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Here Are Some Links to Start Your Weekend

Do you believe that our Democracy was bought and sold a long time ago?

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Why You Should Hustle Every Day. (TheNextweb)
• Discovering Two Screens Aren’t Better Than One. (NYTimes)
• You Could Read An Entire Harry Potter Book In Under 90 Minutes With This App. (HuffPost)
• 35 Expensive Things for Your Dream House. (Distractify)
• Military's 'Iron Man' Suit May Be Ready to Test This Summer. (LiveScience)

 

Trading Links:

• Remember Lotus Notes? It's Still a Billion-Dollar IBM Business. (WSJ)
• What Will Robots Do to Property Values? (Freakonomics)
• Can Emerging Market Bonds Help Us Predict the Next Bear Market? (FinancialSense)
• How Do You Rein In High Speed Trading? (Points and Figures)
• Welcome to the Odd World of Alternative Currencies. Believe it or not, they're coming. (Futures)

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)

Here Are Some Links to Start Your Week

First they will laugh ... Then they will copy.

 

 

Don't give up. 

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."   ~  Thomas A. Edison

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Do Entrepreneurs Have an Optimism Bias -- Or Do You Have a Pessimism Bias? (HBR)
• Why Positive Encouragement Works Better Than Criticism, According to Science. (Buffer)
• 'Hey Dumbass, Say Something Nice to Your Wife' — There's an App for That. (Mashable)
• 21 Awkward Cards For Your Confusing Modern Relationships. (HuffingtonPost)
• You'll Be Surprised How Many Donuts worth of Sugar Are in These 10 Everyday Foods. (BI)
  
  

 

Trading Links:

• That Viral Chart Predicting Another 1929 Stock-Market Crash? It's Absurd. (The Atlantic)
• This Good News Might Actually Be Bad News: Americans Are Borrowing Big Again. (Quartz)
• Do Stress Hormones Fuel Volatility In Financial Markets? (LATimes)
• The Average Successful Startup Raises $41M, Exits at $242.9M. (TechCrunch)
• Accidental Tax Break Saves Wealthiest Americans $100 Billion. (Yahoo Finance)

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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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 to Start Your Week

You can learn a lot by watching puppies.  Barley, here, is sporting the "Cone of Shame" ... which was our attempt to stop him from licking his nether-region till it was swollen and raw.

 

 

Despite our best efforts, Barley has figured-out how to contort his body and use his prehensile tongue to get the job done anyway.

I guess Charles Darwin was right ... "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

 

 

 

Most find a way to get what they must have.

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

 

Lighter Links:

• How Visionaries See the Future. (PandoDaily)
• Reframing Failure as Intentional Iteration. The secret to success may be trying more stuff. (IAC)
• This Quick Trick Can Vastly Improve The iPhone's Fingerprint Scanner. (HuffPost)
• Top Spotify Playlists for Your Every Mood. (Mashable)
• The Top Five Vitamins You Should Not Take. (Forbes)

 

Trading Links:

• Goldman Expects More Banks To Be Like Goldman Next Year. (Quartz)
• Palantir, a Big Data Tech Company, Raises $100MM at a $9 Billion Valuation. (NYTimes)
• 12 Smart Money Moves to Make Before the End of 2013. (Forbes)
• 15 Highest Paid CEOs in America. (BusinessInsider)
• Minimum Wage Was Once Enough To Keep a Family of 3 Out of Poverty. How much do you think is now needed? - (The Atlantic)

The Clues to a Great Story - TED Video and Infographic

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.

I visited family.

 

 

One of the things that caught my attention was how attached to stories we are ... our own, and the stories of others. 

They help us decide who is naughty or nice.  They help us decide who to spend more time with ... and where we fit in.

Stories are emotion catalysts and amplifiers.  Choose the 'right' ones, and you feel good.  Focus on the 'wrong' one and you feel bad. 

Well-told stories make us care.  Humans use 'story' to make sense of things.  If you create the narrative, the process is intentional.  However, for most, the quality of our stories is not a conscious process. 

 

How Do You Craft a Great Story?

 

A good story can make the gathering feel that much closer. A good story can flip a conversation at a party from completely awkward to wonderful.

A good story can glue your nose to a book. And, on screen, a good story can rivet generation after generation.

Story-telling is an important skill.  So, how do you tell a good story?

Andrew Stanton, the Pixar writer and director behind both Toy Story and WALL-E, has many ideas, and he shared his expertise in his TED Talk, The clues to a great story .

 

 

 

Storytelling is like joke telling. It's knowing your punchline, your ending, knowing that everything you're saying, from the first sentence to the last, is leading to a singular goal, and ideally confirming some truth that deepens our understandings of who we are as human beings.

We all love stories. We're born for them. Stories affirm who we are. We all want affirmations that our lives have meaning. And nothing does a greater affirmation than when we connect through stories. It can cross the barriers of time, past, present and future, and allow us to experience the similarities between ourselves and through others, real and imagined.

 

Here is an infographic that sets out the basic steps to a great story.

 

Stories are not just for kids.

Make me care.  Take me with you.  Be intentional.  Let me like you.  Delight me.

Words to live by!

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Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Holiday travel made better for the NSA now that the FAA allows travelers to use electronics during takeoff and landing.

  

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Best Business Leaders 2013. (BusinessInsider)
• Software Patent Reform Just Died In The House, Thanks to IBM and Microsoft. (WP)
• Why Is Turkey Cheaper When Demand Is Higher? - NYTimes. (NYTimes)
• Cyber Monday 2013: Best US Deals and Sales. (Pocket-Lint)
• Temperament is More Important than IQ. (FarnamStreetBlog)

 

Trading Links:

• Apple is Sitting on 10% of All US Corporate Cash. (Quartz)
• Thanksgiving Digest: Mobile 43% Of All Traffic, Over 25% Of All Online Sales. (TechCrunch)
• Credit Card Companies Use Free Shipping as Weapon in E-Commerce Battle. (AllThingsD)
• Putting a Speed Limit on the Stock Market. (NYTimes)
• The Future of Computer Based Trading.   (Magic-Maths-Money)