The Weekend

It was a very good weekend. I decided to "waste" a weekend after going and going barely sleeping the last few weekends and head to the coast and sleep and read and read and read some more. I finished Ben Franklin - America's Original Entrepreneur (about time). It was a good book though I have read better autobiographies. I think the most powerful takeaways are about the power of the Junto and plenty of nuggets of wisdom one of which I wrote about here http://marketseer.blogspot.com/2007/08/benjamin-franklin-with-words-of-wisdom.html.

I also started, devoured, and finished Fortune's Formula - The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System that Beat the Casinos and Wall Street. Awesome book!! I could not put it down. It is a book on probabilities, risk, the founder of information theory - Claude Shannon (who by the way had an unverified better investing record than Buffett using a buy and hold bottom up fundamental analysis strategy) , the Kelly Formula, the mafia, and a host of other things. I thought it was masterfully written bringing everything together while not losing the reader. It gets pretty thick in certain parts of the book but the author is masterful at breaking down complex concepts and explaining them in every day terms. Truly an incredible book. I had heard about the Kelly Formula but had never really studied it. A must read!!

I also read numerous articles and started reading the 10ks of Landamerica (LFG) and Fidelity National Finacial (FNF). These guys are title insurers and are just getting rocked in the market. I really do not understand the business model at all and was just trying to understand how they make money. How does the business work. Unfortunately I did not get as far as I wanted.

Well we should see Volatility with a massive capital V this week. Talk about all kind of things to happening from inflation numbers being released, to here is what is actually happening for the Investment Banks with four reporting, to the Fed walking a tightrope over the Niagara Falls blindfolded attempting a double somersault. I wonder how much more the market can go up. We are 4% from the all time high. It appears alot of good news is baked in.

Get front seats ladies and gentleman. We may have a fireworks show and the most exciting things is we don't know if the blasts will be up or down. Fun fun.

I also have a busy week with several things on the hedge fund coming down the pipe and a presentation I have been asked to give to the local Rotary Club. I better get working.