Headline May 7th, 2012 / ''The Black Swan''

Part-5
"The Black Swan"
Respectful Dedication John Updike - Mick Jagger - Maria Sharapova

John Updike

Mick Jagger

Maria Sharapova

To amaze you all, let me begin with this stat: Nassim Taleb made over US20 billion dollars for his clients during the recent financial melt down. And, and a tiny small tiny change for himself!!! Hahaha! The Prof also delights in narrating the sweep: ''The weather I can't predict mathematically. But from the satellite you can see the cloud coming. The problem with those guys is that they don't know how to fly the plane! I went for the Jugular. We went for the max. I was interested in teaching in teaching these guys a lesson, and the only way you can do that is by taking it away from them. We didn't short the banks, there is not much to be gained there; there were all these complex instruments, options and so forth. We'd been building our positions for a long time. And I am not much interested in money!!!?'' Haha! Dear, dear me!

Taleb's first publication, his doctoral thesis, in fact fiendishly technical : Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla And Exotic Options. It is still very much in print and regarded as the definitive work on the subject. But this restless and dynamic thinker from the land of Khalil Jibran, entered the financial world to 'gain independence. I wanted to be a philosopher, an essayist, but I looked around me at people who worked as journalists and so forth, and they weren't free!!" Haha! Remarkable and well said,Sir!

Nassim Taleb did find his freedom from the material pressures and organisational tedium of Wall Street during the 1987 crash, more, he gained it in a way that vindicated his radically original worldview.Statistical analysis were out. Taleb took the view that ''the share of the rare event in any total is.......well, monstrous!!'' These rare events were so called ''swans''......ranging in tone from grey, through to black--that Taleb believes influences the course of human destiny, both individually and collectively, far more than the steady wing beasts of their innocuous cousins, the eminently predictable white swans. The swan riff derives from the fact that no matter how many white swans there are, ''you can't anticipate the existence of black one!!'' Remarkable algebric inference by any measure!!! With best for the weekend!

Good night and God bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice Of The Voiceless

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