Psalm 42- Where is Now Thy God?

Like as the hart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee O God.

Another Day, Another Guru

I was listening to some cross legged Russian windbag this morning pontificating on why micro-dosing psychedelics was bad news. It…

12 Ways to Wipe Your Butt

Why do the cretinous like numbered lists? And why do they annoy me so much?

To every thing there is a season.

There is a season for learning and a season to realize you know enough.

This too shall pass

The world is full of annoyance and “noise” in the statistical sense.  Meaningless “stuff”, which in the bigger picture it is best to ignore. To shrug,walk away from.

Jesus Christ Has Risen Today.

There is something enormously satisfying about a communion service at an ancient Anglican church on Easter Sunday. 

Dead Susan: Requiescat in Pace

The Good Aunt

Creating God

I do not believe that the concept of “god and science are incompatible. Provided that we accept that we have created the concept of “god” in the first place and that through science we have the means to become godlike.

What fool bought that?

What I ought to have bought was a mobility cart and a year’s pass to the Bingo Hall. What I…

Vierne: Messe Solennelle

Rarely have I felt such intensity as when singing Vierne’s Messe Solennelle with Fulham Camerata last Saturday.

Peace at Last

Very occasionally one gets a glimpse of peace and today was one of those all too rare days.

There Comes a Time

I was contemplating meditation at  the Wat Buddhapadipa in London and revisiting the basics of Buddhism this morning,

Processed for the Slaughterhouse.

In the featured image, Leni Riefenstahl and a camera crew stand in front of Hitler’s car during the 1934 rally…

Born Again

I have always been faintly amused by the idea of earnest Christian converts sliding down a giant birth canal into…

Beautiful Place, Beautiful People?

No, it didn’t quite work out like that, it never does. However Arcadian the setting, we humans will wreck it…

An Allegory of Man 1596

The painting warns the viewer of the soul’s vulnerability to the vanities of the world. It strikes me as a…

William West, 1st Lord Delawarr

The somewhat brutal face and the arrogant pose of William West, 1st Lord Delawarr, reassures us that human nature has…

All Victories are Pyrrhic

Whether or not you win a conflict, something will have been lost. 

Between the Cracks

I am frightened of homeless people.  They remind me how all too easy it is in this world to simply fall between the cracks.

Alone in a Pew

If you are going to go to church, go alone and go when it is empty.

Me and My Vulva

Well not mine actually – its just that I liked the headline. The Guardian’s article Me and My Vulva gave…

Depression – Mind or Matter?

The state of depression is easy enough to describe but it is doubtful whether mere words manage to convey the depth of the misery to one who has never suffered from it.

Quackery and Useless Twaddle

Why is so much of the internet “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”?

Conscious Nonsense

I am deeply disturbed to discover what a search on the word “consciousness” produces when you sift through Wordpress websites.

Hospital Blues

If you are feeling bad and want to feel a lot worse, I recommend a trip to your local government hospital.

Philosophy – Would we need it if we were happy?

Would we spend so much time in hand wringing existential anxiety if we discovered the genetic code of the pain…

Gillette Advertisement Controversy

Good on Gillette: it would be hard to deny that male aggression has played a vast and malignant role in our history.

The Internet Ain’t All Bad

While there are indeed vast swathes of Kardashians, footballers wives and people who live in Chigwell you should avoid like the plague on the internet,  I would argue that the technology has immeasurably enriched our lives rather than debased it.

More From the Christian Cultist

Without comment in any shape or form (lest I deviate from my new found resolve) I report the unhappy fall…

How to be a Happy Human

Given the basic needs of life and in the absence of physiological abnormality, the solution is fairly simple.  The trick…

Dangerous Religious Cults

Religion becomes a dark and dangerous tool in the wrong hands. I visited a website called  Do What’s Right today and was…

What is the Purpose of Poetry?

Does poetry have a purpose? If so, then what? I noticed today that by far the majority of WordPresss bloggers…

Davos 2019

I lived in Davos-Kosters for years and loved the WEF.

Crossing the Bar – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

Cast Out the Beam

It seems so inordinately difficult to be a decent human, unless you were born that way.

The Snob

How hilarious, the asinine snob.

Gerard Manley Hopkins – Heaven Haven

I HAVE desired to go
Where springs not fail,

The Pig

The only way to deal with the Pig is to wipe him out of your life as you would remove excrement from your shoe.

Father and Son

There comes a time in your life when, if you are lucky enough to have a son, you recognize he has become a man. And of course to you, a very special one.

Are you what you read?

The modern trope would have it that you are what you eat, but the metaphor needs taking further.

Joy to the World

I will never be able to resolve my unshakable disbelief in Christian dogma with the profound peace I find singing sacred classical music in an ancient English church with a good choir.

Range Trading Vix Options

As traders will know, the Vix trades in a range: it mean reverts. Therefor you can profit by buying Vix…

Why I doubt my Existence

I believe that I am merely a “program” and that similar programs run every animal and living thing on earth.

