The equity markets have been doing a march-in-place in even time for the last week, almost staccato-like. Of course, in the week prior to that, markets danced a graceful glissando in a quick climb through their scales (arguably 7 levels-notes of resistance/support on the charts; 5 if I leave out two minor levels). One wonders [...]
Archive for August, 2009
La So Mi Re Do ? The markets are steppin’ and a-trippin’
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 31, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Tabula rasa and nature vs nurture
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 25, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Just read these very interesting posts on an interesting site: http://www.laurelkenner.com/2009/08/socializing-kids.html http://www.laurelkenner.com/2009/07/public-school-as-prison.html Reminds me of a very vigorous debate and discussion my junior college class (16/17 years old) had so many years ago, regarding the very contentious issue of nature vs nurture. The issue was a particularly sensitive and personal one for my class, seeing [...]
Completeness — Via Negativa
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 21, 2009 | 11 Comments »
15th It was a lovely evening, the sky was clear and in spite of city light, the stars were brilliant; though the tower was flooded with light from all sides, one could see the distant horizon and down below patches of light were on the river; though there was the everlasting roar of traffic, it [...]
With Usura, from The Cantos — Ezra Pound
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
From the prior thoughts on hubris, debt and eventually bankruptcy, thought it may be worthwhile to hear Ezra Pound’s litany against usury; his With Usura, from The Cantos: With Usura (Canto LXV) With usura hath no man a house of good stone each block cut smooth and well fitting that delight might cover their face, [...]
A rubric rose by any other name
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 14, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Special Providence American Exceptionalism Manifest Destiny Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere Deutsches Reich The sun never sets on the British Empire Conquistadors Old Imperialism In the name of “God, gold and glory” Mongol Hordes Pax Romana Expansionist Han Wudi The ‘First’ and ‘Immortal’ Emperor Qin ShiHuangDi, enforcer of uniformity, burner of books *The Great Wall of [...]
Between chess gewalt (violent force) and a sharing of black & white
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 11, 2009 | 6 Comments »
http://www.dailyspeculations.com/wordpress/?p=3936 A delightful post above on chess gestalt (wholeness), speaking of the idiosyncratic leanings of each individual chess piece. And Mr Glazier is probably right about the difference between chess and its cousin-games, Go or Weiqi and Checkers, in this respect. One core difference between chess and Go/weiqi (and also that other similar-looking black & [...]
Kierkegaard: NEITHER a leap NOR ironic
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
http://masteroftheuniverse.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/odds-and-ends/ Don Chu March 13, 2009 at 4:58 pm … It took a gentle nudge from Kierkegaard’s seemingly mild treatises on Dread, Despair and Fear, sheathed within his characteristic (yet razor sharp) Irony, to slice away my tightly-clenched gordian knot; and accept his reasoned invitation of, ‘a leap TO faith’… [as the only recourse/reconciliation in [...]
At home with 陶朱公/TaoZhuGong (范蠡/Fan Li)
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A little background on Fan Li:- Towards the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (circa 496 BC); a time of internecine warfare between several autonomous states/kingdoms vying for hegemonic overlord-ship under the fast-fading veil of the Zhou dynastic court. After a string of victories, the over-confident King of Yue suffered a crushing defeat by [...]
A search for salt and iron leads to Needham’s tomes, and back home again to 陶朱公/TaoZhuGong
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
After referencing Alain Badiou’s quotes of the 盐铁论/YanTieLun/Discourses on Salt and Iron, was seized by an irresistable urge to read the two thousand year-old Chinese text in full. Swinging by the national reference library, located one copy in its original 古文/ancient Classical Chinese text, with its own complete concordance; very useful for this particular text. [...]
The State and the Masses: Setser, a couple of fish and Badiou
Posted in Uncategorized – alaya on August 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Interesting comment on Brad Setser’s economics blog: August 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 am Twofish responds: bsetser: Not quite sure how this “It is for the citizens of the investing country to hold their gvts accountable” is possible in a world where many funds are managed by unelected govs without clear ways for the citizens of [...]
