The Big Picture

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• Minimum Wage: Research Papers
• Radiolab: Memory and Forgetting
• 10 Monday PM Reads
• Tale of Entire RE Market via 6 Houses
• What would the U.S. map would look like if state size matched population?
• George Costanza in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
• 10 Monday AM Reads
• Is The January Barometer Worth Following?
• Rare Wines, Fine Art Photography, Vintage Watches
• Bumps, Bruises, and Breaks in Pro Football

Minimum Wage: Research Papers Posted: 04 Feb 2014 02:00 AM PST

Radiolab: Memory and Forgetting Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:30 PM PST This hour of Radiolab, a look behind the curtain of how memories are made…and forgotten. Remembering is an unstable and profoundly unreliable process–it's easy come, easy go as we learn how true memories can be obliterated, and false ones added. And Oliver Sacks joins us to tell the story of an amnesiac whose love for his wife and music transcend his 7-second memory SOURCE: WNYC

10 Monday PM Reads Posted: 03 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST My afternoon train snow blowing reads: • 5 tips for younger investors who are just starting out (Financial Post) • Investors turn wary on US earnings growth (FT) see also Record S&P 500 Momentum Unwinding as China Quashes Euphoria (Bloomberg) • How Goldman Sachs Rescued Libya (Daily Beast)• Five myths about the middle class (Washington Post) • How a Trust Can Cut Taxes (WSJ) • America's future doctors are starting their careers by saving Wikipedia (Quartz) • Confessions of a former Libertarian: My personal, psychological and intellectual epiphany (Salon) see also Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal (Salon) • With Wall Street's Support, Jeff Bezos Can Conquer the World Without Earning a Profit (Slate) • Gates Seen Taking Bigger Products Role at Microsoft (Bloomberg) • Downworthy: A browser plugin to turn hyperbolic viral headlines into what they really mean (Snipe) • 'Wacko Birds' Cloud Republicans' Election Euphoria (Bloomberg) How was your commute?   US Banks Start to Ease Limits on Lending Source: WSJ

Tale of Entire RE Market via 6 Houses Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:00 PM PST Source: NY Times

What would the U.S. map would look like if state size matched population? Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:30 AM PST Source: The Fix

George Costanza in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Posted: 03 Feb 2014 10:00 AM PST click for video Source: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee See also: The Seinfeld Reunion Happened and it was a 90 Second Ad for a WebsiteThe Guardian

10 Monday AM Reads Posted: 03 Feb 2014 08:30 AM PST Its a snowbound Monday here in the NorthEast, and this is what I am reading: • How Well Do Blindfolded Monkeys Play the Stock Market? (Priceonomics) • Europe will feel the pain of emerging markets (FT) see also Emerging-Market Rout Seen Enduring on Low Real Rates (Bloomberg) • Where in the world are shares cheap? (Telegraph) • The Janet Yellen era begins (Politico) see also Why the rate decision will drive Yellen's early agenda. (WSJ) continues here

Is The January Barometer Worth Following? Posted: 03 Feb 2014 07:18 AM PST     As January goes, so goes the year?" That is the pithy version of the January Barometer. First identified by Yale Hirsch of the Stock Trader's Almanac, it suggests a correlation between January's performance and full-year returns. I am not a believer in the many omens Wall Street traders tend to obsess about, including the January Barometer. However, this one is more interesting than most. We began 2014 with turmoil overseas. Pick a country: China, Turkey, Thailand, Argentina. The Vanguard Emerging Market Index was down 8.6 percent for the month. This spilled over to the US, with markets, which were off by less, but still down. For January, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 3.46 percent, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.68 percent, while the price weighted Dow fell 5.19 percent. According to the January Barometer, this now sets us up for a less-than-stellar year. The Stock Trader's Almanac notes that since 1973, any time the S&P 500 rose during January, the average gain for the broad index the rest of the year was 11.2 percent. When there was a negative January, the rest of the year was little change, up about 0.2 percent. Lots of analysts, including Ed Yardeni, note the data is statistically significant. But whether it should affect your strategy is an entirely different question. My conclusion is that it shouldn’t — and for a variety of reasons. Let's discuss the three biggest factors: probability, causation and false positives. continues here

Rare Wines, Fine Art Photography, Vintage Watches Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:00 AM PST Collector George Sape talks about how a call from an estate lawyer upended his wine cellar. Rare Wines Barron’s 1/31/2014 (5:52) ~~~ Photography collector Evan Mirapaul explains how to collect fine-art in emerging markets. Fine Art Photography Barron’s 1/31/2014 (5:53) ~~~ Collector Paul Boutros on how he acquired an extremely rare and weird Vacheron Constantin watch. Vintage Watches Barron’s 1/31/2014 (3:00)

Bumps, Bruises, and Breaks in Pro Football Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:00 PM PST Source: Visually

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