“Life hands you whatever experiences you need for the evolution of your consciousness” - Eckhart Tolle

Good Morning, Pumpkins! Happy Friday! It's almost the weekend and with this hilarious interview it begins pretty awesome. Cheers!

So Long, Suckers

The boss of a successful US hedge fund has quit the industry with an extraordinary farewell letter dismissing his rivals as over-privileged “idiots” and thanking “stupid” traders for making him rich.

Andrew Lahde’s $80m Los Angeles-based firm Lahde Capital Management in Los Angeles made a huge return last year by betting against subprime mortgages.

Yesterday the 37-year-old told his clients that he had hated the business and had only been in it for the money. And after declaring he would no longer manage money for other people, because he had enough of his own, Lahde said that instead he intended to repair his stress-damaged health; he made it clear he would not miss the financial world.

“The low-hanging fruit, ie idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking,” he wrote. “These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government,” he said.

“All of this behaviour supporting the aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.”

Lahde became one of the biggest names in the investment industry when one of his funds produced a return of 866% last year, largely by forecasting the US home loans industry would collapse.

In his farewell letter, which concluded with an appeal for the legalisation of marijuana, Lahde said he was happy with his rewards and did not envy those who had made even more money.

“I will let others try to amass nine, 10 or 11 figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck,” he wrote, citing a life of back-to-back business appointments relieved only by a two-week annual holiday in which financiers are still “glued to their Blackberries”.

Lahde’s retirement came amid an implosion among the hedge fund industry - some 350 of the funds have liquidated this year, according to Hedge Fund Research.

His final words of advice? “Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.”

via Guardian UK

And the entire letter you can find here

I love this guy!

/*Update: I just realized you have to register for FT.com in order to read to entire letter, so I am just C&P it here/

By Andrew Lahde

Published: October 17 2008

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/128d399a-9c75-11dd-a42e-000077b07658,s01=1.html

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list of those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the sub-prime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life – where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management – with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant – marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say goodbye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

What are the things Wall St and the Bulgarian PopFolk have in common?

This article was posted on FB (available only in Bulgarian..sorry Shan'do) and I just couldn't skip it. You know Me, and my infinite love for finance. ;-)

Напоследък най-известните американски финансови експерти заявяват, че са шокирани от глобалната криза.

Тези хора нямаше да бъдат изненадани, ако се бях вслушали навреме в текстовете на българската чалга. В нея са предвидени всички икономически процеси и са дадени изключително ценни бизнессъвети.

На пръв поглед между попфолка и големите финансови институции няма нищо общо. Но те всъщност много си приличат. Общото е, че световните борси продават очаквания, а българската чалга продава мечти.

Първият знак, че нашите попфолк-изпълнители се ориентират отлично в сложния свят на макроикономиката беше даден от Сашка Васева, която още в началото на 90-те обяви монетарната си програма:

“Левовете в марки сменям аз,

вино за да пия в този час.

Доларите стават, левовете не.

Аз ще се напия в долари поне”

С този навременен чейндж певицата не само избегна задаващата се през 1997 година хиперинфлация , но и сама си въведе един дисциплиниращ валутен борд, много преди правителството да се сети за него. Друг важен момент в стратегията “Васева” е, че тя прехвърли активите си в конвертируема валута, за да пие вино и по този начин да влее свежи капитали в задъхващата се по онова време лозаро-винарска индустрия.

Най-същественият принос на българския попфолк, е че текстовете му приучиха консуматорите на една простичка истина: в несигурни времена вървят само ликвидни пичове, чиито активи са в кеш. Бойка Дангова разви този постулат във фискалната си балада “Шепот на пари”:

“Най-обичам мили, шепот на пари.

Не, не искам рози, дай ми ги в пари.

Ще ти дам целувка, но не се глези

и любовни думи ти не ми шепти.

Най-обичам мили, шепот на пари”

Тази философия кореспондира с идеите на нобеловия лауреат Джоузеф Стиглиц, който неотдавна заяви, че “само увеличаване на капиталната база, основано на спестяванията и печелившите инвестиции тласка една икономика към растеж”.

Това е безспорен факт, но той не е откритие на Стиглиц. Много преди него в подкрепа на увеличаването на капиталната база застанаха изпълнителки като Деси Слава и Луна. Деси Слава заложи на добре познатата марксическа схема “пари-стока-пари прим”:

“Сто парички, бате, подари,

за да бъдат дните ти добри.

