LA Times: Scientists: Carbs, not fat make you fat

Paleo is not inherently low carb. It is more about food quality than quantity (versus a weighed-and-measured approach of The Zone Diet). Several high caliber endurance athletes have switched to paleo and continue to get alot of their fuel from carbohydrates. That said, the majority of us walking around could use being on the lower-carb side of the equation. There was an interesting article in the LA Times a few days ago about this. It serves as a good crash course in the metabolic process for dealing with the three main macro-nutrients: protein, carbs and fat.

Here is my simple logic test for what is wrong with out diet: in the last generation, we have consumed drastically less fat and yet we continue to get fatter as a nation. All those 'low-fat' processed foods just contain more sugar or artificial sweetener (which spikes your insulin just the same since the taste buds taste sugar and stimulate the appropriate response). Check out the article and maybe try going all of January without gluten. While not fully paleo, it will be a step in the right direction.

Hat-tip Crossfit Football

Operation: Dallas

The flights to Dallas have managed to escape Dallas the last two days and Heathrow managed to finally open a second runway (after 4 days without any precipitation). There are even some seats opening up on indirect flights to Dallas (some via LAX, now THAT would be a long day).

The bottom line is that it looks like things should proceed as planned. If not, I will have a pay-per-view fight with  British Airport Association Chief Colin Matthews

Here is how it would look:


IF HE DIES, HE DIES

Get Me Out of Here

The local weather is nasty. Heathrow has been shut down for two days even though we don't have any new snow. The streets are covered in ice and the tube is running with severe delays across most lines with some not running at all because of an improvised strike.



Normally I wouldn't worry as my flight out is not until Friday, but the temperature doesn't get above freezing all week and this is Christmas Eve we are talking about. Not a lot of room for error. Because of a nasty skiing addiction, I normally ask those around me to pray for snow in the mountains, this year I ask for benign weather in London.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Vicarious Adventure: Glacier Park

This is my last weekend in London for the year before a much needed respite back in the states. I likely won't do anything exciting or noteworthy (Crossfit Christmas dinner tonight is about it), so I will leave you with this post from Aaron Teasdale about wandering through the remote reaches of Glacier Park in northern Montana. Its a fairly quick read and the pictures and descriptions are beautiful. 

Hat tip Adventure Journal

The Top 10 Adventure Stories of 2010

I'm a huge fan of Outside Magazine. They have an app for iPad, so I should be able to get my fix more immediately now and from a truer medium than a computer screen. That said, their blog has an interesting post from yesterday, which is their favorite stories of the year. Check it out here. It's chock full of links that you could spend days clicking around on.

Hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to, I'd go with Hendrik Coatzee paddling the Lukuga River in Congo. Spoiler: he was killed by a crocodile. Now that is an adventure. I also appreciate that it all seems to have been done purely for the sake of adventure, not fame or some faux-altruism that is so popular these days.

Weekend Update: Exhaustion Edition

I'll spare the details, but here is the executive summary: 24 hours of travel for 48 hours in Dallas. I acquired 6 hours of total sleep and an iPad for my troubles. It was good to touch base with everyone at NTR HQ and even get to make a few unexpected, social guest appearances.

I'll be home again in 12 days or so. Platinum status here I come.

Links and Video

Urban Meyer is Stepping Down? Again? (Deadspin and ESPN)

Sexiest Woman alive (according to one magazine: Roberta Mancino) says skydiving naked isn't that sexy (Outside Online). From her interview on the new Conan show.

Does travelling in and of itself add value? Also, the ideal commute time is apparently 16 minutes. I disagree. (Freakonomics at NYT)

The Daily Bike for yesterday's Adventure Journal is just a cool picture of the Dolomites. Just a cool picture (Adventure Journal)

AND the coolest rope swing of all time (Adventure Journal). See video below or click the link for back story.

Euro stories.

The Economist has two articles looking at the costs of breaking up the euro and why some countries may do it anyway

Interesting post by David Beckworth looking at Poland versus the countries that adopted the euro.

Scotland: Oops! And more videos

Snow and ice here in London caused my airport-bound train to be redirected last night, so I missed my flight to Edinburgh. I'm pretty disappointed, but c'est la vie. Since I won't have any fun scottish/MovNat updates, here are some cool videos that were on my blogroll today:

And as the TSA stuff continues to grab everyone's attention, this is the strangest story I've heard yet: a 52 year old woman in a wheelchair showed up to the airport in only her underwear to simplify things. They still subjected her to a one hour pat down. Too strange to be made up. 

This wingsuit video is a little too long, but still amazing.




A climber in Canada had a rock fall on his head and crack his helmet. He was leading and his first piece of protection pulled out when he fell, so he fell about 60 feet or so I think. Broke his ankle and generally jacked him up. The Canadian Search and Rescue (SAR) team wears GoPro helmet cams. The result: you get to see a badass high elevation rescue on a cliff side. Rescuers are cool as a cucumber.

Cool, Short Backcountry Ski Movie

This is the third in a three episode series about traveling the world and skiing. The shots from the Canadian backcountry are breath-taking and definitely stoke that impulse to join them. Watch the fullscreen HD version on vimeo


Freshfield Icefield: A Skier's Journey Ep3 from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

Hat/tip Teton A/T Blog

Need a 4 minute vacation?

Hard to believe this is actually a form of marketing. If only they tried to sell other beers this way. For
backstory click here


Miles Away - Years Around the Sun from Nath Mallon on Vimeo.


Hat/tip Adventure Journal

How to Build a Consumer Society in Five million words or less

Take the time to read this behemoth out of the NYT magazine. Its an interesting (albeit anecdotal) perspective on trying to transform China from an industrial to a consumer-driven society. An interesting observation that this is where several economies have gotten stuck before (Japan, Russia).

via Ritholtz

Origins of 'OK'

From the Freakonomics Blog:

The phrase “OK” is everywhere, but where did it get its start? A new booktackles its history, and NPR interviews the author, Allan Metcalf. The phrase originated with a few newspaper editors in 1839. “They had a lot of abbreviations that they were using and made up on the spot and thought they were terrifically funny,” says Metcalf. “And OK was an abbreviation for ‘All Correct.’” The phrase gathered momentum during the 1840 re-election campaign of Martin Van Buren. “He got the nickname Old Kinderhook, and early in 1840, OK clubs sprung up with the slogan, ‘OK is OK.’ So taking that funny little word and making it a mainstay of the political conversation in 1840, suddenly OK was way OK.” All right then.

