The January Omen - Conrad De Aenlle, NY Times
End to Era of Small Caps - J. Alex Tarquinio, NY Times
Currency Trends Do Not Determine Foreign Stock Returns - Paul Lim, NY Times
The Yield Curve Debate - Mark Hulbert, NY Times & Tom Petruno, LA Times
ETFs That Turbocharge an Index - Jack Egan, NY Times
What Went Wrong with the Forecasts for 2005? - Gregory Zuckerman, WSJ
Mutuals Have Inherent Edge Over Other Fund Types - Chet Currier, Bloomberg
Most Investors Know Too Little - K Kristof, LA Times & the "Investor Survival Skills Survey"
Working Premise Falls Short - Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News
Cut Your Taxes on Investments - Paul Lim, NY Times
Playing Sleight on Hand with P/Es - Mark Hulbert, CBS Marketwatch
The Quanity Effect on Index vs. Active Funds - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Having An Unknown Cost Basis - Charles Jaffe, CBS Marketwatch via The Seattle Times
The Mutual Fund Tax Dodge-'Em Game Hurts - Chet Currier, Bloomberg via Washington Post
Big Doesn't Always Mean Bad for Some Mutual Funds - Norm Alster, NY Times
Aging Hurts Investing Ability - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Outsourcing Isn't Downsizing - Gene Epstein, Barrons
Fed Study Sees Sharp US House Price Drop As Nation Ages - C Walsh, Dow Jones Newswires

Dividends & Buybacks Set New Benchmark - Ian McDonald, WSJ
IRAs & 401(k)'s Seem to Lack Attention & Diversity - Arden Dale, Dow Jones Newswires
Growth Stocks Make Comeback - Paul Lim, NT Times
Why the Greenback Rose in 2005 - Jim Jubak, MSN
Small Caps vs. Large Caps - Gregory Zuckerman, WSJ & Rhonda Brammer, Barrons
Why Do Stocks Get Cheap? Don't Buy If You Don't Know - Pat Dorsey, CFA, MorningStar
Bad Timing Can Cause Index Investing to Go Bad - Sonya Morris, CPA, MorningStar
Is A Year-End Rally Likely? Browning and McDonald, WSJ
Why Conglomerates Underperform - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Flood of Capital Spurs World-Wide Risk Taking - Greg Ip & Mark Whitehouse, WSJ
The Bond Market Faces Uncertainty - Paul Lim, NY Times

Don't Ask Too Much From One Investment - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Funds Managers that are Paid for Performance are Freed From the Herd - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Some Pros & Cons of Concentrated Funds - Elizabeth Harris, NY Times
In a Flat Market, Active Managers Have an Edge - Meg Richards, Associated Press
When Will Sideways Market End? D. DiMartino, Dallas Morning News
Capital Gains from Funds are Making a Comeback - Paul Lim, NY Times
A New Place to Hunt for Dividends From Funds - Virginia Kahn, NT Times
The Top 10 Portfolio Pitfalls - Sue Stevens, MorningStar
Earning Surprises & Stock Returns - Toddi Gutner, BusinessWeek
Bulls See Dow 40,000 - Jon Markman, MSN-Money
Negative U.S. News & Global Investing - Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Individual Stockholder, R.I.P. - John Bogle, founder of Vanguard, WSJ
The Problem With High Profit Growth Expectations - Paul Lim, NY Times
Good Luck Finding Retirement Income - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Buying Back Shares - Amy Feldman, NY Times
Watch Out for Inflation - Gregory Zuckerman, WSJ
How Fund Categories Fared - Barrons

