Turn-ons: Hydrocarbons, my G4, honesty, brunettes.

Ah, okay, so that last one is mine. But whoa boy, am I a little nervous right now.

Why?

Well, first up, the Playboy interview in the January 2007 issue [link good only till they update with next month's issue] is with Boone Pickens. (Along with, natch, a cover of Pamela Anderson. Do we need to see any more of her? No.) Boone Pickens is of course these days probably the most familiar mainstream proponent of peak oil, as well as the head honcho of several very successful hedge funds focused around energy.

Secondly, the January 2007 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine has a cover shot and profile ['Macro Man' - pdf warning] of my other favorite hedge fund manager, Peter Thiel, who's performance has also been remarkable over the past few years, and naturally his peak oil views are mentioned in the article.

Okay, so it isn't quite like Time Magazine picked James Kunstler for Man of the Year or something, and it's not on the level of the famous BusinessWeek cover proclaiming "The Death of Equities", or even the Economist's cover in 1999 predicting $5 oil as far as the eye could see.

But when two major media outlets pick up on our two favorite fund managers and prognosticators simultaneously after both having had a significant period of out performance under their belts, wow, it's really got to raise your contrarian hackles something awful. The herd, my friends, is gazing our way with a longing sort of look. We can only hope they get distracted by Miss January, who, interestingly enough, has the word "Respect" tattooed right over her.. Well, I'll leave that little detail to be uncovered in your research. Remember folks, since it's all about your investments, it's not only tax deductible, but you can actually justify it to the wife.

What does it all mean? Maybe nothing, maybe something. Keep an eye out. Stops in place. Discipline rules.

[Sidenote: Oddly enough, reading the Bloomberg profile, I discovered that Peter Thiel and I share a similar background. We were both born in Frankfurt, he in 1967, I in 1966; his family moved a lot, and he attended 7 elementary schools in different countries, similarly, I attended 5 elementary schools in assorted countries; he eventually settled in San Francisco and attended a local college (Stanford), I eventually settled in Los Angeles and attended a local college (UCLA), he drives a Mercedes McLaren SLR, I drive a... okay, so we diverged a little bit somewhere in the middle.]

I leave you with the contrarian wisdom of Groucho Marx:

"I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER."

Peter Thiel says be careful out there.

Peter Thiel runs hedge fund Clarium Capital Management and since I started this blog in Feb. 2005 his assets under management have risen from a coupla hundred million dollars to roughly $2 billion. And it ain't just dumb luck folks, as Peter strikes me as seriously sharp in his interviews, and has an impressive investment record to boot. One day I fully expect to hear Peter's name listed alongside some of the real luminaries in the history of hedge funds, names like Rogers, Soros, Steinhardt, Cohen, Simon, et al.

In this interview from MarketWatch, he explains his current views of the markets after the US elections. He sees the potential Democratic sweep of the House as a vote of no confidence on the US economy by the electorate, is worried about equities in general and also very worried about the US housing market for 2007. He continues to be bullish on energy equities, and believes that as a result of Fed moves (or the lack thereof), the US dollar may continue to strengthen.

Generally, these are the same viewpoints he has been expressing for some time, and while he was early on his calls on housing, the more we hear from homebuilders and realtors (Toll Brothers and Beazer announced new orders down more than 50% yesterday, Hovnanian today announced a loss due to land charges.) the more it looks like we may still have a turbulent adjustment period ahead of us in housing.

MarketWatch Video: Peter Thiel.

[note: although MarketWatch lists the video as available, the link no longer appears to link to the proper video.]

Today, Bloomberg. Tomorrow, the world.

Bloomberg with a very long article on the Peak Oil debate that hits all the highlights, and features all our favorite characters: Boone Pickens, Charles Maxwell, Matthew Simmons, Peter Thiel, Canadian Oil Sands, et al.

Bloomberg: Peak Oil Forecasters Win Converts on Wall Street to $200 Crude.