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[A Friend of Charlie]

Morning, humps.

I'm being humpied in a 70° house this morning. Good morning, HumpingDave.

Sounds like a welcome change.

Just in time for the boys' birthday. They are 15 today.

I assume you know that today is also National Twin Day? That's our coinky dink of the day.

If I knew that, I forgot. That is pretty funny.

Not that I didn't believe you but when I looked it up, I also found the following information:

There is also an annual Twins Days festival that takes place in Twinsburg, Ohio on the first full weekend in August. The festival began in 1976 and is considered the world's largest annual gathering of twins and multiples.

[Travellin Dave]

Oops...missed page 3....

[Travellin Dave]

and...

[razgueado]

How to stop a Bitcoin surge:  Just ask me to throw a little money at it.

Follow me for more investing tips.

Alternatively, you could have me throw some money at it, then have the hosting company I used go bankrupt. Then I get back a fraction of the money I invested (granted, it was very little, so no harm done), but then it goes up 5x in the next year.

First I ever heard of Bitcoin was on the iHavanas website.  They offered a 10% discount if you paid in Bitcoin.  But the cost of Bitcoin then was in excess of 10% of the dollar.  So I was, like, "Why?"  I should have researched it further.

Nothing beats the story of the guy who very early on paid 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 Papa John's pizzas. That dude has been living an agony for years that I cannot imagine.

Laszlo Hanyecz.  He says he has no regrets.  Maybe he doesn't. 

I mean, I don't exactly lose sleep over not dropping $20K into Bitcoin in 2017, when I had the money and a friend with expertise was doing his best to explain it to me.   No matter how you cut it, and my friend Mark has cut it up six ways from Sunday for me (and so far he's made a lot of money on it and I've only made a few grand)  it's still speculation.  Supply and Demand are good explanations of what happens after the fact, but are not a good way to predict the future for a financial instrument.  Past performance does not ensure future results.  Mark and I have had lots of debates about this, and he still thinks he's following science and I keep pointing out that he's not, and I am correct that he's not.  Options trading is closer to science than trading crypto.  Trading crypto isn't even an art.

But...he's lucked into being right, and he's made a lot of money, and that automatically trumps anything I say, at least until such point as he loses a lot of money.  Shrug. 

So, I missed the boat in 2010.  And I missed the boat during COVID.  But I'm still at the same point I was then.  I could sell $20K worth of stock today and put the money into Bitcoin, or into a diversified collection of cryptocurrencies.  Hell, I could drop $50K.  Today.  But should I?

I remember during the pandemic, Mark and I had a cigar and we were talking about crypto and how the stock market had tanked.  "Mark my words," he said.  "People are going to buy a lot of crypto as a hedge. You should start buying before the price jumps."  But it DIDN'T jump.  Crypto was in the toilet until last year.   But he bought as much as he could afford then, and I didn't.  So he says he told me so, and I tell him that he didn't - he just guessed correctly.  But he's got the money.  Now he says it's broken $100K and it's headed for $1M. 

So I should loot the brokerage account and put it into crypto, right?  I mean, he's been right since 2014 when he got into it. 

I dunno.

[A Friend of Charlie]

How to stop a Bitcoin surge:  Just ask me to throw a little money at it.

Follow me for more investing tips.

Alternatively, you could have me throw some money at it, then have the hosting company I used go bankrupt. Then I get back a fraction of the money I invested (granted, it was very little, so no harm done), but then it goes up 5x in the next year.

First I ever heard of Bitcoin was on the iHavanas website.  They offered a 10% discount if you paid in Bitcoin.  But the cost of Bitcoin then was in excess of 10% of the dollar.  So I was, like, "Why?"  I should have researched it further.

Nothing beats the story of the guy who very early on paid 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 Papa John's pizzas. That dude has been living an agony for years that I cannot imagine.

Laszlo Hanyecz.  He says he has no regrets.  Maybe he doesn't. 

I mean, I don't exactly lose sleep over not dropping $20K into Bitcoin in 2017, when I had the money and a friend with expertise was doing his best to explain it to me.   No matter how you cut it, and my friend Mark has cut it up six ways from Sunday for me (and so far he's made a lot of money on it and I've only made a few grand)  it's still speculation.  Supply and Demand are good explanations of what happens after the fact, but are not a good way to predict the future for a financial instrument.  Past performance does not ensure future results.  Mark and I have had lots of debates about this, and he still thinks he's following science and I keep pointing out that he's not, and I am correct that he's not.  Options trading is closer to science than trading crypto.  Trading crypto isn't even an art.

