Cuba: Aftermath: Legionella- March 14, 2008 My father has been hospitalized since shortly after our return from Cuba. He was in artificial deep sleep for more than a week but now he's already doing fine (Today: Tell mom I really need my laptop). The funny thing is that the hospital told us that everybody who was in Cuba should be tested for Legionella (they demanded the flight number as well) but the testing center said that it doesn't make any sense to test for Legionella in case nobody has any symptoms (fever, coughing, etc.). I wasn't.http://mahalanobis.twoday.net/stories/4786567/ Another Lesson in Econometrics- March 12, 2008 At the moment, I'm reading Hedge funds: Quantitative Insights by Franois-Serge Lhabitant (required reading for CAIA Level 1). Seems this guy read A First Lesson in Econometrics by John Siegfried: "The Gibbons, Ross and Shanken (1989) test compares the estimated maximum Sharpe ratio for the original universe (denoted Sharpe1) with the estimated maximum Sharpe ratio for the augmented universe (denoted Sharpe2). The authors show that the statisticfollows a Wishart distribution, which is a...http://mahalanobis.twoday.net/stories/4781134/ Back from the Dead- March 11, 2008 Well, I'm still involved in expensive litigation, which I'm told will end in finite time (that 'this too shall pass' is both true and totally unhelpful). In the meantime I have created a website where I post up information on corporate default probabilities, and also equity benchmarks. DefProb generates default probabilities on over 9k nonfinancials worldwide. Updated weekly with the latest info, it's the most powerful model available, at the special introductory price of zero. The model..http://mahalanobis.twoday.net/stories/4775651/ Airbus A320 Nearly Crashed during Crosswind- March 3, 2008 We had some very windy weather in Europe over the weekend. In Germany, an Airbus A320 nearly crashed during crosswind approach at Hamburg Airport. "Das ging beinahe in die Hose." via The Presurferhttp://mahalanobis.twoday.net/stories/4756089/ Bernstein on the Evolution of Risk- March 3, 2008 This past Wednesday on Bloomberg Radio Tom Keene spoke for an hour with Author Peter L. Bernstein about his book "Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk," the evolution of risk and the importance of consequence. Mr. Bernstein also discussed the role of behavioral economics in our current subprime crisis, Fed policy under Chairman Greenspan, and modern finance theories. via Heidi Tan (email) I didn't have the time to listen to the interview yet but I'm sure it's worth listening. I...http://mahalanobis.twoday.net/stories/4755970/ Hedge fund to sue SEC over advertising ban- March 3, 2008 FT: Phil Goldstein, the hedge fund manager who derailed the Securities and Exchange Commissions attempt to require hedge fund registration, will sue the regulator to lift its ban on hedge fund marketing and advertising. The long-standing ban on funds soliciting money from the public has been interpreted to mean a hedge fund should release only very limited information about itself. This interpretation has come under pressure as hedge funds have grown rapidly and become widely covered in the...http://mahalanobis.twoday.net/stories/4752664/ |