A handy tool

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html?hp

希望这家公司永远在

http://www.amazon.co.jp/日本でいちばん大切にしたい会社-坂本-光司/dp/4860632486/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271729419&sr=1-1

这本书反映了典型的日本企业文化，不过作者所做的推理以及结论不够严谨，在这点上，我赞同Milton Friedman对于Business ethics的看法：Only human has ethics.

PS: 书中提到的甜品店柳月很吸引人，什么时候去日本可以尝试一下。

2003 Chateau Montrose

Much to my disappointment. Acidy, tannic, earthy and little hint of chocolate. It's not like a classic Bordeaux, much closer to Burgundy or Rhone in my opinion. Maybe too early to make its call or perhaps decanting can do the trick.

A book on the GS and Paulson case

The greatest trade ever by Gregory Zuckerman.


Every crisis not only generates opportunities, also nourishes great works. Haven't got time to read it yet. It's written by a WSJ reporter, and should be a serious work.

PS: I am trying out Amazon associates.

How to train your dragon

Not bad, but not as good as Shrek.

Cramer's point

I am not an insider and haven't read the complaint yet. But potential information distortion or asymmetry and the definition of information should be the key of this case. Otherwise, Cramer made the point:

A Case of Arrogance

Cramer took a few moments to sum up today's Goldman news by saying that there's a line like between illegal, and just plain stupid. He said that while he's been pro-prosecution in his career for years, based on what he's seen so far, the government's case against Goldman is weak. at best.

Cramer explained that Goldman doesn't appear to have done anything wrong. When a hedge fund client came to them asking for an investment tool to play the housing market in 2007, Goldman did what it was supposed to: It hired an outside firm to provide the due diligence. He said the resulting prospectus on the new investment tool seemed to be very thorough and transparent.

So Cramer wondered whether it was illegal for Goldman to then sell this new product, or just stupid for anyone to buy it. He said he's not sure, but he does know that people made money hand over fist before the market ultimately collapsed.

Cramer said he's all in favor of financial reforms, and he likes a vigilant prosecution, but not an over-zealous one. He said at first glance Goldman appears to be arrogant, and arrogance is not illegal.

GS is plummeting

Black swan.

Freud's economics

If a consumer has a Freud three-tier consciousness, so should the economy.

Bordeaux 09 En Primeur

2009 seems a year not shy to 2005. But given current mania in the wine market, the price is already quite out of reach. Besides the most sought-after Lafite, keep an eye on Marguax, Leoville Lascases and Cos d'Estournel.

Palm is up for sale

A good progress

MS paper is in sight...

Microsoft goes to Autos

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20001491-54.html

http://www.businessweek.com/idg/2010-03-31/microsoft-ford-team-on-electric-car-software.html

一个农业品牌化的例子

姜莱头道菜

http://www.dxyfood.com/

济钢悖论

http://business.sohu.com/20100330/n271205168.shtml

老实说，这类国企换帅无甚稀奇，不管你干的好坏与否，都没有自主权，然而让人可发一笑的是新任董事长毕志超的逻辑，除了例行公事一般的先指桑骂槐一番以外，他说到"希望全体干部振奋精神，全力以赴扭转生产经营被动局面，3月份要扭亏，4月份要完成任务"。

这几句话颇有学问，大概毕董事长以为企业如足球，换帅如换刀，必然会有三把火。我还真不太明白，难道换个董事长是能降低成本还是凭空创造出新的需求？如果不会对基本形势改变的话换人又有何用，难不成本来3月份就是要扭亏，4月份本来就不存在完不成任务一说？如此一来那免不了得到一个毕董事长撒谎不脸红，牛皮吹破天或者智商有问题的结论。

细想不然，此中必有学问，山钢的几个官僚趁此机会换人，必然是有暗中交易或者承诺，如此一来，这次换人也就变成了一次肮脏的政治交易，依靠政治手段和牺牲政府的信用来为小团体利益服务，其目的无非是谋取政绩，并为山钢系及其靠山谋求经济资本，如此龌龊的组织结构，将来必出大问题。

The final push of 3-D tech

"Madness is like gravity. All you need is a little push."

- Joker, "The Dark Knight"

The question is: who gives the 3-D tech the final push?

There is no doubt that 2009 is the year of 3-D. We have seen a wave of 3-D movies, including the blockbusters "UP" and "Avatar". Also, electronics manufacturers are on a rush to roll out their 3-D TV. 2010 would be another go-go year. The WC will give 3-D TV a boost.

One thing we need to make clear at first: 3-D tech is not something new. It has been there for years. But even today, the 3-D tech is still quite premature, or can be called "pseudo" 3-D. So it seems that the technology is not the major drive behind current 3-D mania. Then what is it?

A popular theory is new technology or innovation usually would display a hump-shaped curve in the market. It also can be understood as a variation of the more general Elliot wave. In general, like what Jim Rogers said, people always swing between panic and hysteria.

For 3-D tech, maybe we just see the first peak coming.

Local beer in Hong Kong

I suddenly get this question in my mind: why I haven't seen any locally brewed beer in HK? After googling, I find that there is indeed one local brewery:

http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/locally-brewed-beer-in-hong-kong/

Though without any concreted numbers, I am sure beer consumption is high in HK, per capita. Only speaking of this, it seems to make perfect sense to run a business on this. However, the difficulty for a local brewery in HK may come from everywhere:

1. Cost is high. It may not be economically sound to open a brewery at a place with high land rent and labor cost.

2. Raw materials. Let alone hops and yeast. The other two key materials, barley and water, are not easy to find in HK. If it relies on import, the attractiveness would be reduced.

3. Market competition. HK is a free market. Importers provide consumers here with hundreds of choices, at zero tax. A beer has to excel in one of the dimensions like brand image, cost or taste, to claim its own share in the competitive market.

Anyway, I do see a chance here. There are answers to all the questions above. And the most important, is a passion for beer.

The bright future of computational biology

I have been looking into computational biology for some time, in particular, the molecular dynamics part. One sure application is the drug design. Successful cases have been reported (see J. Andrew McCammon's papers). That's probably also the reason why D.E. Shaw is so devoted into this.

What happens behind the scene is that computational biology has totally changed the way of drug discovery/design. From traditional target drug test, we has made the drug business a search, like Google did for Internet, in plain words, 筛沙. With this change, we are able to make use of all computational resources on this planet and fundamentally accelerate the process.

If we think a little bit wider, we may see the application goes far beyond drug business. Any traditional business may have its own chance to be reshaped. For example, in wine business, both oenology and viticulture can be revisited. Of course, further homework needs to be done to see whether such changes make perfect sense, both technically and economically.

What I say here may not go real overnight, but in 5-10 years time, we have a great chance to see the explosion of such revolutions. Like what Monsanto did to what we eat, finally, we, human being, will be nothing but a combination of naked numbers.

Riedenburger

historisches Emmer Bier. Creamy, fruity. Good

Playing with beamer

a lot of fun

The curious case of Benjamin Button

Feels like Forrest Gump. A good movie.

"When it comes to the end, you have to let go."