Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie

All of you who know me well know that I have little to no artistic ability. Given this and the rather drab appearance of the blog, I’m inviting anyone interested to design a custom header for the blog, with the only condition that it reflect „Smelling Salts and Spoiled Milk.“ Hopefully some of you will be interested, but if not, classic blue is fine with me.

You once said that you liked happy endings.

On the topic of media criticism, I am certainly no Brett Lintott, who writes fine diatribes about the media.  However, I must venture my opinion on the Hezbollah-Israel conflict and comment with some observations.

The US media, particularly CNN, is overwhelmingly Pro-Israeli. Watching the interviews on the channel, particularly those featuring Wolf Blitzer, illustrates this fact.  When interviewing Israelis, the anchors ask questions but nothing in an accusatory or tough way. When interviewing Lebanese people, such as the Justice Minister today, the questions are phrased in a way to make it seem like its the Lebanese peoples’ fault for all aspects of the war including the deaths of their own civilians.

Furthermore, there are numerous CNN features featuring military analysts who aattempt to explain how civilian accidents, including those as Qana today, are results of military „accidents“ and that no civilian deaths.  However, as one expert military commentator put it: „Israel is fighting what looks similar to a classic air campaign (updated from carpet bombing with more accuracy) aimed at crushing enemy moral cohesion by bypassing military targets and terror bombing Lebanese civilians.“ To me, this seems like a much more reasonable assessment of the situation.

This analysis has nothing to do with any political views that I may have but is my rational assessment of the situation.  The news media should acknowledge that the Israeli military is conducting military operations based on a historical model (that of the firebombing of Dresden in World War II, or more recently the Linebacker airstrikes against North Vietnam) and that the goal is likely the collapse of the Lebanese state.

Simply put, it would be refreshing if the news media were not so deceptive and tried to frame the conflict in a moral perspective but rather from a strategic/political perspective because that would be much more interesting.

I was in a choir, in Grade 4.

The Langley Schools Music Project is a collection of children’s chorus recordings made from 1976-77 by Canadian music teacher Hans Fenger in a school gymnasium in Langley, B.C. The track I’ve included, a cover of Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, is an earnest performance.  I wouldn’y say that it is good, but it is mildly amusing listening to little kids sing schmaltzy pop songs.

The Langley Schools Music Project – Sweet Caroline

Human dignity is too much to ask for sometimes.

This is the last of my Toronto posts and I wanted to make it about something near and dear to Toronto’s heart: homeless people.  The homeless people in Toronto are more disruptive than in Hamilton.  Whereas in Hamilton, the homeless people often beg in front of shady storefronts and any other place downtown, they generally don’t disrupt the flow of movement.

In Toronto, the bums are much more disruptive. On Monday while on the way to work, A bum was lying right in the middle of the sidewalk on a piece of cardboard on York St, a busy throughfare; he was sleeping and had scrawled on the cardboard a plea for money. Naturally, nobody offered a dime to this vagrant, and all he succeeded in doing was slowing all the pedestrians down.

Example 2 comes from the basement of the Royal Bank Tower. A sewer urchin was holding a door open, expecting people to pass through and leave him change. Quite obviously, the professionals who use this path merely opened other doors and walked through them to avoid this ruffian. Thus, all that he accomplished was getting in the way of everyone.

My prescription for solving this problem is to opening some run-down building where these people can leave and be fed on the condition they don’t beg. If they contiue to beg, the local government should load them on buses and ship them to Saskatoon, because it will take them a nice long time to get back. This would make mine and many other people’s lives much more satisfying and enjoyable.

This is my life.

I spent today studying LIBOR rates for loans from the bank. Since I got to enjoy these lovely rates, I thought I would share them with you. So here’s what they are (and yes, this is to make you „enjoy“ them too):

  What is LIBOR?

Libor stands for the London Interbank Offered Rate and is the rate of interest at which banks borrow funds from each other, in marketable size, in the London interbank market.

What is BBA LIBOR?

BBA LIBOR is the most widely used „benchmark“ or reference rate for short term interest rates. It is compiled by the BBA in conjunction with Reuters and released to the market shortly after 11.00am London time each day.

Where is the BBA LIBOR standard used?

BBA LIBOR is the primary benchmark for short term interest rates globally. It is used as the basis for settlement of interest rate contracts on many of the world’s major futures and options exchanges (including LIFFE, Deutsche Term Börse, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, SIMEX and TIFFE) as well as most Over the Counter (OTC) and lending transactions.

Why is the BBA LIBOR standard important?

BBA LIBOR is important because:

• it is long established
• it offers the largest range of international rates
• it is a truly international reference rate
• it has a wide commercial use
• it enjoys wide international dissemination
• its mechanism is transparent
• it provides a robust settlement rate
• the banks represented on the panels are the most active in the cash markets and have the highest credit ratings

BBA LIBOR’s London base is significant: well over 20% of all international bank lending and more than 30% of all foreign exchange transactions take place through the offices of banks in London and represents a unique snapshot of competitive funding costs. London has representation from close to 500 banks, and many other major financial institutions actively trade in the euromarkets which are based primarily in London. In addition, no reserve requirements are applied in London.

What do the abbreviations s/n, o/n and 1 w, 1 month mean?

These abbreviations stand for the maturities for which BBA LIBOR is fixed. There are 15 different maturities for each currency and day of fixing. The shortest maturity is overnight (O/N) for Euro, US Dollar, Pound Sterling, and Canadian Dollar and spot/next (s/n) for all other currencies. 1 w stands for 1 week and 1m stands for 1 month. The longest maturity for which BBA LIBOR is fixed is 12 months.