Python Trend Following System 1

Here is a trend following system coded in Python.

A Simple Mean Reversion System for Stocks

I have recently had much fun with “Simple Trading Systems using Simple Python Code”

The Little Drummer Girl

I read the book with much enjoyment many years ago, but this lavish BBC adaptation of  John Le Carré’s 1983 novel raises the bar to very high levels indeed.

The Shameful, Avoidable Horror of Dementia and Old Age

We would put an animal down, surely we can offer the same courtesy to a human?

My Old Sweet Etcetera – A Reading

For Eleanor.

This anti war poem, written by American poet EE Cummings and published in 1926, is such a perfect specimen of the genre.

Isness

Happiness is only attainable once you recognize that everything just “is”.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci – John Keats – a Reading

Sometimes sad and sometimes not, our stories and our poems, our Green Ladies and our Belles Dames are reflections of our desires and anxieties.

A reading: Sonnet 18, Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? A reading.

Shakespeare: Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

YouTube Trailer

Encouraged and enthralled by Kim Kardashian West I was wondering whether to record a welcome video for my YouTube Channel. 

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

A Reading

If….by Rudyard Kipling

A reading of “If….” which I made for my YouTube channel.

Interview with Investors Chronicle

My interview with The Investors Chronicle took place on January 16th 2016 and I have not changed my view.

John Keats – Ode To Autumn – a Reading

I have already written a few words about Ode to Autumn but felt minded to record my own reading of it.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs….

Kipling’s poem “If” is profound and moving.

Supermarket Phobia

While the modern shopping experience ranks low on my list of existential anxieties, it nonetheless merits mention as one of life’s annoyances.

A Gospel for the 21st Century Pagan

If we 21st Century pagans were to write our own book of “Good News” what would it contain?

A Finger Pointing to the Moon

Master Po say “Grasshopper never mind finger, go for moon”.

Here lies one whose name was writ in water.

Far from disappearing, Keats and his incomparable poetry have lived on after his death.

The Great and The Good are neither “Great” nor “Good”.

I have had three occasions recently, which gave me pause for thought about vanity, motive and human stupidity.

Taking Sides

Can it ever be right to take sides in a dispute? Does it ever help?

How to be Human in an indifferent Universe

How damaging we are to each other. How grim the human condition can become, and it does not take war…

Wittgenstein’s ladder: to climb or not to climb?

The happiest are those who have never heard of Wittgenstein’s Ladder.  If asked, they probably assume its something you buy in Homebase.

I know that my Redeemer Liveth

Success in seeking the Absolute may simply be a matter of altering our minds chemically. 

Seeking the Eternal in Systematic Investment

The process of coding financial market trading systems is fascinating , but they never seem to last very long and their performance is never very consistent. 

L’enfer, c’est les autres

Teamwork my arse. Hell is definitely other people.

Stephen Fry’s Hippopotamus

Fry is a comic genius although his comedy is tinged with darkness. Erudite, witty and (dare I say it) profound.

Could Adolf have chosen to behave differently?

Pavlov’s dog aside we do not expect, largely, to change the nature or behavior of an animal. Why should we expect to change our own?

Norman Nembutal

For the ever mercurial Alfred the sun did not rise yesterday. After a splendid microdosed  Sunday,  he woke with a bump on Monday morning. 

The Iconoclast of Iconoclasts

Psychologically related to nihilism and anarchy, the Iconoclast of Iconoclasts (“IoI”) seeks, for reasons not entirely clear (even to himself)…

Investment Myopia

Myopia, or nearsightedness is a common affliction among those who seek to profit from the financial markets. All too often…

Discarding the Irrelevant

In recent years I have found it increasingly beneficial to narrow my focus. 

Rolling VIX Options Monthly

The code below takes the data already cleaned up by the code in the previous post and strings separate months together in a time series suitable for back testing.

Wrangling CBOE Options Data

The data obtained from the CBOE is messy and incomplete. It takes a great deal of time for even the experienced nerd to sift through it.

VIX Option Strangle

This option strangle is effectively short volatility. It buys long dated puts at the money and protects the position with long dated calls far out of the money.

Option Credit Spreads on the VIX

After the liquidation of XIV following the volatility spike earlier in the year I decided to take a more detailed quantitative approach to trading volatility.

Generating Theoretical Option Prices

A while ago I put a lot of work and effort into looking at Black Scholes and various other option pricing models.

“I” do not exist

I have felt with increasing certainty recently that the Buddhists are right. We have no separate existence, no soul, no fixed place in the universe.

Mindfulness vs. Physiology

Much is made these days of the concept of “mindfulness”.  It is the cure-all of the new age. Depressed? Mindfulness…

Where are the songs of spring?

What exquisite bitter-sweetness, an English autumn in the countryside.

God’s Bleak House

Said to be the second oldest parish church in the country, churches don’t come much bleaker than All Saints, West Stourmouth, Kent.  

In Defense of the Trinity

Are we living in the 21st Century? How do serious people honestly believe in such man made hogwash.

