The B.S. Thread

[Mysticforex 13]

Ever come across something you would like to mention, but it's not in depth enough to start a thread ?

 

Have a pet peeve ? An avocation you enjoy? Anything goes, but no Trading talk.

 

 

Computers are supposed to make life simpler. To keep us connected. But how do you manage your passwords ? How frustrating is it when you can't remember a password or can't find where you wrote it down. Trading accts, TL, Facebook, Twitter, Itunes, Amazon, Google, etc, etc, etc.

I just started using a product from a company called RedZone ( I don't work for them ), it's called "Password Safe". It looks like an old fashioned calculator. Works on 2 AA batteries so the info is never online. All you need is a single 4 digit pin and you you access and or store up to 400 passwords. It's about $60 bucks ( USD ). One less hassle .

[BlueHorseshoe 10]

Hmm . . . I just have a word document that contains a table with all the passwords in. It has never let me down and didn't cost me £30

 

My pet peeve is people who lead overcomplicated lives. Late last year I even bought an old alarm clock and ditched my mobile phone. I spend enough time that is compulsory staring at electronic gadgets - I don't want to have to deal with them in my free time also.

 

Have you seen 'Skyfall' (I don't work for EON Productions or MGM )? There's a great line about shaving with a cut-throat razor - "sometimes the old ways are the best". . .

 

Thanks for sharing though!

 

Kind regards,

 

BlueHorseshoe

[SIUYA 11]

much the same - I use a password protection system called a printed piece of paper...with a few hidden codes for certain words, no one could guess what they mean, its off line, I can take it with me to another computer on a scrap of paper and it costs zilch as an extra.

I also have switched off the blackberry emails - I look at them when at the desk after that its, please text me if you want me - dont leave voice messages, and emails can wait.

 

.........................

As for a current peeve - presently its having to do taxes in 3 places (at least for the next year) - Australia as I am a citizen and have assets there, UK as I used to live there, Netherlands a I now live here.....all with different end of financial years, different rules and such....did I mention before I hate accountants and blame them for all the worlds woes.

[jpennybags 11]

I enter my passwords in a spreadsheet that is stored on a flash drive that I use as a key fob. The spreadsheet is password protected as well.

 

I'm always mildly amused when I see someone with a bluetooth headset talking on the phone. It seems so much like they are talking to themselves... just yammering away. Before that technology became available, people who did that were usually sporting urine stained clothes and living on the street... always makes me grin.

[MightyMouse 12]

I enter my passwords in a spreadsheet that is stored on a flash drive that I use as a key fob. The spreadsheet is password protected as well.

 

I'm always mildly amused when I see someone with a bluetooth headset talking on the phone. It seems so much like they are talking to themselves... just yammering away. Before that technology became available, people who did that were usually sporting urine stained clothes and living on the street... always makes me grin.

 

They do have urine stained clothes.You are distracted by the blue tooth headset.

 

I can't stand it when I see people in a social setting engrossed by texting, off in another world with others around them. It is no different than talking to a person who begins to stare out the window and ignores you.

[Mysticforex 13]

They do have urine stained clothes.You are distracted by the blue tooth headset.

 

I can't stand it when I see people in a social setting engrossed by texting, off in another world with others around them. It is no different than talking to a person who begins to stare out the window and ignores you.

 

 

" I can't stand it when I see people in a social setting engrossed by texting, "

 

They shoot people in Florida for that.

[jpennybags 11]

They do have urine stained clothes.You are distracted by the blue tooth headset.

 

I can't stand it when I see people in a social setting engrossed by texting, off in another world with others around them. It is no different than talking to a person who begins to stare out the window and ignores you.

 

Ha... agreed! The only thing that the urine stained and the bluetooth folks have in common is that they both think the voices in their heads (and the ensuing conversation) is truly important, and of great meaning.

[Mysticforex 13]

much the same - I use a password protection system called a printed piece of paper...with a few hidden codes for certain words, no one could guess what they mean, its off line, I can take it with me to another computer on a scrap of paper and it costs zilch as an extra.

