in the early 80's i thought i was a boy genius.....i had shorted two or three oil plays in a row and made money on each...what an easy way to make money i thought don't have to do anything just wait and buy back....i did not worry about margin calls.... i had cash could cover every time......and this is where the stupidity set in..... i deceived myself into thinking that i was smarter than the big players.....on the last stock i shorted (an exploration play off the coast of ecuador)......i stood to make about 10000 if it went to zero....i would have been happy to make a thousand on the buy back......and as it went up i shorted more and also covered my margin calls......in those days i did not have instant access to the market and i am not sure it would have made any difference.....

in less than a 24 hour period(from the closing and opening) i got a rude awakening.... my broker called.......the stock was not trading at 50 cents anymore it was now 4 dollars no 4.59 no 5.23 this was happenig as i was talking to the broker......there were no more margin calls to be made by me.....at the end of the day i had covered all of my short position.......cost to my family nearly everything that i had made up to that point in my speculating carreer.....yup i ate in excess of 100000.....would have been happy to make a thousand.....but lost a 100000.........................oh yes i was a boy genius i learned a valuable lesson..... the loss can be infinite.....the big boys do it for a living lose zillions on one side of the equation and some big boys on the other side of the equation make zillions......................................................................................oh and that exploration play off the coast of ecuador had a dry hole......traded for 10 cents for about a year....... and today 30+ years later trades for zero it does not even exist....yes i was a boy genius but only after investing a 100000 in my education........so ganalene you may too become a boy genius........after the fact........use a part of my 100000 education scheme and call that my gift to you......do not short at all......silver will go down.......but when