Five ways to have a great day, Joey on the way out and why worry

There is a bit of Taleb-bashing going on on the net (claims that he made wrong predictions about going short on US Treasuries as long as Bernanke is in office; he did make those predictions, and indeed you would have hardly made any money on it, but those criticising him didn't understand Taleb's investing strategy). Anyway, it's not up to me to defend the guy, he does a pretty good job of that himself. However as a token of support and because it is time for New Year resolutions anyway, here's a list offered by Taleb of five ways to have a great day:

1. Smile at a stranger,
2. Surprise someone by saying something unexpectedly nice,
3. Give some genuine attention to an elderly,
4. Invite someone who doesn’t have many friends for coffee,
5. Humiliate an economist, publicly, or create deep anxiety inside a Harvard professor.

I read on some aviation news websites that Aurigny Air Services (the carrier operating from the Channel Islands) is considering the Dornier 228 as a replacement for their Britten Norman Trislander. No no no no no! I mean, yes I can understand their rationale for wanting to do this but it would make me so sad to see the Trislander disappear. Those of you who don't know the airplane, it is a development of the Islander (a picture is included here). Only 72 were built in the seventies but they saw operations across the globe (and often in exotic places). The Trislander is longer than the Islander but its most prominent feature is the 3rd engine (turboprop!) in the fin.

In the Channel Islands the Trislander is affectionately referred to as Joey. As I will be there for holiday this year, I at least need to get some pictures of it. For now I only can share a drawing which I made a couple of decades ago.

Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers died last week on January 3rd. The most harmonious voices in music history are no longer. Their music lives on so does their influence. When the news broke of Phil's death, following live performance from 1986 was referred to often as a tribute. So let's listen to The Everly Brothers with Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler & Michael McDonald - Why Worry