I also have switched off the blackberry emails - I look at them when at the desk after that its, please text me if you want me - dont leave voice messages, and emails can wait.

 

.........................

As for a current peeve - presently its having to do taxes in 3 places (at least for the next year) - Australia as I am a citizen and have assets there, UK as I used to live there, Netherlands a I now live here.....all with different end of financial years, different rules and such....did I mention before I hate accountants and blame them for all the worlds woes.

 

As for the Tax part. I remember the first time I had a full IRS audit. I was scared shitless.

It turned out ok. Seems my wife thinks lipstick and eyeshadow are Tax deductions.

I think our returns are flagged now, have been audited twice since then. Now it's just a pain in the ass.

[SIUYA 11]

I can't stand it when I see people in a social setting engrossed by texting, off in another world with others around them. It is no different than talking to a person who begins to stare out the window and ignores you.

 

they are probably busy 'liking' things on facebook.....that is another pet peeve.

Its like some school yard thing.....or maybe its just me (us) getting old.

(disclaimer : I am on farcebook, but wonder why people spend so much time on it. At least trading can be profitable!)

 

I saw a telephone the other day in a house - it had the old fashioned button whereby you had to push it to get connected to the operator, and then they connected you manually and probably listened in on the call, reminded me of my childhood.......who needed gossip magazines and social networking when you had the bush telegraph.

So while technology changes, I guess people stay the same....urine soaked and desperate to connect with others - even if they are imaginary, virtual or as some anonymous name on a trading site

[MightyMouse 12]

.........................

As for a current peeve - presently its having to do taxes in 3 places (at least for the next year) - Australia as I am a citizen and have assets there, UK as I used to live there, Netherlands a I now live here.....all with different end of financial years, different rules and such....did I mention before I hate accountants and blame them for all the worlds woes.

 

Do you have to pay in all three or simply file in all 3?

 

Given that we have to pay taxes, I wish we paid for social programs ala carte. So, before or during tax season, social program directors (congressmen) would tout their program and you then would decide how much of your taxes you would like to allocate to that program; zero, some, or none. You would, then, fund programs you are passionate about and not fund programs that you do not care about. You could also choose to use your taxes solely for paying down national debt if you care nothing about any of the programs. On the whole, programs that no one cared about would be terminated.

 

I also wish we would subsidize small business owners to hire the unemployed here in the US. cut unemployment compensation out all together and make it so that the only way you get money directly or indirectly from the government is by working if in fact you are able to work. If small business owners received a subsidy of 8 dollars an hour, to hire and train the unemployed, we would become very competitive with China and manufacturing would either come back here or redevelop here. Income tax revenue would soar and we would have balanced budgets or budget surpluses.

 

It irritates me that tax payers lost $10 billion baling out GM. In 2008, the unemployment rate in Detroit was 14%, now, after the bail out, it is 28%. GM is spending 11 billion in China developing manufacturing facilities. Small business people are less likely to outsource than large business.

 

Getting money from the government is an entire vocation here. It is amazing to me what people get. A single mom gets as much as $1900 a month while she is not working in Connecticut. She can work and get paid under the table and earn more than that. I have been approached by these people who won't work unless I pay them under the table because they don't want to lose the benefit.

 

I fired a woman who called me and wanted me to fax a document stating the termination date to show that she was unemployed so that she could get heating oil for her home (it was summer). She ran out of heating oil and would not pay for it while she was working. Her kids took cold showers until she lost her job. She did smoke cigarettes, drink Dunkin Donuts coffer every day, get her nails done once a month, and spend about $12 a day for lunch. This is a common type of person that milks the system. We are not helping these people by giving them money.

[SIUYA 11]

MM - I have to file in all three.....

I have to pay in at least one, and then once the filing is done....maybe in the others - it all depends on marginal tax rates - eg; Oz and UK are about 35%, Netherlands higher.....but then there is an extra catch that my wife has some special tax treaty deal as she is an expat, and such and such.....nothing is simple.....and my peeve is that I am the one who has to deal with it, the paperwork, dealing with various accountants and such.

