Ford E Series Cargo Van

For my little project tomorrow, I rented a Ford E Series Cargo Van. A young friend Ben is coming by at 10:00 a.m. to carry book boxes up from downstairs to load into the van. To be delivered to Pastor Doug up in Otsego. 431 books / 13 boxes. If the weather were less uncertain I would have used my pickup but I don't want to deliver wet books. And not all of the boxes would have fit into one S-10 pickup load. Hence the van rental from Enterprise in Plymouth.

Observations:

• This thing is very hard for me to get into. We have a stool here at the house and I'll use that to aid ingress.
• I thought I would pull it into the garage. I inched forward and made the wise decision to leave it out
• Egress is a sliding leap of faith .... how far down? ... inch lower and lower .... "one small leap for man" ... "the Eagle has landed"
• Inside ... completely bare bones.  
• Brakes ... grabby
• I will be glad to have my S-10 back tomorrow afternoon

Telecom stocks: Home and abroud

BCE (Bell Canada)

Excerpt:

BCE Inc. is Canada's largest communications company, providing a comprehensive and innovative suite of broadband communication services to residential and business customers in Canada. Powered by industry-leading investments in media content and broadband networks, Bell services include high-speed Fibe Internet, Fibe TV, Satellite TV, Bell Mobility and Virgin Mobile, Home Phone local and long distance services as well as IP-broadband services and information and communications technology (ICT) services.

Comment: T is my Mother's favorite stock because Dad retired from there with 44 years of service. It's best to not invest emotionally. I like all of these because they basically function like a utility. They pay good dividends and are solid but unexciting. If you are under 50 ... buy the growth stocks like GOOG or AAPL. 

FedEx's hidden arrow - part 2

Part # 1

Comment: This is for Tobin who has poor eyesight :) . How about the Arabic language FedEx logo .... seemed more obvious to me.

FedEx's hidden arrow

FedEx’s hidden arrow, and other visual advertising tricks

Excerpt:

You can see either the white arrow or the FedEx letters, but not both at once, because one is always the background to the other.

The current FedEx logo was shortened from the earlier company name Federal Express and given a new snazzy illusory design element, the background arrow between the “E” and the “x.” Did the company shorten the name to reduce the amount of paint needed for signage on its planes and trucks? That explanation makes no sense, unless the painters could use only one font size. Once the name was shorter, they could just paint the letters larger to take up the same space and use about the same amount of paint. In fact, according to Linden Leader, the graphic artist who designed the new logo, the FedEx CEO specifically requested that the logo be easily legible on every truck from five blocks away.

Instead the change resulted from a thorough analysis of the company’s name recognition in the market. Why might the new logo be more effective? One reason is that the arrow, a symbol that has special meaning to our cognitive system, helps to draw attention to the logo as a whole. Arrows indicate what scientists call “implied motion.” Visual neuroscientists Anja Schlack and Thomas Albright of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have shown that neurons that respond preferentially to specific directions of motion in the world are also activated by arrows pointing in the corresponding direction, even though the arrows are not themselves moving but just represent the concept of motion.

The FedEx arrow pointing to the right signifies motion toward the future for those who write in English and other left-to-right languages. Moreover, because our motion areas also have more neurons that prefer cardinal rather than oblique directions, here the arrow invokes a powerful competition with the FedEx name itself, so our perception vacillates between “FedEx” and forward momentum. In languages read right to left, the FedEx arrow points toward the left, such as in the Arabic version of the logo, consistent with the corresponding cognitive representation of time’s arrow.

Comment: Never noticed it!

The Apostrophe Protection Society

Theres a Question Mark Hanging Over the Apostrophes Future - Its Practically Against the Law to Use the Mark in a Places Name; Sorry, Pikes Peak

Excerpt:

The Domestic Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names doesn't like apostrophes. Visitors to Harpers Ferry or Pikes Peak might not realize it, but anyone aspiring to name a ridge or a swamp after a local hero will soon find out.

In this Adirondack town, pop. 1,219, a move is on to put a mountain on the map in honor of James Cameron, who settled here in 1773. There is some dispute as to which mountain, and whether to call it Jimmy's Peak, Jimmie's Peak or James' Peak. But there is no opposition to the apostrophe—except from the government.

"Without it, Jimmys looks plural, not possessive," Evelyn Wood, Thurman's town supervisor, said one morning upstairs in the Town Hall. She is 35 years old and has a college degree in English. The Domestic Names Committee, citing her "Jimmy's Peak" proposal in a letter, added "[sic]" after each "Jimmy's."

Said Ms. Wood, "They're their '[sics]' not ours."

For punctuation sticklers, this official apostrophe aversion is a sad comment on a useful mark in serious trouble. Apostrophes aren't welcome on the Web (McDonald's  is mcdonalds.com). Banks and druggists ignore them (Barclays,  Walgreens). And they sow signage chaos (Employee's Only; Happy Bosses Day; Blue's Band).

