from Amazon
Monday, June 23, 2008
Psychics are consulting for Fortune 500 and other companies and businesses
This is non-baseball related of course.
Here is the article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142632
I have nothing against training the staff of your company to be more “intuitive,” but…
Perhaps rather than companies being desperate for some kind of unconventional help because they are hurting, they are hurting because they are using unconventional help like this.
I don’t know about you, but I would make a list all the companies who are using psychics and make sure that I don’t invest in them.
This is sad. Really sad.
You know how we often say that we don’t understand why baseball teams are not run like any other billion dollar corporations? Maybe that is a good thing.
The hedge fund guy who divested in a company on the advice of a psychic should be immediately fired and sued for breach of fiduciary duty.
Have you ever heard of Lydia Diamond of Canada from a few years back? This is classic:
Globe says OSC sees ... Lydia Diamond hearing in May
2002-04-02 09:16 ET - In the News
The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that the Ontario Securities Commission has scheduled a hearing for May in a case involving a prince, a princess, a psychic, a hunt for diamonds in Eastern Ontario and a great deal of allegedly unregistered stock. The Globe’s John Saunders writes that the commission’s enforcement staff accuses Jurgen and Emilia von Anhalt, who use the royal titles, of various breaches of securities law, including acting as unlicensed stockbrokers. The pair were chairman and president of Lydia Diamond Explorations of Canada, whose shares trade in the Toronto unlisted market. Also accused is Fran Harvie, described as a psychic enlisted by the couple in their diamond search north of Madoc, Ont., so far unsuccessfully. The OSC alleges that the von Anhalts sold more than 7.4 million shares from their personal holdings for about $1.58-million and that Ms. Harvie doubled as an unlicensed broker. The oddness of the case includes its probably unique search for diamonds in Southern Ontario. Pierre Letendre, a Montreal geologist who joined the board last fall, says, “The prince is, I gather, a German prince and she became a princess by marrying him.”
Globe says Lydia Diamond denies using fortune teller
2002-04-03 06:50 ET - In the News
The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, April 3, edition that the titled heads behind Lydia Diamond Exploration of Canada say the Ontario Securities Commission is wrong about at least one thing: They did not seek psychic guidance in their search for diamonds in the Eastern Ontario bush. The Globe’s John Saunders writes that Jurgen and Emilia von Anhalt, who style themselves prince and princess, are mum about an OSC complaint that they broke securities laws in selling more than $1.5-million worth of shares between 1996 and last year. Their lawyers, however, made the point Tuesday that Lydia uses geologists, not seers, and has a theoretical chance of finding a diamond mine on its property north of Madoc, Ont. Lydia’s lawyers say the OSC has not banned trading of the company’s shares on the Toronto unlisted market, nor threatened to do so. An OSC hearing is to begin on May 21. The allegations have not been proved. For her part, Ms. von Anhalt rejected an OSC claim that she hired a supposed psychic, Fran Harvie, to help find diamonds. Ms. Harvie is a Lydia shareholder but has never worked for the company “in a psychic capacity or any other capacity,” she said.
Globe says Lydia heads share personal details
2002-04-03 06:50 ET - In the News
The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, April 3, edition that Lydia Diamond Exploration of Canada chairman Jurgen von Anhalt and president Emilia von Anhalt shared personal details with reporters Tuesday. The Globe’s John Saunders writes that Mr. von Anhalt is 59, a German-born citizen of the Dominican Republic and a member of the royal house of the former German principality of Saxony. His previous claim to fame was as an artist who spattered buckets of paint on huge canvases. She is 34, an Italian-born Canadian who attended a Swiss boarding school, McMaster University and the University of Toronto, but she did not graduate from either university. The two launched their current career in 1994 while living in the Ontario village of Indian River, near Peterborough, when Mr. von Anhalt decided he wanted to own a gold mine. The couple say they began looking for gold near the site of a former silver mine at Wolf Lake, north of Madoc, but changed their focus when an assay lab reported that their samples suggested conditions that could be favourable for diamonds. They had no experience, Ms. von Anhalt said, “so we had to buy the book and learn it the hard way, by making mistakes.”
And then a follow-up press release from the company a few months later (headline written by the news service):
Lydia goes ectoplasmic about psychic coverage
2002-06-27 14:44 ET - News Release
Mr. Heinke Martens reports
STATEMENT OF THE INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS OF LYDIA DIAMOND EXPLORATION OF CANADA
QUOTE
In the past few days, there have been several articles and newspaper stories concerning Lydia Diamond Exploration of Canada. As the members of the independent committee of Lydia directors, we felt that it was important for our shareholders and others in the capital markets to keep in mind the following salient points:
1. Together as a group, we have many years of experience as board members of Canadian public companies.
2. Jurgen Prinz von Anhalt and Emilia Prinzessin von Anhalt continue to take an active part in Lydia in close co-operation with the co-chief-executive-officer Heinke Martens and the independent committee.
3. Since 1994, its predecessor company, and the von Anhalts spent over $1.7-million on exploration at the Wolf Lake property. The exploration work has included systematic till sampling, airborne and ground geophysical surveys, trenching, diamond drilling and air photo analysis.
4. During the same time period, Lydia has employed a number of experts to assist it with its geological work including: Mineral Services of Canada Inc.; Mason Exploration Associates Ltd.; Watts, Griffis and McOuat; Fenton Scott; Lakefield Research Limited; Turnstone Geological Services; and Dr. Herb Helmstaedt, the head of the department of geological sciences at Queen’s University, Saskatchewan Research Council, and Dr. Hamish McGregor.
5. To our knowledge, none of these experts are psychics, nor have they used a psychic to assist them in their fieldwork and analysis. They have used conventional and up-to-date geological techniques.
6. To suggest, as recent newspaper stories have, that Lydia’s exploration program is guided by a psychic is absolutely false. More importantly, we believe that these articles have detracted from the significant work that Lydia has carried out over the past eight years at Wolf Lake. The recent results of Lydia’s exploration progress have not received the same publicity as these false stories.
7. Since its amalgamation in May, 2001, Lydia has made significant improvements to its corporate governance procedures, its internal controls, its exploration work at Wolf Lake and its investor relations with its shareholders. The independent committee of the Lydia board of directors is committed to continuing that progress as the company continues to explore its Wolf Lake property.
8. No exploration company however, can promise its shareholders that the results of their hard work will be successful. However, Lydia’s management is committed to doing everything it possibly can towards the success of Lydia in its future endeavours.
9. Finally, the recent allegations, which have been made against Lydia by the Ontario Securities Commission, should not remain unaddressed. Lydia has retained a prominent Toronto law firm to ensure that Lydia’s business and prospects are accurately and thoroughly represented.
10. Lydia’s management is confident that Lydia will continue to advance its exploration program to develop its results to date, based upon sound principles of geology and corporate governance.
UNQUOTE