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8:30 AM Thursday, February 23, 2006: We are in good hands. The kids who attended my son, Michael's birthday party last night impress, one more than the other. What got me -- the enormous enthusiasm they all had for what they were doing and the pleasure they were all deriving from their work. There are bankers and businessman. There are editors and salespeople. Three are soon-to-be doctors whom I'd already trust my ailments to. One is an artist whose work we're proudly displaying in our living room. The world is in good hands.

Michael Newton, 24, at his birthday party, February 22, 2006

Biotech is booming: Well, not all of it. But Hana Biosciences (HBX), which I've talked about, is up nicely.

It couldn't hurt to take a little off the table. Biotechs are very volatile.

Fast Company predicts the future: For its latest March issue, the magazine interviewed "gurus," including Avram Miller, ex of Intel, now private consultant. From Miller:

The cornerstone for this millennium is the end of time and space. Most organizations today are run the same way as early 20th century businesses. Everyone goes to his car, drives to work, has certain hours, has a certain job. It is all built on the factory model. Moving forward, it really isn't going to be important where you are in order to do your job. Ideas are being worked on 24 hours a day. Nobody seems surprised anymore if I wake up in the middle of the night and start IM-ing someone in Europe, because the fact is, they don't even know where I am. And it doesn't matter.

Fewer and fewer people will want to be employees of corporations, because corporations don't have anything to offer. Corporations don't provide security and provide fewer and fewer benefits. People may find new ways to sell their skill. I can imagine eBay or the equivalent of eBay being in the business of letting people bid on work all day long. Office buildings may turn into housing, or maybe individuals will rent office space as you would rent a hotel.

Not into private deals. It's a good time to be an entrepreneur. There's huge amounts of money which you can scoop into your latest startup. I'm totally cynical about new deals, since so few ever succeed. But.. If you do look at them, ask two questions:
1. What's the valuation?
2. Why is the valuation so high? Especially for a company with no revenues and no profits.
Then consult this cartoon which I have lovingly saved from the late 1990s.



Another scam: From Dick Hudgens, reader:

I was sitting at home when I got a call that did not identify the caller but informed me that my cell phone was about to be shut off because I was 90 days behind in paying my phone service bill. The caller said I must give pay my bill by credit card or I would be cut off. I almost started to give her my credit card number but I remembered I have a rule to never give my credit card number to a company who calls me. I hung up. I verified that I was not behind on paying for my mobile phone service. The phone number was on my caller id and I dialed it back. They answered "Virgin Mobile" and gave me several options of which one was to speak to a live representative which I elected to do. A woman came on the line but it did not sound right to me and the fact that I do business with another major phone company and not with Virgin Mobile made me hang up again. I did a reverse look-up on the number and it came up with no known company with that number. This whole thing has scam written all over it.

My favorite scam: From another reader:

I got "taken in" by one last week that apparently is happening at several mall parking lots around town. Just as I got into my car and got ready to leave, two VERY attractive young women appeared out of nowhere. One started cleaning my windshield with a rag while the other came up to my window and leaned over so far her breasts just about fell out of her skimpy top.

Before I knew it, one girl had climbed into the back seat and taken her top off completely, and was kissing the back of my neck. Her girlfriend climbed into the front seat and unzipped my pants. That´s when they stole my wallet.

I got robbed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They weren't there on Saturday

Makes logical sense:
Voice mail is my sworn enemy - I have never understood how it works. Finally, I broke down and called the office operator to walk me through it.

"I can send you an instruction sheet," she said.

"Great, fax it over."

"Sure," she said. "But fax it right back. It's my only copy."

Overwhelmed: If you haven't heard back from me on Strategic Commodities fund, you will. I've been overwhelmed.


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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