(Reuters) - Richard Branson and Barry Sternlicht were among more than two dozen investor groups that filed with U.S. regulators on Friday to raise new blank-check acquisition companies, setting a new record.

The 28 filings for new special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) underscore their growing appeal on Wall Street. SPACs raised a record $82 billion last year, and the trend has gathered further steam in the early weeks of 2021.

Overall, 144 SPACs have raised $45.7 billion so far this year, according to data from SPAC Research, with backers including high-profile investors, politicians and sports personalities.

Starwood Capital Group’s CEO Barry Sternlicht’s Jaws Juggernaut Acquisition Corp filed for an IPO of up to $200 million on Friday. Other notable investors that launched SPACS included serial entrepreneur and billionaire Richard Branson and former BuzzFeed Chairman Ken Lerer.

Friday’s filings count more than doubled a previous record of 13 deals on Feb. 5, SPAC Research said.

A SPAC is a shell company that raises money in an IPO to merge with a privately held company that then becomes publicly traded as a result.

SPACs have emerged as a popular IPO alternative for companies, providing a path to going public with less regulatory scrutiny and more certainty over the valuation that will be attained and funds that will be raised.

Stocks hit record highs; yields highest since March

February 12, 2021 12:08 AM By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose for a 10th straight session on Friday and hit another record high as investors anticipated new fiscal aid from Washington to help the U.S. economy recover, while benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose to their highest levels since March.

On Wall Street, all three major indexes hit record closing highs, with energy, financial and materials leading gains among S&P sectors as investors snapped up cyclical and under-priced value stocks. All three indexes also posted gains for the week.

The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, ended below 20 for the first time since February 2020, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic roiled U.S. stocks.

“We’re underestimating the lag effect of all the money in the system as more and more vaccinations are delivered and as more of the country reopens” from business shutdowns, said Thomas Hayes, chairman and managing member of hedge fund Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.

“We are continuing this rotation that would be consistent with the new business cycle, and as (bond) yields go up, value and cyclicals will lead,” Hayes said.

U.S. President Joe Biden pushed for the first major legislative achievement of his term, turning to a bipartisan group of local officials for help on his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan.

The dollar was slightly higher, coming off its strongest level for the day, as risk appetite returned to the market, while Bitcoin was down 1.3% on the day at $47,356, after hitting a record high of $49,000. It posted gains of roughly 20% in a milestone week marked by the endorsement of major firms such as Elon Musk’s Tesla.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27.7 points, or 0.09%, to 31,458.4, the S&P 500 gained 18.45 points, or 0.47%, to 3,934.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 69.70 points, or 0.5%, to 14,095.47.

The U.S. stock market will be closed on Monday because of the Presidents Day holiday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/global-markets/global-markets-stocks-hit-record-highs-yields-highest-since-march-idUSL1N2KI2GQ

Warren Buffett’s favorite valuation metric is ringing an alarm

Last Updated: Feb 13, 2021, 09:10 AM

With U.S. equity indexes rising to fresh records again this week, one of Warren Buffett’s most-famous catchphrases comes to mind: Investors should “be fearful when others are greedy.”

Any Buffett disciple who checks in on the billionaire investor’s favorite market valuation metric these days may get the urge to shriek in terror.

The “Buffett Indicator” is a simple ratio: The total market capitalization of U.S. stocks divided by the total dollar value of the nation’s gross domestic product. It first crossed above its previous dot-com era peak in 2019. Still, it has been trending higher for decades, and if there’s one mantra investors love even more than Buffett’s it’s, “the trend is your friend.”

However, in recent weeks, even that long-term trend fails to justify the metric’s frothy appearance. With U.S. market cap more than double the level of estimated GDP for the current quarter, the ratio has surged to the highest-ever reading above its long-term trend, according to an analysis by the blog Current Market Valuation, suggesting a “strongly overvalued” situation.

Of course, with the Federal Reserve holding rates near zero and buying bonds for the foreseeable future, and an abundance of savings and fiscal stimulus set to trigger blockbuster growth in GDP and corporate earnings, it’s fair to wonder if this is yet another of the many false alarms that have sounded during the past decade.