Weekend Update: Turkey Feast

Unfortunately, the limeys don't celebrate our pillaging of North America like we do back in the states, so that left me in the office for all of last week. On the bright side, I get the bragging rights of having been a producer on Thankgiving (I'm clearly searching for the silver lining, cut me a break). 

On Friday, however, I was invited to a friend's house where he and his wife cooked up a Thanksgiving feast worthy of anything back in the states. Three heaping plates of tryptophan-goodness later and I was happy. One guest mentioned he had never seen one person eat so much in his entire life. Full of good food, bourbon  AND the center of attention? Brad = happy. Definitely missed the family and friends at home, but this was certainly a great substitute.

Friday night (after the feeding frenzy) we went to a friend's housewarming party, met some cool folks and stayed out late. My food coma would not be denied forever and I eventually made it home to collapse. Saturday and Sunday were fairly typical: gym, college football, borough market and church.

LSU-Arkansas was a highly entertaining football game AND Wake beat the venerated Commodore-mats of Vanderbilt. Not exactly bowl-bound, but I'll take the W.  Nothing made me happier than Nevada beating Boise State though. I sent at least 4 people text messages that read only: NEVADA!!!!! Anyone else getting excited for Auburn-Oregon? 

Get me a plane ticket to Jackson Hole RIGHT NOW

Get me a plane ticket to Jackson Hole RIGHT NOW

http://www.tetonat.com/2010/11/open-season-at-jhmr/

Axis of Awesome: 4 chord song

I have no musical ability whatsoever, but this is just cool. Watch the video below. For even more info, click over to the Big Picture

Actual Post about Thanksgiving: Turkey Slaughter!

Two things I love: food and quantitative analysis... together! (Big Picture)

AbradAbroad Radio: String Cheese Incident

I am getting further and further down the rabbit hole on this jam band stuff. Check out 'Sometimes a River'by String Cheese Incident and tell me that you aren't rocking out a little.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Please have some turkey, cranberry and a triple serving of pecan, pumpkin and chocolate pies for me.

Check out NatGeo's annual Photography contest (Hat tip Reformed broker). Here are a few of my favorites for varying reasons (after the jump):

Links

Good cartoons from the New Yorker regarding Thanksgiving travels (The Big Picture)

5 reasons holiday spending will have an upside surprise (Macrofuge H/T Reformed Broker)

Why the Feds want to bring down SAC (Fortune H/T Reformed Broker)

Are ski bums a dying breed? ESPN looks at a new book that asks the question. Yes, I will probably read it (ESPN H/T Backcountry blog)

Weekend Update

Nothing too special last weekend. Normal routine as the weather gets colder and colder.

We did go to a pretty neat cigar lounge somewhere near Baker Street. Nice outdoor patio with a turbo-version of the outdoor heaters. A Montecristo #2 and some bourbon and I was feeling much warmer.

Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to report.

For Your Friday Consideration

Nothing on the docket for this weekend.

Amazing street trials video (watch it in HD) (H/T Outside Blog)


Hard Shells are evolving to keep up with the breathability-obsessed outdoorsman (namely, me) (Gear Junkie)

Clothing made from 'bamboo' is apparently neither 'green' or really bamboo. I had no idea. (Adventure Journal)

Meet Quadroid: Android-Qualcomm combo smartphones may be the new equivalent of Windows-Intel for PCs (Reformed Broker)

Fell like doing The 7 Summits? Here's is the gear you would need to do Vinson (Outside Blog)

You'll notice I haven't posted anything related to sports in awhile. Here is my sportsyear in a nutshell: Rangers had their best year ever BUT Horns suck (4-6!!!), Deacon football is abysmal (2-8), Deacon basketball is off to a roaring 1-2 record before even getting into the real schedule, Stars are playing decent hockey (but might as well take the year off since I won't see a single game and they are broke) and the Mavs are playing decent (7-3).

Attack of the links

Holy Father blesses skiers (Outside Blog)

Green Lantern Trailer looks cool (H/T Reformed Broker)

Some cool outdoor time lapses, a little weird, but still pretty (Adventure Journal)

Another great video from the Provo brothers (H/T Backcountry blog)



Federal Reserve Monetary Policy 101, in the form of a comic book (H/T Big Picture)

Sit at a desk all day? Me too. Check out some stretches from K-Star, the CrossFit mobility guru (MobWod) 

Public Transportation in London

Note why my iPhone says the Central line (my train) is delayed:

Links

EAT REAL FOOD - 10 things Snack Food Companies Won't Say (SmartMoney- H/T Crossfit Football)

Killer Whales surf too (Adventure Journal)

Inside a Glacier (Adventure Journal)

Driver Kills Cyclist, Sues Family (Outside)

Addicted to Parenting (Freakonomics)

Holiday Schedule

For those who care and/or want to rob my flat while I'm gone (nothing in it: TV is Stewart's, you can have the PS3, laptop will probably be with me):

I won't be back for Thanksgiving, but am taking advantage of the British tradition of not working and will be in town for Christmas-New Year's. I fly in on the 24th and out on the 4th with a few days in the middle spent in Steamboat with Blake and Julia Schwarz. Hopefully La Nina will bring me some champagne powder.

Now that I've posted it, it is clearly your responsibility to remember.

