Quote

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In physics, you're playing against God; in finance, you're playing against God's creatures.

(In "Calculus of Risk", Scientific American, May 1998, Emmanuel Derman uses "people" instead of "God's creatures")

Indifference

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She had trained herself to be indifferent,

To negotiate through valleys of suffering,
Without shedding a single tear…

Oblivious to love,
Oblivious to misery;

To sit patiently silent through chicanery,
Without raising a single question…

Oblivious to integrity,
Oblivious to duplicity;

To bury her real emotions,
In an omnipresent smile,
In honey-covered words…

She thought her cultivated indifference to be a boon…

I thought it was the worst kind of curse,
She was no longer human…
And ironically, she had trained herself into it!

The first drizzle

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The first drizzle of the season here in Mumbai today.
Got drenched while coming to office.
It's wonderful :-)

Useful Quantitative Finance Sites

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1. Wilmott forum: http://www.wilmott.com/

2. Nuclear Finance forum: http://www.nuclearphynance.com/

3. Repository of papers: http://www.finance-and-physics.org/Library/articleh.html

4. Another QuantFin articles d'base: http://www.finance-and-physics.org/Library/articles.html

5. Online Exotics Calculator+Formula Database: http://www.sitmo.com/live/OptionVanilla.html

Twisted Reasoning

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A curious incident happened today morning.

At the Mahalaxmi station, noticed a well-dressed (should be well-educated, middle class) person urinating on the railway tracks. As usual, couldn't stop myself and ended up accosting him...appealing to his education/value-system/sense of hygiene.

Generally have found that in such cases that if the person is from a decent background, he realises his mistake and the sense of shame ensures no further repitition.

But today's guy shot back with a curious reasoning. His explanation was this. Anyways at a railway station you have all these trains...and if a person were in a train and using a latrinal, it would amount to the same thing though then nobody would say anything.
By this time my train had arrived and I had to leave...hope I left him feeling sufficiently humiliated so that he wouldn't easily repeat the exploit.

Well the flaw in his reasoning was simple.
At any point in time, a system is designed such that the best case scenario can happen from among available alternatives.
On a moving train, given the alternatives possible, making a latrinal the way it is, is probably the best case scenario for the Railways.
For our guy at the station, with a public bathroom available nearby, urinating on the tracks isn't.

I wish I get to meet him again to explain the logic.

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It sometimes requires more courage to live in hope than to live on-the-edge.

Teaching

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If you become a teacher do just the following:
1. Give him/her your value system. (toolset)
2. Teach him/her to think independently.

Then set him/her free and see the magic s/he creates.

In the Ring

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You’re in the boxing ring,
Punching, ducking, jabbing,
Getting hit…hitting back…

He is your opponent,
You want to overpower him…

You want him down,
Down on his knees,
Flat on the floor…

You want to win…

You are trading blows,
The pain, the hurt…
The smell of blood and the drama;

You fall countless times...

Many run away when you fall,
They have valid reasons to run away;

A few help you rise,
And they have no reason…

You’re getting better with every round,
Sharper punches, better footwork…

But the more you fight, the more confused you get...

You are no longer fighting him!
You hardly care about him;

The realization dawns…
You are your opponent,
And you know you have won…whatever the outcome.