Matins in a country church

In a lifelong search for meaning, I have found little to compare with matins in an English country church.

We are looking for the following qualities….

Such words are prone to make me lift my laptop and smash it to the ground.

Right Thinking

I had a delightful morning over a cup of coffee with some acquaintances I had been meaning to get to know better. 

If God could be killed, it’d be dead already

“…..the philosophy of personal identity is relevant in the realm of ethics by helping us address age-old questions like whether being born is good or bad.”

Consider the Lilies of the Field…

…how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin…

Thoughts from the back of beyond.

The back of beyond is where I want to be.  And I am back, at the back of beyond. I have come in a full circle.

On Age

Cleopatra was fortunate indeed, the rest of us may age less well.  But we should embrace age, not resent or fear it.

Thought as the enemy of Moksha

Analysis and thought are the very antithesis of the sort of behavior likely to lead to lasting peace.

A Time to Live

It is time to “feel” the universe for myself. To cease to see it through the words of others and to experience it directly.

Out of my Skull

Is it a detrimental term or may it have hidden meanings and use?

The Unknowing Fool

The unknowing fool is one who does not know he does not know.

The Mysticism of Blade Runner

Does it sound curious to link a vastly popular work of science fiction to the concept of mysticism? 

Facing down the Black Dog

Perhaps it is best to acknowledge the endless pawing of the black dog at your door.  For some, it is a rare day that the gentle scuffling can not be heard.  

The Doors of Perception

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.

Will the meek inherit the earth?

For some years I have assumed that far from inheriting the earth, the meek will be trampled underfoot.  I am beginning to wonder whether I am mistaken.

“Objective truth” is an illusion.

Unqualified objective truth can not exist.  Heavily qualified objective truth probably does.

Art as a lens on “reality”.

You may be forgiven for mistaking the image above for photo montage. But it is not: it is the London Mustaba project.

Art as metaphysics

I have sometimes wondered whether art has any importance, and if so, what? 

Dvorak – Stabat Mater

For many years I had worked on the assumption that anything written east of Berlin was cacophonous and horrible. I have been proved wrong by Dvorak.

London as a foreign city.

Portobello Road in London W11 is a most curious mix of home and abroad. 

The Stockmarket as a Complex Adaptive System

I recommend a paper entitled “The Stockmarket as a Complex Adaptive System” by Credit Suisse Director Michael J. Mauboussin.

Investment “Systems”

Long term investment is simply about following the trend of economic growth. I am not convinced there is much more to it that that.

Happiness and Genetic Bingo

We can expect limited success in our endeavours to change but some change is better than none. We may be able to tip the balance in our favour.

Was the Noble Savage a Happy Bunny?

It is pleasant to imagine that there was a day in the distant past where people did not live in Grenfell Tower and didn’t have to look at Trump’s haircut in the media.

Bad News Fatigue

I turned to the Guardian this morning after my Bad Hair Day yesterday, looking for inspiration but need not have bothered.

Really Bad Hair Day

Bad hair day doesn’t begin to describe the awfulness of a day of real negativity.  There are days when the sun just seems to go out.

Class Prejudice

Is it right to feel distaste for your fellow man?

Get Rich Quick: El Dorado

The legend of El Dorado, a fabulous golden city in South America, inspired many expeditions in the 16th Century in search of wealth and excess. 

Solace for Deep Weariness

I’m sure there is peace to be had and I have often found snatches of it. The big trick is to make it last.

Do Not Stand by My Grave and Weep

A poem written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye, beautifully set to music by Howard Goodall as part of his Requiem: Eternal Light.

The Internet – Saviour or Satan?

Is the internet a curse or a blessing? Used carefully, in my opinion it is a huge blessing. 

Was Albert Einstein into Alchemical Healing?

I was reading a post this morning on “alchemical healing” and was a little puzzled by it.

Free Legal High

Earlier this morning I had been contemplating nihilism.  I was feeling nihilistic and unconstructive.  I wondered if some pill or other could improve my mood and cheer up my day.

Do I mean what I write, do I write what I mean?

I was wondering whether I really mean what I write? Or to turn it round another way, do I write what I mean?

How to be a 21st Century Hermit

I wonder whether it is possible to be a hermit these days? And if so, where.

The Internet Troll and the Origins of Conflict

Internet forums are the perfect place to understand the petty origins of conflict.  The Troll must be studiously ignored.

The Arab Israeli conflict is very, very Simple

The Arab Israeli conflict arose from vibrating energy “strings” – it really is that simple in a sense.

Fauda – Do we, Should we Watch It?

My latest Netflix Binge is Fauda – a violent, compelling and visually superb take on the Arab Israeli conflict.

“Down” Deal

I’m sorry to have to wax lyrical but it doesn’t get much better than being “down Deal” (as the local patois would have it).

Fish, Chips and South East Kent

Deal is a little seaside town in East Kent which seems to have been forgotten by time and a mile or so further south are to be found beautiful Walmer and Kingsdown.

Flogging Blogging

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”.

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…

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.