March 2011
1 post
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February 2011
1 post
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Adapting to New Age Wall Street
The efficient market hypothesis is a cornerstone of classical investment theory. It asserts that the market is efficient, or instantaneous, in incorporating all public information into to the prices of securities. Under perfect informational efficiency, if a company releases higher than expected earnings, all effects of that information are expected to immediately be reflected in that...
December 2010
2 posts
1 tag
4 tags
To Live Forever
The jellyfish pictured above, Turritopsis nutricula, has a rather extraordinary ability: like a phoenix, it can repeatedly revert from adulthood to its immature, polyp form and restart the process of aging, functionally rendering the organism biologically immortal. If the jellyfish can avoid disease, starvation, and predation, it has a potentially infinite lifespan.
In the same vein, the...
November 2010
1 post
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“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity...”
– William Blake
October 2010
3 posts
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The Process
Now that The Snooze Button has some content and momentum, I’ve decided to do an assessment of its progress.
This blog is my first attempt at public writing. I can say that it is serving some of its originally intended purposes - it’s keeping me busy and constructive. I feel that being able to choose my topics and direct myself has allowed me to develop my writing style. My adoption of...
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“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction...”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Linguistics and Poetry
One of the most important lessons I have learned as a student of literature and rhetoric is the value of diction. It allows a writer to put into words exactly what he or she means to express. Proper diction mitigates verbosity and ambiguity and is the hallmark of a cogent speaker and an effective wordsmith. Mark Twain’s wit, William Shakespeare’s eloquence, George Orwell’s...
September 2010
3 posts
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Colors of Autumn
“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.”
- John Donne
Today (Sept. 22, 2010) marks the autumnal equinox and the beginning of autumn, my favorite time of year. I’m looking forward to early evenings, cool temperatures, warm colors, bright leaves, apple cider, pie, turkey, corn, cinnamon, farmers’ markets, jack-o’-lanterns,...
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“The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet...”
– Thomas Henry Huxley
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The Night Sky
Above is a picture of the night sky at 3 a.m. over Flagstaff, Arizona, the world’s first International Dark-Sky City.
… the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, highlighted by the constellations of Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus. On the far right, the North America Nebula is visible just under the very bright star Deneb.
I have been...
August 2010
3 posts
1 tag
A Breather
The last few posts have been pretty dense, so I decided to make this post a light one. In no particular order, the following is a list of things that have been irritating me recently:
mayonnaise
cars that take up two parking spots
traffic
pigeons
Lil’ Wayne
getting sand in my shoes
mornings
morning radio
people who only drink bottled water
rabbits screwing up my garden
Mondays
...
3 tags
Quantum Teleportation
These days landmark scientific discoveries and advancements occur so often that many go unnoticed by the general public. For instance, you might not know that the first thought-controlled robotic prosthetic limb system was approved for human testing late last month, Intel unveiled the first end-to-end photonics data connection capable of transferring data at 50Gbps, and that a robot astronaut is...
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“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.”
– Khalil Gibran
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Literary Figures and Their Alcohol
I worked for a literary publication for a year in college. It was easily one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever had. The following is taken from a creative exercise thought up by the delightful editor of the publication. The exercise is titled “Match the Writer with the Drink.” Each writer has a quote about drinking and there is a selection of alcoholic drinks at the bottom of...
July 2010
4 posts
2 tags
The VIX and Market Efficiency
The field of investing is centered on expected risk and return. This week Amazon.com, Inc. released its second quarter earnings report which revealed a 45% increase in earnings driven by a 41% increase in sales, yet the share price dropped 13% on this news in after-hours trading. Though Amazon reported an increase in earnings, this increase was not high enough to match investors’ expectations...
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?
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Back on the Wagon
I thought to myself, why is there a discrepancy between the person I am and the person it is within my power to be? I set goals for myself – keep up with news, make progress on my reading list, work out and eat healthy, etc. – and I’ll work toward them, but soon I’m back to sleeping in past noon and engaging in self-destructive activities.
Jonah Lehrer wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal...