Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 18th, 2022

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

Lighter Links:

• How To Be a Great Leader: Eight Lessons From Queen Elizabeth.(Gapingvoid)
• Study of Buddhist Monks Suggests Celibacy Can Have Surprising Evolutionary Advantages. (PsyPost)
• A Subway Map of Human Anatomy.(Cool Infographics)
• These Unexpectedly Fearsome Photos of Ants Will Keep You Up At Night. (MyModernMet)
• 'Cosmic' and 'Phantom' UFOs are All Over Ukraine's Skies, Government Report Claims. (Space)

 

Trading Links:

• Legendary Investor Stanley Druckenmiller Warns There is a High Probability' the Stock Market Will Be Flat' for an Entire Decade. (Fortune)
• Here's Why the Bond Market is Seeing Volatility on Par With the 2008 Financial Crisis. (Insider)
• Treasury Recommends Exploring Creation of a Digital Dollar. (APNews)
• Mark Cuban On Capitalism, Being Rich, and the Future of Work.(TheStreet)
• In Rare Sit-Down, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Peter Diamond Sees Significant Power Shift From Employers to Workers Underway.(MarketWatch)

 

Snake-Oil or Cure? Do Your Supplements Actually Help?

Are you trying to lead a healthier lifestyle?  This data visualization can help you filter out the marketing hype to help you find the vitamins, minerals, and herbs that deliver tangible benefits ... versus those that serve only as a "Guaranteed Genuine Placebo".

Here is an interactive model of the most current research data.  It is interesting because of the health research itself ... and because models (like this) have far-reaching applications.  Click the image to play with the interactive version on InformationIsBeautiful.

 

via InformationIsBeautiful

 

I was surprised to see how many of the supplements I take weren't high on the list.  I was also surprised to find a few effective supplements on the list that I don't take. 

Some of you have seen how many supplements I take a day.  I take so many pills that I split them up into morning, lunch, dinner, and bedtime.  Despite that, I always like finding what else might help. 

As a reminder, supplements are meant to support your health goals, and the secret to longevity is not going to be found without you also putting in the work yourself. 

Regardless, I appreciated this look at the performance data behind various supplements. 

Let me know if you find something you think is worth sharing.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 12th, 2022

 

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

Lighter Links:

• Charles Officially Announced as King at Royal Ceremony. (APNews)
• People Prefer Tech They Think is Old Even When It's Actually Not. (NewScientist)
• US Life Expectancy Is in Freefall - We Can’t Keep Blaming COVID (KC)
• Radiant New Closeup Shows the Sun in Magnificent Detail. (Mashable)
• DeepMind AI Learns to Play Soccer Using Decades of Match Simulations. (NS)

 

Trading Links:

• If You Invested $1,000 in Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum on Jan. 1, Here's How Much You Lost in 2022 So Far. (Benzinga)
• Goldman Sachs Scraps Free Coffee at Its Wall St Headquarters Used to Lure Workers Back to the Office. (DailyMail)
• How Does a Recession Affect Me? (Forbes)
• As AI-Generated Art Takes Off, Who Really Owns It? (Rappler)
• King Charles Doesn't Have to Pay Inheritance Tax on the Queen's Private Estate Worth More Than $750 Million. (Insider)

 

The Average NFL Player (By Position)

Football season is officially underway!  In honor of that, here's a look at each position's composite "player" (as of 2019).

As you might expect, different sports have different ratios of ethnicities.  For example, you might expect more Pacific Islanders in Rugby or Asians in Badminton.

The same is true for various positions on a football team.  Offensive linemen are more likely to be white – while running backs are more likely to be black. 

Here is a visualization that shows what happens when you average the top players' faces in various positions.

osmutiar via Reddit

Composites are interesting.

While you may be thinking "this player must be unstoppable" ... statistically, he's average.

The "composite" NFL player would be the 848th best player in the league.  He's not a starter, and he plays on an average team.  You probably don't know his name if you don't root for his team. 

We found the same thing with our trading bots.  The ones that made it through most filters weren't star performers.  They were the average bots that did enough not to fail (but failed to make the list as top performers in any of the categories).  Meaning, the survivors were generalists – not specialists.

In an ideal world, with no roster limits, you'd want the perfect lineup for each granular situation.  You'd want to evaluate players on how they perform under pressure, on different downs, against other players, and with different schemes. 

