Here is the third commercial in their “basement trader” series.

Having your girlfriend do this while you are trading is probably the best way to lose all of your money trading.  If you haven’t seen the other videos, you can see them here and here.

Have you seen any funny trading videos lately?

After watching them, I decided to post them here because I felt that they are very educational.  Rudy is right in that we should be learning from successful people in all areas of life.  Just because we want to be successful traders, does not mean that we only have to learn from other traders.

In this PBS video, rapper Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) is interviewed by Charlie Rose and he gives a very candid account of his life and his rise to Rap superstardom.  What I found most interesting was that Jay-Z developed a passion for writing at an early age and he would be thinking about stories constantly.  This practice and repetition is one of the things that ultimately made him successful. Sound familiar?

Anyway, even if you are not into Hop Hop, I think you fill find it interesting.  Check out the 5 part series here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

What do you think?

A lot of whipsaws of course.  So what is the cure?  Write a song…of course!  This video cracked me up.

I also really liked it because it wasn’t just some dude standing in front of a overhead projector teaching you a setup.  It’s pretty nerdy, but if you really love to trade, I think you can identify with it.

Too bad this is the only video that he uploaded.

In this post, I will show you something that is not only the the ultimate trading room accessory, but a very good iPhone app too.  It is a beer launching fridge.  I’m sure you have seen these before, but this one has a little twist.

I can be controlled by your iPhone!  Now you never have to get up from the screens because you can have your beer delivered air mail at the push of a button.  Always cold, always refreshing.  Ahhhh…

Of course, this will probably lead to a decline in your profits and hey, let’s face it, you are drinking out of a can.  OK, so maybe this isn’t the best thing you can have in your trading room.  But definitely in the living room, aimed at the couch!

Final thoughts about Estonia

I had a blast in Estonia.  I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. One of the more interesting experiences was eating bear meat.  Check out the picture:

Bear...it's what's for dinner

This is not legal in most parts of the world, so I could not pass up the opportunity to at least give it a try.  The meat was very good and well prepared.  It had a very rich taste and was not like anything else I have tasted before.

At about $70 a plate, it was not cheap, but I have not been spending much on this trip because we have been staying with friends and family, so I figured I would give it a try.

Estonian Architects do a good job of building modern structures on top of old ones and making them blend well.

Like I mentioned about Estonia before, almost everyone we came into contact with spoke excellent English.  Evelin said that this is primarily because since there are only 1 million people in the country, they have to learn another language because no other country will speak Estonian.

It was awesome to see the city with a local because we got to see the real Tallinn, not just the touristy crap.  Many thanks to our friend Evelin for the great tour of the city.

An interesting cultural fact about the country is that they are one of, if not the least religious country in the world.  If people are religious, they are Lutheran.  This religion is very simple and pragmatic and according to our friend, is a reflection of the Estonian people as a whole.

There are two downsides to living in Tallinn, in my opinion.  One is that they recently converted to the Euro, so everything is more expensive than in Poland or the US for that matter.

The other disadvantage is that since they are so far north, they have large swings in daylight.  On the last night of our stay, we stayed out at a club until about 4 am.  The sun went down at about 11 pm and came up before we left.  Awesome during the summer, but it would suck in the winter.

On the whole, everyone was friendly and Tallinn had a good vibe.  It is somewhere that I could live for a period of time…in the summer of course.

Back to Poland

After landing in Warsaw, we stayed with a couple of friends and toured the ‘old town’ of Warsaw.  The reason that it is not really an old town is because it was leveled during a World War II uprising.

Of course this pissed Hitler off something fierce and he ordered the city of Warsaw completely destroyed.  We went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum and saw how the people of Warsaw stood up to Hitler in a battle that lasted 62 days.

They were successful in defending the city, which led to the bombings.  From a city of about 1.4 million, there were about 900,000 left alive.  Of those people, only 1,000 stayed in the city due to the extensive damage.

We actually got very lucky and were there on Art Night.  It is a once a year event and almost all of the museums and galleries in the city are free and open to the public.

Communist Era Buses

The streets were super crowded and there was a lot going on.  I saw some old communist era buses still operating in the streets and ate at a traditional Jewish restaurant.

Overall, it was a cool experience but the feel was a little touristy.  It’s cool for a visit but I wouldn’t want to live there for an extended period of time.

The Wieliczka Salt Mines

From there, we went to the world famous Polish salt mines in Wieliczka.  It is one of the only salt mine to be continuously operating since Medieval times.  I saw some pictures on the internet of the mines beforehand but you cannot really understand the immensity of the mines until you are actually there.

There are a total of nine different levels, only three of which visitors are allowed to see.  But those three levels are very impressive.  My favorite part of the tour was the largest cathedral in the mines.

The chandelier is made of salt too!

It had very high ceilings and everything from the sculptures to the ‘crystal’ chandelier to the floor tiles was carved from salt. The level of detail and scale were just breathtaking.

Amazing

Apparently, there are about 30 shrines and cathedrals in the mines.  Being that it is such a dangerous job, I could understand the need for places to pray.

I have always thought of a mine as a place that you worked at and got out as soon as possible.  But this mine is so deep and so developed that they had time to build other structures and stay down there for extended periods of time. They even had stables for horses that were used to operate the salt rock elevators in the Middle Ages.

The trip continues

In the next post, I continue on to Krakow, the former capital of Poland.  I have not been checking the markets as much as I would like because I have been enjoying the new experiences and because of a lack of readily available internet service.

When I am home, I have my Verizon USB card and my Clear Home modem and can get internet almost anywhere.  If I was trading for a living and traveling, I would definitely have make internet arrangements.

