Friday, 15 March 2002

Predicting the Stock Market Is Child's Play A five-year old girl has beaten a financial analyst and an astrologer in an experiment to find the most accurate stock market predictions over a year, organizers said on Thursday. Tia Lavern Roberts not only outperformed her fellow participants in the National Science Week challenge but defied a 16 percent drop in Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading shares with her selection of issues. Her fantasy $7,000 portfolio rose 5.8 percent, while the one selected by analyst Mark Goodson lost 46.2 percent over the year. Astrologer Christeen Skinner's portfolio dropped 6.2 percent. Goodson used his years of expertise and computer analysis, and Skinner based her selection on planetary movements. "During an unstable year for the stock market...Tia's random selection has still managed to outperformed the others," Richard Wiseman, a psychologist from the University of Hertfordshire who devised the experiment, said in statement. Tia thought it was "wicked" that she'd beaten the market, the statement said. Her tips for this year's investors were Cadbury Schweppes, Northern Rock, Prudential, Pearson and Shell Transport. Source: LONDON (Reuters) I find this funny and scary at the same time. It's like when you have a punt at the races and analyse the form for 3 hours, carefully selecting the in-form horses, only to find that you don't strike a winner all day while your wife notices the nice pink cap on a jockey and decides to bet that horse and wins at 100/1. The scary part is that you put your trust in so called market analysts while they manage your portfolio or superannuation funds. 7:32:59 PM

Join the 62 mile high club. If your keen for to get the hell off this rock and have a flight into space then Space Adventures is the company you need to talk to. The US based company plan to start the flights in 2004/5 and the hour long flights will be $100,000 a pop. At the moment, the C-21 sub-orbital spacecraft is just a full-size model. But in several years the made-for-tourists space vehicle will be ready for flight, according to its makers. According to Space Adventures, about 100 people already have put down payments on the flights so we'd better start saving our pennies. Tourists on the C-21 will train for only four days, not the six months required for orbital flights. The 3.5-ton spacecraft, developed by Russian engineers and paid for by private investors, will be launched on top of a Russian M-55 high-altitude aircraft. Twenty minutes into the flight, the C-21 will fire its own engine and climb to 100 kilometers (62 miles), the beginning of outer space. A pilot will sit in the front seat at the controls. The van-sized ship has room for two passengers. Those taking part in the sub-orbital expeditions will wear spacesuits and spend between three to five minutes in weightless flight and through an agreement with U.S. Airways, they could even use frequent flier miles to go to space. I've got my bags packed, all I have to do is win Lotto and I'm good to go. 7:06:42 PM