Investing For (or By) Idiots

I'm either a savvy long-term investor or a rather lazy, stupid one. I
tend to hold stocks forever. I like picking good companies that I
believe in, then sticking with them as long as I still believe.

Cry, Beloved Apple
Stock / Jobs & Co. just made our columnist a tidy profit. So why is
selling the shares so damn hard?

Like Mr. Morford, I've owned Apple forever. I bought my first block
before the Newton came out - I'd been a Mac user since 1987 and saw the
Newton and handheld market as the brilliant future. OK, so the Newton
didn't work out, but the Palm did. But I still believed in Apple. I
bought another, larger block just when Jobs came back.

My broker thinks I'm a genius, but I just like the company. I've
thought hard about selling now and taking the profits, but here's why I
won't: I still believe in the company and think there's more growth
there.

And I like owning part of the company.

I did the same thing years ago, buying Blockbuster stock because they
were developing print-on-demand video. That never happened, but the
stock went up. Eventually, Paramount purchased blockbuster, then
Viacom bought them. All good. Now, Blockbuster's being spun back off.
And I'm staying with them. Now here's the paradox: I hate
Blockbuster. I don't rent videos/DVDs. I dislike there selection and
policies. But I think that there's big growth there and potential in
markets that they can compete in, like home delivery (i.e. Netflix),
and eventually wired delivery. And I have hopes that they'll compete
on discount sales, which they are well positioned for with their
stores, but have yet to enter. So, even though I don't like them as a
consumer, I understand their business and market and like them as an
investor. I'll have no problem selling when I think they're ripe.

My stock pick for the day? Buy a good mutual fund. Don't pick stocks.

We have a word for that in English

"We believe this emotion is known in English as schadenfreude."

Uh, no, not English. In fact, we don't have a single word for it.

Unless you refer to Mel Brooks, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."

You know you should worry when . . .

Pat Robertson starts sounding like a reasonable person with good judgement.

CNN.com - Robertson: I warned Bush on Iraq casualties - Oct 19, 2004: "'You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' I mean he was just sitting there like, 'I'm on top of the world,' ' Robertson said on the CNN show, 'Paula Zahn Now.'

'And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties.' '

Robertson said the president then told him, 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties"

But then ol' Pat restores my faith in him and goes ahead and endorses Bush. Because even though Bush is completely certifiable, dangerous, and deaf to all criticism, he's still has "the blessing of heaven" on him. That's certainly a relief.

HBO Says "Screw You, Subscribers"

I really like HBO's original programming. I'm a big fan of "Deadwood". But I don't currently watch any of their movies - it's just too big a hassle to watch a movie when they want to show it to me.

I do, however, want to record their program, which I pay for, and watch it when AND WHERE I want to. It's my right, and it's legal.

But they're working against me. You too.

HBO freezes fair use; plugs analog hole

So screw them. HBO, you're cancelled. No more money from Captain Randy.