Bored of the Board

            Vieques is “that island the Navy used to bomb,” a small land mass just a short, scenic plane ride from the “Big Island” of Puerto Rico.  Though the Navy gave up bombing under protest a few years ago, the anticipated major development hasn’t yet happened. So the island remains largely wild, a tangle of […]

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Him: We’re going to launch a new fund!
Me:  So that you can make that underperform also?
Him: Our investors would like a new market-neutral strategy!
Me:  We are market-neutral. You lose money when the market’s up, and you lose money when the market’s down.
Him: We’ll make the minimum investment really really high!
Me:  So only the very very very […]

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According to its Wikipedia entry, “[h]erd mentality implies a fear-based reaction to peer pressure which makes individuals act in order to avoid feeling “left behind” from the group.”  “Jumping on a bandwagon” apparently refers to how causes or individuals become popular as a result of “herd mentality.”  Hmmm.
I’m considering the question because I have in my heart […]

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My daughter has abandoned small childhood. This year she began fifth grade, which in her school is the first year of Middle School. Changing classes, lockers instead of cubbies, more homework, more tests and a uniform are all part of the deal.  Kids either struggle with this transition or embrace it.  Color her an embracer.
She […]

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There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, “The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…”. Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:* You can leave them exactly as is.
* You can delete any […]

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Music saved my life. Not literally, of course, but in a real way. The town I grew up in was really like Mordor, only less interesting.  The only thing I did which seemed to be out of the gray dead norm was play the piano. And that was at the insistence of my mother, a pianist who gave up […]

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When we moved here 15 years ago, we admired their style. Though in their early 70s, the couple was preternatrually attractive. He was tall and thin, with cobalt blue eyes. She was tiny, bleached grey-blonde and perfectly turned out — her mouth an artistic triumph of thoughtfully chosen lipstick over thin flesh. In fact, […]

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This is not unusual. I’ve hated a lot of jobs. What sucks is that I am a “Big Mahoff” and make a lot of money here. But the business’ owner is a jerk. I call him Mr. “Dog with a Flashlight” because he chases each “bright shining object” without anything approaching an overall perspective […]

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Those of you who read Claude’s engaging blog, Self-Absorbed Boomer (see link over there on the right), know of his dry wit, wry observations and exceptional photographs, particularly those of ships/boats/water things. They always inspire me and make me wish I were on a boat, wind behind, spinnaker up and headed for someplace with alcohol […]

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