Nigel's Musings....
Trader • Dancer • Tinkerer • Investor • Business Manager and your Emergency Project Manager
Getting Angry At For-profit Companies Is Dumb
A group of like-minded people that band together in the pursuit of a common goal is, generally speaking, considered a normal thing. No one bats an eye at the PTA or a political party. But, when those people band together to form a for-profit corporation that is immensely successful, it’s suddenly evil. And people act…
PANDEMIC: In Defense Of Amazon
Scrolling through my Facebook feed today I came upon a viral post that urged users to not shop at Amazon and to, instead, shop directly at the retailers stores in order to deprive Bezos and Amazon of additional revenue. Which made me realize that the majority of Americans (and even non-Americans) really really don’t appreciate…
Quick Take: The Bullish Case For Flex Office Space
Recently I’ve seen a lot of articles about how the demand for office space has dried up as companies continue to let their employees work from home. I agree with this view. However, I think that coupled with the lower demand for traditional office space will be an increase in demand for flex office space…
HIGHER prices in an era of LOWER demand?
As consumers slowly crawl out of lock-down there is going to be a spike in demand for all kinds of things. Cars, restaurants, movies etc. And prices will likely be the same as it was before as businesses try to get back to “usual”. Once that spike eases though, that’s when things get real. With…
Buffet, Oil Prices, The Economy And More
In the 2008 financial crisis Warren Buffet famously made a bet on the US economy by doing one of his largest acquisitions at the time – purchasing a US railroad. In the midst of all that chaos he saw opportunity and pounced on it. He believed that the US economy was the best on the…
Business Idea: A “touch and feel” Super Store. Or Mall.
I’m in the market for a new laptop. But I am the type of person that likes to touch and feel major electronics purchases before I commit – especially something that is as personal as a laptop computer. There are three places in Chicago where you can play with laptops – MicroCenter, Best Buy and…
Corona Virus: What Does a 3% Mortality Rate Really Mean?
By all accounts, the “Corona” Virus is a very contagious pathogen with an estimated death rate of “only” 3%. But, what does that really translate to? Lets assume that, in the United States, 30% of the population gets infected over the next 6 months. That is more than 100 million people. 3% of that number…
WordPress Business Idea: A Deployment And Management Panel Plugin
There has been a rise in WordPress focused managment panels based on an SAAS model. Two of the companies operating in this area are GridPane and SpinupWP. The idea is simple – instead of using a dedicated WordPress host such as WPEngine, you can create your own sites on cheap VMs provided by Digital Ocean,…
BlockChain Business Idea: No-Code Apps For BlockChain
The blockchain development eco-system is young and rapidly evolving. One of the missing ingredients for rapid adoption is tools for easy use by the masses – the equivalent of a spreadsheet for the rank-and-file. Other than wallets, tools today seem geared towards developers and large enterprises. But as history has shown time and again, things…
Economic and Cultural Systems Based on Absolutes Will Fail
My Facebook feed is filled with statements of absolutes. “Capitalism is bad” and must be eradicated. “Socialism is evil” and must never be allowed to take hold in the United States. Has it ever occurred to anyone posting that drivel that the best system might be a blend of the two? So for those curious…
A Simple Breakdown Of A 3.8 Trillion Dollar Budget
The proposed budget for the United States for 2020-2021 is more than 3.8 Trillion dollars. With that, we have a large number of politicians and citizens who believe we need more tax revenue. I vehemently disagree with this stance. Somehow, a country of 360 million people cannot survive on 3.8 TRILLION dollars? That works out…
“No-code” Apps Might Need Some Code
The “no-code” app space has exploded recently, primarily because of the publicity around Google’s purchase of Appsheet. Between that and my recent awareness of GlideApps, I have been keeping a closer eye on more of these no-code products – especially the ones that are not pure website builders. One thing that leaps out every time…
