“Welcome Back” Reads
By Barry Ritholtz - February 28th, 2011, 4:30PM
Here is what I have queued up on the ole iPaper:
• Swift action can prevent bubbles from reoccurring (Irish Times)
• Critical Analysis of Buffett’s Annual Letter (Aleph Blog)
• The Myth of Japan’s ‘Lost Decades’ (The Atlantic)
• The Madoff Tapes (NY Mag)
• Tax Breaks to Take Before They Go (NYT)
• State by State Housing Market Infographic (Coldwell Banker)
• Plutocracy Now: What Wisconsin Is Really About (MoJo/Kevin Drum)
• The Man Who Wasn’t Darwin (National Geographic)
• The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (NYRB)
• Melting Snow and Ice Warm Northern Hemisphere (NASA)
What are you reading?
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February 28th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
BoingBoing pointed me at:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/mar/10/how-we-know/?pagination=false
“The story of the drum language illustrates the central dogma of information theory. The central dogma says, “Meaning is irrelevant.” Information is independent of the meaning that it expresses, and of the language used to express it. Information is an abstract concept, which can be embodied equally well in human speech or in writing or in drumbeats. All that is needed to transfer information from one language to another is a coding system. A coding system may be simple or complicated. If the code is simple, as it is for the drum language with its two tones, a given amount of information requires a longer message. If the code is complicated, as it is for spoken language, the same amount of information can be conveyed in a shorter message.”
As a species we are engaging in an orgiastic information frenzy which is stressing our physiology. A linguistics guy from UT Austin has been working on the neuronal responses to vowels and consonants. Probably the foundation of ‘new speech’.
February 28th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
This may be it:
A neuronal model for syllable representation: http://bit.ly/dNRucc
February 28th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
For the German car aficionados:
Why German Cars Struggle With Reliability
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41831956
Seems like some companies can’t get it. In the mid-1980′s after I bought one of the first Acura Legends in the country after falling in love with it on a test drive, the guy I worked for spent like $70k on the biggest Mercedes. His was always in the shop. I drove mine for 14 years with almost no trouble and then only gave it up because the A/C would have cost too much to replace.
February 28th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
I am not up on other blogs or how credible they are but some interesting points were made in the following:
http://baselinescenario.com/2011/02/28/no-smoke-without-mirrors-disinformation-about-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/#more-8729
I am enjoying the confessions of an anonymous hedge fund manager here although I expect they do not tell the whole story, as indeed they cannot:
http://nplusonemag.com/authors/hfm
February 28th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Dems Lose First Round of Shutdown Struggle
“…That’s also reflected in a new poll on a potential shutdown conducted for The Hill that shows voters would blame Democrats over Republicans 29 percent to 25 percent. That compares to the two-to-one margin by which voters blamed Republicans ahead of the 1995 shutdown…”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/28/dems-lose-round-shutdown-struggle/
Not only does Rupert Murdock know what people think, he knows what they will think in the future.
Fox News is comical.
February 28th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
In case you missed the Academy Awards, interesting remarks re: the financial crisis:
“Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong,” Ferguson said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/charles-ferguson-oscar-speech-inside-job_n_828963.html
February 28th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Mike in NOLA, the article provides no details. MB’s quality went downhill in the late 90s and early 2000 because of the merger with Chrysler. Subpar parts from Chrysler contributed to the quality problem plus MB introduced too many models to appeal to all demographics. Personally, I have had few problems with the MBs that I own and have owned. I have 280 SL that drives like a dream and believe its quality surpasses any Japanese brand.
February 28th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
“An empire of lies: why our media betrays us..”
http://www.redress.cc/global/jcook20110301
~~
Walker Losing Control and Getting Desperate- Bolting Windows Shut to Starve Out Protesters
http://www.squattable.com/news/022811/walker-losing-control-and-getting-desperate-bolting-windows-shut-starve-out-protesters
~~
Why the £250bn wind power industry could be the greatest scam of our age – and here are the three ‘lies’ that prove itBy Christopher Booker
Last updated at 11:20 AM on 28th February 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361316/250bn-wind-power-industry-greatest-scam-age.html
February 28th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Is it just me, or is science reporting starting to resemble TheOnion?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=meat-growing-researcher-suspended
February 28th, 2011 at 8:51 pm
What am I reading?
Just finished a lovely and enlightening item from John Hussman, of Hussman Funds: “An Open Letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board”. It’s part of Dr. Hussman’s “Weekly Market Comment”, near the end of the column.
http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc110228.htm
February 28th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
I am interest to see if 2011 will follow through with the “94% of the S&P 500′s Performance In 2010 Occured on the First Trading Day of Each Month”
http://www.greenfaucet.com/the-market/94-of-the-s-p-500s-performance-in-2010-occured-on-the-first-trading-day-of-each-month/82074
February 28th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
re-repost, this time try without the link:
Wonder if 2011 will continue with the big gains on the first trading day of each month?
From David Rosenberg:
One has to really wonder about a stock market (talking about the S&P 500 here) in which 134 points of the 143 points that were racked up in 2010 occurred in the first trading day of each month (see The Trader on page M3 of Barron’s). That is truly remarkable ? 94% of the entire year boiled down to 12 sessions. And what do you know? 2011 started with a 1.1% pop and has sputtered since.
It is truly the nuttiest thing ? the best days last year were the first day of each month (save for June and July) and then after that there were practically no crumbs to nibble on: These are the point changes for the first trading day of each month in 2010, which totals 134 points (as we mentioned above): December +26 points; November +1 point; October + 5 points; September +31 points; August +24 points; July -3 points; June -19 points; May +16 points; April + 9 points; March +11 points; February +15 points; and January +18 points.
Now look at 2011 ? +14 points to kick off the month and year, to close at 1,271.87, and here we are today, after a supposedly ripping ISM and ADP set of numbers, and as of January 7, the S&P 500 is sitting at 1,271.50. Hope you didn’t decide to get in on the second day.
February 28th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
All about US Dollar and commodity cycles
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26286.html
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26439.html
February 28th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
I’m reading about venture capital:
http://www.gabeoneda.com/edge-on-eda/business-101-vc-%E2%80%93-friend-or-foe
February 28th, 2011 at 11:43 pm
“Facts are stupid things.”
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/sierradaily/2011/02/facts-are-stupid-things.html
March 1st, 2011 at 12:08 am
Climate change no problem, says futurist Ray Kurzweil
Brilliant, practical thinking here and a prediction that solar wattage will double every 2 years (as it has for the last 20) and replace all conventional energy sources in 20 years
http://lifeinthekeyofc.waterforlife.ws/archives/240
The biggest company you never heard of
This is shocking. These guys apparently make GS look like choir boys
http://lifeinthekeyofc.waterforlife.ws/archives/249
March 1st, 2011 at 6:56 am
Meanwhile, mistakes of the past come back to haunt us again (and again):
http://www.greenfudge.org/2011/02/28/chernobyl-needs-new-radiation-shield-european-countries-urged-to-chip-in/
http://irregulartimes.com/
March 1st, 2011 at 7:07 am
You all like charts, right?
http://www.financialarmageddon.com/
March 1st, 2011 at 6:06 pm
The story of Alfred Russell Wallace is also nicely told by Jacob Bronowksi in part 3 (check) of his “Ascent of Man” series, BBC around 1973 and available on DVD and all good Amazon sites.
And Nial “just a poor bloke from Glasgow” Ferguson stole the title for his “Ascent of Money” bestseller… which is to “Ascent of Man” what Dan Brown is to literature.