Wednesday Link Dump

I had a bit of confusion in taking the right train last night after teaching in that beforementioned professional program. There were trains leaving Boston to two towns that have the same name but are in different states. Of course, since they left at about the same time, I took the wrong one.

Luckily, the wrong one was a commuter train, so I was able to backtrack after only 15 minutes. But it did make me miss the last train to Unknown University Town. Luckily, I was able to get a train to a nearby town, but Unknown Wife had to pick me up at Midnight.

Today, she's off for a few days with her best friend from college to their 20th reunion. So I get to do the Mr. Mom thing.

Why am I telling you this? Because blogging will probably be way down the priority list what with teaching, kids, making up exams, and so on.

But in the meanwhile, here are the links for today:

Jack Ciesielski at the AAO weblog gives us the latest news on companies caught up in the ongoing options backdating saga.

DealBook puts forth the idea that hedge funds' retreating may have helped lower energy prices.

From the Onion, the title says it all: "Heroic Computer Dies to Save World From Master's Thesis"

Marketwatch.com tells us that Active management beats indexes in down markets.

Craig Newmark points us to a list of the 50 hottest professors (and no, I'm not on it).

Last, but not least, yesterday's Wall Street Journal describes how trading in derivatives surged before the announcement of the Harrah's LBO. That makes sense, because an informed trader can make higher profits trading the derivative contract rather than the underlying asset.

That should keep y'all busy while I get some work done.