Books on investing

The following is a list of books I recommend:

• Stan Weinstein’s Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets – this book is the best book written on investing in my opinion. It uses stage analysis. Back when it was written there was a service that provided the charts, today use charts on MSN money. I do not invest only with Stan’s Weinstein’s system but you need to be aware of it. It is technical analysis for everyone without getting to complex or too exotic.
• How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad by Bill O’Neil – Again another book I do not use exactly but it is a book that gives you the base of growth investing. There is so much information in this book that it would take all day to find a stock based on these criteria. He uses a method called CANSLIM. In fact there are canslim screeners that can help you find the best stocks today.
• Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack Schwager – This book is for inspiration. It is a series of interviews of successful traders.

These are the three best books on the subject. If you read these books you have a good base for investing, or really trading. I skipped the classics like  Benjamin Graham’s Intelligent Investor and modern inspirational books on getting rich quick , but some are worth a glance. To be honest these books are a little data, more like 1990s but I have not come across new ones that are better or more robust in information.

Using a good site investment site

The best free investing and finance site online is MSN money.  The best free tool to use is MSN stock scouter and choose the top stocks.  They rate stocks from 1 to 10 . If you uses their top ten picks to build a portfolio then this will incorporate many of the things written about in the books mentioned above.

I also use a discount broker, I use Scottrade and never had a problem with a transaction in terms of price or execution.

If you want to be a short-term trader there are a lot of software programs out there. I am more of an investor and prefer not to trade like that. Day trading and short-term trading is an art in itself.

Can you make money in the Stock market?

Yes, expect to make about 8% return.  Does that take the wind out of your sail and demotivate you to invest on your own, in anything less than an index or manged fund?  Some trader told me that same thing, years ago and I stopped trading for a while as I was so depressed. But the reality is most people do not read the books I mentioned above nor do they invest mostly in MSN’s top stocks. This is why most people do not make more money in my opinion.  If you did you could make a lot more. I have. Some people get rich in a couple of years and retire.

Over the years I have done very well in investing. Let me know your thoughts on how to invest. My key advice is read those three books and use a quantitative firms research picks like stock scouter.

Of course you could just learn Spanish but even then, it comes mildly irritating to navigate in a foreign language through techy things like the control panel. Even if you are at an advanced level in Spanish technical computer terms become hard to understand.

The solution for changing your language in Windows

Use the following program to change your XP, Vista or Window 7 language.  Vistalizator will change the display language. You can use speech recognition and translators and all the good things that comes with Windows for free. This is a legal way to change your operating system’s language.

• Download the actual program first.
• The install the windows language pack in the target language you are looking to use, most likely English, this is on the website clearly marked. It is very easy do not be intimidated.
• When you are running the set up of Vistalizator simply add an additional language.
• 

  How to change Windows display language

  This is it. That is all you have to do and you will be able to use all the normal functions of Windows in every way in English or whatever,  language you choose.

Windows alternative for linguistic display

You have two options:

• Linxus will have every language and run faster – Of course there is another alternative, that is simply use Linux in the language of your choice for free. You will be all set. I have used it and love it. However, since I have a legal copy of Windows there is no reason to really use it.
• Use Firefox browser and use plug-ins and open office in your language - basically most of your work can be done with the browsers so you rarely will need to read the Windows display language.  It is a work around. I use FireFox, WordPress, Paint.net, Open office etc. so why do I really need to care about my Windows display language too much.

Buying a computer in another language and country

Why would you ever want to buy a computer in another language, is it now always cheaper in the USA? No always at all. All computers are made in China. These are shipped around the world to either the EU or USA or other major trading blocs. Prices now are all about the same. However, at times with local currency fluctuations computers are often much cheaper in other countries.

Another factor is if you want to ship a computer from the States it will cost you.

Another reason you might want an operating system in a foreign language is it is a good way to learn the language. Really, I teach English and the level of IT guys English language level is above other professions because they work in this foreign language all day long. I run Windows in Polish as you pick up a lot of words, minus the initial adjustment phase.

