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This reflection on personal strategy is an application of the self-assessment principles in The Blackprint. Maybe the Optimization Bros were a little right afterall. Implementing some changes Failed Health Plans After a stretch of health excellence I made a number of changes that have taken me the wrong direction Feels Bad Man My HRV is off a cliff (89 -> 69). Deep sleep way down (1 hour 30+ -> 45 mins). Lifts and running speed going in the wrong direction (-30% across the board). Screen time way up (45 min daily average to above 2.5 hours). ...

This post continues the discussion on evolving my personal and project strategy, a core tenet of The Blackprint. minimum viable execution marching towards the singularity Minimum Viable Execution Below I want to outline the list of Diet, Exercise, Mental Health and Personal Automation tactics I’m implementing until at least January 5 2024. This post is meant to be an addendum to my previous post “Firing Myself” where I zone in specifically on Personal Automation tactics. That post, in a nutshell, talked about how to use AI tools like GPT4 to make better regular decisions with less energy. ...

My thoughts on radical personal change, a practical application of the philosophy outlined in The Blackprint. deprecating Alex 1.0, applied accelerationism, ego death with a postgres backend Encountering the Power of AI in Financial Decisions Algorithms from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, along with the whole digital marketing industry, work non-stop to hook us on products and services that aren’t good for us. AI differentiates itself from Tech 1.0 by giving users the power of algorithms to improve their lives, rather than be victimized by them. ...

This post marks a new phase in the project, guided by the principles of The Blackprint. one last musing before the descent into the digital colosseum Digital assets and the political media have wrapped around each other, a double helix of increasingly epic proportions. It has not always been like this, but a glimpse of where we are today, before discussing the portal that’s opened behind my casomputer chair that I am about to step through - ...

Another day in the trenches Trades Going to load up on Snapchat. Capitulation on Baltic Dry index combined with monster guidance out of Macys makes me sympathetic to supply chain issues highlighted on their quarter being fixed Capitulation move in Turkish equities makes me favor a long Japan position hedged with EM debt. The risk premium should be compelling. Taking down some of the oil risk with a GBPCAD short as European problems/ destabilization / weak hand in brexit negotiatinos make that appealing General Summary Numbers out of Baba and Baidu make it look like China is actually going into a recession. Substantial overnight moves Macy’s and Kohl’s aggressive pre market – nearly 8-10%. Huge guide up, gross margin beat Christ Nvidia huge run pre market, 8.3%. ASML shrugging off European headlines +2%, AMD +2.6% Chinternet implosion – looks like China is slowing down economically with even Bidu missing on ad revenue. Yikes. Somewhat notable JD looks to be share gainer from Baba Today lots of fed speeches 7:30 Fed’s Bostic Speech 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook 9:30 Fed’s William Speech 10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales 10:00 Leading Indicators 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory 11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey 2:00 PM Fed’s Evans Speech 3:30 PM Fed’s Daly Speech 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet Think need to read all of these given rates volatility ...

Thinking about best risk reward opportunities General Market Take The week got started out with god awful Japanese data, and the drumbeat of war in eastern Europe. Given absurd dovishness of Central Banks and the fact Lagarde will be speaking all weak (she is going to be dovish) - it’s going to be hard to see the rate hike narrative last in spite of extreme inflation. This is obviously an explosive combination given the fact inflation is likely to be well above the 5% target throughout much of 2022, a clear legal violation of the Fed’s mandate. But that is a problem for tomorrow. This week, should be a major pump. Further lockdowns should buouy risk assets further as Lagarde will cite down Austrian police state measures as a justification to print even more despite inflation. ...

Here I detail some analysis of newsflow over the last week and where I see best risk reward going into the start of the year Analysis / Thought The core theme coming out of the gate of the New Year is a parabolic move higher in Bitcoin on the backdrop of VanEck getting a Bitcoin ETF. This moves the Zeitgeist into one of “fiat debasement” - where, essentially large institutions believed that Central Banks have jumped the shark with their talks of “Debt as Wealth”, MMT, and so forth. With 10 year breakevens at 2%, the Fed’s target, we are increasingly at the point where the discussion becomes letting the economy run “hot”. This is in a backdrop of large increases in Food prices and analysis by things like the Chapwood Index which suggest that annual core CPI in cities is really closer to 10 or 11% per annum and has been for the past 5 years Source ...