So far I have managed Oz, and the UK for last year.

Its probably easier just to say 0 in all and tell them to chase me up if they can be bothered.

 

As for your peeves....well what can we say ....people do what they are incentivised to do.

[jpennybags 11]

I'm really liking this story... girl scout sets up cookie sales to medical marijuana patients.

 

You go, business girl!

 

Why one Girl Scout is selling cookies outside a pot clinic - CBS News

[GlassOnion 12]

Working the soil does things to a man

From head to toe, even his funny tan

Maybe a little dirt gets in his veins

Or the heat of the sun scrambles his brains

 

 

 

With tiller and rake and shovel and hoe

He puts on his gloves, he's ready to go

He's out to battle with the rocks and weeds

And straighten furrows to settle the seeds

 

 

 

He feeds them and waters and cultivates

And then he patiently waits, and he waits

All season long he tends to his plants

If he thought it would help he'd likely dance

 

 

 

He may wonder if it's worth the toil

Putting all that time into the soil

Even the harvest may not seem enough

In this high tech world of imported stuff

 

 

 

But there's satisfaction he can't elude

Raising and eating his very own food

One more benefit plays a major part

Enrichment in the soil of his heart

 

April 27, 1997 D.P.Groberg

[jpennybags 11]

Working the soil does things to a man

From head to toe, even his funny tan

Maybe a little dirt gets in his veins

Or the heat of the sun scrambles his brains

 

 

 

With tiller and rake and shovel and hoe

He puts on his gloves, he's ready to go

He's out to battle with the rocks and weeds

And straighten furrows to settle the seeds

 

 

 

He feeds them and waters and cultivates

And then he patiently waits, and he waits

All season long he tends to his plants

If he thought it would help he'd likely dance

 

 

 

He may wonder if it's worth the toil

Putting all that time into the soil

Even the harvest may not seem enough

In this high tech world of imported stuff

 

 

 

But there's satisfaction he can't elude

Raising and eating his very own food

One more benefit plays a major part

Enrichment in the soil of his heart

 

April 27, 1997 D.P.Groberg

 

Hopefully true in all walks of life.

[GlassOnion 12]

On a different note:

 

A Manhattan trader was killed Tuesday morning by a speeding Long Island Rail Road commuter train, marking at least the seventh suicide of a financial professional this year.

Edmund (Eddie) Reilly, 47, a trader at Midtown’s Vertical Group, jumped in front of an LIRR train at 6 a.m. near the Syosset train station.

He was declared dead at the scene.

Reilly’s identity was confirmed by Salvatore Arena, an LIRR spokesperson, who said an investigation into the incident was continuing.

Passengers on the west-bound express train told MTA investigators they saw a man standing by the tracks before he jumped in front of the train, Arena said.

“Eddie was a great guy,” Rob Schaffer, a managing director at Vertical, told The Post in an email. “We are very upset and he will be deeply missed.”

The divorced father of three had rented a house around the corner from his ex-wife, Michelle Reilly, in East Norwich, NY.

One family friend, who said he spoke to the trader on Sunday, told The Post that Reilly “didn’t look good.”

Separately:

■  Autumn Radtke, the CEO of First Meta, a cyber-currency exchange firm, was found dead on Feb. 28 outside her Singapore apartment. The 28-year-old American, who worked for Apple and other Silicon Valley tech firms prior to founding First Meta, jumped from a 25-story building, authorities said.

■  On Feb. 18, a 33-year-old JPMorgan finance pro leaped to his death from the roof of the company’s 30-story Hong Kong office tower, authorities said. Li Junjie’s suicide marked the third mysterious death of a JPMorgan banker. So far, there is no known link between any of the deaths.

■  Gabriel Magee, 39, a vice president with JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank technology arm in the UK, jumped to his death from the roof of the bank’s 33-story Canary Wharf tower in London on Jan. 28.

