FDIC Leadership Becomes Official

WASHINGTON — It was a long time coming, but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officially has a permanent chairman and No. 2 running the agency.

Following nearly 17 months of Martin Gruenberg taking over for former Chairman Sheila Bair on only an acting basis, the agency announced Friday that President Obama had late in the week formally validated Gruenberg's Senate confirmation to run the FDIC for a five-year term, as well as Thomas Hoenig's confirmation to be vice chairman. 

The presidential orders brought to a close a somewhat complicated process to appoint a successor for Bair. Obama had nominated Gruenberg as chairman back in June 2011, and Hoenig as vice chairman the following October, but their Senate confirmations were caught up in a political stalemate between the parties over presidential appointments. The Senate in March approved the two men for six-year seats on the FDIC's board of directors - with Gruenberg continuing as acting chairman - but passed on voting on their leadership designations until after the election. GOP members were hoping a Republican presidential victory would give a new administration the chance to select its own chairman.

Read the rest here!

'Congratulations, you've become a Goldman Sachs partner'

The phone call lasts just a few seconds. The words "congratulations, you've become a partner", are just about all Lloyd Blankfein, the boss of Goldman Sachs, will have time to say to the 85 or so bank high-flyers he will ring next Wednesday to invite into one of the most prestigious and lucrative cliques on Wall Street.

It is a day of huge expectation for individuals spanning time zones from Sydney to New York who are waiting to hear that they have been given a role for which there is no job advert and no interview.

The whittling down of the candidates is under way this week in Goldman Sachs's head office in New York. Stretching across several days, a team of partners led by London-based Michael "Woody" Sherwood are deciding upon whom to bestow the glittering title of Goldman Sachs partner.

The decision comes at the end of a thorough, secretive and sometimes brutal decision-making process that happens only every two years. This year's deliberations began in the summer and include the selection of managing directors, one rung below partnership.

With the title of partner comes prestige that is, arguably, unrivalled in the financial world. It also brings vast wealth in the form of a partnership bonus pool that pays out millions of dollars each year. And it opens the door to high-profile career moves: former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson was in the golden circle, as was one-time BBC chairman Gavyn Davies. Annual payouts can reach tens of millions of dollars – each – on top of annual salaries which are thought to start at almost $1m. Blankfein, for instance, took home more than $16m last year, according to Forbes, but received $68.5m (£43m) in 2007.

Read the rest here.

Illegal file-sharer gets slapped with $1.5 million in damages

The damages award against illegal file-sharer Kywan Fisher will most likely send him to the poor house. Illinois federal court Judge John Lee ordered Fisher to fork out $1.5 million to adult entertainment company Flava Works this week, according to TorrentFreak.

Flava Works sued Fisher for sharing 10 movies he'd previously paid for via BitTorrent. The damages award amount was reached by fining Fisher $150,000 per movie. This is the largest damages award ever ordered in a BitTorrent case. 

Flava Works caught Fisher sharing its movies by tracing the illegal copies he was accused of sharing back to him using an encryption code inserted in the films he originally bought.

Read the rest here.

For the Love of Lit and Liz ‘The Richard Burton Diaries,’ Edited by Chris Williams

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the years he most assiduously kept a diary, the actor Richard Burton (1925-84) had the following pet names for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor: Lumpy, Booby, Old Fatty, Shumdit, Cantank, Old Snapshot and the Baby. She sometimes called him, who knows why, Darling Nose and Drife. 

They were at the height of their fame, and they seemed to speak a private language. Together they called Campari mixed with vodka and soda water, one of their favorite cocktails, a “Goop.” They referred to the act of raiding the refrigerator instead of sitting down to a proper meal as “grapple-snapping.” That’s a vivid and useful phrase I hope becomes, alongside noshing, common usage.

Burton’s diaries, published now for the first time, are filled with these kinds of pocket-size delights. I grapple-snapped my way through them and even fixed a Goop or two. (They are delicious and derailing.) But I admired this complicated and fairly remarkable book for its deeper and more insinuating qualities as well. First among them is that Richard Burton, a maniacal reader his entire life, was handy with the English language.

Great article I found on the New York Times, read the rest here.

Euro banking deal fails to impress markets

LONDON (AP) -- A sketchy agreement on how to create a single European banking supervisor failed to impress markets on Friday, with stocks drifting lower ahead of another round of U.S. corporate earnings statements and after a shock trading update from Google.

On Thursday, Google surprised investors by publishing by mistake its worse-than-expected earnings ahead of schedule. After billions were wiped off the internet giant's market value, the company suspended trading in its shares.

Microsoft also disappointed with its latest update, contributing to a broad retreat in technology stocks. "After what had started to look like a relatively upbeat season, investors are now looking a little more wary," said Fawad Razaqzada, market strategist at GFT Markets.

