"Another anecdote concerns a ski resort in the Lebanon. The owner of the ski resort, deploring lack of snow, deposited at a shrine the Virgin Mary a $100 wishing for snow. Snow came, with such abundance, and avalanches, with people stuck in the cars, and the resort was forced to close, prompting the owner to quip ‘I should have only given $25.’"
— “Why We Don’t Know What We Talk About When We Talk About Probability,” Nassim N. Taleb, Jan 2012
(Source: fooledbyrandomness.com)
"
Nero Tulip became obsessed with trading after witnessing a strange scene one spring day as he was visiting the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. A red convertible Porsche, driven at several times the city speed limit, abruptly stopped in front of the entrance, its tires emitting the sound of pigs being slaughtered. A visibly demented athletic man in his thirties, his face flushed red, emerged and ran up the steps as if he were chased by a tiger. He left the car double-parked, its engine running, provoking an angry fanfare of horns. After a long minute, a bored young man clad in a yellow jacket (yellow was the color reserved for clerks) came down the steps, visibly untroubled by the traffic commotion. He drove the car into the underground parking garage—perfunctorily, as if it were his daily chore.
That day Nero Tulip was hit with what the French call a coup de foudre, a sudden intense (and obsessive) infatuation that strikes like lightning. “This is for me!” he screamed enthusiastically.
"
—
(Source: wallstreetoasis.com)
