Beethoven's 32 Sonatas: Ranked from easiest to hardest

1.  op.49 no.2
2.  op.49 no.1
3.  op.79
4.  op.14 no.2
5.  op.14 no.1
6.  op.2 no.1
7.  op.10 no.1
8.  op.10 no.2
9.  op.2 no.2
10.  op.2 no.3
11.  op.10 no.3
12.  op.12 (Pathetique)
13.  op.22
14.  op.28 (Pastorale)
15.  op.7
16.  op.78

Valuation of Young Firms

 Young companies share some common attributes:

• No historical performance data.
• Small or no revenues with probable operating losses.
• High failure rate. Many don't survive.
• Investments are illiquid. A significant portion of the equity is usually held by the founders.

Thus, there are no easy valuation solutions to the young firm problem. However here are some value drivers to look for when investing in young firms:

Revenue growth: This show how much growth potential the firm has.

Reinvestment for growth: A young company can (or even should) lose money in order to make money in the future. The managers / owners / founders should aim for long-term goals.

Survival skills: For young firms to become valuable, they simply need to survive. This requires talented management.

Key people: Young companies, especially in service business, are often dependent upon the owner or a few key people for their success. Focus on firms that have built up a solid bench to back up key personnel.

Corporate success: Sometimes success in one business or market can be a stepping-stone to success in other businesses or markets.

Exclusivity: Success attracts competition. You want young firms that have products that are difficult for others to imitate (patents, technology, or brand name).

Business Jargon

 
5,000 mile view: a phrase used to describe a high-level, summary view of the situation. 5,000 can be replaced by any large number to indicate the same thing

80/20 rule: belief that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes; in consulting, this term is used to imply that 80% of an assignment can be finished in 20% of the time

adding value: quite simply, that value is being added. See also “value-add”

AOB: Any other business – Term generally used in developing a meeting agenda. Denotes time scheduled to discuss miscellaneous topics in a meeting.

at the end of the day: a phrase used to attempt summarization, introduce an air of finality and perhaps close off certain avenues of discussion; since most consultants’ days do not end with the setting of the sun, at the end of the day most of them are still working

Preparing an Effective Presentation

Set the theme. Define very clearly what your presentation is going to be about. If you are marketing a product or an idea the best way is to choose a striking, single headline to the presentation. 

Provide the outline. A presentation without a provided outline is extremely difficult to follow.

Guide your audience through the presentation. If you are opening or closing a section, mention during the transition.

Make sure that the whole presentation is very well structured. This is what a presentation is all about. You have to transfer your idea / results / product / strategy in the most intelligible and comprehensive manner. The key is to break everything down to manageable chunks and produce the cause-effect relationship.

Behavioral economics: How can Coop increase its sales and profit?

Coop is the second largest retailer in Switzerland after Migros

Over 60 percent of shoppers off-load products as they check out. So it would be a good idea to make the checkout lanes much narrower. Compared to Migros of Turkey and Tesco of the UK, Swiss customers have much more space during checkout.

Music with a rhythm that’s much slower than the average heartbeat makes you spend more. Classical music encourages more expensive purchases. Coop always uses an upbeat playlist, which automatically makes the customers shop faster and misses the chance of having them spend more time and money in the store.

How to become a CEO

Dr. Severin Schwan

The average CEO takes about 20 years to become a CEO, and is around 47 years old at the time of starting the first CEO position. Be ready for your marathon. Chances of seeing yourself on the cover of Forbes after 5-10 years are really slim.

Large companies are driven by financial numbers. Develop a strong foundation in finance. Try to take active roles in finance, accounting, sales etc.

Be willing to rotate into broader operating roles, even if they are at different divisions and you are not an expert on those topics.

Bijection, injection and surjection

 Here is an easy way to remember which is which:

Injection: 1nject1ion, i.e. 1-to-1

Surjection: as the word "sur" means "on" in French, "surjective" means that the domain A is mapped onto the codomain B, i.e. the whole codomain is covered by the image of the domain.

Bijection: as the prefix "bi" means "two", "bijective" means a function that has both properties: is both injective and surjective

Essential Engineering Softwares

Especially if you studied mechanical engineering, the following are the most essential softwares that you really need to learn:

• MATLAB

• Excel: would be terrific with macros

• Siemens NX: AutoCAD or similar also fine, but this has become the norm in industrial design projects

• COMSOL

• LabView

• C++: I know this is not a software, but yet absolutely necessary

How many gas stations are there in the city of Paris?

