Thursday, March 31, 2016

The Hope Diamond Curse

The Archduke Joseph Diamond

The Oppenheimer Blue

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Solasfera Princess Cut

Octagon Hearts and Arrows Diamond

Solasfera Diamond

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The Star 129 Diamond

Monday, March 28, 2016

Lima's Fake Dollars

Saturday, March 26, 2016

The Reston Story



Not your typical suburb.

Alternative plan for I-70



Tear down the freeway and put a tree-lined parkway there instead.

I-70 in Denver

Monday, March 21, 2016

Sunday, March 20, 2016

G50 Stock Index

The G50 is my stock market index of the world's biggest companies by market capitalization. I have done this in the past for the top 30 stocks. Here is the list as of 3/18/2016.  (I would do it for 12/31/15 but it is hard to get historical data for market cap).  About half these companies are in the Dow Jones.  I intend on updating this about once per quarter, and replacing the lower tier companies as needed, without retroactively revising the total.  I have removed BP and BHP Billiton from the list because the prices on these have dropped substantially.

G50 as of 3/18/2016









In Shares (M) Price Total (M)
Rank Symbol Company DJIA 03/18/16 03/18/16 03/18/16 Notes
1 AAPL Apple Inc X 5540 105.92 586,797
2 GOOG Alphabet
688.31 737.60 507,697 ****
3 MSFT Microsoft
7910 53.49 423,106
4 BRK-A Berkshire Hathaway
1.647213,330.00 351,300 ****
5 XOM Exxon Mobil X 4150 84.20 349,430
6 FB Facebook
2933.333 111.45 326,920 ****
7 JNJ Johnson Johnson X 2760 107.50 296,700
8 GE General Electric X 9330 30.92 288,484
9 AMZN Amazon
470.84 552.08 259,941
10 WFC Wells Fargo
5080 50.54 256,743
11 T ATT
6150 38.56 237,144
12 NSRGY Nestle
3080 73.90 227,612
13 CHL China Mobile
4100 55.01 225,541
14 PG Proctor Gamble X 2700 83.15 224,505
15 JPM JP Morgan Chase X 3660 60.48 221,357
16 VZ Verizon X 4070 53.24 216,687
17 WMT Wal-Mart X 3200 66.95 214,240
18 RHHBY Roche Holding
6820 30.13 205,487
19 KO Coca Cola X 4330 45.60 197,448
20 BUD Anheuser-Busch
1610 121.55 195,696
21 TCEHY Tencent
9310 20.52 191,041
22 BABA Alibaba
2450 76.25 186,813
23 CVX Chevron X 1880 97.69 183,657
24 PFE Pfizer X 6190 29.45 182,296
25 V Visa X 2400 73.78 177,072
26 ORCL Oracle
4200 41.48 174,216
27 NVS Novartis
2370 72.68 172,252
28 HD Home Depot X 1270 131.35 166,815
29 TM Toyota
1540 106.60 164,164
30 DIS Disney X 1630 99.20 161,696
31 RDS-B Royal Dutch Shell
3200 50.09 160,288
32 INTC Intel X 4720 32.68 154,250
33 PM Philip Morris
1550 98.17 152,164
34 PEP Pepsico
1450 101.29 146,871
35 SSNLF Samsung
145.94 1,000.00 145,940
36 MRK Merck X 2780 52.25 145,255
37 CMCSA Comcast
2430 59.76 145,217
38 CSCO Cisco X 5030 28.33 142,500
39 BAC Bank of America
10330 13.79 142,451
40 IBM IBM X 960.88 147.09 141,336
41 TSM Taiwan Semiconductor
5190 26.04 135,148
42 C Citigroup
3060 43.54 133,232
43 HSBC HSBC Holdings
3920 32.63 127,910
44 UL Unilever
2840 44.96 127,686
45 GILD Gilead
1370 90.27 123,670
46 PTR PetroChina
1730 69.96 121,031
47 UNH United Health X 950.67 126.72 120,469
48 MO Altria
1960 61.54 120,618
49 MCD McDonalds X 901.61 124.08 111,872
50 TOT Total SA
2330 47.82 111,421














10,282,181









Notes: **** The way the market cap is calculated is unknown or






inconsistent.





Update (4/6/2016):
I intend to have a rule that companies stay on the list unless their value drops below $100 billion.  New companies are added only if their value exceeds $120 billion.  It looks like Total should soon be replaced by another company.  Keep an eye out.

The $2 bill

Friday, March 18, 2016

Monday, March 14, 2016

Sunset Boulevard

Monday, March 7, 2016

Saturday, March 5, 2016

The April Curse continues - Hillary ordered the massacre at Waco

Another conspiracy theory that might be true.  It's not new, but I've never seen this before:

Hillary Ordered the Final Massacre at Waco

Hillary, not Bill, not Janet Reno, not Webb Hubbell, not Vince Foster was the one who ordered the final assault. Final death count: 76 Branch Davidians, including 21 children and two pregnant women.

Hillary was the one who ordered the FUBAR final assault on the holed-up Branch Davidians in Waco on April 19th, 1993. The final death count from this disastrous fiasco was 76 Branch Davidians, including 21 children and two pregnant women. The appalling disaster at Waco was what motivated Timothy McVeigh to participate in the terrorist-type bombings in Oklahoma City, two years later on April 19, 1995.

Thursday, March 3, 2016