2009 Reading...

Often, I'm queried about what I've read or am reading. Then I get asked for
a list. Here's an incomplete list.

RELIGION/PHILOSOPHY

- Wake Up by Jack Kerouac
- The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture by Darrel Ray
- Answers from the Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Ethics for the New Millennium by Dalai Lama
- The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion by Thich Nhat Hanh
- The Dhammapada (The Buddha's Path of Truth) by The Buddha
- Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
- Open Heart, Clear Mind by Thubten Chodron
- Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas by David Ross Komito
- Zen Flesh Zen Bones by Paul Reps/Nyogen Senzaki
- I Am That : Talks with Nisargadatta Maharaj by Maurice Frydman
- What makes you not a buddhist by Jamyang Khyentse
- Graceful Exits : How great beings die by Sushila Blackman
- Commit to Sit by Joan Duncan Oliver
- Buddha by Deepak Chopra
- The Dhammapada by Eknath Easwaran
- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
- Sand and Foam by Kahlil Gibran

NATURE/NATURAL WORLD/SCIENCE

- The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene
- Quantum Field Theory Demystified by David McMahon
- Polar Obsession by Paul Nicklen
- K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain by David Roberts, Ed Viestur
- No Shortcuts to the Top by David Roberts, Ed Viesturs
- Tuna: A Love Story by Richard Ellis
- On Thin Ice by Richard Ellis
- String Theory Demystified by David McMahon
- Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz
- Isaac Newton by James Gleick
- The Quantum and the Lotus by Trinh Xuan Thuan
- Shark Life: True Stories About Sharks & the Sea by Peter Benchley
- The Einstein Theory of Relativity by H.A. Lorentz, Albert Einstein
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

MOTOR RACING

- Race Car Vehicle Dynamics by William F. Milliken
- Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed by Joseph Katz
- What if I had never tried it : Autobiography by Valentino Rossi
- Go Like Hell : Ford, Ferrari, and their battle for speed & glory at LeMans by A.J Baime
- Technique of Motor Racing by Piero Taruffi
- Drive to Win: The Essential Guide to Race Driving by Carroll Smith
- The Racing Driver by Denis Jenkinson
- The Racing & High-Performance Tire by Paul Haney
- Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
- Speed Secrets (1-6) by Ross Bentley


FINANCE & ECONOMICS

- Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas
- The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman
- The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman
- Blood on the Street by Charles Gasparino
- Frequently Asked Questions in Quantitative Finance by Paul Wilmott
- Against the Gods, Peter Bernstein
- The Sellout by Charles Gasparino
- Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
- SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
- The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
- The Panic of 1907 by Robert F. Bruner, Sean D. Carr
- THE GREAT UNRAVELING by Paul Krugman
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

SOCIOLOGY

- Disturbing the Peace, Vaclav Havel
- Encyclopedia of Pasta by Oretta Zanini De Vita, Maureen Fant
- Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America by Chris Hedges
- The Image : A Guide to pseudo-events in America by Daniel Boorstin
- Empire of Illusion : The end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle by Chris Hodges
- Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles Pierce
- American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America by Chris Hedge
- What Every Person Should Know About War by Chris Hedges
- The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel Boorstin
- Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

MISC

- Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose by Constance Hale
- Hot Shoe Diaries : Big Light from Small Flashes by Joe McNally
- Metamorphosis and The Trial by Franz Kafka
- The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
- The God of Small Things: A Novel by Arundhati Roy
- The Bedside Baccalaureate by David Rubel
- Essential PG Wodehouse Collection, PG Wodehouse
- Complete works of William Shakespeare
- The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
- The Devil's Dictionary by AMBROSE BIERCE

Speaking Tree (Times of India)

What is said here can be said in other words and in more words, but all that
is to be said will be what is said here.

