The market keeps rising. I don’t know why. I count my blessings and sell stocks that are going nowhere — on the theory that if they can’t go up in this market they don’t deserve to be held.
I worry about Apple. It keeps going up. But its P/E is still under 24. Look at this year:
What to buy yourself for Christmas/Chanukah
Technology is the overwhelming choice for this year’s Christmas presents. There are three reasons:
+ It’s now so incredibly powerful.
+ It’s now so incredibly useful.
+ It’s now incredibly cheap. Item; NewEgg is selling a 4 terabyte external drive for $80. That’s four thousand gigabytes. You can take pictures on your smartphone from now until Kingdom Come (Australian expression) and you’ll never fill this drive. Never.
To my list of things to buy:
+ The Apple Watch, the most useful gadget on the planet.
+ The Apple iPhone 11 pro max. Faster processor. Longer life battery. Better camera, etc.
+ Alexa gadgets at Amazon. Every day I ask it the temperature outside. Today’s it’s 19 degrees. Cold but blue skies.
+ Kindle devices or Kindle software for your phones or laptops. Kindle is 1000% better than a book. You can make the type bigger. You can take notes, saved nicely for you on Amazon’s huge computers.
+ Figs Cairo cargo pants. Best pants for traveling. Only $46. Click here.
+AmazonBasics 60W 6-Port Multi USB Wall Charger, $26. White. Click here.
+ Uno to play with the grandkids. $10. Click here.
+ The best list is from Mens Journal. Gear of the Year: The Best New Tech, Tools, and Toys of 2019. The items include shoes, cars, speakers, parkas, etc.The full Men’s Journal list is here.
The absolute best technology present of the year — magic sunglasses:
Banks are run by computers
Yesterday morning Citibank declined a $14.21 charge on my Mastercard.
Today they increased my credit limit by $2,000. I didn’t ask for it.
Yesterday I spoke to five Citibankers to find out why they hate me — to bounce my charges. One of whom was actually in the U.S. The rest were in the Philippines.
I have auto-pay. Citibank takes the money out of my Chase checking account. But they don’t take the money fast enough. Apparently.
It take five days to move money from Chase to Citibank. Meantime, they decline minor charges on my Mastercard. It’s so stooopid.
Why?
I spoke to seven of them. Nobody had a clue. I couldn’t hear most of them.
My best Citibank comment: “We do not have supervisor entitlement.”
Everybody I know — rich or poor, intelligent or stupid, black or white — complain about their bank. No one is ready to recommend their bank to me.
Conclusions:
+ Banks no longer employ real people, They’re computers with insane rules and illiterate people at a call center in the Philippines.
+ There’s nothing anyone can do. So, don’t bother calling them. Pay your bills and hope that their computers will eventually unscrew themselves.
+ Don’t call your friends for their recommendation of a “great bank.” There isn’t one. And they don’t have one. You’ll hear all their bitches. Worse, they won’t be funny.
So much for that ten-bagger
So much for my ten-bagger, Isoray, which makes radioactive pellets to cure prostate cancer. Every reader chimed in: My urologist/cancer doctor says No.
Here are readers comments:
+ Jim: After talking with several Doctors and technicians as well as fellow Veterans I opted for removal. Bingo it is gone. No more “If that doesn’t work we will try this”. I have many friends who went this route. None are pain free or happy and are constantly worrying, “Is it working”.
+ George wrote, “As a prostate cancer survivor, there are issues with ISR (as I understand it). Radioactive seeding has been one treatment option. But, if there is a recurrence, the patient’s options are limited. This happened to a person I know.
“When in doubt, get it out” was my approach. Di Vinci worked. PSA is 0 for 6 years now. If it is not in you, it can’t kill you!
My favorite comment: When in doubt, take it out.
That’s a great variation on my best investment advice: When in doubt, stay out.
Thoughts:
+ Every time you send your friends a Christmas card from Paperless Post or whoever, you’re giving them email addresses of your closest and dearest friend, i.e. me. Not fair to me.
+ Say NO to robo-advisers. They’re worse than people. No time? Go for index funds VGT and VTI.
In praise of shirts that need ironing
The big technology improvement in men’s shirts is “non-iron.”
The shirt makers accomplish this miracle by dipping their shirts in formaldehyde — the same stuff they use to embalm dead bodies and which the EPA says is dangerous to your health. (True.)
They’re not the only reasons I don’t like non-iron shirts: Above all, they don’t breath and I boil.
I like plain, un-embalmed shirts. Hence I live in polo shirts from Lands End and others. I resisted publishing pictures of dead bodies embalmed in shirt chemicals.
More thoughts from Phllis Diller
+ What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.
+ His finest hour lasted a minute and a half.
+ My photographs don’t do me justice – they look just like me.
+ Tranquilizers work only if you follow the advice on the bottle: Keep away from children.
+ The reason the golf pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can’t see him laughing.
Don’t do stupid — again
This is two weeks after Skip fell on the steps outside his house which he’s owned for over 15 years. Skip is careful, mature and (now) stupid. The steps were wet and slippery. Check. Check. Check.
Despite his leg, Skip still beats me at tennis.
America exports hats
My brother-in-law Geoff loves American baseball hats for playing golf in Australia. He says the brim is longer and protects his eyes better than Australian hats. This is me modeling Geoff’s favorite hat from my favorite town in upstate New York.
Charming? Frightening?
Try this. Grandkids Eleanor and Peter entertaining Santa:
Life is fun. Harry Newton.
This new software better work. Software writers are like your wife. They always know what’s best for you.
Boeing shut down the 737 line.
Because orders are are low?
I think the MAX’s are going back to the factory for sheet metal mods.
Several pilots complained the center of gravity was at the edge.
That might mean the wing has to been moved.
Big project.