Commercial blogging is so utterly grubby and most practitioners of the art are second hand car salesmen, whatever they pretend they are selling or “doing”.
Author: Zeno
Psalm 137: Happy the one who takes your little ones, and dashes them against the rock.
Someone in Canterbury Cathedral (the Dean perhaps?) decided that Verse 9 was going a little far .
Communist Manifesto vs Mein Kampf
In today’s Guardian, some dear lady say that she gives the Communist Manifesto out as a gift.
We are all Gay now
I am so grateful for the BBC who explain that LGBT+ is now passé.
The Internet Blagger and Bluffer
I am always amused by the sheer vastness of the Blagging and Bluffing community on the internet offering advice on subjects in which they themselves possess no expertise whatsoever.
Bingeing on Netflix
As deadly sins go, bingeing on Netflix probably ranks among the less serious.
Tilting at Windmills
I wonder whether I am guilty of “tilting at windmills”.
Carpe Diem
There is nothing quite like a funeral to concentrate the mind; “carpe diem” seems such an apt phrase at such a time.
Hedge Funds – not so clever after all
David Harding ( Winton Capital ) has for many years been quoted as a superhero of the hedge fund world. Harding’s meteoric … More
Why are we forgetting the deaths of 100 million in the Spanish Flu outbreak?
Is it odd that 100 million deaths in the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 has received comparatively little attention?
Is it all gloom?
Is everything bad? Is the world a bad place? Are we humans damned and doomed? Is there any good news?
Corrosive, Obsessive Hatred
How can people not see what their untrammelled hatred does to themselves and those around them?
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent ranks high in my list of favourite painters.
How should you deal with a pig?
I have come to question my behaviour when dealing with a pig over the past couple of years. Well, pigs actually.
Division and indoctrination, greed, violence and politics.
Why does society have to be so divisive? Why does political posturing have to increase polarization and seek to indoctrinate?
Artificial Intelligence for Financial Market Prediction
it’s time to dip back in and carry on my quest to discover whether artificial intelligence can predict financial markets.
Bishop Michael Curry – the Royal Wedding
Bishop Michael Curry preached a fine sermon at the wedding today of Prince Harry and beautiful actress Meghan Markle.
Art Prices are Obscene .
Art prices at ‘obscene’ levels as Chinese join high-spending elite says Richard Partington, the Guardian’s economics correspondent.
Meghan Markle’s Royal Knees Up
I am trying to work out in my own mind my exact feelings about Meghan Markle’s Royal Knees Up and the role of the Royal Family in general.
Australia’s lame response to Anwar Ibrahim’s detention
Elaine Pearson (Australia director at Human Rights Watch) states that Australia’s lame response to Anwar Ibrahim’s detention was a mistake.
The Hazards of Dramatising the Near Past
Martha Gill writes of the hazards of dramatising the near past and asks whether we should delay so as to achieve perspective.
Victoria’s Requiem
Victoria’s Requiem, written for the funeral of dowager Empress Maria of Spain who died on February 26, 1603 is sublime.
To defeat hatred
Hatred is a difficult emotion to combat connected as it is with so many other qualia.
Utopian descent into Dystopian Horror
All radical and swift changes imposed on society began as Utopian dreams and descended into Dystopian horror. Need it always be so?
With or without Trump, we must back UN’s education drive
We must ensure that education is not slanted towards any political agenda and is concerned with providing what our children need to make a better world.
Class War in Journalism and Politics
Class War in Journalism and Politics is alive and well. It is business as usual in Parliament and the news papers.
Conflict in The Middle East
An end to “Conflict in The Middle East” is unlikely to be achieved by conventional and time worn solutions which have achieved nothing over the decades.
A Moral Dilemma
My own petty, unimportant and irrelevant moral dilemma should teach me something about the world and how to improve it.
Must Try Harder
Must try harder! Unfortunately as an imperfect individual I find it necessary to question my own behaviour on a daily basis.
We are Slaves to the FANGs
The mighty kings at the FANGs are the modern robber barons.
