The Schadenfreude Goes On, part two

With all the media attention that went to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, other smaller players haven’t received as much media attention as they might have otherwise received.

Below is a Fortune Magazine article that covers the story of Tony Young, a young man in a hurry, who successfully infiltrated the tightly-closed-off-polo-set by playing a mean game of polo, claiming a pedigree as a trust-fund heir, and an MBA from Emory University.

As he established himself in “one of the last bastions of the old-money equestrian lifestyle,” he started Acorn Capital Management (a hedge fund), and began investing the money of his newfound friends. As a young man in his thirties, he also began to live a lavish lifestyle similar to that of his clients.

Then one day, the SEC showed up and filed civil fraud charges against him. To everyone's surprise, federal regulators alleged that he was stealing the polo-set’s money in a scheme similar to that of Bernie Madoff’s. As the investigation continued, his background stories unraveled and he proved to be decidedly different than that of the manner-born-pedigree he had affected.

The Fortune story also has a hint for anyone wishing to do a fast social climb into the polo set- To learn polo quickly, buy a horse that is already trained to follow the ball. You can take it from there. (The Jaeger Lecoultre Reverso is optional.)

A Scandal Rocks the Polo Set- Fortune Magazine, November 23, 2009
“Among the swells who winter in Palm Beach, Tony Young was known as a brilliant investor from an old Southern family. Then the SEC showed up, and his façade began to crumble.”

Tony Young Pleads Guilty-Southern Chester County Weeklies, July 21, 2010
“A man once known as having a sterling reputation among the exclusive equestrian and financial community of the greater Unionville community, pleaded guilty Tuesday to single counts of mail fraud and money laundering in connection with a $35 million fraud scheme.”

Click here for “The Schadenfreude Goes On…” part one
The story of Dina Wein Reis, a middle class Jewish girl from Brooklyn who “duped” major U.S. corporations out of millions of dollars, and then used the money to move to Manhattan.


(Photo top left, Fortune Magazine; Photo bottom right, Philly.com- Tony Young leaves court after pleading guilty.)

Finally! Aliens!

My wife sent me a link to this U.K. Telegraph article on the Voyager 2 Spacecraft and the commentary-“FINALLY! Aliens! I've been waiting my whole life for this. All I can say is, it's about time.”

The article states that a German character, Hartwig Hausdorf, believes the U.S. Voyager 2 Spacecraft has been taken over by alien intelligence. His belief is based on the fact that Voyager 2 is now sending “strange messages that are confusing scientists.”

Of course the fact that Voyager has been in space for thirty-three-years, and could be simply breaking down and transmitting gibberish, apparently never entered Hartwig’s mind.

A real point of scientific interest is that Voyagers 1 and 2 are the most distant space probes in history. They’re traveling fast at approximately 38,000 and 35,000 miles-per-hour (about 20% the speed of light); and at a distance of approximately 10.5 billion miles, they will shortly leave the solar system’s heliosphere (according to NASA).


The heliosphere is a “bubble” in space composed of stuff being blown out of the sun (by the solar wind) against the cold of interstellar space. When you leave the heliosphere, you have in effect left the solar system.

Another interesting thing is something called the termination shock. The termination shock is the point within the heliosphere where the solar wind stops pushing out at supersonic speed (becomes subsonic) and causes compression, heat, and magnetic changes. One reference stated that Voyager 2 actually passed through termination shock five times. Apparently the termination shock line fluctuates due to changes in the Sun’s output.

I’m not a rocket scientist, but perhaps going through that boundary five times may have caused some of Voyager's components to become fried and this explains the gibberish transmissions.

Of course if it is aliens, then please read my prior post, "Cleverly Disguised Lizards Bring Hope and Change."


(The top illustration is the work of Franco Brambilla. He is an artist who adds sci-fi material to old postcards. The two other illustrations are from a NASA page.)


From the UK Metro: Man hit by six meteorites is being 'targeted by aliens'

The Duck Behind the Man

This is the duck I keep in my office. I’ve received some emails asking about him, and I thought it was high time the world got to know him.

Orange, Orange, Orange

I’ve given up and accepted orange.

My high school colors were orange and white, and I really, really, didn’t care for the colors. Casual clothing wise, I've always been a navy blue or forest green polo shirt with khakis kind of guy.