“It highlights the remarkable mania we are witnessing in the U.S. equity market,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. “Even if one expected those (Fed) policies to be permanent, which they should not be, it still would not justify paying two times the 25-year average for stocks.”

Back in the real economy, far from central bankster socialist handouts to billionaires, things aren’t just a little gloomy, they are closer to jet black.

Police emphasize clampdown on crowds as Mardi Gras nears

By KEVIN McGILL February 12, 2021

Crowds are usually welcome and even encouraged in tourist-dependent New Orleans in the days leading up to Mardi Gras but as the final weekend of the 2021 season began Friday, police warned that crowds won’t be tolerated amid efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Police chief Shaun Ferguson held a news conference with state police and the New Orleans sheriff to drive home the point, saying a bar closure order that took effect Friday would be enforced through Fat Tuesday, the end of the annual pre-Lenten festivities.

All parades in the city have been canceled.

Mardi Gras celebrations last year are now believed to have contributed to an early surge of infections in Louisiana.

The city said Bourbon Street would be closed to cars and pedestrians from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. each day, with access limited to residents, business employees, hotel guests and restaurant patrons. On Mardi Gras itself, the closure will begin at 7 a.m., Ferguson said.

Restaurant capacity will be limited as it has been throughout the pandemic. And bars, including those that have temporary food permits enabling them to operate as restaurants, will be closed — not just in the French Quarter but throughout the city — until Ash Wednesday.

Other popular entertainment areas, including Decatur Street in the French Quarter and Frenchmen Street in the nearby Marigny neighborhood were to be shut down during what are normally peak hours. And a popular corridor outside the French Quarter that is a gathering spot for locals was being put off limits with fencing.

Ferguson said police will be on the lookout throughout the city for violators of the bar shutdown.

https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-coronavirus-pandemic-new-orleans-mardi-gras-fda74cf29143fe31c8b999d6358d69ef

2021 Looks Like a Black Hole for Battered European Tourism

Paul Tugwell, Flavia Rotondi and Alberto Brambilla February 12, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Across Southern Europe’s tourist hotspots, all they can do is get ready and hope.

Vaccinations for the coronavirus are being rolled out, but it’s going to be months before enough shots are delivered that people can start crowding onto planes, taking cruises, or hanging out in packed bars along the beach. That means businesses are largely in the dark about this year’s summer season.

The expectation is that it will be better than 2020, but that’s a low bar to hit. On the Greek island of Santorini, just three cruise ships arrived last year, compared with close to 600 in 2019. European Commission figures released on Thursday showed non-resident holiday nights in Italy, Spain and Greece fell at least 70%, and it warned the industry to brace for another quiet year.

“Tourism flows on the whole are not expected to fully recover to their pre-crisis levels in 2021,” the commission said. In Italy, tourism will lag behind the broader economic recovery as visitors “only gradually return as uncertainty diminishes.”

For those in the industry, that’s already apparent less than two months into the year. Paolo Manca, who runs the Felix Hotels chain in Sardinia, says he would normally see summer reservations at 30% by now as people grow weary of long winter nights. Instead, he’s looking at near empty books.

Tourism is crucial for many places along Southern Europe. It accounts for 21% of the economy in Greece, and 17% in Portugal. It’s often the main employer in regions where other industries are absent, providing crucial income for families and support for local economies.

The outlook will improve as vaccinations continue, with pent-up demand leading to more spontaneous holiday bookings. But the emergence of vaccine-resistant strains across the continent could scupper that.

Even if there’s a surge in last-minute bookings, the benefits won’t be felt evenly. The European Commission says they will favor destinations at home or within driving distance over places like Greece and Portugal.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/2021-looks-like-a-black-hole-for-battered-european-tourism/ar-BB1dCl1r

Another Remote-Work Year Looms as Office-Reopening Plans Are Delayed

Return dates get pushed to September or beyond, keeping firms and employees in ‘moment of limbo’

Feb. 11, 2021 5:30 am ET

The hardest question to answer for American corporations: When should offices reopen?

