... Is Knowing When You're Finished

… and when to start over.

Finally, proof positive that the world is going to sh*t.

The Economist, to prove a point, has linked to an article in The Onion.

The matter of love, literature and taste is a silly minefield—one that often says more about how we brand ourselves than about what is essential for romantic compatibility.

Source – The Economist

The Economist Line "How We Brand Ourselves" Links to The Onion

What’s even more ironic, is that the linked Onion ‘article’ could just have easily made fun of someone holding up a copy of The Economist instead of Pynchon’s The Crying Of Lot 49 to make their lifestyle statement.

Its fire-engine-red logo peeks out of fashionable handbags and from the back pockets of designer jeans. Bankers read it in first-class seats. Hipsters read it on the subway on their way to work. It’s The Economist.

Source

If all this seems too silly and confusing, count yourself lucky that we didn’t slip in a reference to The New York Review of Books.

Note: And last but certainly not least, click here for an insider’s guide on how to keep ‘current’ with your Economist subscription by treating each issue like a bottle of fine wine.

It’s a pity our blog isn’t more popular in Sweden.

Just a few days ago we reported on a license plate ‘hack‘ that reduces your vulnerability to being spotted by speed cameras. It might have saved a (very) rich Swedish man his $1,000,000 fine.

Record speeding fine of £650,000 given to motorist in Switzerland. Swedish man receives highest possible penalty calculated on basis of his income and speed of 300kph.

Source

Switzerland calculates speeding fines using a formula based on the income of the motorists and the severity of the speed. And in this case we are talking about some serious speed.

Benoît Dumas, a police officer in the region where the six-litre Mercedes SLS was stopped, said: “He needed over half a kilometre of road to come to a halt.”

According to prosecutors he is now facing the highest possible penalty of 300 days of fines at £2,166 a day – a total of £650,000.

But even more amazing is the fact that the speed camera which captured his foul deed was disguised as a block of cheese!

Yes Indeed, It's A Cheese-Cam

I guess if you are going 300 kph you wouldn’t smell anything cheesy until it’s too late.

Please pass the crackers.

Where’s Shirley Polykoff when you need her?

It’s been a tough few weeks for investors. The other day I came across this observation while reading a financial report:

First investors had their hair set on fire by the “flash crash” of May 6. Then came the jolt of June, as stocks lost another 5.2% and finished the month with five down days in a row.

Source

I hadn’t heard that great turn-of-phrase “hair on fire” before, but it is now on my list of all-time favorites. Especially as it relates to your typical Mom & Pop investor.

Always Wanted To Live Your Life As A Blonde?

Maybe now Wall Street could gain some [any] respect by claiming,

“Does she or doesn’t she, only her Broker knows for sure.”

It’s worth a try.

Note: Shirley Polykoff, profiled in “What The Dog Saw“,  invented the tagline “Does she or doesn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.” Clairol sales skyrocketed as a result and earned Polykoff a place in the Advertising Hall of Fame. If you get a chance, read the Dog profile, which is much better than her obit.

We left NYC just before our invitations to the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic arrived. Drats.

Who would’ve guessed, polo in the midst of the city, with fancy attendees acting out a great scene from Pretty Woman, by stomping-on-the-divots during half time.

Plus a plethora of pretty faces, some of them Royal.

And perhaps here’s an example of sons improving on the fathers. We might call this the Tale of Two Princes.

HRH Prince Charles (on the right) has lately acquired the habit of saying silly things and promoting silly causes.

In a radio address … Prince Charles called for a return to spirituality as a guiding philosophy for human endeavors, with an associated downplaying of technology and science. He warned of the dangers of unrestrained scientific research and the perils of “tampering” with nature. He was inspired to pen these thoughts during a recent pilgrimage to a remote Greek monastery.

And the response: “You should tell Prince Charles who advocates organic farming. Let him travel by bullock cart or horse or small boat driven by wind when he comes to India. Why should he travel by Boeing aircraft?”  -  Chengal Reddy, president of the Andhra Pradesh Farmers’ Association

HRH's As Far As The Eye Can See

HRH Prince Harry (on the left) appears to be doing better, at least in his choice of causes.

On Sunday, June 27, 2010, the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic will return to Governors Island for one of the most highly-anticipated events of the season, attracting a fashionable crowd from around the globe, and featuring the glamour and excitement of polo, “the sport of kings.”

The Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic will once again benefit the American Friends of Sentebale, a charitable organization founded by HRH Prince Henry of Wales and HRH Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, who are committed to transforming the lives of the orphans and at-risk children in Lesotho, Africa, many of whom are living with HIV/AIDS. Nearly one third of Lesotho’s population is infected with HIV/AIDS, and through Sentebale’s thoughtful and effective work, the organization is striving to affect positive change in the country.

Source

No matter how you cut it though, they both seem to be doing better than the rest of us.