Highlights later include earnings reports from McDonald's, General Electric and Honeywell.
By mid-morning in Europe, Germany's DAX was down 0.3 percent at 7,412 while the CAC-40 in France fell 0.2 percent to 3,527. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares as flat at 5,918.

Wall Street was poised for a subdued opening with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.1 percent.

An agreement early Friday by the leaders of the 17 euro countries to push ahead with a single banking supervisory body failed to support markets. The leaders remained vague on key details, such as when the supervisor will be up and running.

Some investors and analysts worry that Europe's politicians may have lost the incentive to fix things quickly now that market turmoil has subsided. The borrowing costs of countries like Spain have eased since the European Central Bank unveiled in September a new bond-buying program.

"Europe's politicians seem to have kicked things into the long grass for a few more months as they fail to agree on steps towards banking supervision or closer integration," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor. "As interest rates continue to fall, so the need to act decisively diminishes."

Read the rest here!

Government of Canada introduces payments code of conduct addendum that anticipates smart phone apps, but potentially at the cost of less product innovation

The Government of Canada is being quite proactive in consideration of payment regulation.  The code of conduct released in 2010 has been overtaken by introduction of apps that incorporate payments into smart phones, and the government have issued this addendum in that light.  However the approach risks being to product centric versus focussing on their mandate which is consumer protection.

CONSULTATION PAPER: ADDENDUM TO THE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE CREDIT AND DEBIT CARD INDUSTRY IN CANADA TO ADDRESS MOBILE PAYMENTS | 

Department of Finance Canada

The Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada (the Code) came into effect in August 2010 and covers several methods for making payments, including point-of-sale, internet and telephone. The Code does not explicitly address mobile payments transactions.

One situation in particular is dealt with in Element 8 but also seems to apply broadly throughout, requires that debit and credit cannot reside on the same card.  The addendum recognises this makes no sense for smart phones with a debit app and a credit app on the same device, albeit separate apps.  Protection is provided in the addendum to ensure consumers are still able to make choices about what they accept and what they pay for, notwithstanding the apps are on the same device.

However the original intent to keep debit and credit separate is unclear.  The original code of conduct, Element 8 states (emphasis mine); 8.  Payment card network rules will ensure that debit and credit card functions shall not co-reside on the same payment card.

Debit and credit cards have very distinct characteristics, such as providing access to a deposit account or a credit card account.  These accounts have specific provisions and fees attached to them.  Given the specific features associated with debit and credit cards, and their corresponding accounts, such cards shall be issued as separate payment cards.  

Consumer confusion would be minimized by not allowing debit and credit card functions to co-reside on the same payment card.

Read the rest here! 

Steve Jobs, A Year Later

Steve Jobs, A Year LaterCredit to  JOHN BIGGS 

One year later we can’t forget him. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He made computers and phones and MP3 players. He wasn’t a political figure, a missionary, a healer. He was a guy who knew how to put software into hardware and make the whole as desirable to many as air. 

The stories of great men are often intertwined. The great clockmakers of the 1700s all lived together and worked together on the same block, their shops open on the Place Dauphine, a triangular park at the prow of the Île de la Cité. The geniuses of Bletchley Park came together to crack the codes that won the war. The Beats roared through the country looking for love, booze, and enlightenment. 

Their fates, the fates of Breguet, Turing, Kerouac, Ginsberg, depended on their networks the way a spider depends on her web. Jobs was the same. He grew up in a time that was best for what he did. He was born and came of age in an era that led him to see the promise in a bag of microprocessors and cold silicon, but wasn’t born so late as to misunderstand the change that swept through America in the 1960s and left its waterline high on the entrenched establishment. He grew up near Woz, near H-P, near the Homebrew Computer Club, near the cauldron of education, commerce, and risk that, in turn, grew up to become Silicon Valley.

Read the rest here!

Google celebrates 14th birthday with animated chocolate cake (by Dara Kerr of Cnet)

Let Google eat cake. Today, the Web giant turns 14 years old, and to celebrate, it's serving up an animated chocolate cake filled with Google-colored candles on its homepage.

It seems like just yesterday that the tech company was born, and now it's old enough to go to high school.

Last year when Google officially became a teenager, it celebrated with a doodle that showed a cake, some balloons, candles, and a few party hats -- but it wasn't animated. Apparently, this year it has upped its sophistication.

Google Doodles are an integral part of the company's Web design. It has made drawings for Pac-Man's anniversary, Einstein's birthday, the World Cup, the Fourth of July, Persian New Year, the Olympics, U.S. elections, and just about everything in between. The doodlers are Google's band of artists who have the job of translating special events into colorful, whimsical versions of Google's corporate logo.

Now that Google is 14, let's hope that going forward it doesn't turn into one of those rebellious teens.