From Silicon Valley to Tennessee to Pennsylvania, high hopes that a rapid vaccine rollout in early 2021 would send millions of workers back into offices by spring have been scuttled. Many companies are pushing workplace return dates to September—and beyond—or refusing to commit to specific dates, telling employees it will be a wait-and-see remote-work year.

The delays span industries. Qurate Retail Inc., QRTEB -0.46% the parent company of brands such as Ballard Designs, QVC and HSN, recently shifted its planned May return to offices in the Philadelphia area, Atlanta and other cities until September at the earliest. TechnologyAdvice, a marketing firm in Nashville, initially told employees to plan on Feb. 1 as their return date. The company then pushed the date back to August. Now, TA has decided it will begin a hybrid in-office schedule in the fall of 2021, letting workers choose whether to work remotely or come in, the company says.

Return-to-office dates have shifted so much in the past year that some companies aren’t sharing them with employees. Shipping giant United Parcel Service Inc., UPS -0.75% based in Atlanta, and financial-services firm Fidelity Investments Inc., based in Boston, haven’t announced return dates, instead telling workers signing on from home that the companies are monitoring the coronavirus pandemic and will call workers back when it is safe.

Nearly a year of makeshift work at home has weighed on employees, leaders say. While many companies say productivity is up, executives worry that creativity is suffering and say that burnout is on the rise. Even so, bosses struggle to say when things will change.

---- A new survey of 2,200 U.S. workers by the Conference Board, a research group, found that 44% of employees polled didn’t know their company’s plans to return to the workplace. That is up from last September, when 37% of respondents polled by the group said they were unclear on their back-to-the-office plan.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/another-remote-work-year-looms-as-office-reopening-plans-are-delayed-11613039402?mod=mhp

Finally, everyone wants a handout. But why?

Is there something fishy in US chips? Why should Uncle Sam be the Sole financier of the Plaice? If they financed this themselves, wouldn’t it be Brill? Surely, they’re flush enough for first Dabs at finance. Uncle Sam should dig in his 'Eels, resist this ploy and flex his Mussels. US chip makers should stop Pouting and get their Skates on and start building. Time for a different US chip Tuna?

U.S. chip industry calls on Biden administration to fund factories

February 11, 2021 10:26 AM

(Reuters) - A group of U.S. chip companies on Thursday sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to provide “substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing” as part of his economic recovery and infrastructure plans.

The chief executives of major U.S. firms such as Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Micron Technology Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc signed onto the letter.

It comes as a global chip shortage has idled factory lines at Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co, with executives at the automakers predicting billions in lost profit. Tight chip supplies have even made it hard for consumers to buy popular gaming consoles such as Microsoft Corp’s Xbox and Sony Corp’s Playstation.

The missing chips are mostly manufactured in countries such as Taiwan and Korea, which have come to dominate the industry. The letter, sent by the Semiconductor Industry Association, said that the U.S. share of semiconductor manufacturing dropped from 37% in 1990 to 12% today.

“This is largely because the governments of our global competitors offer significant incentives and subsidies to attract new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, while the U.S. does not,” the group said.

Congress last year authorized subsidies for chip manufacturing and semiconductor research, but lawmakers must still decide how much funding to provide. The U.S. chip group urged Biden to provide such funding in the form of grants or tax credits.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-semiconductors/u-s-chip-industry-calls-on-biden-administration-to-fund-factories-idUSKBN2AB11H

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

One dose of COVID-19 vaccine may be good for recovered patients

Feb. 12, 2021 / 3:05 AM

Could one shot of a coronavirus vaccine be sufficient if you suffered a case of COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic?

Yes, new research claims.

A pair of new, small studies found that patients previously infected with COVID-19 who were given their first vaccine dose showed the sort of robust immune response that people generally tend to have following their second "booster" dose.

