Juggling Dynamite

In an expensive big media world paid for by sponsors, getting important issues covered in a balanced and thoughtful way is not easy. Some argue that today’s media-drenched, distracted public has no appetite or patience for detailed, weighty discussions…but is that true?

Videos first came online nearly twenty years ago. They were tiny, low-quality, and barely worked, thanks to dial-up. Conventional wisdom said: make videos short – nothing over a minute or two.Users would be lucky to download anything at all. Flash forward to 2014. Homes are on broadband. Everyone seems to have a smartphone. But even now, many believe that video should be short, funny and hopefully viral. Even with fast Internet and fast devices, no one — especially not young people — will watch more than a few minutes. Long form video just doesn’t do well online.

Except that it does. Long form video journalism can be hugely popular online, and potentially very profitable. Here is a direct video link.

Good discussion on the many ways in which high frequency trading firms collude with brokers, exchanges and data services to “queer the market casino in their favour”. And no, its not just in the US stock markets…we see daily evidence of rigging and scamming in most markets in the world today as unethical actors hide behind computers and speed largely imperceptible to the human eye.

Brad Katsuyama never aspired to be on Wall St. but ended up as a Wall St. trader for RBC. Disturbed by the undeclared advantages of high-frequency trading, he refused to join in the secrecy and has now become a revolutionary in the world of high finance. Micheal Lewis shares Brad Katsuyama’s excellent adventure and what should be done to undo the rigged market. Here is a direct audio link

And here was Brad Katsuyama in his own words on CBC last week. Here is a direct video link.

Antonio Vivaldi’s “Summer” is the setting for a musical competition. Salut Salon stage an acrobatic fight with a lot of humor – a classic of the Hamburg quartet. Here is a direct video link.