The curious cat walking

 
老弟最近推薦我看了一本由一位德國醫療記者寫的書叫做 『發明疾病的人：現代醫療產業如何賣掉我們的健康』。
內容講的是現代人的健康價值觀如何在大藥廠的行銷策略下逐漸被扭曲改變。藥廠透過醫療公關公司的行銷策略,將人類自然退化的現象透過廣告,綜藝節目,名人代言,健康檢查, 甚至進行世界衛生組織內的政治運作等手法,逐步修改健康指標 (例如血壓的正常值被藥廠透過WHO運作修改為120/80mmHg ,使原先在正常值 (140/90mmHg)內的健康人一夜間成為高血壓病人) 。連所謂的壓力大也變成疾病需要藥物控制,而不是像過去的人透過意志力及時間,旅行,親情友誼等方法來慢慢調整--某種角度來說心情不好大概吃安非他命也是應該的 ???藥廠甚至將統計數據的偏差職斷章取義, 模糊解釋疾病普及率。作者更是在文章中用的「數字暴力」來形容這樣的行為。
我對裡面的一段敘述印象深刻,作者提到藥廠將主力投入於不斷的研究如何將人的老化自然現象,作更深入的解剖並發現新的疾病定義而非去開發新藥來治療疾病。換言之,疾病因藥而生,而非藥因疾病而被發明。人類喜歡被告知有病需要治療的傾向也導致這樣的風潮越演越盛。醫療行為也變的本末倒置。商業文化該算是人類一大生存發明吧。商業化的發展帶來行銷策略的思維, 行銷策略則帶動商業交流的興盛。當進步走到極端, 公平誠實交易似乎就很難生存了。
看了這本書後我才發現也許時我們吞維他命C治感冒, 吃銀杏粹治高血壓, 都是被灌輸了類似的疾病觀念的結果。也許我們真的多此一舉地吃了許多無用的藥物來讓自己覺得健康呢。在這樣連基本健康標準都可以被修改的年代, 要確定自己是不是真的有病還真不是件容易的事呢！
說不定我們公司應該也要定個benchmark 來告訴客戶,當資料庫使用超過多少交易量時就一定要擴充否則資料庫會爆炸,應該可以創造不少商機吧~~

This is my after-work hobby to study. I found technical analysis of trading is kind of interesting way to see the world trend and stock performance.  And through the candlesticks and trend studies, we try so hard to catch up what people in the world are thinking. Sort of psychology game?  Even if these technical analysis pratices are only fine as merly prediction of price moving, they actually eliminate emotional reactions and blind investment  to me. There is still so much to learn. Gradually the knowledge gains may lead to a very different way of looking at the changing world.  Just keep on learning. Let's make more $$$$
I'd like to share some of the useful books and websites.  They are in Japanese, mandarin and English. 
I started from 「2時間でわかる短期10倍銘柄の見つけ方」.This is very suitable starter for beginners but unfortunately I only see Japanese version so far. The author 倖多郎summarized the most commonly seen patterns and classified them into the signs of 'buy'  and 'sell'. By memorizing the pattern shapes and referring to other information such as volume change and trend lines, we can know if it is about time to go up or down. Another series book 「2時間でわかる 長期10倍銘柄の見つけ方」is talking about long term investment. This is good to read if eying on a mid to long term investment on stocks or funds.
My next book about candlestick analysis is introduced by a colleague. The name of the book is called ''Profitable Candelstick Trading''  written by Stephen W. Bigalow. This is an advanced study of candlestick and I also found a mandarin edition in Taipei. But I began from the Eng one and actually the Mandarin edition has included too much duplicated information and complicated plus sort of duplicated concept of patterns, which I don't like to recommend. The English version is more direct, neat and easy to understand.
I was invited to an investment exhibition and forum this year, it was a very helpful experience and I learned about ETF and Forex during the seminars. There was an especially happy happening that I was lucky enough to come across with Daryl Guppy in person at the bookstore booth in the exhibition. I bought his book and even got his sign on it. The book is called '' Trend Trading - a seven-step approach to success''. I am still in the midst of reading. This is another important way to see the charts.
Discussion forum like Candlestick Trding Forum that provides basic Japanese candlestick lessons and online paid sessions, discussion community. It covers basic understanding about technical analysis.
Investopedia of Forbes is giving a broad introduction of the most often used fundamental and technical analysis and investment product tutorials.  Beginner to active trader level and a good start. The web is not just providing the tutorials but also a dictionary for all sorts of investment products such as what is FOREX, bonds, etc. They also have a fancy stock simulator for your own practice at risk free.
This is shared by a friend. StockCharts.com is a useful website to monitor the stock and indices movement. Use the chart School to learn more about technical analysis. It is an easy way to learn chart analysis, technical indicators and overlays.  The charts are very updated daily and you can combine all needed indicators to analyze.
Don't have much information in Mandarin though there is some entry -level tutorial in 技術分析學院 
There are so many theories and indicators to use. I don't really think we have to learn all of them. Sometimes the conclusions conflict too. Just read the charts, take them as a reference for judgment ..  Anyhow better than invest blindly.

私は本を読むことが大好きです。最近はほとん投資に関するものを読んでいる．つまらないように見えるが、中身にはかなり面白いものが盛り沢山。先日Amazon Japanで'’今がわかる時代がわかる世界地図'’　という本を買っちゃった。一見試験勉強に使う地図なんだろうと思う人がいるかもしれないが、とても役立つ参考書です。地図で世界各国の経済指数や人口、ＧＤＰ、燃料使用量、年金制度、結婚率・離婚率などなど普段で見つかりにくい数値を地図上で判りやすい図表と詳細な解説によって説明してくれる。まさか世界の動きが一目でわかるくらい実用の読み物。もうひとつ買ったのは’’ニュースがすぐにわかる世界地図''。　普段新聞をパッと読んでも実際にどこに何が起こるかなかなか印象付けにくいと感じるだろう。世界中の出来こと例え政治・経済・紛争などは世界経済及び我々の日常生活に影響を与えている。近年ＢＲＩＣ四国特に中国の出頭や中東の紛争、なおそれに対する欧米の対応策などこの本を読めば勉強になる。私はこの二冊の本を読んで投資信託の目当てにする国々の実情を理解してから金を入れる。ほんとうに助かった。
こういう本は毎年更新するベースで出版されている。だから、毎年最新の国際情報が得られる。世界の動きに興味を持つ方にお薦め。国際化に進む一方単に自分の国にできたことを関心を持つのはどうしても足りないだろう。ほかにも日本を対象として編集される地図の本がある。詳細な産業情報が記載されている。日本経済が回復していく今、どうやって日本を投資するかと重要な参考資料になるだろうね。日本にこんな素晴らしい出版物ができてうれしい。