Irony: The First Real Flying Saucer is from Earth and Lands on Mars
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Do Dissolvable Energy Strips Work?
Sometimes you need a little caffeine boost.
Well, I heard about Sheets energy strips, which are a dissolvable energy-supplement, and figured I'd give them a try.
Each sheet is the equivalent of half a cup of coffe, with some vitamins and nutrients added for good measure.
They are distinctive because they are paper-thin, individually wrapped, dissolvable strips. No pills. No liquids. No sugar. No calories.
I watch programmers down Red Bull, Monster, Bawls, and Five Hour Energy … yet, somehow, I know that isn't for me.
Energy Sheets are more subtle than that. They provide a quick and convenient energy boost without the sugar crash. And they work and taste good enough that I now keep a few in my back pocket and computer bag so they are there when I need them.
They also have sleep-time product called Sleep Sheets. It is honey flavored with melatonin and extracts from goji berry and chamomile — which are natural ingredients purported to induce restful sleep.
All-in-all, worth a try.
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Here Are Some Interesting Links to Read This Weekend
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- How to Overcome Failure. The key is a flexible view of learning. (WSJ)
- The Genetics of Stupidity. (Wiring the Brain)
- What Klout Really Measures? (BrandSavant)
- The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams. Dallas Cowboys are #3. (Forbes)
- 8 Ways The World Will Change By 2052. 40 yrs from now, how much will energy cost? Will you be richer? (FastCo)
- How To Tell When Finance is Working. (Forbes)
- Monetary Policy and the Next Crisis. (Wall Street Journal)
- Why China Can’t Adjust. Symptoms of deep institutional problems & vulnerability. (PS)
- Say Goodbye to First-Class on U.S. Airlines. (WSJ Video)
- Election Trumps Foreign Policy — White House Memo. The attempt to subordinate foreign policy to domestic politics is a quadrennial phenomenon (NYTimes)
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Apple Claims 71% of the Mobile Phone Industry’s Profits
This chart shows Apple's exceptional position in the global mobile phone industry.
via Statista.It is no secret that Apple’s iPhone business is exceptionally profitable. New numbers, released by an analyst of investment bank Canaccord Genuity, show just how exceptional Apple’s position in the mobile phone market really is.
In the second quarter of 2012, Apple claimed an estimated 71% of the industry’s total profits. A number that is even more astonishing considering that the iPhone only accounted for 6% of global mobile phone shipments in the same period.
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Euro Shorts Scurried When ECB Declared It Was Ready To Do ‘What Ever It Takes’
Being short the euro was a popular position recently. In addition, being short Spanish and Italian debt and long treasuries and Bunds was the way to go.That was then, this is now.The European Central Bank’s mandate allows it to fight excessive borrowing costs for eurozone countries, Mario Draghi, its president, said last Thursday.He went on to say the ECB was “ready to do whatever it takes” to preserve the single currency.The euro strengthened and the bond prices of debt issued by stressed eurozone countries rallied after Mr Draghi warned … "Believe me, [my actions] will be enough [to hurt the shorts]."Here is link to the comments that sent shorts scurrying.
While traders know not to fight the Fed … there are not many “bullets in Draghi’s gun”. Of course, threatening to do something major was one of them. He just used it. If there is no follow-through, his credibility drops and there will be ramifications.
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Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading
Having just come back from the Jersey Shore, where Cheesteak sandwiches seemingly grow like grass …
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- Integrate Data into Products, or Get Left Behind. (Harvard Business Review)
- Confessions of an Ex-Mormon. (TheNewRepublic)
- How To Win an Olympic Event. Great Interactive Graphic series. (NYTimes)
- How To Win Marathons? Hint. It doesn’t involve fancy footwear. (TheGlobalMail)
- The Strongest Man in the World. A new era of strength competitions tests the limits of the human body. (TheNewYorker)
- Was the Financial Crisis a Male Syndrome? (Businessweek)
- Why I Rarely Short Anymore. (UpsideTrader)
- Amazon ‘Robo-Pricing’ Sparks Fears. (FT)
- Is the Postal Service About to Default on Its Bills? (Wall Street Journal)
- The Scam Wall Street Learned From the Mafia. How America's biggest banks took part in a nationwide bid-rigging conspiracy. (RollingStone)
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David Stendahl Interviewed on Traders.com
Traders.com is a great resource for technical traders, and so is their Technical Analysis of Stock & Commodities Magazine.
