Your comments are welcome via email:
info (at) rezamusic (dot) com
15 May 2013 --
- Tradition corrupts the minds of children with false sense of self, competition, comparison, and all that which is not love.
11 May 2013 --
- If I don't have to deal with stupidity my life is good. Eistein was right - stupidity of mankind is infinite. - Two things that came out of dealing with the stupid: 1. fanaticism - they're fanatic 2. image making - they make images that the're convinced are true.
4 May 2013 -- For Smith
Met
a chap online called Smith -- from the first moment it became his
reasoning capability was weak -- he was making a lot of assumptions and
adding things up which just wouldn't add up.
I tried to have sympathy for him and tolerate it and explain things but got fed up once it became evident he's malicious
4 May 2013 -- Fanaticism is the number one threat to the world
It is so stupid: sunnis shiites alavis killing each other etc etc etc -- so many people dead in the name of God.
4 May 2013 -- Shure SM57 vs. Beta57a vs. AudixD4 for live recording of guitar amp
Even million dollar studios still use sm57 -- cardioid is better than super or hyper for live recording of amp.
3 May 2013 -- Swiss Bands
Why do so many Swiss bands have so many members? It's very often
seeing bands of 7 8 10 or more people. She said maybe because they're
less nervous going on stage as a big group :-)
Corruption, insider trading and criminal behavior are rampant on a vast
scale on Wall Street today as financiers and Washington play the same
greedy games that brought us to the brink five years ago, according to
one of the world’s most influential economists.
21 Apr 2013 -- READ
T turns 9 - for her birthday cake she wants "READ" -- Not a cake that looks like a book etc. but to say READ
Also a very good video by J. Krishnamurti I came across covering some
very important topics related to psychological freedom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7aLnJtZgyY
21 Apr 2013 -- Coincidence
We keep meeting by chance. The other day she was
going on vacation and we met by chance - yesterday she came back from
vacation and we met - by chance. Maybe it's a sign -- maybe life wants
us to spend some peaceful easy time together instead of these rushed
chance meetings.
This morning went to the
heathfood shop -- asked the lady if she has tahini - she was holding 2
bottles in her hand already !! I began to tell her "it's a good sign"
that she walked in :-) by chance -- we met again !!
Is it chance -
coincidence - or a deeper layer of cause and effect. At least we have
one thing in common other than a healthy diet: we're both waiting for
big money (LOL) but I am not burdened by it -- it's not an ambition. I
have always lived very simply and can always be happy living simply.
I
told her I have no chains and boxes -- she said you just need a
mat for the yoga class -- I said NO -- I mean about us -- she said Ah!
not to put me in a box -- yes, exactly -- so no worries -- and there
was love :)
She's very sensitive and like most other
sensitive beautiful people can be concerned about having their freedom
taken away by entering into some sort of a bondage. But I'm not into
that. Only in freedom love can flower.
21 Apr 2013 -- Facebook "Friends" is a Joke
First people were trying to get as many "friends" as possible to show how important they are :)
"Ever wanted to prune your Facebook
friend count, but didn’t have the heart to “unfriend” that old high
school friend or acquaintance from a friend’s birthday party years ago? Perhaps it’s time to get frackin’."
A new website called FriendFracker.com
says it can help minimize defriending anxiety on Facebook, by
instantly, randomly and irrevocably deleting as many as 10 Facebook
friends with a single click
The most important lesson I learned in school as a child was the
definition of freedom and rights -- something many adults are clueless about.
19 Apr 2013 -- Fridays / Great Day
The most important lesson I learned in school was the
definition of freedom and rights
Starting
very early hours of Friday morning one can feel a joy in the air. It's
all the people who are happy it's Friday. Just as Monday morning
there's gloom in the air. To me whether I'm working or not it doesn't
matter if it's Friday or Monday -- but to many people it makes a big
difference and some of them really dislike their jobs. ------- Great
day - started w/ seeing lady with 3 little ones - they were sooooo cute
- at the bus stop - especially the youngest one with the big glasses -
like a little sparrow - so innocent and lovely. Then met Tania by
chance and she has an 11 year old Tara -- so lovely -- there was so
much love pouring out between the three of us. Then this tiny maybe 2.5
year old returned my smile with a smile - children react so
easily to that child inside - to love - to joy - to lightness - to
delight for life - and her smile brightened the day and watered the
heart. She was moving around shopping stalls with her mom too busy
searching through clothing. Then met Angela and she's so wonderful -
then met Andrea and later her mom too - they were on their way to a
biking week and it's raining - but we had a lovely contact. Then met
Lorena and her mom -- she's got the sweetest smile -- and her mom
is so nice also. She asked if I finished her song. Told her mom I fell
in love with her during the street festival and wrote her a song - love
of friendship - pure love - but no time to explain as we got off the
bus but she showered me again with her smile, saying it was nice to see
you...
-------
Told the cigarette pusher girl: get another job!
18 Apr 2013 -- Nice Job Law Enforcement
They just released pictures of the Boston bombers (on www.fbi.gov). And they already have the ricin mailer in custody! Great job FBI and the rest of the law enforcement agencies.
16 Apr 2013 -- EU approval
PLEASE
do NOT take these as authoritative statements. The doctors I quote are
just expressing their opinions and are NOT providing investment advice.
Always do your own research.
Dr. Vig stated: "I
am optimistic that Europe will approve Belviq. The issues that
Europe asked about were the same ones that the FDA looked at, and the
FDA did approve Belviq. Although Europe does not have quite as
much of a problem with obesity as the United States, there are still a
lot of overweight and obese patients in Europe, many of which have type
2 diabetes. Options for treating obesity in Europe are limited,
since Europe does not have phentermine and Europe does not have
Qsymia. I would expect that Europe would have a similar recommendation
to bring patients back after 12 weeks on Belviq, to be sure that it is
working well enough to achieve at least a 5% weight loss in 12
weeks. It does not hurt that the manufacturing facility for
Belviq is in Switzerland. "
13 Apr 2013 -- Talk with an old friend
She
remembered going to Shomal - pelaje jandarmeri - falling in love with
someone without even knowing their name... Radio Darya... Funny
that she was in love with a son of the pelajh manager -- and in our
days we were all in love with the daughter of the pelajh manager,
Sarhang Minoii who had I think 2 daughters -- both very beautiful --
the older one especially -- I still remember her face, blue eyes,
her figure, and how she walked vividly...
---------- Another
young friend said she finds people in their 30's too tense and worried
about keeping a job and paying rent etc. and she's free spirited. That
it's hard to meet older people who are free spirited :)
14 Apr 2013 -- 20
She's
20 and has already been with more than 20 guys. 2 boyfriends over 5
years with occasional diversion and in between and after breakup with
like 10 guys each time including drunk spree in Australia. She smokes.
The diamond inside is still shining given she's only 20 but gradually
it will wither away as it's covered by ashes and residue of toxins she
consumes. It was nice talking with her as she has a fresh sharp mind.
She's just a victim of civilization and its corrupt ways.
To many, Mondays
are dreaded, Fridays are cherished and weekends are meant to poison the
system with alcohol, pot and cigarettes. Her aura was painful. Even
being not so near it one could feel her pain. She doesn't because of
the youth but as people get older abuse puts its toll on the body and
unhappiness is the consequence.
As happiness is lost, ways to
bring it by which are often decadent and same ways which led to its
loss, are given importance, e.g. drinking on weekends, and that escape
is formed into tradition.
The important question is what makes you happy, brings joy, and what doesn't and remove that which doesn't.
Even flies don't go by an ashtray let alone angels!
----------
After Netflix Inquiry, SEC Clears Companies to Disclose Info Via Social Media http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/after-netflix-inquiry-sec-clears-companies-to-disclose-info-via-social-media-1200332264/
-----------
Four person formations are changing - more duos? There's a lot a guitar can do.
11 Apr 2013 -- Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Helped
a friend with Patanjali Yoga Sutras. It's a subject not usually
discussed so it's not uninteresting but Patanjali was wrong on many
things. His approach is very traditional of course and implies the
existence of the "I" and duality and control etc. -- so the samadhi he
wants to achieve through ignoring thought's preoccupations is
artificial. J. Krishnamurti puts all that in a very bright light by
pointing out certain facts which shatter that entire Yoga philosophy.
"Supreme happiness is gained via
contentment."
I
think his message and aim is important: Freedom from agitation , from
obstacles, ... but his method fails to deliver that because there is no
method. Since his time, we've learned a lot.
7 Apr 2013 -- The Self
The way of the self is endless struggle with self improvement, actualization, esteem, confidence, etc. There's another approach: no self. It's highly practical In
office you can just be quiet - you can face customers but not
have a little noise saying I'm not good enough, what do they
think of me, and all those things. Just quiet and intelligence act. The
other important thing is health / balance / especially if someone was
damaged - she needs to take better care than normal..The ways of the
world is noise occupation distraction, search for security, think of
love as a box, etc. -- but relationship can have a completely different
and sweeter taste when it flowers in freedom without the unncessary
bondages and its associated fears and weight.
Apr 2013 -- Email is so primitive
Email technology is as primitive as the "science" of psychology. EMail filters have a huge false positive rates, especially Hotmail's which I believe is the worst email package out there. Accounts regularly get broken into. I regularly get emails from friends' hacked accounts, most common in Yahoo. And
while spam filters almost guarantee mails do not arrive you get a ton
of spam of things that are real spam and filters don't catch them. Maybe
50 years from now we manage to have a reliable way of e*communication
without relying on awful software like Facebook which people use to
tell the world what they had for lunch.
30 Mar 2013 -- Another Victory For Truth: Good Job SEC in tackling an "elite Wall Street criminal club"
Steven
Cohen's Hedge Fund, SAC Capital is in trouble again (and that's
so nice to see knowing about their history). A top trader, Michael
Steinberg, was arrested at 6 a.m. at his home for fraud and insider
trading
"As alleged, Michael Steinberg was another Wall Street
insider who fed off a corrupt grapevine of proprietary and confidential
information cultivated by other professionals who made their own rules
to make money," U.S. Attorney.
"Mr. Steinberg was at the center of an elite criminal club, where cheating and corruption were rewarded," FBI
Hi
Boss Stevie Cohen bought a $155M Picasso painting... these guys
think they can take these paintings and money into grave with them.
Emails included: "Please keep to yourself as obviously not well known," "Yes normally we would never divulge data like this, so please be discreet."
If
convicted these people should not be able to walk free. They should be
sent to prison to set an example for other Wall Street crooks and all
people who disseminate and abuse insider information. Ultimately, Main
Street, average Joe who doesn't have access to insider, privileged
information ends of being at a disadvantage while big boys reap rewards
for being connected.
Congratulations to the SEC.
----------
SAC Capital says it stands behind indicted trader: new meaning for "ethics" and "integrity" !
SAC Capital says it stands behind indicted trader. Good, let the feds take the whole thing down.
In
a statement, SAC Capital stood behind Steinberg: "Mike has conducted
himself professionally and ethically during his long tenure at the
firm. We believe him to be a man of integrity.”
Cohen's dictionary must have a different meaning for ethics and integrity.
--------- “Steinberg
was another Wall Street insider who fed off a corrupt grapevine of
proprietary and confidential information cultivated by other
professionals who made their own rules to make money,” Manhattan U.S.
Attorney Preet Bharara said. “With lightning speed in at least one
case, Mr. Steinberg seized on the opportunity to cash in and tried to
keep his crime quiet.”
George S. Canellos, acting director of
the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a statement that “Steinberg
essentially got an advance copy of Dell and Nvidia’s quarterly earnings
announcements, allowing him to trade on tomorrow’s news today.”
"arrests of current and former employees have averaged about one a quarter for the past few years." --------- “I
have a 2nd hand read from someone at the company,” Horvath said in the
e-mail, which provided details on gross margins, expenditures and
revenue. “Please keep to yourself as obviously not well known.”
Steinberg responded: “Yes normally we would never divulge data
like this, so please be discreet. Thanks.”
Steinberg’s
“trading decisions were based on detailed analysis as well as
information that he understood had been properly obtained through the
types of channels that institutional investors rely upon on a daily
basis,” said Berke, his lawyer. [means channels of corruption I guess]
----------------- "The
ex-wife of SAC Capital Advisors LP founder Steven A. Cohen won
reinstatement of most of a lawsuit in which she seeks $8.25 million in
damages based on claims the hedge fund is “the product of an ongoing
racketeering scheme” that engaged in insider trading.
Patricia
Cohen’s July 2010 amended complaint was dismissed in 2011 for being
filed after legal deadlines. A federal appeals court in Manhattan today
ruled her lawsuit was filed in a timely manner, and that she validly
stated claims her husband violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act, as well as common law fraud and breach of fiduciary
duty. A fourth claim was found to have been properly dismissed." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-03/steven-cohen-s-ex-wife-has-her-suit-against-him-reinsted.html
30 Mar 2013 -- Beatles Album
Signed Iconic Beatles Album Auctioned for $290,500
30 Mar 2013 -- An email I sent about tiredness
my guess is you're tired because of some cognitive dissonance --
carrying something psychologically that bothered you. I know you think
everyone needs a therapist but I hope you're not seeing one because
knowing you I believe your problem is being full because of being so
busy -- and the solution, I believe, or at least you can try, is to
write a journal - you can even put a password on it - and write down the
result of the question of
what is wrong with me
what is going on
how am I feeling
what am I thinking
this writing will empty you -- can also be done by talking about it with
a good friend -- or if you must a psychoanalyst but some of them will
impose their own confusion often and sustain yours because if people are
happy they make no money.
Sometimes we feel something and don't know why -- but every feeling
has ingredients which is sometimes bundled up and writing is a good way
to clarify what it is... and that understanding brings its own change
because we get to see the problem from a different angle etc...
writing is a cheap (free) convenient way.
you empty yourself, pay attention to what is going on in your being, and
you'll be surprised how much energy you will have because non practical
things are not going to be graded and grounded and mulled in your head
in the background which make you lose energy. I assume you already are
on top of practical things though having kids and job etc. even that's a
challenge.
Take care
R
Many people are tired because they don't sleep enough but more loss of energy comes from conflict, guilt, etc.
"Regarding
the alcohol you're right! A thought just popped into my head. Recalling
our conversation we argued that to live life fully we must fully enjoy
the moment, without any superstition. Isn't alcohol the cheap &
easy way to do it? :) I'm not for alcohol, but it kinda satisfies most
of the conditions and might be considered one of the solutions."
Be
careful because this is often misused. I don't know if that's exactly
what we were talking about. We were talking about the importance of
being in the present. But "enjoying the moment" is often interpreted as
pursuit of pleasure without considering consequence -- so a person may
go out drinking vodka because it makes him enjoy that time but wake up
in hell the next day, and damage his organ, and lose brain cells, etc.
But to be in present is a different story. It's a deep subject. Some highlights:
1) our
modern civilization has over-emphasized thinking - so most people think
too much and about areas where thought was not meant for -- which leads
to confusion, separation, isolation, conflict, etc. -- and the proof of
it is high suicide rates in some of the most thought dominated
societies like Switzerland, unhappiness of richest places, and the
whole alcohol worship culture where alcohol is worshiped and is viewed
as the perfect escape from unhappiness.
2) Practical thought vs.
psychological thought is an important distinction. Thought, and its key
processes like image making, are important for the practical,
scientific, technical field, but same tool applied to the realm of
psyche creates a ton of problems.
3) Psychological thought
is based on the past. As long as it's active it's in the past.
Even projection of the future is from the known. Past being experience,
thought is limited because experience is limited. Thought is also
limited because it's a material process (bound by limitation of brain
cells). Being limited it divides. Where there's division there's
conflict. This is not theory. Explore it for yourself... It's also
based on time. If you examine psych. thought you realize there's a
element of time in it. It has all kinds of consequences, like fears,
uncertainties, illusions, images, etc.
4) The present is
timeless - is not of the past or future which do not exist. To be
truly in the present, psych. thought has to be quiet. A
quiet brain is in the present. The brain can't be forced to be quiet.
They try that with silly systems of meditation, mantras etc., also LSD,
etc., but those artificial means just makes the brain dull.
5)
Order is key. If life is orderly, if room is clean, etc etc. inner and
outer order, then brain can be quiet naturally. Then it can be in the
present. And in the present is the eternal, the song of the bird
outside, and in that there's joy, enjoyment. We can enjoy just being,
perceiving, living, and don't need to drug ourselves with some
depressant (alcohol) or stimulant or hallucinogenic substance in order
to enjoy the moment.
6) Alcohol has become so important because of a variety of reasons: a)
psychological inhibition, fears, etc. based on thought acting
unnecessarily making images of ourselves, others, etc etc.,
which alcohol temporarily eliminates so people feel less bound. b)
over stimulated body -- people who drink a log of coffee for example
like alcohol because it calms them down (depressant works against
stimulant). c) many smokers like to drink because their body feels
so miserable due to smoking that alcohol acts against it temporarily
and calms them down. (Smokers also like caffeine because nicotine also
acts as a depressant which caffeine counters). d) commercial
aspect -- mass advertising promotes alcohol as a way of life and a way
of having fun -- but it's perfectly possible to have a lot of fun
without drinking and damaging the body, nerves, and brain cells.
Was in Amsterdam over the weekend. Really loved it this time because: - the air is moist even in the middle of the winter because there's so much water around. - it's a big city yet quiet - lots of bicycle paths and good public transport - several great vegetarian and organic restaurants - wonderful healthfood stores -- with a large selection of sugar free yummies. - big sympathy for unconventional alternative free thinking people - reasonably priced -- not outrageously like London and Zurich - very artistic - lots of cultural events - lots of opportunities to play and hear music - very international - most people speak English - A special friend there, an astro-physicist genius studying the most fascinating field of science. - I have several other good friends there and in surrounding cities - Netherlands I think has the most beautiful women in the world
20 Mar 2013 -- SMILING IS NICER :)
I
wrote that to a beautiful, frawning girl with headphones. Showed it to
her on the laptop and she smiled. "it takes less work too to smile than
frawn". She left the tram happy looking :)
---------
Later
met another young lady by the lake. We spoke. Later she said, "you made
my day. I was depressed because I visited a friend who has brain cancer
at age 40. But now I'm smiling... "
Told her about the girl on the tram. My life has meaning :) I made 2 people happy. She said you're here to make people happy.
She
is a social worker working with addicts -- she said one of the common
addictions now is cyber addiction (people hooked on online video games
... ) in combination with drinking -- they get so absorbed in it they
get emotionally hooked on the digital characters ... and can spend
their entire day and night on the internet.
20 Mar 2013 -- NoRouz message from Dr. Shadi Ganjavi (for Persian New Year and beginning of Spring)
Dear
Family & Friends, We
wish you and all your loves ones Salaamaty(health),Sa’aadat(prosperity),Sarbolandy(honor),Soroor(joy),Saadegi(simplicity), andSepid bakhti(good fortune) in 1392!May everything turn
out to be Sahl(easy) for you this year.We want you to know
that we are grateful for having you in our lives, even if
we don’t get to see you very often.
May this Spring brings Sweetness to you and all your loved ones and
fill your life withSerenity,Sensitivity,Simplicity,Sincerity,StabilityandSpirituality.
Hope we can all live by the three guiding principles of good
thoughts, good deeds and good words!
"YouTube says more than 1 billion people are now visiting its online video site each month"
Youtube's CEO is Iranian-American.
18 Mar 2013 -- Chiro
Went
to Chiropractor, Dr. Widmer. He proposed using anesthesia to put me out
to make an adjustment. It's a method he said he prefers to adjusting
while conscious. He wants 1300 for it. I went to another
chiropractor the same afternoon and he did the job in a matter of
minutes and it worked. He said Widmer's method is usually used as a
last resort but even then it doesn't always work. There's no way am I
going to go under anesthesia to get a chiro adjustment.
"Global
warming has propelled Earth's climate from one of its coldest decades
since the last ice age to one of its hottest -- in just one century.
A heat spike like this has never happened before, at least not in the last 11,300 years
. It is a good indicator of just how fast man-made climate change has progressed."
17 Mar 2013 -- Old music
Many people in their early / mid twenties are into "oldies" - Disco and music of 70's etc. are still favorites for dancing...
17 Mar 2013 -- Astro Particles, Cosmic Rays, Fermi Bubbles
She says she can predict the end of the universe by about a few million years ... :-) Dust is matter that doesn't emit light-- our planet and we are dust she said. She's
researching Fermi bubbles -- symmetric bubbles surrounding our milky
way ... Humanity has known about Fermi bubbles for only 5 years.
- key questions -- why are they there ? what they are ? they
could help us understand dark matter maybe ?
-------------
A
child learns truthfulness from parents / educators -- the innate
inclination of the child is truth anyway and an educator/parent helps
nourish that.
15 Mar 2013 -- $600 million penalty for SAC Capital. About time...
Hedge
fund titan Steven A. Cohen's firm, long the focus of a federal
investigation into insider trading, is paying more than $600 million to
U.S. securities regulators to settle allegations arising from improper
trading in two stocks.
--------------
FRUNZ AG Bauunternehmung Landstrasse 170 CH-5415 Nussbaumen
Telefon +41 (0)56 282 35 68 Telefax +41
(0)56 282 25 05 info@frunzag.ch
They
were breaking the law. I warned them. Andreas Frunz said I don't care,
call the police. I did. Police came and warned them and told me next
time don't warn them - just call us.
---------- 27 March: You're in violation of the law AGAIN. Your cement truck unloaded cement at 6:45. When I objected he lied to me and gave me a paper and said in Kanton Aargau it's 6 am. I submitted that fake paper to the police today. Police said no, it's 7 a.m. Several times you've broken wettingen law. Next time Police will fine you and shut down your illegal activity. I
have the truck driver incident on video. And the other day when your
arrogant Andreas said he doesn't care about the law and worked at
lunchtime which is against wettingen law and the police came.
14 Mar 2013 -- New Article : Arena Recap & why it's a Prime Acquisition Target for Big Pharma
I don't like to eat garlic because of the smell on
body and breath. I do take its pills though as part of my vitamin
box. Andreas Moritz says it's not good. My research indicates
garlic is indeed good. Maybe if he ate it he'd live longer. Poor chap
died very young last year.
She: I'm texting someone, emailing someone else, and thinking of two different things, [and talking to me on the phone]
8 Mar 2013 -- Googoosh
Googoosh Music Academy -- it's fun but has 2 problems:
1) competition in arts is destructive. The contendants are destroyed as they get rejected...
2)
the music is always so superficial -- Iranian pop music is hurting big
time and has for many years. I miss people like Varijhan
Shahram Shab-pareh was a great guest. He has so much energy despite so much age :)
What's
cool about the program which I only watch occasionally (don't have much
time) is they broadcast some great home made videos from people in Iran
who are great singers.
8 Mar 2013 -- HFT
It's about time: "State regulators urge Congress to
probe high-frequency trading"
----------
Good source, kind of like an idiot's guide: http://www.netmanners.com/660/online-copyright-myths/(Online Copyright Myths)
-----------
The
geniuses on x are incredible -- call it collective
ignorance -- whole bunch of them including some of the bigots agreed to
the terms but are not educated enough to understand what they agreed to. There's no shortage of idiocy in
this world.
8 Mar 2013 -- Why I'm not buying Avanir Pharmaceuticals (AVNR) right now
I am still cautiously optimistic on AVNR but: 1) I am not confident that management will not do a secondary at some point. 2) I still don't like insider sales. 3) Net Shares Purchased by insiders and tutes has been negative. 4) Tutes ownership has gone down by 7.2% according to Yahoo. 5) Agitation results aren't due till first half of 2014. 6) MS Pain result could be game changer later this year. Until then I think AVNR is dead money. 7) Shorts are still in control. CEO was wrong about shorts losing their shorts. Longs lost theirs instead. 8)
We keep seeing breakout technical signals but AVNR has been capped at
$3 over and over and over again. I'm not confident insiders don't sell
as soon as it goes to mid-3's -- many insider sales are not reported
since they're not key officers. 9) AVNR has been pretty much dead money for a long time and I expect that to continue. 10)
So long after launch and a pharmacist reports 3 scripts -- let's face
it, the market is very small and ARNA has not been able to tap to any
significant level the large market they claim to exist. 11) Too much
sales effort has to go into milking a few scripts. Even at LTC, a sales
rep has to work hard and deal with "politics" to get scripts generated. 12)
I believe N is a wonderful product and can and should succeed but
parking money here for another 6 months or more doesn't make sense. 13)
I do admire long term holders. I still have a few shares but moved to
ARNA pre approval and recovered some of my losses with AVNR. I'm
looking for another double at least with ARNA on strong launch and
other catalysts. 14) I will look to buy AVNR after MS Pain data is
out, after it substantially moves higher, I don't mind paying 5 bucks a
share instead of 3 knowing there's a better chance of success. 15) An EU approval will boost the stock a bit - not significantly. 16)
For now, my main concerns are the cash position, slow launch, small
market, insider sales, reduction of institutional ownership.
