I frequently learn something new from any Bill Gates interview. This one on CNBC is no exception. The fact is at 11:40 but I recommend to watch the whole interview.
Thought Provoking
A tale of two Covid-19 approaches. Lockdown vs Staying Open
2020s, Sweden, Thought ProvokingMartin Wolf in the Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/b427db58-77e6-11ea-af44-daa3def9ae03
The jobs effect
The health affect
The Case of the Missing Hit
1990s, Music, Podcasts, Thought ProvokingJust listened to an interesting podcast of searching for a song that you only remember inside your head. It’s a long one but worth a listen.
#158 The Case of the Missing Hit by Reply All
Is investing like gambling? Should you get into investing right now? Watch this video for a clear explanation about where the market is right now and what ordinary investors should do.
2020s, Business, Economy, Finance, Thought ProvokingSo many interviews on financial television is full of bullshit, meaningless nothingness or jargon filled inability to communicate anything useful.
Just came across this interview with Howard Marks on Bloomberg and it was amazing to hear answers that was clear and direct to the questions that were asked.
Is it a good time to get into the market? Risk is higher now because the market has been on a bull run for a long time.
Is investing like gambling? Investing relies on four factors. Information, luck, timing and skill.
What if you don’t have skill or information? In the past, mutual funds were paid over 1% in fees. However, they have shown that generally they don’t beat the market. So invest in index funds aka ETFs.
Watch the video here.
Not like winter in Helsinki
2020s, Finland, Helsinki, Photography, Thought Provoking, TravelThe weather has been far too mild in Helsinki so far this year. Only a few days of snow earlier in the season. Nothing like the problems in Australia of course. Taking a walk in the centre during the weekend, even the market stalls don’t seem to fit the atmosphere.
Enjoying the James May travel series in Japan on Amazon Prime. Recommended!
2020s, Thought Provoking, Travel, TVJapan is a fascinating place and I have loved visiting there. I would have loved to have lived there for a while but alas, it wasn’t possible. I’m thinking of going back there again this year. I just saw that James May of Top Gear fame has done a travel documentary on Amazon Video. I’m halfway through it and have really enjoyed it.
Loved the bits in Tokyo and Sendai so far.
I should start looking for flights soon…
Too much history! Is looking back too much a negative thought process?
2020s, Thought ProvokingSome people are always looking to the past, reflecting on past glories and forgetting about current issues. Other people, reflect brief and move on to the future. When I talk about people, I also talk about countries and cultures.
Which is healthier and provides a better future?
It’s 2020!
2020s, Thought ProvokingI noticed that there was quite a reaction to the fact that it is the end of a decade. I don’t remember there being a big deal going from 2009 to 2010. I wonder if it was related to the fact that it was the first decade change of a new century and millennium.
So with all new year resolutions, one of them that I want to do is post something here everyday. I’m not sure how long this will last. Leave a comment when will be the first day that I will miss. 😉
Happy New Year.
Control Your Content by having your own platform
Development, Tech, Thought Provoking, WebJust saw this from twitter : Matthias Ott – Into The Personal Website-verse
Such a thought-provoking article that reminds me that I need to publish more of the work that I on here rather than on Instagram or Twitter or Flickr. I think of businesses that run their pages from Facebook or Instagram and wonder how they are giving control over their audience to another platform. Break their rules and years of content could disappear. Remember “musicblogocide 2010”?
One day, Twitter and other publishing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Medium will indeed die, like so many sites before them. And every time this happens, we lose most of the content we created and with it a fair amount of our collective cultural history.
Data loss isn’t our only problem, though. If you decide to publish your work on a platform like Medium, you’re giving away control over it. What if Medium suddenly decided to extend the already existing paywall to all articles? There’s not much you could do about it. Simply because you don’t own your content anymore.
Go there and read the whole article as he articulates it much better than I can.
If you’re a beginnner and prepared to rollup your sleeves a little, get a domain on NameCheap for less than €10 and hosting with WordPress on SiteGround for €4 per month. It’s not that hard to do and allows an easy way to get your content on your own platform.
52 interesting facts from 2018
Thought ProvokingFascinating list of 52 facts from 2018 by Tom Whitwell. I have listed a few I found interesting but go and read the full list.
Are you thinking what I am thinking. How hard is it to grow Vanilla Pods?
https://medium.com/fluxx-studio-notes/52-things-i-learned-in-2018-b07fc110d8e1
- A Chinese podcast called “How to Make Your Voice More Attractive” has 218,000 paying subscribers. Overall, the market in Chinese self-help subscription podcasts was worth $7.3 billion in 2017, compared with just $314 million for all advertising-funded podcasts in the US. [Jennifer Pak]
- When he took over the bookshop chain Waterstones, James Daunt gave individual store managers control over which books to stock and how to display them. Over seven years, returns dropped from 20–25% to just 4%. [Robbie Millen / Benedict Evans]
- Vanilla pods now cost $500/kg, roughly the same as silver. Madagascan farmers have briefly become vanillionaires, causing chaos in areas where the nearest bank might be a day’s walk away. [Annah Zhu]
- A Spanish bakery will install a ‘thermal breadbox’ on the side of your house (for free!) and deliver warm bread every day [Pablo Alarcon]