In the $tars?Paul B. Farrell, a former...

In the $tars?

Paul B. Farrell, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker who later became known as “The Executive Astrologer,” is branching out into the New Age personal finance field with a new book, “Think A$trology & Grow Rich.”

Farrell publishes the book through his Money A$trology Research Institute in Santa Monica. Among the highlights:

* Farrell says the use of astrology on Wall Street and in executive suites is “the best-kept secret” around. One reason is that executives “treat their trips to astrologers as private and confidential-- like visits to their physicians, attorneys, accountants, therapists and priests.”

* Farrell suggests something called “electional astrology” to pick a “birth time” for a new business, to reincorporate or to launch a marketing campaign.

* Farrell says George Lucas’ “Star Wars” films are “an expression of your individual heroic struggles played out on an epic scale in the galaxies; a true projection of the synchronistic bond between each human’s genes and the electromagnetic forces of planets and the stars.”

Not Exactly Mortal Kombat

For anyone who doubts law can be fun and games, the California Bar Assn. gives 12 hours of continuing legal education credit for playing the computer game “Objection!”

The game, which also includes a text and three hours of lectures on cassettes, pits the player as a defense lawyer against a prosecuting computer. Points are scored by properly grilling witnesses and objecting when the computer asks improper ones.

Unlike real lawyers, players don’t bill clients. Says an official with marketer Transmedia Productions: “There’s no accounting involved in this, unlike the real world.”

Follow-Up

Los Angeles investor and author Stephen J. Murphy believes he’s been treated unfairly here, since a recent item noted that he was planning to teach a Learning Annex seminar on investing even as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is alleging Murphy defrauded investors.

In a letter, Murphy, who denies the SEC allegations, said that he has done well investing in distressed properties, which was to have been the topic of his seminar. Murphy added that the item here resulted in the class being canceled against his wishes, an action that “deprived and disappointed over 25 enrolled students who paid for and were awaiting the seminar.”

Briefly . . .

“Re” mania continues: Following on the heels of trendy terms reinvent and re - engineering comes re - careering, a term used by Los Angeles author Joyce A. Schwarz to describe job transitions. . . . Nature friendly: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is distributing a green brochure for an “environmental portfolio sale” that actually involves the sale of properties with hazardous waste and other problems. . . . An Arizona company sells for $69 to $489 each “EcoSpheres,” described as ecosystems sealed in hand-blown glass vessels.