Monthly Archives: August 2009

HOW THE SEC MISSED MADOFF.

HOW THE SEC MISSED MADOFF. Obviously, when a crime takes place in the open, as Madoff’s did, there must be reasons why nobody noticed. I have a couple of theories that I haven’t seen mentioned. First, young lawyers at regulatory … Continue reading

Posted in Economics | 1 Comment

DUE DILIGENCE AND MADOFF.

DUE DILIGENCE AND MADOFF. Kids, not all important work is intellectually interesting. When some one buys a house, just before the closing, the buyer do (or should do) a “walk-through” to make sure that that the house is still there … Continue reading

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HOW AUDITORS MISSED MADOFF.

HOW AUDITORS MISSED MADOFF. There were many opportunities to catch Madoff. Brooke Masters and Greg Farrell had an article in the August 12 Financial Times which described one way that auditors missed the fraud. When auditors based in the United … Continue reading

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TOBACCO SMOKE ENEMAS.

TOBACCO SMOKE ENEMAS. A friend sent me a photograph of an instrument for administering a tobacco smoke enema with a caption explaining it. I was skeptical. Snopes had nothing about tobacco smoke enemas so I turned to wikipedia, which had … Continue reading

Posted in History | 1 Comment

FINDING THE JOKES IN A TRAGEDY.

FINDING THE JOKES IN A TRAGEDY. ‘TIS PITY AS A WHORE by John Ford is a dark Jacobean revenge tragedy. It features incest, a blinding and five murders. The last sentence of this wikipedia summary of the plot begins, “Following … Continue reading

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COMEDY IS NOT “THE POOR COUSIN OF DRAMA.”

COMEDY IS NOT “THE POOR COUSIN OF DRAMA.” Alan Ayckbourn is a great favorite of mine. I posted several times,including here, on INTIMATE EXCHANGES, his set of sixteen plays. I managed to see five of them in eight days a … Continue reading

Posted in Theater | 1 Comment

NOT THE BEST FILM OF ALL TIME.

NOT THE BEST FILM OF ALL TIME. I mentioned ARSENIC AND OLD LACE just now in part because I was reminded of a story by Rob Gallo’s comment on the 100 best movies of all time. Rob speaks of “movies” … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

CARY GRANT, THE COMEDIAN.

CARY GRANT, THE COMEDIAN. Right after I posted about Cary Grant, Mary Jane watched a documentary about Cary Grant that was narrated by Michael Caine. Caine pointed out that it was unusual that Grant, the handsome leading man, always looked … Continue reading

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“…THE BEST AND MOST IMPORTANT…”

“…THE BEST AND MOST IMPORTANT…” I remembered the phrase “the best and most important actor in the history of the cinema” for Cary Grant because Grant is vastly underrated and because when I saw the phase, I changed my mind. … Continue reading

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CULTURAL LITERACY—MOVIES.

CULTURAL LITERACY—MOVIES. Rob Gallo had a long interesting comment here about movies and movie acting. He concludes the comment with “Food for thought.” It’s made for some interesting discussion in our house. Let me begin by saying that one of … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Theater, Uncategorized | 2 Comments