"People that have had COVID-19 before, they make antibodies very quickly to much higher levels than those that had no experience with the virus," said Dr. Viviana Simon, senior researcher on one of the studies and a professor of microbiology and infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

"That led us to the conclusion that a second shot of the vaccine should not be necessary in individuals that have been previously infected," Simon said. "That would save vaccine doses and also would limit the discomfort experienced by people upon vaccination."

However, these findings are likely a moot point given the practical considerations of the pandemic, other experts said.

The new papers, published this week on the preprint server medRxiv, need to be peer-reviewed and verified by follow-up research before a single-shot strategy could be implemented in previously infected people, and that will take precious time.

Future studies examining whether a single vaccine dose would be sufficient in any group of people "would take several months to get a meaningful answer," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/02/12/One-dose-of-COVID-19-vaccine-may-be-good-for-recovered-patients/4321613086490/

India, pharmacy of the world, falls behind on vaccinations at home

February 12, 2021 9:52 AM By Neha Arora, Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has won plaudits for gifting and selling COVID-19 vaccines around the world, but it will have to crank up the pace of immunisations at home to meet its targets.

Having reported the world’s second-highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States, India wants to innoculate 300 million people - a fifth of its population - against the virus by August.

However, in four weeks health workers vaccinated only 7.5 million frontline workers on priority, a rate at which it would take India several years to reach its goal.

“Vaccination programmes usually start off slow and then ramp up as logistic and operational issues are sorted out,” said Gagandeep Kang, Professor of Microbiology at the Christian Medical College in Vellore.

“In India, we are fortunate that supply of vaccines is not a rate-limiting step, but to meet the timelines set by the government, we will have to immunise somewhere between 4 and 5 times more people each day than we are doing today.”

The government says it is ready to step up vaccinations from next month, including by roping in more private hospitals, once identified groups from the general public are given the shots. A government online vaccine platform told Reuters it could handle 10 million inoculations a day.

The health ministry also says India is the fastest to reach the 7 million milestone, though immunisation relative to population has been much higher in many other countries.

Several big Indian states, such as Tamil Nadu and Punjab, have covered fewer than 40% of their high-risk people such as nurses, doctors and hospital cleaning staff, worrying the federal government.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india-vaccine/india-pharmacy-of-the-world-falls-behind-on-vaccinations-at-home-idUSKBN2AC0TI?il=0

As Covid Evolves, Treatments May Prove as Important as Vaccines

The FDA has approved only a few therapeutic drugs. Many studies suggest promising options.

Feb. 11, 2021 5:47 pm ET

New Covid-19 variants are eluding antibody treatments and may render vaccines less effective. To keep up, physicians need a broader arsenal of therapies that the virus can’t easily defeat. But the Food and Drug Administration has authorized precious few treatments for Covid-19, namely Gilead’s antiviral remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly. The National Institutes of Health has prioritized monoclonal antibodies—essentially manufactured copies of human antibodies—which have shown promise against other diseases, including cancer.

The rub is that mutations that alter the shape of the spike protein on the surface of the virus—as variants from the U.K., Brazil and South Africa do—can deform the sites to which antibodies bind before they neutralize the virus. Developing new antibody cocktails that target new variants could become a game of Whac-A-Mole.

The good news is that Gilead says remdesivir appears effective against the new strains. It is the only FDA-approved antiviral for Covid-19, and the five-day infusion treatment is limited to hospital patients. Antivirals, which stop viruses from replicating in human cells, are typically most effective early in an illness. So finding other effective antivirals, especially ones that can be prescribed to outpatients, should be a priority.

----Merck is testing an oral compound, molnupiravir, that works by creating errors in the virus’s copying code. One advantage to that approach is that viruses don’t appear to develop resistance. Merck hopes to share early efficacy results from a late-stage trial by March.

The antidepressant fluvoxamine has also shown promise as an antiviral and anti-inflammatory. A small randomized control trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in November found that not one patient who received fluvoxamine within seven days of symptom onset experienced clinical deterioration versus 8.3% of those who received a placebo. Another small non-randomized trial of infected horse racetrack workers in California a found that none who took the drug got sicker, whereas 12.5% of those who didn’t were hospitalized. A larger clinical trial is needed to support the antiviral benefit, but the drug certainly deserves further study.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-covid-evolves-treatments-may-prove-as-important-as-vaccines-11613083638?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Next, some very useful vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.