An „overnight“ rate that you see quoted tomorrow will value today and mature tomorrow.

A „spot / next“ rate that you see quoted today will value in 2 days (i.e. the day after tomorrow) and mature the day after that.

Factors that influence BBA LIBOR rates

BBA LIBOR rates are dependent on a number of factors, including local interest rates, banks expectations of future rate movements, the profile of contributor banks (contributor panels are changed annually), liquidity in the London markets in the currency concerned etc.

BBA LIBOR calculation basis

BBA LIBOR is not a compounded rate but is calculated on the basis of actual days in funding period/360. Therefore the formula is as follows: interest due = principal x (libor rate/100) x (actual no of days in interest period/360). Please note that for GBP) the calculation basis is 365 days.

It is also important to work out the exact/actual number of days in the funding period which is not always 90 days for a 3 month deposit but could e.g. be 89 or 91 days.

If you have a funding period of, for example, 45 days you could extrapolate between the 1 and the 2 month rate to arrive at the correct BBA LIBOR rate.

Big Cities, Big Ideas

Currently I’m in the midst of spending 5 days working for the Bank in Toronto. I have visited several departments (Credit, Special Loans and National Accounts) and must say that in terms of banking, Toronto truly is the centre of the universe in Canada. The employees of the Bank there have the utmost confidence and abilities to perform their jobs. However, the purpose of this post is not to congratulate them but to illustrate the different world they function within.

For example, the business lunches in Toronto are lavish multi-hour affairs at fancy restaurants (to which I have been a party) and the offices are stocked with innumerable varieties of drinks. I’ll end the descriptions here, before you think I’m some sort of hedon. I just wanted to illustrate some examples of professional „life“ to aid my ideas. 

I believe the general thesis that I am trying to get across is that the business world and the class structure of our society really do create different worlds for people. The creation of wealth is the prime diviner of the world you live in. If you create a lot of wealth (directly or indirectly), you’ll like live in the world of Bay St.  If you create some wealth, you’ll live in the world of the suburban middle-class family and if you create little or no wealth, you’ll be condemned to lives of struggle and destitution. I know there are exceptions to the rule (lottery winners, and inherited wealth for example), but this theory generally holds. 

Now I know most of you will exclaim that this is an obvious comment, and I’ll be the first to agree with that. What really made it real to me, however, was seeing how the professional class really live, and how it differs from my prior life experiences. I won’t make any prescriptions because everyone’s life is something of their own design, just that you should try to notice how you crete wealth and how your livelihood results from that. It really is a fascinating experience.

Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK

Just another apology for the lack of posts. My life is a bit hectic right now.

Due to certain censorship issues, this post has been modified.  New posts will commence shortly.

Skeletons Pt. 2

On my previous blog, I posted about how I was embarassed to like a song by a Swedish band called „the Knife“. This post is ostensibly about posting a similar musical skeleton in the closet.

The song „Rippin Kittin“ was released by Golden Boy in 2002 on his debut album „Or.“ The song features the vocals of Miss Kittin while Stefan Altenburger (a.k.a. Golden Boy) adds the musical elements.

Featuring synth-laden electropop (reminiscent of the Electroclash movement, for those familiar with that term), Golden Boy assembles the perfect musical melody for Miss Kittin’s lyrical content. The lush textures reveal a sinister, dark undertone and the plodding bass beat brings to mind the pacing of a vengeful robot stalking you in a dark room.  Miss Kittin adds the final seal of the devil to this track with her lyrics detailing the desire of a young girl to murder people with knives.

This track, however, was intended to be a look at the violent culture than something inciting violence. In this respect, it accomplishes its job quite well. Miss Kittin treats a serious theme, questioning the roles of good and bad, guilt and self-destruction.  It’s difficult to imagine 10 year old girls stabbing people to death. In any case, this Swiss-French duo has produced a serious track that is eminently danceable. I highly recommend it.

Also, the Ellen Allien remix featured on the single release kills.

Golden Boy feat. Miss Kittin – Rippin Kittin

Can I have the kitchen knife?

Earlier this year, a Turkish movie was released showing essentially the Muslim viewpoint of the war in Iraq. Entitled „Kurtlar vadisi – Irak“ (Valley of the Wolves – Iraq), the film portrays a small group of American soldiers in Iraq (played by actors including Gary Busey) as they kill a Turkish outpost, breaks up a wedding in a violent, bloody way, and in a scene reminiscent of the Holocaust: Captives are transported on a long journey in a container on a truck. One guard says to the other: they might suffocate in the container because there is no fresh air supply. The truck stops, the (American) guard gets off the truck and fires with an automatic gun hundreds of bullet-holes into the container and creates a bloodbath among the captives. With a lone exception, the Americans in the movie are unscrupulous and malevolent. They humiliate people of other countries/cultures/religion, kill innocent civilians, maltreat prisoners, and act remorselessly.

A very poignant, if slanted, view of Iraq, but also quite entertaining.  A trailer for this movie can be viewed here.

The title explained.

For lack of anything better to write about, I thought I’d explain the title of the blog, because I’ve been questioned about it.

The explanation is rather simple. Smelling Salts is used because smelling salts gain your attention and Spoiled Milk is used because much of what is written here will neither be fresh nor good like spoiled milk.

Hope that clarifies everything. Cheers.