On this date—December 14—215 years ago, General George Washington died under the watchful eye of three physicians. They were using the then standard-of-practice of bloodletting,1 but after four bouts of it, Washington’s fate was assured. Perhaps we could say, he was bled to death. And perhaps we are in the midst of a latter déjà […]
Remembering George ? Read More »
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the publication of George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four,1 which, in the contortions and déjà vus of history, may bring us to Henry Kissinger and his latest book, published September 2014. Kissinger’s name, presiding over the bold and simple title, World Order, presents upon a pristine, white cover. This year
At some future day, say even 100 years hence, will observers look back upon the age of baby-boomers and their offspring as a bizarre time of dizzying technology AND stupefying intransigence? Will someone begin to quote Charles Dickens,1 lamenting: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age
Blinding Paradigms? Read More »
Quotes from the BBC documentary, Psychopath1: ▪ “There are few more emotive words in the English language than psychopath—a clinical word for a condition that has only recently begun to be properly defined.” ▪ “[There are] tens of thousands of other people out there who are psychopaths but are not serial killers.” ▪ “And by far the
“Public Enemy #1”? Read More »
If you were a writer and wanted to hype your income (and had the means), a sure-fire way to do it would be to buy tons of your own books and store them in some warehouse. Then after a short period of time, you could put them back on the market—with a price increase, of
A bottomless pit of contrivance?(from office.microsoft.com) A few days ago in Alberta, a heat spike was forecast. The power-generating giant TransAlta seems to have anticipated its own spike as two of its large coal-fired electricity generating plants were shut down for “unscheduled maintenance” creating a classic supply and demand divergence—huge demand with limited supply, with
TransAlta Culpa (Again) ? Read More »
If you are a believer in “free-markets” and laissez-faire, perhaps an excursion beyond Milton Friedman (& company) might prove useful. Here is one suggestion: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis © 2014 In trying to unravel a Wall Street mystery, several people, hired and headed by Brad Katsuyama of RBC (Royal Bank
High-Frequency Déjà Vu Read More »