Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Hugh Hendry Again. . .
Following on from my Kyle Bass on BBC Hard Talk post last week, and despite being banned from media interviews (by his CEO), Hugh Hendry has been captured on film again. This time at the recent LSE AIC.
This is brilliant Hendry - long, but a great watch. Especially the clips of some of his pre-ban media appearances - including the infamous shut down of Jeff Sachs and Joe Stiglitz on BBC Hard Talk.
A keynote dialogue between the author Steven Drobny and Hugh Hendry, Co-Founder and CIO, Eclectica Asset Management
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Sword Maker
Handmade Portraits: The Sword Maker from Etsy on Vimeo.
As one of Japan's last remaining swordsmiths, Korehira Watanabe has honed his craft for 40 years while attempting to recreate the mythical Koto sword.
Read more here: etsy.me/theswordmaker.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Kyle Bass On BBC Hard Talk Last Week
Despite the hostile, pinko interviewer, it's well worth watching. Not quite Hugh Hendry though (who has been banned from media appearances by the adult supervision of a CEO).
Yet another case of the hunter outclassing the hunted by a such a large margin. . . .
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
When Bill Met Steve
1985: The young and the restless. Gates and Jobs, photographed at Tavern on the Green in New York City
Jobs was furious. . . . . "Get Gates down here immediately," he ordered Mike Boich, who was Apple's evangelist to other software companies. Gates came down -- alone and willing to discuss things with Jobs. "He called me down to get pissed off at me," Gates recalled. "I went down to Cupertino. . . . . I told him, 'we're doing Windows.'. . . . . 'we're betting our company on graphics interface'."
Their meeting was in Jobs's conference room, where Gates found himself surrounded by ten Apple employees who were eager to watch their boss assail him. Jobs didn't disappoint his troops. "You're ripping us off!" he shouted. "I trusted you, and now you're stealing from us!" Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. "Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it."
Excerpt from Walter Isaacson's new book, Steve Jobs, released last month. All taken from and read more here.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Not What You Were Expecting. . .
That was Rick Genest. Read more about the vid here. Not bad for an ad. . .
Update: looks like copyright bullshiitake strikes again and it's no longer on Youtube. Searching under "demablend", "go beyond" and/ or "zombie boy" for videos should get a result. Wank*ers.
Update II: looks like it's back on 'tube again. . . . If it goes down again, use the search terms above to find it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Antelope crashes into cyclist during race
Mountain-biker Evan van der Spuy, 17, was hit by a red hartebeest buck during a race at Albert Falls Dam in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The incident was filmed by his South African team mate, Travis Walker, who can be heard warning Van der Spuy to 'watch the buck'. Van der Spuy received hospital treatment but did not suffer serious injury.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday Media
Two guys climb a crane, high above La Defense, Paris. Nuts:
Cliff jumping in Europe [full screen it]:
MTB downhill 2011 (long but excellent) [full screen it]:
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Danny MacAskill. . . . Again
Way Back Home is the incredible new riding clip from Danny MacAskill, it follows him on a journey from Edinburgh back to his hometown Dunvegan, in the Isle of Skye.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Steve Jobs Quote
When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Friday Tune
Copyright bullshiitake prevented me from embedding the youtube vid - so here's the link. . .
Red House Painters - Priest Alley Song
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
India - How Big ?
Previously I've posted on the sheer size of Africa and also the size of USA states' economies in relation to other countries. This time it's India turn (ripped from The Economist). Have a play with the interactive map.
As The Economist writes:
If Uttar Pradesh were to declare independence, it would be the world’s fifth most populous country (as the map below shows, it has about the same number of residents as Brazil). Yet its economy would only be the size of Qatar, a tiny oil-rich state of fewer than 2m people. That makes it poor on a per person basis. Despite India’s two decades of rapid growth, Uttar Pradesh’s GDP per head is close to that of Kenya. The map below presents country equivalents for India’s states and territories in terms of GDP, GDP per person (in PPP terms) and population.
As The Economist writes:
If Uttar Pradesh were to declare independence, it would be the world’s fifth most populous country (as the map below shows, it has about the same number of residents as Brazil). Yet its economy would only be the size of Qatar, a tiny oil-rich state of fewer than 2m people. That makes it poor on a per person basis. Despite India’s two decades of rapid growth, Uttar Pradesh’s GDP per head is close to that of Kenya. The map below presents country equivalents for India’s states and territories in terms of GDP, GDP per person (in PPP terms) and population.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Milken
About a year ago I posted on the Milken Conference. This year's MC looks like a cracker. Lots of vids and there will be something for everyone - whether you're interested in clean tech, infrastructure, emerging markets investing, US-centric financial issues, medical technology, sports ownership, tax reform, social media or longevity. Check out the vids list here.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Who is John Galt ?
