The rainy week was worth a sunny Friday like this one. It’s true what they say, one day of sun in Vancouver and you forgive all the rain…now we just need to build more terraces.

I’m headed to Gastown tonight to check out Guilt and Co. with my brother for a few pints and muse about life, love and the total insanity of Montreal trading Halak (seriously, WTF).  Social engagements are few and far between in my life, so I’m looking forward to some quality time with the brother (whom I’m vicariously living through as he still has a dating life).

The entire gold camp is starting to really annoy me.  When the average joe starts talking about adding the precious metal to their portfolio and the Metro Newspaper starts advertising gold dealers, you know its gotta be somewhere near the top…but oh when to short?  The market, as many have learned, can remain illogical far longer than you can remain solvent.  Markets, like love,  are all about timing.

In oil news, sometimes only children and comedians have the ability to really say-it-like-it-is.  Case in point, Jon Stewart on American energy…watch it and weep laugh greenies.  Yes, there will likely be a white swan, but in the interim, prepare for an age of catastrophe (which means you buy the reinsurers and take a look at the crows).

With that, here’s some weekend reading:

ENERGY

BP is gonna pay (BBC) while the Big Oil gets a beat down in Washington (NYT)…and they deserve it as their culture lied about the size of the leak from the get go (MW) prompting hyperboles from the greens (New Rep)

How does the spill affect Russia? (FT)

The fact remains, we’ll never get off oil (BBC) and there is no adequent plan B (Rubin) (Wa Post) as any decline of demand from the OECD is more than offset by new demand in EM & BRIC (Insider) (FT)…making yesterday’s detractors into today’s proponents (Big Money), the oil sands a great asset (Globe), and Vancouver a major point of departure (Tyee)

I say again, short-term bullish (Post), long-term scary (Oil Drum) which is why you also want to own coal (Bloomberg) (NYT)

But there’s always the potential coal killer, natural gas (NYT) as we really be at the dawn of the gassy age (TIME) (Globe)

For BP’s Tony Hayward, these are what really oil-men look like (Forbes)

METALS

$1 Trillion in Afghan metals (NYT), and why it’s not really news (Insider) (Insider) and why the timing of the ’surprise’ announcement is a little suspect (Asia Times)

Ya, I know, gold is doing great (Post), it’s on all the front pages (NYT), and all sorts of analysis from it’s performance in a deflationary setting (Prag Cap), to price predictions (Post), to the comparisons of the metal (Globe) to the miners (MF) is now taking place

But folk, it was on the front page, which isn’t a great sign (Big Pic)

Look, I’m not saying that the gold play is over, but we may be entering the last quarter of it’s time in the spotlight.  Ya, ya, I know, debt-armageddon…but even desite Chinese stealth-buys (Reformed), gold is not that great over the long term (FT)…but I could be wrong as gold is creating it’s own dynamic (Infectious)

Chinese innovation hurts Canadian nickel (Globe), and Canadian miners are sucking our country dry (Post)

FOOD

With a booming food industry in EM (BBC), locusts in Australia and wetness in Saskatchewan (Post) I’m thinking it may be time to go long on food (Insider) (ZeroHedge)

More on peak water (EB)

GREEN

Obama does the Sisyphus in call to go green (BBC) by plugging in cars (WSJ) harnessing the wind (Ars) and imagining a post-fossil fuels future (Wasted)…but can it really happen? (Slate)

Regardless, China is winning the energy race (Atlantic), but not out of enviro-decency, out of the age-old catalyst to innovation, necessity (NYT)

Debating nuclear (TED) and carbon capture (Globe)

The future is rail (Bloomberg) and/or fuels from the lab, not the field (BWB)

EM & BRIC

No more aid to China or Russisa (BBC) because they don’t really need it (Narrative) and may be giving it to us one day  (Infectious) (Infectious)

India’s inflated (BBC) and it’s much lauded micro-finance market may be hollow (Bloomberg)

Meanwhile, China is inflating (BBC), but is it really? (CFM)

Pressure on the Yuan (Economist), but China isn’t budging (Globe).  Meanwhile, the growth of the Chinese middle class is going to fuel a bazillion sociology papers (NYT) whose effect on the US is still unsure (Big Money)

Russia is buying loonies (Bloomberg) and romance novels (Post), but is also dropping cap gains taxes (BBC) and may be the super BRIC (FT) along with central Europe (FT)

