Greatest Opening Film Lines (Annie Hall - 1977):
There's an old joke: Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of 'em says: 'Boy, the food in this place is really terrible.' The other one says: 'Yeah, I know. And such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Investing: The Last Liberal Art
Good Books: (via Emergic) Robert Hagstrom’s book Investing: The Last Liberal Art talks about the need for a latticework of mental models. It is inspired by Charlie Munger’s thinking that one needs to have a framework of the best ideas across multiple disciplines. I have been a Charlie Munger fan for a long time. So it wasn't difficult for me to understand the concept. It's a good book.
From the book description: Investing: The Last Liberal Art offers a unique picture of investing within the larger world. It explains how investment management works by borrowing the big ideas from other complex disciplines: biology, economics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, and psychology. In the biology chapter, Hagstrom analyzes the central nervous system and the immune system as complex adaptive systems and then draws parallels with the behavior of the economy and the stock market. In the physics chapter, he explores a mathematical distribution and considers the advantages of scale in relation to the bigger is better models that define the business strategies of Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Home Depot. This interdisciplinary approach or model describes in which mechanisms the markets work and how to select and hold stocks.
Chetan Parikh writes in his review:
This book is certainly the best book that I have read for a long time. It is a book on how to connect and unify many disciplines - physics, biology, social sciences, psychology, philosophy and literature - to investing and the markets. It also contains some serious advice on how to read a book - a boon to avid bookworms like me.
Ideas just bubble from every page - the author warns in the preface: "Reading this book requires, then, both an intellectual curiosity and a significant measure of patience." - I went through the book in just two sittings, impatient as I was for more. In a way, this book crystallises the thoughts of Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who believes in a liberal arts understanding of investing and feels that building a latticework of mental models could greatly help people to improve their investment returns. Bill Miller, the investing superstar of Legg Mason, actually practices this by gaining insights from various disciplines to aid his investment thinking.
To be an intellectual Christopher Columbus, an investor should acquire models or concepts from various branches of knowledge and then attempt to recognise patterns of similarity in them. Investment decisions have a higher probability of success when ideas from other disciplines also lead to the same conclusion. As Charlie Munger has stated - "You've got to have models in your head and you've got to array your experience - both vicarious and direct - on this latticework of models." As Benjamin Franklin said it is forming "habits of mind" that seek to link together different disciplines. Intelligence is really a factor of how many connections or links one has learned. As Munger also stated: "You can reach out and grasp the model that better solves the overall problem. All you have to do is know it and develop the right mental habits. Worldly wisdom is mostly very, very simple. There are a relatively small number of disciplines and a relatively small number of truly big ideas. And it's a lot of fun to figure it out. Even better, the fun never stops. Furthermore, there's a lot of money in it, as I can testify from my own personal experience. What I'm urging on you is not that hard to do. And the rewards are awesome. It'll help you in business. It'll help you in law. It'll help you in life. And it'll help you in love. It makes you better able to serve others, it makes you better able to serve yourself, and it makes life more fun."
From the book description: Investing: The Last Liberal Art offers a unique picture of investing within the larger world. It explains how investment management works by borrowing the big ideas from other complex disciplines: biology, economics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, and psychology. In the biology chapter, Hagstrom analyzes the central nervous system and the immune system as complex adaptive systems and then draws parallels with the behavior of the economy and the stock market. In the physics chapter, he explores a mathematical distribution and considers the advantages of scale in relation to the bigger is better models that define the business strategies of Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Home Depot. This interdisciplinary approach or model describes in which mechanisms the markets work and how to select and hold stocks.
Chetan Parikh writes in his review:
This book is certainly the best book that I have read for a long time. It is a book on how to connect and unify many disciplines - physics, biology, social sciences, psychology, philosophy and literature - to investing and the markets. It also contains some serious advice on how to read a book - a boon to avid bookworms like me.
Ideas just bubble from every page - the author warns in the preface: "Reading this book requires, then, both an intellectual curiosity and a significant measure of patience." - I went through the book in just two sittings, impatient as I was for more. In a way, this book crystallises the thoughts of Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who believes in a liberal arts understanding of investing and feels that building a latticework of mental models could greatly help people to improve their investment returns. Bill Miller, the investing superstar of Legg Mason, actually practices this by gaining insights from various disciplines to aid his investment thinking.
