My best ten bucks ever spent was last night for a ticket to a cover of Led Zeppelin II at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino. The Mike Mackenzie Band paid tribute with select pieces recorded 50 years ago in addition to this album which most likely launched Zeppelin into super stardom. The huge take away from the evening was the affirmation that there are superb musicians amongst us today that are undiscovered and perhaps even under appreciated. MacKenzie’s vocals are stellar. He played lead while absolutely matching the high pitch of Robert Plant. The acoustics of the venue were good in spite of encountering subtle feedback from keyboards. Mackenzie turned to an old faithful he’s performed with past projects, The Rover from Physical Graffiti. Other standouts included Ramble On and Killing Floor. Killing Floor was one of those 1969 releases which showcased the talent of John Paul Jones on bass. The bass player last night can easily be excused for any misses given the complexity. What Mackenzie may be missing in soloing prowess, he makes up for with versatility and chord voicings.
A standout in the set’s second half was “No Quarter”. I just
love the keyboard intro and the subtlety of this song. It takes good unrushed
time in order to pull this one off and apparently the keys player is new to
this Mackenzie ensemble.
Notable omissions were “Kashmir”, “Dazed and Confused”, and “Since
I’ve Been Loving You”.
The merchandise sales lady referenced a formal jazz
education by Mackenzie right here at Mount Royal College here in Calgary. The man has stage presence and puts the
audience at ease with his charisma. With
Bonham’s death, Page and Plant espoused that nobody could take the place of the
legendary drummer. Well, the rhythm section last night was great support and in
fact such confidence was bestowed the drummer that he performed his own solo.
The rhythm guitarist pitched in admirably with adept acoustic pieces.
That’s Trudeau folks. Our Prime Minister is as corrupt (SNC Lavalin – evidence is clear) as Donald Trump (election interference – evidence is clear). Your first world ideals are under attack by ambivalent weak leadership, right now. Your only hope in a democracy is your vote. You stand for the ideals of individual autonomy or socialism. You stand for pay based on merit or income redistribution. You stand for reduced taxes or increased taxes. You stand for strong law enforcement or weak law enforcement. You stand for fiscal prudence or deficits and debt. You stand for limited government or an overbearing one. You condone corrupt activity with your vote or you do not. If you believe in you, vote conservative. If you’re compelled to turn to the state for your needs, vote otherwise.
I write this piece having brushed up on my formal derivatives training from 20 years ago. What are options, leaps, and time value? These are fancy terms associated with an alternative form of investing. One discovers new terminology while venturing out into a potential land mine without due diligence. I went to a weekend seminar last summer to reacquaint myself with options and found the weekend valuable. It’s a year later, and I put some capital to work. I had successfully recovered my weekend training fees by fulfilling “the required” in the market and submitting proof of my trades.
Margin accounts have authorization levels. You’ll start out
by going long on calls and puts only. The closer your “strike price” is to
being “in the money”, the more you’ll pay in premium. Obviously less risk
entails purchasing calls or puts closer to the market price at inception.
Then there is time value. The more time until option expiry,
the lesser the risk. You start to see the moving parts involved with options.
This is why no investment advisor wants you in them. They think you lack the
capacity to absorb the variables in placing option trades. So, what are LEAPS?
These are options which have a time value of one year plus. You’ve all seen
stock charts right. The line graphs move up and down and oftentimes in a
pattern. What if you projected that pattern outward while giving yourself lots
of “time value” for forgiveness? You are not in options because you’ve been
taught that risk is bad. I’m here to say that when you eliminate all risk, you
can only expect a meagre return. There is actually an opportunity cost in not
at least keeping up to “actual inflation”. Your investment advisor does not
want to be proclaimed as a conduit of your options losses. Therefore, you need
to direct these investments yourself. However; this would take some time in
learning, researching, and acting on your own behalf on your own account.
Interested?
I enjoy story lines that develop at the WSOP. What’s that
you ask? It’s the World Series of Poker. From late May to early July every
year, sixty or so tournaments “unfold” culminating in the “Main Event” which
has a $10,000 buy in. Who can afford
that right? Well not many…so “staking” has become a thing. You can put your
money on a player and ride his coat tails. This has been done for decades but
not formally through a website until recently.
Then about five years ago, the “poker vlogging” phenomenon emerged.
Players started video taping their results from their poker sessions and then
posting the footage on Youtube. It became a way to get some hand histories
while learning and also take in the Vegas nightlife over the net.
Fast forward to 2019 with thousands of vlog subscribers now
interested in staking their Vegas friend in the main event through access to a
web portal in order to execute the deal. You guessed it. The volume of traffic
was so overwhelming today that the technology could not cope.
What if your business experienced the same kind of
phenomenon because of the following you develop through personal affiliation
arising from social media content? Could you “break the internet” too?