But...he's lucked into being right, and he's made a lot of money, and that automatically trumps anything I say, at least until such point as he loses a lot of money.  Shrug. 

So, I missed the boat in 2010.  And I missed the boat during COVID.  But I'm still at the same point I was then.  I could sell $20K worth of stock today and put the money into Bitcoin, or into a diversified collection of cryptocurrencies.  Hell, I could drop $50K.  Today.  But should I?

I remember during the pandemic, Mark and I had a cigar and we were talking about crypto and how the stock market had tanked.  "Mark my words," he said.  "People are going to buy a lot of crypto as a hedge. You should start buying before the price jumps."  But it DIDN'T jump.  Crypto was in the toilet until last year.   But he bought as much as he could afford then, and I didn't.  So he says he told me so, and I tell him that he didn't - he just guessed correctly.  But he's got the money.  Now he says it's broken $100K and it's headed for $1M. 

So I should loot the brokerage account and put it into crypto, right?  I mean, he's been right since 2014 when he got into it. 

I dunno.

I wouldn't, even if I had it. The price doesn't make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow it's worth 25˘.

[A Friend of Charlie]

Failed again. Lonzo messed me up.

  Connections: Sports Edition
 Puzzle #86
 🟡🟡🟡🟡
 🟢🟢🟢🟢
 🟣🔵🟣🔵
 🔵🔵🟣🔵
 🟣🔵🔵🔵
 🟣🔵🟣🟣

[A Friend of Charlie]

Connections
Puzzle #556
🟪🟦🟩🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪

[LuvTooGolf]

Morning, humps.

I'm being humpied in a 70° house this morning. Good morning, HumpingDave.

Sounds like a welcome change.

Just in time for the boys' birthday. They are 15 today.

I assume you know that today is also National Twin Day? That's our coinky dink of the day.

If I knew that, I forgot. That is pretty funny.

Not that I didn't believe you but when I looked it up, I also found the following information:

There is also an annual Twins Days festival that takes place in Twinsburg, Ohio on the first full weekend in August. The festival began in 1976 and is considered the world's largest annual gathering of twins and multiples.

I've heard of that one. The wife used to work with twins who attended every year.

[Travellin Dave]

Connections
Puzzle #556
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨

[Travellin Dave]

started slow...

Wordle 1,278 5/6

⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛🟨⬛🟨
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

[LuvTooGolf]

This one took me half the day.

Strands #290
“You say you want a revolution”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵

[razgueado]

How to stop a Bitcoin surge:  Just ask me to throw a little money at it.

Follow me for more investing tips.

Alternatively, you could have me throw some money at it, then have the hosting company I used go bankrupt. Then I get back a fraction of the money I invested (granted, it was very little, so no harm done), but then it goes up 5x in the next year.

First I ever heard of Bitcoin was on the iHavanas website.  They offered a 10% discount if you paid in Bitcoin.  But the cost of Bitcoin then was in excess of 10% of the dollar.  So I was, like, "Why?"  I should have researched it further.

Nothing beats the story of the guy who very early on paid 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 Papa John's pizzas. That dude has been living an agony for years that I cannot imagine.

Laszlo Hanyecz.  He says he has no regrets.  Maybe he doesn't. 

I mean, I don't exactly lose sleep over not dropping $20K into Bitcoin in 2017, when I had the money and a friend with expertise was doing his best to explain it to me.   No matter how you cut it, and my friend Mark has cut it up six ways from Sunday for me (and so far he's made a lot of money on it and I've only made a few grand)  it's still speculation.  Supply and Demand are good explanations of what happens after the fact, but are not a good way to predict the future for a financial instrument.  Past performance does not ensure future results.  Mark and I have had lots of debates about this, and he still thinks he's following science and I keep pointing out that he's not, and I am correct that he's not.  Options trading is closer to science than trading crypto.  Trading crypto isn't even an art.

But...he's lucked into being right, and he's made a lot of money, and that automatically trumps anything I say, at least until such point as he loses a lot of money.  Shrug. 

So, I missed the boat in 2010.  And I missed the boat during COVID.  But I'm still at the same point I was then.  I could sell $20K worth of stock today and put the money into Bitcoin, or into a diversified collection of cryptocurrencies.  Hell, I could drop $50K.  Today.  But should I?

I remember during the pandemic, Mark and I had a cigar and we were talking about crypto and how the stock market had tanked.  "Mark my words," he said.  "People are going to buy a lot of crypto as a hedge. You should start buying before the price jumps."  But it DIDN'T jump.  Crypto was in the toilet until last year.   But he bought as much as he could afford then, and I didn't.  So he says he told me so, and I tell him that he didn't - he just guessed correctly.  But he's got the money.  Now he says it's broken $100K and it's headed for $1M. 

