Is Microsoft's Ballmer a bad dealmaker?

Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:44:33 -0500

NEWS

Warming shifts gardeners' maps
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A growing number of meteorologists and horticulturists say that because
of the warming climate, the 1990 U.S. climate zone map doesn't reflect a
trend that home gardeners have noticed for more than a decade: a gradual
shift northward of growing zones for many plants.

Study: Divorce may not cause kids' bad behavior
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Divorce often gets blamed for a host of troubles faced by children whose
parents split, and much past research has focused on the damage to
children's well-being. But new research suggests that at least in one
segment of overall well-being bad behavior divorce doesn't appear to be
the reason for some behavior problems.

Marketing of youth boot camps under investigation
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Youth boot camps and their referral services are using deceptive
marketing practices when trying to convince parents of troubled kids to
try the programs, a federal investigation has found.

MONEY
Is Microsoft's Ballmer a bad dealmaker?
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The bid for Yahoo that helped sink the market value of Microsoft by more
than $20 billion in one day in early February is one of the latest in a
string of acquisitions and major investment stakes Microsoft has
initiated since CEO Steve Ballmer took over in 2000 that have been
punished by the stock market as misjudgments.

Sam's Club limiting amount of rice you can buy
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Wal-Mart Stores' Sam's Club warehouse division said Wednesday that it is
limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rices "due to
recent supply and demand trends."

Some car-stereo makers see drivers ditching CDs for iPods
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First eight-track players slid off into history. Then that unruly stack
of cassette tapes disappeared from glove compartments. Now, car-stereo
makers are marketing units that threaten to boot compact discs into the
auto audio graveyard.