Quotes "Headhunters" | Christie Brinkley

I picked up some Jo Nexbø paperbacks at a garage sale on the morning of the computer science final two weeks ago. "Headhunters" has yielded two quotes in the first 50 pages:

"The lease had been signed, the extensive decoration work was under way and our financial ruin secured." (p 34)

"An artist who maintains that he has been misunderstood is almost always a bad artist who, I'm afraid to say this, has been understood." (p 41)

Asasellobulgakov made this comment on 5/27/2012 to a YouTube video of Andres Segovia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efHwnFAkuA) "Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.

I like it!

WWJD = "Who Wants Jelly Donuts/Jack Daniels"

Zombies hate fast food.

A comment on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReW9uUYm-DA, John Fahey - Poor Boys Long Way From Home:

"I'll give you a little tip about the blues, folks: it's not enough to know which notes to play. You need to know why they need to be played" - George Carlin

cicerone - a person who conducts and informs sightseers (C18: from Italian: antiquarian scholar, guide, after Cicero, alluding to the eloquence and erudition of these men)

Newsday, the Long Island paper carried a story about a contest over child support payments between Christie Brinkley and her former husband, Peter Cook.

At one point in the hallway, Brinkley responded to a remark made by Cook's new wife, Suzanne, by putting her hand on her shoulder and telling her, "When you find out he's been cheating on you, I'll be here for you. 

"You need to get a new line," Suzanne Cook told Brinkley."

I've imagined hypothetical catty exchanges between a hypothetical former significant and current other who refuses to rise to the bait:

Former: "By the time we broke up he wasn't much in bed."
Current: "Maybe he's taken lessons."

Former: "After we broke up I learned how good lovemaking could be."

Current: "I must have lower standards."

A comment on Ana Popovic's performance at the 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival icarusdescending881 wrote

"When Ana can roll over Crossroads, I'll sell my house, go find her, and follow her everywhere... Oh, wait, they arrest guys for that now."

"Math is like love : a simple idea but it can get complicated." - virang21 (http://www.codeproject.com/Lounge.aspx?msg=4316769#xx4316769xx)

The words of the Prophet used to be written on the subway walls.  Now they're on T-shirts (snorgtees.com/t-shirts):

• There's a fine line between Numberator and Denominator.
• If it weren't for law enforcement and physics I'd be unstoppable.
• The name Pavlov rings a bell.
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ... And spiders.
• I survived the Rapture.
• If you can't be a good example be a warning.

And from an interview with Leonard Lopate on WNYC, Daniel Okrent, creator, and two cast members from "Old Jews Telling Jokes":

Wife: What are you going to do today?
Husband: Nothing.
Wife:  Nothing?  That's what you did yesterday.
Husband: I didn't finish.

Just Kids Playing With Dynamite

Henry Blodget's article on Yahoo Finance was direct and to the point: "JPMORGAN PROVES IT: Wall Street Is Just Kids Playing With Dynamite".

The story was a reaction to the announcement of a $2 billion trading loss from JP Morgan-Chase. It is well worth a read/listen. (For a Reuters review see, "London Whale took big bets below the surface".)

The part of Blogett's story that will twist people's knickers is the statement that people who do damage do so without endangering their own compensation. The expectation that someone with a multi-million dollar compensation who screws up will lose their job and then get a position at a hedge fund with better compensation.

  The term "London Whale" has been attached to this announcement because Bruno Iksil, the trader at the center of the furor, acquired that nickname because of the size of his trading positions. It would be reasonable to expect that working for a bank the size of JPMorgan-Chase that their trades would be larger than average. Iksil had 3 years of success prior to this. I haven't seen a story to determine whether JPMorgan actually came out ahead even with the $2 billion loss. The big deal apparently is that the money which was used for the trading was money which was not supposed to be used for hedging. Ooops. Of course the weasel factor looms large as to whether the money in question was for insurance or a hedge. The former would have been OK. The later a no-no.

Maybe time to check the facts.

Poor Writing: Sherlock, Series II - The Hounds of Baskerville

So disappointing.

Masterpiece Mystery's revised updated Hound of the Baskervilles is to be avoided

That may be old thinking.  In this day and age, with easy access to video editing tools someone is sure to put all the good bits together (Sherlock elucidating his prodigious powers of reasoning) to reduce the wretched hour and a half to a thoroughly enjoyable couple of minutes.

There was a wealth of confusing, blurry camera work in the manner of Blair Witch Project.  (I'm guessing actually.  I never saw the film.)  Whereas car chases could be relied upon to fill out a TV show's time slot, this episode used blurry sequences.

Perhaps I was bothered by the ease with witch Sherlock and Watson cold so blithely waltz into a super secret super secure facility with Mycroft's security card.  (Mycroft is Sherlock's smarter brother.)

Now folks, in the age of cell phones please explain how Sherlock, using his brother's All Access swipe card would not have a picture.  A brief glance at the face on the card would certainly arouse some suspicion.  I should have switched channels, but I decided to give it a chance.   Wrong decision.

Do you think the card Sherlock swiped "some time ago" would still be valid?  One would think that after Philby, Burgess and MacLean (and that scum, Anthony Blunt ) the Brits would have stepped up their security.  At the very least the cards would expire periodically.

Yes I know one shouldn't take these things seriously, but I'm offended by such stupidity.