Feb

23

Leeches and Markets, from Paolo Pezzutti

February 23, 2009 |

22 Comments so far

1. Gary Rogan on February 23, 2009 3:27 pm

   Yes, the bleeding must continue until the patient dies.

2. SG on February 23, 2009 4:41 pm

   According to this logic, anyone who wins in the markets at one point or another is a leech for that particular trade, and the loser is a victim. Accordingly, all market participants must aspire to be leeches at all times, or they’ll lose.

3. Rocky Humbert on February 23, 2009 6:02 pm

   Mr. Pezzutti's post demonstrates the general principle that "in a bear market, all news is bearish."

   I never thought that (as pragmatic optimist and believer in the beauty of the natural world) I would be called upon to defend a leech. But here goes:

   The leech has actually made a (limited) resurgence in certain branches of medicine including plastic surgery and microvascular surgery.

   From "Today's Chemist" Vol 10. No. 10 (2001):

   "Surgeons worked out a method for stitching bisected arteries and veins together under a microscope, thus making it possible to reattach severed tissues and to transplant skin flaps. However, many of these operations failed because of a problem called venous congestion, inadequate blood drainage from the reattached or transplanted tissue. It is fairly easy to rejoin severed arteries that carry blood into the finger, says plastic surgeon Jeffrey Friedman of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, but it is difficult to find and reconnect the veins that drain blood from the finger. As a result, even the most skilled and careful surgeon may not be able to link all the veins, and blood will begin to pool within the finger. Unless this buildup is relieved, clots may form and cut off blood flow into the finger, eventually killing it. Swelling and a blue or purple color signal venous congestion. When these symptoms appear, leeches slither to the rescue. For several graphic examples, visit LeechesUSA (Note: 24-hour emergency delivery is available)

   Serving as a substitute vein, a leech draws off blood before it can coagulate, thus keeping the tissue alive until new veins grow—usually within 5–6 days. Over the years, doctors have unsuccessfully tried a host of seemingly more advanced treatments to achieve the same thing, from blood thinners like heparin to slicing the skin to promote bleeding. “Nothing is as effective as a leech,” says Donald Mackay of Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine who has been prescribing leeches since 1988.

   Besides their blood-draining skills, leeches have other virtues. Although a leech only feeds for 20–30 min, it injects anticlotting chemicals that can keep blood leaking from the wound for hours. Thus the benefits of a leech bite continue long after the animal has dropped off. Leeches are also cheap to buy ($7.50 each) and easy to maintain. They can survive for months in a dilute saline solution without feeding.

4. douglas roberts dimick on February 24, 2009 2:57 am

   A river ran behind our farm property, which trends about, under culverts and bridges of the Maine Turnpike between the West Falmouth and Gray exits. There, summer afternoons invoked swimming schools of contest-fueled imagination and ego-transported adventures.

   Sea Hunt debuted my birth year. For me, Lloyd Bridges inspired a frogman’s ecology within an ocean’s circumference of 100 yards equatorial to a cobblestone, ankle-high water crossing for farm tractors and trucks to access the “Turnpike Piece” of hay and corn crop rotations.

   Flanking the crossing were poolings of two boundaries demarcating my underwater choreographs. Flowing from the cow pastures, there was a dark, jungle-like northern region. To the south were open, shallow, beaching flows under the turnpike bridge; thereafter the cool, spring-fed currents remerged into narrow, darker places flanking Central Maine Power (or CMP) transmission lines and the neighboring dairy farm’s 10 Acre Piece, which boasted Alpha for heavy, greenish enriched hay and silage harvests.

   Sea monsters, comparable to those famed, Nautilus reported species, presented as daily, sometimes nightly taskings for tales of boyhood survival. Armed with mask, flippers, and weapons either pretended or provided by the river and her banks, I played there in times of victory and defeat, alone, so seasoned from accumulating lessons and battles fought with reoccurrences during special force forays and secret agent missions.

   Classified is one, distinguished weekday afternoon. Within 45 minutes of drop-lift by yellow transit, now having traversed the northern seas, I have barely survived the exposed, ambushed travail of this world’s waters’ crossing.

