weekend notes

Hope all goes well… Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. To you and your families. Resurrected one of my favorite little memories, an opening note from Christmas past… Christmas Day 2013: “Santa slipped down the chimney. Left big boot prints in the ash that spilled across our hearth. And the jolly fella stuffed stockings. Built a train set too. Sprinkled magic everywhere. Moments before the kiddies em

Hope all goes well… Fresh off yesterday’s exciting football game (Army 17- Navy 11), our family divided, dusted off a 2018 anecdote from a Marine Force Recon veteran about applying combat principles to investing (see below). Taking the rest of December off from writing, to gather the forces for what is sure to be an exciting 2024. Wishing you a little recharge too. All the very best, E Week-in-Rev

Anecdote: “My great grandfather and his family lived in the desert, in tents,” said the Emirati, a young man, soft spoken, with a quiet confidence, a calm. “My grandfather had no formal education, but he was curious, adventurous, interested in other cultures and traveled to many places, taught himself English.” Six of us ate dinner, sharing our life stories. “He brought many of the largest foreign

Hope all goes well… “When I was a child, it was my greatest dream to someday own a used bicycle and ride it through my village,” said the Pakistani, whisking me through Abu Dhabi. “I was no higher than a common animal you see.” As he spoke, the fingers of his right hand drew together into the shape of a lotus, that gently opened as he completed each thought. “I knew only Pashto. Now English, with

Hope all goes well… Dusted off an anecdote from 2014 about finding strength in humility (see below). Off to UAE. Back next Sunday with full wknd notes. All the very best, E Week-in-Review: Mon: Milei prevails in runoff to win Argentina’s presidential election, Moody’s revises Italy’s outlook to stable over wknd, US 20yr bond auction goes well, Pro-China parties failed to choose a unifying candidat

Anecdote: “A bitcoin ETF is going to get approved this year, perhaps early next,” said the Chairman. “The talking heads focus on how it’ll impact price, and I get that, but it’s a big deal for different reasons,” he continued. “It’ll be a major step toward bringing digital assets into the established regulatory regime. That process had started, then stalled.” I’d called for our regular exchange of

Hope all goes well… “No money, no honey,” said my Grab (Uber copycat) driver, racing to the Singapore Fintech Festival. I’d asked why he was day-trading Chinese stocks from the large Huawei phone stuck to his dashboard. “You say beautiful woman in the US – in Singapore, Malaysia, we say honey, understand?” I nodded, wishing he’d keep his eyes on the road. “To get money you must risk. Don’t p

Hope all goes well… “I stay low key and get them to underestimate me,” said Liv. Mara and I were in Salt Lake City on Veteran’s Day for the 2023 Men’s Collegiate Club Nationals. Liv plays goalie for West Point. Which typically leaves her as the only woman in a pool of 6-foot 4-inch men. “They see me at 5-foot 4-inches, and can’t help themselves,” she said, her first game of the tournament against

“Specialized knowledge that involves creativity, strategy, and complex human interactions is less likely to be commoditized because these areas are more challenging for AI to replicate,” answered GPT-4. “Humans with such expertise may find their skills in higher demand.” Couldn’t agree more. I had asked the AI whether specialized knowledge would be commoditized due to advances in AI. Obviously, th