Battered Dollar Slides to Four Month Lows Vs. Euro

Battered Dollar Slides to Four Month Lows Vs. Euro By: Reuters

The dollar fell against most currencies on Friday, hitting a four-month low versus the euro, a day after the Federal Reserve announced a fresh round of monetary stimulus to boost a still lackluster U.S. economy. 

Despite the move away from the safe-haven dollar, the yen fell broadly on speculation Japanese authorities could intervene to cap its recent gains against the dollar. Expectations that the Bank of Japan could ease policy next week in response to the Fed's action will also likely undermine the yen, some traders said.

The dollar [JPY=  78.21    0.73  (+0.94%)   ] rose 0.9 percent against the yen to 78.15 yen. Commodity currencies including the Australian and Canadian dollars also rallied against the greenback, pushing the dollar index to 78.729, its lowest level in more than four months.

Some market players said the Fed's announcement on Thursday that it will pump $40 billion a month into the U.S. economy until the jobs market shows a sustained upturn, along with the European Central Bank's plan agreed last week to lower peripheral euro zone borrowing costs, could see an the euro extend its rally toward $1.35 in the near term.

"Recent moves by both the Fed and the ECB to bolster growth have helped usher in a wave of risk-taking which has seen demand for lower-yielding, safer investments such as the dollar evaporate," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.

The euro [EUR=  1.3138    0.015  (+1.15%)   ] hit a peak of $1.3120 and was last at $1.3099, up 0.8 percent on the day, as a drop in peripheral bond yields prompted investors to buy the currency. The euro rose to an eight-month high against theSwiss franc [EURCHF=  1.2157    0.0007  (+0.06%)   ] of 1.2178 francs on trading platform EBS and hit a four-month high against the yen of 102.37 yen [EURJPY= 102.77    2.13  (+2.12%)   ].

The dollar [CHF=  0.9252    -0.0097  (-1.04%)   ] fell to 0.9265 Swiss francs, its lowest level since mid-May. The Australian dollar [AUD=  1.0557    0.0016  (+0.15%)  ] hit a one-month high of US$1.0605 as riskier assets rallied. Risk-taking was also helped by better-than-expected U.S. retail sales last month, which rose 0.9 percent, the largest gain since February.

Chart of the Day: The drain on Spain...

Credit: Mike Foster / Financial Times

Whisper it softly, but accelerating capital flows out of southern Europe probably gave Mario Draghi all the excuse he needed to authorise the European Central Bank’s use of unlimited monetary firepower to purchase stressed sovereign bonds in the eurozone.

Darren Williams, senior European economist at asset manager AllianceBernstein, has pointed out in his latest strategy note that this year Spain alone has suffered a €220bn capital outflow.

Of this total, €84bn comprised the sale of Spanish securities by foreigners; €91bn was withdrawn from loans or deposits by overseas banks, and banks in Spain shifted a further €61bn.

The sums involved are equal to 41% of Spain’s gross domestic product, seriously eroding the cumulative inflows Spain has enjoyed since 1999, as the attached graph illustrates. Spain was heavily depended on inflows prior to the credit crisis to pay its way in the world. To make good the loss, the Bank of Spain has been forced to borrow €237bn. Private sector risk has shifted decisively onto the public sector balance sheet.

The terrible thing about capital flight is that it almost invariably accelerates unless action is taken to restore confidence. Which was why the UK government had to step in to rescue Northern Rock as soon as customers started queueing to withdraw funds. And so on, and so forth.

As Williams says: “It is hard to see how policymakers can prevent past capital flows into Spain from reversing and spilling onto their own balance sheets, except by soothing investor concerns. Perhaps this is one reason the ECB is now ready to intervene more aggressively."

Q&A: Spain's banking bailout

Is this a bailout of Spain?

Mariano Rajoy is determined to portray the €100bn as a cash injection for Spain's banks and not a bailout of his country. However, the funds are being made available because Spain cannot afford to prop up its banks with its existing resources and its cost of borrowing on the markets is too high to raise the funds. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, reckons Spain will need more help. "The poor economic outlook will also maintain concerns that Spain will at some point require a government bailout too," Loynes said.

Who is providing the €100bn?

The cash-strapped eurozone nations themselves, although details are hazy as there are two bailout funds: the existing European Financial Stability Fund, and the European Stability Mechanism, which launches next month. If Spain borrows money from the ESM it has to repay these loans ahead of its bond holders, making the markets less willing to lend to Spain. The EFSF allows Spain to honour its own debts first. On Monday an EU official told Reuters the EFSF would provide the cash but these could be transferred to ESM at a later stage – crucially without the requirement that Spain repay its eurozone debts first.

How does the Spanish government get the money?

It will be handed to the government's Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring which passes it on to the banks. But this does not insulate the public purse from the bailout as Spain's public debt to GDP ratio will rise from 68.5% to a potential 90%.

How does the bailout differ from the rescue of Greece, Portugal and Ireland?

