roses & clover

ich will es ihnen erzählen (I want to tell them.)

Die kleine stadt wo ich geboren bin.. (The small town where I was born...)

jahrmarkt (fair)

er... (he)

Alan, mein freund (Alan, my friend)

(basically closes book suddenly wanders over to the window..bc sunlight changes or perhaps he smells a whiff of s/o's perfume wafting in from the window which is shut??)

He must leave his apartment & go out to see what has uplifted his spirits, and he is immediately accosted by the paperboy who promptly gives him a copy of the day's newspaper flyer with this headline: Extrablatt. Jahrmarkt in holstenwall, noch nie dagewesen!! Schaustellungen aller art. (Extra! Fair at Holstenwall—like nothing seen before! Attractions of all kinds.)

Alan goes back upstairs to cajole his friend Franzis about the fair: Komm Franzis, wir wollen zum jahrmarkt..! (Come on, Franzis, we want to go to the fair...!)

Gehen, sie nicht hinein, der Herr Stadtsekretar ist heute boser lavne! (Don't go in there; the City Secretary is in a bad mood today!) Old man is shown slipping what we can surmise is money to change the clerk's answer to s/t more suitable, then a card w/ his name which we're shown w/ subtitles: Dr. Caligari, it works bc the clerk ushers him inside. [All this has taken 8:57 to convey to us, not including all the time to make screen shots & look-up the translation in English..this is getting painful, though it has a cute comical spin for a horror]

The clerk hands Dr. Caligari's business card to the City Secretary, who takes one look over his shoulder and apparently shouts: WARTEN!!!!! (WAIT!!!!)

Q2: did he get any awards for boiler room?

Q3: How many movies did he star in as a main character

Gary Marcus: AI Bubble ‘LLMs are fundamentally flawed’ | The Tech Report https://www.youtube.com/@TheTechReportTR/videos https://youtu.be/XhYH4NZHe20

What Is a Credit Default Swap (CDS)? A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial derivative that allows an investor to swap or offset their credit risk with that of another investor. A protection buyer buys a CDS from a protection seller, who agrees to reimburse them if the borrower defaults. Most CDS contracts are maintained via an ongoing premium payment, similar to the regular premiums due on an insurance policy. A lender who is worried about a borrower defaulting on a loan often uses a CDS to offset or swap that risk.

Credit swaps, formally known as credit default swaps (CDS), are financial derivative contracts that function like insurance policies against default of a bond or loan. In this agreement, a protection buyer pays regular premium fees to a protection seller, who promises to cover losses if the underlying borrower fails to pay [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

How Credit Swaps Work

Parties: Involves a protection buyer & protection seller, traded via financial intermediaries.

Premium: Buyers pay a continuous fee (spread), quoted in basis points, based on the debt's risk level.

Credit Events: Triggers include bankruptcy, failure to pay, or debt restructuring.

The Payout: If a credit event happens, the seller compensates the buyer for the security's value or loss

Uses and Market Role

Hedging: Lenders buy them to lower their exposure to risky loans.

Speculation: Investors buy/sell them to bet on a Co.'s financial health without owning the underlying bond.

Differences from Insurance: Unlike regular insurance, a CDS buyer does not need to own the underlying debt asset to purchase protection. Opinions on Reddit's r/investing community are mixed regarding whether they should be classified as true insurance due to lighter regulatory reserve requirements

How Credit Default Swaps Work

A credit default swap is a derivative contract that transfers the credit exposure of fixed-income products. It may involve bonds or forms of securitized debt—derivatives of loans sold to investors. For example, suppose a company sells an investor a 10-year bond with a $100 face value. The company might agree to pay back the $100 after 10 years with regular interest payments throughout the bond’s life. Because the debt issuer (the company) can't guarantee that it will repay the premium, the investor assumes the credit risk. The debt buyer (the investor) can purchase a CDS to transfer the risk to another investor, who agrees to pay them if the debt issuer defaults.

The CDS buyer pays premiums to the CDS seller until the contract’s maturity date. In return, the seller agrees to pay the buyer the security’s value and interest payments between that time to the maturity date if the bond issuer defaults.

Debt securities often have longer terms to maturity, making it harder for investors to estimate the investment risk. For instance, a mortgage can have terms of 30 years. There is no way to tell whether the borrower will be able to continue making payments that long. That’s why these contracts are a popular way to manage risk.

