Death Wave

Death Wave

By Ben Bova, excerpt

Assassination

Everything seemed to happen at once. Standing on the stage at the front of the studio, Jordan saw the yuong man aim the pistol at him. An equally young woman got to her feet beside him, screaming, “Kill the alien-loving bastard!” From the side of the studio one of the security people whipped a gun from beneath his jacket.

Jordan stood frozen at the lectern, his mind inanely telling him to duck behind the lectern but his body unable to respond. The gun was pointed right at him, its muzzle looking like a tunnel to eternity.

This is no ruse, Jordan realized. They really want to kill me!

He saw the pistol's muzzle erupt in smoke and heard something whip past his ear like an angry bee. People were diving to the floor, yelling. The lectern shattered into a thousand pieces. One of the news correspondents grabbed at the gunman while the security man off to the side pushed through the crowd, pistol in hand, knocking people over as he rushed for the would-be- assassin.

The studio was filled with shouts, screams, curses. The gunman seemed to collapse while the woman beside him clawed at the correspondent who had wrapped his arms around the man. The security guard reached them as a second security man came in from the opposite direction and pulled the screeching woman off the correspondent's back.

Death Wave. Photo by Elena

And then it was all over. People got up off the floor, dazedly. Overturned chairs were set right again. Several more security people had two young women in their grip. The gunman lay sprawled across several chairs; unconsciouos or dead, Jordan couldn't tell which.

Then someone said, “You're bleeding, Mr. Kell.”

Jordan looked and saw that his shirt was soaked with blood. The lectern was smashed to splinters. People were on their feet, gaping.

From his office, Otero watched the whole incredible episode, thinking. This is all going out on the air, live! A real assassination attempt! And we've got it all on camera!

The security team hurried Jordan, his hand pressed to his bleeding side, to the small infirmary on a lower floor of the Otero Network building.

Walking beside Jordan, Hamilton Cree said, “It doesn't look too bad.”

Jordan thought of Mercutio's line from Romeo and Juliet and quoted, “No, this not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door...”

“If I had reacted faster...”

“You did fine,” Jordan said. “Is he... did you kill him?”

Cree shook his head. “Nerve jangler. Paralyzed him. We're not allowed to carry lethal weapons..

“But they do.”

One of the other security men, older, grimmer, said. “The three of those nitwits carried their gun in separate pieces, mostly plastic. Didn't see off the scanner alarm. Then they put it together once they were seated in the studio.”

“Who are they? Why did they want to kill me?”

“We'll find out, don't worry.”

A registered nurse and a diagnostic robot were waiting for them at the one-room infirmary.

“I don't think it's very bad,” Jordan said to the nurse.

“Let's see,” she said.

They laid him on the examining table and cut away his blood-soaked shirt. The robot ran its metal arm, filled with beeping, chirping sensors, up and down Jordan's body.

“No internal injuries,” its synthesized voice pronounced.

The nurse bent over Jordan's abdomen, a tweezers in one hand.

“This may twinge a bit,” she muttered.

It did twinge, but only for a moment. The nurse held up the tweezers, a bloody sliver of wood in its grip.

Hamilton Cree said, “He had a semi-atomatic pistol. Got of three shots. Two of them hit the lectern and shattered it. You got hit by a splinter.”

“And that's it?” Jordan asked.

“That's it,” said the nurse, beaming happily.

Hull Zero Three

Hull Zero Three

By Greg Bear (excerpt)

Cloud modest, the planet covers herself.

Our chosen is perfect – more than we could have hoped for. Rolling beneath, she lips aside her creamy white veil to reveal the sensuous richness of blue water, brown and tan prairies, yellow desert, a wrinkled youth of gray mountains hemmed by forest so green it is almost black – and the brilliant emerald sward of spring pastures.

Impossibly rich.

My flesh is partner to the long journey. Like a hovering angel, I lok down upon the dazzling surface and yearn. All the springs of my youth flow toward this new Earth. A long limb of dawn in the east – how lovely! Our world turns wisely wider shins – the best of luck. There are two moons, one close in, the second much farther out and large enough for icy mountains under a thin atmosphere. We will explore that other promise once we are established here.

We – dozens of us, so many gathering in the observation blister, finally bathing in real light! There is sweet joy in voices from real lungs and tongues and lips – and such language! Ship language and Dreamtime-speak all musically mixed. So many friends and more to come our laughter is giddy.