■  On Feb. 3, Ryan Henry Crane, 37, a JPM executive director who worked in New York, was found dead inside his Stamford, Conn., home. A cause of death in Crane’s case has yet to be determined as authorities await a toxicology report, a spokesperson for the Stamford Police Dept. said.

■  On Jan. 31, Mike Dueker — chief economist at Russell Investments and a former Federal Reserve bank economist — was found dead at the side of a road that leads to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. He was 50.

■ On Jan. 26, William Broeksmit, 58, a former senior risk manager at Deutsche Bank, was found hanged in a house in South Kensington, according to London police.

[GlassOnion 12]

Our current system is like a 2 headed dragon, it dose not matter which head is chewing, it's still us they're eating.

[Mysticforex 13]

If you want to eliminate fear from your trading, just scale down your position so a loser

is not the end of the world.

[jpennybags 11]

If you want to eliminate fear from your trading, just scale down your position so a loser

is not the end of the world.

 

(Ha) What about 3 full stop losers in a row? Taking that 4th trade can be a struggle... call it quits for the day; why dig any deeper? Pull up your big boy pants and trade out of it?

 

I decided to edit my question, and post my take on it:

 

I think if you are someone who is trading as a hobby, or you're a noob... go lick your wounds, take the day off. If you want to make a living at this... take the 4th trade. I can still recall the sense of accomplishment of the first time I traded out of a bad day. The confidence that you come away with is well worth the risk. In addition: if you're trading with money that you can't lose... you probably shouldn't be.

Edited April 11, 2014 by jpennybags

[jpennybags 11]

Mystic,

 

I thought this was a thread: "not about trading".

 

A few quotes from Harvey Penick about the game of golf (a few thoughts for the summer):

 

No matter how poorly you play, there is always someone you can beat. No matter how well you play, there is always someone who can beat you.

 

You can hook a drive into the tall grass and then turn it into a par if you dig it out with a lofted club and follow with a good pitch or chip and putt. But if you muff a pitch or chip, you have lost a stroke nearly every time.

 

Yoga is the study of breathing. As I grow older, I reflect on how we take breathing for granted. Proper deep breathing is a joy, it calms your mind. Deep breathing is wonderful on the golf course as a provider of oxygen and strength throughout your body. I’ll bet on a deep breather any time, over a player who just breathes to stay alive.

 

The point of the swing is to hit a spot. Harry Vardon was a master. He knew you must hit what you swing at.

 

If you have a good grip and you can see the shot clearly in your mind and use the muscles picture of Clip The Tee or Brush The Grass, your swing will work- unless you start to doubt it.

 

Good players have the power to think while they are competing. Most golfers are not thinking, even when they believe they are. They are only worrying. Rather than worry, be mindful of the shot at hand and go ahead and play it as if you are going to hit the best shot of your life. You really might do it.

 

Supreme concentration is the peak experience of the golf swing.

 

A good grip, good balance and a good attitude make you a winner.

 

Nobody ever promised you life would be fair. To change your life you have to change the way you think.

 

When I ask you to Take Dead Aim, I mean that for a few seconds, you should be calm but aware, putting all your best attention into the moment at hand. You make what I think of as the sweet calculations of the wind and weather and distance. See a sharp picture of your ball striking your target in your mind. Bobby Fischer, the chess champion, said that when it was his turn to play, he considered only one move- the right one. You take out the club your mind tells your muscles is the right one to swing. At this point your imagination is stronger than your willpower. Your body will do what your mind tells it to do. You have no doubt, no fear. For those few seconds you are what you think. That’s Taking Dead Aim. Trust yourself.

 

Practicing your short game will help your long game in every way, but practicing your long game won’t help your short game at all.

 

It seems to me that confidence is the feeling we want to have in playing golf. But we can’t dismiss the value of faith either. I think faith is in the heart, and confidence is in the mind.

