Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Cab Thoughts 4/9/14

A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for. -Grace Hopper, computer scientist and US Navy Rear Admiral (1906-1992)


Doyle New York will auction a rare and important Nebuchadnezzar II Babylonian cuneiform cylinder. The clay cylinder describes the rebuilding of the temple of Shamash in Sippar (modern Tell Abu Habbah in Iraq) by Nebuchadnezzar II and dates to the Neo-Babylonian Period, circa 604-562 BC. At 8.25 inches in length, it is the largest example to come to market in recent times and is estimated at $300,000-500,000. Nebuchadnezzar defeated a combined force of the Egyptians (under the Pharaoh Necho) and Assyrians at Carchemish in an epic battle that consolidated his control over the region, and severely reduced the power of Egypt, which fell under his sway. That battle effectively finally extirpated the Assyrian empire, for almost two thousand years a major force in the region. He waged successful campaigns against most of his neighboring states, including Phoenicia, Philistia, Judah, Ammon, Moab, and others, and in doing so acquired vast wealth and power. Nebuchadnezzar II built The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Ishtar Gate.

What was......the Kowloon Walled City?

99.1% of lead acid batteries are recycled back into batteries.

The Chinese yuan has become the second most-used currency in global trade finance, replacing the euro. Last year the UK and Chinese central banks signed a three-year currency swap arrangement worth 200 billion yuan which allows them to swap currencies and can be used by firms to settle trade in local currencies rather than in US dollars.

In 2012 the G-8 accounted for 50.1% of nominal global GDP. Canada was originally left out of the G6 and then Russia made it G8. Interestingly, the G8 is made up only of northern hemisphere nations, not one southern nation. China, Brazil, and India actually occupy places 2, 7 and 10 on the list of the world’s largest economies with Canada 11th and Australia 12th.

Golden Oldie:

Wagging the goat in Turkey: Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan has blocked the access of his electorate to both Twitter and YouTube. Why? Because the social media sites leaked a recording of his government planning a false-flag war with Syria to increase support behind him. These politicians are willing to fake a war and kill people to raise their approval ratings! How do you say "Tonkin" in Turkish? Erdogan blamed the leak on "an act of terrorism." Do these tyrants all go to the same conferences and take the same courses? When will we be free of these people?

Jeremy Grantham, the co-founder of money management firm GMO, called Fed chairman Yellen "ignorant" in a recent NYT interview. He expanded his opinion in Fortune. He argues there is no evidence that low interest rates improve the economy but some evidence it improves stock prices. So will there be a discussion? Probably not.

James Van Allen discovered radiation belts held in two loose shells around the earth by its gravitation. This radiation has been captured from solar wind and other passing energy. The belts contain energetic electrons that form the outer belt and a combination of protons and electrons that form the inner belt. The belts endanger satellites, which must protect their sensitive components with adequate shielding if their orbit spends significant time in the radiation belts.


Adonis: meaning a handsome young man. Adonis was a beautiful youth whom the goddess of love, Aphrodite, eventually fell in love with. Adonis was killed by Aphrodite's other lover Ares , disguised as a boar.

Shirley Polykoff was a junior copywriter when she was given the Clairol account. The product the company was launching was Miss Clairol, the first hair-color bath that made it possible to lighten, tint, condition, and shampoo at home, in a single step When the Clairol sales team demonstrated their new product at the International Beauty Show, in the old Statler Hotel in front of thousands of beauticians jammed the hall. 'They were astonished,' recalls Bruce Gelb, who ran Clairol for years, along with his father, Lawrence, and his brother Richard. 'This was to the world of hair color what computers were to the world of adding machines.
Polykoff took her mother-in-law's dismissive comment, 'Does she or doesn't she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure' and made it their ad line.
From the fifties to the seventies, when Polykoff gave up the account, the number of American women coloring their hair rose from 7 percent to more than 40 percent.


AAAAAaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnddddddd.......a picture of Kowloon City in Hong Kong which, before it was demolished in 1994, was considered the densest settlement on earth, with 33,000 people living within the space of one city block:
Before it was demolished in 1994, Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was considered the densest settlement on earth, with 33,000 people living within the space of one city block.

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