Slope of Hope Blog Posts

This is the heart and soul of the web site. Here we have literally tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. You can also click on any category icon to see posts tagged with that particular category.

To Boldly Go…..

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There is no product of media that has had more influence in my life than the original Star Trek series. I watched the show incessantly as a child via reruns, but it has been a long time since I’ve really spent time watching the episodes in detail. Having done so recently, the experience is naturally an enormous contrast with what I experienced as a kid.

The special effects are obviously quite primitive, the technology references are woefully outdated, and the writing is uneven, varying from superb to absolutely awful.

The biggest shock for me, however, was the sex. It’s EVERYWHERE in the show. Easily one-third of the episodes are almost entirely driven by some kind of love interest, and it isn’t just Kirk. Most of the male crew members have got it goin’ on at some point or another with human women, alien women, green-skinned women, and even robots (that look like women).

I’m sure I spent far more time om this than I should have, but………….. (more…)

Milquetoast Goofus

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Since everyone in the country is watching Dr. Ford, I’ve put together a just-for-fun post. I also want to encourage you to check out Slope this afternoon, because I have created Yet Another Awesome Feature in SlopeCharts that you should know about.

As a little kid, one of my simple pleasures was Highlights magazine. Most of you probably remember this, since it was a staple at most pediatric and dental offices. The part I liked the most, of course, was Goofus and Gallant. I was a really good kid, but I guess I had a prurient curiosity about what a nasty kid like Goofus would be up to. Whether he is demanding to be fed….….

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Cramer’s Most Idiotic Idea Ever

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Someone brought to my attention that none other than Jim Cramer – – who, inexplicably, is considered some kind of stock market god – – strongly suggested everyone buy Sears back in 2007, calling it “the next Berkshire Hathaway”. It looks like he made this urgent “buy” suggestion at pretty much the millisecond the stock peaked. It is down over 99% now. I wonder if they ever mention this on CNBC?

My New Favorite Thing

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Oh. My. God. How did I not know about this until now? Mesmerizing! The music. The soundtrack. The lighting. The laugh track. The applause. There is far too much to like here. We are blessed to live in the time of David Lynch. Slope Cinema is proud to present: Rabbits

Full of Hot Air

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Let me preface this piece by saying I love ZeroHedge and have read it every day, without exception, ever since it appeared almost ten years ago. I think they provide a tremendous service, and I’m quite sincere in saying I wish they’d be given a Pulitzer Prize at some point for their bold reporting.

However………..

I’ve come to notice over the years that if there’s a particular potential disaster looming, our friends at ZH tend to hype it to the ceiling. In fact, it seems the more they hype it, the more of a nothing-burger it becomes in the end. Witness the reporting about Hurricane Florence this week……..

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Fake News Was Predicted

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From over thirty years ago, a favorite movie of mine – – Talking Heads’ True Stories – – seems to have neatly predicted the world we’re living in today, as well as its conspiratorial paranoia. (“You got your CBS. And your ABC. You got Time and Newsweek. They’re the same to me.“) Once again, life imitates art.

Oh, I See

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This morning, I was delighted to see the screen covered in red. A Sloper made the snarky remark that me declaration of my shortness would surely mark the bottom. Well, irked as I was by the rude comment, he turns out to be right, although, to the credit of my stock picks, I’m only down 0.3% in the face of a giant rally (particularly cool since I’m very leveraged).

My annoyance at the market’s sudden reversal was initially mixed with confusion, until I saw………..THIS:

As long as this guy has media attention, I’m afraid the bear market doesn’t stand a chance.