One Thing I Learned Today

The Study of the End of Times

shotgunshy — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 22:26:52 -0400

Eschatology ⁱ/ˌɛskəˈtɒlədʒi/ (from the Greek ἔσχατος/ἐσχάτη/ἔσχατον, eschatos/eschatē/eschaton meaning “last” and -logy meaning “the study of”, first used in English around 1550)^[1] is a part oftheology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events of history, the ultimate destiny of humanity—commonly referred to as the “end of the world” or “end time”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology

Apple Market Cap > Google + Microsoft + FB

shotgunshy — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 23:33:42 -0400

Value by market cap:

Microsoft: $256.78B
Google: $221.48B
Facebook: $41.43B
Amazon: $111.26B

Total: $630.95B

Meanwhile, Apple currently clocks in at $632.56B. Just staggering when you think about it. Especially when you consider that Apple’s market cap in 1999 was only $9.29B.

http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2012/08/29/apple-now-bigger-market-cap-microsoft-google-amazon-facebook-combined/

"First rule of Holes: If you find yourself in one, stop digging."

shotgunshy — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:32:00 -0400

“

First rule of Holes:

If you find yourself in one, stop digging.

”

- Prof. J. Wilson

Photo

shotgunshy — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 16:24:47 -0400

The Smarts Continuum

shotgunshy — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:00:00 -0400

People keep talking about how one person is smarter than the other simply because they have “better” ideas. Most people are not absolutely smarter than others. Having good ideas is a continuum - at any given time one person might have a better, more insightful idea than the next person. And then shortly afterwards the second person can just as easily have a more intelligent thought than the first.

What matters most though is to continually challenge oneself and to cultivate the spirit of active idea creation and subsequent critiques of those ideas with the hopes of staying on the positive side of the “Smarts Continuum” more often than not. If, on average, you were to find yourself on the good side of the continuum most of the time, then it just indicates that your thought-process tends to be slightly more refined. Conversely, if one is, on average, on the less favorable side of the continuum, then more experience and introspection on thought-processes is required in order to try to move upward and onward.

At the end of the day, it is a continuum that one must constantly strive to excel on.

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

shotgunshy — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 21:19:50 -0400

““Seek first to understand, then to be understood.””

Lessons from the '80s

shotgunshy — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:29:00 -0400

I learned about Lee Atwater today, the US advisor to the Reagan and Bush administrations. A self-admitted Machiavellian, in the final leg of his life he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. The illness caused him to reflect regretfully on his life. I thought it was worth sharing some of his final written words, as they ring just as relevant today:

My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The ’80s were about acquiring — acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn’t I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn’t I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don’t know who will lead us through the ’90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

abecedarian (noun) 1. a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet. 2. a beginner in any fiel...

shotgunshy — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 19:26:59 -0400

abecedarian (noun)

1. a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet.

2. a beginner in any field of learning.

15 Time Wasters Successful People Avoid

shotgunshy — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 01:45:26 -0400

15 Time Wasters Successful People Avoid

100 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

shotgunshy — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:09:41 -0400

100 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

The ever-listenable Dr. Neil DeGrasse poses cosmic quandaries...

shotgunshy — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:27:40 -0400

The ever-listenable Dr. Neil DeGrasse poses cosmic quandaries worth pondering

How to de-core iceberg lettuce in 3 seconds

shotgunshy — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:59:24 -0400

How to de-core iceberg lettuce in 3 seconds

Rowling on the Floor Laughing

shotgunshy — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:34:40 -0400

Stephen Fry: Can we settle an important question? How do you pronounce your last name?

JK Rowling: It is Row-ling. As in rolling pin. (mimics rolling action)

Stephen Fry: So if any of you hear someone pronounce her name "Rohw-ling", you have my permission to hit them over the head with -- not with Order of the Phoenix, that would be cruel. Something smaller, like a fridge.

“Many drivers do not turn their outside mirrors out far...

shotgunshy — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:48:16 -0400

“Many drivers do not turn their outside mirrors out far enough and simply duplicate the same scene in all three mirrors. Rule of thumb: If you can see even a glimpse of the sides of your car in your outside mirrors they are turned too far inwards.”

http://www.smartmotorist.com/car-accessories-fuel-and-maintenance/adjusting-your-mirrors-correctly.html

So, I was looking through some career sections for tech...

shotgunshy — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:51:00 -0400

So, I was looking through some career sections for tech companies and I came across one position at a company that is a respected and fairly large player in its industry. I was reading the job description and the above section caught my eye. This is by no means a physically demanding job (or at least it shouldn’t be!), but I was quite surprised that the company actually made an effort to give a line or two about the details of what physical activities one can expect.

“Prolonged sitting” may sound like a chore when it’s put that way, but it describes almost all desk jobs! That said, while the description may sound frivolous, as someone who has battled spinal complications in the past two years, I am actually quite pleased to see this included in here. It’s an interesting bit of details that tells me that the company may be more attentive to its employees’ needs than the average company. Probably even more than many above-average companies.

Oh, and I’ll let you figure out which company it is.

The Fortune Cookie was not invented in China, but rather in...

shotgunshy — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:25:00 -0400

The Fortune Cookie was not invented in China, but rather in California. In fact, fortune cookies are apparently not even popular in China.

It’s Tesla Day! http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ea08/

shotgunshy — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:13:00 -0400

It’s Tesla Day!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ea08/

Brush Against Heart Attacks

shotgunshy — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 13:51:41 -0400

“A variety of studies have established that inflammation and bacteria in the mouth and gums can find its way into the bloodstream, leading to thickening of the arteries and increasing the risk of a heart attack”.

Read the rest of the story here.

Be forward thinking. You never know how poignant it might...

shotgunshy — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:02:00 -0400

Be forward thinking. You never know how poignant it might be.

“What would it be like if you could go back in time and talk to a younger version of yourself? Filmmaker and actor Jeremiah McDonald got to experience that process — in a way — thanks to a video tape he made for his future self back in 1992.”

http://mashable.com/2012/07/05/man-interviews-12-year-old-self/

LIBOR Blues

shotgunshy — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 19:31:00 -0400

So, I thought I understood what LIBOR was, but the recent interest-rate fixing scandal that has rocked Barclays (and potentially many other banks to come) had me revisiting the whole thing.

“What’s the controversy all about? Last week, U.K.-based investment bank Barclays Capital (BCS) paid $453 million in a settlement with U.S. and U.K. regulators, admitting that it lied in its Libor submissions about its cost of borrowing.

The logic is similar to that of an insider trade in the stock market — if you have advance knowledge of information that will affect a security, you can make trades to profit from it.

In addition, between late 2007 and early 2009, Barclays made artificially low Libor submissions. This was during the height of the financial crisis, and the bank was afraid that if its submissions were too high, it would get punished in the markets as investors questioned its health.”

Read full article here.

That said, I’m really starting to get tired of all the dirty laundry that keeps coming out of the world’s financial institutions. My portfolio has taken enough hits! Can we please get back to working ethically and honestly again? Please?