Warren Buffett has 21.4 billion in forward foreign exchange contracts.
UPDATE: Buffett’s recent letter to his shareholders.
John Coltrane’s Giant Steps
Michael Levy takes a fascinating look at John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. A great compliment to Elizabeth Van Ness’s question: Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New MBA?
Still more, Ms. Daley, the U.S.C. Cinema-Television dean, argues that to generalize such skills has become integral to the film school’s mission. More than 60 academic courses at U.S.C. now require students to create term papers and projects that use video, sound and Internet components – and for Ms. Daley, it’s not enough. “If I had my way, our multimedia literacy honors program would be required of every student in the university,” she said.
What’s Missing from News is News
Frank Rich nails it:
What’s missing from News is the news. On ABC, Peter Jennings devotes two hours of prime time to playing peek-a-boo with U.F.O. fanatics, a whorish stunt crafted to deliver ratings, not information. On NBC, Brian Williams is busy as all get-out, as every promo reminds us, “Reporting America’s Story.” That story just happens to be the relentless branding of Brian Williams as America’s anchorman – a guy just too in love with Folks Like Us to waste his time looking closely at, say, anything happening in Washington.
Even NPR. I woke up the other morning at 6 and Morning Edition’s lead story was Martha Stewart (not Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, the dollar’s ongoing meltdown, or any of a number of domestic issues).
Inspiration + Taking Risks + Execution = Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum
A glorious view, worth the flight and/or drive. Visit. I continue to believe that this is a much, much better long term investment than Miller Park. Perhaps new Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio can make something happen…. (Baseball downtown would have been so much better).
Google’s Sergey Brin: Being Evil?
Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder famously talked about not “being evil“. Google’s new Autolink (“AdLink”) unfortunately is evil…. Technorati | Dave Winer. Don’t use Google’s Toolbar.
ChoicePoint Identity Theft Saga Continues
Robert O’Harrow, Jr digs further into the Choicepoint mess:
But the man’s call last fall was different, according to a detective’s description of the encounter and testimony presented in a later court hearing. Unknown to ChoicePoint, the caller was not Garrett, an actor in the Los Angeles area. Police said he was a con artist involved in a vast identity-theft scam that succeeded in making off with records of at least 145,000 people. The real Garrett was just another victim.
The imposter’s attempt to gain access to even more files would not only expose the scam, but spark a national outrage and congressional hearings over whether the nation’s growing commercial data industry is doing enough to guard personal information.
Here’s how the scam worked.
Madison Airport: New Non-stop to Washington (DCA)
Northwest Airlink announced non-stop regional jet service from Madison to Washington Reagan National this week. This is useful, although the times are rather odd (early afternoon – perhaps a time when regional jets are not that crowded on other routes).
Retail: Penney’s goes for the “Missing Middle”
Interesting look at JC Penney’s new marketing strategy.
Fossett lands in Salinas
Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett on Thursday became the first person to fly around the world solo without stopping or refueling ? 67 hours and 23,000 miles after taking off in his spindly-looking, experimental jet.
Milwaukee’s Income Growth Lags Region, Nation
Household income in the Milwaukee area remained below national and regional averages through 2003, according to figures released Thursday, the result of an economy battered by recession and changes in how the nation does business.