Wave count update on blog hits. [PVIEW]

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Any time the herd recognizes truth and leadership, it eventually begins to take notice and to pay attention.  First just a few open minded members notice or care but word spreads quickly in the herd.  In fact since one member tells two others and they in turn tell two others, the spread of information tends to progress at an exponential rate.

• Side note: "Herd" is not a pejorative.  Not to me!  "Sheeple" is pejorative and it should be clear that I use it like that but "herd" is not. Herd is a simple statement of fact.  I am part of the herd like everyone else.   We humans are a herding species.  Those who cannot bring themselves to recognize this obvious truth will oftentimes be amazed at how my models work in aggregate, especially when they fly in the face of conventional wisdom.  The models only work because they model herding behavior.  The models embrace the herd for we are it and it is us!  But they also recognize when our herding instincts are driving us to engage in the madness of crowds.

Leadership is ultimately defined by the herd as "that individual or group who often seems to be ahead of the game and thus moving in the right direction over time".  Leaders are selected based on their ability and willingness to help the rest of the herd win in whatever way winning is defined at the moment.  Say the the herd is thirsty and water is hard to find.  But then arises an individual or a small group of like minded individuals in the herd who tend to find water even if it means walking in an orthogonal direction to the rest of the herd.  Over time, the herd gives that group or individual its due because leadership is not easy and the herd always acts in its own enlightened self interest.  These are just statements of fact and should be taken as such in a vacuum, and nothing more.

I write this blog because I feel compelled to lead.  I certainly do not do it for a current profit motive.  There are no ads for you to contend with.  I hate the ad based model.  I feel that if something is worth having then it is worth paying for.  I think ads are part of what is wrong with America so you will never see them on this blog or on any other website that I am affiliated with.  In fact, I believe that the ad based model is going to die a painful death right along with other liberal concepts.  I know this sounds insane right now but it comes from big picture thinking which I am quite sure is in play and unfolding right now.  So to me it is obvious to write this and no kind of risk at all.  The herd always gets caught up in the notion that the current trend will continue to infinity, trees will grow to reach the sky, etc.  Ads are so overwhelmingly obnoxious these days that they can install viruses on your computer or choke a modern browser into locking up.  They just ruin the whole web surfing experience whose main goal is rapid access to information and insight (not watching ads flash away in the corner of the screen).  When ad supported everything began, it was not a bad thing because the ads knew their place and they stayed in it.  But now the ads have taken over and they have outlived their utility to the herd.  This is what always defines the end times for a mania: the herd decides it is no longer worth the effort.  I know a mania when I see it and I think ad supported everything has risen to the level of a mania that is ripe for collapse.

Also, I do not currently require registration.  The main benefit I see for most implementations of registration is so that the web site owner can quietly sell your email information to a 3rd party in order to be targeted with that which I hate (ads!).  At the same time, I have to deal with a large number of spam comments every day and it wastes my time and fills my email inbox.  My spam filter had to be shut off because it was filtering important emails.  So at some point I might implement registration but it will be done in such a way to filter spam, not gather email or other personal info.

In any case, all successful leaders hope to be rewarded someday for their efforts and I'm no different should I eventually be viewed as a leader.  But the smart ones in history have given something of value first and then asked for compensation later.  Production must come before consumption!  While my insignificant little blog is still a tiny baby, the data suggests that it appears to be on an exponential growth path.  Wave 3 is in progress and I model that it will explode upwards as my calls about the coming market meltdown begin to play out.  Those who get rich buying TVIX at current price levels (sub $3) are going to talk about their success.  This is how word spreads.

In any case, I thought it would be fun to share these things with you, the early few who have found and read my blog.  I hope you appreciate my openness in sharing my thoughts on this blog given that most people would keep most of these things quiet for fear of offending herd members.  For my part, I think the days of taking offense at every imagined slight are fading fast right along with the fake political correctness agenda which was used as a herd control mechanism for so many years now.  It will be fun to see how all of this works out. 

In any case, here is the data: I am now consistently getting more than 500 unique page views per day with peaks in the mid sixes.  I know this is nothing in comparison to what many popular blogs and sites receive (hundreds of thousands of hits or more per month) but it is still fun to watch.

Thanks for being part of it!