We want to spread and lock limbs. We want to couple. We are eager to meet children as yet unconceived – eager to hurry them along so they can share this beauty with proud parents.

A calm planet. Photo by Elena.

We!

Kinetic, no longer pent up or potential... The long centuries are over.

We!

We are here!

Planters and seedships have descended before we came awake. They have analyzed and returned with the facts. Our chemistry now matches this world's.

Fons et origo.

Fountainhead.

I don't remember the name we've chosen, it's on the tip of my tongue – not that it matters. I'm sure it is a beautiful name.

We form teams holding hands in waving, weightless lines in the blister, calling to each other using our Dreamtime names and smiling until our cheeks sting. We make awful, funny faces, like clowns, to smooth and relax the muscles of our joy. Soon we will choose new names: land names, sea names, air names, poetically spun from the old.

New name is on the tip of my tongue.

Hers is on the tip of my tongue. She is nearby, and I find myself strangerly embarrassed to meet in person for the first time, because I have known her for all the sleepy ages. We played and learned together in the Dreamtime and resolved our earliest disputes. Making up, we realized we were incapable of being angry with each other for long. She is a master of Ship's biology – myself, training, and culture. Long, lazy times of instruction and play and exploration shot through with intense training, keeping our muscles fit. There is no experience like it, except for coming awake and meeting in the flesh.

The world, the flesh.

Our lines move toward the chrome-silver gate in the translucent white bulkhead. We are moving into the staging area. Landers await us there, sleek shadows ghostly gray.

Our beautiful Ship is too large to land – twelve kilometers long, huge and lonely. Once she embraced an irregular ball or rocky ice over a hundred kilometers in diameter – the shield and yolk of our interstellar journey. She still clutches a wasted chunk of the Oort moonlet – just a few billion tons. We decelerated with fuel to spare and now orbit the prime candidate.

How long?

The years are spread out cold and quiet behind us, the long tail of our journey. We do not remember those years intimately, there were so many.

How many?

It doesn't matter. I will look at the l0g when there is time, after the teams are chosen to make out first journey to the planet's surface. Our new names are called, and we arrange ourselves in the loading bay,  ceremonial outfits like so many brilliant daubs of paint, the better to see and be seen. She is here! Comely in blue and beige and green, her look is bold, confident. Large, deep eyes and wide cheeks, brownish hair cut short – her look my way is a loving, thrilling challenge. She sits away from the others in the lander, by a spare seat, hoping that I will join her. She and I will be on the first team!

We.

I recognize so many from the Dreamtime. Friendly, joyous, hugging, shaking hands, congratulating. Word spill. Our tongues are still clumsy but our passions are ancient. We are more than any family could be. We fought and argued and loved and learned through the long, cold voyage. We chose teams, disbanded, reformed, chose again, and now the fit is perfection within diversity. Nothing can stand between us and the joy of planetfall.

A smooth jolt of perfectly designed machinery -

Severing connections with Ship. The lander is less than a hundred meters long, a tiny thing, really, yet sleek and fresh.

Time is moving so fast.

Lovers and Other Strangers

Lovers and Other Strangers

Sexually transmitted diseases can't just be kissed off

According to a recent study, men with two to four sex partners over  lifetime have a 1 in 29 chance of contracting a bacterial sexually transmitted disease such as syphilis or gonorrhea. For women with an equivalent number of partners, the risk is about twice as high. The patterns are similar for viral STDs such as genital herpes and hepatitis B. But men tend to have more partners than women. When that is taken into account, the chance of getting an STD is ultimately about the same for both sexes. Following are descriptions of the most common STDs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bacterial Vaginosis (Also called Gardnerella or Hemophilus).

How Spread: Through sexual intercourse and possibly through towels and wet clothing. A common cause of vaginitis.

Symptoms: Graylish vaginal discharge is common. Untreated, it can cause reproductive problems such as abnormal Pap smears and urinary tract infections.

Treatment: Metronidazole.

Chlamydia

Caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Most common STD inn the United States.

How spread: Vaginal or anal intercourse, mother to child during birth, hand-to-eye contact if hands have infected discharge.

Symptoms: Appear 7 to 14 days after exposure. In women, it can cause infertility or pregnancy complications, vaginal discharge, painful urination, vaginal bleeding, bleeding after sex, and lower abdominal pain. In men, chlamydia causes burning during urination, urethral discharge, and inflammation of the urethra. Four-fifths of women have no symptoms; sexually active women may want to be screened periodically.

