• Source Code Outliner
  Tree view of source code's types and members, allows navigation
• Indexed Find
  Uses Microsoft Indexing Service for improved Search
• Super Diff Utility
  Compare text files with color coding and graphics to highlight differences: deleted (red), changed (blue), inserted (green)
• Event Toaster Utility
  Notification of specific events IDE

• education
• recreational interests
• closeness in age
• career goals
• family/life goals
• personalities

The article outlines the basic use of trailing stops:

The most basic technique for establishing an appropriate exit point is the trailing-stop technique. Very simply, the trailing stop maintains a stop-loss order at a precise percentage below the market price (or above, in the case of a short position). The stop-loss order is adjusted continually based on fluctuations in the market price, always maintaining the same percentage below (or above) the market price. The trader is then "guaranteed" to know the exact minimum profit that his or her position will garner. This level of profitability the trader will have previously determined based on his or her predilection toward aggressive or conservative trading.

and then describes methods of determining where to set the stop.

The money sentence: "The swaps themselves have become a research tool for analysts who monitor their trading activity as a means of keeping abreast of possible pending deals."

[SeekingAlpha]
[Bloomberg]

Summary: Credit Derivatives Research LLC, a New York-based independent research group, contends in a recent study that derivatives traders may be profiting from inside information on leveraged buyouts. The tip-off was the rise -- prior to the public announcement of any deals -- of credit-default swaps based on the bonds of 30 takeover targets in 2006, including four of the year's five biggest LBOs. "Evidence shows that CDS prices are widening before public rumor or news," said Tim Backshall, a strategist at Credit Derivatives Research. "Whether it's insider trading or more informed selling is unclear." Credit-default swaps are contracts derived from bonds and loans that are used to speculate on a company's ability to repay debt. They were designed ostensibly to protect bondholders from default -- they will pay the holder face value in exchange for the underlying securities if the company fails to pay its debts -- but they have proven very attractive to speculators, since they are less expensive and more liquid than corporate bonds. Since their invention less than a decade ago, the total face value of CDS contracts worldwide has reached $26 trillion -- a faster growth rate than any other derivative. The study notes that in 2005, the cost of credit-default swaps on $10 million of Knight Ridder bonds surged 35% one day before the company's largest shareholder called for a sale in an SEC filing. Credit-default swaps on $10 million of HCA Inc. bonds rose 48% in 2 1/2 months before news broke that the hospital operator was in talks for what has turned out to be a $33 billion LBO. And the week before the New York Times reported on Sept. 11 that Freescale Semiconductor may be sold for $16 billion to an investor group, credit-default swaps based on the company's bonds rose 11%. CDS traders are essentially unregulated: neither the SEC nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] claims responsibility for their actions. The swaps themselves have become a research tool for analysts who monitor their trading activity as a means of keeping abreast of possible pending deals.

Documentation of Yahoo stock quote fields

I think I'll use this for crossword puzzles: imdb.com, dictionary.com, and wikipedia.

Google Custom Search Engine]

This is a favorite geeky travel link. It allows you to determine the great circle distance between any two airports or just any two points by latitude and longitude. Useful for settling the kinds of bets we have here: which is farther from New York, A or B?

[Great circle mapper]

XP-compatible taskbar
Allows you drag-n-drop taskbar buttons, allows you to group them without collapsing them, etc. Best of all, it just works.

The Final Word on Futurephone

The Ultimate Mystery: Popular Sport Beats SATs at Ranking Universities Academically

Whether measured by graduation rate or prestigious scholarships -- the result is the same. What is this sport that mysteriously divines a university's stature so precisely? It's called Ultimate Frisbee, or more commonly just Ultimate. It is the fastest growing college sport and is already played interscholastically at over 500 colleges and universities. While wildly popular on campuses, relatively few in the wider world have even heard of it.

A study (slated for release September 1) by Dr. Michael Norden shows that among all 86 private national universities, those ranking in the top half for Ultimate have a graduation rate of over 85%, while those in the bottom half graduate just 60%. The difference in the totals of Rhodes scholars and Marshall scholars among their graduates during this decade is even more dramatic - 208 versus 15. (The odds of this happening by chance are truly infinitesimal). Moreover, the top ten schools based on Ultimate ranking have a slightly higher mean graduation rate and more winners of top scholarships than schools chosen by - not only SATs, but any standard metric including: grades, faculty resources, and financial resources.

Obtaining WM_* messages

• Download Reflector
• Navigate to System.Windows.Forms.NativeMethods
• Right click and select Disassembly
• Select the language of your choice from the drop down in the main toolbar.

Millionaires are dreamers, but not about cushy retirements!

[MarketWatch]

Cramer's Ten Commandments of Trading

Commandment No. 1: Keep It a Trade
In this special look at Jim Cramer's latest book, he lays out a brutal, but effective, rule.

Commandment No. 2: First Loss Is Best
Why you should leave a trade that doesn't work immediately.

Commandment No. 3: Take Your Losses
Cramer clears up a common, and costly, trading misconception.

Commandment No. 4: Trading Gains, Not Investment Losses
Cramer describes a slippery slope for traders and how to avoid it.

Commandment No. 5: Tips Are for Waiters
Cramer points out why tips are best left on the table.

Commandment No. 6: No Sale? No Profit
Cramer lays out why you have to take gains, especially now.

Commandment No. 7: Control Your Losses
Cramer shows an easy way to improve your returns.

Commandment No. 8: Don't Fear That You'll Miss Anything
Cramer points out a reason to control this impulse.

Commandment No. 9: Don't Trade Off Only the Headlines
Cramer points out the reason to resist the knee-jerk reaction.

Commandment No. 10: Don't Trade Flow
Cramer warns that the tape reveals sucker plays, not good trades.