Weekend Update: Jumping Out of a Perfectly Good Airplane

Long story short: I successfully jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 13,500 feet without anyone attached to me. More importantly, I successfully landed without injury or issue a few minutes later. I'll do full debrief that you can read after the jump


Not me in the picture, just wanted something to break-up the text. This is what a level 1 jump should look like:

Friday Quick Links

Interesting (if scatter-brained) stuff to click on:

Any Hope for Improving the Fed? - Disappointments with Fed's performance as a macro stabilizer (Macro and Other Market Musings) 

Swiss National Mountain Biking Trail Allows you to just show up and ride - Sounds really cool and the pictures are gorgeous. They do your itinerary, accommodations, even your bike (€20/day for double-boing and disc brakes)! I might need to find two weeks in the summer to do this next year. (Adventure Journal)

Sarah Palin is full of it (again) - She vacillates conveniently between angry woman that understands the economy and simple hockey mom/former governor. At least someone calls her out on it. (The Big Picture) Even if the general public won't notice. Would it be too much to ask for a politician that is intelligent AND doesn't actively try to screw us? Seems like we get one or the other, often neither, never both. 

Having my best week of business yet (predictably high volatility in gold price and GBP/USD helps). I have worn the same pants/boots to work every day and will not change them or wash them until I have a mediocre day. If there is anything baseball taught me: YOU NEVER MESS WITH A WINNING STREAK. At least its not thong underwear

Powerful Story about Paleo

I make no secret about my enthusiasm for the paleo diet, but I try to minimize the amount of salesmanship as I know that can be annoying (diet might as well be included with politics and religion). I would recommend that everyone check out Robb Wolf's new book and try it for 30 days. As Robb says, at worst you gave up the food you like for 30 days, at best, you change your life. As a trader, I see that as a pretty good risk/reward.

Today on his blog, Robb has a really interesting anecdote from Fat Girl. I'm not usually a huge fan of anecdotal evidence. I like statistics and studies, but some people prefer personal stories. If you want science, read Robb's book or website or check out Dr. Loren Cordain's original book (or his work for endurance athletes) or Mark Sisson's book or blog.

If you want an inspirational story about someone who couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, tried EVERYTHING she could (including other diets and prescription medicines), consulted with dozens of doctors and then finally tried palo, then CLICK HERE.

I'm serious. My knees feel better, my energy is more stable, my endurance is better, I no longer get sugar crashes or afternoon sleepiness and my shakes are gone. As much as I love Crossfit, the paleo diet has made a bigger difference overall in my life. I'll be happy to discuss anything further with anyone interested.

Wanderlust: Palau

 From the adventure journal (click for full story):

There is a new marine mammal sanctuary recently declared in the waters surrounding Palau (if you already knew where that was, then props to you). Looks amazing, sounds like fun.

If anyone can figure out how to make it possible for me to do a weekend trip on the other side of the world, I'm in.

Tony Blair on Muslim Integration

Interesting Opinion piece in the WSJ today by Tony Blair about Muslim integration in the UK. My favorite quote (emphasis mine):

However, some don't integrate. But when we talk about this in general terms, without precision, for fear of "stigmatizing" Muslims, we alienate public opinion and isolate the majority of Muslims who are integrating and want to be as much part of our society as any other group. Then, because we won't identify the problem as it is, a subterranean debate takes the place of an open one, and that debate lumps all Muslims together. So in the interest of "defending" the Muslim community, we actually segregate it by refusing to have an honest debate about what is happening. 


I think the former PM has articulated well a point that causes alot of issues in the US as well: We are so concerned about avoiding culturally sensitive topics that we end up skipping thoughtful discussion altogether and indirectly contributing to xenophobia. I think this is particularly true regarding the Mexican immigrants in the southwest. The lack of authentic consideration results in diametrically opposed groups with guns drawn across lines in the sand, completely unwilling to negotiate. 


Of course, another factor is the sound-byte era where we boil any sort of discussion to either pro- or anti- hot-button issue or a candidate as a referendum on their opponent. The result, in my opinion, are these radical, thoughtless swings in political ideology: Bush sucks, so we elect anti-Bush (=Obama for those of you playing at home). Obama isn't doing enough to save the economy (I have issues with that statement, but that's for another discussion), so we elect a wave of anti-Obama Tea Party candidates, some of whom have terrifyingly little intelligent thought. At some point we have to stop jerking the steering wheel from one side to the other anytime we stray from our chosen lane of travel.


One interesting side effect of being across the pond is that I tend to be even further removed from the political discourse than I was previously. My sound-byte on the subject: We (the U.S.) look stupid.

Gold Breaks $1400/toz

This is getting kind of ridiculous. (WSJ)

Weekend Update

Matt Veal flew in from Atlanta to visit for the weekend. It was good to see everyone's favorite overachieving investment banker again for the first time in over a year. Friday night included plenty of tequila and some pseudo-Mexican food, but no 'special London chants' from the visitor.

Saturday started with a visit to Borough Market and introducing Veal to a little bit of CrossFit. Then we setup on the couches with great beer and alot of meat and watched some great college football and played some video games. Highly reminiscent of our time spent senior year at Wake. LSU-Bama was a fantastic game, even to the point of taking the edge of my otherwise shutout weekend: Wake lost to BC, Texas lost to Kansas State (???), Stars lost, Mavs lost and Cowboys got embarrassed. Moral of the story: don't let me root for you in any way, shape or form.

We also watched the first two parts of The Pacific. Awesome.

Veal left early Sunday morning for his journey home, so I did my normal Sunday routine.

Quick Friday Thoughts

This week's sign of the apocalypse: J. Crew, Gucci and the like are designing manlier clothes... and some people are considering it manly. WTF?

Rather be lucky than good: business made a huge snap-back today on two fronts:
1. Diwali (I have lots of Indian counterparties)
2. Gold all-time high.

Veal is here. I am under specific instructions from his wife to get him hammered and steal his international-investment-banker blackberry. Tequila? Tequila.

NorCal Margaritas = paleo and better drinking through science (thanks Robb Wolf):
Two shots of gold tequila
Rocks - cold = good
Juice and pulp from one whole lime --> neutralizes the insulin spiking effect of the tequila
splash of club soda --> carbonation makes the booze go through quicker

What I'm listening to now: Gov't Mule. Check out "Soulshine" and "Slackjaw Jezebel"

Good enough for government work

I had a nice long walk to the office this morning (an hour or so) courtesy of the London Underground workers union = no trains running on the tube this morning. Stew and I are wondering if this is a monthly occurrence that long-term Londoners are getting used to as it seems to happen with some regularity. It's almost worth getting one of those razor scooters.