01. Elements make all.
02. Particles make elements.
03. Energy makes particles.
04. The content of the world is matter-energy.
05. Electro-magnetism makes energy.
06. Matter-Energy happens in the Time-Space continuum.
07. Electro-Magnetism and Gravitation make the three
dimensions that make space.
08. Electro-Magnetism constitutes the Cosmic "Length"
and "Breadth", and gravitation the cosmic "height" : Space
is the lay of Electro-Magneto-Gravitation".
09. The interplay of the three metric dimensions of Space,
Electro-Magnetism and Gravitation, makes matter-energy.
10. The order of events makes time, the fourth dimension.
11. Consciousness and Space are not different from each other,
just as Matter-Energy and Space-Time are not different from
each other. Consciousness and Space are respectively the
interior and exterior of the same substance.
12. Consciousness-Space, by the interaction of its metric
properties creates the Universe.
13. Consciousness-Space is a continuum without borders, without
an outside, and as it is, the entire spectrum of being falls
within the Consciousness-Space continuum as it has not and
cannot have an outside.
14. Since all things that fall within space are its products,
by the interaction of its metric properties, and they are
sustained and re-absorbed by the same space, a God is not
and cannot be.
15. If there is and can be a God, it is and can only be the
Consciousness-Space continuum which makes, keeps and takes
back all.
16. The four-dimensional Space-Time-Consciousness continuum
is God or Nature.
17. No second God is or can be.
18. The God of a religion is the First Father or Primogenitor
of his original race/nation.
19. A religion is just the catharsis of its original race/nation.
Gods, scriptures, prophets and places of worship are adjuncts
of racial identity.
20. Revelation doesn't and can't filter except through a medium,
and when it filters through a medium it shapes to the mould of
the medium. Revelation descends only
as crafted and qualified by the medium, never in its original
purity.
21. Pure Revelation is met only on the other side of the medium
of senses and mind, and at maximum entropy.
22. The separation of the Electro-Mageneto-Gravitational fields
that make the metric dimensions of space is temporary. They were
one basic primordial field in the beginning, and they will be
that in the end at maximum entropy.
23. Maximum entropy is the terminus ad quem and terminus a quo
of the Universe: the zero degree of being.
24. The being or state at maximum entropy, at Zero Degree Being,
is Reality, and its evolution and revolution from Zero Degree
Being to Zero Degree Being is Appearance.
25. The four-dimensional Space-Time-Consciousness continuum is
Appearance, Phenomenon.
26. The Unified Field of the Electro-Magneto-Gravitational fields,
the Zero Degree Being, is Reality, Noumenon.
27. The fourth dimensional Space-Time-Consciousness-Continuum
is metric, 3-D; the Unified Field is the Sub-metric, Zero-D.
28. The Unified Field is the Supreme Being. The Ultimate God. The
bsolute Idea.
29. The four dimensional space-time-consciousness-continuum is
the Executive God and the Unified Field the Absolute God.
30. Phenomenal being is the geometry of the four dimensional
space-time-consciousness-continuum.
31. The four dimensional space-time-consciousness-continuum
geometry is the ultimate superior spirit, the most radiant beauty,
Cosmic intelligence, Providence,
the Almighty, and all. This metricdom dissolves in the sub-metric
at maximum Entropy.
32. Life is the metrication of the Submetric by means of the
three metric dimensions.
33. Mind is the electrification of brain. When the brain is
electrified the fired Neurons form into modules which are
'pictures'. Magnetism and Gravitation join electricity to
make brain's pictography 3-D.
34. Electricity, Magnetism and Gravitation produce the super ego,
ego, and id in humans and thus make the individual self of the
Cosmic self.
35. When the Electro-Magneto-Gravitational fields come together
into the Unified field at maximum Entropy, all beings attain salvation.
36. Individual beings can attain salvation prior to maximum
Entropy by working up the Unified Field in the brain by way of
arresting the constantly shifting modulations.

Go LIke Hell

"He was cruising at 185mph in fourth gear at 5700 rpm. A slight
inclining right bend led him under the Dunlop Bridge. He eased
up on the gas, then accelerated again, shooting down a slope
at 183 mph into the Esses. He downshifted to third, then
second, in perfect fluid motion. Easy on the downshifts; no
stress on the gear teeth or clutch plate. Hill left the Esses
in second gear at 5800 rpm - 82 mph. A hard brake down to 65
mph, a tight right turn into Mulsanna Straight, and he hammered
the throttle. Third, Fourth. The g-forces pinned him against
his seat. A glance at the tach: 6100 rpm. Two hundred mph
summoned with his toe."

- Go Like Hell - Ford, Ferrari, and their battle for Speed
and Glory at Le Mans by A. J Baime

***** Very Highly Recommended Reading *****

...and 2010 Le Mans, I'm definitely going to watch!!!

Natural Light, Markets and Mark to Market Shenanigans

Friday, April 3rd
Various Times

U can see past posts on my blog : www.alvinjamur.blogspot.com
U can see some of my pictures : www.alvinjamur.com

Okie, plug done. Its been a while so I will be very desultory
here.

