{"id":11622,"date":"2012-02-10T09:13:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T14:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=11622"},"modified":"2012-02-10T10:32:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T15:32:53","slug":"a-friday-of-amusements-little-substantive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=11622","title":{"rendered":"A Friday of amusements, little substantive."},"content":{"rendered":"

Go Apple. What else? Latest school of thought: big cap, growth companies, like DHR, NKE, Still thinking.<\/p>\n

The worst interest rate “bet” is still awful. When long-term interest rates rise (those\u00a0 over which the Fed has little control), TBT will rise. But not yet.<\/p>\n

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Meantime, the value of long-term bond funds is edging back, suggesting that long-term interest rates will rise, eventually.<\/p>\n

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Personally I still like Vanguard’s VWALX. Nice yield. Probably not much growth left, for reasons above.<\/p>\n

The economy is improving. <\/strong><\/span>How do I know? Because Larry Summers told me on CNBC this morning. Ever since he screwed up Harvard’s endowment and cost it billions in unwise investments, I have had zero respect for this overwieght, pompous fellow. Why does CNBC keep interviewing him as an expert? Beats me. I prefer Clint Eastwood. At least he’s intelligent.<\/p>\n

I renewed my Australian Westpac bank CD. <\/strong><\/span>The best rate was for seven months. I got 5.75%, down from the 6.3% I had been receiving. Of course, I could earn 5.75 in one day with Apple. But who knew?<\/p>\n

Afghanistan’s Opium Child Brides. <\/strong><\/span>More recognition of the disaster that Afghanistan has been for us. From the latest issue of the Atlantic<\/strong><\/a> monthly.<\/p>\n

As the heroin trade suffers in Afghanistan, poppy farmers are marrying off their daughters, sometimes to unsavory and far-away men, to pay their debts.<\/p>\n

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A 40-year-old Afghan man sits next to his 11-year-old bride, Ghulan \/ AP\/UNICEF<\/em><\/p>\n

Why the drug trade isn’t legalized beats me. There are two arguments:<\/p>\n

1. You can’t stop it, no matter how much money you throw at the Drug War.<\/p>\n

2. The violence (e.g. Mexico) and the horrible effect on human life (e.g. Afghanistan).
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

You’re kidding me. <\/strong><\/span>when an Australian (i.e. Rupert Murdoch) gets hold of thje U.S.’s biggest newspapers (i.e. the Wall Street Journal), things get serious. From today’s WSJ web site:<\/p>\n

Cherie, a two-year-old Swedish bunny, and owner Magdalena \u00c5hsblom competed at the Rabbit Grand National Jan. 28 in Harrogate, England. Rabbit jumping is a new rage among young women in England, but they are no match for the Swedes who have perfected the sport.<\/p>\n

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I don’t make this stuff up. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a> Meantime of the newest, hottest sites on the Internet, Buzzfeed, has a lead story on “7 Reasons Ants Will Inherit The Earth.” Click here.<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons:
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Harry Newton who finally took his own advice. When something in your laptop or PC doesn’t work well, get updated DisplayLink drivers for his three external USB-connected monitors. Boots much faster now. . He finally got updated You’ll find the latest on the Internet.<\/p>\n

Stop carrying a heavy shoulder bag. Long-term, it screws up your back and gives you a bad back. Favorite simple, small “executive” backpack: Timbuk2 Pisco Laptop & iPad Backpack. It carries an iPad or a small laptop, a few accessories and a a little paper. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Go Apple. What else? Latest school of thought: big cap, growth companies, like DHR, NKE, Still thinking. The worst interest rate “bet” is still awful. When long-term interest rates rise (those\u00a0 over which the Fed has little control), TBT will rise. But not yet. Meantime, the value of long-term bond funds is edging back, suggesting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}