You know that old joke about “What happens when
you play a country song backwards?” You sober up, get a job, your wife
comes back and the bank un-forecloses on your home.

UBS = U’ve Been Screwed

Paul Krugman’s Theory of Interstellar Trade:

This paper extends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting. It is chiefly concerned with the following question: how should interest rates on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer traveling with the goods than to a stationary observer. A solution is derived from economic theory, and two useless but true theorems are proved… This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics

Via The New Yorker:

Via The Epicurean Dealmaker:

Oh. ... Anything else?

Yes: monomaniacal, driven, aggressive,
tightfisted, greedy, controlling, hyper-competitive, miserly (to
others), obnoxious, obsequious to superiors, self-aggrandizing,
pigheaded, tyrannical, abusive, sensitive to criticism, and desperately
needy for recognition.

Is that all?

Well, to be fair, you also came across as focused, smart, successful, and immensely wealthy.

Good.

This modern life

Via Price of Everything:

The stock markets of the Federated States of Micronesia tumbled for a 16th straight session earlier today on concerns that sub-prime lending problems in the US would hamper growth in the world’s 287th largest economy. Finance minister Kiribatiguam RuarruruaarrRGGGHHhrroo voiced fears that Micronesian GDP would be “crushed” by ongoing tensions in the US mortgage and credit markets. The annual GDP of Micronesia is one coconut.

Ever watched the movie ‘A Few Good Men’ starring Jack Nicholson? Well..here is the trader’s version.
Via LS:

I eat breakfast three hundred yards away from four thousand hedge funds who are trained to pick me off. So don’t think for one second that you can come down here, flash a client relationship, and make me nervous.

Son, we live in a world that has risks, and those risks have to be hedged by men like me. Who’s gonna do it? You? The Sales Force? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.  You weep for your client and curse the desk. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that your client’s loss, while tragic, probably saved p&l. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves p&l. You don’t want the truth – because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me in those screens.

You need me in those screens. We use words like roll-down, carry, gamma.

We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something.

You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of  the very bonus pool that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I’d rather you just  said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I’d suggest you pick up a prop book and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!

For as long as I can remember, I have read Art Buchwald’s syndicated column. The column used to appear in ‘The Hindu’, one of the main newspapers in India and I read it daily before going to school in the morning

Later, after I moved to the USA, I got my hands onto his books; ‘I’ll always have Paris’ is my favorite.

Art passed away today. The
New York Times has an article and a video on him.

Via Long and Short Capital:

.....love is exactly like a hedge fund. Love is a limited partnership structure (LP), it takes a large initial investment, and is largely unregulated. Frequently, it uses an aggressive strategy, relying on large directional bets and substantial amounts of leverage. The plan is to generate significant alpha (using the Lipper Love Average as a benchmark) but it is not uncommon to see a hedge fund or a love relationship with an unsuitably low Sortino ratio, indicating that it has strayed from it’s raison d’etre. This is a hedge fund (marriage) destined for fund outflows (divorce).

Love is relatively illiquid, such that if it takes on large speculative investments, and develops into something like a live-in relationship or marriage, there will be a lock-up period. This is where derivatives and hedging come into play. According to our possibly fabricated research, the married put was developed specifically for use in reducing the downside risk in instititional marriage markets.

It floors your downside, and there is unlimited upside — if the love falters or a better substitute arrives, you can walk away with no marginal pain. The best hedge funds just as the best marriages understand risk management and create an environment where downside protection is a given.

Image Courtesy: Long and Short Capital

Horn OK Please now online at Sepia Mutiny

“HORN OK PLEASE” follows a monotonous day in the life of an Indian taxi driver named Lucky. Lucky’s goal is to earn enough rupees to buy the air-conditioned taxi of his dreams…

HORN OK PLEASE was produced in 2006 by Flickerpix Animations Ltd. in Belfast. It is a creative collaboration between animators from India and Northern Ireland.

This film is combination of stop-motion (clay) models and drawn, composited backgrounds. The whole film was shot on a NIKON D70 stills camera and post-produced in After Effects on a simple pc.

7 Habits of Highly Successful People.

1. Skiing


2. Yachting


3. Snorkeling


4. Golf


5. Polo


6. Dinner parties


7. Shopping

Ha ha ha …..

Via Typhoon Ahlwoon:

Here is a choice quote from WSJ on California attorney general Bill Lockyer!

Mr. Lockyer was aggressive in a probe into price manipulation in California’s energy market. (In a 2001 interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said he would “love to personally escort [Enron Chairman Kenneth] Lay to an 8×10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says ‘Hi my name is Spike, honey.’”