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With today's technology, time and distance are
meaningless. We can fly, Mary Poppins style, back and forward in time
and across space. With auto translation programs, we can communicate
in a variety of languages and read thousands of daily newspapers from
around the globe, in auto summary. Digital video recorders give us the
ability to capture vivid television images from anywhere that
otherwise would disappear into ether...
<acrylic>
... and I copy some of these for this Web site
when it is important to make a point. For me, though, perspective
comes from being a part-time resident of Switzerland . . . looking
back at the United States as the Swiss and other Europeans see us.
Being here -- and there -- helps me gain new ideas . . . sometimes
early . . . and always thanks, in part, to patient friends who impart
many of the insights I share with you. |
(click
here for Dean's
Biography)
welcome! | email &
guest book | search
This Week's Video
Commentary:
[requires RealPlayer - click
here to download the latest free version]
Monday - June 21
America:
Use Your Marketing Skills
The
Exchange Network (also known as Intrade)
The Exchange Network (also known as Intrade) may be
the largest display of forecasts of events backed by the conviction of
money on outcomes. These forecasts are the subject of new academic,
journalist and political study deriving from the view in many fields that
you don't want to argue with markets... they are usually right. In
addition, an open, fully-disclosed market book presents opportunities for
a network of investors to challenge each other with a transparent
"specialist" book... a model of what equities should be. And
contracts can be used for low cost hedges on a variety of outcomes.
For more information on how it works, visit their website.
In the interest of full disclosure: I am an investor in
this company, and have a financial interest in the
outcome of the exchange. But at least equally I want to share the
disclosure of information like the forecasted outcome of the 2004
presidential election with you in real time.
June 7
The film Disney did not want you to see:
Fahrenheit
911 Trailer
May 28
There
Is Nothing New Under the (Government) Sun:
The Kissinger Telcon Tapes
May 3
China
Scrapbook Update
Reflections from Shanghai: Ten years ago every
meeting between US and Chinese officials began with an American lecture on
the superiority of human rights in our country and an admonition that
legal transparency was the given right of each individual in any country.
Sometimes the discussion referenced pictures of Chinese prisoners being
humiliated, spread-eagled or killed/assassinated after closed trials...
(click here for full
text)
April 27
China
Scrapbook Photo Album
April 24
China Scrapbook
24 April: First glimpse of China (written while
passing through the Taiwanese Straits): 1. its move to invest in Euro and
Asian bonds is an important anti-dollar diversification move. 2. China's
growth figures of about 8% may be artificially reported lower than actual.
3. Growth engines have shifted from exports to domestic demand; from
coastal to western provinces. 4. concern about inflation is early and will
be successful. 5. expectation that China is becoming the world's number
one economic power may be sooner than mid-century, with some big potholes,
of course.
23 April: Hong Kong: One of the few populated cities
less crowded now than five years ago. No traffic jams in Central, no
crowds pushing to board the Star Ferry. No crowds in the massive family
restaurants. No crush of ships waiting for pier space in the harbor What
happened? Could be that China no longer needs a gateway to the West now
that ports like Shanghai or even Shenzhen just across the
"border" have opened. Some will say it is the tightening
politics from Beijing but I doubt it. Hong Kong has always been a city
that runs on money as fuel, rather like Las Vegas or Hollywood and it
makes no difference what the politics is.
April 10
The
Bushiad and the Idyossey
Based upon the classic format and message of Homer's
Iliad and Odyssey, the mortals and Gods in America today see
themselves fighting epic battles. These two novels by Victor
Littlebear are written in the style of these Greek classics...
demonstrating again that myth and history meld together in men's
grand visions and we are forced to relearn old lessons.
April 1
Video
Scrapbook
This is a place for interesting odds and ends of
video that don't quite fit as daily video commentaries, but might be of
general interest.
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my books
Mao, Marx & and the Market
Capitalist Adventures in Russia and China,
Dean LeBaron's
Treasury of Investment Wisdom,
and
Dean LeBaron's
Book of
Investment Quotations
are now available in print form,
published by by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
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Two Lakes
Webcams have been updated at both locations to new Mobotix
cameras. Each site includes links for area weather and information.
The Sunapee scenes look south first to the left from the waters-edge
toward Mt Sunapee with its ski trails prominent in the winter view. And the
two right side views face NW into the entrance to Sunapee Harbor just over
two miles from the cam shoreline. This lake is not deep, averaging
about 40 ft. with a wooded shoreline, good anchorages and attractive harbors
at Newbury, Burkehaven, Sunapee and Georges Mills.
The Weesen scenes are from my terrace overlooking the village of Weesen,
SG and toward the east along the road extending up to the Amden resort areas
and across the Walensee to Walenstadt. The lake is fiord-like, the deepest
in Switzerland, and ringed by mountains on all sides.
Here's a 360°
view from the middle of Lake Sunapee
Petrushka
Webcams, St. Petersburg, RU
This commercial operation in which I have a business interest is a
convertible indoor kid's playground, disco and restaurant. The theme is
Little Peter referring to Peter the Great, Czar of Russia and founder of
the city, and the icon inspiring the name is a doll made by the nuns of
St. Joseph's Elder Home in Weesen, Switzerland. Through the webcams you
can see the activities of three locations within the facility. Click on
Webcam 1, 2 or 3.