Hey check it! While I was researching that last post about the economy, I came across a rumination on great moments in the history of capital markets, by a fellow named Raymond Lau.

When I was younger I idolized someone by that name because he had created, at age 16, the inimitable Mac compression utility called StuffIt. By virtue of that, he was a formidable figure of what could be achieved in life.

This bio reminded me of reading that he got the MacUser "Derek van Alstyne Rising Star Award" in 1989, which was named after one of the two MacUser employees killed in the SF earthquake that year. The last I heard of Lau, he had sold the product to Alladin Systems to go off to college, and I figured we'd never hear of him again.

Sure enough, this Lau, the one who's nostalgic for those great moments in the capital markets, is the same one; he got his CS Ph.D. from MIT and was doing voice recognition research until he got sucked into the bubble: "The venture will be in the area of eCommerce. More details will follow as confidentiality requirements ease" (1999). Go fig.