In Search of the Perfect Investment

They postponed Syria until next Monday, when Congress casts a heady eye on the flimsy evidence and the even flimsier reasons for bombing them back to the stone age. Meantime, maybe we’ll get a little buoyancy in the stockmarket.

Microsoft is buying Nokia. Makes you wonder what God could do if he had the money. They’re buying a dead phone company, 32,000 employees and one CEO — an ex-Microsoftee who may become Microsoft’s next CEO. $7.2 billion seems like a lot of money to buy a new CEO. I’ll take less. What do I know?

I’m feeling increasingly fond of DirecTV. What’s there not to like? Profits are increasing year by year. Their service is excellent. I’m a customer. They’re executing well. And the stock keeps going on. P/E is under 12.

Weekend reading:

+ The most interesting billionaire in the world. He’s Brazilian. He’s called Jorge Paulo Lemann. And he’s partners with Warren Buffett on the Heinz takeover. The piece is excellent. Lemann’s partner Sicupira has a favorite phrase, “Costs are like fingernails. You have to cut them constantly.” From Business Week. Click here.

+ Archie Bunker and the doctor. It’s a beautiful video. You’ll die laughing. Click here.

+ Amazon’s funniest product reviews. My favorite:

Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer by Hutzler Manufacturing Co.

“What can I say about the 571B Banana Slicer that hasn’t already been said about the wheel, penicillin, or the iPhone?” – Mrs Toledo

“Gone are the days of biting off slice-sized chunks of banana and spitting them onto a serving tray.. Next on my wish list: a kitchen tool for dividing frozen water into cube-sized chunks.” – N. Krumpe

“As shown in the picture, the slices is curved from left to right. All of my bananas are bent the other way.” – J. Anderson

Read the reviews here. Buy your $4.25 banana slicer here.

+ This is the story of the Dutch politician who doesn’t like Islam and has received many death threats as a results. He explains why in great, well-researched detail. (He has 56 pages of references.)  I admit to reading every word of the book. I was engrossed.

Everyone should read this book and make up their own mind. It’s $13.42 on Kindle or $19.26 hardcover from Amazon. Click here.

 Favorite T-shirt.

Closeup of logo. I love the words “peeping while you’re sleeping.”

For your very own $15.99 T-shirt, click here.

Harry Newton who had a wonderful long weekend, playing tennis, exercising, reading and resting. I apologize for being late this morning. The Internet Gods were playing up.

Jon Stewart is back tonight on the Daily Show at 11 PM EST. The US Open continues. Federer, sadly, is out. He played awfully. Robredo, his opponent, played beautifully. Nadal, Murray and Djokovic are still in.