Even the best is not good enough

The sharemarket turned its back on Australia's best ever half-year profit to end stubbornly weaker yesterday.
BHP Billiton's $US4.36 ($5.91 billion) billion interim net profit and a decision to return $US2 billion to shareholders was no match for a sharemarket that lost confidence throughout the day.
"The market was very strong in the morning and it came off almost continuously during the day," said Howard Elton of Intersuisse.
"We have had a day of tremendous results from the companies, so it was surprising the market has come off."
The ASX 200 fell 29.2 points to 4835 while the All Ordinaries fell 26.7 points to 4781.5.
Wall Street rallied overnight. The Dow Jones rose 136.07 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 11,028.39 and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 12.67 points, or 1 per cent, to 1275.53.
Shares in heavyweight BHP Billiton rose 19c to $24.35 following news of its 47.8 per cent lift in profit.
Commonwealth Bank was also in the black - closing 16c higher to $43.98 - after reporting an 18 per cent increase in first-half net profit to $2 billion.
But the share market was weighed down by falls elsewhere in the resources and financial sectors.
Woodside Petroleum fell 2.64 per cent or $1.09 to $40.21, after its annual bottom-line profit fell slightly in 2005 despite strong oil prices.
Rio Tinto shed 53c to $71.84.
Westpac shares were 37c weaker at $23.24, ANZ was down 21c to $24.71 and National Australia Bank gained 1c to $35.37.
Macquarie Bank fell 92c to $61.90 and QBE Insurance 40c to $18.95. AMP, which reports its results today, gained 1c to $8.62.
Elsewhere, trading in monopoly wheat group AWB was halted, the shares having last traded at $4.25, as its executives digested discussions with the Prime Minister, John Howard, in Canberra.
Shares in developer Leighton Holdings gained 15c to $18 after it posted a 25 per cent lift in half-year profit to $118 million.
In media, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltddropped 32c to $15.88 and John Fairfax slipped 2c to $3.99.
But News Corp rose 10c to $22.80 and its preferred scrip jumped 15c to $21.70.
Among the telecoms, Telstra fell 2c to $4.04 while Singapore Telecommunications, owner of its rival, Optus, rose 1c to $2.21.
Qantas, which reports its first-half results tomorrow, fell 5c to $4.05 while Virgin Blue gained 3c to $1.71.
The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US546.75 per ounce, up $US10.25 on Tuesday's closing price.
Gold miner Newmont was 10c higher at $7.40, Newcrest was down 74c at $23.98 and Lihir fell 3c to $2.05.
The top traded stock by volume was BHP Billiton, with 62.13 million shares worth $1.54 billion changing hands.
National turnover was 1.04 billion shares worth $5.11 billion with 492 stocks higher, 521 lower and 333 steady.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was down 23 points to 4803.