Thursday, April 28, 2011
Let Me Tell You How to Be Successful, Rich, and Beautiful. No Really I Got It All Figured Out
0Posted on 2:30 PM by eye2thesky
So I recently got this link from a friend. Its from a blog called “The Art of Manliness.” You know the type of blog this is – one of those that tries to inspire you to be something great or some shit. They used to be called “self-help” until that term got a bad rep. Probably because of poor reviews of the “self-help sex” section (but it sounded so good on paper!) Now I see these authors labeling their work under slick titles such as “productivity” and “personal finance.” This blog, however, chooses to take a different route. It isn’t like those other self-help blogs, teaching you to dream big and have aspirations. This guy is tough. He tries to be “real” by telling you to suck it up and work hard, and that all the hopes and dreams in the world won’t do shit for you if you don’t try hard etc. We know he wasn’t drawing flowers and unicorns when he was in kindergarten, and if you asked him then what he wanted to be he wouldn’t say “rock star.” This guy is real man. He’d say “I want to sweat a lot and bend steel and shit.” I don’t know why these self-help blogs have always bothered me, and even though this one strives to differentiate itself from the myriad of self-help blogs out there it all smells like shit to me.
I find it funny that this author became successful by blogging about how to be successful. But he’s not the first person to write his own existence into being. Look at jesus christ. He said “Hey I’m god” and people believed him so much they killed his crazy ass for it. Look at Tucker Max. He started out by writing about how cool he was and how much he got laid, and regardless of whether or not it was true back then it is definitely true now because he is a semi super-star. In a way he created his own person, a true self-made man. He wrote all the attributes he wanted to have into his character, and now because people expect him to have those attributes when they meet him they see him with all the characteristics he says he has (SOCIOLOGY). Does that mean that all I have to do to be good at shit is talk about how I’m good at it? I wanna be a baller scientist. Consider this my first blog post about what a baller scientist I am (I swear I’m baller! Steve Jobs has nothing on this revolutionary). I work hard every day and make cool shit. My shit has innovation, social media, 3g, AND a touchscreen. Blah blah blah. What a waste of fucking time. If I were to write a self-help blog, all I'd really have to say is
I know what I like, and I do what I like. You should too. Now suck my dick.
I wouldn't make any money off of that though. Not because it isn't true, it's just not wordy enough. If anyone wants to help me turn that into 100 posts about 1k words long, let me know. Maybe we can even write a book in a year or two depending on the quality of the fluff. I'm also looking for ghostwriters for my autobio. Here's the outline
1. Formative years (birth to 12): What do I like?
needless fluff here
2. Life (12 to 70): Do stuff I like.
puff puff fluff
3. Death (70 to death): Find a hole and die.
(less fluff needed)
Even though I haven't finished out my whole life yet that's pretty much the rough plan I have. We'll see what happens though, anything can happen. I'm taking pre-orders on the book and autobio just let me know how many copies you want. They're signed too. Testimonials about how this changed your life go in the comments section ty tell your friends.
I find it funny that this author became successful by blogging about how to be successful. But he’s not the first person to write his own existence into being. Look at jesus christ. He said “Hey I’m god” and people believed him so much they killed his crazy ass for it. Look at Tucker Max. He started out by writing about how cool he was and how much he got laid, and regardless of whether or not it was true back then it is definitely true now because he is a semi super-star. In a way he created his own person, a true self-made man. He wrote all the attributes he wanted to have into his character, and now because people expect him to have those attributes when they meet him they see him with all the characteristics he says he has (SOCIOLOGY). Does that mean that all I have to do to be good at shit is talk about how I’m good at it? I wanna be a baller scientist. Consider this my first blog post about what a baller scientist I am (I swear I’m baller! Steve Jobs has nothing on this revolutionary). I work hard every day and make cool shit. My shit has innovation, social media, 3g, AND a touchscreen. Blah blah blah. What a waste of fucking time. If I were to write a self-help blog, all I'd really have to say is
I know what I like, and I do what I like. You should too. Now suck my dick.