Credit Default Swaps and Credit Events

A credit event is a trigger that causes the CDS buyer to settle the contract. Credit events are agreed upon when the CDS is purchased and are part of the contract. The majority of single-name CDSs are traded with the following credit events as triggers:

Reference entity default other than failure to pay: An event where the issuing entity defaults for a reason that is not a failure to pay

Failure to pay: The reference entity fails to make payments

Obligation acceleration: When contract obligations are moved, such as when the issuer needs to pay debts earlier than anticipated

Repudiation: A dispute over the contract's validity

Moratorium: A suspension of the contract until the issues that led to the suspension are resolved

Obligation restructuring: When the underlying loans are restructured

Government intervention: Actions taken by the government that affect the contract

Terms of a CDS

When purchased to insure an investment, CDSs don't necessarily need to cover the investment for its lifetime. For example, imagine an investor is two years into a 10-year security and thinks the issuer is in credit trouble. The bond owner may buy a credit default swap with a five-year term that would protect the investment until the seventh year, when the bondholder believes the risks will fade.

Settlement

When a credit event occurs, the contract may be settled physically (historically, the most common method) or by cash. In a physical settlement, sellers receive an actual bond from the buyer. Cash settlement became the preferred method when CDSs shifted from hedging tools to speculation. In this type of settlement, the seller is responsible for paying the buyer for losses.

Speculation

Swaps are traded, so they naturally have fluctuating market values that a CDS trader can profit from. Investors buy and sell CDSs with each other, attempting to profit from price differences.

Arbitrage

Arbitrage generally involves purchasing a security in one market and selling it in another. CDSs can be used in arbitrage—an investor can buy a bond in one market, then buy a CDS on the same reference entity on the CDS market.

FAST FACTS: These investment banks were so entwined in global markets their insolvency caused markets to crash, ushering in the 2008 financial crisis.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/creditdefaultswap.asp

Patrick Boyle: What is a Credit Default Swap? | Credit Derivatives https://www.youtube.com/@PBoyle/videos https://youtu.be/X_FaPuqG_PU

AI Credit Spreads Are Suddenly Blowing Out...Just Like 2008? | Eurodollar University https://www.youtube.com/@eurodollaruniversity/videos https://youtu.be/KgZ2j6yI16A

Superhuman Accuracy & Agility

Why Paganini Is Considered The Devil's Violinist? 🎻| Classical Masterpieces https://www.youtube.com/@ClassicalMasterpiecesNo1/videos https://youtu.be/WTJk0ZNXofc

Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (27 October 1782 – 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist, guitarist & composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, he left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1 are among the best known of his compositions & have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers. Son of a ship chandler from Genoa, Paganini showed great gifts for music from an early age & studied under Alessandro Rolla, Ferdinando Paer & Gasparo Ghiretti. Accompanied by his father, he toured northern Italy extensively as a teenager. By 1805 he had come into the service of Napoleon's sister, Elisa Bonaparte, who then ruled Lucca where Paganini was first violin. From 1809 on he returned to touring & achieved continental fame in subsequent two & a half decades, developing a reputation for his technical brilliance and showmanship, as well as his extravagant, philandering lifestyle. Paganini ended his concert career in 1834 amid declining health, the failure of his Paris casino left him in financial ruin. He retired & died in Nice (at that time still part of the Kingdom of Sardinia) in 1840 at the age of 57.

Childhood: Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa [then capital of the Republic of Genoa] on 27 October 1782, as the third of the six children of Antonio & Teresa [née Bocciardo] Paganini.  Antonio Paganini was an unsuccessful ship chandler, but he managed to supplement his income by working as a musician & by selling mandolins.  At the age of five, Paganini started learning the mandolin from his father & moved to the violin by the age of seven. His musical talents were quickly recognized, earning him numerous scholarships for violin lessons. The young Paganini studied under various local violinists, including Giovanni Servetto & Giacomo Costa, but his progress quickly outpaced their abilities. Paganini & his father then traveled to Parma to seek further guidance from Alessandro Rolla. But upon listening to Paganini’s playing, Rolla immediately referred him to his own teacher, Ferdinando Paer, later, Paer’s own teacher, Gasparo Ghiretti.

