Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Villamaino's pre-trial hearing date, last I knew, was set for December 3. Whether it will actually generate any news, I have no idea. Unless you keep up with the news of certain suburbs of Springfield, MA, you likely have no idea who Enrico ("Jack") Villamaino is. The chap pictured above. Splashy voter fraud case, though., With an odd twist -- but we'll get to that. Villamaino was a Selectman in East Longmeadow, Mass. He wanted to move up the political ladder and become a state representative (as a Republican.) The state alleges that he sought to do this through an elaborate scheme for tampering with ballots. He had help from a town employee, Courtney Llewellyn. In a Hollywoodish touch, Villamaino was actually arrested on October 16th with a passport and a bag with personal effects. He had apparently told witnesses his planned destination was Switzerland. Dude! That sort of thing makes it tough for your lawyer to argue for low bail. Here's the neat twi...

If all has gone well, I am in London as you read these words, at the 5th Annual conference on TradeTech Liquidity. This and the following two posts are pre-posted with more than the usual lead time. The agenda at todays event. 9 AM: Markets structure/execution landscape panel discussion 10:15 Networking Break in the Exhibition Area 10:50 Regulatory Keynote presentation 11:20 Panel discussion on whether regulators have acheived their goal of fair markets 1:40 PM Dark Pools in the new execution landscape 2:40 High frequency trading and its impact on the execution landscape 3:40 Afternoon networking break 4:10 Panel Discussion on liquidity and uncertainty 5:40 Closing remarks from the chair

Thoughts in the manner of Hazlitt: Any commodity market is of necessity about hedging from more than one side, as well as about speculating. An industry that consumes a lot of energy (say, an electric utility) wants to hedge against the price of its supplies spiking up, just as the suppliers, in Texas or Saudi Arabia, want to hedge against the possibility of a sharp downward move. So the markets can serve both hedges. No: there is no reason why this should artificially drive prices up. Anymore than it artificially forces them down.   The risks of fluctuating crude oil prices will be borne by somebody. The risk exists, nobody other than an advocate of central planning believes that it can be ordered to go away. Somebody will bear it. Utility company, oil producer, speculators, or some combination. Under normal conditions, then, by letting speculators come in to play a role between the two hedging operational parties I have mentioned, commodity markets perfor...

These come from my Amex desk calender, which gives tidbits on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in its November pages. Three such: 1) "The indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of coastal Queensland are the Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef." 2) Its waters "support some 1,500 fish species ranging in size from the 1/4 inch long stout infantfish, the world's tiniest fish, to the whale shark, the biggest fish in the sea, which can reach lengths of 40 to 50 feet or more." 3) HMS Endeavour, captained by British navigator James Cook, ran aground on the reef in 1770. This will be my final use of that desk calender as grist for blog posts.

In another month or so, I'll be composing (for another blog) a list of the top five big Music-related stories of 2012. Five is a good number for this, because my entries for JustSheetMusic tend to be around 1,000 words each, and it is difficult to say anything worthwhile about any one such story in less than 200 words. Perhaps I will get out of the way, through some sort of unlisted mention, the fact that the BBC has been torn by a sex scandal around the activities of the late TV host Jimmy Savile. This is a "music" story only because of the nature of the program that made Savile famous, Top of the Pops.   That isn't enough for my list. The actual stories may be listed from fun to somber, thus: 1. The Ravinia Festival this year teamed up Patti LuPone with Patricia Racette. 2. Rihannas new album,  Unapologetic , which seems to have incited polarized reactions. Legends, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Bruce Sp., also gave us new albums. 3. Fiona Apple is ba...

With all due respect to the Pilgrims, to the traditional sentiments of harvest time, and to expressions of gratitude, both cosmic and local, Thanksgiving Day for some of us constitutes chiefly the center of the football season -- its culmination for high schools, and a good time for the college games that serve as the natural lead-in to the wonders of the bowl-game season. Have you ever noticed, after all, how much a turkey looks like a football? My personal thoughts in this regard this year turn to my alma mater , Marist College, home of the Red Foxes. They creamed  the Valparaiso Crusaders on October 30 with the impressive score of 44 to 7, and with stand-out performances from safety Zach Adler (a sophomore) and Michael Rios (a senior). [Well, it was the day before Halloween, so it was kind of a holiday game.]  Adler comes from Walden, NY and Rios from Miami, Florida.  Of course, the natural rivalry for a team that calls itself the Crusaders would be one cal...

If I should ever be asked whether I could name off the top of my head twenty R&H tunes, I should hope I will come up with the following, arranged below by chronological order of show debut: The songs themselves aren't listed in any particular order, by appearance in the musical or otherwise, just that in which they occur to me, which presumably would be consistent with the terms of the hypothetical dare/bet. Oklahoma! (1943) 1) the title song 2) O What a Beautiful Morning 3) Surrey with the Fringe on Top 4) The Farmer and the Cowman 5) I Cain't Say No Carousel (1945) 6) You'll Never walk Alone 7) Soliloquy (My Boy Bill) 8) This was a real nice clambake 9) If I Loved You 10) When I Marry Mr. Snow South Pacific (1949) 11) Bala Hai 12) You've Got to be Carefully Taght 13) Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair 14) Nothin' Like a Dame 15) One Enchanted Evening The King and I (1951) 16) Shall we Dance 17) Getting to Know You 18) Whistle a ...