Blog Archives

The Enemy of My Enemy Is my Friend

Israel UAE Peace

Last week I discussed the horrific explosion in Beirut. This week I’m staying in the Middle East and will focus on the big news that Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to establish formal diplomatic relations. And while there were many indications over the last couple of years that the two countries were not only starting to cooperate but developing ever closer relations,

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Blast to the Future

Beirut Blast @michaeltanchum

World's Top 5 Most Powerful Explosions

What happened in Beirut was absolutely horrific. As the graphic above shows, it is considered to be the most powerful non-nuclear explosion in history. To put the power of the blast in context, the Oklahoma City bombers used two tons of ammonium nitrate while Beirut’s ignited approximately 2,750 tons! 

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Say Yes to Life!

celebrate life B

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. 

I awoke and saw that life was duty. 

I worked—and behold, duty was joy.

-Rabindranath Tagore

“Life is not something,

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Trauma and Growth: Imperfect Information and Uncertainty

Trauma

Successful investing requires so much emotional and psychological fortitude. The analytical part is oftentimes the easiest aspect. Managing ourselves is what is typically most challenging. We are triggered by fear and greed and traumas of past mistakes that can lead to suboptimal outcomes. For this reason,

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Get Inspired

Inspired

With July 4th having just passed I thought it would be inspiring to talk about inspiration. The United States is unique because it is a nation founded on inspired ideals versus population characteristics and geography. These ideals are centered around life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as well as the notion that all men are created equal.

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A Wonderful Trip - My Travels Through Greece, Italy and Israel

Greece Vacation

Socrates said that “wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” In my book, I talk about the importance of wonder in the context of leading a fulfilling, meaningful, and interesting life. One of the best ways to keep wonder alive is to get outside of our normal environment and travel.

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Who Would Have Thunk it?

COVID 19 in Texas

Texas becomes the first state to reimpose restrictions after lifting stay-at-home order April 30

I can’t say I’m surprised that states that had itchy trigger fingers to reopen (e.g. Texas, Arizona, Florida) are seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases and a higher positivity rate among those tested. The following graph from the Wall Street Journal shows how the number of new cases is hitting a new peak after having come down.

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It's Time to Get Serious About Laughter

Gary Zoom Laughter

At the end of last week’s blog, I mentioned that I would be writing about laughter. I thought it was important to not stay on only one end of the spectrum despite these very turbulent times. A fascinating new interview with Bob Dylan came out last week and this caught my attention that I thought was very relevant to my pivot towards laughter for this blog.

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Hello Darkness My Old Friend

suicide Anthony Bourdain

For this week I was originally going to continue my analysis of interest-rate cycles since last week, I looked at increasing interest rate cycles and I was intending to look at decreasing cycles this week. In light of the widely reported and fairly startling suicide of Kate Spade and now Anthony Bourdain,

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Wading into Turbulent Waters

Black Lives Matter equality for all

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,

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