My dear lovely people, recently there has been a spike in the number of people asking me when they’re going to die. It’s a good question, in the sense doctors nor scientists (or even statisticians) can give a good answer. So this comes under “esoteric” wisdom, and that is one murky field of knowledge.

First off you have to understand that, we as humans have an unconscious competence for certain things and as much as atheists and liberal media like to make people think that we’re all simpletons, who want to eat and kill, and that we’ve descended from monkeys and what not. We possess a soul and because we’ve been unaware (or in some cases rejected this idea) for so long we’ve forgotten how to tap in to our divine talents…

If you doubt your gift, analyze it, and or try to make scientific sense out of it then your understanding will be limited, you’ll be held back from all that your higher self has to offer you! But if you fully submit to this universal omnipotence then your self imposed limits and barriers will melt away and with that one act of submission you’ll start on a path to self discovery. You’ll easily be able to find out when your physical body will expire (read: figure out when you’ll die).

1. Show me Oh Lord my life’s end, my number of days-you have made my days a mere hand breadth.

2. Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

From the above quotes, we can understand that they (Moses and David) both knew how to count their days. All real knowledge starts with a feeling, the more you give in to it, the more it will guide you; this grand wisdom can be channeled for any number of purposes. Today’s exercise – try and give in to your soul more, let the bright white energy fill you. And you’ll find that you’re being guided towards the right path.

Know why today is special? I’ll give you a hint – it is the New Year (in the Hebrew Calendar). Happy Rosh Hashanah, my lovely people. I admit, I usually maintain silence on holidays, especially when it comes to wishing people. But I think that this New Year is necessary, for all of us as a new beginning. The past year (let’s face it, 3 years) we’ve been a little off, admit it come on! It is time to brush it off, let all the ill will and resentment fade away. It is time for healing, and of course time for pleasure. But let’s focus on the healing part.

Here is to, having a spectacular New Year full of joy and gratifying experiences. “Enjoy the good times because nothing feels better. Be grateful for the bad times for they make the good times worth it.”

Regards,
Salim Abraham

1990, Kuwait: I was living a picturesque life (almost like a Norman Rockwell painting). I was young, in love, gainfully employed; I had my family with me (Papa, Mom, beautiful Wife, my adventurous Brother, my spirited Sister, and my two lovely daughters) not to mention Dei Gratia, my health. Have you had a time in your life you (now) wish you could go back to? Well it wasn’t really THAT period in my life, but nonetheless my life was good… let me rephrase that my life was remarkable. I was living in Kuwait, a good place to be in at the time (or so I thought). So early 1990 I had this dream, I was walking the streets of Kuwait and I see a variety of guns and ammo strewn all around. In the dream, I pick one of the guns up and I start admiring the beautiful killing machine, how well-built it is. I think it was an Avtomat Kalashnikova. In the dream itself I was a bit dumbfounded about how this could happen, weapons on the street of Kuwait, where possession of a firearm is a violation of the law, and illegal weapon owners are punished severely! But that was it, after seeing that intense dream; it was as though I was under a spell of constant dread.

But why, why this foreboding sense of evil, of impending doom? There was nothing wrong with me, one way or the other. I saw a dream, a very vivid and revealing dream but it was a dream nonetheless! I counted my blessings – good job at the bank, a good car, a wonderful apartment and all the little things that make life great (like Ferragamo shoes, and Hermès ties).

My wife, Susy, though expecting, was in good health. So was Sarah, five and a half years old, and Ruth, two years old. We were not in some war-torn country like Africa or Cambodia. We were in Kuwait where the strong, benevolent rule of the Amir, his Highness Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, ensured order and prosperity to both the natives and expatriates! Life was pleasant and smooth here, and everyone expected it to continue. What, after all, could happen to make beautiful Kuwait look like what I’d seen in my dream?!
Despite the melancholic mood, I made the best of it, I tried to at least, and I was invited for dinner along with my brother to our parents’ home. So after work, I joined them to dine, and once we were done with dinner I went out to the terrace, to admire the wonderful view they had of the Kuwait Towers.

