A good teacher is like a candle–it consumes 

itself to light the way for others.

- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Marginal Requirements

Auto Industry- A survey of some 200 auto industry executives by Booz & Co. finds that 94% of the automaker executives and 92% of automotive-technology-supplier executives are bullish. In 2011, 53% of auto company executives surveyed and 37% of supplier company executives were bearish. But what exactly are they bullish or bearish about? It doesn't matter. Consultants like Booz & Co. always tell you they told you so, and that bills are due upon receipt.

Marginal Musings

A Monetary Difference of Opinion- Narayana Kocherlakota, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says he believes the Fed should start looking at tightening monetary policy in the next six to nine months, citing the economy is closer to maximum employment than data suggest. In other words, Mr. Kocherlakata thinks another round of quantitative easing would be as effective as Ben Bernanke clicking the heels of his ruby slippers and saying, "I hope this works, I hope this works."

Just Plain Marginal

Facebook- With a Tuesday night closing price of $31, S&P Capital IQ initiated coverage of Facebook Wednesday morning with a "Sell" rating and a target price of $30. S&P Capital IQ works off the Mayan calendar, which says that any given Wednesday is actually the previous week's Friday. Either that or they're later than a Lindsey Lohan court appearance.

Views From the Cheap Seats

With my prodigious posterior planted in the audience of the Campolindo High School Clap-A-Thon, also known as the Senior Awards Ceremony, three things struck me like a two by four to the face. Not that there's anything wrong with that. At two pennies a share, it's the only cosmetic surgery I can afford.

First, my hands hurt. The ceremony required nearly ninety minutes of nonstop clapping. I'm not complaining, mind you. It was cool to see Keith get a piece of paper for being a National Merit something-something. I'm just not sure why we felt the need to put our hands together every time there was a pregnant pause in the room. Memo to the Class of 2012: Consider an APPLAUSE sign as a class gift. 

Second, there are a lot of smart kids at Campolindo. The language award went to a Julie Andrews lookalike who mastered both AP Spanish and AP French. This year she added Mandarin to her busy schedule, and in her spare time she home-schooled herself in Mayan. Then there was the skinny guy in baggy jeans who won the Technical Vocation Award, otherwise known as "woodshop." It turns out this carpenter prodigy is also an internationally-ranked fly fisherman, which may explain why he's built like a fishing pole. The lucky stiff probably got a full-ride scholarship to Montana State.

Third, a lot of these kids wouldn't be parading to the stage were it not for the small army of outstanding (and, in my opinion, underpaid) teachers who schlep their way into Moraga nine months out of the year. The department heads sat at long tables with glasses perched on the ends of their noses, mentally patting themselves on the back for scheduling more homework in a single night than I did my entire high school career.

Then again, that's why when someone mentions "the cloud," kids know they're talking about software, whereas I look up at the sky and wonder what the fuss is all about. 

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