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.

They’re a Person Too

By -

Yesterday, I went into the Palo Alto Whole Foods to pick up a few items for dinner. The checkout lines were surprisingly short, so I went to a line with just one guy buying some groceries. After a couple of moments, I took in the scene: the young woman running his items over the scanner was being completely ignored by the customer, who was engaged in a cell phone conversation.

I would guess he was in his early to mid 20s, and he acted like the woman didn’t exist. One by one, she priced the items, and once she was done, he shoved his credit card into the machine, took the bag, and left without a single word.

(more…)

Should You Go to College?

By -

As the headline to this post suggests, I’m not going to write about charts or the stock market right now. I certainly could, because I’m actually enjoying trading more than I have in quite some time, and I am very heavily exposed with 64 positions using over 200% of my portfolio cash value. However, I don’t have anything especially new to say, so I’d rather lay out some thoughts that occurred to me – – when else? – – during a dog walk.

As I was strolling along in the chilly pre-dawn hours, I asked myself how much good college has done for me. It didn’t take me long to conclude: zero. Some of you know that I graduated from college rather swiftly (in just 2 1/2 years), since I was eager to get into the world of work. The information I garnered during those 2 1/2 years hasn’t been useful to me even once during the many years since I graduated, and there isn’t a single contact I made in college that was beneficial to me in any way at all.

(more…)

Apologia

By -

As I begin my Trip of Mystery, I feel the need to apologize.

This emanates, i suppose, from a terrible incident last night. I was driving in the evening hours with my family when a black cat leaped directly in front of my car. I hit it and, I’m sure, killed it.

This just broke my heart. I am not the killing type. With the exception of mosquitoes and flies, I try to do what I can to preserve living things. Over the course of my life, I have removed with my bare hands countless spiders and insects from inside the house (usually walking in the bathtub or sink) to the outdoors where they can live out a normal spider or insect life. If I’m walking a spider from a second floor bedroom to gently place it on a Camellia leaf outdoors, I’m surely not going to want to kill a fellow mammal.

(more…)

Fear and Failure

By -

Since Slope Plus factors into this post, I’ll mention this one last time .……..a coupon to Slope Plus for those of you considering it.  I am offering a free month for you to try the service by clicking on this link. When you do, type in the coupon code winter2017 and it will give you the first month for free.

SOH-Logo-ManNote that this coupon is only going to be working for a few days, so don’t lollygag. Also please note this discount works for ANNUAL subscriptions as well, so you’ll save the most by going for an annual, since you get two months free already.

Besides all the normal extras you get as a Slope Plus subscriber, you’ll also be getting the very best ideas I’ve got (many of which have been doing really well, even in this market, as you’ll see once you have access). I hope you’ll give it a try. On with the regular post now…………

I have, over the long lifespan of Slope, mentioned some emotional scars from childhood during that period of time when it seems virtually everyone in my generation had a complete suck time: middle school. It seems that a few random verbal assaults of “fag” or “dick” can persist for decades.

(more…)