World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

Stanford Website. https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132

FDA information. https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some more useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Covid19info.live

https://wuflu.live/

The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)

https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC energy mankind’s future from the 21^st century onwards.

London to trial hydrogen electric rapid response ambulance prototype

By Paul Ridden February 10, 2021

Hydrogen commercial vehicle conversion company ULEMCo and industry partners have agreed the design of a new fuel cell rapid response ambulance prototype that's destined to hit the streets of London later this year.

The vehicle is dubbed the ZERRO ambulance, which stands for Zero Emission Rapid Response Operations, and is being funded by the UK's Office for Zero Emission Vehicles – a cross government group working to support the transition to zero (local) emission vehicles.

The electric drive prototype will feature a 92-kWh battery pack and a hydrogen fuel cell range extender comprising a 30-kW fuel cell from Ballard and 8 kg of H2 storage on board. The ambulance is being designed for a top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h) and a targeted average daily range of 200 miles (320 km).

The drivetrain, chassis and bespoke body of the vehicle are being manufactured by Woodall Nicholson Group’s Mellor, Promech Technologies and VCS Limited. VCS has experience in the field, last year producing the UK's first all-electric ambulance in the shape of the Electric Dual Crewed Ambulance that began trials in the West Midlands on October. While Promech will leverage its existing battery technology and expertise. Other project partners Ocado and Lyra Electronics bring the former's practical experience in using electric vehicles and the latter's specialist DC-DC electronics capabilities to the design.

The new ZERRO vehicle will have the ability to haul a payload of at least 900 kg and benefit from a low access floor to negate the need for patient lifting equipment to be included.

"The aim of the project is to show that this weight target can be met with the combination of this powertrain configuration and the lightweight structure, and using a low floor design rather than needing to include heavy lifting equipment, alongside work to integrate the internal electrical power needs within overall vehicle electrical system design," said ULEMCo.

After a year spent working on the design phase of the project, ULEMCo and partners now plan to build and deliver the fully approved working prototype to the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust by the (northern) fall of 2021.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/zerro-hydrogen-electric-rapid-response-ambulance-prototype/

Planned Hydrogen Projects Outnumber Current Projects across Europe as Demand for Clean Energy Increases

Written by AZoCleantech Feb 10 2021

The number of planned or announced hydrogen projects across Europe is almost double that of current operational projects as demand for clean energy solutions heightens globally, according to research by global law firm DLA Piper and inspiratia.

DLA Piper’s report The Hydrogen Revolution in EMEA shows that there are 192 planned or announced hydrogen projects in Europe compared to 107 current operational projects on the continent. The report analyses how the hydrogen market is developing, and the different approaches that are being taken across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

When burned, hydrogen only leaves water as a by-product, making it an attractive emission-free alternative to traditional energy sources. Its potential is further demonstrated by the fact it is an energy carrier with an energy density more than twice that of natural gas. Those characteristics cause clean hydrogen to have the potential to be a key component of the drive towards a net zero future. DLA Piper’s report argues that investment in clean energy, such as hydrogen, will be a vital part of global economic recovery post pandemic and building a sustainable future.

---- Current forecasts anticipate that demand for hydrogen will continue to steadily increase towards 2050. Data suggest that global hydrogen demand will require additional generation of 35-1,100TWh per year by 2030, increasing to 300-19,000TWh per year by 2050. However, the challenge for hydrogen, according to DLA Piper, is to unlock pathways to the production of blue and, in particular, green hydrogen, and to serve increasing demand with decreased reliance on those methods of production which do not serve the zero-carbon agenda. The report sheds light on the different approaches to that which are being taken around the world.

https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=28835

Finally, who invented the light bulb? And it mostly wasn’t Edison. He lost his patent suit and joined forces with Englishman Joseph Swan. But it’s more complicated than that. Who didn’t invent the light bulb?

