Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - March 17th, 2019

The US grounded the Boeing 737 Max after similarities between two crashes. It's good they did, safety first, but it definitely caused some headaches coming back from Saskatchewan.  There's an interesting thought experiment here to understand the complexities that the airlines had to solve.

Imagine a 737 holds 200 people and does 4 or 5 flights a day. American has 24 737s in its fleet. That means each day ~24,000 people are displaced on American Airlines alone. They're replacing those planes with smaller regional jets – meaning more flights, more small airports, and more delays. The logistical/supply chain dynamics are a nightmare. 

 

 

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

Lighter Links:

• DARPA's New AI, Machine Learning 'Breakthrough'. (Realcleardefense)
• Dr. Elon & Mr. Musk: Life inside Tesla's Production Hell. (Wired)
• The Psychology behind Costco's Free Samples. (The Atlantic)
• The Fall of Rome and the Lessons for America. (Time)
• How Timeboxing Works and Why It Will Make You More Productive. (HBR)

 

 

Trading Links:

• Despite Store Closings, There's Still One Blockbuster Store Left in the World. (USAToday)
• Oracle's Larry Ellison Has a $1 Billion Stake in Tesla. (TheStreet)
• Mansa Musa: the Richest Man Who Ever Lived. (BBC)
• Amazon Go Cashierless Stores are Coming to Airports. (VentureBeat)
• Millions of Japanese Homes are Abandoned, and Owners are Giving Them Away for Free. (BusinessInsider)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - January 20th, 2019

Most citizens don't have big savings account to buffer them against an unexpected expense or loss of income.

The Government Shutdown is one of the curveballs most workers haven't planned for adequately.

 

Actions have consequences.

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

 

Lighter Links

• Full Translation: China's 'New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan' (2017). (Newamerica)
• Apple Buys 50 Business Class Seats from San Francisco to Shanghai Every Day. (MacRumors)
• Ford Built a Sweaty Robot Butt to Simulate Your Sweaty Human Butt. (BGR)
• Intimate Portraits of People over 100 Years Old Reveal the Beauty of Aging Bodies. (MyModernMet)
• Costco is Selling a 27-Pound Tub of Mac and Cheese that Lasts 20 Years. (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links

• Fear of Algorithm Trading is Really Just the Fear of the Unknown. (Quartz)
• Hedge Funds Suffer Worst Year since 2011. (FT)
• Nearly Half of Workers Earn Less Than $30,000. (Ritholtz)
• Michael Dell Gets $12 Billion Richer with Break from Public Eye. (Fortune)
• The New Impossible Burger 2.0 Won Everyone's Mouth at CES 2019, but That's Just the Beginning. (Forbes)

How Does America Use Its Land?

America is big and pretty heavily populated.  Surprisingly, 28% of the land is owned by the government (check out this YouTube video). 

As you might guess, the eastern US holds almost no federal land while the Western US has states that are primarily federal land (Nevada is 84.9% federal land). 

Bloomberg had an interesting series of infographics that covered America's land use and relative profitability.

To start, can you guess what takes up the most space ... 

 

Cows. 

 

Over 41% of the land in the contiguous US revolves around livestock and livestock feed. The farmland used to feed us is an afterthought in comparison - it makes sense when people talk about cows' environmental effect. 

Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby via Bloomberg

Urban areas make up only 3.6% of land use - but four out of five Americans live there (and this area accounts for about 40% of GDP). 

The map below gives us a rough idea of the split of U.S. land.  

Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby via Bloomberg

Urban growth is outpacing other categories, but we're also doing a good job of repairing forestland.  According to The Land Report magazine, the land owned by the top landowning families has grown to be larger than Florida - and is continuing to grow. 

There are a couple extrapolations that you can make from this information - but I'm curious  ... what do you take from this?

A Little Hanukkah Fun

Tonight marks the first night of Chanukah - the Jewish festival of lights. 

We light the Menorah (Chanukah candles), eat latkas (potato pancakes), we exchange gifts, we spin the Dreidel (a gambling toy), and we enjoy a sense of family togetherness for 8 days and nights.

One of my friends sent me this funny video of a Chanukah parody of Bohemian Rhapsody ... it's better than you would expect.

 

 Six13Sings via YouTube

It's not too different from Christmas (though my kids were jealous Santa didn't come down our chimney). 

The cynic in me beleives the gift part of the holiday was invented by merchants.

In our office,  we have an "Elf on the shelf", the magical elf who reports who has been naughty and who has been nice to Santa, perching in a new spot each day. 

 

 

And, we also have "Mensch on a Bench", who watches your Menorah to make sure you don't run out of oil. 

 

 

Happy Chanukah ... or at least an early start to your holiday season!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 25th, 2018

 I remember when they told me that eating meat was bad for my health ...

 

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

Lighter Links  

• Is It Possible to Replay the Tape' of Evolution? (Futurity)
• Should You Be Eating a High-Fat, Low-Carb Diet like Keto? Scientists Weigh In. (Gizmodo)
• An 1861 Japanese Book of American History. (Neatorama)
• Beijing to Judge Every Resident Based on Behavior by End of 2020.(Bloomberg)
• How Many Fake Accounts are There on Facebook? Here's a Clue: 1.5 Billion Fake Accounts Were Removed in Just the past 6 Months. (Neatorama)

 

Trading Links

• Mark Cuban Explains Why Dallas Wasn't Selected as Amazon's HQ2 Location. (SportsDay)
• Jerry Jones: Wouldn't Sell Cowboys for Less Than $10 Billion.(Profootballtalk)
• Beyond Meat Continues to Sizzle, Announces IPO. (Forbes)
• Masayoshi Son: the Man behind a $90B Empire. (TechInAsia)
• How Juul, Founded on a Life-Saving Mission, Earned a $16B Valuation Despite the Controversy. (FastCompany)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 18th, 2018

This is how we warm-up for Thanksgiving in Texas ...