   Emerging, as Captain Willard does from the river’s cove, embarked upon his final, blade-like approach to terminate Colonel Kurtz’s command, I seek stealth among the southern currents.

   The sky invites my courage to strike. My feet twist and pawn to solidify the base of a horseshoe stance in a sandy patch of the riverbed.

   Output is silence. Input is of purpose. I am a state machine.

   Surveying these foreign shores, within my periphery appears an enemy agent. Though too late…

   I am caught. Fear of the enemy seizes me.

   Blackness. The creature contrasts my flesh, attached an inch above my left nipple, like a broad knife carving across my breast.

   Without thought, impulsively, I attempt to backhand this black agency.

   I am poisoned. My face feels hot to the cold water, pulling me down within.

   What of my mother and father? Will they miss me?

   Panic drowns me. My hands are turning into the cold waters. Legs weaken and feet numb, I descend.

   No chance of radio transmission. I cannot move, paralyzed in the swallow of my captor.

   Surprise rewards my nemesis. It has me, captured, here, nowhere.

   Where are the others? Can’t count on them now; they are fallen. I have to…

   As revolting as the notion, cutting off my own hand, I will have to do this thing.

   I will have to use my fingers, touching, feeling it. Death and I, once again, are to be intimate.

   The medium of life and death this day is a Horse Leech.

   Field operations… Given my surroundings, with conflicting currents, hostile fauna and flora, no recon on enemy positioning, my odds appear impossible, hopeless.

   The water’s depth has me as well, allied with the evil of the parasite?

   But the Lady of the River sees me in hand… a stone — a thin, sharp-edged stone…

   Here, entrusted by the shifting sands of time, so presents a tool to fight the invader until one or both of us so perish…

   You can see a god’s light peering through the overhanging tree branches and leaves. Sounds of highway life speed by as hands of hope descend, parting the waters.

   There is truth. Although too young to shave, I remember my lessons for clipping the horses and cows. Be smooth, with a steady hand, sweeping across in one direction.

   Do not scrub.

   The river has anesthetized most of my body within these few moments since the attack. She has assessed me, now a projection of a taking being imminent.

   Hunched along a muddy embankment, with only a few breaths left, I raise the stone to chin level. I site the target, who continues to suck life from me.

   My hand drops in one, slicing, defiant action to separate beast from flesh. The transaction is deceptive, as if bloodless in cost.

   Black Death falls to my blade, though I know not if perished…

   The price of this foray? With my trained cadre in mind, all who are lost before me, therewith exacts a heavy toll. Though this enemy is cast to the water’s deep, but for to exact revenge upon me along another time, another battle…

   I am late to feed up and then clean up for dinner.

   dr

   Post Script. Perhaps, the markets are no more than that what was presented to me at the river’s edge and beyond within its currents, in its pools, and with all of life that emerges from it? For as the river’s way, markets flow, though, perhaps when not along stationary pools, in one direction – that of the truth of a given moment in time. All of life so related, therefore, is not it – a river, a market – but of individual and collective minds. Existence as measured by an action, a transaction is thereby one of purpose, be it for host or for the parasite, separated or attached.

5. Steve Leslie on February 24, 2009 9:29 am

   some points:

   This shows that there is value to be found in anything and everything on this earth. The good L_rd did not just put "stuff" on this planet. Everything here has value. It is up to us to determine what and where the value is.

   Leeches no matter how grotesque they may appear to be on the surface, have medicinal value. The above examples reference this.

   Maggots along with maggot therapy are effective esp in burn victims and other to eat necrotized tissue while leaving the good tissue alone. This reduces infection and accelerates healing.

   Thalidomide. The horrible drug that was prescribed for morning sickness and causes grotesque birth defects in the 1960s has made a recovery to treat certain types of maladies including cancer. Celgene is working on this drug under strictly controls. 

   In the movie Medicine Man with Sean Connery we learn that the rain forest have amazing value in the search for drugs to cure diseases. The protection of the rain forest should be of prime concern if we hope to find cures for cancers and other dread diseases.