Who Invented the Light Bulb?

By Elizabeth Palermo - Staff Writer August 17, 2017

Though Thomas Edison is usually credited with the invention of the light bulb, the famous American inventor wasn't the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology. Many other notable figures are also remembered for their work with electric batteries, lamps and the creation of the first incandescent bulbs.

Early research & developments

The story of the light bulb begins long before Edison patented the first commercially successful bulb in 1879. In 1800, Italian inventor Alessandro Volta developed the first practical method of generating electricity, the voltaic pile. Made of alternating discs of zinc and copper — interspersed with layers of cardboards soaked in salt water — the pile conducted electricity when a copper wire was connected at either end. While actually a predecessor of the modern battery, Volta's glowing copper wire is also considered to be one of the earliest manifestations of incandescent lighting.

Not long after Volta presented his discovery of a continuous source of electricity to the Royal Society in London, Humphry Davy, an English chemist and inventor, produced the world's first electric lamp by connecting voltaic piles to charcoal electrodes. Davy's 1802 invention was known as an electric arc lamp, named for the bright arc of light emitted between its two carbon rods.

----Joseph Swan vs. Thomas Edison

In 1850, English chemist Joseph Swan tackled the cost-effectiveness problem of previous inventors and by 1860 he had developed a light bulb that used carbonized paper filaments in place of ones made of platinum. Swan received a patent in the United Kingdom in 1878, and in February 1879 he demonstrated a working lamp in a lecture in Newcastle, England, according to the Smithsonian Institution. Like earlier renditions of the light bulb, Swan's filaments were placed in a vacuum tube to minimize their exposure to oxygen, extending their lifespan. Unfortunately for Swan, the vacuum pumps of his day were not efficient as they are now, and while his prototype worked well for a demonstration, it was impractical in actual use.

Edison realized that the problem with Swan's design was the filament. A thin filament with high electrical resistance would make a lamp practical because it would require only a little current to make it glow. He demonstrated his light bulb in December 1879. Swan incorporated the improvement into his light bulbs and founded an electrical lighting company in England. Edison sued for patent infringement, but Swan's patent was a strong claim, at least in the United Kingdom, and the two inventors eventually joined forces and formed Edison-Swan United, which became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of light bulbs, according to the Museum of Unnatural Mystery.

----The success of Edison's light bulb was followed by the founding of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York in 1880. The company was started with financial contributions from J.P. Morgan and other wealthy investors of the time. The company constructed the first electrical generating stations that would power electrical system and newly patented bulbs. The first generating station was opened in September 1882 on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan.

Other inventors, such as William Sawyer and Albon Man, threw in the towel, merging their company with Edison's to form General Electric, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

https://www.livescience.com/43424-who-invented-the-light-bulb.html

This weekend’s musical diversion. The right and wrong way to play Vivaldi RV 558. Up first the right way. The first movement for comparison. (About 5 minutes.)

Vivaldi Molti Istromenti Concerto RV 558

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_j426zXI0Q&feature=related

Next the wrong way. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to share that bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label right before the performance! (About 6+ minutes if you can stand it.)

Vivaldi - Concerto C Major RV 558 - 1. Allegro Molto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TspehIRbOQ

Johnnie Walker Blue Label - Ghost & Rare Port Ellen

(70cl, 43.8%)

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/johnnie-walker/johnnie-walker-blue-label-ghost-and-rare-port-ellen-whisky/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5eJuSTnheelkOPFi81Ny74nUljuVxhAvTG1vn6AHb35jgGq9kEcSkwaApQ2EALw_wcB

Next, this week’s chess masterclass. (About 7 minutes.)

He Was Big And Strong... || Dubov vs Carlsen || Opera (2021)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiPwO79yYbs

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Mark Twain

London Irvine Report

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Saturday, 13 February 2021

Special Update 13/02/2021 Bubbles. The Buffett Indicator.

Wall Street's SPAC craze scales new heights with record filings

Stocks hit record highs; yields highest since March