Mos def

Ya feel me

by Thomas McQuade

In looking back over the many excellent posts and comments that have graced ThinkMarkets in its first year, I was struck by the fact that, while many of the literary virtues have been displayed, there has been – surprisingly – nothing that could pass as poetry.  I hope to be forgiven the presumption of attempting to rectify that omission with the following submission, vile doggerel though it may be.

I have a tale to tell, O!  (A sad, sorry tale, O!) …
It is told in the hope there’s no slipp’ry slope
And that prudence can prevail, O!
Tells the cause of a crisis, cruelly cast
Hitting hard-won savings, thought amassed.
It involves good intentions gone astray,
And the misplaced myth that some experts may
By their brains and their brilliance brave the way
To ensure economic ease, O!

I have a tale to tell, O!  (Why such frustrations?) …
It’s the tale of a myth I debunk herewith –
The conceit that regulations
Are a sure-fire fix for faults perceived
And work just exactly as conceived.
Instead they have unforeseen effect
As they interact and redirect
In ways that their authors can’t suspect
To foster financial folly!

I have a tale to tell, O!  (What makes me fret thus?) …
It’s the tale of the bank that we have to thank
For the booms and the busts that beset us.
Mark the mandarins who man the Fed,
Who claim they can clearly call ahead
And invoke any interest rate thought best;
Who can more money make at their own behest
And can know who to help, where to reinvest –
Great gods of the guess, these gurus!

I have a wish to make, O!  (No grant is on offer!) …
It’s to wish we’d abjure the simplistic cure
Politicians promptly proffer;
That we’d understand we must separate
The economy from the grip of State,
So we’d not be conned by a cosy clique,
And big businessmen couldn’t favors seek –
Opportunity for both strong and weak:
It seems such a small thing to ask, O!

Apologies are due to the great W.S. Gilbert for parodying his duet “I have a song to sing, O!” from the opera “The Yeomen of the Guard”.

primeiro, vem a constatação: preciso emagrecer.

acabou de subir na balança e se olhar no espelho de casa, só de calcinha e sutiã. “o que foi que me tornei?” é a única coisa em que você consegue pensar. não abre nem mais os álbuns de quando tinha 15 anos – além do ser ridiculamente feia com aquelas roupas do início dos anos 90 (quem se lembra?), a sua própria magreza te causa inveja. e olha você lá, no espelho, gordurinhas para todos os cantos, celulite… não pode nem sacudir o braço assim que os primeiros sinais de flacidez e envelhecimento já estão aparecem.  tenta se iludir: “olha aqui, ainda não tenho nenhuma ruguinha no olho”. mas o resto…

aí, vem o segundo sintoma: depressão. antes que algum psicólogo me corrija, não é aquela depressão… depressssãaaaao de remédio, mas é uma tristeza sem fim, que começa já no café-da-manhã ao pensar no que vai comer. e se estende ao longo do dia, com ênfase especial nas refeições. mas também aparece quando você veste uma calça jeans e parece uma pamonha amarrada, dividida em duas partes de gordura. também quando vai tomar banho e olha para os pés e vê aquela saliência na barriga que nunca teve antes. e ainda quando vai dar tchau para o namorado e tudo balança naquela parte terrível do braço.

ainda nessa fase, você compra todas as revistas de dietas milagrosas que encontra no supermercado, mesmo estando com o carrinho cheio de bolachas. olha sites de celebridades só para achar alguém com o seu corpo – mas ali todo mundo tem dinheiro e vive na lipoaspiração. não se conforma com a barriga da carolina dieckmann e se acha mais parecida com a fase baleia-gravidez dela. mas ainda pensa que se ela teve solução, você também tem, mesmo estando com um pote de sorvete na mão.

aí, um dia, você acorda, do nada e pensa: “tenho que reagir”. nunca sei o que faz essa fase engatilhar, mas sempre aguardo ansiosamente o dia que ela apareça. você pula da cama, se olha no espelho, pega uma fita métrica, estipula metas, tira até uma foto sua de biquini pensando que uma hora você manda para a Boa Forma publicar o quanto você teve garra e vontade de mudar.

