More Impressions After Sending My Son To Nerd Camp

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I wrote about this last year, but it bears repeating ... my son's fourteen classmates at nerd camp (electrical engineering this year) are all boys and here are their last names: 

  1. Chan
  2. Duan
  3. Huang
  4. Liang
  5. Liang
  6. Wang
  7. Xu
  8. Yang
  9. Zhao;
  10. Baskowsky
  11. Decker
  12. Kovacs
  13. "Wilson" (first name Ze'ev);
  14. Gupta

So 60% of the class is Chinese, 27% Jewish, 7% Indian, 7% WASP/Chinese mix. This doesn't mirror American society as a whole very well. It's clear to me that the Chinese will become an even more market-dominant minority, and the Jews will begin to get crowded out, though they're obviously doing their best to stay competitive. 

I expect there will be a backlash at some point ... I suppose it's already occurring given T___p's election win, though how public policy might change is a good question. Will there be quotas put in place, a sort of reverse Affirmative Action campaign, to keep certain ethnic/religious groups out of the top schools? It's something to keep an eye out for....

You'd Love Me As Long As You Wanted

Added on by C. Maoxian.

The great Linda Ronstadt singing Willie's wonderful song in 1976 ... goosebumps. Many think of Patsy Cline's cover as the best, but dare I say it, Linda's is even better. 

Linda Ronstadt Rockpalast Stadthalle Offenbach Offenbach, Germany November 16, 1976

First Presbyterian Church of King Ferry

Added on by C. Maoxian.

We visited the First Presbyterian Church of King Ferry on this beautiful summer morning. The congregation was vanishingly small ... I counted around a half dozen people in the pews (including us!) with another seven in the choir. A gentleman there told me it was "standing room only" at Easter when he was a boy, seventy years ago. Tellingly there is no "Time with the Children" since there are no children present, but they hopefully keep the line in the program.

They have a nice looking organ (and piano), but the music was provided by a single electric keyboard, often accompanied by the minister on electric guitar. I was told later that the organ had been tuned on the same winter day that the church ran out of heating oil, thus throwing it immediately out of tune again (each tuning costs $500). I was disappointed by the lack of organ music, or even traditional piano music.

It's a lovely old building, though showing signs of wear and tear. I was told the bell tower and steeple were added at a later date (maybe the 1860s?). There are some beautiful old trees on the property and a sizable cemetery behind, which I plan to explore at a later date.

The service started more or less on time (11 AM, they don't move to an earlier summertime hour in King Ferry) and ended around 12:15 PM. The sermon was quite short, surprisingly brief. There were a pair of white candles and a simple vase with fresh-cut flowers on the Lord's table, which pleased me.

The minister had a bushy white mustache and a nice singing voice. He used the expression "people who don't give a fig," which I hadn't heard before, and he quoted Bob Dylan (a Baby Boomer for sure). He made the good point that we shouldn't sing the black hymns as they are written, in "minstrel style." 

I plan to visit *all* the churches in the Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery in the coming year. Here are my photos and a scan of today's program below:

1798, eh?

Handicapped ramp artfully hidden ... could use some paint and repairs

More paint, more repairs

Interior

Gospel music? Wonder when it was written

Groot Papa

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This Dutch kid has my sense of humor ... sending up the whole talent-less white rap thing (think Pitbull):

WUZGOOD! JOiN DE KALFAM DOOR JE NU TE ABONNEREN OP MIJN KANAAL: http://bit.ly/1HZtz9E Check de vorige video hier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TbCyPYeVNs&t=262s Check hier de Behind The Scenes: https://youtu.be/ozvMu78k82Q Special Thanks: http://www.accu-toys.nl http://www.dekinderkeet.nl http://www.gigantisch.nl Shot & Edited by: Zino de Groot Produced by: Mick Spek Extra Thanks To: Yasmin Blake Isha van Dijk Robin de Boer Dina Kaderi Volg meer avonturen via: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kalvijn IG: http://www.instagram.com/kalvijn Snapchat: kalvijn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kalvijn-Kelvin-Boerma-863181737161759/ Eet paprika's want is lekker Deze video bevat geen betaalde samenwerking of gekregen producten.

Notes for Chat with Traders, Episode 95

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Episode 95 ... "Adrian" (70:28)

