New website for cold fusion product purveyor

The website is here. The one mentioned in the previous post is by another guy who said Rossi had withdrawn approval for the site he developed. See the site for details.

A 1 MW heat plant based on 'cold fusion' -- now on sale!

I thought I'd have seen something in the mainstream media on this subject by now, but I only just found a note in a techincal magazine I get, Network World.

This Italian researcher, Andrea Rossi, has come up with a (relatively) low-temp fusion reactor system that he's bundled into a product now for sale: a 1 MW heat-producing plant. A 5-kW home version is supposed to be available by 2013.

Detail on his website ... oh baby!

Tech talk videos from the University of Washington

I'm currently in graduate school at the University of Washington, enrolled in their Professional Master's Program in Computer Science.

One program requirement is for us participants to attend seminars (or watch the archives of such
seminars on the Internet). I've now seen 62 of the 64 required by the program, and here are my few favorites:

• Sex, Lies and Video Games: The Truth about Females and Computing by Dr. Maria Klawe
• Robotic Cars: Challenges and Perspectives by Dr. Sebastian Thrun
• On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computer Science Redux by Dr. Owen Astrachan
• Never Work for a Stanford Student Again, by Glenn Kelman

Not to say there isn't a lot more valuable stuff in this archive (all open to the public), but these four are the ones that I just found particularly fun to watch.

Options Trading Bibliography and Web Site

I've been mostly trading options, after an initial bit of trend following during the big uptrend
of 2009.

There are a couple of beginner's options trading books who both have fervent adherents and
detractors:

• Options Demystified, by Thomas McCafferty
• Options Made Easy, by Guy Cohen

Try both of these and go with the one you like best.

Here are a list of the books I've found most helpful.

• Volatile Markets Made Easy, by Guy Cohen
• Protective Options Strategies, by Ernie Zerenner and Michael Chupka
• Profiting with Iron Condor Options, byt Michael Hanania Benklifa

The strategies described in the Cohen and Zerenner/Chupka books can be used in any type market; the Iron Condor strategy is best suited to calmer and less volatile markets than we've had lately.

Ernie Zerenner and cohorts also run a web site called Power Options that I find worth the price ($80/month). It has features to search for (potentially) profitable strategies for you and do the calculations and profit/loss graphs, etc. (accurately). It even has a feature to 'one click trade' connecting to your brokerage, if you use one of the ones they support.

Here's wishing you happy and profitable trading ...

Beginning Traders: Reading List and A couple of Brokerages

If you're just getting ready to trade, here are two books I'd fervently suggest you start with before you actually start trading:

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp. If there's a flaw in this book, it's that he makes trading look too easy. But he's excellent on 'position sizing', which is the sizing of each trade to make sure your maximum loss is something manageable (like 1 or 2% of your total trading account).

Trading for a Living, by Dr. Alexander Elder. This gentleman gives you more of an idea what you're up against when you start to trade (the whole world!) and is not just a trader but a psychologist. His analysis of the reason that paper trading isn't really such good practice for real trading is particularly fascinating.

That being said, it's helpful to learn the mechanics of trading before risking real money. For that reason, most online brokerages will let you paper trade (some call it virtual trading) to see how their systems work. But once again, you won't see how your internal systems work until you are risking real money on a trade.

Two brokerages I have used are OptionsXpress and ThinkOrSwim. Each will allow paper/virtual trading. But beware: OptionsXpress's 'profit/loss calculator' is not always accurate; I'm not sure about ThinkOrSwim, but I think it's more accurate in this respect. If you don't like either of these, the "woods are full of them." Try another!

Aspiring traders: Background Bibliography

I started trading during the 2008 financial crisis, as I was tired of being just a cork in the financial ocean. I've discussed this with several people and have promised to put a list of books to read up for general perusal. This first list is background, focussing not on the nuts and bolts of trading but the financial system in general and some larger than life (successful and unsuccessful) traders.

Here's the list:

• When Genius Failed: The Fall of Long Term Capital Management, by Roger Lowenstein
• Fooled by Randomness by Nicholas Nassim Taleb
• The Big Short by Michael Lewis
• The Quants by Scott Patterson
• The Myth of the Rational Market, by Justin Fox

As well as giving a sense of how the financial markets function (and blow up!) these are all enjoyable reads as well.