Raw data. Coming up on 17 years of blogging I’ve learned a couple of things about “proving” or making your case. It is essential to do at least a minimal amount of research about a subject. Too much and you don’t have any passion, too little and you’re just a blowhard. “Pattern detection” is the new buzzword I’ve come across, simply looking at a table of data like the one above. You can see trends and tendencies.

One of the most interesting was when I started to look at charts and graphs of various stock markets after 2008 when I got seriously burned. I learned about all the “financial experts” were full of crap. One of the points that jumps out at you is “buy” days. When CNBC is screaming that the world is ending and the sun will never rise again, those are actually the time to…