Treatment: Tetracycline. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend Doxycycline as the treatment of choice because it only has to be taken twice a day. Erythromycin for pregnant women. Chlortetracycline for eye infections.

Lovers and Other Strangers. Photo by Elena

Crabs/Pediculosis Pedis

Caused by crablike lice that live in eye-brows, pubic, armpit, and chest hair.

How spread: Physical contact with someone who is infected, or using towels, clothes, or bedding of a person who has crabs.

Symptoms: Intolerable itching in the genital or other areas. The crabs can be seen by the naked eye, so it's easy to diagnose.

Treatment: A lotion called Kwell can be prescribed. After treatment, clean clothes, towels, and bed linen. The crab will die in 24 hours. If skin is irritated from itching, use aloe vera cream to ease the irritation.

Genital warts/Human Papilloma virus

Caused by a virus similar to the one that causes skin warts.

How spread: Sexual intercourse.

Symptoms: Appears three weeks to eight months after exposure. Small painless warts can appear on the labia, vulva, cervix, or anus in women. In men, warts appear on the penis or scrotum. Using a condom can help prevent infection.

Treatment: Dry ice or laser beam can burn off warts, or Podophyllin can be applied.

Gonorrhea

Caused by gonoccocus, a bacterium.

How spread: Sexual intercourse, oral sex, from mother to child during birth, from hand-to-eye contact. For women, from being inseminated by infected semen.

Symptoms: Appear two days to three weeks after infection. In women, thick discharge, burning or painful urination, pain in lower abdomen, vomiting , fever, irregular periods, a rash, chills, fever, pain in the wrists and fingers, hands, feet, and toes. Some 80 percent of women have no symptoms. In men, thick milky discharge, pain during urination. Almost all men show symptoms.

Treatment: The CDC recommends ceftriaxone as treatment. Since people are often infected with gonorrhea and chlamydia at the same time, the CDC also recommends seven days of taking Doxycycline to treat clamydia. Pregnant women should take Erythromycin; it's less effective, but safer.

Herpes

Two types of herpes are caused by the herpes simplex virus. Type I is characterized by cold sores and fever blisters on the mouth. Type II is characterized by sores and blisters on the genitals.

How spread: Sexual intercourse or oral sex with someone who has an active infection. The disease is most contagious when sores exist, but infection can occur even when there are no symptoms.

Symptoms: Appear 2 to 20 days after infection, but most people don't have symptoms until much later. Tingling, itching in the genital area, burning sensations, pain or feeling of pressure in the legs, buttocks or genitals, sores starting with one or more bumps that turn to blisters. Women can have sores or cervix with no noticeable symptoms. Blisters rupture in a few days and heal without treatment. Active sores may make urination painful. Also may be a dull ache or sharp pain in the genitals.

Treatment : No cure at present. CDC recommends keeping sores dry and clean. If very painful, xylocaine cream or ethyl chloride may be helpful. The antiviral drug acyclovir may reduce outbreak recurrence.

HIF Infection/Aids

Caused by the HIV virus.

How spread: Sexual intercourse, anal sex, blood transfusions, sharing of needles with an infected person. The virus is found in blood, semen, and vaginal secretions, so any contact with these bodily fluids with someone who is infected such as unprotected sexual intercourse could lead to infection.

Symptoms: In both men and women, fatigue, weight loss, swollen glands, and skin problems such as seborrheic dermatitis. Bronchial infections, sores in the mouth, fevers, night sweats, loss of appetite, headaches, trouble swallowing. In women, recurrent yeast infections, chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, and severe genital herpes.

Treatment: There is currently no treatment for AIDS, which is fatal. But there are ways to stave off a full-blown AIDS outbreak. AZT and DDI are some drugs that are in use.  The progress of the disease  should be monitored by using a CD4 cell monitoring lab test.

Nongonococcal urethristis (NGU)

Caused by Ureaplasma Urealyticum bacterium.

Now spread: Contracted through sexual intercourse. It can be found in apparently healthy people with no signs of infection.

Symptoms: In men, symptoms include discharge from the penis and inflammation of the urethra. Some researchers think NGU causes pregnancy problems in women, but more research needs to be done.

Treatment: Tetracycline is the standard treatment. Doxycycline or Erythromycin may also be prescribed.

Scabies

Caused by tiny parasitic mites.

How spread: Sexual contact, towels, clothes and even furniture.