# of inhabitants in Paris: 10 m
# of cars: 2 m (Assumption: for every 5 people)
# of commercial vehicles: 0.5 m (Assumption: 4 times less than cars)

Assumption: Cars have tanks of 50 liters and replenish them every 10 days.

Fuel consumption for a car: 5 liters/day
Fuel consumption for a commercial vehicle: 25 liters/day (Assumption: 5 times more than of cars) 
Weighted average of fuel consumption: 20% * 25 + 80% * 5 = 9 liters/day

Daily city demand: 9 liters/day * 2.5 m = 22.5 m liters 

# pumps per station: 10 (Assumption)
Time a vehicle spends at a pump: 15 minutes
# of vehicles a pump can serve in an hour: 60 / 15 = 4
Stations are open for: 10 hours (Assumption)
# of vehicles a gas station can serve per day: 10 * 10 * 4 = 400

Liters bought per visit (cars): 50 liters (Assumption)
Liters bought per visit (commercial vehicles): 100 liters (Assumption)
Weighted average of liters bought per visit: 20% * 100 + 80% * 50 = 60 liters
Capacity of a gas station: 60 liters * 400 = 24'000 liters

# of gas stations: 22.5 m / 24'000 = 937.5

Fastest to a Billion

This chart shows the number of years it took billionaires to attain a $1 billion net worth (liquid or illiquid assets) after having founded their enterprise.

Source: Forbes

How to Be a Real Chess Player

In his famous book Think Like a Grandmaster, Alexander Kotov gave the following qualities as being the building blocks that form a "real" chess player:

1. He must be well up in modern chess opening theory.

2. He must know and keep in his memory the principles behind typical middlegame positions learned both from his own games, and from those of other players. The more a player knows and remembers the easier it is for him to find a 'precedent', i.e. a position which has occured before and and which is similar to his own present position.

3. A grandmaster must be able to assess a position accurately and correctly.

4. No less important is the ability to hit upon the right plan – a plan that meets the demands of the given position.

5. A grandmaster must be able to calculate accurately and quickly those variations which might arise in the subsequent course of play.

Perfect Bulletproof Coffee (for my Ketogenic Diet)

1. Brew 2 cups of coffee into a large container

2. Add 2 table spoons of regular butter

3. Add 2 table spoons of coconut oil

4. Add 2 table spoons of heavy cream

5. Blend them all together very well

The Early Stages of Business Life Cycle

 

Source: The Little Book of Valuation by Aswath Damodaran

2023 Vision of Turkey

The 2023 vision is a goal list of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan adminsitration to achieve by the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

Becoming one of the top ten world economies is the most striking goal.

The chart (Source: www.amatoryatirimci.com) shows Turkey's rank in global GDP rankings according to IMF data.

D'Hondt Method

The D'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation.

Source: Wikipedia

Important Excel Functions

• Parameters in [..] are optional

SUMIF

Sums the values in a range that meet criteria that you specify.

=SUMIF(range,criteria,[sum_range])

Range is the range of cells that you want evaluated by criteria.

Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, or text that defines which cells will be added. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, "32", ">32", or "apples".

Sum_range are the actual cells to add if their corresponding cells in range match criteria. If sum_range is omitted, the cells in range are both evaluated by criteria and added if they match criteria.

COUNTIF

Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria.

=COUNTIF(range,criteria)

What can we learn from Pisa?

 

• Girls do better at reading than boys
• Boys do better at mathematics than girls
• There is no real difference between girls and boys in how they do in science
• Given the opportunities all children have the potential to excel
• School systems that invest in helping students learn their subjects the first time around do much better than those where teachers know they can, if necessary, drill the same material, year after year, into the heads of the same struggling students
• Home background has a major influence on students' success
• By the time they are 3, children in advantaged families are exposed to many more words than their less advantaged peers
• If there are no books at home, or if they don't see their parents reading they will be less inclined to read themselves
• Regardless of their own backgrounds students who attend schools that have a largely disadvantaged student population tend to do worse than the students who attend schools with relatively advantaged peers
• A country doesn't have to be wealthy to provide high quality education: e.g. Poland and Shanghai
• Countries can improve their education system. Pisa ranking is not carved in stone
• Successful education systems make education a priority
• They show the value of the teaching profession by investing in it
• So that, they attract highly qualified candidate, they train them well and get the best among them

Champagne

 

• Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay
• Exceptional Grower-produced Champagnes:
• Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Sainte-Anne
• Henri Billiot Cuvée Laetita
• Pierre Peters Cuvée de Reserve
• Champagne Gaston Chiquet NV Brut "Tradition" and Blanc de Blancs D'Aÿ
• Jacques Selosse Blanc de Blancs "Initiale"
• Top Négociant (NM) Producers:
• Louis Roederer
• Jacquesson
• Bollinger
• Ruinart
• Salon (in years that Salon is not made turn instead to Delamotte)
• Dom Pérignon
• Krug
• Most Interesting Single-Vineyard Wines:
• Jean Milan "Terres de Noël" Brut
• Pierre Peters Cuvée Spéciale "Les Chétillons"
• Philipponnat Clos des Goisses

Sommelier Certificates

• 4 main accredited wine education courses:
• International Sommelier Guild (ISG)
• Court of Masters Sommeliers (CMS)
• Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW)
• Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET)
• CMS is specifically a sommelier organisation focusing in service, whereas the WSET is aimed at a broader industry professional.
• WSET is approachable to the novice
• WSET Level 3 (Advanced) = CMS Level 1.75
• CMS Level 1 and WSET Level 3 have a book, but CMS Level 2 (Certified Sommelier) does not.
• Good course in Switzerland: Académie du vin
• Great books:
• Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia by Tom Stevenson
• Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly
• The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson
• Great Wine Made Simple by Andrea Immer Robinson
• The Oxford Companion to Wine by Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding

13 Is My Lucky Number

• Ömer Bartu Avci is written with 13 letters and he was born on the 13th. 
• To be exact, he was born on July 13. Both 137 and 1307 are prime numbers, just like 13 and 7.
• 13 is a Wilson prime (p² divides (p − 1)! + 1)
• 13 is the smallest emirp
• 13 is a fibonacci prime. Thus, it is the first fibonacci emirp
• 2¹³ - 13 is prime
• There are 13 Archimedean solids
• The sum of first 13 prime numbers is 238 (whose sum of digits is 13)
• 13² = 169 and its reversal 31² = 961
• 13 is the only prime that can divide two successive integers of the form n² + 3
• 13¹³ - 13 + 1 is prime
• The olive branch on the back of a U.S. one-dollar bill has 13 leaves
• 131211109876543212345678910111213 is prime
• 13 is the smallest prime which is the sum of two distinct prime squares (2² + 3²)
• Using the first three primes we have: 2³ + 5 = 13
• Alfred Hitchcock's directorial debut was the film Number 13, which was never completed
• The sum of primes up to 13 is equal to the 13th prime
• The Beatles recorded 13 albums during the time in which they were together as a group
• Three planes can cut a donut into a maximum of 13 parts
• 13² = 8³ - 7³, i.e., one solution of the diophantine equation z² = x³ - y³
• Apollo Lunar Mission number 13, which was aborted while enroute to the Moon because of an explosion of a fuel cell in the service module, left the launch pad at 13:13 (CST) hours military time and the accident occurred on April 13
• At Jesus Christ's last supper, there were thirteen people around the table, counting Christ and the twelve apostles.
• At most 13 baseball players can be in play: 9 fielders, 3 runners, and 1 batter
• In rugby each team has 13 players on the field at a time
• There are 13 cards of each suit in a deck of playing cards
• If we count all the traditional constellations, there are 13 in the zodiac. 13th sign is the Ophiuchus (Serpent-bearer)
• According to Jewish law, when Jewish boys become 13 years old, they become a bar mitzvah

My Smart House Cleaning Routine

 
Mon:   Do laundry, change bed sheets
Tue:    Clean mirrors and windows
Wed:   Scrub toilet, shower and bathroom sink
Thu:    Clean out leftovers and wipe down inside and outside of fridge, clean kitchen sink
Fri:      Pick and discard unnecessary items, dust
Sat:     Vacuum and mop
Sun:    -

Steel

• Steel is an alloy of iron, with carbon being the primary alloying element.
• 0.02% <= Carbon Content <= 2.06% (by weight)
• Steel
• Alloyed
• Low: some of all alloying elements < 5%
• High 
• Unalloyed: Cu < 0.4%, Cr < 0.3%, Mo < 0.08%, Ni < 0.3%
• Alloyed Steel: Steel + Some Alloying Elements like Manganese, Nickel, Chromium, Molybdenum, Boron, Titanium, Vanadium, Niobium = Modified Characteristics
• Stainless Steel: Alloyed steel w/ Cr => 10.5% (i.e. high alloyed)

• Steel specified by purpose of use and mechanical properties (unalloyed)

• Steel specified by chemical composition (unalloyed)

• Steel specified by chemical composition (low alloyed)

• Steel specified by chemical composition (high alloyed)

Microscopy

When should I get married?

