Life on Eight

Pourquoi la capitale française passionne-t-elle tellement?

2010-09-27T00:45:00.002+02:00

«Paris est un livre d'images fait de calques superposés, surpeuplé de morts et hantés par des vivants»
-- Graham Robb

Playing with Pano app at Niche Cafe on Queen West #Toronto with a nice lavender-black tea.

2010-09-26T23:43:00.002+02:00

Link: Pano iPhone app

Post-secondary education around the world

2010-06-16T05:31:00.010+02:00

G7 countries compared in terms of the percentage of the population between the ages of 25-64 with post-secondary degrees. Highest: Canada, Lowest: Italy.

Mozy 2.0 client is a fiasco

2010-06-03T02:25:00.013+02:00

Just a heads up to current and potential new clients of the Mozy online backup service: The Mozy 2.0 client is a big flop. Do not install it, in its current form, barring any major updates, under any circumstances. Not only is it a nightmare from the customer perspective, but potentially in the wider public relations sense -- though, obviously not quite to BP proportions!

I have been a happy MozyHome (exactly like MozyPro, but for non-commercial use) user for over 3 years now (yes, that makes me an early adopter) and have often cheer-leaded for them to family and friends. It has given me peace of mind for my 150 GB worth of data as I bounced from one side of the Atlantic to the other with my laptop.

Then came last week. As I had never experienced any issues with their service, when I received the latest client newsletter (that looked a bit like the following post on the Mozy blog) exalting the benefits of the newly released version 2.0 client, I didn't hesitate to download the upgrade. Big mistake. I'll spare you the gory details, but, in summary: it failed to install properly in Vista 64-bit, forcing me to reinstall the old client, version 1.16 (but only after a forced brute-force uninstall of all traces of Mozy, which caused the loss of all my customized settings) and somehow made it not work anymore (despite anything the tech support tried to suggest), finally making me resign to trying 2.0 again, which now oddly installed, but now failed to upload a complete backup set (this seems to be a common issue mentioned on message boards) all the while growing in CPU resources over time (rendering the computer useless). And that's just the beginning of the oddities.

Luckily (though, truly, it's a bastardization to call all this useless time and effort anything remotely related to a fortuitous situation), the evil Mozy 2.0 client accepted to be deinstalled cleanly this time and I was able to once again install the 1.16 client (1.16.4.0 to be precise, still available here). My good luck did not end there, 1.16 now worked perfectly again, just as it did 10 days ago...

Given all the unhappy, sometimes ireful, posts in the Mozy Community message boards, this is brewing to be a serious problem that Mozy's farmed-out tech support is having difficulty handling. Of course, this is not a tech support issue, but a software development issue; more specifically a gross failure in proper stability and regression testing.

It's just one big flop in a company with a good track record, but hopefully they can fix this soon. We're currently all seeing how a single mistake can quickly grow to a debacle and threaten a previously-strong company's very survival. (Yes, I'm talking to you BP!)

Reducing DPC latency on your laptop

2010-03-14T09:19:00.002+01:00

If you plan on producing or streaming high-quality live audio (or video) from your laptop computer, or you just happen to be a bit of a tuning nerd, then you definitely should care about DPC latency. (Otherwise, you might want to skip this post, as this is not about making your system run faster per se.)

The Deferred Procedure Call (DPC) latency is a Windows concept. Suffice it to say that audio/video to/from an external device is handled by a queue of such low-level priority function calls. The time delay between a DPC call and execution is the latency (typically measured in microseconds, μs) and varies over time, depending on such variables as system load and running system services (of course), but also hardware and, most importantly, device drivers. To see live measurements of your system’s average DPC latency over time, this free tool is invaluable: Thesycon’s DPC Latency Checker.

A low DPC latency is what we are aiming for, but it’s not just a low mean value, but a constantly low number without any spikes. It’s the spikes in latency that will cause audio or video to stutter, skip, crackle, or pop (only a good thing if you developing a new Rice Krispies commercial). A good system would have no latency spikes above 250 μs; a setup like this or better is a requirement if you plan on being a laptop-DJ performing live, non-pre-recorded sets (next, you’ll need some software like Ableton Live, Native Instruments Traktor, Atomix Virtual DJ, etc., not to mention a good external audio interface, but I digress…).