Symptoms: Intense itching, red bumps on breasts, waist, genitals, buttocks, or hands.

Treatment: Kwell, which is also used to cure crabs. For pregnant women, Eurax.

Syphilis

Caused by a bacterium called spirochete.

How spread: Sexual or skin contact with infected person, or from mother to unborn child. Spreads from open sores or rashes and can penetrate mucous membranes and broken skin anywhere on the body.

Symptoms: Appear from 9 to 90 days after infection with a painless sore that looks like a pimple. In men, pimple could appear on penis or scrotum. Left untreated, could lead to rash over entire body, sore throat, swollen painful joints, aching bones, hair loss, or raised area around the genitals. After 10 to 20 years, bacteria can invade the heart and brain, causing heart disease, blindness, mental incapacity, crippling.

Treatment: Penicillin by injection, Doxycline, or tetracycline pills.

Reading a Balance Sheet

Reading a Balance Sheet

A Guided Tour from a Noted Investment Authority

John Train is well known as the author of The New Money Masters (Harper-Collins) and Most Remarkable Occurrences (Harper-Collins), and founder of Train, Smith Investment Counsel in New York. The following article, which originally appeared in Harvard Magazine, outlines Train’s basic approach to understanding a financial statement.

The most important single truth to grasp about investing is that when you buy a share of stock you become a partner in a business. The essence of investing is thus understanding business, companies.

Company event are reported in dollar terms. To invest sensibly you therefore need to understand what the company is trying to tell you in its financial statement, which is published in a conveniently stylized form, like a sonnet. Though the elements are fairly simple, I observe that many of my clients have trouble reading one. So here is a simple guide to help you started. A company’s financial statement comes in four parts: the balance sheet, the income statement, the cash flow statement, and the statement of shareholders’ equity.

The first of these, the balance sheet, is in essence a financial snapshot of the company at one moment in time, the end of its fiscal year. It is generally brought up to date each quarter thereafter.

The income (or profit and loss) statement shows how the business did during the period: that is, sales minus costs.

The cash flow statement shows where cash came from and what it was used for. The amounts don’t quite match those on the income statement, which includes, for example, purchases or sales on credit, where cash has not yet changed hands.

The statement of shareholders’ equity tells how much the company’s book value rose or fell during the period, whether because it made or lost money or took in new capital by selling stock. If the company made money, this statement will show how much of the profit was put back into the business and how much was paid out to shareholders.

A company’s financial statement ordinarily includes an auditor’s opinion. A “qualified” opinion often indicates trouble. The balance sheet is called that because it is set up to balance, like an equation: There is an implied equal sign between the two parts. On the left (or asset) side you show all the assets in the company at that moment – what it owns and on the right or liability side you show all the company’s debt – what it owes – plus the money that has been put up by the owners and kept in the business the shareholders’ equity. If you think about it, the money you have invested in a house – your equity – plus the mortgage – a debt – perforce corresponds to the physical structure: the asset.

Beware of Investing. Investing is a lot of fun. Photograph: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Here is an example. Let’s suppose the shareholders of a company put up $1 million, which goes to buy $1 million worth of gold. A simplified balance sheet would look like this:

Assets – Gold: $1,000,000.

Liabilities: + Shareholders’ equity, Shareholders’ Equity: $1,000,000.

Suppose we now borrow a million dollars from the bank and buy an additional million dollars woth of gold. Our simplified balance sheet would then looks like this:

Assets – Gold: $2,000,000/$2,000.000.

Liabilities + Shareholders equity:

Bank Debt: $1,000,000

Shareholders equity: $1,000,000

Total: $2,000,000.

In other words, the two sided of the equation still balance.

Good. Now suppose that during our first year business the price of gold doubles, and we happily sell half our hoard for the original cost of the entire amount. Our simplified income statement now looks like this:

Revenues: 2,000,000

Loss: cost of goods sold: $1,000,000

Profit before tax: 1,000,000

Loss: Provision for taxes – $250,000

Net income $750,000.

(Sales are ordinarily shown on an accrual basis – that is, what you are committed to –rather than a cash basis (when you actually take in the money).

We can use this $750,000 of free cash to pay down the bank loan, pay ourselves a dividend, build up our shareholders’ equity or buy back our own stock. Let’s look at the first case. After paying taxes, we pay down the bank loan:

Assets:

Cash – $1,000,000

Gold (at cost) $1,000,000

Total $2,000,000.