The interesting part is that they don't seem to picket or rally, they just give about 12-24 hours notice and then don't show up for work. Europe is funny.

Voting is Irrational

I have long made this argument, glad to see it in the mainstream media (NYT: Why Vote?). Of course, this violates my incentive to keep those around me voting, but the marginal benefit I get in sharing this information outweighs this cost. Here's an excerpt:

Still, people do continue to vote, in the millions. Why? Here are three possibilities:

1. Perhaps we are just not very bright and therefore wrongly believe that our votes will affect the outcome.

2. Perhaps we vote in the same spirit in which we buy lottery tickets. After all, your chances of winning a lottery and of affecting an election are pretty similar. From a financial perspective, playing the lottery is a bad investment. But it's fun and relatively cheap: for the price of a ticket, you buy the right to fantasize how you'd spend the winnings - much as you get to fantasize that your vote will have some impact on policy.

3. Perhaps we have been socialized into the voting-as-civic-duty idea, believing that it's a good thing for society if people vote, even if it's not particularly good for the individual. And thus we feel guilty for not voting.

But wait a minute, you say. If everyone thought about voting the way economists do, we might have no elections at all. No voter goes to the polls actually believing that her single vote will affect the outcome, does she? And isn't it cruel to even suggest that her vote is not worth casting?

This is indeed a slippery slope - the seemingly meaningless behavior of an individual, which, in aggregate, becomes quite meaningful. 

Waves are cool

Neat little 5 minute film about a parapalegic surf-kayaker and the lengths he goes to just to catch some waves.

BIRTHRIGHT from Sean Mullens on Vimeo.

Weekend Update: Live Band Karaoke and Attempted Skydiving

Friday night, Stew and I met up with a few other guys for SoulBrew Live Band Karaoke. Its a live soul band that plays once a month at a bar near Liverpool street. It was a lot of fun and we managed to only cause minor problems.

After about 3 hours of sleep, I woke up to catch an early train to Netheravon Parachute Center (near Stonehenge, I'll go next time). Its a military base (open to civilians on the weekends) in southwestern England. Train took about an hour and a half to get there. When you want to go skydiving, you have three options:
1. Static line - much like you see in WWII footage. You jump out of the plane at about 3500 feet and your chute is automatically deployed. Get to guide yourself into the drop zone under canopy.
2. Tandem - you are strapped into a harness with a qualified instructor and are basically along for the ride. Jump out between thirteen and fifteen thousand feet, freefall to six thousand and then the instructor pulls the chute and controls the ride home.
3. Accelerated FreeFall Level 1 - You get to jump from around 15,000 feet unattached to anyone or anything and freefall to 6000. There are two instructors that jump right next to you to help guide and protect against disaster. This requires about 6 hours of pre-flight instruction as you are ultimately responsible for doing everything on your own. There are 8 different levels en route to full skydiving certification.

I, of course, opted for the third choice. Spent all day going around the parachute center and practicing different scenarios, took multiple verbal and one written exam and got all suited up. We were placed on a weather delay for a few hours and were told we likely wouldn't be able to jump. Then, at the very end of the daylight hours (literally 5 pm here), the wind let up and the clouds parted. We were going to jump! There were three other AFF level one students looking to get their first jump.

Somehow, I ended up being the first student selected to jump. The others might not make it in time because fo daylight restrictions for novice jumpers. I rushed onto a plane with my two instructors and about 6 static line jumpers. We were going to climb to 3500, drop the static line guys and then continue to 15,000 and I would be able to jump. I was surprisingly calm given how may times over the course of the day it had been put off then back on an off again.

We got to 3000 feet and received word from jump control on the ground that it had gotten too dark and we were not going to be able to jump. I was visibly annoyed. I tried to be polite, but my disappointment was obvious. I could either setup my sleeping bag in a bunkhouse and try again in the morning or go home to London. The forecast for Sunday looked crappy and I wanted to do my Sunday routine, so I hitched a ride to the train station and caught a train home.

At least I had seen some sunshine and spent most of the day outdoors. That part of the English countryside was a nice change of pace from The Big Smoke. Lots of trees changing color and rolling hills. I bet it would look even better while falling at 120mph...

I watched the new Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood on the way home. Long but entertaining. Not an inside favorite for any Oscars though.

Sunday was relatively uneventful. Church, gym, errands, video games, reading and cooking. Matt Veal comes in town next weekend from Atlanta. Should be fun. I'll try to get my first jump in the weekend after that. Luckily, I won't have to repeat all the instruction portion.

Last Night's Adventure in London: Indoor Ice Climbing

At this point it should be clear that I had one shot too many in my Americano this morning. I'm also pretty jazzed about my experience doing some indoor ice climbing. I've done plenty of rock climbing, but I've always been fascinated with the idea of scaling a frozen waterfall. Turns out you can do that right in the heart of central London (ain't cheap though).

I rented crampons, axes, helmet and harness and got a one hour private lesson. By the end of the hour I had scaled their overhanging wall, which was pretty freaky. It is amazing how well the ice axes support weight on a seemingly thin penetration of ice. Like most other climbing though, the feet are by far the trickiest part and front-pointing witht he crampons takes a bit of practice. It was also four degrees below inside the room. 

Check out the Vertical Chill video below for a look at the wall (I neglected to take pictures):

Jackson Hole Gets 33" from one storm in October

From Outside Magazine Blog:

A major winter storm that has pounded Jackson Hole since Sunday has already dropped 33 inches of snow, Transworld Snowboarding reports. The immediate forecast calls for even more snowfall.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort isn't slated to open until November 27, but already some mountain staff are saying it's the most snowfall they've seen in October in the past 30 years.  The National Weather Service is reportedly saying that some of the strongest La Niña conditions since 1955 are currently building in the Pacific. While long-range forecasts are difficult to predict, above-average snowfall is predicted this winter for the Tetons.

The World's Tallest Man-Made Climbing Wall (Norway)

Check out the world's tallest climbing wall. Wow.

