Fun Stuff...Off Topic(O/T)

[skiracer]

Here are the 10 stocks in the Forbes Best for 2012 and their performance. There were 3 huge losses - I sorted these descendiing in order of percent gain.

symbol			price	paid	trd date	gain 	% gain	   
cof	1/4/2013	61.96	42.29	1/2/2012	$19.67	46.51%	   
tkc	1/4/2013	16.51	11.76	1/2/2012	$4.75	40.39%	   
hsy	1/4/2013	74.54	61.78	1/2/2012	$12.76	20.65%	   
fdx	1/4/2013	94.91	83.51	1/2/2012	$11.40	13.65%	   
aa	1/4/2013	9.26	8.65	1/2/2012	$0.61	7.05%	   
cat	1/4/2013	94.92	90.6	1/2/2012	$4.32	4.77%	   
msft	1/4/2013	26.74	25.96	1/2/2012	$0.78	3.00%	   
san *	1/4/2013	8.29	7.52	1/2/2012	$1.42	-18.88%	   
arco	1/4/2013	13.72	20.53	1/2/2012	$6.81	-33.17%	   
mako	1/4/2013	11.9916	25.21	1/2/2012	$13.22	-52.43%

Mimo,
Did you or anyone else here own any of these stocks during the year?

[riverbabe]

Mimo,
Did you or anyone else here own any of these stocks during the year?

CAT was mine

[billyjoe]

Ski, I tracked Forbes list in the past and knew there was a good chance of losing big, but if a person bought equal dollar amounts of each they would have a nice gain, right? MSFT was the only one on the list I've ever owned. It's been a dog for years.

--------------billy

[mimo_100]

Mimo,
Did you or anyone else here own any of these stocks during the year?

I did not have any of these.

[mimo_100]

Ski, I tracked Forbes list in the past and knew there was a good chance of losing big, but if a person bought equal dollar amounts of each they would have a nice gain, right? MSFT was the only one on the list I've ever owned. It's been a dog for years.

--------------billy

billy,

You are correct - if you bought an equal dollar amount of each stock, you would have made a little over 5.4% adjusted for div's and any splits.

[Louetta]

Watching the Washington-Seattle game. First quarter, Washington on about the Seattle 10. RG III passes into the end zone. Well after the throw, a Seattle defender makes helmet to helmet contact with RG III. To me this is almost a free foul. If the pass is incomplete, it's half the distance to the goal, about 5 yards. Whoopee, it's only the first quarter anyway. The pass IS complete so they assess the penalty on the kick off. Well, even w/o the extra 15 yards, most kickoffs go thru the end zone so Seattle gets the ball on the 20 like they often do after the kick-off. Got to be a better way to assess a real penalty for that foul.

[mimo_100]

Watching the Washington-Seattle game. First quarter, Washington on about the Seattle 10. RG III passes into the end zone. Well after the throw, a Seattle defender makes helmet to helmet contact with RG III. To me this is almost a free foul. If the pass is incomplete, it's half the distance to the goal, about 5 yards. Whoopee, it's only the first quarter anyway. The pass IS complete so they assess the penalty on the kick off. Well, even w/o the extra 15 yards, most kickoffs go thru the end zone so Seattle gets the ball on the 20 like they often do after the kick-off. Got to be a better way to assess a real penalty for that foul.

These kinds of penalties have irritated me for a long time, too. How about the punt and kickoff returners who wait until the last second to give a "quickie" fair catch signal, get hit, and then the kicking team gets penalized - if they wait until the last second, I say let them be fair game.

[billyjoe]

My daughter found this on facebook, it made its way to youtube. Very inspiring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLOsbDVR-p0


-------------------billy

[riverbabe]

My granddaughter!

Sent to the Principal at Emily's school.
Dear Mr. Brown,

I don't know if you ever get a chance to recognize a student for a non-academic accomplishment, but I thought I would share what Emily completed today. As you may know, Emily has a metabolic condition called Phenylketonuria or PKU. It often sets her apart from other kids.

Emily was selected as one (1) of two hundred (200) nationwide participants in a clinical study to test a drug for positive reactions not currently on the drug's protocol. There were only two (2) people selected through University Hospitals in Cleveland - and the other is 23 years old. For the last six months, Emily kept the commitment she made to the study to include daily doses of medicine and monthly appointments. With the results of this study, her efforts may change tens of 1,000's (10,000+) people's lives.

A twelve year old goes through many changes in 7th grade and through Middle School. Even at my age, I hope to make a difference in this world. At twelve, Emily just did.

If you see her in the hallway, please tell her "congratulations". She has shown commitment, patience, strength of character and selflessness. While I am her parent, I am grateful to know her as a friend.

