An Open Letter To A Dying Planet - by Saleem Rana

An Open Letter To A Dying Planet - by Saleem Rana: "It will soon be a new year and we are almost a quarter of the way into the first decade of the new century. Where are we heading now? What will happen to the human race? Will it overcome its shadow side and migrate to the stars, a vision of Star Trek, or will it annihilate itself, the way the Roman empire, the greatest empire on earth, the pride of the ancient world, whose brilliant legislature, political organization, unrivalled military might, grand architecture, innovative engineering and artistic achievements have now been relegated to dusty archives?

The future of humanity depends on awareness of its plight. Without awareness, extinction is highly possible. With awareness, a critical mass for change can happen.

At no time in the last ten thousand years since the Ice Age have we exhibited such astonishing genius or such abominable disregard for sentient life. Somehow we have arrived here in this new century despite the worldwide suffering and traumatic events of the past one.

The greatest peril facing our species may be the overpopulation of our planet. Our very success with science and technology to improve the survival of all human life may be our downfall. The current rate of growth is about 1.9 percent a year. This may not sound like an alarming figure but it means that the population doubles every forty years. Right now it is around 6 billion. By the end of this century it will be around 40 billion. By then, it will be too late to do anything. That is the current lifetime left for humanity unless we become sophisticated enough to migrate to the stars."

Buying and Selling Options - by Martin Chandra

Buying and Selling Options - by Martin Chandra: "Now, let's consider stock and stock options for a moment. Consider the ubiquitous XYZ Corp., currently trading at $95 per share on 2/1/03. If you pay $4 per share for a March call on 100 shares of XYZ at the $100 strike price, you have acquired the right to buy 100 shares of XYZ for $100 per share, any time before the third Friday in March. This cost you $400, plus commissions.

If XYZ is investigated for 'irregular accounting practices' (the equivalent of discovering a toxic waste spill in the backyard), the share price may drop to $50. The call you paid $400 for is probably worth about $20. You've lost nearly 100% of your investment, and I wouldn't count on getting it back. But you've only lost $400.

Imagine if you had owned 100 shares of XYZ stock. What was worth $9500 yesterday is now worth $5000. That's a loss of $4500! Sure, you can wait for the stock to recover -- there's no time limit with stock.

The call, on the other hand, will expire worthless (or you'll sell it for next to nothing) in a few weeks, but would you rather lose $400 or $4500? Would you prefer to hang on for years, waiting for XYZ to double in price so you can break even, or would you rather accept your $400 loss and move on to the next opportunity?"

Define The Stock Market - by William Smith

Define The Stock Market - by William Smith: "The Stock Market is a market for the trading of company stocks, and the likes of the same. In Stock Market both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those that are only traded privately.

Though it may seem common, the term Stock Market is a somewhat abstract concept for the mechanism that enables the trading of company stocks. It is usually also used to describe the totality of all stocks in the market and indeed other securities, with the exception of bonds, commodities, and derivatives.

The term market is used especially to apply within one country as, to put up with within the phrase 'the Stock Market was up today', or within the term ' Stock Market bubble'. Bonds are still traditionally traded in an informal, over-the-counter market known as the bond market.

Commodities are usually traded in commodities markets, and derivatives are traded in a variety of markets but like bonds, mostly 'over-the-counter'. The size of the worldwide 'bond market' is estimated at $45 Trillion and the size of the Stock Market is estimated as about half that.

It must be noted though that the derivatives market, because it is stated in terms of notional outstanding amounts, cannot be directly compared to a stock or fixed income market, which refers to the actual value in a market."