3 Mar 2013 -- Good Job Dennis Rodman
I
was happy to read some good news finally -- that Dennis Rodman had gone
to N. Korea and initiated a line of dialogue which useless politicians
were not able to do. This might be the start of something very fruitful
-- I have a sense the N. Korean leader, a young man, doesn't only love
Basketball but many other things that he wishes him and his people had
which they don't have. Good Job Dennis. Your critics are wrong in
accusing you of wrongdoing -- you saw an opening and went for it - if
you hadn't gone for it because of what your critics say, i.e.,
N.Korea's bad record on human rights (which is true), there would be no
chance for change but with this opening, even that can change. If the
country opens to the free world many things can change.
----
B&H Airlines (Bosnia and Herzegovina) is horrible. The captain smokes on the flight !!!
28 Feb 2013 -- Beatles Magic
In 1964, The Beatles held all top 5 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart
in 1964. Nobody has ever been able to do that in history of recorded music.
Mar 2013 -- Cheating Taxis in Switzerland
Swiss
taxi driver tried to cheat us by putting the meter on Tariff 4 instead
of Tariff 3 -- and changed it back only after I say, hey... !
Years ago Swiss embassy in LA told me in Switzerland everybody is
honest - taxi drivers don't cheat you, etc. -- I've been cheated (or
attempted to be cheated) by taxi drivers more than once here.
This time it was by a company registered as follows:
"Limousinen - Taxi - Fritz Gerber 5400 Baden 056 222 33 33" - I don't
know who the driver was.
26 Feb 2013 -- About time...
- The SEC is investigating Michael Milken http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/02/27/sec-michael-milken-investigation/
- SAC Clients Said to Seek $1.7 Billion in Refunds http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/sac-investors-ask-to-withdraw-1-7-billion/
- SAC’s Cohen May Face SEC Suit as Deposition Hurts Case http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-19/sac-s-cohen-may-face-sec-suit-as-deposition-hurts-case.html
26 Feb 2013 -- Adam Fraudstein's Dishonesty
Now
I am convinced Adam F. is a liar, a bad dishonest person. One of my friends, a very genuine
person wrote the following in response to a fraudulent misleading
misrepresenting disparaging illegal article by Adam Fraudstain, a.k.a.
Adam Frogstein, Adumb Fartstain, and many other names people call him
on message boards, every one of which he deserves. And Andy is being
very kind to that cockroach. The title of his article assumes Belviq has
already been on the market but it hasn't and he knows it hasn't. I have
communicated with him privately telling him to clean up his act but he
disregards it because he has an agenda which I believe is either to
cater to some of the holders of the 55 million shorted shares of Arena
or to attract attention and gain income by clicks or whatever it is. He
works for an organization called TheStreet.com which was founded by Jim
Cramer, a self admitted manipulator.
Earlier, SEC
charged TheStreet.com insiders with fraud
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/12/18/sec-charges-thestreet-3-execs-with-accounting-fraud/ Now it's time for the SEC to put Adam Fraudstein behind bars.
---------------------
By andybaron
Adam,
I have tried to give you the benefit of the doubt when folks claim that
you are serving the interests of shorts or have some other hidden
agenda in regard to ARNA. But I'm having a hard time defending your
honor when I see you write that "Patients who take Belviq lose, on
average, a paltry 3% of their body weight after one year."
After
all the educated feedback you've received on Belviq, I think you know
that this isn't a fair statement. 3% represents the average difference
in weight loss between those who took placebo and those who took
Belviq, counting the last recorded weight of those who dropped out of
the study early. Those who took the drug for a full year averaged 8%
weight loss.
What
patients can expect based on the study results is this: 42% will lose
at least 5% after 3 months on the drug. If those patients stay on the
drug for a full year, they will lose a total of 11% on average. That is
enough efficacy to motivate doctors and patients to try the drug for at
least 3 months and to maintain the therapy if the patient responds.
Belviq
won't work for everyone. It doesn't force your body to lose weight. It
just makes it easier to eat less by providing a feeling of satiety.
That won't stop everyone from eating too much, but it will safely
provide significant support to the many people whose weight loss
efforts have been hampered by uncontrollable food cravings. This is a
big market.
26 Feb 2013 -- Untangled
Helped untangle a friend's situation and deep chaos by mediating and writing...
25 Feb 2013 -- FDA / Vivus
Unbelievable
that while the EU has rejected even the appeal of Qsymia, Vivus says
they're confident FDA will loosen an already loose REMS program!!
Sounds fishy.
25 Feb 2013 -- Got a lie pulled down
Got a fraudulent article someone wrote pulled down:
Many
modern Persian movies are too depressing for my taste. But saw a good
one called "The song of sparrows" -- the translation doesn't do it
justice because it's the Turkish Azari accent and the expressions which
makes a lot of difference.
A great pre-revolution movie is called "Aroos Farangi" -- very enjoyable with great acting by Vahdat. It was almost nostolgic.
14 Feb 2013 -- Power of emptying
She has panic attacks etc. - a psychologist has helped her and got her off the medicine.
She's
writing. Writing is good - emptying is good - when the mind is full it
has no space. When it empties itself it has space to see. Seeing is an
art. To judge what we see is to move away from it. There's a place for
judgment of course when you see lousy management and you call it that
-- but psychologically judgment is to bring in the ideal which is
not what is. Seeing what is is liberating.
Good to slow things down - emptying helps with that. Good to be aware of all thoughts and feelings.
She
thinks panic attack has no cause but if it's slowed down there is
something that triggers it -- now that they've established it's not
organic / pathological.
14 Feb 2013 -- Fed Up
I
don't believe in St. Valentine but it's a good story. Maybe it's true
or not but it's nice to have a day of love. Every day should be the day
of love. There's enough hatred and stupidity in the world. Love has its
own intelligence.
I am on the verge of taking a big action
which I am trying to avoid. I'm not rushing into it but sometimes
somethings become a choiceless matter however undesireable they may be.
I still haven't given up hope of being able to avert it.
13 Feb 2013 -- A friend who was victim of rape
She
said she was raped 2 times as a young woman - when she was around 20 -
both cases, young men of around her age - they forced themselves on her
and used their physical strength to dominate her. Both cases she gave
up in fear of getting hurt further. Not only she was deeply hurt from
the physical rape but she was also deeply hurt she said, because of
pain of not being able to defend herself. First case she didn't report
it because she was naive and scared etc., and second case because she
didn't want to get him into trouble - she liked him - but she was
disappointed at the force and stopped meeting him. In both cases she
said the raper enjoyed having power over her.
The
world is not short of stupidity and stupid people who happens to be a
devout Republican and supporter of the bankrupt tea-party mentality
started a thread in which he called global warming a hoax. I wrote back in response to the line: "The 1930s were hotter."
True,
but only in the US. That's not "global". If you look at the long term
land-ocean temperature over the last 100 years you see an alarming
increase. We're not talking computer models. Large majority of
scientists who've looked at simple temperature records believe in this
increase over the last century and they attribute human behavior as the
cause. To deny this is simply dogmatic.
I don't have to look at
any temperature charts or listen to any scientist to know it's a lot
warmer now than it used to be when I was a kid. Also, it's easy to tell
the planet is confused and that's man-made, thinks like the massive
loss of arctic ice (not offset by slight gain of antarctic ice).
The
US, as one of the biggest contributors to this problem has virtually
ignored and talked down international efforts to address this problem
because cutting emissions is anti-business, but the planet is slapping
us back. Hurricane Sandy was worse than Katrina and they were no hoax.
To think of global warming as hoax is failure to recognize an
problem that requires urgent attention. To screw the planet as much as
we can and then pass the buck to our children is irresponsible.
9 Feb 2013 -- KFA
Extremely
stressed about Krishnamurti Foundation America. I give them till Feb 15
to respond else I will take other action within framework of law and
morality. I've given them plenty of warning. Poor K !! He must have known this coming having warned against it so much.
8 Feb 2013 --
A jog was worth it to make it to the cheese shop before it closes -- yummiest raw organic cheese was like a drug.
Still in love with bluegreen - been since I discovered colors as a 5 or 6 year old...
6 Feb 2013 -- Big Tobacco "Drug Pushers"
Winston Cigarette Drug Pushers are now catering to young smokers'
conflict. They say don't question it - don't say "maybe" - instead "be"
-- bastards!! These drug pushers' psychologists know well the conflict
that any intelligent human goes through if they're a smoker and are
brainwashing the young to step out of that conflict and try to push the
youngster over the edge and make them go buy that drug. This should be
criminal..
In another abusive manipulative propaganda the cigarette company puts up billboards saying
"Maybe is not in my dictionary, don't be a maybe."
Bastards!
2 Feb 2013 -- Psychological Freedom
Email to a loved one who cherishes therapy:
Many people keep applying thought to where it doesn't belong. Therapy can't help this. The
key to freedom is awareness of how thought acts and the mind learning
where thought belongs and where it doesn't. This is not a difficult
thing but it keeps getting blocked because thought not entering where
it doesn't belong means inner quietness which means the end of the
self. But the self hardly wants to end and therefore resists this
exploration.
If you take it very simply, it's a virtue for the
mind to say, having learned, that no, that's not an area for thinking
to enter - so I remain quiet - and just be.
A flower can't hide its perfume. Not only that but somehow it attracts those who seek to be enriched by perfume.
A
wise person is like a well of water. Those who are thirsty come to him
or her by some universal force. Or is it that everyone - most people
are thirsty - but they're too inhibited to search for water - but when
water goes knocking on their door, they see the smile and thing maybe
there's something there - maybe there's a safe space - something
fragrant that brings that smile and joy - which most children have but
it's lost.
I've seen hints from the other side. But secrets of life and death are bigger than our brain's capacity.
The
other side that matters is not beyond death of the body - it's beyond
the death of the me - the self - which is made of time and thought. The
other side is of love and not time. It is motionless yet moving. It
embraces everything - even those who deny it or work ignorantly and
deliberately to annihilate it. A mother can not stop loving a child, no
matter what. There's always a chance, even for the stupid, ignorant,
criminal, mediocre, to drop the self - in the moment - and be silent --
so that which is beyond can flourish in the present and spread its
perfume.
===== ramblings from some time ago: the key diff is prana - the dead have no life force - deep
breathing pumps the being with prana - something the dead can only dream about
k talks about stream and lack of individuality - maybe he's
wrong and right - there seems to be entities in the psychic realm - i know
ghosts exist for example - isn't this people who continued as entities? and also helpers and angels exist. as humans we do "know" these. is this how we
developed heaven and hell idea? probably. we felt angels/helpers and felt
ghosts who died with desires. and those who loved like and died w/o desire but
still wanted to be reborn - and those who had habits and cravings which carried
on as the karma burned off in the being of those with whom they're closest to
and are alive. But is truth something beyond these perceptions and
assumptions / theories / conclusions they lead to?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The world demands that you declare that you’re something. It
makes an image of you or an image of your image of yourself – which you may not
even have – and want to shoot that b/c it perceives you to be successful happy
free clear. (logged)
24 Jan 2013 - Meditation
There is more to meditation than observing -- namely,
emptying. That's an essential part of meditation. Writing is a great way of
emptying -- or talking to a good friend. Sometimes thought needs to struggle
and do its thing and flourish -- however, writing helps capture all thoughts so
when the same one comes back the mind knows, "been there, done that".
Also it's important for the mind to learn where thought belongs and where it
doesn't.Observation is artistic and
effective when the mind is quiet and not judging what it sees.
23 Jan 2013 - Handshake Etiquette
My
dad said this a long time ago: that it is impolite for a young person
to initiate handshake to an older person. Many young people don't know
this.
It seems widely accepted practices and anticipated among
many, or at least it's an unwritten gesture of politeness (to NOT
initiate a handshake to an older person)
From 3 different websites:
"Cultural norms dictate that the older person or the person with the
highest stature should initiate a handshake. If you have roughly the
same age and position with the other person then offering a handshake is
a way of portraying yourself as a confident person."
"According to proper conservative etiquette I think men have to wait for
women to initiate a handshake, younger people have to wait for older
people and people in a lower position have to wait for the person with a
higher rank to offer them a hand."
"People with the highest level of authority should extend their hands first and others should wait for this gesture."
16 Jan 2013 - Meditation
Some people think dragging themselves out of bed at 5 am after 5 hours
of sleep to meditate is a virtue.
One
of the positive aspects of children's minds vs. many adults is that
children move on but adults get stuck -- so it's important for a parent
not to project their giving continuity as though it's the kid doing it
too. Same thing with psychological complexities -- adults should not
project their complexities to children and instead learn to simplify
their minds, freeing it from out of place thought.
The kid is not corrupted by comparison, it’s the educational system and
parents that corrupts the kid with comparison.
Put yourself in the position of the kid – always being given
a choice at that age – parent knows much better what the kid needs in
terms of
balanced diet and instead of asking all the time should recommend…
delete like
and dislike for a while and see what happens.Some parents get tired of arguing and give in and only
give the kid what
it wants but then it’s choice after choice.
15 Jan 2013 - Shameful promotion of guns
"NRA releases free target-practice app—for ages 4 and up"
Shame on NRA.
14 Jan 2013 - Catching up on notes ...
Classical guitar to me is about
beautiful tone and phrasing.
It's not about who is the fastest shredder. The violin and electric
guitar may
be better built for that but we have the advantage of an incredible
pallet of
tone colors and chord shapes which for me far surpasses speed shredding.Jason Kessler
========
Diamondback Capital to close its doors as investors pull $520 million
Diamondback
Capital Management, among the hedge funds raided by the FBI two years
ago in the U.S. investigation of insider trading on Wall Street, is
liquidating after an exodus of clients.
Bearish hedge
fund managers have lost out in 2012, with the $2 trillion industry
suffering another year of disappointing returns as traders were
wrongfooted by a change in fortunes for the euro zone.
========
Abuse of Karma Yoga They pay an arm and a leg for the yoga class and still
they're asked to clean the toilettes and floors etc. as Karma Yoga
practice.
She doesn't do it - and most others don't either. They see through the
abuse.
========
we limit ourselves a lot by thinking things that are not true ========
Schumann
was a great writer as well as songwriter. I had such a "connection"
with him, for lack of better words, when I was in my early 20's...
========
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators charged a Wells Fargo investment
banker and nine others with fraud on Wednesday in connection with their
alleged role in an insider-trading ring that earned more than $11
million by trading on tips about impending mergers.
Great news: SEC implicated giant hedge fund boss
JPMorgan
Chase and Credit Suisse have agreed to pay a combined $417 million to
settle federal civil charges that they sold risky mortgage bonds to
investors ahead of the 2008 financial crisis that the banks knew could
fail... Both banks failed to properly disclose their practices that
allowed them to profit while investors lost millions, the SEC said.
========
But he attacked the culture of investment banks,
arguing that compliance rules were "aspirational" and that traders had
to bend rules to achieve the goals set by senior management.
========
someone wrote:
“i'm
not so much voting for obama as i am voting against the republicans. no
way i'm handing over the keys to these clowns again. republicans do not
know how to govern they're nothing but elected lobbyists. …
tomorrow begins the first term of president barack obama's presidency.
the first four years were spent cleaning up the republican mess.”
========
someone wrote of Romney's Bain Capital:
Investors
also included members of elite Salvadoran families who fled the
country's civil war. They and other wealthy Latin Americans invested
millions primarily through offshore companies registered in Panama.
Supported by drug cartels. Romney did not start Bain. He was hired.
hummmmm I wonder why he keeps touting doing more business with south
america.
Benghazi
seems the be the last rope some bigots are hanging on but that's about
to go loose too. They forget so quickly how many people were killed by
Bush's idiotic actions.
=================
Biggest
penalty for the bigots is their nightmare coming through: a black
president for
4 more years. That gives the bigots 4 more years to observe their
prejudice and
become free from it and realize we're all in this together and no
matter what
your color religion or ethnic background, or did I mention gender Mr.
Romney?
-- we're all one.
oh
and I guess
we'll have less bigots living here because some of them said they'll
leave the US if Obama is
reelected. Good. They can
leave.
================
my movie review:
Teaches
kids irresponsibility, promotes smoking, teaching them brutality, drug
use, theft, comparison, superficiality, premature sexual activity,
lying, bad behavior, cussing, corruption, self abuse, self cutting,
underage drinking and defeats its own purpose of showing what bad
influence can do in your life.
teaches people it's ok to lie
teaches people it's ok to be violent
teaches people the wrong concept of love
==================
Hottest
Persian band before the revolution and possibly ever. On guitar it's my
teacher, Armik. I saw this band live in a small party just before the
revolution. The same bass and another hot guitarist but Armik was the
best of best.
3.5 year old uses a computer easily for hours - playing games - her mom
says she even knows how to connect to internet.
=================== Giant goat-cheese fire closes Norwegian roadway for six days
===================
I like foreplay better than sex.
[logged]
13 Jan 2013
"By the way I often use Beatles music to teach students guitar. George
Harrison with all his bar chords makes the student develop a strong
left hand. They usually fall in love with the music. I always get the
comment "How come we don't have music like that ? I have to
say because your generation is focused on sampling, hip -hop and rap
which does not incorporate the use of melody and developmental
form. I feel sorry for these kids. Seems we got all the great
music in the 60's and 70's."
Jason Kessler
7 Jan 2013
Most
people are not aware that there's another movement beyond time-thought
which is the source of all joy. They feel it occasionally but they're
not aware of it.
More on Sai Baba fraud:
http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/7/lingam.htm#mysterium -- and now Swami
Vishwananda ??
31 Dec 2012
# 1 New Years Resolution across America is to lose
weight!!!!...
Arena's
Belviq is at the leading edge of medical science for the obese and
comorbidities of being overweight. 2013 will be Arena's year (Nasdaq:
ARNA)
Looking at some art work I could feel the pain of the artists.
AP Poll Finds 56 Percent Harbor 'Anti-Black' Views, Media Turn Page
Now
the Associated Press is out with a poll showing that not only do a
majority of Americans harbor some anti-black views (“whether they
recognize those feelings or not”), but that number has actually grown
since Obama took office—up from 51 percent to 56 percent.
And anti-Hispanic views are held by 57 percent.
I bet in Switzerland prejudice rate againt foreigners is even higher. His
brother killed himself b/c the other brothers cheated him out of of his
dad's inheritance.
advised him to settle the case against the 18 plaintiffs else it can
drag 10+ years and only lawyers will win. George
Martin got 2000 pounds in salary in 1963 - the sales people got huge
bonuses for sales of Beatles records to dealers - he didn't even get a
bonus because they said now you're an executive and don't get bonus.
-
Kids are far less complicated than adults. Adults often project their
complications onto their kids and see the world of theirs through the
adult eyes and all its complication of comparison measurement etc.
29 Dec 2012 Global Warming is Not a Myth
""The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is warming at twice the rate
previously
thought, say scientists who have teased the information from more than
50 years of temperature data at Byrd Station, in the center of the ice.
The average temperature at that station has risen 4.3 degrees F (2.4
degrees C) since 1958, which is triple the warming rate of most of the
planet and on par with the very fastest warming parts of the world.""
Mother
Mother
was drowning in the pool. The thought that occurred to her as she
struggled with the water wasn't so much her death - her ending - and so
on - but her child. She was worried at the impact of her death on her
child who already has a complicated life with 2 little children a job
and so on. That is holy. That is divine. That is a love that I could
never know not having been a mother.
Luckily she was saved.
Dec 2012 - UBS Crooks
"Swiss banking giant UBS AG said Wednesday it has admitted to fraud and
agreed to pay some $1.5 billion to U.S., British and Swiss authorities
in a probe into the rigging of global benchmark interest rates."
"Sergio
Ermotti, who was appointed CEO of UBS AG in November 2012 in the wake
of a major trading scandal, said in the statement that the misconduct
does not reflect the bank's values or standards."
SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Values which are values until the crooks are caught
with fraud.
I
don't forget how a UBS analyst was bashing Dendreon's Provenge before
it was approved. He even had false info in his research report and even
after Dendreon pointed it out he still had the info. Short interest in
Dendreon in those days was astronomical . Sort of reminds me of Credit
Suisse's recent attack on Arena Pharmaceuticals with their very poor
analysis. When these banks talk about values I just take it as a joke.
21 Dec 2012 - NRA's lame response to
school shooting
I
don't know what these people are smoking!! NRA's response to
the
horrific school shooting is to promote more guns and say armed gunmen
should be on school campuses that want them to supposedly protect the
kids. What a lame response. No talk of why their reckless irresponsible
attitude has helped obtaining a weapon so easy.
'A man rose from the press area in front of LaPierre during his speech
and held up a pink cloth displaying "NRA Killing Our Kids." Later, a
woman unfurled a sign reading "NRA blood on your hands” and shouted
"reckless behavior coming from the NRA"' ~~~~
The
Republican party is reckless not conservative. All the way from wanting
less regulation on wall street to wanting less gun control to playing
Russian Roulette with the economy by pushing for the tax cut for the
super rich at the expense of putting the entire economy and all classes
of society at danger of recession.
~~~~~~
other notes:
There so the so-called conservatives playing Russian Roulette with US
economy by trying to protect people who make over a million a year from
paying higher taxes. This is reckless as hell and these folks call
themselves conservatives.
"Boehner’s inability to pass his tax alternative is “certainly a
victory for conservative principles,” Huelskamp said. Boehner removed
the Kansas lawmaker from the House Budget Committee after he opposed
the speaker on prior spending and budget issues."
There's
absolutely NOTHING conservative and nothing close to a rational
principle in putting the entire economy at danger of a big recession.
If anything it is extremely reckless.
~~~~~~~~
Shame
on NRA for this stupid proposal. the problem is much deeper and it
requires further regulation on access to weapons. NRA has its head in
the sand of fanaticism and ideology.
Dec 2012 - Fraud at Jim Cramer's
Organization -- Surprise Surprise !!
No mention of Cramer but he's the Director, Founder, and Editor of TST.
Adam
Frogstein tweeted today: Adam Feuerstein @adamfeuerstein
$ARNA -- DEA
finally published proposed Belviq scheduling. One step closer to a
failed launch!
These bozos have been bashing Arena since it was
under $2. Now it's $9.47 and they're still bashing. It's like standing
in the middle of the road staring at approaching headlights and saying
it's just a mirage. And sadly enough a lot of shorts fell for
the
fiction they were promoting and now are in deep deep trouble.
Frogstein
still writes online that he thinks it's ineffective and unsafe while
the FDA, the nation's highest authority on health has said it's
effective and safe. Panel of top doctors in the country say so too but
this bozo Frogstein with a bachelors in political science doesn't think
so! How valuable is that opinion especially since he's been wrong again
and again, and misled people by posting his so called opinions and
misrepresentations. It was pointed out to him time and again the
fallacies in his arguments - but he continued is misinformation
campaign. And now he's just expressing an (worthless) opinion, or
rather malarkey.
With 50+ million shorted shares it's hardly surprising.
15 Dec 2012 - Is the universe finite?
Einstein is not so sure. Tara
Salehi, my 8 year old niece is also not sure.
One
idea that came was, by universe we refer to the physical universe which
is obviously only one dimension. In itself the physical world has
multi-dimensions but its totality in itself is just one dimention of
the bigger totality which is perhaps more appropriately called universe
than just the physical universe.
Now what
we do know about matter is that it is limited. Like thought itself
which is a material process and therefore limited b/c matter is
limited. Is matter limited? We assume it is because we observe that the
table for example has certain dimensions and it is limited to those
dimensions. My astronomy is somewhat rusty and we've come a long way
since Einstein's time but he wasn't sure if universe is not
limited.
Physics and the study of the
properties of the physical universe is very interesting. The limited
inherits properties of dimensions that it is encapsulated in.
Our
brains are tiny. The table is tiny. We have the power to stipulate but
it is still very very limited. Speculating into the non-physical
dimensions (metaphysics) has been of interest to mankind since the
beginning of time. What do we know and what do we not know? Not much of
what we know about metaphysics can be proven with scientific method.