MARKETS

With the BDI breaking down (FT) and questions surrounding a low volume rally (Barrons) the worry is still rife that we’re in a for another beating (Insider) (MW) (Student)…and not just in equities (NYT)…and Chanos talks up his shorts (Insider)

So, needless to say, this market polarizes opinions and sets a great stage for a Bull vs. Bear battle (Insider) (Post)

A dollar bull (Big Pic), a dollar bear (Insider)

HFT monsters lurk about the market (Big Pic) (Atlantic)…but can David beat Goliath? (Abnormal)

ECON

US

Some bearishness about green shoots (Atlantic) the V-shape (Insider) employment (Bloomberg) a muni bonds (Wa Post)

And some bullishness about the double-dip (Big Pic) and unnoticed growth (Biz Week)

Fed gets a headache by talking deficit-double-speak (WSJ), but remains untouchable (WSJ) as two decades of greed unravel (ZeroHedge) and public assets become privet (Fortune) amid calls to start building things again (Prag Cap)

Lost trust (Biz Week) and the next crisis (Syndicate) for the much pursued American consumer (Big Pic)

With the Libertarians are on the loose (NYT) (WSJ), a view from the sane is a breath of fresh air (Big Pic)

CAN

With the new face of debt (Post) and income flatlining (P0st) the sentiment isn’t so rosy (Post)  and TD isn’t as bullish at RBC (Post)

EURO

The French and Germans are holding the tab (NYT) in a tight-rope walk to avoid the dreaded double-dip (WSJ) but pain is in the forecast (NYT) (Economist)

So far, the Spanish are doing better than the Greeks (BBC)

MACRO

Is a global recovery underway? (Reuters) (Big Pic) Or is it just the effects of doomsday capitalism (MW) (Naked) and can austerity work? (Slate)…and get used to the notion of a ‘working retirement’ (FT)

GEEK NEWS

The singularity movement is cool (NYT)

Flying avalanches (Wired) Martian oceans (Ars) and the pleasure principle (Cortex)

Treebeard was right (Wired) and U.S. migration maps (Forbes)

Waiting for the Genome payoff (Economist) (NYT)

Gutenberg on Wordpress - Videos from E3

RSIL (Random Shit I Liked)

More stuff about me and my generation (Globe) (Atlantic) (WSJ)

Hiding behind democracy (Economist)

Wealth is when you are, not where you are (PsyFi)

Relaxing is hard work (WSJ) and how to be Malcolm Gladwell (JGC)

The cool places to booze in Budapest (Economist)

Erika Nicole - Brittany Diana - Amanda Lewis

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Who ever said nationalism is dead?  There is nothing like the World Cup, the people of the world playing the beautiful game.  It’s a pretty cool thing when a sporting event can evoke tears and laughter in the same breath.  I love it.

Well, except for the fact that Poland likely would have been in the tournament if my homeland’s best players wouldn’t be wearing German uniforms.  For what it’s worth, I’m cheering for South Africa, though I wouldn’t mind seeing the English dismantle the Americans today.

Anyways, aside from the financialization of commodities and the ETF-ization of everything else, here’s a round up of some weekend reads:

ENERGY

The plumes are for real (BBC) and the spill is larger than thought (Bloomberg) and the costs are gonna be nuts (Post).  Meanwhile, this is evolving into a political issue (NYT) and is likely a game-changer as the cheap oil is gone (Globe)

Knock-on effects, Norway bans deepwater drilling (Telegraph), Canada moves to monitor the arctic (Globe), the French warn of a new age of scrutiny (Post) and everyone else realizes the massive scope of deep-water drilling (Slate)

As bad as the spill is, it doesn’t make the oil sands green (Rubin), but that still doesn’t change the course of their development (Globe) or increasing production elsewhere (BBC)

The facts remain, our lives are because of oil, and the demand in terrifying (Bloomberg) (Biz Week), and the price has nowhere to go but up (Bloomberg) (Globe)

To which I reiterate my core investment outlook for energy, short-term bullish, long-term scary, because we’re in long twilight of oil (Mail) (Slate) and will have to adjust within my lifetime (NYT) (TED) whether we like it or not (Gregor)

