tingilinde

what about wall street?

Greg noted this John Cassidy piece in The New Yorker

snip

Yet Wall Street’s role in financing new businesses is a small portion of what it does. The market for initial public offerings (I.P.O.s) of stock by U.S. companies never fully recovered from the tech bust. During the third quarter of 2010, just thirty-three U.S. companies went public, and they raised a paltry five billion dollars. Most people on Wall Street aren’t finding the next Apple or promoting a green rival to Exxon. They are buying and selling securities that are tied to existing firms and capital projects, or to something less concrete, such as the price of a stock or the level of an exchange rate. During the past two decades, trading volumes have risen exponentially across many markets: stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, and all manner of derivative securities. In the first nine months of this year, sales and trading accounted for thirty-six per cent of Morgan Stanley’s revenues and a much higher proportion of profits. Traditional investment banking—the business of raising money for companies and advising them on deals—contributed less than fifteen per cent of the firm’s revenue. Goldman Sachs is even more reliant on trading. Between July and September of this year, trading accounted for sixty-three per cent of its revenue, and corporate finance just thirteen per cent.

In effect, many of the big banks have turned themselves from businesses whose profits rose and fell with the capital-raising needs of their clients into immense trading houses whose fortunes depend on their ability to exploit day-to-day movements in the markets. Because trading has become so central to their business, the big banks are forever trying to invent new financial products that they can sell but that their competitors, at least for the moment, cannot. Some recent innovations, such as tradable pollution rights and catastrophe bonds, have provided a public benefit. But it’s easy to point to other innovations that serve little purpose or that blew up and caused a lot of collateral damage, such as auction-rate securities and collateralized debt obligations. Testifying earlier this year before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that financial innovation “isn’t always a good thing,” adding that some innovations amplify risk and others are used primarily “to take unfair advantage rather than create a more efficient market.”

almost 8 kw per kilogram

Some details on Honda's approach to a kinetic energy recovery system for formula 1 cars.  Really impressive numbers.  It is moot for Honda now as they are out of that business, but KERS may be important in some hybrid applications where high acceleration rates are desirable.

fancying the flight of pterosaurs

A neat paper for letting the imagination wander over the holidays - not to mention outside of their firewall. Neat stuff if you are fascinated by flight.

Flight in slow motion: aerodynamics of the pterosaur wing

Colin Palmer.  Department of earth Sciences University of Bristol

Abstract

The flight of pterosaurs and the extreme sizes of some taxa have long perplexed evolutionary biologists. Past reconstructions of flight capability were handicapped by the available aerodynamic data, which was unrepresentative of possible pterosaur wing profiles. I report wind tunnel tests on a range of possible pterosaur wing sections and quantify the likely performance for the first time. These sections have substantially higher profile drag and maximum lift coefficients than those assumed before, suggesting that large pterosaurs were aerodynamically less efficient and could fly more slowly than previously estimated. In order to achieve higher efficiency, the wing bones must be faired, which implies extensive regions of pneumatized tissue. Whether faired or not, the pterosaur wings were adapted to low-speed flight, unsuited to marine style dynamic soaring but adapted for thermal/slope soaring and controlled, low-speed landing. Because their thin-walled bones were susceptible to impact damage, slow flight would have helped to avoid injury and may have contributed to their attaining much larger sizes than fossil or extant birds. The trade-off would have been an extreme vulnerability to strong or turbulent winds both in flight and on the ground, akin to modern-day paragliders.

 

 

the electric green thumb

looking at plant conditions and making recommendations - electronically

'no idea how well this sort of thing works compared to asking local gardeners.

why netflix has been winning

They seem to be a smart company..

excellent white balsamic vinegar

Gabe showed us a great white balsamic vinegar - Terre Bormane Aulente.  You can get it through Eurogrocer.  Not cheap, but seriously good.  