The money is only coming from the euro area and not from the IMF (which includes contributions from the UK) and is just for the banks. There is also much debate about the lack of fresh austerity measures being imposed on the Spanish government, which argues that it has already embarked on tough budgetary measures. Unlike in Greece, losses have not been imposed on holders of Greek government debt although it is not yet clear what the impact will be on holders of bonds issued by Spanish banks.

Does this mean Spain will not be subjected to supervision from the so-called troika – the IMF, EC and ECB?

Spain reckons not. But the IMF and EU officials think otherwise. EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the IMF would be involved, while Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said there would be a supervision programme. Amid the confusion, it appears that the supervision focus on restructuring the banks – rather than the economy as has been the case with the other three countries. In other bank rescues the EU has imposed conditions to prevent dividend payments and force big reductions in the size of banks.

Where does this leave the eurozone?

The bank bailout for Spain is a sticking plaster and does nothing to solve the long-term issues about stronger fiscal union. Italian bond yields have started to rise and Cyprus may soon need international help. On the positive side, the absence of extra austerity may indicate that politicians are coming round to the view that it has been ineffective. A new government in Athens on Sunday night may feel empowered to renegotiate more relaxed terms for its bailout – a move that might help keep Greece inside the eurozone.

Read more about this here The Guardian!

Great article I found:

Fixing this US immigration policy folly

His mother and father brought him to the US in 1996. They entered legally on a tourist visa, then overstayed, settling outside Tampa. They had been professional people back in Mexico, a dentist and a veterinarian, but that didn't mean they earned enough to feed their family. 

Godínez-Samperio says his parents were "escaping economic disaster". He was nine years old.
Godínez-Samperio learned English in a year and became an honors student, an Eagle Scout, valedictorian of his high school and winner of a scholarship to study anthropology at university. Unlike his colleagues, who liked to kick back with a few beers at the local dive, he spent weekends reading. 

"I didn't have the luxury of being an average student," he says. "I worked all the time because I never knew if it would be my last semester." 

That's not an exaggeration: technically, Godínez-Samperio could be subject to detention and deportation. Yet he's never tried to conceal his status. 

His law school application essay was pointedly titled "The Consequences of My Criminal Childhood". He even appeared before a committee of Florida senators to testify in favor of the Dream Act, which would allow the undocumented immigrant children brought to the US as minors to be given permanent residency if they either join the military or enroll in higher education. He told the senators: "I am undocumented, unapologetic and unafraid." His mentor (and now his lawyer), a former American Bar Association president, Talbot D'Alemberte, says he's "just the kind of person we want to be a citizen and a lawyer". 

Godínez-Samperio's career is now on hold, waiting for the Florida supreme court, the state's ultimate legal arbiter, to decide his fate. 

He's not alone. As Congress and the courts try to untie the Gordian knot of immigration policy, other young people find themselves stuck: 28-year-old New Yorker César Vargas, who has been in the US since he was five, has passed the bar exam but does not yet know if he'll get a license. In California, Sergio Garcia – who crossed the border at the ripe old age of 17 months – has been certified to practice law. But California's supreme court, which recently announced it would hear his case, will ultimately decide the question of whether an undocumented person who has been allowed to take the bar exam in the first place and passed a"determination of moral character" test to boot, can be denied a chance to put those hard-won qualifications to work. 

You would think (hope, even) that though it's an election year, the untenable position in which talented young people such as Vargas, Garcia and Godínez-Samperio find themselves might spur a grown-up conversation about what to do concerning the 10-11 million undocumented people already in the US working and paying taxes, and the children they carried with them – children who grow up as American as everyone else. 

Alas, you would be disappointed. The right continues to raise the Spanish-speaking spectre of "an invasion force from Mexico that'll take over the country", as one radio demagogue put it, never mind that illegal immigration has been in decline for the last couple of years, and deportations in the Obama administration have increased. Trumped-up fears of brown hordes taking our jobs and indoctrinating our children in the revolutionary ways of Emiliano Zapata, Hugo Chávez and Che Guevara are bread and butter to the Republican party, especially its Tea Party tendency....

Read the rest here!

Video: Amazing Coating For Bottles' Interiors Lets Ketchup Flow Like Water

Way too cool to pass it up!

LiquiGlide, developed by a team at MIT's Varanasi Research Group, is a surface coating that liberates the notoriously non-Euclidean fluid ketchup from its glass- or plastic-walled prison. The research came in second in MIT's $100K Entrepreneurship Challenge, and is almost certainly destined for a bottle near you. Watch its graceful performance below in a video from Fast Co.Exist.


Watch the video, here!