Then, in Army basic training, the uniform collar tabs for my training company were orange. (Hmm, odd coincidence.)

Then, I earned my undergraduate degree and Regular Army Commission from the University of Texas at El Paso whose colors were- you guessed it, orange and white.

Then graduate school at…Syracuse, otherwise known as “The Orange Men.”

So I give up. My next tie is going to be orange.

-J.P.

PS- OK, Canada won the gold in hockey. But Syracuse won in basketball. So I can live vicariously through that.

An old dog is the best dog- poem

An old dog is the best dog,

A dog with rheumy eyes;

An old dog is the best dog

A dog grown sad and wise,

Not one who snaps at bubbles,

Nor one who barks at nowt,

A dog who knows your troubles,

A dog to see you out.

An old bitch is the best bitch,

Not pups to fetch your sticks;

An old bitch is the best bitch,

Not one to teach new tricks,

Not one who's up and leaping,

But one whose coat is grey,

Leg's twitching while she's sleeping

In dreams of yesterday.

-Felix Dennis

Both photos are of Henry, my oldest Lab. He’s the arch nemesis of “Harvey,” a squirrel who lives in our front oak trees. H occasionally brings us some of Harvey’s insufficiently speedy relatives as gifts.

Felix Dennis the author of the poignant poem is a bit of an odd duck. He writes poetry but is best known as a successful magazine publisher and has written an odd assembly of books and pamphlets ranging from the death of Bruce Lee to how to get rich.

-JP

Reader's Question on Barbour Jacket Smell

I received this question on my Barbour Beaufort Jacket Post-

“Hello John,



I am having a bit of trouble with the smell of my Barbour Beaufort. It was a hand-me-down from my father. The problem is it smells musty. I can't seem to think this is the wax smell you've talked about. Do you have any ideas on how to diminish or even eliminate the stench? I personally do not mind but I do find my friends distancing themselves from me whenever I choose to wear it. Could Barbour help with the odor? Also could you further the information on the Barbour facility to me because I'd like to extend the arm length and might as well get it rewaxed?



Thanks, 
Ian”

Ian, the Barbour Beaufort waxed jacket does carry its own distinctive smell, which some people find unpleasant and describe as musty, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it described as a “stench.”

Of my two jackets, my older the one, the Sylkoil Classic Beaufort Jacket probably has the greater propensity to generate a musty smell, but I find the odor dissipates once I clean it with some ice water and a sponge and re-wax it. (That's the jacket I'm wearing in the upper left photo.)

So here are some possible solutions to the musty smell you’re describing (remember it’s a long distance diagnoses) -

1. Use a sponge and some ice water to wipe down the jacket a couple of times and allow drying in the sun while unzipped and draped over a patio chair. The ice water hardens the wax and allows the sponge to pick up the dirt. By squeezing out the dirty water from the sponge, you should be able to judge how much dirt you’ve picked up and how much is remaining on the jacket. Leaving the jacket to dry in the sun will allow it to be aired out, especially if draped unzipped with the inside also catching some air.

I wouldn’t recommend applying new dressing until you’re sure you’ve done a good job of removing some of the old dirt layers which could have worked themselves into the old wax. I strongly suspect that’s what’s causing your smell. (By using multiple sponges during the cleaning you could also peel away some of the old contaminated wax which would also help.)

My guess it that you would have better luck with this approach in summer when the warmer temperatures would allow the existing wax to become more pliable; and you may find you have to go through this cleaning and airing out process several times. (In the Army we used to do this cleaning and airing out with our tents, and it was always a pain.)

2. Worst comes to worst, you could simply wash the jacket in a washing machine with clothing detergent, but that would more than likely strip off all the wax. Once you do that, you can’t re-wax it again. Any wax applied would more than likely just bleed off. I have run into people who have made that choice.

3. For help from Barbour service, repair and reproofing, if you’re in the U.S., I would recommend you do it through the Orvis Flagship Store in Manchester, Vermont. In my experience, they have the strongest working relationship with the Barbour Repair Shop, which is located in the neighboring State of New Hampshire.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them addressing the smell issue, but I do know that they can help with alterations, which includes adding sleeve length. Their contact information is-

Orvis Store
4180 Main Street, Historic Route 7A
Manchester, VT 05254
Phone: (802) 362-375

(A word of warning, they’re not quick, even if you send it during spring/summer expect a lengthy wait.)