Despite a bunch of Hollywood pinkos doing their best to ensure this film was never funded, it's been made. Whether it lives up to the book will be interesting.
Here's the trailer - Atlas Shrugged Part One:
Here's the trailer - Atlas Shrugged Part One:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Where Not to Eat in Paris
Thankfully, I've never heard of this little sh*t hole. What a fantastic piece of restaurant reviewing from A.A. Gill. If this doesn't dent L’Ami Louis' income, nothing will. Here's a sample:
What you actually find when you arrive at L’Ami Louis is singularly unprepossessing. It’s a long, dark corridor with luggage racks stretching the length of the room. It gives you the feeling of being in a second-class railway carriage in the Balkans. It’s painted a shiny, distressed dung brown. The cramped tables are set with labially pink cloths, which give it a colonic appeal and the awkward sense that you might be a suppository. In the middle of the room is a stubby stove that also looks vaguely proctological.
What you actually find when you arrive at L’Ami Louis is singularly unprepossessing. It’s a long, dark corridor with luggage racks stretching the length of the room. It gives you the feeling of being in a second-class railway carriage in the Balkans. It’s painted a shiny, distressed dung brown. The cramped tables are set with labially pink cloths, which give it a colonic appeal and the awkward sense that you might be a suppository. In the middle of the room is a stubby stove that also looks vaguely proctological.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Recent Reading
I've been asked for links to the best financial markets reading I've had in the last few months. I've read a lot of good stuff (and some bullshiitake), some of it subscription only, some of it free (and the paid stuff generally differs little in quality from the smarter free stuff). I especially focus on commentary + analysis style pieces - it's usually more useful and helps fade out the noise of the short-termism 'news'.
Anyway, from what I can remember of the good stuff, below is my list of four non-subscription must-reads. Even the Howard Marks note which is a quarter old, and the Xie article which is a few weeks old, are not yet dated reading (rather the contrary is true):
- A GMO White Paper authored by James Montier: The Seven Immutable Laws of Investing. Montier is a member of GMO's Asset Allocation team, has authored a number of books on value investing and behavioural finance, and used to be the Co-Head of Global Strategy at Societe Generale. No link for this one as it's behind a free registration wall, so it's below:
GMO - Montier March 2011
- PIMCO Co-Founder & Co-CIO Bill Gross's March Investment Outlook note to investors;
- A client note from the end of last year by Howard Marks, Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management;
- And finally Andy Xie's late February article in the English Caixing Online: Hot Money, Fast Riots. Xie is on the Board of Rosetta Stone advisors. But better known as the former star Asia-Pac Chief Economist for Morgan Stanley. All of his stuff is very good, not just the one article linked to above.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Flying Toilet Terror Labs
A great article from 2006 detailing the bullsh*t rationale behind banning liquids on planes. Officious rule-making morons at work. . . . Something to think about when you're next at airport security fumbling with that zip-lock bag of 100ml containers. Here's a sample:
. . . . Now we have news of the recent, supposedly real-world, terrorist plot to destroy commercial airplanes by smuggling onboard the benign precursors to a deadly explosive, and mixing up a batch of liquid death in the lavatories. So, The Register has got to ask, were these guys for real, or have they, and the counterterrorist officials supposedly protecting us, been watching too many action movies?
We're told that the suspects were planning to use TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive that supposedly can be made from common household chemicals unlikely to be caught by airport screeners. A little hair dye, drain cleaner, and paint thinner - all easily concealed in drinks bottles - and the forces of evil have effectively smuggled a deadly bomb onboard your plane.
Or at least that's what we're hearing, and loudly, through the mainstream media and its legions of so-called "terrorism experts." But what do these experts know about chemistry? Less than they know about lobbying for Homeland Security pork, which is what most of them do for a living. But they've seen the same movies that you and I have seen, and so the myth of binary liquid explosives dies hard. . . .
. . . . Making a quantity of TATP sufficient to bring down an airplane is not quite as simple as ducking into the toilet and mixing two harmless liquids together.
. . . . Now we have news of the recent, supposedly real-world, terrorist plot to destroy commercial airplanes by smuggling onboard the benign precursors to a deadly explosive, and mixing up a batch of liquid death in the lavatories. So, The Register has got to ask, were these guys for real, or have they, and the counterterrorist officials supposedly protecting us, been watching too many action movies?
We're told that the suspects were planning to use TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive that supposedly can be made from common household chemicals unlikely to be caught by airport screeners. A little hair dye, drain cleaner, and paint thinner - all easily concealed in drinks bottles - and the forces of evil have effectively smuggled a deadly bomb onboard your plane.