e aí se matricula em academia ou vai pro parque correr ou volta para a drenagem linfática. vai ao supermercado e se atenta apenas à parte de frutas e legumes e verduras. passa longe do corredor de doces e massas. e sai já se sentindo leve.

e esse é o problema.

em tempos de consumismo, você já acha que estando com tudo pronto, milagrosamente as coisas começam a acontecer e você, a emagrecer. mas aí, já no segundo dia de letargia, você descobre que na verdade precisa de um empurrão. e o empurrão que faltava foi ver a menina do trabalho que você detesta estar magra, magra, magra. ou a atual do seu ex exibindo um corpão. ou a própria chata da carolina dieckmann pegando um brozne na barra com aquela %*($@) barriga chapada.

e aí parece que a coisa engata. você começa a correr loucamente, a cumprir todos os compromissos assumidos para a gordura ir pelo ralo. e começa a gostar de suar, de correr, de ficar cansada e feliz, cheia de endorfina por todo o corpo. e começa a botar prêmios: ganhar uma roupa nova de ginástica, aquele tênis todo poderoso (e caríssimo) de corrida, uma viagem para algum lugar… e até uma barra de chocolate.

e aí, meus amigos, quando o prêmio passa a ser o que te fez ficar daquele jeito, não tem como. você se esforça, esforça. consegue o prêmio e acha que não volta mais para a forma de geleca. e vai ficando desatenta, come um pouquinho aqui, não recusa mais os salgadinhos da festa do trabalho, um docinho de vez em quando não faz mal.

e de repente, em alguns meses, lá está você de novo, subindo na balança e se perguntando:

“o que foi que me tornei?”

.

* qualquer semelhança com a realidade é “mera” coincidência.

Ah Black Friday. It is so appropriate to be working on this project during this commercial holiday. How have we as a culture come to this point where something like Black Friday could possibly exist? Not to mention the fact that it gets crazier every year! Are we so easily manipulated by commercial marketing that we would trample our fellow shoppers in the name of a bargain? And what exactly are we gaining by participating? The satisfaction of having won the battle against all other shoppers who may have wanted that deal, but won’t get it because you were there first? Consume, consume, consume, that seems to be all we know how to do. We shop in order to feel better about ourselves, having been brainwashed to think that stuff can fill the gaps in our lives. But let’s not forget that buying things for other people will make you feel twice as good! We attribute all kinds of value to meaningless objects that have no inherent worth-the diamond industry being one of the best examples-especially during this time of year. Here is this meaningless rock, that isn’t even that rare in the grand scheme of geology, which is somehow the most precious and sentimental of objects to be given during the holidays. Watching TV tells us that if you buy her a big rock, she will love you forever and be beautiful and you will have sweet children and a big car and a gorgeous house and a gentle dog in a nice part of town with great neighbors. And if he buys you the right rock, then you will know that life will be easy and wonderful and fulfilling for the rest of your days together.

OK, enough ranting. I am as much of a consuming zombie as the next person so I should probably stop talking. Here are some pictures I gathered today as reference images. Enjoy.

Soap Bubbles

Layered Bubbles

pollen molecules

Urine molecules

Sugar Crystals

Sugar Crystals

Gemstones

Diamonds

Cuts Diagram

Yesterdays Schedule: Slept in, straight to studio to pour rubber for mold, realized mistake and invented new mold making technique to fix it, online time, lunch duty, research, dinner, print images, back to room to edit video, read, draw, doodle and write.

by Mario Rizzo  

In the course of doing some research about the late economist Charles Kindelberger I came across an obituary article in The Economist dated July 17, 2003. The article made reference to the question whether the Fed’s policies after the then-recent dot com bubble simply saved us from recession or laid the ground for worse to come. It is interesting to read something like this when the current news looks like a replay.  