Further, you might want to buy your computer in a foreign country and run Widows 7 because the local store will give you a warranty. I mean to return my English Windows laptop I would have to fly back to Bestbuy in the USA. Here I take my foreign language OS computer to the local equivalent of BestBuy.

Let me know if the Vistalizator Windows language translation program works for you. Also let me know if you are in a situation that you want to switch your OS language.

Why I know how to pack my suitcase?

I would say I am an experienced traveler. I am an American that has lived or traveled to about 3 dozen countries, have a couple of passports and speak a handful of languages.  I now live in Poland.  It is not that I am anyone special. I am not. I just love to travel and have a sense of adventure. And yes I am married and have a family and a job. How do I do it? I make it work some how and my family does not seem to mind. They go along as we are a team.  Am I rich? No, or at least not yet. You can travel the world on a shoe string if you really want to.

Pack light and you will enjoy your trip more.

What I pack when I pack for a long trip

When I started to travel my packing was based on how much I could put into two suitcases. I remember when I traveled to Russia I even jammed a protein bar with 34 grams of protein for every day I would be there, if I could not get enough to eat. Boy I was a rookie.

Life is an adventure pack light and your will enjoy your trip

This is what I pack for anything over two weeks. Lets say I could even move to the country I am traveling to if I had to.

• Laptop
• Electrical adapter as  modern laptops only need the prong head not a full converter.
• Copy of all travel documents and credit cards etc. or you can just write the information down on one sheet.
• About 500 dollars cash and about 50 dollars in the local currency. I also use a bank machine and have not had a problem on the five continents I have traveled to.
• seven pairs of underwear, that t-short, boxers and socks.
• one bathing suit – I do not bring gym clothes anymore as when you are travelling you do enough walking and can do push ups and sit ups in your under wear if you really want to in your room.
• two pairs of jeans, one of which I wear. You can replace this with one pair of shorts if you are going somewhere warm.
• Digital Camera
• Vitamins. I think something like the Vitamin shoppe daily 3 is good. Before the trip I take about two weeks worth of probiotic.  I have only taken antibiotics in my once in my whole life and I really did not need it, I wanted to try it. I use probiotic and in emergencies I eat a couple of bulbs of garlic. I would take it, just never needed it, thank God.
• Sunblock SPF 50+ for my face
• One bar of natural soap from Whole Foods, something that will last and I can use for my hair and body and it strong but natural.  Since I cleaned up my diet I have not needed deordorant. Really.
• Dental Floss and tooth-brush and natural tooth paste, nail clippers. If your a woman you need a couple of girly things.
• One pair of high quality running or hiking shoes, I wear this and do not take a second pair. I would rather spend a few hundred dollars on the best pair and use it all the time then two pairs of discount shoes.
• A couple of climbing shirts. These are shirts that breath in summer and keep you warm in winter.
• A real map, not twenty print outs from Google maps or a GPS. Keep it simple a map.
• Good hat for protection from the sun. And sun glasses if your glasses do not have UV protection.
• I can not think of anything else

• 

  Pack light and you will have more fun

What I do not bring when traveling

• Anything you have back home you can buy in your traveling country and at a fraction of the price in many cases so do not worry.
• Cell phone. Do not need it, I have Skype on my laptop and can call the world. What about in emergencies? No such thing. It is easier to deal with people face to face than try to talk on a cell phone. If you are travelling to meet people, such as if you are single, then OK. But I do not like to be plugged in on vacation.
• Dress clothes. Jeans and a nice shirt, if you are a man or woman does fine. You can substitute one pair of jeans for a pair of khakis
• Creams and lotions and beauty stuff that fills my bathroom back home. I think it is good to take a break from your normal routine, even if its three months.
• Razor, I just do not shave on vacation, its more fun.
• Books – well maybe one good one, but I prefer to see and experience more than read.
• Travel guides. A lot are pure junk written by people who sometimes have not been there or at least in years. I live in Krakow and I read reviews on restaurants that do not make sense. When you get there it is a lot more fun to use your wits and brains and figure out and explore by yourself. You can read up on it when you get back home to fill in the gaps.

How do you pack for a trip? What does your checklist consist of? Do you think this is packing light? With the above mentioned I can live away from the USA indefinitely. In fact when I came to Poland for my vacation, that is all I had and I have been here for years.