If you’re not in the U.S., I would visit the Barbour website and see what information you can garner on stockists in your country or perhaps consider sending the jacket directly to Barbour in Great Britain. Their address is-

J. Barbour & Sons Ltd
Customer Services
Simonside
South Shields
Tyne & Wear
NE34 9PD

On their website they ask that you include your phone number, and explain that turn around could be 10 weeks. They also have a form that lists their prices in British Currency.

4. The one thing I wouldn’t do is to hose it down with an outside hose as I’ve seen some bloggers suggest. If the dirt causing the musty smell is embedded into the old wax dressing, the water pressure wouldn’t be enough to dislodge it; plus impurities in the outside water connection could do additional damage to the jacket.

I hope you are able to salvage the jacket. Items passed down from one’s father are always precious.

Regards,

John P.

PS- Barbour Marketing should really, really, send me a check.



For step by step re-waxing instructions, click here.

The Seiko Professional Divers Watch, men's stuff part ten

If I had to choose one watch from my collection for endurance and serviceability, this Seiko Divers would be the watch. It’s been with me in multiple environments- in deserts, in forests, in saltwater and freshwater, and in the cold of both the Korean DMZ and Alaska. I was also wearing it in 1986 when I broke my leg on the worst airborne jump of my military career. My ankle required some metal implants to repair it, but the watch was hardly scratched.

Today, its roughest mission is to the gym.

It’s a quartz watch, and the second hand begins to mark off two-seconds intervals when the battery needs changing. It’s waterproof to 200 meters or approximately 656 feet (which means it can go places I can’t go); and has a unidirectional rotating bezel, with the first twenty minutes highlighted in bright red. The day-date is at the three o’clock position, and the day can be set in either English or Spanish. The crown, located at the 4 o'clock position, has a very efficient curving crown guard.


I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve replaced the flat rubber bracelet, and despite its age, the luminous hands and markers are still visible in low lighting. I have had the jeweler offer to switch out the scratched bezel, but I like the memories the scratches represent. Remarkably, the crystal is unscratched.

Today, Seiko offers many versions of this watch in both quartz and mechanical models. Despite the fact that some watch aficionados look down upon them, I highly recommend them. They’re durable, inexpensive and don’t have to be babied. (I actually had a case of 5.56 ammunition dropped on mine once, without damage.)

Seiko's most recent technical accomplishment was the development of a space watch for billionaire Richard Garriott that was worn during a space walk outside the International Space Station.

And while strolling down memory lane, here’s the oldest watch in my collection. It’s the Timex I wore in Army Basic Training right out of high school. I remember I bought it with the intention of it being a disposable watch; but miraculously it’s still with me. It not only survived several Army schools, but it also outlived several so-called G-Shock watches and an untold number of GI issue field watches. Today, I still use it while clearing and burning brush or doing outside work. I think every true watch enthusiast has at least one Timex in his collection.

This last photo is of my father’s last field watch, which I inherited after he passed away recently. During my Army career, he developed a fondness for OD Green field watches. As a result I would always buy him a new field watch for Christmas from the PX. When I left the service, the tradition continued and I would always include a field watch with his Christmas packages when he needed a replacement. He loved to putter and work outside and was very hard on his watches. This Orvis version of the GI watch was the last field watch he owned. Prior to end-of-year, I need to clean it up and replace the strap which is very worn due to dad’s continual outdoor use.


Update: Below is my father's Orvis field watch after I cleaned it up and placed a new NATO Nylon Strap on it.


John P.


If you're into watches, check out my other watch related blog posts:

 Hamilton Jazz Master.

 Rolex Submariner.

 Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso

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The Schadenfreude Goes On…

In case you didn’t get enough drama and entertainment from the business pages during summer, here is an interesting article from Fortune Magazine (entitled "The alleged grifter who duped corporate giants"). It deals with something we seldom think about- the movement of consumer goods through unauthorized distribution channels. Fortune Magazine’s James Bandler and Doris Burke explain-

“(Dina) Wein Reis was what is known as a "diverter," a player in the little-known but large gray market in which consumer goods are bought and sold in channels unauthorized by manufacturers. Diversion is not necessarily illegal. But the way Wein Reis did it was fraud, prosecutors allege.”

