Baby T Update

Baby continues to get bigger... he is looking less like a baby and more like a little boy. He has a very good temper and tends not to complain. He eats everything now and has lost interest in his mother's milk, with tofu and donggua (I don't know how to translate this) becoming his new favorites instead.

He is bright and beautiful (like his mother), and is stubborn and tends to drool (like his father). He doesn't talk at all yet (he grunts instead, again like his father), and he may be confused about language because of the babble of English, Mandarin, and Shanghainese he is surrounded by every day (not to mention Uncle Morty's occasional outburst in Yiddish).

I've been trying to teach him how to play backgammon, but so far he's most excited about chewing on the pieces with his two new front teeth.

Reading Roundup (IX)

Articles I've recently read with my comments in italics, and other miscellany:

Jon Stewart, Faking It and Making It
[Funnyman Jon Stewart interviewed by the extremely stiff and unfunny Dave Davies. "The big thing {for me} to learn was how to turn obnoxiousness into wit."]

How Craigslist Has Changed New York, by Kate Pickert & Emma Rosenblum.
[Or, How Craigslist Decimated the Traditional Classified Ads Business in New York. I wasn't aware that the politically correct term for whore is "erotic-service worker."]

Some people emailed me to ask what documents I was reviewing at the property developer's, and the answer is: insurance stuff. You may be interested to know that our homeowner's insurance in Beijing does not cover earthquakes (something that surprised me considering how close we are to Tangshan).

The very first thing they list under events they don't cover is: WAR, MILITARY ACTION, OR REBELLION (zhan zheng, jun shi xing dong huo bao luan). "Bao Luan" is one of those great Chinese terms. Literally translated it means "sudden and violent chaos," which is something I can easily see happening given the growing gap between rich and poor.

If you haven't read through last Sunday's chat transcript, I'd encourage you to do so. Just concentrate on the charts, and for those who are jonesing for an up-to-date Dummy Lesson, the ADTN trade detailed there is a beauty.

I haven't read a book (or watched a movie) in ages, but I recently finished Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki and really enjoyed it. Instead of tipping me $50 from time to time as so many of you do, why not box up a bunch of classic paperbacks and send them to me instead?

CNET: On the Cusp of Bust-a-Move?

CNET moved to a new 52-week high yesterday. As you can see from the chart, CNET has been going sideways for a longish amount of time. If it can convincingly move out of the "box," then it may bust-a-move higher. (Bust-a-Move is a highly technical term which only Certified Market Technicians truly understand.)

David Jackson, the budding media mogul, is currently short CNET, though I don't know what his cost basis is... maybe he shorted it in December '99 when the stock was $79 a share. (I am anxiously awaiting the day when his Seeking Alpha Network launches The Toiletries and Cosmetics Stock Blog.)

CNET, Weekly Chart