MY CHRISTMAS LIST - ITEM #1

For those of you who know how good I've been this year, item #1 on my wish list:



The piano, not Peter Baartmans.

MORE ON RON PAUL'S MONEY BOMB

Here are a couple of fine clips of Ron Paul on ABC and MSNBC talking about his "Money Bomb" from November 5th. Dig it!

WITH TUCKER ON MSNBC:




WITH SAM DONALDSON AND SOME OTHER GUY ON ABC:

On the Lighter Side - SCUBA STEVE

A friend of mine at work was in a meeting a few months ago where one of the guys in the meeting had a seizure. Apparently it was very unsettling (pun sort of intended, but not in a malicious way by any means, I assure you) for all involved. The guy who had the seizure is now fine and was unharmed by the experience.

I don't know why it happened.

His name was Steve.



Well, because it's such an odd experience and because I'm a curious fellow, I frequently ask my friend about it. What did she do? What was it like? How did she know he was having a seizure? Did they notice that something seemed wrong with him before he went into the full-on thing? (etc.)

We were just talking about it tonight. And she said, "Well, the one thing I learned from Scuba Steve ..." And I interrupted her with a confused look: "Scuba Steve?"

"Oh yea," she says, "We call him 'Scuba Steve' because he went under."

Gosh, I couldn't help myself.

I thought that was hilarious.

RON PAUL'S REMARKABLENESS

Yesterday, Ron Paul's campaign raised between $3.8 million (according to his campaign website and $4.3 million (according to Reuters).

This is the most money any Republican has raised in a single day in the entire 2008 presidential campaign.

Remarkable!

(Wonderful!)

Here's the website principally credited for this achievement:

• This November 5th.com.

The video they have on their website is embedded below for your convenience, enjoyment and inspiration.

Check it out!

On Nomenclature - Part 1

Is algebra arithmetic?



I don't remember what kinds of grades I got in algebra in junior high, but I don't think they were that great. Now that the other month I learned how a "=" could really open up microsoft excel, I find myself thinking from time to time that I wish I was better at algebra.

I think I saw somewhere that Warren Buffett talked about algebra once. I recall that he said that algebra is really all the math most people need to know. But that it is very important to be facile with algebra. Having just spent too long figuring out how to calculate a gross purchase price from an assumed implied valuation, I agree with him.

On Brevity in Business

It's interesting how many very, very short telephone calls take place between lawyers as closing of business transactions takes place. I've probably placed six phone calls today that lasted less than twenty seconds.



Actually, I take it back. That's not actually all that interesting. In fact, I suppose it's perfectly predictable and I know it's perfectly explainable.

But the thought occurred to me and since I can type I shared it here.

Cheers!