Early Career: The French invaded northern Italy in March 1796, and the political situation in Genoa became unstable. The Paganinis sought refuge in their country property in Romairone, near Bolzaneto. It was in this period that Paganini is thought to have developed his relationship with the guitar.  He mastered the guitar, but preferred to play it in exclusively intimate, rather than public concerts. He later described the guitar as his “constant companion“ on his concert tours. By 1800, Paganini & his father traveled to Livorno, where Paganini played in concerts & his father resumed his maritime work. In 1801, the 18-year-old Paganini was appointed first violin of the Republic of Lucca, but a substantial portion of his income came from freelancing. His fame as a violinist was matched only by his reputation as a gambler & philanderer. In 1805, Lucca was annexed by Napoleonic France, and the region was ceded to Napoleon’s sister, Elisa Bonaparte. Paganini became a violinist for the Baciocchi court, while giving private lessons to Elisa’s husband, Felice for ten years. During this time, his wife & Paganini were also carrying on a romantic affair. In 1807, Baciocchi became the Grand Duchess of Tuscany & her court was transferred to Florence. Paganini was part of the entourage but, towards the end of 1809, he left Baciocchi to resume his freelance career.

Travelling Virtuoso: For the next few years, Paganini returned to touring in the areas surrounding Parma & Genoa. Though he was very popular with the local audience, he was still not very well known in the rest of Europe. His first break came from an 1813 concert at La Scala in Milan. The concert was a great success. As a result, Paganini began to attract the attention of other prominent, though more conservative, musicians across Europe. His early encounters with Charles Philippe Lafont & Louis Spohr created intense rivalry. In 1827, Pope Leo XII honoured Paganini with the Order of the Golden Spur. His fame spread across Europe with a concert tour that started in Vienna in August 1828, stopping in every major European city in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia until February 1831 in Strasbourg. This was followed by tours in Paris & Britain. His technical ability & his willingness to display it received much critical acclaim. In addition to his own compositions, theme & variations being the most popular, Paganini also performed modified versions of works [primarily concertos] written by his early contemporaries, such as Rodolphe Kreutzer & Giovanni Battista Viotti. Paganini’s travels also brought him into contact with eminent guitar virtuosi of the day, including Ferdinando Carulli in Paris & Mauro Giuliani in Vienna.

Late career & health decline: Throughout his life, Paganini was no stranger to chronic illnesses. Although no definite medical proof exists, it has been later theorized he might have been affected by Marfan syndrome or Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. His frequent concert schedule, as well as his extravagant lifestyle, may have affected his health. Paganini was diagnosed with syphilis as early as 1822, and his remedy, which included mercury & opium, came with serious physical & psychological side effects. In 1834, while still in Paris, he was treated for tuberculosis. In September 1834, Paganini put an end to his concert career & returned to Genoa. Contrary to popular beliefs involving his wishing to keep his music & techniques secret, Paganini devoted his time to the publication of his compositions & violin methods. He accepted students, of whom two enjoyed moderate success: violinist Camillo Sivori & cellist Gaetano Ciandelli. Neither, however, considered Paganini helpful or inspirational. In 1835, Paganini returned to Parma, this time under the employ of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon’s second wife. He was in charge of reorganizing her court orchestra, but he eventually conflicted with the players & court, so his visions never saw completion. In Paris, he befriended the 11-year-old Polish virtuoso Apollinaire de Kontski, giving him some lessons & a signed testimonial. It was widely put about, falsely, that Paganini was so impressed with de Kontski’s skills that he bequeathed him his violins & manuscripts.

Final Years & Death/Burial: In 1836, Paganini returned to Paris to set up a casino. Its immediate failure left him in financial ruin, and he auctioned off his personal effects, including his musical instruments, to recoup his losses. At Christmas of 1838, he left Paris for Marseille and, after a brief stay, traveled to Nice where his condition worsened. In May 1840, the Bishop of Nice sent Paganini a local parish priest to perform the last rites. Paganini assumed the sacrament was premature, and refused. Photo: Sculpture of Niccolò Paganini in a park in Parma, Italy.

A week later, on 27 May 1840, the 57-year-old Paganini died from internal hemorrhaging before a priest could be summoned. Because of this, and his widely rumored association with the devil, the Church denied his body a Catholic burial in Genoa. It took four years & an appeal to the Pope before the Church let his body be transported to Genoa, but it was still not buried. His body was finally buried in 1876, in a cemetery in Parma. In 1893, the Czech violinist František Ondříček persuaded Paganini’s grandson, Attila, to allow a viewing of the violinist’s body. After this episode, Paganini’s body was finally reinterred in a new cemetery in Parma in 1896.