The towers are sort of the embodiment of Kuwait’s grandeur and opulence, tall and majestic rising from the Gulf waters. Since it was late, the noise of the traffic had died down, and I was alone with the silence.  I fell into a trance, musing about the luxury and stability the state offered to its people, trying hard to dispel the morbid dream that was swirling around in my head. I was so immersed in thought, and almost in a daze, when all of a sudden, from around base of the Towers I heard the deafening noise of bombs exploding, machine guns firing and tanks rolling. I didn’t realize that I had actually started shouting, “The war has begun! The war has begun!” My brother came running, thumped me on the back as though he was trying to wake me up and teased me, telling me that I’d been watching too much news. So I went back in, and joined the family for dessert like a normal person.

Little did I know how my life was going to change. Very soon dodging bullets, hiding money (from Iraqi soldiers), navigating around road mines, negotiating my way out of forced abductions and instant executions would become part of my daily repertoire. And eventually finding Kalashnikov’s (the machine gun I saw in the dream) strewn all over the street wouldn’t even give me pause.

Late July 1990: The Kuwait Times proclaimed in bold letters: “Only a passing cloud, a minor dispute between two sister states.” It was a direct quote from the Crown Prince, second in line to the throne, assuring the masses there was no cause to worry about the small dispute between Kuwait and Iraq. But on August 1st, 1990, at about 12:30 pm, while I was working in the Banks main office, Reuters flashed the news about thirty thousand Iraqi soldiers with tanks and ammunition moving towards the Kuwaiti border. I said to my friend, Mr. Walid, that even if Iraq were to attack Kuwait, we were too tiny a state to retaliate. So it was best to face the situation calmly and let the world conscience speak for us. Though I said so, I couldn’t envisage what would befall this tiny state and its people. That day, August 1st had been a busy one, because of the ‘closing of accounts’ process that comes around every 1st of the month. I reached home late and spent a quiet evening with Susy, and the kids.

War has begun!

On Monday, 2nd August, 1990, at about 5:30 am, I was up early enjoying my bath before starting for the office when Susy banged on the door and shouted that the war had begun! She said that she had heard explosions. I rushed into the bedroom and opened the window. The explosions were coming from very far – probably from around the Kuwait International Airport. My dear cousin, Ancy, who lived in Farwaniya (a place near the International Airport) phoned and confirmed our suspicions, she frantically told us that the war had begun! She strongly advised us to stay home, and not to venture out.

Like I’d listen.

It was a busy week at the Bank, and I really wanted to see what a war zone looked like. My curiosity coupled with my sense of duty (to the Bank) got the best of me and I got ready and waited for my Egyptian colleague (and friend), Mr. Hanni, who’d always drive to work with me. Hanni had not heard the explosions and being a hilarious Egyptian, he made a big joke of the whole thing. And so, we got into my car. We had no idea what we were getting into, in hindsight I shouldn’t have gone out.

The wrong road can get you killed.

Why, we don’t know but instead of taking the beach road aka the Gulf street road (the easy route to the bank), we ended up taking the Embassy (or Istiqlal) road to the bank. Later we found out that a terrible massacre had occurred on the beach road (Gulf Street), motorists and pedestrians were ruthlessly butchered by the Iraqi Army. They’d ask you to come out of your car at a check point and shoot you in the head (execution style). Had we taken it, I doubt if I’d still be alive. I am inclined to believe that some higher power was protecting us.

While we were driving through Embassy Street, we felt that it was unusually deserted but for a few vehicles passing by. Usually the traffic was rather dense come morn. The Burgan Bank Main Office in Sharq, Kuwait City stood eighteen storeys high opposite to the Amiri Palace and the Kuwait Towers which are in its vicinity, rising up from the beach sand. From the Bank we have a clear view over most of Kuwait. I parked my car in the Burgan Bank parking lot. We got out and started walking toward the shiny building, as we were approaching the main entrance we saw the Bank security guards looking toward the Amiri Palace, and then at us, they looked almost as though they were in shock!