To be an intellectual Christopher Columbus, an investor should acquire models or concepts from various branches of knowledge and then attempt to recognise patterns of similarity in them. Investment decisions have a higher probability of success when ideas from other disciplines also lead to the same conclusion. As Charlie Munger has stated - "You've got to have models in your head and you've got to array your experience - both vicarious and direct - on this latticework of models." As Benjamin Franklin said it is forming "habits of mind" that seek to link together different disciplines. Intelligence is really a factor of how many connections or links one has learned. As Munger also stated: "You can reach out and grasp the model that better solves the overall problem. All you have to do is know it and develop the right mental habits. Worldly wisdom is mostly very, very simple. There are a relatively small number of disciplines and a relatively small number of truly big ideas. And it's a lot of fun to figure it out. Even better, the fun never stops. Furthermore, there's a lot of money in it, as I can testify from my own personal experience. What I'm urging on you is not that hard to do. And the rewards are awesome. It'll help you in business. It'll help you in law. It'll help you in life. And it'll help you in love. It makes you better able to serve others, it makes you better able to serve yourself, and it makes life more fun."
The EC’s SoC Predicament: Is The Secondary Market A Relevant Market?
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about primary and secondary vs. rough diamond markets + the future of secondary rough diamond markets + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=23540
How To Talk To An Artist
Gail Gregg provides useful tips on interacting with artists + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1856
Where To Look
Bill James (Australia) writes:
The geologist is a man with a bunch of keys to nature’s jewel box. But there are many different keys for the box has many locks and most of them are hidden under the dust of ages. The written history of even the oldest and most celebrated jewels is only an infinitesimal part of their story. Their strangest adventures in the world of men are insignificant compared to the wonder of their creation.
Nearly all gemstones are minerals, some of which are rarer than others. This rarity is one of the qualities for which they are prized, for only a minor proportion of all the world’s gemstones exist in localities where they can be readily collected or mined. It is in reading the clues to these localities that the science of geology comes to the aid of gem seeker. It is as if nature had set up a great game of treasure trove for us with gemstones as one of the prizes.
If we were lucky, we may stumble upon a gem deposit by accident. But the odds of doing so are more on our side if we have an idea where to look. Like other minerals, most , but not all, gemstones were formed in association with igneous rocks. Igneous means formed by heat, and these are rocks which resulted from the cooling and solidifying of some of the molten matter making up the interior of the earth.
Many igneous rock are said to be of a crystalline texture. This means that their hard mass is composed of small crystals, the size of which is determined by the length of time it took the rock to cool. Other igneous rocks, such as obsidian, are glassy. According to the conditions under which cooling took place, igneous rocks are classed as either extrusive or intrusive. In other words, they either overflowed the existing surface or spread out beneath it.
Basalt is a typical extrusive rock. It is fine-grained because it cooled quickly on the surface. Granite is an intrusive or plutonic rock. Its texture is coarser than that of basalt because it cooled more slowly underground. At the depth of 40 miles inside the earth there are pockets of molten rock. In conditions of intense heat and pressure, these rocks stew up a superheated mineral soup known to geologists as magma.This magma tends to rise. If it succeeds in escaping through the earth’s crust by means of a volcano, it becomes lava. Otherwise it forms vast, dome-shaped subterranean masses of intrusive rock that are called batholiths and laccoliths according to their shape and size.
In the bygone ages, when the face of the world as we know it was taking shape, batholiths formed the roots and kernel of many high mountain ranges. The surface of a granite batholith many miles in area is exposed around Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. Nowadays when a geologist finds granite or gabbro or any other intrusive rock on the surface, he knows that the forces of erosion have worn away the material that once covered it. He also knows that there is the possibility of ore deposits and gemstones not far away.
When the original batholith was formed, the magma also spread into cracks and fissures of the surrounding rocks. Geologists call the result a dyke. Because it is in conditions different from the parent magma, the material in the dyke becomes a different substance called a pegmatite. This very coarse-grained rock is one of the sources of ores and gemstones which occur as crystals of various shapes.
Owing to the intense pressures in which it is contained, the magma holds quantities of water, chlorine, fluorine and boron in superheated solutions. These substances are known as mineralisers. The mineralisers help to keep the magma liquid and allow a longer period in which the mineral crystals can grow. Sometimes the crystals attain great size. Beryl crystals up to several tons in weight have been mined from pegmatite dykes at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
Emeralds, aquamarines, topaz, tourmaline, zircon and large crystals of cassiterite (tinstone) are all found in pegmatite dykes. So is quartz in various crystalline forms. But not every dyke holds gemstones. It is one of the elements of nature’s hide-and-seek game than an exact combination of chemicals must be present at the right temperature. Most precious stones owe their value to microscopic traces of metallic compounds.
