I figured Jerry Yang and Yahoo had 60 days

That is, 60 days until shareholder tempers reached boiling point, if Yang hasn’t done enough to raise the value of Yahoo stock beyond the $33 a share Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer offered.

Well that was before I knew that Yahoo’s annual meeting is July 3.

Before then, say, by Memorial Day, we should know just what Yang can pull off.

Probably, not much. I think he’s still self-delusional about Yahoo’s value.

For instance, after he inched Yahoo’s stance down to $37 a share, he says he expected Ballmer to counteroffer. But, as the story notes, Yahoo hadn’t hit $33, let alone $37, in more than two years.

“The company is doing better than three months ago,” Yang said Monday. “I think in many ways this (takeover threat) has been good for us. We still have a lot of work to do to demonstrate that we can be successful, and I am focused on that.”

But Yang’s credibility has been undermined by Yahoo's repeated forecasts of better times ahead while its profits steadily eroded during the past two years.

“We are not willing to give (Yahoo) the benefit of the doubt that they can make meaningful improvement over the next three years,” UBS analysts Benjamin Schachter, Heather Bellini and Abhey Lamba wrote in a joint research note.

Well, Yang and Yahoo don’t have three years.

Beyond that, two pension funds have already sued Yahoo, and are amending their suits in light of Ballmer’s higher offer being rejected.

I give Yang no more than a 50-50 chance of surviving the July 3 meeting.

THIS is the start of Yahoo’s big post-Microsoft push?

Yes, a partnership with MacAfee to check the security of websites for people using Yahoo as their search engine is nice.

But, in terms of Yahoo growth strategy, it’s just “nice.”

Stupidity on display in Florida schools

A Florida substitute school teacher does a magic trick, making a toothpick disappear and reappear, and gets accused of wizardry.

No wonder we’re last in science knowledge among developed nations.

First, people in other advanced nations know there is no such thing as wizardry, and generally aren’t in thrall to religious superstitions.

Second, other advanced nations probably don’t have substitute teachers coming in to babysit classes for a day via magic tricks. They pay their regular teachers better, by and large, but, at the same time, expect them to be teaching for 200 or more school days a year.

This is a hobbyhorse of mine.

Compare all the other advanced nations in the world, and what’s the biggest difference between their K-12 equivalents and ours?

On the other hand, if the substitute could make Ben Stein, intelligent design and creationism disappear, I’d hire him full-time.

Duck a la crude kills 500 in Alberta

Some 500 ducks died after touching down on toxic refuge ponds in Alberta’s oil sands.

The ducks were exposed to residual oil on the surface of a partially-frozen basin at Syncrude Canada Ltd.’s Aurora North Site mine. Syncrude is the largest producer of oil from oil sands. The company says it did not use noisemakers designed to scare birds from the contaminated ponds,

Why? Because “extreme winter weather conditions” delayed the deployment of the noise makers.

Ironic, or hypocritical, or both, since oil production from the Alberta oil sands is the No. 1 reason Canada will fall far short of its 2012 Kyoto targets. And, probably is currently increasing more intense storms in northern Alberta, where spring is just now starting.

Company officials also did not immediately report the ducks’ dire situation, as required by law. That will get them a cool $1 million Canadian fine. Of course, the way our dollar is tanking, that could be worth $2 million U.S. in a couple of years.

I’m sure Syncrude won’t be such cheap bastards next spring.

Bernanke – ‘Notable increases’ in unemploymentB

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke probably didn’t mean for that cat to slip out of the bag while urging Congress to do more about the housing crunch.

But it did:

The reasons behind surging late payments and foreclosures can vary and that needs to be taken into account when developing solutions, Bernanke said. For instance, parts of New England, states in the Great Lakes, including Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, show increased mortgage delinquencies and “notable increases” in unemployment rates, he said.

So much for Alan Greenspan’s “mild recession,” or whatever the hell he called it. So much for the Bushshit of the day about the economy.
Meanwhile, The Worst Fed Head Since Greenspan™ admitted, in essence, that even he is at a bit of a loss on how to proceed:

“A widespread decline in home prices, by contrast, is a relatively novel phenomenon, and lenders and servicers will have to develop new and flexible strategies to deal with this issue,” Bernanke said.

I wonder how much indigestion this Monday dinner speech at Columbia University is going to wind up giving Wall Street today?

Those Chick-fil-A cows are right in a way they don’t even know

Cutting down on red meat can do even more than eating all-local foods to reduce your carbon footprint.

Why?

Well, the story doesn’t go into details, but I’ll tell you why. I don’t know about fish, but I know a chicken can convert about 4 pounds of feed into 1 pound of animal weight gain.

A cow? It takes 8 pounds of feed to do that.

Hogs, while not as good as chickens, are still better than beef, needing about 5-6 pounds of feed to put on a pound of weight gain.

Eggs, of course, come from chickens, not cows, so the same principal applies.

Eating less of all meat, if not at least occasionally going full vegetarian, as I try to do every Saturday, is much better yet.

But, if or when you must eat meat, do chicken (or other poultry) and fish first. Then, if you must have red meat, put pork ahead of beef.

Finally, if you must have been, look for grass-fed beef. It’s healthier for you as well as less environmentally destructive. Or, try bison. (Warning: More and more bison is being grain-fed, at least for its “finishing off.” Look for grass-fed if you can.)