Bullets don’t whiz…

Contrary to popular belief when you get shot at (especially by soldiers with automatic weapons) the sound you hear is not a “whiz” but more or less a “whsst”, the “st” really makes a difference. You’ll notice this if you have a chance to live after getting shot at. Walking toward the main entrance, we felt something flying past us with a “whsst, whsst” sound! The Bank security guards hysterically gestured to us to get into the Bank as quickly as possible. We sprinted the last meter toward the shiny building that now seemed like the only safe place and in we went. When inside the guards, still in shock, asked us why we’d come in (turns out most people stay home when a war breaks out). The “whsst” sounds where in fact shots fired at us by Iraqi snipers positioned at the roundabout (before the Amiri Palace). I went up to the fourth floor and looked out through the window. Down below, in the roundabout before the Amiri Palace, were soldiers in olive-green uniforms with backpacks and automatic rifles, hiding behind date palms, three of them were stealthily moving from one palm tree to another, towards the Amiri Palace. Another three were covering these soldiers; they were facing the bank building. They were firing intermittently at the Kuwait Police Intelligence Office next to the Burgan Bank. From the police Intelligence Office, one or two Kuwait nationals in dishdashas (Kuwaiti men’s national dress) were ineffectively retaliating with their side arms (water pistols compared to the machine guns the Iraqis were using).

Cars don’t just stop, do they?

Then I saw a white Ford car speeding towards the Amiri Palace entrance. But it stopped suddenly at the Palace gates. I didn’t understand why. Two days later, when I walked past the Amiri Palace entrance, I saw the car still there with the driver’s door opened. There were blood stains all over the driver’s seat with shreds of his clothes. The driver had been Sheikh Fahd, the Amir’s half-brother and Sports Minister, who had been machine-gunned at the gates of the Palace! He had died a brave man, one of the popular members of the Royal Family. Well at least, now I know how the speeding car stopped, mystery solved!

This is the first in a series about my experiences in Gulf War excerpted from my book “The fire will not burn thee: How to live and love in the time of War”, if you liked it be sure to keep your eyes on the blog for more.

This article is written by guest writer Katya Nicoleni.

I was talking to an investor in the know yesterday, mostly about tech companies and their ginormous (and often unrealistic) valuations. Inevitably we talked about LinkedIn (a site neither one of us use). Apparently this ‘in the know investor’ had a significant pre IPO (Initial Public Offering) stake of nonpublic shares, it was allotted to him for a favor he’d performed an IB (Investment Banking) friend of his. This didn’t strike me as unusual because pre IPO shares get “gifted” all the time, and IB’s miss price the shares grossly (under price) on top of this IPO underwriters and book runners pretty much openly manipulate the price of the newly listed share so that the holders of these shares make a decent profit on listing day. What caught my attention was that this ‘in the know investor’ was assured a big profit (or pop) on listing day by his IB friend and this IB friend happened to work at a street favorite bank holding IB that had sold all of its holdings in LinkedIn (essentially giving up the profit they were assuring other people). Seems kind of counter intuitive don’t you think? I mean, you know a stock is going to go up (by 150%) nonetheless you sell your whole stake before the big pop (and make a big show of your sale), why? I felt the urge to dig a little deeper and I came across some interesting (scandalous you ask? well… maybe not after 2008) news.

The Sting: What do you need to pull of the perfect con? You’ll need a mark (retail investors), an offer (Facebook shares), a convincer (LinkedIn pop), and a blow off (massive price drop). If done right the mark doesn’t know you’ve conned him till you’ve had time to split with his money. Con artists and IB’s are necessary to keep the dumb people population down, I digress. Here is why LinkedIn is basically the convincer for Facebook (wetting everybody’s lips for the big IPO) , so that retail investors will buy Facebook shares in droves (and get slaughtered). Which IB is taking FB public? It’s a certain one that goes by the name of GS (or We’ll Sack your Men and take your Gold as they’re known on the street) GS has made a big show by dumping LinkedIn shares before they hit the market, they seemingly missed the opportunity to double their money (a measly 40 mill) but nonetheless, these are not dumb people. They know when money is on the table and they never leave it there unless…

GS is very likely going to make a few billion by taking Facebook public. But recently RenRen (another social networking site from evil China) and such have been getting listed and the post IPO prices have nose-dived, so they (IB’s) need to make sure that “Social Networking” companies they’re gonna take public are not going to get shunned by the street (at least not before they bring out the big stingers). GS cleverly leaked some FB private disclosures (that say FB makes 30% net profit), sold all LinkedIn private shares before listing to make it look like they didn’t have a hand in the 150% pop. This will ensure that marks (aka suckers, wait there is a joke in here somewhere Mark Zuck… damn) will buy in to all the coming social networking companies hoping to make a profit similar to the one they saw people get on LinkedIn only to be given the blow off (in the market, the blow off is a beautiful thing). This is a theory, one that I have gleaned from whispers of astute investors, IB players, and tech nerds. So maybe I could be wrong, maybe a company making less than 20 mill is really worth 9… I mean 10 billion .