Quartz is sometimes injected into the surrounding rocks by itself as vein quartz. Sometimes, combined with ores of gold or other metals, it is in ‘pipes’. Cavities known to miners as vughs (pronounced ‘vuggs’) occur in the pipes. In these vughs, crystals of the various types of quartz gemstones grow from concentrated silica solutions. These also reach large size and one of the finest recorded in Australia was a 25 lb. rock crystal mined at Kingsgate, near Oban, in New England.
It takes a long time to grow a crystal of this size but it is nothing compared to the immense period over which nature has produced our gemstone resources. The oldest rocks in Australia, occurring in the south-west, date back at least 2000 million years. The forces that create gemstones were already in action then. At that time the earth’s crust was more subject to movement and change than it is now. It was an era of incredible violence. The rocks warped, buckled and broke, spewing out streams of glowing lava under skies darkened by incessant floods of rain and lurid with the smoke and flame of volcanoes. Monstrous upheavals and descents took place over large areas. During the last 1000 million years the Australian continent was split into islands several times by the movement of rocks.
About 135 million years ago, the highlands of the Queensland coast between Cape Melville and Rockhampton were parted from the rest of the continent as it is now. The sea also divided New South Wales and Victoria from Western Australia at this time. During Australia’s geological history there were at least nine periods of tremendous subterranean activity when rocks warped and folded and great batholiths formed. The first and second of these periods took place between 2000 million and 500 million years ago. Six times more the continent was reshaped over the next 300 million years, with the final episode occurring around 75 million years ago.
Most of Australia’s gemstone deposits trace to one or other of these periods. We can pick up stones that are older than the dinosaurs, stones that have endured while mountains higher than Kosciusko have risen and been washed away. Against the dramatics of earthquake and volcanic eruption, the steady stealthy activity of wind and rain, ice and running water has little impact. Nevertheless, these are the forces that have done more than anything else to shape the face of the land.
Where To Look: (continued)
The geologist is a man with a bunch of keys to nature’s jewel box. But there are many different keys for the box has many locks and most of them are hidden under the dust of ages. The written history of even the oldest and most celebrated jewels is only an infinitesimal part of their story. Their strangest adventures in the world of men are insignificant compared to the wonder of their creation.
Nearly all gemstones are minerals, some of which are rarer than others. This rarity is one of the qualities for which they are prized, for only a minor proportion of all the world’s gemstones exist in localities where they can be readily collected or mined. It is in reading the clues to these localities that the science of geology comes to the aid of gem seeker. It is as if nature had set up a great game of treasure trove for us with gemstones as one of the prizes.
If we were lucky, we may stumble upon a gem deposit by accident. But the odds of doing so are more on our side if we have an idea where to look. Like other minerals, most , but not all, gemstones were formed in association with igneous rocks. Igneous means formed by heat, and these are rocks which resulted from the cooling and solidifying of some of the molten matter making up the interior of the earth.
Many igneous rock are said to be of a crystalline texture. This means that their hard mass is composed of small crystals, the size of which is determined by the length of time it took the rock to cool. Other igneous rocks, such as obsidian, are glassy. According to the conditions under which cooling took place, igneous rocks are classed as either extrusive or intrusive. In other words, they either overflowed the existing surface or spread out beneath it.
Basalt is a typical extrusive rock. It is fine-grained because it cooled quickly on the surface. Granite is an intrusive or plutonic rock. Its texture is coarser than that of basalt because it cooled more slowly underground. At the depth of 40 miles inside the earth there are pockets of molten rock. In conditions of intense heat and pressure, these rocks stew up a superheated mineral soup known to geologists as magma.This magma tends to rise. If it succeeds in escaping through the earth’s crust by means of a volcano, it becomes lava. Otherwise it forms vast, dome-shaped subterranean masses of intrusive rock that are called batholiths and laccoliths according to their shape and size.
In the bygone ages, when the face of the world as we know it was taking shape, batholiths formed the roots and kernel of many high mountain ranges. The surface of a granite batholith many miles in area is exposed around Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. Nowadays when a geologist finds granite or gabbro or any other intrusive rock on the surface, he knows that the forces of erosion have worn away the material that once covered it. He also knows that there is the possibility of ore deposits and gemstones not far away.