It is brussels sprout season and this dish is particularly good with this vinegar.  Try to get sprouts that have seen a frost on the vine - it makes them a bit sweeter and much much better.

motor trend on rush limbaugh

they think he's a jerk

tip 'o the hat to Bart

science and reputation

One of the great features of science is that it self corrects as it describes Nature.  This is true by definition as it is the study and description of how Nature works.  It is measuring a fixed truth.  Improvements take place in now the measurements are done and there is a constant refinement.  This can lead to new theories that displace old ones in many cases.  The old theory may well be adequate given the capabilities of a day, but the newer theory can "see" a bit deeper and is a more accurate description.  This, in turn, can be replaced down the road.  Quantum mechanics and relatively (special and general) are good examples of this - Newtonian physics is a fine explanation for most things at a human scale and is accurate enough for most of us most of the time, but as you push the boundaries of scale and speed it fails and better descriptions have come along.

At times there are wonderful discoveries .. we get to a point where a theory proves to be descriptive and opens up entirely new vistas.  Newton physics, the relativities, quantum mechanics, Maxwell's equations and many others are examples with perhaps Darwin's theory of evolution being the greatest example to date.

The process of doing science is very messy with lots of dead ends being found and usually discarded by individual researchers and teams.  Some of it makes it to publication, but peer review is another mostly good filter to remove subquality research.  Post publication some results are shown to be good as others back up the findings verifying with often different approaches, but others are shown to be false - perhaps something was wrong with the experimental technique or interpretation - thousands of things can go wrong.

The point is, since we are all observing and measuring the same thing - Nature - eventually it is possible to tell what is correct and what isn't.  

Scientists often follow hunches in their work.  You have to be able to be enormously self critical and skeptical of your own results, but sometimes they pay off and it gives direction.  There are times when you believe too much in your hunches and self-criticality goes out the window.  Mostly it is rare, but it can happen to any scientist - sadly even those who were once great.  

People refer to the Nobel disease when speaking of once great researchers who believe too much in themselves and their hunches.  Often they are involved in research far outside their local expertise, but people listen to them as reputation can be important.  

It has happened again with Luc Montagnier.... dramatically with several bizarre paths.  

snip

...

French virologist Luc Montagnier stunned his colleagues at a prestigious international conference when he presented a new method for detecting viral infections that bore close parallels to the basic tenets of homeopathy.

Although fellow Nobel prize winners — who view homeopathy as quackery — were left openly shaking their heads, Montagnier’s comments were rapidly embraced by homeopaths eager for greater credibility.

Montagnier told the conference last week that solutions containing the DNA of pathogenic bacteria and viruses, including HIV, “could emit low frequency radio waves” that induced surrounding water molecules to become arranged into “nanostructures”. These water molecules, he said, could also emit radio waves

He suggested water could retain such properties even after the original solutions were massively diluted, to the point where the original DNA had effectively vanished. In this way, he suggested, water could retain the “memory” of substances with which it had been in contact — and doctors could use the emissions to detect disease.

...(much more)

This will wash away with time - it already has among those who are scientifically literate, but unfortunately many aren't and fall prey to what amounts to hucksterism.  Sadly the story goes on to involve autistic children and raises false hope along with the potential for emptying pockets.

 

another thanksgiving suggestion: orange-cranberry compote

Another winner from Colleen.  This is very tart, so add sugar if you want something sweeter.  Excellent on ice cream too.

Orange-Cranberry Compote

Cranberries, fresh or frozen 1 pint 
Granulated sugar 2 oz 
Oranges 2
Honey 3 oz
Cinnamon stick 1
Brandy 1 1/2 oz


• Place the berries and sugar in a nonreactive saucepan. Add the juice from the two oranges. Bring to a simmer over low heat; cook until the fruits are soft but still intact.

• Strain the mixture, reserving both the fruits and the liquid. Return the liquid to the saucepan. Add the finely grated zest from one orange and the honey, cinnamon stick and brandy.

•Bring to a boil and reduce until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

•Gently stir the reserved fruits into the sauce, cover and chill. Serve as needed.

making dragon's beard - powers of two

Dave Arnold of the French Culinary Institute and Cooking Issues shows how to make pulled cotton candy that can be flavored in a variety of interesting ways. Perhaps a good family project for the days after Thanksgiving..