Ghost Mail Weekender

Happy Sunday Voornaam,

Happy Sunday! You have an entire day to enjoy before you get back to work. Make it count.
The entry of Amazon into the South African market made headlines in the past week. We covered the stock in our latest Magic Markets Premium show, a research platform designed for those committed investors who are interested in really taking their learning to the next level.
It's quite a thing that we now have Amazon in our part of the world, particularly when you consider the lengths they will go to in a delivery. Let us explain...
An Amazon delivery driver went viral last year when he was caught on camera delivering a package while police were in the middle of what looked like an armed standoff. Much to the amusement of the woman filming the video, the Amazon employee casually walked past multiple police vehicles before finally having his route blocked by an armed police offer, who took the package from him.
Undeterred, he then turned around and walked back the way he came, pausing only to take a picture of the house as evidence that the package was delivered. Is this a sign of strong work ethic, or general worries about losing the job? You decide. Either way, he's totally qualified to work in South Africa!
Before we dive into the other great stuff this week, like the story of the Costa Concordia disaster or how Sri Lankan sportspeople tend to disappear while on tour, we want to highlight a couple of podcasts that you can enjoy today. The first is a brand new episode of Ghost Wrap, for which you need just four minutes to be updated on five locally listed companies. The second is more of a time commitment but is totally worth it, with The Finance Ghost and Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix discussing how bond ETFs work and how they can be used in a portfolio.
There's nothing wrong with learning on a Sunday. That's why you're here, isn't it?
Enjoy the rest of Ghost Mail Weekender and have a terrific day!
The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn)

What happens on tour, stays on tour - literally

TL:DR: In 2004, the entire national handball team of Sri Lanka (23 players and their coach) disappeared while participating in a sporting tournament in Germany.
Everything you need to know about life in Sri Lanka can probably be summed up by the fact that their athletes keep running away after participating in sporting events in other countries. In fact, athletes absconding during international tournaments is such a common problem for the country that they have coined a special term for it: decamping.
After a Canadian sporting event in 1993, just one member of the Sri Lankan team returned home, leaving the remaining ten - including several members of the Wrestling Federation of Sri Lanka - unaccounted for. In 2007, a training event supported by the International Olympic Council in Italy saw the disappearance of a triple jump coach. Those jokes write themselves. South Korea's 2014 Asian Games saw the vanishing of a hockey player and a beach volleyball player. However, among these “decamping” incidents, none is more notorious than the one that occurred in 2004, when the entire Sri Lankan handball team seemingly evaporated into thin air.
The fact that Sri Lanka was participating in a handball tournament in the first place is somewhat of an oddity. The country had no history with the sport before 2003, when they were invited to send a national team to Germany to participate in a handball exhibition. Never ones to turn down an invitation, the Sri Lankan Sports Ministry hired a handball coach named Athula Wijenayaka to train some men and build a team of emigration enthusiasts.
After just a few weeks of preparation, the Sri Lankan national handball team arrived in Wittislingen, a town in southern Germany. They spent the afternoon before the tournament sightseeing, followed by a meeting with the town's mayor where they took photos and enjoyed dinner with their German counterparts. The evening was filled with singing and dancing late into the night.
The following day, they were convincingly defeated by their German hosts at the tournament, failing to score a single point. However, this outcome didn't seem to bother the Sri Lankan team in the slightest. That night, the Germans hosted them for another dinner, and once again, they sang and celebrated together. The next morning, all 24 men had vanished without a trace.
Leaving behind a note expressing gratitude for the warm hospitality, the Sri Lankan team stated, "We're heading to France," though their actual destination was Italy. "We had heard from our relatives and friends that once we arrived in Italy, there would be no turning back," explained one team member years after his return to Sri Lanka. "The Italian people are welcoming and they appreciate us working in their restaurants. Sri Lankans living in Italy encounter no issues with law enforcement. We steer clear of drugs and any illicit activities."
Sri Lankan athletes, hey. They’re the wurst.

Costa plenty: the hefty price of human error

Dominique's fast facts: Why was that even a survey question?

According to a study published by the Schizophrenia Research Journal, 50.6% of people who developed schizophrenia during their adult years reported owning a cat during their childhood.

A study of 293 serial killers spread across 29 countries revealed that 11.2% of them were born in January - more than in any other month. This is quite remarkable, as January only accounts for 7-9% of births worldwide.

A survey of American businesses found that 33% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic.

In a study from 2013, scientists found that men with bald or balding heads are 32% more likely to develop heart disease.

Blind people suffer four times more nightmares than sighted people do. Nightmares account for 25% of the dreams of those born blind, versus 6% of the dreams of those born with full sight.