Not A Mystery
About Life
The “New” iPad Is Out, What Do We Arm Ourselves With Next?
With the release of the iPad this month, and Apple’s market cap now above half a trillion dollars, it’s natural to kick yourself for not investing with them a year ago. But, there are stocks that have delivered even better returns than Apple.
Muppet Taxpayer Triumphs Over The IRS
[Disclaimer: Since starting up the blog again, my goal has been to avoid posts that ranted against the daily insanity visited upon us by our institutions. But after filing my 2011 taxes that goal has been set aside for today.] This from my inbox, where I am being Congratufuckinglated for having the IRS Accept my … Continue reading
Hail The Recluse, A Much Better Citizen
Why would a recluse turn out to be a better citizen than your typical politician? Aside from what’s obvious about politicians, the answer is in the Dunbar Number. Dunbar’s number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships … It has been proposed to lie between 100 … Continue reading
To Bundle Or Not To Bundle, That Is The Question
Airlines and Cable Networks, two of our most popular industries today. If you ignore the Banks. Sign up for Cable and you get more channels than you need or want. You’ve been bundled. Get on an Airline and nothing is included in the price of your ticket. You’ve been unbundled. And yet, as a consumer, … Continue reading
Airlines Will Run Out Of Fees, But Only When Pigs Can Fly
It is entirely possible that Airlines will soon revoke the law of diminishing returns. And I’m not talking about their profits, but instead their ability to come up with new ways to tack on charges. United Airlines has just begun to offer a new ‘service’, which they’ve dubbed Premier Line. Board the airplane sooner and get earlier … Continue reading
What Does A Verizon Moment Feel Like?
Talk about being “in the zone”. The final episode of Mad Men (Season 1) shows Don Draper coining the word Carousel for the gizmo that holds the slides on Kodak’s slide projector. And creating the Kodak Moment campaign to sell memories instead of hardware. Which got me thinking about what could top this bit of … Continue reading
Missing Front License Plates, With Just A Tad Of Respectability
The careful observer will have noted that the Bentley we saw in Santa Barbara last week was not sporting a front license plate. Wassup with that? My (protected) sources tell me that this is a (well known) trick used to disguise cars in case they are photographed by a traffic camera. The risk of spending $25 … Continue reading
Supersized Seats, Coming To A Theater Near You
What do theatre owners and airline executives have in common? Nothing. Well, actually they do both provide their services to seated customers, which should imply some sort of similarity. But in practice nothing of the sort. While the airlines constantly shrink their seats and services, theatre owners at least have a different take on customer … Continue reading
If You Can’t Trust Big Box Anymore, Who Can You Trust?
We all know that Big Government, Big Oil, Big Tobacco and Big Bank cannot be trusted. But I’ve always thought I could trust Big Box. Not any more. Up until now I had written off ever-shrinking product packaging evilness to manufacturer’s greed. You know, charge the same price but put less ‘stuff’ in the box. … Continue reading
It’s Hard To Argue With Gravity While Ordering A Hamburger
Being an expert must be harder these days. Nobody seems to have any good answers to tough questions about the economy. Morningstar pundits are usually pretty good when it comes to personal financial advice. But in is a recent answer on how to maintain yourself in retirement, they managed to coin the phrase ‘pre-tire’ when … Continue reading
NYC Notes: Finally, A Wall Street Guy You Can Believe In
No trip to NYC would be complete without a Bagel Schmear. When I was a kid growing up in the Bronx, my Dad would take me to what he called “The Bagel Factory” early on Saturday mornings. I was too young to remember where exactly it was, but I do recall the noise of the ‘elevated’ … Continue reading
Just Another Mystery
- Weaving A Different Kind of Necklace
- Jumping into Spring
- The Art of Using Natures Bounty to Dye Cloth
- A Shibori Stitched and Felted Wrap
- Faux Fur, Vogue and Verve
- The Perfect Dance, Part 2
- The Perfect Dance
- The Vest That Mysteriously Turned Into A Purse
- Vintage Kimono Baby Booties
- Zipper, Keys, and a Linen Belt Buckle
Sterling Jewelry & Gifts
Not A Mystery 