Happy 2007!!!

Auld Lang Syne - Robert Burns

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne?

We twa hae rin about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl't i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

And here 's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine;
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

Read more about this Scottish poem here.

Walk It Out - Happy Feet Style

ignoramus \ig-nuh-RAY-mus\, noun:
An ignorant person; a dunce.


My "perfect" reader is not a scholar but neither is he an ignoramus; he does not read because he has to, nor as a pastime, nor to make a splash in society, but because he is curious about many things, wishes to choose among them and does not wish to delegate this choice to anyone; he knows the limits of his competence and education, and directs his choices accordingly.
-- Primo Levi, "This Above All: Be Clear", New York Times, November 20, 1988

Lazy Sunday

Over at The Mint Julep we never get tired of seeing Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg do Lazy Sunday. Enjoy, folks.

Watch That Weight

Its mighty difficult not to get fat over the holidays with all the eating, drinking, sleeping, and lounging around. It wold be interesting to know the aggregate total, in the United States, of all pounds gained during this week.

wassail \WAH-sul; wah-SAYL\, noun:

1. An expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to someone.
2. An occasion on which such good wishes are expressed in drinking; a drinking bout; a carouse.
3. The liquor used for a wassail; especially, a beverage formerly much used in England at Christmas and other festivals, made of ale (or wine) flavored with spices, sugar, toast, roasted apples, etc.
4. Of or pertaining to wassail, or to a wassail; convivial; as, a wassail bowl.
5. To drink to the health of; a toast.
6. To drink a wassail.

Christmas often means plum pudding, fruitcake, roast goose and wassail.
-- Florence Fabricant, "Recipes to Summon the Holiday Spirit", New York Times, December 21, 1988

But have you ever tried to spear a buffalo after a hard night at theold wassail bowl?
-- Gore Vidal, The Smithsonian Institution

Some Christmas Cheer

I posted this last Christmas and think that it deserves a re-posting. Below is a fine recipe for delicious eggnog which may be enjoyed during this time of the year.

6 Large eggs
3/4 c Sugar
1 1/2 c Brandy
1/2 c Rum
4 c Milk
4 c Cream
1/2 c Icing sugar
Nutmeg to sprinkle

Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs. Beat the yolks slowly while simultaneously adding the sugar; do this until the mixture is pale and golden. Now slowly add in the brandy and rum, then beat in the milk and half the cream.

Set aside until just before serving, then whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the eggnog mixture. Whip the remaining cream and icing sugar until thick. Top each glass of eggnog with whipped cream and a shake of nutmeg. This yields eight servings.

Second Life

I just received an interesting e-mail concerning Second Life. Many of you all may have heard of this, but many of you probably have not. I had only been vaguely aware of this new internet phenomenon. For those of you who do not know, Second Life is one of several virtual worlds, and is probably the most successful. It first went online in 2003 and is modeled after the "metaverse." The metaverse is where computerized avatars--digital characters constructed to (usually) look like humans--interact. They buy and sell real estate, goods and services to each other; conduct classes; and give live entertainment concerts.

Second Life welcomed its one millionth resident in September of this year. Last week its residents topped 2,000,000. Three years to get the first million, then doubling in three months. That gives you some idea of its momentum

There is also an active currency exchange. Second Life's currency is the "Linden." (Linden Labs owns and operates Second Life.) The current rate of exchanges is approximately 270 Lindens to $1US. I have been discussing the viability of purchasing Lindens as an alternative investment.

Harvard Law School is teaching a class that can only be attended via Second Life, and IBM bought a massive piece of real estate where they built a 200 seat auditorium to house company meetings.

It will be very interesting to follow the evolution of Second Life, and see if it will be as prevalent in our culture as Google, YouTube, and Amazon.com.

Merry Christmas

This photo was taken of downtown Maysville, KY, and brings thoughts of small town Americana to mind.

dictum \DIK-tuhm\, noun:
1. An authoritative statement; a formal pronouncement.
2. Law) A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.

I have taken to heart Francis Bacon's dictum that "truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion".
-- Donald B. Calne, Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior

The Daily Cartoon

This post is to let you know that at the very bottom of this blog, I have a cartoon, which changes daily, thanks to the folks at NewsBusters. Chances are many of you will hate the cartoons, many of you will like them, but in any case, I hope you find them interesting and perhaps a little thought provoking.

Investment Banking Blog

Here is a blog of a student who is trying to break into Investment Banking. He chronicles the entire interview process (applications, phone interviews, oft-asked questions, etc) and I think its a pretty interesting read.

Here is the tagline:
I am a student at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business. I am a Master of Science in Finance Candidate at Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. My goal is to get a job in NYC in Investment Banking and help others who didn't go to a Top 10 school do the same. Can you help?

-Update-
If that interests you, here is another guy, this one from the University of Alabama, chronicling his efforts to make it to Wall Street.

Koreans Deal Poorly with Leisure

I came across an article in the WSJ several months ago and thought it was very interesting. The title is "More Play, Less Toil Is a Stressful Shift For Some Koreans." The article focuses on the fact that South Korea has been scaling their traditional work week back to five days, and "even though they are paid the same wages to work fewer hours, many Koreans are still unsettled by the prospect of having more free time." Many people are having difficulty filling up their free time. The problem is such that there are now "leisure counselors" who instruct the Koreans on how to relax for that whole extra day.

If someone gave me an extra day of weekends, I don't think I would have a problem.

World's Tallest Man Saves Dolphins

I have received numerous e-mails about this story, and upon reading, feel that it certainly deserves a post on The Mint Julep. Below are pictures of the tallest man in the world (7'9") saving two dolphins by pulling pieces of plastic out of their stomachs with his 41 inch arms. You can read several stories about this here, here, and here.

I've been pretty busy doing various things these past couple of weeks, and have neglected putting any new thoughts/articles on here...but hopefully things will cool down and I'll be putting up some more stuff.