Un intento de comprender el dilema económico

Excelente artículo del períodico el País de España por Gabriel Jackson:

"Si nos atenemos a criterios de libertad política, oportunidades educativas y de trabajo, la mejora de la sanidad y la variedad de las actividades de ocio, el periodo entre 1945 y 1990 fue seguramente el mejor de la historia para Europa occidental, Escandinavia, los países de habla inglesa, Japón y un puñado de países asiáticos más pequeños. Además, el recuerdo reciente de las atrocidades cometidas por nazis y japoneses en la guerra, los bombardeos masivos angloamericanos sobre las ciudades alemanas y los desplazamientos de masas de poblaciones civiles desarmadas a manos de los alemanes y los soviéticos generó un poderoso sentimiento de que jamás debía volver a producirse un comportamiento de ese tipo. Después de los horrores de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, tanto los dirigentes conservadores como los liberales y los socialistas pensaron que era no solo posible sino necesario proporcionar una vida con condiciones económicas decentes y una situación de paz y justicia social."...

Lo pueden leer completo acá Link!.

Opinion Article

We Agree About Europe by Ed Balls and Peter Mandelson 

"The coming months are critical for the future of Europe. Jobs and business investment – in Britain and across the euro area – depend on Europe's leaders choosing the right course.

The risk is that Europe gets locked into a false choice between growth and deficit reduction. The truth is that we need the right combination of both – action now to get Europe's economies growing and creating jobs, tough medium-term action to get public finances back into shape and a long-term strategy for increasing the continent's productivity and skills base.

It is true that the two of us disagreed on the case for British membership of the single currency. We agree, however, that the single currency needs to survive and succeed – and we are worried that Europe has so far identified only half the solution. There is a real danger that binding countries into ever larger cuts and tax rises to meet the new structural deficit and debt targets will become self-defeating, economically and politically.

A collective strategy that is choking off demand is compounding Europe's problems – just as it has done in Britain, where our economic recovery has stalled. Investors are now worrying that the policy mix has become unbalanced, to the detriment of economic recovery. We need a new strategy that permits a more sustainable approach to debt reduction through growth and long-term fiscal responsibility."

You can read the rest here.

This is the final entry of the Book of Five Ring review the previous ones can be found Part 1 and Part 2!

The Book of Five Rings            

The edition we utilized was a translation made by a master of karate, Stephen F. Kaufman, although the book is readily available in many editions, and is even online (http://www/samurai.com/5rings and http://www.miyamotomusashi.com/gorin.htm, for example).            

Musashi's masterpiece is a deceivingly short and simple book. Besides a brief introduction in which the author presents himself and explains how the book is organized, the Book of five Rings is divided into five parts, hence the five “rings”: The Book of Earth, the Book of Water, the Book of Fire, the Book of Wind, and the Book of Nothing. The four elements, as well as the void, represent metaphorically the teachings presented in each book.            

The Book of Earth lays the ground for the entire book. It deals with the general aspects of martial arts, strategy and training, which is seen as building a house from the ground up. Musashi discusses the different weapons, such as the naginata (a type of halberd) and the katana. The former is best for the field, while swords are more versatile and useful both indoors and outdoors. He also talks of the bow and guns, the latter having been introduced in Japan recently by the Portuguese. Although the gun is the most powerful, it is not as accurate as the bow, and is practically useless in close combat, at least in the case of guns available at the time he wrote the book.            

The Book of water deals with more intangible aspects of strategy, such as spirituality, religion, and balance. He stresses the importance of a proper stance and a penetrating gaze. He then discusses the different attitudes to adopt when fighting: Upper, middle, lower, left, and right. Just like water flows and always finds an opening, the warrior should be like water.            

The Book of Fire goes into the actual mechanics of combat, and the best ways to take advantage of specific situations, or place the enemy at a disadvantage. Armor, terrain, the presence of buildings, sun and wind, are all factors to evaluate before initiating combat. Exploiting the weaknesses of your opponent, such as moving towards his weaker side, or forcing him to enter into difficult terrain are examples of actions that the warrior can take to get the upper hand. Timing is very important. An easy way to dictate combat is to take the initiative, although sometimes waiting for an opening can be equally fruitful.            

The Book of Wind has to do with other schools that existed during Musashi's time and of the ways to counter them. /the main lesson to derive from this book is that it is important to know the enemy as much as possible. Knowing the enemy is also a way of knowing oneself. A central observation that Musashi makes is that other schools are concerned only with sword-fencing, while his Ichi school looks at strategy more broadly and holistically.            

The Book of Nothing is the shortest and perhaps the most difficult to understand, as it refers to the philosophical underpinnings of mastering a martial art, or truly anything. Constant practice is the way to elevate your awareness until thinking is bypassed and real understanding is achieved.             “The spirit of the universe is an emptiness which is nothing. Man can have no understanding of this place. It exists and is, but yet it is not. If you know something, you know something. If you do not know something, it does not exist in your world. In the universe, nothing-ness is not a thing that is true and not a thing that is not true”.            

The style of this book is similar to the koan of Buddhist masters, short paradoxical tales that are intended to startle the listener and bypass rational thinking, opening the way for a deeper, intuitive understanding. The goal is to achieve satori, or enlightenment.            

