Nobrainer’s Think Tank

The 2007 experience is over and everyone I know survived. I did well, saw some horses, and took some pictures. The gallery is posted for your convenience. Otherwise you can click more and see most of the pictures with my commentary added.

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Before Skippy, Wha, and I headed off to the mountains last weekend, we spent some time talking about investing, mutual funds, and such things. In particular, we hit on the impact of fees and the benefits of indexed mutual funds. Something I just ran across today from Brad DeLong that is similar to what I said.

For a generation, investors in Fidelity funds received net annual returns of S&P - 2.5% + noise, as high fees plus the price pressure that Fidelity generated against itself by herding with the Wall Street crowd took their toll. By contrast, investors in Vanguard received net annual returns of S&P - 0.6%. The gap compounds: Over 35 years Vanguard investors double their relative wealth. This gap drove John Bogle insane.

“I will present undeniable scientific proof that God exists.” Sure you will Mr. Comfort. Comfort and Kirk Cameron are going to appear on a to-be-televised-on-ABC debate.

For Mr. Comfort’s sake, I hope his undeniable scientific proof isn’t a jar of peanut butter or a banana.

What’s funnier, or really, sadder, is Kirk Cameron. I give him credit for avoiding the childhood-actor-turned-petty-criminal-who-dies-in-the-gutter path of life. But his religious exploits are just way too far over the top. Let’s look at some of what he said in the article:

Atheism has become very popular in universities–where it’s taught that we evolved from animals and that there are no moral absolutes. So we shouldn’t be surprised when there are school shootings.

Just let that thought marinate for a while.

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This past weekend, a bunch us guys headed to the mountains near Pigeon Forge to give
Skippy one last hurrah as an unmarried man. On the trip, some of us learned, while others were reminded, that Pigeon Forge is a Mecca for rednecks. But that is not important. What is important, is answering one of life’s tough questions: why is it called a box? The answer, just so you know, “modern use seems to date from c.WWII, perhaps originally Australian, and on notion of ‘box of tricks.’”

Barney Frank. Frank Barney, I can never get his name right. Whatever his name is, I don’t like him. But I don’t always disagree with him.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank on Wednesday said he will introduce a bill this week to lift a ban on online gambling.

Thank you Mr., Mr. Uhhh. Thank you, Sir.

I said I’d test it, and I’ve finally gotten my chance. I’ve got about 290 miles of interstate to cover en route to Huntersville, NC. The game plan is simple. I’ll stop at a local hardware store, pick up some “pure” acetone, then head to the gas station where I will top off the tank of my test vehicle, a ‘95 Grand Prix with ~120,000 miles and some body damage, with gasoline and about 4.8 fluid ounces of acetone. The tank is about 16.5 gallons, so that should give me a ratio of about 3 ounces per 10 gallons, which is ideal according to Louis LaPointe. Once I get to Huntersville, I will top off again. Hopefully I will get receipts to verify my location, time, speed, and distance traveled.

Typically my mileage is about 27-28 mpg on the interstate. I’ll be mildly impressed by anything greater than 30. Of course if acetone is as good as is claimed, then I should get an easy 35 mpg.

On my way home, there should be between 1.5 and 2.3 fl. oz. of acetone left in my tank. That means that my trip home will provide a nice little secondary test.

I’ve written the above at about 3 PM on April 19th, 2007. I hope to be at the hardware store around 4PM and to leave the gas station by 4:45 PM. This should be achievable. [Note: I am not publishing my plan ahead of time because I really don’t want to announce that I’m not going to be at my house all weekend.]

THE RESULTS:

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