Secretary Problem (Background Information)

[from Wikipedia]

The basic form of the problem is the following: imagine an administrator willing to hire the best secretary out of n rankable applicants for a position. The applicants are interviewed one-by-one in random order. A decision about each particular applicant is to be made immediately after the interview. Once rejected, an applicant cannot be recalled. During the interview, the administrator can rank the applicant among all applicants interviewed so far, but is unaware of the quality of yet unseen applicants. The question is about the optimal strategy to maximize the probability of selecting the best applicant. 

The optimal stopping rule prescribes to reject about n/e applicants after the interview (where e is the base of the natural logarithm) without choice then stop at the first applicant who is better than every applicant interviewed so far (or proceed to the last applicant if this never occurs). 

This strategy selects the single best candidate about 37% of the time, irrespective of whether there are 100 or 100 million applicants.

  
My Case

• Years to live: 60
• Average number of marriage candidates met every day: 2
• Total number of candidates to be met: 43'800
• Eliminate all without thinking until no. 16'113
• Years to wait: 22.07 (at least)

Ketogenic Diet

Macro-nutrient proportions (calorie-wise):
75% Fat, 20% Proteins, 5% Carbs

Safe Foods (No Carbs/Trace Carbs):

Beef, Steak, Hamburger, Prime Rib, Filet Mignon, Roast Beef, Chicken, Duck, Any Fish, Tuna, Salmon, Trout, Halibut, Lamb, Pork, Bacon, Ham, Eggs, Shrimp, Crab, Lobster, Butter, Oils (Olive Oil, Flaxseed oil, etc.), Mustard, Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce, Tea, Coffee, Heavy Cream and Nutrasweet/Equal.

Minimal Carb Foods (Limited Quantities Only, Check Carb Content!):

Broccoli, Spinach, Lettuce, Cabbage, Bok Choy, Kale, Asparagus, Mustard Greens, Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Pickles, Celery, Green Beans, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, Peppers (Red, Green, Jalapeno, Habanero), Onions, Sprouts (bean, alfalfa, etc.), Radicchio and endive, Herbs - parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme etc, Radishes, Sea Vegetables (Nori, etc), Jicama, Avocado, Asparagus, Green Beans and Wax Beans, Broccoli, Summer Squash, Zuchinni, Olives, Scallions or green onions, Bamboo Shoots, Leeks, Brussels Sprouts, Snow Peas (pods), Tomatoes, Eggplant, Tomatillos, Artichokes, Fennel, Okra, Spaghetti Squash, Celery Root (Celeriac), Turnip, Water Chestnuts, Pumpkin, Nuts, Flaxseeds, Cheeses, Salami, Pastrami, Hot Dogs, Sausages, Ribs (watch out for the sauce!), Buffalo Wings, Liverwurst, Oysters, Abalone, Protein Powders, Sugar Free Jello, Salad Dressings (some), some Wines.

Higher Carb Foods (Very Limited Quantities!):

Grapefruit, Lemons, Limes, Strawberries, Rasberries, Blackberries, Kiwis, plums, oranges, pears, pineapple

Foods that are NOT appropriate:

Beer, Mixed drinks, Bread, Milk, Pasta, Grains, Cereal, Rice, Potatoes, Corn, Carrots, Peas, Candy, Cake, Cheesecake, biscuits, Donuts, Fruit Juices, High Carb Fruits (Apricots, grapes, Bananas, Peaches, Nectarines, cherries, Pomegranates, Mangos, Figs, Dried Fruit, such as dates, raisins, dried apricots, and prunes etc.), Pastries, Non-Diet Soft Drinks, Rolls, Bagels, Popcorn, Battered Foods (Fried Chicken, etc.), Gravy, Honey, Sugar, chocolate and Corn Syrup.