“Perfection is all there is and when you come to realize this, you will have understood my Way of strategy and the Way of the warrior, at which time you can forget about it and just be 'it'. Best to have it put this way. Simply be!”            

The Book of Five Rings remains even today a basic work for those approaching, not only Kendo, but any martial art, be it as a beginner or as an expert. It is an enduring classic that has applications outside of the field of martial arts and military strategy. Many Japanese politicians and business leaders have well-worn copies of Musashi's Book of Five Rings together with Sun Tzu's Art of War.

This is the follow up entry to my previous blog! Read the previous one HERE!

Miyamoto Musashi

Musashi, whose real name was Shinmen Takezo, was born in Miyamoto, a village in Mimasaka Province. He was the son of Shinmen Munisai, himself a distinguished martial artist. Around the age of seven, his father apparently died, so his education was entrusted to an uncle, Dorinbo, a Buddhist priest. With him he learned to read and write, as well as the tenets of Buddhism.

Musashi fought his first duel at the age of thirteen, an unusually early age for combat and probably against the will of his uncle. He emerged victorious. A couple of years later, he would begin a life of wandering, that would lead him to participate in some 60 duels and six battles, including the Battle of Sekigahara (on the losing side), won by Tokugawa Ieyasu and that gave rise to the Tokugawa bakufu or shogunate. However, Musashi won every single duel in which he participated.

In his combats, Musashi would come to espouse the idea of fighting both with the katana and the wakizashi. More generally, he was ready to confront the enemies with whatever he happened to have available, be it a bokken (a wooden sword used for training), a boat's oar, or even his bare hands. His school of combat was known as Ni-ten ichi-ryu, or “Two Heavens, One Style”.

Musashi believed that a real strategist had to be a well-rounded person, and not stop at learning how to use his weapons and military strategy (although he believed in constant practice). For that reason, he became an accomplished craftsman in several areas, as painter, sculptor, calligrapher, metalworker, even poet.

He wrote the book Go rin no sho after he turned sixty and finished it shortly before his death at the age of sixty-two.

I found this very interesting review of The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi and I wanted to share it  with you.

The Book of Five Rings is one of the classic books on martial arts to come out of Japan during a turbulent transitional period of its history. To get a better understanding of the teachings in this book, it is useful to learn a little about the historical context in which it was written. We will talk about feudal Japanese society and culture; then about Musashi, the author of the Book of Five Rings, and finally deal with the book itself and its cultural impact.

Feudal Japan

            Between the 12^th and the 19^th centuries, Japanese society resembled somewhat the feudal regime of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Emperor and his court had lost power to local warlords or daimyo who, at the head of their clans, ruled over significant landholdings, attended by their personal armies, composed by the equivalent of Western knights, the samurai, although Japanese society did not emphasize horses as much as the West. These daimyo were constantly jockeying for power, trying to achieve the coveted status of Shogun, or military dictator (ruling in the name of the Emperor, of course).

            The samurai lived and died under the strictures of Bushido, or the Way of the Warrior, that emphasized obedience, military prowess, honor, and loyalty. The samurai had to be willing to give their lives to their lords at any moment, and any action that brought loss of face to themselves or to their masters led to seppuku or ritual suicide (better known as harakiri). Samurai had the exclusive use of the long sword, or katana, which together with the short sword, or wakizashi, constituted the main weapons of the Japanese panoply. However, samurai were expected to be able to fight with any available weapon, be it bow and arrow, spear, lance, or even unarmed. Kenjutsu, or “The Art of the Sword” and Kendo, or “The Way of the Sword”, refer to the techniques and skills of Japanese fencing. The Book of Five Rings is a book of martial strategy, specifically focused on sword fighting.

            If for any reason a samurai lost his master, or was fired from his service to a lord, he became a ronin, or “drifting person”. Ronin used to roam the land, looking for adventure and glory, and hoping eventually to enter the service of a daimyo or perhaps even to become one themselves. For many years Musashi lived the life of a ronin before he retired to write his masterwork.

            Musashi was born around 1584, during what is known as the Azuchi-Monoyama period, which came towards the end of centuries of constant fighting among feudal warlords to attain dominance. During this period, political unification was achieved, initiated by Oda Nobunaga and his follower, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but eventually completed by their rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu would move the seat of power from the imperial capital of Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo), and usher in a period of peace and stability that would last from 1603 until 1868 (the Meiji Restoration). Ieyasu controlled the daimyo by forcing them to alternate between residing at Edo and their own lands, much as King Louis XIV of France (Le Roi Soleil) would do later with the French nobility attending the court at Versailles. Another thing that Ieyasu did was to keep family members of the clans as hostages during the time that they were not forced to reside at Edo, to make sure of their loyalty.

