Posts Tagged ‘psycho-babble’
Live by the ethical assumptions of your market – or change your soul?
Liars Poker and The Big Short author Michael Lewis responds to the SEC’s fraud charges against Goldman Sachs on Bloomberg … The Bond Market Will Never Be The Same After Goldman First para: If you happen to be sitting on the Goldman Sachs bond-trading floor life must feel horribly unfair. You did nothing worse than […]
Rear vision mirror?
Quite a nice comment over the weekend from fellow Cassandra financial advisor/columnist Brent Shearer who points out this comment isn’t completely true 100% of the time… “NZ has a dreadful record … for staying silent when speaking up is the responsible thing to do. How many people knew about … Bridgecorp, Nathans, Capital + Merchant […]
Exposing a dangerous fraud
Wow! Straight-talking, clear writing like this is a welcome thing. I applaud it. Exposing manipulators, fakers and dishonest hucksters for what they are is a truly worthwhile activity. Reading this encourages me to keep after the weeds — native and imported — in our own back yard … in spite of the insults, threats and abuse […]
The ‘message’ of SHAME
I mentioned Steven Pressfield and his model of ‘Resistance’ — as a force/’personality’ and ever-changing foe to overcome in your own creative endeavour or ‘life-work’ — in a reply to Graeme yesterday. I highly recommend Pressfield’s book The War of Art for anyone seeking to move forward … in anything. He writes a ‘Writing Wednesdays’ […]
What the scammers rely on … Believers
THE BELIEVERS: How America Fell for Bernard Madoff’s $65 Billion Investment Scam by Adam LeBor It was in luxurious Palm Beach, by the manicured lawns and Olympic-sized swimming pool, that financier Bernard Madoff ravaged the world of philanthropy and high society he had strived so hard to join, vaporising the assets of charities, foundations and […]
Men talk shoulder to shoulder
Men don’t talk face to face. They talk shoulder to shoulder, while they’re working on something. I just heard this insight in a BBC World Service documentary on the Men’s Shed movement in Australia. So true. There are exceptions, but this is a good rule of thumb to bear in mind. (Cheers and kudos to […]
Karl Lagerfield – interviewed by Bruce LaBruce
When Vice [Magazine] called me last month with an out-of-the-blue offer to fly to Paris and interview the Kaiser himself, Karl Lagerfeld—creative director of the $10 billion Chanel empire, the house of Fendi, and his own eponymous line—I jumped at the chance. I have to confess that I wasn’t an expert about the fabled fashion […]
The truth is disturbing. Who is paying attention?
Fantastic article and video of 60 Minutes on Michael Lewis Wall St meltdown here. “I’m afraid that our culture will come to the conclusion, ’cause it’s always the easy conclusion, that everybody was just a bunch of criminals. I think the story is much more interesting than that. I think it’s a story of mass […]
Now Attack ads?
This fantastic spoof of a political attack ad just works. Excellent! Like Fake Steve Jobs, it’s brilliant satire — all with the ‘aim’ of getting 37Signals’ new book REWORK ahead of Karl Rove’s Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight on the best-seller lists. I love the sunrise and the uplifting music […]
Exquisite writing…
“ There were those who considered themselves lucky and those who considered themselves unlucky. Those who put their loss behind them and those who would never be the same again. Those who prayed and those who cursed and resented. Those who stole and those who gave. Jokers and worriers, optimists and pessimists, opportunists with an […]
This week’s panic
Reading an article in the latest Audi magazine in a chocolate factory cafe yesterday, I came across a quote from Audi chairman Rupert Stadler talking about his time working for the firm as head of Finance & HR in Spain: “And that was during the crisis of the 90s.” Reading it, I wasn’t sure exactly […]
Rising ape or fallen angel? – Terry Pratchett on religion
A nice answer to a straight question about his belief in god(s)… ‘I’d rather be a rising ape than a fallen angel’ Watch the 8 minute video at guardian.co.uk
The overblown role of religion in conflict
I heard a good radio interview today: Radio NZ’s Kathryn Ryan interviewing Rabbi David Rosen — a conversation which opened with the question whether the long running Israel/Palestine conflict is in any way a religious issue. In essence certainly not. It’s a territorial conflict … a conflict between two national liberation movements: The Jewish national […]
The place of questions
I’ve been up to my ears in the physical universe (in a good way, mostly) and just spent the last few days pulling together the course notes for an annual Market Update event. Really good notes. What stands out for me is the wisdom that experience teaches. I don’t mean to say that in a […]
“it’s no surprise that no one wants to be known as a cult”
A bit of local content… Destiny Church ‘sons’ swear oath of loyalty — NZ Herald Meanwhile in the US: Follow up article on Paul Haggis’ defection from Scientology (politicsdaily.com) When the Haggis letter emerged, Davis responded quickly and strenuously, telling the Associated Press that the church does not mandate “disconnection” for anyone and that such […]
