-known columnist wrote, “Put a dupatta on Saif’s head and he looks like Sharmila Tagore.”

Such comments hurt all right. But they hit home, bang-on. As Saif said recently, “My detractors and their harsh comments have been my greatest incentive to prove myself.”

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PR.com - OnlineInsuranceQuotes.ca was first launched in 2003 and responded to the increasing demand for online quotations for Travel, Life, Disability, Critical Illness, Group Benefits, and Health Insurance by Canadians. OIQ is not owned in part or in whole by

EPF to make changes for better savings
Business Times Malaysia - that will be implemented are: allowing members to use savings in excess of the basic sum in Account 1 for approved investment products (next February) allowing members to withdraw savings from Account 2 to purchase critical illness

Violence against women
Al Watany - Twelve women died because of medical care negligence, 13 ended up handicapped or left with a critical illness, and six became unfertile. Three were in a coma. Most medical care victims were also housewives. Official violence Six women were victims of

Prominent lawyer retires in style
Aiken Standard - Johnson survived a critical illness about two years ago and has made a remarkable recovery. "We are grateful for all that the university has done for the community and all that it has done for us," Johnson said. "We have really enjoyed supporting the

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Uranium rose for a third consecutive week on Friday as speculators rekindled their interest in the raw material for nuclear reactor fuel, said TradeTech, a publisher of price assessments.

The price for immediate delivery rose $4, or 5 percent, to $84 a pound, TradeTech said in a weekly report. The equivalent of at least 350,000 pounds was sold in two transactions, the company said.

“Renewed buying interest on the part of speculators and hedge funds is contributing to the upward price pressure,” TradeTech said. “However, this demand remains predominantly discretionary.”

Purchases by hedge funds and other nonconsumers of uranium helped lift the spot price to a record $138 a pound in June, according to TradeTech’s assessments. The price fell as low as $75 by the end of September as speculators sold to generate cash and some nuclear power operators temporarily withdrew from the market.

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QANTAS will forge ahead with plans to expand its fleet of turbo-prop Q400 Bombardier jets, despite repeated safety scares that prompting a European airline to retire the aircraft.

The latest in a series of safety concerns with the plane arose when a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) pilot made an emergency landing at Copenhagen Airport on the weekend.

The 44 passengers and crew aboard the jet were not injured, but SAS said it would stop using the plane after repeated problems with landing gear.

“Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft,” SAS chief executive Mats Jansson said in a statement.

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France Back In NATO?

With Nicolas Sarkozy at the helm of government, relations between the US and France have warmed considerably. Sarkozy has adopted the American position on Iran and now leads European efforts to demand accountability from Teheran on their nuclear program. Can a French return to NATO be far behind? Not according to Ronald Asmus, who oversaw a close-run attempt ten years ago:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated his willingness to bring France back into NATO. It is an offer the United States should not refuse. Earlier in my career, I was a hard-liner on France and NATO. In fact, when I stepped down from the State Department in 2000, the French ambassador to Washington was so relieved he toasted my departure at a European Union ambassadors’ lunch because of my dogged pursuit of U.S. interests. (I considered it a back-handed compliment.)

But times change, and so should our thinking. …

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Industry Minister Jim Prentice aborted plans yesterday to approve a project to blast tourists into space under Ottawa’s regional development program.Mr. Prentice stepped in after The Globe and Mail reported that PlanetSpace was in line for a $45-million share of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

“There have been no discussions between Industry Minister Prentice or any member of his staff regarding Lockheed Martin investing $45-million of its own money in the so-called PlanetSpace space-tourism project in Cape Breton. Nor will there be any such discussions,” Bill Rodgers, Mr. Prentice’s director of communications, said in an e-mail yesterday.

To get the contract to sell 17 Hercules C130Js to the Canadian Forces, Lockheed Martin has to promise to spend the equivalent of the $3.2-billion purchase price in the form of regional benefits in Canada.

Continue at The Globe and Mail…

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Many people prefer to keep a certain amount of cash in their investment portfolio, especially when investing for periods of 5 years or less. However, savings accounts do not always give the best return on investment for cash. Certificates of Deposit (CD) usually offer better interest rates than savings accounts because a CD guarantees the bank access to your money for a certain time period. This allows the banks to lend your money to other people and earn a profit.

The only problem with CDs is liquidity - you must leave the money in the CD until it matures, or you face an early withdrawal penalty. However, there are options to increase your access to your money. Building a CD ladder is a simple and effective method of investing your money at better interest rates while maintaining some access to the money.

How to build a CD ladder: Let’s use a 5 year ladder as an example. In year 1 you invest in 5 separate CDs, one each for lengths of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years. At the end of each year, you reinvest the money into another 5 year CD (unless the money is needed for other purposes). Here is an example:

Year 1:

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The lobby group for venture capital firms has rounded up more than 500 entrepreneurs to sign a letter (downloads pdf) to Congress arguing against the proposed VC tax.

We’ve argued several times that raising tax on the carried interest of venture capital profits is the fair thing to do — because VCs aren’t taking risks on the money being considered.

