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8:30 AM Wednesday, January 25, 2006: The tennis from Australia gets better each day. Then I go play. And I get better. Or so it seems. While not paying attention, I missed a new IPO:



The tennis schedule is below.

Big Brother is watching what you search for. The government has asked Google, Yahoo, MSN and America Online to turn over records of millions of its users' search queries. Yahoo, MSN and America Online have turned over the records. Google is resisting. The government says its requests are part of its efforts to uphold an online pornography law. The government and the cooperating companies say the search queries cannot be traced to their source, and therefore no personal information about users is being given up, according to today's New York Times. But I believe that the government can trace searches back to the searching computer and then to the person who may have made them. In short, it's a a good idea to be circumspect in what you search for. For more, there's a piece in today's New York Times. Click here.

The IPO season heats up, but your broker doesn't. To get shares in an IPO, your broker needs to have a piece of paper on file with your signature. His compliance officer needs to check it. That can take days -- more than enough time for you to miss out on a hot IPO. If you haven't filled out the paper, do it today. I missed out on American Railcar because one of my brokers gave laziness a whole new meaning.

Selling. We all need to learn it. The failed broker emailed me, "Harry. I feel as if there never was a bridge. You have been on the opposite side of a wide canyon from me for quite a while. I don't know if you've ever seen value in my recommendations or if you only enjoy toying with me."

It's hard to take rejection. His partner had thoroughly annoyed me by aggressively peddling an investment I neither understood nor wanted. He finally got angry and hung the phone up on me.

I emailed my failed salesman, "Your
partner is a terrible salesman. He persisted and persisted until he got his prospect (i.e. me) angry. WRONG! Then he hung up on me. WRONG! He has now burnt me as a bridge – Why? No reason. Better for him to say. “I feel you’re busy. I’ll call back another time. Meantime, I’ll summarize the deal in an email. Sorry to disturb you first thing on a Monday morning when you’re busy.

I guess they don't teach selling like they should. Sad, for the young brokers under so much pressure.

Cramer's advice: Don't read the financial sections. They make you feel like an idiot. They're all about what happened. All about the deals you missed. Interesting angle. I suspect he's right.

An argument I don't want to join: I recommended Munich, the movie, because I thought it was a good movie. One reader, who knew the murdered athletes, is badgering me to warn my readers that Munich was worse than he had feared. He writes, "It left me appalled and enraged. I felt violated. The film debased the memory of my friends. It exploited a horrifying atrocity. It slandered the brave Israeli volunteers who were ready to sacrifice their lives to seek justice and to risk orphaning their children in this dangerous but necessary assignment. Terrorists had to learn they could not murder Israelis abroad with impunity and that the perpetrators of this atrocity would not live to plot another one. ... But this film is not about reality or about presenting a truthful account of the aftermath of Munich. It is about Steven Spielberg -- his spin on history, his ego, and his arrogance in thinking that he has special wisdom and insights about how to bring peace." In short, see the movie. Make up your own mind.

Today's sartorial tip: Save ironing. Wear mock turtlenecks. They cost less than $20 at Lands'End. My wife and daughter were impressed by my new sartorial elegance. Click here.


This is not me. He still has brown hair.

What Florida is all about ...
Phyllis and Mort, a retired couple from New York City, living in Boca Raton, are getting ready to go out to dinner. Phyllis says, "Mort, darling, do you want me to wear this Chanel suit or the Gucci?"

Mort says, "Do I care?"

A few minutes later Phyllis says, "Mort, should I wear my Cartier watch or my Rolex ?"

Mort says, "Who cares ?"

A few more minutes pass and Phyllis says, "Mort, love, shall I wear my five-carat pear diamond ring or my six-carat round diamond ring with the baguettes?"

Mort says, "Phyllis, I really don't care what you wear, but if you don't move your ass, we're going to miss the Early Bird Special."

The Australian Tennis Open TV Schedule
January 25
2:00pm-6:00pm
Mens Qtrs/Women's Semis
ESPN2
January 25
9:30pm-12:30am
Mens Qtrs/Women's Semis
ESPN2
January 26
3:30am-6:00am
Men's Semifinals
ESPN2
January 26
3:00pm-5:30pm
Men's Semifinals
ESPN2
January 26
11:30pm-12:30pm
Men's Semifinals
ESPN2
January 27
12:30pm-1:00am
Men's Semis/Women's Finals
ESPN2
January 27
3:30am-6:00am
Men's Semis/Women's Finals
ESPN2
January 27
3:00pm-5:20pm
Men's Semis/Women's Finals
ESPN2
January 27
9:30pm-11:30pm
Men's Semis/Women's Sinals
ESPN2
January 29
3:30am-6:30am
Men's Finals
ESPN2
January 29
12:00pm-3:00pm
Men's Finals
ESPN2

Recent column highlights:
+ Munich, the movie. A must-see. Click here.
+ Identity Theft precautions. Click here.
+ Dumb reasons we hold losing stocks. Click here.
+ How my private equity fund is doing. Click here.
+ Blackstone private equity funds. Click here.
+ Manhattan Pharmaceuticals: Click here.
+ NovaDel Biosciences appeals. Click here.
+ Hana Biosciences appeals. Click here.
+ All turned on by biotech. Click here.
+ Steve Jobs Commencement Address. The text is available: Click here. The full audio is available. Click here.
+ The March of the Penguins, an exquisite movie. Click here.
+ When to sell stocks. Click here.


Harry Newton


This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look mighty interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Claire's law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.
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