Your second ducat, like your second million, is never quite as sweet.

There were many at Bell Labs and MIT who compared Shannon's insight to Einstein's. Others found that comparison unfair - unfair to Shannon.

Samuelson, however, hedged his personal bets - by putting some of his own money in Berkshire Hathaway.

"Average" isn't so hot at the race track given those steep track takes. "Average" is pretty decent for stocks, something like 6 percent above the inflation rate. For a buy-and -hold investor, commissions and taxes are small.

The best strategy is one that offers the highest compound return consistent with no risk of going broke.

Samuelson spotted a mistake in Bacheliers work. Bachelier's model had failed to consider that stock prices cannot fall below zero.

The assumption that anything true is knowable is the grandfather of paradoxes.