X-Message-Number: 12658 From: "John de Rivaz" <> References: <> Subject: Re: Financing and Feeling Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 16:50:46 +0100 Stocks: In http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Sauna/3748//lr73.htm#People%20Ignore%20C ryonics "People Ignore Cryonics Because it Makes Sense to Ignore it" Raphael T. Haftka pointed out people ignore cryonics because of the difficulty of finding out which "crazy cult" really is not crazy. (I hope I summarised that right - the article would have originated from cryonet or sci.cryonics.) The same is true of investment, although it is the case of which "crazy new company" is going to be a massive success. This is why I always invest only a small amount in each new company. Had I chosen the right one those years ago when Microsoft and Intel were in my list and invested only in those it would have made a serious difference today. However it was impossible to know then, especially with brokers advising clients to sell these particular companies it wasn't even that easy to keep them. The value of public offerings in general is that many small investors can invest sums of the order of $3k in the company. If you get thousands of them, then you raise the necessary capital. Private placings, on the other hand, have to be for much larger minimums - I have seen 10k quoted, and even 100k. The reasoning behind this is mainly, as far as I can understand, that each company has to spend less on paperwork if it has fewer investors, and also the law requires them to have "experienced investors" in risky ventures. It can be argued that people only willing to invest $3k are inexperienced and therefore not qualified. Another advantage to the private individual in investing small amounts: That is that (in the UK at least and probably in the USA) there is a minimum turnover under which capital taxation is not levied. I have discovered that you can trade quite happily under this level, but not if you start throwing telephone numbers around as if you were JR Ewing. I have every confidence in Saul Kent in directing the investment and placing of 21CM to the best financial effect - his past record proves that without a doubt. But he may have to wait until the stock hits NASDAQ before he gets investments from many of the people reading this list. When it gets there though, I shall be delighted to add it to http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Sauna/3748/shares.htm as I am sure it will have a corporate home page and it will sit alongside some of the most well known pharmaceutical companies and also the most interesting rising biotech stars. Feelings: Can anyone suggest an argument that it is a poor analogy to say the following? Feelings are like interrupts in an assembly language computer program. [An interrupt is where the path of execution of an assembly language program is changed because of an external event communicated electrically to the computer, e.g. "the printer has run out of paper".] If someone is feeling sick, feeling depressed or whatever, that "feeling" is constantly imposed on thinking. An event that is depressing presumably releases chemicals which affect subsequent thinking. Sometimes a disease process can release these chemicals also. Interrupts can also be triggered by processed events - if someone is sensitive to remarks about his height, for example, you hurt his feelings by remarks relating to height. Sometimes he would be incapable of rational thought or response if someone makes an allusion to his height, even if it is meant to be helpful. Such people are known as "having chips on the shoulder." Ironically the expression originated before chips meant integrated circuits. -- Sincerely, John de Rivaz my homepage links to Longevity Report, Fractal Report, my singles club for people in Cornwall, music, Inventors' report, an autobio and various other projects: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12658