A-ha! This article by Eric Meyer explains why <ul> and <ol>’s can appear differently in MSIE and Mozilla browsers. Both indent the list items, but MSIE does so by setting the padding to 2.5 em, while Mozilla does so by setting the margin to 2.5 em. These are on the <ul> and <ol> selectors, not the <li>. So, in order to get consistent display on both browsers, you need to set both padding-left and margin-left to whatever you want.

The marathon is tomorrow. I can’t wait, but I’m pretty nervous. I really want to break 5 hours this time. You can track me online at the NY Marathon site. I’ll be runner number 27072.

UPDATE 2005-11-14:

I finished in 4:28:09 (chip time). I’m very happy with my time and the whole experience. Running down 4th avenue in Brooklyn was crowded, but just breathtaking. You could see a river of people for what seemed like miles ahead. I kept it slow through the first 20 miles and had hoped to turn it on at the end, but there was nothing left to turn on. So, I just enjoyed the sights and sounds. Thanks to my vocal supporters at the 18 (Mala, Milla and Ben) and 22 (Dave and Theresa, et. al.) mile marks. You guys kept me going. Here’s a couple pics from the brightroom site.

If you’re looking for a clear, concise handbook for Hospitalist Medicine, check out the UCSF Hospitalist Handbook, available free online. I’m not sure it’s up-to-date (the copyright notice states 2002), but it still seems relevant and useful. And I’m not just saying that because my cousin Deepu Nair wrote the Night Calls section.

Now this is a good idea for a blog.

ONE BACON RECIPE PER DAY, EVERY DAY, FOREVER

I think this one is my favorite so far.

found on A Full Belly

This seems useful.

You are in a bookshop or a record shop. You find something that interests you. You can’t decide whether to buy it now or online later. What you need is a price check and a quick review, perhaps some ideas of something similar that others might recommend. Amabuddy can help!

What you do is call (617) 712-3574 (There’s a 888 number as well, but you’ll be using a cell phone anyway). Then just punch in the ISBN# and listen to the Amazon price and reviews on the book you’re looking at.

Andy asked:

Hey Vin, what do you think of SBG (Sinclair Broadcast Group) Its the company that owns Channels 18 and 24(my employer). Andy

I took a quick look at SBGI and would probably avoid it. The first place I always look is the market cap. At 700 million, it’s a little bigger than the companies I’m investing in. The second place I look is the balance sheet and SBGI’s scares me. It has a current ratio less than 2 (current assets divided by current liabilities). This means that they don’t have much leeway in paying off bills due in the next year in a worst-case scenario. More than half of their assets are intangible assets (goodwill, etc). Basically, these are considered assets in an accounting sense, but aren’t tangible. Sometimes intangible assets are very valuable (for example, Coke’s brand name), but usually they aren’t. They also have a huge amount of debt which, although common in the broadcast industry, makes them riskier. This combination of factors makes their tangible book value negative. That means that if the company goes under for any reason, the chances of stockholders getting anything is unlikely.

Basically, I look for small companies (less than 500 million market cap), with strong balance sheets, priced cheap (P/B less than 1.5) and with improving fundamentals. This doesn’t mean that SBGI won’t do well. It might, but it doesn’t fit into my strategy.

I’ve mentioned Darwinports before. I’ve finally gotten around to (minimally) documenting my Darwinports OpenACS installation. It’s not quite 1-click installation, but it’s getting closer.

I try to do my portfolio cleanup every 3 months, selling any companies that don’t fit my strategy and buying new ones that do. So, I’m selling 5 stocks. I haven’t decided on my buys yet, but I’m looking at BAMM, BZ, CALM, ESP, PWX, SCX and SRT (among others).

Here are my current holdings.

Cobra Industries (COBR) announced their second quarter results today. I bought COBR in February 2005 because they seemed really undervalued (based on Price/Book and Price/Earnings ratios). They make CB radios, 2-way radios, radar detectors, and are starting to make handheld GPS devices. Cobra owns around 60% of the CB radio market, 20% of the 2-way radio market and 60% of the radar-detector market. They’ve just started in the GPS market and their major product, the NavOne 3000, seems like a flop so far.

This quarter, their revenue and earning were way up and the stock price jumped 25% today (Woo hoo!). I listened to the conference call and here are my thoughts.

• Revenue up 34%, especially from Radio Shack and Walmart. Demand seems good through the rest of this year.
• Gross margin was down slightly because some retailers were experiencing high demand and were running out of product, so they had to specially ship extra inventory, at a higher freight cost. Margins should return next quarter.
• Current GPS device (NavOne 3000) was not well received, partly because it didn’t have a touch screen. Management says they identified this shortcoming initially but that the cost of developing a touch screen through their vendor at the time was too high. Now they realize that it’s important. Makes me wonder about their product development skills, but I’m also glad to see the honesty and the learning process.
• New GPS device (NavOne 4500, due out this quarter) will have real-time traffic info for 45 metro areas (covering 2/3 of US population). It’s apparently the only device currently on the market to have that.
• Accounts receivables were up compared to same time last year, but are down from end of year 2004. It’s not much out of line with increase in revenue.
• No debt
• Book value is now over $10 per share. Even after the run up today, the market price is still below book value.
• Cash is up. You’d think this would be a good thing, but whenever a company starts piling up cash, they start talking about … acquisitions. Management wants to take advantage of their current distribution channels with a new product. They don’t think there is much room for internal growth. Acquisitions are troublesome, because they’re difficult to do properly and because there’s so much management incentive to do them. In addition, it’s difficult for the outside investor to see how an acquisition is really doing. I’d rather see them doing a dividend or a buyback and focusing on internal growth.
• Share count did not increase this quarter. This is so rare to see these days. Almost every company seems to be doling out options, thus diluting current shareholders out. It’s even worse to see them doing this when their market price is so low. I’m happy to see that COBR didn’t dilute (at least this quarter)
• SG & A decreased as a percent of sales. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs should decrease next quarter and beyond. Sarbanes-Oxley is the new post-Enron/WorldCom legislation aimed at keeping companies honest. It’s apparently quite cumbersome and expensive, especially for small public companies. Thus, the rationale for the next item…
• Management responded to an analyst who suggested the company should be taken private by saying, “We understand your rationale, but this isn’t the appropriate place to talk about it.” (paraphrased). It sounded to me like management agrees, but I’m still a newbie at these conference calls.
• Company stated that a buyback may be a good idea, but they want an acquisition first.
• I liked the “feel” of the management team from the conference call.

I bought COBR around 7.50, so the 25% pop puts me nicely into the green. The acquisition issue is a red flag and I’ll definitely analyze that data once it’s available, but for the moment I’m holding.

I ran the Bronx Half-Marathon on Sunday in 2:07:05. I ran the same race last year in 2:07:02. How’s that for consistent?. Of course, I’d rather be consistently fast than consistently slow, but I’m trying to look on the bright side. By the way, I really do enjoy these races more than my pictures would suggest :-)

We started near Lehman College and ran along beautiful tree-lined streets like Sedgwick Avenue and Mosholu Parkway. The course does a few U-turns, so you get to see the leaders coming back. That’s always motivating for me. The only annoying stretch is the out and back down the middle of the sun-exposed Grand Concourse. On a bright sunny day, that really drains you.

I hadn’t been running consistenly, so I didn’t think i’d be setting any records. I’m happy with 2:07. I just need to get in gear and be more consistent with my weekly mileage. I’m following the NYRR Marathon - Casual Marathoner guide. This week I’m supposed to run 24 miles. I’ve got 15 down so far with a 5 mile race (Dash & Splash) planned on Saturday.