8/26    Hey I am desperate to find either the Pur Explorer or Pur Voyager
        water purifier, but they seem to have all been pulled due to a
        mfgr defect. Anyone know if anyone is selling one withing 50miles
        of here? --psb
        \_ Does it have to be new? Are you running some sort of expirment?
           Maybe someone can sell you one.
                \- well i never thought of it as an experiment but i guess
                it is in a sense ... but i'm also the test subject and i
                really dont want the experiment to fail, i.e. i get hepatitis.
                a filter is somewhat risky to buy used. --psb
                        \_hepatitis is viral, a charcoal filter won't necessar
                        take virus out of water.
                        \-that is why i wrote "water purifier" above. the term
                        "purifier" is supposedly controled and a device has to
                        meet some kind of epa standard to be designated thus.

8/26    So what's the best vehicle to keep my money in
        that I am not ready to invest for the long term?
        money market?  brokerage account?  CD?  savings account?
        thanks!
        \_ http://www.fool.com
           To spare you the trouble of reading, put it into an
           index fund (one based on the S&P 500). But I would
           read it in its entirety if I were you.
           \_ you are kidding right?  S&P 500 index fund is a stock fund
              and is not appropriate for short term investing.
        \_ i keep it in the glove compartment of my ford tempo.
        \_ the one that offers the best liquidity for the amount of
              C. Brokerage money account -- pretty good option.  The Rates
           return you desire with the level of risk you can stomach.
           \_ I agree.  Other choices:
              A. CD, can have better return than money market.  However,
                 this is not liquid.  If you need the money in a month,
                 and you can get a one year Cd, you are in trouble.
                 Rates are fixed for the term.
              B. Savings accounts -- no way.  They are FDIC insured,
                 but the yield is way too low.
              C. Brokerage money market acct -- pretty good option.  The Rates
                 are around 5.5%-6.5% these days.  They are not
                 FDIC insured, but some may be insured by the SIPC and other
                 independent companies.  Some have limits too, like $100,000
                 protection.  Read your prospectus carefully.
                 Rates fluctuate.
              D. Bonds and Treasury's -- good option.  Better than CD's
                 because you can sell them before maturity.  However, this
                 requires more knowledge than CD's, and if you don't
                 have a lot of money, this can be a problem.  Watch
                 commission costs in buying bonds through a broker, too.
                 If held through maturity, you can are guaranteed (Treasury)
                 getting back what you put in.  For corporate bonds,
                 you may not get back what you put in if it defaults.
                 Bonds are not recommended for beginners.
              E. Bond mutual funds -- like bonds but you don't get your full
                 money back at the end of the term.  (there is no term
                 for a bond mutual fund).  Offers diversification of
                 bonds, so called expert management, and you can have lower
                 initial investment.  Some have no fee and no load.
                 They do have a yearly expense fee hidden in the return
                 of the bond fund.  Like bonds (if not held to maturity),
                 you can lose some money due to normal market conditions.
      \_ leave it to the motd to give wishy washy answers. Here's where
         you should put your money: the Strong Advantage bond fund.
         about 1-year maturity, slightly lower quality than your typical
         ultra-short term bond fund, but yielding 7.3%. BEAT THAT!!
                \_ Look at REIT's; slightly riskier, but fairly safe as
                   stocks go.  ENN, for example, is yielding over 15%.
                   There are lots of REIT's with various dividend levels
                   and risk levels (directly proportional). -tom
                \_ I made $50 in Vegas last weekend _after_ paying all my
                   costs!  BEAT THAT!!
                   \_ done with ultra high risk.
             \_ both of those have much more share price volatility than
                Strong Advantage (check out its chart, the price volatility
                has been virtually nil), though it does have pretty high
                yield volatility, but most bond funds do.
        \_ http://virtualbank.com offers rates up to 6.5% APY for FDIC insured,
           fully liquid accounts.  Their website doesn't look good
           in Netscape under Unix, though.

8/27    Anyone have a pointer to a comparison between different mail filters,
        specifically procmail and slocal. --procmail user
        \_ No, but I can tell you I switched from slocal to procmail years ago
           because slocal just wasn't cutting it anymore.  procmail syntax is
           a bit harder to learn but its much more powerful.
        \_ I'm using slocal, cause it was easy to setup, but for the powerful
           stuff stick to procmail.