You don't need to be a geek to understand this fun video that offers a simple explanation of the Higgs Boson. But, after watching, you'll know enough to sound like one …
The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
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Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading
Here is a graphic that explains how what matters changes over time. Do you agree?
via I Love Charts.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- 6 Questions for the Man Who Invented the iPod. (Inc.)
- What is Big Data? – An Introduction to the Big Data Landscape. (O'Reilly)
- Cheetahs Attack Woman as Husband Snaps Photos. Surprised? (Video)
- In Libya, the Captors Have Become the Captive. Strange to imagine. (NYTimes)
- The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine. (Smithsonian)
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose. Hedge funder bets on colossal failure. (TheDaily)
- Europeans Ambivalent to the Euro, Survey Finds. (Time)
- Gold Bar Demand in China Surged 51% to 213.9 Tons In 2011. (ZeroHedge)
- Robert Shiller's Mission to Redeem Finance. (Chronicle)
- Dallas Fed Proposes Ending "Too Big To Fail", Urges Removal of Failed CEOs, Breakup of Banks. (GlobalEconomicAnalysis)
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Six-Month Seasonality Still Unfavorable
Is it safe to get back in the Market?According to popular trading rules, May 1st marked the beginning of a 6-month period of unfavorable seasonality. This is often referred to as "Sell-In-May-and-Go-Away".Research published by Yale Hirsch in the Trader's Almanac shows that the market year is often broken into two six-month seasonality periods.- From May 1 through October 31 seasonality is unfavorable, and the market most often finishes lower than it was at the beginning of the period.
- The period from November 1 through April 30 is seasonally favorable, and the market most often finishes the period higher. (See Sy Harding's book, Riding the Bear, for an indepth discussion of this subject.)
While the statistical average results for these two periods are quite compelling, trying to ride the market in real-time in hopes of capturing these results is not always as easy as it sounds.
Below is the one-year chart that that shows the most recent two six-month periods. It begins on May 1, 2011 and ends on April 30, 2012.
via Carl Swenlin
The left half of the chart shows the unfavorable May through October period and the right half shows the favorable November through April period. The green line marks the beginning of the favorable period, the red line marks the beginning of the unfavorable period.
As you can see, the last two seasonality periods turned in textbook performance, with the unfavorable period closing lower, and the favorable period closing higher. However, every year is different and presents its own challenges … and there is no guarantee that any given period will conform to the average.
In addition, Swenlin asserts that bull and bear market pressures override seasonal tendencies more often than not.
With the election coming, we'll see whether things look better moving into the end of October.
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Understanding Cyberspace Is Key To Defending Against Digital Attacks
Government and business leaders in the United States and around the world are rushing to build better defenses — and to prepare for the coming battles in the digital universe.
To succeed, they must understand one of the most complex, man-made environments on Earth: Cyberspace
It is naïve to ignore the risks of cyber-attacks. For someone to find something valuable, they just have to get lucky once; to stay safe, we have to be vigilant and good all the time.
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Here Are Some Interesting Links to Read This Weekend
An Undeniable Truth: If You Do It — It Will Be Done!
Not the only way … but it works.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- For the 3rd Time, Facebook is Poised to Build a Phone. (Newser)
- Major Movements in Philosophy as Minimalist Geometric Graphics. (Brainpickings)
- Bloomberg Plans a Ban on Large Sugared Drinks. (NYTimes)
- Wide Screen. All baby boomers should get tested for hepatitis C, CDC says (TheDaily)
- Chart Detailing How Many iTunes Downloads, Spotify Streams, and So Forth It Takes For a Musician To Make Minimum Wage. (VillageVoice)
- Too Many Seed Investment Choices. A good sign for economy … (Feld)
- Amazon.com Has Altered the VC Business as We Know It. (Geekwire)
- Why Investors Should Take a Long, Hard Look at Southeast Asia. (SGEntrepreneurs)
- A Rich Backlash. An influx of the super-wealthy begins to annoy Singaporeans. (Daily)
- Eurozone Equities Panic Sale Warning. Private investors have been warned not to panic-sell their shareholdings in the deepening crisis in Europe. (FT)
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Alone Together – Instant Gratification & Shortening Attention Spans
Instant Gratification & Shortening Attention Spans.
I was showing my son a web video — and in less than a minute he was texting someone.
Let me make that more clear … it was Less-Than-A-Minute! … while he was standing with me … and he did it without hesitation, apology, or sense that shifting his attention to the phone was in any way a bad thing.
I know "get over it". He was probably texting before we spoke, anyway; right?
You're probably seeing similar behavior more often too.
It is scary to realize how easy it is to focus on a phone, iPad or e-mail rather than a person.
Upon reflection, we spend a lot of time alone together.
There is a difference between physical presence and being present.
Focus can be pretty fragile if it isn't a conscious choice.
To demonstrate this, here is a seemingly easy challenge … simply listen to a favorite song.