It's an individual experience, yet a scientific mind helps in
distinguishing illusions from what actually is.
An a tuned instrument is important in
tuning in and playing the tune which many can not hear.
Einstein: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human
stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. :
15 Dec 2012 - Shooting
Horror
shooting in CT. Many children and adults died. This was not the first
time - school shooting have occurred several times in America - and in
Norway by a fanatic. When you lose touch with nature you lose touch
with humanity -- you don't think of those children as precious lives
but as objects - targets for your frikin gun - and the Republican party
and its so called conservatives have been pushing against gun
control.. One of the guns used was the same as in a previous school
shooting. Why does a 20 year old have such easy access to guns?
One
thing that's common among all these shootings is the criminal suffers
from the disease of loneliness and social isolation.
NRA,
are you listening? Republicans who are touting looser gun controls, are
you listening? Rifles kill. The US needs stricter weapons laws not what
the frikin NRA irresponsible extremist lobbyists promote.
Dec 2012 - Let's Get Obesity Under Control
"They have said Post's obesity would make it hard to find a
vein for a lethal injection and that Ohio's
alternate method, an intramuscular injection, might not kill him
because of his
weight."
15 Dec 2012 - T-Mobile Customer Service
Worst Ever
T
Mobile customer service in India is like pulling teeth -- so
frustrating - I had not got so mad since I was in India and was getting
the run around at the bus station!!
"I'm so sorry - don't you
worry" - and baam! another false info - another clueless comment -
another bad connection - another hopeless can't do attitude - another
hour wasted beating your head against the wall. - and at the end: sorry
our system is not working !! -- and guess what - the girl did give
wrong info -- and the manager was also wrong on international roaming
-- and they think if they keep repeating the same wrong info or stupid
question it becomes right! I don't know why I stay with this pathetic
company.
Dec 2012 - Truth
To
teach the children to be truthful in a society which is so full of lies
is of utmost importance. It involved not tolerating the simplest of
lies and letting them fact the fact that they lied and allowing them to
learn from it.
Dec 2012 - Attempts by Koch Brothers to
kill renewable energy
Koch Brothers Fund Bogus Studies to Kill Renewable Energy
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/koch-brothers-fund-bogus-studies-to-kill-renewable-energy??cmpid=SolarNL-Tuesday-December11-2012
Shame
on billionaires Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch for fighting truth.
There's no difference between this and the Wall Street crooks who try
to propagate falsehoods to make money even if it costs people's lives.
The Koch Brothers are costing life of our planet which they so
disgustingly disregard and the future of US economy. China just took
over A123. If Romney had become president America would become a loser
in leadership of global alternative energy which is the answer for
tomorrow -- something I doubt these frikin brothers don't see but more
likely they try to ignore because they love money too much -- and they
have billions -- how much more do you want bro ? and at what cost?
Shame on you.
And these people call themselves conservative !!!
09 Dec 2012 - The World Lost A Great
Philosopher & A Great Human: Dr. James Christian
Lori wrote as part of a longer statement: "On December 9th at
9:05 a.m., my beloved suddenly opened his eyes for
the last time searching for me with an urgency and deeply
inhaled one
last time. And then my beloved allowed
himself freedom from the
horrible pain he was suffering. ( I was right by his side)"
I wrote to her: Love wisdom and goodness never die. He's alive right
here with the legacy he left behind, in our hearts and minds.
Jamming
with Angela was spiritual orgasm. The material is so exciting. The
music is so rich. Our execution is so powerful and beautiful. It is not
what we make but what is made through us. It's fueled by love of music.
Her diligent bass and guitar work, her talent, and intelligent mind and
good heart, execution of ideas that we have, is refreshing. People
absolutely love this music. It's healing and energizing.
- Arena is second best performing stock on Russel 3000 this year.
- (AP) — The Committee to Protect Journalists says more journalists
around the world are sitting in prisons than ever before.
Dec 2012 - Helping Fight Global
Pandemic Of Obesity
Here's a note by Dr. Vig which I take the liberty to share with you. He
wrote to me, Jim(Danny) and Dr. Daniel in response to a thank you note
I forwarded to him and Dr Daniel. Those gentlemen have been in this war
against delusion a lot longer than I, and have helped a lot in
educating shareholders and therefore helping them persevere the
difficult times and continue to support Arena in its efforts to fight
the crippling global pandemic of obesity . The best is yet to come.
"Reza, Daniel, James
: I would also like
to thank all of you for your tremendous efforts on behalf of
Arena Pharmaceuticals and Belviq. Although shareholders of
Arena certainly will benefit from a rising stock price of
ARNA, the REAL WINNERS will be the overweight patients who
lose weight and improve their health. There is no doubt in my
mind that many lives will be saved by this
medicine. I really
appreciate the efforts of all of you guys in the Battle of the
Bulge. This may well be the most
important work that any of us do in our lifetimes
!!!! Keep it up
!!!!
Your friend, Steven Vig"
6 Dec 2012 - Insider Trading
Glad
to see the SEC getting tough on insider trading. The SAC/Cohen case is
a fresh turn of page in the way crooks abuse info to get ahead of Main
Street.
Jim Cramer's TheStreet.com is a hub of bozos
like Adam Frogstein -- Here's a good news item: "When Michael
Baron's buddies passed on a hot stock tip at a basketball
game last year, the senior editor for financial-news website
TheStreet.comTST 0.00% gave it little thought. A year later, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation came knocking and told him something he
never expected to hear, says a person familiar with his thinking: He
had been tied to a sophisticated insider-trading ring.
4 Dec 2012 - Facebook Is Breaking
The Law
Facebook
is lying and thereby violating my friend's right to correct
representation. Facebook, this pathetic horrible company just emailed
me that my friend is "following pages on Facebook". She is sitting next
to me and is saying she absolutely is not following any of these pages
listed in the email from Facebook. Shame on you Facebook. Glad I don't
use that crap software (and only have a dummy account for very rare
occasions).
2 Dec 2012 - K
Talking
to a good trusted friend - these ideas came to surface after our
talk... I haven't shared these with anyone yet and like a new piece on
the guitar it's still not mature.
Various new age "spiritual paths"
- and most claim to be ancient - and some may be - think of meditation
as cutting off from the world - in the most extreme way repetition /
mantras / which are a form of hypnoses - and in more moderate forms,
sitting quietly while being aware of what-is. Most of the even liberal
ones also have these two characteristics:
a) there is an underlying belief system - usually with involvement of a
guru
b) extended lengthy meditation sessions which expand several hours a
day in some cases
By
consequence or not, J. Krishnamurti came to America around the same
time as some other "spiritual teachers" -- in what appears to be zeit
geist. As I said these are new ideas so it's all tentative. Yogananda
came to the US in 1920. K came to US in 1922. A number of gurus and
teachers came to the US in that époque and for years to come and they
still do (e.g. a young yogananda look alike so called guru called
Vishwananda who claims to be Yogananda's reincarnate - and he gets
engaged in Sai-baba like activities to lure gullible Westerners).
A
fact is the world is not short of gullible people and that includes the
West - either because the religion and cultures do not offer the kind
of mystic side which people apparently seek or for whatever other
reason Westerners are very attracted to almost anyone who claims to be
a guru. There is little skepticism among the so-called
educated
Westerners when it comes to spirituality -- I see it around me all the
time -- as soon as someone sets themselves up as a spiritual authority
- an enlightened person - wears the right clothes - puts on the right
outward appearance - they fall for him or her - in return for a smile -
for a hug - for a gaze - literally -- and money flows to these so
called leaders.
From a marketing standpoint it is an
incredibly ripe and lucrative market. And it has been milked for almost
a 100 years and still going strong despite the huge number of suppliers
in the forms or various cults, gurus, etc. -- the West is full of it --
and 1/2 of these suppliers have no chance in the East. Why? Perhaps
because from Middle-East on Eastward the mystic history is not as
separated from the religions as it is in the West and people,
especially in certain countries like Iran where it has a very rich
history of mysticism with Rumi Hafiz and so on, people have a affinity
for mysticism and it comes to them naturally. J. Krishnamurti whom I
respect, referred to this at times -- that to some cultures it comes
easier than to others. This goes in a direction I had not intended.
Coming
back to the subject of meditation, Krishnamurti's take on it as far as
I understand having read almost all of his books and books
about
him, is mysterious. He wrote a lot about meditation and talked
extensively about it -- hardly ever in the form that most systems refer
to - but he also talked about sitting quietly while speaking in smaller
circles. In public talks he hardly talked about it as such.
One
of the aspects of K's attitude towards mediation as far as I understood
it was that it is also something that happens throughout the day and
not exclusive for an hour - but he didn't exclude that either... One
definition he often used was "emptying consciousness of its content" --
I know from experience - and I think K also talks about this - that
that emptying can occur throughout the day. My thesis is, if
that
happens - if one lives such that there is awareness of all layers of
consciousness during the day - then there is no need for spending hours
in meditation which some of these systems do.
Those systems
are burdened with belief systems and becoming. Yogananda's Kriayoga
circle for example, is all about becoming - about working out many
lifetimes in this lifetime - and boy this is a great aspect of that
"cash cow" which gurus have been milking for a century in the West.
So
if we delete the belief systems that bog the mind - and that whole
movement of becoming - and pay attention during the day to thoughts and
feelings - and sit quietly or not - but it's better to do, I have found
out, then that movement of meditation can flow throughout the day and
in this high speed day and age where people don't have enough time to
sleep, we don't have to cut our days short by 2 hours a day spent on
becoming!!
I like to be skeptical of my own thinking and examine it.
Another
thing is, K, I believe, had to take a radical approach in order to make
people get it. Because the conditioning - the tradition - the self -
are so strong - and the tradition of mysticism so weak - that the
condition for not getting it is so much stronger than otherwise. So his
discarding of traditions like yoga is one example. He did yoga postures
himself but publicly he discarded yoga as a philosophy that would lead
to liberation. Or attitude towards God for example. Most people don't
read enough to dig deep -- I meet people who are saying they have a
deep interest in K but have never read a book cover to cover - and many
more who read one book maybe.
I met an old friend whose been
around these K circles for a long time - 20 years perhaps - and I was
surprised to hear he has no real interest - and has not read much K
ever. This goes in another direction not intended here but in short, I
view this work as something that deserves to be studied deeply like any
other subject. In the Early 90's one of K's old friends and scholars,
Albion Patterson used to criticize the KFA for promoting dialogue and
not study -- he used to say "too much talk and not enough study" --
that's a long story...
The point is, I don't think we should
discard these other new age (or old age) teachings, or traditional yoga
teachings for example, outright b/c someone said, be free from all
tradition to find out. I personally do not follow Krishnamurti and I do
not believe in him. It would the ultimate act of disrespect to believe
in someone! I take his pointers and examine them - as I do with
everyone else who gives me a tip.
So the field is wide open --
I am mostly interested in the research and understanding of people who
go out of the box and examines K's teachings in different
contexts...
PS -- I've always been fascinated with the great fascination of the
West for
anything Indian. It's kind of like the allure of America in the East
among youngsters -- they all want to go to America and love anything
American.
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Major tobacco companies that spent decades denying they
lied to the U.S. public about the dangers of cigarettes must spend
their own money on a public advertising campaign saying they did lie, a
federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The ruling sets out what might
be
the harshest sanction to come out of a historic case that the Justice
Department brought in 1999 accusing the tobacco companies of
racketeering.
Nov
2012 - Cookware
Anodized
aluminum cookware are just as bad b/c they still expose the user to
toxic metal - and if coated the coating can be hazardous like Teflon
which is banned in packaging in California.
He was busted for insider trading and
"former
portfolio manager was arrested Nov. 20, the sixth time a current or
former employee was linked to insider trading while working at the firm"
"it was “understood” that giving Cohen your best ideas included
providing insider information"
"With
the public announcement of the data just a week away, Mr. Martoma
e-mailed Mr. Cohen on a Sunday, according to the complaint. Within the
hour, the two were on the phone and spoke for 20 minutes, prosecutors
say. Over several days, SAC not only sold its entire positions in Elan
and Wyeth, but shorted"
People who lost in this lousy game are
Main Street investors and others who didn't have access to insider
information that the crooks had and abused.
If this is true, Stevie Cohen belongs behind bars - his art collection
won't be of much use there.
This
takes me back to Dendreon days and the manipulation we witnessed and
how a broker said the SAC trader was worried over the surprised good
news. My guess is SAC was one of the big shorts then they went big long
and then it crashed.
"A
senior trader who isn’t named in court documents said in an e- mail to
Martoma as he began selling shares that “no one knows except you me and
[the Hedge Fund Owner],”
This is probably many in a big scheme
of leakage by corrupt people. What about all those who sold ARNA
moments after FDA BD's came out in 2010? Who had the chance to read
those documents withing minutes before hitting sell button?
Consideration
is a great trait. It seems so basic yet so many people who live their
lives with their head absorbed in their own little self with its
problems, pleasures, etc., void of consideration which is sensitivity,
alertness, gentleness, respect, empathy, and is not brought with
expensive suits and the superficial way of life which is promoted by
marketers.
----------------
- She says she is lonely.
Loneliness
is a disease that needs to be solved. If not solved and one is with
another that loneliness persists though covered up. Examine this and
see if it’s true or not.
A big part of feeling deficient is
physical. When the brain chemistry is balanced and body is healthy one
feels good. How often do you got for a walk or exercize?
- once in 2 months I go to the gym.
Go for walks – 35 – 45 min a day and it’ll solve much of that problem.
----------
after
15 minute hold Citibank manager transferred me to India or another
horrible customer service zone - the woman was totally clueless and
then the line was hung up.
----------
wrote this to a friend
I think you need to get out of bed one day determined to make this
work. This means giving up all dependence on gurus psychics palm
readers tarot cards voodoo etc etc :-)
You make the move and God will help you.
-------------
shahre ghesse is so boring and unpleasant and spooky.
-------------
12 Nov 2012 - Spirituality Market
These days, there are as many new gurus as there are new Persian singers
pounded out by LA (Tehrangeles') superficial music scene. These so
called enlightened people who are hardly enlightened set themselves up
as gurus - attract gullible people which the world is not short of -
people who are looking for an answer - who are confused - who don't
have a good footing in the world - no foundation - and promise them
great flights - spiritual progress which is such a silly concept - and
mislead the gullible followers. But the followers are to be blamed as
much as the charlatans they follow.
The West lacking moral
enrichment has been a ripe target market for the East since early last
century when flocks of gurus came to the West - people who were not
even known in India and made a killing teaching the gullible Westerners
about spiritual riches of the East. Some made a killing by applying
their business acumen - others by attracting celebrities - and even the
less successful ones managed to collect enough disciples since the
market was and still is so huge.
There is nothing noble in
being a guru -- many followers of Yogananda for example maintain that
he does 25% of their work for them. You have to be crazy to want to do
25% of the work of thousands of people even after you're dead -
assuming that theory is true which I don't think is, anyway.
I've
seen people's lives get destroyed by following some gurus - they either
went crazy or dull by repeating mantras endlessly in hope of achieving
something - which is such a silly concept -- or they became
disillusioned confused and unhappy.
Some of these gurus are
alright - gentle - and not too dangerous if you can think for yourself
- but if you can think for yourself you don't need the guru any more.
But some of them are flat our charlatans - resorting to magic
tricks to fool gullible followers - or even using healing powers to
help their commercial success. Bottom line is, you listen to what these
crooks have to say and you can see right through their act.
And
like the new persian singers out of Los Angeles - or new genres of
music - or new types of yoga - you hear of new gurus every day.
Some newer ones apply some of the insights of J. Krishnamurti
to
provide a more refined message but I am resentful towards them because
they call themselves enlightened while that whole concept is
questionable as whether it's something final in time - and to listen to
them is dull boring uninsightful and pitiful -- they thrive on
cherishing pity and sorrow.
Followers of Krishnamurti are not
exception to this - they make him into a guru - but he's not - and if
anybody understood him they wouldn't be following him.
A good family, including a mother and father, makes it easier to raise
good children -- of course a single parent can also raise good children
but it's more challenging. Mother and father provides a a good stable
foundation. Of course if there is conflict it's better for that
foundation to not be there than for it to be a conflictual one.
9 Nov
2012 - Carl Rove Lost: The cunning man behind Bush's
8 years of miserable presidency who tried to get Romney elected.
This was the sweetest outcome of the elections. Rove lost:
"Karl
Rove boasted on the eve of Tuesday's election that all signs pointed
towards an electoral college landslide. He was right about the result,
just wrong about the candidate. And now it's up to Rove to explain to
donors why, after blowing through $300 million of their money,
President Obama is still President Obama and Harry Reid still runs the
Senate."
-----------
A friend wrote:
"they believed their own BS! Maybe this will make Rove and
Cheney go into their bunker and stay there permanently. And
Fox News looked more ridiculous than usual, which was a nice touch. I
heard on the local NPR station this morning that they took the Romney
victory fireworks off the barge and back to Republican HQ. too bad, so
sad. :-)
I
like that line "they believed their own BS" -- reminds me of the Arena
Pharma (ARNA) short sellers who fell for their own fiction they were
promoting.
-----------
Someone wrote: "Wall
street cry babies are turning the market red today to punish America
for supporting Obama and not their Hedge fund puppets. But, from what I
read the rest of the world is happy that Obama has won because the
republican mentality deals in absolutes like Bush's you are either with
us or against us which is a ridiculous way to carry out foreign policy.
No foreign country is going to want to partner or cooperate with us if
they feel they are being cooerced into agreements that are not in their
best interests as well. That' is one of the biggest problems I see with
Republicans is that they think they can fix everything with a hammer
and when that doesn't work they just shutter the home and close all
lines of communication with the outside world. I
truly wish they would do away with Fox news and all these other hate
radio talk shows. Those shows that just play on people's emotions, take
advantage of weak minds and play on their fears. They have done a lot
of damage to this country in past 2 decades and caused a lot of
irrational thinking."
At
the beginning of this race I knew Romney would lose because he
has
a track record of losses and despite his 200+ million dollars in wealth
he's a loser. Money is not everything. He was out of touch with the
realities people face having been born and raised and still with a
silver spoon in his mouth. Ruthlessly putting companies out of
business, shipping jobs abroad, and making millions doesn't count as
success.
Millions of bigots who couldn't handle having a black
president chose Romney in dismay too. Those "tea party" airheads who
walk around while their head is in the sand boasting they can see,
didn't have a better choice because Republican party might be bankrupt.
The days of bigotry is over. For four more years at least.
George
Bush nearly bankrupted the Republican party which does have some decent
good people as members. The extremist of the neo-cons which started a
stupid war and wasted lives and depleted the nation of the surplus they
inherited from 8 years of hard work before their time - for the benefit
of Halliburtons and Big Oil, is not easily forgotten by people no
matter how much dense junior preppies like Paul Ryan or spoiled weasels
like Romney who thinks 47% of the nation are irresponsible, beat the
drum about Libia or other excuses and fear tactics to win votes. In
Florida a robo caller called thousands on Nov 6 saying election is
tomorrow. This is fascism - these deceptive practices should be
illegal. They were afraid of voters. In some states they passed laws
that would make it harder for people to vote. Gosh!!
GOP lost and people of America did not fall into the trap of 2000 and
2004 by electing a stupid man.
Now let's hope their clueless leaders in congress like that scary guy
John Boehner don't try to stall progress.
The world is taking a sigh of relief.
3 Nov
2012 -
The
universe is finite. It does have an end. People think it doesn't but it
does.
Tara Salehi (8 year old)
3 Nov
2012 - Arena etc.
Talked to a guru in this field -- his remarks:
- Obama will win - Nate Silver gave him a 85% chance of victory this
morning.
- Contrave is not a big deal - it's generics also - how many people are
prescribing those today?
-
He doesn't like realestate b/c it's not liquid. With RS you have to be
at right place at right time. And like me he's never had appetite for
owning realestate.
- He thinks Arena is safe. He thinks it'll take
off next June - I think a lot sooner (depending on market risk) b/c of
short covering - an international deal - DOE / launch.
- He doesn't think not getting the 65M milestone this year is a
negative. Co has said "if DOE completes scheduling".
- Belviq approval in Europe is very likely. It meets categorical
efficacy and is has very good safety profile.
-
I can't believe people actually listened to the stupid analysts of
Credit Suisse and Bank Of America -- those jokes of estimates for Vivus
is facing reality that
a) Doctors can prescribe generics instead of Qsymia
b) Vivus can't do much effective marketing
c) Doctors know the ingredients and many don't like it
1) Belviq will be marketed by Eisai in a big way
2) Doctors understand the safety and will prescribe it- no sour
history.
--------------
In
memory of the worst president of the USA ever - and which many of the
same people who supported him are now supporting Romney:
51% of Americans have prejudice against blacks.
So
the bottom line is prejudice. An Obama win gives another 4 years of
chance to the 51% of Americans who shamefully still have a prejudice
against blacks.
-
She said the bigots will have a fit by having a black president for 4
more years. They also think Obama is a Moslem. They said if he's
reelected they'll leave the US. Good. The country can do with less
number of bigots.
-
Swiss person realized it's important to sing with feelings. I guess in
that neck of woods it's important to practice that - in some other
places singing with feeling is second nature.
2 Nov
2012 - My 2-Cents On The Elections
DISCLOSURE:
I am not a Democrat or Republican. I keep an open mind and pick the
PERSON not the PARTY. I have listened to both sides intently -- seen
all the debates including the primaries, and heard many of the rallies
on both sides. I know the position of the candidates and their parties
on every issues and I have kept an open mind the whole time.
If you want to vote for Romney think of this:
-
Remember 2008 after 8 years of worst presidency in the US history in
which Bush and his gang ruined the country and the world - the economy
was in a near-depression state and US had engaged in two major wars
during those 8 years.
- Remember how Bush was elected (or not)
and re-elected with all the fear mongering that went along with it. It
was so clear to me - crystal clear in year 2000 that a Bush presidency
would equate nightmare and - it - was. Why was it so clear to
me
and so many others while my dear cousin was boasting about Bush being a
cowboy - the cowboy mentality failed the people.
- Obama
inherited an utter mess. Obama was not my first choice in the primaries
in 2008 - but preferred him to McCain -- and he's done better that I
thought -- he's put some great people in key posts -- not scary
characters like some of Bush's people.
- Romney is a lot smarter
than Bush but all the same smart cunning people around Bush are around
Romney. Big Oil, big insurance companies, lobbyists and special
interest will be the big winner if Romney wins and Main Street will be
the losers -- although their propaganda machine know exactly how to
play the emotions of those who will be worse off to feel they'll be
better off -- just as Carl Rover orchestrated for Bush.
- Climate change is real. Sandy proved it. Romney's total disregard for
the environment is scary.
-
The idea of "we're all in this together" is not some communist
manifesto - it's a fact. We are the world. Billionaires understand that
too but some selfis
- I have become disgusted with Romney - he's
shown his true face when noone was looking -- that spoiled ruthless guy
thinks 47% of Americans are unwilling to take responsibility for their
lives. Forget the party - stop thinking as a Democrat or Republican -
look at the facts. Romney's apology was totally meaningless - he showed
his true face.
- I was totally open to Romney - heard everything
they said. The more I heard the more I disliked him because he can not
be trusted. He's flipped flopped so much that you know he's willing to
say anything to get elected.
- Then what? What if there's an
international crisis? Do you trust a guy who still thinks Russia is
America's number 1 challenge? The man is clueless when it comes to
foreign policy and managed to piss off some key allies on his trips.
This brings bad bad memories of Bush's idiotic foreign policy.
-
Do not forget Bush got the US in two wars and ruined the economy.
Romney is almost as clueless. Being a ruthless businessman means
nothing no matter how much success you have.
- Romney's lie
about Chrysler was unbelievable. His total disregard for truth is
alarming. Chrysler CEO: "I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our
position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to
China,"
- GM CEO: Under Romney "you could have written off this company, this
industry and this country".
- Obama ended the Iaq war – a stupid war that was started by a stupid
man
- Obama killed Bin Laden
- Obama did a world-class job of handling Sandy (remember how Bush
handled Katrina? Or was he on vacation, again?)
- Romney's disrespect for women's rights is deplorable.
- Romney has no idea how a strong military and a strong economy go hand
in hand.
-
Romney's numbers don't add up. I have NEVER seen a candidate be so
superficial as to not present any numbers that make any sense.