When the original batholith was formed, the magma also spread into cracks and fissures of the surrounding rocks. Geologists call the result a dyke. Because it is in conditions different from the parent magma, the material in the dyke becomes a different substance called a pegmatite. This very coarse-grained rock is one of the sources of ores and gemstones which occur as crystals of various shapes.
Owing to the intense pressures in which it is contained, the magma holds quantities of water, chlorine, fluorine and boron in superheated solutions. These substances are known as mineralisers. The mineralisers help to keep the magma liquid and allow a longer period in which the mineral crystals can grow. Sometimes the crystals attain great size. Beryl crystals up to several tons in weight have been mined from pegmatite dykes at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
Emeralds, aquamarines, topaz, tourmaline, zircon and large crystals of cassiterite (tinstone) are all found in pegmatite dykes. So is quartz in various crystalline forms. But not every dyke holds gemstones. It is one of the elements of nature’s hide-and-seek game than an exact combination of chemicals must be present at the right temperature. Most precious stones owe their value to microscopic traces of metallic compounds.
Quartz is sometimes injected into the surrounding rocks by itself as vein quartz. Sometimes, combined with ores of gold or other metals, it is in ‘pipes’. Cavities known to miners as vughs (pronounced ‘vuggs’) occur in the pipes. In these vughs, crystals of the various types of quartz gemstones grow from concentrated silica solutions. These also reach large size and one of the finest recorded in Australia was a 25 lb. rock crystal mined at Kingsgate, near Oban, in New England.
It takes a long time to grow a crystal of this size but it is nothing compared to the immense period over which nature has produced our gemstone resources. The oldest rocks in Australia, occurring in the south-west, date back at least 2000 million years. The forces that create gemstones were already in action then. At that time the earth’s crust was more subject to movement and change than it is now. It was an era of incredible violence. The rocks warped, buckled and broke, spewing out streams of glowing lava under skies darkened by incessant floods of rain and lurid with the smoke and flame of volcanoes. Monstrous upheavals and descents took place over large areas. During the last 1000 million years the Australian continent was split into islands several times by the movement of rocks.
About 135 million years ago, the highlands of the Queensland coast between Cape Melville and Rockhampton were parted from the rest of the continent as it is now. The sea also divided New South Wales and Victoria from Western Australia at this time. During Australia’s geological history there were at least nine periods of tremendous subterranean activity when rocks warped and folded and great batholiths formed. The first and second of these periods took place between 2000 million and 500 million years ago. Six times more the continent was reshaped over the next 300 million years, with the final episode occurring around 75 million years ago.
Most of Australia’s gemstone deposits trace to one or other of these periods. We can pick up stones that are older than the dinosaurs, stones that have endured while mountains higher than Kosciusko have risen and been washed away. Against the dramatics of earthquake and volcanic eruption, the steady stealthy activity of wind and rain, ice and running water has little impact. Nevertheless, these are the forces that have done more than anything else to shape the face of the land.
Where To Look: (continued)
Greatest Films
The films I like:
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)
Diary of a country priest
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Death of a Salesman (1951)
The Color of Money (1986)
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Battaglia di Algeri, La (1966)
The battle of Algiers
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)
Diary of a country priest
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Death of a Salesman (1951)
The Color of Money (1986)
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Battaglia di Algeri, La (1966)
The battle of Algiers
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Grading Colored Stones vs Flowers
There are similarities between grading of colored gemstones and flowers. In colored gemstones the quality gradation is based on its color, clarity, cut and carat weight. When it comes to grading flowers there is more. Like in colored gemstone grading there are no uniform grading standards for flowers. Overall the quality gradation is based on consistency and proper interpretation. This requires knowledge, experience, an open mind with right attitude + special skills.
Here is an expert's opinion on flower grading.
- Size and shape of flower and its attachment to the stem.
- Size, number and texture of petals, and their colour intensity.
- Condition of calyx.
- Strength, straightness and length of stem.
- Development and condition of foliage.
- Freedom from blemish and damage from pests and diseases.
Here is an expert's opinion on flower grading.
- Size and shape of flower and its attachment to the stem.
- Size, number and texture of petals, and their colour intensity.
- Condition of calyx.
- Strength, straightness and length of stem.
- Development and condition of foliage.
- Freedom from blemish and damage from pests and diseases.
Study: Chocolate Better Than Flouride For Healthy Teeth?
Fox News reviews research findings by Arman Sadeghpour of Tulane University on an extract of cocoa powder that occurs naturally in chocolates, teas, and other products that might be an effective natural alternative to fluoride in toothpaste + other viewpoints @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293434,00.html
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