librarians without borders

“A Simple Dividend Strategy with Extraordinary Returns”

[from Zack's]
This week, I’m going to focus on a simple dividend strategy
that has produced some amazing results over the last few years.

Since it’s a dividend paying strategy, I’ve incorporated a
longer holding period (12-24 weeks).

This strategy is both easy to build and easy to use with the
Research Wizard.

The parameters to this screen are as follows:

Price >= $10
Market Cap >= $500 mil.
Zacks Rank <= 3 (1, 2 or 3 -- no sell ratings allowed)
Current Dividend Yield >= 8%

The Results:

I ran a series of tests using a 24 week holding period over the
last 4 years. Each test was started on a different start date
to eliminate coincidental performance and to verify robustness.

What I found was that every test showed impressive results.

In 2001, the average annualized gross return was 29.8%.

In 2002, the average annualized gross return was 8.3%. (Quite
impressive when compared to the S&P 500’s -22.7%.)

In 2003, the average annualized gross return was a whopping
42.9%, with every 24-week period scoring a win.

And in 2004, the average annualized gross return was 19.1%.

Total Returns:

Since inception, (1/5/2001 thru 2/25/05), the cumulative,
compounded gross return shows an impressive 226.7%.

Wow!

I also tested this strategy using a 12 week holding period as
well. The results were equally as impressive, but of course,
rebalancing more frequently would have cost more in commissions
and the possibility of missed dividends.

Either way, this Dividend Strategy has been a consistent
performer through the ups and downs of the market over the last
4+ years (and hopefully in the years to come).

Currently (3/28/05), there are 13 stocks that qualify this
screen. Here are some names on that list:

ALD Allied Capital Corporation
CHT Chunghwa Telecom
VLCCF Knightsbridge Tankers

To find out what other stocks qualify on this winning strategy,
sign up for your free trial to the Research Wizard. Test this
screen and others or build your own strategies and test them.
Remember, the key to successful screening is in discovering
those strategies that have produced profitable results in the
past. And that’s exactly what you get with the powerful
Backtesting ability of Research Wizard. Start your free trial
now. http://at.zacks.com/?id=1388

All the Screen of the Week strategies are created and
back-tested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks
Investment Research. Learn more about the Research Wizard and
Free Trial offer at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1388


Discover all the Free Screening Tools on Zacks.com at
http://at.zacks.com/?id=1389

Voter Fraud in Ohio

ACVR REFERS OHIO VOTER FRAUD REPORT TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. � Today the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) released a copy of a referral letter to the Department of Justice. The letter accompanied a copy of the Ohio Election Report submitted to the House Administration Committee on Monday. ACVR will be releasing similar reports on election activity in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and other states in coming weeks.
. . .
As the U.S. Supreme Court has noted, �It must be remembered that �the right of suffrage can be denied by debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen�s vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise.�� Bush v. Gore, 121 S.Ct. 525, 530 (2000), citing, Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964). No Ohio citizens should be disenfranchised by an illegally cast ballot and, we believe, an apparently coordinated effort to do so merits your investigation.

PEGGY NOONAN

In Love With Death

The bizarre passion of the pull-the-tube people.

God made the world or he didn't.

God made you or he didn't.

If he did, your little human life is, and has been, touched by the divine. If this is true, it would be true of all humans, not only some. And so--again, if it is true--each human life is precious, of infinite value, worthy of great respect.

Most--not all, but probably most--of those who support Terri Schiavo's right to live believe the above. This explains their passion and emotionalism. They believe they are fighting for an invaluable and irreplaceable human life. They are like the mother who is famously said to have lifted the back of a small car off the ground to save a child caught under a tire. You're desperate to save a life, you're shot through with adrenaline, your strength is for half a second superhuman, you do the impossible.

That is what they are trying to do.

They do not want an innocent human life ended for what appear to be primarily practical and worldly reasons--e.g., Mrs. Schiavo's quality of life is low, her life is pointless. They say: Who is to say it is pointless? And what does pointless even mean? Maybe life itself is the point.

I do not understand the emotionalism of the pull-the-tube people. What is driving their engagement? Is it because they are compassionate, and their hearts bleed at the thought that Mrs. Schiavo suffers? But throughout this case no one has testified that she is in persistent pain, as those with terminal cancer are.

If they care so much about her pain, why are they unconcerned at the suffering caused her by the denial of food and water? And why do those who argue for Mrs. Schiavo's death employ language and imagery that is so violent and aggressive? The chairman of the Democratic National Committee calls Republicans "brain dead." Michael Schiavo, the husband, calls House Majority Leader Tom DeLay "a slithering snake."