- My brother Vivin pinged me an observation of yesterday's
market action right after the close. As u may know, the whole
modification of Mark To Market rules were passed yesterday. The
banks performed as follows :

NWSB +9%
ZION +9%
STI +7%
WFC +7%
PNC +6%
USB +5%
C +3%
BAC +3%
KEY +2%
ISBC +1%
JPM +1%
MS -2%
NTRS -5%

Turns out that the best performers were amongst the
unhealthiest banks while the worst were the banks that
(at least to public knowledge) are the strongest.
There's Capitalism 2.0 for you. We reward the worst
perfomers.

- As crazy as it may seem, the passing of the modification
of the Mark to Market rules is not coherent with the
Geithner Plan (Public Private Partnership)!! The Financial
Accounting Standards (Rule 157e) will allow banks to use
their own models to value their assets and will allow them
to push the assets onto their Level 3 boxes. The Geithner
"Public Partnership" plan calls for "price discovery" and
the FAS157e plan circumvents this in a way. Go Figure!

- The market has rallied a LOT since my last post. Yours
truly was not able to take advantage of the rally and
stepped aside and watched. I've spent some time re-tooling
my head to be open to all possibilities and not get into
being a tunnel visioned bear. Its a constant work in
progress!

- You should spend some time staring at the chart below.
Speaks volumes about the rallies we get in bear markets :

http://www.dshort.com/charts/mega-bear-comparisons.html?mega-bear-quartet

- About a week ago, i got word that the greatest living natural
light photographer in the world (Jay Maisel) wrote a little blurb
about me on Scott Kelby's site :

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2009/archives/3814#more-3814

I took Jay's course about two years at the insistence of my good
friend, Seth Resnick (a Cannon Explorer of Light). Photography has
not been the same for me after taking Jay's course. I tend to delete
most of my pictures and don't even bother shooting if the light is
not good. Jay has been a great influence on me and is one of a
kind. You won't find many like him in this day and age.

- I'm away from April 12th-19th on a Tiger Shark Trip with my friend,
Jim Abernethy. So will write after I return and will send you some
pictures, too!!

That's all I have to say...

Friday, March 20th, 2009
2115 hrs

On October 29th, 2008, I opined the following and I will
simply just repeat what I wrote.

"Credit excesses have not been wrung out of the system.
All we've done by the machinations of the TAF, PDCF, TSLF,
CPFF, MMIFF, ABCPMMMFLF....er, Yes, I mean the "TAF, PDCF,
TSLF, CPFF,MMIFF, ABCPMMMFLF" is to shift the problems
onto the public balance sheets by risking taxpayer money.
These stunts will sooner or later lead to a revolt in the
fixed income markets and will likely lead to a currency
devaluation. We will be a banana republic."

This past week has been a rather interesting one. The
talking heads have declared and called the SP 666 number
a bottom. Then on Thursday, we all got word that the Federal
Reserve will now start outright purchases of longer term
debt to help out credit markets. The US dollar collapsed,
commodities rallied but NOT in other currencies. The Federal
Reserve has essentially devalued the dollar!!

YES, THE FEDERAL RESERVE HAS ESSENTIALLY DEVALUED THE US
DOLLAR.

My brother, Vivin Oberoi wrote me the following the very
evening :

"It is an unfortunate fact of our lives that B-52 Ben
controls the value of our money. I am not going to mince
any words. When one sees everything (and I mean everything)
BUT your savings account go up in price, there is only ONE
conclusion. The value of the dollar is plummeting. This is
NOT a bottom has been reached and recovery is around the
corner move. Gold is rocketing up. Commodities are but NOT
in other currencies. The Fed and the government are now
going to finance their “fight debt with more debt” economic
policy with our savings accounts.

Make no mistake about it, we have now joined ranks with the
likes of Argentina where government spending is financed by
printing money. The Fed is going to print money, buy newly
printed government bonds, transfer trillions into the treasury
which will then be spent. This is the form of looting that
marks the culmination of debt induced crises that are then
mishandled. The savers are now being shot. I am extremely
depressed about the prospect of losing my hard earned
savings. That is all I have to say."

That is all I have to say....

- aLV

Market Bottoms & Economic Lifeblood

Monday, March 9th, 2009
2155 hrs

In mathematics, maxima and minima, known collectively as extrema,
are the largest value (maximum) or smallest value (minimum), that
a function takes in a point either within a given neighbourhood
(local extremum) or on the function domain in its entirety (global
extremum).