The problem is they all leave me feeling empty. No definite answer on the quickest web browser, just a lot of details on the features and standards and tech jargon, talk about bench marks for browser quickness under different conditions. But what if you’re an average guy running some version of Windows and does not have loads of special needs and you have a reasonable Internet speed and a modern computer, not something from the dark ages like 2001, what is the best browser for speed?

I have tried most Browsers and tested them on the gamut of different OS. I have a two strong opinions.

• Although you will not notice any huge difference between the latest and greatest versions of  web browsers as they have all come a long way, one is fastest.  In fact, these tests for me depend on the speed of my Internet that day and exogenous variables from test to test. I tested the browsers and got different speeds so many times that I decided the best way to test it was just see how they feel to me. Come on the differences now are in milliseconds.
• I have one browser that performs the best for me, and that includes speed.

Here is my ranking of speed tested on my DSL Internet connection. It is a comparison of browsers for speed when you strip off all the plug-ins and add-ons and just run the browser for Google searches.

Fastest browser

1. Mozilla Firefox – I have  tried to dethrone this but it still is the fastest. Maybe I am emotionally tied to this one but it is fast. Try it yourself.  If I load it with plug-ins and it is a cold start then, it takes more time but Firefox, is the fastest browser. It works best on Linux but on Windows it is still king. It is of course open source free. If you do not use this just try one search and you will see.
2. Opera – the newest version is fast and free. It is really good. It might be even as fast as Firefox. I have to recheck this again. I would highly recommend a comparison between these two browsers.
3. Chrome – light weight and uses less resources than even Firefox, somehow I am still on Firefox. I have Google everything already.
4. Safari – I like it but I think it is best optimized for the Mac and lots of Apple whistles and bells on it.
5. Internet Explorer – on Windows 7 this runs like the rest of them with the newest release but I am still using Firefox as it seemed faster

There are others like Lunascape (I like the look and speed of this but did not give it enough chance to see if the claims (JavaScript tests) were correct, but on my test Firefox still was faster) and Konquerer (more Linux) that are also good.  Netscape is gone, why do people still talk about it. Therefore, I would give the world’s fastest browser award to Mozilla Firefox, with Opera close behind. I purposely kept this article short as if you are looking for speed, I imagine that you are looking to browse without waiting, you do not want a 3 page article.

You can not teach anyone a language

The biggest mistake teachers make is assuming the responsibility is on them. Wrong. The student has to teach themselves. This is why so many people complain they never learned anything in language classes. They have this expectation that someone will put a language in their brain while they sit back.

You must tell your students this on day one. You must tell them clearly that it is their responsibility alone to learn English or any other foreign language and that it will take patience and work. Also tell them that there is no such person as a language genius. Only people who have an interest in studying.

You are not writing an English language book

Do not feel you have to hand prepare every lesson and print everything you can from the Internet for your special student. Why? There are people who write books for a living, grammar, vocabulary and all. If you think you can do a better job, than you should write a book, but do not waste your energy making special lessons for your students. You are here as their private English tutor and not to create a tutorial with full lesson plans and write a book for them.  I know this sounds hard but I know what I am talking about. Students have huge expectation and will drain you.  First day tell them they have to buy this book.  Make them buy a book.  I like Murphy’s grammar for English language students.

Give lots of homework

If you want students to learn pile on the homework. If they do not do it during class give them a really disappointed look and do it during class. Waste their time because they are wasting yours by not doing what you asked. They all have lame excuses. Simply say do these 3 chapters. During the start of the class do not go over every exercises only the ones they look like they do not understand. After which you must make them explain the rule to you, not you explain the rule to them. Them teaching you is more effective.

If they complain they are not learning, give them more homework. Almost all language students are like to whine. They have to understanding teaching and learning come down to the student studying. Class is just cream and fun where they can practice what they taught themselves.

If they speak advanced or upper intermediate English then teach them like you learned English in high school.  Give them reading and writing assignments from classic literature and have the discuss it in class.