 

The ability to concentrate is good, but thinking too much about how you are doing what you are doing is disastrous. Trust your muscles and hit the ball in the hole. Keep it simple.

 

You don’t lose your swing between the ninth green and the tenth tee, and you don’t lose your swing from one day to the next. If you think you do, something is going on that you don’t understand. A diary might help explain it to you.

 

Golf is played in the present. If you can wash your mind clean each time while walking to your next shot, you have the makings of a champion.

 

Unless you have a reasonably good grip and stance, anything you read about the golf swing is useless.

 

Golf has probably kept more people sane than psychiatrists have.

 

Life consists of a lot of minor annoyances and a few matters of real consequence.

 

Use the swing God had blessed you with, and go play golf.

 

Just let it happen. Don’t try and hit the ball far. Instead develop a feeling that the ball is going to go a long way without your really trying. And sure enough, it will. I call it The Feeling of Far.

 

Don’t listen too hard to the sound of the world. If I tell you to Take Dead Aim you might think I’m being simpleminded. But Taking Dead Aim means blanking out the sounds of the world. It can be an advantage to be a little deaf.

 

A golfer rarely needs to hit a spectacular shot unless the one that precedes it was pretty bad.

 

A tournament champion is a winner on the golf course. A person of honor is a winner everywhere.

 

Edit: My bad... this is about trading (ha).

Edited April 11, 2014 by jpennybags

[SIUYA 11]

If you have a coulis that is too sweet add a little bit of lemon juice

Dont let your egg white mixture come into contact with egg yolk or oil or your meringue mixture wont develop stiff peaks.

Add extra vanilla in small doses for that extra something special - real vanilla not imitation

[jpennybags 11]

Fresh Pasta...

 

Anyone who makes fresh pasta has their own mix that they enjoy. I like semolina flour, but 100% semolina can seem a bit leathery to some tastes (mine included). I've found that a 4 to 1 mix of semolina to bread flour works well, and pleases everyone. It has a nice tooth, but the mix of bread flour provides a certain quality of softness and feel that is pleasing. Any opinions are welcome.

[BlueHorseshoe 10]

Fresh Pasta...

 

Anyone who makes fresh pasta has their own mix that they enjoy. I like semolina flour, but 100% semolina can seem a bit leathery to some tastes (mine included). I've found that a 4 to 1 mix of semolina to bread flour works well, and pleases everyone. It has a nice tooth, but the mix of bread flour provides a certain quality of softness and feel that is pleasing. Any opinions are welcome.

 

Maybe try using your 4:1 of durum and soft wheat, but ensure the latter is '00' ground.

 

You could see if you can track down this UK series from a few years back:

 

Simply Italian - Episode Guide - Channel 4

 

It claims to be about Italian cuisine more broadly, but it was entirely about pasta making. And the presenter is somewhat 'easy on the eye'

 

BlueHorseshoe

[Mysticforex 13]

(Ha) What about 3 full stop losers in a row? Taking that 4th trade can be a struggle... call it quits for the day; why dig any deeper? Pull up your big boy pants and trade out of it?

 

I decided to edit my question, and post my take on it:

 

I think if you are someone who is trading as a hobby, or you're a noob... go lick your wounds, take the day off. If you want to make a living at this... take the 4th trade. I can still recall the sense of accomplishment of the first time I traded out of a bad day. The confidence that you come away with is well worth the risk. In addition: if you're trading with money that you can't lose... you probably shouldn't be.

 

My bad, it,s not supposed to be about trading.

[MightyMouse 12]

Fresh Pasta...

 

Anyone who makes fresh pasta has their own mix that they enjoy. I like semolina flour, but 100% semolina can seem a bit leathery to some tastes (mine included). I've found that a 4 to 1 mix of semolina to bread flour works well, and pleases everyone. It has a nice tooth, but the mix of bread flour provides a certain quality of softness and feel that is pleasing. Any opinions are welcome.

 

I am really good at eating pasta.

[SIUYA 11]

dont forget to renew your domain names if you have them - doh!