За да имаш повечко пари

сто на мене, бате, подари”

Луна пък стигна до извода, че не е разумно да се държат кешови активи,а е по-добре те да бъдат вкарани в оборот, за да се намалят инфлационните рискове:

“Извади парите, чиче,

аз съм палаво момиче.

Знам, че искаш ти със мене

да се любиш дълго време”

Забележете какви са обръщенията в тези две творби. Бате и чиче. Това показва, че в ситуация на икономическа нестабилност младите женски юпита трябва да се облегнат на опита на по-старите финансови институции и да ги провокират към едно по-либерално фискално поведение.

Относителната стабилност на българските пазари в последните няколко години доведоха до натрупване на известни капитали у отделни субекти.

Този процес обаче рефлектира неблагоприятно върху социалните взаимоотношения и създаде предпоставки за класови конфликти, отразени в творчеството на Ивана:

“За какво са ни всичките тези пари,

щом приятели нямаме вече?”

Горчиви слова. Те свидетелстват за отчуждението на трудещите се от студения свят на капитала в епохата на свръхпотребление. Скоро след вопъла на Ивана се появиха и сигналите за ликвидни затруднения в големите банки. Пръв за тях алармира Тони Стораро:

“Нема бизнес-нема пари.

Нема и за две цигари.

Гледа кой където свари,

джоба да ти разтовари”

Уви, никой не се вслуша в предупрежденията на шуменския попфолк-експерт. Чак сега, когато се стигна до неизбежната криза на Уолстрийт, Стив Ханке се сети за доктрината “Стораро” и заговори за “спукване на балона на търсенето, поради факта, че номиналните крайни продажби значително надхвърлят тренда на номиналния растеж” Късно, драги ми Ханке, много късно... Над чий финансов гроб сега тъй грозно грачиш? Ако беше слушал текстовете на чалгата, днес нямаше да проливаш горчиви сълзи за гибелта на тренда на номиналния растеж.

В крайна сметка се оказва, че от глобалната криза най-малко са пострадали онези потребители, които прилежно са следвали попфолк-стратегията и са инвестирали в краткосрочни активи каквито са сексът и алкохолът.

Сега и те нямат спестявания, но поне са си поживяли добре.

Текстът е публикуван във в. “24 часа”, 25 октомври 2008

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl here. Your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Bocconi's elite. There's nothing Gossip Girl likes more than a well cooked meal. ;-)
Seriously?!
Someone should tell the press the background of the photo is not from a party but is instead from the mensa in Pensionato Bocconi. OMFG!
Seriously?!

xoxo
you know you do

The Great Pumpkin

This week we are celebrating Halloween. I can even say I am celebrating my-nickname-day ;-)

Anyways, I just remembered one of my very economically successful Halloween costumes: The Master Card Advertisement. Good times...

Happy Monday

Credit Crunch Couture

Pimp your desktop

What a Girl Wants

Every Geekette wants to be a Julia Allison sometimes. She may be too sweet and cherry chapstick but the girl has also her strong posts and thoughts, and advices. Like this response for her AskMen.com interview:

You've written dating columns -- what's one tried-and-true piece of dating advice you can pass on to a man?

Confidence, confidence, confidence. If you have it, you don't have to have anything else. If you don't, nothing else matters.

Make yourself a challenge, use intermittent reinforcement, always, always, always pay, and never ask her out using an interrogative: "Wednesday, 8 p.m." No question -- just a period. It's unbelievably sexy. Women look for reassurance that you're in control, that you can handle things. Be "that guy," the guy her girl friends wish their boyfriends were more like, the one who's always planning exciting new adventures -- plays, trapeze, a surprise trip to an island or a day roadtripping in a rented van -- not just another restaurant and a choice between the fish or the meat, the white or the red. Be the guy who's up for anything. Be the guy who makes it happen. Be more aggressive in bed than you think you should -- I guarantee she wants it rough, she just doesn't want you to think "she's a slut." Play hard to get for a time, but as things progress, throw in some mush and a little bit of security, too. Make her earn it, but when she does? Give her compliments, DON'T make her ask for them. And when you finally realize you maybe sorta might kinda love her? Tell her. Out loud. When she can hear you. Then tell her when her friends can hear you. Of course, you know you really love her when you tell her when YOUR friends can hear you.