If you find that your system has a horrible DPC latency profile, you’ll have to do some digging. The sad news is that you’ll mostly be blind in this hunt for low DPC latencies. A general rule of thumb is to make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card (as the display is a big performance hog, even when a system is idle). Next, try stopping any unessential services or background running programs -- one by one -- and seeing if the situation improves (by running the linked-above DPC Latency Checker utility). Generally, background applications like Dropbox, a weather widget, Mozy, etc., don’t affect the DPC queue, but you never know! On my computer, the ESET NOD32 Antivirus real-time protection was the cause of some “minor” periodic 500 μs peaks. Another serious culprit on my machine was CPUgenie, a CPU power management application I installed that reduces CPU voltages to decrease CPU temperatures and increase battery life. I can only infer that other undervolting tools such as RMClock should also be considered potential targets in this war on DPC latency.

If all else fails, try a web search for your notebook computer’s “MODEL NAME” and “DPC LATENCY”. (Come to think of it, you should probably do this first!) In my case, I found out that some hard-core gamers were complaining about the Nvidia graphics card on their Sony Vaio Z’s. This gave me the idea to switch to using the integrated Intel graphics system on my system’s motherboard (conveniently, Sony provides a useful external switch to do this on the machine: “STAMINA” switches to the built-in Intel graphics processing, whereas “SPEED” means the Nvidia graphics card will be used). Although I lose 3D graphics performance by using the integrated graphics unit, my average DPC latency was more than halved (now down to the 50-70 μs range) and, more crucially, eliminated the last of the remaining spikes.

Time for me to enjoy my laptop’s newly lowered DPC postponement statistics… but first, my human priority calls for a short period of dormancy.

Remembering MultiCopy in Rotterdam

2010-03-07T07:54:00.004+01:00

I was poking around some recordings I have collected in recent years and decided to make use of one that brought back some good memories of the Netherlands, Rotterdam in particular. I was visiting Rotterdam at the end of the summer of 2005 for a conference and was in a bind to print a poster at the last minute. My originals were lost and I had to recreate the whole thing after arriving on my overnight flight. To make matters worse, the local Kinko’s had their oversized printer broken and all the other shops were closed. MultiCopy saved the day in the end, after a little file format issue was resolved…

The vocals of this track are from a telephone message I received from Erwin at MultiCopy. In the stress of the moment, it somehow made me laugh. Thanks again MultiCopy Rotterdam!

<a href="http://lifeoneight.bandcamp.com/track/multicopy-rotterdam">MultiCopy Rotterdam by LifeOnEight</a>

Where should one live to minimize the probability of experiencing an earthquake?

2010-01-14T06:48:00.002+01:00

Though it’s clearly not the only factor to consider when choosing a place to live, most of us have pondered this question at some point, especially on days like today (Re: Haiti). For some individuals, who can work from anywhere, have nothing tying them down to any particular location, or who are particularly risk averse, the question of minimizing earthquake event hazard could rank higher in priority. To satisfy my own curiosity, and perhaps be a service to others, I ventured to try to answer this question. We could start by studying maps of the edges of the global tectonic plates and noting the locations of prominent volcanoes in the world, since earthquakes tend to occur in those regions. However, that doesn’t really tell us anything about the likelihood of events occurring since many of those areas are fairly stable, geologically speaking. Luckily, in the 1990’s the United Nations sponsored a project with the goal of improving global standards in seismic hazard assessment: the Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP). One of the outcomes of this project was a compilation of regional data to produce an international dataset of points where geologists have calculated the risk of “hard” shakes (high peak-ground-acceleration) as being above 10% in the next 50 years (well, that was as of a decade ago now). Here’s the GSHAP project’s global hazard map (click to enlarge or download). Areas in white or green may not be immune to earthquakes, but have the lowest probability of strong earthquakes.