Economists are split over the recent performance of America’s lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve. Some argue that its policy of easy credit inflated the bubble, although nobody can be certain what effect tighter money would have had once the bubble began to expand. Some economists believe that the Fed’s interest-rate cuts since the bubble burst have been a triumph, preventing a severe recession. Others think that the Fed has merely postponed the day of reckoning.

I am sure there are many other articles out there from this period asking the same question. Have any readers found them?

I won’t have the time to cover this story in full details. Duncan has some good commentary and further links.  But the knock on effects of Dubai’s attempted debt reschedule are really impressive on their own. FTSE down many % (and the LSE computers screwing up); the Dow and S&P flooring, a flight to quality.   Classic panic – and a worrying sign that things are not as calm and post-crisis as we might have helped.  As Megan says, global markets are not robust enough to take many more shocks.

The stories about Dubai are now all about how it was a crazy boom, how the building makes no sense, how it was all bound to end in tears, a classic real estate bust, and so forth.  I share some sympathy. On the surface, it is all opulence and multicultural charm. Service-sector jobs seemed very good.  At the Wild Wadi, you find people from every possible nationality working, and it is possible to believe that Dubai has found some ultra-globalised future way of business, that scoops up the wealthy from one corner of the world, the eager to work from another, and brings them all together for their mutual benefit.

But several concerns bubbled below the surface whenever I went there. We swanned around far from the building sites.  There is a persistent rumour of terrible working conditions: see Johan Hari, for example. All in all I think ’slave state’ is melodramatic, and I have little doubt that the jobs were in high demand and better than the alternatives back home in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other places. However, you come away more than ever aware of how being rich means making the most of people elsewhere who are grateful for opportunities you would regard as intolerable toil.

Environmental concerns are another: how so much water and fruit gets into a place little more hospitable than the surface of the moon gives one pause.   This is the most environmentally crazy idea I have ever seen.

Finally, there was the “who buys” concern.  The buildings all looked fine. Whenever I went there, I was simultaneously impressed by the gorgeousness of the architecture, and the sheer uninhabitability of the landscape without massive artificial help.  The Burj Al Arab is still the most beautiful building I have seen, and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel the most comfortable, welcoming and child-friendly hotel/resort I could imagine. The attractions of living there outside the summer months palpable, if you don’t mind a slightly culture-free existence.  But how much can really be made from finance, real-estate and being an entrepot?

But I would like to temper some of the gloom.  Yes, they have overbuilt, but they at least have assets at the end of this.  The Burj Dubai is a real thing; so is the airport, the harbour, and the fact of the whole area being a bustling, middle-of-the-world sort of place.   Like David (see comment below), I am a somewhat believer in the entrepot model.  Dubai’s ethos is basically sound – well, I prefer it to Saudi Arabias – though the ‘jail the bankrupt’ rule seems rather harsh (will they now jail the Dubai World crew?)

People should not get investment losses confused with real losses: like the overbuilding of railways in the UK in the C19, the Emirates are left with large assets, just not the sort that yield much of a profit to the original investors. The externalities will accrue to other people.  I doubt it will lose its sporting events, its entertainment complexes, its low rate of crime.

That is my hope, at least.  Compared to the oil-dependent nastiness of so many other Middle Eastern Regimes, Dubai seemed to show another way forward, and I think there was some substance to it. But the next few years will be rocky for the bondholders.  (Buiter, as ever, is dead set against bailing them out).

Someone told me recently that they were thinking about only drinking champagne from now on.

They reckoned that, because they didn’t drink as much and as often as some other people,  they could justify only having very expensive champagne when they did decide to partake.

I think there is an element of genius in there.

St Pancras Champagne bar is one of my favorite places to go. You sit along side the Eurostar trains under the awesome pale blue roof and catch snippets of french from fellow champagne enthusiasts.

I say ‘fellow enthusiasts’, I know nothing about champagne, apart from I like it.

Hoje recebi um mail marketing da lojinha do MoMa (Museum of Modern Art, em NY) que anunciava esse colar das designers Marina and Susanna Sent. O item é vendido aqui na MoMa Store Online, por $115.