Hope

America is getting very close to the election of their new president. Back in 1994, the Queen of the Universe took her time and wrote some lines on this matter. Funny enough, with some small changes, her wise words still stand true for our reality.

"IF I WERE PRESIDENT" by Madonna Ciccone
GEORGE magazine, 1994.


It seems funny to start a sentence with the words "If I were president," because I'm sure I'd never want to be. I vaguely remember being asked this question in fifth-grade history class, but that was the year I discovered boys. And my political ambitions took a back seat to my libido. (I know what you're thinking -- some things never change.)

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of being a leader and effecting change. I like the idea of being an inspiration to the downtrodden, of educating the masses. I like the idea of fighting for equal rights for women and gays and all minorities. I like the idea of embracing other countries and other cultures and promoting world peace. Fighting the good fight, as it were. But I think I'd rather do it as an artist. Because artists are allowed to make mistakes and artists are allowed
to have unconventional ideas and artists are allowed to be overweight and dress badly and have an opinion. Artists are allowed to have a past. In short, artists are allowed to be human. And presidents are not. So the question is, how can someone be a good leader if he or she isn't allowed to be human?

It doesn't seem like it's always been this way, but as we hurl ourselves into the twenty-first century, our paranoia seems to grow with our technological advancement. We live in an increasingly fearful society--too many people have guns, too many people are afraid, too
many people are struggling, and too many people need a scapegoat. Someone to blame. A whipping boy. And this, my friend, is what we seem to need presidents for. As soon as we're done congratulating them, we tie their hands behind their backs and watch them flounder. A self-fulfilling prophecy. The President is going to fuck up. The President did fuck up! The President sucks!!! He's the reason we're in this mess. Give me another beer. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own behavior. If you're president, there are too many people to please and too few toes you can step on, and one day you wake up and find you don't have a point of view or a set of balls. I'd rather eat glass.

But if I were the president ... you know, like in some parallel universe where there wasn't any pain or prejudice, where the National Enquirer did not exist and women were allowed to empower themselves without being labeled heretical and perverse, then:

* Schoolteachers would be paid more than movie stars or basketball players.
* Rush Limbaugh, Bob Dole and Jesse Helms would be sentenced to a hard-labor work camp for the rest of their lives.
* Howard Stern would get kicked out of the country and Roman Polanski would be allowed back in.
* The entire armed forces would come out of the closet.


That's just off the top of my head, but don't get me started - I have enough problems.

- M.C

I was personally up for some more past experience in the dirt and a though gentle hand:

But in an absolute world you never know....Hope!

Never look back. It distracts from The Now

A very nice article behind the pic. I especially love the last paragraph.

P.S. The title of the post has nothing to do with the actual post. I just read this quote today and thought it's worth sharing it.

Happy, glowy people

Passion for symmetry

Many of you maybe don't remember but before Madonna and High-Tech there was my passion for Physics. And exactly for this passion of mine is this post. A few weeks late, but I am honored to present you this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. And yes, it is a deeper understanding of what happens far inside the tiniest building blocks of matter. I would suggest to dig into the information for the public.

Cheers!

A true child of broken symmetry - kvarki

Friendonomics

A very nice article from Wired that I maybe should have posted on FaceBook. I might still do it, but in the meantime have a look..


Thanks to Facebook, I never lose touch with anyone. And that, my Friend, is a problem.

Hey, want to be my friend? It's more than possible; it's probable. Hell, we may already be friends—I haven't checked my email in a few minutes. And once we are, we will be, as they say, 4-eva. A perusal of my Facebook Friend roster reveals that I, a medium-social individual of only middling lifetime popularity, have never lost a friend. They're all there: elementary school friends, high school friends, college friends, work friends, friends of friends, friends of ex-girlfriends—the constellation of familiar faces crowds my Friendbox like medals on Mussolini's chest. I'm Friend-rich—at least onscreen. I've never lost touch with anyone, it seems. What I've lost is the right to lose touch. This says less about my innate lovability, I think, than about the current inflated state of Friendonomics.

Think of it as the Long Tail of Friendship—in the age of queue-able social priorities, Twitter-able status updates, and amaranthine cloud memory, keeping friends requires almost no effort at all. We have achieved Infinite Friendspace, which means we need never drift from old pals nor feel the poignant tug of passive friend-loss. It also means that even the flimsiest of attachments—the chance convention buddy, the cube-mate from the '90s, the bar-napkin hookup—will be preserved, in perpetuity, under the flattering, flattening banner of "Friend." (Sure, you can rank and categorize them to your heart's content, but who'd be callous enough to actually categorize a hookup under "Hookup"?)