Introverted in travel, but also in life

2009-12-05T01:14:00.001+01:00

I liked this description of the introverted traveller. Funny thing is, not only did I recognise myself in travel, but in how I live most days. Who says flâner is an activity reserved for trips abroad? The introverted pattern of social interaction also applies to my work: periodic bursts of intense interaction (with advisors, collaborators, etc.) surrounded by time spent working independently. And, as for always carrying a book (or, more likely, a bunch of recent scholarly journal articles) and/or a notebook, that just comes naturally with being a scientist; it’s part of our uniform, like the suit and tie is to the banker.

An ode to Canada's banks: Ahead in the Finance Olympics

2009-11-25T14:14:00.002+01:00

Canadian banks have been getting some unaccustomed accolades around the globe this year. In fact, some of the last remaining AAA-rated banks in the world (as judged by credit rating agency Moody’s) are Canadian, surpassing many Swiss banks. Through their conservatism, and other banks falling away like flies, Canada’s Big Five have also quickly moved up the rankings of the world’s largest. This collective success is certainly a positive development for Canada’s role in the business world, even if only in terms of prestige, but my true affection for our Houses of Loonies has grown from a particular personal experience. Perhaps it's fitting that my warm feelings originated in the romantic City of Lights...

The story started well enough: friendly chit-chat with a gregarious banker curious to hear all about Canada, my reasons for moving to Paris last year and intrigued by my good, yet non-Québecois, french pronunciation. Though, that’s after I finally got to see someone. You see, in France, one can’t just walk into any bank branch to open an account; one needs a prior appointment, generally made a few days in advance for good measure. In fact, one can literally never just walk into a branch, one must press a doorbell and wait to be allowed in after being scrutinised via security camera.

The problems started almost 2 weeks later. My patience, allowing for a few intervening statutory holidays, had turned into concern. I had still not received my bank card and PIN. To my surprise, I received a call from my banker friend himself. No pleasantries this time, however. His stern voice was warning me that I should wire funds or make a deposit to pay for my overdraft. My overdraft?!?

You can see where this story is going. But first, some background: Unlike in Canada, when one is mailed a bank card in France, the PIN -- mailed separately, but with a nice bank logo on the envelope (no doubt to advertise the sensitive nature of its contents) -- is all one needs to start making purchases or bank withdrawals. There is also no such concept as “calling to activate” a debit or credit card.

Here’s another fun tidbit: I had explicitly refused all overdraft protection when opening my account. So, I asked Monsieur Banker, "how is it possible that my balance is currently negative nearly 4000 Euros?" The explanation is quite simple. In France, unlike here, transactions are generally not verified centrally at the point of sale, nor even at an ABM! This is a golden secret to all you potential fraudsters out there: if you manage to get a hold of a bank card and PIN in France, you have until midnight, Cinderella-style, to have as much fun as you want. And fun, my impostor did have: a fancy restaurant meal, a 3500 Euro impulse purchase at Gucci, a nightclub tab and a night at a hotel.

Up to then, I did not fault the bank. It was just an education in the defects of France’s outdated financial system (and perhaps the postal system). But that changed soon after I rushed to the bank that morning. No appointment necessary this time; I was expected. To my astonishment, Monsieur Banker and his supervisor from "upstairs" acted incredulous. “But this has never happened before!” Give me a break, with this start of the art, lack-of-security system, I was the first? I was made to write a hand-written letter on the spot outlining my objection, en français, to the aforementioned charges to my account. Then, informed that to initiate any internal bank investigation process I’d need to return with an official record of a complaint submission, I headed out to hunt for my local "antenna" of police.

It was somewhat surreal waiting in line at the police station, in a foreign country, having never needed to deal with the police ever in my life before, for an issue in which, really, it was the bank that was stolen from, not me; I had never even touched this ill-fated card.

Fast forward 1 week: another phone call from the bank. My request to increase my ABM withdrawal limit was declined pending a deposit to settle my current negative balance. Of course, I never made any such request! This will be our next lesson in French banking: when calling a bank, the only security questions one is asked are one’s name, birth date, and city of birth. You know, the sort of thing most people (not me) post on Facebook. And that’s assuming one is calling the central bank customer service line. If one is direct-dialling one’s local branch and happens to fall upon the banker one usually deals with, then it could only be name and bank account number for basic inquiries. In my case, apparently the fraudster had a non-Parisian accent as well, enough to fool Monsieur Banker to think he was really talking to me. Scary. This is not just an old-fashioned system, this is a comedy of errors!

