Capitalogix: January 2016

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January 2016

January 31, 2016

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Oh good ... The Markets went up on Friday. Everything must be back to normal.

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

Lighter Links:

Ten Tech Predictions for 2016. (Re/code)
Which Big Tech Firm Won the Most Patents in 2015? (Fortune)
The Theory of Everything - And Then Some. (Slate)
36 Pictures to See Which Muscle You’re Stretching. (MYLH)
The Reason Why Some Men Like Big Boobs, According to Science. (Details)

Trading Links:

Why Bank of America Just Said To Go Long "Cash & Volatility", in Charts. (ZeroHedge)
America’s Best Forecaster — Again and Again. (MarketWatch)
FinTech Stalking Wall Street. (DealBreaker)
Beware: IRS Now Has Six Years To Audit Your Taxes, Up From Three. (Forbes)
By 2050, There Will Be Nearly 10 Billion People on Earth, But Just 13% Will Be in High-Income Countries. (WSJ)

Posted at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2016

What Knee Surgery Reminded Me About Technology

This week, my son had knee surgery. It made me remember my knee surgery from three years ago ... And, it reminded me about what technology makes possible.

Before my knee surgery, I wasn't enjoying the prospect of the needles, the knock-out drugs, the cutting, or the recovery process. Frankly, I was scared.

History is littered with tales of once-rare resources made plentiful by innovation. The reason is pretty straightforward ... scarcity is often contextual.

Imagine a giant orange tree packed with fruit. If you pluck all the oranges from the lower branches, you are effectively out of accessible fruit. From that limited perspective, oranges are now scarce. But once someone invents a piece of technology called a ladder, the problem is solved.

Here is a picture from inside my knee (unlike years ago, they didn't have to rip me open to gain access for the picture or the repair). Less damage, less time, less drugs, less recovery.

Bottom-Line: I walked over 2,500 steps the day after the surgery. This time, my son and I had a burger on the way home from his surgery.

Whether it is minimally invasive surgical instruments, or linking big data and elastic computing ... Technology is a resource-liberating mechanism. It can make the 'once scarce' the 'now abundant' (or 'readily accessible') ... and a lot less painful.

Pretty Cool!

Posted at 04:55 PM in Ideas, Science, Trading, Trading Tools, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

Is a Leading Indicator of Economic Activity Drying-Up?

People are afraid abandoned 'zombie ships' are an early sign of global economic collapse.

Image Credit: Sometimes Interesting.

If you are looking for insight into global supply and demand trends, the Baltic Dry Index is one of the purest leading indicators of economic activity. It offers a real-time glimpse at global raw material and infrastructure demand, as well as the supply of ships available to move this type of cargo.

Unfortunately, it is sinking faster than a ship.

via StockCharts.com

The low is troubling because this Index is often interpreted as a reliable indicator of demand.

The Index moved higher from 2003 to 2008. Since then, we have seen a series of lower highs and lower lows (in other words, it has been trending downwards since then).

Posted at 04:47 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Market Commentary, Trading, Trading Tools | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 24, 2016

How You'll Probably Die, Visualized

Bad news sells. All the talk of bombings, health scares, and obituaries can make a person contemplate their impending death.

Good news ... There is an infographic for that.

Flowing Data has previously visualized when we'll die and how our loved ones will die. Now, they have put together an interactive infographic that charts out how you will likely die, based on how many years you've lived.

via Flowing Data.

Here's how it works: go to the infographic on the Flowing Data page and enter your sex, race, and age into the blanks at the top of the infographic. On the left side, each dot represents the death of a simulated self, and the color of each dot corresponds to a cause of death (infection, cancer, circulatory problems, external causes, etc.). As each year passes, more of your simulated selves die. On the right side, a bar graph keeps tabs on your cumulative percentages. When the animation ends (at year 100), you're left with the percent likelihood that you will die of each cause.

It's an interesting way to visualize the data because it shows not only your chances of dying from a certain disease but your likelihood of dying in general during certain phases of your life.

The results have one pretty obvious takeaway—your chances of dying increase as you age—but it's fascinating to watch how the chances change in different age groups. Shift the age to 0, and you'll see that once you get past year one, the dots accumulate slowly over the next few decades (chances of death, from anything, are low). Past 30, the dots change color more quickly (you get the point).

Ultimately, we all have to go one way or another.

Let's just hope it is later.

Posted at 12:18 PM in Healthy Lifestyle, Ideas, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)