axoloth

[axoloth]

Je to systém hladové zdi. Banka vytiskne rubly, stát je vezme a dá je jako mzdy lidem v továrně na tanky. Lidi z toho platí daně, koupí si jídlo a auto a z toho taky platí daně. Statisticky se to projeví v HDP. Jenže vybouchlý tank na frontě nepřinese zisk státu v budoucnu. Takže hodnota rublu klesá - hodnota práce za vyrobený tank pro stát nemá velkou hodnotu a do budoucna je to špatná investice. Tank zabíjí plátce daně (osádku) a tito plátci daní nebudou mít děti - další plátce daně. Ovšem toto není hlavní důvod aktuálního poklesu kurzu.

[axoloth]

[axoloth]

How do you develop your own trading system?

For trading system development, I always advise to follow KISS strategy. It stands for Keep It Simple and Stupid.

Human mind tends to complicate things naturally, we always think that anything that is complex adds value whereas simple stuffs are good for nothing. However, it works exactly opposite when you start building your trading systems. The more complex is the system, more is the probability of data biasing which can lead to unprecedented results.

So in a nutshell, you do not have to use fancy indicators and 100’s of chart patterns to build a super successful system. Even a simple system which derives Buy/Sell signals based on OHLC values can do wonders in any market conditions.

Below is the equity curve of one of my range breakout system (no indicators involved at all)

A capital of 200K invested in 2006 multiplied to 6~ million in 2016, and the profit still keeps growing. This is 30 times growth in 10 years without compounding. Had it been I allowed compounding, this would have been a billion-dollar system!

Now since I have set the premise that trading system development is not a rocket science, let me try to answer your question “How to develop your own Trading System?”

The only thing is you need is right guidance and resources at the right time. The Internet is full of crap and you need to be careful about how and where to start.

Based on my 10+ years of experience, I have created a 5 step checklist to become an algorithmic trader. If you follow this in order, you should be able to write your own trading system in less than 6 months.

Step 1: Brush up your technical analysis skills

Assuming that you are building a trading system based on technical analysis, this is the most important step. Even if you think you are an expert technical analyst, never stop learning. Technical analysis is more of an art than science, and there is no end to it. The best way to learn is to observe price charts, make it a habit and make notes whenever necessary.

Varsity is one of the best websites to learn technical analysis. If you are looking for some hardcopy books, here are the suggestions.

Step 2: Trade for Real regularly

I have met people who simply do paper trading and aspire to become an algorithmic trader. Believe me, that’s not going to work. In order to win the war, you have to go out and fight yourself! So, open a trading account and start trading regularly. Don’t just speculate or trade based on the gut feeling. Try to apply the concepts you learned in technical analysis.

You might fail in the beginning but note down your observations from each trade. Try to maintain a date wise trade log. If you buy any stock, make a note what made you buy it. Collect as much data as you can as that is going to be the foundation of your algorithmic system development.

Step 3: Pick a Software or Tool

You would need a software or tool to convert your trading strategy into an algorithm. And once the algorithm is coded, the tool should have a capability to backtest this algorithm on historical data. Picking a right tool is important as you cannot re-invest your time learning different tools.

I did an independent survey among 1000~ experienced traders to know which algorithmic trading tool is best. The survey focused on 5 parameters and users were asked to rate out of 100 for each tool. See the result below:

Clearly, Amibroker stands out in all aspects. I have been personally using Amibroker from past 10 years, and never had any complaints.

So, whether you are a beginner or experienced trader, I would recommend to start using Amibroker for algorithmic trading system development. It is a feature-rich, robust software that allows you to develop and backtest trading systems. Even people from non-computers background find it very easy to learn.

Step 4: Code and Backtest your System

Now here comes the important part. Based on the data you collected in Step 2, you need to code your algorithmic trading system. Assuming that you are using Amibroker, it provides a neat coding interface where you can write trading systems using Amibroker formula language (AFL). You need not to be a computer programmer to learn this language, a little practice can help you get going. Check out this link if you want to learn AFL coding from scratch.

Make sure you add risk management rules, position sizing and commission calculation in your code. Against the mass belief, the algorithmic trading systems need not to be complex always. I have a live system which has just 50 lines of code, and it’s performing well since a year now.

Once you have coded your system, you need to backtest it against historical data to see how it works. Never ever start trading on a system without backtesting it. It is a way to validate the performance of your system. Also, make sure that the historical data source is reliable, otherwise backtesting results may not be accurate.