So I should loot the brokerage account and put it into crypto, right?  I mean, he's been right since 2014 when he got into it. 

I dunno.

I wouldn't, even if I had it. The price doesn't make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow it's worth 25˘.

And that's the heart of many of the debates that Mark and I have. I say it could be worthless tomorrow. He says that can't happen. I ask him to show me in the technology where it can't, but of course there is nothing in the technology that prevents it. He invokes supply and demand. I mention tulips and buggy whips and point out that not all that is rare is desirable. Yadda yadda. He insists it's a hedge against inflation. I point out that at no point has cryptocurrency seen a spike in demand when other economic factors turn negative. In fact, what I see is that over time crypto tracks with the equity and bond markets, but with a lot more volatility. In other words, it's highly speculative.

But, yunno, so far, fifteen years in it has yet to return to zero. It has rewarded those who bought and held and didn't do something stupid like forget their password or throw their hard drive away. So, he has a point.

[A Friend of Charlie]

How to stop a Bitcoin surge:  Just ask me to throw a little money at it.

Follow me for more investing tips.

Alternatively, you could have me throw some money at it, then have the hosting company I used go bankrupt. Then I get back a fraction of the money I invested (granted, it was very little, so no harm done), but then it goes up 5x in the next year.

First I ever heard of Bitcoin was on the iHavanas website.  They offered a 10% discount if you paid in Bitcoin.  But the cost of Bitcoin then was in excess of 10% of the dollar.  So I was, like, "Why?"  I should have researched it further.

Nothing beats the story of the guy who very early on paid 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 Papa John's pizzas. That dude has been living an agony for years that I cannot imagine.

Laszlo Hanyecz.  He says he has no regrets.  Maybe he doesn't. 

I mean, I don't exactly lose sleep over not dropping $20K into Bitcoin in 2017, when I had the money and a friend with expertise was doing his best to explain it to me.   No matter how you cut it, and my friend Mark has cut it up six ways from Sunday for me (and so far he's made a lot of money on it and I've only made a few grand)  it's still speculation.  Supply and Demand are good explanations of what happens after the fact, but are not a good way to predict the future for a financial instrument.  Past performance does not ensure future results.  Mark and I have had lots of debates about this, and he still thinks he's following science and I keep pointing out that he's not, and I am correct that he's not.  Options trading is closer to science than trading crypto.  Trading crypto isn't even an art.

But...he's lucked into being right, and he's made a lot of money, and that automatically trumps anything I say, at least until such point as he loses a lot of money.  Shrug. 

So, I missed the boat in 2010.  And I missed the boat during COVID.  But I'm still at the same point I was then.  I could sell $20K worth of stock today and put the money into Bitcoin, or into a diversified collection of cryptocurrencies.  Hell, I could drop $50K.  Today.  But should I?

I remember during the pandemic, Mark and I had a cigar and we were talking about crypto and how the stock market had tanked.  "Mark my words," he said.  "People are going to buy a lot of crypto as a hedge. You should start buying before the price jumps."  But it DIDN'T jump.  Crypto was in the toilet until last year.   But he bought as much as he could afford then, and I didn't.  So he says he told me so, and I tell him that he didn't - he just guessed correctly.  But he's got the money.  Now he says it's broken $100K and it's headed for $1M. 

So I should loot the brokerage account and put it into crypto, right?  I mean, he's been right since 2014 when he got into it. 

I dunno.

I wouldn't, even if I had it. The price doesn't make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow it's worth 25˘.

And that's the heart of many of the debates that Mark and I have. I say it could be worthless tomorrow. He says that can't happen. I ask him to show me in the technology where it can't, but of course there is nothing in the technology that prevents it. He invokes supply and demand. I mention tulips and buggy whips and point out that not all that is rare is desirable. Yadda yadda. He insists it's a hedge against inflation. I point out that at no point has cryptocurrency seen a spike in demand when other economic factors turn negative. In fact, what I see is that over time crypto tracks with the equity and bond markets, but with a lot more volatility. In other words, it's highly speculative.

But, yunno, so far, fifteen years in it has yet to return to zero. It has rewarded those who bought and held and didn't do something stupid like forget their password or throw their hard drive away. So, he has a point.

I get all of that and hope that Bitcoin, and generally crypto, works out for everyone who invests. The supply and demand part is particularly puzzling because anyone can use Blockchain to create their own cryptocurrency (supply). So then if you hype one over another you create the demand??

[A Friend of Charlie]

Strands #290
“You say you want a revolution”
💡🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