…but that doesn’t mean I’m a bull for earth, wind and fire…I like the other fossil fuels in a big way, including gas (Infectious) (Burlington) (Globe) and coal (Bloomberg) (Gregor)

METALS

Gold is getting popular enough to short these days (Prag Cap) (AVC) despite what Sprott and the bugs thinks (Globe) (Globe)…it’s worse than death (Infectious)

The Russians get Uranium One in the end (Post)

Moly for water…weird (Post)

Siberia is great for the Chinese (NYT)

FOOD

Giant Chinese IPO (Globe) and locusts in Oz (Bloomberg)

GREEN

It’s hot in Asia (Tyee) and the debate about climate change is a killer (Post)

The winners of the  BP spill, geothermal (Insider) carbon traders (Post) and biofuels (Globe)

Beware the ethanol trap (Slate)

Spend more on green, says Gates (NYT)

The myth of the green consumer (Naked)

EM & BRIC

With EM going mainstream (Institutional) can it save the world economy? (Syndicate)

Serious labour shifts in China demand the utmost attention for any BRIC bull (NYT) (NYT) (Post) (NYT)

China is overhot, yes (NYT), but hot enough to annoy, or hot enough to burn? (Wa Post)

Washington pissed about the Yuan (WSJ)

Brazil is the king of the BRIC (BBC) (Bloomberg) (Globe)

Russians in the arcitc (VanSun)

Turkey is no turkey (FT)

MARKETS

The bears are loose! (Bespoke) (Post) (Biz Week) (ZeroHedge)

…so lets give them a report card (Biz Week)

And maybe take their consensus as a buy signal? (Bloomberg) (Big Pic)

Anatomy of a bubble (Big Pic) and a few strikes against equities (Infectious) (PsyFi)

1930s sucker rally, funny, scary, applicable? (Insider)

Volker on the warpath (NY Books)

ECRI as an invetment tool (Big Pic), but don’t forget the comics (Abnormal)

ECON

US

More stimulus (Atlantic) less stimulus (Atlantic) and figuring it all out (Atlantic)…and what happens when it ends? (CNBC)

So is there going to be a double-dip or not? (Big Pic) (Atlantic) (WSJ)…the opinions are polarizing (Big Pic) (Krugman)

One things is certain however, things have to change (NYT)

But there is room for hope (Biz Week) (Atlantic)

CAN

Up here things are hot (Post) making lots wonder how we did it (WSJ)…just ignore the bankruptcies (VanSun) or the fact that we may have only delayed our own bubble (Fundamental)

EURO

As the IMF is warning on debt levels (BBC) a blogger of oom saw it coming (NYT)

European austerity, country-by-country (BBC)

Who is holding all the Euro debt? (NYT)

Finland is in a double-dip (BBC) and Europe is getting old (DLC)

MACRO

G20, under stress (Post) and talking austerity (Globe) as deflation haunts the halls of the west (WSJ) (Insider)

I like Taleb (Infectious) a lot more than partyboy Roubini (Gawker)

Soros says its time for Act II (Bloomberg) as global imbalances diverge (Naked)

GEEK NEWS

Energy transitions (Oil Drum), synthetic life (TED), solar sails (Wired)

Tuition bubble (Carpe Diem), dissappeaering snakes (BBC), techno austerity (Econ)

Living in denial (New Sci), looking into the past to see the future (SMH)

String theory, getting stringy (Ars) (Ars)

Deux Ex: Human Revolution

RSIL (Random Shit I Liked)

We’re all loney (Tyee), and my generation may be lost (Globe)

Top 10 World Cup Commercials

Best World Cup Painted Bodies (Bleacher) (COED)

World Cup Fans! (COED)

Pamela Hayman

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I’m excited, which usually means trouble.

I had lunch with a great guy (very sharp) who just started his own consulting firm.  We got to talking, and I started to pitch him on some of my crazy start-up ideas.  My brain got too juiced and now I’m on the verge of pulling an all-nighter to finish a formal business plan and drive down to Palo Alto…everyone needs a fantasy.

I’ll go to the gym tonight, maybe blow off some exuberance there…but I’ve been bitten by the bug…I suppose it’s only a matter of time before the entrepreneurial infection takes over my entire system.

Meanwhile, I build seed capital.