            This era of peace and stability would slowly lead to the decline of the samurai class, although their values and ethos have never completely disappeared.

reviewed by Henry Georget"

I'll be posting another part of this review in later blogs! Read it HERE!

Science vs. Art

Can science ever critique art in a meaningful way?

Why not?

The deeper you fall into the world of science, the more you realize the necessity of a philosophical point of view.

The field of science is ever-expanding because of the need human beings have of finding answers to any proposed questions. So you can say, with full certainty, that one must have a good imagination to thrive in the sciences. How else are you going to prove theorems, study the universe, or the beings that take part in it?

One can view art as an expression of feeling or a particular thought, and that is part of human behavior, which is studied and therefore analyzed. What then, can stop science from making significant statements on art?

Por Virginio Gallardo
Supervivencia directiva

En un mundo de cambios y transformaciones permanentes, las empresas necesitan de conductores de equipos capaces de mantener el compromiso de sus empleados. Estos, periódicamente, requieren de desafíos y de reconocimientos cuando se los expone a efectuar ciertos sacrificios en pos de la organización. El sentido de la trascendencia empresarial
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 En el acelerado mundo laboral, la racionalidad y los números es lo que permite gestionar y hacer funcionar las organizaciones. Sin embargo, Virginio Gallardo, autor del libro “Liderazgo Transformador”, dice que la gestión de las emociones empresariales es la clave del éxito empresarial. El cambio es un acelerador de emociones y estas (trascendencia, miedo, amor, ilusión…) han sido erróneamente desterradas del lenguaje empresarial”, plantea el especialista .
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La formación de la cultura empresarial, y los valores de una organización son los valores, hábitos y comportamientos de las personas. El “cambio” supone cambiar hábitos, es decir, personas (además de procesos, papeles, máquinas o sistemas), indica el experto.  La famosa innovación provoca cambio en personas. “El cambio provoca entre otras cosa miedo, desesperanza, incertidumbre, rechazo, ansiedad, depresión, rabia, negativismo, tristeza, que afecta a todos, desde los empleados menos especializados a, de forma más peligrosa, los altos directivos”, señala el especialista español.
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Quien sepa manejar las emociones organizativas, tendrá mayor capacidad de gestionar el cambio. Lo que equivale a decir que tendrá en sus manos la fórmula secreta del éxito en nuestras organizaciones, de las que ya sólo sabemos que campa a sus anchas una “bestia” que provoca el omnipresente cambio, puntualiza Gallardo Yebra.

En ese proceso, el líder es un especialista en crear emociones porque debe saber gestionarlas para innovar dentro de la empresa. Claro que esto no es un juego apto para todos, indica el experto.

¿Qué emociones debe gestionar?
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Debe crear miedo y dolor.

Sólo aquellos que son capaces de crear una enorme insatisfacción con el “status quo” tienen algunas posibilidades de éxito. En cambios importantes será necesario crear dolor y miedo tan enormes que se prefiera este a la “bestia” del cambio: lo desconocido, lo incierto, la ansiedad que provoca lo nuevo o  la perdida de privilegios. Olvidar esta poco estimulante clave es probablemente la razón que ha hecho caer a más directivos.
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Debe crear visión, ilusión.

Destruir el pasado, para construir.  Construir se hace más fácilmente en base a sueños y esperanza que generen compromiso. Los grandes líderes consiguen crear en la mente de los demás ilusiones que los hagan saber por qué deben caminar y que los impulsan a realizar esfuerzos personales difíciles. Los hombres se mueven mucho más por sueños de lo que a priori pueda parecer. Despreciamos la capacidad de nuestros profesionales de sentirse “identificados profesionalmente” con causas y visiones.
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Debe crear certidumbre.

Los grandes sueños se deben alimentar con la certeza de una realidad. Los líderes, no siempre los máximos directivos, pero son especialistas en mostrar a sus organizaciones las primeras evidencias, a veces con cierto maquillaje, de los frutos de los cambios. Son capaces de enseñar los primeros resultados y evidencias que impulsan las organizaciones a cambiar. La resistencia al cambio sólo se elimina definitivamente mostrando las ventajas “probadas” de lo nuevo.
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Debe crear el reconocimiento.

La apreciación es el mayor motor de la motivación y la motivación es la clave del cambio personal y organizacional. Los cambios organizativos requieren mucha energía para conseguir los primeros resultados y para mantenerlos: se necesitarán a agentes de cambio a los que se les pedirá enormes sacrificios personales. El reconocimiento, a veces es recompensa; es uno de los lenguajes del reconocimiento.
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Debe crear una ideología.

Los cambios suponen nuevas formas de entender las reglas y valores organizativos, las doctrinas que mantienen y dan unidad, sentido y propósito a las organizaciones. Cambiar los valores de una organización implica redefinir que es el “orgullo”, la “envidia”, la “vergüenza” o la “culpa” organizativa y hasta saber administrar este tipo de emociones es ser un experto en la gestión del alma humana.
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Las emociones son lo que provoca la acción en las personas. En las organizaciones sucede lo mismo. Por eso, la maestría en gestionar estas emociones organizativas define la delgada línea que separa los directivos del pasado de los líderes del futuro. Los líderes del futuro son gestores de emociones, sintetiza Gallardo.

