Dumbest Things

The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week is by far the funniest financial reporting out there. And I know that's not saying much. But every week (it comes out each Friday) there's at least 1 story that's worth reading. This week, it's #2.

MBNA

Fortune's list of the top 100 companies to work for came out today. Wegmans, a regional supermarket (with a very nice store not too far from me) was the top company.

MBNA has made the list every year, along with 21 other companies. Yeah, I know these things are meaningless, because companies self-select into the survey, blah blah blah. But let's look at MBNA's rankings anyway:

1998: 6th place
1999: 9th
2000: 10

2001: 28
2002: 26
2003: 22
2004: 82
2005: 89

Notice a pattern? Are they about to join another large monoline credit card issuer, who hasn't made the list in three years?

And, why do I care?

Sipan Nean Sipan

In an anonymous post below, Suresh asks about a video we used to watch every year. The video was riddled with spelling errors, and claimed to cure diabetes, heart disease, and sneezing 100% in 90 days.

Does anyone know where that video is? Mr. Sipan, if you do a vain Google search for your name and find this blog, do you still sell your videos?

Thanks to the remarkable Internet Wayback Machine, we can still see what the old Energy-VBO web site used to have: check it out.

And, the reason I left, Mr. Anonymous, is because Sipan never came out with his new video, "How to regrow charming and natural eyebrows." As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.

Okay, I am making up the reason I left. But the rest of that sentence is real.

Contrarian Football Pools

So every year I enter Erol's football pool (formerly known as Dave's football, formerly known as Rob's football pool). I don't really know why-- I'm awful at it. I think I won the first week I ever entered (in 1998?) and haven't won since.

Several years ago, I started having my friend Tim do the nerdy part of it (choose the probability a team will win) and I just did the normal (pick winners vs. the spread).

Tim is awful at it too. In fact, through the first 13 weeks of the season, Tim was in 59th place out of 63 people. I was doing even worse: Also 59th place, but tied for it.

If Tim is that bad at it, why shouldn't I do the opposite of what he does? If he thinks the Eagles will win, I'll pick them to lose. This isn't quite how it works, of course, since the different types of pools make it so that we could both be right. Or, more likely, wrong. But, if he keeps doing poorly, shouldn't I do a bit better?

Starting in week 13, I tested my strategy. For weeks 13-16, Tim has improved to 56th place.

But my strategy of doing whatever he doesn't do? For weeks 13-16, I'm tied for first. And, in week 16, I won the pool.

Thanks Tim! Maybe Contrarian Investing really does work.

Cornstarch and Water

Those of you without kids know how annoying it can be to talk to those of us with kids. You know that friend who calls you at 7:30 in the morning to say "You'll never guess what happened!" Uh, you won the lottery? "Our Little Timmy learned to drink from a sippy cup!" Silence. "A SIPPY CUP!"

I get it, and I try not to bore those of you who are kidless. And so while the following is marketed as an experiment for kids, trust me when I say it's much cooler for adults.

Put some cornstarch in a bowl. Add water to it and mix until the mixture resembles Elmer's white glue. Then stick your hands in. Sound boring?

The mixture you made is a liquid if you move your hand slowly through it, or just let it flow in the bowl. But move your hand faster, and it turns into a solid. Pick up a piece of it (as a solid) and watch it drip back into the bowl as a liquid.

Really really cool stuff. Here's a site with a bit more detail. Try it someday, whether you have kids or not.