The town is located on the Lubin Plateau and is next to the Vistula River.   It is both a tourist attraction and a weekend get away for people from Warsaw.

Walking around really gave me  a feel for how much older that town is than anywhere I have been in the US.  The cobblestone roads and ancient architecture give you a tiny glimpse into what the place may have looked like hundreds of years ago.

Since it is the weekend getaway for rich people from the city, there was a lot of development going on as old houses were being replaced by brand new villas.  There are rooms for rent everywhere and there is a very stark contrast between the old and the new.

The weather has been amazing.  Before we got here, it was snowing, but it is now about 72 degrees (F) during the day!

Here are some pictures:

Tomorrow I am off to Estonia.  I am excited because we will be staying with our friend who is Estonian and we get to learn about the real Estonia, not just what the tourists see.  Stay tuned for more!

If you know someone who insists on doing this, here are a few things that may help you convince them otherwise.  Hopefully you have better luck than me.

Cost Savings

In my last post on inflation and gas prices, I showed a picture of current gas prices here in Honolulu.  Based on this picture, let’s break down the cost savings.

Regular gas price as of the picture: $4.37

Premium gas price as of the picture:  $4.57

The difference is $0.20 or about 4.5%.

Let’s say you fill up twice a week and have a 18 gallon tank.  At a premium of $0.20/gallon, that mean you are paying an extra $7.20/week.  That comes out to an extra $28.80/month or $345.60/year.  Just because you are using the wrong gas.

Of course, the more you drive, the bigger the savings.

And with gas prices looking like they will continue to rise, the more savings the better.  Here is today’s chart for crude oil.

Crude oil prices currently forming a solid uptrend after breaking 95

Other Factors

Just because something costs more, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better.  In the case of gasoline, it is just different.

I think this paragraph from the Octane Rating page of Wikipedia sums it up best:

Octane rating does not relate to the energy content of the fuel (see heating value). It is only a measure of the fuel’s tendency to burn in a controlled manner, rather than exploding in an uncontrolled manner. Where the octane number is raised by blending in ethanol, energy content per volume is reduced.

So in order to control the temperature at which gasoline burns, they have to blend in ethanol.  This increases the octane rating and the price.  What is created is a gas product called “Premium.”

Why do they need to control the temperature at which gasoline burns?  This is because higher performance engines run hotter.  To be exact, there is more pressure/compression in high performance engines, leading to higher heat.

Think about it, will a Honda Civic engine need more pressure than a Porsche 911 engine?  Of course not, the Porsche will get you going much quicker than the Civic…that means more energy required.

With the engine running hotter, regular gasoline will start to explode in different parts of the engine instead of in the piston chamber where it is supposed to detonate.  This causes knocking and pinging noises and can damage the engine.  So with the ethanol added, the gasoline explodes at a higher temperature and will only explode once it gets to the chamber.

If you stick this gas into a regular engine like the Honda Civic, it can lead to the gas not being burned completely because the engine does not have the necessary heat.  This can add unnecessary stress to the emissions system and wastes fuel.

But I Own a Ferrari

Well then, you obviously have to use premium and you could probably give a shit about an extra $346 a year.  But for the average person driving a car that was built for 87 octane, there can be a significant savings by using the correct grade of gasoline.

Not only in the cost of fuel, but also in the overall maintenance of the car.  With gas prices going up again, every little bit helps.

Polska!

This trip has been planned for awhile and now that the date is almost upon us, it is finally hitting me that I really am going. It will be my first trip outside of North America so I am very excited but a little apprehensive at the same time.

I know a few phrases in Polish but for all intents, I don’t know how to speak the language.  It will be like when I went to Mexico, not knowing Spanish.  Smiling and sign language…I can get by.  I will be depending on my girlfriend, who was born there, to figure out what is going on.

I’m sure I will learn a lot of Polish while I am there.  I’ve never been one to let a little lack of knowledge get in the way of a new experience.  My iPod has also been loaded up with some Polish language courses, so I will have something to do on the 36 hour journey.

A little about Poland

If you don’t know anything about Poland, here are a few fun facts:

1. Shares borders with Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany.
2. “Poland” comes from the “Polanie ” tribe, former inhabitants of now what is Western Poland.
3. The country was formed in the year 966 by prince Mieszko I.
4. Polish people generally peel their bananas from the blossom end, not the stem end.
5. When you order pizza in Poland, the tomato sauce comes on the side and you add it yourself…if it comes with tomato sauce at all.  Some Polish pizza has ketchup instead (something only my Dad would like).
6. When some American TV shows/Movies are dubbed in Polish, they just make the English softer and dub in Polish over it so you can still hear the English if you listen carefully.  That might actually work.  Imagine the shit show it would be if you did that with a Kung Fu movie though.
7. Polish cabbage is bigger than your head (to be verified cause I have a big head).
8. Every ambulance has an M.D. on board (hopefully will NOT be verified).
9. On the same note, English Teachers make more money than Doctors.
10. One of the most famous places in Poland is the Salt Mine in Wieliczca.  Salt has been mined there for over 700 years and they have some amazing carvings and statues…all made out of salt.

The map

So that’s a few things that I learned as I prepare for my trip to Poland.  I will provide regular updates from the road, hopefully I can find some decent internet connections.

We will also be visiting Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.  Our Estonian friend will be home visiting family and we will have the opportunity to experience her country too.

Let’s go!

P.S. – You are probably wondering how this helps Operation Debt Bomb.  Well, it is a setback.  However, the plane tickets were purchased a long time ago and I’m going to make the most of the opportunity.  It will be an amazing experience.   Opportunities to make money come along every day, but trips like this don’t.