Bashing Grammar Schools
“The UK government’s education policies are damaging and benefiting the few. It’s time for a rethink.”
Scandinavian Happiness
I am disappointed to hear that Scandinavian happiness is “more a matter of class whether you can afford to take time to take care of yourself”.
Am I a Guardian Reader?
Do I have what it takes to be a Guardian Reader? I have always been desperately keen to say: “yes I am, I’m deeply socialist in moral and ethical terms”.
Ich Bin ein Londoner
JFK famously said “Ich Bin ein Berliner” but I can perhaps more accurately say the same thing about London.
Rembrandt – Belshazzar’s feast
Rembrandt – Belshazzar’s feast: the literature, art and music of religion still hold a vast sway over the imagination of many of us.
Van Eyck – The Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck painted what has become known as the Arnolfini Portrait in 1434.
The Schoolyard Thug
He is an odd character the bully, a difficult one to work out sometimes.
The Beauty of Performance
Beauty comes in so many forms and is so utterly transformative wherever it is encountered.
Catharsis in Writing
The act of self expression in writing seems to provide relief from strong or long repressed emotions – a catharsis.
Hypocrisy
Are we all hypocrites or is there the odd saintly exception?
Euthanasia
Every human should have the right to take his or her own life and the means to do so painlessly and swiftly should be made easily and openly available.
With Hindsight….
What possible use is hindsight when the past is behind us and unchangeable?
A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design
Nobel prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek’s book “A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design” is certainly worth reading.
Why I do not read the News
I do not read the news because it is repetitive, dispiriting, boring and irrelevant.
To Regret or to Reset
Regret, while you still have breath, is a wasteful extravagance, a futile and destructive luxury.
A Meditation on Death
To have lived a good life is all that matters in the end.
We are all so Sinful
If there is one thing I can not stand it is a mealy mouthed clergyman (in that mournful oh so serious and pious voice) telling us we are all so sinful
Racism
Racism is most often and probably correctly thought of as a modern phenomenon.
The Existence of Evil
Evil cannot exist without consciousness and free will.
Anger – an Evolutionary Curse
Anger is an invention of the selfish gene, an evolutionary tool for the survival of the fittest.
Sibling Bitterness
Why is it that siblings often fall out in such a bitter fashion on the death of parents? Is it a petty dispute over the will? Or is it something deeper?
The Salesman
Is the “salesman” grubby and embarrassing by definition?
Why Write a Blog
I write to educate myself.
A Secular Epiphany
Epiphany is usually thought of in a religious context but it can equally be a secular phenomena where one is struck by some extreme beauty or revelation.
New Age Quackery?
The New Age movement is a range of spiritual beliefs and practices that on the surface is full of foolish nonsense.
Renaissance Man: Dead or Alive?
“Renaissance Men” were able to master and practice a number of widely different subjects. Can it still be done in today’s highly specialised world?
Seeking Consciousness
Consciousness can only be sought through science and empirical, rational thought.
Positivity
Embrace the positive avoid the negative.
How Much to Trade – Fixed Fractional Position Sizing
Mechanical strategies for trading futures usually include fixed fractional position sizing to limit initial risk from any single trade.
Volatility Based Stops
Futures traders generally employ exit points in the form of volatility based stops for each position (established at initiation) determining when to cut a loss short and operating in conjunction with position sizing rules.
Trend Following Systems
A quantitative trend following system must define: when to enter a position; how much to buy; when to exit a position.
Global Macro
The Global Macro hedge fund strategy can be defined as dynamic global asset allocation. Global Macro hedge fund managers have the ability to take positions in any instrument in any market throughout the world.
Invest or Gamble?
We are all looking to get rich quick. We are all looking for something for nothing. But few of us will succeed and even fewer will be able to retain the short-lived gains.
A Quantitative Approach to Cryptocurrency Investing
The large majority of start-up projects sink without trace. The occasional winner however can make up the losses and yield a profit on the portfolio.
8 Steps to Profitable Investment
8 Steps to Profitable Investment
A few Simple Investment Rules are All You Need.
A few Simple Investment Rules are All You Need.
