Trader Made Billions on Subprime

Fascinating article from the WSJ:

"On Wall Street, the losers in the collapse of the housing market are legion. The biggest winner looks to be John Paulson, a little-known hedge fund manager who smelled trouble two years ago..."

Street Art

Bears Exceed Bulls by Most in 17 Years, Investor Poll Says

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The number of individual investors who are bearish on U.S. equities exceeds those who are bullish by the most since November 1990, a signal to some investors that stocks may be poised to rebound.

In the week ended yesterday, about 59 percent of investors polled by the American Association of Individual Investors said they were bearish, expecting stocks to fall over the next six months. That was the highest since October 1990 and almost double the 32 percent average over the past five years.

What is Past is Present

Fun, ingenious flash game. Without giving too much away, your past actions can come back to help/haunt you.....

Cursor * 10
(via notes, happy notes)

How They Work

A fascinating tally of rituals, habits, and ruminations on aspects of the creative process specific to well known creators. The list is long and includes writers (Philip Pullman - who used to write in a shed, Don Dellilo - who writes a paragraph a page), researchers in robotics and psychology, musicians (Brian Eno, Autechre), actors (Bill Murray, Nick Nolte)..... and more and more.

rodcorp: How we work
(via kottke.org)

Never In A Trillion Years

The anti-commercial for the iPhone by David Lynch

Water Walk

John Cage performing "Water Walk" in January, 1960 on the popular TV show I've Got A Secret.

The Work of James Ensor

The paintings of James Ensor are haunting, beautiful and bizarre.

Excellent Interview with Jim Rogers on Bloomberg

Excellent interview with Jim Rogers on the Bloomberg network. As usual, this guy has it right on. Watching his matter of fact manner against the desperation of the news anchors is the most entertaining part!

Unconventional Crude

Elizabeth Kolbert, A Reporter at Large, "Unconventional Crude," The New Yorker, November 12, 2007, p. 46

A REPORTER AT LARGE about extracting oil from the Alberta tar sands. The most important resource in the town of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, is the Alberta tar sands. The tar sands begin near the border of Saskatchewan and extend north and west almost to British Columbia...