It has been argued that this Infinite Friendspace is an unalloyed good. But while this plays nicely into our sentimental ideal of lifelong friendship, it's having at least three catastrophic effects. First, it encourages hoarding. We squirrel away Friends the way our grandparents used to save nickels—obsessively, desperately, as if we'll run out of them some day. (Of course, they lived through the Depression. And we lived through—what, exactly? Middle school? 90210? The Electric Slide?) Humans are natural pack rats, and given the chance we'll stockpile anything of nominal value. Friends are the currency of the socially networked world; therefore, it follows that more equals better. But the more Friends you have, the less they're worth—and, more to the point, the less human they are. People become mere collectibles, like Garbage Pail Kids. And call me a buzz kill, but I don't want to be anyone's Potty Scotty.

Second, Friending has subsumed the ol' Rolodex. Granted, it's often convenient to have all of your contacts under one roof. But the great thing about the Rolodex was that it never talked back, it didn't throw virtual octopi or make you take movie quizzes, and it never, ever poked you. The Rolodex just sat there. It was all business.

Third, and most grave, we've lost our right to lose touch. "A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature," Emerson wrote, not bothering to add, "and like most things natural, friendship is biodegradable." We scrawl "Friends Forever" in yearbooks, but we quietly realize, with relief, that some bonds are meant to be shed, like snakeskin or a Showtime subscription. It's nature's way of allowing you to change, adapt, evolve, or devolve as you wish—and freeing you from the exhaustion of multifront friend maintenance. Fine, you can "Remove Friend," but what kind of asshole actually does that? Deletion is scary—and, we're told, unnecessary in the Petabyte Age. That's what made good old-fashioned losing touch so wonderful—friendships, like long-forgotten photos and mixtapes, would distort and slowly whistle into oblivion, quite naturally, nothing personal. It was sweet and sad and, though you'd rarely admit it, necessary.

And maybe that's the answer: A Facebook app we'll call the Fade Utility. Untended Friends would gradually display a sepia cast on the picture, a blurring of the neglected profile—perhaps a coffee stain might appear on it or an unrelated phone number or grocery list. The individual's status updates might fade and get smaller. The user may then choose to notice and reach out to the person in some meaningful way—no pokes! Or they might pretend not to notice. Without making a choice, they could simply let that person go. Would that really be so awful?

I realize that I may lose a few Friends by saying this. I invite them to remove me. Though I think they'll find it harder than they imagine. I've never lost a Friend, you see, and I'm starting to worry I never will.

By Scott Brown@Wired

a Playlist to shuffle during the week'4

"It's Britney, Bitch!" + "Video Killed The Radio Star" = this week's video playlist

Last week, the princess of pop released the video for her new single - "Womanizer". This song is to turn a massive club hit, although the video is pretty close to "Toxic". Doesn't matter. Britney is Britney. Actually, the sinking financial markets can take her as an optimistic example that once you reach the very bottom there is always a way out.

Tomorrow is an important day for the economy, my friend says. And what I say is, put Britney's power tracks on your iPod and be sure that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Economic crisis will hit us more that one more time. And we are going to make so many "oops, i did it again" mistakes on the way for recovery. But we have to be stronger than ever. World domination is to be redefined. The leaders of today, as we know them, are most probably going to be the slaves of tomorrow. I just hope that things won't turn ugly, crazy and toxic. And that at the end people will learn they lesson. Greedy investment bankers should stop crying for more and everyone should be entitled to a piece of this world. And you know what?! If the corporate boys can't do it right, maybe they should let some women play and observe closer Britney's way out towards success.

xx

IOSONO)))

Compliments are a nice thing. We all like to receive them once in a while.

The other day, I got a message on FaceBook from my dear co-member of the Economist Club, Alex. I feel so sorry for him. We left him all alone to fight for Alitalia rescue in Milano. He is working 16 hours a day and in the remaining 8 hours he is attending his Masters classes. And in this tight schedule of his, he also found a weekend to come and visit me in Berlin in November. Grande Alex!
But let's go back to the compliment he wrote to me in that FaceBook message.

