*This article assumes the reader understands volatility funds, short selling, leveraged funds, and option trading.* There are two major volatility ETNs (exchange traded notes), UVXY and VXX. Most people just assume UVXY is merely a 2x version of VXX, and not much else. Most traders who bet against volatility will simply short VXX without even… Continue reading Why to Always Short UVXY Instead of VXX
Author: smartistone
Geopolitical Recap & Predictions
There is a confluence of five major geopolitical events, all packed into one month: French Election: not a big deal as far as the US economy is concerned, regardless of the outcome. Like Brexit, any volatility will be short-lived. No recession or crisis. The liberal pundits who are predicting crisis should LePenn win, will be… Continue reading Geopolitical Recap & Predictions
Grey notes: Why Scientology succeeds even though everyone hates it
A nugget counterintuitive insight by Scott Adams (at 12 minutes in) Coffee with Scott Adams 05/04/2017 The predictor of a successful TV show is not the total number of people who like it, but rather the number of people, however few, who absolutely love it, even though this may only be a minority of the… Continue reading Grey notes: Why Scientology succeeds even though everyone hates it
Intellectualism culture and intersectionality
‘Intellectualism culture’ is social theory that describes the interactions of smart people between each other and society. One of its maxims is that correctness is more important than consensus. Then it dawned on me, if in-group posturing is endemic to intellectualism, how did Cultural Marxism, which involves professors (presumably high-IQ people), stay ideologically cohesive instead… Continue reading Intellectualism culture and intersectionality
New York Times: The Gig Economy’s False Promise
The Gig Economy’s False Promise In reality, there is no utopia at companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Handy, whose workers are often manipulated into working long hours for low wages while continually chasing the next ride or task. These companies have discovered they can harness advances in software and behavioral sciences to old-fashioned worker… Continue reading New York Times: The Gig Economy’s False Promise
The Misplaced Logic of Attacking the Rich
A couple weeks ago a post about Jeff Bezo being the second-richest person in the world went viral. Many were aghast that a singe person could have so much money…how unfair when that money could be put to better use, so the logic goes. Why does Bill Gates need his billions? Well, technically, he doesn’t.… Continue reading The Misplaced Logic of Attacking the Rich
French Election
At least America’s elections only take a day, but the French are so slow they need an entire week to do it. From Forbes, a once prestigious publication that has degraded into a content farm, French Elections: Europe Cannot Survive If Le Pen Wins The left said the same thing about Brexit and then Trump,… Continue reading French Election
Biology, especially as it pertains to IQ, is still the ‘third rail’ of the social sciences.
Changed the theme…The old theme was too cluttered and looked too antiquated. All the navigation, archives, and pages have been pushed to the footer. Split testing revealed that the big banner magazine-style theme did better. This article is going viral: Americans Are Skeptical That Hard Work Will Pay Off Moving up the economic ladder relies… Continue reading Biology, especially as it pertains to IQ, is still the ‘third rail’ of the social sciences.
Saving consequentialism and utilitarianism from the trolley car
From Bryan Caplan What’s Wrong With the Rationality Community,in which he criticizes utilitarianism and consequentialism: The first is consequentialist (or more specifically utilitarian) ethics. This view is vulnerable to many well-known, devastating counter-examples. But most people in the rationality community hastily and dogmatically reject them. Why? I say it’s aesthetic: One-sentence, algorithmic theories have great… Continue reading Saving consequentialism and utilitarianism from the trolley car
Jordan Peterson on Rejection
Jordan Peterson, when he isn’t talking about SJWs, has his head in the clouds sometimes. Video about rejection: There is no study that shows rejection becomes less painful the more you get rejected. Being rejected the 100th time may still be as painful as the third. He also fails to understand that not all rejection… Continue reading Jordan Peterson on Rejection