Capitalogix

My Son Is Disgusting ...

This Thanksgiving, my son Zach made a stupid bet with himself – that he could gain 10 pounds in one day.

His mom and I both tried to tell him not to do it;  but we forgot a golden rule: Never tell a Getson they can't do something. 

The image speaks for itself.

  

 

He gained over 13 pounds.

Even considering the weight normally gained on a Thanksgiving, that's "disgusticating" (worthy of a made-up word).

Hope you enjoyed your holiday too!

 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading - November 20th, 2016

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

Lighter Links:

• The Myths Democrats Swallowed that Cost Them the Presidential Election. (NW)
• You Can Have Emotions You Don’t Feel. (Nautil)
• Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded. (NYTimes)
• For the 4th Time in American History, the President-Elect Lost the Popular Vote. (LATimes)
• Dear Democrats, Read this If You Do Not Understand Why Trump Won. (Medium)

Trading Links:

• Clinton Lost the Economic Argument. (Slate)
• Peter Thiel Joins Donald Trump’s Transition Team. (TheVerge)
• How the Market Responded to Trump's Win Shows Wall St. Learned a Fundamental Lesson. (BI)
• Here’s How the Fed and the ECB Will React to Trump’s Victory. (Fortune)
• Hedge Funds Run by Trump Advisors Made the Most Money off His Election Win. (FB)

Can You Control Brain Waves With Your iPhone?

Managing stress and controlling mental states are important components of being successful personally and in business. I know that I operate and respond better when I am in flow, or "in-the-zone." So, I value tools and techniques that help me get there.

One of these tools is called Holosync. It is still incredibly useful to me, even though I've been using it for over ten years.

It induces relaxation and meditative states without any effort or technical know-how.  Simply put on the headphones and listen to seemingly normal music. The sounds are specially encoded to do all the work.

The basic premise is that soundwaves can affect brainwaves .

Bill Harris has built a business around figuring out the brain wave patterns for meditation, creativity, compassion, etc. - and finding a way to send tones through headphones to help guide your brain waves into the chosen pattern.

I reconnected with him at a Biohacking conference last week and shot this video. 

 

   

Bill was a musician and has made sure that the scientific stuff is well-hidden beneath, nicely arranged musical scores and relaxation sounds.

My heart rate calms down, my head clears, and in a few minutes, I'm in a measurably better state. How do I know? Because I have a biofeedback device that measures my pulse, heart rate, galvanic skin response, and other readings to help me learn to relax better.

I have tried various breathing and focus techniques, with varying degrees of success. However, without fail, I simply put on the headphones, and I relax.

Not just me, though, either. I've demonstrated this to skeptical children, friends, and even my wife. All of them experience the same thing. We hook them up to the biofeedback machine, we put the headphones on them, and they relax.

I use it several times a week, and almost every time I travel. I find myself using Holosync mostly at night. However, our portfolio manager uses it at the beginning of the day. He claims that it helps him concentrate and it puts him a better state to do his job.

You be the judge, though. Bill has a free trial at his website. Here is the link. All in all, this is certainly a technology worth investigating.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

At some point, it becomes more important to focus on what you want ... rather than what you don't want.

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• AI Comes to Work: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Business. (BND)
• Princeton Tops List of 2017 U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings. (USAToday)
• iPhone 7 Plus Vs IPhone 6S Plus: What's the Difference? (Forbes)
• Scientists Followed 5,000 Genius Kids for 45 Years — Here's What They Learned about Success. (Insider)
• It’s Now Possible, in Theory, to Predict Life Success from a Genetic Test at Birth. (ResearchDigest)

 

Trading Links:

• One Year Later, This is What Would Prompt Another "Risk-Parity" Blow Up. (ZeroHedge)
• Competition to Reinvent the Car is Getting Fiercer. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Fed's Next Move Will Impact Oil Markets. (OPEC)
• America Has Leverage over China Because It Owns So Much US Debt. (Trump)
• “Complacency” Indicator Implies Market Top.  (SocGen)

The Voice of Nature: Words of Wisdom from Koko the Gorilla

Jennifer and I traveled to the Roaring Lion Ranch in Hamilton, Montana last week.  

 

 

It was an amazing few days in the High Plains ... Especially since there was a major forest fire there just a few weeks ago.

Many fires, like this one, could be avoided with some common sense.

You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to understand the issues.

Koko (the gorilla is that can talk with humans using sign language) was recently informed about some nature-related issues.  Then, supposedly, she was allowed to improvise.

