Here and There, July 11

The Rampaging Nanny State: I recently bought an Ace Hardware "Kink Free" Garden Hose, whose package says "Inner core made with medical grade vinyl - Drinking water safe". The back says:

WARNING: This product contains one or more chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.

Who should I believe, Ace Hardware or the State of California?

Sayonara, Loserville: The Shark took part in a trend!

Airport shoe policy: Removing is optional What a relief. Now I can take my shoes off at airports, even when they don't ask me to.

Seattle blogger Jim Miller announces his first blogversary with a list of links to his favorite postings from his first year. Go take a look.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is not very tolerant of citizens who try to defend their interests at the ballot box and who spend money to communicate their message to the public. And no, they didn't "buy signatures", as the editorial states. They only paid people to collect signatures. The difference is enormous.

I discovered Canada's true nature and its true nature is spam. The Canadian Tourism Commission set me this spam yesterday:

Still looking for an affordable summer vacation? Why not visit Canada?

I'll tell you why not. Because I'm fed up with spam! The Mrs. and I were thinking about going up to Victoria this summer, but that can wait.

Stephen Dunphy of the Seattle Times says:

Here's an example of how sophisticated investors think. Caution: This is highly risky and we are not recommending it. Just an example of how things work.

Airborne Freight is now priced at $21.07, unchanged in trading yesterday, which put the stock at less than 1 percent below the current buyout price of $21.25 from Deutsche Post DHL. The aggressive thinkers look at the deal and wonder what would happen if the deal were to be delayed or not happen. The deal is most likely to go through and close in the third quarter. But the aggressive investors sees this: If you short the stock, your "loss" if the deal actually works is very limited, and if it doesn't, you can "gain" much by shorting it here. Shorting a stock is a bet that it will decline.

That's not really investing, it's merely arbitrage. Sophisticated investors don't do that, only professional arbitrageurs, or investors who think they're more sophisticated than they really are. The really sophisticated investors buy index funds or use tax-managed separate accounts.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 11, 2003 11:00 AM