Capitalogix

An Epic Time-Lapse Map of Europe and the Middle East Over the Past 1,000 Years

The temporary nature of things is once again highlighted as Britain considers leaving the European Union.

Here is a fascinating look at a thousand years of history (via border changes).  Watch as the empires, nations, kingdoms, armies and republics come-and-go in fast forward.

   

 

via YouTube.

For a different look, click here or here.

Whether through geo-politics or military actions ... Change appears to be the only constant.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Oh well, the hour we lost this weekend was the one I planned to use to go to the gym.  Maybe next year?.

 

via Someecards.com.

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Tomorrow's Advance Man. Marc Andreessen’s plan to win the future. (NewYorker)
• Want Your Children to Survive the Future? Send Them to Art School. (Medium)
• Uber Teams Up with Airbus for On-Demand Helicopter Service. (TPG)
• The 'Hidden Airport' Travel Hack Could Save You As Much As 80% On Flights. (TI)
• A Spanish man didn’t report to work for six years, and no one noticed until he won an award. (National Post)

 

Trading Links:

• The Exchanges Are Eating Your Returns. (Bloomberg)
• Artificial Intelligence Market Worth 5.05 Billion USD by 2020. (MarketWatch)
• What Does This Mean?  IBM Revenue Fell for 15th Straight Quarter. (Fox)
• Why Are Corporations Hoarding Trillions? (New York Times)
• China's $34 Trillion Experiment Is Blowing Up - Kyle Bass. (ValueWalk)

Caring Digitally ...

My son, Ben, gets married next weekend.

As you might know, he has been working as a Presidential Innovation Fellow with the White House. So, this letter may not be a big surprise (or even signed by human) … Nonetheless, I thought it was kind of cool.

 

 

So is this article about the P.I.F. Program in FastCompany Magazine (see if you can spot my son ... It is like "Where's Waldo").

Regardless of what I think about Obamacare.  I like thinking that Obama cares.

Trading After Groundhog Day

On Groundhog Day, Bespoke put out these charts and comments (with minor edits).

 

When Punxsutawney Phil Speaks, People Listen

 

Forget about EF Hutton, or for that matter Warren Buffett.  If you really want to know where stock prices are going and can’t wait until the Super Bowl, look no further than the Oracle of Punxsutawney, Phil the groundhog!  Given his ‘perfect’ record at predicting the weather, we wanted to check up on the groundhog’s ability to predict the direction of the stock market.

Going back to 1944, when Groundhog Day resumed following a brief pause during World War II, Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow on the morning of February 2nd 59 times and seen no shadow just 13 times.  The table and chart below summarize the performance of the S&P 500 from Groundhog Day through the first day of Spring in each year based on whether or not Phil sees his shadow or not. (Disclaimer: If you are reading and still think this post is meant in any way to be taken seriously, it is not.)

  

 

 

On years when Phil sees his shadow, it not only means we are in for a longer winter but also sub-par stock returns.  In the 59 years where Phil has seen his shadow, indicating a long winter is in store, the S&P 500’s median return from that day up until the first day of spring has been a gain of 0.54% with gains 54% of the time.  Those returns don’t sound so bad, but they are actually below average.  That’s because in the thirteen years where Phil did not see his shadow the S&P 500 saw a median gain of 3.01% with positive returns more than three-quarters of the time.  

As shown in the lower chart, there are only three years (1997, 2007, and 2011) since 1944 than Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow and the S&P 500 declined from Groundhog Day through the first day of spring.  Of those three years, the worst decline was 2.17%.  With the S&P 500 already down 1.6% today, the S&P 500 has some digging out to do if it is going to continue its trend of winning ways following those days when the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow.  It’s so easy a groundhog can do it!

 

Right ... so, you know that was poo poo de moo moo. Punxsutawney Phill doesn't predict markets.

This year started with an 11 % drop.  While that is the steepest drop to start a year,  I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean much either.  With similar numbers, the market ultimately went down 32 % in 2008 -- and up 33 % in 2009.

Markets go up - and markets go down.  It's not what happens, it's what you do that matters.

Jimmy Kimmel Ghostwrote a Children's Book for Donald Trump Titled 'Winners Aren't Losers'

Donald Trump has accomplished a lot in his career.  

He built a real estate empire and wrote 12 books -- but, there is something he hasn't done.

 

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently, Trump admitted he wanted to give authoring a kids' book a try, but hadn't yet.  Fortunately, host Jimmy Kimmel revealed he ghostwrote one for the presidential hopeful.