Photo: Henriette Sontag and Niccolò Paganini. Detail of Parade on Opernplatz in 1822 by Franz Krüger

Personal Life: Though having no shortage of romantic relations, Paganini was seriously involved with a singer named Antonia Bianchi from Como, whom he met in Milan in 1813. The two gave concerts together throughout Italy. They had a son, Achille Ciro Alessandro, born on 23 July 1825 in Palermo & baptized at San Bartolomeo’s. They never legalized their union & it ended around April 1828 in Vienna. Paganini brought Achille on his European tours, and Achille later accompanied his father until the latter’s death. Throughout his career, Paganini also became close friends with composers Gioachino Rossini & Hector Berlioz. Rossini & Paganini met in Bologna in the summer of 1818. In January 1821, on his return from Naples, Paganini met Rossini again in Rome, just in time to become the substitute conductor for Rossini’s opera Matilde di Shabran, upon the sudden death of the original conductor. Paganini’s efforts earned great gratitude from Rossini. Paganini met Berlioz in Paris in 1833 & they continued to correspond. He commissioned a piece from the composer, but was not satisfied with the resultant four-movement piece for orchestra & viola obbligato, Harold en Italie. He never performed it; instead, it was premiered a year later by violist Christian Urhan. He did, however, write his own Sonata per Gran Viola Op. 35 [with orchestra or guitar accompaniment]. Despite his alleged lack of interest in Harold, Paganini often referred to Berlioz as the resurrection of Beethoven and, towards the end of his life, he gave large sums to the composer. They shared an active interest in the guitar, which they both played & used in compositions. Paganini gave Berlioz a guitar, which they both signed on its sound box.

Instruments: Paganini was in possession of a number of fine stringed instruments, including 11 Stradivari at the time of his death. More legendary than these were the circumstances under which he obtained [and lost] some of them. While Paganini was still a teenager in Livorno, a wealthy businessman named Livron lent him a violin, made by the master luthier Giuseppe Guarneri, for a concert. Livron was so impressed with Paganini’s playing that he refused to take it back. This particular violin came to be known as Il Cannone Guarnerius [“The Cannon of Guarnieri“] because of its powerful voice & resonance.

Picture: Il Cannone Guarnerius on exhibit at the Palazzo Doria-Tursi in Genoa, Italy.

Other instruments associated with Paganini include the Antonio Amati 1600, the Nicolò Amati 1657, the Paganini-Desaint 1680 Stradivari, the Guarneri-filius Andrea 1706, the Le Brun 1712 Stradivari, the Vuillaume c. 1720 Bergonzi, the Hubay 1726 Stradivari, and the Comte Cozio di Salabue 1727 violins; the Countess of Flanders 1582 da Salò-di Bertolotti, and the Mendelssohn 1731 Stradivari violas; the Piatti 1700 Goffriller, the Stanlein 1707 Stradivari, and the Ladenburg 1736 Stradivari cellos; and the Grobert of Mirecourt 1820 [guitar]. Of his guitars, there is little evidence remaining of his various choices of instrument. The aforementioned guitar that he gave to Berlioz is a French instrument made by one Grobert of Mirecourt. The luthier made his instrument in the style of René Lacôte, a more well-known Paris-based guitar-maker. It is preserved & on display in the Musée de la Musique in Paris. Of the guitars he owned through his life, there was an instrument by Gennaro Fabricatore that he had refused to sell even in his periods of financial stress, and was among the instruments in his possession at the time of his death.

Bust of Niccolò Paganini by David d'Angers [1830–1833]

Violin technique: The Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis once referred to Paganini as a phenomenon rather than a development. Though some of the techniques frequently employed by Paganini were already present, most accomplished violinists of the time focused on intonation & bowing techniques. Arcangelo Corelli [1653–1713] was considered a pioneer in transforming the violin from an ensemble instrument to a solo instrument. Other notable violinists included Antonio Vivaldi [1678–1741] & Giuseppe Tartini [1692–1770], who, in their compositions, reflected the increasing technical & musical demands on the violinist. Although the role of the violin in music drastically changed through this period, progress in violin technique was steady but slow. Much of Paganini’s playing [and his violin composition] was influenced by two violinists, Pietro Locatelli [1693–1746] & August Duranowski [Auguste Frédéric Durand] [1770–1834]. During Paganini’s study in Parma, he came across the 24 Caprices of Locatelli [entitled L'arte di nuova modulazione – Capricci enigmatici or The art of the new style – the enigmatic caprices]. Published in the 1730s, they were shunned by the musical authorities for their technical innovations, and were forgotten by the musical community at large. Around the same time, Durand, a former student of Giovanni Battista Viotti [1755–1824], became a celebrated violinist. He was renowned for his use of harmonics, both natural & artificial [which had previously not been attempted in performance], and the left hand pizzicato in his performance. Paganini was impressed by Durand’s innovations & showmanship, which later also became the hallmarks of the young violin virtuoso. Paganini was instrumental in the revival & popularization of these violinistic techniques. Another aspect of Paganini’s violin techniques concerned his flexibility. He had exceptionally long fingers & was capable of playing three octaves across four strings in a hand span, an extraordinary feat even by today’s standards.

Compositions: Paganini composed his own works to play exclusively in his concerts, all of which profoundly influenced the evolution of violin technique. His 24 Caprices were likely composed between 1805 & 1809, while he was in the service of the Baciocchi court. Also during this period, he composed the majority of the solo pieces, duo-sonatas, trios, and quartets for the guitar, either as a solo instrument or with strings. These chamber works may have been inspired by the publication, in Lucca, of the guitar quintets of Boccherini. Many of his variations, including Le Streghe, The Carnival of Venice, and Nel cor più non mi sento, were composed, or at least first performed, before his European concert tour. His six violin concertos were written between 1817 & 1830. Generally speaking, Paganini’s compositions were technically imaginative, and the timbre of the instrument was greatly expanded as a result of these works. Sounds of different musical instruments & animals were often imitated. One such composition was titled Il Fandango Spanolo [The Spanish Dance], which featured a series of humorous imitations of farm animals. Even more outrageous was a solo piece Duetto Amoroso, in which the sighs & groans of lovers were intimately depicted on the violin. There survives a manuscript of the Duetto, which has been recorded. The existence of the Fandango is known only through concert posters.

Eugène Ysaÿe criticized Paganini’s works for lacking characteristics of true polyphonism. Yehudi Menuhin, on the other hand, suggested that this might have been the result of Paganini’s reliance on the guitar [in lieu of the piano] as an aid in composition. The orchestral parts for his concertos were often polite, unadventurous, and clearly supportive of the soloist. In this, his style is consistent with that of other Italian composers such as Giovanni Paisiello, Gioachino Rossini, and Gaetano Donizetti, who were influenced by the guitar-song milieu of Naples during this period. Paganini’s “La Campanella“ & the A minor Caprice [No. 24] have inspired many composers, including Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Boris Blacher, Andrew Lloyd Webber, George Rochberg, and Witold Lutosławski, all of whom wrote variations on these works.

[00:00:00-00:02:46] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=166 [00:02:47-00:05:46] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=346 [00:05:47-00:08:30] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=510 [00:08:31-00:11:24] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=684 [00:11:25-00:13:49] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=829** [00:13:50-00:16:15] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=975 [00:16:16-00:19:23] https://youtu.be/I4ksijKwBR0?t=1163

Ingredients

Directions

Make dough:

Combine the warm water and sugar in a bowl. Stir well.

Add the active dry yeast and let it sit for a few minutes until the yeast melts.

Add the salt and flour. Mix well with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes until it turns smooth without any lumps at all.

Cover and let it sit until the volume doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Prepare the potato & skewers:

Boil a quart of water in a pan, blanch for 2 minutes & drain.

Drain the potato and rinse in cold running water to remove any excess starch.

Drain the potato and dry out out the pieces with a cotton cloth or paper towel.

Put potato into a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons flour. Set aside.

Skewer the hot dogs on skewers or wooden chopsticks.

Shaping and frying:

Heat 4 inches of oil in a large frying pan or wok to 320°F- 330°F. Pan should be deep & wide enough to immerse at least one hot dog plus stick. If you don’t have kitchen thermometer, use a wooden chopstick to dip a bit of dough into oil. If it bubbles vigorously, it’s ready to fry!

Place diced potato/bread cubes/instant noodles/rice puffs/coconut flakes/praline (whatever you want) on your cutting board next to your bread crumbs and your batter, all in a row. Coat a hot dog skewer with the batter, turning the skewer around so it’s fully covered. You can use your hands to shape it a bit, if you need to! Then roll it in the potato bits, and pack them into the batter a bit with your hands, until they stick. Then roll it in the breadcrumbs until it’s completely covered before dropping the battered dog into the hot oil.

Fry for 6 to 7 minutes, use tongs to remove, repeat with remaining skewers.

Dust and Garnish

You can garnish as you like, but Korean street vendors lightly dust each hot dog in sugar, and then drizzle both ketchup and yellow mustard over top.

Serve and eat right away!

Kids Book Read Aloud THE LORAX by Dr. Seuss | Katie's Storybook Adventures https://www.youtube.com/@KatiesStoryBookAdventures/videos https://youtu.be/5iu7O3w-go0