Liabilities + Shareholders’ equity

Common stock $1,000,000.

Retained earnings $750,000.

Total: $2,000,000.

(At market: $2,000,000. Accounting principles require that you show the lower of cost of market value).

“Retained earnings” on the balance sheet is where you put money the company has earned and left in the business, not paid out in dividends.

As interesting question arises when we add to our inventory at various prices. For instance, suppose that in our gold-trading activities we bought at different prices. The two major systems of showing these transactions are called “First In – First Out” or FIFO, and “Last In – First Out” or LIFO. When the costs of raw materials are rising, FIFO makes the profits look higher, since sales are taken against the earlier, low-cost purchases. LIFO makes the profits look lower. Why might you want to do this? (1)To improve the bottom line of the balance sheet; (2) to lower taxes.

Footnotes to the financial statements may include information that does not show up in any of the numerical tables, such as pending litigation, company restructuring, or prospective mergers. So always read the footnotes.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the way business professionals and non-professionals examine financial statements is that if you have actually been in business, you tend to look at the cash and equivalents, and at the cash flow section of the report. If a business is doing well, cash will be building up and can be put to work in useful ways: paying off debt, adding to plant, buying back the company’s own shares in the market. If things are going badly, the company will be short of cash, bank and other debt will be rising, and management will be run ragged coping with creditors, instead of improving its products. (A hot growths company may also want cash because it has so many opportunities, but that’s a more agreeable problem).

After you have worked with financial statements for a while, you get in the habit of calculating the return on equity, how fast the inventory turns over, the operating profit margin, and a hundred other things.

So much for the Shortest possible course. To continue on your own, send to Merrill Lynch for the excellent 28-page pamphlet called How to Read a Financial Report. (It may be sooner or later their “financial consultant” will call). After that, try Benjamin Graham’s admirable Interpretation of Financial Statements (HarperCollins). It’s out of print but should be available at your library.

The whole thing is a lot more fun than you might think. And consider this: Even if you’ve got this far, you’re already well ahead of the mass of investors!

Stocking Up on Investor’s Freebies

Stocking Up on Investor’s Freebies

There’s a gold mine of freebies, perks and giveaways awaiting investors in many companies, says Charles Carlston, author of Free Lunch on Wall Street (McGraw Hill). Carlson grew up the following list of companies that lavish goodies on investors. Most offer dividend reinvestment programs as well:

American Recreation Centers, Inc.: 11171, Sun Center Dr. #120, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. Shareholders of 500 or more shares join the Distinguished Shareholder Club, which entitles them to five free games of bowling per day at any of the firm’s bowling centers.

Anheuser-Busch Co. One Busch Place, St. Louis, MO 63118. Shareholders get a 15 percent discount at the company’s amusement and themes parks, including Busch Gardens and Sea World. The company also gives free tours of its main brewery to its shareholders and non-shareholders alike.

Brown-Foreman Corp. 850 Dixie Highway, Louisville, KY 40210. The company has traditionally provided shareholders with a 50 percent discount on certain Lenox holiday china and ornaments, as well as 50 percent discount on its Hartmann-brand luggage.

Chalone Wine Group. 621 Airpark Rd. Napa, CA 95558. Shareholders of 100 or more shares get up to 25 percent off on wine, including older vintages and special reserve bottles, and VIP tours of vineyards.

Shareholders’ Freebies. Photo: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

CML Group: 901 East Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23219. CSX is best known for its railroad operations, but it also operates a prestigious resort, the Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Shareholders receive discounts on stays at the resort.

General Mills. One General Mills Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55426. The company offers a holiday package of products and coupons with a retail value of$50 for just $19,95. Packages include a range of products from Cheerios to Gold Medal muffin mix to Gushers fruit snacks.

Tandy Corp. 1800 One Tandy Center Fort Worth, TX 76102. Around the holidays Tandy shareholders receive a 10 percent discount on purchases of up to $10,00 at Radio Shack home electronic stores.

Walt Disney Corp. 500 South Buena vista St. Burbank, CA 91521. Shareholders may join Disney’s Magic Kingdom Gold Card Program at a reduced rate to receive reduced prices on hotel accommodations and tickets to theme parks and discounts on Disney store merchandise.

William Wrigley, Jr., Co. 410 North Michigan Ave. Chicago, Il. 605611. Shareholders are sent a box of 20 packs (100 sticks) of the company’s chewing gum each year.