Everyone who has written in defense of Mrs. Schiavo's right to live has received e-mail blasts full of attacks that appear to have been dictated by the unstable and typed by the unhinged. On Democratic Underground they crowed about having "kicked the sh-- out of the fascists." On Tuesday James Carville's face was swept with a sneer so convulsive you could see his gums as he damned the Republicans trying to help Mrs. Schiavo. It would have seemed demonic if he weren't a buffoon.

Why are they so committed to this woman's death?

They seem to have fallen half in love with death.

What does Terri Schiavo's life symbolize to them? What does the idea that she might continue to live suggest to them?

Why does this prospect so unnerve them? Again, if you think Terri Schiavo is a precious human gift of God, your passion is explicable. The passion of the pull-the-tube people is not.

I do not understand their certainty. I don't "know" that any degree of progress or healing is possible for Terri Schiavo; I only hope they are. We can't know, but we can "err on the side of life." How do the pro-death forces "know" there is no possibility of progress, healing, miracles? They seem to think they know. They seem to love the phrases they bandy about: "vegetative state," "brain dead," "liquefied cortex."

I do not understand why people who want to save the whales (so do I) find campaigns to save humans so much less arresting. I do not understand their lack of passion. But the save-the-whales people are somehow rarely the stop-abortion-please people.

The PETA people, who say they are committed to ending cruelty to animals, seem disinterested in the fact of late-term abortion, which is a cruel procedure performed on a human.

I do not understand why the don't-drill-in-Alaska-and-destroy-its-prime-beauty people do not join forces with the don't-end-a-life-that-holds-within-it-beauty people.

I do not understand why those who want a freeze on all death penalty cases in order to review each of them in light of DNA testing--an act of justice and compassion toward those who have been found guilty of crimes in a court of law--are uninterested in giving every last chance and every last test to a woman whom no one has ever accused of anything.

There are passionate groups of women in America who decry spousal abuse, give beaten wives shelter, insist that a woman is not a husband's chattel. This is good work. Why are they not taking part in the fight for Terri Schiavo? Again, what explains their lack of passion on this? If Mrs. Schiavo dies, it will be because her husband, and only her husband, insists she wanted to, or would want to, or said she wanted to in a hypothetical conversation long ago. A thin reed on which to base the killing of a human being.

The pull-the-tube people say, "She must hate being brain-damaged." Well, yes, she must. (This line of argument presumes she is to some degree or in some way thinking or experiencing emotions.) Who wouldn't feel extreme sadness at being extremely disabled? I'd weep every day, wouldn't you? But consider your life. Are there not facets of it, or facts of it, that make you feel extremely sad, pained, frustrated, angry? But you're still glad you're alive, aren't you? Me too. No one enjoys a deathbed. Very few want to leave.

Terri Schiavo may well die. No good will come of it. Those who are half in love with death will only become more red-fanged and ravenous.

And those who are still learning--our children--oh, what terrible lessons they're learning. What terrible stories are shaping them. They're witnessing the Schiavo drama on television and hearing it on radio. They are seeing a society--their society, their people--on the verge of famously accepting, even embracing, the idea that a damaged life is a throwaway life.

Our children have been reared in the age of abortion, and are coming of age in a time when seemingly respectable people are enthusiastic for euthanasia. It cannot be good for our children, and the world they will make, that they are given this new lesson that human life is not precious, not touched by the divine, not of infinite value.

Once you "know" that--that human life is not so special after all--then everything is possible, and none of it is good. When a society comes to believe that human life is not inherently worth living, it is a slippery slope to the gas chamber. You wind up on a low road that twists past Columbine and leads toward Auschwitz. Today that road runs through Pinellas Park, Fla.

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "A Heart, a Cross, and a Flag" (Wall Street Journal Books/Simon & Schuster), a collection of post-Sept. 11 columns, which you can buy from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Thursdays.

Here: "Inspector Gadget: address checkers

By Rob Murray (Filed: 21/03/2005)

You've got the order and know you can deliver on time. And then you take the customer's address down over the telephone. It's hard to hear what she's saying. Was that Minchinhampton or Munchkidampton? In a fluster, you fail to check.

Rather than send out your best guess, there are several websites that can help you make sure that you have got it right. They can even make sure that the address given is bona fide to cut down on fraud. If you only send out a few items a day then a look at Royal Mail's site can work wonders. Once registered you can check or find an address for a given postcode or find the postcode from the address.

The one limitation is that you are only allowed 12 searches in any 24-hour period. However, the service is free.

