Reading Roundup - Select Sector SPDRs Heatmap, Clipper Fund Semi-Annual Report, Quote.com Sucks, Imperial Abstinence

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

Select Sector SPDRs Heatmap
[Yes, yet another heatmap. Turn the "Sector View" off to get a view of the component stocks -- sweet! I'm a huge fan of this kind of data visualization. You can also alter the palette range with the slider bar.]

Clipper Fund 2005 Semi-Annual Report
["Because investing (and life in general) entails future risks that are both unknown and unknowable, a reasonable investor looks for a margin of safety before committing his capital. Currently, the prices of most long-term assets (e.g., stocks, bonds and, of course, real estate) do not offer much margin of safety." Like Wally Weitz, these guys have been buying Wal-Mart of late. Make sure you read Gipson's take on the NYSE.]

I still don't have any real-time data, although Quote.com billed me a week ago. If it doesn't get done today I will have to pick up the phone and chew somebody's ass off.

The other weekend we took Baby T for a walk around TianTan Park (The Temple of Heaven). One of the buildings there is the "Fasting Palace" where the emperor had to spend three days alone before the Prayer for Good Harvests ceremony. Anyway, what caught my eye was the fact that the emperor had to abstain from wine, women, music, and meat while in the Fasting Palace. I realized that I indulge in all four of those things every day, and three days without any of them, let alone all of them, would be mighty tough.

Carmike Cinemas versus Netflix

Plotting the tale of two charts is always a fun exercise. Think about how your own behavior has changed over the years: Do I go to the movie theater or do I rent DVDs? (Plot CKEC versus NFLX.) Do I eat out often or do I cook at home? (Plot YUM versus CAG.) Do I spend more time watching TV or surfing the 'net? (Plot VIA versus GOOG.) Would I ever consider buying a car from the Big Three American automakers when the Japanese continue to make vastly superior cars? (Plot GM versus Honda.)

CKEC & NFLX, Daily Chart