ctkrohn

14 ms·

91.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
I think you mean the DC-3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC-3
92.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
100% agree with this. I worked on Wall Street for almost three years, and ended up with a good idea for mortgage bond analytics software. Most jobs out there use some antiquated, terrible, but really expensive niche software. Most people
93.
"Artificial Intelligence" Gains Fans Among Investors(online.wsj.com)
32 points by ctkrohn 16y ago|38 comments
94.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
This post is from 2007 but still seems timely... note that ITA (acquired by Google today) is a Lisp user.
95.
How To Destroy a Black Hole(arxiv.org)
2 points by ctkrohn 16y ago|0 comments
96.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
Here's a direct link to the book list: http://www.xach.com/naggum/books/catalog.pdf I have to say, I'm impressed by the bookseller's professionalism. It can't have been easy to go through all the books, determine a price, and write notes
97.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
I say we nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
98.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
Air transport is one area where technology has seemingly stagnated, or even reversed. Airliners seem pretty much the same as when I was a kid. You certainly don't get to your destination any faster. There have been improvements -- aircra
99.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
Microsoft didn't offer 15bn... they invested a couple hundred million (~250mm, if I recall) to buy a certain percent of the company. That led to a 15bn valuation.
100.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
The problem is, he's not just risking his own life. Everest is climbed often enough that he's risking the lives of others, too. If he is near another climbing party and something goes wrong, he could block the route, create an obstacle, t
101.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
Great link. I love the part at 4:30 where it says "Apparently this is possible."
102.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
It is doable, if you have the knowledge and expertise. Many high frequency trading firms are small operations with just a couple people. The stereotype is two dudes and a Bloomberg terminal. Anyone with enough cash can have their servers
103.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
Firms like this do tens of thousands of trades per day. It's just a consequence of the law of large numbers.
104.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
This is absolutely true. More transparency => more accurate valuation => less bid/offer. Investors might like it, but don't expect the banks to be on board.
105.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
It's not the most complete book on the financial crisis, but it's not trying to be. It is certainly the most entertaining though.
106.
by ctkrohn 16y ago
Impressive, but doesn't pass a smell check. US GDP was $13.84 trillion. It seems extremely far-fetched that copyright restrictions account for more than a third of our nation's economic output.
107.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
First saw it back in 2008 as a parody of the whole subprime CDO meltdown. Hitler shouts "But S&P said these were AAA! Now Goldman says they're only worth 70 cents on the dollar!" and so forth. Not too long after that, it came from Ne
108.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
That is true. But it makes it much easier for potential investors to load up a bond in their own modeling tools, and run their own scenarios. They don't have to reverse engineer the cashflow structure based on the legal wording in the pro
109.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
It's also worth noting that this is a minor part of a much larger proposal that came out more than a week ago. A bunch of media outlets ran stories... the NYT article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/business/08sec.html
110.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
Quick explanation of what exactly this is: It's a rule change regarding asset-backed securities. ABS are a type of bond where the interest and principal payments come from the cashflows of some pool of underlying assets. The simplest exam
111.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
The difference is that in the article, the experiments were all done at failing schools. The cash wasn't to make B students into A students; it was merely to get kids to read at all, or to achieve a baseline score on a standardized test.
112.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
Here's a paper on the applications of random matrix theory to finance: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0910/0910.1205v1.pdf The first pages are a quick overview of the math behind random matrix theory, if you're curious.
113.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
Perhaps he built an A-12 model. This was the direct predecessor of the SR-71, designed in the 50s. A very similar aircraft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_A-12
114.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
Stephen Pressfield is fantastic. Besides "Gates of Fire," I've read "The Afghan Campaign" and "The Virtues of War," two novels about Alexander The Great. Very highly recommended.
115.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
As a former trader, I can say that Bloomberg's UI is, while not perfect, in general quite good. You can do almost everything straight from the keyboard; once you get used to it, it's quite fast. In about 30 seconds, I can calculate the yi
116.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
It's nice to see an older mathematician earn some recognition. The Fields Medal (the most prestigious prize in mathematics) is only given to people younger than 40, a cutoff which always seemed rather silly to me.
117.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
A common phrase on a trading floor: "there's no such thing as a bad bond -- only a bad price."
118.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
If you have an account with a high end broker (e.g. the private wealth management division of an investment bank), they'll usually let you buy them. You have to meet a pretty high net worth threshold to open that sort of account though.
119.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
"...after it's discovered that the entire banking industry is held together with Visual Basic 6 and Excel macros." This is truer than anyone here would like to admit...
120.
by ctkrohn 17y ago
If you're interested in reading more, take a look at the message board http://www.nuclearphynance.com . And $10K will almost certainly not be enough. You'll spend all your money paying commissions or bid/ask.

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