Post backtesting, you can also optimize the system parameters to further improve its performance. All this can be done with few clicks in Amibroker. Learn trading system development using Amibroker here.

Step 5: Take it Live

This is the last step of this exercise. Once you are convinced with the backtest results of your coded system, you can take it live. Do not try to fully automate it at least for 1st six months. Manually place the orders based on buy/sell signals generated from the system. Amibroker has a scanner feature which can automatically send you email or show popup messages when a signal is received.

Observe the system performance for few months and try to compare it with the backtest results that you saw earlier. Don’t get disheartened if there are few losses, no system in the world is 100% accurate. If you are not convinced with the performance, then tweak it further to obtain the desired result.

After you are fully satisfied that your system is working, you can try to automate it. Depending on your exchange and country, there are different options to automate. And almost all of these options support Amibroker. The money will start flowing in passively, your system will do all the hard work for you.

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These 5 steps are more than sufficient to become a successful algorithmic trader. Spend most of the time in Step 2 and Step 4 as the foundation of your system depends on it. You would be tempted to hire a freelancer to code your system, but I would recommend to do it yourself. It’s not difficult at all!

If you are looking for a structured course to learn Trading system development, join Trading Tuitions Academy. All the steps I outlined above are taught in an interactive step by step fashion. Don’t worry if you are not from a programming background, we have got it all covered.

Happy Learning!

Edit: I have co-authored a trading system development course which is available for enrollment at Trading Tuitions Academy. This course is intended to teach you every aspect of algorithmic systems development. Don't worry even if you don't have any prior programming experience, we have got it all covered. Years of experience and research has been put together in a single course so that you don’t have to spend a single dime elsewhere. Check it out and share your feedback.

[axoloth]

"Objemová aktivita tritia nesmí překročit 1500 Bq/l, což je nižší limita, než je standardně pro vypouštění takové vody do životního prostředí i hranice pro pitnou vodu. Přirozené pozadí tritia v Pacifickém oceánu je mezi 0,1 až 1 Bq/l. Modely simulující šíření vypouštěné vody v oceánu ukazují, že při předpokládané rychlosti vypouštění budou hodnoty přirozeného pozadí překročeny jen do vzdálenosti 3 km od ústí vypouštěcího kanálu. Dále bude vliv vypouštěné aktivity velmi rychle klesat a ve vzdálenosti stovky kilometrů už bude její příspěvek o několik řádů nižší, než je přírodní pozadí. Roční limit na celkovou aktivitu vypouštěné vody je 22 TBq, což byla hodnota stanovená i pro normální provoz jaderné elektrárny Fukušima I."

[axoloth]

tritium

1) Paradoxně Čína z běžného provozu svých jaderných elektráren vypouští toho (naprosto neškodného) tritia do moře víc než se bude vypouštět z Fukušimy.

2) Nejde o větší množství než elektrárna sama vypouštěla během svého provozu i před havárií.

3) Vypouštěná voda splňuje hygienické limity pro pitnou vodu. Vypití 4 litrů této přečištěné vody znamená zhruba stejnou dávku záření jako snězení jednoho banánu. Pravděpodobně je čistší a zdravější než co leckde teče z vodovodů.

4) Tichý oceán obsahuje přes 8 kilogramů tritia, je to přírodní radionuklid. Více než milion tun vody uskladněné v areálu elektrárny obsahuje asi 3 gramy tritia. Separovat tak malé množství nelze, už proto že tritium má stejné chemické vlastnosti jako běžný vodík. Díky tomu se ale v těle živočichů neukládá.

5) Řeší se tu tři gramy tritia v milionu tun vody, pro srovnání u plánovaného fúzního reaktoru DEMO se očekává spotřeba 300 gramů tritia denně, k výrobě menšího množství elektřiny než vyrobí jeden blok Temelína.

Je to celé úplně absurdní divadlo, dokonalá ukázka jaké prkotiny lze využít k ideologickému boji.

[axoloth]

Would Putin be a successful politician in any country other than Russia?

Probably not.

President Putin is the kind of leader produced by well-developed bureaucratic systems. He’s hard-working, loyal, disciplined, has huge respect for rules and guidelines, never missteps or falls into the traps set up by apparent or invisible competitors, he understands the cogs and springs of power. Few ambitious players see in him a challenge. If he goes after someone’s head, he does it the same catty, unassuming way Stalin did, without too much noise or commotion, few feathers left where the kill has happened.