From Adventure Journal

Shifting the Educational Paradigm

Really interesting short lecture about ways to modernize the educational system. Makes some very compelling arguments. Check it out.





H/T Big Picture

Weekend Update: Nada Mucho

Nice slow weekend around London. It was cold, but saw a little sunshine. Ran some errands, read, played video games, went to the gym, bought all my grass-fed and exotic meat for the week, etc. Good to have a weekend like that every once in awhile.

Woke up at 4am Saturday morning to watch the last few innings of the Rangers beating the Yankees!! Also, went to the London ski show, which was just a bug tease since the season doesn't even start over here until January. Still provided good fodder for the imagination and wanderlust.

Met up with some friends Saturday night at an ESPN-zone type sports bar (Sports Cafe) to watch LSU-Auburn. Cam Newton is a beast. It'll be interesting to see who comes out of the SEC this year as likely national title contenders.

...And the Cowboys suck. Romo broke his collar-bone last night. Maybe now he'll have more time to focus on his passion: being a full-time Dallas playboy. He's better at that than football anyway.

With the GBP/USD strengthening, the price of gold is down significantly in terms of GBP on relatively little news. I guess markets like the UK's austerity approach more so than the US's hyper-focus on QE and stimulus. Something about spending your way to prosperity or borrowing your way out of debt... Anyway, it's killing the pace of business, so most positive momentum has been scrubbed out and now its back to me trying to grind out a little profit every day.

Great POV Footage from Utah

The backcountry.com blog posted this over the weekend and I thought I'd share. The steep chute at the top seems a little hairy, but it convinces/reminds me of two things:
1. I might need to get a POV (point-of-view) camera for my helmet to better share adventures and
2. Utah is pretty tough to beat

Hypodermic Needle from Ian Provo on Vimeo.

On Tap for the weekend

A slow weekend!

Nothing much tonight. Then to the gym and borough market (organic wild game, good produce, etc) in the morning. Followed by the London Ski Show tomorrow afternoon and then possibly going to dinner with friends or going to see Soulive at the London Jazz Club with some other expat friends.

Winter is here and other outdoor musings

Winter showed up last night (fall lasted about 3-4 weeks by my calculations). Got down to about 36 or so and won't warm up past 50. At least that means ski season here. Speaking of which...

Grand Targhee (other side of the mountains from Jackson Hole) added backcountry access this season. Grand Targhee gets one of the highest snowfall totals in the country ever year. The terrain isn't as aggressive as Jackson Hole, but the snow is fantastic. And now you can legally go OB!

Adventure Journal has a post about possibly the best singletrack mountain biking in Montana, with a video to support claims! If you have the bandwidth, watch it in HD. I bet even the non-bikers will like the scenery of this. And for those that don't know, those are some really tight switchbacks that they are navigating.

Bliss.....

Montana's Best Singletrack? from MercuryCSC on Vimeo.

Check out the Adventure Journal

Cool blog I was referred to: Adventure Journal. Used to be part of the NatGeo Adventure brand until they shuttled it. It also has a really cool print store. Basically, one-stop shopping for all the art I'll ever need. Some amazing photos in there to be had.

Weekend Update: Boyett Nuptials

A very fun, but exhausting weekend. Arrived Thursday afternoon and immediately started by picking up a car for the weekend, spending a little time with Dad (for the first time in almost 6 months) and running a few pre-wedding errands. We'll call the flight over less than restful.

Thursday night was an informal get-together for quesadillas and beer. By the time I retired on Thursday night, I had been awake for a little over 24 hours straight.

Couldn't sleep past 3:30am or so because of time change, so I got up and took care of some things that had piled up from the office. Then, got to enjoy a Crossfit workout at my old box, Crossfit Underworld. Once normal people were awake, it was time for the groomsmen to go on their organized journey to the Texas State Fair. Plenty of fun and a few adrenaline-inducing rides. I left the group a little early to catch lunch with Stephen Coy (mexican!). A few hours later and it was time for the texan-themed rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at the YO steakhouse. Buffalo fillets and plenty of wine (and espresso to boot) helped fuel one of the better rehearsal dinners I've attended. Doesn't hurt that the two people getting married have notoriously rowdy friends and good senses of humor. Best toast by far goes to Holly Bright for uncovering footage of Meghan and Andrew in a student film for a french class where they pretend to be French lovers united by a passion for fromage Behold, the power of cheese). This was years before they started dating.

Saturday morning was more of the same, but I was able to sleep in until 6am this time! Another Crossfit workout with Monk and then brunch with the groomsmen hosted at the Boyett's house. Homemade casseroles, fresh fruit and plenty of caffeine got us all feeling like ourselves again. Then it was off to a really old barber shop for grooming and hot shaves with a straight razor. 

We were left with a little bit of time to grab a quick nap and then it was time to put on the formal attire. Andrew allowed us all to wear our own tuxedos, which was a relief to this odd-shaped participant. He also got us great looking, custom-fit vests and bow-ties as a grooms' gift. All in all, we were a pretty sharp looking bunch, but were definitely outdone by the ladies. I unfortunately was not able to take any pictures, but the ceremony was really pretty. Took place in an already cool room at The Adolphus and the altar was set up in the center for a theater-in-the-round sort of effect. Tricky to execute, but I think it worked out extremely well and allowed for a really small feel to the wedding, even with an already small guest list. And I didn't even forget or drop the rings.

Great food and a bad-ass band made for a perfect reception. It didn't hurt that many of my closest friends and family were all in one place. It made for a really efficient way to see everyone and I wouldn't have changed a thing, except maybe to switch to water a bit earlier...

Sadly, the good times had to end and I caught a noon flight out of DFW to connect in Charlotte en route to London. Landed about 7:30 this morning and took a train directly to the office.... exhausted, without a voice and with a full week of work ahead of me. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat though. 

Boyett wedding here I come

I'm closing the office for two days for a Frenetic touch-and-go in Dallas for Andrew Boyett's wedding. Excited to see friends and family.

I'll report back on Monday.

A New Model for the Long Term Price of Gold

The first truly unique thinking on the price of gold that I have seen in awhile: modeling the long term price of gold versus a 2% line in the sand on short term US Dollar real rates. Fascinating stuff for econ nerds...

