"China Power New Energy Development Company Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates bakery retail shops and trades electronic products. The company also invests in properties, provides consultancy services for hotel management, and develops technology in the environmental protection industy."

Scott Booth (Eastern Advisors): "So what could they possibly do, solar powered brioche toasters for 5-star hotels?"

It's no secret that Fox Business News is not exactly light on the lookers. But can you tell the difference between the Foxes and porn stars? Today Radar magazine's website is putting you to the test.

via Dealbreaker

How To Tell If You Might Be A Quant (pdf)
by Andrew W. Lo

Chicago, IL: After 15 years of sharing the credit for groundbreaking research with Ken French, Eugene Fama is on a mission to expose his former colleague, and himself. The result is an alarming behind-the-scenes look at how academic careers are made and broken.

"I hired Ken French in 1990 when he was a driving instructor in Winnetka. Chicago was pressuring me to partner with another researcher; I couldn't stand the idea so I hired a stooge. The man has never contributed a single idea to my research, and yet his name is constantly mentioned in the same breath as mine."

Many of French's students are not suprised. Click here to read the whole thing.

Euromoney: Peter Epstein has worked out what the hedge fund manager has missing in his/her life. "It's not a bigger jet or a rarer Picasso," he says, but a T-Shirt printed with the slogan "Fuck me, I’m a hedge fund manager."

The T-shirt is part of Epstein's debut design collection, entitled American Exceptionalism. "From obnoxious hedge fund managers to strippers 'working their way through college' the collection casts a gimlet eye on the rarely applauded--but relentlessly American--people and values that keep our nation humming," says Epstein. "Hedge fund managers are a piece of Americana. And the design is playing on that 'master of universe' attitude and sense of entitlement that the hedge fund manager has," jokes Epstein. He says the initial stock sold out in just two days. [Source]

• [EN] A First Lesson in Econometrics (pdf)
• [DE] Eine erste Einführung in die Ökonometrie (pdf)

More Fun: James Hamilton links to a couple of creative exam answers. Speaking of creative exam answers: Did you know that the famous "Is hell exothermic or endothermic" exam question is an urban legend? See here. What's true: The British Department of Education has realised that there is a slight difference between private schools and comprehensives and therefore has revised the secondary maths exam papers accordingly (pdf).

"No-one messes with me and gets away with it."

Current Music: Bob Sinclar :: World, Hold On

Bush Pilot {Audio in German}
Bush Pilot {with English subtitles}

via Richard Stastny

When recently discussing with some South Tyrolean friends of mine (Livecam St. Ulrich) the NAEP Science Results we reached the conclusion that students aren't punished enough for bad grades. Therefore, we propose that students should be put in a situation as given below:

Under the constraint that walking is prohibited, the only way of getting safely from point A to point B is to jump in the right direction, namely towards point c. That way, only students with a basic knowledge of science succeed.

Here m_st (wmv, 536 KB) is a short video clip of my glorious flight! Mille Grazie a Eva G.!