tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50812856882109020412025-07-17T14:15:11.590+08:00My online collection of favorite quotes, jokes, anecdotes, trivia and interesting video clips.S@RZIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633786794209639352noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-59067376605174180802010-06-25T09:27:00.000+08:002010-06-25T09:27:24.310+08:00

I made a killing on Wall Street ago...I shot my broker. - Groucho Marx* * *After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. - Jesse Livermore* * *When asked what the stock market will do, J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) (banker, financier, businessman)

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-74959036460991534032008-11-10T13:27:00.005+08:002008-11-10T14:17:27.893+08:00

I haven't blog in loooong while, I know. There's so much going on in the background of my life that I couldn't find the time, and if I had the time, the mood, to blog here. So much water indeed has passed under the bridge, that history has been made while I wasn't blogging. It's not too late though to blog about the President-elect Barack Obama. U.S. comedians are saying that they will miss

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-25216343914538592912008-08-26T00:52:00.001+08:002008-08-26T00:53:44.856+08:00

I can't get over the fact that the Philippine Team to the 2008 Beijing Olympics failed to bag any medal. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is reportedly “not happy,” too, over our medal shutout in the recently-concluded Olympic games. And why not? Look, Michael Phelps is not even a team, much less a country, but he was able to haul eight gold medals on his own! Ok, so you think I'm

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-1163697827464883982008-08-17T11:31:00.001+08:002008-08-17T11:32:24.036+08:00

I admire Barack Obama a lot. He is a phenomenal guy, the type who comes along once in a generation. Given his origins, the odds he was up against and where he is right now, I can only conclude as an avid student of history that he is a man of destiny with an important, if not urgent, mission to fulfill in the world. I certainly wish we could have someone with Barack's caliber and sense of mission

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-72319215545830455502008-07-24T22:37:00.004+08:002008-07-24T22:46:44.759+08:00

The world can breath a little easier with another notorious war criminal finally reeled-in by the proverbial long arm of the law. Radovan Karadzic, former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, was indicted nearly 13 years ago in connection with the massacre of nearly 8,000 Bosnian men and boys at Srebrenica. Based on the comparative photos shown to the right of this post, you will agree that his low-tech

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-27264828274389089462008-06-30T23:00:00.006+08:002008-07-01T00:09:52.102+08:00

It must be the then-and-now photos of two unemployed persons from two historical eras, which I posted over the weekend in my other blog, that enticed me to read more about the Great Depression. The experience is, to say the least, enlightening and illuminating. But disturbing, too, in the sense that it gave me a sense of foreboding about a likely future that is slowly unfolding much like a replay

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-20927307810404705502008-06-29T16:24:00.000+08:002008-06-29T16:24:31.555+08:00

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao did the Philippines proud again today as he snatched the WBC lightweight title from Mexican-American David Diaz in an impressive ninth round knockout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. With this spectacular win, Pacquiao became the first Filipino as well as the first Asian to win four world titles, not counting the Ring Magazine featherweight

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-72670522930826707102008-06-15T17:18:00.000+08:002008-06-15T17:18:45.307+08:00

Today is Father's Day. I didn't grow up knowing that there is such a special day in the year for fathers. Understandably, it is not part of our indigenous tradition as Filipinos. That's not to say I don't like the idea. In fact, given that the wife/mother is the central figure in Filipino homes, I am flattered by all the attention given to me by everyone in the family on this special day. Sonora

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-13969115570240171252008-05-31T22:20:00.000+08:002008-05-31T22:20:24.215+08:00

I've been wanting to blog about the forces that trigger financial innovation for a long time now. There's need to do a literature survey to make sure I cover all the known bases to-date. Unfortunately, I haven't had the luxury of time for such research. I thought, however, that a less ambitious start would be to identify a unifying theme for such a wide-ranging post. From my experience, good

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-58237548573739038992008-05-30T21:15:00.004+08:002008-05-30T21:52:43.799+08:00

Whenever I feel like quoting an ancient philosopher, the first name that comes to my mind is that of Confucius. But for a figure whose influence in Chinese history has been compared with that of Socrates in the West, I was surprised to learn that it is hard to separate which accounts of Confucius' life are fact and which ones are fiction. Another revelation from my research: Confucius' admission

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-50064694277106148212008-05-13T18:42:00.001+08:002008-05-14T09:46:35.146+08:00

A coincidence is "a sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged," according to the FreeDictionary. I've had so many in my life that I have lost count of them. Since I'm not a habitual note-taker or a diary-keeper, it will take me really serious effort to recall all those. But I am suddenly conscious again about coincidences precisely because of several

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-82143559421908281492008-04-28T23:52:00.001+08:002008-04-29T00:41:09.678+08:00

We celebrated my wife's birthday today with a sumptuous dinner which she herself painstakingly prepared for the whole family. I had wanted to treat them out instead but she prevailed in the end. Compromise: that's lesson no.1 to a long and happy marriage, LOL. Why don't we explore today the many faces of LOVE and MARRIAGE while I'm at it:Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-10770045388912563792008-04-15T22:23:00.000+08:002008-04-15T22:24:28.181+08:00

I'm feeling contemplative today. That's what a setback could do to me. I was hopeful about something positive to develop this week, but the news I received this morning was otherwise. I know that such experiences are meant to teach us a lesson. We just have to be perceptive. Let's wax philosophical about FAILURES through the wise words of other great men:I have not failed. I've just found 10,000

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-950894771808156332008-04-15T21:56:00.000+08:002008-04-15T21:57:21.632+08:00

I wanted to blog about my birthday last Saturday but I hestitated. I have already restructured my main blog to just focus on finance topics. Ditto for my other blogs, which have their own niches. This looks like my only blog where I could talk about birthdays and (hopefully) get away with it, so here goes:The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet. -Robert Orben* * *My birthday!

