"We are not negative. We are simply people who see risks and warn of them. The risks are still there." -- Nassim Taleb, Black Swan author:

Should I own gold? There are two theories:

1. "Gold would have value if for nor other reason than that it enables a citizen to fashion his financial escape from the state." -- William F. Richenbacker

2. Gold will boom again when the stockmarket collapses later this year -- if it does.

The chart shows gold over the past two years.

Compare it to the S&P over the same period. And you'll see it's been a great hedge.

Hence, going forward, it makes sense to own gold, or at least, this popular index fund.

Harry is not a complete idiot. STEC has rebounded. Turns out there was a huge seller and he dumped. That's what caused the drop. As Taleb said this morning, "Stock prices are driven by the marginal seller." The big volume is evident on this 60 minute chart.

Meantime, STEC is blasting out press releases, presenting at two upcoming investment conferences and getting at least two brokerage firms to issue positive reports -- target $37. See finance.yahoo. I continue to like what they make. It's solid state server arrays. Makes huge sense for the direction the Internet is presently taking. Fortunately, STEC has little competition.

Reader Bruce Mitchell emails:

Hey Harry,
Thanks for the heads up on STEC today. Based on your mentioning it, which I would have missed, and solely on my own due diligence, I purchased some at $32.28. Not the low (low of day), to be sure, but still a significant discount from where it closed yesterday. Then, I sold some August $35 calls against the common shares I just purchased for $1.25 each. So, if the stock closes over $35 on Friday August 21st, I will have to let my stock go at $35, keeping the $1.25, for a profit of $3.97 a share, which equates to a simple yield of 12.30%, or an annualized yield of about 245%. If the stock closes below $35 on 8-21, I still get to keep the $1.25 I sold the call for ($125 per 100 shares), and I will turn around and sell the September $35 calls. The only way you can really lose on a trade like this is to overweight the stock (greed). Lots of little trades like this keep the ol portfolio returning 35% a year, year after year. Thanks again Harry!

Aches and pains. My friend's neck hurt. He bought a wireless headset from Plantronics. Neck ache cured. My back is cricked. I'm stretching it. It works. My message is boring. All the sports therapists, acupuncturists, etc. have one goal -- to keep you coming back for more treatments. The reality: It's your body. Treat it well and logically. It will reward you.

Health-care? .This sums it up. Richard Russelll of the Dow Theory writes:

Like most Americans, I'm increasingly worried about what's coming up with the new national health insurance bill. If the government gets into health, it's not going to be healthy for us. Furthermore, the average American doesn't know what the hell Obama or Congress is cooking up. They do know that any bill that needs a boost in taxes is not going to be a money-saver. The current health bill is a thousand-page document. Already, that scares me. Who the devil's going to read it? Maybe my special new "health-accountant-advisor"?

Australia's got talent. A 15-year old opera singer. Check it out. Click here.

Technology's promise: I'm guessing this thing is for real.

Change your air conditioner's filter. Your filters are clogged. Trust me.

How dumb men are.
A man checks into a hotel in London while on a business trip and was a bit lonely. He thought of one of those girls you see advertised in the red phone booths.

He popped into a phone booth near the hotel and found a card for a girl calling herself Erogonique. She had all the right curves in all the right places, beautiful long wavy hair, long graceful legs...... well, you get the picture! He copied the phone number and returned to his hotel. Back in his room he gives her a call.

'Hello,' the woman says.

God, she sounded sexy.

'Hi, I hear you give a great massage and I'd like you to come to my room and give me one. No, wait, I should be straight with you. I'm in town all alone and what I really want is sex. I want it hot, and I want it now. Bring implements, toys, rubber, leather, whips, everything you've got in your bag of tricks. Tie me up, cover me in chocolate syrup and whipped cream, anything you want! Now, how does that sound?'

She says, 'That sounds fantastic, but you need to dial 9 for an outside line.'

It took three hours for him to get the courage to checkout next morning.

Final thought:

Banking may well be a career from which no man really recovers. -- John Kenneth Galbraith.

This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads on this site. Thus I cannot endorse, though some look interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Michael's business school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.