If there’s an embodiment for what the American alt-right calls “deep state”, he’s the man. Both Greek-Roman and Roman-Roman empires would be his ideal habitat, as were several Chinese dynasties, the Romanov’s court in the XIX century, and many other. He could be the right man at the right moment in the Kremlin when Stalin died, and many decades after that.

In a tribal society, or a revolutionary scene, or at noisy nationalist rallies he would have been outperformed by more pushy, brainy, charismatic personalities on day one. He has an acute sense of danger, but is way too emotional, and too self-conscious to be thinking on his feet.

More chances for his kind of personality in modern democratic societies. Yet, he needed to be first a sidekick of a a successful politician who either suddenly dies or finds himself deeply compromised, and a swift replacement is needed while the big players figure out who is going to be the next (“the Yeltsin impasse”). He doesn’t have the flair for public dust-ups and incessant alliance-building that the modern society requires. He needs to cram up on facts and talking points for hours and days before every public appearance to feel the level of control he needs. The limelight makes him cringe. He needs a lot of undisturbed thinking space and much time to make decisions. In the XXI century, there are still places where public politicians like him can make a career on their own, like Japan, or Taiwan, or Singapore, but there are less and less of them.

Picture: Putin as a Roman emperor figure made by a St. Petersburg chapter of a Cossack fraternity.

[axoloth]

[axoloth]

Svet fantazie: Rusko je technologicky vyspela krajina s raketami co vedia pristat a lietaju na antigravitacny pohon, na orbite maju obrovsku siet satelitov popri ktorej je Starlink domaca siet, ich vyrobe pokrocilych cipov zavidi aj Taiwan, maju plne automaticke polia, ktore vyrabaju potraviny pre cely svet. ich vyskum v oblasti informatiky a AI predci vsetko co sme doteraz videli a budeme vidiet. Ich automobilky vyvazaju do celeho sveta, mobilne telefony sa predavaju lepsie ako rozky, najrychlejsie vlaky popri ktorych je maglev kociar...

Ich firmy patria v S&P500 medzi TOP 10.

Realita: Rusko je jedna velka benzika a dodavatel lacnych surovin inymi slovami svet zmaru a biedy. Ale maju vodku....

[axoloth]

[axoloth]

Vlk z Wall Street: Aké to bolo stať sa jedným z najbohatších maklérov na Wall Street v 90. rokoch?

Dráma Vlk z Wall Street zachytáva život odvážneho a nenásytného newyorského burzového makléra Jordana Belforta. Toho vo filme nestvárňuje nikto iný ako hviezdny Leonardo DiCaprio. Finančné zisky sú všetko, čo Jordan chce, aj za cenu podvodov s cennými papiermi či korupcie, pričom mu FBI začína čoraz viac dýchať na krk.

Foto: Wolf of Wall Street

Film zobrazuje Wall Street v 90. rokoch minulého storočia vo všetkých jeho odtieňoch. Tí najšikovnejší finančníci tu vtedy za niekoľko minút dokázali zarobiť aj desiatky miliónov dolárov.

Ambiciózny, drzý, učenlivý a úspešný

Jordan Belfort je cieľavedomý mladík, ktorý prijme miesto makléra na Wall Street. Tu dostáva expresnú školu nielen obchodníka s cennými papiermi, ale rýchlo vniká aj do miestnej neviazanej kultúry 90. rokov. Drogy, alkohol, ženy a finančné podvody sú jej súčasťou.

Po najväčšom jednodňovom poklese akciových trhov v histórii však prichádza o prácu, ktorú neskôr nachádza v sprostredkovateľskej firme na Long Islande. Vďaka naučeným technikám a agresívnemu štýlu obchodovania sa v spoločnosti rýchlo stáva číslom jeden a okamžite začne zarábať veľké peniaze.

Obchodným partnerom predával nadhodnotené akcie

Je to rodený talent na obchodovanie. Sebavedomie mu nechýba, a preto sa mu v obchodoch naozaj darí. Dokáže presvedčiť každého klienta, aby ním predávané akcie „výhodne“ kúpil. Jordanov systém obchodovania spočíva v nafukovaní ceny akcií tak, že o nich vydáva zavádzajúce a prehnane pozitívne vyhlásenia. Vďaka tomu sa mu akcie darí predávať za umelo navýšené ceny.

Jordan sa spriatelí so svojím susedom Donniem Azoffom, s ktorým sa rozhodne založiť vlastnú maklérsku spoločnosť. Do firmy naverbujú niekoľko svojich priateľov, ktorí spočiatku o obchodných praktikách nemajú ani poňatia. Práve z nich si Jordan vytrénuje obchodníkov so širokými lakťami.

Tí sú mu verní a nasledujú ho v nekalých praktikách. Nadhodnocujú hodnotu cenných papierov, a tie potom predávajú kupujúcim s čo najvyšším ziskom. Aby spoločnosť získala väčšie renomé, pomenuje ju zvučným a hrdým názvom – Stratton Oakmont.

FBI má podozrenie, začína sa vyšetrovanie

Úspech spoločnosti vzrastie hlavne po tom, ako magazín Forbes uverejní rozhovor s jej zakladateľom Jordanom Belfortom. Na to reagujú stovky mladých ambicióznych finančníkov, ktorí sa do Stratton Oakmont začnú len tak hrnúť. Jordan sa tak stáva nesmierne úspešným, a o to viac si užíva nespútaný život.

Hoci je už ženatý, zapletie sa s Naomi Lapaglia, ktorú si neskôr, po rozvode so svojou prvou manželkou, vezme za ženu. Keďže vznikajú prvé podozrenia, čo sa skrýva za obrovským úspechom firmy, za Jordanom prichádza FBI, ktorá rozbieha vyšetrovanie transakcií jeho spoločnosti.

Skončiť s obchodmi, či riskovať a pokračovať?

Spoločnosti Stratton Oakmont sa naďalej darí zarábať milióny dolárov z mimoriadne rýchlo uzatvorených obchodov, čo vzbudzuje u FBI ešte väčšie podozrenie. Jordan začína konať, snaží sa ukryť a zabezpečiť svoj majetok. Otvorí si účet vo švajčiarskej banke pod menom tety svojej manželky Naomi. Vďaka jej britskému pôvodu sú finančné prostriedky mimo dosahu amerických úradov v bezpečí.

Situácia sa však začína ešte viac komplikovať, keď sa Jordan dozvie, že FBI začala odpočúvať jeho telefónne hovory. Nasleduje preto náročná dilema, či s obchodmi skončiť a stiahnuť sa, alebo pokračovať ďalej. Vo chvíli, keď má urobiť oficiálne vyhlásenie, však nedokáže odísť, ale rozhodne sa zostať v spoločnosti.

Séria nešťastí ako posledná výstraha

Počas dovolenky na luxusnej jachte v Taliansku sa Jordan dozvie, že Naomina teta, na ktorej meno má uložené svoje milióny vo švajčiarskej banke, nečakane umrela na infarkt. Aby svoje peniaze dokázal získať späť z jej účtu, musí okamžite odcestovať do Švajčiarska.

Jordanova loď však v silnej búrke stroskotá, potopí sa, no posádka má šťastie v nešťastí. Podarí sa jej prežiť, ale nasleduje ďalšia katastrofa. Lietadlo, ktoré má pasažierov previezť do Ženevy, havaruje po tom, ako mu do motora vletí čajka. Séria tragických udalostí napokon prinúti Jordana vytriezvieť zo svojho doterajšieho života. Je však možné, že je už neskoro.

Spravodlivosť je na ceste

Po dvoch rokoch pátrania FBI zozbierané dôkazy konečne použije proti Jordanovi. Za nekalé obchodovanie na burze mu hrozí 20 rokov vo väzení a vykúpiť z trestu ho môže už len spolupráca s FBI na vyšetrovaní ďalších podvodov a podvodníkov v jeho firme. Trest by mu tak mohli výrazne znížiť. Ponuku sa rozhodne využiť a pomáha FBI so zhromažďovaním dôkazov proti vlastným kolegom.

Nielen biznis, ale aj jeho osobný život sa rúcajú ako domček z kariet. Manželka Naomi mu oznamuje, že sa s ním rozvádza a vzhľadom na jeho drogové excesy si berie do plnej starostlivosti aj ich dve dcéry.

Z podvodov napokon vyviazol len so symbolickým trestom

FBI Jordanovi nainštaluje odpočúvacie zariadenie, aby mohla získavať ďalšie informácie o podvodnom konaní jeho kolegov. O tom má, samozrejme, mlčať, no on sa rozhodne varovať svojho najlepšieho priateľa Donnieho.

