It’s Good To Know: The Vus

In psychology, terms used to describe:

Déjà vu: remembering having seen something before. In French, this literally means ‘already seen’, though in usage it is basically equivalent to déjà vécu (already lived).

Presque vu: almost, but not quite, remembering something. This is the “on the tip of my tongue” feeling.

Jamais vu: never seen, it’s used to [...]

It’s Good To Know: Tea Party protests

I have been hearing about “tea parties” mushrooming all around US. What’s going on? Are (North)Americans suddenly going British?
I did some research and it seems that the Tea Party protests that have been happening all around the USA this April take their name from the Boston Tea Party.
To cut a long story short, the English [...]

On 2009+.10 Trends: Predictions & Provocations by Richard Watson

I am a keen reader of Richard Watson’s blog, What’s Next: Top Trends, and having just finished reading his 2009+.10 Trends: Predictions & Provocations, I advise you to spare 20min and read it (http://nowandnext.com/PDF/2009_complete.pdf), it will help you stabilise a bit in the turbulent times we are living.
I share many of Richard’s predictions, some others [...]

It’s Good To Know: Economic Depression

Recession here, recession there, we already know now that a recession defines the reduction of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for at least two quarters.
But how about a depression? There are now talks of a possible return to 1929’s depression. But what is it exactly, or how is it defined by economists? You’ve got as many flavours [...]

It’s Good To Know: Keiretsus

I was just reading Mark Anderson’s SNS blog (A Bright Fire) when he used the word Keiretsu (系列).
I have done some business reading myself, but I had never heard of that word before, so wikipedia came to the rescue:
A keiretsu (lit. system or series) is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and [...]

On Barclays wasting my time and its shareholders’ money, the squeaking chair gets the oil but at what price?

Today I received another phone call from an “unknown number”. As I said yesterday (On Barclays customer services trying…), I do not normally pick up phone calls from people who’d rather keep their identity anonymous, specially if they are from a bank (what are they scared of anyway, their own customers contacting them?.)
Not surprisingly, M. [...]

On satirising business in the UK, trying to pay a VAT return to HM Revenue & Customs

Oh Hobbes! Her Majesty the Queen must be so jolly these days! The first waves of the financial tsunami are drowning the young, the old and the sick who don’t know how to or need help to swim. Other waves will come, but she must feel safe surrounded by an army of trained civil servants.
Not [...]

It’s Good to Know: Financial Times interview with Jim Rogers

Browsing, browsing, browsing I have found on FT.com a very interesting interview to Jim Rogers, George Soros’ Quantum Fund founder.
Comodities, water recycling in China, hyperinflation on the making, the dawn of the dollar… I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I am pretty sure that the 20′ are worth your while:
From South [...]

It’s Good To Know: Gilgamesh, the original hero

Often credited by historians as being one of the first literary works, the Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh.
The fifth king of Uruk (30 km east of nowadays As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq), he ruled circa 2600 BC. In fact, the modern name Iraq is thought to be derived [...]

It’s Good To Know: Nail clipping on the bus

I’m on the bus and the guy across pulled a nail clipper and started on.
As much as it annoys me, what kind of person carries around a nail clipper in his/her pocket?
Without doubt it will be someone with a manicure fetish, but also surely he will have them already neatly clipped. Otherwise what is the [...]