Here we go with the "ego" thing again. You never told us whether you understand what "ego" is, nor how it effects any arguments or speculation I may present - especially recognizing that in response to my posts, I receive insults and accusations, but rarely if ever a counter-argument. Work on that counter-argument thing - it's supposed to be what this forum is all about. And I welcome it.

As for my defense of the BoD, I think I've been fairly consistent on two things:

- Criticizing when the facts are pretty well known: e.g., dividends, acquisitions, hiring/firing CEOs, compensation, lack of promotion of PTSC, failure to do share buy-backs in times like NOW, AMS in Chicago, etc. (a couple of these items should clearly indicate that I don't appreciate what this company has morphed into either - especially the second item, which I argued endlessly when others were demanding alternate revenue streams/creating unnecessary risk).

- Defending when the facts are NOT known, or when the facts are blown completely out of proportion, e.g., "they squandered ALL the revenues from the MMP" (10% is a LOT different from 100%, and the numbers aren't "final").

Yes, there are times when I have been wrong. On the criticizing side, about acquisitions, I may be proven wrong when it comes to Holocom, perhaps even Crossflow. On the defending side, there have been several, if not many times where, when the facts became known, the defense I offered was in error. The key is "when the facts became known".

And, by the way, bashing/hyping posts do work, otherwise people would not pursue it. Look at December '09, closely. Recall the time BillWilke had a confused contact with the PTO (Bill referring to patent number suffix, Examiner referring to application number suffix), and advised this board and this board only that the re-exam had been completed in the owner's favor; the PPS jumped 10 cents (twenty something to thirty something, 40-45%) in a matter of minutes on high volume. Then, when he reported the error after a confirmation call, and reported it here and here only, the PPS immediately retreated to about where it was prior. An unintentional hype post, here. Posts have no effect? And of course, due to human nature, negative posts inherently should have a greater impact.

FWIW,

SGE