6. Steve Leslie on February 24, 2009 10:02 am

   I caution anyone who tries to anthropomorphize the markets. The markets live and breathe in the metaphorical sense but are no respecter of persons. The have no knowledge of our positions, they know not of who we are, whether we are long or short a position or how long we plan on being in a trade nor margin requirement we face at the end of the day. . A trader must never personalize their positions, they realize that they must always remain objective and dispassionate for maximum success. If a trader and speculator wishes for success in the markets the first thing they must do is learn to work within themselves. They must learn how to thrive in the moment. The Chair begins his book EdSpec with a testimonial as to how he stayed awake for 40 plus hours trading after he had been consumed by a series of unfortunate and disastrous decisions. A remarkable feat of endurance and patience. This is a profound display how his character carried him through insurmountable tribulations and pain. I have chronicled the great qualities of athletes who remain dispassionate in their sport while performing at the highest levels. Athletes such as Tiger Woods, Ivan Lendl, Michael Jordan, Reggie Jackson,
   Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Walter Ray Williams, magnificent role models and remarkable ambassadors of their sports. In games we meet Mr. Wiswell in checkers, Garry Kasparov in chess, Doyle Brunson in poker, Phil Taylor in darts. They play within themselves without being torn about by the moment.

   The market is what it is no more nor less. It is a vehicle that can take you to untold and unexpected gain and wealth or it can carry you to complete and utter financial destruction. It is up to the player to determine which path it may take you.

   Finally I leave with this great intercourse between Alice and the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland

   "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
   "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
   "I don't much care where –-" said Alice.
   "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
   "-– so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
   "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

7. Steve Leslie on February 24, 2009 3:07 pm

   I would be interested to hear from others what their views are on financial writers and pundits. Those Nattering Nabobs of Negativism who have become so pervasive of late. Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, the New York financial writers of the world. The myriad of guest who appear on CNBC, and evening shows such as Cramer and Kudlow. Evening the largely ignorant and ill-informed Bill O'Reilly and the agenda driven Keith Olberman. http://www.nyfwa.org/follies.htm They, in many respects are bloodsuckers who use the media, print, radio, television, internet to expand their views and postulate their theorems.

   Some of the great wisdom that I acquired from the Chairman is that once information becomes largely available to the public it is essentially useless. The information that may be useful must be reviewed and tested before it is certified to be relevant.

   Case in point. The recent revelations of Chairman Bernanke has hinted that the great recession may end halfway through this year and then have a modest recovery. My first reaction is where did the magical 6 month number come from, from what top hat did he pull this bunny?

   Others are so dour that they could brighten up a room just by leaving it.

   I always think on two amazing men whom I respect greatly.

   Peter Lynch : "I think about the economy 15 minutes a year."

   Lazlo Birinyi : "I don't listen to what people say, I watch what they do."

8. ken sadofsky on February 25, 2009 12:30 am

   http://snipurl.com/clny3 And the maggots came to claim their victims, the same victims as the host. Yet Doctors don’t want to be known as primitive. So; why don’t Doctors want to be smarter than maggots and understand them? In the beginning of the nineteenth century these things worked but no one could explain it sufficiently, for that, and other reasons, they were deemed primitive or worse. Therefore beneath modern science. I would have thought science would rely on scientific results.

9. douglas roberts dimick on February 25, 2009 4:14 am

   SL, well said a la Alice.

   With regards to your query…

   "I would be interested to hear from others what their views are on financial writers and pundits."

   Act on your math, survey the print, and play a host of media for the bird in its cage — unless you're running for office.

   dr

   Ps. My favorite: "Sentence first — verdict afterwards." — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Ch. 12

10. Darrell Lance Abbott on February 25, 2009 11:51 am

    “Post Script. Perhaps, the markets are no more than that what was presented to me at the river’s edge and beyond within its currents, in its pools, and with all of life that emerges from it? For as the river’s way, markets flow, though, perhaps when not along stationary pools, in one direction – that of the truth of a given moment in time. All of life so related, therefore, is not it – a river, a market – but of individual and collective minds. Existence as measured by an action, a transaction is thereby one of purpose, be it for host or for the parasite, separated or attached.”