Comment: Who knew there is a Apostrophe Protection Society?!

Statoil (STO)

Statoil Homepage

STO Quote

Comment:

• Looks like a smaller "cousin" to say a BP
• Nice yield of 3.6%
• Payout ratio of 26%
• Low P/E of 7
• I'm thinking about it
• I added a new image at the top. From Wiki article. 

On "Secret Plans" to fund the Stadium

Dayton’s “secret plan” on Vikings funding taking shape at Capitol

AND

Governor's 'secret plan' for Vikes stadium funding may be revealed today

Excerpt:

The governor’s “secret plan” to replace revenues that were promised through e-pulltabs may be revealed today. At MPR, Tim Nelson reports: “The plan to boost Vikings stadium-bound revenue likely won’t include a sports memorabilia tax. That proposal appears dead. Supporter of the memorabilia proposal House Taxes chair Ann Lenczewski announced at a conference committee meeting that she’d opted to back the governor’s so-called ‘secret’ plan to make up for the shortfall in gambling tax revenues. … [She said], “The (revenue) commissioner will be telling people about that later… The House is going to give up the sports memorabilia approach and support the governor’s approach.” Let’s start a pool … Electronic bake sales? Online keno? Sports cliche bingo?

Comment: It seemed obvious that the Pull-Tabs was a foolish guess

4295 Cottonwood Lane

4295 Cottonwood Lane

Comment: This house was briefly on the market August 2012. The Edina Realty site did not have a picture up today. The image above is from Zillow.

4260 Deerwood LN

4260 Deerwood LN
Comment: 1 street over from ours. Larger than our house + 5th bedroom. Just went on the market this week

Here's the church, here's the steeple...open the giant doors...

Vikings unveil stadium design: What do you think?

These comments basically sum up my view!

Why I like Clorox (CLX)

Clorox Raises Quarterly Dividend to 71 Cents, Beating Estimates

Excerpt:

Clorox Co. (CLX), the bleach maker with products ranging from Hidden Valley salad dressing to Glad trash bags, will raise its dividend by 11 percent, higher than analysts estimated.

Comment:

Why I like it:

• Brands I know and brands we use: Berts Bees, Hidden Valley Ranch, Glad Bags, etc. (I have a container of Bert's Bees at my desk right now! We never buy the cheapest brand trash bags. Last weekend we used multiple large Glad bags to haul trash up from the basement. We stuffed 'em full! Kathee likewise buys Hidden Valley Ranch products
• A nice dividend

Railcar Manufacturing: ARII or TRN?

Sometimes investing is like being in the Opthamologist exam ... when the Doctor asks .. which is more in focus A or B. So the question might be JPM or WFC; XOM or COP, DELL or HPQ, HD or LOW, WAG or CVS.

Today's stock comparison is Railcar Manufacturing: ARII or TRN?. I'm not an investor in either yet. Trinity Homepage | American Railcar homepage

My own conclusion is that they are both worthwhile considerations for dividend investing. Seeking Apha has a brief article on American Railcar. Conclusion:

ARII trades at a 25 percent discount from its 52-week high. Crude-by-rail traffic is expected to increase by 300,000 units in 2013, nearly offsetting a drop in coal traffic in 2012. On top of that, coal is moved along a rail network that has been established for decades, while crude oil traffic is along a network that is still in development. Carl Icahn holds 55 percent of the outstanding shares of the ARII. The dividend yield is very generous at 2.9 percent on a very safe 31 percent payout ratio. The Graham fair value is $36.22, forward P/E is 8.54 and analysts expect annual EPS growth of 15 percent over the next five years. ARII appears to be undervalued at this level.

NextDoor Forster Preserve reaches Requisite Threshold

forsterpreserve.nextdoor.com

Comment: Relieved ... I had to have 9 neighbors signup to make it! At least one from every street signed up (except the one house on Old Rockford Road).

Each share of stock should be viewed as a miniature factory

Clyde & Dale's Barrel Factory - N Scale

This is how I view investing. I'm playing a "game" like Monopoly. Investing is buying little tiny companies - each individual share of stock is like a miniature factory. I ask these questions:

• Is it profitable?
• Is it viable? (Clyde & Dale's Barrel Factory is cute but few are buying barrels!)
• Is it part of a mix? A Coca-Cola bottling plant, an aircraft factory, a bank, et cetera. (If you have every played the simulation game - Sim City - this analogy may make sense)
• Does it return part of the profit to the owner? The dividend.

Retirement Plan: Handicapped Tour Guide for the Very Wealthy

Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World

Excerpt:

Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World — by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned.