Apesar dele ser de 2001, super me lembrou o vestido de bolhas que a Lady GaGa usou na capa da Rolling Stone de maio, e antes disso na abertura da “The Fame Ball Tour”, em San Diego – peça, por sinal, que era uma cópia declarada de um original do designer Hussein Chalayan da coleção primavera/verão 2007.

Bolhas na moda.

Fotos: Reprodução

moro sozinha (isto é, sem os pais por perto) já tem um tempo. mas essa é a primeira vez que tenho uma casa grande, com responsabilidades grandes e que interferem na vida de outra pessoa. talvez por isso seja diferente.

meu histórico essa semana foi o seguinte:

segunda-feira = corte no dedo da mão
terça-feira = bolha no dedo da mão
quarta-feira = planta do pé furada por estilhaço de prato quebrado
quinta-feira = omelete não deu certo e felipe passou mal com a sopa que fiz a noite
sexta-feira = … até agora, nada.

a explicação para que até agora não tenha acontecido nada é que eu nem cheguei perto da cozinha. fiquei no computador, quebrando a cabeça desde 8h30 da manhã, reconfigurando a rede wireless aqui de casa. e estou com uma preguiça tão grande de chegar perto de geladeira, fogão e derivados que hoje vamos almoçar fora.

adoro cozinhar. mas todo dia cansa. mas comer em casa é uma maravilha – não preciso procurar vaga para estacionar, nem entrar em fila para botar comida, nem procurar mesa, esperar garçom desatento, pagar… mas tenho que fazer comida!

se você não acredita que conciliar vida doméstica com trabalho e outras responsabilidades é difícil… querido (a), você ainda não virou uma dona-de-casa. essa semana eu estou um bagaço.

(e olha que nem tem filho no meio da história…)

.

*** atualizando: sábado – entrei na cozinha, fui tomar água e consegui quebrar um copo (lindo) na minha mão.

It has been said that the early years of a child’s life is important to developing lifelong skills. If you are the parent of a toddler, this means that you will want to instill good habits in them early on. One of those good habits ……. READ MORE

Lollipop presents Afterhours @ Bubbles Club

Saturday morning
28th of November

Xandru (lollipop)

Sunday morning
29th of November

Posh (barraca music)

18+ / 20 ron

www.lollipop-events.ro

I just started this blog, and I’m working through how to work with it. Be patient with me, I think you’ll find it’s well worth it…

© 2009 by jeroen peters

Wow, it’s been pretty much forever since I last blogged. I better not make a habit out of this. So ya, anyways… Where to start.

I may as well say it now, I’ve completed only one thing on my list. LAME! I played DDR with my friend after we went to watch 2012 (And totally owned at it 8D) I even had the opportunity to hit someone with a rubber chicken (#60)! Hmm. Well, I’ve got someone’s address to write to them AND I’ve got the opportunity to buy a bobblehead for someone for Xmas. And I might even learn a little guitar…

Bah, 2012 wasn’t as good as people made out it was. Some parts were wayyyyy too Hollywood. What I mean by this is that some bits were a little frickin’ predictable. I mean seriously, what are the odds that driving away from an erupting.. Well.. Ground, that the flying pieces of lava and rock and allsorts don’t hit you? I mean COME ON. For an action-filled disaster movie, I guess it was okay. For the movie of the century, chyeah I doubt it.

