Aug

18

The first sanctioned ALTA tournament I played in at 12, my first round match was against the second seed. I was on court 2 and the number 1 seed was playing on court 1. My opponent was beating me handily. Then he called out to Peter Lebhar on court 1, "Hey, Pete see you in the finals". I got so mad I won the match. Similar thing happened when I played Martie Hogan in the quarter finals of the national paddle ball tournament in 1987. Every time he made a point he'd yell, "Hold him under 10 ". Apparently he had bet that he would hold me under that level with others. He was much younger than me, and I took the liberty of taking the ball and placing it between his eyes before I beat him 21-20 in the third game.

I have always had an aversion to losing and then having an opponent or adverse spectator add fuel to the fire by lording it over me as I was losing or after the game. Sharif Khan had an annoying habit when he was beating me of yelling "Come on, Pakistan" near the end of the third or fourth game. I guess I had a similar guttural reaction when out of the clear blue sky, I got a similar in your face reaction about my losses in Rimm. Bad enough that I lost and humiliated myself and ended my forays into individual stocks. But to then have it placed back in my face and twisted in my gut, — why, it rankled.

I kept statistics on all mergers and acquisitions for 10 years when I was in the business and did note a pronounced tendency for a rash of acquisitions in a field to be a precursor of decline in the field and signals of decline in the acquirer. Certainly it was not true in every case, and it would have been hard to quantify. Certainly the variation as it applies to a single acquisition like google motorola would be many thousands of times greater than any general, amorphous tendencies.

The back and forth betwee three very erudite people about the acquistion, Dylan, Gary and Mr. X. is quite educative. If it takes me eating crow, raw squawking and fully feathered as Osborne said about Morgenstern's foray into spectral analysis applied to stock markets, it is not an inordinate price to pay.

There is no need for anyone to buy drinks, but please in the future, the dailyspec is a considerable undertaking, and it would be nice if one applied the rules of the British Navy at dinner, (we are all on a long journey together and have to get along with each other or else the ship will sink), to the host as well as the others.


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3 Comments so far

  1. Arthur on August 19, 2011 5:09 am

    Dr.N,

    Is that your hairy chest? I noticed a direct correlation between trading styles and amount of testosterone one has. If you ever noticed, “value investors” tend to have very little amount if any body hair, momentum and guys that take on bigger leverage, most of the time have bold heads (I am getting there) and hairy backs (already there). The first person who hired me trading was highly unorthodox in the choice of traders he hired (I was there with having “waiter” and “Pennsylvania open chess champ” on my resume at age 18).
    I noticed woman with concentration in art and with higher than normal amount of testosterone made the best traders (you could see if they didn’t wax the moustache. The mother instinct was still there to manage the losses and yet elevated testosterone made them take on the risks.
    A.

  2. Nick Pribus on August 19, 2011 8:53 am

    I am remined of this:

    Internet leader and entertainment firm to join forces; new company worth $350B

    Jan 10, 2000

    NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a stunning development, America Online Inc. announced plans to acquire Time Warner Inc. for roughly $182 billion in stock and debt Monday, creating a digital media powerhouse with the potential to reach every American in one form or another.
    With dominating positions in the music, publishing, news, entertainment, cable and Internet industries, the combined company, called AOL Time Warner, will boast unrivaled assets among other media and online companies.
    The merger, the largest deal in history, combines the nation’s top internet service provider with the world’s top media conglomerate. The deal also validates the Internet’s role as a leader in the new world economy, while redefining what the next generation of digital-based leaders will look like.
    “Together, they represent an unprecedented powerhouse,” said Scott Ehrens, a media analyst with Bear Stearns. “If their mantra is content, this alliance is unbeatable. Now they have this great platform they can cross-fertilize with content and redistribute.”

    +++

    But of course it’s different this time. One must have had to earn an MBA from a prestigious university to write “great platform they can cross-fertilize with content and redistribute.”

    I would side with the chair on this one, what Google knows that we don’t is that many a user is weary of wading through the mindless marketing muddle seeking relevant search results.

  3. douglas roberts dimick on August 27, 2011 8:32 pm

    Movie Recommendation: Senna

    As summer vacation winds down in one more week with commencement of the fall trimester here in Shanghai, a broad turn in time of films perhaps reached an apex this morning with my viewing of Senna, a 2010 Sundance Film Festival documentary winner.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senna_(film)

    This driver’s challenges, ultimately claiming his life while in the cockpit during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, are reflected throughout this film. Mile markers to note include his first Monaco and two successive Suzuka races.

    Much of what Victor alludes to here in his article a la sportsmanship is projected front and center throughout the film.

    It matters not… man, woman, child… Watch it… for life is rules-based process no matter how faster you are living it…

    dr

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