The fine print of the LinkedIn prospectus shows management plans to issue millions more in stock and options to insiders — massively diluting current shareholders. LinkedIn is now valued at $10 billion. That’s 660 times last year’s net income of $15 million. Surely no one would invest in a high-risk stock like LinkedIn unless they expected strong capital gains (there are no dividends, naturally). But if you are hoping LinkedIn will rise by, say, 20% a year from here, be aware of what that would mean: In 10 years’ time, it would be valued at $62 billion. (And that ignores potential dilution from new stock and options.) If by then the stock were trading on a more reasonable multiple of, say, 20 times earnings, net income would have to be $3.1 billion. How do you get from $15 million to $3.1 billion in 10 years? 1) Wishful thinking. 2) You grow earnings by 70% a year, every year, for a decade. Good luck with that.

I’ve been trying to short the stock from my Dads account but can’t seem to do it. I’ll be shorting as soon as I can. Well I leave you with something to think about ladies and gentlemen…

U. S. stocks faced a massive sell off as commodities fell, and economic slowdown fears rose. After setting a low of 183 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA closed down 130.33 points / 1.02%, to 12,630.03. Two of the biggest movers of the blue-chip index were oil companies: Chevron Corp. (-2.01%) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (-2.11%). The S&P500 declined 15.08 points / 1.1%, to 1,342.08, with energy and natural-resource stocks doing most damage. The energy sector closed down 2.9%.

The CME halted trades in oil, gasoline and heating-oil futures after the June contracts set off circuit breakers. It’s sad, nobody could have possibly predicted this!

Okay. No need to panic, as long as you haven’t leveraged up your trades and as long as you know where the exits are you won’t get killed. Rumors of CME raising trading margins on OIL (along with everything else) and data showing crude oil inventory build up could mean we’re in for a massive sell off! So it would be wise to dump OIL (yes, I am talking to you, oil terrorists, and “dumb money” holders of oil) Crude Oil Inventories data (which will show significant crude build up) will be released on the 11th, and that should act as a nice catalyst to bring the prices down. Macro economic view: Commodities going down should take the pressure off of companies who are facing significantly higher input costs, so equities should trend higher but if the commodity sell off is violent then it could force selling in everything (to cover margins and what not) and if that happens then global markets will go down.

Best thing to do would be to get out of all risky trades (EQ’s or Comm’s). I fear that we’ll see a sell off similar to one we saw in silver. Fortune favors the brave, and kills off the rest. So perhaps it would be wise to pick up a few PUT’s (Big Oil, and General Indexes), eh? Good luck, and trade wise.

At time of publication, Salim Abraham, was net long Gold, Silver, and net short Oil and financials though positions can change at any time. None of the information in this column constitutes a recommendation by Abraham of any particular security or that any security or trading strategy is suitable for any specific person.

Now, I like Assange although I generally hate snitches (let’s be honest he is kinda one of the biggest, nay most famous snitches on the planet), I feel that there is a need for a counter force, and he is a part of this counter force that maintains a balance (though he comes across as a fame whore). So today, our favorite snitch (who is shamelessly milking his 5 minutes of fame to appear on every local, national, and web program on the planet) gave an interview to RT (Russia Times, sort of the new Pravda). And on it he said FB is the “most appalling spy machine that has ever been invented”. And when probed by the (controversy seeking) interviewer he went on to say.

Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other, and their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US Intelligence.

And he further went on to say that Facebook isn’t the only social network spying on the masses, he believes FB is joined by Google, Yahoo and other major US organizations that have “built in interfaces for US Intelligence”.

It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena, they have an interface they have developed for US Intelligence to use. Now, is the case that Facebook is run by US Intelligence? No, it’s not like that. It’s simply that US Intelligence is able to bring to bear legal and political pressure to them.

