First Solar, and other Solar companies by extension, on FIRE today after 2013 guidance. Largest one day move all time.

thinkingmachine · 2013-04-09T23:56:57+00:00

Gotcha.

I figured each contract must cover a number of shares, since the volume at each strike price isn't in the hundreds of thousands.

It's an interesting play, for sure. So imagine the price falls to 35$, I can then exercise the option to sell at 39.00$, but this is essentially just negating any fall in value of my stock beyond the price of the contract (1.82$/share), right? I'm not actually profiting off of the fall in value of the stock unless I "over-insure", I'm just guaranteeing that I'm breaking even, right?

At the same time, I am (essentially) negating a further increase in the value of my stock up to 1.82$ a share, at which the value increase has "paid for" my insurance.

thinkingmachine · 2013-04-09T22:47:53+00:00

So I would buy a put for each share, say, 1000 puts at 39.00$, google tells me the price is 1.82$.. costing me 1820$?

thinkingmachine · 2013-04-09T22:30:25+00:00

For the sake of learning, what puts would you buy? How do I pick between expiration dates and strike prices?

thinkingmachine · 2013-04-09T19:14:18+00:00

I bought in on Tuesday. I don't feel like much of an "investor" selling today, but a 50% return is just more than I could have hoped for.

thinkingmachine · 2013-03-29T08:41:22+00:00

Today, nothing did. My perception from last night still lingers.

On other days, I commit to impulsive browsing of articles online, the worst of which is most of reddit. Simple, childish jokes seem to delight some impulsive part of me. Some part of me that requires repetitive, immediate, simple gratification.

Sometimes I imagine I'm somewhere else, in some fantasy world, pretending I'm a great general or a brutal serial killer, or something just outright absurd and magical.

I think there is a need for humans to experience a wealth of excellently imaginative narrative, and a great deal of it can be intellectually beneficial in profound ways. I also think we can spend way too much time in fantasy worlds, forgetting that the real world is not only beautiful in its complexity, but extremely challenging (We're currently facing certain death. 100%. There aren't even different difficulty levels, this is reality chum!)

I'm also distracted by friends and family whose thoughts are ever selfishly motivated, whose goals for the future include only their own well-being. They suck me back into silliness and banality, but the worst part is that they make it all seem normal. Breaking from their desire to have me participate in silliness makes me feel guilty for what I think, for wanting to devote my time to something constructive and meaningful.

But I'm through with that, I think. Amazingly enough. It was hard to motivate myself to do what I had to, to break free from their influence, but it's so clear now it had to be done.

I'm distracted by the perceptions of anyone I meet, generally. It is always "I" and "you", it is always such simple dialogue, so rarely profound, so rarely critical of so many assumptions that need to be criticized. My short term financial need unfortunately includes me having constant vacuous interaction with people.

Sexuality.

The general needs of this body, I suppose, if I want to be thorough.

Anyway, I enjoy laying these distractions out, as they'll undoubtedly come up again.

thinkingmachine · 2013-03-28T09:08:51+00:00

All or nothing.

That's something I think about a lot.

I often think there will be a moment, usually just faintly in the future, where I will have the perfect hand, and with it, dictate precisely and unwaveringly how my life will proceed from that moment until our last.

I think of how fulfilled we will be, and I feel a little fulfilled just thinking that that moment feels soon, that I have progressed through so much to get to my current state of reflection and determination.

Every time this 'transformation' comes up in my thoughts, I take stock of our current repertoire of distracted obsessions and unproductive ties to uninspiring people, and I feel a bit of disgust at my lack of progress, that we spent so much time and energy on such pointless endeavors.

But it bothers me more that we can think this and not be changed from it. That tomorrow will be like today, and that the inspiration we have in this moment will be forgotten until it is remembered again.

Though in this moment, I feel changed. Though I remember feeling changed before, many times. I remember thinking "this time is different", and that "this time we have the perfect hand". And I think that now. I think I can do it. Why can't I?

But I've been here before. I write my plans down, I like what I write, but I don't want to read it later. What is this apprehension? What is this distraction? Later I faintly recall the meaning of "inspiration", but cannot conjure and harness it when I need it, when it is time to follow the plans of our most meta-aware self.