A slow moving comedy.

The following 5 weeks were quiet except for my weekly inquiries or their odd request for a copy of my recent Canadian bank statements. The branch manager at my Canadian bank volunteered to append a glowing reference letter stating how I had been a valued client for almost two decades, the whole package faxed overseas in under an hour.

The fraudulent charges were finally reversed, minus a few unexplained 10 Euro service charges. Oh, and did I mention that I had, by then, been paying regular service fees for two months (7.75 Euros per month for the most basic of chequing accounts), for an account that I had not been able to use yet -- no replacement card was allowed until the bank made a final decision on my account. If this sounds like the bank was treating me like a suspect in this whole affair, it’s because that is indeed the case. I don’t know what happened internally, but I know that the police never investigated the matter. All I do know is that one week after my account was refunded I received a very formal letter, sent by registered express mail, from my bank branch. No expense was spared to make sure I received this piece of paper (unlike my bank card or PIN) which informed me that they did not find it “suitable” to keep my account and that I should close it by the end of the month.

One has to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

The next time you walk into your local bank branch, even if greeted by a small queue, I hope you’ll pause to reflect on how civilized our banking system is. Perhaps even, like me, you’ll get the uncontrollable urge to smile. They are corporations and we may not have a direct vote in how they are run, but we are virtually all their clients. That’s more than we can say for successful Olympic athletes, which seem to instil odd feelings of pride in many of us, especially when they perform better their foreign counterparts. Perhaps our banks are just another reason why our country is great, at least compared to France and Switzerland.

Link: Banking in Canada (Wikipedia)

Streetcar, Come on Home

2009-11-21T12:55:00.001+01:00

A music video I made in ode to the venerable Toronto streetcar. I shot the footage almost exactly one year ago at the corner of Queen and University, but just now got around to doing something with it. The music track is from an old 1970s vinyl by the wonderful Lijadu Sisters. "Please, please come on home baby..."

To London and Back

2009-11-16T19:46:00.002+01:00

I’ve been playing around with the new version of Ableton Live this weekend while on a little visit to London 2.0 (Ontario). I’m not quite sure whether to call this a burgeoning hobby or yet another outlet for procrastination. In any case, here is the result of a little dabbling while sitting on the VIA Rail Train 72 back to Toronto:

LifeOnEight – “To London and Back”

Harsh feedback is strongly encouraged.

Irrational Behaviour

2009-07-18T07:51:00.001+02:00

An entertaining talk given by Dan Ariely from the MIT Media Lab, director of the “The Center for Advanced Hindsight”.

And if we humans are irrational, so quite often are our creations…

Which leads me to my book suggestion of the day (not to imply that I have, or ever will, give book suggestions every day):

The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street, by Justin Fox

The bioeffects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)

2009-06-19T17:32:00.001+02:00

Since I was in Biarritz, I sneaked in to hear some talks at the annual world conference on all things related to carbon, Carbon 2009, being held here this week. As you may know, a hot topic these days in the field of carbon chemistry is carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Unsurprisingly, a large proportion of the conference papers centered on the synthesis of CNTs and their (potential) applications. As a non-chemist (I’m more into physics and biology), I was more interested in the few presentations that addressed the topic of biological interactions and possible bioffects of carbon nanotubes. As is the case for the whole budding domain of nanotechnologies, bioeffects are my prime concern. Unlike most, I’m not concerned at all about the H1N1 virus (there’s Tamiflu/Relenza, and we can always make a vaccine), nor genetically modified organisms (there is no human safety issue whatsoever, it’s a big misunderstanding; the only issue is the possible impact on plant biodiversity in the wild). No, what really scares me is the possible dangers of all things “nano”. Nano-products/materials/devices are all very new and, given their infinitesimal size (visible only by electron microscopy), all too easily absorbed by our bodies, potentially right through cell membranes. Because of the infancy of the work done at this size regime, there has not been any long-term studies on in vivo effects on humans. For carbon nanotubes, researchers are only starting now to study potential effects in vitro, and generally still only chemically, without any cells in the mix.

