In Search of the Perfect Investment

The momentum market has returned, but selectively — for example with GILD, CYBR, BABA, but not with Google, which is underpriced. Old standbys like BRKA, AAPL, BLK, and NKE (which I bought more of recently) continue to do well. I do continue to like DAL and AAL which will do well, given the low price of oil, the consolidation of the airline industry (fewer players), higher fares and more people traveling. Everyone complains of full uncomfortable planes, except me.

What’s with this stock? An insurance stock going through the roof?

This is the latest speed I’m getting from Verizon FiOS. It’s fast — faster than most everyone reading this column gets.

I’m not bragging. Speed matters: It helps you get more done, faster. It encourages you to do tasks you wouldn’t otherwise do. It makes tasks better and easier — you can download huge files quickly; you can watch conferences videos full-screen in HD, instead of low-def in tiny boxes. It makes your work on the cloud more reliable. In short, all benefits. No drawbacks. How do you get faster speed?

+ Ask for it. Your local supplier has recently improved everything — from his online speed to his routers to the design of his system.  Talk to them today. My Verizon speed is faster because my friend Steven Schoen, and contributing editor on Newton’s Telecom Dictionary, alerted me to new Verizon equipment. Last week Verizon came by and gave me a new FiOS quantum Gateway and new Ethernet Coax Bridge (called an ECB). I’d never heard of an ECB. But what it does is brilliant. It extends the basic WiFi to a distant location (my office) by amplifying and regenerating (I believe) the signal. It makes my apartment all one large network. This is hugely valuable.

+ Install this gadget.This is the best wireless router.

It’s called a NetGear Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router (R7000). I’ve now installed two of them — one on my country home and one in Michael, my son’s, house. It gives fast wireless speeds and you can now pick up WiFi from distant parts of your home. Trust me on this one. This thing costs $184.73 and is worth every penny. Buy it here.

All new wireless routers now put out their WiFi signals on two frequencies — 2.4 Ghz and 5 GHz. The latter is faster and less crowded. Use it with your phone and laptop.

+ Buy yourself a new keyboard for your everyday computer. You’ll be surprised at how more “productive” that makes you also. Keyboards are cheap. They’re easy to change on a laptop. Follow the bouncing ball.

This is a good book. Grano has an impressive career, from decorated war hero (Vietnam) to head of PaineWebber, which he turned around and sold to UBS,  to chairman of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council after 9/11. I met Grano last week. I asked for a copy of his book — there was a pile in his office. He generously gave me a copy and inscribed it. The book tells his story. It has good thinking on how you mange companies, especially in times of crises. I couldn’t put the book down and read it cover to cover over the weekend. I loved the story on how he achieved one of his best investments — becoming producer of the Tony Award- winning Broadway smash, Jersey Boys.

For your own copy, which I recommend, click here.

The Polish hunters.
In American folklore, the Poles are stupid. In Switzerland, the Appenzellers are stupid. In Belgium, it’s the French. In England, it’s the Irish. Substitute your own “stupid” in this wonderful story.

Two Polish hunters got a pilot to fly them into the Canadian wilderness, where they managed to bag two big Bull Moose. As they were loading the plane to return, the pilot said the plane could take only the hunters, their gear and one Moose.

The hunters objected strongly saying, “Last year we shot two, and the pilot let us take them both…and he had exactly the same airplane as yours.”

Reluctantly the pilot, not wanting to be outdone by another bush pilot, gave in and everything was loaded.

However, even under full power, the little plane couldn’t handle the load and went down, crashing in the wooded wilderness.

Somehow, surrounded by the moose, clothing and sleeping bags, Zbyshek and Vladek survived the crash.

After climbing out of the wreckage, Zbyshek asked, “Any idea where we are?”

Vladek replied, “I think we’re pretty close to where we crashed last year.”

Harry Newton. Some images just stick with you. It took eight men to load this python on to the truck. It swallowed a man after it found him drunk and sleeping next to the N2 road in  Mkhuze, KZN, South Africa. Had it not been spotted, the python would have remained on  the same spot for up to 8 months while it digested every piece of the man’s body, including skull and every bone in  his body.