Love those Royals.

Technology can be used to solve some of mankind’s thorniest problems.

I read about the “mosquito” several years ago. It’s a gizmo that emits an irritating, high-pitched sound that can be heard only by children and people into their early 20s, and is used to prevent teenagers congregating outside shops, schools and railway stations. It was invented by a  British Aerospace engineer, Howard Stapleton, who came up with the device after his daughter was intimidated by a gang of boys hanging around outside shops.

Brilliant.

Eats Mosquitoes

But nothing good goes unpunished.

An investigation by the Council of Europe found that the controversial “mosquito” device should be banned from Britain immediately … It found that “inflicting acoustic pain on young people and treating them as if they were unwanted birds or pests, is harmful [and] highly offensive.” …  Calls for a ban by Europe’s oldest political body are likely to be approved by the council’s parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg this week.

Source

After I got done chucking about “treating them [young people] as if they were unwanted birds or pests” I read the article a bit more carefully and got curious about what, exactly, is Europe’s oldest political body.

The Council of Europe, Europe’s oldest political body, aims to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent.

It emerged in 1949 from the ashes of World War II and now includes all European countries apart from Belarus … The council oversees the European Court of Human Rights … Lately, the council has become preoccupied with the problems of terrorism, organised crime, money laundering and human trafficking.

Source

Which should now be amended to, ” … the problems of terrorism, organised crime, money laundering, human trafficking and mosquitoes … “

Ribbit.

You’d think a barrel would just be a barrel.

But no, it turns out that a barrel of oil is 30% smaller than a barrel of wine. F2U Rio Linda a barrel of oil holds 42 gallons, while a barrel of wine holds 60 gallons.

I discovered this the other day while standing in front of a restaurant’s urinal in Healdsburg, California which is in the midst of Wine Country. If you are a guy you know that restaurants typically post ‘theme’ documents at strategic spots in their restrooms so that you can educate yourself while relieving yourself.

This was perhaps the very first form of multi-tasking.

Yes, I Stopped What I Was Doing To Snap This Pic With My iPhone

But I digress.

If you do the math, a ‘leak’ of 40,000 barrels of oil a day, is equivalent to a ‘leak’ of only 28,000 barrels of wine.

That sounds a lot better for several, mostly obvious, reasons.

Some might call this obfuscation, but I call it creative.

I’m surprised BP isn’t quoting the size of their spill using a wine barrel standard with a footnote to that effect on the second page of their press releases.

Today a quick intermission from our NYC Notes.

Deborah Solomon interviewing Christopher Hitchens about his just-published memoir.

Did you write the book for money?

Of course, I do everything for money. Dr. Johnson is correct when he says that only a fool writes for anything but money. It would be useful to keep a diary, but I don’t like writing unpaid. I don’t like writing checks without getting paid.

Source

On the other hand, being retired, I don’t do anything for money.

As, for example, this blog.

It Could Be Worse

In the end, I think my way is less stressful.

I’ve never been a big fan of Martha Stewart.

But today Martha surprised me, so I may have to revise my position. More details to follow.

In the meantime, back to our week in NYC.

The good news is that we landed at JFK after a cross-country flight and my back felt fine. The bad news is that the flight was a red-eye, so we arrived at 6:30am.

On the other hand there was no traffic once we got into Manhattan.

We had a great breakfast at The Clinton Street Baking Co., which was on Leslie’s Bucket List.

After breakfast, we started walking back towards SoHo.

Usually our default is to walk from Fabric Store to Fabric Store, so when Leslie suddenly stopped and said, “Matzo” I was understandably confused. Had she spotted Isaac Mizrahi?

But I remained calm, and slowly looked around.

Nothing.

“In the little window behind you, look.” Leslie suggested.

And amazingly here is what I saw, as I peered into that window on Rivington Street. Matzo coming off a production line, in an unending stream. Amazing.

Supposedly the Israelites couldn’t wait for their bread to rise when they fled Egypt, so they invented Matzo, which is just four and water.

It seems obvious (to me) in watching this unending stream of production, that a more likely explanation would involve a Jewish entrepreneur who figured out how to mass produce a ‘healthy’ bread substitute, and Matzo was born.

I hope he made a fortune before being run out of Egypt.

Now back to Martha Stewart.

The Matzo-Line Leslie found belongs to Streit’s Matzo, whose storefront was at the end of the block. When I did a search to find other information about the company I discovered this outstanding documentary done by … wait for it … Martha Stewart.

One final note. If you listen carefully to the talk on the Streit’s production line, it does not sound like either Hebrew or Yiddish. At least we don’t have to worry that they will relocate this line to Arizona.

Leslie and I just returned from a week in New York City.

In the coming days I’ll be posting some NYC impressions and travel related items.

Now THIS Is A 'Schmear' - Quick, Pass Me The Lipitor

We had a great time.