Simple Investment Strategies
Investment is extremely simple. Wide diversification and the avoidance of cots and complexity is the way to go.
Depression – Rational Enquiry vs Emotional Wallowing
Depression can only be defeated by science and rational enquiry not airy faerie emotional wallowing such as is to be found in most useless self help books.
Fundamental Analysis – Expensive and Futile
Fundamental analysis of stock market investments is a futile and expensive waste of time and should be wholly replaced by quantitative analysis.
The Abolition of Suffering
Philosopher David Pearce has a message of overwhelming significance: The Abolition of Suffering can and will be achieved.
Where are the Customers’ Yachts?
Who thinks finance, stock broking and fund management are respectable professions dedicated to increasing the wealth of their customers?
Technical Analysis – Embarrassing Nonsense
Technical analysis is nothing less than embarrassing nonsense practiced by fools or knaves.
Trade as Seldom as Possible
If you want long term investment success, then trade as seldom as possible.
Profitable Stock Market Investment is Very Simple
Profitable investment is very simple and yet an entire industry has been spawned which cons the public into imagining the process is very complex.
The Absurdity of Land Ownership
How has it come to pass that a tiny handful own the vast majority of this tiny spaceship we call the Earth?
Poverty in an Infinite Universe?
The universe is infinite and contains infinite matter and yet we are still faced with overwhelming poverty and suffering on a global scale. How come?
Am I a Quale?
A quale is the singular form of the plural qualia. Qualia are a linguistic attempt to describe the subjective experience of consciousness.
What am I?
The question “what am I” is the most important avenue any sentient being can enter.
Dealing with Depression
If you can deal with depression at all you need to determine whether your life is causing your anxiety or whether it is your anxiety which is ruining your life.
Peace which the World Cannot Give?
Can we find peace in this world despite what the Book of Common Prayer says?
Job Satisfaction and Happiness – Pigs’ Ears and Silk Purses
If you are not satisfied and fulfilled by your job it is a fair bet you are not happy. Certainly not as happy as you could and should be.
Self-Help Gurus
Self help gurus are guaranteed fakes. So are all other self anointed gurus. Avoid them – run for your life and keep your purse locked.
Science and the Sublime
Will science provide what religion has failed to give us? According to the “transhumanists” the answer is assuredly yes.
Happiness
Happiness is perhaps best described as the absence of unhappiness.
Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole
Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes runs close by. Don’t follow it!
Has Iain M. Banks Sublimed?
The bald facts are that Ian Banks was a Scottish socialist and atheist and one of the finest writers and thinkers of our age.
Can Artificial Intelligence dream of electric sheep?
Physics has created the human mind; physics aided by the human mind can certainly create general artificial intelligence.
Dementia – A Carer’s Survival Guide
“Dementia” is simply an umbrella term for a vast and cruel range of hideous and debilitating symptoms.
Meditation is not Just for Christmas
Meditation is not or need not be any sort of religious devotion. But it must become a way of life if it is to be any help to you.
Right Honourable Gentlemen
There can hardly be a sight so little edifying as the Right Honourable Gentlemen of the House of Commons in full debate.
Trump – Vulgar or Venal?
President Donald Trump: is he bad or simply an extreme example of vulgarity and brash showmanship?
Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?
Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?
Depression and Determinism – can we Change our Mind?
Depression and determinism: can we influence our moods, can we “change our mind”?
War – Why do the Nations rage?
War has its origins in the very first animal life to evolve on earth.
The Magician’s Nephew
The beauty of CS Lewis’ writing and the loveliness of Pauline Bayne’s illustrations.
Cargo Cults
Cargo cults provide a fascinating insight into the origins of religion.
In Search of the Soul
There comes a stage where some hand over responsibility to the next generation and gradually withdraw from the world.
Ozymandias, King of Kings
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings
The Book of Common Prayer
You do not have to be a Christian to immerse yourself in the timeless reflections of the Book of Common Prayer.
Hans Holbein – The Ambassadors
A rich and engaging portal into the mind of an age emerging into the modern world.
Weltanschauung 