I have received a letter from the Welk Resort Group. Apparently I have been carefully selected from among 67 families in my area for the unique opportunity to visit the Welk Resort San Diego and hear a sales pitch. They will also throw in a bunch of fun activities, or at least they think they're fun.

Ooops. They apparently have carefully selected a Mrs. BTC, not me. One day, perhaps I'll meet that wonderful woman somewhere...

And while I'm on the topic of wonderful women, it was quite nice to stop by Minyanville HQ while I was in New York. Most of the peeps were out, but I enjoyed a welcome handshake with Toddo, and brief meeting with Farley and Billy, then a longer conversation with the lovely and talented Vanessa, who is putting the final touches on MIM2.

With all the troubles with the space shuttle, I have regrettably come to the decision that America should dump any and all plans for space travel. One could obviously argue that the money is better spent elsewhere, and that "prestige" projects like the shuttle ceased to be relevant in the post-cold war world, but my argument is simpler. America just doesn't have the stomach for the risks that are inherent in space travel. The simple reality is that a commercial aircraft achieves the levels of safety it does only because of billions of hours of flight experience, and hundreds or thousands of carefully controlled test flights before an individual aircraft type is considered worthy of commercial use. By that standard, the entire world's experience in space is pretty much at the same stage the Wright Brothers after their first couple of years of flying. If we are not comfortable with the risks that are inevitable at this stage of the game, then we shouldn't be up there. Not in the shuttle and not in any successor vehicle which -- though more modern -- will inevitably be experimental in its own ways.

At last nights Socal Israel Chamber of Commerce event, one person in particular stood out. Not because he wasn't Israeli, or even Jewish. Not even because he was African American. The invite list was pretty broad and as the topic was digital-media focused (more on that tomorrow) there was pretty good response from outside the groups who would typically populate this organization's events.

This guy stood out because he was walking around offering his mortgage brokering services. As I've noted elsewhere, the trend of mortgage brokers inserting themselves into virtually all events one can go to -- even my local farmer's market -- is almost unprecedented. I last saw it during the late dotcom days, when all these individuals were naturally selling other types of opportunities.

BTCat is happy to see me, but very upset when I go out. Her new friend is due to arrive after my birthday party. Several difficult weeks of adjustmnt are expected.

Not unexpectedly, Sony continues to be in trouble, as the changeover to flat screen TVs continues to be a profitless upgrade cycle for most of the manufacturers. As I've noted before, I believe the only possible way to make money on this is through component makers. AU Optronics (NYSE:AUO) is probably the best pure play on LCDs and has been stuck in a pretty tight range for since the beginning of May.

A lesson I remember from the WFR Course, which the Boy Scouts apparently forgot is simple: heat exhaustion is not a heat problem, it is a water problem! Or more to the point, a problem due to lack of water. This is something anybody going to a Boy Scout Jamboree, or who spends any amount of time in the outdoors should know. It's almost as obvious as being careful about walking around with long metal poles under powerlines.

A good friend who is a former broker with a history of being a good tell, recently called me from downtown L.A. asking for a ride. Turns out he had just cashed out a bunch of his holdings and purchased silver coin from a dealer in the Jewelry District. He's also gotten out of brokerage completely and is back in school working on a new career in healthcare. Definitely not advice, but worthy of consideration.

Finally, I found my old copy of Extraordinary Popular Delusions on the shelf at mom's place. Always worth re-reading this classic, if for no better reason than to remind yourself of the need for continuous risk assessment and management, and to point out once again that the crowd frequently doesn't understand or consider the inevitable fallout of its irrational behavior.