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An inner part remains the same
Aug. 25th, 2009 02:11 pmDammit, there's a Jean-Paul Sartre quote along the lines of "although I change, I also remain the same" and I'm darned if I can find it (and, of course, I can't really remember the original French, either).
Anyhoo, I see that the Greek authorities are already blaming arsonists for the flames that licked the edge of Athens, perhaps because they had similar fires a couple of years ago and don't actually seem to have learned any lessons from that disaster, which killed more than 50. However, they did learn a lesson from the Australian authorities, which is to try to blame a few nutters rather than mother nature, a capricious woman, herself.
This time round the blame was subtly shifted to "property developers", perhaps the modern-day bogey man, who wanted to destroy the trees so that they could build more properties. The technicalities of this strike me as a bit dubious. Surely there's more to turning down planing permission than "well, if only those trees weren't there, but they are...."?
+++++++++++++
New stories part two:
Massive amount of oil found in obscure part of the world that no-one knows much about?
Now, Sinopec is a respected company. If it says it found this amount of oil, then I have no reason to disbelieve it. Unlike the 1990s Bre-x scandal, of which I was immediately reminded.
Bre-X bought a site in Busang, Borneo, Indonesia in 1993 and in 1995 announced that it had found gold. Its stock price went from less than a (Canadian) dollar to a peak of C$286.50 with a total capitalization of C$6bn.
It was all a fraud, one in which several Canadian pension funds did tens of millions of dollars. But no-one was ever charged. Two of the main characters died, while another senior executive was found not guilty of insider tradings. A class action continues.
My point about this is that, even if the Sinopec find is absolutely accurate, it opens up an "oil rush" mentality. Will we hear of more "finds". Will Inner Mongolia become the land of new companies who build up large capitalizations, only for them to vanish just as quickly, with several invstors nursing burnt fingers?
I wouldn't be surprised.
+++++++++++
Henry Engelhardt, CEO of Wales-based Admiral Insurance, hit nine out of 10 on the excruciometer this morning when the company released its interims. Immediately after the bullet-listed highlights, Engelhardt's comment began :
"Wow! Considering the general economic climate and pathetic investment returns, this was an outstanding result."
"Wow!"? I'm not sure if Engelhardt was trying to be an American or a 15-year-old girl. I eagerly await Swiss Re's annual results beginning "LOL", while Max Capital starts its next figures with "WTF? ", to be followed by the next Berkshire Hathaway interims, where Buffett starts with "PMSL!!!"
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Anyhoo, I see that the Greek authorities are already blaming arsonists for the flames that licked the edge of Athens, perhaps because they had similar fires a couple of years ago and don't actually seem to have learned any lessons from that disaster, which killed more than 50. However, they did learn a lesson from the Australian authorities, which is to try to blame a few nutters rather than mother nature, a capricious woman, herself.
This time round the blame was subtly shifted to "property developers", perhaps the modern-day bogey man, who wanted to destroy the trees so that they could build more properties. The technicalities of this strike me as a bit dubious. Surely there's more to turning down planing permission than "well, if only those trees weren't there, but they are...."?
+++++++++++++
New stories part two:
CHINA'S second-largest state oil giant Sinopec Corp has discovered an oilfield with some 140 million tonnes reserve in north China's Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua reported on Saturday.
The report did not specify if the reserve, equivalent to about one billion barrels, is probable, proven or recoverable.
The find, in Chaogewenduer township of Urad Rear Banner, was made by Sinopec's Zhongyuan exploration unit based in central China's Henan province.
Massive amount of oil found in obscure part of the world that no-one knows much about?
Now, Sinopec is a respected company. If it says it found this amount of oil, then I have no reason to disbelieve it. Unlike the 1990s Bre-x scandal, of which I was immediately reminded.
Bre-X bought a site in Busang, Borneo, Indonesia in 1993 and in 1995 announced that it had found gold. Its stock price went from less than a (Canadian) dollar to a peak of C$286.50 with a total capitalization of C$6bn.
It was all a fraud, one in which several Canadian pension funds did tens of millions of dollars. But no-one was ever charged. Two of the main characters died, while another senior executive was found not guilty of insider tradings. A class action continues.
My point about this is that, even if the Sinopec find is absolutely accurate, it opens up an "oil rush" mentality. Will we hear of more "finds". Will Inner Mongolia become the land of new companies who build up large capitalizations, only for them to vanish just as quickly, with several invstors nursing burnt fingers?
I wouldn't be surprised.
+++++++++++
Henry Engelhardt, CEO of Wales-based Admiral Insurance, hit nine out of 10 on the excruciometer this morning when the company released its interims. Immediately after the bullet-listed highlights, Engelhardt's comment began :
"Wow! Considering the general economic climate and pathetic investment returns, this was an outstanding result."
"Wow!"? I'm not sure if Engelhardt was trying to be an American or a 15-year-old girl. I eagerly await Swiss Re's annual results beginning "LOL", while Max Capital starts its next figures with "WTF? ", to be followed by the next Berkshire Hathaway interims, where Buffett starts with "PMSL!!!"
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