    Fascinating stuff Steve. In regards to your other post about financial commentator, have you ever considered being one? You could come on after Cramer to calm people down and bring them back to reality. The show could be called “Deep Thoughts with Steve Leslie”

11. W. Shakespeare on February 25, 2009 12:33 pm

    s les today:

    “The myriad of guest who appear on CNBC, and evening shows such as Cramer and Kudlow…They, in many respects are bloodsuckers who use the media, print, radio, television, internet to expand their views and postulate their theorems.”

    s les on Dec. 7, 2007

    “[Kudlow and Company] is the best financial news show. Unlike the wags you see on other networks..the producers..really give you your money’s worth by displaying some of the top people in business, investments, politics and finance.”

12. John Graham Mellor on February 25, 2009 2:54 pm

    In response to “W Shakespeare”. I am sick of people using pseodonyms to attack others on this board. Steve Leslie has contributed many great original works to this board, some of which were pointed out the other day, although I can’t seem to find the post I am looking for. One discussed Le Chateleir in depth.

    So Steve has changed his mind on Kudlow. So what?

    I am all for open communication, but at least use your real name.

13. Adam Kretschmann on February 25, 2009 7:08 pm

    Just out of curiosity how do you know that W Shakespeare is a pseodonym? Yahoo people search finds five W Shakespeares at the moment. I am not seeking to troll with this comment as it has an actual market application (how to determine the veracity of random information).

14. Rocky Humbert on February 25, 2009 9:16 pm

    The Bard’s comment is rubbish; Mr. Kretschmann’s is intriguing.

    Using www.intelius.com national people Search:
    Elvis Presley: 104 instances.
    John Lennon: 281 instances.
    Margaret Thatcher: 86 instances.
    Adolf Hitler: 10 instances.
    Rocky Humbert: 0 instances.

15. Steve Leslie on February 25, 2009 10:33 pm

    Thanks gents for the support. I posted my email address and where I live. So any coward, who wants to contact me may do so either by email, in person, and if they feel the need by phone. just send me an email and I will give you the phone number. If shakespeare or Paul Stanley or spinal tap or any other jerk who wont use their real name wants to reach me that would be the way. And if they want to get it on let me know. But be careful for what you ask for. At least one critic did submit an original work and I respect him for that. haven't see anything from W. Shakespeare except cheap shots at me. this person is a turd because no matter which end you touch they are still a turd.

    I still think that Kudlow is the best financial show on nightime tv. And CNBC has some really well produced specials. The one with David faber on the crisis in America is exceptional. That is not to say that I think that some guests throughout the day are blobs some are full of theory and nothing else. Bob Reich for example. That is my opinion and that is my right under the constitution to think so. .

    I actually like Cramer but I have issues with him on certain levels. But hey there are hundreds of tv shows so watch what you like. I can't care less.

    I believe that Vic and Laurel are far greater writers than I. I have said many many times. There are a lotof more successful people than I here. Some really big players. check my previous posts. And if you want to get a good book get Dr. Janice Dorn's book The Power of You. I like Larry Williams because he really trades money and not just talks about it. There are dozens of really terrific people who populate this website look at some of the names on the left.

    Here is the Le Chatelier article.

    I am moving forward, as I suggest we all do. I once heard a coach say that once you start listening to those who inhabit the cheap seats, it won't be long before you are up there with them.

    n honor of the Chair I am submitting this post: a short explanation of Le Chatelier Principle and the further development of the principle by Paul Samuelson.

    Henry-Louis Le Chatelier — born Oct. 8, 1850, Paris, France and died Sept. 17, 1936, Miribel-les-Échelles.

    French chemist who is best known for the principle of Le Chatelier, which makes it possible to predict the effect a change of conditions (temperature, pressure, and concentration of reaction components) will have on a chemical reaction.

    What is this principle which is so highly recommended, and who is its author? The nature of the principle itself is as easy to grasp as it is difficult to state succinctly, and the man himself is almost totally eclipsed by the popularity of his most famous observation.

