Adrian's Science Blog

A “short squeeze” is an adversarial trading technique where a firm buys a stock that another firm has shorted. When the stock price subsequently rises, the short seller must buy back the stocks it shorted at a higher price (further boosting the price). The results in a positive feedback loop, ultimately meaning huge losses for the short seller (and gains for the attacker) [1][2] This is an advanced market manipulation technique used by large hedge funds to screw each other over, mostly because the aforementioned feedback loop requires a lot of capital to trigger. However, in January 2021, a small group of retail investors rocked the market by successfully short squeezing GameStop (GME), resulting in major losses for high profile hedge funds. [6] This group of investors congregated on r/wallstreetbets, a brash Reddit forum dedicated to risky investments [11] . In early January, forum leaders noticed many hedge funds had huge short positions on GME. Realizing the possibility of a short s...

  Hi all, please enjoy a small selection of poems. -Adrian Procrastination Station Train is here Whistle's blowing All have sat no longer stowing Earbuds in Mellow static Shifting seats eyes erratic Table down Laptop on Were still stopped Must go on No no no Conductor calls Sorry folks We must stall Why why why Says man beside me Conductors balks Why so whiny? Meeting soon... I can't be late We'll cut it close At this rate But Time flies by And All still still I must move it by sheer will I huff and puff My knuckles crack Why so hard? This train has tracks? I hang my head Been here all day What to do? I still should stay Or catch the next? A real temptation Shouldn't have stopped At Procrastination Station Tools for Minds I miei strumenti sono le mie mani, Le mie mani sono la mia mente, La mia mente è il mio "io" Ergo io sono lo strumento A stay from chaos a moment of stay the chaostic play Faustian throes throw me lonely and Frostian forests just comfort the ...

“I can ride my bike with no handlebars. No handlebars... No handlebars” What is meditation and why should you try it? I think the answer lies in the 2005 hit song ”Handlebars” by the Flobots. To those who have heard it, this might sound like a terrible metaphor. It’s a manic, almost stressful song of self-aggrandizing delusion. It features lyrics about all the amazing things the singer can do (like “ I can make new antibiotics”, and “I can do anything with no resistance” ), interlaced with a catchy and comparatively calm hook (quoted above). However, the song (intentionally or not) perfectly describes meditation. Let me explain. Whenever I sit down to mediate, I look at a little notecard with the words “Shake the Narrative” scrawled in red sharpie. This sets my intention for the session: to quiet the constant commanding chatter of my executive mind. I try to sit for 10 minutes and stop the incessant planning, self-flagellation, and judgment. I lose control and watch what happens… in ot...

I recently started listening to a podcast called “ Start with This “. It’s about creative writing and is produced by the same guys who write “ Welcome to Nightvale “, so it’s worth a look. The show itself is pretty neat, because they explain a specific aspect of writer’s craft, but then they give you  2 assignments  to help solidify it. One assignment is for “consuming” and the other is for “creating”: Consume: They assign a story to read/watch/listen to, which is usually a good example of whatever they were talking about. Create: They assign a writing prompt or some other task that requires you to  do  whatever they were talking about. I recently listened to a great SWT episode about Agency. The purpose of this article is to briefly explain “agency” in the context of creative writing, and then to publish my attempt at the “Create” assignment, which is a writing prompt. What is Agency? Agency  is the ability of a character to freely make choices and affect the s...