 

 

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

Lighter Links  

• Is this AI? We Drew You a Flowchart to Work It Out. (TechReview)
• In Defense of "Designer Babies". (Reason)
• China's Artificial Sun is Now Hot Enough for Nuclear Fusion. (Futurism)
• Science Confirms: Earth Has More Than One 'Moon'.(BigThink)
• Sign Your Address up for USPS Informed Delivery Before Scammers Do. (LifeHacker)

Trading Links

• Billionaire Ray Dalio Says Capitalism is Not Working for Most People. (Barrons)
• Bank of Japan's Balance Sheet Now Larger Than Country's GDP. (Reuters)
• Meat Has a Replacement but No One Knows What to Call It. (Bloomberg)
• Here are the Most Outrageous Incentives Cities Offered Amazon in Their HQ2 Bids. (Buzzfeednews)
• A Virtual Assistant Called Abbie is Picking the Best Bonds for Traders to Buy or Sell. (TechReview)

 

Inspiration Comes in Many Forms

Once a year, I go to the World BBQ Championship at Memphis in May. 

It's three days of friends, food, fun, and bad puns (like #AporkalypseNow and  #MeatDrinkAndBeMerry).

You've heard the phrase  "Put your money where your mouth is ..."  This year we sponsored a tent and brought some of the Capitalogix team to enjoy the festivities. 

 

 

Here's a look at what was cooking in our tent.  It had a Brazilian "churrasco" flair. 

 

Our Grill Master was Blake Carson, who took a traditional Brazilian Steakhouse cooking style – and innovated upon it – creating the Carson Rodizio kit (which started as a Kickstarter project).  

It is a multi-rotisserie rack that converts your favorite backyard grill into an open and spinning Brazilian style Steakhouse.  It's clever, functional, and cool ... and it's been used to win multiple barbecue championships.

I love to experience an entrepreneur's mind at work.  

It's not always about what you add.  Sometimes, it is about what you take away.  Less is often more. 

Here is a one-minute interview I shot with Blake last year.

 

 

For more on Carson Rodizio, here is their Facebook page.

Innovation, like opportunity, is all around you.

But it's not there for you if you don't see the opportunity, and seize it.

Here is to Spring, Re-Birth, and Spring Cleaning. Let My People Go!

Happy Easter!

Hope you had a great weekend.

This week also was Passover, a holiday that recounts the story of Exodus. This happens during the ritual meal featured in DaVinci's Last Supper.

 

 

So, today, lots of people are celebrating.

For my Christian friends, this is a holy time ... and a family time.  

For my Jewish friends, it is Passover.  

One of the memorable phrases from Exodus is when Moses says "Let my people go!"  For generations, people assumed he was talking to the Pharoh about his people's freedom.  But after a week of eating clogging matzoh, matzoh balls, and even fried matzoh ... for many Jews "Let my people go" takes on a different meaning.

 

via BudgetBytes

Here is to Spring, Re-Birth, and Spring Cleaning.

Hope you had a great weekend.

 

Related articles

This is why Easter lands on a different date every year

Da Vinci's iconic depiction of Easter's beginnings has a violent history it barely survived

Passover 101

A Guide to the Passover Seder

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 25th, 2018

Sometimes it is nice to be reminded that  great works are often performed by perseverance rather than strength.

 

via BrainyQuote

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

 

Lighter Links:

• 5 Ways Blockchain is Changing the Face of Innovation of 2018. (Forbes)

• Singularity's Top 50 Breakthrough Tech Predictions. (Diamandis)

• Don't Be Fooled: Russia Attacked U.S. Troops in Syria. (Bloomberg)

• Not the End of the World:  The Return of Dubai's Ultimate Folly. (TheGuardian)

• The Price Per Square Inch of Pizza at 8 Major US Pizza Chains. (Visual)

 

Trading Links:

• It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies. (Bloomberg)

• In Praise of Elon Musk. (NationalReview)

• It's Time to Make Every Road a Toll Road. (Wired)

• No End in Sight for Amazon's Wild Ride. (Wall Street Journal)

• Apple Sold More Watches Than Rolex, Swatch, and the Rest of the Swiss Watch Industry Combined. (Insider)

The Experience Economy: Man Vs. Food Edition

I recently drove several hours (to the middle of nowhere) in order to try the Burger you see below.  And, yes, I know you don't have to capitalize the word "burger" ... But, in this case, it deserved it!  Take a look.

 

 

If you are curious, the restaurant is Big Jud's in Rexburg, Idaho.  And the monstrosity is Big Jud.  No, sorry, it is their "Man Versus Food Burger" (which was featured on the TV show Man V. Food).

It's got 4 pounds of meat and all the accouterments ... It's the type of burger that makes  you say "Holy Cow!"  Even the knife they give you to eat it with is scary. 

Obviously, it is not the type of burger you eat because you're hungry ... you eat it because you want the experience.

The idea of an Experience Economy isn't new.  

Rich people know it makes sense to spend money on experiences.  

And smart businesses know that it makes sense to avoid competing on a commodity, and to create something unique. For example, think about Cowboys Stadium (Click to read about the Experience).

Even millennials are spending more on experiences than on physical products.

Something to think about ... How would your business be different if you prioritized the experience?  

Just another way to win.