"I just want to tell you that every time I listen to the Ting Tings' song That's Not My Name, I am thinking for you. In my opinion, if you were a singer, that's the kind of songs you were going to sing!"

That's such a nice thing to say. Thank you, Alex.

And now, three songs to be put in your ears and hummed out loud:

1. Kanye West - Love Lockdown
2. Sonny J - Can't Stop Moving
3. The Ting Tings - Be The One

Just to be clear, this is NOT the Playlist to Shuffle during the week. For that post I am planning something big and more visual. But more on that later.

p.s. IOSONO))) is the big light sign I see from my window at the entrance wall of the Tresor club.

Berlin, Ich Liebe Dich

Curiosity Killed The Cat

Another movie to be waiting for

Das Ist Berlin! [part2]

Following the rules of analogue weekend, with my treasure map in one hand and camera in the other, an iPod in one pocket and wallet in the other one, I browsed the whole day the streets of sunny Berlin.

Here is the result.

• The Hackescher Markt
  

*German sausages
*German bread

• A fancy Falafel place and one of the hundreds cafes
  

• Some colorful places

• My acquisitions:

The book to help me follow my analogue weekend objective. Actually, I read the introduction while having my coffee and it was very promising.

Believe it or not, I spent more than 30 min in the store wondering between Jean Paul's Madame and Burberry's The Beat. I think The Beat fits more my corporate trendy alias wannabe. That's why I decided to go with the opposite choice in my failing attempt to be dangerous. What can I say? At the end the girl always win.

At 23 I have to start thinking for the signs of age. Is this me or the industry talking? Doesn't matter. I decided to treat myself and my morning face, anyways.

The usual black sweater. To be honest, I don't have another one in my wardrobe. And my suspicious mind tells me that someone maybe has the exact one. ..

And the usual T-shirt with a sign. Initially I bought it as a present for Marple, because I know how she feels for pretty girls, but I think I am going to keep it.

Wow. Analogues days can be exhausted!
Sweet dreams

The Rules of Analogue Weekend

Starting from today I will try to follow the rules of analogue weekend. I hope by the end of this year to have at least one full weekend successfully spend in this way:

• no e-mail
• no blog reading
  
• no surfing the web
• actually, no internet
• no typing
• in fact, no computer at all
• no tv

instead

• read a book
• spend the day outside
  

Livin The Dream

This morning, I started the day with this song:

Web Treasure of The Day

And in the spirit of the previous post here is a link, shared by my dutch co-worker Alex:

Das Ist Berlin

Treasure map

What would you do if you get your hands on a treasure map? A treasure map that hints to all the nice small streets, shops and cafes in Berlin? Well, thanks to Kathrin, I have all the nice spots marked on my pocket map.
Here, have a look and if you pass by just give me a call.

Lost in Penguin confusion

CNN is reporting a large group of penguins in Brazil got lost heading too far from their usual feeding grounds (according to reports, perhaps due to unusually warm water).

373 penguins were rescued, rehabilitated flown via cargo plane 1,550 miles to the country's southern coast, where a crowd watched the tuxedo's dudes march back into the sea.

Cuddos:-)

PC or Mac

Intelligence is relative.

This is the tagline of one of the best movies I've seen in a long long time, thanks to the existence of original language cinemas in Berlin (do you hear this, Milano!?) and a nice company.
The movie I am talking about is Burn After Reading. The Coen brothers did it again! And all of you should totally go and see it!Now!Go!

When you come back from the cinema, take a look (links also behind the pics) at the three travel notebooks that are currently fighting for my after-xmas money.. if any left.

ASUS Eee PC S101


Lenovo S10

Apple Brick: an $800 laptop

By the way, the word "fuck" in Burn After Reading is uttered 60 times, including 6 times in the first 2 minutes.

Das ist Berlin! [part1]

This is Berlin, Berlin the endless young city
This is Berlin, Berlin which is my dear
exact at the hub of the world
god put her down...

You're mine Berlin, Berlin, bead on the Spree
Who just knows you, Berlin, will never say good-bye
Because no one can escape your magic
You're mine Berlin, Berlin..

The song is really nice. I couldn't find only the audio file so I have to share the video instead. Enjoy and Sweet dreams.