Here’s some weekend reading:

ENERGY

As the hate grows (NYT) and the share price drops (Post) the size of the BP nightmare will give anyone pause (Big Pic)…not withstanding the fact that it is now hitting Florida (Post) could last until Christmas (Post) and maybe headed to the east coast (Wired)

Maybe a walk-away is the answer (Cortex)…or a nuke (YouTube)…or having not underestimated the risk in the first place (NYT)

Speculation always sees a silver lining though (Post)

While the reactionary moratorium may feel right now, it’ll have plenty of knock-on effects that will be just as painfiul (Rubin) (Huff Post)…and really doesn’t change anything as the US is still completely addicted to oil (Gregor) (Infectious) (Grist)

I’m the first to admit that I’m an oil & gas bull…but I’m also a human being, as far as the test results go at least, which means I’m as concerned as the long-term questions surrounding energy as any one (Globe) (Insider)

Oil Tankers in Vancouver (Tyee)

Peak coal helps with peak oil (Globe) as coal prices climb (Biz Week) and mines are kept open (Globe)

There’s the gas question too (Post)…but in the short-term, a big hurricane season (New Sci) may help gas finally break out (Quick Tape)

Taking the Train

METALS

Here’s a surprise, the World Gold Council likes gold (Min Jour), but so do a lot of other people (Post) (Daily Fin) (Big Pic)…which means the bulls are getting crowded…never a great thing…and the IMF hits the bid (WSJ)

Silver’s along for the ride too

China contols rare earth metals (NYT) (Insider)

Are weakening prices as sign of inherent weakness (Bloomberg) or the mere financialization of commodities? (WSJ) (FT)

FOOD

Massive Chinese IPO (Bloomberg), an agri-biz in general may have hidden Achilles heel (EB)

GREEN

Always lots of talk about ‘new’ energy (Newsweek) and cleaning things up (BBC) but it continues to be, literally, smoke and mirrors (FT)

Local Geothermal

EM & BRIC

You got your BRIC bulls (Globe) (FT) (Econ)

And you got your BRIC bears (Bloomberg) (Insider) (Econ)

But it’s all a work-in-progress (Globe)

That said, Chinese workers are gonna get more, with some serious knock-on effects (Globe) (Globe) (NYT)

MARKETS

You got your bulls (Globe) (Bloomberg) (Prag Cap)

You got your bears (Barrons) (Reformed) (Big Pic)

But you can bank on psychology (Big Pic) the lack of resolve (NYT) and that the guys in the suits continue to make out pretty damn good (Econ)

Too much info (Post) and too little retail (Prag Cap) and an stampede into options (Biz Week)

Chanos on dog watching (Insider)

Anatomy of a growth investor (PsyFi)

HFT, Out of Control

ECON

US

Fed is upbeat (WSJ) with the US growing (BBC) and working…except for the fact that most jobs were created by the government (WSJ)

Ugly charts and issues of US unemployment (Insider) (WSJ) (WSJ) (NYT) and it’s effect on the recovery (Post) (Barrons)

Jim Rodgers hates the US (Insider), and buffet hates muni-bonds (Bloomberg)

So if things are so bad, why is US debt still do popular? (Wa Post) (Atlantic)

One lump or two?

CAN

Canada is on fire (Bloomberg), but can we keep it up? (Post)

EURO

Greeks got their turn, now it’s Spain’s (Globe) (NYT) (Telegraph)…or Hungary (NYT)…but Ireland may have some lessons to give (Bloomberg)

ECB is nervous (Globe), and the Europeans are slow (Slate)

Dr. Doom gives his advice (Globe)

MACRO

OECD want entrepreneurs unleashed (Econ), while Krugman wants the OECD muzzled (Krugman) (Insider)

Global imbalances (Globe) and saving citizenry (NYT)

Inflate/deflate debate (Student)

Hello Ricardo! (ZeroHedge)

The impact of the irrelevant

GEEK STUFF

Breaking down a problem to solve it (Globe)

Motivation! (Big Pic)

iHumans (Ad Bust) visit a digital doctor (Globe) but emotional IQ still trumps tech IQ (Globe)

RSIL (Random Shit I Liked)

Student buried in debt (NYT) looking for hot jobs (Post)

Reboot your sleep cycle (Hacker) and beat procrastination (Insider)

Candice Swanepoel - Priscilla Caripan - Victoria Rays - Sophie Turner

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