Seeing all the losses in the financial markets this week made me hope for something.
I hope that people at all levels of the game become more responsible.
What do I mean by "responsible"? I will illustrate with some examples of irresponsibility: selling sub-prime mortgages that many people wouldn't be able to afford; creating, selling, and buying the securities backed up by these types of mortgages; the government not regulating or outlawing these kinds of mortgages & securities; buying a house one cannot afford, except if the housing market stays hot.
It's like there was a collective notion of, "Hey, we shouldn't be doing this, but it looks like it's working, and nobody is telling us we can't, so let's go with it for as long as we can. Maybe somehow it'll all work out." Perhaps in the future our financial system will be more prudent.
There is no free lunch after all - everybody ends up paying, unless you are really good at trading stocks, bonds, funds, derivatives, etc., got out when the getting was good, have a golden parachute from the investment bank you helped run into the ground, or have had your money in fixed rate CDs/GICs (or in a mattress) all these years.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Social Networking
Yesterday a work colleague was discussing Social Networking websites. He said something quotable:
Social Networking draws people closer together; it just doesn't get them out of the house.
I can't vouch for the truth of this statement, but it certainly made me laugh!
Social Networking draws people closer together; it just doesn't get them out of the house.
I can't vouch for the truth of this statement, but it certainly made me laugh!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
"Non-objective" art
Last year I got an opportunity to visit the Guggenheim Museum in New York. I found this quote from Hilla Rebay:
Non-objective paintings as companions to our daily life will spread spirituality, rest, pleasure, beauty, and earthly forgetfulness, but most important, a joyful subconscious influence, to develop in us the wonderful faculty of intuition.
I wouldn't have thought this, but do recall having an experience along these lines after looking at some Ad Reinhardt paintings at the MCA in Chicago.
The idea of having such paintings as companions is intriguing; who could afford it? Would prints suffice?
This brings back the memory of an experience I had in a furniture store when I was a child. When admiring an abstract painting in one of the displays, a lady came by and asked me if I liked it. I said that I did, and she replied to the effect that school children could do better paintings than that.
Perhaps Rebay should have added "arouse feelings of hostility" to her list!
Non-objective paintings as companions to our daily life will spread spirituality, rest, pleasure, beauty, and earthly forgetfulness, but most important, a joyful subconscious influence, to develop in us the wonderful faculty of intuition.
I wouldn't have thought this, but do recall having an experience along these lines after looking at some Ad Reinhardt paintings at the MCA in Chicago.
The idea of having such paintings as companions is intriguing; who could afford it? Would prints suffice?
This brings back the memory of an experience I had in a furniture store when I was a child. When admiring an abstract painting in one of the displays, a lady came by and asked me if I liked it. I said that I did, and she replied to the effect that school children could do better paintings than that.
Perhaps Rebay should have added "arouse feelings of hostility" to her list!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Beauty of the Sea
Our family took a trip out to the beach this afternoon. Typically, in Nova Scotia, the ocean doesn't get warm enough to swim in comfortably until September, but today it was warmer than I can remember.
Even though my wife & I spent most of our time looking after our kids, we did get some time to swim. Swimming in the ocean is my favorite aquatic experience. When I'm swimming or floating on some large waves, I feel especially the grandeur of nature. Something about looking up to the horizon and realizing the next stop is Bermuda is awe-inspiring. Plus, as the swells move me it seems like I'm traveling on the earth's heartbeat. I could stay there all day.
Even though my wife & I spent most of our time looking after our kids, we did get some time to swim. Swimming in the ocean is my favorite aquatic experience. When I'm swimming or floating on some large waves, I feel especially the grandeur of nature. Something about looking up to the horizon and realizing the next stop is Bermuda is awe-inspiring. Plus, as the swells move me it seems like I'm traveling on the earth's heartbeat. I could stay there all day.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1918-2008
The Gulag Archipelago has been in my book collection since 1975. I attempted reading it back then, and found it rather impenetrable. Not that I didn't understand it; I couldn't fathom the viewpoint of an ex-prisoner writing a massive tome about not only his experience in the "system", but a veritable history of the system.
Solzhenitsyn was fascinating because of his experience of Soviet oppression and because, even though he lived in the US for over 20 years, he never became "one of us". In fact, his criticism of the US was as sharp as that of his home country.
When he returned to Russia in 1994, he was able to speak his criticism of the country openly, and had done so ever since, although he spoke approvingly of Vladimir Putin as someone who was restoring Russia's greatness.
About a month ago I began reading the Gulag again. After 30+ years it is no longer so impenetrable. It is fascinating, illuminating, depressing, and terrifying. It is also a testimony to the difference one person can make.
Solzhenitsyn was never co-opted politically. He spoke the truth to power in a dangerous and bold way. He put everything on the line, and, although his particular vision might not have prevailed, he was vindicated by the fall of the Soviet Union.
He might not have been treated as a conquering hero on his return to Russia, but he has definitely left a legacy that demonstrates how a person can comport themselves with dignity in the face of monstrous tyranny. And tyranny is something we face in many forms, on many levels.
Solzhenitsyn was fascinating because of his experience of Soviet oppression and because, even though he lived in the US for over 20 years, he never became "one of us". In fact, his criticism of the US was as sharp as that of his home country.
When he returned to Russia in 1994, he was able to speak his criticism of the country openly, and had done so ever since, although he spoke approvingly of Vladimir Putin as someone who was restoring Russia's greatness.
About a month ago I began reading the Gulag again. After 30+ years it is no longer so impenetrable. It is fascinating, illuminating, depressing, and terrifying. It is also a testimony to the difference one person can make.
Solzhenitsyn was never co-opted politically. He spoke the truth to power in a dangerous and bold way. He put everything on the line, and, although his particular vision might not have prevailed, he was vindicated by the fall of the Soviet Union.
He might not have been treated as a conquering hero on his return to Russia, but he has definitely left a legacy that demonstrates how a person can comport themselves with dignity in the face of monstrous tyranny. And tyranny is something we face in many forms, on many levels.
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