Today [08/15/07], the Graham-Dodd approach produces a very different picture from the one that Wall Street has been offering. Based on average profits over the last 10 years, the P/E ratio has been hovering around 27 recently. That’s higher than it has been at any other point over the last 130 years, save the great bubbles of the 1920s and the 1990s. The stock run-up of the 1990s was so big, in other words, that the market may still not have fully worked it off.

Remembering a Classic Investing Theory - New York Times

Speculation has started to mount in recent months that Fujitsu, which shares server technology and manufacturing with Sun, will seek a merger with the company.

Sun Microsystems: A Lesson in Failed Cosmetic Surgery - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

The ingenuity and sheer incredibleness of the creations in the Little Big Planet beta continues to ratchet up with each passing day. I really was not expecting to see anything that could top the video we posted yesterday which recreated the theme to Final Fantasy X, but it's been done: Behold the "Little Big Computer."

The creator, PSN user 'Upsilandre,' admits that there are probably easier ways to create a calculator, but he opted to create an electronic calculator capable of doing decimal and binary conversions, as well as addition and subtraction. It was built using more than 1600 parts, including 610 magnetic switches, 500 wires, and 430 pistons. I find it difficult to wrap my head around organizing that many things, let alone making them the backbone of a functioning calculator.

ZOMG!!!

Working Calculator Constructed in Little Big Planet

A week spent reviewing data has confirmed that the flight went really well, including the coast and restart. The mood here at SpaceX is just ecstatic! This is the culmination of six years of hard work by a very talented team. It is also a great relief for me, who led the overall design of the rocket (not a role I expected to have when starting the company). I felt a little sheepish receiving the AIAA award for the most outstanding contribution to the field of space transportation two weeks before this flight.

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - Updates

A federal panel of policy makers and scientific experts urged a government-wide evaluation Tuesday of programs that sift through databases looking for clues on terrorism, to determine whether the programs are effective and legal.

Study of Data Mining for Terrorists Is Urged - NYTimes.com

The presidential candidates claim to see America’s energy future, but their competing visions have a certain vintage quality. They’ve revived that classic debate: the hard path versus the soft path.

Findings - Energy Lessons From the ’70s - Hard Power vs. Soft Power - NYTimes.com

Greed underlies every market outcome, good or bad. When important conditions are met, greed not only poses no threat to Smith’s “invisible hand” of competition, but is an essential part of it.

The forces that produced the current crisis actually reflect a powerful dynamic that afflicts all kinds of competitive endeavors. This may be seen clearly in the world of sports.

Economic View - Pursuit of an Edge, in Steroids or Stocks - NYTimes.com

The changes in the bill were quantifiable. The initial proposal from the Treasury Department ran three pages; the latest version exceeds 450.

Revised Bailout Bill Awaits Senate Vote Tonight - NYTimes.com

Under pressure from banks and legislators, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an interpretation of an accounting standard that could make it easier for banks to report smaller losses, or perhaps even profits, when they announce results for the third quarter, which ended Tuesday.

Mark-to-market is another piece of the puzzle. This came up in the Enron fiasco a few years back and as usual, the feds grossly overreacted and as usual, it had unintended consequences.

What I've concluded about our financial system in the wake of this whole mess is that it is far more complex than anyone can really understand. In consequence, the myriad knobs that regulate it must be turned very slowly, over time with careful monitoring on the effects on the system. Instead, what we have is congress twisting all the knobs at once and the system gyrating wildly as a result.

S.E.C. Move May Relax Asset Rule - NYTimes.com

And as for moose-hunting, he said, it is no worse than what French women used to do long before there was a Louis Vuitton. “When women of Louis XV’s court would hunt wild boars with their knives, it wasn’t less violent or bloody than killing a moose with a scope-mounted rifle,” he said.

Memo From Paris - Gazing at America, the French Still See a Wild Frontier - NYTimes.com