General

Under the Hood of the S&P 500 Rebound

Posted on August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in Charts & Data, Economics, General

There’s been quite a bit of debate about what’s driving the rather unexpected stock market rebound in the midst of a global pandemic (e.g., Fed actions/policies, stimulus, large businesses benefiting at the expense of small businesses, some business models are benefiting from the new norms at the expense of those that don’t, etc.). In my view, it’s probably a bit of each of those, but dominated by the sad fact that a large cross-section of non-public small and medium businesses will not survive, and large public companies that can weather the storm will ultimately be able to fill the supply void, and even buy their assets/IP for pennies on the dollar. Case in point – my dad never used Amazon

Carne Asada & Chimichurri

Posted on July 27, 2020July 28, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in Food, General

I’ve made my favorite steak a few times over the past month, and shared the recipe with a couple friends, which made me realize I might as well just post it here for future reference and sharing. This has basically been borrowed from several other recipes and tweaked until I no longer felt it needed tweaking. The Marinade: 1 jalapeño sliced 4 cloves garlic minced 1/2 cup of spring onions sliced 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro finely chopped 1/3 cup of olive oil 1 orange squeezed 1 lime squeezed 1 lemon squeezed 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper The Steak: You’ll want to marinate the steak for at least

Prickly Pear

Posted on July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in General, Nature

Last month I purchased a few prickly pear pads, and planted them in a couple small pots in my home office. I’d read that it can take weeks or even months for them to properly root and begin developing new pads. And even though they typically flower in the spring – with fruit following a bit after that – I didn’t expect to have any flowers or fruit this year given the root system won’t be robust until later in the summer. So I was quite surprised when both started growing new pads within a few days of being planted, and one of them flowered by the third week! Here are a few pictures: Still waiting to see if the

SpaceX ISS Docking Simulator

Posted on May 21, 2020May 21, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in General, Science, Technology

I’ve been following SpaceX closely for a while now, and continue to be excited about the innovation we’ll see from a growing and competitive private space sector. I still watch nearly all their rocket launches live, and remember getting goosebumps when they landed a first stage for the first time in history on December 21st, 2015. For that one, I was in Thailand with my wife, and she thought I was completely nuts to plan our morning around watching a live rocket launch (it was actually quite convenient with the time difference, at around 9:30am). I’d watched all the previous failures (calibration exercises?), and until they succeeded, many didn’t think it was possible. Next week will hopefully be an exciting

A few thoughts after being remotely diagnosed with COVID-19

Posted on April 9, 2020April 9, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in General, Ideas, Politics

This past Sunday I woke up and did not feel well. I had a slight headache, some body aches, and was generally tired. I went about my morning routine with the kids, and within half an hour my headache was worse, and I developed cold chills and a mild dry cough. When I took a deep breath, I felt a bit of pressure in my chest. My wife and I quickly arranged for me to be isolated in our basement, and I got in bed and took my temperature, which was 102° F. On paper, I had most of the COVID-19 symptoms, so I called my primary care doctor’s office, and was routed to MGH’s COVID-19 line. I went through

Iranian Spider-Tailed Viper

Posted on February 25, 2020February 26, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in General, Nature, Science

I recently came across this great example of evolutionary mimicry, where this viper has a tail that it can make to look like a walking spider. It moves it back and forth to trick birds into thinking there’s a spider to eat, and then you can imagine what happens next:

Music As An Uncorrelated Investment

Posted on January 14, 2020January 14, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in Economics, General, Music

I recently came across this article – The Man Who’s Spending $1 Billion to Own Every Pop Song – and found it to be fascinating. It’s about a former music manager turned “crazy” (bold?) music investor, who’s buying up the rights to thousands of hit songs from artists like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars at what most industry experts consider to be irrational valuations. It’s a bit long, but the whole thing is worth a read if you enjoy following the music industry. As a preview, here are a few highlights: In less than three years, Hipgnosis has purchased nearly 7,500 songs, more than 1,000 of which have been number one hits. Mercuriadis has done eight-figure catalog deals

Books I Read in 2019

Posted on December 31, 2019December 31, 2019 by Sam Kornstein in Books, General

Here’s my list from last year, roughly grouped by how much I enjoyed them (as I did in 2016, 2017, and 2018). With two kids under two, it was tough to find as much time as I’d like to read. But I had the opportunity to re-read a few of my favorites, and I found some great new ones. Special thanks to Danielle P. for a couple spot on recommendations. Recommend 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Harari: I loved Sapiens and was excited to jump into a new Harari book. I found this one to be fun, relevant, and thought provoking. He covers a range of technological, political, and social topics, all with a helpful macro perspective on (1)

The Weight

Posted on October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 by Sam Kornstein in General, Music

I discovered this version of the Band’s song via a post on Jerry Coyne’s “Why Evolution is True” blog. It’s outstanding musically, and I’d never previously come across this “Playing for Change” song cover format where musicians all over the world perform a part, and the elements are thoughtfully stitched together in a way that keeps adding something new without ever letting the arrangement get too crowded. Interestingly, Jerry posted about it two weeks after it was published on YouTube and it only had 830 views. A month later it has almost 2.9 million. Here’s the video: If you enjoy this, it’s worth checking out some of the other “Playing for Change” songs that are recommended on YouTube.