 

Authored and illustrated in the style of a Dr. Seuss book, Winners Aren't Losers tells the story of an inspiring Trump trying to direct children and animals to be winners instead of—you guessed it—losers.

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Kimmel via YouTube.

 

"Winners aren't losers. They're winners—like me! A loser's a loser. Which one will you be?" Kimmel read from the book. "Winners do deals and winners get rich, while sad little losers just sit there and bitch."

 

"This should be a big seller," Trump joked.

 

Here is the full text of the 'book'.

 

Happy New Year

Best wishes to you and yours.  JibJab nailed my resolutions for the year!

 

 

JibJab via YouTube.

Looking forward to a great 2016!

Cool Comparison of Harry Potter and Star Wars [Infographic]

The first reactions to 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' are here, and people are thrilled ... Even Wired liked it.

Ah, the Hero's Quest ... a formula that has worked for centuries.

Check out this document showing the differences between the plots of Harry Potter and Star Wars.

 

 

J.K. Rowling has said, "I haven't the faintest idea where my ideas come from."  Well, Wikipedia lists over two dozen influences and analogues (and is interesting, if you like that sort of thing.)

Or, you could just glance at the following infographic.  It highlights the similarities between Harry Potter and Star Wars pretty clearly.

 

 

Sometimes it is better not to analyze the trick and just enjoy the magic.

Other times, just let Saturday Night Live do a parody of it.

Related articles

• Incredible Infographic - The Fascinating Franchise of Harry Potter (basekit.com)
• The Magic Of Harry Potter (grumbleltd.wordpress.com)
• Bank on Harry Potter to conjure up the cash (telegraph.co.uk)

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Google is good for a lot of things.  Watching the auto-complete choices is often fun.  According to this, PDF might be the fourth most popular religion.

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• How Machines Learn (And You Win). (HBR)
• How an F Student Became America’s Most Prolific Inventor. (Bloomberg)
• Forget Humans vs. Machines: It’s a Humans + Machines Future. (Singularity)
• The 5 Biggest Rip-Offs Consumers Face Today.  (Fortune)
• Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s. (The Atlantic)

 

Trading Links:

• Goldman Sachs Bought a $21 Million Stake in HFT Network Company. (Bloomberg)
• U.S. System Designed to Prevent Financial Crisis ‘Likely to Fail,’ Say Experts. (MarketWatch)
• Wall Street is Under Attack from Hackers. (Business Insider)
• Short Interest: Dispelling Another Market Myth. (See It Market)
• Stop Listening to These Clowns: Economists’ Bad Ideas Have Been Damaging Our Economy for Years. (Salon)

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving weekend.  Times may change, but human nature doesn't.  There is a lot to be thankful for anyway!

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• CEOs On Their 'Best Mistakes'. (Business Insider)
• The Best Leaders Are Constant Learners. (HBR)
• How AI is Transforming Business [Infographic]. (Deloitte)
• How Salad Can Make Us Fat. (NYTimes)
• Research: Life Is Different For People Who Think In Metaphors. (Psych)

 

Trading Links:

• Jack Bogle: Greatly Diminished Stock Returns Ahead. (CBS)
• U.S. Dethroned as World's Billionaire Capital. (CNBC)
• IMF Seen Approving Yuan As "Reserve Currency". (ZeroHedge)
• The Man Accused of Spoofing Some of the World's Biggest Futures Exchanges. (Bloomberg)
• These Numbers Explain Why Amazon Wants to Give So Much Free Stuff to Prime Members. (BI)

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Don't ask how I know, but, never laugh at your wife's choices.  Remember, you are one of them.

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• 6 Ways Work Will Change In 2016. (FastCompany)
• What Peter Drucker Had to Say About Automation. (HBR)
• Japan is Building a “Robot Taxi” Service, With Thousands Planned for the 2020 Olympics. (QZ)
• Is Classical Music Irrelevant? Can It Survive The Death Of Its Listeners? (TM)
• Pretty Scary - How Close Did We Come to a US-Soviet War During the Cold War? (BI)

 

Trading Links:

• Hedge-Fund Priest: Thou Shalt Make Money. (Wall Street Journal)
• When Botox Meets Viagra: Allergen & Pfizer in Merger Talks. (LATimes)
• Even If Only for a Moment, Someone Leapfrogged Gates as World's Richest. (ValueWalk)
• Money Managers Go on Offense Against Speed Traders. (Bloomberg)
• The Trust Machine: The Technology Behind Bitcoin Could Transform How the Economy Works. (Economist)