Author: substitute

nope

Mike and the Bank of America.

Mike and the Bank of America

Mike is a frequent visitor to the Corner. He lives in his van. He has had—and is—a long, strange trip. He goes to swap meets a lot and shows up with some very colorful women he’s met, especially at the San Diego one. He drinks half & half and smokes a lot, and has probably done whichever drug you’re thinking of. Today, Mike got a few things at the Vons and decided to make them into a sandwich and eat them on the strip of grass next to his van.

Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 57 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,900 retail banking offices and approximately 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 29 million active users. Bank of America is among the world’s leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange

The Devil’s Own School Bus

School Bus of Fear

On a side street in a wealthy suburban neighborhood overlooking the water, we see: a schoolbus, unmarked, plugged in to someone’s power, clean and obviously customized, with spikes on the front hubcaps. Possibilities include:

  • Cool awesome extreme sports anti-drug mobile extreme awesomeness vehicle!
  • Purpose-built vehicle for school bus races.
  • Intentionally scary Freddy Krueger type schtick by horror movie aficionados/Coil fans/over-the-top leather guys/Turbonegro fans.
  • Bro mistake.

You make the call.

Slavoj Žižek

I am fascinated by this guy, but a huge mass of shifting, pudding-like terminology defeats me.

Is there an introduction to his thought in baby talk for those of us who haven’t spent years reading Hegelian, Marxist, and especially Lacanian texts? I’ve always had a difficult relationship with philosophical and sociological jargon. The kind of writing where words like “motion” and “face” and “violence” turn out to mean “black walnut ice cream,” “Terry and the Pirates,” and “egg.” Until the next page, where they all mean something else.

If it’s worth it to nail down enough terminology in advance to read the Zizzer, what’s a good prep?

I’d really like to read more serious intellectual stuff. The jargon factor just stops me and leaves me flailing in the pudding.

Update on critical talking points

All:

First I want to thank the entire team for the hard work and dedication you’ve shown this year. As we approach the holidays, the Management Team wishes to express thankfulness and emphasize that the entire org chart is vital to our success.

It’s time once again to review our key focus matrix and hone in on the heart. The points we’re about to list are non-negotiable and I can’t estimate their importance. Let’s hammer in with a laser-like focus on these.

  • The threat of refinancing: how lower rates drag us all down.
  • The hidden links between skateboarding and Hepatitis C: do we know enough?
  • Zoning reforms necessary to encourage urban fish farming.
  • End ethnic set-asides in the mortuary industry.
  • Phrenology in the public schools: is Medicare responsible?
  • Hogs for Heroes: soldiers need to know we have a pig for them.
  • An America Without Simony: If not now, when?
  • An end to subsidized quahog farming is the beginning of free trade in bivalves.

All of us need to drill down into the meat with a laser-like focus here. Let’s stay on message and be forceful. The Management Team knows we can exceed our own expectations, and we expect that.

If you have any questions or comments, speak right up! My door is always open.

The Mgmt