The Written Peace:
Open Forum of May 7, 2005
The Dark Wraith Forums herewith offers an open thread for comments on matters of interest, importance, trivia, or a combination of the three. Speak your mind, good people.
As a point of departure, on a recent thread, an idea was set forth by your host. It was a rather flippant, passing thought put to writing, but it brought forth several favorable comments both on the thread and in private e-mails. It would do well to either kill it now or allow the Dark Wraith to turn his obsessive nature to the task of making it a reality. Those who have been regulars here know that there is a point at which a possibility becomes a driving obsession for the Dark Wraith, and the obsession doesn't find peace until the task at hand has been finished: witness toggling comment threads, The Dark Wraith Forums Polling Center, stock market tickers, news tickers, blogScream, the Bloggrrrlz Gallery, and the entire visual layout of this blog.
Gentlemen, who's on deck for a Men of The Dark Wraith Forums premium calendar? Mr. Goat, Mr. Shakes, OddJob, Joseph, Lowly Red Stater, NeoCon Crusher, Gary, Lymond, Treban, Guy Andrew Hall, Culture Ghost, T. Rex, Left Behind Child, and all you others? Kill it now, or yet another Dark Wraith idea will come to fruition, whether or not the world really needs it.
The Dark Wraith opens the thread.
Published 5/07/2005 02:14:00 PM
<< 35 Comments Total
I'm no gentleman, but I'll comment on the idea. I like it:).
I visit Eschaton quite a bit and there's a convention (EschaCon) planned for August. NTodd from Dohiyi Mir set up a photo album, I guess so we could identify each other when we got to the convention, or just for fun. The commenters (Atriots) E-mailed NTodd our pictures and he placed them in the album. It has been great fun. Of course, it wasn't premium driven, but the idea of a calendar is very cool. I would buy one:)
I was looking around at online banks that let you hold different world currencies and I found EverBank.com they seem like reputable bunch. Do any of you other econ and banking folks know if these folks are as good as they look. I'm thinking of setting up one of their world currency deposit accounts in Euro's so I will have some way to get money just in case the USD goes boom and we start looking like Argentina.
Also I would be up for a photo album I guess if not that's alright too.
-Gary A
Oooh, a calender of braimny men...one at least with large quantities of hair(child of the '60's I am, I LIKE the shaggy look and facial fur).
My one request is there must be cheesecake. I would buy one. Of course, my idiot bank has the home office's zip programmed in my bank card,rather than mine, and this offtimes prevents any orders of mine from completing when I use it on-line-else I would already have my own official DWF coffee mug.
Good evening, Wild Clover.
Well, with hair half-way down my back and a rough-cut cross between a Van Dyke and a goatee, that one request shouldn't be hard to fill.
The trick is going to be getting all these guys to do something approximating cheesecake (but tasteful cheesecake; dignified, even). I can't offer them fortune, but I might be able to offer them a modicum of fame... perhaps even a bit more than 15 minutes of it.
This is going to be a real project, something along the lines of herding cats. If it is destined to happen, it'll take several months to get it together. The last time I did a project like this was some years back in a completely different setting (actually, a completely different world), so I know very well that it's going to take all this lead time to get a 2006 calendar together.
The Dark Wraith offers the blogging person's alternative to Sports Illustrated.
Ok, ok... I think I'll do it... if OddJob does it... LOL
Excellent, Joseph!
Now, where's OddJob?
And where's that Goat?
And Lowly Red Stater is being awfully quiet, too.
The Dark Wraith feels the artistic and entrepreneurial spirits converging.
wild clover,
Cryin' shame I just shaved my winter growth. Two weeks ago I had all the facial fur you could want. Then it hit eighty and I needed less than more.
Of course then it froze again with my cheeks bare as a babies behind. I was not amused.
Treban
Dark Wraith,
I would be happy to take part in your calender. Lots of lead time seems like a wise idea, although I hope it will not be as difficult as, gods forbid, herding cats.
Good evening, Treban.
Even though I have had a beard for better than twenty-five years, I cannot for the life of me figure out how those fellows in the 19th Century put up with those monster, bushy beards I see in those old, Civil War photographs. And considering that regularly washing the hair is something of a modern habit in most Western cultures, those burly things must have been utterly abominable.
I suppose they would have considered carving at one's own face every day with a sharp blade something of a folly; but still...
The Dark Wraith goes to trim his beard.
I want to know what Mr. Dark Wraith thinks of Ford & GM becoming "junk."
This post has been removed by the author.
said...
Dear Dark Wraith,
I would definately go with a calendar, and I'll probably get one for my aforementioned friend, too.