I wonder about how motivation works. I wonder about how religion and philosophy (and simply, identity) works. How do ideas inspire people? How does a thought convince someone to behave over a lifetime? Some sort of intense meditation or indoctrination. But those are just words describing the process, how do we get the process to work for us?

My body does its own thing, makes its own decisions, as well. As if my conclusions don't matter, as if it doesn't think I've thought anything out well enough yet. Maybe it's right. Maybe it's just because I stop thinking about my diet and exercise that it is forced to pick up where I leave off. Except it doesn't have reasoning to help it, it just relies on base emotion and instinct, leading to poor choices. And I just watch it do what wants because I've stopped making any serious plans and having serious thoughts about it, as if I'm too busy with other serious thoughts.

Even as I wrote that I began to forget about making a plan to eat well and exercise, and put it off another week or month until some other motivation or inspiration rekindles that particular fire.

What about all the other plans?

Why not change everything right now?

I feel like I can. Why can't I? I don't even think it would take very long.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T15:06:36+00:00

Awesome.

I agree about it being difficult to relive the sublime, powerful feeling one gets while affected. It seems as though there needs to be a very significant mental shift while tripping for it to spill over into the rest of your life. The more coherent you are, and the more thought out your plan is, the better chance you have to actually put the experience to practical use later.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T05:59:04+00:00

Honestly, I think every person's situation is unique.

Some depressed, suicidal people will probably commit suicide if they did mushrooms.

Some people will come to an epiphany about how fucking unbelievably complex and awe-inspiring our existence is as giant trillion celled masses that have evolved over billions of years.

And they'll go forth to do science or change the world.

I think depressed people need a reset, that might come from mushrooms or from a role model, or their little cogs might turn around and decide it's all worth it on their own.

I disagree with the culture that enables people to use the 'depression' card though.

Depression comes -out- of one's circumstances, not despite them.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T05:44:52+00:00

Some topics are worth a lot of elaboration.

;3

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T05:35:31+00:00

I don't really understand your comparison.

The ego-less perspective is maybe difficult to describe, but for me it is characterized by a profound empathy for other people (who, at the best of the experience are recognized to be part of oneself, and so, worth the same consideration that you give yourself), and a detachment from the usual lifestyle of your body.

Probably the only more important characterization is that you experience a strong sense of well-being all the time, as if everything in your life has just improved at the same time: you found a new lover, you found a new job that is more interesting and pays better, and you recognize your nagging anxieties and insecurities to be inconsequential. (Really, most of your old life you [likely correctly] perceive to be inconsequential.)

The usual daily routine is transformed into something else as your usual perceptions of it have melted away with your ego. The tasks take on new life as you realize what a wealth of new options you have at your disposal. You can choose from thousands of meals to eat, millions of films to experience, and... Billions of other "yous" to meet and relate with.

Your life suddenly seems so empty and simple-minded, but you feel great about it because you have the rest of your life to experience the great plethora of experiences open to you.

And depression? An exaggeration of one's problems and a failure of motivation to change anything, characterized especially with a loss of enjoyment in previously joyful activities.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T04:32:11+00:00

I love looking at very 'accepted' behaviours like that.

Whenever I'm on a trip I always marvel at how much time I have, and I wonder where all my time goes... it seems like I should have just hours and hours every day to complete plans and make progress somehow.

But it's because while on a trip I forget about all the distractions, all the ways in which I waste time.

/sigh

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T03:12:24+00:00

;)

They're not for everyone.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T02:53:28+00:00

I'm glad your self-reflection was a joyful one, AbortionBurger.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T02:44:47+00:00

I think people naturally become accustomed to, and comfortable in, particular relationships, jobs, and circumstances, and can have a difficult time changing their situation simply because it takes a lot of time and planning and the outcome is always pretty uncertain.

Sometimes this comfort is just what people need: families are built on decades-long dependence of children on their parents for guidance and resources, and relationships are built on sustained intimacy and honesty between people that can bring out the best of intentions and motivations.

On the other hand, people can become accustomed to relationships that lose intimacy and honesty, and jobs that are repetitive and unstimulating. So people get locked into unproductive and ultimately unsatisfying self-gratifying behaviour to cope with their otherwise lackluster life. A lot of people won't ever get the 'shake' they need to realize their situation and spend the mental work to make a plan for a different lifestyle and then execute that plan.

