Does This Look Like a Sports Reporter?
Published September 12th, 2011 | 
This is a picture of Melanie Collins. Melanie is a sports reporter.She’s a hottie, no doubt about it. You’d have to be dead not to see that. Remember when sports broadcasters were all balding, middle-aged, has-been ex-athletes? Now they all look like bikini models. Hanna Storm. Erin Andrews. Now, Melanie Collins. She got her start as a weather girl for Accuweather. Amazingly, she’s just a few years out of college where she majored in Sports Journalism. She graduated from Penn State, so she’s probably reasonably intelligent and obviously ambitious. And she might even be very good a what she does. But who cares? Sports reporting is just about the lamest form of journalism next to entertainment journalism. The point is, she’s attractive and she makes horny guys glue their eyes to the TV.
She looks more like a cheerleader than a reporter. From a marketing standpoint it makes sense to have someone this attractive covering sporting events. Afterall, sports reporters are so annoying. They add nothing to one’s enjoyment of the game. Hell, whenever I watch a game, I have to put the TV on mute. The great thing about Melanie is it doesn’t matter if you have the volume turned down, you can enjoy looking at her.
Border’s Reality
Published September 7th, 2011 | Barnes and Noble’s greatest fear is now Border’s reality as the last of its megastores prepare to close forever. In its heyday, Border’s was a living example of Social Darwinism as it killed off mom and pop indie book stores one by one.
But then, it became the endangered species as online e-tailers overtook the brick and mortar behemoth with deeper discounts, higher volume and better overall customer service. And let’s face it, an online book store doesn’t have to run a real store in a shopping center. It doesn’t have to deal have to pay cashiers, or stock people or hire managers. It doesn’t have to spend as much on advertising. And it can drop ship books directly to its customers. On those terms, an online book store doesn’t have to be Amazon to compete with its offline counterpart. Hell, it can even be an unknown site in Canada.
Of course, Border’s failed for many reasons, not just because of the Internet and the rise of the e-book. Border’s was horribly mismanaged. Indeed, if the Border’s closest to my location is any example of the way the rest of the chain was run, I am surprised they lasted this long.
Pennies from Heaven?
Published August 2nd, 2011 | With the economy the way it is now, it is very tempting to get sucked into get-rich-quick schemes. Investing in penny stocks is just one of many. Penny stocks are stocks priced cheap — usually below $5. Because they are so cheap, would-be investors are often willing to overlook the risk involved in investing in small and often unstable companies.
Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to make money on penny stocks. There are some very successful investors who have made a fortune on penny stocks. However, there’s a reason brokers are legally bound by government regulations to warn potential investors of the risks.
That’s why you should be wary of come-ons promising the “hottest penny stocks right now.”
When responding to any advice to invest in a particular stock, do not simply read the advice and assume it is accurate. Research the company. Is the company growing? Is its product or service in-demand? Or has the company essentially crapped-out?