If they need help achieving comprehension make them listen to the radio in English one hour a day. I use to make free English MP3s for download on my website for each student on the words they are learning.  But I do not as the students start to get demanding and needy and expect you to do it. Therefore, I just refer them to a professional disk or the radio. And yes I think radio is better than movies.

Learn English by teaching

You are a native speaker. Do not expect to know every rule. If you do not know the rule ask them to research it. In fact I make my students teach me grammar. They learn by teaching.

English language conversation lessons

Most of your lessons should consist of fun English language conversation. They could pay a non-native speaker to teach them useless things like the perfect tense. You as a native speaker should ask them about 25 questions during your hour with them.  I give my students an hour not some lame 45 minute or 50 minute class. You should just fire them off and let them speak. You should not speak too much, they should.

Speak slowly and clearly and relaxed, not like a NYC fast slangy talker with idioms they will not understand. You want to build their linguistic confidence. You are really a language coach.

Again you are not teaching them, you are having conservation and fun with them and correcting every or almost every mistake they make. They are really looking for practice as they had enough grammar on the perfect tenses in school. Find everything you can from movies to radio programs and video games to get them engaged in learning English. Your role is to build their confidence and make them enjoy learning so they are motivated to do their homework and keep studying with pleasure.

Keys to teaching English

• tell them they have to teach themselves the English language
• make them get a book and do homework about 1 to 3 chapters a week
• class should involve about 20% grammar and 80% fun but corrective conversation
• make them listen to the radio one hour a night if they need help with pronunciation or comprehension

If you have any questions let me know.  I also wrote this guide if you have not seen it, how to learn English fast. I teach English now only for fun.

Learning a language takes work

It takes blood sweat and tears. If you are new to America or learning the language of the Americans, British or Irish in a foreign country do not expect gain without pain. Many of my students over the years tell me they do not talent for languages. I tell them I have taught maybe 1000s of students from tutoring to the university level and it comes down to work.  I never meet a language genius in all my years of teaching. It is a fairy-tale or an exception you should not worry about. You need to focus on doing the work.

To learn English fast use a time machine

Please skip all the high-tech methods of YouTube and iPhone apps. I have never meet anyone to really learn a language this way. Why? It’s too chaotic and cluttered and for people with ADD.  You need to go back to the 1930s or 1940s.  That is the time of radio, books, flashcards and records (well now digital audio files).

• Buy a grammar book. I recommend Muphy’s grammar. He has English grammar in three levels, beginner, intermediate and advanced. Sit on this book and do the exercises over and over. Learn, then practice explaining the grammar to yourself in the mirror. That is teach to learn.
• Make flashcards on 3″ x 5″ index cards and learn about 20 words a day. Once you learn them, activate them by playing games with them with your friends with them
• Find audio files or get your neighbor to download a program called Audacity and record phrases for you. You need to learn basic words and phrases.  In the old days people use to listen to records in linguistic labs. They would memorizes entire sentences and dialogues without even knowing the meaning. I recommend this. Yes this is shocking but you re going to make to memorizes a lot until the language comes out of your ears.
• Listen to the radio in English. This is 100 times better than movies. Movies you can get visual clues and never really press your brain to understand the English but rather just watch the movie.  It is too passive. To learn English fast listen to the radio.
• Go to the Gutenberg project and download English language Audio mp3 free of classic works of literature. These are free and read by native speakers. Start with easy books by authors like L. Frank Baum.

The most important is doing book work. Then maybe listening to the radio.  If I had to learn English fast I would listen to the radio maybe 5 hours a day until my head hurt.

If you can afford a tutor in Gumtree and Craigslist there are many cheap ESL tutors.  Online there are may free tutorials but I prefer the 1930s approach of learning with books and radio. It’s more focused and people studied this way in the past and it worked. Let me know if you have any questions, or additional input on how to learn English fast, I have many ideas that have worked for my students.