At Carbon 2009, I appreciated one talk in particular given by Xinyuan Liu (from the Laboratory for Environmental and Health Nanoscience at Brown University) which outlined the inconsistencies in CNT bioeffects studies published to date. She also outlined the three potential categories of risk related to carbon nanotubes:

Metal impurities left after the synthesis of carbon nanotubes:
It turns out that many of the bioeffects reported to date are likely attributable to impurities that remain in the sample after the complex chemical synthesis processes used to generate CNTs. In particular, metal catalysts such as nickel or ytirium. For example, ytirium has been shown to inhibit calcium ion channels (important in the transmission of signals from one nerve to the next, or from nerve to muscle).
The effect of carbon nanotubes on reactive oxygen species (ROS):
CNTs apparently deplete natural antioxidants (in simulated biological environments) in a dose-dependent fashion. For example, folic acid adheres to the hydrophobic surface of CNTs.
The biophysical implications of the geometry of carbon nanotubes:
Given the long length of many CNTs, they are too large for single macrophages to absorb. Eventually, when multiple macrophages would be recruited to this hopeless task, there would be the potential to develop granulomas. This is perhaps why some researchers have reported asbestos-like pathology related to CNTs (as the problem with asbestos is analogous). The other biophysical implication of carbon nanotubes is their biopersistence. It is likely that the different types of CNTs vary in persistence, so more studies need to be done. For now, we must consider the possibility that carbon nanotubes are bioaccumulative (like heavy metals).

What worries me is not the carbon nanotubes that will be chemically integrated into other materials (and never to be near humans in their raw form), such as improved airplane wings, or those that will form the basis of new medical treatments, such as drug-delivering mechanisms (as these will have to go through the typical battery of clinical trials). My concern is the carbon nanotubes that were not purposely intended for human exposure, such as those in an industrial manufacturing process. If there ever was an accidental release of CNTs in the environment, not only would we not know their long-term effects (on humans, or on the biosphere), we would be hard-pressed to find and measure their levels, let alone “clean up” the invisible mess.

Hello Biarritz!

2009-06-16T08:33:00.001+02:00

After a long night train from Paris: my first time seeing the Atlantic from this side.

Just a regular afternoon in my neighbourhood...

2009-06-03T19:24:00.002+02:00

I live a block away from where this video starts. I like how most passersby were not too shocked about the public nudity and kept about their business; I'm not so sure the same would be the case in other cities.

Overheard at a café on a warm Monday evening

2009-05-25T17:58:00.007+02:00

Paris, 2e arrondissement, Quartier Montorgueil, Le Café Noir, vers 18h00:

-- Naturellement, je finis mon stage...
-- Non non non, tu blagues!
-- Mais si, presque, oui!
-- Et ton weekend c'est bien passé?
-- Oui, pas mal... Hier, je me réveille, et puis hop! Je mets un jean, oui, je sors, et je me balade un peu... Je me suis assis sur un banc dans le jardin je-ne-sais-quoi. C'était vachement bon. J'ai ensuite pris le métro. Et j'ai croisé mon ex.
--- Bien bien bien!
-- Je regarde sur Internet sur mon portable pour ne pas la regarder. Elle portait des trucs comme ça, avec des rubans jusqu'à là.
-- Bon, bien voilà!
-- En tout cas, autre que ça, ce fut une journée assez délassante. Je suis resté bouquiner jusqu'au petit matin, au lit avec les fenêtres ouvertes.
-- C'était belle et bien une nuit étouffante quand même!
-- Finalement, je me suis endormi vers sept heures, mais c'était juste au moment que les travaux dans la rue en bas commençaient. J'ai tout de suite regretté avoir tellement veillé.
-- Voilà donc! Et moi, tout à l'heure, je bossais...
-- Écoute! Il commence à se rafraichir un peu...
-- On règle et on y va?
-- Bonne idée!

