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this will be the last post . . . that's if anyone is even reading this

Samsung accounts for 16% of South Korea's exports! and not listed

SEOUL, South Korea -- At Samsung Electronics Co.'s boisterous annual meeting last year, a shareholder suggested the company's chairman should step down. In response, Samsung's chief executive officer lost his cool.  "Just how many shares do you have?" Yun Jong Yong shouted at the shareholder. "Stop saying 'our company.' "
Samsung Electronics has become a household name in consumer electronics and a leading supplier of components to manufacturers world-wide. In 2004, its net income was greater than that of either Microsoft Corp. or Intel Corp. By Samsung's own reckoning, it accounts for 16% of South Korea's exports and 18% of the country's stock-market capitalization.
Yet as it takes a larger role in the global economy, Samsung is resisting pressure to retool its paternalistic and secretive corporate governance. The family that controls Samsung through a minority stake has battled to maintain its grip and often shields itself through appeals to Korean nationalism. Samsung provides scanty financial information to investors. With a market capitalization of about $70 billion, it's one of the world's most valuable companies without a stock listing in a major financial market, something that would subject it to tougher accounting rules.

fastest rising cost at Mather Golf Course

Now I don't know about other golf courses but I would guess it's no different at Mather. Since people don't carry cash anymore and prefer to use ATM machines or debit cards instead for cash purchases, it has become a necessity for businesses to provide a "cash" retrieval system for their customers and golf courses are no different. At our course affairs meeting yesterday, I learned that the ATM machine is being removed for several reasons: one, it's old and can't be upgraded and two, it doesn't pay for itself. It doesn't pay for itself??? Now, I can't reconcile that with the outrage that people are showing when they can't get cash from the proshop, etc. But it is what is.
Then I found out that the fasted rising cost at Mather is no longer workers compensation but BANK CARD PROCESSING FEES. Yes, you read that correctly.

Maureen Dowd

Maureen is one of the top columnists for the NY Times, some people think she's a little too liberal but I think she's provocative. Her latest piece has to do with the "weak-minded homeland defense" which I happen to totally agree with. Heck you can't find a CHP on the freeway or get a sheriff to come to your house if you've been robbed but we're spending $85 billion in Iraq. I stray . . . . here's a little of what Maureen has to say :

The FBI has abandoned it's latest computer follies: the $170 million effort to upgrade the bureau's computer system so analysts can accomplish such difficult tastks as simultaneously searching for "aviation" and "schools". Now it's going to take at least 3 1/2 years to develop a new system . . . . . Our intelligence services are only now trying to recruit agents who speak Arabic and Farsi. Who didn't realize after the Iranian hostage crisis that it might be smart to invest in some spies who could infiltrate the places that were calling us Satan? The LA Times reported on Tuesday that about 40 Americans seeking jobs at US intelligence agencies were turned away because of possible ties to terrorists groups. Paul Redmond, a longtime CIA officer, said it was an "actuarial certainty" that spies had infilitrated US security agencies : "I think we're worse off than we've ever been."

You can read the rest by going to www.nytimes.com and searching for her column.

Berkshire Hathaway

WARREN BUFFETT, THE LEGENDARY "Oracle of Omaha," issued his eagerly anticipated letter to shareholders last week. In addition to his usual homespun charm, Buffett was unusually apologetic for generating a 10.4% increase in Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.B) book value last year, slightly less than the 10.9% dividend-inclusive gain of the benchmark S&P 500. From my vantage point, Buffett is being overly modest.

The Largest Surfboard

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- More than 40 surfers cruised into the record books by riding a single giant surfboard off an Australian beach, according to newspaper reports.

A crowd of more than 5,000 gathered Saturday to watch the riders crowd onto the 12.2-meter (40-foot) -long board at the Queensland state tourist city Gold Coast, where the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro surf competitions were held, newspapers said on Sunday.

The three-meter-wide board, nicknamed Nev after its creator, Gold Coast board shaper Nev Hyman, arrived on a trailer truck and needed more than 20 people to carry it to the surf.

Is History Correct?

I've always believed one essential fact about history . . . it's written by the winners. I just finished reading the "Sam Houston" story in "Profiles in Courage" and decided to find out what Sam Houston's role in defending the Alamo was all about. At a very in depth website on the Alamo I found this introduction . . . .

Five minutes after a car accident you can't get the victims to agree about what happened. Yet we blithely base military history on written accounts made years after the event, often by people whose sole reason for writing is to evade responsibility. Journalist interviews differ chiefly in that they draw out people who would not, by themselves, have written anything.
With the Alamo it is even worse. Many accounts that are relied on to flesh out accounts of the battle are third-hand narratives (an interview of someone who tells a story he heard from someone else) recorded decades after the battle. Joe was only interviewed briefly, and Mrs. Dickinson was not interviewed by a journalist until 1871. The last messenger out of the Alamo, James Allen, who was there for the bulk of the siege, became a Texas Ranger and lived until 1901 -- and was never interviewed at all. On the Mexican side, the accounts that do seem reliable appear to come from spectators. It may be that the intensity of the fighting was such that no Mexican in the front lines was able to write his memoirs, to put it delicately.

Anyway, Sam Houston was an amazing man. He was steadfastly against secession from the Union by Texas and captured General Santa Anna shortly after the Siege of the Alamo. Governor of Tennesee, Senator and Governor of Texas.

The Bush Deficit in Revenues

In 1962, US federal government spending amounted to 18.8% of GDP; 2001, 18.5%; 2004, 19.8% . . . 24 of the last 40 years the government has spent more than 20% of GDP so a reduction seems OK. Now the real news . . . in 2000 federal revenues were 19.8% of GDP (between 1962 and 2002, only once have federal revenues fallen below 17% of GDP, yet in 2003 revenues were 16.3% and 2004 equaled 16.4. Now one could say that's a good thing . . . taxes are lower and government is forced to do more with less but unfortunately that's not what government is good at and today, everyone in America wants more from their government than ever before . . . hence big deficits and there's no way to grow our way out them.

ChoicePoint notifies Californians

Did you realize that California has the only law in the US which requires companies to notify it's residents if a breach occurs of it's confidential data? I didn't get notified, did you?