Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

Classic caption-ready photo from FT Alphaville today. Monti, Merkel and Sarkozy passing the problems along.

Classic, eye-opening stuff from Steve Jobs in the NeXT days. Watch for the interactions with his early employees.

• Didier Sornette getting his Ferriss freak on – http://t.co/tU1fwjSt #
• The myth of renewable energy – http://t.co/kIWFKFRa #
• Good analysis: Where is Microsoft’s growth going to come from? – http://t.co/FaBbUivX #
• First earth images from VIIRS on new NPP satellite – http://t.co/RSsv3NFc #
• Model risk and the great recession – http://t.co/foLJlg2E /cc @EmanuelDerman #
• High-end music docks are getting truly bizarre – http://t.co/zIipd1pM #
• The New HTC Warning is Massive – http://t.co/HOzjF7Gu /via @billmccandless #
• Groupon adding to its down-bound move today, off 30% in three days & saying b-bye to IPO price. Kudos. #
• Debunking the ‘Savings Glut’ Thesis – http://t.co/WXvkLU5l #
• If only Congress were less ambitious – http://t.co/bOW4dS3I #
• “Myside bias” — I was wrong and so are you: Liberals vs conservatives on economics – http://t.co/9ebVIlx7 #
• The Sandwich of the Year. For reals. http://t.co/twcvMJPI #
• In U.S., Self-Reported Weight Up Nearly 20 Pounds Since 1990 – http://t.co/I1SomoJb /via@Richard_Florida #
• Am on @BloombergTV this afternoon at 3pst. Thinking of doing a Groupon-related self-congratulatory circuit of studio. #
• Family spending on food in the US, as share of total spending, has fallen by two thirds since 1901 http://t.co/StO7q7gw #
• .@ClaudRobichaux On Euro bubbles, I always remember my visit to AntFactory in London in 1999. Scarred me for life. #
• Cute reword of supercommittee statement RT @suryasays: @pkedrosky how'd i do? http://t.co/rZIDPm5Z #
• Its that time … NYTimes: 100 Notable Books of 2011 http://t.co/WhSo9gK2 #
• Google quits plans to make cheap renewable energy – http://t.co/3lcbKo2w #
• Pushed a button to lock my car and car beside mine turned on. Pushed again and it turned off. Once more and it turned on. #Correlationorama #
• Chanos speaks on China – http://t.co/LIN1So0n #
• .@PurviRajani It was BMW and Lexus, but it was all spurious correlation. Was just unnerving. #
• Usually "smart" and "casual gaming" don't go together, but @clemesha's new Wiki Game for iPhone is both – http://t.co/acFFCW1K #
• Idly wondering where GRPN ranks among fastest major (sic.) IPOs to break issuance price. #
• Taking Back the Favelas: Rio Relying on Dubious Methods to Pacify its Slums – http://t.co/ZXWg2ejJ #
• In other TV news, taping a segment today for CBC to air tonight on the structural reset in consumer consumption. /cc @Richard_Florida #
• Like underwater Death Eaters: Ice Tornado Kills Everything It Touches – http://t.co/rCsEw1gB #
• Having long-ago tumbled thru its fin'l crisis lows, RIMM at $16.31 is back to Jan 2004 levels. #
• Today in Goldman news … RT @TreeHugger: Octopus Crawls Out of Water and Begins Walking on Land http://t.co/xxWisBj4 #
• RT @FTAlphaville: Las Vegas bets on a tech future http://t.co/GupjsjhW #
• Microsoft back bidding for Yahoo? The gift(s) that keep on giving. #
• In other MSFT-ish news: Gates-Backed Fund Halts New Grants as Crisis Hurts Giving http://t.co/BHWqv63P #
• My quick scan of Internet IPO data says last 'net IPO to out-worse GRPN in first 20 days trading was …. NFLX in 2002. #
• More from Net IPO data: GRPN is worst 3-week performer for Goldman as underwriter since dot-com bubble. So there's that. #
• By mixing data sources I cleverly missed NFLX's split when calc-ing worst 3-week Internet IPO performances. Whoops. GPRN back out in front. #
• Is it just me noticing, or are surgical boots newly much more common than they used to be? #
• There is someone in my tweet stream who shall go unnamed who is a wondrous source of DM fails. #
• Paper: Global Banking Glut and Loan Risk Premium – http://t.co/7oWYe71j #
• Consumer electronics most desired by kids, 6-12 – http://t.co/HmY6Z5XD #
• Surfline: The mechanics of Mavericks – http://t.co/D4PpDQZm /cc @briannorgard #

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Stark new Economist cover on the fireball that is the Euro zone.

