The nicest compliment I've ever received

My wife recently paid me the nicest compliment I've ever received. She compared being married to me to driving her Acura TL-S. Okay, technically it's OUR sports car, but she drives it more than I do, so I consider it mainly hers.

So what's the resemblance?

It is that until she drove that car, she didn't realize that having a more powerful car could actually make the experience qualitatively different. Our other cars have all been Maximas, and although they are certainly not underpowered, they don't have the same ability to GO when you step on the accelerator. The instant response of the TL-S makes her feel a lot more secure when getting on the expressway (which she used to hate).

Similarly, she realized some time after we were married that having a spouse who could understand complex ideas easily and translate them into simpler terms made a qualitative difference in her life. Whenever she runs across anything particularly complicated, she often asks me to "understand it for her", and I do.

I hasten to add that she is in no way lacking in intelligence herself; we wouldn't be a very good match if that were the case. But she still finds me a handy "labor-saving device" when doing intellectual heavy lifting, and I certainly don't mind doing that for her.

In our next thrilling installment, I'll compare her to a famous movie star...

Untold riches

I guess we can retire now, due to this enormous legal settlement!

A sure sign that gold isn't in a bubble

Ok, so maybe this should be the "quarterly transfiguration" blog now, since I haven't posted anything since February.

But I do have an excuse: I started a new job then, and it has been very time-consuming. As if that's a surprise to anyone...

Anyway, while reading Barron's this weekend, I came across something so stunningly ridiculous that I thought I should mention it. It's from the manager of the Fidelity Equity-Income Fund, whom you wouldn't think would be interested in a certain topic. He certainly isn't knowledgeable about it!

But you can judge that for yourself. Here's his brilliant analysis:

"Now the extreme expectations that were priced into stocks in 1999 appear priced into bonds and gold, while stocks are widely unloved.
...
Then there's gold, which I think is extremely risky. Its price is up fivefold in anticipation of the greatest inflation the world's ever seen. Hyperinflation is a possibility but I don't think it's probable.

Instead of hyperinflation, consider the price history of gold.
...
For example, after gold's last peak, in the early 1980's, it dropped by about 50% in just over 18 months."

If gold is pricing in hyperinflation, what are bonds pricing in, hyperdeflation? At least one of those must be wrong!
And of course stocks could never drop by 50% in 18 months, right?
 Well...

"US stock market

The US stock market peaked in October 2007, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average index exceeded 14,000 points. It then entered a pronounced decline, which accelerated markedly in October 2008. By March 2009, the Dow Jones average had reached a trough of around 6,600."
(from Wikipedia)

Sounds like a 50% drop in 18 months to me!

Anyway, as long as we keep seeing this type of "analysis" in the mainstream financial news, we will know that there isn't any gold bubble. So keep it up, boys!

But doesn't real estate always go up?

Apparently some people don't think so:

Wealthy deciding to walk away from luxury California homes

And here I thought that "galactically stupid" was just a metaphor

Apparently not...

It occurs to me that the Star Wars films have a lot to teach us about leadership styles.

In particular, the Galactic Empire strikes me as a quintessential example of how not to effectively run an organization. Let’s take a look at five of the Empire’s biggest mistakes and see how you can avoid them in your own organization.

Top Executive Recruiters Agree There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions

Needless to say, these are not the only ones asked by most companies:

The only three true job interview questions are:

1. Can you do the job?
2. Will you love the job?
3. Can we tolerate working with you?

This shows you how out of touch I am

I didn't even know there was a National Beer Pong League!