Francis Lee
Palindrome*: G.I. bootstrap able to null “ahs” on lie. Neil, no shallu? Not Elba! Parts too big!
See his statement and book prize on my rejected posts. The Elba judges and I quizzed Lee severely: I post the dialogue here before banishing it to my alternative blog:
Elba Judges to Francis: What is “shallu”? Can you send a reference?
Francis: Shallu is a type of grain that I believe originates from Africa, but requires very particular weather conditions in order to successfully grow, hence the rarity of its use. I believe the seeds are rather large though.
1. Here’s a store that sells shallu: http://rareseeds.com/shallu-egyptian-wheat.html
2. And here is a reference by the US Government: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc96470/
Elba Judges to Francis: Can you please explain your January palindrome?
Francis: An unscrupulous farmer who wears military boots when he farms, lied to the public and claims to have developed a system to grow it more efficiently than was conceivable in the exact same conditions as is typically allowed, when in reality he was just mixing it with more common crops mixed in, and selling it as the more expensive shallu. Being suspicious, an inquisitive scientist snoops around.
Upon further examination of the dirt attached to his boots, they have concluded that the caked dirt was wildly lacking in some characteristic that soil conditions of shallu typically have. Along with other gaping inconsistencies in his story, this evidence warrants a trial and he is quickly convicted. Any professional fascination stemming from his methodology is soon rebuffed.
Nevertheless, there is still a rampant shallu demand from the public due to the effective marketing strategies of the farmer. The current state of affairs is that a task force appointed by the government is figuring out potential locations to grow shallu and meet public demand. One of them suggests our beloved Elba, which is swiftly denied by another on account of shallu being too unwieldly to cultivate on an island the size of Elba._____
Mayo to Francis: You are a candidate for winning the January palindrome contest. Congratulations. But can you please explain the phrase “Null ‘ahs’ on my lie”? Thank you.
Francis: Null “ahs” on my lie was my long way of saying that his revealing of the truth removed any sense of wonderment from the public.
Anyone get this? No matter, congratulations Lee!
*The minimum requirement was to include Elba plus any one of: bootstrap, demonstrate (demonstrable), null. Using two would beat out candidates using just one, even though there weren’t any.
Apple (AAPL) stock is a perfect example of how psychology, fear and superstition enter into stock prices as much as do measures of valuation. Any predictions for this afternoon’s earnings? In general, here’s a field where regardless of what happens, “experts” never have to say they were wrong–especially about Tech. So, certainly we don’t. Thus, a wild guess–AAPL (currently down 300 points over its high) goes up with earnings, but not massively (~5-10pts). Still, there’s such a fear of its being “RIMMED” (i.e., dramatically losing its status as top tech, as did Research in Motion), that it may be beaten down some more.
