links & such

A commemorative 5€ piece from the Netherlands. The front depicts the Queen’s face using the names of famous Dutch architects and the back shows the outline of the Netherlands rendered by architecture books (by Dutch authours, natch) and representative birds marking the provincial capitals.

Article up at Portfolio on those who called the current mess by trying to figure out why they were making money off of it.

With much foresight I saved the article locally as a publication called Portfolio seems…vulnerable.

The Counter-Intuitive Comparison Institute of North America (CICINA) and their Big Chart are attempting to find the best thing in the world. Penguins vs Miracle-Gro, the Big Bloch vs. Night of the Hunter, Seahorses vs. The English.

The video is here.

kottke

Ectoplasmosis!

So Porsche announces they own 75% (instead of 30ish% of Volkswagen and the stock price surges over €1005 per share as hedge fund operators vivisect themselves to get a piece of the action or, if they shorted VW, to rid themselves of their folly. It settled down later, but there’s a frenzied, sick humour to be had in the article.

Check out:

A manager at a large hedge fund said: “The losses will be extreme. I don’t think it is going to bring down a big fund, but it will probably bring down some small ones.”

and

There was widespread expectation in the markets that the huge rise would push some fragile hedge funds – who bet on VW’s shares falling – to collapse with losses estimated at €20bn-€30bn.

fubiz

“Take Heart — There is a limit to how many times the stock market can decline 3 percent a day.”

The Spine at The New Republic

Charles remembers FDR. He began volunteering after his wife died. When he chokes up about his generation dying and needing to make a change for the next generation…

…if you aren’t a little misty-eyed by the end, you’re a cold-hearted bastard.

Masahiro Makino on flickr