When our friend Jane, who lives in San Jose, has her manicures by Sally the discussion often turns to stocks. It seems Sally is a day-trader and had been doing alright. Last summer Sally kept telling Jane about the stocks she was trading and, seemingly, …
Asia is up pretty big. In US, Google and JP Morgan had pretty, pretty good reports. There is some serious talk about a bull market in the making. Still holding my breath as I add to positions as well as head into the dreaded financials; …
Chapter Two Sights and Scenes along the ICW The rain hadn’t stopped as we eased our way out of The Boatyard at Hampstead. Gerald and his crew watched to see if we cleared the tight channel. The mechanic, Steve, was standing on the pier, next …
The ICW Chapter One: Picking up the boat Gerald is about 5’10” and has the handsome good looks women flock to. And he has the quiet confidence men are drawn to. Gerald could be thirty or over forty, in great shape, sporting a ruddy tan …
In the late ’60’s the subways of London became the target of Eric Clapton fans. As Clapton emerged as one of the great blues guitarists his fans would spray paint “Clapton is God” all over. This embarrassed Clapton and motivated him to begin recording incognito. …
Last week someone asked me about derivatives. The term is bandied about now that we know something about swaps, mortgages, reverse swaps, CDO’s, etc. When I was a sales manager in the headquarters of PaineWebber the derivative guys were constantly trying to create product for …
We are clearly in a golden era, or year, of cinema. We saw Slumdog Millionaire yesterday and were stunned. My emotions kept turning left and right, brightly happy, horribly sad, my eyes alternatively closing and opening wide, from laughter to tears. A wonderful film. As …
Good, good movie. But I don’t think it is, as one of my neighbors suggested, “a life changing experience”. But it is very entertaining with memorable characters and it is one I’d see again. I have the feeling Gran Torino will have a long shelf …
Last night I played cards at my Wednesday night poker match. There are seven of us and we always seem to have a good time. Sadly, I am usually a modest looser and last night was no different. Lost $8. A couple of my friends …
The skeletons from Bernie’s fraud keep popping up. At least two suicides can be attributed to the scheme. Pension and private funds from around the world have been devastated with little hope of recovery. As I said in an earlier piece I feel this event …