Foriegn Stocks Beat Domestic Stocks Again - Craig Karmin, WSJ
Retirees Can Spend More at First, Cut Back Later - Ilana Polyak, NY Times
Reality Retirement Planning: A New Paradigm for an Old Science - Ty Bernicke
Is the 'Safe' Initial Withdrawal Rate Too Safe? - Jonathan Guyton
Improved Credit Scores Could Save Consumers Billions - Christopher Conkey, WSJ
Actively Managed ETFs Arriving Soon - Jen Ryan, Dow Jones Newswires
ETF Options Provide a Method to Hedge Bets - Peter McKay, WSJ
Dig a Moat for Your Investments - Dreyfus Neenan, MorningStar
Location & Stock Returns - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Mutual Fund Pop Quiz - Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch
Bond Fund Pop Quiz - Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch
Four Reasons to Worry - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Bond-Index Funds Outperform - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
It May Be Time to Spread the Risk - Paul Lim, NY Times
Don't Invest in Dividends Only - Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News
20 Rules [for Stock Traders] To Stop Losing Money - Alan Farley, tradingday.com
The Wisdom of Jesse Livermore, the Greatest Trader Ever - Jim Wyckoff, Trade2win.com

Sharpe Ratio Risk Gauge Is Misused - Ianthe J Dugan, WSJ
Yield-Curve Inversion Chances Rise - M Mackenzie, Dow Jones Newswires
Katrina & Corporate Bonds - M Mackenzie, Dow Jones Newswires
It Pays to Diversify - Jonathan Fuerbringer, NY Times
Why Most Real-Estate Agents Aren't Getting Rich - Austan Goolsbee, Slate
30 Years of Housing Market Data - Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg
The VIX & Contrarians - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Truth, Like the Devil, It Not in the Headlines, But in the Details - Justin LaHart, WSJ
Personal Finance
The High Cost of Families - Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News
Playing Numbers Game on FICO Credit Scores - Mary Umberger, Chicago Tribune
Credit Scores - Damon Darlin, NY Times
Mutual Fund News, Stats & Advice
Energy ETFs Aren't All the Same - Jen Ryan, Dow Jones Newswires
"Transfer-on-Death" Registration - Chuck Jaffe, CBS Marketwatch
Mutual Funds Get A Growing Slice Of Retirement Pie - Arden Dale, Dow Jones Newswires
More Small-Cap Managers Close Door To New Investors - Karen Talley, Dow Jones Newswires
Why Good Investors Cling To Lousy Mutual Funds - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
When to Sell a Losing Fund - Chuck Jaffe MarketWatch
Mutual-Fund Trading Fees Drop - I McDonald & D Gullapalli, WSJ
Fund Fees: Up or Down? Jim McTague, Barrons
Economic Updates
U.S. 10-Year Yield to Rise to 4.63% This Year, Bond Dealers Say - Bloomberg
Volatility in GDP Growth Gets Outsourced Abroad - Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
Q2 Earnings Update - Justin Lahart, WSJ
Employment Stats
July Jobs Report - Labor Dept, Reuters & WSJ
Why Job Creation Isn't What It Used to Be - Caroline Baum, Bloomberg

When Funds Add Share Classes, Performance Suffers - Charles Jaffe, MarketWatch
GDP - Born to Be Revised - Anna Bernasek, NY Times
Will Fame and Fortune Change Utility Stocks? Conrad De Aenlle, NY Times
Feeling No Fear May Aid Investing - Jane Spencer, WSJ via Seattle Times
A Portfolio That Let's You Own Capitalism - Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News
Persistent Money Myths - Michelle Singletary, Washington Post
How Fund Categories Fared - Barrons
In an Inherent Conflict Among Shareholders, Short-termers are Winning - Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Don't Waste Your Money Rebalancing - Paul Farrell, MarketWatch
Some People Pick the Stock - Others Choose the Moment - Condrad De Aenlle, NY Times
Pepless Rally Has Its Reasons - Michael Santoli, Barrons
Why Small-Cap Value Beats Large-Cap Growth - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Economists Worry About Inflation, Oil, China and Fed - Hilsenrath & Gerena-Morales, WSJ
IRA Mistakes - Kelly Greene, WSJ / many other sources

Investment News & Advice
   Buidling a Better Index Fund - Tom Petruno, LA Times
   You May Own More Real Estate Than You Think - Paul Lim, NY Times
   Stock Sectors & Seasonality - Sam Stovall, BusinessWeek
   Technical Analysis: The Simple Reason for Why it Matters - Barry Ritholtz, RealMoney
   Prevalent Investment Mistakes - Barry Ritholtz, RealMoney
   Growth Stocks: So Cold They're Hot? Jeff Opdyke, WSJ
   Research Gets More Reliable - Suggests Improvement In Performance - Jane Kim, WSJ
   Should Your Portfolio Vote 'Yes' on European Stocks? Conrad De Aenlle, NY Times
   Vote No on Europe: Vintners Are Example of Europe Living in the Past - J Flanigan, LA Times