Another website worth a look is www.192.com. This is a directory inquiry website but with many more features, including the facility to search through 45m records on the electoral roll. Searching is not restricted to area as you are able to search by surname, forename, postcode road name and the like.

One of the main features is the facility for a relationship search, where you can find, for example, all the John Smiths who live in Luton with Mary Jones. The website also has a directors' and shareholders' database that contains detailed information on over 2.3m companies and 6m directors and other key contacts.
It includes directors' home addresses and even dates of birth, along with detailed financial information on companies, from their turnover to number of employees.
Some services on 192.com are free; to use others"

Dorsey & Whitney Suffers Defections
Firm's New York and D.C. offices dwindle

Nathan Koppel
The American Lawyer
03-18-2005



Whether it goes under the heading of downsizing or (more charitably) strategic focus, this is a painful period of time for Minneapolis' Dorsey & Whitney. The firm's Washington, D.C., office is dwindling, and its New York office has suffered recent defections as well.

Some of the departing lawyers blame management blunders for the attrition, but managing partner Peter Hendrixson says the firm is shedding lawyers in order to focus on core competencies.

In 2000, the firm envisioned growing the D.C. office to more than 100 lawyers. The firm, in particular, targeted the vibrant growth in the Northern Virginia technology market. In 2002 Dorsey leased two floors in a grade-A Pennsylvania Avenue office building blocks from the White House. The space could accommodate more than 100 lawyers. Dorsey chief operating officer James Karlovich confirmed that an estimated annual lease cost of $3.5 million was in the ballpark. By early 2002, the office had grown to 55 lawyers, its high-water mark, and it was swimming in work, says Raymond Van Dyke, a former IP partner at the firm: "We would be there until 5 a.m. sometimes."

Then the bottom fell out. Current and former Dorsey lawyers say the D.C. office was slammed by tech crashes in Virginia and the general downturn. Van Dyke says Minneapolis partners became more apt to hoard work than farm it out to D.C. "When the human body is thrown into a cold lake, you protect the torso and sacrifice the appendages," says Van Dyke, who in 2003 moved to the D.C. office of Nixon Peabody.

Dorsey's D.C. office suffered more key defections, including those of two former heads of the branch. Currently, the office is down to 18 lawyers, and it may dip further. "Certainly some people are looking [for other jobs]. ... Morale is down in D.C.," says a Dorsey partner who spoke on background. And with only seven partners left, it will be hard to keep associates busy.

Some lawyers blame Dorsey's management, not just a sour economy. One former D.C. partner, speaking on background, says Dorsey did not recruit enough lawyers with political clout and regulatory expertise to help D.C. become more self-sustaining. "They had Walter Mondale in Minneapolis, but a lot of good that did us in D.C," says the lawyer.

Mark Hogge, another former D.C. partner, who left in 2004 for Greenberg Traurig, and Aldo Noto, a former IP practice leader who fled to Andrews Kurth, blame Hendrixson for taking on Sun Microsystems Inc. as a client. Hewlett-Packard Co., another client and a Sun competitor, had warned that it would fire the firm if it did work for Sun. Hendrixson forged ahead, Hogge says, and HP took its business elsewhere: "It was sheer idiocy."

Hendrixson says the firm simply seized an opportunity to represent Sun and other clients that he won't name. And the decision to pursue the opportunity, he adds, was approved by other firm leaders as well.

In talking generally about the D.C. office, Hendrixson puts on a brave front. He says the turnover is due to the firm's decision to concentrate on three practice areas in D.C.: litigation, energy and regulatory work. "We have decided to focus on those [practice] areas in which we make a difference for our clients," says Hendrixson. He will not say whether Dorsey fired any D.C. partners (most say they left voluntarily), but he concedes that the firm did lay off some D.C. associates.

Going forward, he says, Dorsey plans to hire D.C. lawyers who work in the firm's focus areas. And it is sending Andrew Brown, the firm's energy co-head, to D.C. to boost the practice in that office.

As its works to stabilize D.C., Dorsey must also deal with turbulence in its New York office. On Jan. 24, seven of its New York partners, led by former office head James Swire, moved to the Manhattan office of Arnold & Porter. The departing group also included Michael Griffin, head of Dorsey's financial services and hedge fund practice; Stewart Aaron, co-head of Dorsey's securities litigation practice; and Ramon Marks, co-head of Dorsey's international litigation team.

Former partners say that Dorsey, which posted modest average per-partner profits of $430,000 in 2003 (the 2004 figure is not yet known), has had difficulty paying competitive rates for New York talent.