Les chats

2009-05-17T18:01:00.001+02:00

Les amoureux fervents et les savants austères
Aiment également, dans leur mûre saison,
Les chats puissants et doux, orgueil de la maison,
Qui comme eux sont frileux et comme eux sédentaires.

Amis de la science et de la volupté
Ils cherchent le silence et l'horreur des ténèbres;
L'Erèbe les eût pris pour ses coursiers funèbres,
S'ils pouvaient au servage incliner leur fierté.

Ils prennent en songeant les nobles attitudes
Des grands sphinx allongés au fond des solitudes,
Qui semblent s'endormir dans un rêve sans fin;

Leurs reins féconds sont pleins d'étincelles magiques,
Et des parcelles d'or, ainsi qu'un sable fin,
Etoilent vaguement leurs prunelles mystiques

(a poem by Charles Baudelaire)

Bulroney Hill

2009-05-12T23:25:00.025+02:00

A few days ago, May 8th, it was Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day), a statutory holiday here in France (and in a few other European countries) commemorating the end of World War II. Of course, this made me think of Canada. As I have been marching to my own drummer here in Paris, this long weekend didn't really affect me as I had tons of work to do (yes, still old Toronto-work). However, it was a little difficult to stay completely focussed given the nice weather, so I succumbed to a little procrastination. I decided to whip up something quasi-musical with all of the audio recordings I had accumulated from the testimony of Brian Mulroney (former Prime Minister of Canada for all you non-Canadians reading this) at a public inquiry held by a Parliamentary committee in December of 2007. Even if you are not interested in politics, or the whole "Schreiber Affair", most Canadians would probably find these clips quite humourous. Despite Mr. Mulroney delivering these gems with a very serious demeanor, he seriously couldn't expect us to take him seriously? This was also quite a unique event as it's very rare for a former Prime Minister to be ordered to testify in any public inquiry (the other exception would be Jean Chrétien), but this was an event without equal since it was on Parliament Hill.

So, whithout further verbiage, I give you "Bulroney Hill":
<a href="http://lifeoneight.bandcamp.com/track/bulroney-hill">Bulroney Hill by LifeOnEight</a>

Blinded by “organic”: bio-obfuscation

2009-03-31T16:49:00.001+02:00

[In response to: “Let My Consumers Free!”, which was in response to “Eating Food That’s Better for You, Organic or Not”]

Having recently moved to France, where food hovers at a higher strata of the public consciousness, and where there is a greater conservativeness at moving away from age-old ways of doing things (e.g. bans on genetically modified foods), the problem is just as bad here, if not worse. Here the obfuscation is done with the prefix-turned-into-word “bio”, rather than “organic”. Yes, there are some standardized labels (e.g., “AB” of the Agence française pour le développement et la promotion de l'agriculture biologique), but there is a wealth of competing labels, not to mention fake ones invented by corporate marketing departments. Even for the products that are legitimately labeled, there is generally a lack of supply chain verification (as pointed out by a recent investigative report by the television network France 2); critical since, quite often, raw ingredients are sourced from around the world.

I haven’t yet come across any bio Oreos here though! The new trend here seems to be bio cosmetics, which tend to have very low requirements to get official label status, such as 15% verified bio content — which is not at all mentioned on the packaging, and one only can discover by visiting a web site.

[Also posted here]

Baguettes as junk food.

2009-03-24T00:09:00.002+01:00

I’m craving a warm, somewhat crusty (but not too much), baguette. Alas, it’s almost midnight and all the boulangeries in Paris closed long ago. Baguettes have become my new junk food since I moved here. (What about croissants, you ask? Nice, but not as versatile.) In my opinion, the only thing that can possibly make me salivate as much as a warm baguette, that can also be enjoyed morning, noon, or night, and that pairs equally well with cheese, meat, or chocolate, is fresh, warm pita bread.

