Many Meetings

Greetings from Vancouver where I'm spending the holidays visiting friends and family.

Christmas reading this year consisted of some light fare entitled "Quantum Investing: Quantum Physics, Nanotechnology, and the Future of the Stock Market" by Stephen R. Waite.

WILL: You f*ckin' people baffle me. Spend all your money on these f*ckin' fancy books. You surround yourselves with 'em and they're the wrong f*cking books.
SEAN: Then what're the right f*ckin' books, Will?
WILL: Hey, whatever blows your hair back.

This is one of those books that does just that, or at least it would have if my hair were a little longer. Despite the intimidating title, its the best thing I've read in a long time. A ton of frankly startling insights into the future of technology. Of particular interest to MBAs, Waite evaluates the accounting industry as hopelessly out of date with regard to valuing intangible assets. Here's a taste:

(Stern School of Business prof Baruch) Lev says it is currently acceptable practice to "mindlessly" write off all investment in knowledge or intellectual assets. Accounting, says Lev, has lost its credibility for many reasons, and intangibles are one of the most obvious.

Although the actual value of companies' intangible assets has risen since 1980, the value of those assets in corporate financial reports is diminishing ...modern-day financial statements ...are as useful as an eighty year old road map of Los Angeles.

But without further distractary, here are the winners of the first annual TAML awards (scroll down to the previous post for all the nominees)
Best Band: The Walkmen. If you're not hip yet - get hip.
Best Movie: Return of the King, natch (It's the only movie ever to receive 5 thistles from TAML)
Best TV Show: The Sopranos. No explanation necessary.
Best Canadian Athlete: Peter Reid. This guy has won the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon 3 times, and he finished 2nd this year. He's Canada's answer to Lance Armstrong - and nobody knows who he is.

Best Pop Culture Happening: After careful consideration, this one goes to Ron Artest. Ben Mathis-Lilley encapsulates my thoughts on the matter here. It generated a lot of finger wagging and tongue clucking, but Ben and I feel that this was an event to be enjoyed.
Bonus Category - Condiment of the Year: Your nominees are Caesar Dressing, Corn Salsa, Ketchup and BBQ sauce. All of these condiments had very solid years, and I wouldn't want to imagine a world without any of them - the living would envy the dead. But ultimately, because of its versatility, the award goes to Corn Salsa (and because I like to say "Saal-Saah").

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the dozens And Dozens of TAML readers out there.