Monday, February 11, 2013

Oddly Relevant Feb-11-2013


Transcript of Ray Dalio’s comments at Davos: “I think in the U.S., it’s a transition year. It’s one of those years that will go down in history as one you won’t even remember. It’s a transition in between cycles as we move from one to the other… There is too much liquidity and so bonds are a poor investment, they will have a poor return. Cash will have an even worse return, that’s assured. And that’s a bubble. Too much money in there. So the cash bubble exists, but we are reaching an equilibrium in terms of the debt growth.”…Source: https://www.santangelsreview.com/2013/01/27/transcript-of-ray-dalios-comments-at-davos/

“Microsoft has lost its ‘audacity’”: says former top executive Joachim Kempin. “It seems to me that Microsoft is basically malfunctioning… I don’t see any technical visionary in there. They have great ideas in their research groups, but those ideas don’t see the light of day… The company will go through some major changes over the next 10 years. They make take some pieces like Xbox and spin them out. The corporate and consumer sides of the business might get split up.” [Note: I don’t like how he dishes Xbox, I mean it has Halo]…Source: http://readwrite.com/2013/02/11/microsoft-lost-its-audacity-top-exec-joachim-kempin

So, the pope just resigned: first in 598 years. What’s next? A group of up to 120 church leaders below the age limit of 80 will convene to elect new popes within 15-20 days.  Once the conclave starts, there is no communication with the outside world. On the first day of the conclave, there is one ballot in the afternoon. If one candidate doesn’t have two-thirds of the vote, the process continues with more ballots. If the process drags out and several dozen ballots are conducted without a winner over subsequent days, there is a run-off election between the top two vote-getters…Source: http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/02/explaining-the-vaticans-constitutional-papal-election-process/

New forms of martial arts are catching on in China: Joel Resnick, a Canadian businessman, currently holds the only MMA hosting permit in China; and it didn’t take long to hand out its first cheque of $160,000 to the flyweight champion on February 2nd.
Note: This movement into MMA is not only a form of entertainment that China yarns for, but also a wake-up call that traditional kungfu practitioners desperately need. This branch of fighting style has degenerated for too long and now leaves only an empty, spiritual shell—one that is unfortunately unfit to compete physically.

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