I copied the above definition from Wikipedia to remind you that
the favorite questions/articles/opinions these days in financial
media happens to be "Where is the bottom?". The truth is that
NOBODY knows from which price the markets might rally again and
for how long that rally might sustain itself. Whether we trade
bonds or stocks or options or any of the vanilla flavored financial
instruments, technically the bottom is at ZERO. All one can do
when trading is to be extremely self serving and trade in such a
way that the probability of gains are in one's favor.

--

Here's a very very interesting link to those of you that watch
CNBC and listen diligently to the talking heads :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJObWmN-x9I#

Funny!? Indeed and I hope your opinion has now changed!

--

Forget U shaped recoveries and/or L shaped recoveries and the
like. This administration is now following the failed Japanese
model - bailing out everybody in sight. Every decent american
taxpayer should be angry at the way they're being robbed. The
money is going as bailouts to banks, who are then giving it
out the back door to funds etc., Bailouts will never work.
Japanese markets are down by slightly over 80% from where
they were 19 years ago!! Since "Depressions" are not
economically defined, I'd bet that we are probably at the
threshold of one.

--

Congress, the talking heads on TV and others in the media
believe that we need to get the credit cycle running again.
Hah! They state that Credit is the lifeblood of the economy.
Hah!

PEOPLE!!! THE LIFEBLOOD OF AN ECONOMY LIES IN SAVINGS AND
PRODUCTIVITY. IT HAS NOT, DOES NOT, AND WILL NEVER LIE IN
CREDIT (ie., DEBT) IF IT IS NOT BACKED BY REAL SAVINGS.

The idiots in Washington DC are once again asleep at the wheel.
We need to fire the Fed and the Treasury and appoint people
that are not afraid to feed the financial system bitter
medicine. And a part of that bitter medicine is to simply
force truth out ie., lock up/fire people that have lied along
the chain in our economy and/or who have abetted all this
to happen. Starting with some at AIG...which is pure
outright insurance fraud.

My Left Foot Little Toe Nail

March 3, 2009
1700 - 2100 hrs

Though the general trend of this market has been down,
know that there will be some major rallies in between.
Bear markets tend to take out Bulls and Bears. The
best traders are typically the ones that do well in
Bear markets because they trade with a very open mind.
I do know that wearing Rose Colored glasses, whether
Bull or Bear is fraught with danger.

---

"No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on
surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more
pleasing prospect than that which appears at the present
time...."

- Calvin Coolidge, Dec 4th 1928

“Profit and earning ratios are starting to get to
the point where buying stocks is a potentially good
deal...if you've got a long term perspective on it.”

- Barack Obama, March 3rd, 2009


We are going to spend $4 Trillion dollars this year.
The estimated deficit will be around $2 Trillion. And
the tax numbers are based on some absolutely ridiculous
assumptions with regard to GDP growth, employment etc.,
All this while the administration keeps concocting plans
for some grand spending. Last I heard was that its
impossible to spend one's way out of a problem, when
the problem was/is reckless spending in the first place.

As said before, when Japan had issues in the 90s, US
lawmakers advised that it would be good if there was a
recapitilization of banks. And now, we are doing what
Japan essentially did - piecemeal capital infusions
without the political will to put some into receivorship.
Yes, I do realize that the world is a much more complex
place now and there is a pronounced cascade effect
because of counter party exposure etc., But what we're
doing now is pulling off a bandage very very slowly.
What would happen if counter party risk was isolated
to geographical exposure and then countries got
together in some sort of joint receivorship deal?

There's a whole plan on the Public-Private Partnership
that's apparently in the works and that will revive the
markets. Fact is that private money is likely loath to
come here and partner up as its has gotten burned by
Corporate America's profligate ways, American consumerism,
and now an ever changing and ill-concocted plan about
plans for financial market resucitation by the Government.

America does not need new Cars, new Homes, new gadgets,
whiter teeth, or Silicon replacement parts for certain
natural parts of the human body. As long as we believe
that we can simply spend our way out of the problem,
hazard is near and replete.

--

My Economist/Macro PM friend, VO sent me a link to the
paper below :

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=227273

Note the third author of the paper is Larry Summers.

Now, there is going to be a transactions tax on traders
like myself that trade quickly. This paper is the
birthplace of that ruling. It is assinine because the
final point of the abstract pointedly states a belief
that making assets illiquid (by discouraging continuous
transacting) will no longer subject them to the whims
of the market (and micro supply/demand) and is similar
to taking a firm private -- to enhance value.

MY LEFT FOOT LITTLE TOE NAIL! I really do believe
that this is a similar foray like the one where they
abolished the "short sale" for certain companies. It is
misguided and it will blow up a whole industry.

Hyper Myopic.