A few notes on twitter

News that Shk. Khalifa ordered that children born to non emirati father but emirati mothers be granted citizenship is great news, and combined with Shk. Abdullah's interesting twitter posts deserve praise for new thinking in the federal govt.

Shk. Abdulla recently tweeted that to call someone's wife by her name (which is deliberately avoided by some men) isn't a taboo, and men should call their wives by their names, and not some vague reference.

Now, being recently married, this issue hits home with me. If I ever get a daughter, I'd be proud that these thoughts introduced by The Sheikhs, are addressing and protecting my daughter's dignity, and developing her rights as a member of society.

And maybe it's time to get active on twitter to see what else is being said...

Office blues

Sitting in my dreary office, reading the news...

My daily routine of staring blankly at a screen, thinking of how to work on reports back at my apartment (where the work is actually done) and putting dream scenarios on scrap paper is getting to me.

So I downloaded the blogger app, and am trying to say something meaningful in the off-chance I'd read it later, and spark an hour of more scenario planning.

Here goes: Yesterday, I was in speakers corner arguing with a Christian man on miracles... He then quotes me some verses from the Quran after a bit of intense googling, and awaits my response. I read the verse in Arabic, and proceed to tear him apart by saying his translation was wrong...

It turns out, that we were both out of context; and my ego got the best of me. By assuming that my reading was correct without even looking into context (in this case, the previous verse explained context), I was guilty of a sin... Pride.

Its Ironic how many sins come up when arguing religion.

And the whole day had that same recurring theme: From the born-agains claiming to be sin-free, to the raised voices and crass comments from the dissenters, and finally the petty squabbling between the preachers...

A little reflection goes a long way in purifying my thoughts and arguments, and Inshalla, speakers corner hasn't seen the last of (a more refined) me.

Inshalla...

Connected Blogger to tumblr

Test... This should mean my blogs post to tumblr, and tumblr remains my photo log... Hopefully.

Edit: Tumblr remains photo, and video log.

London - Eurozone - Traders - Protests

Lots of things have happened since my last real blog post, tumblrs mostly been an image feed...

Ive been based in London for the past 3 months, and still have a few months left... Made me realize Im getting old... And indeed dying...

Not of anything in particular, but the reality of aging is in the mirror. Thank God Im not blind to that.

Not that my stay here has been depressing, or anything, but stop reading if you think this is going in that direction :-)

My timing here is interesting: Ive been sent to basically gain insight on markets in a semi-internship type job... and what Im seeing is interesting.

Ive seen the "Occupy London" protest go from an organized mess, to rank and file tents... Ive talked to commodity traders who had no business in physical commodities work in cross-asset arbitrage models... Ive talked to a former producer-trader whose hedging strategy included "rebalancing"...

The protests are there for a reason... And whether I liked it or not.... I learnt the "big money" trade, where the "strong hands" set fire to my industry.

Im a simple kind of guy, supply and demand is pretty easy to grasp... And in the world of speculating, you don't have to want oil/metals/food... You don't even have to take delivery of it...

But you do need to make money.

I was made out a fool by a trader who took my search for a physical consumer as revenue loss. The arbitrage is king in the world of models, and 3 month spreads.

The sad part is that he was right... To a point.

Eurozone crisis anyone?

Tumblr!

Am going to start posting on tumblr, which should turn up in a bar on this blog... I hope.

Obituary

Shaikh Saqr Al Qasimi has passed away. My heart goes out to the people of RAK, and hope that their future remains ever brighter.

A month ago...

Alot has changed in the world economy,.,. As they do. Gold prices hit record highs, germany did well, and the various currency are freaking out. Locally the Dubai bond issue was on the news... So was the DEWA 2 bond. So is the Axiom IPO.

So

"back from the brink of a depression", to quote US president Barrack Obama on the world econom at a UN gathering. Thats not to say there isnt any trouble.

If you had me commenting on the US, well, lets just Bernakake (chairman of the federal reserve) has his hands full. And its not much better here.

Food for thought:

- For an economy so soon out of a contraction, is it prudent to have an issuance of long-term debt (bonds) so soon?

- Why bonds, and not traditional loans?

- The last recession in Dubai lasted 5 years (different circumstances, I know)