Best regards,

Stephanie Txxxxxxxxx

[NCcoach]

Sent to the Principal at Emily's school.
Dear Mr. Brown,

I don't know if you ever get a chance to recognize a student for a non-academic accomplishment, but I thought I would share what Emily completed today. As you may know, Emily has a metabolic condition called Phenylketonuria or PKU. It often sets her apart from other kids.

Emily was selected as one (1) of two hundred (200) nationwide participants in a clinical study to test a drug for positive reactions not currently on the drug's protocol. There were only two (2) people selected through University Hospitals in Cleveland - and the other is 23 years old. For the last six months, Emily kept the commitment she made to the study to include daily doses of medicine and monthly appointments. With the results of this study, her efforts may change tens of 1,000's (10,000+) people's lives.

A twelve year old goes through many changes in 7th grade and through Middle School. Even at my age, I hope to make a difference in this world. At twelve, Emily just did.

If you see her in the hallway, please tell her "congratulations". She has shown commitment, patience, strength of character and selflessness. While I am her parent, I am grateful to know her as a friend.

Best regards,

Stephanie Txxxxxxxxx

That's Awesome! Congrats, Emily!!

[mimo_100]

For those of you who believe that miracles can happen today.

This video story was filmed in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Westlake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36aiIz61MRc

Interview with Ted Henry, WEWS Channel 5 in Cleveland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP_SdOSKwak

[noshadyldy]

For those of you who believe that miracles can happen today.

This video story was filmed in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Westlake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36aiIz61MRc

Interview with Ted Henry, WEWS Channel 5 in Cleveland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP_SdOSKwak

I think it's wonderful!!! I know those things happen.

[mimo_100]

Here is an interesting discussion of corporate income

http://www.amateur-investor.net/Weekend_Market_Analysis_Jan_26_2013.htm

[mimo_100]

By SUZANNE LUCAS / MONEYWATCH/ January 11, 2013, 9:09 AM

25 weirdest job interview questions of 2012

(MoneyWatch) To help job-seekers prepare job interviews, career guidance company Glassdoor every year compiles a list of questions that companies ask. They also pick out odd and unexpected questions. Here is what the firm identified as the 25 strangest interview questions of 2012:

1. "If you were to get rid of one state in the U.S., which would it be and why?" - Asked at Forrester Research, research associate candidate.

2. "How many cows are in Canada?" - Asked at Google, local data quality evaluator candidate.

3. "How many quarters would you need to reach the height of the Empire State building?" - Asked at JetBlue, pricing/revenue management analyst candidate.

4. "A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?" - Asked at Clark Construction Group, office engineer candidate.

5. "What songs best describes your work ethic?" - Asked at Dell, consumer sales candidate.

6. "[Amazon CEO] Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it?" - Asked at Amazon, product development candidate.

7. "What do you think about when you are alone in your car?" - Asked at Gallup, associate analyst candidate.

8. "How would you rate your memory?" - Asked at Marriott, front desk associate candidate.

9. "Name 3 previous Nobel Prize winners." - Asked at BenefitsCONNECT, office manager candidate.

10. "Can you say: 'Peter Pepper Picked a Pickled Pepper' and cross-sell a washing machine at the same time?" - Asked at MasterCard, call center candidate.

11. "If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare for us?" - Asked at Trader Joe's, crew candidate.

12. "How would people communicate in a perfect world?" - Asked at Novell, software engineer candidate.

13. "How do you make a tuna sandwich?" - Asked at Astron Consulting, office manager candidate.

14. "My wife and I are going on vacation -- where would you recommend?" - Asked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, advisory associate candidate.

15. "You are a head chef at a restaurant and your team has been selected to be on [the TV show] 'Iron Chef'. How do you prepare your team for the competition, and how do you leverage the competition for your restaurant?" - Asked at Accenture, business analyst candidate.

16. "Estimate how many windows are in New York." - Asked at Bain & Co., associate consultant candidate.

17. "What's your favorite song? Perform it for us now." - Asked at LivingSocial, Adventures City manager candidate.

18. "Calculate the angle of two clock pointers when the time is 11:50." - Asked at Bank of America, software developer candidate.

19. "Have you ever stolen a pen from work?" - Asked at Jiffy Software, software architect candidate.

20. "Pick two celebrities to be your parents." - Asked at Urban Outfitters, sales associate candidate.

21. "What kitchen utensil would you be?" - Asked at Bandwidth.com, marketer candidate.

22. "If you had turned you cell phone to silent and it rang really loudly despite it being on silent, what would you tell me?" - Asked at Kimberly-Clark, biomedical engineer candidate.

23. "On a scale from 1 to 10, rate me as an interviewer." - Asked at Kraft Foods, general laborer candidate.

24. "If you could be anyone else, who would it be?" - Asked at Salesforce.com, sales representative candidate.

25. "How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?" - Asked at PETCO, analyst candidate.

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

[billyjoe]

If you ever owned a cat you might like this.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/house

-------------------billy