<p>I agree…</p>
<p>BCE, I’m pretty sure most modern video cards will have you covered with Display Port. If not, there should be fairly cheap adapters. I think my current video card (~$150 about 6 months ago) has HDMI, two DVI, and a display port. Your mobo ought to be PCI-E, so there shouldn’t be much problem, anything that supports faster would just run at a reduced speed.</p>
<p>I think one of the other problems with the desktop market is you can get a really good PC for very little money now. It used to be a computer that would last a few years would cost about $700. Nowadays you can get one for a fraction of that. Case is $20, mobo is $70, PSU $40, CPU $70, graphics card (if you even need one) $50, RAM $50, HDD $100 for 2 TB. What parts am I missing? That’s the whole thing for $400. Easy to save a few $$$ by going cheaper on any of those parts, too. I bought the nearly top of the line i5 2500K for $180, and was able to overclock it in about 30 seconds to 4.2 Ghz per core instead of the stock 3.3. Even the high end CPUs are inexpensive. It’s amazing to me prices have stayed low even with AMD not being much competition.</p>
<p>I’m looking with interest at Intel at the moment. One of my really smart friends will be starting there in a month or so doing some sort of quantum modeling of electrons. It’s a little beyond my level of physics. 
I’ve always liked companies that put money into R&D, it shows to me they’re interested in the long term health of the organization instead of the current stock price.</p>
<p>Whole Foods and Disney have earnings coming out tinight.</p>
<p>I think that I have a PCI-X1 slot and maybe something else. I spent about $1,400 building my last system which my daughter has now. 16 GB RAM, SSD, HDD, 750 Watt PSU, case that should last 20 years, etc. I like my Nehalem Core i7 and sometimes my son uses it for bioinformatics stuff. Intel’s R&D is awesome - if it’s aimed at you, look out!</p>
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<p>Whole Foods is in the midst of strategic change going to lower margin products to attract a bigger customer base. I like the change as both a customer and investor (I don’t have any WFM shares right now) but the markets have reacted negatively to this approach - they want to see bottom line results. This reminds me a bit of what happened with Nike’s restructuring - the stock was punished until they showed bottom-line results.</p>
<p>Buying again today: 6/22 spy 150 call = 12.98, 6/22 163 - 159 - 158 put spreads = .06.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, thanks. Looking forward to whole foods earnings.</p>
<p>Doct, mr bullish…</p>
<p>Spy is ex dividend on 6/22.</p>
<p>Not that bullish including the put spread. I’m still mainly in cash. I don’t plan on holding it to 6/22 unless I forget.</p>
<p>We have to remind you…</p>
<p>When intc fell for a second, I sold more of the 24 puts at .20. </p>
<p>I have puts offered at lower strikes. I may stop now with the 24 puts…</p>
<p>Not sure…</p>
<p>You can probably do a similar computer for about half the price now, BCE. :)</p>
<p>I almost splurged on the i7 2600K, but I just couldn’t justify the $100 extra. I was going to buy a SSD with the difference, but then prices went back up, and I didn’t feel like reinstalling Windows. I’m just about ready for a fresh install, though, so maybe I’ll pick up a SSD sometime soon anyways.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that 750W PSU is also the modular style? If so, count me as jealous. ;)</p>
<p>Have you tried out mechanical keyboards? A while back someone mentioned that you spend more time using your mouse and keyboard than anything else on your PC, and if they’re of decent build quality they can last many, many PCs. It was enough for me to justify an $80 keyboard, and I have to say, it’s one of the best investments I’ve made. So much so that I wound up buying one for work, as well.</p>
<p>Whole Foods going for a lower price point will be interesting. There’s a few markets here in Los Angeles that fill the the varying degrees between WF and a normal supermarket chain. Sprouts is probably 75% WF, with a lot of the holistic healing junk, lots of “all natural” products, mostly organic produce, and very few major corporate products. Prices are a little lower than WF. I like their meat a lot. Fresh 'n Easy is another chain started by Tesco, and it’s about 50/50. They seemed to be aimed at young adults and people that don’t want to spend a whole lot of time planning meals. They have endcaps that are filled with “meal suggestions.” So you can just walk there, grab a pound of pre-sliced beef, an onion, some peppers, some mushrooms, and tortillas to make fajitas. Unfortunately, they’re having some issues, and Tesco is trying to find a buyer for the chain. A lot of people I know that shop at WF seem to do it out of status as much as anything else, so it’ll be interesting to see if those people keep going if the store gains a larger appeal.</p>
<p>WF has some virtual monopolies in some cities. In Boston, they’re the only supermarket in the West End area - nobody else can afford the real estate for a supermarket in the city. They have FREE PARKING too!!! If you need to be in the area for ten minutes, it’s cheaper to park in their lot, buy something for five bucks and park and do your errand than it is to try to park somewhere.</p>
<p>TJX and TIF had nice moves today. I only got TJX though. WFM popping before EOD - someone leak something? Nike may be a good sympathy play. A lot of the people that I see shopping at Whole Foods wear Nike workout clothing while shopping as if they just came in from a run.</p>
<p>Yup, WFM was leaked. Look at what it did from 3:40 to 4:00. $91.50 to $92.75 then BAM! +$100. Someone should go to jail for that.</p>
<p>But I’m sure nobody will.</p>
<p>Though Martha Stewart should watch out.</p>
<p>:)…Post 7272</p>
<p>Stock splitting 2 for 1.</p>
<p>The company deserves to do well - they are a well-run ship that can execute on the long-term plans. I just wish that I was on board for the ride.</p>
<p>Well, we’re mostly here to make money; the political stuff can go elsewhere like the retirement threads that are usually short-lived.</p>
<p>We would like to keep this thread open for the benefit of traders and investors. Politics will shut it down. I suspect the ethical issues you raise would turn into a political discussion.</p>
<p>BCE made a new 52-week high today. Beautiful channel. It’s only $47.48 so not huge profits from the $43-$44 area where we discussed it a while ago. Definitely a stock for patient investors.</p>
<p>I’ve looked around at various charts and some charts are absolutely smoking (V, SPG, TIF, MSFT, CREE, TJX, ) while others have given some back, look a little toppish, etc. I really don’t feel like buying much of anything here outside my favorites.</p>
<p>Thinking about goog. Looking at buying the 9/21 820 -900 call spread for 41.10 and selling the 9/21 700 put for 4.90. I’d like to bring it in to the 6/22 date but can’t seem to find a good way of buying goog.</p>
<p>“Since newly minted President Abe last November began to combat the appreciation –something hampering exporters for half a decade–New York-listed Toyota shares gained 52% to $116.08. The yen is down about 20% in that time. The yen already played a part in Toyota’s first-quarter results. Toyota made 314 billion yen ($3.17 billion), more double last year’s 121 billion yen and beating expectations for 296 billion yen. That whopping first-quarter figure is the company’s largest quarterly in more than five years.”</p>
<p>[Toyota:</a> Huge Profit And Impressive Earnings Forecast From Weak Yen - Forbes](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2013/05/08/toyota-rolls-to-huge-profit-and-impressive-earnings-forecast-from-weak-yenn/]Toyota:”>Toyota: Huge Profit And Impressive Earnings Forecast From Weak Yen)</p>
<p>It appears that printing works. Toyota is able to build and export more cars and make more profits employing more people.</p>
<p>PBA has broken out but not on a closing basis. Of course I don’t know if that means much. It seems like everything is breaking out.</p>