I just discovered that the french word copain comes from the Latin
cum pane; literally “with bread”. So, a true friend, according to the french, is therefore a person with whom you’d share your bread. (In Canada, a friend might perhaps be someone you’d let have the last beer.) That’s a big hint to the importance of bread to the collective psyche here. There have even been strikes in the past demanding the price of a baguette be capped and regulated by the government; though no mention of that (yet?) in the street demonstrations of late decrying the decline in “purchasing power”. One could be forgiven for thinking that the French invented bread, but it was probably the ancient Egyptians. However, few people have heard of aish baladi (the traditional pita bread), but everyone around the world knows what a baguette is!

Beautiful Life

2009-03-21T22:56:00.002+01:00

Gui Boratto - "Beautiful Life".

An update on OptionMonster.com and NYSE: DUK

2009-03-12T19:54:00.001+01:00

Shortly after my last post, I was contacted by Mike Yamamoto, the managing editor of OptionMonster.com. He promised to personally look into the discrepancies that I had pointed out. Within a few hours, the headline on the CNBC web site blog post was corrected, and today the incorrect stock chart for Duke Energy in the OptionMonster.com article was pulled down. Apparently, both were uncorrelated, completely separate errors. The CNBC post headline error (stating “bearish” instead of “bullish”, though the final corrected headline described the option activity as “extremely unusual”) was a simple human error by a staffer at CNBC. As for the erroneous DUK chart (which hid the fact of how historically cheap the DUK stock price had reached), I heard today from Mike that the source data, coming from TradeMonster.com, had an "errant data point" that probably "threw things off". In all, I was impressed with the speed and conscientious nature of the response provided by Mike who kept me informed as he looked into things.

On a related note, since my last post I decided to make my own speculative play on NYSE: DUK. Earlier this week, I opened a position using a bullish options strategy.

Is OptionMonster.com trying to manipulate Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK)?

2009-03-07T14:58:00.004+01:00

OK, it’s time to let the cat out of the bag; I’m a part-time, highly speculative investor. It’s more of a hobby really, as I don’t allocate much capital to these investments. I read constantly, but do research only when my interest is piqued -- and trade even more sparingly.

One company that caught my attention this past week was Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK). This energy company (primarily in the business of delivering electricity) has seen it’s stock battered lately. In this all-around pessimistic economic climate, that’s no surprise. However, lately, in the last month, the slide has been even more dramatic, for no apparent reason. This is no AIG or GM, and there’s no high-risk leveraging in sight; this is an actual profitable company, with a dividend to boot.

I have no position in this company, and I wouldn’t have noticed it if it were not for a huge amount of April 12.50 call option buying this past Thursday (unhedged bets that the stock price, now around $12, will be higher than $12.50 by April 17th). Perhaps it’s that someone knows something (good news coming perhaps, as energy and electricity grid upgrades were on the list of Obama stimulus plan priorities), or perhaps it’s just an optimistic bunch of speculators who think this stock is oversold and is due for a quick rebound.

Regardless, that’s not so much the point. I’m taking the time to write this not because I’m trying to spread investment advice, rather to raise some curious observations on the reporting of DUK. OptionMonster.com (a company and web site run by the, now quasi-famous, two Najarian brothers who make frequent appearances on CNBC, in particular the TV channel’s “Fast Money” show) highlighted the anomaly in trading in DUK options early on Friday, however the chart Jon Najarian posted in the article was clearly not correct; it shows DUK stock hitting a multi-year bottom below $8 in early 2003. The last time DUK stock was below $8 was in the mid-1980’s. The stock did indeed hit a multi-year trough in 2003, on March 10, but it was at $12.32 – a price higher than the current stock price. (In case you’re interested, the last time the stock was at levels seen this week, you’d have to go back to 1989.) If you don’t believe me, just go chart it yourself.

Initially, I naturally thought that this was just a simple error on the part of OptionMonster.com. Now, I’m not so sure. Especially after seeing this blog post by Jon Najarian on the CNBC web site with the headline: “Options Traders 'Extremely' Bearish on Duke Energy”. Obviously this much call option buying (when not counter-balanced by put option volume) is bullish, not bearish. Another error? A simple typo, a coincidence, or is something else going on? To his credit, Najarian did describe the situation correctly in the blog post, speculating that it’s possible that some traders might think that this stock has hit bottom (thus, implying a bullish bet has been made). But, it’s the blog post title that gets indexed, it’s also what people scan when reading through headlines. Is it possible that the OptionMonster.com boys are trying to hold back investors from pilling into DUK so that they can have the time to lock in their own upside bets?

