An epic battle seems to be shaping up for the stock markets on Monday morning (will start Sunday night in Asia). On one side, we have the markets sticking their fingers down their throats trying desperately to purge themselves of all this “irrational exuberance” – on the other side we will have the heroic arrival of “Helicopter Ben” and the Plunge Protection Team.
Who will win? The panic sellers or the “I can create fortunes out of thin air with my printing press” team? Ought to be a good fight.
Iran seems to have scored big with their economic attack against the U.S.A. which I posted a few days ago. Demanding that oil be paid in Yen by the Japanese seems to have accelerated the nasty unwinding of the Yen carry trade (the trading boys are getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar). This has been coming for a little while now, and I think that this “new” demand for Yen helped spur its rally against the lifeless dollar. Combined with the Bank of Japan increasing rates, the global liquidity crunch across pretty much every market in the world is going to get worse. Throw in the realization that the housing crash is in full form and a mortgage mess…..and a touch of credit shambles and CDO stupidity and we are about to witness what I can only imagine will be the Battle Royale in the markets. I expect very messy volatility and stress for quite a while to come.
Filed under: Life, Thoughts — beinghumanandallthat @ 3:08 am
With regard to our sense of sight, a really interesting illusion is constantly perpetuated by our brain. You see, when you take a look around you I’m sure that you see quite a few objects and maybe people and maybe some scenery or whatever. I want you to take note of a few interesting details that take place entirely within your head.
First, I want you to realize that EVERYTHING that you see right now is being perceived right at the point where your eye meets the world outside of it. A wide range of light is bouncing off your eye and your eye is bringing the signal back into your brain. Your brain can then interpret the vibration of light into colours and depth perception and space and all of that. The key thing to note here is that the entire thing is taking place on the surface of your eye and within your head – so your brain is actually creating a mental understanding of the world outside. But what you see is happening inside of you and not outside. Regardless of the fact that your mind tells you that the desk is a foot away, your eyes see/perceive both you and the desk at the very same point/moment.
Let me explain. When you look at things, not only do you identify them, usually by some sort of word or concept (like book or tree or mom or cat), but you also create their dimensions and colour. You also rarely notice the space between all of these objects. Look around you – watch how your mind names all of the things and separates them from one another. Notice the space between things. Our minds disregard this space, and instead bring our attention to what this space actually defines. Note that without the empty space which our minds so easily discard, the shapes could not have any form – in fact, without the spaces, there would be no things. Small babies appear to not distinguish between things the way that we do, they see the world in a more natural fashion, more as it arrives to the eyes without the mental input.
So light bounces off our eyeballs and inside our brains we generate a three dimensional world with things that have names and usually feelings associated with them. Isn’t it interesting to think about how much of our experience of the so-called outside world actually takes place within us?
One more thing to think about. When you look around, notice the limits of your field of vision. Here’s a good one: What do you see behind your eyes? Try for a moment to see behind your field of vision. I’ve found that it is not black and is not what I would call “nothing.” I can see a blank which is full of some sort of potential. What do you see behind your eyes? I think that what we see is the source of just about everything.
I posted this on a gold and silver investment forum a few days ago – figured that I would copy it and paste it here (PM stands for precious metal):
Tough week
I’m not sure just how much money that I lost on paper this week, but I imagine that between the markets and the PMs it is safe to say that many thousands of dollars evaporated into the market ether.
That being said, I’m really not fussed. A few days ago my three and half year old son had a really nasty pain in his belly. Turns out that his appendix was inflamed and he had to get it out. For those of you with kids and grandkids, you know what it is like to have your little ones go under the knife. It gives a tremendous amount of perspective to things. I could have gained or lost EVERYTHING that I have invested and it still would not be even remotely close in relevance to the well-being of my boy.
The past two days have been spent watching movies and reading stories, instead of him at summer day camp and me online checking investments and news. I’d say that life has a way of re-orientating us to that which is important once in a while – sometimes through unfortunate events (or so we think). He’s doing alright now, healing and slowly getting better (walking a bit, less fever, eating more, etc.). He’s napping now.
I should introduce the blog. Well, once upon a time there was a life – and this is more or less what it looks like from the inside looking out.
The blog will cover a truly eccentric bundle of topics that pretty much make up the time that I spend here in this life. Whatever most occupies my mind at a given moment will be the flavour of the day and what I will post. I think lots about what it means to be human and to be alive (or dead). I talk lots about money (economics), gold and silver investing, nature, politics, being a father, living in a tropical part of the world, what it is like being me, what it is like being you, what the world looks like from the eyes of a three year old, systems of belief, racism, ignorance, liberation, enlightenment, taking care of my body, taking responsibility for my life – stuff like that. I’m just going to write as I go along and see what happens.
