midday report on a London Hedge Fund conference....

adannenberg · Post by **adannenberg** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:08 pm

A great tidbit about scientologists... I used to live ~2 blocks away from one of their centers and learned the following: They have a machine that basically purges you over time of your bad vibes/energy/karma. Once purged, you can supposedly change form - become a bird, etc. This is what they say happened to the esteemed L Ron -- he didn't die, he just changed form Smiley . Now, the scientologists pay a hefty fee to have themselves hooked up to this machine -- and of course it takes many sessions to do a good purging! But the best part is that other scientologists also pay a hefty fee for the privelege of running the machine! They've got the people on both sides of the machine paying?! Smiley I wonder if I could hire a Church elder for my marketing team?...

Anthis · Post by **Anthis** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:13 pm

Alex long time not see! I hope you are doing well pal.

By the way i love this money making machine. I am looking for volunteers to plan an commando style operation to loot it. Tongue out

jungle · Post by **jungle** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 7:43 am

conference t-shirts can be cool, no? the best one i saw was my friend's "1993 beijing crystallography conference" t-shirt he got from his dad (chemistry prof). the fact it was so esoteric gave it a certain cachet. Smiley

re: jehovah's witnesses, i heard prince was a jehovah's witness. can you imagine the purple one turning up on your doorstep to convert you? "uh, like sure i'll join, just do me a l'il rendition of sexy mofo first..." Tongue out

Nonius · Post by **Nonius** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:12 pm

get this guys (and I did relay this to Johnny last night), one of the conference titles was "what does an investor look for in an asset manager?"

er....lemme think about that one for a moment....er, ah, high returns? low volatility? low correlation? these are just wild guesses.....

tripitaka · Post by **tripitaka** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:28 pm

...a dashing pin stripe suit and spivvy offices in the city, surely?

or am i a bit old skool?

James · Post by **James** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:05 pm

Worst conference I ever went to: GARP, London, 2002 in some horrible conference center that looked like a concrete cave. High Point: I got a cool t-shirt from the Tokyo Grain Exchange though with Coffee Futures prices on it. Mid Point: some CDO book from Price Waterhouse. Low Point: the empty booth slots with sad looking masking tape indicating where no-shows should have been.

Best conference I Ever Went to: The CLSA Shanghai & Hong Kong Asian Investment Forum, 2001. I was the trailing spouse with my wife. All expenses paid, nightly entertainment, great food. High point: Thai food made at our table in Hong Kong with Paul Garmerian cigars after. Mid Point: The Corrs played a concert for 700 of us in Hong Kong. Low Point: Bill Clinton was the speaker at the 'banquet' in Shang-Hai, and he just blathered on and on while dessert melted.

Nonius · Post by **Nonius** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:53 pm

GARP definitely blows. trust me, if Nonius is invited to speak, you should not go.

Trip, tons of pinstripe suits. Nonius, on the other hand, was sporting a shaved head and a black leather jacket...muhahahhahaha

Nonius · Post by **Nonius** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 8:01 am

one thing I forgot to mention is that Count Gottfried von Bismarck was there. He has a PlaySkool alternative investment company in Germany. I expected him to be sporting a monocle, but he didn't. I do like to see evidence of why aristocracy/nobility has essentially no correlation with intellect....well, maybe slightly negatively correlated.

PanzerMeyer · Post by **PanzerMeyer** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:45 pm

when you are bored at those conference, just try to talk to the hostesses and play the "I don't care about that, I am gonna quit finance and create an foundation :"no kids without SUV".

About German Aristocraty, one guy here told me that he met Mrs Schenck Graf von Stauffenberg, a stunning 30's lady, grand daughta of the guy that planted a bomb in Adold's bunker. Her job is exaclty the one in Thomas Crown affair. She has a lot of credibility among jews in that business because of her grand daddy's action.