Checking In

Right now I'm in the ATL airport with a few free moments until I have to hop on a plane. I just spent the past week in Greenwich, CT - possibly the most ridiculous town I have ever seen. I've included a small sample of pictures that neatly sum up the area. No kidding, as I was walking back from dinner last night, I passed two Corvettes, two Porches, a Lamborghini and an Aston Martin. The majority of the money comes from the ubiquitous hedge funds which are seemingly in every other office building. The last several weeks have been pretty rough for a lot of the "quant" funds, but most of them will be able to escape from the sub-prime mortgage mess.



Two weeks ago I was in Boston, and got to catch a sweet game at Fenway Park. Though I am a staunch opponent of the Red Sox, any sports fan has to recognize the special environment at Fenway.

The week before that, I was out in San Diego, and got to stay at the Torrey Pines Hilton, where my hotel room looked out upon the 18th fairway of the Torrey Pines golf course. Again, I am not a huge golf fan, but looking onto a perfectly manicured course is something anyone should be able to appreciate.

Hopefully my life will slow down a bit and I will be able to get back to posting here regularly on the Julep. Thanks for still checking it out.

I've been pretty busy the last several weeks, hence no updates here. I will be on the road for much of the next four weeks, so most probably posts will be limited until things calm down. With that, I leave you with this neat photo above by Harold Edgerton of MIT, and used for a lecture he gave at MIT in 1964, entitled "How to Make Applesauce at MIT."

Word of the Day

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:

A morbid fear of the number 13 or the date Friday the 13th.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
-- Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Here is one of the odder articles I have come across in a while. In New York, a man severely beat a peacock, claiming that the bird was a vampire.

Per the article on Fox News:

He seized the iridescent bird by the neck, hurled the creature to the ground and started kicking and stomping the animal, said worker Felicia Finnegan.

"He was going crazy," said Finnegan, 19.

Asked what he was doing, she said, the bird-beater explained, "'I'm killing a vampire!"'

iPhone Mania

With the iPhone coming out on Friday, there is much anticipation and excitement among many technophiles, anxiously awaiting the moment when they can get their hands on this new device.

Here is a very informative, 20 minute guided tour of the iPhone.

Everyone I have talked to seems either to think it will be an enormous success, or an enormous flop. Personally, I think the iPhone is going to be a revolutionary device. The price tag is the most difficult hurdle for sales. However, the high price becomes somewhat of a deal, when you realize that the combined cost of purchasing a smart phone and an iPod, is greater than the listed $499 price of a 4GB iPhone. Regardless of the success of the iPhone itself, it will nonetheless spur more research and development from competitors who will be trying to steal some of the market share. Its my own belief that Friday marks the end of the cell phone as we have know it. We are now entering the era of the all-purpose personal device, which will play music, make phone calls, take pictures, send e-mail, watch movies, and even more.

Update
- A very amusing, multi-city live blog of the madness very amusing
- Streaming live video from the line outside the Apple store in San Francisco.
- The Ultimate iPhone Campout Guide

Some pics:

The Media Revolution

A look into the future?

Oil Supply

This article maintains that the worldwide oil supply is diminishing at a rate faster than previously believed. I'm not sure I entirely believe it, but here you have it.

According to "peak oil" theory our consumption of oil will catch, then outstrip our discovery of new reserves and we will begin to deplete known reserves.

Colin Campbell, the head of the depletion centre, said: "It's quite a simple theory and one that any beer drinker understands. The glass starts full and ends empty and the faster you drink it the quicker it's gone."

Sounds pretty simple, huh. A more vexing, and obvious question remains: what to do when we run out of oil?

U.S. President's Job Approval Ratings

Graph from the Wall Street Journal.

Two interesting observations:
1. Every President, with the exception of Clinton, had a worse rating upon leaving office, than upon entering.

2. Every President, with the exception of W. Bush, had a better approval rating upon entering office, than the President immediately preceding him.

Christopher Hitchens on Paris Hilton:
"Siege of Paris: The Creepy Populism Surrounding high-Profile Defendants."

U.S. States Renamed for Countries with Similiar GDPs

Random Pizza Maker

This site creates a random pizza for you.
I got one with whole wheat crust, bbq sauce, smoked gouda, blue cheese, fresh jalapenos, spinach, prawns, and lobster.

2007 I-Bank Bonuses

Per Deal Breaker

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India .

Sadly, The End.

Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

Quote of the Day

"Don't believe the man who tells you there are two sides to every question. There is only one side to the truth."

- William Peter Hamilton
(Original editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal)

Hope I Die Before I Get Old...

Below is a video of The Zimmers doing "My Generation," originally done by The Who. Read more about it here.

Libby Sentenced to 2.5 Years

Scooter Libby will be going to prison for up to 2.5 years for lying and obstruction of justice in the investigation of the 2003 leak of CIA secret operative, Valerie Plame's identity. Before the sentancing, Libby said "It is respectfully my hope that the court will consider, along with the jury verdict, my whole life."

Read more about this story, here and here.

Plus, will Bush pardon him?

perfunctory \pur-FUNGK-tuh-ree\, adjective:

1. Done merely to carry out a duty; performed mechanically or routinely.
2. Lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent.

The city's moderate hotels, however, tend to offer minimal comforts, perfunctory service and dreary decor.
-- Paula Butturini, "What's Doing in Naples", New York Times, April 14, 1996

Utterly Ridiculous

This occured about five minutes from where I live. Read about it here.

Microsoft Surface

Several days ago Microsoft unveiled its newest product - the Microsoft Surface. If goes as planned, this new product will revolutionize the way that humans interact with computers. For a brief explanation of the Surface, one article writes:

The Microsoft Surface - a 30-inch display embedded in a gloss-covered table - will eventually replace the mouse and keyboard, and opens the prospect of a computer in every surface of the home, the company claims.

Consumers will have to wait a few years before getting their hands on the technology themselves, but the first versions of the computer have already been sold to corporate clients including mobile phone companies and restaurants.

When customers at a restaurant put down their glasses, a computer in their table will be able to tailor food recommendations to the choice of drinks, and display pictures linking wines or beers with the vineyards and breweries that produced them.

Here is a nice demostration on YouTube: