Thank Goodness For Algore's Internet -- August 31, 2020

Before the internet, all I would have heard on the radio is this: "Futures are flat as investors look for August momentum." LOL. The graphic tells a different story. After a huge run today for the NASDAQ, to see even a bit of green is quite amazing.

Maybe the S&P 500 and the Dow 30 are flat, but the NASDAQ certainly looks pretty good:

By the way, on so many levels, this market is not good for anyone, but it's certainly not good for those new to investing. It's at times like these, I wish Louis Rukeyser (PBS) or Mark Haines (CNBC) were still with us. 

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And Thank Goodness For Juneau Whale Watch

Link here.

This is pretty cool:

• if the toothed whales and the baleen whales are siblings ..
• ... and hippos are their first cousins....
• ... then the other artiodactyls (even-toed) ungulates are distant cousins of the hippo and the whale. 

I think I knew that at one time but had long forgotten. 

Both the whale and the hippo had a common ancestor, a terrestrial that lived during the age of dinosaurs, and lived on for a few more million years after the last dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. The whale lineage and the hippo lineage ultimately split somewhere between 60 and 40 million years ago with the former returning to the sea and the later returning to fresh water. Evolution in a relatively "weightless" environment resulted in an animal that did not require legs for support, unlike the hippo. One can see the similarity between early whales (e.g., Maiacetus) and the modern hippo.

By the way, of the even-toed ungulates, the first (and thus the oldest) are the camels and the llamas.