Comment: Called ... turning lemons into lemonade

"Space Oddity" from the ISS

Comment: Bowie's voice is better but oh the "set" of the ISS. Wiki on Space Oddity

"Moneyball": About the business of baseball

I missed the 1st 20 minutes but managed to see the remainder of Moneyball on TV last night. An absolutely great film.Why I liked it ... it was essentially a film about economics.

Other baseball films that I have enjoyed:

• A League of Their Own
• 61*
• The Natural
• Field of Dreams
• Eight Men Out

The Edward Jones "7"

I met Friday with and Edward Jones financial advisor. Here are 7 stocks she recommended. Taking these 7 stocks, here's how % 50K could be invested with a 3% dividend yield. Click image for larger view

Investing in "The Peet Fund" with $ 50,000

Comment: There is no "Peet Fund" but with the following same top 20 stocks as "The Peet Fund" one could have a dividend yield of 3.04%. ShareBuilder is a good place to buy stocks in odd-lots. Click image for larger, better view.

The Peet Fund

I view every share of stock as a little miniature factory that will produce profit for us in retirement. Above image Clyde & Dale's Barrel Factory - N Scale
If our investments were a mutual fund:

Price per Share, Dividend, and Yield

Top 20 Holdings

Comment. Basically used the same format of holdings for PEY:

Blood letting .... book sorting ... beef stroganoff

This phrase explains my day: Blood letting .... book sorting ... beef stroganoff

• I gave blood at the Memorial Blood Center in Plymouth at 11:00 am. 
• After lunch Kathee and I worked on our book sorting project ^*
• Book sorting is a dirty job .... just out of the shower. Kathee is making beef stroganoff

^* Book sorting project:

• The theological book sort. Kathee packed 10 boxes of theology / religious books. All to be donated to a church NW of us. She has not completed the final count, but my estimate is 350+ books. What: commentaries, greek aids, Bibles, Greek New Testaments, dozens of old hymnals of various kids, plus more more more. I did keep a very small collection for myself
• The sell to half priced books group. We need to do more work on this next week. Our son Nathan will help us with this
• The keep list. Some theology books ... others too
• The trash list: example: old computer books for products no longer current (MS-DOS v 5, Windows 3.1, etc), old high school yearbooks. I only kept my Senior year. All college year-books. We almost filled a 96 gallon garbage container.
• Technology books: Linux, HTML, Linux utilities, CSS, et cetera, I haven't figured out what to do with these. Maybe to half-priced books

The larger project:

• We are having our lower level completely re-carpeted the first week of June. This is approx. 1300 square feet. Includes 2 bedrooms and closets and the large family room where our pool table is. Next Friday the pool table is to be disassembled and moved into the back room
• After carpeting we hope to continue clean out: back unfinished room. Et cetera
• Long term I would like to be down to stuff to furnish a 1500-1700 sq ft condo (2015 or 2016)

Will the "100-Yen" Store go the way of the "Five and Dime"?

Tough Times Ahead for 100-Yen Stores

Excerpt:

Japanese investors and exporters may be cheering the dollar's return to the ¥100 mark, but for the thousands of "100 Yen" discount stores around the country, it signals tough times ahead.

The 100-yen shops have become representative of a deflationary Japan, thriving by astonishing customers with the purchasing power of the ¥100 coin. They offer everything from cellphone chargers to fake eyelashes for the same low price. Their business model has centered on a strong yen pushing down prices of the imported goods that fill their shelves.

... Since the price the shops can charge is fixed, by definition, creative store managers may be forced to give consumers a little less bang for their money. What used to buy 10 balloons might soon buy eight, a pack of five hair curlers might be replaced by packs of three, and kitchen sponges might be cut into smaller pieces, said 100-yen store managers in Tokyo. They say they are also looking to raise the percentage of Japan-made goods on the shelves.

Comment: Note to business owner - don't put the price in the business name. Eg. Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Inc, and Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Spock's Vulcan salute based on Hebrew Blessing

Vulcan salute

Excerpt:

The Vulcan salute first appeared in 1967 on the Star Trek second season opening episode, "Amok Time". The gesture famously has a reputation for being difficult for some people to make without practice or the covert pre-positioning of the fingers, and actors on the original show reportedly had to position their fingers off-screen with the other hand before raising their hand into frame. This reputation may stem from variations in individuals' manual dexterity ... In his autobiography I Am Not Spock, Nimoy wrote that he based it on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the salute. The letter Shin here stands for Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)". Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue. There he saw the blessing performed and was very impressed by it

Comment: Interesting.

Happy Birthday Mom (93rd)

Comment: I'm a little blue because I wish I was there with her today. Mom was hospitalized with a foot infection on April 25th. Now she is in a rehab facility until May 16th. We almost always are in Dallas for her birthday but we went in March this year to help her move out of her house.