Notte

P.S. I copied the English translation from the 'comments' section of the video

More updates after the break

Laughing it off

According to psychologists, at times of crisis, humour can provide a vital way of expressing frustration at a baffling situation. Humour is a psychological coping mechanism, it helps us to cope with difficulties.
It helps particularly with difficulties that we can't do much about, or ones we can't solve.So it is perhaps unsurprising that the current financial crisis has inspired a rich seam of humorous material.
Is this schadenfreude, or delight in the suffering of others? Are we relishing the misfortune of those richer than most of us? And are the jokers cruel to revel in the sufferings of those who are now losing their jobs and wealth? Not so, if you ask me.

Q: What is the definition of optimism?
A: An investment banker ironing five shirts on a Sunday night

Q: What is the one thing Wall St and the Olympics have in common?
A: Synchronized diving.

Q: What is the difference between a pigeon and a merchant banker?
A: A pigeon can still put a deposit on a Ferrari

Q: How many commodities traders does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None, they don't change bulbs; but the trading price of darkness plummets due to oversupply

J: When someone tells you 'I'm terribly sorry that the collateral debt obligations that were securitised as part of our ongoing risk amelioration programme have resulted in a capitalisation issue that affects our Human Resources capacity', what that means is: 'You're fired'.

J: If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00. With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1000. With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left. If you had purchased $1000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left. If you had purchased United Airlines, you would have nothing left. But, if you had purchased $1000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, and then turned in the cans for recycling, you would have $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. This is called the 401-Keg Plan.

Q: What's the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza?
A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Q: Why are all MBAs going back to school?
A: To ask for their money back.

Quote of the day (from a trader): "This is worse than a divorce. I've lost half my net worth and I still have a wife."

...

The sad thing is that the global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.

'Allo 'Allo

Since Marple left for Thailand she started asking a lot of high-tech related questions. It's so cute. It's like looking at a small kid growing up and exploring the world around her. Her recent question was concerning new-edge phones and their functionality, so I decided to make a list of the latest trends that caught my eye.

The BlackBerry Storm

HTC Touch HD

Blackberry Bold

I am not an iPhone trader. It's just that sometimes I am really tired of typing on its touch screen...
and I just need some button pushing...

Don't Drink and Dial

At least once in our lifetime we have sent a message we later realize we shouldn't have sent. Late parties, midnight thoughts...you name it.

This Gmail application, Mail Goggles, may partially prevent this.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?

By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you're most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it's active in the General settings.

Hopefully Mail Goggles will prevent many of you out there from sending messages you wish you hadn't.

They should make this a mobile phone application! I have to suggest this @work. So many lives will be changed. ;-)

How Long's A Tear Take To Dry

Reading this article makes me feel like Misha (0.47 sec) at the closing ceremony of the 22nd Moscow Olympics. Oh, my fellow Investment Bankers Wannabes....it's a sad, sad world out there for you :-$

a Playlist to shuffle during the week'3

Continuing the tradition, I am posting the usual Sunday playlist. Today, however, the playlist won't be dedicated to a specific artist or group, but will simply be a collection of the most played tracks on my iPod.

Your password is too short

I was just browsing Meghan's blog and I came upon one of her "Useful Gadgets" recommendations.

Meghan:

Apple Expert Recommendation #2:

UPEK Eikon to Go Digital Privacy Manager for Mac

I’m looking forward to the shift when all passwords are replaced with fingerprint access. Can you imagine the security of using fingerprint recognition software instead of all those scattered passwords? The Eikon To Go Digital Privacy Manager is a great first step towards the future allowing you to access your Mac using your fingerprint. This is the product to test if you (like me) are obsessed with security.

This one is particularly useful for all Mac users but, as expected, the Eikon Digital Privacy Manager is also available for all other PC's and notebooks

Sleep safe ;-)

Hello Sunshine

Define "dancing"

"Dancing" - a series of movements involving two partners where speed and rhythm match harmoniously with music.

Call in the humor consultants

Companies call in humor consultants to help employees in difficult times.

Bedtime music

Sweet dreams to all!
Tomorrow it's gonna be a bright and sunshining day :-)

You Better Work & Show It Off

I am presenting you my glamorous work place.

From the outside:

From the inside:

And my even more glamorous co-workers. Well, only two of them, Roland F. and Kathrin who were so kind to pose for a pic while we were drinking our morning coffee by the river admiring the last sunny days.

Well, what can I tell you?! I just love this place - the job, the people, the city! And I will make sure to keep you updated! You better work, girl!!!