Warren Buffett Books

Books by Buffett

• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Third Edition by Warren Buffett
• Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders by Warren Buffett (Author) and Max Olson (Editor)

Books on Buffett

• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
• Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein
• Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything by Carol Loomis

Books recommended by Buffett

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher
• Conservative Investors Sleep Well by Philip A. Fisher
• Learn to Earn: A Beginner’s Guide to the Basics of Investing (The Classic Guide) by Peter Lynch
• Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch
• Poor Charlie’s Almanack The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger by Charles T. Munge
• Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin
• Where Are the Customers’ Yachts: or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street by Fred Schwed
• The Outsiders by William Thorndike Jr.
• The Clash of Cultures: Investment vs Speculation by Jack Bogle
• When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein
• Investing Between the Lines: How to Make Smarter Decisions By Decoding CEO Communications by Laura Rittenhouse
• In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington by Robert Rubin and Jacob Weisberg
• The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean
• Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton
• Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch
• The Money Masters by John Train
• The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes
• Money Game by Adam Smith

High Quality Men's Shoes

1. Alden – www.aldenshoe.com - USA
2. Alfred Sargent – www.alfredsargent.co.uk - UK
3. Allen-Edmonds – www.allenedmonds.com - USA
4. Altan – www.altan-bottier.com - FR
5. Artioli – www.artioli.com - IT
6. Aubercy – www.aubercy.com - FR
7. Bally – www.bally.com - CH
8. Barker Black – www.barkerblack.com - UK
9. Barrett – www.barrett.it - IT ***
10. Berluti – www.berluti.com - IT/FR
11. Bontoni – www.bontoni.com - IT
12. Carlos Santos – www.santosshoes.com - PT ***
13. Carmina – www.carminashoemaker.com - ES
14. Cheaney – www.cheaney.co.uk - UK
15. Church’s – www.church-footwear.com - UK
16. Cleverley – www.georgecleverley.com - UK
17. Corthay – www.corthay.fr - FR
18. Crockett & Jones – www.crockettandjones.co.uk - UK
19. Ducker & Son – www.duckerandson.co.uk - UK
20. Edward Green – www.edwardgreen.co.uk - UK
21. Emling – www.emling.fr - FR
22. Enzo Bonafe – www.enzobonafe.com - IT
23. Finsbury – www.finsbury-shoes.com - UK ***
24. Foster & Son – www.foster.co.uk - UK
25. Gaziano & Girling – www.gazianogirling.com - UK
26. Gravati – www.gravati.it - IT
27. Grenson – www.grensonshoes.co.uk - UK
28. Heschung – www.heschung.com - FR ***
29. J M Weston – www.jmweston.com - FR
30. John Lobb – www.johnlobb.com - UK
31. Loake – www.loake.co.uk - UK
32. Loding – www.loding.fr - FR ***
33. Ludwig Reiter – www.ludwig-reiter.com - AT
34. Lutwyche/ Lodger – www.lodgerfootwear.com
35. Magnanni – www.magnanni.com - ES
36. Marc Guyot – www.marcguyot.com - FR
37. Moreschi – www.moreschi.it - IT
38. Paolo Scafora – www.paoloscaforanapoli.it - IT
39. Paraboot – www.paraboot.com - FR
40. Quoddy – www.quoddy.com
41. Saint Crispin’s – www.saint-crispins.com
42. Sanders – www.sanders-uk.com
43. Santoni – www.santonishoes.com - IT
44. Scarpe Di Bianco – www.scarpedibianco.com
45. Septieme Largeur – www.septiemelargeur.fr - FR ***
46. Shipton & Heneage – www.shiptonandheneage.com - UK
47. Silvano Lattanzi – www.silvanolattanzi.com
48. Stefano Bemer – www.stefanobemer.it
49. StefanoBi – www.stefanobi.com
50. Sutor Mantellassi – www.sutormantellassi.com
51. Testoni – www.testoni.com
52. Tod’s – www.tods.com
53. Tricker’s – www.trickers.com
54. Vass – www.vass-shoes.com

Nespresso

Pure Origin

• Dulsão do Brasil (intensity:4)
• Indriya from India (intensity:10)
• Rosabaya de Colombia (intensity:6)

Espresso range

• Kazaar (intensity:12)
• Dharkan (intensity:11)
• Ristretto (intensity:10)
• Arpeggio (intensity:9)
• Roma (intensity:8)
• Decaffeinato Intenso (intensity:7)
• Livanto (intensity:6)
• Capriccio (intensity:5)
• Volluto (intensity:4)
• Cosi (intensity:3)
• Decaffeinato (intensity:2)

Lungo range

• Fortissio Lungo (intensity:7)
• Vivalto Lungo (intensity:4)
• Finezzo Lungo (intensity:3) (phased out in January 2013, replaced by Linizio)
• Decaffeinato Lungo (intensity:3)
• Linizio Lungo (intensity:4) – January 2013

Variations range

• Vanilio (intensity:6) - June 2013
• Ciocattino (intensity:6) - June 2013
• Caramelito (intensity:6) - June 2013