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."