Words of Wisdom
   Five Ways to Tell You've Reached Money Maturity - Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money
   Advantages of Scale - Charles Munger
   Two Sides of Techological Change - Charles Munger
   The Secret of Winning Betters - Charles Munger

The Economy
   Knowing The Cause of Low Long Rates Would Give Us the Cure - Edmund Andrews, NY Times
   Interview With Nancy Lazar, International Strategy & Investment Group - Sandra Ward, Barrons
   Fed Helped Create Bubble in Housing & Foreign Debt - Greg Ip, WSJ
   Pin the Tail on the Economy - Paul Lim, NY Times
   May Jobs Report - Edmund Andrews, NY Times & Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

Tips for Avoiding ID Theft While on Vacation - Sandra Block, USA Today
How Supermarkets Use Psychology to Sell - Joyce Gemperlein, Washington Post
Speculation: It's Abundant and Worthless - Matt Stichnoth, Bankstocks.com
What the Yield Curve is Saying - Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News
The Yield Curve Has a Brain - Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
The Buy-Back Lie - Rachel Beck, AP via Chicago Sun Times
Investment News & Advice
Broad Index Offers a Way to Ride Commodities Express - Meg Richards, Associated Press
Wealthy Families Favor Alternative Investments - Kathy Chu, Dow Jones Newswires
Flat Market Plays No Role in Picker's Success - Bill Barnhart, Chicago Tribune
The Fed Funds Futures Indicator - Robert Hershey, NY Times
Why a Real Estate Crash Would Matter [and Hurt] - NY Times
The Truth About Real Estate - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Eight Questions to Focus Your Investment Plan - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Time to Juggle Sectors - Jack Ablin, CIO Harris Private Bank via Barrons
The Stock Market Is Still Pressing the Reset Button - Paul Lim, NY Times
Rates Usually Trump Earnings Growth - Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Target-Retirement Funds Vary - Karen DaMato, WSJ
The Fed Model - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Some Investing Lessons People Might Never Learn - Chet Currier, Bloomberg
Going With the Flow Can Backfire - Justin Lahart, WSJ
The Return of Volatility - Jonathan Fuerbringer, NY Times

Investment News & Advice
    That Wall Of Worry - Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes
    Twelve Steps to Investment Peace - Paul Farrell, MarketWatch
    When Investing, Women Tend To Err Less Often Than Men - Colleen Debaise, DJN
    Sweat The Right Stuff - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
    The Problem with Market Prophecies - Jonathan Clements, WSJ
    Analysts Keep Misfiring With 'Sell' Ratings - E.S. Browning, WSJ
    Remember the Caution You Wish You Had Back in 2000 - Tom Petruno, LA Times
    Making Money When the Market Is Mistaken - Conrad De Aenlle, NY Times
    Does Skin in the Game Matter? Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires

Upward Earnings-Estimates & Returns - Justin Lahart, WSJ
"Quality" of Earnings is Slipping - Gretchen Morgenson, NY Times

'Celebrity' CEO's & Stock Returns - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Governance and CEO Turnover - Raymond Fisman, Rakesh Khurana, Matthew Rhodes-Kroff
Are You Gambling or Investing? Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Who Gambles In The Stock Market? Alok Kumar
Diversification Decisions of Individual Investors and Asset Prices - William Goetzmann & Alok Kumar
The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices - Joshua Coval & Tobias Moskowitz

Foreign Stocks Can Still Reduce a Portfolio's Risk - Mark Hulbert, NY Times
The Odds of an Economist Survey Being Right Are . . - Justin Lahart, WSJ
Baby Boomers Will Rely on Pros To Manage Assets - Arden Dale, Dow Jones Newswires
When Greenspan Is Stumped, Investors Should Play It Safe - Jonathan Fuerbringer, NY Times
Taking Investment Lessons from the Code of the West - Charles Jaffe, CBS MarketWatch
The Courageous and Contrarian Should Look at Stocks - Steve Liesman, WSJ
Economists Expect Key Rate to Hit 3.75% - Tim Annett, WSJ
When is a Bear a Bull? ThinkBlog
Wanted: Credit Ratings. Objective Ones - Gretchen Morgenson, NY Times
If Profits Grow, How Can the Market Sink? Mark Hulbert, NY Times
Financial Services' Debits and Credits - Beth Piskora BusinessWeek