This video is the result.

 

 

 

The Gorilla Foundation via YouTube.

 

 

Regardless of whether the editing was intense or Koko's handlers led the conversation ... it is compelling to watch.

  

Related articles

How Human Should A Gorilla Be?

On TV: KOKO: THE GORILLA WHO TALKS

How to Be a Life Coach - Ultra Spiritual Life comedy episode [video]

Have you watched the Netflix documentary, Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru, yet?  The reviews are very good.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, this video 'teaches' you everything you need to know about becoming a life coach.

 

The message: Getting rich teaching other people how to get rich has never been easier!

 

Funny.

 

 

 

 

via YouTube.

Watch more Ultra Spiritual comedy episodes here.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

While conspiracy theorists argue whether the NBA rigged the finals to get to get to game 7, I find this more disturbing ... it's a photo combining Hillary and Trump into a Clump.

 

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• 12 Neglected Questions Successful Leaders Keep Asking. (LeadershipFreak)
• The 5 Books Bill Gates Wants You to Read this Summer. (Inc)
• Netflix Launches Fast.com, a Dead Simple Way to Test Your Internet Speed. (Mashable)
• Your Life in Weeks. (WaitButWhy)
• The 8 Most Elite Special Forces in the World. (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links:

• Buffett Becomes Apple’s 56th Largest Shareholder with $1 Billion Investment. (BuzzFeed)
• Apple's Latest Billion-dollar Business: Venture Capital? (Mashable)
• 22 U.S. Companies that Just Keep Getting More Profitable. (MarketWatch)
• What Current Trends Tell Us about the Future of the Hedge Fund Industry. (QuantNews)
• JPMorgan Has New Theory about What Really Caused the Flash Rally. (Bloomberg)

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

A friend of mine just bet me that Trump would win the election.  So far, Trump has offended a lot of "interest groups" with campaign remarks.  But, then there is Hillary.  It is going to be close.

 

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• 17 Surprising Interview Questions these CEOs Always Ask. (Inc)
• Should We Be Afraid of AI? (Aeon)
• Don't Read This! (It's Only the Most Valuable Psychology Hack You Can Learn.). (Entrepreneur)
• Liberal Brains are Different from Conservative Brains, with Psychiatrist Gail Saltz. (BigThink)
• Jerry Jones Disinterested in Presidential Run, but “Proud” to See Hillary Clinton Earn Democratic Nomination. (Star-Telegram)

 

Trading Links:

• Delinquency Rates Surge in 2016, Poised to Head Higher. (FinancialSense)
• 4 Blockchain Companies that Could Change Everything from Accounting to Money Transfers. (MarketWatch)
• In the U.S. and Abroad, More Young Adults are Living with Their Parents. (PewResearch)
• Top 100 Economics Blogs of 2016. (Ritholtz)
• How Much Did the Clintons Make from Paid Speeches in 2015? (CNW)

The Universal Hot vs Crazy Matrix - A Man's Guide to Women

Thought this was funny.  Hope you enjoy it too.

Care to guess where my wife fits?

 

 

YouTube.

There is even merchandise ... and a much shorter women's guide to men.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Somebody has to win the election.  16sucks.com hopes it will be them, by selling "Everybody sucks" 2016 campaign signs to America's feeling about the two presumed main contestants for the presidency in November. 

Presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's net "strongly unfavorable" rating is hovering at about 37% these days (around 5% higher than the previous high for candidates getting close to the general election), according to FiveThirtyEight.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes Clinton look beloved. His "strongly unfavorable" rating is sitting at about 53%, which is off-the-charts awful for a candidate who is supposed to compete for the White House. 

  

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• 4 Hard Questions to Ask about Your Company’s Purpose. (HBR)
• 25 Geniuses Who are Creating the Future of Business. (Wired)
• Can You Get Hacked Mid-Air? The Answer Is YES. (USAToday)
• Aging Runners Find Help for a Question: How Slow Will I Get? (NYT)
• 36 Pictures to See Which Muscle You’re Stretching. (LifeHack)

 

Trading Links:

• How Buyers React When Prices Rise and Fall. (New York Times)
• This is Why People Get Addicted to Gambling. (The Conversation)
• Hedge Fund Outflows Will Reach at Least $25 Billion this Year. (Fortune)
• "A Scramble for Gold Has Begun". (ZeroHedge)
• A Clever Algorithm Generating Millions of Random Ideas is Turning the Tables on Patent Trolls. (Quartz)