-
Romney is using Debt like bush used national security as a scare
tactic. Clinton balanced the budget. Bush ran it up the
ceiling
with his stupid war.
- When Romney says "Small business" he means "Big business".
- People who earn over $8 million a year do not need a tax cut Mr.
Romney.
-
Romney will kill clean energy which in long run is a strategic
competitive advantage. 4 years of Romney will put China and Europe
ahead of US in alternative energy.
- Romney's cheap shots at China are reckless. Bush proved that the
governance by bullying is bankrupt.
-
A Romney win will be catastrophic for the economy and the stock market.
He will tighten monetary policy which is the wrong thing to do at this
stage.
- Wall Street crooks will have a ball at Romney win
because he will loosen the much needed regulations on those crooks.
Main Street will lose with a Romney win.
- Romney's promises of
tax cuts, eliminating capgains, etc. are all baloney. He'll forget
those promises just as he's forgotten all the cheap talk he made during
the primaries. At least with Obama we know what we're getting.
-
Some people think a Romney win will be better for finances because he's
a businessman. This article shows it's the other way around:
-
I will feel a lot more comfortable if Obama and his team are in power
than Romney and his Neo-Cons. There's NOTHING conservative about them.
It's a joke that they call themselves conservative. Bush did the same
and he ran the most reckless presidency ever which cost the world many
billions and many lives. Let Obama continue the repair job. It takes
time but it's going in the right direction.
Whatever your decision, I respect it.
Good wishes
Reza
I
am completely fed up and disgusted with Mitt Romney's lack of integrity
-- it's scary. I watched all the debates in the primaries and
plenty of the recent rallies by both sides and it is VERY clear to me
that Obama is a better choice than Romney for a variety of reasons.
-
Romney has no concern for truth - his campaign has run blatant lies in
their ads, such as the "Jeep factory moving to China" one.
- They've said they don't
-------
KLAS-TV
Channel 8 has a narrator who states: "It's said that character is what
we do when we think no one is looking. Mitt Romney thought no one was
looking when he attacked 47 percent of Americans. His companies shipped
jobs overseas. His plan cuts millionaires' taxes but raises yours.
He'll voucherize Medicare and make catastrophic cuts to education. So
remember what Romney said and what his plan would do."
-------
2 Nov
2012 - Short Sellers
GOOD NEW FROM EUROPE:
This
is not enough - 0.5% is too large of a threshold but much better than
what the SEC is doing which is essentially helping protect short
sellers' identity period (a very bad thing).
The European Securities
and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU regulator, has issued new rules on
the short-selling of securities indicating that anyone with short
positions of greater than 0.2 percent in an EU company’s shares must
report it to regulators. Positions of more than 0.5 percent will be
publicly released.
Two good pieces of news:
'Superstorm Sandy loses its hurricane status'
'Sandy unlikely to damage economy'
Nice
relief from nervous period - my comfort was knowing media always
exaggerates these things. LT said they do it to make people shop more.
I've definitely seen that - but also to simply get viewers.
Glad loved ones are ok and damage is minimal.
Citing climate change, Bloomberg endorses
Obama
at Romney event man shouted "climate change caused Sandy!" sign that
read "End Climate Silence."
"The
man was booed and his sign was pulled away from him. As the heckler was
led out of the event, the booing was layered with chants of "U-S-A!"
"After
days of not hearing reporters' questions about what he wants to do with
FEMA, Mitt Romney's campaign finally released a statement that (sort
of) provides an answer."
Oct
2012 - Green Tea Myth
"It
is tempting to assume that it may therefore help prevent some cancers,
but results of studies in humans have been mixed. Most human studies
have been epidemiologic studies in East Asia, in which researchers
compared tea drinkers with non–tea drinkers while trying to account for
other lifestyle differences. It is hard to draw firm conclusions from
them unless there are multiple studies in which other factors are ruled
out."
"On the other hand, a 2006 Japanese study showed that those with cancer
of the esophagus were more likely to be green tea drinkers than those
who did not have the cancer. "
"it didn’t seem to reduce the risk of prostate cancer continuing to
grow and spread."
"at
this time the available scientific evidence does not support claims
that green tea can help prevent or treat any specific type of cancer in
humans."
--------------------
philosophy class all depends on the teacher - some are very confused -
my professor was great - we're still friends - he said first day of
class DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE GRADE - JUST ENJOY THE CLASS
!!!!!!!
tell kelly the answer to the questio i asked her
philosophy means love of wisdom - love of truth.
so everyone who is eager to find wisdom and truth is a philosopher -
we all have the power to find out things for ourselves
that's what most of those guys did in sophie's world
you don't need credentials to be a philosopher
it requires questioning everything that's handed to you by way of
tradition and seeing how much of it makes sense - take what makes sense
- and leave the rest behind.
it requires understanding how we as humans operate -and it starts with
being aware of how oneself operates - our habits - inclinations - etc.
with a quiet mind - just to see - without trying to judge or change
what we are
seeing is an art - if we judge what we see we're not really seeing
and if we're judging that's what we are - and we see that too :-)
with a quiet mind
the key is quiet mind
not to think too much about things that are not necessary to think of
thought has an important function in practical things of life
So part of that "self knowledge" is for the mind to learn where thought
belongs and where it doesn't. They it's not bound by limitations of
thought (thought is limited because it's based on experience which is
limited). And it can be in tune with a movement which is beyond its
limitations - we can call that movement Love. Many philosophers didn't
go there b/c they were stuck in the mind's activity. But a few did..
This is a taste of holistic philosophy as I call it - and Krishnamurti
goes into it (a little bit in the book I sent you). There's nothing to
believe. In fact belief itself has to be questioned. That's the great
thing about philosophy - which is the basis of all science by the way -
science improved not as result of dogma but by setting aside dogma and
wanting to find truth.
I hope you'll like Sophie's world. I like it because it gives an
overview - it is enough for your purposes - if one philosopher strikes
a chord you can always read more about him. I did a degree in
university in philosophy and read deeper - I liked Hegel - talk about
mind boggling - but Krishnamurti helped me a lot to understand people
like Hegel whom some professors have trouble understand ! I got a GPA
of 3.95 in philosophy !
Good luck with the storm - I hope it goes away without causing harm.
Reza
-----------------
Forecasters
described the "super storm" as a rare hybrid created by an Arctic jet
stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm, possibly dumping up to
12 inches of rain in some areas, as well as heavy snowfall inland.
- Spent 3 hours on the phone with T-Mobile - it was like pulling teeth.
Offshored tech support is a disaster!
23 Oct
2012 - American Elections
Pools indicate Romney is going to win. Very close race though and it's
not over till it's over. My latest thoughts:
- Obama's plan seems to be less obscure than Romney's but neither
candidate get me excited.
- Romney is a good sales man - for this reason alone he may win the
elections.
-
Romney is weak about foreign policy and he's part of a party which has
some very strange characters in it, such as George W Bush, Romsfeld,
Dick Cheney, and this strange Indiana Republican senate candidate
Richard Mourdock today who said pregnancies resulting from rape are
part of God's plan. How stupid and fanatic can you get?
- I disagree with timing of Obamacare (during a very fragile economic
time - he should have waited on that).
-
Romney's flipflopping bothers me - he seems to be willing to say
anything in an era when talk is cheap in order to get elected.
- Romney has the shadow of the
worst president in US history George Bush Junior. The positive thing is
he's a lot more liberal and intelligent than Bush - but perhaps just as
cunning. His mormonism is actually a positive in my opinion. He just
might be "God fearing" vs. the crooks who are willing to do anything
for money.
- Ohama's first debate failure cost him a lot.
-
Today Obama was busy attacking Romney - he seemed to be coming from a
position of weakness given the polls. Romney was busy doing his sales
pitch.
- The most recent weak corporate earnings report is adding salt to
Obama's wound.
-
Ryan being so junior bothers me. Obama being junior bothers me too and
always has but
in many aspects he's done a good job learning on the job. The country
is better off in many ways compared to Bush years given the mess Obama
inherited.
- Romney
having grown up with silver spoon in his mouth is out of touch about
what hardship really means. However, his 250M net worth shows he has
certain talents for success and is intelligent enought not to nominate
someone like Rumfeld!
-
If elections were held
today Romney would win. Gallop has registered voters as 48 vs. 47 for
Romney and likely voters 51 vs. 46 for Romney. These numbers are well
adjusted past Oct 3's fiasco. But that's popular vote. 270 Electoral
College votes determine the presidency and once again Ohio Florida
Michigan and even Penn are in the spotlight.
-
Electoral college race is very tight..Romney is projected to win
Florida but Obama is ahead in Ohio & Nevada. There are a number
of
toss up states and the future for the candidates is simply unknown but
if the recent trend continues given the poor unemployment numbers and
weak economy.
Tom Gibson wrote: "Very difficult for a president to
get re elected during a slow economy…hasn't really happened since FDR
in 1936. Both Jimmy Carter 1980 & Bush 41 in 1992 Americans are
too
impatient and want all the damage to the economy that took decades to
create to be fixed in 4 years"
-
Romney's 47% comment was deplorable. He's clearly out of touch. I also
dislike his changing of position in order to get votes. He's completely
shifted from positions he held during the primaries.
- I don't
like it that Obama is a smoker - that brings negativity to the highest
office. Biden/Obama seem to be a lot more caring and human than
Ryan/Romney who seem to be much more in bed with money and seem
ruthless.
- A lot of decent people support Romney and likewise
Obama. Romney/Ryan seem to be in denial. The recovery that Obama
started is giving results and the country overall is better off. I
dread seeing George Bush years again with Romney presidency but I am
careless in this elections. I don't care. After George Bush's
presidency nothing can get so bad.
Interesting article: Moderate
Romney Wouldn’t Make It Past Inauguration Day -- Secret wars,
back-alley abortions, cowboy capitalism. How moderate.
-------
News:
NEW YORK, N.Y. U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the United
States could soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest producer.
19 Oct
2012 - Vivus's Formal Rejection In Europe: A Win For Arena
& A Wake Up Call For The FDA
An old favorite quote: - Commonwealths fall and perish when
good citizens cannot be
distinguished from bad. -- Antisthenes ( b. 444? B.C., d. after 371
B.C., Greek philosopher,) quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the
Philosophers Book VI.
---
Heard
crime is rising -- and corruption is on the rise. We need to do
something. It always starts with oneself and one's surroundings. Then
it permeates further.
What's the point of money if we can't use it for making another happy?
(logged)
Oct
2012 - Peace
Little girl was crying in the shop. I asked what’s the
matter?
The elders who looked like just
babysitters helplessly said:
her cousin hit her. I told the guy to apologize to her – he said “I’m
sorry’ –
and she stopped crying. Strange that those useless and helpless adults
didn’t
know how easy it is to bring peace and were just standing there in awe
as she
kept crying and crying. She stopped crying after he said I’m sorry –
then I
said: now you can smile J
And there was
peace
It’s so easy to have peace
Peace on Earth
won’t come through just by prayer – it takes
action – and inaction. Inaction means to not be a victim of divisive
nature of
thought.
Oct
2012 - Various
- Some
people are slaves to conclusions. When a parent gives so much
importance to conclusions the kid learns the same - making abstractions
etc.
-
Saved an ant from drowning - it was helpless and end was very near. It
was delighted first on the back of my hand and almost couldn't believe
it but once it landed on the rock it knew it was saved. I've always
felt that happens to us sometimes too because scales are real.
5 Oct
2012 - News
Center stage in world of news is
- collapse of Iranian money to something like 3700 toman to a
dollar - it used to be 7 toman per dollar.
The
currency lost about a third of its value against the U.S. dollar in 10
days in September and October as the sanctions cut Iran's hard currency
earnings from oil exports.
Reuters:
. "When I left Iran, I swore
I would go back," said Hasan, who came to the United States in 2011 to
study industrial engineering on a university scholarship. "Now it is
less likely that I will return. There is no stability."
. "Before, I
wanted to go abroad to study and come back to Iran," she said. "But
with the situation how it is right now, I would prefer to go to any
other country."
3 Oct
2012 -
-
Iran's economy has taken big hits. The Dollar is at 3800 Toman. It was
1050 not long ago, and 7 just before the revolution. It's gone up 542
times !!
- Dell says since your system was from the US we should
not have exchanged it and therefore we should not have sold extended
warranty -- now that the warranty coverage is required Dell wants to
say, forget it - pretend like I didn't sell you warranty -- mind
boggling !! Thank God there's something called contract law.
24 Sep
2012 - My New Article On ARNA
- Wall
Street has been embarrassingly wrong about the obesity space - pumping
Vivus and bashing Arena and now more bad news came for Wall Street:
Vivus indicates Qsymia get rejected in Europe. Wall Street also counted
on Belviq not getting FDA approval but they were dead wrong. It's not
often retail investors beat Wall Street sharks crooks and hedge fund
managers who employ manipulative practices, "short & distort",
and
big money with its political influence.
-
Good talk w/ Phil Maynes - he also doesn't like the sound of ovations
b/c they're not so woody. "artificial sounding" and he doesn't see any
stars playing them recently. "king of buying and returning things"
- So nice to see another friend quit smoking after our
dialogues. It’s been a few months and she’s quit so it’s permanent.
18 Sep
2012 - Amazon California Tax
Amazon
screwed up - before the 15th their system said tax zero. They charged
27 dollar tax for item shipped after 15th. Same item placed now shows
tax.
Don tried to tell me this is not their problem but it is -
second level escalation - the manager accepted and credit me 30 bucks
for this issue. It was their system's shortcoming for not informing the
customer taxes may be added if shipped after 15th though order placed
before the 15th. He told me my manager will tell you the same thing. I
said that's bad customer service - never tell a customer that. He said
I had training - I said did they tell u in your training to tell
customer mgr will tell you same thing? He: it's proprietary :)
It
turns out that the manager disagreed with him and agreed with me :-)
(I said from the beginning I have no quarrels with the sales
tax
but the problem is how Amazon handled the user interface, i.e.,
misinforming the users - so I refused to get transferred to the tax
department b/c I had nothing to talk to them about -- and that's why I
escalated within cust-svc and it took them a while to comprehend but at
the end they saw my point and agreed.
Another
note - case opened 24 August was in limbo - but Don took ownership of
it after we became friends :) - about reviews that went missing but
system remembers star rating.
17 Sep
2012 - New Article on ARNA by my dear
friend "Mr. Joseph"
Met young vegetarian woman from Russia. She wore a Beatles
shirt.
- do you like the beatles
-"sure, everyone does" she said.
--------- Youngster uses whatsApp for chatting - Facebook
sometimes -
email seldom.
John H. Ford of Seeking Alpha is a malicious asshole or an ignorant
idiot. He posted garbage about Arena to bash the company.
Got
Joseph published on MF. Seeking Alpha has rejected an article by Dr.
Daniel for lack of depth (BIGGEST JOKE) and ... here's except from my
email to them. They did the same thing to Joseph. And me a
while
back while they kissed up to a hedge fund manager. That's why I decided
to never write for Seeking Alpha because it sucks.
------
... Today it got worse. A highly respected Doctor who puts Shkrelis and
other hedgie buddies of yours in his back pocket got a response from
SA:
"this article lacks the in-depth, original, substantive analysis we
would look for to add to the content we've already published. Focusing
on the scientific/medical results yields content that has already been
covered extensively in the media". REALLY ??
The medical and scientific data Dr. Lopez discussed has
absolutely NOT been extensively covered. I have never seen
anyone
discuss metabolic syndrome in any SA article or other such
media. And SA is complaining about DEPTH? How deep is that
crap
piece you published by that idiot called John H. Ford ?......
You also rejected Joseph's article. What did these two
articles
have in common? Positive outlook on ARNA........... Anyway talking
about that gang, Cramer's been on your side too on ARNA -- any wonders?
43000000 shorted shares days before DEA gives green light - somebody's
nervous!!
16 Sep
2012 - Mediation
The
landlord was changing the locks on her after she took off with the keys
demanding refund of her 1/2 the month's rent he wanted to keep due to
the mess she made and the damages. She's strong and broke some things
and when she's drunk it's worse. I told her I feel sorry for her - that
alcohol is not a good way - doesn't have good future - and to go
healthy is much better...
He was preparing letters and complex
formalities. I said, give me her number - I will call and mediate. And
told him, just pay her the money she wants and get her out of your hair
although you are right. He agreed. I called her. She was very happy to
hear it - she's coming back with the keys. Case will be closed shortly.
She
came – mediated b/w her and landlord to close the case – the landlord
put the old lock back on and was happy this saga was over and was much
appreciative.
---
Met R in town - he said he smokes because he's addicted. We talked - he
appreciated.
Sep
2012 - Rap just died (king of rap jumps
ship) (about time)
"Snoop ... helped forge the rise of
gangsta rap. But the California singer and actor with the tough image
of guns, drugs and "pimping" out women now claims he is now embracing
reggae music, peace and love. His transformation, he told
reporters ... should not be too surprising:
"I was always saying to myself I was Bob Marley reincarnated.""
14 Sep
2012 -
Good talk w/ Dr. TMac. His mother is 92 and has 20-20 vision.
he's
222 pounds vs. 140 pound vietnamese guy who ran into him at Costco and
said he expected him to move :) He's sooooooo funny still.
Sep
2012 - Microsoft DumbScreen
Microsoft SmartScreen "DumbScreen ;-)
is the worst piece of software I've
ever seen. It's used for Hotmail spam filtering and it miserably fails.
I did
several hours of tests and the rate of false positives is stunning. For
one
thing it seems to dislike gmail period. Is that related to Microsoft's
dislike
for Google, its biggest competitor? Maybe!
11 Sep
2012 - Credit Card
A
friend who is a new credit card customer asked for advice since she got
a notice of not having paid a bill but she never got a bill. Shared
with her some ideas. Key advice based on my long experience relating to
credit card companies is: "There are a lot of people who don't pay
their bills or are sloppy... you're not one of them - so call and
explain to them that you never got the bill. They appreciate
communication. And pay it immediately. It's easiest to set it up to
have the money taken out of your account automaticallly -- or at least
an auto-pay of the minimum due so you never miss a payment."
Sep
2012 - New Article on Credit
Suisse's Report on Arena
Here's a new article on a Credit Suisse's research which left out many
important facts:
I
found out about the CS report after reading a lot of negativity about
CS on various discussion boards. I tried to provide a balance view and
unlike so many other people who are badmouthing CS, I gave CS the
benefit of doubt and focused on the science.
"ABSOLUTELY
HORROR -- PLEASE BRING BACK THE OLD MESSAGE BOARD -- THIS NEW BOARD
SUCKS BIG TIME FOR AT LEAST 10 REASONS. WHO DID THE ANALYSIS? GOD WHAT
A MISTAKE YOU MADE."
2 Sep 2012 -
A
fascinating social worker said: many young people have money problem -
they think they need money - so she helps them see if they really need
it or not.
Mom: old bazaris don’t buy house but
rent it and work with
their money.
Mana: best renters are govt workers
not bazaris who wait
till last minute to pay rent to gain that 1 day of interest...
"baazarihaye
asil karkhooneh mikarid vali khooneh nemikharid" (old money bazaris
would buy a factory but wouldn't buy a house) - they'd say it's not a
good idea to sit (be in bought house) on your money.
---------------
30 Aug 2012 -
Smoker
talk with another smoker - young woman who thinks she can quit anytime
most
smokers know it has a psychological root but don't see it - if they did
they wouldn't smoke - the key is understanding dependence. had a A+
discussion.
------------
She's 18. Are you going to university
after highschool?
"I'm going to jamaica"
-- she has the rasta look and typical obsession with reggae culture
that's
prevalent in cold central european cultures where teenagers look for
warmth
before they're sucked into the groove.
---------------
Less than 15% of around 260 of my
DVD's are good movies - and they were all highly rated
----------------
Met pilot of private jet at bus stop:
"you can buy 25% of a plane for example for – depending on size:
4 to 15 miliion for 5 year share
2 to 20 000 an hour
2 to 30 000 a month for maintenance.
Some bankers go to carribean every weekend
25 hour card – 120000 euro.
Musicians are the nicest – actors, models and actresses are the most
difficult.
CEO’s are easy b/c they have good soft skills – middle managers more
difficult b/c of pressure on them."
30 Aug 2012 -
Republican convention
Watched Paul Ryan's speech.
A few thoughts:
There's something about his I like - at least he's not cunning looking
like Cheney or scary looking like Rumsfeld.
I was wary of Obama being a rookie, now I'm wary of Ryan being a rookie.
He
said Obama still blames the last administration for the problems. I do
sympathize with Obama on that because Bush-Cheney was the biggest
disaster in the history of US politics and the damage they did to the
world in 8 years takes longer than 4 years to fix.
While I
do agree with having universal healthcare, I think Obama was wrong in
pushing the universal healthcare when the economy was so weak -- the
timing was flat out bad.
Obama's
5 trillion addition to deficit is not excusable however it can be
partly blamed on Bush-Cheney's mess which needed these stimulus to fix
-- of course the stimulus didn't really help because the
problem
was so massive -- or perhaps Obama should have made a better decision.
Obama's handling of the stimulus package was not effective and
efficient. There was too much wastage.
Ryan's
complaining about spending money the nation doesn't have -- but he
doesn't say how much Bush wasted in money the nation didn't have back
then.
Last thought watching this: maybe it does take a Republican
administration to fix up the mess that Bush-Cheney which was also
Republican make. Nobody in their right mind should have expected
anybody to fix Bush's disaster in 4 years.
28 Aug 2012 -
On love - an extract from a spontaneous letter I wrote
But let me clarify what I mean, or rather what I don't mean by that
word "love" -- it is over-used and mis-used and people call all kinds
of things love that is not love - like possessiveness (thinking you own
a person -- sorry I forgot you're an English major and I don't need to
explain English words
-- , jealousy etc etc -- love has nothing to do with those
things.
It is something pure, universal, timeless, limitless, measureless, and
extremely powerful. Each of those words can be discussed in depth --
for now, without getting too deep, limitless and timeless already put
it outside the realm of "thought"
What we think is usually of time (about future or past) - and limited
(usually based on experience which is limited) so being limited it
brings division vs. love which is a holistic movement (but
I'm going too quickly here so if you don't get it don't worry) and this
explains why in thought dominated societies, however rich, there are so
many unhappy people.
23 Aug 2012 -
Lennon's Killer Will Remain Behind Bars
The
unintelligent people are ranting about the following parole board's
statement objecting that it said he was a superstar. The board said
that but it didn't say they're not paroling him because of that :
"You
shot and killed an innocent victim, an international music star. Your
actions clearly demonstrated a callous disregard for the sanctity of
human life."
I remember that day clearly when the world changed
and many lives changed. Lennon left a legacy behind - and in an unusual
case a very personal direct one which lives on.
22 Aug 2012 -
Image Making at heart of Wachos, Stalkers, Idiots
I enjoy reading love letters I've written. At least they serve
one purpose :)
J.Krishnamurti hit the nail on the head when talking of image making as
a main culprit.
I
see it all the time - specially in electronic communications, cyber
world, etc. - that people, specially not so bright ones, make an image
and then get so convinced by that image they act on it out of total
delusion.
The challenge is, can you live without an image of
yourself? Without an image of others' image of you? And importantly,
without an image of others' image of themselves. I have seen this a few
times when another person is convinced that x has an image of himself
but x absolutely doesn't.
Why do people bother with that? Why are
some people so obsessed and consumed with other people? Because their
lives are shallow?
One wacho was saying, what you have on your
website can't be true, no way have you done these things or achieved
these accomplishments. I don't even remember !! My website is 100%
truthful and if opinions are expressed they're opinions.
And one
delusion leads into another and soon the wacho is living in total
delusion out of touch with what-is completely. And it's stupid people
who do that because the intelligent ones can understand. God Bless
Understadnings. What a facility we've been given and how it lacks in
some wachos because of the divisive activity of their thought which
creates total confusion and it gets worse when they try to impose that
confusion on others and on their subject -- as in the case of Javier
for example who stood there in my face expressing his image of me which
was totally false, and he did the same thing to a friend, and he's some
sort of leader! And that's not to mention internet wachos. Luckily
these are minorites. Most people are smart enough to not fall for their
own thought-made illusions.
