Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

Incredible semifinal effort from Kelly Slater to win his semifinal heat with only minutes left.

via Barry

• Latest version of popular IKEA bookshelf to be for everything but books – http://t.co/Rny5hXz ->
• Steven Soderbergh's new "Contagion" is drawing strong reviews. What's his beef with bloggers though? http://t.co/ljNgPUk ->
• ifttt is geekily nifty new (?) service – http://t.co/HeNmGSw ->
• Kelly Slater perfect 10 ride at Quiksilver Pro in New York was outrageous aerial with rail grab – http://t.co/KzDzwq2 ->
• Tensions run high in Rio favelas amid 'pacification' http://t.co/0iIcfes ->
• I make markets shake in my spare time. Headline just moved on Bloomberg. http://t.co/88EnIdS ->
• My friend @ritholtz's Big Picture Conf is Oct. 11. I was supposed to speak, but had to bail on scheduling. Go anyway. http://t.co/6WRIcW8 ->

• SDGE: We have 1.4 million customers without power. ->
• The scale of this CA outage is difficulty to comprehend/communicate. Really highlights fragility of aging US power grid. ->
• SDGE press conference underway. Saying both major lines into SoCal down, "an event" happened, & power could be out into tomorrow. ->
• Almost an hour into unprecedented SoCal power outage and @SDGE just said it still doesn't know cause. ->
• LAT on power story, but no new info: Massive power outage hits San Diego – http://t.co/3PbuREa ->

From FT Alphaville summarizing yesterday’s tense press conference with Jean-Claude Trichet:

Reporter: What is your answer to German people and economists who want the return of the DM?

Trichet: You want answers?

Reporter: I think the Germans are entitled.

Trichet: You want answers? (SHOUTING)

Reporter: Germans want the truth! (SHOUTING)

Trichet: *You can’t handle the truth!*  (SHOUTING)

[pauses]…

Trichet: Son, we live in a world that has prices, and those prices have to be guarded by men with bonds. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Sylvia Wadhwa? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Lehman Brothers, and you curse Ben Bernanke. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Lehman’s collapse, while tragic, probably saved banks. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves banks. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that committee, you need me on that committee. We use words like rate, target, expectation. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a profitline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of price stability that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a Greek bond, and suffer a haircut. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!

via FT Alphaville » A few good central bankers.

Good read.

Howard Marks on What’s Behind the Downturn 09-07-11

• Possibly the most mad combination of mountain-bike run & commentary I have ever seen/heard – http://t.co/lV4aQqP ->
• LazyTwitter: Is there such a thing as a software-based audio mix board for capturing multiple Net streams? ->
• Dick Cheney getting all mischievous: Tells Hillary Clinton to run against Obama – http://t.co/ldYqSRa ->
• Dear World: You have 3 more hours to get the phrases "risk assets" and "risk on" out of your system, and then you're banned. Love, Paul ->
• China Carmakers Told to Seek Fuel Efficiency, Not Sales – http://t.co/DPERb59 ->

Words escape me at this combination of cycling & commentary. Be sure to hang in for the announcers’ closing musing about how Danny sits on his bike.

I had this sent to me in email, so if anyone knows who created it so I can give proper credit, let me know.

[Update] The source is apparently this.

I was briefly short Swiss Francs via FXF puts back in August, so I missed today’s fun, but made a little money. Check out, however, how epic the moves are in FXF puts today. Incredible stuff on the SNB’s moves to devalue/lock the franc exchange. 1,515%. Beat that.