It is with some sadness that I see Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics coming to an end with the Closing ceremony starting in minutes. I have tagged a few entries with 2010 Olympics and I won’t repeat what I wrote previously (the good and the bad).
What I want to add is the sense of Canadians realizing whathas long been with us: When we put our HEART AND MINDS to it , we can do anything! (as a reader wrote in a comment)
“[...] we may not have the power of military might (like the U.S.) or power of money and foreign reserves (like China) but our encompassing diverse Canadian society gives us the power to understand, to mediate and most important of all, to appreciate others who are different from us. Our understanding and appreciation of others make us strong and vibrant while these skills also make us valuable in international trade and other business or non-business endeavours.”
Canadians have a unique and powerful role in the world and it is up to us to be the best that we can be.
14 Gold, 7 Silver, 5 Bronze, and all the great athletes in Vancouver 2010 Olympics ! So Happy ! Go Canada Go !!!
So proud of the Men Hockey team this afternoon. So proud of all the Canadian Olympic athletes and the top athletes we saw from around the world in Vancouver 2010!
Canada has now broken the record for most gold medals won at a single Olympic Winter Games – 14.
TED BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Onstage at TED2010, TED curator Chris Anderson interviews Google’s Sergey Brin about the company’s recent statement on China. (Recorded at TED2010, in Long Beach, California, February 2010. Duration: 8:24.)
In 2008 a team of physicists from Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois, and other institutions stumbled upon an odd phenomenon. They called it superinsulation, because in many ways it was the opposite of superconductivity. Now they’ve worked out the theory behind it, potentially opening the doors to better batteries, supersensitive sensors, and strange new circuits.
Superconductors lose all resistance once they fall below a certain temperature. In superinsulators, on the other hand, the resistance to the flow of electricity becomes infinite at very low temperatures, preventing any flow of electric current.
Valerii Vinokur of Argonne and Tatyana Baturina from the Institute of Semiconductor Physics, in Novosibirsk, Russia, discovered superinsulators when the pair chilled a thin film of titanium nitride to nearly absolute zero and tried to send a current through it. They found that the resistance shot up to 100 000 times its original level. The effect vanished at higher temperatures. The researchers also noticed that the effect was sensitive to the strength of a magnetic field; as they increased the strength of an external magnetic field, the resistance disappeared.
Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic and Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette were named the joint recipients today of the Vancouver 2010 Terry Fox Award, named after the legendary young amputee runner who continues to touch the hearts of Canadians three decades after his ambitious cross-country run to find a cure for cancer. [...]
“Petra showed true grit when she picked herself up and stayed on to compete at Whistler Olympic Park in the women’s sprint classic after sustaining an injury while warming up on the course. She performed in pain knowing her country and family were counting on her to win Slovenia’s first medal at the Games ― and she did with a bronze medal finish.”
“Joannie also touched all of us this week with her determination to push on and compete here at Canada’s Games even as she struggled with the painful sudden loss of her mother, Thérèse. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when she took to the ice on Tuesday after her mother’s death. We all held our breath and willed her on as she gave a remarkable, dignified performance ― one that helped her earn bronze. Her grief, determination and her grace have touched all of us.”
“Both women are an inspiration to all of us and have provided us with unforgettable performances at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games,” continued Furlong.
What Joannie & Petra have done are awe inspiring for Canadians and people from around the world. These are lessons that will stay with us when we face our own challenges in life.
Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton have developed a cocktail of ingredients that forestalls major aspects of the aging process in mice.
Generally, aging diminishes the mind and compromises physical capacity.
David Rollo, a professor of biology at McMaster has found a cocktail of 30 dietary supplements such as B vitamins, vitamin D, ginseng and garlic counteracts symptoms of aging in mice.
The experiment was prompted by research that suggests single vitamin and antioxidant pills don’t work. The researchers wondered if mixing the ingredients would.
Rollo said the results were profound, as not only were the mice twice as active, they also seemed to get smarter.
OK, so everything and the kitchen sink works in mice.
Questions:
1) Will this translate well to human?
2) What things in “everything and the kitchen sink” work? And why?
“Toyota President Akio Toyoda will speak in Beijing on Monday about the company’s recent quality woes, Toyota said Sunday, in an effort to reassure consumers in the world’s biggest auto market.
Toyoda, who testified at a U.S. Congressional hearing last week about the spate of global recalls plaguing Toyota Motor Corp., will speak to reporters at a Beijing hotel, company spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said.”
Margaret and Cher, my two great friends/MBA classmates, my better half and I had a lovely tea party and chatted an afternoon away. Cher, our fantastic pastry chef for the day, made five different tasty things for us to try. And we even learned a few baking tips from Cher (see following YouTube video).
Cher’s lovely Macarons (not too sweet, unlike the too-sweet-to-enjoy store bought stuff), Chocolate Croissants & three types of Palmiers (bacon & onion, Parmesan cheese, Poppy seeds & sugar).
Here is a video of Cher explaining her modified (less sweet) Macarons.
Go ahead, download a copy of Warren Buffett’s letter to shareholders & BRK annual report and read it. I will never advise my readers of what stocks to buy or at what prices, I believe it is the readers’ job. If people want to invest their money and receive the associated gain/lose as a result, it is only fair that they are responsible for their investment actions.
