Does anything proceed as quickly as investors would like?
Deja moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before.
Or bear, as the case may be. How many times have we heard this justification for falling stock prices? About as often as we've heard the opposite assertion made, that stocks are rising on news the economic recovery is taking hold. Make up your mind, already.
Or is it that nobody has the slightest clue?
To me, the stock market is one of the most irrational contrivances our world has ever come up with. Never mind long term thinking, the market is collectively incapable of even short term thinking or indeed any thinking at all. It mindlessly responds to any piece of news, good or bad, most of which could have been easily foreseen days, weeks, or months ahead. Worse, it routinely can'[t decide whether a given situation represents good or bad news.
Scary to think most of us have tied our hopes for a comfortable retirement to the performance of this monster.
"If the thought of unfriending someone on Facebook or unfollowing someone on Twitter is too difficult to contemplate after a broken heart....there's an app for that."
Ex-blocker obliterates any online mention of your former flame, allowing you to pretend your relationship never happened.
The Catholic Church will perform a like ceremony to qualified applicants: it's called an annulment. The qualifications for an annulment are surprisingly easy to amass once you get past the big one of both putative spouses being Catholic. For instance: if either spouse, at the time of marriage, does not intend to have children, that's grounds for annulment right there.
I have a real problem with the whole concept of "make it didn't happen", whether it's in the personal or political sphere. It strikes me as an ignorant and wrongheaded refutation of reality. Better, I think, that we deal with reality, however unpleasant it may be, rather than employing technological or liturgical tools to whisk it away.
I have been through my share of bitter breakups. I'll tell you right now that I don't regret either relationship ka-blammo one iota, neither do I regret either relationship. Both were important stages in my development--and probably theirs, too. I hope both women went on to find a lasting happiness, even as I'm profoundly grateful they never found it with me.
"Studies show that only 40% of Ontario cyclists wear helmets despite their proven effectiveness at reducing the risk of head injuries..."
There are fierce arguments pro and con here. Opponents of mandatory helmet laws make the following points:
- They create the perception that cycling is so dangerous that you have to encase your head to do it;
- Helmets are hot, cumbersome and unfashionable
- If a cyclist is hit by a car going 80 km/hr, a helmet isn't going to do a whole hell of a lot of good
To which I say:
- Maybe it's time we injected a minimal sense of danger into everyday activities. Not enough to scare people away from doing them, but enough to encourage people to do them responsibly and attentively.
- My helmet, at least, is neither hot nor cumbersome, and it matches my bike, making me look pretty damn good, if I do say so myself
- If lightning strikes me, a helmet won't do much good either. But if I win a "door prize", I'll be bloody grateful for that helmet as I spin arse over tip.
And that's the news for today....
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