But, like I said, it could just be a coincidence: two erroneous slips on the same stock by a man who's reporting is usually spot on…

Informed consent.

2009-03-07T13:40:00.002+01:00

“Informed consent involves three components: information, comprehension and free will. Individuals vary in their ability to comprehend information relevant to their consent, which minimally includes the nature of the procedure and the implications of their participation in a research study. Thus, providing necessary information and subsequently establishing comprehension are both essential aspects of obtaining consent. The final component of informed consent is free will.”
[Nature Methods 6(2):111 (2009)]

You don't really own your own body.

2009-02-28T17:26:00.007+01:00

Have you ever considered if you owned your body? No, I don't mean whether you had the right to be free: to go wherever, to express yourself in any which way, to live your life any way you wish. I'm talking about real ownership over your body, as if were an asset, just like that nice watch on your wrist.

Accountants tell us that there are two types of assets: tangible and intangible. My body is certainly tangible; caress me in the right way and I'll get goosebumps, pinch me and I'll yelp, prick me and I'll bleed. Our bodies are real, and perceptible by the senses -- both by our own, but also by those of others. So, like any tangible asset, our bodies have value, monetary value. We can unlock our bodies' value in many ways; by working, for example. This is because human bodies are in limited supply at any particular location (in some places more so than others); they are a commodity, something that can be turned in to a commercial advantage.

But wait, it's not so simple. If own owns something, one can lease out its use (in the case of a human body, this is equivalent to having a job and being paid for it), but one can also sell that thing outright, or parts of it. For example, if I own a big piece of land I can subdivide it into parcels and sell a few of them individually. The same can't be done with our bodies, however. There are laws in most places that would disallow me from selling one of my organs (if I so desired). Legally, this impinges on my ownership rights over my own body. There are very good reasons for these restrictions, as they protect the potential exploitation of the poor, the uneducated, not to mention the intoxicated! However, it causes a legal paradox. Ownership invokes property rights, and inherent in those are the right to transfer those rights. I supposedly own my own body, but I don't have the right to transfer ownership of parts of my body to anyone else?

Selling organs is actually only a special case, since generally we require most of our organs to keep living. But what if I wanted to sell just a few of my cells to a research laboratory for them to culture? Let's say I had some very rare disease, or a particularly interesting phenotype (observable characteristics); many labs would be interested in using my cells in their pre-clinical experiments. Shouldn't I have the right to some compensation? Furthermore, they may get a payback down the road if their research is successful. They also pay their other "suppliers". So, why is it that donation of body cells to labs or biobanks is the only option? Is it because body cells are diploid (have two sets of every chromosome)? I jest of course, but in many places (though not Canada) I could sell my sperm, which are haploid (have only one set of every chromosome), and a woman could sell her ova. What an odd situation!

The unclarity of body ownership rights is not limited to cells and organs. Let's even ignore them altogether as it's not strictly required in the definition of a commodity that it has to be subdividable. Sadly, even when we consider the body as a whole, there's still more to make us question our ownership over oneself. In many places on the planet I'm unable to perform certain services (e.g., prostitution), and in most (if not all?) countries I can't sign away all of my work rights, current and future, in exchange for money -- i.e., I can't voluntarily become a slave. Also, I can only chose to donate my body to medicine after my death, I can't be compensated for this.

Ignoring the social and ethical implications of what I've discussed (for example, society benefits greatly through free organ donation after death), it's clear that nothing is clear! Certainly, one shouldn't naively boast of ownership over one's own body, as it's not really true. It remains questionable whether individuals own their intact bodies, let alone the pieces of them that could be excised or extracted.

[Yes, this is an odd thing to be contemplating on my sunny terrace on this first, wonderful, spring-like day in Paris. Perhaps there was something special in my coffee...]