I received an email from IndexTools informing me that my accounts with them are now free, thanks to Yahoo acquiring them.

So moving forward from here and upon your acceptance of the Yahoo! Master
Terms & Conditions and Program Terms the product will be provided to you
free of charge.

Thats great news! Although I am not sure how new sign ups are handled.

Wow, this is quite amazing. The father called out some countries I would have a hard time finding so quickly. The fact she has a map in her room is brilliant parenting work.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  You really sent me a check for $1.07?

Lets break down all the costs associated with this:

1. Ink
2. Paper
3. Stamp
4. Mail processing resources (Sorting, Bagging)
5. Mail transportation costs (Bag loading, Gas, Time spent placing check in mail box)

And there is my costs:

1. Time spent opening letter
2. Time spent going to bank
3. Ink wasted endorsing  check to bank
4. Gas & Auto resources waisted going to bank

Other costs associated with check:

1. Bank tellers time to process check
2. Bank time to clear the check
3. Postage costs to send cleared check back to state.

It is no wonder our state is in trouble.

This past weekend I attended the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. For several hours I sat overlooking Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger as they answered unfiltered questions from the audience.

Some would say that Buffett and Munger are our modern day equivalent John D. Rockefeller, Benjamin Franklin or Andrew Carnegie. To be in the room with these guys was a real thrill even though I was among 31,000 other devoted followers.

Throughout the day Buffett and Munger addressed issues about the current state of the United States economy, the housing bubble, the U.S. election, China, the pharmaceutical industry, education, investor education, diversification, parenting, sin, nuclear threat and what they will not invest in.

Buffett and Munger kept coming back to one common thread. These two titans of industry are addicted to reading. Munger commented that the greatest teacher / fathers in his life are the authors of all the books he reads. If you wish to peek in the mind of one of the most fascinating modern day Americans, check out Books Recommended by Charlie Munger

One common discussion I had this weekend revolved around the idea of surrounding yourself among people who are smarter than you. Especially if your young and are in the early stages of your career. If you are always the smartest person in the room, you are stealing prime hours of your life in which you could be absorbing knowledge from others.