In discussion with a colleague, I mentioned that Wordpress.org was able to provide very nice functionality with excellent usability through php, mySQL, and Apache. She said these were simpler technologies not particularly suitable for today’s complex corporate environment where more complete frameworks are required to satisfy all of the business requirements. I challenged her by saying that some of the blogs get millions of daily hits with this simple architecture while some corporate systems stall after a few hundred users. She told me that the data model in a blog is much simpler than in any corporate system. I know…

Earlier I wrote about separating the wheat from the chaff but today a few sentences in comments of a post provided much food for thought. The lens of our minds often paint a very distorted picture of ourselves and, as a result, of others and the world around us. Unfortunately, since we only have a single point of reference, it is difficult for many of us to catch…

I have been reading a number of trader blogs recently trying to get a qualitative read on the mood hoping to find traces of capitulation. Unfortunately, the mood seems to be “hopeful.” As S&P500 approaches the November lows, VIX is actually half of where it was then. As usual, all participants are trying to determine what may happen next. Some apply complex metaphors from other paradigms to the various markets to see if these explain the numbers…

While reading a post from Daily Speculations, I thought of many reasons why the markets are so fascinating. I think it important to be fascinated for the right reasons. Here’s the partial list for me…

A couple nights ago I had a long discussion with my wife about maintaining the Armenian culture. But first, why is it so important to maintain a culture? What is culture anyway? In this context, culture is “the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.” Many people, unfortunately, never get to experience another culture to its fullest…