FBI nájde dôkazy, že porušil sľub, zatýka ho, urobí razie v jeho spoločnosti a prinúti ju ukončiť podnikanie. Po skončení vyšetrovania, aj napriek porušeniu dohody s FBI, Jordan dostáva za svoje svedectvo o ďalších podvodníkoch milosrdných 36 mesiacov vo väzení s minimálnym stupňom stráženia.

Ba čo viac, po menej ako dvoch rokoch je prepustený na slobodu a pokračuje v tom, v čom bol celý svoj život najlepší. Živí sa organizovaním seminárov o obchodných praktikách a technikách, ktoré v jeho podaní opäť zažívajú úspech.

Divočina na Wall Street – bezohľadnejší vyhráva

Film inšpirovaný skutočnými udalosťami farbisto zobrazuje Wall Street, ktorý v 90. rokoch minulého storočia s trochou fantázie pripomínal niekdajší divoký západ. Základom bolo vedieť predať čokoľvek za čo najvyššiu cenu a bez ohľadu na dôsledky, ktoré to má pre kupujúceho.

[axoloth]

[axoloth]

Futures

Futures sú derivátové finančné zmluvy, ktoré zaväzujú strany k nákupu alebo predaju aktíva v určenom budúcom termíne a za určenú cenu. Kupujúci musí kúpiť alebo predávajúci musí predať podkladové aktívum za stanovenú cenu bez ohľadu na súčasnú trhovú cenu v dátume splatnosti. Podkladové aktíva zahŕňajú fyzické komodity a finančné nástroje. Futures kontrakty uvádzajú množstvo podkladového aktíva a sú štandardizované pre uľahčenie obchodovania na burze futures. Futures sa môžu použiť na hedging alebo obchodné špekulácie1

[axoloth]

CFD

CFD trading je skratka pre “Contract for Differences”. Je to dohoda medzi kupujúcim a predávajúcim, ktorá stanovuje, že kupujúci musí zaplatiť predávajúcemu rozdiel medzi súčasnou hodnotou aktíva a jeho hodnotou v čase uzatvorenia zmluvy. CFD umožňujú obchodníkom a investorom príležitosť profitovať z pohybu cien bez vlastnenia podkladových aktív. Hodnota CFD nezohľadňuje hodnotu podkladového aktíva, iba zmenu ceny medzi vstupom a výstupom obchodu. To sa dosahuje prostredníctvom zmluvy medzi klientom a maklérom a nevyužíva žiadnu burzu akcií, forexu, komodít alebo futures. Obchodovanie s CFD ponúka niekoľko hlavných výhod, ktoré zvýšili obľubu týchto nástrojov v poslednom desaťročí12

[axoloth]

how to recognize undervalued stocks

P/B ratio is used to assess the current market price against the company's book value (assets minus liabilities, divided by number of shares issued). To calculate it, divide the market price per share by the book value per share. A stock could be undervalued if the P/B ratio is lower than 1.

[axoloth]

Why don't all Slavic people create some great Slavic union? Their languages are so similar and cultures too, they all share respectful behaviours, etc.

That’s only your opinion because you are not Slavic. Our culture might seem similar to you, and our languages probably sound the same to you, too. But we see huge differences between our way of thinking; our culture is sometimes very different, just like our manners, and there are languages from which we understand maybe like 5 words out of 100. Slavic languages, I mean. And don’t say: “Maybe it’s just you because you are stupid, other people are surely more capable.” No. We do not understand everything that some other Slavic foreigner is telling us.

By the way, this comics perfectly illustrates the differences between our inter-Slavic relations:

For example, there are Western Slavs, like Polish, Czech, Slovak, and their regional variants. From them, as a natural-born Czech, I understand maybe 30–60 percent naturally. and then I have to guess the rest of the sentence from context. As a result, I will understand 80–90 percent of what they are saying.

Then there are Eastern Slavic languages, like Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian languages. Do I naturally understand them, aka without second-guessing? No. Not at all. Maybe like those 5 words out of 100, if any at all. I have no freaking idea of what they are saying to me. They are usually pretty pissed off, especially when they are Russian, because in the time of the USSR, our parents were forced to learn Russian. I was born in the era of communism, yes, but I started attending elementary school in 1992, which is three years after the fall of communism. That was already in democracy, and we were learning German and English. So no, I don’t understand Russians. But some Russians still see us as their rightful colony, just like the British see the Indians, and they certainly don’t like it when we tell them we don’t understand them.

