Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden - appropos given the Vimy Ridge memorial this weekend. Tells the story of First Nations participation in WWI.
Primary Colors by Anonymous (Joe Klein) - a great read about the behind the scenes politicking in US (and, no doubt, Canadian elections). Cynical enough to suit my reading tastes.
Anything by Maeve Binchey - to cheer me up due to my above cynical outlook.
The cult status of James J. Cramer, the host of the CNBC television show “Mad Money,” may derive more from the manic atmosphere he creates on the show than the sagacity of his stock tips.
Even so, some people were upset that one of his recommendations on March 28 — to sell shares of Dendreon, a biotechnology company in Seattle — turned out to be dead wrong. The next day, Dendreon’s prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, was endorsed by a Food and Drug Administration panel, putting it a step away from approval. Dendreon’s stock price has since more than tripled, closing last week at $18.05.
On the air, Mr. Cramer joked about the bad advice, saying he “did not expect” good news from Dendreon and had gotten Provenge mixed up with Provasic. The latter is a fictional drug from a 1993 movie, “The Fugitive,” in which Dr. Richard Kimble, played by Harrison Ford, tries to expose a fictitious pharmaceutical company, Devlin-MacGregor.
Mr. Cramer said he was “surprised and thrilled that Provenge, which I was confusing with Provasic, could be approved — remember, staff, that’s what Dr. Richard didn’t like.”
Some bloggers thought he was being dense. In investment chat rooms, people called Mr. Cramer “a fool” or worse, and demanded that CNBC cancel his show.
Nonsense, Mr. Cramer said in a telephone interview last week. He said he did not really confuse the two drugs and was obviously joking by making a reference to one of his favorite movies, something he often does on the show. “ ‘The Fugitive,’ ” he said, “had an early read on why people despise the pharmaceutical companies.” He added, “I always make the joke that even though it’s a $9 million company, you should be selling Devlin-MacGregor.”
It is hard to say how many investors may have missed an earnings opportunity as the result of Mr. Cramer’s words, but he is standing by his call. “There are many people who felt it would not be approved,” he said of Provenge. As for Dendreon, “I wish I had recommended it earlier.” The company did not respond to calls for comment.
One person who believes Mr. Cramer’s account is Kevin Michaels, 27, a Canadian who runs a Web site, CramerWatch.org. The site checks Mr. Cramer’s recommendations using a character called Leonard the Wonder Monkey, who flips a coin to make predictions for the same stocks. The results are tracked for 30 days to see whose advice fared better; for the moment, the monkey is one pick ahead, though Mr. Cramer could pull ahead tonight.
Mr. Michaels said the Dendreon situation underscores the problem with “Mad Money” — that Mr. Cramer exerts too much sway over his fans and in some cases, the market.
“The guy definitely has a lot of knowledge; it’s rare he’s not familiar with a stock,” Mr. Michaels said. “Our goal is to make people realize they should do their own research, make their own decisions and not just be blind believers.”
Mr. Cramer, who has been weathering a bigger controversy lately for comments he made in December on TheStreet.com, which he co-founded 11 years ago and where he remains a major shareholder. He suggested that in his days as a hedge fund manager, he used to try to buoy the prices of stocks he was buying and selling.
By telephone last week, Mr. Cramer said he did not like to think about his critics. “I’m here to educate, but mostly to entertain,” he said, “I’m facetious, I’m cynical, I try to have a couple of jokes.”
continued at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/business/media/09cramer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
It is my impression that any stock that Cramer disses (one should buy) and any stock that Cramer recommends (one should watch for going down). I have no idea who Cramer actually works for but I would guess that he is being paid to offer his stock perspective and if anyone has actually followed his stock recommendations and record over time one would conclude that he knows nothing. D
My pal LL knows a lot about kidney problems in animals as her cat suffered … she provides additional information in the post below for those with elderly cats and dogs. I hope she doesn’t mind me posting her response verbatim but her knowledge may be helpful to others with geriatric pets. So far my attempts to change e-dogs diet to what is recommended have not been successful but I can supplement her diet with iron/B vitamin elixir that LL notes!
from LL:
I was just checking out your blog, which I do from time to time, and I saw your entry about poor old Ella. I was interested to see your kidney research. Emma (LL’s cat) had kidney disease, and ended up dying from complications due to kidney failure. I treated it for two years, though, with all the things your research listed. It seems all old animals end up getting kidney failure. A heavy-handed way to deal with it is to administer subcutaneous fluids (saline solution through an IV bag, but administered just under the skin between the shoulder blades) to keep the animal well hydrated. This flushes the kidneys and brings the BUN (blood urea nitrogen) and creatinine down, making animal feel better because the toxins aren’t building up in their blood. (I did this every other day for two years with Emma, because she was young and otherwise healthy and happy.) You can and should give them extra Vitamin B and a low protein diet. Kidney function affects the production of the hormone that makes the body produce red blood cells, so animals with kidney failure are often anemic or borderline anemic. You can help by giving iron and B12 vitamins. There’s a good animal iron-and-B vitamin supplement called Pet Tinic. It was easy and effective. If things are dire and the animal is severely anemic, you can give them Epogen, which is a hormone made from a human blood product. It’s a bit risky with animals, and it’s a last-resort treatment, way on down the line. (Yes, I tried it. It also costs about $100 per needle.)