Or at least that's what we're hearing, and loudly, through the mainstream media and its legions of so-called "terrorism experts." But what do these experts know about chemistry? Less than they know about lobbying for Homeland Security pork, which is what most of them do for a living. But they've seen the same movies that you and I have seen, and so the myth of binary liquid explosives dies hard. . . .
. . . . Making a quantity of TATP sufficient to bring down an airplane is not quite as simple as ducking into the toilet and mixing two harmless liquids together.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Apprentice: Russian Style
Great essay from the London Review of books:
. . . .Putin’s PR men dress him like a crime boss (the black polo top underneath the black suit) and his soundbites come straight out of gangster movies (‘we’ll shoot the enemy while he’s on the sh*tter …’). . . .
. . . .Putin’s PR men dress him like a crime boss (the black polo top underneath the black suit) and his soundbites come straight out of gangster movies (‘we’ll shoot the enemy while he’s on the sh*tter …’). . . .
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
"All of Life is a Wager"
An excellent interview recorded late last month with the sick and (probably) terminally ill Christopher Hitchens. . . It's long, but well worth watching.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Peter Thiel- erutuF ehT oT kcaB
An interesting interview with libertarian, tech entrepreneur and new venture investor Peter Thiel. And also a curious article on what Thiel's up to in New Zealand. Here's the intro/ bio from the National Review, with links for the National Review interview and NZ Herald article following:
Peter Thiel may be most famous for his role (portrayed by Wallace Langham in The Social Network) as the venture capitalist who gave “The Facebook” the angel investment it needed to really launch. Before that, Thiel was known in Silicon Valley circles as the “Don of the PayPal mafia,” (his official role at the e-commerce site was founder and CEO), and more generally for his centrality as an investor in tech startups. Now, Thiel serves as the president of Clarium Capital, a hedge fund that (though it has suffered recently) made extravagant gains by betting against the housing market in 2007.
Though he’s primarily a businessman, Thiel has dabbled in libertarian activism. Most recently, he caused a stir by establishing the Thiel Fellowship, which will select 20 college students under the age of 20 and pay them $100,000 each to drop out of college and embark on entrepreneurial careers. Thiel is also an intellectual of astonishing breadth and depth who finds time, while running a major hedge fund, to produce thought pieces that survey the Western Canon, the geopolitical landscape, and financial economics at a gallop (such as this one for the Hoover Digest).
NRO’s Matthew Shaffer spoke with the philosopher-CEO in a wide-ranging conversation about net neutrality, the higher-education bubble, the future of seasteading, income inequality, why the wealthy have gone blue, Leo Strauss, and more. Thiel wants to take us back to the future, to once again, like in the 1950s, imagine how innovation — technological and otherwise — can radically improve our lives.
National Review Peter Thiel interview.
NZ Herald article.
Peter Thiel may be most famous for his role (portrayed by Wallace Langham in The Social Network) as the venture capitalist who gave “The Facebook” the angel investment it needed to really launch. Before that, Thiel was known in Silicon Valley circles as the “Don of the PayPal mafia,” (his official role at the e-commerce site was founder and CEO), and more generally for his centrality as an investor in tech startups. Now, Thiel serves as the president of Clarium Capital, a hedge fund that (though it has suffered recently) made extravagant gains by betting against the housing market in 2007.
Though he’s primarily a businessman, Thiel has dabbled in libertarian activism. Most recently, he caused a stir by establishing the Thiel Fellowship, which will select 20 college students under the age of 20 and pay them $100,000 each to drop out of college and embark on entrepreneurial careers. Thiel is also an intellectual of astonishing breadth and depth who finds time, while running a major hedge fund, to produce thought pieces that survey the Western Canon, the geopolitical landscape, and financial economics at a gallop (such as this one for the Hoover Digest).
NRO’s Matthew Shaffer spoke with the philosopher-CEO in a wide-ranging conversation about net neutrality, the higher-education bubble, the future of seasteading, income inequality, why the wealthy have gone blue, Leo Strauss, and more. Thiel wants to take us back to the future, to once again, like in the 1950s, imagine how innovation — technological and otherwise — can radically improve our lives.
National Review Peter Thiel interview.
NZ Herald article.
Friday, January 21, 2011
So You Thought It Was Cold ?
Geoff Mackley throws a cup of boiling water into the air at Oymyakon, Siberia, the coldest permanently inhabited place on earth, on February 1, 2004 while the temperature stood at -53°F (-47°C). The water converted to ice crystals before reaching the ground. . . . . Where can I buy one of those suits ?? Ripped from WeatherUnderground:
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wrongolgy
Back in August last year, I posted on Kathryn Schultz's Infectious Talks interview. Here she is with a recent presentation at PopTech, talking about faulty recollections, fallibility of memory, how people work out if their wrong, how they react to knowing their wrong, being wrong and not yet realising it, and flash-bulb memory:
Bigger picture on Vimeo here.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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