And the final linguistic group is the South Slavic language group aka the people who live in the Balkans, or very close to it. Those are the Croatians, Serbs, Slovenians (there are Slovaks and Slovenians, a big difference), Macedonians, Bulgarians, and so on. From them, I understand maybe 20–50 percent naturally, and from the context, I can guess maybe like 60–70 percent of their whole speech. That is if I am lucky. But I am second-guessing myself all the time, and I am frequently wrong.

And that’s only the languages.

As for the culture, our nations were, just like anywhere else in the world, always influenced by our invaders and neighbours.

The Balkans were strongly influenced by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. They long-belonged under their forced rule. You can see it in their style of dancing, clothing, habits, and so on. The style of dancing is usually frantic, with people twirling their handkerchiefs in the air, and hop-hop-hop like dancing, line dances, and men and women dancing separately. Croatian women even have a dance in which they dance with a wine jug balanced on their heads.

The Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians have also a very different style of dancing. Men wear high red wellington boots and pantaloons, loose white shirts, big belts, and a headgear different from the rest of the Slavic groups. In the winter, it is usually something huge, warm and fluffy made out of animal fur (you can buy it in shops, nobody makes the hats anymore). Their style of dancing is more acrobatic. Men float in the air, half-bent, or they drop on their hands, throw legs in the air, and kick very high. Women merrily dance with legs in the air, waving handkerchiefs, or they kind of slowly float in circles. With their long skirts, they look like they are not walking but riding a skateboard. The dancing in general is very bold.

The Czechs, Poles and Slovaks - and this time, SLOVENIANS, too, even though they technically belong to the pre-Balkans - are the most different group. All of them were in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so they are GERMANIZED to a certain degree. You can see it in their dances, habits and style of clothing. The Czech Republic especially was under a great deal of German and Austrian influence, because its geography “bites” into Germany. And we are direct neighbours. The other Slavs call us “Little Germans” (no kidding), because what we got from Germans was our sense of order, although only compared to other Slavs. In the Czech Republic, the order is more like a highly organized chaos, but it is still an order of sorts. The Bohemian part of the country (there are 3 parts, Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) is the closest to Germany in terms of culture, music, dances and manners, especially when compared to more Slavic Moravia or Polonized Silesia.

EDIT: Also, there are religious differences between us Slavs. Eastern Europe tends to be traditionally Orthodox, while Central Europe is mostly Roman Catholic. The Balkan tends to be divided between both religions, mixed with Islam. And that's only the official religious practices. Unofficially, we Czechs are 80+ percent atheist and agnostic (we are the 7th most atheist country in the world, and the most atheist country in Europe), while the neighbouring Poles are the most religious and Catholic country in Europe (along with the Spanish), and one of the most religious countries in the world. They even had their own pope, John Paul II. That itself obviously creates another friction, especially when the attitudes in the Church influence the thinking of normal people. The Poles are traditionally largely antisemitic and anti-gay rights, while we Czechs don't give a damn. You can be gay here and stick a tongue into your partner's throat here, and while some people will comment about it or have a few remarks, no one actually cares. We are even the most tolerant European nation when it comes to marital unfaithfulness. It's the beer. We act as if we were drunk 24/7. We are just totally lax about everything. Granted, we are not lazy, but still lax, and we love to complain (how typically Eastern and Central European - even the Germans and Austrians love this… but not on such a scale), but we are still quite peaceful, at least compared to, let's say, the Balkans. Also, Central Europe in general is more peaceful than their other Slavic counterparts, AND we tend to drink socially, like the Spanish. Meaning, you go to a pub to have a beer and make friends. Nobody is drunkenly lying on or even under the table. And when we drink, we usually turn to beer, moonshine and wine. In Eastern Europe, they go to the pub - or they drink at home - to get drunk, and their to-go alcoholic choice number one is mostly vodka. And they tend to make up extra reasons for drinking every shot: “To Putin! To my sister’s new baby! To my brother’s divorce from that ugly hag! To today's great dinner! To the shooting of Laika into space!” I am exaggerating, of course, but this is how it goes there. They think they are just being friendly, while we Western Slavs tend to see them as alcoholics.