March 2020
74 articles published this month.
-
Notes From My Journal
Fear Of The Unknown During Crisis Times
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft Like so many bloggers, I’ve been reading lots about the coronavirus…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Facts That Informed This Essay
* The seasonal flu kills between 12,000 and 61,000 people a year. * In Italy, about 10% of people known to be infected have died. In Iran and Spain, the case fatality rate is higher than 7%. But in South…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
epidemiology (noun)
Epidemiology (ep-ih-dee-mee-AHL-uh-jee) is the branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.
Read full post -
Worth Reading
Thinking Critically About Coronavirus News and Information
“Thinking Critically About Coronavirus News and Information” – Good advice from the FTC on protecting yourself against coronavirus scams. Click here to read the article.
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Tom Dyson On Gold As Wealth Protection
On Friday, I talked about what might happen in the gold market and explained how I use bullion gold as a wealth management strategy. I referenced ideas from Tom Dyson. Here are his latest thoughts.
Read full post -
Notes From My Journal
Why Gold Prices Fell During Market Crash
“O Gold! I still prefer thee unto paper, which makes bank credit like a bark of vapour.” – Lord Byron What’s Going On With Gold Prices? When the stock market crashes, gold prices skyrocket. That, at least, is…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
anomaly (noun)
An anomaly (un-NOM-uh-lee) is a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form. As I used it today: “[If, as Tom Dyson hypothesizes,] ‘it’s the supply and demand in the notional gold market that…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Gold: The Basics
* The price of the metal has increased substantially over the past 50 years. * Its price is driven, like most commodities, by supply and demand. * The lion’s share of the world’s gold is held in the vaults of…
Read full post -
Worth Watching
An eventful week at the Masaya Volcano
Nicaragua’s Masaya volcano – which we often fly over on our way from Managua to Rancho Santana – was recently featured as part of Good Morning America’s Extraordinary Earth series. You can watch the GMA…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Coming this weekend… “The Week in Review
More viral humor… Coming this weekend… “The Week in Review”
Read full post -
Notes From My Journal
The Stock Market Collapse, and What We Can Learn About Economics
“Taxes are not paid on profits not made on sales of products never produced by workers not working, truckers not trucking, and buyers not buying. And we are just at the beginning.” – Bill Bonner The Stock…
Read full post -
Worth Reading
Looking Into the Near Future” – an excerpt from Bill Bonner’s Diary, March 20, 2020
The world of getting and spending is shutting down. Without revenue, neither businesses, or households, or the government will be able to pay their bills. Stocks will rise (“a dead cat bounce,” the old timers…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
Black Swan event (noun)
A Black Swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black Swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, their severe…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Test Your Punctuation Skills With This Quiz
How good are you at punctuation? To try a 10-question test designed for middle-schoolers, click here.
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Coronavirus Humor To Brighten Your Day
Ready for a little coronavirus humor?
Read full post -
Notes From My Journal
A Challenge That Every Business Owner in the World Is Facing Right Now
JS has a dilemma. “Right now,” she writes, “I strongly believe in self-isolation... which brings me to a question about the young woman who cleans my apartment. I want to tell her to stay home. And I want to…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
Ronald Reagan On Government's Fundamental Flaws
“Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.” – Ronald Reagan
Read full post -
Worth Watching
Coronavirus Explained: How It Shut Down the World
In this video, Patrick Bet-David talks about the coronavirus, how it spreads, the most deadly epidemics in history, and how viruses affect the stock markets around the world. (The guy is mesmerizing!) [LINK…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
promulgate (verb)
To promulgate (PRAH-mul-gate) is to formally proclaim or put into action. As used by Karen Armstrong: “The first person to promulgate the Golden Rule… was Confucius 500 years before Christ.”
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Counting To A Trillion Takes Thirty Thousand Years
Putting the government’s trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus bill into perspective – a trillion is a huge number. If you counted 24 hours a day, it would take more than 30,000 years to reach it.
Read full post -
Readers Write
An email from AC — March 23, 2020
I really appreciate the wisdom you share on your blog. It’s the only blog I go out of my way to navigate and read.
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Please Pass the Salt
Got some spare time now that you’re stuck in the house all day? Here’s something you can try…
Read full post -
Notes From My Journal
Managing Business Through Economic Crisis Uncertainty
“Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.” – Audrey Lord What I’m Telling My Business Partners Sitting on the front porch, looking at the many people…
Read full post -
Worth Reading
Information Marketing's Opportunity In Economic Crisis
If you are in the information marketing business, you may be interested in my thoughts about how the Corona Crisis presents an opportunity for growth and strength in the future. This is an excerpt from a memo…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Learning From China: 7 High-Tech Strategies for Pandemic Containment” by Peter Diamandis LINK
“Learning From China: 7 High-Tech Strategies for Pandemic Containment” by Peter Diamandis LINK
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
lugubrious (adjective)
Lugubrious (loo-GOO-bree-us) means sad, dismal, gloomy. As used by Victor Hugo in The Man Who Laughs: “After the disappearance of day into the vast of silent obscurity, he became in lugubrious accord with all…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Why We Might Be Overreacting To Coronavirus
Most of the analysis of the coronavirus pandemic has been scary... even the best of it. But here is an argument as to why we may be overreacting to the virus that I found edifying.