… the threat of a disaster does not always stop it from happening. The chances of the euro zone being smashed apart have risen alarmingly, thanks to financial panic, a rapidly weakening economic outlook and pigheaded brinkmanship. The odds of a safe landing are dwindling fast.

The latest from Michael Cembalest of JP Morgan, wherein he makes a pilgrimage to see Vaclav Smil in Manitoba and talks energy.

Another Don Quixote Thanksgiving

• Briefly flipped on CNBC this morning in time to see Ken Langone being a bug-eyed, anti-Obama nut-bag ranter. #
• Fair enough. I defer to your more extensive data. RT @ritholtz: @pkedrosky also known as "being Ken" #
• 15 minutes of watching Ken Langone on CNBC would create enough fact-checker jobs to lower US unemployment rate. /cc @andrewsorkin #
• We need a word for people who can, by agreeing with you, make you wish you held a different opinion. #
• Mostly enjoyed the offbeat NY-er article on Peter Thiel, but puzzled by one bit: 125,100 has 210 digits? Wha? #
• Comments at Gawker are helpfully creating new Megyn Kelly memes. http://t.co/JPyenhZG #
• Good slide deck overview of latest thinking/science on barefoot running – http://t.co/dDPRcaj8 #
• Federer vs Nadal tonight at ATP World Tour Finals on ESPN3. Should be fun. #
• Sell-side psychiatrist says fin'l industry stress is leading to "panic attacks, binge drinking and chest pains". Darn. http://t.co/wfrsyB9w #
• With assistance from @arbesman, figured error in @newyorker article on Thiel. 125100 doesn't have 210 digits. 125^100 does. Big difference. #
• New study of our willful ignorance when shown a magic trick. Explains most of finance too. http://t.co/ad9QXMQu #
• [post] Going Public Decreases Innovation http://t.co/IwF3wyo2 #
• Not to mention the head pain: Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows – http://t.co/KZXReHCf #
• Groupon has fallen an impressive 20% in last two days of trading. Congrats guys. #
• FT: Randomness and the lost lesson of Bill Miller http://t.co/ResBd1Jz #
• GRPN just blew through its IPO price like a rock through tissue paper, or something. #
• RT @herbgreenberg: Sneak peak of my 2012 predictions….facebook won't go public next yr #
• CalPERS cuts its target allocation to venture capital from 7% to 1%. http://t.co/clRiqt2H #
• QotD: "We used to take a plane to Milan and go shopping on the via Linate." http://t.co/cHrM1mDr #
• Errol Morris on JFK and the umbrella man – http://t.co/QVgQr1VV /via @felixsalmon #
• Woollcott: All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. http://t.co/7xXTC0jz #
• Is It Really Possible to Decouple GDP Growth from Energy Growth? http://t.co/nMXIp19p #
• Painfully true: Forget Shopping, Friday Is Update Your Parents' Browser Day! – http://t.co/fYokFUeH #
• Pimco's El-Erian Calls U.S. Economy 'Terrifying' – http://t.co/ccV4m4Gp #
• Baker Forced to Make 102,000 Cupcakes for Grouponers http://t.co/glKvYQP9 #
• CBC ideas: The Munk Debate — Krugman/Rosenberg vs Summers/Bremmer – http://t.co/CV6GwgnA #
• When you book travel for me, give me options, let me tell you which option I firmly choose, and then wait 24 h as I change my mind. #
• Every time I listen to Kyle Bass I come away thinking a) I'm not nearly bearish enough on Japan, and b) I wish I had never sold that fort. #
• Yeah, aging Swiss bully. RT @minimumnz: @pkedrosky Federer 16 match streak, thrashes Nadal. When will he just retire already. #
• Surprise and soccer betting: Over/under-reaction depends on how “surprising” the goal is. http://t.co/nGfdCHgm #
• Starbucks Mutiny Exposes New York’s Reliance on Coffee Chain’s Toilets – http://t.co/hdHGqtJD #
• Oil Abundance in Canada Provokes Anxiety & Creates Wealth – http://t.co/TltgWCaq #
• Alright, this was epic: Lily Shreds trailside – http://t.co/6ESQUolk /via @davidascher #

