Previous Columns
8:30 AM EST Thursday, May 4, 2006: Selected biotechs have been doing well -- Chelsea Therapeutics, Hana Biosciences, InSite Vision, VioQuest Pharmaceuticals and Ziopharm Oncology. I took a little off the table yesterday with Hana because it's up so much and biotechs are so volatile. All these should do even better.

Off to the estate planner and the estate lawyer today. As I continue researching, the key seems to be to keep an open mind. For example, give away more than the law allows tax-free and pay the taxes now. This will be cheaper than paying taxes later on appreciated assets, like apartments. More on all this tomorrow. For now, the key is to achieve immortality, by staying alive, one day at a time.

You can do it. There is no limit to what you (and I) can accomplish. The key is to have the self-confidence, stop thinking about the task and start on it NOW. The only limit is beating a 35-year old who used to be 90th in the world in tennis rankings. Someone set me up with that insane match yesterday. To my credit, I got three games. To his credit, he got three sets.

Stop what you're doing. Back up -- NOW. Your computer can -- and will -- crash from one moment to the next. Your precious work is stored on the only thing in your PC that moves -- your hard disk. Some hard disks move as fast as ten thousand times a minute. Anything that moves will also stop moving, I routinely swap out hard disks every six months. A new $100 hard disk is the cheapest insurance for your sanity you can buy.

There are two ways to back up:
1. Back up your working files. I put all my working files under one folder I call "AllHarry." I don't use the Desktop or My Documents to save anything. They're too hard to find. I use a simple and flawless program call FileSync. FileSync finds the new files and back ups only the newest. Does it fast, too. For a copy, click here. I copy my working files twice a day.
2. Clone your hard disk. Put a second identical hard drive in your PC. Run something called E-Z Gig Transfer Utility. Simple. Runs by itself. Takes about half an hour to clone a hard drive. Costs $65. Click here.

What to do with friends' stock recommendations:
1. Don't buy any of them.
2. Track them. Call them "Joe's Recommendations Portfolio."
Occasionally you'll find a friend who actually knows what he or she is doing.

How to keep it all in the family: I bought this book, thinking it would help me with estate planning. Wrong. Nothing to do with estate planning. But lots to do with bringing the family together and talking about money, what its role is and how to preserve it for future generations. It's worth reading. Agreements now may save future disagreements.



Tell your children to become famous artists: Your retirement will be glorious as you live off the few paintings they mercifully left in your attic. Item:

Last night someone paid $95.2 million for Picasso's 1941 painting of Dora Maar, his Spanish mistress. According to the Wall Street Journal, "the painting called Dora Maar sold high in part because it is a big painting -- 51 by 38 inches -- but it has also not been seen publicly since 1968. It belonged to the Gidwitz family of Chicago, and has vibrant colors with details that speak to the couple's famously tempestuous affair. ... Picasso paints Maar with claw-like fingernails next to a cat he gave her as a pet but that she reportedly despised."

Totally tasteless political humor:
The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the mountains of Alaska for some sight-seeing. He was cruising along the campground in the Popemobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods. A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, a "Save the Whales" hat, and a "To Hell with Bush" T-shirt, was screaming while struggling frantically, thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10 foot grizzly.

As the Pope watched horrified, a group of Republican loggers came racing up. One quickly fired a 44 magnum rifle into the bear's chest. The other two reached up and pulled the bleeding semiconscious Democrat from the bear's grasp. Then using long clubs, the three loggers finished off the bear and two of them threw it onto the bed of their truck while the other tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over. "I give you my blessing for your brave actions!" he told them. "I heard there was a bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic environmental activists but now I've seen with my own eyes that this is not true."

As the Pope drove off, one of the loggers asked his buddies, "Who was that guy?"

"It was the Pope," another replied. "He's in direct contact with heaven and has access to all wisdom."

"Well," the logger said, "he may have access to all wisdom but he sure doesn't know anything about bear hunting! By the way, is the bait holding up, or do we need to go back to San Francisco and snatch another one?

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.
Go back.