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-73940696329534853712008-04-06T16:51:00.000+08:002008-04-06T16:51:29.097+08:00

It's been nearly two weeks since my last post. As I have explained in my other blog, we recently launched, together with some former colleagues in investment banking, a new consultancy group that's now busy seeking mandates in what we believe to be an underserved niche in the Philippine market. Of course, nothing is ever certain in this world except death and taxes. Who knows, in the end, we

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-7650576732472008232008-03-23T04:19:00.001+08:002008-03-23T04:21:34.278+08:00

Nothing beats the Lenten season in reminding a Catholic about his spirituality and faith. Certainly not Christmas. A season commemorating the birth of Christ is far too joyous a celebration to be able to induce serious soul-searching and introspection. Didn't you notice that our relationship with God comes to the fore in times of need, suffering or great sorrow? That flow is from us to Him.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-79793249715730308022008-03-07T22:34:00.001+08:002008-03-07T22:34:29.753+08:00

Stepping back to survey my recent posts in two of my blogs, I realized that I have unconsciously choosen to write about a common theme--CREDIBILITY--in both, although one is an investment banker's blog and the other, for the most part a political blog. We probably have an emotional weather vane of sorts that changes direction periodically, sometimes triggered internally and, at times, externally.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-21746498125197826102008-03-02T18:35:00.000+08:002008-03-02T18:36:01.297+08:00

The bottomline in the ongoing political drama in the Philippines is the increasingly impatient clamor for leadership change and moral transformation. In America, change is also the winning battlecry of Barack Obama. Actually, in many aspects of life in many parts around the world, the mantra is change. This is why I chose it as my theme in this post today. See if you can learn an additional

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-84889580488877470402008-02-20T16:26:00.000+08:002008-02-20T16:26:35.004+08:00

It's been a week since my last set of quotes (on Truth) inspired by a new whistleblower on the aborted NBN/ZTE deal which has created a firestorm, which now threatens the Philippine president's continued hold on power. Over a period of just one week, I have had to adjust my own initial assessment of the likelihood of a new People Power movement materializing (being euphimistically labelled today

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-63456744740269699492008-02-12T21:21:00.000+08:002008-02-12T22:05:46.790+08:00

There's a national drama being acted out on the Philippine Senate that, in my view, could potentially destabilize the country. This is the latest in a series of politically-motivated exposes, which has hounded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) for sometime now, clearly intended to humiliate, discredit and, if luck is on the side of the President's political opponents, unseat her ahead of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-88247550731897257832008-01-29T21:38:00.000+08:002008-01-29T22:39:17.171+08:00

I was reviewing my posts since I started this blog a year ago and discovered to my surprise that, while I have sprinkled my previous posts with quotes about life, here and there, I have yet to devote a post dedicated to LIFE--the canvas on which I paint my thoughts in my other niche blog. So here goes:Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and have a new ending.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-7660681809262517112008-01-25T17:11:00.000+08:002008-01-25T17:14:18.123+08:00

Vision and ambition. Two words with terminal sounds that rhyme nicely. The former "conceives" while the latter "achieves"; action words which, again, have a nice ring to them but therein ends their resonance (at least to me). The first one is decidedly "yang"--positive, upward-seeking. As for the other, well, ambition has an uplifting nature but it has an ugly side that is "yin"--consuming,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-69962033749779696212008-01-21T23:21:00.000+08:002008-01-21T23:21:59.874+08:00

I've been blogging about the US subprime crisis since the middle of last year. That crisis is a shameful showcase of human frailties. Try naming one--I'm sure the subprime crisis has it. Greed comes to mind easily, for the subprime crisis is, at bottom, a tale of greed. Here are ten selected quotes that shed more light on the nature of greed:We are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and most of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-3203070069865788132008-01-15T23:06:00.000+08:002008-01-15T23:06:41.339+08:00

A paradox is a self-contradictory statement. I blogged today about a paradox that I have observed in the present subprime turmoil which has rocked the U.S. economy and could possibly affect the rest of the world if it really worsens. It is by no means the only paradox I have seen in my lifetime. There are many, believe me. Life is full of paradoxes, if you'd only care to notice. Let me share with

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5081285688210902041.post-1441959660101709302008-01-10T22:09:00.000+08:002008-01-10T23:48:18.145+08:00

I've been intently monitoring the developments in the on-going primaries in the U.S., as well as the early start of party maneuverings in the Philippines that will build up to the presidential elections in mid-2010. Getting elected to the presidency is no joke, as we can glean from these quotes:Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but stand there and take

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0