Hmm… Social life! I have one now New-ish friend inviting me to play pool every Tuesday (Call him D).. Isn’t that awesome? Uh, no. I suck at pool. Learnt that out the hard way last Tuesday and there’s noooo way I’m going to get better. But, being the gentleman he is, he’s offered that next Tuesday I could have a separate table with him so he can ’show me the ropes’… Suspicious <_< He apparently talks about me every now and then when he’s around his friend’s (We’ll call him T) and T appears to really want me and D together. I met that very friend at pool, he’s nothing like I thought he’d be. Though, he did drop a hint as we were leaving the pool place that went like this:
T : So am I dropping you off at yours, Vix?
Me : Um yah, in *insert my town name here*, is that okay?
T : Yah I guess, I just thought you’d be over D’s house for the night *sly grin*
Silly T. But yah, he’s awesome. Even bought me a drink n_n   Also, in other news, the guy from the Skindred gig (mentionned in post um.. 2) is a little pushy. The age difference is like 4 years so yah.. I don’t know. He keeps wanting me to go over and he likes seeing me in cosplay which is a little weird but I don’t know.. These new friends are real awesome though :3

Universityyyyyy! AGH! My teacher has only JUST finished my damn reference for my UCAS application! Sucks. Suckssuckssucks. I’m not going to get ANY offers from Universities, am I? I mean, my personal statement is pretty much finished and the person in charge of sending them off says it’s good but damn my teacher.

Still need a dangly phone charm. I’m bored of Bidoof now and the Pokémon sticker from it came off. Now I get people asking me why the hell I’ve got a beaver in a neckerchief attatched to my phone. It makes no sense. I think I’ma buy a Hello Kitty charm from the mall next time I’m out.

AAAAAAAHHH! LADY GAGA! She’s so awesome, ne? I watched her video for Bad Romance the day it aired which was rad. I heard her video for VideoPhone got leaked onto the internet for like a half hour or something? Eh, I wish I’d seen it. I totally have tickets to go see her in Nottingham in March. How awesome is that? VERY. Final Fantasy XIII is out in March too, isn’t it? Wow, March will be a good month ^_^

Speaking of games.. My dad just got me Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition,  Grand Theft Auto VI, Prototype and Assassin’s Creed 2. And d’you know what sucks the most…? I never have any damn time to play on my Xbox! D’: Maybe during the holidays… I’m still trying to complete RockBand and GuitarHero too though so.. Meh.

I’ve decided to end these from now on with a DTWLED thing. Me and my friends text this to each other when we’re bored to get a conversation started. Each letter stands for: Doing, Thinking, Wearing, Listening, Eating, Drinking. So um.. Yah.

Doing : Attempting my Psychology assignment and Biology reading task. Waiting for my driving instructor to arrive in a half hour.
Thinking : Oh gosh, it’s freakin’ cold… My fingers are freezing while typing this.
Wearing : Light blue jeans, a Powerpuff Girl Bubbles necklace, a white jacket and a random white tee with orange, purple and green clouds and stars and rainbows and castles and puzzle pieces and lightning bolts… I’m pretty sure this is what the inside of my head is like ^w^
Listening : Mindless Self Indulgence – Due
Eating : Smoked salmon and pepper sushi
Drinking : Coffee, of course :3

Until next time… See ya!

What do you think about bubbles? Aren’t bubbles so awesome?

Fun fact: Bubbles don’t pop because of sharp points on objects like pens and knives, but because of dryness. If you get your hands or something that is dry really wet, and then try to pop a bubble, your hand (or other object) will pass right through it.

Took leave on Monday as well cos need to help my mum with the kids. Doctor advised that she cannot carry heavy stuffs for at least 5 days thus she will have problem bathing 3 kids.

Brought the kids down to play bubbles after their nap. Small little bubbles never fail to make kids happy.

On the way down, Chloe had a little accident with the lift. No one actually saw what happen, I immediately turn to see upon hearing her cry and saw her removing her hand from the lift door. My guess was that she wanted to hold on to the lift door while walking out, the door was still opening so her finger got trapped.

Luckily, it was nothing serious, only some abrasion on her forth and last finger, her last finger being the more “serious”one.

After cleaning her wound, I put on plaster on her last finger. Being the drama queen, she makes a fuss out of it. For the whole night, she does everything with her last finger sticking out. As if it will hurt very much if something touches the finger.

Ps. I always find Chloe’s hand very much like those dolls from Cabbage Patch Kids. The little dimples on the hand are just so cute!

What to do when your head feels like this…