When I first thought about a trip to South America, I had some ideas in my head about how things were – I knew it was no longer the place of the past decades, when some revolution or another would push one government out for another, be it from democracy to communist or military junta, [...]
Categories: the daily column
David Atkins: So this is apparently a real thing from the Wall Street Journal. The Onion couldn’t top this. Whether it’s the sad faces of all these put-upon dejected rich people, or the elderly minority couple who is depressed despite not paying extra taxes (or was that the point?), or the distressed single Asian lady [...]
Categories: the daily column
In 2008, I think I was far more nervous and yet also more confident of Obama’s election – surely, the US would see after the disaster of the Bush presidency that something different was needed, and they delivered. The elation, the sheer relief of Bush being over and done with was as big a factor [...]
Categories: politics
“Wait… you have an iPad, a desktop, a Kindle, an iPhone… what the hell do you need a Nexus 7 for?” It’s the first question I get asked with this thing. The answer I’m tempted to give is sheer technolust: who can resist getting another toy that seems to play a role, well, at least [...]
Categories: the daily column
Simply beautiful: a circuit diagram for a radio made from the London Tube map, instantly recognisable:
Categories: the daily column
Hey, just a little cross-promotion, my dad’s new site for his consulting firm is up at Lean Pursuit – they specialize in implementation of Lean principles for process improvement in a variety of companies, such as the manufacturing industry. If you haven’t heard of Lean techniques, you might know of Six Sigma – similar concept, [...]
Spectacular view from the new Mars rover Curiosity: Jupiter, Venus and Earth in the sky. Amazing to think where science is these days, and the sheer achievement of landing that rover in the first place is a testament to technology and its advancements. How long until we land humans on Mars?
Categories: the daily column
Fantastic obituary to make anyone think their life is pretty boring – Count Robert de La Rochefocauld, former Resistance fighter in WWII: Cycling to Bordeaux to meet a contact who was to arrange his return to England, however, he ran into a roadblock, taken prisoner, and imprisoned at the 16th-century Fort du Hâ. His explanations [...]
Categories: quickie
I’m sure this is going to get this little website banned in China, but yesterday the censorship of the internet there went through the looking glass: In an unlikely coincidence certainly unwelcome to China’s communist rulers, the stock benchmark fell 64.89 points on Monday, matching the numbers of the June 4, 1989 crackdown in the [...]
Categories: asides
Bronte Capital on the ‘Failbook’ IPO: The Wall Street Journal… derides Michael Grimes (the Morgan Stanley Banker) for not standing up to David Ebersman (Facebook’s CFO) and allowing Facebook to sell too many shares at too high a price. This is tits-up-backward. David Ebersman in this context is the client. He paid the fees. Michael Grimes had [...]