  • British? Accent hard to understand
  • "My missus works away from home"
  • Professional sailer for 18 years, lots of races
  • Fishermen as "opportunistic pirates"
  • Early 40s, what do old sailers do?
  • Bought systems off internet, paid for poor quality trading courses
  • Found the common link among profitable traders was their approach to the business
  • Wasn't making progress trading while doing a side job, realized he needed to focus full-time
  • Wife supported him when he went full time to learn how to trade
  • Took 18 months after that to get profitable
  • Couldn't make a living since he was undercapitalized
  • Wife believed in him and he believed in himself
  • Have to go down the dead-ends to realize they're dead-ends, not avoidable
  • Tracked his trades very closely
  • Found he had random trades that gave him random stats
  • Found he had large number of errors that if eliminated would hugely improve results
  • Found if he followed his rules and eliminated errors, he would be slightly profitable
  • Now uses Volume Profile to take trades
  • Trades German bund primarily, secondary market in DAX, used to trade Eurostoxx but stopped
  • Intraday trader: big picture: hourly, intermediate picture: 15 mins, executes off of 3 min chart
  • Didn't have enough capital to trade off the daily charts
  • Discovered that no pros traded forex, all retail pikers there; pros all traded ES or Bunds, etc.
  • Keeps a lot of stats on the markets he trades
  • Discretionary trader, couldn't code his system up
  • Has a checklist before he takes a trade
  • Always risks approximately the same amount of money in each trade
  • Uses Volume Profile to place his stops
  • Knows stats on things like "gap fill" or tests of Point of Control (POC) ... what percentage of the time is the gap filled or POC tested?
  • How far "offside" does price go before the gap is filled? He tracks these stats
  • Uses Linnsoft's platform InvestorRT and their language to keep the stats
  • Starts looking at weekly charts, marks levels, does same with daily, determines bias
  • Then looks at hourlies, judges trend, marks levels, places where price will test
  • Does same with 15 minute charts
  • Is it trending or in balance? (volume profile language)
  • Always looking at levels where he expects it to test
  • Key thing is being honest with yourself when you do your trade reviews
  • People don't like to admit that they "made a tit of it"
  • Marks his charts end of day where he entered and exited, things he missed
  • On weekend he reviews all the daily charts from the past week
  • Grades all his trades and grades all of his days ... then reviews them
  • "Why did I do shit?" ... fear of loss and fear of missing out are the two big things
  • Score: Is it in my trade plan? Playing to win or not to lose? Was he patient, how he was feeling, all recorded
  • Also tracks his intuition, what did his gut say? Scores this too
  • Spends 20 hours outside of market hours reviewing his trades every week
  • The mental side goes hand in hand with your trading edge
  • Trading like any sport: you have to practice for hours, can't just jump into the ring and box
  • Preparation as important or more important than focusing during market hours
  • Website: takingonetradeatatime.com
  • Twitter: @adeyf69

Beneath the Clear Night Sky

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I hate it when the crowd sings along, but there was some real punk energy at this show ... for some reason it's not letting me embed it to the song I like, which is at 19:53. 

Recorded on 17 December 2007.

Rusty Roots

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Heard this song for the first time yesterday (thanks to Spotify's wonderful Weekly Discover) and liked it ... apparently it was included in one of those awful CGI movies they make for kids these days. Guy sounds like David Byrne to me, but maybe it's the whole "world music" vibe. Video is nearly twenty years old which shows you that I'm right on top of things ... and look at how white that audience is!

Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way Recorded Live: 7/25/1999 - Woodstock 99 West Stage - Rome, NY More Rusted Root at Music Vault: http://www.musicvault.com Subscribe to Music Vault on YouTube: http://goo.gl/DUzpUF

Promessa Da Vida

Added on by C. Maoxian.

The great Elis Regina... I like Susannah McCorkle's cover of this, though it's painful to listen to given her suicide (age 55) ... Elis killed herself in a less dramatic fashion (cocaine and booze at age 36) ... such a clear, beautiful voice (note cigarette in hand).

Elis & Tom singing "Aguas de Março"

Movies Watched -- Blade Runner 2049

Added on by C. Maoxian.

2 hour 43 minute running time. Let me repeat that: 2 hours and 43 minutes. Yeah, it's long, really long.

I wanted to see this one in the theater when it first came out but didn't get around to it at the time. The first Blade Runner was such an important movie for me (and most other boys of my generation, I'd guess). I saw it in the upstairs theater of Oneonta 1&2 on Chestnut Street back in 1982. My buddy Jimmy D's mom took us to see it (I wonder what she thought of it ... no chance to ask since she died of breast cancer a few years ago). I was afraid they'd ruin the franchise, but they didn't.

Anyway, despite its length, I guess this is a worthy sequel. The sets are amazing ... the cinematography, the effects, the costumes, all great. The new spinners with their retro head and taillights. The Vangelis-ish soundtrack. A lot of nice touches. Paying respect to the original in multiple ways (the Atari product placement, the smashing through the wall, etc.), well done, tastefully done. I wonder what the budget was. No expense spared because some guy my age is in charge of approving the budget, and it meant as much to him as it did to me.

I didn't buy that the Wallace Corp. couldn't track down Harrison Ford on their own. But... these are quibbles.  Gosling goes off baseline ... but he's not going to kill any non-replicants in the first place. If you've been holding back on seeing this, I recommend you give in and see it. And not just for the hologram love scene.

I like Bilge Ebiri's take on it: "It’s everything, and more, and too much, and somehow not enough ... Careful, dutiful, and beautiful, Blade Runner 2049 cannot achieve the sublime slipperiness of Scott’s masterpiece. Whether it even needs to is up to you."

Ethnicity: Cuban

Ethnicity: Cuban

She Casts a Long Shadow

Added on by C. Maoxian.

My favorite track from their new album...

Lake Street Dive - I Can Change Recorded Live: 4/18/2018 - Paste Studios - New York, NY More Lake Street Dive in the Paste Cloud: https://www.pastemagazine.com/search?t=Lake+Street+Dive&m=Video Visit Paste Magazine: https://www.pastemagazine.com