dubious claims

  • 29 May 2012 at 7:15 PM

BusinessWeek: If You’re Going To Freebase A Seed, Make It A Chia

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Christine Kenney, a triathlete who works the equity capital markets execution desk at Citigroup (C) in Manhattan, starts every morning at work with a bowl of low-fat yogurt, honey, and a heap of chia seeds. Throughout the day she subsists on chia snack bars. “It’s better for my job because I’m not supposed to be off the desk very much,” she says, noting how she’s gotten most of the co-workers from her desk hooked on the seeds. “There’s other seeds out there that are nutritious, but this is the best. It’s the alpha seed.” Among Wall Street’s trading desks and bullpens, chia seeds are becoming the stimulant of choice. Healthier than coffee, cheaper (and obviously more legal) than cocaine, and less juvenile than a 5-hour Energy drink, chia has undergone a total metamorphosis from 1980s punchline (Chia Pet’s “ch-ch-ch-chia” jingle still haunts Gen Xers) to superfood. [BusinessWeek]

  • 23 Feb 2011 at 11:31 AM

Ken Griffin Invests $10 Million With Guy Who Claims He Can Toilet-Train Children In One Day

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As you may have heard, Ken Griffin and his wife are funding a preschool in Chicago called the Griffin Early Childhood Center, as part of “one of the largest field experiments ever conducted in economics.” The Griffin Experiment is being run by a University of Chicago professor named John List, whose goal is to determine “whether investing in teachers or, alternatively, in parents, leads to more gains in kids’ educational performance.” In our capacity as an unofficial Citadel adviser, part of our job is to run due diligence on the hedge fund’s investments, including background checks on the individuals to whom KG is forking over money. In the case of List, we found an interesting claim that seems to raise a red flag. Read more »

  • 23 Nov 2009 at 4:59 PM

Has Lloyd Blankfein Stopped Reading The Papers?

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One Jabroni Pony, perhaps maybe bristling at the fact that Lloyd has chosen not to take his career advice, say yes. Is it true? The JP believes it is so, down in his gut. Do the rumblings have anything to do with some bad pork product last night? Unclear. Anyway, bigger question: if the nitrates in Gasparino’s stomach are actually on to something, did Lloyd ever read the papers? Or did he have the papers read to him?
Earlier: Charlie Gasparino Has A Suggestion For Lloyd Blankfein