The challenge is how you can truly do that without losing focus and having other thoughts intrude (for example, without thinking about your to-do list or other songs that you like, or who you're going to meet with later in the day, etc.)? For me, the answer was not that long.
Sometimes it feels like modern life causes attention deficit disorder.
Attention Deficit Can Be Dangerous If You Aren't Aware of It.
Yet, losing focus while trading, in business, or even during a simple conversation – can have serious consequences.When you are not aware of your focus, I bet it wanders. Mine does; I get distracted easily.
It didn't take long for me to realize that this happened to me while talking to my wife, while listening to a telephone call, even when ordering food at a restaurant. How can I lose focus on the waitress while I was ordering? Apparently, quite easily.
How about you? When you're listening to someone talk to you, are you really listening to them – or are you checking e-mail, texting, browsing a website, watching TV, playing a game, or thinking about what you're going to say?
Be honest with yourself; how often are you fully present? For me, the answer was not nearly enough.
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Debt Levels Relative to GDP of PIIGS and Some Other Major Countries
Debt to GDP of PIIGS plus Major Countries
For some perspective on the European sovereign debt crisis, this chart illustrates the forecasted 2012 debt to GDP ratio for each of the PIIGS (red bars) plus a handful of today's major economies (blue bars).
While the PIIGS are currently enduring relatively high debt loads, it is noteworthy how some of the relatively safe nations/bond markets (e.g. United State and Germany) are not far behind.These relatively high debt loads are of concern as they could lead to higher taxes sometime in the future and can risk fiscal crises if bond holders sense an increasing risk of default.The current crisis in Europe provides a clear example of the bond market's reaction (i.e. higher bond yields) to increased default fears.This leads to a very interesting case study that is Japan. With a debt to GDP ratio of over 200%, the Japanese 10-year bond yield is a relatively low 0.83%. Why? At the moment, the bond market feels that the Japanese have the ability to repay their debts — in part due to Japan's perceived ability to raise taxes. To that end, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda just won opposition support for the doubling of the nation's sales tax to 10% by 2015.So it's not just the amount of debt but also convincing your banker that you are good for it.
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Some Links for Your Weekend Reading
Great graphic shows whether you should check your e-mail.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- Top 50 Entrepreneurial Blogs. Pretty good list – (Business2community)
- The Top 10 Regrets In Life By Those About To Die (Infographic). (Addicted2success)
- A Cut Above. Chart Showing Who Has the Most Plastic Surgery? (Economist)
- Keep Out. NASA Asks Future Moon Visitors to Respect Its Stuff. (Wired)
- New Airline Fees: Carry-Ons, Pillows, Water, Once Included, Now New Revenue. (ABCNews)
- An Audacious Promise: The Moral Case for Capitalism. (Manhattan-Institute)
- Indonesia Chases China as Middle-Class Consumption Soars. (Bloomberg)
- How to Place More Effective Stops. (BCLund)
- It's Official: Google Is Now a Hardware Company. (BW)
- This Is the First Time In History that All Central Banks Have Printed Money at the Same Time … And They’re Failing Miserably. (ZeroHedge)
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Here Are Some Interesting Links to Read This Weekend
Ah, the joys of over-thinking.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- The To-Don’t List: Things You Will NOT Do. (TheNextWeb)
- A Carefully Selected List of Recommended Tools on Data Visualization. (DV)
- Misfortune Teller: Stats Prof Says He Can Predict Crime Before It Occurs. (TheAtlantic)
- The History of the Paper Clip. Invented in 1899 & hasn’t been improved since. (Slate)
- Why We Lie. (Wall Street Journal)
- CEO Pay. Average Corporate CEO Paid $9.6M last year (TheDaily)
- Pandora Internet Radio: More Listeners, More Money. (BGR)
- The Tyranny of Numeracy. Interesting blog post. (PsyFiTec)
- Asia’s Message to Europe. Bite the Bullet and Implement Reforms (CNBC)
- Rush for havens as euro fears rise. German two-year bond yields fell to zero, meaning investors were willing to lend to Berlin for no return. (FT)
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Emerging Economies Are Growing Cities at Impressive Rates
Emerging-Market Cities.
According to the Economist, currently, 52% of the world’s population currently live in urban areas. By 2025, this should increase to 58%. Nearly all this growth will take place in emerging-market economies, particularly Asia, as migrants from the countryside move in search of jobs.
Today, these emerging-market city-dwellers account for more than 60% of the world’s GDP growth.
In the past 15 years Delhi’s population has grown by 10m; it will add another 6m (a Miami's worth) in the next 15.
Over the next two decades urban areas in emerging economies will account for about two-thirds of worldwide infrastructure spending. Most will go on building homes. China and India together will add 16 trillion square meters of housing over this period, to accommodate half a billion extra people.
On a related note, here is an interesting video about India's growth.
Amazing Facts about India.
So is India on her way to becoming a Super Power or has she already arrived? What is your take?
via 
