My older son tried to get me to skip this release. I half-jokingly told him that not buying the new iPhone might put my "early adopter" status in jeopardy. He sneeringly said "Buying an iPhone is proof you're not an early adopter … Anybody who really understands technology is buying the Samsung Galaxy S4."
I know he was joking. I know he was giving me a hard time. I know he didn't mean to hurt my feelings. Nonetheless, it hurt. There was a kernel of truth that got under my skin, bruised my ego, and had me questioning my place in the technology adoption cycle.
Twitter will generate more than 500 million dollars in revenue this year. This represents a doubling of the firm’s estimated 245 million dollars of revenue in 2012. Other analysts estimate even higher sales figures.
Notoriously secret, Twitter has not published any figures. However, this is likely to change in the near future. Why? Twitter announced its IPO by Tweet on Thursday. Twitter filed 'Confidential' IPO S-1 Docs.
This year, 131 companies have filed for IPOs — up 44% from last year.
Swedish academic and Gapminder Foundation co-founder Hans Rosling says data doesn't always back up our conceptions about the world.
In the video, below, Rosling explains that our ideas about developed and developing countries largely reflect the reality of fifty years ago, rather than today.
This video, The River of Myth, was released to coincide with Bill Gates'
annual letter, and shares its emphasis on the power of measuring to
achieve progress.
In a rapidly growing global currency business, which now generates $5.3 trillion a day in flows, up from $4 trillion in 2010, the yuan climbed to ninth place from 17th three years ago … and up from the mid 30s in 2001.
As we head into Labor Day, think about Steve Ballmer … By retiring (or the Market's response to the announcement of his retirement), he made himself nearly $1 billion richer. Nice job.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
Generous means to help others long before – and after
– you need their help.
Expert means to be very competent in one or more
areas that others value. It also means that whenever you take on a new task, do
your best.
Trustworthy means to take ownership of your words and
actions, and recognize that you live in a world in which they will increasingly
be recorded, remembered, analyzed, and replayed.
Clear means to know what you want and to be able to
communicate it effectively.
Open-minded means no matter how expert or successful
you become, never stop listening and learning.
Adaptable means to keep your options open, so that
when the world surprises you, it won’t be that surprising.
Persistent means to keep trying, even when times are
tough and you are tempted to quit.
Present means that although you should learn from the
past and be prepared for the future, you should pay close attention to the
present moment as it unfolds – otherwise, you will miss a great deal.
When you hear a reference to how the market is doing on the news, it is pretty common for the report to reference the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow is a price-weighted measure of 30 U.S. blue-chip
companies. It covers all industries with the exception of
transportation and utilities. While this index is not as broad a representation of the US economy as the S&P 500, the Dow's performance typically tracks the S&P 500 pretty closely.
Recently, however, the blue-chip Dow has been a notable laggard compared to the broader S&P 500.
The chart below shows the relative strength of the DJIA vs. the S&P
500 over the last ten years. When the line in the chart is rising it
indicates the DJIA is outperforming, and when the line is falling the
DJIA is lagging.
As you can see, in the last several months the DJIA has been underperforming to such a large degree that the relative strength vs. the S&P 500 is at its lowest levels since the depths of the Financial Crisis.
Do you take that as a bullish sign for the broader market, or early indicator that we are in for a lull before the next move up?
Sometimes business feels like a debate. Other times, dinner conversation or a family discussion takes a contentious turn. In any case, here is a quick primer on logical fallacies.
A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. In other words, logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought. Consequently, they are
often used by politicians and the media.
It is fun to identify which of these certain people (including yourself) use when arguing.
TWENTY LOGICAL FALLACIES:
They fall into three main types: Distraction (10); Ambiguity (5); and Form (5).
A. Fallacies of Distraction
1. Ad baculum (Veiled threat): "to the stick": DEF.- threatening an opponent if they don’t agree with you; EX.- "If you don’t agree with me you’ll get hurt!"
2. Ad hominem (Name-calling; Poisoning the well): "to the man": DEF.- attacking a person’s habits, personality, morality or character; EX.- "His argument must be false because he swears and has bad breath."
3. Ad ignorantium (Appeal to ignorance): DEF.- arguing that if something hasn’t been proved false, then it must be true; EX.- "U.F.Os must exist, because no one can prove that they don’t."
4. Ad populum: "To the people; To the masses": DEF.- appealing to emotions and/or prejudices; EX.- "Everyone else thinks so, so it must be true."
5. Bulverism: (C.S. Lewis’ imaginary character, Ezekiel Bulver) DEF.- attacking a person’s identity/race/gender/religion; EX.- "You think that because you’re a (man/woman/Black/White/Catholic/Baptist, etc.)"
6. Chronological Snobbery DEF.- appealing to the age of something as proof of its truth or validity; EX.-"Voodoo magic must work because it’s such an old practice;" "Super-Glue must be a good product because it’s so new."
7. Ipse dixit: "He said it himself": DEF.- appealing to an illegitimate authority; EX.- "It must be true, because (so and so) said so."
8. Red herring (Changing the subject): DEF.- diverting attention; changing the subject to avoid the point of the argument; EX.- "I can’t be guilty of cheating. Look how many people like me!"
9. Straw Man: DEF.- setting up a false image of the opponent's argument; exaggerating or simplifying the argument and refuting that weakened form of the argument; EX.- "Einstein's theory must be false! It makes everything relative–even truth!"
10. Tu quoque: "You also" DEF.- defending yourself by attacking the opponent; EX.- "Who are you to condemn me! You do it too!"
B. Fallacies of Ambiguity
1. Accent: DEF.- confusing the argument by changing the emphasis in the sentence; EX.- "YOU shouldn’t steal" (but it’s okay if SOMEONE ELSE does); "You shouldn’t STEAL" (but it’s okay to LIE once in a while); "You SHOULDN’T steal (but sometimes you HAVE TO) ."
2. Amphiboly: [Greek: "to throw both ways"] DEF.- confusing an argument by the grammar of the sentence; EX.- "Croesus, you will destroy a great kingdom!" (your own!)
3. Composition: DEF.- assuming that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole; EX.- "Chlorine is a poison; sodium is a poison; so NaCl must be a poison too;" "Micro-evolution is true [change within species]; so macro-evolution must be true too [change between species]."
4. Division: DEF.- assuming that what is true of whole must be true of the parts; EX.- "The Lakers are a great team, so every player must be great too."
5. Equivocation: DEF.- confusing the argument by using words with more than one definition; EX.- "You are really hot on the computer, so you’d better go cool off."
C. Fallacies of Form
1. Apriorism (Hasty generalization): DEF.- leaping from one experience to a general conclusion; EX.- "Willy was rude to me. Boys are so mean!"
2. Complex question (Loaded question): DEF.- framing the question so as to force a single answer; EX.- "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?"
3. Either/or (False dilemma): DEF.- limiting the possible answers to only two; oversimplification; EX.- "If you think that, you must be either stupid or half-asleep."
4. Petitio principii (Begging the question; Circular reasoning): DEF.- assuming what must be proven; EX.- "Rock music is better than classical music because classical music is not as good."
5. Post hoc ergo propter hoc (False cause): "after this, therefore because of this;" DEF.- assuming that a temporal sequence proves a causal relationship; EX.- "I saw a great movie before my test; that must be why I did so well."
