“Where Can I Get Mine?”
This via e-mail from reader Scott: But as someone else on the thread remarked, “He thinks he needs a ‘decoder ring’ for that?”
Read more...Category Archives: Curiousities
How Many Quants Does It Take to Screw in a Lightbulb?
Some comic relief from reader Matthew G: How many quants does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Using ten racks of co-located blade servers, one quant can detect a janitorial inefficiency, step in between janitor and light fixture, and screw in 49,500 bulbs in less than a millisecond, keeping five hundred lightbulbs of profit. […]
Read more...Some Good Early Feedback on ECONNED
Folks, I am told that authors have to do (virtually) all the marketing for their books themselves and have to promote them shamelessly the time without looking like it. Since subtlety is not my strong suit, I hope readers will cut me a bit of slack if I mistakenly go overboard. I also hope describing […]
Read more...Let Them Eat Lobster!
This may seem sorta silly, but I come from a long line of Maine sea cooks and captains (each of whom got an extra share of the catch of the fishing ships they worked on, so one can romanticize it as being entrepreneurial, but if you have ever spent any time on the Maine coast, […]
Read more...Best Antidotes of 2009 (Part 1)
Reader Robert Oak asked for a recap of particularly good Antidotes. Since there are many good year-end retrospectives and forecasts, I figured this was one area less heavily covered that readers might enjoy. This is a completely arbitrary, personal selection. It is deliberately skewed towards the first half of the year, and I favored oddball […]
Read more...Has Obama been a success despite suspicions of crony capitalism?
By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. I hope this is a good subject to discuss in light of the recent Obama Administration machinations regarding Fannie and Freddie, Big Pharma, and Healthcare. Before the Christmas break, I wrote a post to tie together my thoughts on why I have found the Obama economic program so unsatisfying […]
Read more...Plus ca change…
Catiline, who died during his unsuccessful coup against the Roman Republic, was depicted even by his detractors as a man of considerable talent, charisma, and energy, as well as one of unrestrained impulses and vices (he was tried for deflowering a vestal virgin, for instance). Reader Andrew thought Sallust’s description of Catiline’s character was a […]
Read more...Belated “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” (Financial Services Edition)
Hoisted from comments, courtesy Cullpepper. This gets As for concept and cleverness, even if the versification falls a bit short. Enjoy! ‘Twas the Night before Christmas And all through the bourse-houses All the traders were clicking, Glued fast to their mouses, Their bids were all tracked By the market with care In the hopes St. […]
Read more...Goldman Holiday Cartoon
Kipper Williams at the Guardian, hat tip reader Steve L:
Read more...Sarah Palin vs. William Shatner
Enjoy!
Read more...Matt Taibbi: Obama’s Big Sellout
By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns Matt Taibbi is one of the few commentators in the mainstream media who is not worried about ‘access’ and has, therefore, been free to write much more critically about the economic crisis and reform efforts on Wall Street. His first piece was a polemic against Goldman Sachs, which triggered […]
Read more...“Administration Considering Additional Subsidies and Tax Breaks”
By Augustus Melmotte, who lives and works in Hedgistan. The administration is examining strategies for encouraging the ownership of fluffy kittens. “I think we can all agree,” the president said, “that in troubled times stroking a fluffy kitten can really help a struggling family to stay on course.” The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has calculated […]
Read more...I Love the Smell of Napalm in the Morning
For the record, I actually do NOT like it when markets fall apart, even when I anticipate it and am correctly positioned for it (2007 and 2008). It’s very upsetting to watch. Every savvy investor I know has been expecting a mild to meaningful correction. So independent of its seriousness, the Dubai World frisson could […]
Read more...“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot More Riskless”
Enjoy!
Read more...Obama: Debt could cause a double dip recession
By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns Barack Obama has now come clean about his thinking on why his administration has decided to focus first on reducing the deficit and next on jobs. He fears a double-dip recession will occur if foreigners lose confidence in the U.S. dollar, causing interest rates to spike. This is nonsense […]
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