This is where Tumblr comes in. It’s the future of social networking if your image of the future features intelligent discourse. I love reading other Tumblr users replies, because they’re thoughtful by virtue of the fact that if they’re not, they’ll bring the intellectual property value of their own blog down, and that’s a commodity on Tumblr.
"At this point, it is worth noting a small bit of history. We began our career trading foreign exchange back in the 70's for what was then NCNB in Charlotte, N. Carolina, and we can recall well trading the Yen/dollar at 165 and higher. Indeed, we can recall not too long before that when the Yen/dollar rate had been centred upon 225. Thus, with that past history it is not difficult for us to envision the Yen/dollar rate moving readily to "Par" when it may well be quite difficult for others to even imagine that possible. It is to our advantage then to recall that history, and it is further to our advantage to understand that something truly tectonic in nature is taking place in the Yen/dollar and Yen/Non-US dollar relationships. Henceforth we shall try our best not to be concerned about 25 and 50 "pips" in the Yen/dollar relationship, for we envision hundreds upon hundreds of "pips" as the trade unfolds… multiples of "big figures" passing by over the course of the next several months and years." – D. Gartman (Mar 31/2010)
"Of particular interest, Mrs Watanabe likes Brazilian bonds. Holdings of Brazil fixed income instruments stood at JPY1.34 trillion in February, nearly a third more than last February. Consider that a Brazilian real money market pays her 6% a year, 55 times more than she can get if she takes advantage of the government’s relaxation of the deposit limit. Some reports also suggest keen interest in Chinese equities, but Japanese investors have a clear preference for bonds over equity, according to Ministry of Finance capital account data." – Marc Chandler
“‘Tony, think about it this way. If your worst enemy drops sugar in your coffee, what’s going to happen to you? Nothing. But what if your best friend drops strychnine in your coffee? You’re dead. You have to stand guard at the door of your mind.’ He was saying that the selection of [my friends and advisors] will matter more than anything else, and that you can’t take anybody’s approach as sacrosanct.” – Tony Robbins
“If all of the Greek islands were merged with the mainland, it would be about the size of Alabama; there are 10 million Greeks – and perhaps another 4 million living throughout the world, who still think of themselves as Greek. They are, thanks to their history, magnificent patriots and nationalists – and abominable citizens, who deeply mistrust every government they’ve ever had. Essentially they are fierce individualists, who mistrust so much whatever government happens to be in power as the very idea of government. The have almost no sense of civic responsibility – Pericles complained about this at length – and History has never given them much of a chance to work out a stable system of government.”
Here with at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise’s wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It’s not so bad.
Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a
creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
10. Tipping off the Sonics
9. Michelle Carter (his mother)
8. No More Dunking
7. All-Star Controversy
6. Injuries
5. Peterson Ejection
4. Graduation / Game 7
3. “Come on, MVP?”
2. The Trade
1. Didn’t Always Give 100% – “Do you think Vince Carter has pushed himself, as hard as he should have pushed himself?” VC: “In years past, no”.
Update (May 6/09): I used 12 megs of data while in the States. Without the US Roaming package at the rate of $30/meg my total would have been $360!! With US Roaming plan $10/month + $1/meg = $22.
I’m heading to the States this weekend (I live in Toronto) and got a bit paranoid about what my roaming data (3G) charges would amount to. A quick look on the Rogers website confirmed my fears: $0.03/kb or $30/mb! That’s madness! I heard from a few people that Rogers had a US Roaming Package of some sort. I tried looking for it on the Rogers website, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I then somehow thought to search (on the Rogers website) for ‘Roaming’ and this appeared:
US Data Roaming Add-On – $10.00
Buy the $10/month U.S Data Roaming Add-On and then pay only $1/MB ($0.001 per KB) while roaming in the U.S
I called Rogers and had them add the package to my plan. You can remove it at anytime and only be charged for the month you used. Keep in mind this plan only covers data. Regardless if you have a text-messaging plan in Canada, in the States it’s $0.60 per text message. I don’t even want to know what voice + roaming would hit.
What a way to spend Good Friday. I just sent this email to a few people at Big Blue explaining what happened…
_______________
Hey guys,
You may have noticed I was offline for most of the afternoon. My timing belt broke on the highway (401) while I was driving. I heard a (really) strange noise — the car lost all power and I quickly moved to the shoulder. I called some people and eventually got it towed off the highway. What a way to spend Good Friday (I’m Greek Orthodox). All that said, is it too early to ask for a raise? Ha, just joking. Have a good weekend guys.
