Gary Weiss

At their worst, message boards can subject you to mindless braying or outright stock scams. But at their best, they provide meaty insights on just about every stock imaginable.

With 'posts' running in the millions, Internet message boards have become an essential part of the savvy investor's arsenal.

Shorts wager on price declines by selling shares that they have borrowed in the hope of buying them back at far lower prices.

If you think Wall Street has a short memory, you're dead wrong. No, the folks who work on Wall Street, regulate Wall Street - and, above all, invest in its wares, notably its hedge funds - don't have a bad memory. They don't have any memory at all.

The Amex has a long, often troubled, sometimes glorious history.

For the Amex, which has been casting around for a role for itself, microcaps fill a crucial void - a 'niche' that Amex officials feel has been neglected.