Link here

H/T Reformed Broker

Wing Suits are the coolest things ever

This is just all around ridiculous. I've seen similar videos before, but perhaps you haven't. In any case, I want one.

Best Countries in the World

Newsweek has released a list of the best countries in the world by education, health, quality of life, economic dynamism and political environment. Check out the cool interactive here

1. Finland
2. Switzerland
3. Sweden
4. Australia
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11. USA
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14. UK

Hanging out by a volcano

Check out this video via the Outside Magazine blog of Drew Bristol hanging out 100m from an active lava spewing volcano. A long lens makes him look even closer than he actually is. I'm kind of disappointed that he doesn't fry a fish by holding it up or something.

ESPN Magazine: The Body Issue

So Sports Illustrated has the swimsuit edition, which is of course cool, but its pretty much the same thing every year (except the body paint!). ESPN the magazine has The Body Issue. Basically, shows off the forms of some top athletes. Much more interesting to me to see what a supremely functional form looks like for various endeavors.

Check out a slideshow of some of these here

Weekend Update: Oktoberfest

I've been busy since getting back on Sunday, so apologies for the delayed post. Short version: Munich is pretty, Oktoberfest is huge and a cool experience, Bavarian beer will whup your ass if you're not careful and lederhosen is actually really comfy and apparently still socially acceptable throughout Bavaria.

Long version, and eventually pictures, after the jump (click the title of the post)

History of Rap

Two posts in one day? It must be Friday and I must be overly-caffeinated.

Light the Wick

Yesterday afternoon I got some email saying that Teton Gravity Research was debuting their newest ski film Light the Wick at a concert hall near my flat in London. I have always wanted to go to these things, but they don't usually make much of an appearance in Dallas. I convinced Stew to join me.

Stew doesn't ski much and he loved it too. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Also, look into one of their productions Deeper on iTunes. They showed a preview and I will watch it on the plane to Munich later today. (Also, our office espresso machine arrived yesterday.... consider yourself warned).

It is the first ski movie to have a 3D sequence and the overall quality was amazing. It got me totally pumped to steal some weekends and get some high-altitude backcountry turns in Chamonix this winter. Preview after the jump (I embedded HD, turn it off if you are downloading slowly):

Various thoughts

Silver broke $22 this morning, gold is still hovering around all time highs on news of a Spain downgrade and Anglo-Irish Bank needing another cash influx on the order of billions of euros.

Business is increasing steadily.

Saw a leaf with frost on it this morning during my commute.... aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Weekend Update: Competition Results

My weekend in Copenhagen involved zero tourism, but I got to know some great people through the competition. The short version: I took second out of 200 competitors. It was extremely hard, but alot of fun. And I'm very tired as a result.

(Very) full report after the jump:

Off to Copenhagen

I'm elaving shortly for the Crossfit Competition in Copenhagen. 200 competitors, 5 workouts in one day (tomorrow). Should be fun. You might be able to follow progress here, though I will be done at 7pm local (noon EST).

FSU favored by 20 over Deacs???

I know we're not playing very good football, but Wake is a 20 point underdog to FSU on Saturday. Check it out here at Bodog Sportsbook (not entirely sure you can view it in the US).

With an over/under at 63, that means the projected score is Wake 21.5 FSU 41.5. Ouch

It's really too bad this is fake

Hat tip Deadspin

Chainless Bike

So I was really intrigued by the concept of a belt-drive bike, but when I saw this completely chainless bike design by some designers in Hungary, I'm excited.

See more (plus video) after the jump (click the title of this blog post)...

The People Have Spoken: Congress = bad

Check out this post at the Reformed Broker re: Congressional approval ratings generally, by party and compared to Obama. Not good.

Where Min Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

I recently finished Where Min Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer (of Into Thin Air fame). It's very well written and a very interesting read. Tillman was a fascinating guy that I think alot of men will identify with to varying extents.

Tillman was an undersized, super-aggressive safety for the Arizona Cardinals. He was fierce, thoughtful and lived a conservative lifestyle compared to his NFL peers (drove a Volvo wagon, etc). After 9/11 he felt compelled to do something. He and his twin brother decided to join the Army Rangers as enlisted men rather than officers despite their college degrees because they wanted to have boots on the ground rather than calling the shots from some rear base.

Tragically, he was killed in a skirmish by confused friendly fire. The army's cover-up of the fact and the media circus from the Bush administration was deploreable. Krakauer does an excellent job of exploring the deeper details of Tillman's life, the events leading up to the attacks of 9/11 and the politics/aftermath.

It simultaneously makes me want to join a military operation and avoid anything to do with our government whatsoever. If anyone else reads it or already has, I'd really like to get your impressions.

Weekend Update

A purposefully slow weekend in London. As much traveling as I have done and have coming up, it was a good chance to catch up on sleep, errands and chores.

This coming Friday, I will leave for Copenhagen for a Crossfit competition. A new European city and something for me to compete in? Should be fun.

The weekend after that (Oct 1-3rd), I'll be in Munich with Will Watters checking out Oktoberfest. Stew was there this weekend, so I should get a good scouting report.

20-somethings getting smoked by the unemployment situation

Milennials as Recession Punching Bag from The Reformed Broker

It's an interesting article, check it out. Lots of delayed babies and moving back in with parents. Ouch.

Wake is not a defensive powerhouse

Well this was almost cool: I went to bed early so that I could wake up early and catch the end of the Wake Forest - Stanford game (via some sketchy internet link). Kickoff was at 11:15pm eastern time from Palo Alto. When I woke up at the start of the fourth quarter, Stanford was up 54-24. And it is only getting worse. It is currently 68-24. We look like a high school team.

Thanks Defense!

Business Update

Business has really picked up. We had a mailer for several hundred trading-oriented prospective customers hit yesterday and the phones have been blowing up. To avoid confusion, recall that there are two aspects to what I do: 1) an over-the-counter market-making service in physical gold and 2) speculate on markets largely with futures. The mailer goes to potential clients on the physical based on a business list our US marketing department purchased from a data mining company.

