BAN KIUKACHAM—It isn’t everywhere you can get a pound of soft narcotics for less than $5. Nor is it everywhere that a mere 2/5ths of the population can read and write in their native tongue. In this forgotten place, nestled deep within the rugged mountains and lush valleys of the Mekong River, the people of Laos have finally found their salvation. This time around, it comes in the form of an untrained, unarmed, unstoppable Canadian philanthropist and, of all things, her schoolhouse full of kids.
It’s early November 2005, on a bitter-cold evening at the Academy of Spherical Arts, Toronto’s reigning upscale hangout for a mix of billiards and business. The room is filled with friends and supporters, family and strangers, …

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things…”
- Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and The Carpenter, 1872
That Charles L. Dodgson was considered by many to be a serial pedophile had little to do with his celebrated creative legacy. After all, he was a distinguished Anglican clergyman, a pioneer in early photography, a gifted mathematician, and above all, a writer of great fictional prose. As he wandered through the English language over a hundred years ago, his literary and personal idiosyncrasies led him from subject to subject and metaphor to metaphor, spawning works that have continued to delight his readers ever since.
But perhaps his most enduring legacy comes from the lines of a little known poem called The …

(one of the more innovative pieces of spam to grace my junkmail in recent months, and proof that the lowest common denominator is sometimes the best place to start)
—–Original Message—–
From: David Ellis [mailto:dellis244@walla.com]
Sent: February 2, 2006 6:54 AM
Subject: [Bulk] DAVID ELLIS
My name is DAVID ELLIS, a nationality of United Kingdom,I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer. It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts.I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone(not even myself)but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile …

(the following prose figures prominantly at the end of every nortel press release. caveat investor…)

Certain information included in this press release is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Factors which could cause results or events to differ from current expectations include, among other things: the outcome of regulatory and criminal investigations and civil litigation actions related to Nortel’s restatements and the impact any resulting legal judgments, settlements, penalties and expenses could have on Nortel’s results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and any related potential dilution of Nortel’s common shares; the findings of Nortel’s independent review and implementation of recommended …

2005 was a turning point of sorts; more sideways than forward, but welcome in every sense of the word. Writing became a very important priority, and it looks to remain so for quite some time. As I continue to explore the real reason I’m here, in this place, at this time, with ideas that are still begging for a place among the white pages of history, I’ve come to realize something important: thought itself is fleeting without action. In fact, when left alone to brood and fester, thought is the very essence of inertia, like a cold and unmoveable stone, tied to the ankle of every great idea you’ve ever had.

in today’s news: (to be reconsidered one day with the benefit of perfect hindsight)

as a primer on basic investment analysis and the ongoing challenge of balancing risk and reward, this email exchange tries to demystify the increasingly lucritive but often frigtening world of “structured finance”. caveat investor…
From: [a good friend]
Sent: December 20, 2005 9:56 AM
To: [me]
Subject: Can you please look at this prospectus?
My father is interested in this but thinks it may be too good to be true. What is your opinion?
From: [me]
Sent: December 20, 2005 11:14 AM
To: [a good friend]
Subject: RE: Can you please look at this prospectus?
it’s called “structured finance”, and it happens all the time. think of the income trust as a really tasty cake. each individual layer of the cake is a different type of security, from …