So, WraithMen, step forward & be counted! Send in your Pics!
Dark Wraith,
I generaly don't care for thick growth but I work out doors, even in the winter. I can't work while whering a scarf so I grow a thick beard to keep me warm.
Expect my pictures in the next couple of weeks. I would say sooner but I am getting ready to move from MI to OR and am not sure when I'll have time.
Treban
Every single one of Mr. Dark Wraith's ideas have been stellar, so this one should be no different!
Go for it!
Ms. Julien
Err...
Ummm....
Well....
lowlyredstater requests the month of January.
Dude.
That is truly... brave.
The Dark Wraith sees strength in the youth of this nation.
This is going to be a real project, something along the lines of herding cats.
General Sherman's response to overtures to run for President comes to mind.
Count me out.
- oddjob
Gentlemen, who's on deck for a Men of The Dark Wraith Forums premium calendar?
Mr Goat is in, but only if it IS mooning the Fist Lady, excuse me, First Lady. That way we get to have fun making asses out of ourselves, and Wild Clover gets the shaggy fur look too.
Plus, you can use that name I like: The Dark Wraith's Wise Cracks.
YEESH!
What happens if Laura likes it?!
The Dark Wraith worries about triggering an Orange Alert.
If Laura likes it? No harm in that; look at what she lives with. Actually her enjoyment of it probably would generate a good deal of word of mouth advertising within the fundamentalist sect. You'll then be a shoo-in for a winner with next year's sequel called The Wraith Men Turn the Other Cheek.
Calendar? Will I have to shave my back?
Gracious, LBC!
No, you don't have to shave your back. I would prefer that, if nature has been overly generous with you in that regard, you consider something like braiding or cornrowing.
It's just a thought.
The Dark Wraith really needs to do focus groups before these marketing phase complications kick in.
Yellowstone volcanic activity noted. Threat raised.
- oddjob
In the Well DUHH! department comes this article in today's Boston Globe.
- oddjob
Yep, OddJob, "Well, DUH!" sums that article up quite succinctly.
The sad part is that, if the majority of Americans were to read and grasp the implications of what is being written there, they'd think it was some kind of hot news.
BREAKING HEADLINE
The Muslim world thinks Bush is a violent hegemonist.
World opinion finds Americans so self-absorbed that they actually believe their greed will benefit everyone they stomp on.
Film at eleven.
The Dark Wraith calls for "Well, DUH!" to be adopted as the new motto of the intelligentsia.
Dear Dark Wraith,
My curiosity gets the better of me:
Bush has so many plates in the air, trying to distract us from what's happening in the world; and the rest of the world from us, how can he juggle it all: lie after lie after lie, and when will they all come crashing down around his head.
We'll need more than an umbrella to shelter from that!
Hmmmmm . . . armored humvees - oh, yeah - those are in short supply too!
Well Duhh is right. At the same time most Americans are probably not aware of the opinions from the Arab world because few news outlets will say anything about it. Hell, those in the Arab world who pay any attention to whats happening here, and quite a few do, the last thing they would consider is "Americanisation." (is that even a word?) They want freedom and the ability to have a better life. The Lebonon Star (I lost the bookmark with so many others)regularly publishes editorials that not only are critical of U.S. intervention in the middle east but the U.S. governments treatment of it's own citizens. It is stunning to hear someone who endured over a decade of violent civil war say he feels sorry for me and my fellow citizens.
I have read similar sentiments in Japanese, British, New Zealand, Dutch, Swedish, South African, French, Canadian, Venezuala and even Indonesian papers. Some was just anti-American propaganda but often they include fact based analysis of what is happening in our country. It is depressing that a lot of people in a lot of countries seem to know more about what is happening in America than most Americans do.
It's also frightening.
- oddjob
Good evening, Dark Wraith.
Oh, what the hell - count me in.
If it's at all possible I would like to request the month of October. My russet coif blends well with an autumnal palette.
I also feel that my massive pumpkin-like noggin would prove very seasonal.
Mr. Shakes wonders if he has made a wise decision.
Good evening, Mr. Shakes.
You have made a wise and momentous decision to abandon seclusion and become one with the Dark (Wraith) Side of the Force. Your powers will be many for having made this choice. Help you find them, I will.
The Dark Wraith sees the chorus line forming.
Good Evening, Dark Wraith.
lol.
Perhaps I'll bump into you at the premiere next week?
Mr. Shakes anxiously awaits the return of his Imperial Stormtrooper outfit from the tailors.