But to me, reading Warren Buffett’s letter is a FREE exercise of the brain one should engage our minds once a year if we can. And I am fully aware that great investor of Warren’s success and one who is so willing to share his insights (in a way with minimum agenda) will likely not come by for a long time (or in my lifetime). So I treasure the pleasure in reading Warren’s letter every year.
*** Page ref are based on the printed page numbers. Emphasis added. ***
Note: I am reading in a “random” manner” so you will see my comments appearing out of sequence. I will try to read both the letter (pg 1-22) and the MD&A section (pg 61-94).
*** pg 15 – When it’s raining gold ***
“We told you last year that very unusual conditions then existed in the corporate and municipal bond markets and that these securities were ridiculously cheap [...] Big opportunities come infrequently.When it’s raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble.” [Kempton: Of course, the challenge and the wisdom is in recognizing "big_and_solid" opportunities and not just "big_and_wishful_thinking" opportunities. (smile)] [HT Alex]
*** pg 16 – Risk Control ***
“Charlie and I believe that a CEO must not delegate risk control. It’s simply too important. […] If Berkshire ever gets in trouble, it will be my fault. It will not be because of misjudgments made by a Risk Committee or Chief Risk Officer.”
Who wouldn’t love to pick up the phone and ask Warren Buffett for advice? People have spent more than $1 million just to have lunch with the man. He was voted the most admired corporate director in America by Directorship magazine in 2008. Chief executives of companies he has a stake in laud his patience, foresight, and ability to capture the essence of a complex financial situation in just a few words. They also like the fact that he usually leaves them alone as long as they’re getting the job done.
Sometimes Buffett emerges from behind his desk and shows a side of himself that’s far less familiar. When he sees something he doesn’t like in a company whose shares he owns, the famously passive investor can swing into action to protect his investment—jawboning behind the scenes, scolding, cutting opportunistic deals, even hiring and firing CEOs. For some of those on the receiving end of his activism, it can feel a bit like being attacked by Santa Claus.
Jim Ellis talks with Alice Schroeder, author of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, about how the super-investor oversees the CEOs of companies in which he invests.
One of my father’s often-quoted tenets is that a parent, if he has the means to do so, should give his children “enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.” A head start is fine; a free pass is often a crippling disservice. When I turned 19, I received my inheritance—proceeds from the sale of a farm, which my father converted into Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) stock. At the time I received them, the shares were worth roughly $90,000. It was understood that I should expect nothing more.
So—what to do with the money? I was a student at Stanford University; there were no strings attached. Fortunately, I’d had the advantage of seeing my older siblings burn through most of their cash; I didn’t want to follow down that path. At the other extreme, I might have done absolutely nothing with that stock—just left it in an account and forgotten about it. If I’d picked that option, my shares would now be worth around $72 million. But I didn’t make that choice, and I don’t regret it for a second. People think I’m either lying or crazy when I say this, but it happens to be true, because I used my nest egg to buy something more valuable than money: I used it to buy time. [Kempton: Time is the greatest equalizer in life. No one, absolutely no one can buy time lost or buy more time.]
It has not lost on me how Mr. Li Ka-Shing, the richest man in HK, had decided to bring up his two sons (see this biography).
“Welcome to the first issue of Inventors Eye, a new electronic publication by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Inventors Eye is for and about America’s independent and small entity inventor community. It is a community that has always been a vital and vibrant part of America’s invention heritage.
Inventors Eye will appear every other month. Each issue will feature information you can use, tips on working with the USPTO; events, organizations and meetings of interest to the community; issues that impact independent and small entity inventors; and stories about people like you who have become successful inventors.We also want to hear from you with your ideas for stories and features that will enable us to better serve you through this publication.”
By the way, as part of my management consulting services, I work with entrepreneurs with cutting edge patented technologies. Having good patented technologies don’t guarantee success but it is a good start.
I think we all learned from Joannie‘s courage & strength that most of our “difficult” challenges will not be even remotely comparable to what you had to overcome.
Congrats and thank you Joannie. Your father is so proud of you and I know your mom would been so proud of you as well.
At an event to honour Olympic mothers at Canada Olympic House, dozens of Olympic moms past and present observed a moment of silence in honour of Therese Rochette after an emcee read a letter from Joannie.
“I never thought life could change so quickly, but it has,” Rochette said in the letter.
“I’m fortunate enough to have a close family and friends that are helping me. I don’t know if I could have gotten to where I am today without these incredible people supporting me. I’m sorry I cannot be here with you tonight, but please know that I feel your love and support.”
My thoughts are with you and your family and loved ones.
This cat wanders around our neighbourhood all the time. Today, it was very naughty and climbed up our window and then it slipped and I laughed so hard. :)
There are many games of speed (e.g. skeleton, luge, speed skating) in the Winter Olympics but one of the slowest games is probably Curling.
The people who thought it is easy to throw a granite stone weighing 20kg has no idea the challenge and fun in the game. Curling is a game of great skills, strategy, and sometimes luck. It is is games of the tiniest margin. And how often can you something as tiny as a human hair affecting the result of a game?
Posted by kempton 
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