One internet wacho recently wrote
that the litigation I HAD to pursue as Plaintiff was a 1st amendment
case and matter of disagreement (which is 100% false). That wacho has
no idea what happened, hasn't even bothered finding out (the material
is out there) or is just too stupid to understand. That idiot doesn't
understand that one of the top lawyers in the country specializing in
1st amendment examined my evidence and decided NOT to quash the
subpoena that I issued to one defendent's ISP. That sums it up. And
being ignornant or uninformed these wachos don't understand what
jurisdictional decisions mean when the court says it has no subject
matter jurisdiction. Perhaps it's the same stalker I've had from Texas
recently. Anyway a friend stood up for me and got that crap
deleted.
19 Aug 2012 -
10 Day-Festival
Like
the old grandma story of the old world where there were weddings or
festivals for 10 nights and day, there's a 10-day festival in which we
have performed for 2 nights. Last night was amazing -- people gathered
and despite so much other offering they stayed glued to us because we
played a Beatles set and they loved it - all ages - all walks of life.
We brought some sanity to the place -- we even played mellow things
amidst a buzzing nonstop fast stream of people and a bit of culture
too. I don't like to roam among big growds like this - it's very
draining for the body specially among smokers drunks...
One
place has Andy Egert playing every night -- Blues is sooooooo boring --
harmonically, lyrically, melodically, and rhythemically.
Love the Beethoven violin concerto op 61.
19 Aug 2012 -
Mozart Mess
Mozart
is one of the only composers whom I change the channel on when he comes
on the classical channel. He had a few good ideas - maybe 6 great
melodies - and the rest is very mediocre, boring, cheesy material which
is way over-rated for some reason.
Oh My God, his "6 German Dances KV 600" is on. How pathetic!
I
think Mozart duped music like Sai Baba duped spirituality. There are so
many better more serious composers. Listening to Saint Saens's
Saranbande Op 93 now -- fantastic music.
17 Aug 2012 -
New Article & Letter on Arena:
Institutional Appetite is Increasing for
ARNA and Decreasing for VVUS and OREX
If you like to join my ARNA related mailing list email me at ( info at
rezamusic dot com)
I
do NOT provide investment advice. All my writings are my opinion and
should not be relied as investment or medical advice. For investment
advice see a licensed investment advisor. For medical advice, see a
medical doctor.
12 Aug 2012 -
Racial Profiling in Boston
"The
New York Times (http://nyti.ms/P2enzf ) reported on its website that in
interviews and internal complaints it has obtained, more than 30
officers involved in the "behavior detection" program at Logan contend
that the operation targets not only Middle Easterners, but also
passengers who fit certain profiles — such as Hispanics traveling to
Miami, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward."
Aug 2012 -
Have written a lot but no time to update this journal -- wiill soon
resume...
"Investor
Village" has some good minds but lots of idiots. The idiocy is not
incredible -- it's everywhere - like obesity - people who can't think
for themselves and when they do they don't do it that well.
The
dumbness of so many
people amazes me -- if it wasn't for them we wouldn't suffer 8
years of pathetic Bush presidency for which we're still paying --
people blame it all on Obama and that's part of their dumbness too. I
believed Obama's "change" slogan was just hype -- and it's proven to be
-- but still people are much better off than if McCain/Palin were
running the show.
One
guy wrote that a hostile takeover of Arena will never happen because
the board will
reject it!!! Somebody set him
straight that a hostile means board doesn't have to accept. Still the
original poster got a bunch of rec's including
from their thought-leader, "Mo_Money_2make", deputyretired48047 who
thrills in recommending the most stupid, bullying posts, and the basher
zzzster. The tribal (gang) mentality is amazing but then not so
-- you see it anywhere there's a line - people just get in that line
even if there's an empty one because most people, and more in some
cultures than others, are
followers and God forbid when it comes to the level of stupidity
bigotry prejudice and gang bullying that's present there. All you need
is a foreign name, a real name, and specially if you are "somebody" in
some eyes and receive praise -- the same bullshit mentality that was on
the guitar group -- you come from the outside, do something that
attracts a lot of praise, and you happen to have a foreign name and
boom, the idiots who don't understand rights and law and are part of
the pool of stupidity attack you. Many are good people there - most
actually - but
all it takes is a few bigots and it brings out the worst in the rest of
the bullies -- and the top bullies are from Louisiana and Alabama...
Intelligence is a lot more than degrees. Cunningness image making and
illusion are central to that stupidity and dry hearts.
I've
read and participated in internet groups for years. In general there is
very little to learn from others as I tend to do more due diligence
than most people who babble there. Even in the guitar groups -- I
learned very very little from those folks. Same with stock boards.
There are a few people but their thoughts are accessible in other
forums too. These boards provide more psychological support for people
who need it than anything. Again one's own research is enough but
togetherness during tough times is helpful to many.
The
positive part of this togetherness and social media is that the crooks
can no longer control the communication channels that they used to - so
Wall Street animals are having a harder time, in this case for example,
to get retail to hand in their shares for cheap to institutions or
short sellers because retail communicates and most are stronger
together than individually. That social support doesn't help me much
because I clearly see the game the crooks are playing and realities of
the stock price due to dynamics which are not created by crooks. Seeing
all that, which is just the obvious, make it very clear in my mind that
I'm not selling Arena at 7.30 when I can sell it later for much higher.
---------
Lady
said a Persian surgeon replaced her hip. Another one from Berlin said
top surgeons in Berlin are Persian (neuro- and orthopedic- etc.)
Joy died from breast cancer - she left a young baby behind!
Jul 2012 -
Swiss
airlines totally messed up a ticketing process -- they promised a
refund for a flight I changed but the refund never came and trying to
talk to them about it was like pulling teeth -- they were like, it's
been done and waiting for your bank to cycle -- well it's been days and
nothing has come and bank cycled several times :) -- (I mean banks
don't need to cycle these days anyway -- mine posts a deposit
immediately). I asked to escalate the call and got the typical stone
age customer service reply by the rep in South Africa: "My manager will
tell you the same thing" -- and she outright refused to escalate the
call saying we can't escalate every call.
So I was 100% stuck.
I knew the refund they promised wouldn't come and the service center
were stone headed and killed the chance for dialogue or escalation.
So I wrote to the CEO of Swiss.
Got
a response back from the deputy manager of refunds department shortly
after saying she looked into it - the refund had NOT been done and it
will get done and apologized etc. -- I wrote back and said look I
wasted a lot of time (a loooooooong time on the phone - getting hung up
on a few times etc and it was very stressful) and asked them consider
crediting my account for a few miles (e.g. 5000).
The agreed.
6 July 2012 -
Great & Terrible Classical Pieces
This's gotto be the ugliest classical piece every written:
Josef Franz Xaver Dominik Stalder -- Symphony No. 5 In G Major
This is also absolutely terrible: "Michael Haydn "Allegro
assai" From Flute Concerto In D Major
-----
These are some GREAT piece:
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy : Symphony No. 3 In A Minor Op. 56
"Scottish Symphony"
Richard Wagner Info Concerts : Prelude to Act 1 of the opera "Lohengrin"
Johann Sebastian Bach Arioso BWV 1056
1 July 2012 - Blue
Linden Eyes
she had eyes of sarhang alayi’s
daughter and the air was the
same as mahmud-abad resort by the Caspian Sea
on a
summer day long long time ago – filled with love and gracefulness of
that girl
and her blue eye. She’s been smoking since she
was 13 and could not smell that
fragrance. We talked about problems with smoking and gave her some tips
for stopping.
27 June 2012 - Arena
Approval -- Main Street Kicked Wall Street's Butt for a change
DENVER (June 27, 2012) — The American
Society of Bariatric
Physicians (ASBP) applauds the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
for
approving lorcaserin, a new obesity treatment medication developed by
Arena
Pharmaceuticals.
NBC's
story was trash - interviewing Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy
group which acts more like a hedge fund shill and consumer opposition
group in this particular case.
ABD news' story was better.
On
June 27, Arena Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has approved BELVIQ as an adjunct to a
reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for chronic weight
management in obese or overweight adult patients. BELVIQ is the first
prescription weight-loss treatment approved by the FDA in 13 Years.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7413180n&tag=api&fb_ref=belowVideo&fb_source=profile_oneline
Overstock.com Wins Gold Stevie® Award for Company of the Year; CEO
Patrick M. Byrne Wins Executive of the Year
24 June 2012 - Social
Media
the good: you no longer need to be
wealthy and powerful to
be well informed.
the bad: with so much information
available, it's becoming
increasingly difficult to sift through the trash.
the ugly: every idiot under the sun
now has a medium to
spout their idiocracy.
the bad: all the wanna be's can
pretend to be what they're
not.
the ugly: every idiot under the sun
now has a medium to
spout their idiocracy. Add to that, potential for abuse.
Another complete junk by Mozart: Andantino E Flat Major KV 297b
Another
bad piece of music : Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Concerto For
Cello, Strings And Basso Continuo No. 2 In B Flat Major
22 June 2012 -
---------
ARNA Nasdaq's top most active (and 23rd).
---------
Dear God
Thank
you for this day where the sun shines on long suffering little guys
like me who've walked in dark alleys for so long getting kicked by wall
street bullies who know you not. After so much pain in this market you
know how comforting this day is. A long cold lonely winter is finally
coming to an end.
May there be
- Peace on earth
-
Light of wisdom in the minds of people and perfume of love in their
hearts and comfort of health in their bodies so they can contribute to
world peace
- Wisdom in the minds and love in the hearts of our leaders and
politicians
21 June 2012 - A Prayer
Ok
some of you may think I've gone nuts but as our investment is hitting a
new high I like to remind all my brothers and sister, wherever you are,
of whatever country, origins, race, religion, and political party, that
we should be thankful. To whom you might ask.
Of course we we
are thankful to Arena's management and employees for having done a
great job. Their perseverance and pursuit of truth is truly admiring.
We
should thank the FDA for sticking to the science and not letting powers
which inevitably tried to derail the approval all the way including at
the AdComm and perhaps afterwards.
We should thank short
sellers who were stupid enough to think they can destroy us like
they've done to so many other biotechs. Shorts are losing a lot of
money every day and no matter how compassionate I may be, given what
these criminals have done to kill innovation and hurt the economy and
so many good companies, I am absolutely thrilled to see them pay up.
We
should thank all the dishonest journalists and analysts who were
fighting us because their own supporters started believing their own
lies and got trapped. I have no sympathy for crooks following crooks
and getting entrapped. They've all helped us get much more powerful for
having stuck to our vision and not having fallen for their lies.
We
should thank our friends who were guiding lights. Dr. Daniel Lopez, Dr.
Steven Vig, Danny Stevens, Andy Baron, and others who helped us
understand the science and the potential of Arena.
Above all,
we should thank God who gave us the courage perseverance knowledge and
dream that truth will prevail and helped us all along and helped Arena
all along. We can not describe the indescribable but we can try -- the
immeasurable, omniscient omnipotent, omnipresent, love, eternity, the
unlimited, that movement which is beyond the limits of time and
thought, the source, that which everything comes from and goes to, the
essence, whatever you like to call it.
We should have our eyes
towards that eternity and help make this world a better place. We
should use our newly gained power for the good of mankind and the this
planet which we are guardians of. We should end all corruption,
suffering, anxiety, deceit, conflict, in ourselves, all that which is
not love and peace, and thereby make it possible for love and peace to
prevail in our community and eventually in the greater world.
--------
ARNA Nasdaq's 4th most active.
---------
17 June 2012 - Right
Place of Thought and Its Role in Peace
I think we should all remember that at least idealistically,
unless we're in arms sales business, we like to have peace in the
world. And that peace is impossible, as history as proved, unless we
find peace in ourselves and with our neighbours and people we interact
with. That almost becomes impossible when we deal with images. It's
much easier to make images on an internet chat room -- there's no body
language - no emotions in pen script - no voice -- so we need to be
careful about the only tool we have, i.e., words, and the thought
process which is behind the words, to not contribute to war.
We
can go much deeper into this subject but there's no time and place for
it here. Just to share another idea, conflict is in the misplacement,
misuse, mis-application of thought itself. Thought being mostly rooted
in limited experience as memory is therefore limited and therefore
divisive and therefore breeds conflict. For science and practical
matters this is perfect but psychologically in relationship etc. it's
deadly. With the awareness of its own limitation thought can find its
right place, which is a tremendous perfume.
---------
Paid formal visit to the newly blossoming lime trees. Trees and crows
connect me back to my childhood.
---------
Wrote about Theory of Everything (TOE) and Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG)...
-
Went to a small Open Air Friday night -- it was a lot of fun -- meeting
some friends and making a lot of new ones. I could hear by the first 4
notes the bass player didn't have good technique.
- Adam Frogstein
emailed me 14 times -- I kept it focused and didn't get diverted as he
tried -- my focus very simply was, trying to tell him to
clean up
his act. Told him he can laugh at truth but truth will eventually win.
Here is how the conversation started -- I emailed him as I finally got
fed up with reading this guy publish nonsense:
"Adam,
aren't you ashamed of yourself? After hurting so many people by your BS
before AdComm now you're still BS'ing about efficacy. Open your dull
ears dumbo and read this v e r y s l o w l y: In phase III studies,
47.5% of patients who took Lorcaserin lost at least 5% of their weight
versus 20.3% for placebo patients. Of those completing the studies,
63.9% lost greater than 5% of their weight, 34.7% lost greater than 10%
of their weight, and the top 25% lost over 16.7%. The average completer
weight loss was 26 pounds or 8.2%. It has been scientifically proven
that even a 5% drop in weight can result in meaningful improvements in
overall health.
This is faaaaaaaaaaar from marginal efficacy idiot."
June 2012 -
2
times in one week caught the supermarket posting wrong price. Once the
item had wrong weight written on it and cost almost double what it
should - next time the posted price was much lower than the charged
price. Both times "mistakes" in favor of the shop and against the
customer's pocket. I don't know how many other times and how many
others people trusted them and overpaid.
I
was really amazed that a guy who obviously did something wrong and had
it pointed out to him didn't have the courage to say I'm sorry and kept
beating around the bush which just showed a weakness of character. I
pointed this to him and a mutual friend who was involved. The
friend wrote:
A friend wrote:
"But again, we come from a culture where saying your sorry is
considered
a weakness. Actually in my opinion it is a
strength. John Wayne's
character in a movie called "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" - a great movie
btw - has a line where he states a few times in the movie: "Never
apologize, it is a sign of weakness." Now, the problem is
that people
take that line literally but having seen the movie several times, I now
know that the context was as follows: don't do something in
the first
place that you have to apologize for….basically, in the movie he was
telling these young officers if you screw up in the first place,
apologizing is not going to fix what happened, just learn and don't
make the mistake again. In addition, he was talking about
situational
things as opposed to personal things."
June 2012 - Notepad++
Tired
of losing data with DOS's Notepad (which I use frequently for
deformating). Thought is there an alternative. Sure enough : Notepad++
plus autosave extension. Logged in
Arena was the top performer in Russell 3000.
http://www.russell.com/indexes/data/fact_sheets/us/Russell_3000_Index.asp#membership
Met
S by chance -- he's still smoking. The mind finds many ways of
rationalizing the addiction. What is the problem? He admitted there are
other areas of his life that need clean up. "Quooted Bertrand Russell
-- and said go heads on and solve those problems... you can do it..."
He broke up with her and she's sad. Said I could offer some tips...
Finally
got a chance to play some serious classical guitar. So much fun.
Watched some movies at same time. Had green pea and potato etc. dish --
and dinner made a mixed organic mushroom and butter etc dish -- and
green smoothie etc...
Always watching BBC news makes me
depressed - such a crazy world - I hate politics - so many
politicians are so cunning and ugly - this includes some governments --
criminals supporting criminals. The world seems so upside down -
criminals wanting to go after much more civil parties in order to try
to prove their crimes instead of admitting to their own and cleaning up
their criminal act. It's all about money and power.
08 June 2012 - Western
Fascination With India
She
went to India and meditated -- now she's here to help others. But it's
meaningless per se -- the angel who went to see her said the angel was
blocked and it must be the angel's problem. No !!! Westerners are so
fascinated by India. There's reports of people going to mountain
meditating for 40 years and realizing they wasted their life. Right
meditation is great but India by itself doesn't provide salvation.
It's just a question of does the self end to give way to that
otherness "the empire" love or whatever you want to call it to be.
Longing is longing. Fundamental change is the ending of the self - in
the moment - in awareness, but most people are into superficial change
which they think is fundamental. So the therapist woman probably needed
help from the angel than the other way around !! But this is just a
guess -- I know the angel but not the woman and so my guess is 1/2
educated :)
Physics is mainly concerned with seeing what-is. Maybe that's why I
like it so much.
A
physicist needs to be constructive not destructive: use the knowledge
in ways to help humanity not to destroy. There's always a danger as
knowledge grows that it could be used in the wrong way. Therefore a
scientist needs to be responsible. This is what I told my young
scientist friend.
-------------
Funny
how smart the geese are. As soon as I got to the park they swam across
the pond and came by -- they must have remembered I fed them last
times...
-------------
Another great piece by the master -- straight from the universe:
Johann Sebastian Bach -- Violin Concerto In E Major BWV 1042
Ludwig van Beethoven and of course Symphony No. 6 In F Major
Op. 68 "Pastoral Symphony"
03 June 2012 -
Asked Tara, 8, what are you doing today?
'I don't know'
They both just had their birthday and they're already 8.5 and 6.5 :)
-----
Found
the bug - it had dropped before behind the amp as I tried to catch it
to put it outside. I was happy to find it later during vacuuming and
catch it - talk to it - give it love - and put it outside.
-----
nice cactus collection - amazing to feel the aura - the presence of all
these different species of cactus.
-------
Disgusting piece: Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 82 In C
Major "Bear Symphony"
01 June 2012 -- Mozart
Allergy
Mozart
is so over rated. Every other day I hear a piece by him which is a
joke. My 6 year old nephew could write like that :-) Sorry
Wolfgang, I like some of your music but dislike more pieces than like
I
have to basically turn off the "turntable" with Mozart comes - I give
it a chance but most of his stuff are pretty bad -- I can't handle it
Then we have real composers like Dvorak & Beethoven. Mozart was
a joke :)
--------------------
"Les Cloches de Genève" from "Années de Pèlerinage" is a great piece by
Franz Liszt
01 June 2012 -- A
Great book: "Think on These Things"
She wrote:
"The
book came in the mail last Wednesday I do believe and I was so excited
to receive it. I have been reading it nonstop since then and I am
enjoying every bit of the book. I love how easy it is to read for me
and how great the ideas are. So far, my favorite passage has been about
how it is okay to be yourself and it is actually quite difficult to be
yourself. No matter what or who you are, it is okay to be that way.
Thank you again so so so very much for it. I love it and look forward
to continuing my reading of it."
----
yes the important thing is to see what you are - without trying to
change it - just to see with a quiet mind :)
seeing is action ...
----------
BORING MUSIC:
Luigi Boccherini - Symphony In C Major Op. 12 No. 3
SWEET MUSIC:
Antonín Dvorák Info Concerts - Romance for Violin
and Orchestra Op.11
Always hearing new versions of this important principle:
KISS
today's version:
KEEP IT SIMPLE SAM
yes the important thing is to see what you are - without trying to
change it - just to see with a quiet mind :)
seeing is action ...
31 May 2012 -- Mozart
Angelo Gilardino wrote:
>
Mozart seems to have written some good things but so many of his works
are so childish sounding // like popcorn music -- or is it me?
>
>
You
are the second human being - at the best of my knowledge - to think of
Mozart as you do. The first one - using almost exactly the same words
you use - was Villa-Lobos.
31 May 2012 -- Arena
-
Arena (Nasdaq:ARNA) is finally a chance for Main Street to kick some
Wall Street butt -- this doesn't happen often but it's nice to see it
happening now. Over 40 Million shares shorted by hedge funds who were
promoting a fiction through lies and deceit are now forced to cover. I
anticipate full FDA approval on or before June 27.
- New York mayor seeks ban on sale of big sugary drinks. Good for the
Great City.
-----------
31 May 2012 --
Facebook IPO
- Facebook IPO has been a disaster for Main Street which got taken for
a ride by Wall Street.
28 May 2012 --
Classical Music
Interesting music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold : Romance From
Violin Concerto In D Major Op. 35
Mozart
must have written some of the cheapest classical pieces aside from his
great pieces. I've heard many more cheesy bubblegum pieces from him
than his great pieces.
Oboe
cello violin etc etc all have their own sound and character but guitar
is the crown prince of instruments. When it comes it's like king of
love having arrived. [logged]
28 May 2012 -- Beatles
- It’s scary :) 6 year old and 8 year old know more about
Beatles than I do :)
- They got a book and area learning this trivia like parents
name etc...
- Zeit Geist continues.
-----------------
28 May 2012 --
Neutrinos
-
Deep scientific discussion about neutrinos:
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting
elementary subatomic particle with half-integer spin. The neutrino
(meaning "small neutral one" in Italian). All evidence suggests that
neutrinos have mass but that their mass is tiny even by the standards
of subatomic particles. Their mass has never been measured accurately.
Neutrinos do not carry electric charge, which means that they are not
affected by the electromagnetic forces that act on charged particles
such as electrons and protons. Neutrinos are affected only by the weak
sub-atomic force, of much shorter range than electromagnetism, and
gravity, which is relatively weak on the subatomic scale. They are
therefore able to travel great distances through matter without being
affected by it.
Simplay amazing!
27 May 2012 -- Arena's
Lorcaserin
- Did some research on Lorcaserin which many believe will
help solve one of the most
challenging health care issue facing the world (obesity). Doctors and
pharmacists who compare Arena's Lorcaserin
to Vivus' Qnexa hands down say Lorcaserin is the better drug and many
doctors and patients are eagerly waiting for it to be approved.
One doctor said 100's of patients will call him for
prescribing
Lorcaserin. Qnexa has serious safety risks and the consensus I hear is
that it should have heavy restrictions on it, if ever approved.
What's
fascinating is that some hedge funds have been touting Qnexa and part
of the fiction they try to build is that Q is the superior drug vs L
but it's exactly the opposit - which makes sense because as Jim Cramer
said truth is their enemy !!
But truth is a scientist's friend.
--------
Great walk today with a friend - flowers greens birds and friendship.
May 2012 -- Guru
Competition
- Full page ad in the paper about a guy who is supposed to liberate
people through gazing at them :-) "Braco" from Croatia"
-
Full page ad in the same journal, (check this out:) Sri Sri Sri
Shivabalayogi :) - Gullible people are still falling for gurus - and a
super fat one too: http://www.shivabalamahayogi.com/uploads/1/0/6/8/10689529/5745548_orig.jpg -
Full page ad in the same journal for Paramahamsa Nithyananda -- he
still offers a new translation. How many translations can one book have
? :-) -- he promises kundalini awakening - which is dangerous stuff and
I know people who were damaged by it.
26 May 2012 --
- Performed music and it was great fun to touch people's lives with
happiness.
-
A gift came from heaven: 2 complementary passes plus VIP backstage pass
to Paleo Festival -- guess I'll be travelling to Nyon,
Switzerland
home of the world famous Paleo!!
Some
Russian website made a page
about marijuana and because my last name is Ganjavi their robots
associated it
with “Ganja” and put links to some videos I produced. It took a lot of
emails
to try them to stop this but no response. On of their whois page had a
false info
shown but I finally called them and with their broken English and my
non
existent Russian we managed to communicate – I got their emails:zahargrad@mail.ru
, insaider01@mail.ru
, dizahar@gmail.com– and they pulled down the page
immediately which I’m thankful for.
Talked to Bruce's daughters.
"My dad died a couple of years ago but our love didn't die - it's still
alive. He lives in my heart. Bruce lives in our hearts.
... you can count on me as an uncle, let me know if you ever need
anything.
":
http://www.wikiorgcharts.com/stats/top1000/perpage_1000/
May 2012 --
Met a sweet young woman train driver on a late night. Before take off
they only check the brakes.
--------
He's
declared himself a Guru and naturally he's found followers. He talks a
lot. Nice old man with charm and good posture. He challenged the "young
vegetarians" that he could run faster - I beat them all. I'm only here
because I was invited to a picnic but I am totally not into the
guru-dom business. Met some nice people here. The problems that are
everywhere also exist in this "spiritual" community. I like some of
the music until it gets too repetitive.
I
went because they said it's a pic nic - it was nice to meet some nice
people - but when it got into singing in a pitch black room worshipping
a guy that was NOT for me -- I can't believe the guy sets himself up as
a guru - it is soooooo silly. I liked the part where he was praising
God -- but then he said I am him and he is me -- well technically it's
correct that everything is a creation of God but to say "I am God" is
very dangerous because the ego gets hold of that and then the guru's
followers think they are not God and he is and all that
misery.