Read full post -
Notes From My Journal
What I’m Doing (and Not Doing) to Safeguard My Wealth
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks What I’m Doing (and Not Doing) to Safeguard My Wealth It’s a…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
5 Historical Facts About the Stock Market
Historically, the Dow has been positive 52% of the total trading days and negative 48%. The average daily return is 0.73% when it’s up and -0.76% when it’s down. There is no significant difference between the…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
instigate (verb)
To instigate (IN-stih-gate) is to bring about or initiate an action or event. As I used it today: “Like every crash I’ve mentioned, [the “Great Recession” crash of 2008/2009] followed a long-term bull market…
Read full post -
Worth Reading
Whatever It Takes” by Tom Dyson in Postcards From the Fringe. LINK
“Whatever It Takes” by Tom Dyson in Postcards From the Fringe. LINK
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
George Carlin on Germs and the Immune System
George Carlin was funny… he was brilliant… he was prophetic. Watch an excerpt from his “You Are All Diseased” routine.
Read full post -
From My Work-in-Progress Basket
The Coronavirus and Making Friends With Your Devil
A friend of mine, an economist and investment analyst, sent me a note saying that he is “expecting” the coronavirus pandemic to lead to absolute disaster, both in terms of public health and the economy. He may…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
equanimity (noun)
Equanimity (ee-kwuh-NIM-ih-tee) is calmness; mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain. As I used it today: “For insight into why I was getting so upset and a clue about…
Read full post -
Worth Quoting
Edgar Allan Poe On Cause And Effect
“I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
How Doctors Finally Discovered Hand Washing's Life-Saving Power
Common sense tells us that one of the best ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases is to wash your hands – but doctors didn’t realize this until the mid-19th century. Click here for a recent article…
Read full post -
Worth Reading
How to Self-Quarantine” by Roni Caryn Rabin in The New York Times
LINK
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Why Deadly Viruses Keep Emerging From China
A sad and disturbing look at why deadly viruses like SARS and Covid-19 keep emerging from China.
Read full post -
Notes From My Journal
A Reluctant Climber's Unexpected Mountain Friendship
Kevin, one of the men who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with me 10 years ago, sent me this photo: It was taken at Horombo Hut, the night before we were going to make the final ascent. After barely surviving the…
Read full post -
Worth Quoting
Edmund Hillary On Conquering Ourselves
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Sir Edmund Hillary
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
demur (verb)
To demur (dih-MUR) is to raise doubts or objections or show reluctance. As I used it today: “Still, I couldn’t say no to Dr. Al again. He is a good friend and an important client. And I’d been demurring on all…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Kilian Jornet's Record-Breaking Kilimanjaro Speed Climb
Each year, approximately 35,000 people attempt climbing Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world. Only two-thirds of them are usually successful, mostly due to altitude-related problems. The…
Read full post -
Worth Reading
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
This is a bathroom book that will inform and inspire pragmatic readers. The bulk of the quotations in the book come from the three major Stoic philosophers: Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca. From the…
Read full post -
Readers Write
An email from SM — March 13, 2020
Just came across your website and wish I had done so earlier. Your writing is impactful in a way that is rare nowadays.
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
Funny Lady
Read full post -
From My Work-in-Progress Basket
LA Story and More on the Challenge of Charity
One was refusing to eat. The other was smearing yogurt on her face. The toast was burning. And Baxter, the 160-pound mutt, was humping my leg. Of all the childrearing experiences we’ve been reliving on this…
Read full post -
A Word to the Wise
perpetuity (noun)
Perpetuity (pur-pih-TOO-ih-tee) – often preceded by “in” – is the state or character of being perpetual. It is used for something that is of endless or indefinitely long duration or existence. As I used it…
Read full post -
Worth Quoting
Paul Tillich On Risk And Personal Failure
“He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.” – Paul Tillich
Read full post -
Worth Reading
The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — March 11, 2020
In the March issue: LINK * 6 Ways Consultants Can Charge More * The Non-Sci-Fi Path to Rerouting Your Reader’s Brain * Linchpin Writing: Lock in Your Value With Every Client, Every Time * How a One-Eyed, Hairy…
Read full post -
Fun and/or Interesting
More Chickens Than People Worldwide
There are more chickens in America than people on the planet.
Read full post