Wednesday Links

"DNA is now DIY: OpenPCR ships worldwide." A PCR machine kit for $500.

Competition

• "First-Half Proves ‘Humbling’ For Paulson, Einhorn & Ackman." "At mid-year, the average hedge fund was down by a bit more than 2%, according to Hedge Fund Research."
• CBS in a Finance Blogs index.

Bubbles

• Drudge headlines - contrary indicator? More like inflection point indicator.
• "The Untouchables: As fond as I am of shorting stocks, there are certain stocks whose sole purpose in life seems to be to Go Up Every Day."
• WSJ: "Portuguese bond prices plummeted and the euro slumped Wednesday after Moody's downgraded the country to junk status, disqualifying the country from an index of sovereign debt and triggering a selloff."
• Uh oh: "Don't take the metrics and standards that are devised for a mature financial system and impose them on China. If you do, you come to the conclusion that it should fall apart tomorrow."
• Very interesting: The Chinese art of elegant bribery. "Chinese people use art works as a medium of corruption. There are thousands of creative ways to accomplish this kind of corruption without the possibility of being caught."