Spying on American (Idols)

One of the leading news stories today on Google News was the USA Today report regarding the government's continued support for NSA phone monitoring. See full story at Forbes.

Shocking example of just how far these "terror-fighting" efforts will spread throughout Americans' lives. Not as shocking, though, as a recent American Idol upset. Apparently that story is dominating the minds of Americans, as this Columbia Journalism Review article relates. Thanks to the Magpie blog for that entry and article link.

I checked out Technorati throughout the day and "American Idol" has consistently turned up in the top of the search rankings. I see Qwest, one of the phone companies who did not turn over records to the NSA, is now popping up #15 in their keyword search ranking. Fear not, Founding Fathers, the Republic is safe!

The Dot-Com Bubble in 1 Chart: InfoSpace

With all the recent talk of a new bubble in the making, thanks in part to the Yellen Fed's continued easy money stance, I thought it'd be instructive to revisit our previous stock market bubble - in one quick chart.

So here's what a real stock market bubble looks like.

Here's what a bubble *really* looks like. InfoSpace in 1999-2001. $QQQ $BCOR pic.twitter.com/xjsMk433H7
— David Shvartsman (@FinanceTrends) February 24, 2015
For those of you who are a little too young to recall it, this is a chart of InfoSpace at the height of the Nasdaq dot-com bubble in 1999-2001. This fallen angel soared to fantastic heights only to plummet back down to earth as the bubble, and InfoSpace's shady business plan, turned to rubble.

As detailed in our post, "Round trip stocks: Momentum booms and busts", InfoSpace rocketed from under $100 a share to over $1,300 a share in less than six months.

In a pattern common to many parabolic shooting stars, the stock soon peaked and began a…

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Moneyball: How the Red Sox Win Championships

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The Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series titleof the 21st century this week.

Having won their first Series in 86 years back in 2004, the last decade-plus has marked a very strong return to form for one of baseball's oldest big league clubs. So how did they do it?

Quick background: in late 2002, team owner and hedge fund manager,John W. Henry(with his partners)bought the Boston Red Sox and its historic Fenway Park for a reported sum of $695 million.

Henry and Co. quickly set out to find their ideal General Manager (GM) to help turn around their newly acquired, ailing ship.

This brings us to one of my favorite scenes from the 2011 film, Moneyball, in which John W. Henry (played by Arliss Howard) attempts to woo Oakland A's GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) over to Boston with an excellent job off…

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