“For sheer dollar damages, her alleged thievery cannot come close to matching that of Bernard Madoff …But what she is accused of doing was fabulously brazen; she had the temerity to sting some of the world's biggest corporations -- not just once, but again and again.”

What struck me was a) the amount of hard work and coordination that went into the enterprise and b) Dina Wein Reis’s willingness to court publicity of her personal life. Prior to the legal melt down, her lavishly furnished Manhattan townhouse was actually featured in Architectural Digest. Most people in her position would have shunned the daylight. (If you want to see over the top Manhattan kitsch in a way only a middle-class Jewish girl from Brooklyn could pull off, you really must check out the photos.)

The Fed’s have since raided the townhouse and seized most of her property. One FBI agent described her home as so full of bling and loot as, "King Tut's tomb." I'm not sure when her trial is scheduled, but you can purchase a copy of her fraud indictment on Amazon for approximately ten dollars. Some light reading to keep you entertained on your next flight.

-JP

(Photo Above- of Wein Reis by Fortune Magazine.)


Update from The New York Post, dated May 19, 2011-
NY socialite Dina Wein Reis pleads guilty to fraud charges
“A New York socialite pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge that she duped corporations out of millions of dollars. Dina Wein Reis, 47, softly answered, “Guilty,” when U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson asked her how she pleaded to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.”


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iMBA Fall 2009 Residency

The fall Whitman iMBA residency was fun and it was great to see our Syracuse friends again.
(Snapshot left- initial reception at the Sheraton)

This semester we’re taking Managerial Accounting with Professor Alex Thevaranjan (who prefers to be called Coach T by graduate students); and Investment Analysis with Professor Ravi Shukla, an engineer by training but now a PHD in finance, who is very passionate about trying to make sense out of the randomness of the market.

Managerial Accounting is focused on internal information that facilitates decisions about the future. It uses projection tools to sift out relevant information and identify risk and return before decisions are made. (By contrast Financial Accounting is after the fact and aimed at telling a story to people outside the company, usually investors.)

The second course, Investment Analysis, deals with the analytical methods to portfolio management. It touches on the different approaches to investment- Ad hoc (intuition), Bigger Fool Theory, and systematic approaches. It also addresses the different asset classes and diversification methods. One of the interesting subjects we discussed during the residency was the way poor quality mortgage securities infiltrated the US economy and produced last years economic melt down.

On the first day of classes, the faculty announced some changes during a town hall meeting. Future residencies will be shorter by one day to lessen the burden of travel, and as a result, classes will be extended from 90 minutes to a full two hours per day. The other major change involves new students. Previously new students were only required to start together with Financial Accounting and Strategic Management during their first semester. After that, they were free to choose their classes based on preference and availability. Now the school will try to keep students together in a cohort group for a longer period (I think it’s the first three semesters).

Students near graduation will be allowed early registration, and additional courses may be added in May to facilitate areas of concentration.

The bad news announced was that costs are going to continue to go up, an average of six percent per semester, despite the current state of the economy. This was an issue as many students complained that their employers were no longer reimbursing their tuition, as companies cut back on benefits. We also noticed the iMBA group looked smaller, possibly due to job losses.

During our week in Syracuse, we visited all our regular haunts- Lake Onondaga, Joey’s Italian Restaurant, Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub; and visited a few new places. We drove up to Lake Ontario for the first time, went hiking at Highland State Park, ate clams at the Clam Bar (on Brewerton Road) and shopped at a charming farm market called Ontario Orchards (in Oswego).

I want to also express special thanks to Dennis Hay, of Joey’s Italian Restaurant. After a very favorable experience last year, we postponed our 19th wedding anniversary dinner by about a week in order to celebrate it at Joey’s. Once again, my wife had flowers waiting for her at the table, and once again we had a great flaming desert of strawberries cooked in brown sugar and butter, yum. Kudos to Joey’s.

John P.

Professor Alex Thevaranjan (PHD in accounting) and myself after class. (Professor Ravi Shukla is in the top photo, fourth from the left.)

Me, Sari and Craig at the Whitman iMBA town hall.

Sue by some flowers at Highland State Park.

At Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub after hiking all afternoon at Highland State Park.

Click here for more information on the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management iMBA program.

-JP

Geo F. Trumper on Facebook, men's stuff part nine

Geo F. Trumper, considered by many to be the apex in men's wet shaving gear, has posted a link to my wet shaving post on their facebook page.

-JP