Three month treasuries are paying 4.77%.
I bought a handful of Regeneron today. I missed the last year’s big rise. Idiot me.
I’m down $92 on my BIRD. But I’m optimistic. Somebody will put Allbirds out of its management misery and fix the company.
The best iPhone ever tip ever
The problem: I type “youll.” My iPhone doesn’t change it to “you’ll.” What else could it be? Stupid!
In Windows, it’s called Auto-Correct and you can change it on the fly.
In the iPhone world it’s called text replacement. Here’s how it works:
Useful tips and news snippets
+ It’s insane to have money in a bank earning nothing. Three month treasuries pay 4.77%.
+ Treat your gallbladder with love. Eat regularly. Don’t skip meals. Skip fatty foods. Skip fried foods. Skip processed foods. Lose weight. Eat nuts. Embrace the Mediterranean diet. For more of this boring stuff, click here. For all of that, gallbladder problems run in the family. Yours may come out because your father’s did.
+ Putin will war on Ukraine forever. Otherwise he’ll be dead. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it in stark terms, “If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends.”
Foreign Affairs has an insightful piece, Putin’s Forever War. How the Invasion Empowers Russia’s President. Click here.
After Putin’s September mobilization call, 250 doctors, afraid of being conscripted, left Russia on a charter flight; the flight was paid for by an anonymous Forbes list billionaire. Click here.
+ People who take Pfizer’s Covid antiviral treatment Paxlovid shortly after infection may reduce their risk of developing long Covid, regardless of their age, vaccination status or infection history, a new study shows. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that people who took Paxlovid within five days of a positive Covid test saw a 26% lower risk of long Covid compared with those who didn’t.
Several friends of mine who recently got covid declined to take Paxlovid since they believed they’d survive happily and didn’t want covid rebound — for five days after they took Paxlovid, they would test positive again. I took Paxlovid and had covid rebound for five days. To me, the last thing in the world I wanted was “long covid.” Hence I took Paxlovid and will again, if I contract covid.
+ Most countries have a handful of badly-managed banks. America has 4,200 banks — some of which are gambling dens (like Silicon Valley Bank) and others are so risk-adverse they won’t lend you a nickel without ten nickels of rock solid collateral. A handful of gambling banks are in trouble. The rest are fine. We don’t have a bank crisis. We do have a Federal Reserve who’s intent on curbing some excess and bringing inflation down. This strategy is affecting real estate. In coming months “bargains” will emerge. Keep your powder dry.
+ Laptops have dropped in price but upped in abilities. If yours is more than two years old, buy a new one now. Buy one with at least 32 gigs of memory, one terabyte of storage and the fastest processor they make. The new screens and cameras are stunning for stuff like Zoom calls and watching tennis online.
Australia’s 250 Richest
Welcome to the 2023 edition of Australia’s Richest 250, courtesy The Australian.
The List is the biggest annual study of Australia’s wealthiest individuals and features some of the best known and most successful self-made entrepreneurs in the country.
It features mining magnates, property kings, retail queens, manufacturing giants and technology titans, who have made their mark on Australian business and wider society.
There are 139 billionaires and 31 women on The List, and the total wealth for this year’s edition reaches a record $531.96 billion.
Here are the top four.
A little way down are these two:
Canva is probably the most successful design tool in the world and certainly one of the fastest-growing. Since it launched Visual Worksuite, Canva says it has seen its monthly user numbers grow to 120 million, an increase of 35 million during the last six months.
What blows me away about this list is my memory of growing up tin Australia. (I was born in Sydney.) In the sixties Australia had a Tall Poppy syndrome. Anyone who tried to excel was cut to the norm.
Boy, have things changed. The place is blooming with self-made billionaires and multi-millionaires in an array of fields that is truly mind-blowing — from mining to software like Canva and Atlasian.
For the full list, click here.
That’s it for today
Did you miss yesterday’s blog with that charming Bali story? It’s here.
I’m obviously recovering big-time. I’m writing up a storm.
Today I’m visiting more retail stores to find some good ones. Maybe Costco? Certainly not Walmart, which gives confusion a whole new meaning. And has no greeters left.
Want your friends to receive this blog by email? Ask them to email me.
See you soon. — Harry Newton
