J. Orlin Grabbe (1947-2008)

For the past several years my favorite spot on the web has been J. Orlin Grabbe's daily updated website. Orlin was fascinated by the edges of society, its dark underbelly, with hidden secrets, lies in the guise of truth, and weirdness of all varieties. Each morning I would pour myself a cup of coffee and delve into Orlin's latest collection of strange and forbidden knowledge ranging from the latest experiments in quantum mechanics to outlandish political and financial manipulations.

J. Orlin Grabbe earned degrees from Berkeley and Harvard in economics, taught at Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania and is the author of "International Financial Markets" a definitive textbook on derivatives and other financial instruments, deemed important enough to be translated into Chinese. Grabbe was by nature a maverick and participated in many libertarian financial operations such as FX Systems, Laissez Faire City, Dodge City and the Digital Monetary Trust. He worked for some time in Dubai, then moved to Costa Rica where he died of a heart attack on March 15, 2008.

Fortunately, some of his buddies continue to add to and maintain his remarkable website where a portion of his writings, including papers on economics, satire and quantum mechanics are archived. Adios, Orlin. I miss you.