I wouldn't make any money off of that though. Not because it isn't true, it's just not wordy enough. If anyone wants to help me turn that into 100 posts about 1k words long, let me know. Maybe we can even write a book in a year or two depending on the quality of the fluff. I'm also looking for ghostwriters for my autobio. Here's the outline
1. Formative years (birth to 12): What do I like?
needless fluff here
2. Life (12 to 70): Do stuff I like.
puff puff fluff
3. Death (70 to death): Find a hole and die.
(less fluff needed)
Even though I haven't finished out my whole life yet that's pretty much the rough plan I have. We'll see what happens though, anything can happen. I'm taking pre-orders on the book and autobio just let me know how many copies you want. They're signed too. Testimonials about how this changed your life go in the comments section ty tell your friends.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Media, U.S. Credit Risk, and Stock Reaction
0Posted on 10:34 PM by eye2thesky
As you may know, S&P downgraded its outlook of U.S. debt from "neutral" to "negative" and said that the possibility of downgrading U.S. debt in the next two years was "over 1/3rd likely." The media immediately ran with this and looked at the (slight) market fall and said that the markets were reacting to S&P's announcement.
I remember when I first started investing I would read news articles such this one from CNN http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/18/news/economy/us_credit_rating_outlook_lowered/index.htm
from which I grab the following quote
"On Wall Street, investors reacted to the news by pushing share prices down sharply. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 200 points in the first half-hour of trading"
I used to think that reading news articles like these would keep me informed as an investor. I've come to realize that the media is full of crap most of the time. I was asking my friend and advisor Krishna Chodavarapu about his take on the market slide, and he said that if the market were truly worried about the slide in U.S. credit ratings, that treasuries should have collapsed (they would be cheaper because they were riskier). I did a search and found that he was not alone in his analysis.
http://fidelityfinancegroup.com/news/mortgages/30932-mark-hulbert-baffling-bonds-defy-expectations
Essentially bonds became MORE expensive (their yields went down) the day the ratings outlook changed , which doesn't make any sense since a riskier investment should have a higher yield. I think its really scary that news sources such as CNN can be so blatantly wrong, especially since their analysis of the market can easily be verified by using common sense and looking at the goddamn securities that should be affected. Makes you wonder what other things they're completely off base on, and if all news outlets aren't just howling monkeys hammering nonsense on typewriters. The scariest part is that most of us say that we're "informed" based off of what we read from these outlets. Goddamn.
I remember when I first started investing I would read news articles such this one from CNN http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/18/news/economy/us_credit_rating_outlook_lowered/index.htm
from which I grab the following quote
"On Wall Street, investors reacted to the news by pushing share prices down sharply. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 200 points in the first half-hour of trading"
I used to think that reading news articles like these would keep me informed as an investor. I've come to realize that the media is full of crap most of the time. I was asking my friend and advisor Krishna Chodavarapu about his take on the market slide, and he said that if the market were truly worried about the slide in U.S. credit ratings, that treasuries should have collapsed (they would be cheaper because they were riskier). I did a search and found that he was not alone in his analysis.
