Seriously – they weren’t 16? Great blog here detailing the hacking. The internet does appear to be forever, even in China.
Sports
Wall Street, Pro Wrestling, and Seventh Grade
A couple of years ago, Sallie Krawcheck, then CFO of Citigroup (now Chairman & CEO of Citi Global Wealth Management) was asked how being a woman had affected her career. Her response:
I think it’s an advantage. I grew up in Charleston, a very genteel, very Southern city, a gorgeous city. I will say there’s something about going to an all-girls school in Charleston that’s tougher than Wall Street. You don’t know what it’s like. I had the glasses, the braces, the corrective shoes. I was half-Jewish, half-WASPy. I couldn’t have been further outcast. There was nothing they could do to me at Salomon Brothers in the ’80s that was worse than the seventh grade.
The current issue of Fortune (8/18) has a profile of Meredith Whitney, who was one of the first securities analysts to recognize the seriousness of the subprime/CDO situation. Ms Whitney is married to a professional wrestler. From the article:
Another eye opener for Whitney has been how gracious most wrestlers are–at least when the cameras aren’t rolling–in comparison with the viper-pit culture on Wall Street. It sounds absurd–the world of high finance being less collegial than an industry in which employees belt each other in the face.
If we put these two assessments together, we get:
Pro Wrestling
is nicer than
Wall Street
which is nicer than
Seventh Grade
Mud Buns
The Chinese government have shown themselves to be bunch of peasants with dung on their boots when it comes to international propaganda. The term in Chinese is “tu bao tz” (土包å) – pork buns (bao tz) made out of dirt.
Forget Yang Pei Yi (楊沛宜) and Lin Miao Ke (林妙å¯) – well, mostly. Forget the CGI fireworks. Forget that the enormous number of people used in the opening ceremony were from PLA song and dance troupes.
The big scandal of this Olympics isn’t even that that China promised to clean up its act (and its air) when the games were awarded, and this is exactly not what we are getting.
The big scandal is that China is showing us just exactly why investment there is still risky; why the “golden opportunity” everyone seems to be thinking lurks in China’s market is as frail as a butterfly. The Chinese government still has its fingers in every aspect of society, and that makes the shift from stable to unstable business environment just a power struggle away.
Chicago Olympics, 2016
Chicago is one of the finalists to get the Summer Olympics for 2016. The other three finalists are Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro (I had originally listed Buenos Aires, but was corrected – my mistake), and Madrid. A decision will be made in October of 2009.
As my wife and I were driving home from vacation last week, we had a chance to chat in the van while the kids were sleeping. The topic of the Olympics came up, after we heard a report from Beijing on the radio. Conversation got around to the bid by the city of Chicago to host the 2016 Summer games.
ChicagoBoyz Physical Fitness Series, Continued…
Over the past year or two we have seen here the feats of physical prowess that our crew of bloggers here are capable of. Not mentioned yet are the mental aspects of physical fitness.
From vacation last week I give you an example of the high level of concentration required to be an elite athlete. Note the form, and the proper position taken. And all of that after a day on the beach and several beers consumed.
As an added bonus, you can see the swimsuit that is sure to gain you the attention of all the ladies. Fortunately my wife was there to fight them off and ensure that I was able to have a relaxing time.