But the VC lobby in Washington — the National Venture Capital Association — continues to hold out for its loophole, which gives VCs the low capital gains tax rate on the profits they get for investing money for large institutions. The moves comes in response to legislation introduced last week by Chairman Charles Rangel to increase the tax on “carried interest,” as it is called, to the regular income tax, which is rate the rest of us regular folk pay.

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Amit Burman of the Dabur family is venturing into food retail business which will include a chain of quick service restaurants and food courts. Amit Burman, the CEO of Dabur Foods (the makers of Real fruit juice), would be spearheading the venture called Lite Bite Concepts. According to Business Standard, it has other investors Rohit Aggarwal and Tejpavan Singh Gandhok.

The business would see an investment of Rs 200 crore ($50 million) over the next two or three years for setting up 200 outlets spread across the country - in malls, office complexes, high way locations, and in locations where there are high footfalls.

Burman plans to roll out their own brand called Rapps, a wrap-based sandwich roll. They are expected to launch its first outlet next month. The company is believed to be targeting a Rs-1,000 crore turnover in next two years.

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The oil and gas sector is set for a major M&A boom with every stock in the sector a possible bid target, according to new research from the corporate finance team at Ernst & Young.

The Alternative Investment Market (Aim) has been relatively quiet in terms of deal flow since the credit crisis hit markets over the summer. But that trend could well be reversed as the 90-plus companies in the oil exploration and production sector seem likely to go through a phase of significant consolidation.

Many of the oil prospectors on Aim are running out of cash, says Ernst & Young, and they will either have to take over rivals or be bought out themselves if they are to have a future.

Alec Carstairs, oil and gas partner at Ernst & Young, says: “A combination of weak share performance and low cash balances means that difficult times are ahead for the oil and gas juniors.

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OK, here’s Swensen’s main thesis. You’re an unsophisticated investor. You don’t have the tools at your disposal to compete with the pros. Market timing is for losers; where have all the day traders from the 90s gone? In the long run, you’re not going to beat the market with stock picks. Most, if not all investment vehicles available to the small investor are packed with fees (overt and hidden) which lower performance. For fund managers, fiduciary responsibility takes a back seat to profits. So you might as well just invest in a vehicle which closely mirrors a benchmark index. Choose an asset allocation that fits your goals, rebalance periodically, and you’ll outperform your peers. Forget about trying to outperform the market.

Swensen’s well-diversified, equity-oriented portfolio:

Domestic equity 30%

Foreign developed equity 15%

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If you have been following the articles that I have posted in “My Portfolio” about Victoria Petroleum (VPE) you would know by now that VPE holds the largest area of tenements for future explorations in the Cooper Basin. Their closest rival in permits is Beach Petroleum (BPT.)

VPE are currently enjoying considerable success in finding oil in the Cooper Basin to the tune of around 70% strike rate and are in the process of expanding the “Growler Oil Field” towards production in December 2007.

It seems strange that there has been no mention of any of these facts in the press.But there again the “Little Minnows” behind the scenes are often overlooked in the shadow of the bigger companies.

Coincidentally Santos has partnered up with VPE ( See post on October 18th in My Portfolio.) to drill up to 7 exploration wells in the Wompi and Barta blocks which cover an area of around 300 square kilometres in the Cooper Basin. Now to the article:-

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Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

Now it looks as though they’re here to stay

Oh I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be

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How Can I Get Promotion on the Web for Free?

Everyone is looking for promotion for their website or opportunity. The question is always the same. How can that be achieved on a limited budget. It can be done. Here is how it works.

This new hit exchange is called WebBizInsider and it works on a simple basic principle. By joining our membership, you agree to look at other members opportunities and websites, and in exchange, they will look at your website. It is cooperation, pure and simple. If you contribute more to our community, you will receive more back. We track your contribution by using credits. When you engage in activities that help other members, such as surfing their sites, you earn credits. When other members view your site, your credits are used up. It is that simple.

How Do I Earn Credits?

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“We [university endowments] don’t have the political difficulties that the pension funds have to get new investment strategies approved…” (Barrons.com)

Should you invest like the Yale University endowment fund? (Abnormal Returns)

“The memorable thing about August was that it was a crisis in long short quant, when the majority of funds in that strategy blew up, wiping out billions and making liars of their marketers.” (Ultimi Barbarorum via Epicurean Dealmaker)

“..CEOs get paid not simply to ride the wave but to make tough calls—to decide which loans not to make, which companies not to buy.” (Slate.com)

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http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/blog/ted_neward/2007/10/a_conversation_on_architecture.html”>http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/blog/ted_neward/2007/10/a_conversation_on_architecture.html

***Begin Quote***

Do many/most developers at F500 companies not go to events like local JUGs or conferences like NFJS?

Unfortunately, far too many developers don’t treat their careers as a work-in-progress, but believe that once they’ve landed the job, they’re on a track to moderate financial success for life. In fact, lots of developers fit the demographic of “male, 18-30, and single”, which is the absolute worst demographic for future planning. Lots of these guys think that “Hey, I’m smart, the money will always flow in, right? Java/.NET/C++/COBOL will always be the tool of choice, right? What, me worry?”

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