    Any system in stable chemical equilibrium, subjected to the influence of an external cause which tends to change either its temperature or its condensation (pressure, concentration, number of molecules in unit volume), either as a whole or in some of its parts, can only undergo such internal modifications as would, if produced alone, bring about a change of temperature or of condensation of opposite sign to that resulting from the external cause.[2]

    This may prove to be a cumbersome description of the principle so a more simpler version can be postulated.

    If the conditions of a system, initially at equilibrium, are changed, the equilibrium will shift in such a direction as to tend to restore the original conditions.[4]

    This principle which worked well in explaining how changing variables in a chemical reaction affect the equilibrium was expanded upon by the esteemed eonomist Paul Samuelson.

    Paul A. Samuelson (born May 15, 1915, in Gary, Indiana) is an American economist known for his work in many fields of economics. He was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 1947 and Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1970.

    His Economics: An Introductory Analysis, first published in 1948, has become the best selling economics textbook of all time. The textbook has sold more than a million copies and has been translated into French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.

    Le Chatelier principle as explained by Samuelson, deals with constraints on maximizing behavior, explaining that short-run demands have lower elasticity than those in the long run since a longer time frame allows new factors and prices to change.

    Le Chatelier principle has since been used to explain such events as domestic economic issues to market analysis to its efficacy in outlining a Theory of International trade.

    I am sure there are many more and the wise speculator would do well to ponder upon them.

16. Adam Kretschmann on February 26, 2009 12:42 am

    Speaking of models does anyone here have a comment on Felix Salmon's article "Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street" about David Li's Gaussian Copula Function? I would submit that this article as well as Michael Lewis's "The End of Wall Street's Boom" and Going Private's "Dare Ye Inquire Concerning Such a Wretch?" about the Community Reinvestment Act and its history combine to the best current exposition of the crisis but I would be curious to hear what others think.

17. Steve Leslie on February 26, 2009 7:43 am

    Is it ironic that the coward who uses the name W. Shakespeare, whom many revere as one of the great wordsmiths of the English language, offers no prose nor poetry to the website, yet casts aspersions in my particular direction. Furthermore that this scoundrel in a thread devoted to bloodsuckers, maggots, and such is found here. That this dastardly vampire and malingerer, chooses instead to lurk in the shadows despite being publicly challenged by me to appear in daylight.

    Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!—One; two: why, then
    'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky.—Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and
    afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our
    pow'r to accompt?—Yet who would have thought the old man to
    have had so much blood in him?

    Is it also not ironic that the poltroon, invokes the name of one who has faced centuries of examination and criticism as a plagiarist. 

    Coincidence — hardly methinks! Yet such yellow caitiff may redeem himself by exposing himself as the charlatan that he is by coming forth in manhood and duel in a manner befitting a nobleman and gentleman.

18. Marty King on February 26, 2009 8:29 am

    The collected works of W. Shakespeare includes exactly the following, and no more:

    1) quoted passages from the Steve Leslie anthology, and
    2) one instance of the word “Yikes”.

    In response, Steve Leslie has challenged him to a duel!

19. Anton Johnson on February 26, 2009 8:52 am

    As I peruse Daily Spec, I appreciate the substantial efforts necessary to produce meaningful original content. When intellectual properties are re-published to augment material, proper acknowledgment to the author is not only ethical, but signifies gratitude for their altruistic efforts.

20. D. K. Goodwin on February 26, 2009 9:27 am

    "If shakespeare or Paul Stanley or spinal tap or any other jerk who wont use their real name wants to reach me that would be the way. And if they want to get it on let me know. But be careful for what you ask for. At least one critic did submit an original work and I respect him for that. haven’t see anything from W. Shakespeare except cheap shots at me. this person is a turd because no matter which end you touch they are still a turd."

    I find that this passage makes a great wordle. Try it out!

    www.wordle.net

21. gordi on July 19, 2009 6:51 pm

    I'm interested with the subject of leeches — i think they are very useful in curing infections, snake bites or even curing cancer, do you have more info on these topics? I so liked the pictures of leeches you had.

22. Ana Mejia on April 3, 2010 2:36 pm

    This is for all Ob_ma supporters here in New York City and in New York State and around the country F[!!!] OFF!!!!!!! you are disgusting and you will lose in November and in 2012 G_D BLESS AMERICA