In which I flambe the Christmas Pudding of Dumbassery using the Brandy of Learning. Or whatever. (I will get better at these … )
This week, I’ve started reading The Big Short. Slowly. Hence, the first thing I’ve learned is that …
- Financial bonds are different to stocks. A stock is owning a share in a company; a bond, on the other hand, is owning someone else’s debt. They are indebted to you. (I had to be certain of this, because the word bond appears in The Big Short at least 400 times.)
- The famous No Direction Home photo was taken when Bob Dylan was waiting to cross the Severn. Bob, you look cold — get inside, have a coffee, eat some Pringles. Not everything has to be iconic, pal.
- The first graphical web browser was Mosaic, led by Marc Andreessen. This is what made the web accessible to normal folk. Andreessen then started up the ill-fated Netscape.
- Most wasps die during the winter. Only an impregnated female will survive. She crawls away into a hole, where she hides until summer. Spoiler: This female wasp becomes the Queen.
- Truro is in the UK! It’s down near Penzance. It sounds so exotic — I’d assumed it was in Italy or the U.S. or … well, anywhere except the home of pasties.
- The word Liminal means near the threshold. A liminal phase is a kind of transitional phase. Subliminal is therefore “below the threshold” of consciousness. Confusingly, sublime seems to mean “lifted up to the threshold”. (Sadly, the fruit/colour/(mineral?) word Lime has no connection, originating instead from Persia.)