Both have gone really well today with gold touching all time nominal highs around $1279 per troy ounce  (depending on where you get your trading info).Over the coming weeks I will begin cold-calling to follow up from those mailer prospects, but until then I get to wait on the inbound calls to slow down. That's going to require some serious caffeination (wish I had some of the espresso from Italy).

Basically my work day consists of being on and off the phone all day (for physical deals entered via our proprietary trading system), speculating on markets through a futures exchange platform and rocking out via the Grooveshark streaming music website (lots of Grateful Dead and Railroad Earth right now) with Bloomberg TV on in the background. Manic, but fun.

Contrarian Indicator

The Big Picture has a good follow-up to my post about contrarian indicators, check it out:

Article Here

Hipsters Buying Gold, Look Out Below!

My idiot-investor-warning is flashing code red on this article: Bubble Alert: Trendy New York Hipsters Buying Gold (Clusterstock).

Remember Giselle demanding she be paid in Euros and Jay-Z videos featuring 500 euro bills? Ever heard of the  magazine cover contrarian indicator? This might be more blatant. Damn.

[Hat Tip Reformed Broker]

Weekend Update: Italia!

I ducked out of the office a little early on Friday to catch a flight to Bologna. Got in Friday night and took a bus to central Bologna from the airport.

I stayed the first night at the Albergo delle Drapperie, which is a 7 or 8 room hotel off a tiny, quintessentially-Italian street with foot traffic only. Fish and fruit mongers next to cafes and trattorias, etc. My hotel room was not much larger than what you might find on a cruise boat, but it sufficed perfectly for my needs and still had beautiful furnishings, marble floors and all the trimmings. As cool as my area was, this trip was about food and wine and it was time to get to business.

Read more after the jump

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds

Be sure to check out the much-discussed Vanity Fair article by Michael Lewis about the state of Greece's economy and how they got there.

Set aside a few minutes and enjoy.

An experienced charter boat captain was killed just off the Atlantic Coast of Florida this past weekend when he was running his boat back through the inlet and overtook a breaking wave.

Very scary stuff. Thanks to Mr. Comerford for sending along. 

(Horrifyingly detailed) Photos and more background after the jump 

Tornado in Dallas

OK, so maybe there are a few things I don't miss about Dallas:


Floodwaters Recede, Cleanup Begins

Vancouver will have a long hangover from Olympic party

Quick follow-up to yesterday's post about international sporting events and lavish stadiums being a financial parasite to the public municipalities that fund them. Exhibit #593: Vancouver

Hat tip Reformed Broker

Stadiums and the Sport Economist

If you have never checked out The Sports Economist, do so. Its interesting analysis of economic principles applied to sports. Their big kick has been about the public disaster that is new stadiums (and Olympics, World Cups, etc). The potential economic benefits are always overstated by biased consultants and then the unwitting (or is it witless) public is left with long term debt on an asset that no longer produces enough revenue to fund itself.

Today's example: The Old Giants stadium. According to the NYT:


The old Giants Stadium, demolished to make way for New Meadowlands Stadium, still carries about $110 million in debt, or nearly $13 for every New Jersey resident, even though it is now a parking lot.

3 links from the NYT on housing

NYT - The Bearish and The Less So on the Housing Market - interesting consideration of housing as a luxury good or a staple. I would tend to think its a luxury good, largely for one reason: if you win the lottery (the powerball or something mega), you buy a huge house. (via Reformed Broker)

Cool Rent v. Buy calculators from the NYT awhile back: here for the basic one and here for the advanced (with chart!)

Visual Guide to Deflation

Excellent example of how economics doesn't always have to be that complicated: check out this visual guide to deflation from Mint.com via Ritholtz. I can't add much to it, so just click already.

Weekend Update

What a whirlwind weekend.


I left London on Friday and landed in Raleigh that afternoon. Two of the other guys in Andrew's wedding picked me up and we fought Labor Day traffic all the way to Greensboro. A 4 hour drive took about 6-7 hours. The bachelor party took place at the Rumbling Bald Resort in Lake Lure, NC. It is a beautiful mountain golf community with two Nicklaus courses. The weather was gorgeous and we had a blast (the cold beer helped).


Nicole drove all the way out to pick me up on Sunday. I got to finally meet our new Rhodesian Ridgeback ("Deacon") and drive back to Winston for the night. I was also able to see Nicole's parents for awhile, which is always fun. I can't wait for our Costa Rican Christmas this year.


Sadly, I had to catch my flight yesterday afternoon out of Raleigh. At first, the flight seemed benign. We were a few minutes late leaving, but no big deal; I had an empty seat next to me and slept straight through. Upon landing, I received an email from my roommate that all of the London Underground was going to be shut down today for labor strikes. Read the WSJ article about this here.


Before I could even get that far, however, I spent two solid hours waiting in line to clear immigration into the UK. Not how I wanted to start the week. Fortunately, its a short one and I get to see Mom in Italy this weekend.

Where in the world is Brad?

For those of you playing along at home

- This weekend (Labor Day): Catching a flight to RDU tomorrow. Going to Lake Lure, NC for the weekend for a bachelor party in the country to celebrate Mr. Andrew Boyett's coming nuptials.
- Next weekend (9/10-9/12): Italy with Mom! Italian cooking classes in Parma.
- 9/23-9/25: Copenhagen for the Fit as Fu*k Crossfit Competiton. 150 entrants in the men's open division. Should be fun.
10/1-10/3 - Will Watters is flying in from ATL to join me in Munich for Oktoberfest

Westerners are the Weird Ones

Cool article from the National Post examining our Western hemisphere psychological biases. The article opens by examining the fact that everywhere else, the Ultimatum Game results very differently (You are given $100 and have to decide how much to give to the other player. The other player can either accept or reject the offer. If the other player rejects, no one gets any money). One enlightening quote:

"The UBC researchers also found that 96% of behavioural science experiment subjects are from Western industrialized countries, which account for just 12% of the world's population. Sixty-eight percent were Americans. The United States is dominant in the field of psychology, accounting for 70% of all journal citations, compared with 37% in chemistry. Undergraduate students are often used to stand in for the entire species."