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• Interview with Canada's ex-PM Chretien: We could have been Greece of today http://t.co/1PcqsTGU #
• Huge congrats Chris! RT @cdixon: This happened: http://t.co/84iv3oW8 Thanks to everyone at hunch and nyc tech community. #
• David Frum on the GOP’s Lost Sense of Reality – http://t.co/jE90TyGT #
• Riotous recent events in OWS and failure of debt supercommittee are handy clip 'n' save downbound moments for future historians. #
• Video … RT @dkoneill: Worth watching, candid Steve Jobs at Next http://t.co/UcufC0KZ #apple #stevejobs #
• Martin Wolf: How Iceland survived the fire: http://t.co/PCNTeQn5 #
• RGE: Italy Past Point Of No Return http://t.co/mETIONir #
• Salesforce stock off another 6.6% today (in an admittedly awful market). Wish I had shorted more way back when. #
• Is Bloomberg out to dominate the world? Newsweek answers: http://t.co/oFWkv4ZH /via @DRossingh #
• Excellent new Cembalest of JPM on our energy delusions. Here is his list of broken dreams – http://t.co/krqMNgSl #
• I just had a nice conversation via email with Bloomberg help desk about merits of cubic splines. My geeky work here is done. #
• Bloomberg: 10% of all hedge fund capital raised this year went to single fund, Winton Capital #
• Bloomberg: AT&T tells customers of "organized and systematic" hack event. [Insert ATT dropped call joke here ________] #
• What we really is a long-only Tuesdays fund. http://t.co/KIvV29Sb /via @EddyElfenbein #
• Somewhat stretched argument, but interesting data: Low U.S. Birth Rate May Prolong Housing Slump – http://t.co/qcCiql5t #
• Google Gmail IOS app is a cross between awful, maddening and great. #
• .@niccai No, but something else is newly sucking my battery dry on iPhone 4. Wish I knew what. #
• Since upgrading to latest IOS my iPhone 4 batt life has been shit. I thought that was 4S issue only. #
• Driving in La Jolla Cove midday is an augury of what octogenarian-clogged US roads will be like in 2030. So many turn signals always on. #
• Worrisome behavior from an oligopolist: Saudi Aramco CEO urges more action on renewables: http://t.co/jBVkJXX1 /via @drgrist #
• Any day when you get to use "wackaloonishness", "Dr Moreau", and "libertarian" in same email is a good day. #
• Read "Revolutions that Made the Earth" during my Europe & back trip last week. Complex, but recommended. http://t.co/MxCegMoS #
• I want to see a website game called "ETF or Pharmaceutical?" where have to guess about names like Pelax. #
• Holy visualization. RT @anshelsag: @pkedrosky You see this? Its just epic in scale… http://t.co/QZvdrxzJ #
• What to do with unused contact lenses? Turns out you can't sell them on Ebay, etc. Switched brands, and now have extras. #
• Apparently the viz is available. RT @nazarioz: or just purchase the posters, which Randall Munroe is selling in 2 sizes, on Amazon. #
• The Saudis have reached a goal that they haven't set, but not a goal that had set. Victory! http://t.co/qqr29oTt #
• S&P and Moody's reaffirm U.S. credit rating. Whew. #
• Schadenflyingfreude RT @flightstats: Significant flight delays #DFW #DAL #STL updates http://t.co/fNfnQlO1 #
• What is this "phone"? RT @CathleenRitt: We will learn who killed Natalie Wood before we get @pkedrosky on the phone #
• Me too RT @interfluidity: I wish I disagreed with @edwardnh. http://t.co/INiRng1f #

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John Lanchester in LRB:

The evidence is clear: it is easy to mislead people about money, and easy to lead members of the public astray both individually and en masse, because when it comes to money, most of us, most of the time, don’t know what we’re doing. The corollary is also clear: the whole Western world misled itself over debt, and the road back from where we are goes only uphill.

via How We Were All Misled by John Lanchester | The New York Review of Books.

Wonderful short video work from Errol Morris on JFK and the “umbrella man”. Such loveliness.