"Today, the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one…. Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be stopped, cannot be checked — that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction. Such fatalism is a deadly adversary, for if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then in some way we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable…. So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly — perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change." – Obama, Prague, 2009 [April 11-17 Economist]
“I built my first computer when I was twelve in Amarillo, Texas. At the time I was into hardware because you couldn’t really program things. No courses or books existed, and, as a twelve-year-old boy, I couldn’t ask my peers for help. So, I pounded the doors at the local IBM sales office until a salesman took pity on me. After we chatted for a while, he handed me a Fortran [manual]. I’m sure he gave it to me thinking, “I’ll never hear from this kid again.” I returned the following week saying, “This is really cool. I’ve read the whole thing and have written a small program. Where can I find a computer?” The fellow, to my delight, found me programming time on an IBM 1130 on weekends and late-evening hours. That was my first programming experience, and I must thank that anonymous IBM salesman for launching my career.” – Grady Booch (link)
Tzatziki is a popular Greek sauce that is often used as a dip with pita bread or enjoyed with various types of meat dishes such as souvlaki and gyros. It is best made with yogurt, but if you prefer not to use yogurt you may substitute it for sour cream.
Chole is a North Indian chick pea dish. The base is a tomato gravy and to this you add either canned chick peas or if you prefer dried ones which you have soaked overnight. In this recipe we will be using canned chick peas. Like most Indian curries you can adjust the spice so that the dish is spicy or mild depending on your taste. This recipe will make the Chole on the milder side.
This dish is a guaranteed family favourite! It is made with only a few simple and healthy ingredients and takes less than an hour to make. It is absolutely delicious and one of our favourite comfort foods. We grew up on this dish and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. This dish is usually served with rice but feel free to substitute the rice for pasta if you prefer.
Here is another wonderful vegetarian dish that uses only a few simple and healthy ingredients. Both Swiss chard and black eyed beans are rich in nutrients and very high in fiber. In Greece, this dish is usually eaten as the main meal, but it also makes a great side dish.
Kulfi is a type of frozen Indian dessert similar to ice cream. It comes in many different flavours such as, mango, pistachio and rose. In this recipe we are going to keep it simple and just use a combination of ground almond, cardamom and saffron to provide flavour.
This is another classic Greek dish which has been handed down from generation to generation. It is made with fresh and healthy ingredients, and it is the perfect meal to serve on a cold winter’s night. There are different variations of Avgolemono soup, but in this video Irene shows us how to prepare it with rice and chicken.
This is the perfect meal to make on a weekend afternoon. It is simple and healthy and fills the house with wonderful smell. Add a side of salad and it is perfect for family gatherings!
This is a nutritious and wonderfully satisfying vegetarian dish. The name ‘yiyantes’ comes from the Greek word for giant (‘giant beans’). Yiyantes can be cooked a couple of different ways, and in this recipe Eva shows us how to prepare these giant beans in tomato juice baked in the oven (plaki-style).
The ninth video is up on ThursdayForDinner.com with Dipali showing how to make Cabbage Sambharo or Warm Spiced Cabbage Salad. Cabbage Sambharo is a Gujarati side dish similar in look and feel to coleslaw or salad. Visit Thursday for Dinner for the full recipe.
In 1979, when I was 19, I had all these people giving me conflicting advice. Jim Rohn, a personal-development speaker, said, ‘Tony, think about it this way. If your worst enemy drops sugar in your coffee, what’s going to happen to you? Nothing. But what if your best friend drops strychnine in your coffee? You’re dead. You have to stand guard at the door of your mind.” He was saying that the selection of [my friends and advisors] will matter more than anything else, and that you can’t take anybody’s approach as sacrosanct.
This past August I went on trip to Paris (for a week) and Greece afterwards (for a little more than 2 weeks). It was my first time in Paris – needless to say the city is beautiful. Everything there is so purposeful, so symmetrical, just perfect. If your heading down I recommend you buy the 2 or 4 day museum/monument pass – it’s vital cause you bypass lines (and save money). The Museum D’Orsey is a must, as is the Louvre. If you want to see everything in the Louvre don’t try and do it all in a single day. Also, make sure you get the headset before you go inside as everything is in French. Check out the Picasso museum if you like his work – be warned that a lot of his famous pieces aren’t there. If you have time check out the Palace of Versailles and the gardens behind them, you’ll need to take a train there, but you can grab the one at the stop beside the Eiffel Tower. Your pass gets you in there also.
Greece was just as I remembered it last year, but then again that’s why I keep going back. A highlight from Greece was visiting the Benaki Museum in Athens. Benaki was a wealthy man living in Alexandria who migrated to Greece in the early 1900s. He was an avid collector of Greek history and art, particularly that of Modern Greek history. After his death he donated his estate and his entire collection to the Greek government – hence the Benaki Museum was formed. I don’t think there is any place in the world with a more impressive collection of Modern Greek history than here. On the third floor was the traveling photo exhibit of Hubert Pernot. In the late 1800s Hubert was commissioned by the French government to come to Greece, take photos and convince the French people to vacation there. I’m not sure why the French government wanted the French people to vacation in Greece, perhaps moral was low and Greece was seen as an exciting new land just coming out of a 400 year war. In any case, Hubert fell in love with Greece and spent the next 30 years of his life touching every part, during which he compiled three amazing photo albums. This exhibit is a collection of his best photos (digitally enhanced of course).