Read the full article here

Seasonal Investing Articles are Crap

I always chuckle to myself a little when I see an article in the WSJ or a report on CNBC regarding how September is a bad month for stocks or some other mindless investing swill. This is about misunderstanding the fundamental difference between correlation and causality. Note that commodity markets have more legitimate seasonality because of supply and demand issues (think summer driving season and hurrican season for energy) Josh Brown at the Reformed Broker does a nice takedown of these pieces:

I see that the "September is the Cruelest Month" linkbaiting posts have already been arriving in droves.  I'll shred them to pieces real quick typing with one hand and only about a tenth of my common sense.

Let's start here with a bit from Minyanville:

The month of September gives equity investors a sinking feeling and for good reason: Historically, this has proven a bad month for the stock market.

Oy vey, when it starts like that, you already know you're reading filler.  Allow me to deconstruct the genre of "month/season/timeframe" articles and posts so that you never waste your time on another one again:

1.  Timing - designed to coincide within a few days of the beginning of the new time frame (September in this case, post date on this example is Aug 30th)

2.  Post Title - The title will mention the month and within a descriptor or two attempt to scare you into to clicking on it.  It will work, you will click, because we were all conditioned by the same commercials as kids when Duck Tales came on after school.  Cereal was purchased, let's keep it real.

3.  Data - They will steal all the data from either the Bespoke Investment Group or Ned Davis Research so just set your feedreader to grab both of those for the raw numbers minus the ex-banner ad salesman's "contextualization".

4.  But wait! - About halfway through the post which has just given you all the historical reasons you should just blow your brains out rather than be invested, a White Knight shall come galloping up over the crest of the hill, banners aflutter, with a reason to live, dammit!  The White Knight will be the Chief Investment whatever at an asset-gathering operation whose prima facie mission is to keep you invested, read his commentary accordingly.

5.  The non-conclusion - the last sentence will be exactly the evidence you need to tell you that you've just read something with almost zero value to anyone other than Scottrade, who have had the 1 minute-and-15 second opportunity to flash banner ads at you like a 42nd Street vagrant.

The point is this, it's all unprecedented.  What the markets did in September over the last 11 years or 6 years matters as much as the hair styles of this year's top ten American Idol competitors.  The variables are too large, too unknown and too unbound from historical calculation.  The context is always different also, especially now in our era of roadside attraction-sized superlatives.

Investors should try to incorporate historical quantitative stuff in their search for probable outcomes, but should never live and die by it.  Monthly market machinations make for good headlines but stupid fodder for helpful forward thought.

Wheelchair Double Back Flip

OK, this is kinda dumb, but very cool. This guy lands a huge single backflip in a wheelchair and then decides that a double is possible. From Outside Online, video and article here

NYT Op-Ed on Eating Local

If I can, I generally choose to eat local produce. There's a large farmer's market in London (Borrough Market) where I buy most of my meat, fruit and veggies for the week. I don't particularly do it for the environmentalist perspective, but it's a decent side-benefit I suppose.

With that in mind, I found this guest Op-Ed from Stephen Budiansky in the NYT particularly interesting: Math lessons for Locavores. He pretty much takes ardent 'eat local' supporters to task if they do it for the wrong reason. A good read.

One of his readers responded with some interesting research of their own, that takes it a step further (and a step in the right direction as well, both logically and nutritionally):

A recent Department of Agriculture study reported that 28 percent of food energy use comes from households while much of the rest — 57.6 percent — comes from the processing, packaging, transportation, wholesale and retail, and food service energy use that locavores are seeking to avoid.

A real locavore cares about all of these steps.

A locavore wouldn’t go for a Twinkie, even if the Hostess factory were two miles down the road. 

Please note the lack of food/eating puns that always accompany this sort of thing.

Link-fest

Bloomberg - BP released a report taking partial responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Also to blame? Everyone else.Still, an interesting look at exactly what happened in the days leading up to the explosion. I have learned more about drilling than I ever thought I would.

WSJ - After an emergency meeting this morning, Japan has pledged to use trillions of yen to limit the rapid increase in the yen. Japan's very fragile recovery is largely based on exports. A strengthening yen makes exports less competitive on a price basis. You can understand their concern.

The Big Picture - Excellent, succinct summary of week's events (as always).

Bloomberg - Bernanke's speech in Jackson Hole. Pretty much a non-event. Elaborated how the Fed could act further in the event of further economic deterioration. The most salient point (to me) was that the Fed cannot do this alone. I interpret this as a very polite way of saying that monetary policy can't help much if fiscal policy, housing, consumer demand and bank lending are all working against it. But that is my interpretation.

Mark's Daily Apple - Mired in Media - Discusses the three day rule behind unplugging from technology once in awhile and also some of the detriment of attempting to multi-task.

Weekend Update: Summer Bank Holiday Edition

Here's what is going on in BradWorld:

Today is the Summer Bank Holiday. Yes that is a real thing. I have the day off, but markets are open everywhere else in the world, so www.bloomberg.com/tv will be on in the background all day.

Summer is pretty much over here. Days are rapidly getting shorter and the highs for the day are in the low 60s for the next few days. That's 19 for those of you worldly enough to use the metric system (better men than me).

The Notting Hill Carnival is going on yesterday and today. It's kind of like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but in London and with less nudity (apparently). What it definitely does is bring many of the less desirable citizens of London into my quiet little neighborhood. Fortunately, there are policemen every 50 yards or so, but that doesn't entirely stop some vandalism and general mischief. I took a rain check on the festivites this year.

I'll spend most of today reading One Good Trade (book), The Economist, and The WSJ plus the usual blogs and such. BUT, I'll do it from my couch in sweatpants! Also, lots of paleo-friendly cooking (learned poached eggs this morning) and probably a nap or three.

I also managed to watch yet another terrible movie: Date Night (Steve Carrell and Tina Fey). I love bad movies and this was terrrrrrrible.I'm on a bad streak right now after In Bruges.

Further proof that cricket is a terrible, terrible excuse for a national pastime (and that Pakistan just can't catch a break): Pakistan threw their match against England and got caught via an undercover investigation.