And the reason for this? It’s costly for them to hand out individual records, one by one, so they have automated the process. I.E. Intelligence organizations can log-in to FB and spy on you like you spy on your ex-girlfriend. The Wikileaks founder then warns Facebook users- if a user adds their friend to Facebook, they are “doing free work for US Intelligence agencies, in building this electronic database for them”. It’s not like anyone needed anymore reasons to stop using Facebook. So what do you think, is Julian Assange kinda jealous of Mark “the Zuck” Zuckerberg or what? Anyways, note to all journalists if you need a semi famous person to say anything you want, go interview Assange.

Source: Russia Times (RT).

I was trying to log-in to Twitter and I got this weird server down message. What do you guys make of it?

A picture is worth a 1000 words.

Twitter is a wonderful service (unfortunately it is often misused by ‘certain’ narcissists) and even though they are pulling very high valuations (ranging from $2 billion to $10 billion) they can’t seem to keep their servers running! Who else is sick of twitters constant server outages? Come on, @Biz Stone, this is not 2008, get your house in order. Or your 5 minutes of fame could vanish in to thin air like ether.

Aren’t you a little sick and tired about the media pushing the royal wedding down our throats? I know I am. In fact I am ashamed to be a part of a community that frantically celebrates this sycophantic tradition. We prop up a dead monarchy and act as though it has some meaning, sillier still are the people trying to gain a little bit of power by associating with said dead monarchy (ranking and discriminating based on who is closest to the “Royals” and based on who got invited to the “Royal” wedding). This is monumentally retarded, and it reflects poorly on us, collectively as a society (not us, you and me. I mean the uncool people).

Lady Gaga and Justin Whateva is our new royalty, at least they keep us engaged. They’re (somewhat) talented and try real hard to keep our attention, and we appreciate them because they weren’t born in to their roles! And when (note: I am not saying “if”) we get bored with them (GayGay and Whateva) we’ll log-on to YOUtube and find the next starving performance artist who’ll entertain us for the season.

This is the simple truth, back in the day we didn’t have conveniences such as Uncle Internet or Aunt YOUtube and thus we willingly submitted to the monarchs who were flamboyant enough to keep us entertained (with the charades). In fact if you carefully observe, all (successful) cults (or any collective force) throughout history have used events / shows such as this to keep their people subservient, united, and entertained. Because un-entertained masses can get up to a lot of trouble (read: revolt). But now we’ve found our new loves, we don’t need the dog and pony show. Right this second there is a starving writer / actor (/comedian) somewhere in the world trying to discover something that will please us, the audience better.

Hey! Let us take pleasure in the fact that this is making all those involved famous. Take for example Kate Middlefingers brother (James Middleton) who is turning his sisters union (and the accompanying fame) in to success for his cake making business[1] (you can’t make this scheiße up!) This is remarkable, society regressing back to the times when one became successful by luring the King (or Prince) to marry in to the family (like Henry The VIII and Anne Boleyn).

Come on, guys, this wasn’t even funny back then. We’re setting the stage for Anarchy or at least a $50 million quagmire (with Fighter jets and all) that gets shoved down our collective throats whether we want it or not. What do you think?

President Obama gets it… Unfortunately it’s a little late (about three years late to be precise). It is understandable as to why he’d act now. Americans are getting mad, paying $4 a gallon (or 5.69 if you’re unlucky enough to be in Orlando) is not easily digestible (Nymex Crude above $100 is equally unpalatable). Obama gets that if he does not make a few heads roll, he is probably not going to get re-elected. Isn’t it nice when self interest makes the president do the right thing? In this case Obama is going to take down a few economic terrorists (and the investment banking enablers – who got him to the White House in the first place) so that he can get himself re-elected next term.

The truth is, there’s no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away, Obama said in prepared remarks for his opening statement at a townhall-style meeting in Nevada. “The Attorney General’s putting together a team whose job it will be to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices – and that includes the role of traders and speculators. We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain,” Obama said.

He ought to have said “oil terrorists” instead of “traders”! Perhaps Barrack is worried about “pump-shock” (fyi, pump-shock is when people go to the gas pump and realize they’re getting screwed) forcing us to revolt (Tunisia style). So the only question that remains is… are the masses too fat to revolt? I ask because (cue the laughter) to my understanding there is a physical aspect to it.

Source: Reuters.