Why give up your car

• Give up your auto and lose weight. The factor most correlated with obesity is the amount of time you spend in your car. This is more than diet or anything else. If you spend 2 hours a day in your car you will be fatter than if you do not have a car. I walk everywhere.
• Lose your car and save money on the gym, lose weight.
• Have no car and save money on auto insurance – you will pay nothing for car insurance. Nothing, and over 15 years that is a lot of money.
• Sell your wheels and make money on the sale – you can convert this cash into an active investment and not a depreciating asset.
• If you give up your vehicle you will not care about oil prices.
• Expenses for mechanics and repairs can be spent on other things like vacations.
• Rent a car for a weekend if you need to get somewhere ride a bike.
• Having no car is good for the environment if you care. Less pollution in the world and dependence on foreign oil.
• Not having a car has many other benefits
• Car insurance not needed

Give up your car and you will be healthy wealthy and wise

I have not had a car in over 15 years and I am fine. I travel the world, have a family and have extra money and in good shape without going to the gym. By giving up my car I do not have to worry about the financial crisis as I do not have any debts or worries or expenses. At most if I had no job and income I would rent a small flat and that would be my only expense. If you have any reasons not to give up your car write me, I would be curious to hear your ridiculous reasons for having a car.

You do not really need to learn to give up your car, rather, you just do it.  I know a guy who sold his car, house and business in ten days and moved to a foreign country.  You do not have to learn, just do it and you will see how easy it will be.

I teach the English language and I would not say I am the world’s best writer. However, I recently discovered a tool that helps my spelling, grammar and style.  If you want to learn how to improve your writing in English and other languages fast, I have the idea for you.

Learn to write by studying your mistakes as they happen

I would highly recommend a free tool or Firefox plugin to  improve your writing called After the Deadline. This writing improvement thingy can help you in the following languages,  English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. If you are trying to speak Spanish, it will give put you Spanish learning on the fast track for development. I use it simply to write in English on my blogs, and it is embarrassing. It sees all the mistakes, especially in terms of writing style, I have made.

Learn how to improve your writing fast

The idea is simple, it will check things like grammar and style. This tool will give your writing a boost by showing your mistakes and why they are wrong.

Learning is about surrendering your ego

When you first use it, it will annoyed you. It might suggest that you to use less complex language or that you refrain from passive voice constructions. You might resist, however, do not.  I have read a lot of books on writing well.  They all say the same things and this writing tool has incorporated these ideas.

Further it will force you to proof read your writing. It is your personal writing coach or editor. I think one of the secrets to writing conveyed by William Zinsser and E. B. White is writing is about revising and checking over and over.

It will also make you a more aware writer. You will see words have meaning. To know this theoretically is one thing, but to learn to apply it is another. After then Deadline is a stern task master but think of it as free writing lessons.

Therefore, it is a much faster way to enhance your writing than the traditional method of taking English classes or reading books on the subject. It gives you instant feedback and shows you specific ways you can improve, rather than some linguistic theory.

What After the Deadline will coach you on

• Contextual Spell Checking
• Advanced Style Checking
• Intelligent Grammar Checking
• Custom Dictionary and custom rules

I would recommend you download it from their site,  learn to write. It is so simple you do not need a tutorial, just start writing. Below are some of the options you can use. I use them all.

Options for improving your writing

You will write better than reading lots of articles on the web or books on writing well.  It’s the fast way to learn. I believe that everyone has creativity. The real trick to creating is to put ideas on paper in a clear, crisp style.

Please let me know if you are trying to learn to write. I teach and study languages and I am always interested in people’s experiences.

What subject makes a good tutorial on YouTube – languages no, programs yes

I am a language teacher and a tech consultant and teacher. This is my perspective based on my experience.  I think YouTube is great for learning computer software programs. However, YouTube is horrible for learning languages. In fact, it mildly annoys me when someone creates a basic video for say learning French or Spanish. In almost all cases the instructional Spanish video will be basic words and not systematic enough or put in the whole context of the languages. It will not teach you anything and is just for marketing something else to tempt you to get people to go to their website. Therefore, for languages YouTube is not the place to learn, but for techy things it is.

Computer software videos are produced by techies. In the tech world there is a big spirit of open source. Programs from WordPress to Open office are professional programs produced for free. This mentality extends to the tutorial world.  Even me I make tech tutorials for free but I sell language programs.