Excelente Artículo 

Por William Sierra 

Plan Emprendedor 

Cuando un hombre, ya sea en calidad de líder o de asistente, admite que está ‘demasiado ocupado’ para cambiar de planes, o para prestar atención a una emergencia, está admitiendo su incompetencia. El líder de éxito debe ser quien controle todos los detalles relacionados con su posición. Esto significa, por supuesto, que ha de adquirir el hábito de relegar los detalles a asistentes capaces.

1. Incapacidad para organizar detalles.

Un liderazgo eficiente requiere capacidad para organizar y controlar los detalles. Ningún líder genuino está jamás ‘demasiado ocupado’ para hacer cualquier cosa que se le pueda pedir en su condición de líder. Cuando un hombre, ya sea en calidad de líder o de asistente, admite que está ‘demasiado ocupado’ para cambiar de planes, o para prestar atención a una emergencia, está admitiendo su incompetencia. El líder de éxito debe ser quien controle todos los detalles relacionados con su posición. Esto significa, por supuesto, que ha de adquirir el hábito de relegar los detalles a asistentes capaces.

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2. Mala disposición para prestar servicios modestos.

Los líderes realmente grandes están siempre dispuestos, cuando la ocasión lo exige, a llevar a cabo cualquier tipo de labor que se les pida que hagan. Que ‘el mejor de entre vosotros será el sirviente de todos’ es una verdad que todos los líderes capaces observan y respetan.

3. Expectativas de gratificación por lo que ‘saben’ y no por lo que hacen con aquello que saben.

El mundo no paga a los hombres por lo que ‘saben’. Les pagan por lo que hacen, o impulsan a hacer a otros.

4. Temor ante la competencia de los seguidores.

El líder que teme que uno de sus seguidores pueda ocupar su puesto está prácticamente condenado a ver cumplidos sus temores tarde o temprano. El líder capaz entrena a suplente en quienes pueda delegar, a voluntad, cualquiera de los detalles de su posición. Sólo de ese modo un líder puede multiplicarse y prepararse para estar en muchos lugares, y prestar atención a muchas cosas al mismo tiempo.

Es una verdad eterna que los hombres reciben más paga por su habilidad para hacer que los demás trabajen, que lo que ganarían por su propio esfuerzo. Un líder eficiente puede, a través del conocimiento de su trabajo y del magnetismo de su personalidad, aumentar en gran medida la eficacia de los demás, e inducirlos a rendir más y mejores servicios que los que rendirían sin su ayuda.

5. Falta de imaginación.

Sin imaginación, el líder es incapaz de superar las emergencias, y de crear planes que le permitan guiar con eficacia a sus seguidores.

6. Egoísmo.

El líder que reclama todo el honor por el trabajo de sus seguidores está condenado a generar resentimientos. El verdadero líder no exige honor alguno. Le alegra ver que los honores, cuando los hay, son para sus seguidores, porque sabe que la mayoría de los hombres trabajarán con más entusiasmo por recomendaciones y reconocimientos, que sólo por dinero.

7. Intemperancia.

Los seguidores no respetan a los líderes intemperantes. Además, la intemperancia en cualquiera de sus diversas formas destruye la resistencia y la vitalidad de cualquiera que se deje llevar por ella.

8. Deslealtad.

Quizá esta causa debería encabezar la lista. El líder que no sea leal con su organización y con su equipo, con quienes está por encima de él y con quienes están por debajo, no podrá mantener mucho tiempo su liderazgo. La deslealtad le señala a uno como alguien que está en el nivel del polvo que pisamos, y atrae sobre su cabeza el desprecio que se merece. La falta de lealtad es una de las principales causas de fracaso en todos los terrenos de la vida.

9. Acentuar la ‘autoridad’ del liderazgo.

El líder eficiente enseña mediante el estímulo y no intenta atemorizar a sus seguidores. El líder que trata de impresionar a sus seguidores con su ‘autoridad’ entra en la categoría del liderazgo por la fuerza. Si un líder lo es de verdad, no necesitará anunciarlo, a no ser mediante su conducta, es decir, con su simpatía, comprensión y sentido de la justicia, y demostrando, además, que conoce su trabajo.

10. Insistir en el título.

El líder competente no necesita ‘títulos’ para obtener el respeto de sus seguidores. El hombre que insiste demasiado en su título, generalmente no tiene mucho más en qué apoyarse. Las puertas de la oficina de un verdadero líder permanecen abiertas para todos aquellos que deseen entrar, y su lugar de trabajo está tan libre de formalidad como de ostentación.