Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links Worth Reading This Weekend

Does writing something with a #Hashtag constitute "doing something"?

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• The One Sign Something Is About To Go Wrong--And What You Can Do Before It Does. (Forbes)
• Practice Not As Important As Thought For Success, Study Says. (PopSci)
• Evernote CEO: Apps Will Become Obsolete. (Fortune Tech)
• Virtual Girlfriends Gaining Popularity in Japan. (BusinessInsider)
• 5 TED Talks That May Change Your View on Life. (Entrepreneur)

 

Trading Links:

• 91% of Democrats See Hillary As Likely 2016 Nominee. (Rasmussen)
• Here's Where The World's Richest Families Put Their Fortunes. (BusinessInsider)
• What Makes a Great Trader? An Interview with Jack Schwager. (CFA)
• Software Is Eating Investment Management. (AbnormalReturns)
• The Big Four Economic Indicators: What They're Telling Us About the Economy. (Advisor)

What Shoulder Surgery Reminded Me About Technology

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.

 

Shoulder Surgery Isn't What It Used to Be.

 

 

I had shoulder surgery on Wednesday to remove some calcium deposits and bone spurs, and to clean out or fix some soft tissue damage.

 

Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to it.  And not just to the needles and knives, I was dreading the rehab.

 

Turns out, shoulder surgery isn't what it used to be.  

 

Here is a picture from inside my shoulder (unlike years ago, they didn't have to rip me open to to gain access for the picture or the repair).

 

 

Less damage, less time, less drugs, less recovery.

Bottom-Line: I went in early, and was out before lunch.  Moreover, I was able to work and go to a reception the day after the surgery ... and go to the gym this weekend. 

Whether it is minimally invasive surgical instruments, or linking big data and elastic computing ... Technology is a resource-liberating mechanism. 

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!

Here Are Some Links to Start Your Week

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Scientists Debunk the Myth that 10,000 Hours of Practice Makes You an Expert. (Neatorama)
• This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened. (JamesClear)
• Do Abstract Ideas Deserve Patents? (NYTimes)
• Why Dogs Spin Before They Poop? [video]. Science (Lifehack)
• Belle Curve: Statistics show the average woman has average looks; the average man doesn’t. (WSJ)

 

Trading Links:

• Bitcoin Itself May Live or Die, But Cryptocurrencies Will Live On. (MIT Tech Review)
• Singapore Aims to Become Southeast Asia's Silicon Valley. (Wall Street Journal)
• Meanwhile, China Quietly Takes Over Zimbabwe. (ZeroHedge)
• George Soros and the Human Uncertainty Principle. (ValueWalk)
• How Rich Are WhatsApp Employees Now? 'Early' WhatsApp Employees Made $160 Million Each (BusinessInsider)

Chris Hadfield's Interview -- Don't Just Aim For the Finish Line [Video]

As the Olympics ended, I saw something that caught my eye ... and speaks to a wider audience.

It was an interview with astronaut, Chris Hadfield.  In it, he talks about life, the universe, and what’s really out there.

One of the noteworthy points is not to focus solely on the finish line.

 

 

If you view crossing the finish line as the measure of your life, you’re setting yourself up for a personal disaster.

There are very very very few people who win gold at the Olympics. And if you say, ‘if I don’t win gold then I’m a failure or I’ve let somebody down or something,’ ... What if you win a silver? What if you win a bronze? What if you come fourth? What if your binding comes apart? … What if all of those millions of things that happen in life happen?

Only a few people that go there are going to win gold. And it’s the same, in some degree, I think in commanding a spaceship or doing a spacewalk.  It is a very rare, singular moment-in-time event in the continuum of life.

And you need to honor the highs and the peaks in the moments — you need to prepare your life for them — but recognize the fact that the preparation for those moments is your life and, in fact, that’s the richness of your life.

The challenge that we set for each other, and the way that we shape ourselves to rise to that challenge, is life.

 

Here is the video.

 

 

 

Focusing on the finish line can be tough, even if you win. 

Let's say you set a big goal (for example: winning a gold medal, playing in the Super Bowl, IPOing your company, making a billion dollars, etc.).  Achieving a goal like that is often anti-climactic.  Why, because what's next? Was that the high point ... and everything else is down-hill from there?"

Instead, focus on the process, the growth, and what it makes possible.  That is where you will likely find the energy and motivation to find more ways to win and a bigger future.

What do you think?

If you want more Chris Hadfield, here is something.

Here Are Some Links to Start Your Week

Are the Olympics over yet?  No?  Here are some worthwile momements, in case you missed them.

For example, here, a woman tried to snap a picture of the hockey game between Russia and Slovenia — but instead she got an eyeful.  Call it a new form of 'Selfie'.

 

 

And here's one the Wide World of Sports would call the "Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat".

 

 

For more Olympic pictures, click here.