http://fidelityfinancegroup.com/news/mortgages/30932-mark-hulbert-baffling-bonds-defy-expectations
Essentially bonds became MORE expensive (their yields went down) the day the ratings outlook changed , which doesn't make any sense since a riskier investment should have a higher yield. I think its really scary that news sources such as CNN can be so blatantly wrong, especially since their analysis of the market can easily be verified by using common sense and looking at the goddamn securities that should be affected. Makes you wonder what other things they're completely off base on, and if all news outlets aren't just howling monkeys hammering nonsense on typewriters. The scariest part is that most of us say that we're "informed" based off of what we read from these outlets. Goddamn.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Daniel Tosh
0Posted on 2:50 PM by eye2thesky
Something I like about this guy is how he frequently does what, in my mind, is the standup equivalent of breaking the "fourth wall." I don't want to give too much away for people who haven't listened to his work, but essentially at times he dissects the structures of his own jokes and then turns that dissection into a joke itself. Part of what makes things funny is that "Ooooo I get the 2 or 3 levels that this joke is on maybe I get it more than the person next to me." Or having that feeling gives you deeper appreciation for the work. When he starts to dissect the joke while you're pondering the various levels and in a sense, "judging" his talent, he jumps right in your mind and judges you back. It's pretty awesome I think, and something I haven't heard many other comics do. Go delivery.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Another Year
0Posted on 2:17 AM by eye2thesky
so crazy. in retrospect
turning the first of many uncool ages, going to wegas again, being stoked about nasa and wow i'm graduating not knowing where i might be in 6 months, then finding myself in the same goddamn place, all the beer sports and liquor football, too much degeneracy, barely going to school, trying to visit singlespeeder.com, then DAMN growing up. too fast. way too fast. i don't know how long i could have lived that life for but goddamn coop you were fun as fuck that spring. jack being nurtured but never quite ready for the world maybe next year. shipped off to somewhere that i can never really truly explain how amazing it was and i know there are only a few people who come close to getting it and if you don't get it you're not worth getting it, not in a bad way but its something i hold so close because i wanted it for so long and it still seems like it wasn't real. being frustrated while i was there. how can educated people be so retarded? truly testing the depths of degeneracy and my sanity while there. got the fever for the bayou but never really felt like i was there until she was done visiting and then it all hit damn i'm really in the next bit of life, do i want to stay here or not? thought a lot since i had a lot of time but sometimes i don't know that you need time to think since all you do is confuse yourself its like you're trying to find your way out of a maze where you're blindfolded and you're trying to orient yourself by spinning faster and faster. SUPER degenerate times that i'll never have again. so glad that i did though because then now i know i can and that there's more that i can do. like a lot more. money is silly. and i got a little crazy. do i really want to be here? still don't know, ended up coming back fatter and oddly hungrier. scared with where i found myself and did what i could to get out. strange going back to the coop and having friends again and not being alone all the time. yeaah freestyles. how or why that was born or brought up may never be known but i'm really glad that it was. week life, weak life, shitty waking up to do something so __________________________________. especially when i just came back from what i did. very scary. do i want to be here? fuuuuckkk no. started rolling the wheels that'll get me out but to where exactly i'm not sure and if i'd jump on the train once it took off i wouldn't know until later. then a different outlet reared its head. thought it was all very funny, and the universe or whatever got us to try to explain why. that was a fun two weeks. insightful. still not sure i've digested it entirely. still doesn't really feel like anythings much different since much wasn't expected with things winding down for the holidays, and people coming back anyways and alot of visits to club coop. starting to settle into the _________________________ and then the holidays and a long break and some moderately degenerate times. after that was the real shock. welcome to the world bitch! now you just grind, well we say we're grinding but really we're being ground down until we fit nicely in the cogs. so glad that i started the wheels to get out and then all i did was spend time checking to see if i made it out. lots of plants being sacrificed for some greater good. it was probably a good idea. then random ideas to get out in case my original plan doesn't work, but then my original plan works and so the ideas go to sleep again. find out i'm going somewhere cool and i stop checking so much and creating some more new things. man i've been creating alot lately. i wonder where i'll be in a year? i wonder if i'll want to be there?