---------
Now they're singing the same song over and over again worshiping him. I
can't handle a second of it.
People
follow the guru and it gets to his head "I am fulfilling a need" -- but
that's questionable. Deep root in these followings is an innate
interest in spirituality that many have.
It's a sign of weakness to want followers - whether it's on Tweeter or
what not.
I
wasn't the only one - some others said the video was going on for too
long and they were waiting for the music. Another person said the songs
are too repetitive. They have a lot of good songs but I don't know why
they repeat the same one over and over and over -- ok several times
repetition is musically ok but 5 10 20 30 times is toooooo much :) -
she thought maybe they do it to go into trance. She understood my point
that quietness due to repetition doesn't have a great quality and can
lead to dullness.
May 2012 -- Major embarrassment
for Goldman Sachs & Merrill Lynch
These are the most interesting news stories from this week on the Goldman/Merrill case:
Painful sounds of baby crying
What’s the matter?
"She wants mobile phone to play with " (1.5 yr old !!!!!)
---------------------
"For
the first time in history, there were more minority children born in
the United States than white, according to 2011 census data released on
Thursday."
"The trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase have
surged in recent days, surpassing the bank's initial $2 billion
estimate by at least $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of
the losses."
I support this bill: "Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and
Charles Schumer of New
York outlined the bill Thursday. It would impose a 30 percent capital
gains tax on investments within the country on anyone who renounces
citizenship to avoid taxes. The bill would also ban Saverin—and others
who take similar action—from ever setting foot on American soil again."
---------------------
she
seemed to be happy to have someone to talk to – on and on questions –
things like how long have you had your laptop _ she said nice name –
sounds like a musician !!
I have no idea how it happened – just magic of spontaneity –
Saw
double empty – then triple empty – someone else came for it – back to
double – man said can I change w/ u so I sit w/ my wife – sure. Moved
to another double – then saw a triple by chance and took it – it was
where that man was sitting before – playing musical chair – triple seat
– much needed sleep.
Pushing back off the gate – exactly 1 hour
late – talked to obese family – beautiful 2 little angels 7 and
5
- Brigitte and Olivia – thin – not like their overweight parents and
aunt.
Kosher Orange Juice?
The
Ortodox Jews sitting near me want to make sure the orange juice is
kosher. I asked them how
can a fruit be kosher or not. He said it’s the
processing. To make sure the plant / the machinery didn’t process grape
before. I asked what makes grape kosher. He said wine has a special
status since it was used for sacrifice. Then he said it means the plant
shouldn’t have processed milks before. So his concern is if the Minute
Maid plant that processed the OJ processed milk before or not
and if that milk was kosher or not. How can milk be kosher or not I
asked. He
said if it comes only from cows. And went on to say in US it’s no
problem – if it comes from abroad it’s not regulated so he can’t drink
orange juice that came from abroad because it might have been processed
in a plant that processed milk that wasn’t kosher. So if the milk is
only from cow it’s kosher? “yes” if it’s mixed with sheep it’s not?
It's horse milk that's the problem, he said – "if it’s mixed
with
horse milk it’s not kosher”.
Ok,
so the gentleman can’t drink OJ made outside US b/c he doesn’t know if
that OJ was processed in a plant that processed cow milk that was mixed
with horse milk before.
--------------
On the train she was so happy
“That made my day - The truth - people don’t want to hear the truth
[that
I asked the young guy if it’s not too loud for him to be listening on
this super loud music on his headphones that could damage his ears. ]
Edvard Grieg Op Piano concerto Op. 16.
Mendelssohn-Violin Concerto in E minor op. 64
--------------
She asked : is there a community that supports your way etc. ?
no dependence
6 May 2012 -- More Krishnamurti
Myths
David
Moody talked in Ojai this afternoon. Couldn't believe he brought up the
"Myth of nobody got it" again, AND quoted Ravi Ravindra who's oblivious
about K as an authority to further give strength to the myth. Not his
fault but he should know it's not true. I talked to people who were
there when he said it.
March
2012 -- Citizens Petition in Support of Lorcaserin
Approval
8 year old birthday party - they listened to The Beatles. She wanted
her cake to be The Beatles but since it was too long mom made it as
HELP. It doesn't make sense to others but to me it makes
perfect
sense :)
------
in
power yoga class (I don't even call this yoga really) she said:
relax before you collapse – take it easy when you feel
dizzy. It's great exercizes but it's not Yoga.
"time
is an investment - take time to experience what you've paid for - make
best out of every moment of that time". "when you take time quality
changes".
And they charge an arm and a leg -- yoga has become so commercial.
May
2012 -- Asana
"When we think of work, we think of
work as an act of
service, as an act of love for humanity," said Billionaire, Rosenstein,
28. Added Moskovitz: "If we were just retired, we wouldn't be serving
anyone".... The pair believe Asana will win out on its speed,
versatility and ability to maintain the flow alluded to in its name,
which in
yoga refers to the poses meant to aid the flow of spiritual energy in
the body.
(Regular yoga sessions are among the perks of office life at Asana.
Other
benefits include an in-house chef and $10,000 for new hires to set up
their
desks with whatever computing gear they want.)
1 May
2012 -- Letters
Busy day -- Labor Day
-
Have written several letters to Michelle Obama, SEC, FDA, etc., --
immoral elements are distributing falsehoods about Arena which is on
the verge of getting a strong AdComm vote (in my opinion).
It's a war between science, data, truth, vs. big money
& influence & fraud:
I wrote a letter to the SEC asking them to keep an eye on the trading
of ARNA as there may be abuses leading up to the panel.
I wrote a letter to FDA asking removal of Bessener from the Panel.
I wrote a letter to Kaul sending him Dr. Dan's letter in a friendly
positive polite tone.
I wrote a letter to Michelle Obama asking her to do what she can to
ensure we get a fair hearing.
I wrote to the FDA Commissioner.
I
helped edit another fine letter – straight from the heart of a
weight-challenged fellow human which he sent to the First Lady
&
Madam Commissioner.
I don't usually block visitors but had to block an impostor from
Winston Salem, North Carolina.
28 Apr
2012 -- The Beatles
-
8 year old wanted to make her cake "The Beatles" but it was too long so
like her younger brother she made the cake read HELP ! That is
sooooooooooooooo cool and funny.
- Busking which was essentially
playing music we love - a little kid's 1 is like a 100
because
it's loaded with care and love for the music by the parents and the
kids and the kids breaking through some inhibition while parents teach
him/her to support arts.
Apr
2012 -- Syria Crime
THE blindfolded man groans and struggles for breath as the men in
uniform shovel dirt over his head: he is already buried up to his neck,
and his prayers are quickly silenced as the grave closes over his head.
It is one of the most shocking videos yet to emerge from the horrors of
Syria,
26 Apr
2012 -- Rain
No rain all winter now it's raining hard in Los Angeles -- much needed.
Apr
2012 -- MUSIC
Listened
to this again -- tried -- but did't like it : Francesco Antonio Rosetti
(1746 or 1750 - 1792): Symphony in G Major (A40)
And this is fabulous : Schubert, Trio op. 100 - Andante con moto
This is one of the greatest pieces every written: from cosmos to
Beethoven's ears: violin concerto in D op 61
22 Apr
2012 -- The winner in obesity medication will be
,,, Arena
Fox
video highlights terrible side effects of Vivus' Qnexa despite all the
pumping by hedge funds and politicians etc who have an interest in
Vivus http://video.foxnews.com/v/1575139763001/deadly-diet-trends?intcmp=features Arena's
Lorcaserin on the other hand is very safe, and it meets FDA guidelines
for efficacy. Approval in the bag. The stock (ARNA) should soar. Do
your own research.
20 Apr
2012 -- BBC
She's
at the university and really into science study. She said: "People are
bothering about things that are worth bothering about"
Listened
to this again -- tried -- but did't like it : Francesco Antonio Rosetti
(1746 or 1750 - 1792): Symphony in G Major (A40)
And this is fabulous : Schubert, Trio op. 100 - Andante con moto
Wrote
a protest to BBC for provoking persians afghans etc. against americans
by rehashing old news again and again. American soldiers clearly did
some wrong things, in taking picture with dead corpses, pissing on them
etc., but that shameful stiff hits the news, is talked about , the
government apologized for it, etc. -- it's wrong of BBC to keep talking
about it and as soon as something else happens pull out that old file
which is inflammatory, provoking, and absolutely not peaceful.
Apr
2012 -- Dad
[logged in http://tinyurl.com/2wllf47]
I had a deep dream about dad last night
don't remember much
when I woke up in middle of night I just remembered how it all made
sense
that same love is still there
so strong and real
that same caring
the same sensibility, order, greatness
Apr
2012 -- Uni
She's
at the university and really into science study. She said: "People are
bothering about things that are worth bothering about"
16 Apr
2012 -- UNWANTED PUBLICATION
Today
Seeking Alpha published an article that was in a draft state (it was
being edited) without my authorization. The article is titled "Science
Vs. Hedge Funds: Influences On New Drug Approval Process" which was
also a false title -- it was just a working title and absolutely not
intended to be published as such. I
worked on it on Sunday and deleted the draft my mistake. I emailed SA
asking if they can restore the draft. Then I worked hours rebuilding it
and edited it. Edit means deleting things I didn't want to be in there
and adding things and changing things. The next day Seeking Alpha
restored it and published it without my knowledge. I had not submitted
it for publication because it was work in progress and the final
version became very different when I finished editing it but by that
time it was too late -- S.A. had already published the old version
against my wish. THEREFORE THE ARTICLE THAT WAS
PUBLISHED BY SEEKING ALPHA WAS PUBLISHED ERRONEOUSLY. IT WAS RETRACTED
AS PER MY REQUEST AND DELETED SHORTLY AFTER PUBLICATION. Please
disregard copies of the article which are circulating on message
boards, etc., without my authorization. I've asked Yahoo to delete
those messages.
Apr
2012 Sunday -- Green
Greenery has such a tremendous healing affect on the eyes and brain.
Tom
said he wore glasses for a long time - kept losing them - then he said
to heck with it and put them away and after a few months he could see
clearly!!
Angela the same!!
15 Apr
2012 Sunday -- Longing
(response to a friend -- conversation about longing for God)
This is a very deep subject.
I understand your point.
I wonder though, looking at my own life, the creator, is the most
important although sometimes diversions put it at lower priority - but
my mind / heart / body is turned towards it.
Is there longing for it?
I'm not sure.
Longing, or craving, missing something, is a state of insufficiency,
and possibly involves the self -- it may be a process of extending the
self. Who is the longer? Is there longing if the self is not there? On
the face of it, it seems to be the same movement of desire, which is
habit of the mind -- desiring one thing or another -- and feeling
insufficient without it. When the self, which is just a movement of
thought, a bundle of memories, is absent -- when the mind is quiet --
there is no longing. God is in the present. Being in the present, and
unoccupied, which requires a quiet mind, is attending to the
measureless which is the source of everything, which is love itself
which embraces everything.
Apr
2012 -- Face turned to eternity
It's important to have one's eyes / face / mind turned to the eternal
-- everything else falls to pieces -- not to gain something -- but
because the eternal is the only thing which is. All other occupations
of the psyche are of the past of future -- things which may be
important -- like companionship and money but not as important as the
eternal. The self has all kinds of ways of sustaining itself -- e.g.
dissection, desire. Awareness of the ways of the self can mutate that
movement.
It's fascinating to meet a Persian person whom like most Persian have
such a natural deep aptitude for the super natural.
15 Apr
2012 Sunday -- Writing
I
love writing and nothing is better than getting paid to do what you
love. A website is paying me to write occasional articles -- usually I
can do an article in a couple of hours and do this once a month or so -
but today spent the whole day writing because lost it once due to a
technical error. But now it's done :)
Apr
2012 -- Hunger Games
The movie, Hunger Games is way over-rated.
14 Apr
2012 -- Children Understand
A typical adult may think this is beyond the kids' minds but it is no.
They understood:
1)
it doesn't matter which kid owns the toy - the toy is in the house -
you don't play with it 24 hours - you play get tired of it then the
other one can play. Learn to cooperate, to share.
2) do you know
what war is? the world is a mad place. you and I have a responsibility.
we're here to help the world. if you fight with each other you
contribute to the same movement momentum quality of energy and
consciousness but if you have peace together you help the world be
peaceful.
3) don't fight each other - try to find a solution - you
can. the answer is in the problem. He can't write yet but she can - you
can write all that comes to your mind about the problem - ask yourself
why do I feel this way - what is the problem - let it open up - and in
understanding it there is the solution - it's a beautiful thing.
Apr
2012 -- Power of categories
Why
is it so important in some cultures which are outwardly perfect to
categorize relationships -- break everything down to ones and zeros --
you're either a friend or blah blah -- trying to put love inside walls
-- the thought built walls of separation division and therefore
conflict. That is a perfect example of a thought dominated
society.
Apr
2012 -- California Chiropractic
There
are good and bad Chiropractors everywhere but the styles are
very
different between the US and Europe. Specially in California I have
known two amazing Chiropractors. They work on you for a long time, take
a holistic approach, and they've been most helpful to me over the
years. One just fixed a pain in my back with one click. In Europe I've
also been to Chiropractors and there it's far more money centered: in
and out in a rush like chickens and they charge and arm and a leg.
Dr.
Andy was incredible. He spent sooo much time with you
unlike Dr. Anklin in Zurich who puts you in and out of his
office in a matter of minutes -- how else he could see soooooooo many
patients in one day -- he once told me how many he sees in a
day
- mind boggling. The good chiros I know don't see a lot of patients in
a day so can take their time -- it's also the approach -- the European
way is money oriented -- the California way works!
In general best chiros do adjustment proceeded by some
massage or
loosening of muscles but the bad ones are boom baam - before you know
it you're in the office and out -- the good doctors base it on science
- the bad ones leave it to luck -- my jaw was screwed up by one of
those rushed clicks.
And I know a osteopath who is so busy he takes naps with people's heads
in his hands supposedly doing therapy.
I have a great chiro in Los Angeles -- very good guy.
Apr
2012 -- Yahoo Email is Not Secure
I've
been getting a lot of spam from friends who have their Yahoo emails
compromised. Yahoo mail must be very insecure. Go Gmail!
Even a friend with AOL had her account compromised last week.
12 Apr
2012 --
Adam
Feuerstein & Cramer's TheStreet on hot seat:
http://www.jdlawfirm.org/uploads/3/0/6/0/3060978/letter_to_adam_feuerstein_to_cease_and_desist_from_making_false_fraudulent_and_defamatory_statements.pdf
I've
had a US Bank credit card for a long time. Today I chose to close that
credit line because they're starting to assess a fee on their cards.
The fee is not much but I still don't want to pay for too many
fee-based credit cards.
Apr
2012 -- Internet
One
of the ways some lonely people try to get attention is to occupy
internet chat rooms where people interested in a topic discuss
something. The intruder doesn't share the interest of the group in the
topic and manages to get attention by opposing the topic.
Apr
2012 -- Beatlemania lives on
The kids are having a Beatles theme birthday party !!!!
A woman gave me a note with a love sign next to Beatles :
<3 Beatles
John Lennon didn't like his own voice so he would over dub it.
She looked desperate and said her 5 year old thinks he's the boss of
the family.
29 Jan
2012 --
I definitely feel better off not having had kids.
Strong back feels great.
Apr
2012 -- Love Letters
I
can publish a 1000 page book of love letters I've written --
unfortunately the Larijani's destroyed my love letters and notes from
when I was 14 to 20 or so -- but I still write when I'm
inspired... and I'm frequently inspired :)
- wrote a short story
Apr
2012 -- Prejudice
Prejudice
runs so deep in some people -- the more open minded, educated,
travelled you are the less I suppose your head is stuck in the mud of
prejudice thinking your way is the best way, categorizing people
according to their gender, place they happen to have been born, color
of skin, etc. etc. -- in some cultures prejudice is stronger than
others and it is fascinating (and sad) to see how deep rooted that
conditioning is in the brain. Of course there is a place for it. The
brain operates with more efficiency when it makes images but
psychologically images, which is the root of prejudice are detrimental.
A person who is conditioned by prejudice is bound to have
conflict because division inevitably brings conflict. Peace in each
person, and therefore the world, begins with each person ending their
own prejudices, bigoted, dogmatic ways of thinking and open up to
appreciate diversity. If every flower was red nature would not look
nearly as pretty.
Apr
2012 -- Egohead or Airhead?
Some
women who have a bit of looks get so proud of themselves and their ego
shines in the light of opposite or in getting pursued -- hey, don't
give yourself too much credit. They just imagine that any guy that
comes along wants to pursue them and they get a kick out of playing
hard to get. The silly part is it's just imaginary and totally a job of
ego which needs to think it's being pursued in order to get glorified
-- it's disgusting and surely doesn't lead to happiness. Also there's
the issue of being stuck in the past freedom from which is only a myth
for many people.
Apr
2012 -- Camera Brain
The
brain is like a camera film - certain images from childhood are so
crystal clear and get invoked due to a stimulus or apparently none
(like in a dream if you had too much to eat) -- the circuitry and
functioning of the brain is incredibly complicated -- we each carry a
massive super computer in our little skulls). E.g. an image of sitting
at Sangaki bakery by aunt's house helpless as a little kid to compete
with all these adults who were eager to buy a bread -- all I could do
is to just sit there waiting for my turn and empathy of the baker :) --
and it'd work.
3 Apr
2012 -- Complements / Service providers vs.
customers
I
had to wait a long time on a paid phone line to talk to a manager --
but it was worth it because I wanted to give complements to the agent
because I liked her attitude and her perseverence and diligence in
going after that only available seat on the flight and booking it. The
agent and manager both appreciated the gesture of kindness. I bet they
hear more complaints than compliments but good service should always be
recognized.
In
a world of competitive service providers customers can easily go to
another provider. Just as the customer has that right the service
provider has that right to go to another customer. Some people forget
that and insist that a provider has to give them good service but they
don't have to just as the customer doesn't have to stay there. Of
course if a right is violated or something unfairly done it's a
different story but in the case of choice, prejudice, or whatever the
reason is on either side, in this free world the provider and the
customer can just move on, and smile.
2 Apr
2012 -- Violin
Met
a violinist who will be playing with Bartoli soon! She said music is
great - intelligent - but why are there so many stupid musicians out
there? I think the answer lies in competition in music schools and
circles which turn people brutal -- that competition which is also in
other disciplines is the way of the world.
This woman is the grand master of voice: Cecilia Bartoli
Check out her track on Youtube: Sacrificium (3) Cadro, ma
qual si mira
Mar
2012 -- More support for my dislike of Facebook
Actually
the main reason I dislike Facebook is its mechanism -- the way the
software operates - the user interface - the manueverability - and not
to mention the overly complex security scheme which I have no sense of
security and trust in anyway. Try deleting a message. It archives it -
then try deleting the archive. Good luck. I'm sure it can be done but
like Windows 7 it tries to think for you. No thanks. I can think for
myself.
The
Visapana teacher went from one posture to another nonstop -- very much
against the spirit of yoga stretches as I understand and practice them.
The competitive West has turned yoga also into a competitive sport.
Intensive
yoga today at this class a friend told me about. Felt so tired almost
felt sick. A nap helped and green smoothie was life saving. Congestion
went away and body (and so brain) felt great. Also the vitamins helped.
Mar
2012 -- White Meat?
She
said she eats only white meat - but eats veal. Told her the horror that
poor baby cow is put through -- and it's not white meat -- and even if
it's organic it knows it's being killed and the consequence of that
fear on hormones -- and the cruelty etc -- she admitted she could not
kill it herself - but when someone else does that cruel
gruesome act and it's wrapped as an organic brand she eats it
!!
Mar
2012 -- Pregnant Smoker Mother
Another
victim of the tobacco industry, she is pregnant and knows it
harms her child but being addicted she can not stop. Addiction tends to
push the issues to the background as humans have an amazing ability to
rationalize everything. Sometimes people use God as an excuse to
justify their stupid actions. In this case she had told her colleagues
that if it's God's will that the kid is healthy it will be. God also
gave us brains !!!
We talked at length and I gave her another
perspective on this nasty habit and some tips on stopping and the
urgency of the matter. She's not only responsible for her own health
but another human's too.
Mar
2012 -- Images
I do not like to make images of others or myself or other people's
images of myself or themselves etc. - - image making is a fundamental
process in the mind which helps the brain work more efficiently but our
education and cultural conditioning which over-emphasizes thinking has
made most people thinking machines -- thought dominated where thought
entering areas where it doesn't belong and that creates so much
unhappiness -- one close proof of it is the high suicide rate in a
thought dominated society like Switz which is outwardly perfect
but people try to apply the same clock- and tram- perfection
inwardly but thought is limited and can't enter the unlimited dimension
- that other movement which is beyond itself, beyond time, and where
love is from :)
Having said that, last night I went to bed remembering a face
-- did not make an image to brood on and sustain - but just a passing
memory and that brought a smile to my face :)
--------
- the kids were wrestling as they listened to Beatles and their mom
told them to settle down :)
- big box of vitamins came from the US. the body does feel
better.
- the cold that started 18 February is finally 98% gone -- 5 to 6 weeks
is not bad for these nasty viruses.
-
God asked him for a glass of water on a summer day - he knocked on a
door and fell in love and married and had kids and fluds came and he
asked God for help. "where's my glass of water?"
It's important to always have the eyes on eternity.
-------
- Got an upgrade to the defective 1.5 TB (to 2 TB) for 34 Francs.
-
Fender will bring the amp - blown tube not covered under warranty.
Amazing that the cell phone that ran while it was on the amp blew the
tube up!! Imagine what it's doing to the body!
- Go the shocking news that Bruce just died - he had a 12 and 16. No
medical problems - was downstairs and just dropped dead !!
-------
-
Biggest turkish speaking population in a city after Istanbul is Tehran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KLBqYpzzZ7Y
- Dr. T said for congestion / colds he takes iboprofen.
23 Mar
2012 --
Met a cool neuro-pathologist.Great discussions on a variety of
scientific and other topics.
Not
only the brain has different kinds of nerve cells (vs. liver e.g. which
just has liver cells - they all do the same job) - but also there are
different ways that these brain cells are connected - and we don't know
how they're all connected.
All cells have all the info all body cells have -- they encapsulate the
same genetic code, DNA.
BOA
made a mistake - I raised the issue and asked for something in lieu of
the time I had to wasted on their mistake. They'll send a $25 gift
card.
DHL cancelled an invoice just by the asking!
21 Mar
2012 -- Images
Shared
with her the beauty of not making images of anyone or oneself - just
living with facts - b/c often images are distorted, being based on past
and present may have changed... She had many images in her mind about
situations which were just not true.
Mar
2012 -- Pia
Met intern
from Germany – she was disinterested in her upcoming Skype date with
her possessive jealous boyfriend but that was the way of tradition and
free can be free from its dictates.
I met many Germans who love CH. Even a cold night by the lake eating
sugary icecream
Neti-pot
was deadly for sinuses -- the water made the lining swallow. Work out
helped. But took a sudafed the next day which helps drain the sinuses -
it has a stimulant so it's like drinking coffee (which I don't ) but
breathing is worth it.
19 Mar
2012 -- Software contracts
A
worldclass software company sees its success in the success of the
customer. A lousy software company just wants to charge money, enter
the customer in lousy contracts and deliver poor quality code. I've
seen a lot of horror stories in my life time in high tech. One of the
funniest I recall is a software vendor that get an unassuming customer
into a fixed price contract, delivers code that's not well tested, gets
the customer to test its code for it for free, charges the customer on
T&M on top of the fixed price, and, charges the customer for
time
spent discussing the bugs!
In the old days more companies
developed custom software internally or outsourced but now the way to
go is out of the box software with ideally no custom code, and if
absolutely necessary bespoke code if the developer is under a tight
fixed price contract with built in penalties.
Rose colored glasses are detrimental in contract negotiations.
18 Mar
2012 -- Sunday
Nice
place to hangout and catch up and socialize on a rainy Sunday night.
It's like a university library. Rebecca is studying medicine. Lovely
music on the sound system. Jazz is
deep blues, or rather blues is light jazz with more pain and far
simpler harmony and counterpoint.