Cost of learning

I am a techy geek. One of the things about being into technology is you need to constantly keep up to date.  The problem is computer books are usually about 34 dollars, taking a programming class costs about 800 dollars.  In my opinion this is a lot of money. Further, I have a lot of books on programming I have not read. I like the idea of reading compared to the Internet, but it does not seem to happen, I do not read much except for fiction at the end of the evening. Therefore, to learn how to use a new software application or anything, whether it be how to create a iPhone app or something connected to CSS, I usually turn to YouTube to learn most efficiently.

YouTube more interesting than class

The Internet has an addictive quality to it. In theory attending a class or reading a book is the best way to learn, however, most techy geeks are somewhat hooked on the Internet, and to leave this brick and mortar enviroment to learn a new programming language.  I think YouTube is much more interesting than class. Further, you can take breaks whenever you like or skip ahead to parts of tutorials you might already know. You can further go back and play a part over and over.

Searching YouTube videos for learning

One of the biggest issues with YouTube is that it takes time to find a good usable tutorial. Many YouTube videos are very lame, even the ones that are professionally produced often are not well done as they have too long introductions or not enough meat. He is my screening criteria for finding a YouTube programming lesson.

• Image of the video is my first determinate criteria. In the quality and lighting is anything less than high quality, then I will not consider it.
• Length of the video. If it is long it is usually good. It sounds to simple but this is my experience. Further you can skip over the parts you do not like. It irritates me when a video is in 14 small parts. I prefer one long quality production.
• Who does the videos.  People who are not selling anything produce the best videos. They might be selling something very subtle like a service on their website, but not overtly. Also something not produced by a professor, but a common sense useful practical study on your subject by users.

How fast can you learn using videos

I am reviewing two Android developement videos, each about 45 minutes in length. This is enough to get be started on Andriod development. I think with about 90 minutes of any videos on YouTube you have a good introduction to your target subject. In my opinion you could sit in the bath and watch videos in this time and it is one of the most painless methods of learning something fast.

My method for studying a foreign language

I have a simple method for studying a foreign language that has worked for me. That is flashcards. Not Rosetta Stone or nine hours of audio files, nor sitting in language classes, but simple flashcards.  For me real physical paper or note card foreign language flashcards work the best for me.

When I learned Polish I made my own. Below is the actual box of flashcards I created to learn Polish. I have some for French and Spanish also.

flashcards for foreign language learning

If make your own flashcards I would focus on learning verbs over nouns. Concrete nouns are the easiest words to learn. However, language by its nature is abstract. You need to learn abstract words and these are verbs and conjunctions and a few adjectives. Do not worry about learning words like window and cat. These are fun and easy words to learn but how often does a guy on the street talk about these. Is not a verb like ‘go’ or ‘take’ more important? Is not a word like ‘but’ or ‘although’ higher frequency? Really the verbs are were the action takes place in a sentence and if you understand the action you can understand a foreign language.

Why flashcards work

What is needed to learn anything from linguistics to your times tables, is testing and retesting your knowledge so your brain gets in the habit of recalling the information in a flash when needed. It needs to be drilled in over and over again. You need to create a good and bad pile for your cards. When you know a word well put it in with the good words you have learned. If you are only 50-50 put it at the bottom of the bad pile.

Keep doing this until you know the words. I do not care if you are good with languages or not, you will learn the foreign language vocabulary. Once your vocabulary is up to a few thousand words, you will be speaking your target language. Even if you do not feel you have a gift for languages.

Try it and you will see. Work smart and be patient. As a teacher of languages I think the biggest mental barrier to overcome is lack of patience. You have to set your expectations that it takes some work and practice and no one just speaks a language because they are gifted.  Believe me I teach students all day long and I have not seen language geniuses, only those who want to learn.

Once you are a the advanced level I recommend reading novels in a foreign language to increase fluency, but until you are at the advanced level try my method.

• Learn about two-hundred verbs really well and that is about all you need to get yourself speaking and understanding a language. The focus on abstract words until you know about two0thousand words total. Nouns you will pick up anyway.
• Use flashcards for self learn a language, as it forces you to recall words you have stored in your memory.
• This is my biggest advice for learning a foreign language by yourself, have patience.

Let me know your method for learning a foreign language and your experiences if you have had any.