Why You Should Talk To Strangers….Are you Shitting Me?
The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird remains one of my favourite books and films. I will regularly ensconce myself on the coach when it comes on. There are many reasons to be grateful for “The Mockingbird Next Door,”Marja Mills’s wonderful memoir of Harper Lee and her sister, and being enticed to re-read “To Kill a Mockingbird” is just one of…
Bubble, Bubble….
There is much talk around the google box that the current move in markets is a sign of an investment bubble. I am not so convinced – the moment markets actually go up people start screaming bubble followed by here comes the crash. Such cries are merely the emotional swings of hormonal market commentators. However,…
How To Blow $9 Billion
AS WITH MANY OF AMERICA’S GREAT FORTUNES, the Stroh family’s story starts with an immigrant: Bernhard Stroh, who arrived in Detroit from Germany in 1850 with $150 and a coveted family recipe for beer. He sold his brews door-to-door in a wheelbarrow. By 1890 his sons, Julius and Bernhard Jr., were shipping beer around the Great…
Why trading volume is tumbling, explained in 5 charts
Interesting set of charts relating to the perceived fall in trading volumes during the recent rally in the US.
A Billionaire Mathematician’s Life of Ferocious Curiosity
James H. Simons likes to play against type. He is a billionaire star of mathematics and private investment who often wins praise for his financial gifts to scientific research and programs to get children hooked on math. But in his Manhattan office, high atop a Fifth Avenue building in the Flatiron district, he’s quick to tell…
LANCE ARMSTRONG IN PURGATORY: THE AFTER-LIFE
If you ever needed any convincing that Lance Armstrong was a sociopath and would have been well suited to working on Wall Street then check out this feature on him.
The Aggregation of Marginal Gains
I came across this chart in this article about how British cycling coach Dave Brailsford turned British cycling into a world powerhouse dominating the last Olympics and producing the last two Tour De France winners. Brailsford set about his task but generating tiny almost imperceptible gains over long period of time . The chart below gives…
Lefsetz: The Tiers
This is from the wonderful Lefsetz Letter that everyone should be subscribed to. Pay particular attention to the paragraph I have highlighted STADIUM ACTS Are not bitching about what everybody else is. Money is not their issue. Everybody wants to be in business with them. The transition in the business is evidenced by the fact…
Money versus Wealth
If you want to create wealth, it will help to understand what it is. Wealth is not the same thing as money. Wealth is as old as human history. Far older, in fact; ants have wealth. Money is a comparatively recent invention. Wealth is the fundamental thing. Wealth is stuff we want: food, clothes, houses,…
RBA and other Genuises
The recent pronouncement by Glenn Stevens the head of the RBA that the AUD was way too high and that real estate was stuffed piqued my interest the RBA’s ability to forecast. In doing a bit of research I came a across a document by the Treasury that sought to access the forecasts and methodology…
Dow 17,000 and an idiot magnet
I dont really need to say much about this. And to put the strength of the US market into context this is the S&P500 monthly. However, there is always some idiot who thinks they know better than the market. Remember my view – the market is simply a voting machine, it votes on which…