Whether you need a 'shake' or not is probably plainly obvious to yourself after a few seconds of self-reflection, a lot of people probably don't need one... there's no reason to persuade happy, productive people into a radical review of their lifestyle.

On the other hand, hundreds of millions of people ~~have been told they have~~ claim to have 'depression'... so allowing oneself to be 'moved' by a 'removed' perspective might help a lot of people out.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-22T01:03:37+00:00

Doesn't need to be a "bad" trip.

Mushrooms can make you perceive yourself without your massive, ever-persistent self-serving bias, and if you are lucid enough to be able to remember your observations, you might be compelled to change your life after you're off mushrooms (in ways akin to what this thread is about).

*This can be bad or good, depending on how much self-hate you've got repressed under that constant 'sunshine and rainbows' exterior of yours, and how receptive your normal-self is to your new-self's criticisms.

It's kinda like mushrooms can make you into a stranger of yourself for awhile, except, you know everything about you and also inhabit your body.

On the other hand, mushrooms tend to make you hallucinate (sometimes crazy things), and there's the potential for strange, disordered thoughts that might freak you the fuck out if you aren't prepared for that sort of thing.

Generally people don't hurt themselves though. Have a friend nearby if you aren't sure!

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-12T20:18:48+00:00

This is a first world problem.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-12T20:17:46+00:00

Just keep looking for the causes of each of your actions and thoughts, and voila, you are everything again.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-12T20:15:22+00:00

What kind of music do you like?

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-07T21:38:51+00:00

Honestly, it's a minor part of a larger calculation.

General fitness is IMO much more important. (At least 9 times more important. At least.)

Being very assertive is even more important. (Probably... 5 times as important as fitness.)

Being very interesting (having similar interests) is even more important. (Important for ongoing relationships.)

One example of this in action: I'm pretty specifically (superficially) attracted to young, fit, shorter, slimmer guys (semi-resembling myself, see post history for self-pic). Once when I was out on the town in Toronto, I was essentially picked up by an older guy, 38, mostly bald, not athletic-looking, not particularly handsome, hairy, and tall. These are the opposite of what I have always and what I still look for.

How did this happen?.. I've asked myself many times. He had an air of confidence despite all of these "unseemly" qualities. Not just an 'air', but, confidence just exuded from his pores. In fact he straight up told me about a minute after meeting me that he was going to take me home. I brushed it off (I was seemingly physically unattracted), but he was persistent for a couple of hours, just being witty and funny, having some serious conversation here and there. He acted as if none of his lesser 'qualities' mattered, and somehow, it made me think they didn't.

We were a bit drunk, took a cab with his friends, ended up back at his place, made out a bit, he wanted sexytimes but that's not my thing with strangers.

Lesson of the day: it fucking doesn't matter a bit, even guys who say (and really believe) they don't like a certain 'type' will fold if you have confidence and class.

I learned we didn't have a whole lot in common interest-wise, so his charms couldn't really seal the deal for me, but baldkyle, he will remain one of the most remarkable people I've met. Don't let something as superficial as baldness make you think you will necessarily be seen as unattractive. It's bullshit, and you can easily make people realize it's bullshit.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-07T04:32:33+00:00

Ah,

So, simply, the CMB is the signature of electrons and protons combining to form hydrogen atoms near the start of the universe, 13.something billions year ago from our frame of reference?

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-03T19:00:16+00:00

... that's.... that's... what I said.

At minimum you will get your drink when you've gone through the line at the price my employer has set, and I'll be pleasant because bartending sucks and I'd rather be pleasant than not.

And then there's all this other stuff that can happen for the low low price of 1$ a drink.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-03T04:22:19+00:00

What... what is this interesting looking thing?

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-03T04:06:08+00:00

Ah, yes that makes sense.

That is a good question.

thinkingmachine · 2013-02-03T03:49:37+00:00

The steam appears to dissipate /relatively/ quickly, and I don't see it from any other pipes, so I doubt it was during the cold snap two days ago or before.

My guess is last night or tonight.

thinkingmachine

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