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.

Some Extraordinary Extremes

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Hello from Linz, Austria! I had a long but mercifully uneventful day of traveling. First flying from SFO to Copenhagen. Next flying from CPH to Munich. And finally securing a vehicle to drive from Munich to Linz. Austria isn’t a big country. In the span of 4 hours, you can go from the west to east borders. I’ll finish the journey into Slovakia tomorrow afternoon.

I grew up driving a stick, but it’s been quite a few years before I’ve done so. It turns out that pretty much all the rental cars here are manual. That was a little disturbing to me, since it’s awkward enough to be driving in a foreign nation, but just to add to the sauce, the entire nation seemed to be mired in a thick fog. I obviously made it OK, however, as I drove a couple hundred kilometers and am typing to you right now.

Anyway, I’ll try to keep good ol’ Slope propped up during my travels (which are pretty jam-packed with real-life tasks) until life normalizes next Tuesday/Wednesday. Here are a few extraordinary charts I wanted to share just to show you – – as if you needed any more convincing – – what bizarre times we inhabit. (more…)

Danish Concepts

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Greetings from Copenhagen. I did a beefier post on the plane, so be sure to check that out if you haven’t already. During this layover, I’ll just observe that, thanks to China saying it isn’t going to be propping up this fake boom with endless Treasury purchases anymore, markets are somewhat weak. Nothing earth-shattering (or even earth-shaking), but at least the color is right. NQ might have even put in a decent short-term top.

nqcph (more…)