The Crystal Ball's Verdict on the Market's Future: Hazy - Jonathan Fuerbromger, NY Times
Fund Flows - Josh Friedman, LA Times

    Stumped? Blocked? Need ideas on how to move forward with a project, with dinner plans, with life? Check out the Oblique Strategies page on enoweb.co.uk. Oblique Strategies is a "game" invented by Brian Eno years ago - pick a card, get a question; the answers to those questions are meant to jolt creative thought processes. (Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune 6-19)

    The Movie Review Query Engine is an online directory of movie reviews. Just type in the name of a movie, and it will provide links to reviews. www.mrqe.com (www.searchengineguide.com 5-30)

    Since 1994 Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans, collaborating under the name Jodi, have created a series of Internet-based artworks that deliberately cause computers to do the wrong thing. Viewers of these online works will find their screens filled with meaningless text and needlessly blinking graphics. Web-browser windows spawn smaller windows that race maddeningly around the screen. Links that appear to lead somewhere yield dead ends. Like a sci-fi thriller, this could be delightful, except that the underlying premise is of computers in complete control. There work can be viewed online at www.jodi.org, asdfg.jodi.org, 404.jodi.org, wrongbrowser.com and wwwwwwwww.jodi.org. (Matthew Mirapaul, NY Times 4-21)

Bluefly     Catalogs.Google     ClassicCloseouts     DealCatcher     Evalueville
FatWallet     Froogle     NexTag     Overstock     PriceGrabber
Shopping.com     SmartBargains     Yahoo Shopping

A Focus on Apartment REITS

A searchable database of 25,000 famous people, from the folks who produce the TV show Biography.
The Biographical Dictionary Biographies of more than 28,000 notables from ancient times to the present day.
Dead People Server Answers to the question, "Is this person still alive?"
World Biographical Index About 2.8 million short biographical entries for "eminent individuals."

January Diversions

From Scout Report 12-21:     Google Catalog Search [Beta] offers catalogs from major retailers. Google has scanned in the catalogs and enabled them for text searching - though they warn that searching may not be perfect, given the technologies involved.

September Diversions

From the Scout Report 6-22: Teoma.com
This new keyword search engine sets itself apart by offering three types of returns at once. In addition to the usual individual sites ranked by relevance, Teoma Search also returns topic groups and directory pages, giving users the option to pursue their search on several fronts.

More on Teoma from The Search Engine Report 7-2
Google examines link structures all over the web. It gives every page a popularity rating known as "PageRank" (the more links TO the page, the higher the rank). URLs with high PageRanks are more likely to be listed first. However, this will only happen if the pages also match other criteria, such as containing your search terms or being identified as being relevant to your search terms by analyzing the context of links.
Teoma operates in an opposite fashion. When you do a search, Teoma looks across the entire web to find pages that contain your search terms or which are considered relevant to those terms based on link context. After finding a matching set of documents, which it calls a "community", Teoma then examines the links between just this set, to determine which are the most popular.

March Diversions

Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition - Bartleby.com has relaunched its electronic version of the Columbia Encyclopedia with numerous updates, including improved search and navigation features. The sixth edition contains close to 51,000 entries, including 17,000 biographies, with over 80,000 hypertext cross-references, as well as links to other resources such as maps, speeches, and additional full-text collections held by Bartleby.com. (Scout Report 3-16)

November Diversions

The Open Directory Project      BrightPlanet

June Diversions

Validea assesses experts doling out stock picks via the Internet, magazines and other media.

May Diversions

    The new and fast search engine Raging.com, the simi-new and well rated search engine Google.

December Diversions

  RadioSpy   All-in-One Biblical Resources Search    SpeechBot

October Diversions

    Hearme.com     Encyclopaedia Britannica

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