Dennis -

Thanx for the laughs!  Not many around here, these days...but things are
looking up with the trip tomorrow on tap.

"New Look"?  Last time you introduced a new look, Gillette equities went
through the roof.  Do I need to buy some stock in Nair or Neet, now?  You'll
be quite the hit at the Aquatorium, or the Natatasium, or the cement pond.
Will probably cut minutes off your lap time...and, no, I don't mean to
suggest that you're drinking directly from the pool.

We're up at 3 a.m. tomorrow to make it to IAH by 5.  Four-hour flight to
Newark, then a mere 17-hour jaunt over the Pole to HK, fortunately in the
front of the bus.

When he heard about the trip, one of my docs advised me to take an aspirin
before the flight.  I thought he was concerned about the prophylactic
treatment of a hangover from the free wine in first, but he said I should
thin my blood so we don't throw a clot from sitting in one place for too
long.  Oh.

Frankly, sometimes you can have too much information.

Glad to hear you're a part of the mbps crowd...broadband is best!  (unless
you are Enron Broadband)  Now you'll be able to download twice as much trash
in half the time...HOORAY!

If your Austin trip allows it, maybe we could meet you on neutral ground
(think Switzerland, or Chappell Hill) and have lunch.  Or you could take the
easterly leg and sail through Houston and drop in on your friends here.  You
could even meet the new cat and/or spend the night.  Tempting, isn't it?

Great news about Janell!  Maybe she'll be up to a trip in '03 (we're talking
about something special in August 2003 to coincide with our 20th
anniversary...think Edinburgh, London, Paris, two weeks).

Man, your connection is so fast, my fingers are getting all tied up trying
to stay ahead of your reading.

Gotta go.  See you on the other side of the International Date Line.

JW

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Dye [mailto:dennis_dye@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 12:30 PM
To: john.watson@pdq.net
Subject: Re: Thought you'd enjoy this...



Ah yes, my favorite topic [fast losing favor to the tales of Enron's
monarchy, I fear].  Here is an expansion of the "cow economics" tale that
includes ENE:


>Subject: Fw: economics lesson (from the TaxMan's Daughter
>Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 16:33:12 -0800
>
>Cow Economics, with Enron addendum:
>
>AN AMERICAN CORPORATION:  You have two cows. You sell one, and force >the
>other to produce the milk of four cows.  You are surprised when >the cow
>drops dead.
>
>A FRENCH CORPORATION:  You have two cows.  You go on strike because you
>want three cows.
>
>A JAPANESE CORPORATION:  You have two cows.  You redesign them so they
>are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the
> >milk.  You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and
> >market them World-Wide.
>
>A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they >live
>for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
>
>A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.
>
>AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where >they
>are.
>You break for lunch.
>
>A RUSSIAN CORPORATION:  You have two cows. You count them and learn you
>have five cows.  You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You
> >count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows >and
>open another bottle of vodka.
>
>A SWISS CORPORATION:  You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.
>You charge others for storing them.
>
>AN INDIAN CORPORATION:  You have two cows. You worship them.
>
>A CHINESE CORPORATION:  You have two cows. You have 300 people milking
>them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest >the
>newsman who reported the numbers.
>
>AN ISRAELI CORPORATION:  So, there are these two Jewish cows, right? >They
>open a milk factory, an ice cream store, and then sell the movie >rights.
>They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors.  So, who >needs
>people?
>
>AN ARKANSAS CORPORATION:  You have two cows. That one on the left is
>kinda cute...
>------------
>In case you were wondering how Enron came into so much trouble, here is
>an explanation reputedly given by an Aggie professor to explain it in
> >terms his students could understand.   Consider this: Capitalism:
>You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, >and
>the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
>
>Enron Venture Capitalism:
>You have two cows.
>You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters >of
>credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a
> >debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all
> >four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
>
>The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to >a
>Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who >sells
>the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
>
>The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on >one
>more.
>
>Now do you see why a company with $62 billion in assets is declaring
>bankruptcy?


Thanx,
Dennis


PS - I am now zipping all of this info around on my new >1 mbaud link that I
finally shamed the cable company into getting hooked up [only took two
separate visits and plenty of customer "motivation"]  In tandem with my new
1.5ghz CPU, 80gb disk and CD burner, I believe I have moved us into the 20th
century [Alas, I know that everyone now agrees that you are in the 21st in
Houston].

Got the settlement on my old red buddy, but am still grieving and in a
quandry about what to do [no enthusiasm by either partner up here for
spending $$$ after the first year of Prince George's economic slide and the
Enron debacle].

Janell is now improving rapidly and we actually have a small jaunt planned
to Austin that looks very unlikely to be cancelled.  I have a new "look"
that I have been dying to spring on "the group" since before the Italia trip
was scrubbed.  It may be an old look [or gone] before we meet again.

I hope you get to see King Kong in hong Kong...isn't that where he lives??



_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx