Capitalogix

Before You Vote: Getting Educated

Early voting has started, but, if all goes to plan, we'll know who will be the President on November 3rd. 

The fears of fake news and the growing echo chambers around candidates (and policies) mean it can be tough to truly make an educated decision. The reality is, most of our news sources are tinted by the lens of their ideology - which is okay. That means they're appealing to their targeted audience. 

That being said, it may also be worth looking at the same news story from a comparative news source from the other spectrum - or even better, a primary source when it comes to science/economics. 

Here's a chart that shows where news sources rank. You can click the image to go to an interactive version with more details. And, if you're curious about their methods, click here. 

via Ad Fontes Media

On top of reading various news sources, there are a couple of other tools I like: 

• FiveThirtyEight - Uses graphics to tell visual stories on valid statistics. Named after the number of electoral votes. Also has a visual presidential forecast. 
• RealClearPolitics - Aggregates news from various sources, as well as writing their own opinion pieces. Also has a good visual on the current state of the presidential, senate, and house races. 
• Brittanica ProCon - Tracks the stated positions of politicians on various issues. Can be sorted by candidate, and by issue. It also has a quiz you can take to assess which candidate you actually resonate with. 
• Politifact & FactCheck - Both sites fact check presidential statements, party statements, and more. We know politicians often lie by omission, or focus only on the specific stats that are relevant to their point. Fact-checking helps you gain a more holistic picture. 

 

As a last warning on believing anything you hear, most polls I've seen put Biden in the lead ... but if you remember 2016, you know the polls are working on incomplete information. Clinton had a lead on most polls and lost to President Trump. 

We live in interesting times!

An Investment Guaranteed to Pay Dividends

I think about investments a lot ... that makes sense given my profession.

Yet, as my kids get older, there is an investment I made that paid-off in a big way ... and I want to share it with you.

Like many parents, I wanted to teach my children that, to a large extent, they control what happens to them. One of the first ways I did that was to set up a "compensation system" for them to earn video games.

Some parents try to limit the amount of time their kids spend watching TV or playing video games. I tried something different.  Instead, my kids earned their games by reading books.  Here is a photo from way back then.

 

 

Paid With Play.

Here's how it worked. When they were younger, 10 books was enough to earn a small game. When they finished a book, it was their right, and my obligation, to take them to the bookstore for us to pick up the next book together. Likewise, when they finished the requisite number of books, it was their right, and my obligation, to take them to the computer store or game store for them to choose any game they wanted.

When they finished a hundred books, they got a bonus of earning the next game system. That meant if they had a Nintendo, they could now also get a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

How Can You Encourage a Jump to the Next Level?

There came a point when I wanted one of my sons to start reading grown-up books. He was comfortable reading a certain type of book, and didn't want to read the kind of books that I read.  So, I created a bonus system that counted a particular book as three books.  I didn't force him; I just let the easier path to a reward "whisper" in his ear what to read. Once he finished that, he never went back to teen fiction.

It Is a Great Way to Learn About Your Kids.

I also used the bookstore visits to get a sense of how the boys were doing. For example, I might say "I notice that you read five books in that series, maybe you'd like this book".  Or, "That sure is a lot of science fiction; what was the last biography you read?"  For the most part, though, I didn't care what they read.  The key was to get them to want to choose certain books for their own reasons.  Ultimately, their preference meant they were learning to love reading.

It Puts Them In Control of Their Destiny and Rewards.

My younger son likes competition. He also broke or misplaced many things. So, in order to earn back the Game Boy unit that he lost, I challenged him to read five books in five days. These weren't easy books either. It was designed to stretch him, and also to teach him that he could read a book a night. The bet was that he either finished all the books in the allocated time, or none of them counted towards games or Game Boys. On the other hand, if he read a book a night for two weeks, not only would he get to have his Game Boy back, the books would count towards a game too. It worked like a charm, and we were both happy.

So, Who Got the Better Bargain?

As they started to get into their teenage years, I needed to up the ante a little. So, 500 books meant they got a laptop of their choice. Both boys cashed in ... and probably felt like they were taking advantage of their dad.

I got what I wanted, though; both my boys love reading.  And know that they can accomplish anything they put their minds to … one step at a time.

 

 

That's an investment that pays dividends for a long time.

  

Who Can You Trust? Ranking Your News Sources

Fake news this ... phony sources that ...

It is harder than ever to know what to trust.

"Noise Reduction" is important in this volatile geo-political climate.

The chart, below,  lists the least and most trusted news sources.

 

via RJI

As someone who reads a lot, this was interesting.

As a side note,  I was a little surprised to see the "Internet" on the list as source itself.  Darwin would be somewhat comforted to see that people don't trust everything they see on the internet. 

The following chart is a bit outdated (it's from 2014), but it's a good study with diverse leanings.  It presents the trust levels of various news sources by ideological group.   

 

via Journalism

Which of your news sources do you follow? Were they as trusted as you expected?

Another question worth asking yourself is "Am I getting an idea of what the other side is thinking?"  In trading, I always want to understand what the other side sees.

Finally, let me know if there are resources you think I should look at.  

You are either growing or dying.

Why It's Not Them -- It's You

Why is it often easier to be nice to a stranger (or a dog) than someone you deal with regularly?

 

 

 

Despite the annoying evidence to the contrary, it's probably not them ... Which means it is probably you (or at least what you focus on).  

The recipe for success is to choose to let energy flow and to have an unrelenting focus on progress.

This Happens In an Internet Minute: The Astounding Growth of Web Content

To put some perspective on this explosion of content and web traffic here are the facts on the growth of content and the internet.

Compared to 2008 here is what's happened with social networks:

• The number of people online has more than doubled from 1.4 billion to over 3 billion
• Facebook has gone from 80 million users to more than 1.4 billion
• Twitter had 2 million accounts and now it is 300 million and counting.
• The number of smartphones was 250 million in 2008 and today there are more than 2 billion. That is an 800% increase!

Today this is what happens every minute on the web.

• 4 million search queries on Google
• Facebook users share 2.46 million pieces of content
• Email users send 204 million messages

 

Source: Aci.info via Jeff Bullas.

And this is just the beginning.

What It Is Like to Prepare to Speak at a TEDx Conference (Part 1)

TED Talks are pretty well-know for their quality.  So, I was understandably excited (nervous, even) about presenting at the TEDx Plano Conference this past weekend.

It was fun (in the way that preparing for a marathon is "fun").

For example, in the days leading up to the event, I would give it to the unsuspecting people who chose to use the StairMaster next to me. It seemed like a good way to practice with my heart rate up.

I also gave it one-on-one to employees.  Why? Because it gave me extra practice runs, and I got to experiment with different variations to gauge responses.

How did it go?  The speech, itself, went pretty well ... Though it is hard to believe how much work goes into something so fleeting.  I guess that is why they have video.

They filmed it with a professional multi-camera crew. At this point, I still have no idea how long it takes for them to edit it and then put it online. I will let you know when I get the link.

By the way, my topic was "The Time Value of a Life Worth Living -- An entrepreneur's reflections on not letting life get in the way." It is about a year that brought my Dad's death, the forced sale of my company by venture capitalists, and a divorce (in that order).  Sometimes, life's darkest days bring the greatest gifts ... if you are willing to look for them.

 

Next week, I'll write about what it is like to prepare for a TED Talk, and what I believe are some of the key differences from traditional presentations.

 

EDIT: Here's the video:

 

 

In God We Trust -- The Media, Not So Much Anymore ...

A new survey from Gallup suggests that sixty percent of Americans have little trust in the mass media to deliver the news "fully, accurately and fairly." This marks a record amount of distrut since Gallup began tracking the trend.

The question asked was: "In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media—such as newspapers, TV, and radio—when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly—a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all?"

Sixty percent answered either "not very much" or "not at all," with the remaining 40 percent opting for either "a great deal" or at least "a fair amount."

Since you probably don't believe this information, here's the chart straight from Gallup; so you can interpret it yourself.

 

According to the pollsters, this year's drop in media trust is being fueled largely by self-identified Republicans and independents. Twenty-six percent of Republicans said they trusted the media either greatly or a fair amount, similar to the level of trust the GOP reported back in 2008, another election year.

Here is the Gallup chart:

 

 

Independents, meanwhile, are much more negative about the media than they were in 2008, something that Gallup says suggests "the group that is most closely divided between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney  is quite dissatisfied with its ability to get fair and accurate news coverage of this election."

Related articles

• Gallup: Debate Helped Romney (cnsnews.com)
• Congress Approval Rating Slides Back To All Time Lows; 83% Disapprove (zerohedge.com)
• People Are Losing Trust In All Institutions (ritholtz.com)

Check-Out This Official Notice of Formal Apology

As a public service, I am sharing this Formal Apology from the Bureau of Communication.

 

 

 

 

Failure to use it has consequences.

For example, have you seen this video of what an angry father can do to his daughter's laptop?

 

 

 

Do you applaud the standard he is trying to teach her ... or are you tempted to call Child Protective Services?

If she had just used the apology form ...

 

Related articles

• Police visit Facebook dad who shot daughter's laptop (news.cnet.com)
• Dad Who Shot Daughter's Laptop, Gets Visit from Child Protective Services (blippitt.com)
• Dad draws raves, reprimands for answering daughter's Facebook rant with nine .45 rounds in her laptop (mercurynews.com)

What Good Interview Questions Are Actually Trying to Discover

Image via CrunchBase

When you interview someone for a job, what are you trying to find out?

I've seen and used models that assess how someone likely will fit the Culture, and whether they are Organized, Competent, and Motivated?

Seth Godin often has an interesting perspective on business.  Here is what he shared about this topic.

What good interview questions are actually trying to discover.

• How long are you willing to keep pushing on a good project until you give up?
• How hard is it to get you to change your mind when you're wrong?
• How much do you learn from failing?
• How long does it take you to learn something new?
• How hard is it for you to let someone else take the lead?
• How much do you care?

The rest is merely commentary, either that or they're interviewing someone for a job that's not as good as they deserve. For those jobs, the only question they're really focusing on is, "will they fit in around here?"

If you like that, you might like this too.

What Matters Now - eBook from Seth Godin

The book highlights more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O'Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here.

Download it here.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Do gadgets that help you focus on conscious breathing work?  I found three that worked for me: Resperate, Helicor's StressEraser, and Heart Math's emWave.

My biggest complaint is that once I learned the relaxation techniques each of these devices teach,  I didn't need the device to get the results.  That also is a positive, isn't it?

I think, feel, and communicate better when I'm calm.  Learning to access that state at will is an important skill ... in business and personal life. 

So, with that in mind, here are my impressions and experience with each.

Resperate.

The Resperate unit is a little bigger than a portable CD-ROM player, with a built-in elastic strap that goes around your ribcage to monitor your breathing.  The concept behind this tool is very simple.  It relaxes you by helping you slow your breathing down. 

Resperate starts by pacing your in-and-out breaths with higher and lower pitched sound cues.  Over time it moves these tones farther apart, leading you to breathe slower and more deeply.

How did it work?  It helped me move easily from 6 to 10 breaths-per-minute, down to two or three breaths-per-minute.  This promotes much deeper breathing and relaxes the body and mind.  I find that I enjoy using this tool for about 10-minutes at a time; and I definitely feel relaxed after using it.  

While Resperate provided the most relaxation, it is the one I use least.  Perhaps because it is a little bigger and requires the belt.  Not big hurdles; but apparently big enough.

Helicor's StressEraser. 

The StressEraser is a portable biofeedback device, smaller than a deck of cards.  On the top, there is a hinged slot to put your finger.  The finger reader measures your pulse and galvanic skin response. There is also an LED screen on this device that helps you pace your breathing, and shows your level of stress or relaxation.

Without focusing, the line is erratic and jagged.

However, with only a little bit of training, it's easy to create a very smooth sign wave that indicates a steady breathing and a healthy heart rate pattern.

With this tool, I get the best (most relaxing) results with an in-breath of about five seconds and an out-breath of about the same length. I like doing this for five minutes or so; it is a nice break in the middle of the day, before an important phone call, or a decision-making session. 

I find that it helps me focus. Of the three tools, this is the one I find myself using most often.  This might be because I like the graph and how it gives me instantaneous feedback about my breathing and focus.

HeartMath's emWave.

This is the smallest of the tools.  The emWave relies on either a thumb sensor or, my preference, a clip that attaches to your earlobe. The technique is very similar to what you learn with the StressEraser. It involves steady breathing and a focus on reducing heart beat variability.  It has four levels of challenge.

It sounds strange, and I don't claim to understand the science behind it, however focusing your attention on your heart while doing the breathing exercise seems to make a difference.  Somehow, when you focus your attention on your heart, that is when the machine changes color to indicate that there is "coherence". And, in my experience, this is the most relaxing part of the exercise. More coherence equals less stress.

I tend to use this tool less than five minutes at a time to feel calm and refreshed.  It was also the easiest for me to have success with (in this case, to get the "green light" to come on).  So, the emWave is the smallest, easiest and quickest of the three ... and it works.  I'm going to use this more often.

So why did I use one that is more challenging?  Habit, or perhaps that defines part of the reason I need to relax?