Previous Columns
8:30 AM EST, Wednesday, June 6: One more Australian stock I like: Metex Resources Ltd. (MEE.AU). I like it because of its management heritage. Its chairman is Kim Robinson, of Kagara Zinc fame. I've interviewed Kim on twice when I was in Perth`and I'm impressed. Metex is exploration, not production. Hence it's unbelievably speculative. It's looking for uranium, coal and gold. And it's everywhere. You have to understand three things about Australia:

1. It's very large.
2. Most of it remains unexplored for minerals.
3. It's loaded with minerals.

This map blew me away. It's in Metex's latest quarterly:

Estate planning: The sad realization: The 2001 Tax Act gradually reduces estate taxes until they disappear entirely in the year 2010. After that, who knows? The hope among rich people was that the Republicans would be in power and would permanently erase federal Estate taxes. Hence many rich people have been postponing doing anything about their estate planning. The dawning realization is that Republicans won't be in charge. And the Democrats are not motivated to erase the death tax. So we're back to square one: boring planning. Now you know why you're likely see more of this stuff in this column in coming days. Yuch!

Construction woes: My contractor tells me glass and steel have gone up in price tremendously in the past year -- about 40%. No one seems to know why.

Eagle Creek Load Warrior bags are my favorite: If you wear suits, you might prefer the traditional hard cases. But these wheeled duffels (as they're called) are super, for four reasons:

1. They're light -- 40% lighter than a hard case.
2. They fit an amazing amount of stuff in.
3. They have a laundry chute pocket -- keeps the dirty stuff from the clean. The 30" one has a separate shoe compartment.
4. They come in three sizes -- 22" (for carry-on), 25" and 30" (which my wife and I use for traveling).

The Eagle Creek Load Warrior comes in three colors, black, tomato and tree frog (green, i.e. this one). There's more on Eagle Creek's web site.

Google Voice Local Search. Calling 411 or 555-1212 now costs more than an arm and a leg. Here's a new free alternative:

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone. To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone. Using this service, you can:

+ search for a local business by name or category. You can say "Giovanni's Pizzeria" or just "pizza".

+ get connected to the business, free of charge.

+ get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone. Just say "text message".

And it's free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider. Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We’re fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests. It’s currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings.

The perils of antioxidant supplements. From a magazine called Patient Care -- primary care topics in gastroenterology.

Most primary care clinicians have patients convinced that supplements of various sorts can boost immunity and prevent disease. Antioxidants like beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium—singly and in combination—are particularly popular, consumed by those who think these compounds can counter the oxidative stress they have been told is associated with GI cancer and other human ills. Unfortunately, a large-scale meta-analysis of published randomized trials challenges these supposed benefits. Antioxidant supplements, the analysis demonstrates, not only fail to protect users, they actually increase mortality.1

The analysis included 68 randomized trials with 232,606 participants; trials were stratified according to risk of bias. Trials classified as low-bias risk were of high methodologic quality. When the data from all low- and high-risk trials were pooled, consumption of synthetic antioxidants had no significant effect on mortality. These supplements seemed to be neither protective nor dangerous.

But when the 47 trials the investigators classified as low-bias were analyzed, beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E—used singly or in combination—significantly increased mortality. Vitamin C and selenium appeared to have no significant effect on mortality, but the authors say further research is needed for a definitive conclusion. The authors are unable to point to any specific biochemical mechanisms to account for these detrimental effects, nor were they able to determine the cause of the increased mortality.

Considering that 10% to 20% of the adult population of North America and Europe may consume these supplements, a circumstance the authors attribute to intensive marketing, the public health implications of the analysis are substantial. A final caution is in order, however. These results apply only to the synthetic antioxidants consumers find on the shelves of drug and health food stores. The findings should not be applied to the potential health benefits of fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidants.

1. Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, et al. Mortality in randomized trials of antioxidant supplements for primary and secondary prevention: systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2007;297:842-857.

Creation explained, finally: From a reader: The reason the Lord could create the universe in six days was that he did it himself and did not use a contractor. If he had used a contractor, after three days he would have asked, "Where are my stars?", and the contractor would have said "The electricians are on strike" And he would have asked, "Where are my mountains?" And the earthmovers would have answered, "Their truck needed new brakes." etc.

French Open Tennis TV Schedule: Plenty of tennis to watch. There's a six hour time difference to EST and nine hours to PST. Tennis is basically on three channels -- ESPN2, NBC and the Tennis Channel (455 on Time Warner).