Not the OP. I agree with what OP is mentioning. As part of the report you have to file the notional value of the underlying stock. Let's assume I buy one put option for palantir at a price of $1/contract ( say for an extremely OTM strike price of $10 ). I have paid a premium of $100. Assuming stock price of palantir is $200, the notional value I have to report is $200*100 = $20k. And not the $100 premium I paid.
I live in North America and use full sleeve sun hoodies for hiking in the summer. I sweat a lot but these hoodies are breathable enough that it doesn't bother me. So I need to apply sun screen only on my palms and fingers. And paired with a wide brim hat, I can get away with applying sunscreen only to the lower part of my face and neck.
Applying sunscreen to your palms? And if your still applying it to "the lower part of my face and neck" what's the savings from doing the upper at the same time (plus this will get your palms & fingers too, if that's your jam)?
I have genuinely been surprised by all the negative comments about Dan Brown and his novels. I read his novels when I was in middle/high school (in a developing country) and I loved them, especially The Da Vinci Code. I remember waiting to get my hands on it from the school library and then reading the entire novel in one sitting (which was a first for me).
It's been ages since I have read one of his books. After seeing multiple threads like this I am reluctant to read again one of his books. I am afraid that I might "overwrite/destroy" the good memories I have of the "feeling" of reading his books.
People just like to hate popular things. I also read Dan Brown's novels in high school/late middle school and remember thinking they were exciting page turners. They were never as good as most of Michael Crichton's novels, but on par or better than most of Cussler's IMO.
Maybe the prose really was repetitive and the plot banal, but it took genuine skill to write something that you physically struggle to put down.
I agree; I read them a little later in life than you and GP did (early/mid 20s), but I enjoyed them just the same. "Page-turner" is a good descriptor. I found the stories themselves to be fun and engaging, even if the writing and plots weren't the best.
"Good" is an overloaded word. We use it to mean both "enjoyable" and "well-made".
And we often confuse the two, thinking that if we enjoy something, that means it was well-made. And that if something is well-made, then we should enjoy it.
But it's not. For instance, I like the film, The Ice Pirates. It's stupid, it's cheap, and the plot doesn't quite make sense. But it's fun. I can't quite put my finger on it, but whatever is happening, it's the kind of stupid I apparently like. But I will never say it was a "good" film, in that it was well-made.
To contrast, The Fountain is a mostly well-made film. The acting, cinematography, score, visual effects, etc, are all well done. I cannot deny that. However, I loathe that movie. It is just incredibly mediocre at the end of the day. The story is just banal. It has one message, delivers it real early in the movie, and then just keeps beating that dead horse. And I can see how it's easy to get distracted by the pageantry of the film. But I cannot get over that one hump.
So, yes, Dan Brown may be a horrible writer. His books may have all the problems pointed out by the author of the article. Dan Brown may not write "good" books. That does not mean people don't like them. And it does not mean they are wrong when they do.
> I am afraid that I might "overwrite/destroy" the good memories I have of the "feeling" of reading his books.
I recently re-read Jurassic Park. What I recalled as a gripping scientifically plausible thriller when I read it as a teenager, read today as a screechy anti-science polemic nestled behind a monster movie plot.
That said, I still enjoyed reading it! It’s definitely a page-turner.
And I found that my new reaction to the book did not lessen my memory of enjoying it as a kid. In fact it led me to some contemplation of my life and how I’ve changed over time.
The book didn’t change at all, in fact it was the exact same hardcover copy I got as a gift when it came out. I came to think of it as a sort of intellectual mirror that just reflected me back at myself. I’ve gone back and read some other science fiction books I enjoyed as a kid now as well, to see what I think today.
I thought they were a fun read, but there was a widespread idea at the time that they were somehow something more than that with actual depth. The hatred is mostly a backlash against that.
I read them around the same time and they were fine. I think they are reasonable to read at around that age and when you get older you realize there’s not that much depth there.
Eh, if you like it, you like it. Unless it's hurting someone, why care about what gets people's dopamine receptors going? After all, that's why the concept of the guilty pleasure exists
Although I do agree with criticisms of his writing and have felt the same in his later books (as I was too young to feel the poor writing when I read A&D, Da Vinci Code etc.), I know that I'll get his next book when it releases.
I like that his works mention random things that you can then read about from other sources, information that are tangents to search off of. It helps that all his books are easy page-turning reads.
But yeah, about his writing, I remember the latest (Origin) having some atrocious lines
To add to that, the US tried hard to block India from getting advanced engines for use with space rockets. Initially the US wanted to sell engines to India but the cost was too high. But when India tried to make a deal with Russia, the US immediately stepped in and threatened sanctions to block the deal. This was in the 90s after the fall of the Soviet Union.
It is kind of interesting to see that even with this crazy run up in price over the past week, the PE ratio is around ~65 (for comparison Apple's PE is at ~30 and AMD is ~240). Considering the "expected growth" in AI the PE ratio doesn't seem too bad. Of course, PE ratio is just one parameter and doesn't necessarily describe the whole picture.
I also wonder whether the announced stock split is contributing to the short-term price increase (since people will expect more money to flow in once the stock is a more "accessible" ~$100).
But I do agree that overall there needs to be more repercussions. Unfortunately they are a "too big to fail" kind of company considering how critical they are to the aviation industry as a whole.
Small feedback regarding the website and the "Try Lanki for Free" heading. It makes it seem like we need pay after a trial period. But there is no pricing information I could find. Calling out the price would be helpful information
This is the first and only book of Le Guin that I have read. And I just couldn't grasp what was all the hype about this book. It could be because I was expecting a "typical" science-fiction book. Or maybe I was not mature enough when I read it. Maybe I should give it another shot now that I am older :).
I'm with you. I read it a year ago and found a lot of it dull as dishwater. And the ending very predictable. It was ok. I, like you, just don't understand the hype.
Yeah I've always found this one out of place when listed among other big classic sci fi books. It's tonally very different, slowly paced, focused on different concerns than is typical for the books it is usually grouped with. It's a great book in its own right but not a great introduction to her for people coming from or looking for sci fi.
Interesting. I've made it a point to try to make my way through the canonical sci fi greats over the years, and I'd put Left Hand of Darkness near the top. It's kind of because of that tonal difference: there's something about the way it's written (sort of anthropological / travelogue style) that makes me feel truly immersed in the culture and world being described, in a trance-like way, even though the book itself doesn't have particularly exciting events in it.
It may be that it hit me at a particular time in my life: I read it in my early teens and the way gender was expressed in the novel, the sort of tidal shift between masculine and feminine based on circumstance, really spoke to me at a time I was figuring all that out in my own psyche. I wonder if a lot of the gender exploration in the book may seem more trite and typical now.
I mean I think it's an incredible book, in exactly the ways most "great" sci fi is weak. But I've come across enough people bouncing off of it to put some thought into why and this is my most charitable take on why so many sci fi fans don't love it.
