bhenry & Betsemes:
Folks, I would be happy to discuss (until, and indeed *past* boredom) my commodity trading efforts, but perhaps that should be done offline...my email is available on my posts, I think. I would even be happy discussing geophysics, what the heck

Those who either possess or profess and interest in the subject should be aware of the following, however:

1) I consider myself as an example of what *shouldn't* be done, rather than as an "expert". I offer no recommendations other than sources of information *I* have deemed useful.

2) When I was a young man, I decided that I would do everything exactly the *opposite* of the way my parents taught me, because I thought that *everything* they were trying to teach me was BS. In retrospect, I should have gone "orthogonal"...I have recently come to believe that what our parents try to teach us is 100% in line with their beliefs, but only 20% still relevant to or descriptive of the world *this* generation lives in. To explain further, let me share the following: I was born in 1952...in the 1950's, the common belief was "Made in Japan == knockoff piece of crap that will disintegrate before your very eyes if you dare look cross-eyed at it". Given this background, do you think I will suggest to my daughter that she buy a Toyota...or that I will *ever* even *consider* buying a Camry?

3) Spam is, uhmmm..."frowned upon"---watch your back if you think I'm an easy mark.


BTW, Betsemes...I apologize if my comment concerning your writing style was construed as a criticism. What I meant to convey is that your prose showed an energy and enthusiasm typical of a young man with more opportunities in front than behind. This is something that is tough to "fake" and hard to miss... a topic more worthy of envy than critique.

I believe the (...) simply means "no change". For example the Open,Hi,Lo,Close on Apr 30, 2003 for Sept Corn were (repectively) 231.75,232.00,230.25,231.25 and on May 1st they were 232.25,233.50,231.00,231.25 On May 1st, the "Change" column contained "..." because the close (231.25) on the 1st was identical to the close on the 30th.
[This message has been edited by dbswinford (edited November 14, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by dbswinford (edited November 15, 2003).]