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Jason Garrett Addresses Dallas Cowboys [Video]

“Life is about creating opportunities and taking advantage of opportunities’’ Jason Garrett told his team at the the start of the Dallas Cowboys' training camp.

Was the speech a motivational masterpiece? You decide.

 

Some Notable Quotes:

On coaches: “The coaches I hate—that I had a visceral reaction to—were the guys who told me, ‘You’re doing a great job.’ … And allowing me to be as mediocre as mediocre could be,” Garrett said. “None of us need help being mediocre—especially me. Coach my ass! … You been to the Pro Bowl eight times? You’re getting your ass coached. You just got here 15 minutes ago? You’re getting your ass coached. First-round picks, free agents who signed for nothing—everybody’s getting coached.”

On how players should handle interviews/media: Garrett said, players should be “respectful, brief, boring and humble … Distinguish yourself with your play, not what you say.”

On handling distractions: “Don’t listen to the noise,” he said. “Think Einstein listened to the noise? Think Martin Luther King listened to the noise? Be strong enough mentally, be strong enough physically” to tune the distractions out.

The Cowboys were silent for almost the entire 35 minute speech. Curious whether that was a sign of focus or lack of engagement?

If you have a short-attention-span, here is the four-minute version with some highlights.

 

 

 

Here is the full 35-minute video.

 

 

 

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Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Summer time and lots of people have vacation on their minds.  The royal baby certainly captured a lot of news cycles.  The future king was born in England at 8 pounds.  What's that, like $12.28 US dollars.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Trends You Can't Afford to Ignore--From Eric Schmidt's New Book. (Forbes)
• Optimism's Role in Success. The key is to focus on the %-rate you need to succeed. (FC)
• Time’s 100 List Is Packed With Techies. (AllThingsD)
• Why Guys Who Can't Smell Never Get Laid. (Popular Science)
• Data In The Workplace. Google Cares Less About SAT Scores or GPA Because They Have Better Hiring Data (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links:

• The Asset Classes Wealthy Investors Love in 2013. (Forbes)
• High-Speed Traders Can Still Buy Peeks at Some Data. (Wall Street Journal)
• Google Logic: Why Google does the things it does the way it does. (Guardian)
• S&P Amazingly Says No One Should Believe Its Ratings Are Independent & Objective. (Qz)
• The Money Side of Driverless Cars. (NYTimes)

When Do You Think the Dow Will Break the 16,000 Level?

What do you get if connect these key "Emotipoints" (Emotional highs and lows)... The 1982 low, 1987 High, 2000 high, 2002 low, 2003 low and 2007 high together?

According to Kimble Charting, you get a rare combo of resistance coming into play at Dow 16,000.

 

 

The Dow industrials has been hitting record highs and is now less than 500 points (less than 3%) from this potential key technical price point.

From a technical perspective, the trend is your friend ... and if the Dow does break above this resistance level, it will be viewed as a big positive by the Bulls.

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How long will Prince William's son have to wait to become king?

This week, Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, had a son. That means the new baby is third in line to the British throne; but it could be decades before his reign starts.

According to the Economist, Prince Charles, 64 and first in line, will soon become the longest king-in-waiting.

Since the first William (the Conqueror), the average age of accession has been 3, which coincidentally is Prince William's current age).

 

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Perception versus Reality ... Here is what success really looks like.  Afterwards, it might make sense ... but getting there can be a journey.

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Why The Happiest People Have the Hardest Jobs and Most Challenging Work. (FastCompany)
• Chronic Stress is Harmful, But Short-Term Stress Can Help. (Smithsonian)
• The Secret To Getting Really, Really Good At Something. (Forbes)
• Nate Silver to Startups: Go for the Low Hanging Fruit. (PandoDaily)
• Richest Presidents from Washington to Clinton. (USAToday)

 

Trading Links:

• Illuminating the World of Hedge Funds. (Pertrac Infographic)
• There's No Hippocratic Oath On Wall Street. (Forbes)
• The Booming Business of Drones. (Harvard Business Review)
• Microsoft to Take Over Best Buy Computer Sections With Windows Stores. (eWeek)
• In An Economy Not So Far, Far Away. Imagine a time when all undesirable work is done by automated systems or robots. What would it mean? (FT)

The Big Mac Index - A Feast of Burgernomics



Image by Simon Miller via Flickr

The Economist's Big Mac index seeks to make exchange-rate theory more digestible.  They say it is arguably the world's most accurate financial indicator to be based on a fast-food item.

The Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), according to which exchange rates should adjust to equalize the price of a basket of goods and services around the world. For them, the basket is a burger ... a McDonald’s Big Mac.

According to this measure, the most undervalued currency is India's Rupee at 67%  below its PPP rate.  In India, a McDonald’s Big Mac costs just 90 Rupees on average, the equivalent of $1.50 at market exchange rates. In America, the same burger averages $4.56.

The interactive graphic, below, shows by how much, in Big Mac PPP terms, selected currencies were over- or undervalued.

 

 

The index is supposed to give a guide to the direction in which currencies should, in theory, head in the long run. It is only a rough guide, because its price reflects non-tradable elements ­such as rent and labor. For that reason, it is probably least rough when comparing countries at roughly the same stage of development.

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How Big Is Amazon?

Image via CrunchBase

From the CIA to Your freezer ... the Seattle-based e-retailer is not simply a retailer anymore.

From books, to cloud services, to the grocery delivery business, Amazon continues to find new products and services to deliver.

How Big is Amazon?  Bloomberg Businessweek takes a look.

 

 

 

There were some interesting stats and facts in there.

 

Related articles

Amazon is behind 71% of Seattle's office construction (slide show)

What I Learned About Amazon After Spending A Morning At Its Headquarters (AMZN)

Amazon's $600 Million CIA Deal Really Is For A Game-Changing 'Private' Cloud (AMZN, IBM)

Grocery Wars: Can Amazon Keep the Milk Fresh and Make Some Money?

IBM Is Trying To Squash Amazon's $600 Million Cloud Deal With The CIA (AMZN, IBM)

'Ho Lee Fuk' - TV Station Pranked Into Reporting Fabricated Names Of Asiana Pilots

A San Francisco Fox affiliate, KTVU, is dealing with the fallout of a major error.

Their report on the deadly Asiana Airlines crash took a turn for the unintentionally offensive when they broadcast the names of pilots in charge of that flight. The mangled Asian-sounding names were, in fact, thinly-disguised expletives mocking the sentiments expressed by the crash victims and their families.

 
 

 

The supposed names of the crash victims broadcast on KTVU included "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow."

A KTVU anchor later apologized for the error. She said that the names were inaccurate in spite of the fact that a National Transpiration Safety Board spokesperson confirming them.

 

Related articles

NTSB Intern Blamed for Racist Local News Gaffe

Fox affiliate KTVU apologizes for airing racist prank

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Who says the Government doesn't listen to what its citizens have to say?

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Bill Gates Lists Three Things He's Learned From Warren Buffett. (Linkedin)
• NSA Snooping Was Only the Beginning.  Meet the Spy Chief Leading Us Into CyberWar. (Wired)
• 6 Hostage Negotiation Techniques That Will Get You What You Want. (Bakadesuyo)
• Don’t Take Your Vitamins. Too Much of Good Thing is Bad. (NYTimes)
• FAA to Relax Rules for Gadgets in Flight. (Wall Street Journal)

 

Trading Links:

• Is Time Your Last Remaining Edge on Wall Street? (Fool)
• Risk Aversion Puts Hedge Funds Behind S&P 500. (The Big Picture)
• On-the-Job Nap Leads to $293M Banking Error. (TIME)
• Census Benchmark for White Americans - More Deaths than Births. (NYTimes)
• Microsoft Says It Disrupted A Global Cybercrime Ring Responsible For $500 Million Theft. (BusinessInsider)

A Little Motivational Reminder About Perseverance

In many years of business and life, I realize that there are quite a few things that separate the good from the great.

But, if you asked me to pick only one reason why some are more successful than others, I would offer you this...your willingness to PERSEVERE.

Your willingness to endure can be the difference between success and failure. 

Click the image to watch the Persevere Movie.

 

 

So, as FDR said: "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."