Hmm... Mr. Wraith, although I was not mentioned in your original post, I was curious whether I could participate in the calendar project? The downside is I am not as beautiful as in my youth. The upside (if you could call it that) is I'm disgustingly lacking in shame when it comes to nudity. And, no, I've never been a professional "model," thank you for asking. Absurd and disturbing poses are a speciality; sexy, not so much.
I'm a little unclear about the format for submissions, resolution of pics, etc. Are details forthcoming?
Good evening, Wordlackey.
Not mentioning you by name was a grave oversight on my part, one that occurred to me just this morning.
Heavens, good man, you must be in the calendar.
Details about format and other matters are forthcoming. I need to get some answers to questions I submitted to the publishing house.
And fear not for the nudity. This is a tasteful calendar, one that could be viewed by anyone with only a mild look of shock. Some models' pictures will be cheesecakier than others, of course; but all will be sure to bring forth considerable demand from prospective customers.
The Dark Wraith proceeds with his plans now that he has yet another volunteer.
['Cheesecakier'?! That's not even a word... well, at least it wasn't until now.]
Good evening, Holly in Cincinnati.
Although the Big Three automakers are facing greater and greater pressure as the years go by, they won't slide too far because they've become so entangled in what are essentially international corporation structures that span the globe. Effectively, what we see as "GM" or as "Ford" is merely historical artifact that's still used for public display purposes. This is somewhat more the case with General Motors than it is with Ford because of the tighter control of Ford equity by insiders; but even in this latter company, the fate of the firm lies in forces that go far beyond the ability of those insiders to control, but it isn't evident to the outside world of people who purchase Ford trucks or cars.
The General Motors of our youth no longer exists. It has been replaced by a multi-corporation portfolio of assets and production technologies that pass everything from raw materials to finished vehicles around the globe, re-allocating production, costs, and revenues as necessary given the particulars of currency exchange rates, tax differentials among nations, and relative costs in any given time frame.
Although the corporate relationships are complicated to the point of Byzantine, there is specific structure to these multi-national entities. In a way, even the term "corporation" is misleading because, although an automaker like Ford does, indeed, have legal existence under the corporation laws of its state of incorporation, that entity is only a small but visible component of a much larger production, investment, and even political thing that functions across any possible legal jurisdictions that could effectively reign it in or even require it to disclose the entirety of its structure.
The fate of the equity and debt of a GM or a Ford corporation hinges upon forces that impact on many different pieces of it, and if such a corporation fails, it fails only to the extent that this is a rational business strategy for its larger sense.
All of this may sound obtuse and almost conspiracy theory-like, but it's just the way things are these days. Although I teach traditional financial analysis from the perspective of old rules about corporations, their financial statements, and their legal existence under some state's corporation laws, I know very well that, for the gigantic companies, what I am teaching is narrow to the point of disingenuous. I talk to some extent about the complex relationships that happen behind the corporate veil, and I encourage students to look at the meta-corporations as well as the component corporations, but I know very well that those students cannot cut through all of the complexity to see the deeper picture that would help them assess the true risks and potentials of the larger entities underlying the objects of their interest.
And I know my students can't do it because I know I can't do it. The information just isn't there, at least not in the detail necessary to see what's really going on at the level of of understanding desired.
Whether or not companies like General Motors or Ford are in trouble is not as easy as looking at the financial statements they make public. The truth of the matter is that, although the diversification that has occurred with the de facto meta-corporations that produce one another's products and manage one another's liquid and long-term assets in what are essentially pooled arrangement has reduced risk of the apparent corporations considerably, as I noted above, failure is still a quite lively and desireable option under some circumstances.
In practical terms, this means that investors could lose, even though the companies in which they are investing really are too big to fail.
The Dark Wraith hopes that this has both answered a bit of the original question posed while, in the same instant, confused everybody.
I'm not sure it even makes any sense to mention "the big three" anymore. Isn't "Chrysler" simply the brand name of German car maker Daimler's American operation now?
You mention the disingenuousness of that narrow definition of corporation, and I think I can think of another example of what you are getting at. Here in Boston Gillette, one of the local coporate icons, is supposed to be bought out by Procter & Gamble once the regulatory hurdles have been dealt with. Well one of those hurdles involves the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Secretary of State here, one William Galvin (a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful in '06), is not convinced that this buy out is actually in the best interests of the investors and he is requesting documentation from Gillette to prove that this merger is actually a good idea.
Gillette has objected to some of the requests (crucial ones) on the grounds that he lacks the standing to request these.
Why? Because even though Gillette has been a Boston corporation since its founding, it is now a Delaware corporation, not a Massachusetts one!
(Delaware has VERY generous incorporation laws, causing many of the country's big corporations to have done this.)
- oddjob