turning the first of many uncool ages, going to wegas again, being stoked about nasa and wow i'm graduating not knowing where i might be in 6 months, then finding myself in the same goddamn place, all the beer sports and liquor football, too much degeneracy, barely going to school, trying to visit singlespeeder.com, then DAMN growing up. too fast. way too fast. i don't know how long i could have lived that life for but goddamn coop you were fun as fuck that spring. jack being nurtured but never quite ready for the world maybe next year. shipped off to somewhere that i can never really truly explain how amazing it was and i know there are only a few people who come close to getting it and if you don't get it you're not worth getting it, not in a bad way but its something i hold so close because i wanted it for so long and it still seems like it wasn't real. being frustrated while i was there. how can educated people be so retarded? truly testing the depths of degeneracy and my sanity while there. got the fever for the bayou but never really felt like i was there until she was done visiting and then it all hit damn i'm really in the next bit of life, do i want to stay here or not? thought a lot since i had a lot of time but sometimes i don't know that you need time to think since all you do is confuse yourself its like you're trying to find your way out of a maze where you're blindfolded and you're trying to orient yourself by spinning faster and faster. SUPER degenerate times that i'll never have again. so glad that i did though because then now i know i can and that there's more that i can do. like a lot more. money is silly. and i got a little crazy. do i really want to be here? still don't know, ended up coming back fatter and oddly hungrier. scared with where i found myself and did what i could to get out. strange going back to the coop and having friends again and not being alone all the time. yeaah freestyles. how or why that was born or brought up may never be known but i'm really glad that it was. week life, weak life, shitty waking up to do something so __________________________________. especially when i just came back from what i did. very scary. do i want to be here? fuuuuckkk no. started rolling the wheels that'll get me out but to where exactly i'm not sure and if i'd jump on the train once it took off i wouldn't know until later. then a different outlet reared its head. thought it was all very funny, and the universe or whatever got us to try to explain why. that was a fun two weeks. insightful. still not sure i've digested it entirely. still doesn't really feel like anythings much different since much wasn't expected with things winding down for the holidays, and people coming back anyways and alot of visits to club coop. starting to settle into the _________________________ and then the holidays and a long break and some moderately degenerate times. after that was the real shock. welcome to the world bitch! now you just grind, well we say we're grinding but really we're being ground down until we fit nicely in the cogs. so glad that i started the wheels to get out and then all i did was spend time checking to see if i made it out. lots of plants being sacrificed for some greater good. it was probably a good idea. then random ideas to get out in case my original plan doesn't work, but then my original plan works and so the ideas go to sleep again. find out i'm going somewhere cool and i stop checking so much and creating some more new things. man i've been creating alot lately. i wonder where i'll be in a year? i wonder if i'll want to be there?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Do you MAKE money when gas goes up?
0Posted on 3:07 PM by eye2thesky
Maybe the proper word is save. I was doing my weekly drive to the la-area the past few Fridays I've noticed that I've been making the commute about 20-30 minutes shorter. My dad commutes via metrolink and he had told me that since gas has gone up the train has been more full than normal, which made me start to wonder the true impact of rising fuel prices. Am I really spending that much more every day?
Being a firm believer that early to bed, early to rise, is just a bunch of lies, I have a very good idea of how much time it takes for me to get from home to work. I've been noticing that my morning commutes are 3 minutes shorter - and that my afternoon commutes are 6 minutes shorter. Kind of a drop in the bucket considering average commute time of 35 and 40 minutes respectively (haven't really noticed much of a change in my weekend commutes but I don't keep track of how late I am on the weekends).
Before this most recent gas bubble, I was paying about $3.50 a gallon for roughly 11 gallons of gas a week (I drive a civic). The last price I paid was $4.10 for a gallon. So I am spending $6.60 more a week in gas now compared to my February spending.
However just calc'ing the cost of fuel doesn't do justice to the whole financial picture. What about the time I've saved? It's pretty easy to calc the cost of an hour of your life when you're working - for now I'm going to use an easy number so let's say an hour of my life costs $10. Every day I save about 9 minutes total commuting, except for on Fridays when I save 23-33 minutes (3 minutes for the morning and 20-30 for the afternoon). So every week I save between 59 and 69 minutes of my life, so I am saving roughly $10 to $11.50 a week. That minus my extra fuel costs net me $3.40-4.90 a week in savings.