That's what technology lets you do with algorithms.  You can have a library of systems that communicate with each other ... and you don't even have to pay their salary (but you will need data scientists, researchers, machines, data, alternative data, electricity, disaster recovery, and a testing platform).

You won't find exceptional specialists if your focus is on generalized safety.  Generalists are great, but you also have to be able to respond to specific conditions.

Onwards.

Finding Ikigai In Increasingly Stressful Times

I just read that they sell more adult diapers than baby diapers in Japan.

Getting old is tough ... and it gets tougher the older you get.   As a result, finding your 'reasons for being' and joy in life become increasingly important. 

The past couple of years have been a period of massive upheaval for many.  Reasons for this include stress, change, pandemics, quarantine, new jobs, new goals ... or, at the other end of the spectrum, lack of change, lack of a job, or lack of purpose.

Most people know that life is much better than the alternative (and that life becomes even better when you learn to enjoy living and let go of what isn't serving you).  Consequently, it makes sense to understand and search for the things that bring you pleasure or fulfillment.

A Japanese concept called "Ikigai" may help better define your motivating force and the things that give you a sense of purpose or a reason for living.

Ikigai centers around finding purpose as you grow older.  Paradoxically, it makes sense to start the process as early as possible. 

Here is an infographic that lays out some "Reasons for Being."

via InformationIsBeautiful

Finding your "reason to be" and living with purpose are keys to making the most of your time.

The beauty of 2022 being a fresh start is that you can also change your approach and your vision.

The graphic highlights something interesting (yet almost counter-intuitive) ... When two areas intersect, it creates something positive (e.g., a passion or a mission).   However, where three areas intersect, it creates a pain point (for example, it could be what you're good at, you love doing it, the world needs it ... but it doesn't make you any money – so now you're struggling).

Worth examining and thinking about for a bit.

On a related note, this TEDx talks about the nine common diet and lifestyle habits that help people live past 100.

 

TED-ED via YouTube

And here is a link to Dan Sullivan's free e-book on his plan to live to 156. 

Live long and prosper!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 4th, 2022

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

Lighter Links:

• Elon Musk Takes a Jibe at Biden: Here's Who the Tesla CEO Calls 'The Real President!'. (Benzinga)
• Pete Buttigieg is Trying to Fix Air Travel With a Dashboard.' What's on It? (NYT)
• This Logarithmic View of the Universe Will Blow Your Mind. (BigThink)
• DALL-E Can Now Use AI to Extend Images as a Human Artist Might.(FastCompany)
• Your Doppelganger is Out There, and You Probably Share DNA With Them.(NYT)

 

Trading Links:

 

• The Paradox of Entrepreneurship – The Mass Exodus from the Traditional Workforce Has Contributed to the Labor Shortage. (Axios)
• Apple Car is Whipping Other Brands Before It Even Exists. (CreativeBloq)
• Headline Data Say the Economy is Solid – Markets Know Better. (Forbes)
• Comparing U.S. Federal Spending With Revenue. (VisualCapitalist)
• Russia's Ruble Has Rallied Nearly 40% Since the War in Ukraine Began. That Could Be Bad News for Putin.(Markets)
• Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman Has Slammed Bitcoin as Pointless, Wasteful, and in Large Part a Ponzi Scheme. Here are the Economist's 12 Best Quotes About Crypto Over the Past Decade. (Markets)

Honoring Serena Williams

Serena Williams officially retired on Friday after a loss in the third round of the US Open to 29-year-old Ajla Tomljanovic. Serena won her first Grand Slam Title 23 years ago in the same stadium. 

Serena started playing professional tennis in 1995 as a 14-year-old.  Twenty-seven years later, she walks away from the game with 858 tour victories, an 85% win rate, 73 singles titles, an Olympic gold medal, and 319 weeks at No. 1. With her sister, Venus, they won 14 major doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals.

Recently, I shared this graph that helps put the Williams sisters' dominance into perspective. 

via Yahoo!Sports

Serena is undoubtedly one of the most dominant athletes - man or woman - in any sport. 

To be great requires an extraordinary level of grit, determination, and pain tolerance over an extended period of time.  It isn't just what you choose to do from moment to moment – it's about a persistent commitment to who you choose to be!  

During Serena's final match, an ESPN commentator said something interesting about what makes her (and many famous athletes) great.  For context, Serena was down 5-1 in the final set of the final match, with her opponent having won two sets already.  It's 'game point'.   To get here, Ajla will win a point, then Serena - it goes back and forth like that more than seven times.  Yet, Serena keeps finding a way to keep herself in the match despite everything going against her. 

While this is going on, the commentator exclaims, "How can she care so much?  How can she keep dancing on the lip of the volcano?" 

Imagine being in Serena's position.  She's 40, she's announced her retirement, the match has been going on for almost 3 hours, and her chances of coming back are almost nil ... she has nothing left to prove ... but she keeps finding more in the tank.  She keeps putting herself in a position to turn it around.  After the match, her opponent makes clear that she never once thought that Serena was out of it - that she couldn't turn it around and clinch victory. 

It was beautiful - and it was a testament to the passion and discipline it takes to be that elite for that long. 

There's a difference between good and great - but there's also a difference between great and the greatest. 

The New Era of Energy

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about oil production.  This week, I want to look at the current energy landscape. 

 

View the full infographic at visualcapitalist

Over the past several decades, there has been a massive shift in how we produce and consume energy.  This has been driven by the tech boom - as well as by climate awareness.

The practical realities of widespread tech adoption directly impact energy consumption.  For example, there are now over 7 billion people with smartphones.  As the population (and the number of gadgets and tech we use) grows, logically, so does our energy consumption.

Luckily, we're also getting better at powering them. 

On a different front, oil is still a meaningful and vital part of the energy ecosystem … but, now, it's being supplemented by multiple renewables. 

View the full infographic at visualcapitalist 

Over the last decade, investment in green technologies has helped the cost of renewable energies drop precipitously. 

That spurred a different set of products and use cases.  For example, we've seen the number of electric cars grow exponentially.  In 2011, there were approximately 70,000 EV units in the world.  Now there are around 16.5 million. 

This isn't a commentary on the environmental benefit of renewables; it is an observation about the direction energy is heading. 

And, just like with AI, despite being a space that's existed for a long time, it is still in the "early adoption" phase. 

Based on estimations, the IEA projects an 8x growth in EV by 2050.  This also means that we will use an increasing amount of batteries and rare metals.  Currently, China controls the supply chains and critical resource constraints. 

If our goal is to be energy independent, we have a long way to go ... Nonetheless, recognize that this creates massive business and investment opportunities. 

Onwards!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - August 28th, 2022

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

Lighter Links:

• McKinsey Report: Two AI Trends Top 2022 Outlook.(VentureBeat)
• The Sixth Love Language Does Not Exist. (NYT)
• This is When Thinking Through Stressful Situations Can Be Productive. (FastCompany)
• Why and How Do We Dream? (Quanta Magazine)
• 'No Other Material Behaves in this Way': Scientist Identify a Compound With a Memory. (ScienceAlert)

 

 

 

Trading Links:

• Top Central Bankers Deliver Hawkish Message at Jackson Hole. (Bloomberg)
• The Fed Should Go On Vacation After this Year's Rate Hikes To Avoid the Risk of Overdoing Its Tightening Efforts, BlackRock Says. (Markets)
• It's OK To Gamble' On Speculative Meme Stocks, Jeremy Siegel Says: If You're Into Gambling and You Like That, Fine, Go To It'. (Fortune)
• How Much $1,000 Invested In Apple, Amazon, Bitcoin, Gold After Friday's Plunge Would Be Worth Upon Return To All-Time Highs. (Benzinga)
• Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Just Predicted Another 20% to 25% Drop for the Markets — Here’s What the Asset Manager Still Holds for Shockproofing (Moneywise)

 

 

A Reminder That People Can Be Good

The world seems pretty divided. 

Sometimes it feels like portraying people who think differently as "evil" has become a default strategy.  Frankly, it's exhausting.

As a break from that, here's a story of someone doing what most wouldn't. 

Mohamed Bzeek is a Libyan immigrant living in Los Angeles.  He's taken on a unique life mission.  He fosters terminally ill kids – so they don't have to die alone in hospitals.  He's been doing it for over 25 years (and he has fostered over 80 kids so far). 

 

via PBS Newshour

 

Over $800,000 has been raised via a GoFundMe campaign.  If you'd like to donate, you can do so here. 

Happy people find ways to be happy.  Generous people find ways to be generous.  Frustrated people find ways to be frustrated.

What do you find ways to do most often?