Our Portfolio Manager, David Stendahl, was recently featured in the August 2012 issue. In the interview he describes some of the processes by which Capitalogix creates diversified portfolios.
David discusses the systems design process and how trading styles, across multiple time frames, complete with stop management are applied to variety of global futures markets.
He then describes how Capitalogix combines these systems into baskets (which are specialized mini-portfolios) using techniques liked fixed fractional and ratio level position sizing algorithms.
The interview ends with a description on how the baskets get allocated properly using Optimal Weight, Minimum Variance or Risk Parity allocation formulas to form the final trading portfolio.
As a trader, you are likely to find something interesting in Technical Analysis of Stock & Commodities Magazine.
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Here Are Some Interesting Links to Read This Weekend
Sometimes, seemingly simple tasks are harder than they should be. Thought this was an interesting graphic. Go ahead, count the black dots.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- How Hard Are You Willing to Push Yourself? (Harvard Business Review)
- What Makes Bad Writing? Hard to define, but we know it when we see it. (WSJ)
- Why Today’s Tablets Don’t Really Matter. (Economist)
- CyberCriminals Sniff-Out Vulnerable Firms – Video. (Wall Street Journal)
- Why Surveillance Cameras Could Make Us Better People. (TheAtlantic)
- 'You Didn't Build That …' More on Obama’s burst of ideological rhetoric. (WSJ)
- Three Central Banks Act to Stimulate More Borrowing. (NYTimes)
- The Incredible Shrinking American Government. 169K Jobs Gone in a Year (Atlantic)
- 10 Signs of Economic Trouble That China’s Official Data Won’t Tell. (AlsoSprach)
- What If Speed Traders Competed on Price? (Businessweek)
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The S&P 500 Index is Entering a Seasonally Weak Period
The S&P 500 Index is entering a seasonally weak period. The chart below shows the predicted turning points based on the past five years of historical data.
History does not typically repeat itself, exactly; but it often rhymes. So, it makes sense to keep seasonal tendencies in mind. With that said, some things potentially different this year include that this is an election year and world governments are coordinating central bank stimulus actions.
However, the chart below should serve as a reminder that there a lot other markets worth trading too. For starters, Soybeans are up 45.25% so far this year.
The chart shows the top-ten performing markets, ranked by yearly performance, for the past few years. The data is color coded based on sector. The first column posts the current year's open performance followed by six columns of closed yearly market performance.
Note how much diversification there has been in the top-ten throughout the years. Click the chart to see an expanded version of this data (showing 40 global futures markets).That is the funny thing about markets … something is always working. The trick is finding it while it's working.
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212° – The Extra Degree (a motivational video)
Too many times, a brainstorming session to figure-out how to do something turns into a discussion about how or why it can't be done.
Here's to getting it done anyway!
Sometimes a little extra is all it takes.
It's the extra degree of effort that often separates the good from the great.
For example, at 211°, water is hot. At 212°, it boils.
The one extra degree makes the difference. It's that extra degree that can power a locomotive.
This simple analogy reflects the ultimate definition of excellence. Because it's the one extra degree of effort, in business and life, that can separate the good from the great.
Here is a video.
It is from Mac Anderson's Simple Truths. I'm a fan of their work, which takes a simple idea and presents it in a memorable way … with lots of great quotes and stories to illustrate the concept even better.
Yes, they have an iPhone/iPad app.
It's your life … You are responsible for your results. It's time to turn up the heat! Are you content with just being pretty good? Or are you ready to go the extra degree?
