Being based at the moment in Sonora State in Mexico and this being my first summer, those immortal words in Robin William’s film Good Morning, Vietnam keep coming to mind. Here’s an excerpt from the script that covers that exchange between Adrian Cronauer (RW) and Roosevelt, somewhere out in the jungle.
Author: Paul Handover
Innovation and Invention
Mankind has a huge potential.
Just recently we recognised the 100th anniversary of the flight across the English Channel by Louis Bleriot. His aircraft looked like this:
Betelgeuse
Sharpest views of Betelgeuse reveal how supergiant stars lose mass
Most of this Post is from a recent press release by ESO.
The strangeness of outer space is almost beyond comprehension. Read more of this Post
Making sense of (financial) markets
Financial news and reporting
If there was an award for the most intriguing corporate name Gluskin Sheff ought to be in with a chance! What an interesting and unusual name – perhaps someone will explain the origins.
Anyway, in my quest for balance in financial reporting and predictions (a hopeless quest as many of you will be quick to point out) the name of David A. Rosenburg came to light. He is the Chief Economist and Strategist of aforementioned firm, Gluskin Sheff. Rosenburg caught my eye because his opinion was that inflation is years away simply because consumer demand is likely to remain depressed for a long time and without growth in consumer demand there can’t be inflationary pressures – something that is in accord with my own thoughts and financial planning strategy (not that I am even daring to compare my own very inadequate knowledge with D.A.R.’s).
Anyway, a quick trawl around Gluskin Sheff’s website (that is such a lovely name!) found that one may subscribe to a number of free reports.
Seems like a good thing. Thank you Gluskin Sheff! (Did I mention what a great name that is!!)
By Paul Handover
Well said Robert G. Wilmers!
Robert Wilmers, chairman and chief executive of M&T Bank, (i.e. an insider) writes about the causes of the banking crisis in the The Washington Post.
No excuse is made for the preponderance of posts on financial matters. If ever there was an issue that goes right to the heart of integrity and honest behaviour, it is the economic crisis that we are all in.
So it was particularly gratifying to read from someone within the industry that reforms are sorely needed.
The article is well worth reading. Thanks to Baseline Scenario for referring to the article.
By Paul Handover
The love of a dog.
A love song
Pharaoh
I am your dog and have something I would love to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead very busy lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise, some have to do this alone. It always seems like you are running here and there, often too fast, never noticing the truly grand things in life.
The End of a Wall Street era.
Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker, writes about what went wrong for Wall Street.
As with all great events, and what is going on in the world just now is certainly a Great Event, artists, poets and writers always capture the essence of change.
In December of 2008, Lewis wrote a wonderful essay for Conde Naste Portfolio. Read and be impressed.
By Paul Handover
Can’t see the wood for the trees.
Debt, Inflation, Recession, Depression? Finding some truth!
How blessed we are with almost instant access, via the Web, to mind-numbing amounts of information. So, for example, it was easy to check the origins of the quote that forms the subject line.
Yes, the saying is at least five hundred years old, and probably a century or two could be added to that, for it must have been long been in use to have been recorded in 1546 in John Heywood’s ‘A dialogue Conteynyng the Nomber in Effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue.’ He wrote ‘Plentie is no deinte, ye see not your owne ease. I see, ye can not see the wood for trees.’
Anyway, to the substance of this Post.
John Bachar, free-solo climber, RIP
For many years being a subscriber to The Economist newspaper has been a weekly pleasure. Strangely, it might be thought, one of the most appreciated sections of this newspaper is the weekly obituary. Frequently giving an insight into a well-known person but, not uncommonly, a beautifully written piece about a person not in the public arena.
Just so in the publication dated July 18th, 2009 (my copy always takes a couple of weeks to arrive).
It is about a climber, John Bachar, who loves climbing without any aids whatsoever. Apparently known as free-solo climbing, not free-climbing, as described in The Economist.
Unless you are a print or online subscriber you will not be able to appreciate the wonderful prose used to describe John’s life. If you are a subscriber the article is here.
For those that want some more background and do not have access to The Economist there is an obituary in the LA Times including a breath-taking picture.
What I can do (hopefully without treading on any copyright toes) is to quote just one of the comments that was attached to the online version of the article.
I was so enthralled reading this beautifully written piece that I suddenly felt living through one of John Bachar’s many climbs. This is a lively description of an intrepid life lived in full harmony with and in respect of rocky mountains to the very end. Understanding the risks this man single-mindedly stuck to his values on rock-climbing, dangling with death but not with his body whilst working his way up until one rock-face decided to claim the better of him to remain unconquered this one time.
An obituary that pays due homage to a specialist nature lover in the art of blending with the rock graciously.
Integrity appears in many forms.
By Paul Handover
Taleb’s Black Swan-proof world
Nassim Nicolas Taleb has a deserved reputation. His book, The Black Swan, has become a classic and, for me, was a wonderful and deeply educational read.
Here is Taleb’s recipe for our present, difficult times, as published in The FT.
By Paul Handover
Learning from Dogs 