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Like dominoes.

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The hacking of Stratfor has been described as the “digital equivalent of a nuclear bomb,” gaining passwords, credit card information, client lists, and the bonanza: millions of internal emails revealing the operations of what’s been called “a sort of private CIA.”

However, this is a complete exaggeration by the media. Stratfor’s servers were damaged, but civil disobedience often involves property damage. Either way, the U.S. government was the one who incited the Stratfor hack in the first place, and business went on as usual, after the leak. Many pundits have also commented on how uneventful the Stratfor leaks were as well as the fact that the Stratfor intelligence found in those emails is not much different than what you’d find in the Economist or the Foreign Affairs journal.

Stratfor is a joke and so is Wikileaks for taking it seriously. Stratfor is just The Economist a week later and several hundred times more expensive.

However, there were some interesting revelations nonetheless.

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When Kennedy’s casket arrived at Dallas Parkland Hospital, his wife, Jackie Kennedy (Onassis), took off her ring and placed it in John’s hand, after which, she turned to John’s top aid, Kenneth O'Donnell, and said:

Now I have nothing.
(pg. 145)

From: Four Days in November

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Status symbols have nothing to do with the actual item and everything to do with how we perceive the item. This is called a “Veblen good”, where a high price actually increases demand and lowering the price decreases demand, defying the golden rule of economics.

Basically all “luxury” products fall under this category to some extent, but one particularly good example of this in the watch world is Rolex. “Hypebeast” wouldn’t even do this brand justice. Rolex’s subsidiary – Tudor – essentially sells the same exact watches, but for half the price. People buy Rolex because of the bloated perception of the brand, not because they make a particularly great watch. The irony is Rolex makes about 800,000 watches a year…anything but exclusive.

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) rocking the ultimate 80’s status symbol – the Rolex Datejust

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An ode to the wristwatch’s place – present and future – in Rap.

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