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Why Big Data Might Be More About Automation Than Insights. (GigaOM)
• Better Than Human: Why Robots Will — And Must — Take Our Jobs. (Wired)
• Why Are We Here? Evolution’s Dirty Secrets. (Salon)
• How Roommates Replaced Spouses in the 20th Century. (The Atlantic)
• Debunking the Myth of the 10,000-Hours Rule: What It Actually Takes to Reach Genius-Level Excellence. (Brain Pickings)

 

Trading Links:

• FED: "Lower Rates Don't Induce Investment." Wasn't That a Central Tenet of Monetary Policy? (BI)
• Are Trading and Gambling the Same? (FuturesMag)
• Statistics Done Wrong: A Guide to Common Analysis Mistakes. (Online)
• IBM Announces $1B Watson Group, Moves Jeopardy Ace Computer To NYC. (Forbes)
• DeathWatch 2014 - Companies on the edge of irrelevance. These five companies won’t die, but they may not escape 2014 in one piece. (ArsTechnica)

Change may happen in an instant ... but it's easier to recognize over time.

These side-by-side pictures of me were taken almost exactly one year apart (the skinnier one was taken last week).

 

 

While I'm proud of the progress, there's still more work to do.

The result didn't come from Photoshop or fasting; it came from a consistent application of focus and activity.

On a day-to-day basis, my weight went up or down (seemingly randomly). Nonetheless, over time, burning more calories than I ate, measuring results, and adjusting the plan -- led to meaningful progress on many levels.

Change can happen in an instant ... Yet, it's often easier to see over time.

The goal, itself, can act as a compass heading - pointing in the right direction. The best next step is often simply being willing to take the best next step. 

Entropy and inertia are always there if you stop along the way.

It's easy to get distracted by the practical realities and minor urgencies of life. This can pull you off track.

Likewise, while it seems like human nature to focus on how far you still have to go in order to reach your goal ... this can be de-motivating.  A better strategy is to recognize the progress you've made towards the ultimate goal, and use it as fuel towards more progress (or something better).

Samuel Johnson said, "If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance."  

Given enough resources, you can do anything you commit to do. Some of those resources include money and time; but I believe that focus and energy are important as well.

As long as you continue to make progress, and don't give-up, possibility turns into probability ... and probability turns into realized successes.

Hope you have a great week.   Sign-up to get this delivered once a week.

 

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Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

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

Lighter Links:

• Obvious: FBI can secretly turn on laptop cameras without the indicator light. (Dvorak)
• The Top 10 Tech 'Fails' of 2013. (CNN)
• How Heart Rate Is Related to Fitness and Longevity. (Huffingtonpost)
• Spotify Year in Review 2013. (Spotify)
• 55 Louis C.K. Quotes That Will Make You Laugh And Think. (ThoughtCatalog)

 

Trading Links:

• BlackRock Is Now the Biggest Investor in the World. (Insider)
• World's Best Economies in 2013. (CNNMoney)
• Wall Street Market Predictions For 2014. (BusinessInsider)
• Whitney Tilson: Lessons From A Dozen Years Of Short Selling. (ValueWalk)
• Algorithms Get Smarter. Speed is giving way to instrumentation and fine-tuning. (CME Group)

Here Are Some Links to Start Your Week

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

 

Lighter Links:

• 100 Top Inspirational Quotes. (Forbes)
• 23 Signs You're Secretly An Introvert. (HuffingtonPost)
• 99 Life Hacks That Could Make Your Life Easier. (AG)
• 40 Useful Sites to Learn New Skills. (Marc&Angel)
• 30 Inspirational Songs to Keep You Motivated. (Lifehack)

 

Trading Links:

• U.S. Rethinks How to Release Sensitive Economic Data. (Wall Street Journal)
• Which of These 11 American Nations Do You Live In? (WashingtonPost)
• Mapping Investor Behavior. (AllAboutAlpha)
• A Twitter User Is Worth $110; Facebook's $98; LinkedIn's $93. (Forbes)
• A Proposal To Limit Swiss Executive Pay To 12 Times That Of Low-Paid Employees Has Some Worried. (BusinessInsider)

People Are Awesome - 2013 Video

People can do some pretty amazing things when they put their mind to it.

Here is a ten-minute video compilation that shows "awesome" comes in many forms.

 

 

 

Going to the gym or finishing a project doesn't seem quite as hard after watching this.

Of course, procrastinators (and the clumsy) may prefer the Fail Compilation instead.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Stores are becoming showrooms for consumers to find items to buy online.

Coming into Black Friday, a new version of the the increasingly popular game "Internet Destruction" is about to let consumers take another shot at destroying Retailing (like they have already done to newspapers, magazines, music and book publishing).

    

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• The Last Thing We Want is Real Artificial Intelligence. (Harvard Business Review)
• Stephen Hawking Predicts Uploading the Brain into a Computer. (KurzweilAI)
• Why You Should Never Kiss a Pig. And other wisdom from a Nobel Prize-winner. (Mother Jones)
• 9 Philosophical Thought Experiments That Will Keep You Up at Night. (Io9)
• Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2014. (Forbes)

 

Trading Links:

• Richest 1 Percent Hold 46 Percent Of The World's Wealth. (HuffingtonPost)
• Top 12 Wealthiest Countries. (ThinkAdvisor)
• PC Sales Fall to Lowest Level for Five Years. (Telegraph)
• The 10 Stealth Economic Trends That Rule the World Today. (The Atlantic)
• Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: Algorithmic trading is changing the way the stock market game is played. (TechDirt)