The Monday Read

Take care of yourself edition

It’s been a rough year and a half, eh? Recently I’ve been getting a bit too sucked into the news, into Twitter doomscrolling, into ranting at the TV. Not helpful or healthy. Or productive. Or happy.

So I pulled back a bit.

I tried to read more books, focus on projects that matter, spend time with the grandkids. Did more exercise (that indoor rower is one of the best things I have bought for a while).

Worked on eating a bit better, going to bed on time, making an effort to talk to people.

Baby steps, but they seem to be helping.

Maybe you’ve been feeling less than 100% recently too. You might find that going back to the basics (good food, good exercise, good relationships, good information/media) helps you too. Take care of yourself. There is no time like the present.

The forum

The forum had some activity this week.

This week’s TV and movies

A new section from this week. I use TV/movies to reinforce my indoor rowing habit (ie I only watch my current TV show while rowing). So far I have been watching Billions on Netflix, which is great TV and features enough investing content to keep it interesting for weird nerds like me. Guest appearances by John Danaher, Tim Ferriss, Josh Brown, Jocko Willink, Metallica and many others are just the icing on the cake. Very much recommend, but be careful as it is pretty addictive.

Also rewatched The Big Short this week. Another financial one, all about the 2008 crash and some of the people that profited from it. Funny, with a stellar cast, it’s a great film to veg out to (even the second or third time).

Finally watched the 2020 version of The Witches, based on the Roald Dahl story. This version is set in Alabama, and features Stanley Tucci, Anne Hathaway, and Chris Rock. Watched it with my 9-year old granddaughter who doesn’t have native level English but is happy to watch stuff in English with me. She found it easy enough to follow, gruesome but not too scary, and fun. Much recommended to watch with kids.

This week’s books

I read a science fiction book the week, This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Motar and Max Gladstone. Tim Ferriss recommended it rather breathlessly, and while I enjoyed it at first, it didn’t end up being the work of genius I was led to expect. Interesting, clever, and worth reading, but not (in my eyes) a masterpiece.

I also picked up Empire State of Mind, by Zack O’Malley Greenburg. It’s an unauthorised biography of Jay-Z and the reviews are decent. I am a fan of his music and entrepreneurship, so hoping this will be an enjoyable read for me.

This week’s links

1. This is great news for consumers: Japanese companies to be banned from locking cell phone SIM cards
2. This new Facebook group may be of interest: US taxes in Japan
3. Do you hate your job? Variability, industrialization and hating your job
4. I don’t think this is going to happen. Good plan though: START STOPPING COVID-19 IN JAPAN
5. The solution to the energy problem? Geothermal
6. I enjoyed this simple write-up, but be careful! The broad picture is accurate but there are a few mistakes. How many can you find? How to Invest: The Few Key Things You Need to Know
7. This seems correct to me. In fact, I am trying to figure out how we can game the system to allow my granddaughter to miss as much ‘schooling’ as possible without compromising her future and happiness: Kids Can Recover From Missing Even Quite A Lot Of School
8. This definitely hit me last year too: Why Are So Many Knowledge Workers Quitting?
9. I feel slightly less worried about the terminator robots now.
10. This makes sense. In everything: Start with the easy tests
11. Watching Billions is a masterclass in this. People can have all the money in the world and still create problems for themselves: Even richer people
12. Olympic condos looking like a good investment: Harumi Flag rising
13. Fantastic post on the forum about legally reducing inheritance tax in Japan.

What do you think? Anything good in there? I found a lot to think about in #13.

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