Swire would not talk about his former firm, but he hinted that he may try to bring over associates from Dorsey.

Robert Dwyer Jr., Dorsey's current office head in New York, says the firm plans to grow the New York office from its present 70 lawyers to about 100. "That is regarded as a good level for strong national firms," he says. Like many law firms, Dorsey certainly thinks of itself as a strong national firm. But it takes vibrant D.C. and New York offices to achieve that status.

Excerpt from an idiot ordinance

What constitutes a violation?

The following constitutes an establishment's violation under the ordinance:

* Tolerance of smoking inside the premises;
* Failure to post the required "No Smoking" signs (signs posted at entrances are adequate);
* Presence of ashtrays, lighters or matchbooks where they are accessible for indoor use (smoking accessories may be stored inside as long as they are not readily accessible to patrons for use);
* Retaliation against employees, applicants or customers who complain.

FindLaw: LawCrawler Search with Backlink Graphic HTML: "Hello Legal Websurfer,

Now you can search the LawCrawler, law reviews and journals and the FindLaw pages from your own webpage. The HTML code below, when placed within an HTML document, will give you the ability to search from your (or your firm's, company's or school's) web page.

You can also add a link to FindLaw or LawCrawler icon with an assortment of icons and also include the backlink and graphic URLs this way as well.

You can add your own backlink and/or graphic on the LawCrawler Google (tm) Search result pages by placing a URL for the linkurl and graphurl fields in the form. This will enable users who begin their LawCrawler searches from your web page to return to your web page without having to click the back button. The graphic must be 50 x 50 pixels and will show up next to the search form. Just set graphurl=http://www.yourhomepage.com/yourgraphic.gif. If you do not have a graphic, still add linkurl='http://www.yourhomepage.com' line but remove the graphurl= line (or set graphurl='http://www.findlaw.com/images/linkbacks/linkback.gif' which is the location of the generic linkback graphic) and a generic clickable graphic will show up that links to the backlink URL you specified.

Note: feel free to change the domain constraints to suit your needs. For example you could change the California state . . .

Make Money off Your Blog (washingtonpost.com)
:

"PLAY AD-SALES EXEC. If you want more control over the ads on your blog, hit www.blogads.com. BlogAds lets you join its database free and set your own ad prices. Companies (including media bigs such as Paramount Pictures and Random House) then search for suitable blogs and purchase ad space for a set period -- say, one month. In contrast to the way AdSense works, your earnings don't depend on whether a reader clicks the ad. All you have to do is give 20 percent of your net revenue to Mr. BlogAd, and you keep the rest. Perhaps best of all, you can indulge your megalomaniacal tendencies by approving or declining potential ads at will. "

Dogsbody

A dogsbody is a lowly person who gets all the dirty jobs, like emptying the ashtrays or putting new toner in the photocopier. Anything menial, disagreeable, or boring somehow makes it into the job description. Americans might prefer gofer or grunt instead.

Flickr: Your Flickr Web Address

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwb/

Crystal Semantics Granted Patent for World's First Sense Engine

Crystal Semantics Granted Patent for World's First Sense Engine

Ownership of Technological Process to Provide Leading Position in Analysis of Textual Content

NEW YORK, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Crystal Semantics, the leader of
contextual Internet search solutions and developer of the world's first Sense
Engine technology, has been granted Patent No. 6,847,972 effective January 5th
2005 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Already patented in the UK,
this additional technology patent secures the core innovation of the Crystal
Semantics' Sense Engine for the analysis of textual content and comparison
with a pre-classified vocabulary to target the context of content.

The technology enables the correct senses of words to be determined -- for
example, determining the sense of the word 'depression' in relation to
economics as opposed to 'depression' in the context of mental health. The
patent outlines a structure where a database containing a 'plurality of terms'
is used to define the placements of information within logical categories. The
'plurality of terms' along with the taxonomy of all the associated words are
used to define and uniquely classify the particular subject. In everyday
language, the words and senses of a dictionary are being associated with the
knowledge categories of an encyclopedia.

Crystal Semantics' patent was filed in 1999, a time when the technology
was focused upon the classification and categorization of documents, spell
checking and refining keywords as part of a search query. Since then, a
continuance has bee"

I propose some new blogs:

>

BorderPatrolAgents Without Borders.

Satirists Without Borders

for that matter
Satyrs Without Borders

Bookstores Without Borders?

Region-free DVDs Without Borders

Coloring Books Without Borders or
Colouring Books Without Borders

Spell-check Without Borders

suggestons welcome.