How in the world did you get hold of so much silk?

And today's readings from the Good Book and it's movie adaptation are...


Chapter. 35

"Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen, and, as a result, his stock had never been higher. He proved as good as his word when a rawboned major from Minnesota curled his lip in rebellious disavowal and demanded his share of the syndicate Milo kept saying everybody owned. Milo met the challenge by writing the words 'A Share' on the nearest scrap of paper and handing it away with a virtuous disdain that won the envy and admiration of virtually everyone who knew him."


Chapter. 28

"The escape hatches in the front and rear sections flew open while the sea was still foaming white and green around the plane, and the men scrambled out as speedily as they could in their flaccid orange Mae West life jackets that had failed to inflate and dangled limp and useless around their necks and waists. The life jackets failed to inflate because Milo had removed the twin carbon-dioxide cylinders from the inflating chambers to make the strawberry and crushed-pineapple ice-cream sodas he served in the officers' mess hall and had replaced them with mimeographed notes that read 'What's good for M&M Enterprises is good for the country'."





Movie transcript:

"Where the hell's my parachute? All right, which one of you bastards stole my parachute? Hello, this is the bombardier here. We gotta turn back. Nately, we gotta turn back now. Nately! Do you hear me up there? We gotta turn back. We're gonna turn back now. Nately, let's turn back. We're gonna turn back!

What is it this time, Yossarian?

Some bastard stole my chute!

Anything the matter?

My parachute. It's gone!

Don't worry.

What do you mean? What do I do if I have to bail out? Use my handkerchief?

That kind of humour in the face of adversity keeps America strong. I like you.

Aardvark, I' d like to kill you, but I haven't got time.

You could have my chute but I gave it to Milo.

You gave it to Milo?

He's got all the chutes. He's got a hell of a deal going for silk in Alexandria.

Maybe I do have time to kill..."

-

and what a fascinating few days it has been in the world's financial markets. I've been taking immense amounts of childish pleasure making a series of crank phone calls and sending abusive emails to friends who work in the City - paying particular emphasis on a couple of guys I had a drink with only a few weeks ago who were confidently insisting that the fallout from the losses on US mortgages had already been priced into the markets.

That's the kind of razor-sharp financial acumen which has made London the global finance centre that it is

We are now at one of the most amusing stages of the farce that is the managed boom-bust cycle when the people responsible for selling equities and financial instruments are busy telling their clients that now is an excellent buy!! opportunity, whilst quietly unwinding their own positions just in case everything really does go tits up

And maybe they're right. Maybe this isn't the Big One. Maybe the bubble won't burst just yet. It could have popped two, three or four years ago but it didn't. Only the people holding the needle really know when that's going to happen and they're not in the business of telling

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