Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Putting a Face to a Tragedy

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There has been much talk in recent years about how computers and robots are going to take over everything. We’re all going to lose our jobs to them. They’re all going to drive trucks and cars. They might even turn on us and take over earth.

I have been mixed up in technology pretty deeply since 1979, and these concerns have never crossed my mind. Technology, even in its most modern form, usually has so many band-aids holding it together, there’s no fear on my part that it’ll suddenly become self-aware and decide to enslave us. Hell, personal computers have been around for over forty YEARS, and they still take several minutes to boot and are prone to freezing. Do you really think the Macintosh would need a “Force Quit” function if technology was totally reliable? It isn’t. (more…)

Thirteen Inglorious Years

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As of today – March 29, 2018 – Slope is a teenager.

Yes, thirteen years ago, at the prodding of a family member, I wrote my first blog post. In those days, I thought of blogs the same way I think of cryptocurrencies today – – as a fad with far too much media attention. Although I had sold my company, Prophet, just weeks earlier, I had resisted the nudges to start writing a blog in my free time, but I finally gave in. I’m glad I did.

Since this is, by definition, the thirteenth time I’ve written a “birthday” post, I was trying to think of something engaging or clever to write. I confess, I’m a bit stumped. In last year’s post, I already referenced some of the things I was considering here, such as Patton Oswalt’s birthday routine, so it’s clear I’m exhibiting a sign of age by way of repeating myself. (more…)

Experts as Contrary Indicators (Bonds Edition)

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I want togross2 begin this post by again noting publicly that feel like I clowned myself yesterday in my own trading and in my lack of attention to the market at a critical point (couldn’t really be helped, but it’s the results that matter). Despite a market doing generally as expected, I was not really prepared. My macro views often prove right on while my own execution can shall we say, vary. It’s why I tell NFTRH subscribers or anyone considering the service it is best to follow the analysis, not what some faulty trader is doing at any given time.

The reason for the paragraph above is balance for the paragraphs below, in which we drive home once again the folly of listening to experts (at least the experts the media shove in your face at ill-timed junctures). I had a subscriber leave NFTRH in mid-2016 (he’s back and we’ve had a friendly review of that situation) in part because I was doggedly bearish gold and bullish the Semiconductors, which was exactly opposite to the stance of a technology expert, whose service he also subscribed to. It made me sad (for both of us) to have stuck to my convictions, but lost a subscriber while turning out to be right in my view. (more…)

Hitler High

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The town fathers of Palo Alto have outdone themselves this time.

Here in my town, as with most of America, the public schools are named after public figures of note. All across the country, you’ve got your Washington High, your Lincoln Middle School, Churchill Elementary, and so forth. In Palo Alto, a couple of schools have been named after David Starr Jordan and Fred Terman. They’ve had these names for decades, ever since they were opened.

Well, when political correctness and social justice warriors were at their peak a couple of years ago, some people came upon the fact that Jordan and Terman had, during their time about a century ago, been advocates of eugenics. In their era, many scholars and men of good will openly discussed the idea of improving the human condition by promoting reproduction among “desirables” as opposed to, say, the retards that hang out in the ZeroHedge comments section. (more…)