Good chat with cousin and mom. Shams-Ali and
Ashraf are back from Mecca and they threw a big party - 150 people -
and brought a soghati ("travel present") for each person!! Mom saw Bah
Bah for first time in years - and her kids - they even have grand kids.
There are things about the close social ties in Persia which are not as
present in the West. Many beautiful values. Tradition is always there
for us to take the good and leave the not so good.
It takes a
great mind to want to be free -- or at least be willing to look at and
explore bondage. Love can only flower in freedom otherwise it's not
love - it's something else that's called love - like
possessiveness.
The
"DLL"s we're born with - not just the "machine code" genetic influences
but the "middleware" conditioning of the species' brain which we can be
free of, are very strong.
"The
bank announced Sunday that it would allow authorized money changers to
trade dollars at 19,000 rials per dollar, while the official rate
remains at 12,260." And the President was saying when it was at 11000
that it will go down -- now it's almost doubled in the black market.
She said there are rarely therapists you go to who make you feel
better - most make you feel confused.
Her son nearly drowned and has brain injury and is in near coma. The
doctor said music in S-Dur is best for healing.
-----------
offtime
She said all our cheese is raw. I said I only believe it if it's
written. And sure enough some were not raw !!
Abuse of trust is very common in Switzerland.
18 Mar
2012 -- "Music"
A
Persian DJ gave me some mp3's to check out -- classified to new, old
and very old. Some nice new things - the 'old' stuff were
mostly
from 90's and 00's and lots of junk there - it's amazing how much bad
"music" was pumped out of TehranJeles (Los Angeles) post revolution.
The best in terms of musical value and arrangement are still found in
the 'very old' but some of the 'new' material are really good too.
18 Mar
2012 -- Project Management
Execution
and delivery of a project is far far more than technicalities. Techies
can easily lose sight of the big picture. It's all about the big
picture - without it it's easy to take detour. And that's not even to
mention communication which is most of the ball game.
I think
it was Jon Goldman or one of my other bosses who used to say business
partnership is about how much you have the partner by the bxxxx. I
don't know if I fully agree but I do see that it surely is not about
being in bed with the business partner because if they don't have the
same view (which they often don't) they end up taking advantage of the
relationship which I have seen in projects so often.
Coming in
the middle of a project is always interesting -- on the positive side
you get to clean up the mess, on the negative side you can't do it
right from the beginning which is so important because you came in the
middle!
18 Mar
2012 -- Money-God
Offered
relative help if they want to come here to operate on his brain tumor
but it costs 10 times as much. Specially here that doctors charge by
the frigging minute. You enter and saying hello how are you is on the
clock. I don't charge my customer for lots of overtime I put in because
customer satisfaction is important to me. But here the customer is king
mentality is reverse - customer is slave - my friend was charged for
the time it took the doctor to open and read her short note to
cancel an appointment!
18 Mar
2012 -- Relating
She
said she's seeing two men - in same town - she doesn't talk to them
about each other - one of the guys is in another relationship in
agreement with another woman's husband to see her one weekend a month.
She
said the man was much older - but visited in the hospital every night -
and loved her - love knows no age - and they loved each other.
17 Mar
2012 -- New Published Article
Batted
out another substantial Seeking Alpha article. Started Saturday
morning. Researched. Wrote it. Friend verified. Submitted by night.
(did other things today too).
Mar
2012 --
Cell phone blew up something in tube amp. After F called amp started
making noise and then it stopped working.
USB stick now holds 64 GB. I used to have one for 128 MB and
thought that was big.
Bill
Gross the guru of bond market calls bottom on yields but regrets
getting out of government bonds last year (since then they rallied). I
guess some of these gurus are just like weather forecasters in Scotland
:)
Cheese
eggs and bananas are supposed to be mucus causing and bad for sinuses.
There may be some truth to it though in the case of dairy it's not
scientifically proven. Pineapples are full of Bromelain- a great enzyme. She
knows Mansour Bahrami, my Tennis teacher in Iran with whom I studied
when I was 13 - 14 - he's a famous tennis player
and is known for his wamth and humor - I remember back then he was also
always joking....From the same era. my first guitar
teacher Armik
is a famous player now with lots of CD's, and my martial arts teacher
Farhad Varasteh is still an icon.
He
wanted to stop the lawsuit but his lawyer encouraged him to
fight
on. He now regrets it and blames the lawyer -- pretty typical.
He
said about a woman he's learned to follow strength rather the heart -
he tells the answer by how he feels about it - it's not the connection
itself that's the truth thing but whether she is emotionally
strengthening - if you feel a stronger person - follow your strength -
is the sense of strength and sense of direction in the same direction.
17 Mar
2012 -- More victims of rigidity
News
came that 3 people have jumped in front of the train recently. Suicide
rate in CH continues to be among the highest in the world. Great
country, great history, beautiful nature, political neutrality,
near-perfect order in society, material richness, yet so much
unhappiness and suicide. Why? I do believe it is rooted in misapplied
and over-emphasized thought which is divisive. Life is dynamic and
can't be programmed like a Turing Machine! Search for
psychological security only augments insecurity. Life is not a problem
to be solved but a mystery to be lived.
Sharepoint
is not a proper document management system, at least as I understand
it. Having come from an ECM background Sharepoint just seems like a
document management wanna be.
Viva Coop - they now have a organic quinoa-rice drink. They also have
just rice and millett-rice drink.
Jumping over fire on the eve of the last Wednesday of winter is an
old Persian tradition. The party was fun and the ancient mantra to fire
"my yellowness to you and your redness to me" was powerful.
Mar
2012 --
Fearlessness
is very different than aggressiveness. Modern society praises
aggressiveness but in fact it's fearlessness it's trying to praise :)
One
can be very gentle, affectionate, and fearless which means going at
problems heads-on. Most people don't do that and as Bertrand Russell
said that's a cause of much misery -- and it's rooted in fear of facing
a problem and addressing it directly.
---------
I'm not a micro-manager but there is a place for micro managing -- most
people don't require it but some need it.
---------
Work
has been extremely busy -- early start in the day and often work into
the night. It's an interesting project and demands highly agile PM
skills.
---------
I get nice emails aside from all the junk -- this quote is
from a nice one:
"So
quickly you came inside the shop, so quickly you disappeard then,
leaving me with a big smile and many questions...it was really a
pleasure to meet you and i hope to see you soon again...in the
meantime..."
Mar
2012 -- Donald Trump's Sons or Animals?
PETA
wrote: ""Like all animals, elephants, buffalo, and crocodiles deserve
better than to be killed and hacked apart for two young millionaires'
grisly photo opportunity. If the young Trumps are looking for a thrill,
perhaps they should consider skydiving, bungee jumping, or even
following in their anti-hunting father's footsteps and taking down
competing businesses—not wild animals. If the Trumps want to help
villagers, they have plenty of resources at their disposal."
23 May 12 - Lousy DHL Customer Service
DHL
is a European company and their customer service mentality is a typical
European "customer is wrong" attitude (vs. the British or American
one).
DHL rep told me a surprise bill would be cancelled. They
still billed me. I said hey, you guys said it'll be cancelled. They
were like, no you have to pay. I asked to talk to a manager and the
resoinse was "this is the last time we say you have to pay". I did
manage to get a hold of a manger - the general manager and he looked
into it and said he believes me that I was told it'd be cancelled - he
sees I had to make a lot of effort to reach a manager (not to mention
the stress, dealing with stupidity, brick headed
clueless customer
dis-service reps) - and he said it was wrong of them to give me false
info - but still I have to pay. Compare that to an American company.
There's 100% chance that they would waive the bill. It was peanuts -
but the European attitude is the vendor is king and customer the
sucker.
The right way to do this, for a world class
organization which DHL is not, is to say, we made a mistake of giving
you false information, we take responsibility for it. Our mistake cost
you time and stress. We also made a mistake for refusing to let you
talk to a manager. Maybe we learn something as an organization (I don't
think so) - thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are sorry.
We will waive the bill which we promised you we would -- we will stand
behind our promise -- but sorry we can't because 30 dollars is more
important to us than keeping our promise which the General Manager
confirmed he believes the promise was made.
I wish them peace in their continued operation (despite their clueless
customer service).
14 Mar
2012 -- Goldman Sachs Whistle Blower
At
meetings at Goldman, on the other hand, “not one single minute is spent
asking questions about how we can help clients,” Mr. Smith wrote. “It’s
purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If
you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you
would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the
thought process at all.” “People who care only about making money will
not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much
longer,” he warned.
“Make the client the focal point of your
business again.. Without clients you will not make money. In
fact,
you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how
much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so
people want to work here for the right reasons.”
11 Mar
2012 -- On Quitting Smoking -- an email I sent:
Hello.
Only
5 out of a 100 people who want to stop smoking actually stop -- the
rest just give up and justify it by saying they like it or somehow put
up with it while in fact they're living with conflict and doing
something which is against nature. Another shocking statistic is that 1
out of every 2 smokers dies from smoking - and it's often a painful
gradual death. I know several people who died from it and it was not
pretty. Knowledge doesn't change us. Every smoker KNOWS the problems
with smoking. What's necessary to change is understanding, insight. I
have written an article sharing some insights and tips (direct link: http://tinyurl.com/87b93gs)
-- and also made 2 videos -- one very recently in discussion with a
smoker friend:
Also I made a video about yoga (direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVs6q9ozxuo)
-- yoga stretches and deep breathing helps the body feel good in the
process of becoming free from this vicious habit which hurts your
health, happiness, pocket, and, brings bad luck (because it poisons the
system so one becomes susceptible to negative influence -- this is an
Ayur Veda idea but I have experienced it first hand). As a great sage
said, smoking is not necessary and it makes life [unnecessarily]
complicated.
The biggest trap is psychological time: thinking
you will stop smoking one day, some day, after a certain event happens,
etc. -- these are just tricks the mind plays on itself in order to
defer the challenge to end dependence. Change can only come in the
present -- time by itself will not change a person. Pass this on to any
smoker friends you have - I get nothing out of it - it's just a public
service to help fellow humans who are trapped. (Once in a while someone
emails me that they quit smoking with help from the
things
I said)...
11 Mar
2012 -- Imposing Church Bells
The
incessant deafening church bells seem to freak the animals out -- they
holler so bad like they're being tortured by this high decibel sound
that goes on and on -- my ears feel pain from the loud noise as much
respect I have for the cause.
----------
It
"made my day" to hear Elio quit. Talking to him and Bea was a wonderful
reconnection to the deep values we shares. Southern Italy and my
personal culture are very similar.
10 Mar
2012 -- Trap of Energy Drinks
Talks
with a bright 15 year old about problems with energy drink and other
profound topics which he understood despite imperfect English -- e.g.
role of conflict in wastage of energy, trap of drugs, etc.
It's a gamble but I think the odds are quite good for approval. It meets FDA guidelines for efficacy and some argue it's safer than Diet Coke (here's a good discussion on safety:
Swiss
may have sharp army knives but when it comes to
soldiers, I wonder: A group of uniformed soldiers on the train
early Saturday
morning were drinking beer befpre reporting to duty. I said, you're
drinking beer in the morning? One of them said: "we are in the army". I
hope you don't have to go to war!
---------
Swiss
woman said it's normal to call people after 8 in the morning on a
Saturday. I couldn't believe it because she has reservation about
calling people after 8 in the evening!!! Don't forget to unplug the
phone if you intend to sleep in on a weekend past 8 am.
But the again the bus is full of old people who have already finished
their shopping and are going back home at 10 am.
---------
Another nice song idea came. Met some ballerinas for first time in my life
- from US and Russia. They said it has its brutalities and pressures. .
I've worked with some great OS's and Windows 7 is not one of them.
Microsoft
took a step backwards with Office 2010 -- doubling the required clicks
for most key strokes. Now I see other applications are doing the same
thing -- it just seems like a bad influence -- which makes sense. When
the gorilla makes a move smaller guys follow - even if it's the wrong
move made just to have a new version and make new sales.
Mar
2012 -- Santorom
Demonstrators interrupt Rick Santorum speech in Oklahoma City
A
boy and his mother looked with awe and regret - frozen - at
the
scoop of the ice-cream which had landed on the ground. The thoughts
were as follows: The kid, holding the empty cone - darn - i am now left
without an ice-cream, should I pick that up - how to separate the clean
from the part that's on the ground, and the mother thinking, I just
paid for an over-priced ice-cream - what should I do?
I
stopped the bicycle and said, go tell the shop what happened and
they'll give you another one. She: really? I: ya. They went
in.
Sure enough they got a free replacement and happily walked out and the
mother thanked me.
Mar
2012 -- Love is not shoes
Good
chat with farmer Hans Peter Meier. A very typical Swiss name :) -- he
said many married couples stay together because of young children but
when kids grow up they separate.
What happens to love? He said she
found her love -- and then they fought and separated. Isn't that a
shame and contradictory to love? Can not love survive attacks of
thought tiger? Isn't it childish that I now am in love with you and
tomorrow I'm in love not with you but someone else. Like changing
shoes. It's so silly and superficial. And the structures of tradition
are even sillier -- the institutions that are supposed to enforce
security in relationship and continuation of conflict further add to
the misery. Love is free. It can not be put in a box, institutionalized.
And J said her 15 year old daughter is giving her hell. Pain.
Mar
2012 -- Another plastic victim
Indonesia zoo giraffe dies with plastic in stomach
But
an autopsy Friday found a 44-pound (20-kilogram) lump of plastic
in Kliwon's stomach. The lump had a diameter of 23 inches (60
centimeters).
Warsito
said Saturday the plastic appeared to be from wrapped food thrown by
zoo visitors, and from garbage that had blown into his stall. Kliwon
was the zoo's only giraffe.
Mar
2012 -- Image Making
Image making seems to be at the heart of psychological pain.
Awareness
is the key to ending of that dominant process. It's dpominant because
like a good operating system the brain needs to work efficiently and
does that through image making for practical matters but thought being
misused and overused creeps into other areas and causes pain.
----------------------
Notes from the past:
Ks: He has not built trust, why
should I listen to him? -give
it time. Find a subject you’re interested
in. the guy doesn’t matter.
When I learn how to work better with a person is that an image?
-Work
is practical relationship and image has
right place in practical areas
29 Feb
2012 -- "Seperation of Nader and Simin" -- the
movie
Iran, "A Separation" Asghar Farhadi, director
Seperation
well deserved the Oscar. One of the best movies I've ever seen. The
original language conveyed much more than the sub-titles. Persian is a
very affectionate language full of expressions that convey love and
devotion and all those are translated in terms of target language in a
practical manner - just to convey the meaning without the emotional
accent / spice.
I had tears a couple of times. The most precious
part of the movie, for me, was when he picked up his father from the
ground - and in that urgency, he gave him a kiss. Even now I cry when I
write this. Kissing father.
Father and I exchanged so many
kisses. I remember ever since being a baby I was showered by kisses by
him and when we reversed roles and he was old and in bed he delighted
at my kisses. He had the most delicous the most sacred being.
And
his heart was like a child till the moment he died.
That level
of affection is very much in the culture - as portrayed in Nader's
devotion for his father with Alzheimer -- Simin wanted to leave saying
your father has Alz and doesn't know you are his son. Nader said, but I
know he's my father.
The movie was full of touching moments -
as well as scenaries from life in Tehran - and portrait of the class
divisions in the society, the discontentment, and the role of the
sacred.
A very well done artistic endeouvor fully deserving the Oscar it just
received as the best foreign film.
27 Feb
2012 -- Art of Possibilities
Another hit performance of the art of asking seemingly impossible
question.. (emailed details).
The
Iranian girl haslightenedup the cafe with humor and joy of an otherwise
dry stiff clock-style place
-------
- Met a doctor from Tanzania and his 3 year old -- they had a 1/2 hour
to wait for train so we spoke about geography and life.
26 Feb
2012 -- Integrity
At
thermal bath there were many old people and many of them looked
disintegrated. There are old people who seem whole but most there
didn't. I tried to not be between them. They looked unhappy, and flat
out disintegrated. Was nature intended for them to get like that? Trees
flowers nature even animals they don't look so aweful -- it must have
something to do with the way of life -- with what they eat - or the
state of mind and heart - the pursuit of pleasure perhaps or living
with conflict -- I don't know -- but it makes sense that it
is
not the destiny of human - it's not the dictate by genetics to turn
like that - but it's the way of life - so once again tradition has
failed to make the majority of people age with total integrity.
27 Feb
2012 -- warmth vs. wealth
Woman said she doesn't date men from the same country as hers because
"they're dry". She said some older German women marry
younger guys
from the other country - they know it's just for the visa but they
don't mind b/c they don't have other men so they figure they have a
nice man for a couple of years. She said it's a mutual attraction: the
poorer country is attracted to the richer -- and the richer's folks
attracted to the poorer's warmth. Then there are countries that are
both rich and warm -- how well they're managed is a separate question.
She
said men and women from another country she mentioned can be
in
the moment a lot more but people from here, she said, are more into
continuity security and as result calculative and dry etc yet are
charmed by the warmth and spontanity of the ones from warmer cultures.
Of course her generalizations are just that -- stereotypes are
inaccurate inherently because there are always exceptions.
as you know knowledge will not change a person
26 Feb
2012 -- Note to a friend
as you know knowledge will not change a person
it's seeing - with a quiet mind - just seeing what I am - without
trying to change what I am. that seeing is magic !! it bring change
naturally - without effort -
quiet mind is the key.
and if mind is not quiet - that needs to be seen too
why isn't it quiet?
what is its occupation?
to see and understand the root cause of disorder is the key to having
order :)
- Rebirth
is true but perhaps not the way it's systematized and theorized by
ideologies. I see it with bare eyes.
One can be reborn out of the pool of goodness as well as the stream of
suffering.
It is a mystery and it is not. The entire process is very mysterious.
The evidence is very clear even to a scientific mind but can not be
proved using scientific method.
I did not search for it. But it became evident on its own. There was no
direction to shape perception. But huge mysteries remain and thought
can not unfold it, nor does it wish to. Fish can not know land.
----------
Talk to 11 yr old about harm and
unnecessity of energy
drinks
26 Feb
2012 -- Windows XP vs. Windows 7 vs. Mac
On
a pathetic machine which evolved from spaghetti code, DOS, we're left
with the legacy of Windows -- we can't complain much - the world is not
perfect and thank goodness I have the ability to dig deep and deal with
the many complexities and demands of maintaining a windows system as a
power user. But Windows XP Professional is the best of Windows ever.
Windows 7 is a huge step backwards.
Unfortunately,
Win XP Pro's official end of life was October 22, 2010. So it's not
possible to buy a new system now with XP. I'd rather go to Mac than to
go on Win7. I have a system running Win7 and can't take it seriously.
Mac is great but it's not in my life - yet.
----------
Windows
8 is radically different from its predecessors. The system won't even
have Microsoft's familiar "Start" menu. All applications are spread
across a mosaic of tiles, as part of a design Microsoft calls "Metro."
"Meanwhile,
Google says more than 300 million smartphones and tablets are already
running on its Android software, with another 850,000 devices getting
activated each day. At that rate, another 155 million to 180 million
devices could be running on Android by the time Windows 8 comes out in
September or October. As it is, a version of Android is already running
the second hottest-selling tablet, Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire."
25 Feb
2012 --
-
New Persian worker has pumped life and humor in an otherwise dry and
stiff cafe. Before they used to stand around and not even smile -- now
they're laughing around -- a noticable change and the only thing that
has changed is "Haja" - a half-Iranian girl who speaks Farsi with a
cute accent.
-
It was refreshing to meet Alex and Sam and even
her boyfriend. Don't worry too much about boyfriends... no
need to
confess: look at this paper :) -- the refreshing part was
related to
their age -- I am a lot younger than them but they're also young and
not burdened with self imposed prisons of thought-tiger. Look at me in
the eyes, would I send you junk? :) She was going out with a drummer
who was very complicated. She said most people don't notice
she
has blue eyes. They're actually a nice jade green.
- Amazing how a bit of
Southern blood pumped up the music at PV. The percussionist was awesome
- no English spoken - from Ecuador - studying Jazz which is great
musical education.
23 Feb
2012 -- First obesity medication got thumbs up
from
VVUS
doubled afterhours due to FDA ADCOM very strong vote which makes no
sense actually given the poor safety profile for pregnant women and CV
risks.
ARNA moved up in sympathy as well. Most people think
ARNA will get approved. I'm not as optimistic just due to the political
influences.
18 Feb
2012 -- Anti-depressant Fraud? $11+
Billion industry -- not better than placebo
Head
of Harvard Medical School dept of Placebo studies has determined SSRI's
are not any better than Placebo. Not just that but they're a lot worse.
They destroy. I've seen it with people I know who take SSRI's. And
millions of people take them. The study found it's combination of
doctor placebo and pill placebo -- when doctor says something the
patient believes it and it has a placebo effect.
Told Swiss
woman that I am very Swiss. She said you can't be very Swiss because
you're talking to me in the train :)
The
reservedness is sometimes too much. Friend doesn't want to
call A
at 8 pm because ... .??? it's not sunday it's not dinner time
it's not bed time. So finally called to ask the question. The world
didn't end. Why? Maybe because of the closedness and reservation of
culture? It's often not accepted to reach out - but when someone from
outside
of this style reaches out it's liked. Is 9 pm too late to call? I get
calls all hours and to be a good friend I don't object.
15 Feb
2012 --
Most of my
Indian friends marry when they're in their 20's.
He said don't join the club, stay single and stay happy.
Our team in India
is fully vegetarian
12 Feb
2012 -- Kids, Cell Phone, etc.
Talked to
friend who has 2 little kids now.
Most
parents I know find little kids to be huge amount of work. He said he
regrets it sometimes but once you're in it "if one foot under water or
10 feet under water it's the same".
Good
talk w/ AR. A.H. died from brain tumor - AR thinks it was because of
cell phone use: He was on the cell phone the whole time being a
“wheeling
dealing guy” – the removed the tumor – he lost some congnitive
functions.
11 Feb
2012 -- Facebook Tragedy
Another
Facebook disaster: Facebook "defriending" led to double murder, police
say
(http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-defriending-led-double-murder-police-014442236.html).
NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - A Tennessee couple who "defriended" a woman
on Facebook were murdered in their home by the jilted woman's father
and another man, police said on Thursday. "It's the worst thing I've
ever seen," Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said, adding he had never
seen anything like it in his 27 years in law enforcement in the area.
"We've had murders, but nothing like this. This is just senseless."
Talked to Laura after a long time - she also doesn't like Facebook.
William also neither uses Facebook nor Google+
07 Feb
2012 -- Sugar Should Be Regulated As
Toxin, Researchers Say
A
spoonful of sugar might make the medicine go down. But it also makes
blood pressure and cholesterol go up, along with your risk for liver
failure, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Sugar and other
sweeteners are, in fact, so toxic to the human body that they should be
regulated as strictly as alcohol by governments worldwide, according to
a commentary in the current issue of the journal Nature by researchers
at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
LOVE doesn’t die. Thought ca murder love. That’s
the tragedy of our civilization.
Much of Haydn's
music is annoying and shows an internal conflict and bitterness. Bach
on the other hand shows an immense depth.
03 Feb
2012 -- Beatles Forever
We
wrote BEATLES FOREVER many years ago on school notebooks. It seems to
be the case. Big music store has a new big Beatles display selling
merchandise etc.
Teenager wearing Beatles. Kindergarten kids wearing
Beatles. Beatlemania is alive.
-------------------
Tatoos, like ego, on even the prettiest of woman -
is a show stopper.
-------------------
Before it even starts the place is full of “fog” –
it’s nuts
– you don’t need so much of it – just a bit for effect is enough.
Smoking is
not allowed so these silly people fill it with “fog”.
They played 2800 for
the hall plus a lot for the PA – the
boss of the PA was here – normal price for PA is around 2800 too. Plus
DJ. Total is around 6000 and
at 20 bucks a ticket
he hopes to recover the money with 300 people but he doesn’t think so
but is
doing it for fun anyway.
---
busted
a few smokers - security is tough on them - one security guy asked me
if he should kick out the repeat smoker or give him a last chance - I
said give him a last chance. The smoker was happy and thanked me and
apologized.
03 Feb
2012 -- Management Style
My management style is very democratic - rooted in
understanding cooperation and affection joy and understanding. And it
works!
--------------------
On his resume he wrote in the summary: Personal
fitness,
literature, whisky.