Summary : Our perception of our true costs is humorous to me. Teehee
Being a firm believer that early to bed, early to rise, is just a bunch of lies, I have a very good idea of how much time it takes for me to get from home to work. I've been noticing that my morning commutes are 3 minutes shorter - and that my afternoon commutes are 6 minutes shorter. Kind of a drop in the bucket considering average commute time of 35 and 40 minutes respectively (haven't really noticed much of a change in my weekend commutes but I don't keep track of how late I am on the weekends).
Before this most recent gas bubble, I was paying about $3.50 a gallon for roughly 11 gallons of gas a week (I drive a civic). The last price I paid was $4.10 for a gallon. So I am spending $6.60 more a week in gas now compared to my February spending.
However just calc'ing the cost of fuel doesn't do justice to the whole financial picture. What about the time I've saved? It's pretty easy to calc the cost of an hour of your life when you're working - for now I'm going to use an easy number so let's say an hour of my life costs $10. Every day I save about 9 minutes total commuting, except for on Fridays when I save 23-33 minutes (3 minutes for the morning and 20-30 for the afternoon). So every week I save between 59 and 69 minutes of my life, so I am saving roughly $10 to $11.50 a week. That minus my extra fuel costs net me $3.40-4.90 a week in savings.
Summary : Our perception of our true costs is humorous to me. Teehee
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
On Government Spending
0Posted on 1:55 PM by eye2thesky
I've seen a lot of news articles and opinions about federal fiscal policy, and I'm sure you have too. What most of them are full of is vague generalities about what could hypothetically happen, without a clear picture of the numbers involved in the process. Since I'm a contrarian I will not put any opinions in this post, only numbers.
Awhile back I became interested in comparing what my social security benefits would be vs the money that had gone into the social security system. Since looking into the future is impossible I decided to compare what my payments would be like today vs what the same amount of money that went into the system would have been worth had it instead been put into an index fund.
I'm making simple assumptions that shouldn't change the relationship between the two values being compared significantly, the assumptions are largely to ease up the numbers so you guys at home can see if my results are valid.
Assuming 50k salary per year
Assuming 11% annualized return for an S&P fund (this is lowballing it by .2% to make up for expense fee's).
Assuming 12.4% of your income is put into both Social Security and index funds (in reality you only pay for 6.2% your employer pays the other 6.2%, so let's pretend that your employer is also willing to pay 6.2% into an index fund). This would equate to 6200 paid to either SS or placed into an index fund every year.
Assuming my SS payments increase by 2.5% every year (the amount they currently increase, COLA adjustment)
Using the following calculator, I determined what my payments would be if I had currently turned 65 (retirement age).
Awhile back I became interested in comparing what my social security benefits would be vs the money that had gone into the social security system. Since looking into the future is impossible I decided to compare what my payments would be like today vs what the same amount of money that went into the system would have been worth had it instead been put into an index fund.
I'm making simple assumptions that shouldn't change the relationship between the two values being compared significantly, the assumptions are largely to ease up the numbers so you guys at home can see if my results are valid.
Assuming 50k salary per year
Assuming 11% annualized return for an S&P fund (this is lowballing it by .2% to make up for expense fee's).
Assuming 12.4% of your income is put into both Social Security and index funds (in reality you only pay for 6.2% your employer pays the other 6.2%, so let's pretend that your employer is also willing to pay 6.2% into an index fund). This would equate to 6200 paid to either SS or placed into an index fund every year.
Assuming my SS payments increase by 2.5% every year (the amount they currently increase, COLA adjustment)
Using the following calculator, I determined what my payments would be if I had currently turned 65 (retirement age).
http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/ret04;jsessionid=8E80220DFB10FF03369D052CDDA302E0?skn=119#results
My payments would be 19799 a year.
The index fund would now have a total value of 5,505,369
Assuming that I turned my fund entirely to cash and that I didn’t receive any interest on it, it would take SS about 84 years to pay me an amount equivalent to what the fund had amounted to. In other words, I would have to live to about 149 to breakeven (obv if we leave the fund bearing any reasonable amount of interest SS never catches up).