Comments for Ali's blog

Comment on Praying for cheaper gasoline by Anonym

Anonym — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:58:46 +0000

There are some who benefit from prayer, physiologically (meditation can help lower blood pressure) or mood-wise. I’m also not (a priori) opposed to private thoughts evaluating one’s and even sometimes another’s actions according to some reasoned or learned standard of “Good.” To me, this practice (whether done in prayer or other reflection) is the hallmark of many ethical individuals, and ethical individuals are necessary for a nation or society to function, or for “the system to work.” Of course, what I’m speaking of here is private prayer. I’m a bit perplexed by prayer for sheer monetary gain sans work (which is what praying for cheaper gasoline is, really.) I’ve never heard of such a deity.

Comment on Peak oil (again) by alifinmath

alifinmath — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:56:03 +0000

Comment on Topalov on YouTube by alifinmath

alifinmath — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:49:40 +0000

Yeah, unfortunately they had all their clothes on. For a translation into English, see:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4595

They were of course playing chess with the office supplies. When Topalov tips over that red thing (not sure what it was exactly), that’s an admission of defeat (one way of resigning is to tip your king over; others are 1) stopping your clock, 2) pushing the pieces to the centre of the board, 3) letting your time run out on your clock, 4)extending your hand and saying, “Good game, well done.”).

Topalov is one of the handful of players in the world who presently dominate chess and whose style and analysis determine the contours of the game as it’s presently played.

Comment on Topalov on YouTube by Chris Prouty

Chris Prouty — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:38:47 +0000

The girl was pretty cute, but she had all her clothes on and they weren’t speaking American. And what were they doing with those office supplies??

Comment on Praying for cheaper gasoline by Chris Prouty

Chris Prouty — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:24:39 +0000

You think they’d have learned by now that prayer doesn’t work anyway:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2S4_VL61HrJgLKWc4HOixPEj4KAD90B2I105

Comment on Japan, China, and South Korea shy away from US Treasury debt by Chris Prouty

Chris Prouty — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:34:34 +0000

As a follow-up, the March 2013 ED futures are trading at an implied rate of 4.885%. Not a bad bet in my opinion, and it will get prettier if Ben drops rates another quarter.

Comment on Japan, China, and South Korea shy away from US Treasury debt by Chris Prouty

Chris Prouty — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:27:14 +0000

We need another Paul Volker. I pointed this trade out a while back and I shall point it out again: short Eurodollar futures. I won’t claim to be able to time this one, but depending on the shape of the forward curve in ED futures, shorting distant contracts after this next expected rate drop could position one nicely for the time when the central bank is forced to raise rates (perhaps violently).

Comment on Fleeing from Zimbabwe by Ariel

Ariel — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:49:51 +0000

It has taken the world a very long time to wake up and begin to confront tyrant Robert Mugabe. Unfortunately the damage has been done and it will be exceedingly hard to reverse.

Comment on Timothy Garton Ash on the inevitable letdown by alifinmath

alifinmath — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:53:27 +0000

Incidentally, my contempt for Friedman is at least matched by my respect for another Mid-Westerner, Thorstein Veblen. This dreary part of the world has managed to produce a thinker.

Comment on Timothy Garton Ash on the inevitable letdown by alifinmath

alifinmath — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:51:12 +0000

I read the Tom Tomorrow cartoon every week in “City Pages.” Till now I wasn’t aware of his site. Thanks.

Friedman is just an idiot — a useful idiot for a ruling class anxious that its real motives and objectives be camouflaged. And a Minnesotan to boot. I don’t think he could write if his life depended on it.