---
02 Feb
2012 --
Had
two serious Outlook / Exchange issues which they couldn't solve despite
working on it all day. Asked the guy if he's seen this before. He said
they have these issues all day every day!! It was a kind of a
tough day with this stream of misfortune and a period of reflection.
Have had a lot of nice song ideas - sometimes nice phrases come
packaged with the melody. Love can be shot at but it can get up and
walk when it's seen without the filters of divisive thought and its
image making. A nice song idea was a nice relief and emptying.
01 Feb
2012 --
Does
innocence mean naivety? Not in my book. innocence is a quality of mind
which is not corrupted by thought and tradition. Tradition's key
motives are conformity and security. A free mind is a threat to
tradition.
31 Jan
2012 -- Michael Jackson
Saw
the Jackson show, Thriller -- it was very well executed but they went
overkill on the smoke machine. The entire theatre was filled with smoke
-- they used it indiscreetly -- I told the guy during the break - that
it's like putting a whole bag of spice in a dish. A little is nice a
lot is not. But nothing changed. We could really feel it in breathing
but there was no choice. And those dancers do heavy exercize in that
air every night. We had great seats in front center rows.
29 Jan
2012 -- Two Concerts
-
I'd never even heard of
Band of Skulls. Checked them out and liked the sound of 3 piece which I
always have. It was heavy rock but some interesting material. The
drummer like most rock drummers has no concept of dynamics and
throughout played at his max volume which is very unmusical. The part
that captures people the most - that spice - is the vocal
harmonies. Emma Richardson has good stage presence. Angela
Jaggi
plays much better bass guitar. Emma played basic stuff -- had
a major 1000 Watt or so amp and weak finger stroke articulation yet got
a nice big sound. They both sang fairly well
for a heavy metal band. Guitarist used 5 diff guitars and lots of
effects and synth which is cool - I like to get a synth guitar like I
wanted to before but changed my mind - but now I can see with the
direction we're going it increases the possibilities. He used the same
amp as me - two blond Fender Supersonic 60 plus extra cabinet. The two
people I talked to also didn't know the band's name. Talked to the
manager - nice guy - and got the ins and outs of different arrangements
to play there. I am sure we can play there. Our product is top notch
and well targeted to a wide market. Just need a really good video.
-
Spinach safaron, kale salad, sprouts, cucumber salad, potato
salad, eggplant salad, garbanzo salad, pea salad, macaroni salad,
lentil salad, potato gratin, hummus, red quinoa salad, and so on :)
- City is very cool - so many possibilities for culture. Going back to
the club after this nice meal to check it out.
-
At the club met the events manager (same guy who gave us a discount),
the club manager, and hung out until I had a chance to meet the booking
manager who seems to be the big boss. The seed is planted. Now dream
needs to come reality. This is absolutely the hottest spot in the first
class city in every way - - the crows - the location - etc.
-
Lara's Theme echoed the night on a wet silent night where rain was
barely trying to turn into snow in the background of the horror that
mankind has done to the Planet.
-
Ended up going to Mohammad Reza Mortazavi's concert. He's very good
player and makes lots of exotic sounds but doesn't seem to connect to
the audience. 30 minutes of Daf is too much - same basic monotone
sound. So it's just as boring as I had thought. Playing approximate
melodies with the drums which is pretty brilliant but after a while it
doesn't hold interesting. I had a feeling it would be exactly as it is
- but came anyway for other reasons too. He can imitate a Tar on a
tonbak with the tremolo and all. He's creative and unique in
the sounds he gets out of a drum.
-
The wonder of Tonbak or Tombak is in what it was meant for - not to
imitate Ravel but to play nice traditional Persian rhythms. Now he's
doing that and now people are engaged.
- Friend said Mortazavi could have done that in 20 minutes and charged
1/2 the price :)
- Talked to soundman at the percussion concert - got some ideas for our
video.
29 Jan
2012 --
-
I do not regret not being married. 50% of cases end up in divorce which
is often painful and costly and erosive to the psyche. Our of
the
other 50% I am sure at least 25% of couple fight sometime and some that
I know live in pain but put up with it because or materialistic reasons
(property) or for sake of children. I am not against marriage and there
are many successful marriages but I give it a 25% rate of success. At
that rate, I don't regret not having played that game.
- Her
sister is having hard time with school and so on - and they've put her
on psychiatric drugs !! She said she tries to help her sister get off
the drugs and face challenges of life. There is a place for medication
but in some cases it is abused as a crutch for someone who can walk
without it.
-
2 Americans were getting off in Altstetten thinking it was the airport
-- they didn't even bother to ask!! I saved them a delay.
- He asked if I have followers. I said I hope not - I don't want any
followers. That would be destroying them and myself.
28 Jan
2012 -- New Research: People
who give in to racism and prejudice are simply dumb,
There's no
gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and
prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to
stir public controversy.
That explains a lot !!
The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely
to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults.
Went
to a Raja Yoga center - they don't do anything for the health of the
body. Just sit and recite affirmations (e.g. I am peaceful) -- but the
little I is still active. In the 1st hour of a 7 hour course they teach
you who you are :-)
They're nice people - typical Europeans
infatuated with the rich culture and tradition of East - in
this
case India - eating India import sweets they offered but I had to
refuse (sugar) -- we had good talks. He said you must have read a lot
of books.
--------
feeling difference (harm) of 1 day of nose spray (cortisone).
liking the strong body as result of every other day good workout - it
clearly is effecting the posture in a good way.
--------
Disgusting:
BANGKOK
(AP) — A new taste for eating elephant meat — everything from trunks to
sex organs — has emerged in Thailand and could pose a new threat to the
survival of the species.
"If
you keep hunting elephants for this, then they'll become extinct," he
said. Consuming elephant meat is not common in Thailand, but some Asian
cultures believe consuming animals' reproductive organs can boost
sexual prowess. "The poachers took away the elephants' sex organs and
trunks ... for human consumption,"
-----------
Bribes, Chinese Mob Ties Alleged at Casino of Gingrich Money Man
27 Jan
2012 - Beatles Revolution
Musicologists
are right. They predict in a 100 years Beatles music is so legendary
kids will sing it in school.
100
years sooner, now, my sister said "in kindergarten there's
Beatlemania"... Rusteen (5) came home today and said he learned the
whole "Help".
What a market for our band :-)
A dream I had
since I was 13 - to make a Beatles band - and then as a 3 piece - and
then in top quality not like some of these other bands that murder the
music. The product is there. The place is clear - market is ripe. Price
is clear. Only missing piece is promotion.
27 Jan
2012 - "Selfless".
From email to
friend:
with regards to the "self" sometimes less is more. The self itself is
the problem. It is built by thinking. When we are inwardly very quiet
there is no self - there is no need for a self. There is nothing to
work on or improve psychologically - just being nothing which is very
powerful -- silence has tremendous power of creativity.
But our world is one of noise - internal and external - the internal
noise divides - builds walls - isolates. Look at the extremely divided
world as the proof. So the salvation is not more self but less self -
"selfless" -- but the self is so strong that many people specially
older, who are so dominated by the self as the main activity in their
minds don't even understand this.
25 Jan
2012 - This & That...
Had
a tiny bit of chocolate to prove I'm not a fanatic. Energy level
dropped like hell a few hours later - I was dragging like wanting to
die. I forgot it - looked back and asked - what did I do differently
today. And only thing diff was the choco/
Angelo: "suffering is much less worse than getting involved in
banality."
22 Jan
2012 - Primitive Psychology
After
10 years they finally told him what they think he has. Meanwhile
they've had him on therapy and medication for 10 years not knowing what
he had !!! It's one hell of a crooked corrupt system. Even now, when I
read the description of the condition and compare it with what I know
of him -- and I know him quite well -- none of that description fits.
So they've got it wrong and still can't tell what's wrong with him
because there's nothing wrong with him! His problem is he's a very
intelligent sensitive human in a brutal society which wants to make his
mind dull, have him conform, and is afraid of him dropping out of the
system of medications and therapists.
Smoker friend said: "save me I’m dying". We're going to have a
discussion on stopping smoking.
20 Jan
2012 - Facebook Depression
Research found
the more people used Facebook the less happy they are. No surprise.
17 Jan
2012 - Small Mindedness
The
level of small mindedness of some American customer service reps is
mind-boggling. We noticed this when we first went to the US. The reps
we dealt with only knew their little section and totally clueless about
a) the big picture b) anything outside their realm of responsibility no
matter how small and focused their area, to the degree of losing common
sense. Tonight talking to a rep reinforced this observation -- it's
like going to bakery and asking about bread and the guy who's in charge
of the oven saying sorry I just know about the oven, what's a
bread?
The
supervisor apologized - I said please educated the guy - he wasted 20
minutes of my time by not being able to put 2 and 2 together which is
so common sense and I can do it and I don't even work there.
17 Jan
2012 - Psychological Dependence
He said he popped a 100 mg of antidepressant this
morning
because he wanted to have a good day and went shopping etc.
So some dependence develops -- the fact that he wanted to have a good
day is
positive - it shows thise was light in his mind.
To see dependence on medication and on thisapist. He said he's going to
the thisapist
on Thursday because he is not happy with his and wants to tell his that.
If I'm not happy with a hairdresser I just don't go.
For his the thisapist is like a mothis - but he doesn't like his. He
prefers a
man who is strong. And the medication is also something he relies on
for a
disease which is probably a non disease - no doctor has been able to
say what's
wrong with his. The side effect of these drugs by themselves are enough
to make
a healthy person sick.
He said how do you end psychological dependence - how do you tell your
psyche
to be free from dependence. Thise is no how. Understanding is the key.
To see
what you are - whatever it is that you are.
He said the drug makes the fear go away. Does it ?? The fear is also a
side
effect of the drug and as long as it's not seen it stays. The
medication is an
escape.
I could have escaped to night too but I didn't - I did some yoga and so
on and
am feeling good.
17 Jan
2012 - Psychological Corruption
Perhaps
the highest form of corruption and violation of humanity and essence of
goodness is when thought enters where it does't belong and destroys
love.
-----------------
June 2012
German-speaking cantonal governments have been responding to what they
say is pressure from the globalised economy by gradually giving English
priority over the national languages at school; English - not French –
is taught as a second language in 14 of the 17 cantons.
-------------
According
to a Credit Suisse survey, which takes into account taxes, education,
manpower and transportation, Zug was the top location in Switzerland in
2011. Historically, this has not always been the case.
In the
19th century, when Zug consisted almost exclusively of agricultural
land, it was one of the poorest regions in Switzerland. In the 1960s,
the canton had the highest per capita debt in the country, with an
average income well below the national average. It was thanks to the
initiative of entrepreneurs that the canton started to thrive.
-----------------
14 Jan
2012 - 3 Piece Magic
Friday night
had a jam session after a period marked by unusual pain. The new
energy is solid. Performance is great joy. I give arrangement ideas to
the band. I play and love drums and drums plays such a big role in the
dynamics and color and texture of a 3 piece band - and to have a
drummer like X who can execute anything flawlessly makes it easy
and fun to share what I hear and then hear it executed. The bass is
solid in hands of Angela Jaggi who's become a precise musical
and amazing
player, and the guitar has a lot of possibilities in a 3 piece band.
From the perspective of a drummer: "You’re a real good guitar player
because your timing is stable." It's that Persian thing!
- Joseph Haydn is so boring.
- Johann Nepomuk Hummel is cool.
- she was so happy she couldn't stop smiling...
laughter of joy ... filled her heart
16 Jan
2012 - Kids
She said having
kids is a long term commitment. You can do things after they go out
(when they're 18 or so).
He said: with 1 kid you have 50% free time. With
2 or more 0%.
The positive is you can play with them. The negative is you have to
play with
them even if you don't want to.
-----------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRtMIu4Aa_o
Eckhart Tolle - How to
inhabit your body in a stressful
environment
He talks 10 minutes to
explain paying attention to the body -- I guess some people need a
Guru. Not for me.
14 Jan
2012 - Vicious circle
They
put him on Zoloft now - it has its own set of side effects. They
haven't been able to tell him what's wrong with him - which is probably
nothing except for being sensitive - highly talented - highly
intelligent - the society wants to dull that mind by medications and
make it confused by therapists who are confused themselves. Talking to
some good friends who love a person in some cases may be much better
than therapists. So the new drug gives him fears - he has no reasons to
be afraid - and before he takes the drug he has no fears and when he
takes it it starts. So it's clear that it is the drug 's side effects
that's causing the problem. He asked them if they can tell him what's
wrong with him if anything and they said they can inject a radioactive
contrast agent in the brain :) to see if there's anything wrong. They
said it takes time for the drug to work and settle - but it's been 2
months.
It's the question of faith in the system - which is ok
for some conditions and not others. Another friend who's been through
this said, if side effects settle real effect also settles and then the
person needs higher dose. So what can a therapist do? change the
medicine back to what was not working before? or up to dose to make the
brain more dull. Sure, it drops some inhibitions but so do
many other
things - so the person can be more talkative in therapy but what is the
point and use of that therapy? I'm not giving medical advice but just
questioning this. How can putting someone on drugs to talk about
somethings he's talked about for years already in a therapy to a likely
confused therapist can help that person be free?
Insight can
liberate. What's important is to know that we are strong enough to
stand up to life's challenges. Part of it is cultural. Here there is a
very low threshold of tolerance. Suicide rate is the best indicator.
But it's an approach to life in an outwardly perfect society. A sane
person here doesn't need to have any fears about physical comfort -
nobody has to ever worry about sleeping in the street. That's one of
the great things about this society. And if one doesn't eat meat the
physical fear is not there. He appreciated tips on having todo-lists
which help the mind be less restless.
I said, suicide is
stupid, period. It's for stupid people. Nobody with a bit of brains
would commit suicide, and would know how precious life is.
Jan
2012 -
Changed
guitar strings - good old EJ45's are perfect - the last strings were
hand killers.
Overstock's
case against naked shorts got dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction in
California but Patrick Byrne will fight on. More power to him, Jonathan
and company.
Avanir
has had a nice run the last couple of weeks.
They're building a solid business although short sellers are still
denying it, but that denial will cost the shorts a lot. The short
interest is still over 26 million.
Learned
about fascinating technology of Geron. Their compound works both inside
and outside the brain.
Watched
a very moving movie by Annalena Fröhlich made. She's a delight and an
excellent artist I've known for years.
Bristol-Myers
Squibb Co. (BMY) increased its bid for Inhibitex Inc. (INHX) and its
experimental hepatitis C drug twice in five days, raising its offer 30
percent to top an unnamed competitor, according to a filing.
9 Jan
2012 - Swiss Central Bank / Hedge Fund
BERNE
(Reuters) "[The Swiss Central Bank Chairman's] Hildebrand wife
Kashya,
a former hedge fund trader who now runs a Zurich art gallery, bought
400,000 Swiss francs ($418,000) worth of dollars on August 15, three
weeks before her husband oversaw steps to cap the rise of the
safe-haven franc. She later sold the dollars at a higher rate.
Shame. This is a no-go. Even if she didn't know maybe she knew
something, I mean husband and wife talk, sometimes.
-
5 and 7 year olds are singing Beatles and wearing Beatles shirts in
school. Simply wow!!!
8 Jan
2012 - Life force
-
Healing is a miracle that happens. The signs of it are again clear and
concrete.
- Pranayama is very healthy for the body and brings happiness to the
organism..
8 Jan
2012 - How Thought Murders Love
-
Thinking has an amazing ability to destroy love. And in thought-based
societies that is what it does all the time. So love gets murdered and
gives way to calculations formulas and a mechanical approach to life
with no tolerance for insecurity because thought absolutely needs
security of conclusions and the known. So it decides (from the word
"homicide") and murders love. An outwardly perfect society made by
thought -- with every little detail figures out -- is a wonderful thing
-- but when that same thought and its mechanistic ways creep into the
psyche and want to define love and life which are not trams and
watches, it fails. The proof of it is the high suicide rate. There is
little room for flexibility, negotiation, trying to work it out,
dialogue, finding a solution. Thought just axes love in the head. It
also shoots life in the head -- there are so many cases of suicide
around yet outward emotions are very normalized. Some of the people who
kill themselves had perfectly "normal" lives - and even people close to
them didn't know if anything was wrong.
And then there's the
whole subject of popularity and over reliance on psychiatric drugs,
psychiatrists, psychologist, psychotherapist, and mental hospitals to
deal with the consequence of an overly thought based education /
culture / upbringing / society.
What is clearly evident is that :
a) a perfect society does not lead to happiness
b) material riches do not lead to happiness
c) thought is incapable and destructive when it comes to dealing with
matters of love and relationship
8 Jan 2012 -
Love Epic or Tragedy ??
He talked about
the practical vs. romantic circuitry.
There
are many animalistic circutries in the brain. Some are necessary -
about food clothing shelter. There are others which are not only
unnecessary but freedom from which make a human experience life and
love at a different level. This freedom requires inward maturity and
growth which has nothing to do with age at all - open-mindededness -
and awareness. One such circuitry in the female brain is about
practicality which is translated from the animal conditioning around
security for raising children into the extreme case of finding a man,
with a clear plan for divorce and how much money it will yield. Most
cases are not that extreme but the practical circuitry always involves
the ego, the self, made from thought, and therefore it must exclude
PURE love. Pure love can not operate when the practical circuitry is
active. Love has its own practicality and intelligence.
7 Jan
2012 - Jam
-
Jammed with P and a accordeon player. To play chords on the guitar
is one of the easiest things in life - probably a monkey can also do
it. To play the guitar well is skill-iin-action and one of the most
challenging things in life.
- Talk about Romantic fools: A Chicago
police
officer allegedly turned a $132 speeding ticket into a pick-up
opportunity when
he later tracked down the female driver and asked her out, saying the
least he
could do for the money he cost her was to treat her to dinner,
according to a lawsuitthe
woman filed in federal court.
3 Jan 2012 -
- 2 year old
Klaus learning words with father - so sweet - the language of a 2 year
old is better than Mozart.
- Some nasty dark clouds came but light of truth dispelled them.
-
Late last night decided to send a New Year's Message - so composed and
sent it immediately (took about an hour including mail-list
management).
-
He was with a negative grumpy unhealthy smoker drinker
toomuch-meat-eater woman who often
watches these dark crime movies and he slept 5 hours and woke
up
and didn't feel like getting up and was in a state of 1/2 awake 1/2
sleep. The psychiatrist said double your dose of anti-depressant, take
coffee, and come for therapy. If I were in those shoes I would try to
sleep more, do yoga, eat, take a nap, but anyway a day like
that
is usually ruined anyway in terms of tiredness so let it be so - why
escape from it with medication - just sleep early and find balance next
day. This is not a medical advice just idea of how I would do it.
That's a relationship I would try to sell on Ricardo and take a break
from - much better to be alone than with someone you don't want to have
sex with because she stinks from cigarette alcohol and meat!
2 Jan 2012 - Body World
Koerperwelten
in Basel is way over-rated. It was not that interesting and kind of
gruesome and made my stomach churn. Not recommended. For me it was very
similar to just looking at pictures in an anatomy book. The most
popular spot was the erotic scene.
2 Jan 2012 - New Year's Message
Dear Friends
This
is to wish you a great 2012 and all good things that the universe can
bring, health, happiness, love, joy, wisdom, money and so on...
The rest is a spontaneous composition based on a spontaneous
desire to send a new year greeting...
I
used to write Christmas cards years ago before computers become such a
dominant player in our lives. I still remember days when I did not have
my own computer - first half of 1990's but by later 1990's the good old
paper calendar gave its way to Outlook and the paper journals were done
with Word and my handwriting kept getting worse. Now, the laptop is on
from day to night and it has absorbed much of my physical possessions
-- boxes full of writings, music scores, songs, photos, you know it...
If I could only take a little tiny flash drive when I die :) -- the
ancient Pharaohs parked a boat next to their grave in Cairo so when
they come back they could ride the boat back to Aswan. All I would need
upon returning is a laptop :-) (if by that time USB is still a standard
:) -- just kidding because I don't believe in the whole coming back
theory as we know it ...
Back to reality, as I got more busy and
unconventional and digital Christmas cards gave their ways to emails
sometimes but as the email list grew that also stopped and gave way to
very very infrequent mailings -- it's been maybe 2 or 3 in the last 5
to 7 years depending on which list you're on. This is going to
'personal' list - a small subset - which is still 722 friends -- you
see why I like to keep mailings to a minimum and absolutely essential.
This
year too, I wasn't planning to send anything. I prefer to do a mass
mail when I have something creative to announce... But just
now
decided to send something because today was a hard day and I
received some new year messages which were really helpful. I find a
message of love, kindness, peace, friendship and good wishes in this
crazy divisive torn-up world is helpful. Forwarding a picture of my
adorable niece and nephew - Tara & Rusteen.
As for a
personal update, I'm in Switzerland now doing a contract for a large
company as a project manager in IT -- just finished delivering a
project with a virtual team of around 80 people in 10 different
locations globally. It's an enjoyable position -- Project Management is
80% communications!
I'm still playing the guitar, and classical
guitar specially is the biggest thrill in human experience I know
(talking about thrill, after years of skiing, I've just lost interest
in downhill skiing -- the thrill compared to the time investment is not
worth it.
We have a nice band (see links below) -- we have a
good foundation in our relationships which is the most important thing
and that allows good music which has a universal source to flow. In
2011 we got a fantastic drummer, P, who's a joy to work with.
Angela is playing amazing bass guitar and the three of us sing
harmonies (see link below).
Love, love, love, the first phrases
of "All You Need Is Love". What can I say? I have been in a
"relationship" for the last four years and it's been really amazing,
again in terms of foundation and quality -- "nothing lasts forever but
the earth and sky" to quote the band, Kansas -- there is no permanency
in anything -- we are fleeting moments -- and specially love, it can
not be put in a box and secured -- it can be
cherished and
appreciated -- it is so real but it can't be seen -- its
expression can be seen but itself is the background - it embraces
everything - and can be seen only with the eyes of eternity.
My
father passed away last year. He is still very much alive because love
doesn't die. He was an angel - and his love lives in my heart and he
rides on my shoulder (but I don't have to buy two tickets :) -- we were
very close -- the father and I are one - we loved the same love and
dreamed the same dream -- but he was a mountain and I am a grain of
sand in comparison to his greatness affection gentleness and wisdom
(poetic application of our conditioning to compare).
As for
personal projects I have some things in the works - a circular around
Jiddu Krishnamurti's work is brewing for the last 9 months on very low
priority basis. I have enough material for 2 more CD's and might do
some recording when the 9-month winter is over! I also like to write a
book about a cyber law case I litigated as a Plaintiff -- a very
interesting account of what a dangerous place internet is, and how
I dealt
with some abusers.
As for stock tips, in 2012 AVNR may do really well. Here's some info I
put together www.avnr.info
It's been some years so I hope you'll excuse this group mail.
Love and good wishes, and thank you for yours.
1 Jan 2012 - Guitar Joy
Playing
guitar gave one so much joy. Far more than can ever be possible on ski
slopes. Quit skiing early because it seemed so stupid - majority of the
time on the lift and then only a part of the time coming down gives
true joy -- maybe 10 or 20% max of the whole time. With guitar it's
like 99% joy.
The
majestic glaciers are precious - they're not to be disturbed and warmed
by these heavy equipment and skiers and manipulation of the mountains
(gunning avalanches etc.).
Barrios was so great - I love playing his stuff
- though he's criticized by some purists because he used elements of
pop and folk music in his classical compositions.
It was nice
Remo trusted me with the forgotten passes - didn't betray his trust and
returned the 2 day passes -- sold 2 others at discount and sold my day
card for a discount as a 1/2 day card - win-win situation all around. I
think I'm done with skiing for a long time if not forever. This idea
has been brewing for some time. Today it got 100% confirmation. It's
just not worth the time and risk and hastle. I can get so much more joy
fromi playing the guitar. So thought, skiing is for those who don't
play classical guitar :-)
It's
interesting that on special occasion when thought shouldn't go where it
doesn't belong the brain itself hurts - certain spots - as though
rejecting an out of purpose use.
31 Dec
2012 - New Movie: Addiction Incorporated
- First
good news of 2012 came with the movie : "Addiction Incorporated" --
a great revelation into the inside world of criminals who run
a
business out of getting young people hooked. They conciously decided
for more addictiveness vs. less harm. They want their targets to be
addicted so they spend money buying something that makes them unhappy
and kills them a slow painful death. A must see movie for every smoker
and non smoker and every government official who has a pro-smoking
sympathy.
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